If you chanced to open the Cleveland Plain Dealer sports section to the "Standings" page on Tuesday, you were presented with the opportunity to observe a statistical aberration:

(A) Major League Baseball: The Cleveland Indians were in first place, and in fact owned the best record in the major leagues.

(B) The National Basketball Association: The Cleveland Cavaliers had a little "x" next to their team name, which after a quick look to the bottom of the column translates to "x - denotes clinched playoff berth.

If there was ever anything a midwestern sports fan could count on, it was that the Indians would unselfishly hold up the rest of the American League East from the bottom, while their basketball brothers would stumble and bumble through another season of earning the nickname "Cadavers."

Phil Seghi would get rid of good young shortstops and catchers as if Frank Duffy and John Ellis were perennial All-Stars, and Ted Stepien would play Santa Claus to the Dallas Mavericks with 30 or 40 Cavs' first-round draft picks.

Somewhere in between, the Browns would show occasional flashes of briliance, or at least competence -- and in Cleveland for the last decade, competence has passed for brilliance -- but even they were just teasing, always a Red-Right-88 short of real success.

But now, praise be to Bernie Kosar, something odd is happening in Cleveland.

Winning.

It might seem odd to praise a football player for the success of a city's basketball and baseball teams, but it's really not all that far-fetched. After Bernie left Miami of Florida following his sophomore season, he announced to the world that he wanted to play for the Brownies.

Kosar probably could have worked a deal to play virtually anywhere he wanted -- L.A., New York, and of the glamour towns. But he wanted to play in Cleveland.

What a burst of pride for a city known for its rivers getting hotter than its sports teams.

Rick Sutcliffe had whined about playing in Cleveland, escaped to Chicago and took the Cubbies to the playoffs. Cleveland nestled comfortably in sixth place.

Lyle Alzado wanted out and packed up for Hollywood where he went to a Raiders Super Bowl and then on the films. Cleveland backed into the playoffs at 8-8.

Bill Laimbeer languished on the end of the Cavs' bench, complained, was gift-wrapped to the Detroit Pistons, and last year nearly led the Motowners past the Celtics into the NBA finals. The Cavs asked their fans to, one more time, "Wait 'til next year."

Welcome to 1988. It's next year.

Bernie affirmed to the whole country that it was okay to want to play on the shores of Lake Erie, and suddenly a whole bunch of quality athletes seemed to agree.

Brad Daugherty ... Ron Harper ... Mark Price ... "Hot Rod" Williams ... the greatest Kiddie Corps to hit the NBA playoffs since the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers. The Bill Walton-led Blazers won the NBA title, by the way.

The Indians have their share of good young talents as well; there's Joe Carter and Mel Hall -- ironically, they came over from the Cubs in the Sutcliffe deal -- and Jay Bell, a brilliant youing shortstop the Tribe has actually hung on to.

And of course, a real oddity in Chief Wahoo's wigwam -- pitching. Candiotti, Bailes, Farrell and Swindell might not be Feller, Score, Wynn and Lemon, but neither are they Ed VanDeBerg, Don "The Rock" Schulze or (God forbid) Ernie Camacho. They know how to win.

And best of all, they all want to play in Cleveland.

Don't mistake this column for a prediction of a Sports Illustrated "Indian Summer." Realistically, the Tribe is, on a good day, the third-best team in the A.L. East, while the Cavs are two years away from the promised land dominated this decade by Boston and the Lakers.

But now, finally, there's cause to hope for the frustrated closet Cleveland sports fan, and as an added bonus, no longer does that fan have to listen to his local heroes bitch and moan about how they can't wait to be traded.

Bernie and the Browns are to thank for that; and now the pride that comes with being associated with a winning city is actually starting to attach itself to the ex-Cadavers of Richfield Coliseum and even to Doc's Boys of Summer.

But let's not forget, Tribe fans, that those second-place New York Yankees still own the rights to a former All-American Stanford right fielder by the name of John Elway.

Do you think Bernie's been working on his curveball?