May 21, 2013

New WFNY shirt designs available now!

When we introduced the first run of WFNY shirts from GV Art and Design, we really didn’t know what to expect.

It was a little scary ordering all of those shirts without having a clue if anyone would actually want them. Well, we knew we could give some away, but we were pretty unsure if anyone would actually purchase one.

Let’s just say we were blown away by the response.

We thought it might take months to empty the inventory. Instead, they sold out in just a couple weeks. We can’t say thank you enough. We’re honored that you would help us “promote the brand”.

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12 Days of a Cleveland Christmas: Day 1

For those who may be new to the site in the last 12 months, things get a little interesting around here at Christmas time. As a way to say thank you for reading and supporting WFNY, we like to give things away. You know, things that Cleveland sports fans want. We’ve got a nice looking prize vault this year. Hopefully you will agree and participate.

Here’s how the giveaway works. Every weekday from now until Christmas Eve, we will give away a Cleveland themed prize. To enter, you need only to respond in the comment section in the appropriate manner. The winner each day will be randomly selected and notified by email. (Which means you better make sure that the email address you use to comment here is a legit one.) I cannot guarantee delivery by Christmas. Some of the prizes (like tickets) haven’t even been printed and mailed to us yet. We’ll do our best with the things we have in hand though. Only one member of a household can enter each day, and only one winner per household during the length of this contest. Just spreading the love around.

Let’s get to today’s giveaway- [Read more...]

“Cursed” Cleveland Sports Might Get a Documentary

I was checking out Scene Magazine’s website this morning and I saw a post about a new documentary seeking funding via Kickstarter.  Of course the movie is set to be called Cursed.  What else could you possibly call a movie about Cleveland sports?  Ugh.

In all fairness to the movie makers, it doesn’t sound like this will be a movie draped in misery and self-loathing.  Anyone who really looks into the sorrow over Cleveland sports failures will undoubtedly find some level of faith, tradition and loyalty.  Those are certainly qualities that we are all proud of as Cleveland sports fans.  At the same time, I have this growing feeling to not enable the cursed mentality to define me personally as a sports fan anymore.

Before I totally come off like a hypocrite, let me explain. [Read more...]

Farewell to Rocktober Version 1.0

We decided to go outside of the comfort zone this year in terms of site content and our worst fears were completely unrealized.  We had no idea what to expect when we thought about doing Rocktober, but we were so happy to find that most people rolled with it and enjoyed it.  We promise that we won’t get too far off the reservation and we will try not to over-indulge, but it is nice to know that we can occasionally get a hall pass to go outside the normal confines of Cleveland sports.  For that, let me just say thanks on behalf of everyone at WFNY.

While we are talking about hall passes, how would you feel about giving us one more?  what would you think of us doing some “Best of 2011″ types of articles?  Maybe a couple each for music, movies and TV?

While We’re Waiting… Tribe Trade Partners, Browns Behaving and Striking Out Harper

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

Big thanks to Cre8ive Juice for the new WWW images. Great job Michael!

“So while the North Coast has visions of Carlos Beltran coming to Cleveland, it’s not even all that clear that Beltran would want to come here, which is likely the reason that the Indians are targeting guys like the Cubs’ Jeff Baker, who is apparently not being made available by Chicago, despite their organizational standing and their ability to flip an ancillary part in a non-contending season for pieces that could help them in the future.

Can you hear it now? Pouring out of your radio in the car…“The Indians need a Beltran and they go out and ask about or acquire a guy I’ve never heard of. Yeah, GREAT move Indians!”

Well, if they’re asking on Baker, they’re actually doing exactly what I had hoped that they would do as Baker is a versatile RH bat who can play 5 positions and is under club control through the end of NEXT season. Yes, Baker has a .746 OPS this season as a Utility Man for the Cubs, but he’s played 1B, 2B, 3B, RF, and LF this season while posting a .902 OPS vs. LHP. Remember when I wrote that the Indians should be looking for Casey Blake of about 6 years ago to be the versatile RH bat that they could move around the infield not just this year, but beyond? That’s a guy like Jeff Baker…” [Cousineau/The DiaTribe] [Read more...]

5 Favoite Sports Stories: Browns Commit Highway Robbery

With all the negative sports stories coming from Cleveland this year, I thought I’d run down my five favorite Cleveland sports stories of 2010. They may not be the ‘top stories’ from the year, but they are the ones that resonate with me the most. Each day this week you can read my take and chime in with your own memory of the events. Today we start with #5:

The Browns commit highway robbery.

As one who was very much old enough to remember the knife slowly inserted and twisting in my back during The Drive, it felt good to finally get a little revenge on the Broncos.

At the time of the deal, it seemed a bit of an after-thought. Randy Lerner had brought in his ‘football man’ in Mike Holmgren, who wasted little time in securing the services of Tom Heckert and giving Eric Mangini another year at the helm. They reviewed the QB situation and determined that neither Derek Anderson nor Brady Quinn were the answer. Anderson found his way out West, taking up a roster spot in Arizona. Meanwhile Heckert and Holmgren started their QB platoon with Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace. [Read more...]

Cleveland Athlete Twitter Tourney: The Finals

We must say goodbye to rookies Carlton Mitchell (who was at least good enough to chat with us) and Joe Haden who were up against stiff competition in the semi-finals.

And so it has come down to two. The overwhelming favorite- Josh Cribbs and the Cavaliers top guard Mo Williams will now compete head-to-head for the title of Cleveland Twitter Champ. I remind you that the contest is not about who your favorite player is on the field or court as the case may be, but who puts out the best tweets. Whose twitter account reigns supreme? [Read more...]

Cleveland Athlete Twitter Tourney: Final 4

Two days of voting down. We’ve whittled our field of 16 down to 4. Two very close races yesterday. Mo Williams edged Eric Wright by a narrow margin (perhaps vindication for my original top ten?) and Shaun Rogers gave rookie WR Carlton Mitchell a run for his money. Over 1,300 votes were cast propelling our top 4.

So let’s get right to it. In our first semi-final match-up we have the #1 seed Josh Cribbs (@JoshCribbs16) taking on the 4 seed rookie CB Joe Haden (@joehaden23).

Our second semi-final features the only non-Brown to make it out of round 1, Mo Williams (@mogotti2) who was the #3 seed taking on WR Carlton Mitchell (@clmitch18).

Ready…set…vote! [Read more...]

The Cleveland Athlete Twitter Tourney: Round 2

Thanks to Scott for helping with our technical issues yesterday. To see the voting results from round one click here. To see the Top Ten list that started it all click here.

Today we move on to the second round. One thing we learned from round one – it’s good to be a Cleveland Brown. The only non-Brown Twitter user to move on was Cavs guard Mo Williams, and he’ll face stiff competition this round from Eric Wright.

Remember, the contest isn’t about production on the field. This contest is purely based on who has the better Twitter account.

Here are your second round match-ups: [Read more...]

Cleveland Athlete Twitter Account Tourney (Polls Fixed)

Alright. Yesterday I gave you my top ten list of Cleveland Sports twitter accounts. For the most part I think I nailed it. In fact there really was only one omission that I heard about- Eric Wright. To be honest with you, 90% on one of these lists sounds pretty good to me.

However, far be it for me to deny you the Cleveland Sports fans your chance to have your voices heard. So we’re going to do a little Twitter tournament. Sixteen Cleveland athletes will compete head to head for a chance to be called the Cleveland Twitter Champ. Each day you will be given a shot to determine a round of the tournament.

Sound easy? It should be. And if the Cleveland stars want to lobby their followers for a victory, far be it for me to say no. (There you go, Eric Wright!) [Read more...]

Top Ten Cleveland Sports Twitter Accounts

A few things before we get to the list. This started out to be a top ten Cleveland Athletes list, but as I dug into it, I realized that there is a severe lack of really interesting twitter accounts in our pro sports teams. The top few are very good, but outside of that, not very exciting. So I expanded the list beyond athletes. Full disclosure- I would put a few WFNY accounts up against nearly any of these, but in the interest of fairness we will consider WFNY writers off limits for the list.

So here we go, the top ten Cleveland Sports Twitter Accounts:

1. Josh Cribbs (@JoshCribbs16) Cleveland’s most beloved athlete is also a top tweeter. Whether he’s talking about movies, music, food, his family, or the Browns Josh brings it. He posts great pictures to his account as well. Seriously, what other professional athlete posts a picture of himself in an Easter Bunny costume? Keep it up Josh. You are Cleveland’s best.

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One on One with Mark

“Leave the indoor games to the finesse conferences down south.” Finesse, that’s pretty funny. Oh wait, you were serious?- Mark

Not everyone is a comedian. You have to have balance in the comments section. Otherwise there is no real discussion, just a series one-liners. Frequent commenter Mark Skog brings solid opinions to the table. Now it’s his turn at the plate in our commenter interview line up. I am impressed that he decided to rock the Browns helmet at Target, ala MattyFos. Perhaps this can become a trademark of WFNY commenters? I want to see more pics of you guys in department stores rocking the Orange dome!

1. Favorite sport to watch in person.

I am going to throw you all for a loop a bit – University of Tennessee football. Go Vols! When I went to college all those many years ago, one of the first guys I met was Ed White, a huge Volunteer fan. He grew up going to all of their games. Given that our small school didn’t have a team, UT quickly became the team of choice amongst friends. Ed and his family have been kind enough to pass tickets my way and we’ve been going to games each year for almost 20 years now. The seats are on the 50, about 15 rows up. Big time college football is an amazing experience and they do it up right down south. [Read more...]

One on One with REEPJP

….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… -REEPJP

You remember Delonte West’s correspondent piece on Jim Rome? You remember Rome saying that the bar for those pieces was just raised? Yep. Joe may be the new standard bearer for commenter interviews. Not really because of his answers, or pictures or even his offer of free beverages. Mostly it’s because he had the stones to link the wedding video rap. How player is that?

1. Favorite sport to watch in person.

Hmm….I guess I’m going to have to go with the crowd on this one and say baseball, although hockey is a close 2nd. Sometimes I feel like I must be every local team’s marketing dream…I am a sucker for “free” giveaways (is it really free if you paid for your ticket?) and promotional nights…..”you mean it’s buck-a-bone night AND they’re giving out free rally towels! Honey, cancel all of our plans tonight, we HAVE to go to this game!” Quite honestly, when I’m going to the game anymore it takes a night like this to convince me lady to come with me. Anyways, baseball is meant to be watched in person….grab a hotdog, a few brewskis, a bag of peanuts and I’m good to go. [Read more...]

One on One with Dgriff13

Dawn is an artist. No really. She makes web comics and is a graphic artist. You can check out her work here. And here. And, she’s a girl. Who reads WFNY. I know, crazy huh?

1. Favorite sport to watch in person

I have only seen 1 Browns game, but football is by far the most exciting! I saw them play the Eagles the season the Eagles went to the Super Bowl.. the Browns were awful as usual.. but fans were still there, cheering, barking, yelling, stomping.. I felt the stadium move. I prayed for a less than 20 point loss just have some dignity, and the game actually went into OT… only to lose in the end by a field goal. Typical. [Read more...]

One on One with Stin4u

“Don’t forget Miss Cleo predicted Lebron would go to the Wizards….IT’S A LOCK”- stin4u

The commenter interviews continue today. Up next is Justin, but you might know him better as stin4u…

1. Favorite sport to watch in person.

Always has and always will be baseball. To me there is nothing better than a day spent in the bleachers at a tribe game sipping a cool adult beverage and trying desperately to get the left fielder on either team to acknowledge your presence. My dad is most to blame for this, it’s completely cliche but the first time he took me to a game at Municipal Stadium and we walked out of the tunnel and I saw the grass and all the seats I was hooked for life. Not to mention I’d never gotten to pee in a trough before and that was ultra cool! [Read more...]

One on One with MattyFos

Who doesn’t prefer vacation over work? That could be the Cavs selling point. You get an extra month of vacation and you get a week off before the season ends because we will have locked down the number one seed for the playoffs. -MattyFos

Every once in a while we get to know our commenters a little better. Today we hand the reigns over to MattyFos.

1. Favorite sport to watch in person

It’s kind of a tossup. I love the casual environment at the ball park. Going to watch any baseball game in person with my dad and older brother has always been enjoyable. It’s a slower pace game so there’s a lot of downtime to talk about the players and just spend time with family and friends.

I also enjoy Browns football in person. You tailgate a couple of hours prior to the game, which is always fun. Then you get into the game and you can just feel the passion for Browns football. The women, children and obviously the men live and die on what’s going to take place over the next three hours. It’s a great atmosphere. [Read more...]

One on One with jimkanicki

So we used to do these ‘commenter interviews’ back in the day. We stopped doing them for whatever reason, but a couple weeks ago someone sent a message through the tips email that they really liked the feature and asked us to consider doing them again. What can I say? I’m such a pushover…

Mike Burgermeister (commenter handle jimkanicki) is an open thread warrior. Someone should pay this man to do in game analysis. We trapped him at the time line and got him to talk about his experiences as a Cleveland fan.

First some background-

Like many commenters on WFNY, I’m a typical ex-pat Clevelander.

Born in Columbus (Grandview) 1961. Both parents are OSU alums. Sports nerd from early on (ie, played lots of Strat-o-Matic). Moved to Lorain County (Grafton*) in 74. Was a Browns/Reds fan in Columbus, but adopted the Indians in 74 because .. well it was too easy to be a Reds fan. If you could get behind Charley Spikes and Tom Buskey… well NOW your hardcore fan chops are in place. [Read more...]

WFNY Confessional: Rick

Right from the start, the idea for this piece came from a post over at 11Warriors. It looks like they got the idea from the college football blog Every Day Should be Saturday. We give them full credit for the idea. Everyone happy? Good.

I am not Catholic, so I have more of an ‘outsiders’ understanding of a confessional. I get repentance. Anyway, the idea of getting things off your chest that others might find offensive is appealing to me in the sports genre. So without any more adieu, here are my biggest Cleveland sports confessions.

1. When I was very young I didn’t really like the Indians.

There I said it.

In fact, I rooted for the Orioles for a while. The first World Series I ever watched was the Orioles vs the Phillies in 1983. That was a killer pitching staff. Boddicker, Palmer, Flanagan, McGregor. Throw in Cal Ripken, Eddie Murray and Rick Dempsey and you had an excellent team. [Read more...]

Chicago Tribune: Shut Your Piehole

It was brought to my attention by the good folks over at Cleveland.com that the sports editors of the Chicago Tribune decided to offer some advice for Cleveland fans through an article in their paper and a video online. (I have to be sure to cite sources here, ask Jay Mariotti how that goes with the Tribune.)

In it, Mike Kellams and Tim Bannon (who may or may not be pictured here) call some work table at their office “the Smack Lodge” and proceed to rip the fans of Cleveland specifically for the We Are LeBron music video, and in general for being “sad” and “begging” LeBron James to stay in Cleveland. At the end of the video they were hoping to get a reply from Governor Strickland. Well, as much as I know I can’t speak for the state of Ohio, or the Governor I’d like to offer my response: shut-up.

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Looking Ahead

The Cavaliers’ season is finished, albeit earlier than we were hoping for. The question before us as Cleveland sports fans is what are you looking forward to? This site’s name is Waiting For Next Year, but sometimes we believe that gets taken out of context. We are fans earnestly anticipating the next great Cleveland sports moment and team.

So what are you looking forward to? Is there an Indians series you can’t wait to attend? Are you looking forward to any of the young players in Columbus or Akron making their debut? Any World Series of Golf fans hoping to make it to Firestone this year? Are you holding out hope for Browns training camp? Waiting on every word or mention of LeBron’s free agency? [Read more...]