Dear Cleveland...

The NFL should buy the team from Haslam and sell it back to the fans.

Zombie franchise. 

Peter King of SI had this article which sheds some light on the Brown's situation:

 

Why The Browns Blew Up The Franchise … Again

 

Lots of disfunction in that organization, but if Farmer proves to be an adequate GM, the Browns may have succeeded in shedding a lot of dead weight.

I hope Mike Pettine double-checked the buyout clause in his contract.

The whole thing makes no sense.  If Hasslem was unhappy with the job Banner and Lombardi were doing why not get rid of them and then let Farmer do the hire. I think the new owner in Cleveland should be called Jerry Hasnyderbrennerslam.

Joe Banner has had some success in his past namely with Philly.   For a team like Cleveland that has been a dumpster fire for years why not let these guys do their jobs for more than 8 months before figuring out whether or not they meet the expectations?

 

Haslem might take the cake as the biggest POS owner in the league.  I mean, they've gone through like 50 coaches in the last 2 years.   Why anyone would take a job in C-Town I have no idea.  

 

By the way, there are reports that Gary Anderson was contacted at UW about the Cleveland opening and thankfully he turned them away.   He's looking more and more intelligent by the day.   Something tells me Bert Bielema might have jumped at the opportunity though

what I found interesting about that article, and I never realized it before, was they never let Lombardi speak...I wonder what that was about? I enjoyed listening to him and his football acumen on NFL Network, I don't think he was stuck up, but maybe some people aren't suited for front office duty?

link

 

 

I realize that the quote was made back in February.  But I thought I'd point out that GB now has a Joe Thomas on the roster - only he is a LB from South Carolina.  Still dreaming about the OT. 

This Is A Browns Fan Pissing On Art Modell's Grave

 

Was he on a piss break from the Factory of Sadness?

 

@DonBanks Not making this up. Browns playing you've got 2 fight 4 your right to party. Johnny's walk-up music.

F Bomb filled rant

 

self-important ass says what?

dude, get over yourself and for the love of dog quit following the Browns.  just give it up.  they suck, you hate them, why are you a "fan"?

Some people need an outlet to bitch and whine.  We are knee deep in one right here.

If I were to live to be 100, I'd never understand people that record themselves. WTF?

This is as bad as that goofy girl crying because she didn't get to see the Redskins (or whoever it was) practice.

And to think these are only 2 out of how many millions of people...

To be fair, there'd be no shortage of guys like him in Wisconsin if the Packers were losing 27-3 at halftime to the Bears on an opening day that has come after 15 seasons of pure misery (thirteen losing seasons, twelve double digit loss seasons, two winning records, one playoff appearance, zero division titles, zero playoff wins). When the Packers sucked ass, they at least went 8-8 a good deal of the time and had some good players that were fun to watch, Browns fans don't even have that much (the guy is still a goofball and a loser, of course. Not trying to defend that kind of behavior). 

I reserve judgment until I hear Hank the tank's opinion.

My favorite is the Browns fan who died last summer and, as his last request, asked for Cleveland Browns to be his pallbearers so they could "let him down one last time". 

Kyle Shanahan: Johnny Manziel will only play if Hoyer injured

 

hope the guy in the vid above doesn't have a heart attack... well, I don't really care. 

Josh Gordon

Really good read. 

Gordon is so full of bull****, it must be running out of his ears by now.

He's all about "I let myself " down; never mind his teammates, coaches, the Browns organization, and even their fans.

Growing up like he and many other athletes have doesn't excuse ignorance, immaturity, or criminal behavior.

He hasn't quite reached the level of Titus Young yet, but given more time, he may get there.

Darren Sharper has just asked Gordon's agent to write a similar rebuttal for him.

The saddest thing is Gordon is/was so close to being right. I don't believe he's a bad person, per se, just a knucklehead. Had he actually stayed clean and been the star he had the talent to be he would have truly been a success, that rags-to-riches story everyone loves.

 

 

What I do know is the following: I am not a drug addict; I am not an alcoholic; 

Until he goes about 5 years without a positive test for either these are just words.

 

 

Wasn't there a lot of crying around here 'cause Ted didn't chase him in FA?

 

 

If they are going to let their employees run reckless like unattended children... 

 

ESPN can go **** itself for the rest of time. 

That's a solid comparison.  Smoking the weed or drinking the juice is very similar to serially raping women.  

 

Gordon is a complete goofball (anyone willing to risk losing tens of millions of dollars over marijuana is an imbecile), but the NFL is the bigger joke for suspending players over marijuana in the first place. It's not a performance enhancing drug; unlike cocaine or meth, it carries no game-day benefits at all. Lawrence Taylor was coked up to the stratosphere on the field, yet he's in the Hall of Fame. It's so fitting that this joke of a league wound up busting Gordon because he had a few beers. **** Goodell and all of his toadies.

Meth is a performance enhancing drug?  Spiders all over your body help you tackle?  You don't need a mouth guard when you don't have teeth?  

 

I think getting suspended over alcohol is a joke.  

that only happens if you're in the program from multiple previous ****-ups...

 

If you can be suspended for alcohol Fuzzy would have never played a down. Hornung either. 

had to google Krokodile.  

 

I understand that the this is multiple offenses, but I don't see how it applies.  OWI, sure he broke the law.  But I don't get how drinking alcohol violates a drug policy.  I would imagine that the drug policy would be emphasizing chemicals that are illegal and/or performance enhancing.  Not saying anything about Gordon as a person, I just think layering alcohol seems like an odd thing for the union to be cool with.  

they go with a zero tolerance requirement once you've effed up

He effed up with alcohol, ergo, he has to stop drinking

He effed up with weed, ergo , he has to stop smoking it

the testing ramps up too, so he may have to pee 3-5 x per week

 

The sponsors pay big cash for a squeaky clean image - and both the league and the nflpa signed off on it 'cause that's who writes their checks.

 

 

 

I wonder how they are feeling about that value?

 

The result of the not so squeaky clean image? Read that NBC finally sold all SB spots just 2 days ago. Last year FOX had all the spots sold over two weeks before the game, which would have been before the participants were known.

 

If not for the krok, i never would have have gotten to play on the kickoff return team in JV football. True story.

Jason LaCanfora with a magnum opus about the Factory of Sadness. 

 

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/w...aslams-mismanagement

 

Kyle Shanahan and Mike Lombardi must've enjoyed spilling their guts on this.

 

The fans there deserve so much better.

"Jimmy [Haslam] is way too hands on," said one team source. "He's like Jerry Jones, only without the football knowledge. There's tension between [team president] Alec [Scheiner] and [head coach Mike] Pettine. Everybody sees that. Alec is involved in everything; it's too much for him. There are no divisions. The guys on the business side want to run football operations. The GM [Ray Farmer] wants to coach the team and have input on play calling. Jimmy calls the shots, and everyone is afraid of him with that quick trigger finger. If you stand up to Jimmy, he's done with you. Jimmy's own worst enemy is Jimmy."

"It's a mess," another team source said. "Everyone is trying to do everyone else's job. It's crazy."

... At season's end Shanahan, the lone bright spot on offense, perhaps, presented Pettine with a 32-point presentation on why he wanted to get out of his contract, sources said. And after much deliberation among lawyers and negotiation, in a bizarre precedent, a statement was crafted and Shanahan was a free man. He would end up in Atlanta, a coveted job, and a hiring that Banner, consulting for Falcons owner Arthur Blank, played a role in; Lombardi just won a Super Bowl ring as a personnel advisor to Bill Belichick. Allowing Shanahan to walk sent shockwaves through the building, with such a talented coach allowed to go at a time when the Browns desperately needed to develop a quarterback and with a quarter of the teams in the NFL needing a new offensive coordinator.

Jordan Cameron would look great in a Packer uniform. Especially if he can stay healthy.

Was thinking that myself after reading the article.

 

Actually, a perfect fit would be Greg Olsen. Think he's under contract through next year, though. 

 

Need to let this set for a bit.