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 at tips@waitingfornextyear.com
“Believe it or not, this has nothing to do with Anderson Varejao, Mo Williams, or Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Without the Global Icon, the Cavaliers will suffer a staggering drop in income. The franchise will immediately lose a quarter or more of its value; projected revenue for the casino that Cavs owner Dan Gilbert plans to build near the arena will sink with it; and any hope of snagging a high-profile free agents or a big-name coach will completely vanish.
That’s the good news. The bad news is, Gilbert’s next-door neighbors, the Cleveland Indians, are in even worse shape at this point, dead last in drawing fans, although they trail the Marlins by only thirty-three fans per home game. The folks that own and run the Tribe have managed to destroy a fan base that not so long ago was every bit as fervent and free-spending as the Cavs’, and the future of the franchise, on and off the field, is dim.” [Scott Raab/Deadspin]
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Braylon Edwards allegedly cannot wait to play the Browns, has a casino on his shoulder. [Cleveland Frowns]
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With about five weeks until camp… “All this [change] came under the leadership of former Belichick disciple, first year Browns head Coach Eric Mangini. Some reasons for the improvement are as simple to explain as the acquisition of first round draft pick Alex Mack to play center and anchor the offensive line. Other reasons for the team’s developing turnaround include Mangini and Ryan bringing some of “their guys” to step into their defense to help out during the weeding out process. That process is only going to now be expedited with the help of new Team President Mike Holmgren and a man whose strength is the draft in GM Tom Heckert.” [SBN Cleveland]
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Ohio State’s Evan Turner gets named Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year [Eleven Warriors]
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And finally, if your Internet connection was a bit slow yesterday, here’s why: “Over at Mashable, the editors were monitoring new traffic across the Web via Akamai’s Net Usage Index, a traffic meter that keeps real time tabs on how many visitors per minute are landing on more than 100 major news sites. In the minutes after [Landon] Donovan’s game-clinching, elimination-defying goal during added stoppage time, Web traffic spiked to 11.2 million visitors per minute, eclipsing even the 2008 U.S. presidential election as measured by the viewers per minute metric.” [PopSci]
