Brown's history: Hugh McKinnis

Hugh McKinnis was a fullback for the Browns from 1973 through 1975. His best season was in '74 when he rushed for 519 yards and caught 32 passes. I remember McKinnis however not for his feats on the gridiron but for the fact that he lived on 37th Street in Lorain for the last two years he played for the Browns. My buddies and I often changed our walking route to school to assure that we would walk past McKinnis' house and occasionally we would get a glimpse of this football hero as he worked in his yard (way back then football players didn't make enough money to hire people to cut their grass). None of us had the courage to say hello to McKinnis but it was still pretty cool just to see a Browns player up close and it's a shame we never had the guts to talk to him because word around the neighborhood was always that he was a very nice guy, he probably would have appreciated the adulation of his young neighbors.

Jim Brown is out

A bit of reading between the lines is required to try to understand why Jim Brown is being stripped of his duties as executive advisor to the club. The announcement was made as delicately as possible, stating that Brown will still be involved with the club but there can be no doubt about the overall intent of the communication: "Jim Brown is out."

Getting back to reading between the lines, in 2010 Mike Holmgren has taken full control of the Browns organization and by any reasonable measure he's doing a good job. I imagine that Holmgren simply does not have budget money nor the need to have Jim Brown in his organization in an official role and furthermore, he probably doesn't like to have Brown whispering in Randy's ears.

Bottom line, Jim Brown has held the executive advisor role with the Browns since 1981 and in all those years the Browns never made it to the Super Bowl. We'll be fine without his shadow being cast over those trying to right the ship.

Mike Holmgren's workday

Here's an interesting article from the pages of Yahoo Sports that gives some insight into Brown's President Mike Holmgren's normal workday.

Vintage Browns: Kosar runs to daylight!

1989, Bernie does his Jim Brown impersonation.

Vintage Browns: 1986 More Ice Cube!

And let the hyperbole begin!

Coach Mangini says in USA Today that Jake Delhomme reminds him of Brett Favre.... Yes indeed Coach Eric, let the hyperbole fly!

It's a bit difficult to agree with Eric Mangini that Jake Delhomme is on par with one of the greatest QBs in the history of the entire NFL. But that stated, the Brown Log does not count themselves among the Delhomme sceptics. Delhomme is a proven QB, with Super Bowl experience, coming off of one tough year. I think the odds are very good that Delhomme will be successful. Cleveland is a working man's town where people don't expect a pat on the back for a hard day's work. In that sense, the unassuming Delhomme fits right in and more importantly, he's also a pretty damn good QB.

Phil Dawson: Allow me to show you the door?

Browns management are not at all pleased about Phil Dawson's skipping their voluntary offseason workouts and are concerned that Dawson may holdout once camps starts.

Today, the Browns signed ex Washington and ex Dallas kicker Shaun Suisham. I gotta side with the Brownies on this one. Dawson was hurt five games last year and he's not getting any younger. It's a smart move to get ready to move on

Randy's UK PR firm is working overtime!

Here is yet another Randy article in the British press, I guess one could say that the Brown's owner is quite randy for publicity these days. This one on a BBC blog written by Matt Slater, and it is rather appropriately titled "Why Cleveland's villain is Villa's hero"

Matt Roth asks to be traded...

seriously, who is Matt Roth anyways...???

"Randy" Lerner and the British Premiership

Here is a very interesting article which includes a rare interview with "Randy" Lerner in the British newspaper, The Independent.

In addition to being owner of the Cleveland Browns, "Randy" Lerner is majority owner of the British Premiership soccer squad, Aston Villa, which is also the favorite team of new British Prime Minister David Cameron. It is quite rare to see Lerner's own words in print as he is notoriously shy about talking to the press but maybe the fact that the new Prime Minister is an Aston Villa fan has "Randy" sensing an opportunity to form a friendship with one of the world's most powerful politicians hence "Randy" is suddenly working hard to increase his visibility in the UK. That may sound like idle speculation but the fact is that Cameron was elected less than two weeks ago and all of the sudden silent "Randy" is giving interviews?

"Randy" states in the interview that spending is not the answer to Villa's challenges, and while I agree with "Randy" that he should not spend £30,000,000 on a star forward, I would add that many soccer teams in Europe have risen to the Champions League without spending a fortune on star players. Success in sports does not come down to spending, it comes down to the judgement of ownership and management.

Footnote: Speaking of judgement, "Randy" may have spent some time living in the UK but if he wants to be taken seriously by the Prime Minister and the rest of the British population, he really ought to consider what the word randy signifies in British slang and take into very serious consideration, at least when giving an interview in a British newspaper, to use the name his mother gave him, Randolph. I guarantee you that every time a Brit reads about "Randy" Lerner, a few laughs and a snide comment are not far behind. I just have a hard time imaging David Cameron forming a friendship with someone who he will have to refer to as "randy" in public...

Brown's history: Bill Nelson

To be honest, I don't remember much about Bill Nelson but I hold onto one very fond memory. In 1971, when I was in second grade at Meister Road Elementary School in Lorain, Ohio, Bill Nelson visited our school and I got his autograph. It was certainly my first interaction with a Browns player and I was hooked for life.

Other than being nice to kids, Nelson led the Browns as a starter at QB for 4 seasons, from 1968 until 1971 and he is generally viewed as the fifth best quarterback in Browns history behind Otto Graham, Bernie Kosar, Brian Sipe and Dr. Frank Ryan

New College Free Agent signing: Martin Tevaseu DT

Earlier this week the Browns signed another college free agent lineman, Martin Tevasue of UNLV. His size and athleticism are interesting and as you will note in the video below, should the NFL decide to install baskets instead of goalposts in the endzone, young Mr. Tevasue brings to the Browns, the ability to dunk a football..

This signing is probably of little significance, as Tevasue likely won't make the team, but it does show that the Browns new management are hunting bargains by looking for free agent lineman who are big, athletic, but under-skilled football players.

As of today, none of the linemen signed by the Browns as free agents are uh.... good football players but they are all young, big and fast. At 22 years old, it really is a numbers game. One or more of these players might dramatically improve as a football player, and if that happens, the Browns will have struck gold. In the meantime, these players bring another advantage that Browns fans are quite conditioned to over the years. They come dirt cheap. We'll give the benefit of the doubt for the time being that the Holmgren era has the right motives in mind when they search for bargains, but 30 years of Art Modell understandably make us all sceptics.

A Farewell Tribute to Lebron James

At least the 1980 Browns had guts...

If you've been supporting Cleveland teams long enough to remember the sequence of plays in this video, you are probably emotionally tough enough to endure any Cleveland sports failure even one in which the very best team in the league simply decides to throw in the towel.

Browns great Milt Morin elected to College Hall of Fame

Previously profiled in our regular Brown Log feature called "Browns History",today Milt Morin was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame Congrats Milt

The Browns are starting to pile up the hardware

In 1999, Carmen Policy insisted on purchasing a trophy case for the new Browns. Up until now the case has been completely barren. But the Holmgren era has already started producing hardware. That’s right. The mighty Cleveland Browns took home the Bowl for Kids trophy. They edged out the Cleveland Indians. Read the full story here. The Brown Log has obtained this never-before-seen photo of the never-before-seen trophy case.



A source for the Brown Log has revealed that the Browns organization was hesitant to put the case on display because, well, is was totally empty. “It would be kind of like displaying Gaylord Focker’s tenth place ribbons.” said an unnamed Browns official. Until now that is! The Brownies finally have something to show for their efforts. It ain’t the Lombardi trophy, but it’s a start.

3rd round draft pick Shawn Lauvao

He bench presses 225 pounds 33 times, he's from Hawaii, he's quite a good athlete as you will note in the video. He is offensive lineman Shawn Lauvao and it looks like this Hawaiian has a future with the Browns.

Browns draft pick, safety TJ Ward crushes QB Zac Robinson

OUCH!!!

Let's hope it is something we see on the field often in 2010.

Sipe offers advice to Colt McCoy

Terry Pluto interviews Brian Sipe who offers up some advice to Colt McCoy. Sipe is now 60 years old believe it or not, and is the quarterbacks coach at his alma mater San Diego State.

Scouting via Youtube?: Joel Reinders

The article in the attached link, claims that the Browns actually discovered Canadian college free agent Joel Reinders (previously profiled on the Brown Log) on Youtube, watching the following video. if true it certainly officially marks the beginning of new era in which the Browns take advantage of every technological means available to assure the best talent in the world is identified by any means necessary. Then again, knowing the fact that the Browns have played in ZERO Super Bowls, maybe youtube scouting simply verifies that the Browns are still the same old cheap second class organization they've been since 1960. Let's hope for the latter and not the former case.............

Runnin' down a dream: Robby Parris

Here is a great human interest story by Steve Doerschuk of the Canton Repository about ex-St. Iggy star and Notre Dame wideout, Robby Parris. Parris is running down his dream to be an NFL wideout and recently completed a tryout with the Browns. The odds of him even getting signed as a free agent are fairly long, but his story of overcoming a horrible injury is an inspiration. We'll follow the Parris story and keep our fingers crossed that he makes it to camp with the Browns.

Colt overload

Yet another interesting Colt McCoy article, this one from Scott Petrak of the Elyria Chronicle Telegram.

Is it not fairly obvious that Cleveland fans are hungry for the next Bernie Kosar type leader, in hopes that he can take us to that promised land called the Super Bowl?

More on the Browns college free agents

Here is a good article by the Plain Dealer's Tony Grossi about the Browns undrafted college free agent crop.