CLEVELAND, OH — With the Cleveland Browns officially announcing plans to pursue building a new two billion dollar domed stadium out in suburban Brookpark, both fans and media are up in arms, as it is more than just a move.
Currently sitting at 1-5, with probably the worst starting quarterback in modern NFL history not named JaMarcus Russell and Ryan Leaf, who is also signed to the stupidest and most untradeable contract in perhaps all of sports, thanks to a fully guaranteed $230 million in Deshaun Watson.
To add insult to injury, the Browns had the short-sighted nerve to announce the move before the Guardians American League Chanpionship Series Game 3 matchup vs. the reviled New York Yankees.
Clearly, the Browns public relations didn’t read the room properly, in what was a low-key failed attempt to divert attention from their own dumpster fire of a franchise.
You have a head coach—a two-time NFL Coach of the Year—in Kevin Stefanski, who is now being clearly forced to trot out a washed QB1 (?), players likely to be dealt, as Amari Cooper will not be free to resume being a top-tier WR in Buffalo.
Today, there may be both a player and fan mutiny in continuing to play Watson is an understatement, but the tone-deaf gall to move the team out of downtown Cleveland and out to by Cleveland International Airport, had pushed the already furor growing to a potential breaking point.
Fans are past boiling, this isn’t a simmer, and sadly, Jimmy and Dee Haslam look both out of touch and utterly clueless.
No, not clueless, more like incompetent Tennessee billionaires looking for new enjoyment from their toy football team.
Their “team” is a joke in football, with an albatross contract that no one wants to touch, bail them out of their own short-sightedness, and a QB who is an alleged sexual predator one of the faces of this once-proud franchise.
To any and all female Browns fans, they have to be looking at Dee, and asking how can you enable and stand by this disgusting human being and enable it at the same time?
These so-called owners asking fans, who spend their hard-earned money to come see their abysmal product look like a junior varsity team, now want Cuyahoga County residents such as myself to help fund their new billion-dollar playpen?
Pardon my French, as I just recently returned from Fashion Week, but hell no!
The Browns belong on the shores of Lake Erie, it has been their ancient home since 1946, and again upon their return in 1999. It is the heart and soul of the region and downtown Cleveland.
There was once upon a time that opposing teams feared and hated playing at the old Municipal Stadium. The cold and harsh winds whipping in from the east end and thru the Dawg Pound. I remember the Kosar days very well and fondly.
Cleveland Stadium, now always and forever.
While we are in the era of corporate naming rights and all, but FirstEnergy Stadium, and now the newly christened Huntington Bank Park, don’t exactly strike fear into the hearts of visiting teams.
If there is a silver lining in all of this, is that upon buying the team from Aston Villa owner, and fellow footy fan, Randy Lerner, was that Haslam agreed to never move the team out of Cleveland.
That and the 1996 “Art Modell” law serve as safeguards from the threat of Haslam moving the team out of Cleveland, let alone the state of Ohio.
Fans, media and even his fellow owners, who lived through “The Move” would block such a move or threat, before it ever happens.
Bottom line: If the Haslams want to move the Browns to Brookpark, they need to pay for it themselves out of their own deep Volunteer pockets instead of asking Northeast Ohio taxpayers to chip in.
But before all of that, how about cutting Watson first, drafting smart and putting a better product on the field first.