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THE BROWNS BOARD

Why Browns Fans Should Never Forgive Art Modell!


nickers

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1 hour ago, nickers said:

It's ancient history for those who lived through it, but he's 100% correct. Good to bring it up for the youngsters as to how we got where we are today....  

Some stuff guys commented on and my final thoughts Brian left off that was a part of why Modell was broke, read on...  

"He gets the facts absolutely right.
However the major underlying reason Modell left for Baltimore was that he was very nearly bankrupt after he tried to sell Stadium Corp to the Browns for 30 times what it was worth and Bob Gries(48% owner of the team) sued him and won forcing Modell to borrow the money to buy him out.Then Modell took the money he had left and borrowed on his NFL TV contract money and purchased real estate in Texas just before the housing bubble burst and the recession started and he lost his shirt.
He was borrowing money to make payroll at the very end( Andre Rison contract for example) and was in such poor financial condition that even the sweetheart deal from Baltimore only postponed him eventually selling the team in 2001."

"Reply to @Themaven: Modell lived on borrowed money. He borrowed money to purchase the team and continued to borrow money based upon the increased value of the team. When that wasn't enough, he sold off percentages of the team until he was barely majority owner.
He fought selling the team and in the end he still sold the team. If he would have just sold the team and the team stayed in Cleveland, he would have ended up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Now, he is an all-time member of the House of Shame."

I'll add this as to Art's borrowing. He bought the team for $4 million dollars in 1961. Only put up $250,000 of his own money, and borrowed the rest. If you're wondering what $250k is in today's dollars, it's around $2 million. Modell couldn't leave well enough alone, and was constantly taking out loans against the ever increasing value of the team. It eventually turned around and bit him in the ass. Even with the $70+ million bribe he got from Baltimore and the state of Maryland, and a franchise that was now worth well over a billion- he was so deep in debt Fleet Bank was ready to foreclose on him- because unbelievably, his cash flow wasn't enough to even cover the INTEREST on his loans. LOL, he had "no choice" but to sell the team to Steve Biscotti who graciously saved him further embarrassment. MHO? Nothing short of Divine Justice. He moved because he wanted to pass the team down to his son (who's also dead BTW) and couldn't do so.  In the end he might be a hero in Baltimore, but elsewhere in the country, he's a charlatan. 

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Brilliant post Larry and you're spot on...  If anyone want's to know more about Modell's ineptitude and mishandling of buisiness... Check out this book here...

 

https://www.amazon.com/Fumble-Browns-Michael-G-Poplar/dp/0936760117

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I don't even know why the author thinks Modell would have ended up in the Hall of Fame? Why? Monday Night Football? Really? 

After Blanton Collier retired after the 1970 season (and all connections to the Paul Brown era were gone) the Browns were a .500 team the last 25 years before moving, with zero NFL Title Game appearances. Modell took the NFL franchise some considered the "New York Yankees of the NFL" and transformed them into a middling, mediocre team. 

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53 minutes ago, Dutch Oven said:

I don't even know why the author thinks Modell would have ended up in the Hall of Fame? Why? Monday Night Football? Really? 

After Blanton Collier retired after the 1970 season (and all connections to the Paul Brown era were gone) the Browns were a .500 team the last 25 years before moving, with zero NFL Title Game appearances. Modell took the NFL franchise some considered the "New York Yankees of the NFL" and transformed them into a middling, mediocre team. 

The true old BROWNS/new BROWNS was then.  He was just a shifty con man always pulling deals....... well he's dead now but his ummm legacy lives on.

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Hoorta nailed it..3 times a game, we could count on NBC to show Art in the stands on TV..3 times a game, I could count on My Dad & Uncle Jack to respond with FuCk ArT!! 

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19 hours ago, nickers said:

Outstanding explanation of the sequence of events!

Except for one little thing. Toward the end he mentioned that we got our team name and colors back, the history, the institution, and "that is all that matters". Not really.

What we didn't get back was a winning culture. That went to Baltimore and never came back. The rivalry we once had with Pitt is in Baltimore, and has never came back. That is the reason for which I hate Modell even more.

Sure we sucked most of the 90's, but the spirit of a winning culture was still there. We had just come off a fabulous run the decade prior.

Never were there rumblings about the lack of a winning culture in the 90's. We were proud to be Browns fans, and a player felt proud to be a Cleveland Brown. I'm not sure that feeling exists among those 53 in the locker room today.

The feeling that this team is "a blurred copy" or a bad imitation of the original has never escaped me.

….and those goddamned ugly all turd colored uniforms makes it feel even more so a bad imitation.

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3 hours ago, Gorka said:

Outstanding explanation of the sequence of events!

Except for one little thing. Toward the end he mentioned that we got our team name and colors back, the history, the institution, and "that is all that matters". Not really.

What we didn't get back was a winning culture. That went to Baltimore and never came back. The rivalry we once had with Pitt is in Baltimore, and has never came back. That is the reason for which I hate Modell even more.

Sure we sucked most of the 90's, but the spirit of a winning culture was still there. We had just come off a fabulous run the decade prior.

Never were there rumblings about the lack of a winning culture in the 90's. We were proud to be Browns fans, and a player felt proud to be a Cleveland Brown. I'm not sure that feeling exists among those 53 in the locker room today.

The feeling that this team is "a blurred copy" or a bad imitation of the original has never escaped me.

….and those goddamned ugly all turd colored uniforms makes it feel even more so a bad imitation.

I disagree to this extent:  Had Art not moved, and instead had sold the team, most likely to Al Lerner who got it anyway, the team would have still essentially ended up in the same condition as they have been.  Al would have  only owned the team for a short while before he died, and the "losing culture"  that was brought to this team was primarily brought by Randy Lerner.  Remember this:   Al Lerner died in late October  2002.  That was the fourth season into his ownership.  And in only  that 4th year the Browns made the playoffs, and seem to be on its way back to respectability.   Then Al died.     Had he bought the team from Modell in 1995/96,  there still would have been only 6-7 years of ownership under AL.  Randy inherited an NFL playoff franchise.   But, his suckass style of management caused them to  bite the dust for the next ten years of his ownership reign;   and Jimmy Haslam's ownership/management style has been perhaps even worse.  

So, no.  In my opinion the "winning culture" of the Browns of yesteryear would not have survived even if there were no "move".  Continuity of ownership does not mean continuation of quality.   Case in point:  the Bengals.   Same ownership family.....same losing culture (though there we several playoff years under Marvin Lewis)

And mere change in ownership does not mean retention of a winning culture....Case in point there:   Jack Kent Cooke owned the Redskins....winning culture.    He dies, team sold to Dan Snyder:  losing culture.

Maybe the "What If"  look back should/could be this:   recall that when the Browns franchise was held in trust,  the NFL set up a bidding process. Lerner won, but,  There were several others besides Lerner who bid on the Browns:

Dick Jacobs

The Dolans

Howard Milstein

Bart Wolstein

Thomas Murdough

A group headed by Don Shula ...though I think that was in conjunction with one of the people already mentioned.

Jeremy Jacobs...no relation to Dick......who was the owner of the Boston Bruins.

What would have happened if one of these groups had outbid Lerner and got the team?  (In some cases, like with Dick Jacobs and Wolstein the primary owner would also have died)

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4 hours ago, Gorka said:

Outstanding explanation of the sequence of events!

Except for one little thing. Toward the end he mentioned that we got our team name and colors back, the history, the institution, and "that is all that matters". Not really.

What we didn't get back was a winning culture. That went to Baltimore and never came back. The rivalry we once had with Pitt is in Baltimore, and has never came back. That is the reason for which I hate Modell even more.

Sure we sucked most of the 90's, but the spirit of a winning culture was still there. We had just come off a fabulous run the decade prior.

Never were there rumblings about the lack of a winning culture in the 90's. We were proud to be Browns fans, and a player felt proud to be a Cleveland Brown. I'm not sure that feeling exists among those 53 in the locker room today.

The feeling that this team is "a blurred copy" or a bad imitation of the original has never escaped me.

….and those goddamned ugly all turd colored uniforms makes it feel even more so a bad imitation.

I need to  add, Art didn't  willingly give back the  name,  history and colors.  They were going to be  the Baltimore Browns,  until our lawyers  hit him with the "specific performance clause" in the lease. He would have had to play  in an empty stadium in  Cleveland  until the lease was up. That was the hammer that got  it done. 

Regarding the  new  uniforms and all the losing. Times and fashions change. Or would you rather have something like  the Seahawks dayglow  uniforms? :D Sure, we underperformed this year. My pal sent me our past results, and we were maddeningly close to being a  great team.  A few plays here or there and the Browns could easily be 9-3 and the toast  of the league.  I haven't  given up on Dorsey to eventually get  us to where  we want to be,  and Haslam seems to have  learned  from his  rookie  owner  mistakes. MHO based on the talent this team has? Freddie  needs to go 3-1 the rest of the  way  out to save his job. One thing  we can take away from this season is, it's not easy to win in the  NFL. Just take a look at what  happened to the  Rams and  Falcons after their  Super Bowl appearances. 

PS- those rivalries will  come back once  we start winning consistently. If you  have no  hope of that ever  happening,  you may as well turn  in your  fan card and start rooting for the  Patriots.  

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Honestly, I'm over it. I mean, fuck Art Modell of course, but I don't think about it anymore.

If it was up to me, I'd move the Baltimore Ravens into the AFC East and move the Buffalo Bills into the AFC North. Their fanbase would fit in great with the other three, and the proximity to Cleveland and Pittsburgh would, IMO, make for some great rivalries. I don't need to see the Ravens twice a year anymore. They are pretty much another NFL team for me at this point. 

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4 hours ago, Dutch Oven said:

Honestly, I'm over it. I mean, fuck Art Modell of course, but I don't think about it anymore.

If it was up to me, I'd move the Baltimore Ravens into the AFC East and move the Buffalo Bills into the AFC North. Their fanbase would fit in great with the other three, and the proximity to Cleveland and Pittsburgh would, IMO, make for some great rivalries. I don't need to see the Ravens twice a year anymore. They are pretty much another NFL team for me at this point. 

The would be geographically correct... But for me personally.. I love having the opportunity to punch the Ratbirds in the mouth 2x's a year... It just feels good...

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6 hours ago, nickers said:

The would be geographically correct... But for me personally.. I love having the opportunity to punch the Ratbirds in the mouth 2x's a year... It just feels good...

Well, the league and the networks believe the Ratfuckers and the Spermsuckers is now some kind of big rivalry.  It is only that because those teams have had two good management organizations at the same time (owners/GMs/coaches).   Which is really nothing but a quirk of fate. 

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