OSU Beats Iowa in OT: Rose Bowl Scenarios
November 15, 2009While We’re Waiting… The Curse of Art Modell, LeBron and JJ, and Kory Wiita’s Fight
November 16, 2009A little light humor on a Sunday night before the eyes of the entire football-watching country turn towards Cleveland tomorrow night. The “Really Big Show” on WKNR has popularized a particular song recorded on Youtube by an enthusiastic soccer fan. Vince at ‘64 and Counting posted on this over this weekend. By now, I am sure many of you have seen the preposterous little British homage to Randy Lerner which extols him as a savior. The song focuses on his ownership of the Aston Villa soccer club and the relative success they have enjoyed since he bought the club in 2006(If you have not, definitely watch it here first before you play the video below). In this tumultuous season, Browns fans know how hilarious the thought is of someone writing a song to express gratitude for Randy being a savior owner. One creative Browns fan took it upon himself to come up with this mocking Browns edition for Randy’s American football team and as you can imagine, the theme and lyrics do not exactly line up with what the old British man belts out in his version.
I remember being in the stands last year for MNF when Eric Wright picked off Eli and took it 90+ yards to the house. It was the loudest I had heard the stadium since William Green’s 63 yard run against the Falcons put the Browns in the playoffs in 2002. Even though the Browns were 1-3 going into the game, I remember the electricity in the air walking into the stadium that night and the pandemonium and joy permeating throughout the crowd as we filed out. It was clear we were not headed for big things with Romeo but who could have guessed we would be at this point for our next home appearance on MNF. The regular weekday crew will have full coverage of the game tomorrow along with a comprehensive preview. It’s exciting to have all the ESPN personalities in town and have the national spotlight for the afternoon and evening on downtown Cleveland. We all just wish it were under better circumstances.
19 Comments
Amazing. We have such talented fans
haha, very funny.
as the resident soccer idiot here i must also remind everyone that Aston Villa really DID stink prior to Lerner – so you have to give him credit over the pond. Also…you do know that there is another Cleveland connection at Villa Park: Bay Village’s own, Brad Friedel is the man between the sticks (that’s “goalkeeper” for you Yanks).
I wonder what their conversations must be like…
Braylon missed his calling. In soccer, they pay you NOT to use your hands.
Imagine if Dan Gilbert owned a crappy rugby team in Europe…..
This is great
Can we just switch Gruden and Mangini tomorrow? Send Eric to the box and lets keep Jon here.
Great song! But I don’t know what team this guys been watching. He says we pay for “mediocre” football. Mediocre is light years above where the Browns are.
I wonder if it would be possible for Randy and the Dolan’s to trade Cleveland franchises. Part of Lerner’s succes with Villa is that he is willing to pay for talent, but doesnt just waste money. That is a virtue that is wasted with a salary cap. Maybe, just maybe, the Dolan’s would be successful with the salary cap for football and Lerner could spend the money to keep our bloved players like Vic…
Sorry, didnt mean to drag you all into my dream sequence there!
Browns as a team are better suited for soccer- lots of teams don’t score.
I’m not ready to jump on the hate bandwagon for Lerner yet. Check out what owner Dan Snyder does to Redskins fans, and this guy might lighten up his opinion of Lerner. Just sayin’.
Sam B-I don’t want the Dolans and their Shapiro-ese running ANY cleveland franchise. That’s a foolish notion and suggestion. Rather, let’s get BOTH franchises right, how’s that?
CJG-all owners are prone to do that signage thing under panic, Modell had that for YEARS with the Browns, you probably have no idea. Did you know that Lerner JUST sent out a mass email to season ticket holders with facts and figures suggesting fans be in their seats at kickoff-and you think he’s not prone to similar panic maneuvers? Wasn’t he the one who PERSONALLY went out and chose a coach (prior to a GM) on his OWN, utilizing his zero professional NFL football acumen? Cmon man….observe.
Just sayin’ (I hate when people use that monicker to try and act like an authority).
@ Isis- You are actually right, I am not very observant of the Browns…1-7 records will do that, even to someone who will root for no other teams except the ones in Ohio. However, seeing how I am from NEOhio but live in DC now, I have observed Redskins fans hate their owner. They. Hate. Snyder. It does not take a whole lot of observing to see that. And from the looks of WFNY’s postings, Lerner has done more to reach out to fans than Snyder has. To me, that counts for something.
Just sayin’.
“I hate when people use that monicker to try and act like an authority”
OBSERVE-ing that statement made for one of the best laughs I’ve had in a while. Milk-spewing, in fact. Hypocrisy is fun.
I do wish people would stop the drumbeat for Chucky as new HC. If you think we have QB issues now, just take a look at the collection Gruden had going in Tampa. Not to mention that the team consistently regressed during his tenure, as he is a poor developer of young talent. Once again, unless Tony Dungy and Monte Kiffin are going to come in and establish the talent here first, you don’t want Gruden.
Hi there. As a Villa fan from Ireland I hope you don’t mind me throwing in my two cents.
Since buying Villa, Randy Lerner’s stewardship has been nothing short of exceptional. That is not an exaggeration, as hard as it might be for some of you to grasp! Villa were at a low ebb before Randy arrived. The club’s history is unrivalled in world football – it being the club that gave the world the league competition. Aston Villa has won every major honour in the game, including the European Cup. This is a football club that was the greatest way before the likes of Real Madrid came on the scene.
Unfortunately for Villa, the club got saddled with an owner (Doug Ellis) who had very little regard for the club’s history and winning trophies. Mr. Ellis was happy with mediocrity: for twenty-five years we saw our status as a club become eroded. Other clubs caught us up and overtook our trophy count.
Since Randy has arrived, he has hired a magnificent manager and started to restore the historic Villa Park to its former glory. At all times his actions have spoken loudly. Very quickly he has earned a reputation for integrity and philanthropy and made Villa one of the most admired clubs in the league.
Browns fans, I urge you to think carefully. You have an owner who is a winner and wants to win. He is not a man who wants Browns or Villa to be second best. He is a winner – although it is hard for you to see that now. He is a guy who clearly cares about his teams.
The difference between the progress of the Browns and that of Aston Villa lies with the coaching staff. In appointing Martin O’Neill at Villa he hired a hungry, ambitious winner of a man, a man who shares his vision for making Villa number one again. If there is an equivalent figure in the NFL then Randy will get him and he will support him. The question is – is there such a figure?
Browns fans, I urge you not to chase away Randy Lerner – he is a one in a million. Instead help him to find that winning coach. That is the missing link between current failure and future success. If the Browns can get that coaching leader, Mr. Lerner will prove to be the most supportive owner around. It’s frustrating, but that is my take on the situation.
Good luck Browns – you’ll get it right and victory will taste that much sweeter. If you rid yourselves of Randy Lerner, you will lose the backing of a man who – I am certain – feels very, very deeply about your team.
[…] [via WFNY] […]
Thanks for joining us, Michal.
As a Browns fan–I won’t pretend to speak for all of us, but I’m not the only one that feels this way–Aston Villa is part of the problem. All appearances are that this is where his heart lies–not with the Browns.
He has had several opportunities to hire the proper executives to run the Browns. He has reportedly received mentoring from some of the most successful owners in the NFL. But he has repeated the same mistakes. When opportunities arose to bring leadership to the organization, he has turned arrogant, saying he’s “learned a think or two” and instead opted to have everyone report directly to him.
Where he has hired capable leadership for Aston Villa, the Browns’ organizational chart is cluster****. And recent developments indicate the pattern of compounding one bad decision with another continues.
I’m happy for you guys, but my understanding of how Aston Villa has turned around–reinforced by your take on the situation–only reinforces the difference between your situation and ours.
His stewardship of the football team on this side of the pond has left many completely bereft of hope, and now verges on losing an entire second (quickly becoming third) generation of fans… and that is very sad, considering the historical nature of this franchise.
Two other points I overlooked, Michal.
“If there is an equivalent figure in the NFL then Randy will get him and he will support him. The question is – is there such a figure?”
There are several. Coaching turnover is high in the NFL, with roughly a 1/3 annual turnover. Seemingly every year there is a young coach or two that turns his team’s fortunes around, and in the past few years there have been several experienced winning coaches that have left their long-time teams, either for the sake of change/getting younger or to semi-retire and spend a year or two in the TV booth.
The problem with the Browns is twofold: when hiring young coaches, Randy has made questionable choices. The last two interview processes have given the distinct appearance of wanting to get the decision out of the way as quickly as possible, and making too rash a choice, leading to picking the wrong person (no Browns head coach since the franchise returned in 1999 has gone on to get another HC job in the NFL–all were questionable when hired, and proved woefully unprepared to coach at this level.) I don’t fault Randy for wanting to stay out of the limelight, I think most fans appreciate that as well–but he’s afraid to take the time to make the right decision–he’d rather get it done and over with and not have to deal with making the tough choices.
The second problem we run into is that experienced, successful coaches won’t come here thanks to the problems with the organization. It’s a place to work if nobody else will hire you. It’s that bad.
“Browns fans, I urge you not to chase away Randy Lerner – he is a one in a million. ”
Randy won’t sell the team, I don’t think we have to worry about anyone chasing him away. Unfortunately, though, he is doing a marvelous job at chasing away the fans. Where generations of families grew up cheering for the Browns together, local kids today instead root for Indianapolis or Pittsburgh–winning teams. And that is only getting worse.
I’m glad things are going better for you Aston Villa fans, but the contrast between the two organizations is quite disheartening to a Browns fan…
Thanks for the insights Phred.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens at Villa when Martin O’Neill is no longer the Boss (hopefully that day is a long way off).
It’s clearly a very frustrating situation for you guys. I hope Randy has learned from his mistakes. If he can just get the next appointment right the Browns will soar. I’ll be rooting for you fellas!
Best wishes and thanks for your replies.