While We’re Waiting… Eric Wedge Wins, Dwight Howard Gets “Techy”, and Josh Cribbs Practices
Written By: Scott | Category: Best of the Web | Comments: 33While We’re Waiting aims to be the round-up of the recent WFNY-esque information for your morning viewing. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email in the sidebar.
”Many managers would’ve used a game like that to get an at-bat or two for bench players. But Wedge decided not to surrender. After scoring two runs in the eighth, the Indians scored seven runs in the ninth to complete one of the most improbable comebacks in the majors in recent years. Improbable, yes. But not impossible. Would there be more comebacks like that if managers didn’t give up halfway through a game? Do the Indians get the same walk-off hit from Kelly Shoppach that they got from Victor Martinez? Grady Sizemore drew not one, but two walks in the ninth inning. Does David Dellucci pull that off? What if Luis Valbuena filled in for Ryan Garko, who hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning? Then what?” [Dave Lozo/Dot Com]
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Dwight’s mouth ‘a runnin: “Although better known for his wide smile and jovial manner, Howard’s on-court temper has him bordering on serious trouble as he leads the Orlando Magic deep into the playoffs. Howard received his fifth technical foul in the playoffs Sunday night, leaving him just two away from an automatic one-game suspension. The technical count would follow him all the way through the NBA Finals if the Magic make it.” [Tim Povtak/NBA FanHouse]
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New Blog Rule: When your team of rooting interest is bounced from the playoffs, shift your “journalistic” focus towards hating those more successful than you. Start by refusing to spell crucial players’ names correctly, that’ll show ‘em! “Lebron might score 50 tonight or hit another buzzer beater. But it won’t change the fact that he’s a self-aggrandizing, arrogant man-boy who truly believes the world is Lebron-centric. ” [MW/Hornets Hype]
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“Joshua Cribbs will report to practice on Tuesday. He is making this good faith effort to show everyone just how important this is to him. He will continue to communicate with the Browns on a regular basis and we are optimistic that there will be a fair solution.” [John Taylor/The OBR]
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Anyone else thing Mo Williams should do a little less talking and a little more playing? I know that Brian Windhorst does. “Yeah, we’re down 1-2 but there’s nobody on this team (that thinks), definitely not myself that thinks we’re not going to win the series,” [Mo Williams] said. “Yeah, it’s going to be tough. We know that. We get this game tomorrow and we go home, we have home court advantage. We don’t see ourselves losing two-out-of-three at home.” [Orlando Sentinel via Third Quarter Collapse]
Author: Scott
Scott is a co-founder/editor of Waiting For Next Year who resides in Cleveland, Ohio. Feel free to follow him on Twitter or email him at scott@waitingfornextyear.com.Scott has written 2013 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
Good morning, everyone.
Let’s talk about Mo’s “guarantee” for a moment. Mo was pretty much baited into it, and the reporters do a great job of mentioning that. All they heard is “Yeah, yeah”. In print it looks bad, but if you heard his tone of voice, it was more of a brushoff. I’m pretty sure his intention was not a guarantee, but you can’t tell that to the people who print. All the guy really said was that if they win this game tonight, they feel confident they’ll win the series.
Although I can’t imagine the press would ever intentionally take something out of context, even a little bit.
Mo was pretty much baited into it, and the reporters do a
greatterrible job of mentioning that./fixed
Maybe Mo should start making some shots before running his mouth. How did he think those comments were going to come across? Baited or not, he still said it.
My fist comment vanished, no idea where it went. But at any rate, he didn’t guarantee anything. The tone in his voice was a brush off of the question, not agreement with the “guarantee” question. It was taken completely out of context.
Would you rather he have no confidence at all and roll over and quit? This series isn’t over yet, they’re one game away from getting homecourt back. If ANYONE needs a shot of confidence, it’s Mo, and I’m glad he still has some of it left.
That said, I’m not sure how confident I’ll be if they lose tonight.
about the tribe last night: GREAT comeback.
don’t know if anyone caught it, but baseball tonight interviewed garko about a half hour or so after the game and the last question was “are you sick of all the cavalier talk yet?”
garko’s reponse was a good one (paraphrasing here): “not at all, its a great thing for the city and i’m hoping they can keep it up”
good to hear from the lakers fan, although i’m sure he’s just hoping for an l.a./cleveland finals (as i’m sure most of us are)
I haven’t laughed so hard as I did reading the article on Hornets Hype. I love it how everyone sits in their little silo with such a limited view of the rest of the world. How about if you put yourself in someone else’s shoes? What would Hornets fans be saying if LeBron was on their team? Would they waste all their words making fun of his nickname? So stupid.
Yes, I talk trash about Tom Brady and other teams’ players. But on occasion I am very clear in letting everybody know that it is truly out of jealousy because that guy doesn’t play on my team.
Randy Moss? Thug who doesn’t deserve any credit at all because he is a quitter. Randy Moss on the Browns? Greatest naturally talented receiver ever to play the game.
Dwyane Wade? Overhyped, undersized prima donna who gets every call as soon as anyone breathes in his general direction. Dwyane Wade on the Cavs? The best player in the league not named LeBron.
See how this works?
Mo should concentrate more or making shots than yapping. He is killing us.
That Indians comeback was amazing — but I wish someone would ask Victor if it would’ve been okay for Grady to attempt to steal second when Victor came up the first time in the ninth.
Mo – less yap, more swish.
still love watching highlights of the tribe comeback. also a key factor in argument for eric wedge. just grinding it out…
as for hornet hype, someone in the comments section said people are “swallowing nike propaganda like nazi germany.” gimme break.
but what are you gonna do? theres always going to be the otherside, and the backlash. thats why i dont spend my days reading wizznutzz or red’s army.
I don’t need LeBron James on my team. I have Chris Paul on my team, thanks much. And if everyone hyped CP this much, to the point of eyerolling backlash, I’d feel kinda bad because the hate isn’t justified. I want other fans to like my guy and my team, and in my opinion all this “king” garbage does is make people sick of him. Plus make all the MSM writers look like they’re paid to shill for Nike. Is the backlash or the overhype LeBron’s fault? Of course not. But it was a criticism of the media/league’s use of him and his brand, not of his play.
Thanks for your hate, though! & enjoy the Conference Finals!
well for as many people who like your guy and your team, there is probably a good amount that doesnt. what are you going to do? go on a PR campaign to get people to like CP3?
and as far as i know, there’s no hate, its just criticism from the other side.
“But it was a criticism of the media/league’s use of him and his brand, not of his play.”
Via name-calling…
What, and making fun of my site because the team we write about is no longer in the playoffs is mature and/or a good argument? Right.
Besides, anyone who reads us knows we’ve been saying this all year and longer. It doesn’t have anything to do with who is or is not in which playoff series.
Not making fun of your site at all. Just a tired topic that has nothing to do with Hornets basketball…
I just read on the PD that Roderick Hood (starting CB for arizona last year) signed with the browns.
@ ticktock6:
You said the following: “I don’t need LeBron James on my team. I have Chris Paul on my team, thanks much.”
You’re out of your mind if you wouldn’t take Lebron for CP. Your blog is nothing more than a hate-filled, jealous rant. I wasted 5 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back. Sports Illustrated nicknamed Lebron ‘The Chosen One’, not him or his people. The Nike ‘Witness’ campaign is not unlike any other campaign they’ve done for any other athelete. If members of the media want to use nicknames in articles, shows, etc. (ESPN’s SportsCenter does it with just about every highlight) it’s their perogitive. As for Kobe’s “Black Mamba’ moniker, last I checked, that was slang for a device a woman would use for pleasure in lieu of a man’s comfort.
You don’t need Lebron because you have CP3? Wow. I went to a Jazz/Hornets game back in Feb. I went into that game a casual fan of Paul, because of all the hype he gets, and I came away from it totally against him. He is the biggest baby I have ever seen on a court. He whined constantly at the refs and his teammates. Every time he clearly fouled someone and it was called, he would roll his eyes and start jabbering at the refs. The refs bailed him out of some iffy calls and he acted like they he was entitled to a foul shot everytime he missed a shot. He was horrible. So Hornets guy, you can have CP3. I will gladly take Lebron.
Scott: So now I’m not allowed to blog in the offseason? I mean, guys, I see why you disagree, but… it just seems like so much wah, wah, wah.
Blog all you want in the off-season. You Hornets fans sure have alot more time in your off-season than we do
.
“So now I’m not allowed to blog in the offseason?”
Also didn’t say that.
Oh I’M SORRY– I FORGOT TO ASK YOU BEFORE I BLOGGED ABOUT SOMETHING NON HORNETS RELATED ON MY DOMAIN THAT I OWN AND PAID FOR. Losers.
Via Twitter. Very mature. Take your ball and go home already.
@ticktock6
You reserve the right, but you had to know that you were just going to look like a hater to a lot of people by writing this. You try to draw parallels between LeBron James’ coverage and the last presidential election. There doesn’t need to be any fairness or impartiality in sports journalism. ESPN is an entertainment organization and despite the fact that they have an Ombudsman, they are writing almost exclusively about leagues that are there for entertainment. None of them are state run, despite Congress’ occasional inquiries into leagues due to monopoly laws.
The basis of the argument that sports journalism has some higher ethic or responsibility is flawed. It would be like getting pissed off at Roger Ebert because he doesn’t treat period pieces out of foreign film studios fairly enough. Or getting mad at Rolling Stone for not looking at U2′s latest album with enough of a critical eye due to their past work.
It is all for entertainment purposes. If that means pumping up LeBron James, then they can do that whether you like it or not. As always, your option is as Mike Tyson so eloquently put it, to “turn off your stations.”
Craig,
I disagree with your assessment of sports journalism. Mostly because I think you all are in somewhat of a position of privilege when it comes to this. You say turn off the TV. But your guy is always on. There are teams in the NBA that might as well not exist, for all you see of them on ESPN and in the rest of the MSM. I say all journalism needs to be subject to that ethic of responsibility. It’s a slippery slope. If sports journalism is throwing out Nike slogans, where does that take us next? It’s like in the Olympics when we were never allowed to see Dwight Howard in pictures and we didn’t know he was there. Why? Because he happened to be an Adidas athlete and the Olympic stuff was put out by Nike. It stuck out to any informed viewer. To uninformed viewers… what? They don’t know anything about him, they assume he’s not a good player, or not personable? When in fact he’s both.
I question this, and I think we should all be questioning stuff like this. I think it’s one of the reasons it’s important that the blogosphere exists.
Also, some of you seem to think I am the author of the post. I’m not. If you want to post a good, well-argued comment for him, feel free.
@Scott: You didn’t, but you implied it. I don’t see why what I do on my domain that I own in whatever time of year it happens to be has any relevance to you.
@Chris: I say many things on Twitter. Some of them involve saying rude things about people who’ve said rude things about me first, yes. The post on my blog said something rude (but pretty much true) about LeBron James. Every single Cavs fan who responded, with the exception of Craig up above, responded by trying to make fun of me and my site instead of defending their guy or saying anything real. If it’s not loserish, it’s at least utter argument FAIL.
@ticktock6
“Mostly because I think you all are in somewhat of a position of privilege when it comes to this. You say turn off the TV. But your guy is always on. There are teams in the NBA that might as well not exist, for all you see of them on ESPN and in the rest of the MSM.”
This point is part of the reason that there was such outrage over the article. The Cavaliers basically have only existed twice in my lifetime. When the Cavs were getting beaten in the playoffs by Michael Jordan and since LeBron was drafted are basically the only times in my life when the Cavs have existed on a national level. So now when we get our moment in the sun and we have “the guy” who is all over the TV, you will have to excuse us for being a bit reactive to unnecessarily hateful criticism.
I don’t necessarily agree with all your points about the sports media, but it is interesting to think about. I still think of them as purveyors of entertainment moreso than I think of them as legit news organizations. At the same time, I think the real point here is that you (or one of the writers on your site) could have made one hell of a point about the sports media and how it manifests itself in the coverage of LeBron. Your/their point could have been made a whole lot better, though, without the immature name-calling and without just calling out one guy and trying to make an example of him.
Most of us will agree that the dude is over-exposed. Still if you paint him with such a negative brush, how else would you expect people to react?
Tick, we [Cleveland Fans] understand lack of coverage, to be certain. It didn’t compute when the Indians were making runs and tearing up the A.L. ( in the mid to late 90′s, and again in 2007), and all the unnamed 4-letter network would acknowledge is Boston / Yankees. I would sooner blame them than anything that we have fans have done.
Their sample groups, and more importantly their advertisers ( which would include Nike ) dictate what and whom they cover, and how much. If you think tWWL is ANYTHING besides a panderer to corporate America, you are sadly mistaken. Once Right Guard® starts paying more money to tWWL than Coke or Nike does, I would expect more Chris Paul coverage.
Unfortunately for us fans, as a corporate brand, they hold a complete monopoly on the sports world.
As for objectiveness in sports writing, I’m not sure it has a place, if it ever has. The vast majority of sports writing has always been more opinionated and less fact based for as long as I can remember.
I mean, guys, I see why you disagree, but… it just seems like so much wah, wah, wah.
Interesting, considering that the “article” in question reads to me like nothing more than somebody crying that our player is more popular than the author cares for.
Honestly… to name Shaq, Wade, and ESPECIALLY Jordan and then imply they’re NOT trying to sell themselves/their endorsements??? Jordan is STILL making Hanes commercials, and he hasn’t played in a meaningful NBA game in over a decade.
It’s called sour grapes, dude. Get over yourselves.
@ DP – Speaking of someone selling their endorsements…
http://deadspin.com/5270432/michael-jordan-loves-chicago-almost-as-much-as-he-loves-nike?t=13080629#c13080629
My response that I posted over on Hornets Hype, met by a fair response from ticktock6:
I can agree with the argument that LeBron is all about himself. I can agree with the fact that it’s silly to get marketing taglines tattooed on yourself, especially when they’re about… yourself. (I wonder if LeBron does the powder toss after changing his kid’s diapers, and if he looks at himself in the mirror, a la Dirk Diggler and says “We are all Witnesses” every morning).
I can also agree to a certain point that the media overblows things. At the same time, they gloss over the amazing things that other players are doing (I’m a HUGE Deron Williams fan and think he’s definitely at the same level of CP3, without getting the same fanfare). But, that’s what ESPN has become at this point – flash and no substance (did you know, they’re in LA now!!!!). If you want better sports coverage, start here. It’s what you can do to improve the sports journalism world.
I feel extremely blessed to have LeBron James on the team that I cheer for. He’s a filthy basketball player. He seems to have a decent head on his shoulders (he’s driven fast, and that’s about it in terms of getting in trouble). He’s working to position himself as not only a basketball giant, but also a business giant. Yes, ESPN, SI, etc. are helping him accomplish this. But to discount all of this and say “I don’t need LDJ, I have CP3″ comes off as jealous and bitter.
Yes, people from our site came over here and started flinging poo without really backing it up. But comon, ‘complain’ing about it via Twitter and declaring how people are a bunch of losers because they don’t like what you have to say is silly.
That whole string of comments made my head hurt.
@Denny: are you running any races in the DC area during the rest of the year? If so, you should check this 20K in Leesburg out (I did it last year and the course was pretty easy and am doing it again):
http://www.runwashington.com/archive0209/other/lee02list.html
Harris Teeter sponsors it so there is a ton of food – always a good reason to sign up.
im with Pittsburgh Is For Man Lovers (no innuendo). this has gotten a little out of hand and i think some people are looking way too deeply into this than they should.
not everybody’s going to like lebron and the LBJ hype machine or whatever they want to call it, and so be it. we’re fans, hes not, im not about to lose sleep about it. oh well.
ticktock made a post that made a lot of claims that cavs fans felt to refute. then some sarcasm(here) was misinterpreted. everybody has a right to say whatever they want because hey, its the internet and we live in the good old u.s. of a.
no need to turn this into a cleveland.com comments section (where a recent posting about mike tyson’s daughter going to the hospital turned into, believe it or not, a debate about whether or not the devil was real).
@ PifML – haven’t picked many races out for the summer. I’m running the Ragnar Relay from Cumberland to DC late September (looks super cool if you can find 11 other people to run with), then the MCM in October (hoping for 3:20). Other than that I don’t have much on the plate. I’ve run 3, 6, 4, so far since Saturday, legs have recovered now. That Leesburg run looks pretty good, might consider the 20k. Might pick up a 10k here and there, would like to break 20 minutes in a 5k sometime this summer as well.
If you can sneak out tonight I’ll be at the McFadden’s near GWU watching the game.
Thanks for the invite and the relay looks cool. Unfortunately, most of my friends would only be useful in an eating contest. I can’t do the MCM this year because my 2nd kid is due on October. I hope to do a couple of 10Ks in the fall but the 20K will be the last of any significant distance for the year. Breaking 20 in a 5K would be awesome. I broke 21 last year and actually won my age bracket (only one up from yours, but for some reason, it’s always weak). Thanks for the invite, but I have to take the kid out tonight- Dvr’ing the game. Let me know if you sign up for the 20K.