I ended up picking up a Classic controller last night. Yes, I'm very impulsive sometimes.

Anyway, I LIKED the Wavebird and was hoping I would be able to use it instead of the Classic. But apparently, many Wiiware games weren't designed to work with it, forcing you to either buy the Classic, or (if it's an option) using the Wii-mote sideways.
Anyway, I'm now able to rock MM9 with the Classic controller. I wish I could change the button mapping around (can't change much in MM9, not sure about other games yet) but it's working for me so I can't complain too much.
GC's controller was ass, you're better off using the classic controller.
not in my experience.
Its like a SNES controller with dual analogs nicely placed on each side.
Not quite. it's much larger (to accomodate the analog sticks) and the sticks are too far away from the edges to be comfortably used. it's allright for games where you only use the D-pad, but I avoid it like the plague in games that require the analog stick. (such as SSBB.) Also, the Z buttons are in an awful place.