And another one? Browns and Travis Benjamin in contract talks
December 10, 2015Adolphus Washington suspended for Fiesta Bowl following citation for soliciting and apology
December 11, 2015Good Friday to you all. Hope it’s been a great week and thanks as always for reading what we write here. It’s been a decently fun week of content creation even though the Browns did their best to make it miserable. Speaking of that team…
Occupy the Browns…
Drew Magary is foul-mouthed and makes lots and lots of jokes, but in the midst of that, he used his column space at Deadspin this week to make loads of sense. Specifically, Magary suggests the NFL wrest control of the Browns away from an owner who never should have been approved in the first place.
But Goodell has done and will do nothing. Rather than act in the best interests of THE SHIELD and strip Haslam of his ownership — which NEVER should have been approved to begin with — this team will be a continual drag on football, year after year. In fact, Goodell will continue to prop up Haslam so that he never has to acknowledge the mistake of having vouched for him. It’s a gross and pathetic display of buddy-buddy, rich guy horseshit. And it shouldn’t be this way. As bad as NFL stewardship would be for the Browns, Haslam has been worse. The NFL is about to toy with the fate of three teams all vying to move into Los Angeles, and yet an established tire fire like the Browns is allowed to rage uncontained. It’s not right. The Browns deserve, at the very least, the chance to not suck. They deserve to at least be underdogs again.
It’s compelling, but alas I think the NFL missed their golden opportunity for such a maneuver. I don’t know how many of you have ever been in a position to hire or fire people, but you’ve all worked with people who should have been fired. You’ve worked with that person that got to their last chance, but totally could have been fired with a bit of foresight on their second or third to last chance. Everyone sees where the path is headed and they’re going to get fired, but somehow they slide one or two times and then some kind of weird “tenure” is earned even if that tenure is really just familiarity-based. “Steve? Yeah, he’s a jerk, but he’s always been like that. We just don’t talk to him on Thursdays.”
The NFL could have done something about the Browns and their fresh, new ownership when Jimmy Haslam was proving to be in charge of a company that committed pretty massive fraud. It’s only been further down hill since there, and the NFL apparently doesn’t have the gonads to actually do anything like this, but they had their chance. They could have voided Haslam’s sale. The NFL is such a goldmine that they could have guaranteed him his purchase price plus 10% and lined up another billionaire. There would have been many willing to buy.
Your weekly moment of soccer zen…
The distance! The bend! Incredible.
Your local Cleveland songs of the year…
This is not anything close to a comprehensive list, but on my random walk through Cleveland music this year, these are the very best songs. I’m sure there are lots more that I haven’t heard yet, but please check these out. I’ve got Ohio Sky, Brent Kirby, Ray Flanagan, Seafair, The Modern Electric (a brand new obsession,) and By Light We Loom all in there.
Also, one of the bands on this list did an interview with me for Scene magazine on Monday. I had By Light We Loom on and Shanna and Eric were really gracious and fun to talk to.
72 Comments
Speaking of…. http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-files-lawsuit-alleging-quicken-loans-improperly-originated-and-underwrote
And the Dolan family made their money the honest way: by gouging consumers on their cable bills.
Steroids were not illegal under federal law until 1988. Don’t bad mouth the Raiders for be willing to go the extra mile.
I’m curious if anything is going to come from this…
https://www.reddit.com/r/Browns/comments/3wb5cp/special_ama_friday_1211_700_pm_est/
hi gang … sounds like it’s being blown out of proportion to me …
He doesn’t have to contend with a salary cap in the Prem.
NFL doesn’t care they screwed Cleveland ever since they so graciously gave it back a team. The fact that the owner they chose was a part owner in the previous team that was stolen should never be forgotten.
http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/rofling.gif
Exactly and people keep buying the crappy sandwich!!!
I disagree there are only so many times you can pass the same flaming Yugo parked on the side of the road before you don’t even notice. Kind of like the precious Browns history which has been mangled and tarnished. But thankfully they changed the uniforms this way people have something to dress the miserableness of now in rather then the true Cleveland Browns of 20 years ago.
I heard this reported other places as well.
This is criminal!
Non-Browns fans have talked to me about the Browns more this season than any other. Such is the power of Johnny Football.
And this is a good thing? This is morbid curiosity more then anything.
No, but for an NFL owner that the Browns aren’t a competitor on the field yet still draw people’s attention is a perfect mix.
The fact I can no longer even laugh at the Browns displeases me greatly. (joke) I don’t know. But this reminds me did you see Herm Edwards go off two days ago on one of ESPN’s football shows? He literally wanted to walk off the set and was hollering like a mad man because of the way today’s NFL players are all about them and not the team. I kind of liked it. His passion, sincerity. Problem is other people think that’s a joke which is more of a societal issue.
What would a Texas pierogi be comprised of? Beef&???
THE EUUUUUUUUKE! Im proud to say thats the first bar I got served in without being in the company of older siblings
as people much smarter than I have told me numerous times, you dont get that rich without being a little unscrupulous
without the Raiders’ systematic steroid program, we would have never had Sloth in the Goonies (and yes, I know Matuszak didnt really look like that)
Now, the family my Parents worked for (we lived on their 600 acre estate on the east side, Mom was the Cook/maid and Dad was the Groundskeeper) have gobs of money (own Nacco Industries). The folks who lived across the street from them oowned Standar Oil of Ohio (before BP) among other things. I used to weed eat their landing strip.
For the most part, when judged against other oligarchs, these weren’t bad people, other than the fact that they considered people like us sub-human. I always wished one of the children (who are 60+ by now) would have ponied up the dough to buy the Browns, but it never happened. They keep givign their money to the Orchestra and the Art museum and crap like that (juuust kidding, Im glad they endow the arts)
But yeah, they were always about civic pride, and I hoped maybe one day they’d conclude the Browns are the most visible symbol of Cleveland to the rest of the world and feel responsible for making it great again. Thats why they call it a dream though
I’m an addict I can;t live without my cable especially WiFi!!!
That’s interesting. And there are lots of quiet decedents of barons still around with boatloads of cash. It would’ve been nice for a wealthy family with deep roots to restore some civic pride in our modern day symbol (pro sports). Instead, we’re left with civic shame! If it’s not coined already, “civic shame” should be.