May 24, 2013

While We’re Waiting… Dyfunctional Browns, Nakita Filatov takes off, and OSU-Michigan Week

November 18, 2009 by 18 Comments

While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email in the sidebar.

Ravens Browns Football“The mental welfare of this perpetually beleaguered, nationally pummeled, unemployment-burdened, sports-doomed, pray-if-LeBron-leaves city was fairly stable between 1996 and 1998. Those were the three years when the NFL didn’t exist by the lake, when civic outrage over the Browns’ devastating departure to Baltimore faded into a hope that something better and more loyal was on the way. Who knew that not having them at all was a far saner fate than resurrecting them for the next decade? [...] In a league bottom-heavy with awful teams, the Browns are the most dysfunctional and harmful to one’s equilibrium.” [Jay Mariotti/FanHouse]

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“The Columbus Blue Jackets drafted a super-skilled freelancing forward a year ago and are now wondering why he’s not developing into Jere Lehtinen. So on Tuesday, Nikita Filatov took his sticks and went home to Russia and the KHL. [...] It was only five months ago The Hockey News ranked Filatov as the top prospect in the game.”  [Christopher Botta/FanHouse]

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With the first pick… “Entering Week 10, there was a five-way tie for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.  Well, Kansas City dropped out of the club as the Chiefs went out and defeated Oakland 16-10 last Sunday with the help of Darrius Heyward Bey. Thankfully, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis and Tampa Bay kept pace with each other.” [No Logo Needed]

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So, you’re saying there’s a chance… “Can you blame [the Michigan Wolverines]?  it’s been 2187 days since the team up north has tasted victory against the scarlet and gray.  In between, there’s been five insufferable defeats, characterized by physical dominance, and lopsided spreads.  Half a decade of inconsistency and irrelevance has resulted in a sort-of Ann Arbor inferiority complex, marked by limited self-esteem, apathy, and doubt.  Yet, if the fear can be concentrated and spun into something moderately positive, it’s the freedom that comes from low expectations, and the simple belief that it can’t get much worse.  For a program that’s reached rock-bottom, there’s nowhere to go but up.” [Law Buckeye/Rivalry, Esq]

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And… I love Michigan week: “Mike Hart is a talentless midget with a big mouth, and while Chad Henne isn’t really offensive for any particular reason, he is still a [explative] with terrible tattoos.  Both these guys were lionized by the Michigan faithful as program defining figures, and yet, when you think of all the great players in Michigan history, I’d wager that not a lot of them went o-fer against their hated rivals.” [Major League Jerk]

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(AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

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  • Chris

    F Mariotti. This is our football team, good or bad. He has absolutely zero right to talk about things being better in Cleveland without football.

    No, I will not click on the link and read the column, I don’t want to increase his page views.

  • Mark

    Chris – I 100% agree. F Mariotti.

  • MrCleaveland

    Both of our football teams will be taking the bus up north this weekend, and the Cavs visit Auburn Hills next Wednesday. Can we sweep ‘em?

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com DP Diesel

    What Mariotti also glosses over is that in 1996-1998, the Indians were straight murdering the AL Central, as it was the last hurrah of ticket-driven revenues in MLB and the Tribe could compete with the big boys because of their stadium. The Tribe was in the playoffs every year, and so the fans had something to hang their hats on all summer long. The economy was good, and things were generally in a much better place.

    So, for Mariotti to somehow equate that to meaning that Cleveland fans are happier without their Browns? It’s complete idiocy.

    As for Filatov, he’s wimping out a bit. The article makes is sound like the club bumbled in picking him, but Filatov has his own issues. He states that he wants to be an NHL star, but NHL hockey is different than Russian hockey: the ice is smaller, and guys check each other much more. Filatov wants to be an NHL star without doing ALL of the work to become one. Has Hitchcock been hard on him? Absolutely. But he’s been equally tough on Derick Brassard and Jakub Voracek (also a European), and both have risen to that challenge.

  • mike

    jay m is an a-hole on so many levels. the browns stink and are dysfunctional – we get it. this isnt breaking news. however, his sophomoric hyperbole in the first two paragraphs just shows his utter lack of creativity. theres nothing like bringing out over-used jokes from 50 years ago to raise a point that we all know – the browns stink.

  • JNeids

    Confession time: As a Wolverine living in Cleveland, I find that little blurb to be spot on. Our patheticness over the last couple years has made losing slightly more tolerable. Sure the losses still sting, but not nearly as much as it would if I had expected my team to put up a better fight and make a game of it. For example, after the 2002 game, I turned off my phone and computer and locked myself in my bedroom for the rest of the night, even failing to go join one of my best friend’s as he celebrated his birthday. And more recently, the 42-39 game in 2006. I was in Chicago for that game and once again wasted the night away, as I couldn’t bring myself to even try to have a good time. These last couple years, however, I haven’t expected much going into the game, so I am not as torn apart when we lost. Obviously I hoped for the best, but having watched the entire season, I knew what to expect.

    Prediction for Saturday: the Buckeyes come out flat as usual, especially after having wrapped up the Rose Bowl bid, and the Wolverines come out firing as usual, keeping it close in the first half, maybe even going into the locker room with a slight lead. Then at half the Bucks realize it shouldn’t be this close, and despite Tressel’s best effort to keep the game close, aided by Michigan’s inability to keep a halftime lead, OSU wins by 17.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Denny

    Stay tuned for some OSU/UM talk today kids – DP and I have an internet discussion.

  • Roosevelt

    Lately, I find almost all sports commentary, as personified by Mariotti, to be insufferable. Aren’t sportswriters supposed to know more about sports than fans? Aren’t they supposed to know how to write better than you average blue collar worker?

    Now that knowledgeable fans know the meaning of PER and adjusted OPS and other fancy statistics, all that’s left to qualify these “sportswriters” is bombast.

  • Roosevelt

    * your average blue collar worker.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Denny

    Rosie, are you implying that we here are too, in fact, insufferable? :[

  • Roosevelt

    @10 Denny: Absolutely not. I considered writing that the contributors to WFNY are better than anyone paid to write for major media, but I didn’t want to sound like a sycophant.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Denny

    Haha it’s cool – I assumed as much, just like always. I picture the world showering me with praise every day though, so I guess that can be taken with a grain of salt.

    I just wanted to make a frowny face.

  • Dave

    who exactly first decided to make osu part of the cleveland group of teams? im not quite sure i understand…its hours away and is part of another major city…same thing as rooting for the university of cincy and claiming them as part of cleveland sports…just curious

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Denny

    I think being the largest, highest-ranked public university in the Great State of Ohio has a lot to do with it. That and most of us are fans of OSU.

    Also, OSU actually wins things, so we’ve got that going for us… which is nice.

  • GrantsWhiskey

    Where do the most blue chip high school football recruits end up playing if they’re from NE Ohio? Although it wouldn’t make as much sense, as a Cinci alum I wouldn’t have a problem with any Bearcat coverage either. They’re probably the most exciting football story going on in the state. Instead, my question would be if there is OSU, CBJ and Clipper articles why leave out the most successful pro team in Ohio: the Columbus Crew.

  • GrantsWhiskey

    @Denny

    Sorry man, I live in Columbus and love the Buckeyes, but they are not the highest ranked team in Ohio.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Denny

    I wasn’t talking about football rankings for once – I was referring to the University as an actual place of higher education.

    Your point about Cincy is quite valid, but it’s like the anti-Cleveland in some regards (SW instead of NE, Bengals, NL instead of AL, etc.).

    We’ve bounced around the idea of Crew coverage before, but I think I’d be the most likely guy to cover them and don’t live in Cbus anymore. And Cleveland State gets some coverage, especially hoops when they make the NCAA tourney.

  • sam

    Guess no one cares much about Columbus Blue Jackets.. they lost probably the most promising Russian player since Alex Ovechkin . Doubtful he will return to the team as long as Hitchcock is coaching them. He got very little ice time. Shame.