Revising history: Art Modell

When I lived in Atlanta, I once met a young lady who worked in "Public Relations". One afternoon over a beer, she explained to me that her job was to get "placements". Over the course of the next hour, I came to understand effectively what that meant is that businesses who wanted favorable press, employed her PR firm and she worked on their behalf to get articles "placed" into news outlets such as magazines and newspapers. I suppose I was naive, but it quickly became clear to me that much of what we all read in the press is bullshit. For example, it is now obvious whenever I read an article that states how great some CEO of a company is that this "newsworthy" item is the product of two PR pros working to pump the massive ego of some overpaid prima donna, in hopes of selling more widgets.

A major reason why I love blogging is because professional journalists in the USA sold their soul to satan years ago (if any journalists are reading this, to hear Bill Hick's viewpoint on selling your soul to satan, please watch the below youtube video). Bloggers can tell the truth because they write for the fun of it. Today's American journalism feels a lot more like the Russian Politburo, except that cash buys newsprint in the USA, rather than the gift of vodka to a political official.

So,,, what is the point of this rant? Well the man who destroyed the Cleveland Browns, Art Modell, is trying to revise history in a last gasp effort to make the Football Hall of Fame in Canton. Now that makes me mad!!! Click here to read this revisionist trash from todays Baltimore Sun. You can bet your bottom dollar some PR jerk somewhere is behind this bit of "journalism"

Who is the Brown's QB??

Why is it that Eric Mangini loves to have QB controversies???

Reggie Langhorne injured while riding his bike

Brown's great Reggie Langhorne hit by a car earlier this week while riding his bicycle.
Langhorne had to undergo surgury but his injuries are not life threatening, thank God.

Browns minicamp

Insights from Browns minicamp by Scott Petrak of the Elyria Chronicle Telegram. I am especially happy to see Carlton Mitchell off to a good start.

Browns beat: Tony Grossi

if you want to get a true view to the inner workings of the Browns, The Plain Dealer's Tony Grossi is a "must read".
Here's the latest from Grossi.

Update: Robby Parris

A couple of weeks ago the Brown Log did a brief write up on former St. Iggy star Robby Parris and his inspiring comeback from the brutal leg injury he suffered as a senior playing for St Iggys vs Massillon. Parris went on to play collegiate football for Notre Dame University where he played well, occasionally showing signs of brilliance, but often struggled to stay healthy. Recently Parris had a try out with the Browns.

After publishing the blog on Parris, The Brown Log had over 50 visits that landed on our pages based on Robby Parris google searches so obviously Parris has a huge following. I've tried to stay up to date with what happened thereafter but there's not much info out there. The Browns did not offer Parris a contract but there was no press confirmation of that fact, just silence. Parris does appear to have a Twitter account (as does The Brown Log by the way) and on June 3 that account tweeted that Robby Parris' football career was over. Previous tweets mention a trip to Canada. Therefore taking a large leap of logic after reading in between the lines, perhaps Parris tried to catch on in the CFL and after that effort, has decided to hang the spikes up. I am actually a big CFL fan and felt that Parris would be perfect for the CFL game. The Canadian field is a bit bigger than the NFL pitch and a big rangy receiver is needed on every team as the QB scrambles on practically every play and CFL teams have only two downs to get a first down. Parris fits the needs of a lot of CFL teams quite nicely but it looks like that is not to be.

In any case, it looks like one of Cleveland's favorite son's has hung his spikes up and if that is indeed the case, The Brown Log sends him our best wishes. Parris is one of many examples of the depth of talent in Ohio's football pool and more importantly he's a great example of the love for the game that makes Ohio football players unique.

Moving on with his professional life, a sheepskin from Notre Dame University will assure a solid career in whatever field Mr. Parris takes up, post football. Good luck Robby!!

Vintage Browns: 1965 NFL Championship

Perhaps a little known fact, the 1965 Browns came one game away from Super Bowl I.
That year there was no fumble or pass or "drive". Art Modell's Browns simply got their asses kicked by Vince Lombardi's Packers.

Vintage Browns: OT win vs Dolphins, Sipe to Rucker

This particular vintage memory is precious to me because I was in the stands with my dad, watching the events unfold. I can remember Sipe's pass to Reggie Rucker as if it were moments ago.

More housecleaning

Paul Warfield is out.

One irony that I would like to point out is that Warfield was a member of the last Cleveland team to win a championship, the '64 Browns. In any case, I support Holmgren's effort to unify the management group around his vision. Excellence requires competence and unity and while Warfield has proven that he is a skilled football executive, it's hard to imagine that his vision will be aligned completely with Holmgren.

Vintage Browns: Bernie's passing accuracy

Was there ever a passer in NFL history as accurate as Bernie Kosar? Kosar's lifetime stats rank him the 13th most accurate passer in the entire history of the NFL. 13th all time is damn good but those of us who watched him thread the needle at the peak of his career will argue that nobody topped Bernie in precision when he was at the top of his game. This video from 1986 contains one of many examples of Kosar's amazing accuracy on long bombs. Kosar's pass to Herman Fontenot, who is on a dead sprint towards the end zone, travels 53 yards in the air and lands perfectly in Fontenot's hands.

Brown's history: Cleo Miller

Cleo Miller played fullback for the Browns from 1975 until 1982 with his best season coming in 1977 when he rushed for 756 yards. My favorite Cleo Miller memory however comes from the 1980 season when, from his backup role, he stepped up against the Houston Oilers in a critical road game and rushed for 69 yards on 8 carries including 2 touchdowns. The Oilers game was a late season must win situation and the victory put the Browns in first place in the Central Division at 9-4. Miller's clutch play that day therefore was instrumental in the Browns winning the Central Division.

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.