Gary Benz is a life long Cleveland-area resident.  He has suffered, along with the rest of us, through every bad play, player and team to grace the Cleveland sports scene.  He has spent more time and money than he cares to remember on Cleveland sports teams with nary a championship to show for it, save for the 1964 NFL Championship.  He hasn't yet given up hope, despite what people may say.  Gary is a journalist by degree but left that lucrative field years ago for a more pedestrian existence in the field of law and business.  He also writes for his own website, which can be accessed at www.nextyearagain.blogspot.com.  You can follow him on twitter as well.

Greg has a family of 4, who he tries to insulate from his brooding when Cleveland sports rip his heart out. He appreciates music by a wide range of artists - and is currently involved in converting a chunk of his vinyl album collection to .mp3 files. Greg is an eager latecomer to the music of Phish. His iPod Nano has a killer collection of 230 rock/pop songs from the 1980’s, compiled in part by his brother and his aunt, and which proudly lacks any Lionel Ritchie, Phil Collins and Michael Jackson. The Nano is his running companion, and he runs 6 – 10 miles a week when the weather is decent. Greg is somewhat of a WWII history buff. His favorite movies usually involve war, international intrigue, or Michael Winslow.

Jason Askew was born and raised in Northeast Ohio. He grew up as both a local (all things Cleveland) sports junkie and a passionate participant. His early childhood memories include rooting for the likes of Andre Thornton, World B. Free, and Ozzie Newsome.

His most memorable times include taking the Laketran to Lakeland Community College and patrolling the fences for autographs at Browns training camp. The worst include stories that have already sucked enough life out of us and contain names including, but not limited to, Jordan, Elway, and Renteria.

As a youth his Northeast Ohio memories also boast sharing the field and/or court with future pros like Earl Boykins, Joe Jurevicius, London Fletcher, and Matthew Hatchette.

After 6 years in the Navy and 3 years living in NY, he returned his family to their Northeast Ohio roots in 2003 and now lives in Lake County with his wife and two children.

Jason works as a field service engineer for a company in the semiconductor industry. When he isn’t at work making computer chips, trolling boards, researching player bios, looking at box scores and listening to or watching a sporting event, he enjoys spending time with his family and watching his daughter leave her imprint on the local sports scene.

J.D. Shultz is a comedy / entertainment writer currently based in Los Angeles. He's originally from Ohio, but you probably could've guessed that. (As hard as it is to believe, California natives aren't falling over each other to become fans of a city 2,000 miles away, whose sports teams haven't won anything in 45 years.)

Since J.D. is a Cleveland fan at heart, he can't adopt the sexy, local teams . . . it just isn't a real option. (So Cleveland forever it is!) It's sort of like when the Washington Bullets wanted to change their name in 1997, and they allowed their fans to vote on these five new names: The Dragons, The Express, The Stallions, The Sea Dogs, and The Wizards. (Yeah, the Washington Sea Dogs was a choice.) (???)

The final tally was something like: The Dragons (0%), The Express (0%), The Stallions (0%), The Sea Dogs (0%), The Wizards (.01%), and the write-In selection "Uh, let's just stay the Bullets" (99.99%). But that just wasn't a real option. (So Wizards it was!) J.D. is excited to be a contributing Cavs writer for The Cleveland Fan . . . but if you just can't get enough of his undeniable amazingness here, hit up his Cavs blog at http://www.thewineandgoldrush.com.

Oh, and don't forget to write. J.D. : feedback :: LeBron James : Akron

Jerry Roche is a freelance writer/editor who covered Super Bowl XVI in Pontiac, Mich., and has interviewed such celebrated sports figures as Otto Graham, John Wooden and Merlin Olsen, among many others. He is former sports editor of the Port Clinton News-Herald and Alliance Review whose writing has been honored by the Ohio Associated Press Sportswriters Association. The U.S. Army veteran earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Ohio University.

Jesse Lamovsky has been a staff writer for the Cleveland Fan since 2006, specializing mostly in Browns and Buckeyes coverage with a side of Cavaliers coverage thrown in. Jesse’s first (hopefully not last) book, The Worst of Sports, was published by Random House in 2007, and someday he hopes to write either the definitive history of the Cleveland sports drought (with a happy ending, of course) or at any rate, something else that pays him handsomely. He currently resides in Strongsville with his lovely and patient soon-to-be-wife.

John Hnat writes about the Cavs (and occasionally other Cleveland sports-related topics) for TheClevelandFan.com. He is one of the fewer than twelve known people who can name the Cavs roster from 2002-03 (aka The Year Before LeBron). By day, he works as a developer for a local computer software company, a role that has absolutely nothing to do with the bachelor's or law degrees he earned from Case Western Reserve University. John lives with his two incredibly active children in the suburban Cleveland area.

Connected to Cleveland athletics since the weekend he was born – when Brian Sipe led the Browns to a come-from-behind fourth-quarter victory, the Cavaliers won their emotional first two games following the Miracle of Richfield, and the Indians began their quest to sign cataclysmic pitching bust Wayne Garland – Jonathan has written about Cleveland teams since before he learned how to diagram sentences. These combined passions have resulted in his writing countless articles and seven books on various topics in Cleveland sports history.

A member of the Society for American Baseball Research and in no way connected to New Kids On The Block, Jonathan is a graduate of Ohio University and has twice been named Sportswriter of the Year by the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association.

He lives in Columbus – the demilitarized zone of Ohio pro sports – and has two sons who have not yet been afflicted with the psychological burden of Cleveland athletics.

You can learn more about Jonathan and his books at www.jknightbooks.com.

Mansfield Lucas is not his real name, but the takes you'll get are as real and raw as they come. Sometimes intelligent, sometimes whack, sometimes thought provoking, sometimes inspiring questions of just what did his parents do to him, anyway? grammatically sound but always readable. As satisfying as an old POC in a 40 degree can.

Mansfield grew up in the heart of Cleveland's East Side in Euclid, and like Greg Brinda attended St Ignatius High School, and like Greg, decided that rather than go onto college he'd matriculate to Kent State. Unlike Greg, Mansfield actually knows what he's talking about and rarely stutters.

Mansfield has written for over a decade on several internet sites and has also been a published sports writer and music critic for the now defunct Downtown Tab magazine, which means, yes, somebody actually did pay him to write this crap at one time. Shocking.

Mansfield has a PhD in the TCE (TM) (The Cleveland Exeperience, as in sports' experience), a concept that will no doubt come up frequently in his blurbs. He will be covering the Cleveland Browns for The Cleveland Fan.

Matt Vann was born and raised in South Euclid, and was actually alive the last time a Cleveland team won a championship (The Crunch do not count). He hopes to be alive for the next one as well, but the way things are going it's gonna be close. School and career have kept Matt living elsewhere, but he returns for his "annual pilgrimage" and often plans his visits with the family around C-Town sporting events. Or at least dinner at one of Michael Symon's restaurants. Matt and his family now live in Houston, where his kids have closets full of gear which they no longer wear emblazoned with "James" and "Edwards" and "Sabathia" on the back. Generic Ohio State apparel is now the go to move in the Vann household. Matt, with help from his Houston based buddies, will be writing about football, food, and drink for The Cleveland Fan.