Friday, May 21, 2010

Thursday, May 20, 2010

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.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

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

Sunday, May 16, 2010

"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...

Saturday, May 15, 2010

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.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

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.

Monday, May 10, 2010

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.