Cleveland Browns: The Real Mistake by the Lake

The Haslem's have been an embarrassment to the City of Cleveland. The NFL allows them to be.

I'm not sure where I should start. The NFL has approved some wacky decisions with the Cleveland Browns organization. The first and most memorable was allowing the Modell Family to move the team to Baltimore. Most will argue it was due to bitterness when they built a brand new baseball only ballpark for the Cleveland Indians (Guardians). They were his tenant at old Municipal Stadium which he leased from the city in 1973 signing a 25 year commitment. This was a big financial blow to the man who needed his wife to take out a loan so they could sign wide receiver Andre Rison.

He was not a financially savvy human being. He didn't get his new stadium which he had been asking for a decade before the ballpark and arena were built. The city was about to announce a 175 million dollar renovation package for the old lady by the lake. Then, right before the city made their announcement Art announced he was moving the team out of Cleveland.

I will not argue that point. I've watched many games at Municipal Stadium and I worked as a vendor and a helper in concessions and commissaries. Back when I was a teen I was a rabid fan of both franchises. Baseball was always my favorite but I was crazy about football since the age of 10. I'm a Brown's Backer as well but those fan feelings are long gone now. I do not watch professional sports for various reasons with the leagues decisions being the most prominent. More on this in another blog post. My point being, Municipal stadium was a dinosaur and not suitable for football. It opened in 1931 and the last game was played in 1995. That is a span of 64 years with seats behind large support beams and the front row on the closed end of the stadium a mile away from the back of the end-zone. The goal post was in the center of the baseball pitcher's mound which is 60 feet 6 inches from home plate and home plate was at least another 30 feet to the stands. You were roughly 30 yards away from the end-zone's out of bounds in the front row.

Back then you needed to sell out a home game 72 hours before the start of that weeks game or it was blacked out on television. My mother and I listened to a lot of games on the radio, Gib Shanley was my favorite broadcaster, while putting together a 500 pc puzzle we purchased at Revco (now CVS). We finished a lot of puzzles. The average capacity for an NFL stadium, in the 80's, was somewhere between 55 and 60 thousand. The capacity of Muny was 81,000. Hardly seems fair to the most loyal fan base in the history of sports. We lost a lot of games yet still filled the stadium to at least 65,000 average. The city did need a new football stadium but it was no excuse for the NFL to allow this atrocity.

The best years were brought to us by Bernie Kosar in the 80's. The savvy young man made sure he was drafted by his favorite team, the Cleveland Browns, and he did not disappoint with his on field performance. When the Denver Broncos disappointed us again after Ernest Byner carried the team on his shoulders but made that one fatal error at the end the 1987 AFC Championship game. With The Drive still burning in my memory I, as a grown man, wept like a child. The Kardiac Kids were fun in 1979 and 1980 and I was working a concession stand on the fateful Red Right 88 throw that was intercepted in the end-zone. The stadium was electric with more noise than I had ever heard in my life. Then suddenly, down in the concession area, you could hear a pin drop. My first playoff experience but not the last of the disappointments being a Cleveland sports fan. There are great Wikipedias detailing the histories of all Cleveland Sports teams if you want more information.

Now, let's jump ahead to the current regime. The Browns came back in 1999 to a brand new stadium. The new owner Al Lerner was a former associate of Modell and rumor had it that he pushed for the move to have the opportunity to own the New Browns. Could have been worse, Bill Cosby was a potential candidate to own the team. I'm thinking he would have insisted on interviewing every cheerleader. But I digress.

The New Cleveland Browns have been nothing but failure after failure for almost every season. Moments have happened with the last being the 2023 season which brings me to my second gripe with the NFL. The trade for a sexual predator at quarterback. Another NFL approved option for the current owners, the Haslem's Jimmy and Dee who have made some absolute garbage moves on and off the field. We can start with the whole Pilot Flying J rebate debacle showing that he had the business savvy of Modell because he claimed not to know anything about it. What did they discuss at board meetings? The move signing this degenerate to the team has been a spectacular failure. Deshaun Watson has set himself up for life with the guaranteed contract he signed and he has hardly played a game. When he has played it's like he doesn't have his head in the game. Probably concerned about the lawsuits he hasn't been able to silence with a few bucks. The Texans are just as guilty in the process because they allegedly provided both the hotel room and a non disclosure agreement for the women to sign. It has been reported that he or they have paid 24 women to keep their mouths shut. I have toured Cleveland Browns Stadium they have several massage tables in the locker room and I have pictures to back this up. I'm sure they have the same in Houston.

Since 1999 we have had more head coaches and quarterbacks work for this team than the rest of the league combined (not fact checked). The amazing thing is, people still fill up the stadium. Fans don't care as long as they bring us a winning team. 26 years the Browns have been back and we've got nothing to show except a couple blips on the playoff radar. What other product would you support for 26 years being this shitty? Like I said, I was there for a lot of garbage years with the Browns, Indians and Cavs. At least the Indians, although very long ago, have won World Series and the Cavaliers, the youngest of the bunch brought us an NBA Championship. Yet here we are with Super Bowl LIX which is 59 for the non roman numeral savvy. There are currently 32 teams that play in the NFL, less decades ago, split evenly with 16 teams in each conference which means a one in sixteen chance to get there. The Browns, never. Think about that for a second 59 chances for the Browns to represent the AFC but haven't done it once. Common sense says Holy Shit! But let's get back to the business at hand.

With all this business brilliance the Haslems now want to move the team to the suburb of Brookpark, Ohio. This means building a new stadium less then 30 years since the one we currently use was built. Less than half the lifespan of the old stadium. This will be, once again, partially financed by tax dollars. This is a reason I no longer live in the city let alone the county. The sin tax can also now include cannabis along with cigarettes and alcohol. I'm sure vaping will be tossed in for good measure. It should go to a vote as it did when we had the current building erected. I'm going to bet it passes if it gets that far even though they still have a stadium downtown. BTW, what would become of that property if they do move? Then you will have to purchase a seat license which is totally separate from the price of that seat for each event. A playground for millionaires being financed by blue collar workers who don't get their summers off.

The City of Cleveland is trying to enact the Modell law that was created when the Browns were moved out of town. Ironically he moved the team to the city where the first move happened. Baltimore moved to Indianapolis silently overnight and have been their since 1984. Robert Isray was the owner and got to keep all of the teams history which the Baltimore Ravens did not get from the Browns. Modell being the 2nd instance, of a team leaving town, got a law named after him because of it.

Brookpark is a stones throw from Cleveland. It is a lot closer to Cleveland Hopkins Airport and the current Cleveland Browns practice facility in Berea. It actually kind of makes sense except for one very important point. The franchise doesn't deserve this. The taxpayers should not pay for it. It is being designed as an entertainment complex to get a slight disconnect from it just being a football move but we have plenty of places to enjoy a show from Cleveland to Akron.

In closing, I am no longer a fan because of the way fans are treated. I'm also scratching my head that the professional sports leagues are endorsing gambling. The one thing that keeps Pete Rose out of the Baseball Hall of Fame is being promoted by pro athletes but more on that in my next sports post. There are a lot of people who make a lot of money in this industry. It is a business and a stones throw from being sports entertainment which is what they consider the WWE. All financed by taxpayers, fans, gamblers and drinkers.

Thank you for reading and Stay Classy.