Posted on 12/20/2019 4:02:32 AM PST by C19fan
One of the NFL’s most infamous owners has a shot at making the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Art Modell — best known for moving the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore — is one of the nominees included on the Hall of Fame’s Centennial Slate. The Centennial Slate is an additional Hall of Fame vote to commemorate the league’s 100th year of existence. The league released the initial 38 nominees Thursday. That group will eventually be whittled down to 15 people. Those 15 people will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Modell is one of 10 names listed in the “contributors” section. Three “contributors” will be selected as part of the final group of 15.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
1: Fires Paul Brown
2: Get rids of African-American players who wanted better contracts
3: Induces Jim Brown to retire by fining him for being part of "Dirty Dozen".
4: Fires Bill Belichick as head coach. Th team tanked when Modell announced to team was being moved to Baltimore.
5: Of course, relocates to Baltimore.
No, just no. Not only no, but HELL NO!
Not a Browns fan per se, but what he did to Cleveland was horrible. There was never a question about fan support of the team and frankly never a question about some sort of stadium deal, but Modell was frankly a jerk about it so nobody wanted to work with him.
Then he blamed everybody but himself for his problems and moved.
6) Was such a curmudgeon and a demanding little swot that often bitterly divided politicians in Cleveland and the local business community were united in opposing Modell and his frequent whines and demands.
7) Ostensibly an ad man, he was horrible at marketing his team or himself. He relied solely on the fandom and goodwill built up during the Paul Brown years. And, of course, ruined all that with his shortsighted power grab.
8) Despite getting an equal share of TV revenue refused to spend money on the most basic of items like towels (see also: Bengals, Cincinnati). Was frequently being bailed out by fellow owners - some of whom felt sorry for him, others who didn’t want the league’s image to suffer.
9) Modell was infamous for sending out goon squads to local taverns that, in those days, relied on satellite dish reception of the home games or even TV signals from Detroit or Canada that could travel unimpeded over the waters of Lake Erie in technical violation of the blackout rule. Yes, he had a large stadium to fill to lift the blackout but that rule, it should be noted, that was merely an agreement between the NFL and broadcasters and certainly not part of statutes - which meant goons or cops had no business rousting bars.
That he is even being considered is a testament to the league’s high opinion of itself and particularly the owners’ old boy club.
“Look away, Cleveland: Art Modell is a nominee for the Pro Football Hall of Fame”
This illustrates the demeaning of professional sports halls of fame. They put millionaire owners, jock sniffing sportswriters, and ambulance chasing lawyers on the hall of fame. The halls of fame should be restricted to outstanding players and coaches.
4: Fires Bill Belichick as head coach. Th team tanked when Modell announced to team was being moved to Baltimore.
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(you forgot) Benches bernie kozar and trades him...
[[[This illustrates the demeaning of professional sports halls of fame. They put millionaire owners, jock sniffing sportswriters, and ambulance chasing lawyers on the hall of fame. The halls of fame should be restricted to outstanding players and coaches.]]]
pay-to-play it’s about the money.
Why should team owners who never played the game or did anything significant on the field get enshrined???
Just like so many other award ceremonies, it’s nothing but insider ego-stroking, industry nepotism, and ginned up hype.
“He who must not be named”
Does anybody really give a damn about who gets or doesn’t get such a fake honor?
Agreed.
I’m a Chiefs fan and never gave the Browns much thought, except that they had one of the best fan bases in sports.
The Dog Pound, etc — these were real fans who supported the team through bad years as well as good. And for Modell to sneak the team out of Cleveland in the middle of the night was a slap in the face.
the baltimore bolts snuck out in the middle of the night to unite with indianapolis, the browns move was announced in advance, cleveland sued modell to retain the name and stats, baltimore had a renaming contest, the final two choices were the baltimore bombers or the baltimore ravens... i prefer the raisins because of the team colors...
Almost make you think that the NFL is nothing about the fans . . .
Dang. You’re right.
The 1980s were a bit of a ... haze.
He was in charge of their TV committee for years, and thus opened the floodgates to the avalanche of riches the league now enjoys. In that sense they owe him.
you’re not alone, i just remember all the pearl clutching on the local morning news channels showing the mayflower moving trucks rolling out of memorial stadium when it happened...
You've got to hand it to the owners - like the deep state, they rely on 10s of millions of sub-100 IQ "fans" to support "their" teams. Now, don't get me wrong, I love watching NFL football. I don't care if the players hate the USA, I don't care if the whole thing is contrived. There are moments when the intense planning, preparation and incredible athletic skill all come together to create a moment that would not actually exist in nature.
So, yeah it's fake, yeah it's contrive, but damn, when a good play is executed, it's hard to beat. That's why I'm an anti-fan; I simply follow whichever good teams emerge each year. I hear some buzz about certain players/teams and take a look. There are some players who emerge each year that could be fantasy if they didn't actually exist.
My understanding is, outside the tumult over the move, he was one of the greatest owners one could ask for.
Seems to me this is nothing but sour grapes keeping him out.
If IRSAY ever gets in, THAT would be a travesty. (Even his son says he was embarrassed by his SOB father with the REAL Colts).
Pearl-clutching?
Mayflower actually was moving out of their TRAINING facility, not Memorial Stadium.
And unlike Modell, Irsay actually DID “sneak them out”. Modell was out in the open at least. Irsay kept protesting he wasn’t going to do anything but he did - on the sly.
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