I'm here to enjoy my gloatfest on my prediction that the Browns will upset Bengals!

[HankReardon]

"Any given Sunday" Almost time to "get it on". The Cleveland Brown's defense will show up today and freak the football nation! Get used to hurry this all day long, "hand of to Droughns."

[bybybill]

Who are the Brownies going to draft? They should try to get Leinhart

[darkangel82]

Leinart will be gone before the Browns pick.

[ADemocratNoMore]

> The city of Cleveland should never allowed conditions to occur which allowed Modell to become desirous of taking HIS team elsewhere.

Excuse me, I have to jump in here with some history. When Jacobs Field was on the drawing board, Modell was offered a chance to get in on a dual purpose stadium. He turned it down, in part because "The Stadium Corporation" got ALL the revenue from football, baseball and other events and he (Modell) didn't want to share. Modell was then offered a ballot measure to fund a new stadium. In the early part of 1995, Modell had a grand unveiling at the 50 yard line of Cleveland Stadium of what he wanted instead, a 100 million dollar renovation of the old stadium. Then, while negotiations were going on in secret in Baltimore, he announced his moritorium - no further discussions until the end of the season. If Art had leveled with us and just said "give me what I want or I move", he would have his remodeled Muny or whatever he wanted.

Business is business but actions have consequences. He could have stayed, Cleveland would have been in a Superbowl by now and Modell would have been in the Hall of Fame, instead he moved, and the consequences of that move mean that Modell has forfeit whatever honors may have been due him. He will never have my respect.

[darkangel82]

Modell will have my respect when a certain place freezes over.

[HankReardon]

Thanks for info I didn't know. I still think both sides deserve some blame for what happened.

[dread78645]

With that said they'll probably both cover, I like Denver better than SD.

LOL, looks like they're both struggling ...

[NeoCaveman]

LOL, looks like they're both struggling ...

Which is why I avoided both games

[Hotdog]

"I'm here to enjoy my gloatfest on my prediction that the Browns will upset Bengals!"

Bengals fan here...20 to 23 Bengals...are you a weather man by chance?

[big'ol_freeper]

I am guessing you are not the second coming of Isaiah.

[gate2wire]

Woo Hoo. Lost the Chi. bet, but won the teaser.
It's a living.

[HankReardon]

I predicted 20-17 Browns, ended up 20-23 Bengals, I was half right, better than a weatherman!

Wait till next year!

[LisaMalia]

As a diehard Bengals fan, I am SO happy that FINALLY my team is doing so well. Playoffs, here we come!

[E Rocc]

Thanks for info I didn't know. I still think both sides deserve some blame for what happened.

Not really. There was a issue on the ballot in 1995 that would have funded improvements to the old stadium (which modell said he wanted, by the 1998 end of his lease) or a new stadium. modell committed to the move to Baltimore and announced this commitment the day before the election. The issue passed by a huge margin, btw.

modell also circumvented league rules by signing a contract agreeing to move before he had the required approval of the league. The league was in a bind because Baltimore could sue them if they rejected it. Maryland's scumbag governor (a Dim of course) even gloated that if modell sold the team, the new owner would be committed to the move. As it stood, modell was required to buy out the owner of 43% of the team, who openly opposed the move.

Eventually a deal was reached where modell agreed to give up any claim on the Browns name, history, and colors, the city agreed to not oppose the move in court, and the NFL agreed that there would be a team in Cleveland no later than 1999. modell moved to Baltimore (becoming a Democrat in the process), a city he had declared didn't deserve a team when he helped block expansion there in 1993. The Browns returned in 1999 owned by the late Al Lerner, a Republican Marine alumni.

modell clearly acted in bad faith. I had a theory about why even then that was confirmed recently by a prominent Cleveland sportswriter (Les Levine). art modell doted on his wife. She doted on her son from a previous marriage, david. He was one of the most blatant combinations of cluelessness and arrogance that ever walked the Earth, and pretty much everyone in Cleveland, be they officials, other prominent people, Browns players, or fans, despised the little turd.

He would have had trouble with this if he ever inherited the team. The whole idea was to start fresh in a place where he could.

Fortunately for Baltimore, karma struck. david soon irritated a number of people in Baltimore, and even the cash infusion from the move couldn't make up for art and david's abysmal management. The NFL forced them to sell a percentage of the team or the entire franchise would be sold for them. They found a buyer who would agree to buy a minority share under the condition that he could buy the whole thing three years later.

-Eric

[rdb3]

modell clearly acted in bad faith.

That he did.

[HankReardon]

Alrightie then, good riddance, right?

We have the Cleveland Browns in Cleveland and Art Modell is gone. Sounds good to me.