May 18, 2013

WFNY T-shirt giveaway and NFL Draft link roundup

April 25, 2013 by 26 Comments

It’s Draft Day in Cleveland. So we at WaitingForNextYear know there’s a lot going on out there. That’s why we’re back with one final draft post — as a T-shirt contest and to recap all the talk over the past week. Enjoy and thanks for being the best readers.

WFNYOnTheClockMock1WebWFNYOnTheClockMock2Web

WFNY Draft Day T-Shirt Contest:

Only one entry permissible per household. A single comment will be selected randomly by the WFNY staff. All entries must be submitted by 7:59 p.m. Thursday, April 25. Winner will receive their choice of T-shirt from the WFNY collection at GV Art and Design.

In order to qualify, please copy and paste both of the questions, along with your answers:
1) Who do you think the Cleveland Browns will select in the first round?
2) What has been your favorite NFL Draft post at WFNY recently? [Read more...]

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WFNY Curates: Top Albums of All Time

March 24, 2013 by 47 Comments

WFNY Podcast LogoIn the latest of our episodes discussing music, Craig and Andrew decided to take some time to talk about our favorite albums of all time. As always, these are just our own personal picks and not so much a declaration of the universal best albums of all time. With that in mind, we thus implore you guys to leave us some comments with your personal favorite albums of all time. We hope you enjoy.

Craig’s Top Ten (In no particular order):

  1. Radiohead – “OK Computer”
  2. Mineral – “End Serenade”
  3. Acid Bath – “When the Kite String Pops”
  4. Pearl Jam – “Ten”
  5. Death Cab For Cutie – “Transatlanticism”
  6. Nine Inch Nails – “The Downward Spiral”
  7. Tool – “Undertow”
  8. Pink Floyd – “Dark Side of the Moon”
  9. Smashing Pumpkins – “Siamese Dream”
  10. Sigur Ros – ( )

Andrew’s Top Ten (In somewhat of an order)

  1. Pearl Jam – “YIELD”
  2. Titus Andronicus – “The Monitor”
  3. Radiohead – “Kid A”
  4. Nine Inch Nails – “The Fragile”
  5. Soundgarden – “Down On The Upside”
  6. Rancid – “…And Out Come The Wolves”
  7. Dead Confederate – “Wrecking Ball”
  8. Weezer – “Pinkerton”
  9. The Thermals – “The Body, The Blood, The Machine”
  10. Drive-By Truckers – “The Dirty South”

Last 5 Out:

  1. Refused – “The Shape of Punk To Come”
  2. The Stooges – “Funhouse”
  3. Queens of the Stone Age – “Songs for the Deaf”
  4. PJ Harvey – “Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea”
  5. Jerry Cantrell – “Degradation Trip Volumes 1&2″

 

 

 

Listen at Stitcher

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WFNY Podcast – 2013-03-01 Craig and Andrew Discuss MIT Sloan Conference, Dion Waiters, and more

March 1, 2013 by 2 Comments

WFNY Podcast LogoCraig is in Boston this weekend for the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, but that didn’t stop him from calling me up for another podcast episode.

Admittedly, I like most of my fellow WFNY writers are pretty envious that Craig is lucky enough to take in this impressive and prestigious sports media conference in person, and so we started off spending a couple minutes talking about the conference. And from there, the conversation kind of went all over the place.

Here’s just some of the things we discussed…

  • MIT Sloan Conference
  • Our strange inability to remember other writers’ names
  • What do we make of the Shaun Livingston resurgance? Is it luck?
  • What happened in Washington?
  • Coming back from catastrophic injury and overcoming the mental and physical setbacks
  • Polarization on the internet
  • Eric Mangini and the internet muscles on both sides
  • Should the Cavaliers wait until 2014 or should they make a move for someone sooner?
  • Dion Waiters, improvement, and confirmation bias

[Read more...]

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WFNY Podcast – 2013-02-02 – WFNY Curates: Deftones

February 2, 2013 by 6 Comments

WFNY Podcast LogoFirst off, a warning. This is not a sports podcast. However, with things being kind of quiet in the sports world right now (it’s not like there’s a big game this weekend or anything, right?), and it being the weekend and all, Craig and I decided to try something a little different.

One of both of our favorite bands is the southern California metal band Deftones. So we set out on a task to discuss the band in great detail and talk about some of our favorite songs.

If you’re not a music fan at all, this may not be for you. If you’re Deftones fan, it’s definitely for you. If you like music and are either unfamiliar with the band or don’t necessarily care for it, I suggest giving a quick listen and seeing if we can help articulate what it is that we think is so great about this band.

To bring you to speed on the Deftones, here are our playlists with our favorite Deftones songs.

First, Craig’s:

And here’s mine:

If you notice, we both picked the same song as our favorite Deftones song. Here’s the music video for that song:

And finally, a couple live videos of the band:

We really hope you guys enjoy this, and we’ll probably be doing some similar music themed podcasts in the future.

 

Listen at Stitcher

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Subscribe on iTunes

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Celebrating Five Years of Waiting For Next Year

February 1, 2013 by 52 Comments

WFNY 5 Year Birthday

Five years. Wow, where has the time gone?

In late 2007, Rick was running a blog called Halftime Adjustments, Scott was doing the Cleveland Sports Minute, and I was running my own blog called Cleveland Sports Authority (yes, that truly is the worst name for a site ever). It was around that time that Rick approached Scott and I about teaming up together and forming a new site.

It made a lot of sense. We were all covering the same stories and writing about the same things. We were commenting on each other’s posts and linking back and forth to one another. So we all agreed to form a partnership and in late January 2008 we started this little endeavor.

None of our sites were all that popular. Well, at least I know my site wasn’t. I remember the first time 100 people read one of my posts and I thought it was the coolest thing ever that there were 100 people out there interested in something I wrote. So I don’t think any of the three of us really knew what to expect. All we knew was that we shared a vision…kindred spirits who recognized a common bond that we could build something really fun and special around.

And so as January 2008 came to a close, we locked the doors on our individual sites and launched Waiting For Next Year. [Read more...]

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WFNY Podcast – 2013-01-31 – The Art Modell Episode

January 31, 2013 by 2 Comments

WFNY Podcast LogoThe Art Modell talk has been going strong lately, and in this episode Craig and I discussed the former Browns owner’s upcoming consideration for the pro football Hall of Fame.

We tried as much as possible to not rehash all the excellent pieces that have been written on the subject lately, but some of the topics we discussed include:

  • Is it possible to discuss this issue without bias as Cleveland fans?
  • Is the argument against Modell more about Art himself or about the Hall of Fame itself?
  • Ozzie Newsome’s guest column in the Plain Dealer
  • The perspective from neutral observers on this subject
  • Is there any real chance Modell actually gets in?
  • Much much more…

 

 

Listen at Stitcher

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WFNY Podcast – 2012-12-31 – Top Albums of 2012

December 31, 2012 by 12 Comments

‘Tis the season for Year-End Best of 2012 lists. Here at WFNY, we’re doing the Top Sports Stories of 2012, but in today’s podcast, Craig and I veered off sports a bit to talk about some of our favorite music of the year. We recognize that this only reflect our own personal interests, but we hope you’ll find the discussion interesting.

Also, we sincerely want to hear from you guys. What were some of your favorite bands and artists of 2012? Let us know in the comments below.

I’ve also included a Playlist I made of some of my favorite songs from some of my top albums of the year. I hope everyone finds something they enjoy on the list.

Craig gave his nod for two of his favorite albums of 2012. One of them is a band called Now, Now and their album is “Threads” and the other one is Of Monsters and Men – “My Head Is An Animal”.

I discussed my Top 5 albums in the podcast, but if anyone wants to see my Top 20 through 6, I’ve listed that below as well. Enjoy!

20. Frank Ocean – “channel ORANGE”
19. Nadja – “Dagdrøm”
18. The Men – “Open Your Heart”
17. Freshkills – “Raise Up The Streets”
16. A Place To Bury Strangers – “Worship”
15. Ty Segall – “Twins”
14. Passion Pit – “Gossamer”
13. Deftones – “Koi No Yokan”
12. Gallows – “Gallows”
11. Bob Mould – “Silver Age”
10. Sleigh Bells – “Reign of Terror”
9. Dirty Projectors – “Swing Lo Magellan”
8. Ceremony – “Zoo”
7. Mark Lanegan Band – “Blues Funeral”
6. Titus Andronicus – “Local Business”

Listen at Stitcher

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Subscribe on iTunes

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WFNY Top 10 Cleveland Sports Stories of 2012: #4 The Indians Fire Manny Acta

December 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment

2012 was one crazy year in the wild wacky world of Cleveland Sports. Some would tell you 2012 was as bad as it has ever been here. As the year comes to a close, like we have done the last four years, WFNY will take a look at what we view to be the 10 biggest sports stories affecting our local sports scene. Each day through the rest of the year, we will be counting down from ten to one. We started the Buckeyes Final Four trip. Number nine is something that happened just a short two weeks ago. The Ohio State perfect 12-0 season was number eight while Chris Perez’ harsh and honest words clocked in at number seven. Our sixth-biggest story saw our first of two straight from the Cavaliers, the drafting of Dion Waiters and Tyler Zeller. Up next was Kyrie Irving receiving the NBA Rookie of the Year award. Coming in at number four is a story that developed over a three-month collapse, culminating in the end of a managerial era.

#4 The Indians Fire Manny Acta

I will admit it. I have admitted it on this site for close to two-plus years. I was in the tank for Manny Acta. After watching Eric Wedge Belichick his was through media sessions, it was refreshing watching Acta’s approach. He was up front, amicable, and a great quote. He was extremely witty and seemed to relish the fact that he was lucky enough to have one of the 30 managerial jobs in the majors. The Indians trotted Acta out on Mall Tours and other public appearances because, after all, he was the anti-Wedge.

Could you see The Grinder taking the microphone at Beachwood Place to talk to the fans about anything under the sun, from the lineup he wanted to put out on the field to Shelley Duncan’s beard? What about Wedge standing at home plate after Sunday afternoon home games high-fiving kids after the ran the bases? How many appearances at Landerhaven or the Wahoo Club did Wedge make? And if he made any, did he have the crowd eating out of his hands the way Acta did?

[Read more...]

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12 Days of a Cleveland Christmas is back!

December 6, 2012 by 91 Comments

If you are new to WFNY, you may not know that we love to give back to our readers. It’s our way to say thank you for reading and supporting the WFNY community.

Here’s how the giveaway works. For the next 12 weekdays 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. We’ll do our best with the things we have in hand. 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.

Today’s Prize: [Read more...]

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Talkin’ Browns, Tribe, and Cavs On More Sports & Les Levine

November 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Last night, yours truly and the young buck, Jacob Rosen, did a guest spot on More Sports and Les Levine for a solid hour. We ran the gambit of topics from Pat Shurmur to Mark Shapiro to Byron Scott to the Baseball Hall of Fame Voters. Since many of you aren’t Time Warner Cable subscribers or live elsewhere, we thought we would give you a couple of quick highlights from the evening’s festivities. Much thanks again go out great friend of WFNY Les Levine for having us on.

[Read more...]

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What We’re Thankful For…

November 22, 2012 by 3 Comments

We have a tradition here at WFNY. Each Thanksgiving we take the time to reflect on what has been and what will be and give thanks. This is the fifth edition of What We’re Thankful For. I went back and read the last four. It’s amazing how quick the time rolls by.

Rick- I have so much to be thankful for. It has been a long year, with many changes for me personally. I am thankful that I am now closer to the teams I love. I’m thankful that my wife loves and trusts me enough to follow me to this strange new planet Cleveland. As always, I am thankful that she understands that WFNY is part of who I am and have to be. Thanks Kelly.

More than ever I am thankful for the crew we have assembled. I’m thankful for the guys who have been with us for years and are so reliable- like Mark Price at the free throw line. I’m thankful for the new life that is breathed into the group when someone new begins. It’s exciting to see where your lives are going.

[Read more...]

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Box Score: Cowboys 23, Browns 20

November 18, 2012 by 3 Comments

Oh boy. This game was a doozy, as somehow the Cowboys needed an extra period to fend off the mistake-laden Browns. Nearly a dozen first down penalties by the Cleveland defense had the Cowboys on top late, but a crazy back-and-forth ending eventually resulted in the three-point win.

I’m sure we’ll have plenty of analysis on this nutty game over the next few hours and days. In fact, Rick already has his recap up from the game: Browns blow 13-0 halftime lead; lose 23-20 in overtime.

Scoring Summary

1st QuarterCLE – DAL
4:01 Cleveland BrownsCLE TD Brandon Weeden passed to Benjamin Watson down the middle for 10 yard gain (Phil Dawson made PAT) 7 – 0
2nd QuarterCLE – DAL
12:09 Cleveland BrownsCLE FG Phil Dawson kicked a 51-yard field goal 10 – 0
5:07 Cleveland BrownsCLE FG Phil Dawson kicked a 37-yard field goal 13 – 0
3rd QuarterCLE – DAL
4:16 Dallas CowboysDAL FG Dan Bailey kicked a 44-yard field goal 13 – 3
4th QuarterCLE – DAL
13:54 Dallas CowboysDAL TD Felix Jones rushed to the right for 2 yard gain (Dan Bailey made PAT) 13 – 10
6:46 Dallas CowboysDAL TD Tony Romo passed to Dez Bryant to the left for 28 yard gain (Dan Bailey made PAT) 13 – 17
1:07 Cleveland BrownsCLE TD Brandon Weeden passed to Benjamin Watson down the middle for 17 yard gain (Phil Dawson made PAT) 20 – 17
0:02 Dallas CowboysDAL FG Dan Bailey kicked a 32-yard field goal 20 – 20
OTCLE – DAL
6:07 Dallas CowboysDAL FG Dan Bailey kicked a 38-yard field goal 20 – 23

Passing

Cleveland Browns Comp Att Yds Pct Y/A Sack YdsL TD Int Rating
Brandon Weeden 20 35 210 57.1 6.0 2 18 2 0 93.8
Dallas Cowboys Comp Att Yds Pct Y/A Sack YdsL TD Int Rating
Tony Romo 35 50 313 70.0 6.3 7 56 1 0 93.2

Rushing

Cleveland Browns Rush Yds Avg Lng TD FumL
Trent Richardson 28 95 3.4 9 0 0
Montario Hardesty 4 23 5.8 12 0 0
Chris Ogbonnaya 1 1 1.0 1 0 0
Dallas Cowboys Rush Yds Avg Lng TD FumL
Felix Jones 14 43 3.1 12 1 0
Tony Romo 2 10 5.0 5 0 1
Lance Dunbar 5 10 2.0 7 0 0

Receiving

Cleveland Browns Rec Tgt Yds Avg Lng TD FumL
Greg Little 3 4 53 17.7 22 0 0
Josh Gordon 5 7 53 10.6 23 0 0
Trent Richardson 6 8 49 8.2 27 0 0
Benjamin Watson 4 8 47 11.8 17 2 0
Josh Cooper 1 2 6 6.0 6 0 0
Alex Smith 1 1 2 2.0 2 0 0
Joshua Cribbs 0 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
Jordan Cameron 0 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
Mohamed Massaquoi 0 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
Dallas Cowboys Rec Tgt Yds Avg Lng TD FumL
Dez Bryant 12 15 145 12.1 30 1 0
Miles Austin 6 12 58 9.7 13 0 0
Jason Witten 7 8 51 7.3 10 0 0
Dwayne Harris 3 3 20 6.7 8 0 0
Felix Jones 2 3 12 6.0 7 0 0
Kevin Ogletree 1 3 10 10.0 10 0 0
Cole Beasley 1 1 8 8.0 8 0 0
Lance Dunbar 2 3 6 3.0 6 0 0
Lawrence Vickers 1 1 3 3.0 3 0 0

Kicking

Cleveland Browns XPM XPA FGM FGA Lng Pct Pts
Phil Dawson 2 2 2 2 51 100.0 8
Dallas Cowboys XPM XPA FGM FGA Lng Pct Pts
Dan Bailey 2 2 3 3 44 100.0 11

Punting

Cleveland Browns Punt Avg Blk In20 TB
Reggie Hodges 5 31.0 0 2 1
Dallas Cowboys Punt Avg Blk In20 TB
Brian Moorman 7 43.1 0 3 0

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New WFNY shirt designs available now!

October 31, 2012 by 2 Comments

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”.

[Read more...]

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WFNY Survivor Pool 2012

September 4, 2012 by 14 Comments

UPDATE: NEW GROUP ADDED.

We’ve had some solid success rates with these Survivor Pools in the past, so we’re doing it once again.

The rules are simple: pick one team, each week, that you think will win their respective contest regardless of the spread. You guess wrong, you’re out. Last man standing takes home a to-be-determined prize. I’d wager to guess that one of our brand new GV Artwork shirts will be involved. The rest remains to be seen.

Sign in through here — all you need is a Yahoo! ID. The Group number is 27773; the password is WFNY.

UPDATE: Second group added. Yahoo group number 28914; password WFNY.

UPDATE: Third group added: Group number 29711; password WFNY

Best of luck, folks.

Filed Under: Browns, General Tagged With: ,

Deuce Brand Giveaway Day Two: Facebook Caption Contest

May 30, 2012 by 2 Comments

Day Two of our Deuce Brand watch giveaway is here. Congrats to Eric the Rockeye for winning yesterday’s contest.

Today’s contest takes place over on our Facebook page. To enter, all you have to do is head over to the caption contest located here, and leave us a comment *on our Facebook post* with your captions for the photo posted there. Winner will be announced tomorrow. Good luck!

[Related: Contest: WFNY and Deuce Brand Watch Giveaway]

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Contest: WFNY and Deuce Brand Watch Giveaway

May 29, 2012 by 143 Comments

Weeden working out wearing his signature series watch

It’s time for another contest/promotion giveaway here at WFNY. This time, we’re excited to announce the kick off of a week long promotional partnership with Deuce Brand.

Deuce Brand is a young innovative business focusing on unique silicone Sports
Watches of exceptional quality & great comfort. The San Diego-based company is developed by a great team of innovative athletes that not just designed the first watch to ever be worn by NBA, NFL & MLS players but also formed the youngest company to ever receive NBA licenses.

Additionally, Deuce Brand also has released signature watches with many professional athletes such as Stevie Johnson, Nolan Smith, Courtney Upshaw, and the Cleveland Browns’ Brandon Weeden. [Read more...]

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Posting: Weekend Editor(s) Wanted

April 25, 2012 by 9 Comments

One of the things that separates WFNY apart from other Cleveland sports sites and blogs, is our commitment to continuing coverage on the weekend, when many, if not most sites and blogs go into hibernation. We are only able to do this thanks to our Weekend Crew, those special individuals that are willing to sacrifice a part of their weekend to post news and original features for our weekend followers.

Our Weekend Crew goes through changes periodically as life circumstances change. We’ve had six weekend editors since the sites’ creation. Some of our previous weekend editors have left after getting their Ph.D, getting married,  new employment and so on. Shortly, we will be losing another weekend editor in Brendan Bowers as his circumstances have changed for the better as well.

We decided to post the position on the site and see who might be interested in joining the weekend team. Here’s what the position entails: [Read more...]

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While We’re Waiting … Tribe Opening Day, Expected Value of Tanking, Post-Hollins Struggles

April 5, 2012 by 4 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 at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.

The DiaTribe features its annual player/song matches to get folks psyched for today’s opener: “[T]o lighten the mood before Game #1 – the annual suggestion of music to accompany each Indians’ player to the plate or to the mound. After an off-season of conjecture, a Spring Training of dissection, and before a season of heavy lifting, this little exercise in frivolity always serves to break up the tension and perhaps provide a little bit of “firing up” to those in need.” [Paul Cousineau/The DiaTribe]

[Read more...]

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Contest Time: Cleveland Indians Opening Day Tickets

March 30, 2012 by 87 Comments

As we like to do from time to time, we are giving away something here at WFNY. Today we are giving away a pair of seats to the SOLD OUT Cleveland Indians opener next Thursday. [Read more...]

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Happy Birthday: WFNY Turns Four Years Old

January 30, 2012 by 37 Comments

Four years ago today, I wrote what was (then called) the first “Morning Minute” on these here pages; a post that recapped the last 24 hours of Cleveland Sports news, meant to be read in a minute’s time. What can I say? We were way ahead of the ADHD curve.

It was the first non-imported that signaled WFNY being open for business.  Back then, there were Gamblogs and op-eds. Rumors and news. We debated Quinn versus Anderson, pondered trading for Mike Miller (then in Memphis), and Andrew wrote about the Browns and the Indians.  Times surely were crazy.

Four years and 15 million page views – a mark which we passed this very weekend –  later, I look back and still can’t believe what WFNY has become. Quick-hitters and longform. Gamers and profiles. Access yet outsiders still looking in.

[Read more...]

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