Relief, Blame, and Where We Go From Here: On Manny Acta and the Next Tribe Manager
October 2, 2012Ohio State to Square Off Against TCU in 2018, 2019
October 2, 2012I’ve read countless tweets from Browns fans saying they won’t watch this documentary about the 1995 Cleveland Browns. Tony Grossi wrote about it and likened it to reliving a family member’s funeral. While those scenes depicting the stadium being torn apart might cause me to shed a few tears, after seeing the sneak preview, I think I’ll have to watch it because there is so much more there for someone like me born in 1979. I wasn’t anywhere near maturity as a football fan by that point in my life.
I know all the names of the guys in and around the Browns, but to say that I have vivid memories of Bill Belichick as Browns’ head coach would be a lie. It makes this story almost mandatory viewing for NFL fans when you consider that names like Bill Belichick, Mike Lombardi, Nick Saban, Kirk Ferentz, Scott Pioli, Eric Mangini and Ozzie Newsome were all at least partially built during this time period. Yes, it hits hardest for Browns fans who lost their team and in many ways still don’t have it back. Even still, part of being a Browns fan is understanding and wanting to explore the rest of the ecosystem that they exist in in the wider NFL view.1
And now that more than fifteen years have gone by and different pieces of the puzzle have been laid in their place, I guess I’d like to see what that puzzle looks like all put together. I probably won’t cement it, frame it and put it on my wall,2 but I think the exercise will still be worthwhile. Again, it will be painful, but as the Browns are on the precipice of a new owner and probably many more new pieces being added, it feels like the right time to suffer through some depressing memories in order to properly partake in this “after action review.”3
Anyway, there is a preview online featuring commentary from Belichick, Ozzie Newsome, Doug Dieken as well as a host of media members. From what I look like it doesn’t appear to be heavy on the Art Modell propaganda, so at least there’s that.
[Link – NFL Sneak Preview of Browns documentary]
- One of the most difficult adjustments for Browns fans since the team has been back has probably been missing out on five years of game evolution in terms of on and off-field culture. In many ways, I think Browns fans are still fighting many of the changes that happened while we were… ahem… “away.” [↩]
- And really, who cements a puzzle and puts it up on their wall (other than my family growing up, that is? [↩]
- I used to work in a big corporation and all their terminology has yet to leave me. From Wikipedia – “An after action review (AAR) is a structured review or de-brief process for analyzing what happened, why it happened, and how it can be done better, by the participants and those responsible for the project or event.” Technically I wasn’t responsible for anything here, but I’ll use it anyway. [↩]
63 Comments
I’m very interested in this. To me the Browns died with that team. I refuse to acknowledge the team that is now there as the Browns, and they never will be for me. When the Browns left, I stopped following the NFL and have never looked back. The city (and fans) got screwed be the NFL knowing how badly they wanted a franchise, taking any expansion agreement. I have said many times, naming that team the Browns was the worst idea as it put undue expectations on an expansion franchise that was not given the cushy expansion terms that teams added to the league immediately before received.
I was also born in 1979, and I’m surprised you don’t have vivid memories of it. We were 16 years old when this happened, and I remember when I first heard that it was real like it happened yesterday.
Anyway, I won’t begrudge any Browns fans who want to watch it. I won’t, though. I just don’t have any interest in reliving it, or even wallowing in it anymore.
I was in college during much of the Belichick and dismantling era and I watched very little Browns football then. Very curious to see this, if only to crystallize many of the things that are fuzzy in my memory.
Legitimate question for you, not being snotty.
If you have stopped following the NFL and the Browns and never looked back, why are you viewing this site right now? Are you a Buckeyes fan who just saw this story while looking for OSU stuff? Tribe sucks right now, Cavs not up and running yet. Just don’t understand how you get to this comment section if you aren’t at least a little interested in the Browns.
Thanks.
I was born in ’80 and I can remember so much about the game before (Eric Zeiers 1 good game of his career) and the rest of the season. I still credit my HS academic success on not having the Browns to deter me from my studies on Sundays.
I am definitely watching it though. I have always been fascinated with the intricacies of what was happening inside the walls of Berea when chaos reigned throughout the city. And, those coaches have been so quiet for so long.
It is sort of eery that this was a planned documentary and Art happened to die just before the Browns v. Ravens game and the first viewing of it.
few other names from the alumni list of Browns ’95: Jim Schwartz (HC of Lions), Mike Tannenbaum (GM of Jets), Jim Bates (retired DC), Chuck Bresnahan (DC of Raiders), and Thomas Dimitroff (GM of ATL)
born 78 I remember that horse tooth jackass (elway) and that fieldgoal that was wide right (karlas), That being said I was at the last Monday nighter at the old stadium against buffalo and remeber well to this day the loudness and intensity iof the game dispite obsvu seating. been to several games at the new staduim and just things have changed so much not just the team but the stadium and the browns fan base in general. Growing up and looking back now I thought it would would take a threat of nuclear war to let that many squeeler fans in the stadium and so on. Hopefully the new guy changes this back to the old ways. Not the crap that the Lerners put on the field.
I wonder how much Metcalf up the middle, we’ll see. :/
I’ll be watching you need to remember and learn from history otherwise you repeat it over and over and over kinda like what this team has done since practically 1999.
It’s really impressive when you look at the footprint that the “old” Browns have left on the present football landscape. The one that still makes me laugh is Nick Saban. I still remember seeing that young, dorky looking guy on our sidelines as the DC. Hard to believe it’s the same guy who is destroying everyone at Alabama…
My 18 month old daughter loves climbing all over me and has an incredible – almost savant like – ability to crush my cubes during her daddy gymnastics. I think I’m going to skip the show and give her 2 free shots.
That being said, I saw the Ravens honoring Jamall Lewis with Ring Of Honor induction. If there is one thing that came out of that mess that I appreciate its that the records etc stayed here. Can you imagine having to watch Clay Mathews, Big Daddy, Frank and Hanford and others trot out on that field in Baltimore to take part in anniverseries of their accomplishments?
My vivid memories have more to do with my own sadness and reading the paper and bemoaning it with my friends and family, than the actual football and things like that aren’t the parts that live on in my brain. Belichick’s reign in Cleveland existed more in my brain from reading the paper than from actually seeing or hearing him speak.
Funny, for some reason I always assumed you were older than me. I was born in ’80 as well, but I admit I followed the Indians much more closely than the Browns in the mid-90’s. I don’t have a lot of memories about the Browns moving to Baltimore other than teenage emotional-wall cynicism along the lines of… “it figures”. I was also dealing with moving from the suburbs of Akron to backwoods Virginia half way through high school, so I didn’t focus much on the Browns. I follow the “New Browns” more closely than I ever followed the “Old Browns” unfortunately.
My wife saw the preview of it when we were sitting in front of the TV and asked me if I was going to watch it. I said yes. She then asked if I was excited. I said no. I think watching it with her will give her a better understanding of the Browns and what happened to them (she was a military brat and was married into the Browns since she was not a big football fan and didn’t have a team). We live in MD and she asked why we don’t just become Ravens fans…you can all imagine how well that went over.
I think he was checking to see how the Indians were doing…
I’m an ’82 guy, so was in 8th grade when this all went down. Remember feeling a mixture of panic and disbelief when the move was announced – asking ‘how could adults allow something like this to happen?’ Despite playing HS football, I watched almost zero pro football during the 4 seasons the Browns were away. Thankfully the Buckeyes provided some excellent football, despite several legendary let-downs courtesy of John Cooper.
Like you, I recall Sundays in the fall as being surreal…doing stuff with family, playing outside, doing homework…just qualitatively different to how they were with the Browns in town.
Am interested in watching the documentary if only to reflect again on how the lives of those of us living in the region were affected by the move. Is a major event that has shaped our local culture and still continues to impact the region.
Scary to think about how bleak the sports scene would’ve been if the Indians were in their current state during the late ’90s. We would’ve had the Shawn Kemp Cavs, the Crunch (champions baby!), and the Lumberjacks!
Ah, ok, I see what you mean. I’m not sure one documentary can replace that actual experience, but I see where you’re coming from.
After watching the trailer, I’m pretty sure I’ll watch it. (Might need to hit the liquor store beforehand, though…)
If nothing else, it will help cement the idea into my head that no matter how good the Browns ever become again, no matter how many times I try to convince myself that it is…it’s just not the same. It just isn’t. That’s the part that the people who say “you have another team…get over it” don’t understand.
Fair question. A friend of mine who knows I was a Browns fan growing up and knows my stance on the new Browns told me about the program last week, and I said that I really wanted to see it. I read this site because I have been an Indians and Buckeye fan all of my life. When the story came up in my feed I wanted to see what WFNY had to say about it.
I forgot to mention, my family had Browns season tickets my entire life, and I was actively a Browns fan before Art moved the team. I am interested in the original Browns, but have zero interest in the new version.
All joking aside, I did read 2 articles about the Indians on this site today.
Born in ’73, and was in college, so I remember those days quite vividly (well, as vividly as the post-concussion syndrome permits). Still, I plan to watch; primarily, I think, to gain a more objective perspective on the time that was so subjectively bad.
I also have a hunch that the documentary will be pretty honoring to Cleveland. I could be wrong (and probably shouldn’t expect this coming from ESPN), but I think it will actually be a nice, if sublime, representation.
I will have the Bulleit Rye on hand throughout, though.
NFLN did this doc.
props to you. i don’t know if i could follow the “new Browns” if not for the good memories of the “old Browns”
heck, the bad memories of the “old Browns” now seem like good memories in comparison.
Okay! That is indeed good. Thanks for clarifying. (I just set the DVR without paying attention.)
the sports scene was bleak. we just had our first real baseball team in 38years have it’s season cancelled by the MLB-strike. and, at a time when we happened to be 1GB of the White Sox.
we had the Price/Daugherty/Nance era end.
then, we had Art rip our hearts out.
——————–
honestly, I do not understand why so many of us are here and love sports from this age-group. yes, the Indians (thankfully) continued on a run. of course, we were also the team to validate the Braves, step aside for the Yankees dynasty and fall short to the upstart Marlins. sigh.
I think “Sundays in Cleveland 1996-1998” could be it’s own documentary and would be crazy. Just a fundamentally different structure to the time of an entire city. Really the embodiment of the football culture of America if nothing else.
i only remembered because they were previewing it during the TNF game.
I still have nostalgia for old names… Clay Matthews, MDP, Mack, Metcalf, Kosar, Dixon, Minnifield, Slaughter, Langhorne, Newsome, etc but I don’t really have any memories of actual plays. I watched the drive and the fumble, but for the life of me, I can’t remember the plays. I really remember their football cards more than anything.
my most vivid memories of the 80s teams for whatever reason are not the fumble and drive. i remember them, but i REALLY remember the Jets OT playoff game and the Bills playoff game where Minnifield flipped Don Beebe onto his head.
i’m actually still mad that the refs messed up that call. Beebe ‘caught’ the ball in the air before Minnifield hit his legs that ended up flipping him upside down where he landed on his head. the ball popped out straight up in the air and Frank snatched it out of the air. the refs somehow called it incomplete (likely out of the shock of seeing Beebe land on his head).
I remember that play! I didn’t remember that it happened against the Browns, but I remember that Don Beebe chipped his tooth. Awful call though.
and he started wearing that ridiculously oversized helmet after that play. unlike Olerud w/ the Blue Jays (wearing his batting helmet in the field), I could never find anything that suggested Beebe’s helmet was actually “safer” and the recent design upgrades bear that out as well (actually providing less padding and doing more for the ‘fit’)
You picked a good time especially if Tito Francona is named manager.
http://www.gifsoup.com/view/175090/don-beebe-bounces-off-his-head.html
and this is why memories are tricky. in my head it is Minnifield complete with the #31 on his jersey. the GIF clearly shows it is Felix Wright (#22).
apologies to Mr. Wright for all of these years not giving him credit for this play.
Ha, that’s definitely the play I remember. Wasn’t Beebe kind of famous for doing this more than once?
Olerud may have been doing a good job of protecting his bean, but he still looked like an idiot out there with the batting helmet.
Forget that…I’m hoping to see Tommy Vardell one more time.
Older than most of you !! Born in 63 so I saw lots of good and bad Browns football. I have to admit there was a tear in my eye thinking back. I remember so vividly Byner going up and hugging people in the crowd that last game. I remember the seats being pulled. And, I remember being completely devastated. Sundays with the Browns on TV was my life at that time. If they won I was happy all week. If they lost my family would leave me alone, not really understanding why I was in such a bad mood. I think I’m gonna watch kinda like you watch a sad movie just for the sadness of it all. But I think I will dvr it so I can watch it alone.
The new team, as much as I love them, just isn’t the same. I don’t get mad when they lose. I don’t get as excited when they win. They have gone from my my life on Sunday to a drinking game that I don’t get to drink much playing. es, we do a shot every time they score. Its kind of like a joke more than a game we laugh weekly at how we never get drunk!
So here’s my note to the new ownership!…….. Bring back my old Browns I miss them!
Man, I have way too much scar tissue to avoid watching what looks like a solid documentary with real inside footage about a team I lived and died with. Looks like it includes great stuff: Belichik bluntly going over players with Lombardi – when Lombardi says “he barely has enough arm strength at this point” was this their initial eval of Bernie? Belichik and the young Nick Saban brutally evaluating themselves and their players. The trailer implies that Belichik – not Art, as Art always claimed – saw something in Ozzie and convinced a fading great jock to start at the bottom doing dreg work for the front office. Can’t help compare current Ozzie with Jim Brown, who never scouted a player but for decades just grabs adoring reporters and loudly farts his baseless sports opinions.
I’d watch this twice.
I was born in ’64. The Browns moved when I was 31 and living in the Northern suburbs of Atlanta at the end of a small 22 acre lake. Didn’t have a view of the lake due to cluster of maple and trash willow trees.
After the Browns announced their move I spent the next three weeks after work prying up about 50 trees by the roots. I broke 4 shovels and probably gave myself a hernia that I had to have fixed a year later.
I was pissed but tried to do something positive with my anger by improving my view of the lake. My wife is a saint for putting up with me during this time.
I will record the special and watch it when no one else is around.
Art Modell can still rot in hell.
I have a feeling if the Browns were relevant since they’ve been back you would still be a “fan.”
Yikes….
I’m late to the conversation here, and wanted to jump in on the Eric Wright thing, but you caught it.
It wasn’t Beebe that wore the big helmet. It was Mark Kelso.
You youngsters are cute, trying to recall stuff from before you were 10.
Kids.
i’m sure with more effort i could find out.. but can anyone tell me if it’s only on NFL Network? or can I watch on cable?
well, it’s Felix, not Eric. you old farts are cute too having too many names jumbled in the head and trying to remember things from when you were in your prime.
(seriously though thanks. some of it seems so clear in the memory banks, but ends up being just mis-remembered as Clemens liked to say)
Wow. Good point. #22, anyway. Stupid Alzheimer’s.
yes, Felix was #22. Eric, never was though. #24 out of school and swapped it to #21 which he still wore in Detroit and now in Tampa.
fun fact: Felix did wear #24 for KC (though he never played a game)
Oh, my man…. great call on the Rye. Best stuff at that price out there.
The one thing that struck me about that era was that the 1996 Ravens under Marchibroda finished 6th in the league in offense – with effectively the same offensive players that the Browns had in 1994 when they led the league in DEFENSE. (Ogden was a big add as a rookie on offense, but otherwise more or less the same group.)
The point being: I wonder what could the Browns have accomplished in ’94 had Belichick not been in his pig-headed Neanderthal phase as far as offensive philosophy. Good god, he actually PUNTED on third down in a game against Cincy. Not a quick-kick, not backed up at our own 1 or anything. Just sent the punt team out on third down. I will never forget that.
Even with Belichick still in his idiot phase, that ’94 team was 3rd in the NFL in point differential and probably should have performed better than it did.
Amen, brother. Maybe at any price.