May 19, 2013

Jim Brown says Mike Holmgren’s Comments “Shows Class”

June 15, 2012 by 22 Comments

In response to the comments made by Mike Holmgren during his Thursday afternoon press conference, Browns Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown stated that the Cleveland Browns president showed a “lot of class.”

“If that’s what Holmgren said, it just shows a lot of class on his part,” said Brown to Cleveland.com’s Branson Wright. “I’ve always been attracted to anyone who has the class to reach out. I have nothing to hold me back from being a positive person in any type of circumstances. I am a Cleveland Brown, but it’s always up to those in control to decide what they want to do.”

Following a much-discussed parting of ways upon the hiring of Holmgren in 2010, Brown has been very outspoken about the team from claims of “racial mascot” to slamming their recent first-round draft selection in running back Trent Richardson. Sour grapes were had as Brown opted to not attend the Ring of Honor ceremony wherein several historical greats were enshrined during a halftime ceremony. Just last week, Brown let the shrapnel extend even further, taking shots at Browns owner Randy Lerner with regard to his ocassional stops in England.

Holmgren addressed the recent news items, stating that, despite the consternation, the team still feels that Brown is a large part of the history and would like for him to be a large part of their future.

“How the Browns view Jim Brown hasn’t changed and will never change,” Holmgren said on Thursday. “I can see where Jim would be upset with me with his role change.

“I would like Jim Brown to come and be a part of this and feel comfortable doing that and I would welcome him with open arms.”

[Related: Jim Brown is still talking about Trent Richardson and Mike Holmgren]

(Source: Branson Wright)

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  • Mark

    It’s the story that will never end. Please make it stop. Someone, anyone out there, please have these two kiss and make up so I never have to hear about the world most insignificant spat ever again.

  • BuckeyeDawg

    Only 56 days until the first preseason game.

    Please get here quick, so we can talk about actual football.  

  • http://twitter.com/GHClevelandSprt Mike Stein

    Why do we need Jim Brown’s approval for anything the Browns do?

  • http://twitter.com/oribiasi oribiasi

    Wow, is it really that soon?  Damn.

  • The_Real_Shamrock

    See that wasn’t hard was it?  Just give Jim Brown the greatest Cleveland Brown a little love and he’s happy.  Note:  These are the kind of things that happen when your football team has been irrelevant for over a decade.

  • The_Real_Shamrock

    Unfortunately so…

  • MallaLubba

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Jim Brown is a dead weight that does nothing but pull the Browns down. The organization needs to cut ties and ignore him and the fans need not give his words any credibility. He’s that player who you have to coddle while he plays due to his insane skills but once he’s done playing his persona is not worth tolerating. The world of professional sports is full of them.

  • kjn

    On the list of things that have pulled the Browns down in the last decade, Jim Brown comes in around number six-hundred-thousand.

    Please story, go away.

  • mgbode

    noone can get their Mars Attacks poster signed if Jim Brown won’t show up to fan functions!

  • BuckeyeDawg

     Maybe someone should break the news to him that the team isn’t named after him…

  • humboldt

    A silly comment. No matter how you feel about him, Jim Brown is a hero/symbol/archetype for Browns fans and should be a part of the franchise as long as it exists.

    This was a bungle by Holmgren and glad he’s acknowledging it and moving to reconcile. 

    Get it done, Randy [wow, that is an awkward sentence to type].

  • porckchopexpress

    That made me smile 10 times over. 

  • humboldt

    An autographed picture of JB bare-knuckle boxing aliens with a skull cap on would really hold my living room together.

  • porckchopexpress

     ”These are the kind of things that happen when your football team has been irrelevant for over a decade.”

    Thats probably one of the truest things written about this franchise. 

  • Harv 21

    The FO did cut ties with Jim Brown. The problem is the PD keeps his cell phone number for slow days and gives Branson Wright a cell phone.

    There is no spat. Just because the nephew of the batty codger who used to own my house drives him over periodically to scream from the curb that I’m not keeping the place up, that doesn’t mean I’m fighting with him. Just means that I might have to periodically explain to the neighbors what’s going on in the most respectful way I can.

  • BuckeyeDawg

     Nope.  He might be a hero/symbol for the fans…but he doesn’t have to be (and shouldn’t be) for the front office.  They need to be figuring out how to build a winner for the future, not trying to placate a former player who played 50 years ago but still needs to be in the headlines to feed his ego.  

  • Fgasmith7

    And this admission by Brown also indicates he was wrong in his original assessment of his original “predicament.” 

  • cmm13

    Jim Brown says he respects people who show “class”…priceless.

  • Harv 21

    “I’ve always been attracted to anyone who has the class to reach out.” 

    An instant nominee for celebrity quote of the year. Both for its actual meaning and the utter lack of self-awareness that caused him to say it without embarrassment.

  • http://twitter.com/oribiasi oribiasi

    Question:  Since the internet GroupThink is that all of his other comments about Holmgren and Richardson and the Browns are all bunk, then these necessarily must also be manure, right?

  • Mgntrader

    If Jim Brown knows so much about football, why hasn’t he been hired in a coach, scout or personel evaluation position?  The game has changed extensively since he decided to walk away from it almost 50 yrs ago.  I just don’t see where Jim Brown has anything relevant to add to the Cleveland Browns. Of course, he had some moderate success being charged with allegedly pistol whipping his girlfriends awhile back.  Jim Brown is all class,,,without the cl. 

  • MallaLubba

    This is where I argue that an off the field persona has nothing to do with skills an accomplishments on the field. What he did is a historical trophy/ legacy for the Browns. He is no hero. He is not an archetype that the Browns should continue to copy in that acquiring athletes of his skill level are more a factor of luck. The NFL is just not built the way is was back then.
    I’m all for remembering and cherishing what he helped/ led the Browns to accomplish and I don’t want to see him run out of town but I do believe he should be ignored as you would ignore that same batty old codger and likely dissociation yourself with him.