The Cleveland Cavaliers are still worthy of your love: While We’re Waiting…
January 22, 2016WFNY on WWE: A beginner-friendly guide to the Royal Rumble
January 22, 2016Sashi Brown and Paul DePodesta held a press conference with the media Thursday and appeared on various local shows to espouse their philosophies and goals. They spoke of leadership and consensus and organization and strategy and being intellectual. They spoke about getting existing players to buy in and how much they like their new head coach and support from ownership and the great fans of the Cleveland Browns.
I don’t know if they hit all those beats because I didn’t feel like going back to look. I also won’t be pasting in quotes, hyper-analyzing what was said in an attempt to read between the lines and extrapolate something bigger. I listened to the press conferences and appearances and I heard Brown on “Cleveland Browns Daily” and DePodesta on 92.3 The Fan’s “Bull and Fox,” but you’ll have to forgive me if it all runs together at this point. They said all the right things. They sound intelligent and prepared and in any normal situation I’d be impressed. Being impressed by press conferences and words about what people are going to do, however, is no longer in the Cleveland Browns fan’s playbook.
Our own Will Gibson pointed me to something this morning by Bryan Curtis for Slate about “saying all the right things.” The whole thing is well worth the read, but this paragraph is perfect for what we’re talking about with the Browns a day after Brown and DePodesta delivered on the easy task of “saying all the right things.”
Every so often, an irritating word or phrase belly-crawls its way into the sportswriting lexicon. First, there was upside. Then journey. Then—rising from the grave thanks to Sunday’s Carolina-Seattle game—“it was a tale of two halves.” Now, we have “all the right things,” and I fear only the shame of a perp walk will make it go away.
In our case it’s not just the phrase that we need to go away. We need the practice of living in a success vacuum to the point that words are the only things we have left to hold as we head into the future. Case in point: Curtis leads off his column with Johnny Manziel, a player who has consistently said “all the right things” before defying all words with belying actions.
Our perspective as fans is really important, but a guy like Joe Thomas is impacted directly. He was a big part of the message as the media asked about the Browns’ All-World left tackle. Joe sounded demoralized by all the change at the end of this season. His football mortality is very real and the guy who had his name bandied about during the trade deadline by a front office led by the ultimate dead man walking, Ray Farmer, can’t be blamed for being completely devoid of Fs to give.
I know a lot of Browns fans feel sorry for Thomas, and his commitment of his health and physical well-being is not to be taken for granted, but at least there’s some recognized path for him to leave. When he talks about not being in Cleveland anymore he actually can leave and play for another team. Long after his career has been completely wasted by horrible drafting, instability throughout the organization and bad coaching hires, we’ll still be here hoping for something better.
None of this is to try and talk any of you out of your hopes for Sashi Brown and Paul DePodesta. They seem like guys with promise and potential. They said great things. I’m just not in a place where I can do anything but wait and see what they actually do. I like Hue Jackson as well, but the further we get into this thing with the Browns, the more I feel like all these guys — yes, maybe even Pat Shurmur — are all capable coaches who just need proper guidance, support, and cooperation to become the best they can be. Maybe this group of people are the ones who will finally act like adults, keep distractions to a minimum, support each other without jockeying for power within the organization. Past performance is not indicative of future results, but it sure as hell is indicative of fan mind-set and attitude.
As a fan, I’m no longer able to find my script so that I can “say all the right things.”
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and maybe Dee knows this might all be hers some day …
ON THE ISLAND OF MISFIT FOOTBALL NO LESS
Who wasn’t!
“oh , stop BEN … you’re makin’ me blush !”
While she also benefited from having a successful father, Dee is a pretty competent, respected, and accomplished business person in her own right. From everything I can tell, she’s legit. This isn’t a “give the owner’s wife something to do” thing.
i agree …
Flawless victory.
Ohhh what I wouldn’t give for a delicious microwaved hot dog topped with american cheese and ketchup right now.
I don’t think our “eggheads” will be making selections, I think they will be asking tough and detailed questions regarding the proposed selections so that the advocate for the player has to explain to the entire draft room the actual basis for picking this guy over that guy.
Jimmah and Dee nightly dinner:
http://imagesmtv-a.akamaihd.net/uri/mgid:file:http:shared:mtv.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/hillary4-1428953742.gif
A hot dog with ketchup is definitely not a sandwich. Hell, it’s not even food. It’s some hideous . . . something.
“Ohhh what I wouldn’t give for a delicious microwaved hot dog topped with american cheese and ketchup right now.”
You’ve been hanging out with either my toddler or Josh Gordon too long. But yes, I’ll take one too please if you’re making.
What? Penicilan smoothies aren’t covered by the Affordable Health Care Act? Thanks Obama!
http://s3.roosterteeth.com/images/GrifTheGold4e9e1fbad64b0.jpg
I know a lot is being made of Sashi having final say over the roster and his lack of football qualifications to make those decisions. Has anyone considered this possibility:
Farmer, Pettine and the scouting staff worked to develop a strategy or “process” to evaluate and rate FA’s and draftees. Haslam & Brown were probably involved to some degree as well. The scouting department went out with their marching orders and proceeded to evaluate players based on the process agreed to by the former FO/Coaching.
When it came time to sign FA’s or make their draft selections (including trading up/down during the draft) they abandoned the process in the pressure of the moment. They ignored the evaluations of the scouts and instead relied on their “football guy expertise” or listened to the owner or acquiesced to a coach’s needs. They didn’t follow the process they had developed. Subsequently they chose wrong, again and again, in both free agency and the draft.
During all of this Brown was present and questioning why they were deviating from what the process had directed them to do. One to two years after the selections were made/FA’s signed, the process was shown to have been correct if they had merely followed it. Haslam, of course, witnessed all of this.
Now everyone is concerned that Brown isn’t qualified to choose players. Is it possible that even though he has ultimate responsibility for the 53 that isn’t the objective of the role he’s taken? Instead, his role is to be the objective voice of stable, balanced reason. He is the consensus builder among all parties involved to build their big board or rate FAs based on an agreed to set of principles and then not deviate from it in the heat of the moment? The Talent Evaluator/GM position is the one at the head of the scouting department who will determine who’s rated #1, 2, 3, etc. Brown’s job is to ensure they arrive at those ratings based on the parameters they’ve all agreed on. If somehow there’s a significant disagreement somewhere about a rating and/or need it’s his responsibility to help the parties in disagreement find common ground and reach an equitable solution based on the agreed upon principles guiding the process. He’d do this as a consensus builder rather than a dictator.
It’s the GM/Talent Evaluator who’s determining which players are best, better, good. It’s Brown who’s making sure everyone’s on the same page.
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Brown made a really strong point on an interview yesterday….
Do you know who makes “the decision” for the Steelers? Sure they have a GM who has the final 53 in his contract, but you don’t hear who made what pick. It’s the Steelers Org making the pick.
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Exactly.
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