Matt Roth Demands a Trade. Maybe. (No, Really.)
May 17, 2010Rays 4 Indians 3: AC Hurt, The Underwood Jinx
May 18, 2010While 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 at tips@waitingfornextyear.com
“Decision day hasn’t arrived yet but it appears everyone is preparing for it.
The Cavaliers had not performed or scheduled exit interviews with players or coaches as of Monday. Once some or all of those take place, there will be a verdict on coach Mike Brown. But if that decision is a parting of ways, the sides are getting ready for it.
According to sources, Brown and his coaching staff are preparing to be let go. Meanwhile, the front office and team owner Dan Gilbert are believed to be considering a list of possible replacements.” [Brian Windhorst]
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About that LeBron video… “A pattern that follows in the footsteps of Drew Carey, a talented comedian who didn’t really hit the big time until he figured out how to exploit “hey look, it’s funny because Cleveland sucks!” There’s no question it’s a popular theme, especially for those looking to justify living in more crowded more expensive cities. And there’s no question that much of the wild popularity of Polk’s “Cleveland Tourism Videos” can be explained by how much easier it makes for the “Cleveland Sucks” meme to carry on. So the videos might be funny, self-effacing, all that, but if jokes serve primarily to further obscure an important positive message that’s already plenty obscure — say, that Cleveland doesn’t really suck — I have to ask why they’re worth making.” [Cleveland Frowns]
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Adam Caplan reviews the Browns 2010 Draft, based on what we know now. [Scout.com]
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There have been so many heartbreaking moments for us Cleveland fans … each of them conveniently named so that they can be itemized when a Cleveland team loses yet again. Red Right 88. The Drive. The Fumble. The Shot. Old timers will remember Willie Mays’ catch. Youngsters will remember Joel Skinner, the third-base coach who held up Kenny Lofton. Each of those moments, and others without names, were so heart wrenching for a city that has not won a championship since 1964.
But at least none of those teams quit. Maybe they faded. Maybe they choked. Maybe they even fell apart. But to quit? No, teams don’t really quit. As the Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder said when his team was credited for playing until the end of a game: “They don’t let you quit.”
Only … they’re just standing out there. They quit. Forty five seconds. Forty four. Forty three. The Cavaliers are just standing back, away from the Celtics, waiting for the time to expire so they can leave, waiting for this season to end, waiting like this is some pointless Tuesday night game against Milwaukee or Phoenix in December. They’re just waiting to go home. Maybe they can’t win. But what kind of team just waits for the sad ending? What kind of players give up on a season when there’s still time left on the clock? [Joe Posnanski]
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And finally, John Calipari takes to Twitter when defending himself against even more rumors [The Baseline]
18 Comments
I think Frowns is pretty spot on – that video is beyond embarrassing.
I think the big issue with it is that it’s funny to Clevelanders given those featured within, but it is completely misunderstood on a national level. Once it went viral, there was no way to curb the reaction in a favorable manner. Definitely a softball lobbed to the bat-wielding critics.
Frowns is 100% spot on. Yes Denny just said this. Wanted to co-sign.
This is kind of off topic, but I watched “More than a Game” last night. I had yet to see it (despite all the recommendations), and I figured that if LeBron in fact decides to leave that I would never want to watch it. It really is a great documentary, and it actually re-ignited a small sliver of hope in me that he will choose to re-sign. It’s obvious that the friendships he created while growing up will always bring him back to the Akron area, lets just hope it’s by car after home games.
I’d recommend the flick to anyone, the sooner the better, especially if you haven’t seen it yet and don’t think you’ll be able to stomach it should the chips not fall our way come early July.
We have gone overboard with naming our defeats. The only things worthy of a name come from specific instances – “The Shot”, “The Fumble”, etc.
Things like “The Mesa” don’t really deserve names. I doubt anyone outside of Cleveland would know what “The Mesa” is.
I LOVE the we are lebron video. Self-deprecating humor is great. But I agree w/ Scott, it has been taken out of context by the national media.
@REEPJP – THE NEW YORK KNICKS HAVE ALSO SEEN MTAG AND THAT IS WHY THEY ARE GOING TO SIGN DRU JOYCE III TO THEIR SUMMER LEAGUE TEAM BECAUSE IT IS MORE THAN A GAME INDEED!
Agreed with Frowns’s take. However, I do kinda disagree with the Drew Carey thing. I’m not a huge fan of his or anything, but hasn’t he done a lot of positive stuff for Cleveland since his show ended? Namely this: http://reason.tv/video/show/1050
And I don’t think he made a career on Cleveland sucking so much as audiences made an inferential leap from “Drew’s life sucks. He lives in Cleveland. Ergo, Cleveland sucks.”
DENNY, DRU JOYCE III IS LIKE THE MOST AWESOMEST 3 POINT SHOOTER IN THE HISTORY OF BASKETBALL. DIDN’T YOU SEE THE 6 IN A ROW HIS FRESHMEN YEAR STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME? HE RULZ, EVRY 1 ELSE DRULZ! DO YOU BLAME THE KNICKS?
At first I thought, “ok, here is Frowns on his high horse again,” but after watching that god awful video…yikes! Frowns, sorry I doubted you. You are 100% right. Just awful.
….or they could sign him since he’s probably the only other person that could walk through the special “Nate Robinson Only” door they installed in their locker room without ducking. They can’t just let it go to waste…
DENNY. I HEARD THE STARTING LINE-UP NEXT YEAR FOR THE KNICKS WILL BE – DRU JOYCE III, LEBRON JAMES, SIAN COTTON, WILLIE MCGEE, ROMEO TRAVIS. THEY WILL BE COACHED BY DRU JOYCE II AND KEITH DAMBROT WILL BE THE NEW GM.
I didn’t think the we are Lebron video was entirely horrible (in a this is too ridiculous to be serious fashion) until I saw Dick Goddard…that was a huge put off.
Major kudos to whomever decided to put Tim Misny in as “intimidating lawyer”…that go a laugh out of me.
Thanks, guys.
Amin, and the rest: I’m not saying it’s “a horrible video” as much as I’m questioning that despite it’s obvious creativity and truly humorous elements (I liked seeing Misny and the Norton furniture guy in there too) whether it was really a good one.
Intent and impact are two different things, but both are important. At some point it doesn’t matter what Polk or Drew Carey intends; especially when the consequences are so predictable, and even more especially when there are other less potentially damaging ways to go. And here by productive I’m not referring to Carey’s or Polk’s pocketbooks.
I also recognize that Carey has done and continues to do some good, and I’m sure Polk does to. I’m referring specifically to the respective sitcom and viral videos that put these guys on the map.
so the ‘we are lebron’ is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek? really? there is no way to discern that from the video.
and if that’s the case, then i would rate sioux city’s painful-to-watch tourism video above cleveland’s painful-to-watch keeplebron video because at least it avoids pre-meditated snark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj7_E5Tpdhs
The official scorer has charged an error on that video.
@16: Did you forget the sarcasm font? The entire thing is dripping in humor.