Joe Banner, meet the Door

Back on January 13^th I mentioned that Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi needed to be shown the door and that Ray Farmer should be promoted in order to right this sinking ship. 

Well, almost exactly a month later Jimmy Haslam has decided he’s seen enough.  Apparently Joe Banner and Jimmy Haslam weren't seeing eye to eye during the coaching search so Jimmy did some digging and came to the conclusion that Joe's personality and poor attitude were keeping coaches away. 

Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi are out, Alec Scheiner and Ray Farmer are in.  Alec will continue his role as President and maintain the business side of the operation and Ray will take over as GM and take control of the draft and the 53 man roster.  Farmer, Scheiner and Pettine will all report directly to Jimmy.  Newly hired assistant GM Bill Kuharich, former Chiefs VP of Player Personnel will report to Ray Farmer. 

This is great news for Cleveland fans for a number of reasons but mostly because we now have a “football” guy in charge of football things (the 53 man roster) and a "business" guy in charge of business things.  No more colluding and micromanaging from a Napoleon wanna be.

Farmer may be young and a first time GM but one thing I can guarantee you is that he isn’t and won’t be looked at in the same way that Joe Banner was.  Ray is well respected in this league and will help to resurrect the image of this organization.

So, what is in store for the near future, specifically the draft and free agency? 

First of all I think the odds of TJ Ward and Alex Mack both being resigned (or tagged) just increased greatly. The top priority on Farmers list of things to do should be to get Joe Haden and TJ Ward locked up for the long term, which I think will happen before the combine starts.  The second thing on his list should be to figure out the QB situation and in case you are wondering what type of QB Farmer likes, Mariotta was his top QB until he decided to return to Oregon.  

So we’ve got a rookie Head Coach and a rookie GM now in Cleveland but I’ve got to believe this team is in much better shape now than it has been in quite some time and I feel good about our future.  The cancer also known as Joe Banner is gone.  No more scaring away talent, no more blame game and no more power hungry BS.  The future looks good and the only thing left to do is to win. 

Cleveland Fans and Media Suck

I want to talk about Cleveland fans and media for a second, about their expectations, their feeling of entitlement, and their over reactions.   

I know I’m not going to make any friends with this but let’s face it, only about 10 people will read it anyways and none of them even like me. 

Sports talk radio and social media outlets have become almost unbearable lately. 

I will start by saying that I, just like 100% of Cleveland fans am tired of the losing.  I want a winner just as much as the next guy but what role do I play in making that happen?  None really, all that I can do as a fan is support my team and show up on game day to back the product on the field. 

For starters, the allegations going around about the Browns “tanking” it this season are absolutely absurd.  No Player, Coach, GM, President, or Owner would lose an entire season on purpose or set themselves up to do so.  The fact that this type of garbage comes out of people’s mouths shows their true ignorance.  Chud is starting the best players on his roster, Banner didn’t purposely draft garbage, and the players aren’t taking plays off. 

You’ve got guys in the media like Kiley and Booms running their mouths about stuff they have no idea about.  Think about it, they liked Colt McCoy for Christ sake.   The Owner, the Coach, the President, and the GM don’t need to explain SHIT to you.  Do your job and let them do theirs, I don’t care if you don’t agree with what they are doing or even if you like it.  Let’s face it, Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi have forgotten more about football than guy’s like this will ever know.  You suck at your job, but I’m not going to tell you how to do it because I’m not a radio guy, my face is too pretty for radio.  If i don't like it, I just don’t listen and I’d advise you to do the same.  If you don’t like the product, don’t watch the games.  It’s not like you know what you’re watching anyways.  Oh, and please do yourselves a favor, the next time you get Joe Banner on your show, don’t ask him about hotdogs.   It’s a sad day when MKC makes you look like fools. 

The fans have got to stop over reacting on Mondays.  Already, we need to fire Norv, Lombardi and Banner after only 2 games. This is why we are losers, it is shit like this. 

It makes me laugh to see all the people calling for Greg Little to get cut because he rolled a stop sign.  Yes, I know his license is suspended but you want to kick him off the team because he’s stupid?  Right.  The funny thing is, I see the same people saying they can’t wait for Josh Gordon to come back next week, you know, the guy that is suspended for violating the substance abuse policy.  

Greg Little has had problems catching the ball, Weeden can’t throw it, Oneil Cousins is garbage, and Trent Richardson can’t find the hole.  But building your team with scrub free agents 2 or 3 weeks into the season isn’t going to make you a playoff caliber team.  At some point ignorant fans need to realize this.  Players like T.O., Beanie Wells and Chad Johnson aren’t on teams for a reason. 

And, I’ve had it with the “I’m done with this team” crap, it’s old.  Move on, you don't know better than Chud about when players should be on or off the field. Just because Trent Richardson is your favorite player doesn't mean he is a 3 down back and Josh Cooper isn't better than Devon Bess so forget about that too.

It seems like Cleveland fans and Cleveland media just want to whine.  If Joe Banner comes on the radio, he talks too much.  If Joe Banner isn’t available for a month, he doesn’t back his product.  If Brandon Weeden starts, he shouldn’t be given the job.  If Brandon Weeden sits, he’s the best QB on the team.  If Jimmy Haslam gets pissed off when his team loses, he’s a crazy Owner.  If Jimmy Haslam smiles when his team is losing, he doesn’t care about his team. 

I could go on forever but…..

At the end of the day you’ve still got the second lowest ticket and concession prices in the league so quit your complaining and go root for your team or buy a trailer and start rooting for the Steelers like your mom did 10 years ago.  Get your shit together Cleveland people.  It’s bad enough that our teams suck, don’t add on to the embarrassment by being dumb, whiny bitches.  

You are either fans or you're not. 



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Jim Brown Hypocrite and Attention Whore

Yesterday, May 29^th the Cleveland Browns announced the hiring of Cleveland Brown great Jim Brown.  He will serve as a “special advisor” working in the community, with the fans and mentoring the players. If you don’t remember, this is the same position he held with the club until 2010 when Mike Holmgren took over.

“I want to thank Jimmy Haslam and Joe Banner for giving me this chance to return to the organization and the great city of Cleveland, whose fans are the best in the NFL and who always have supported me.  I look forward to getting started and once again make difference, not just with the franchise but in the Northeast Ohio community.”

This statement bothers me on multiple levels. So let’s just start from the top:

“I want to thank Jimmy Haslam and Joe Banner for giving me this chance to return to the organization and the great city of Cleveland” – Jimmy Haslam and Joe Banner offered Jim the same job that he turned down from Mike Holmgren.  For him to act like Mike ran him out of the office is ridiculous.  Mike told Jim to zip his lip and do his job and that wasn’t an option for Jim.  Jim Brown (Al Sharpton Jr) uses the Browns organization as a stage to spew his hypocritical messages with a large microphone.  So of course he is happy to be back with the team without a muzzle on.

“Whose fans are the best in the NFL and who always have supported me” – Yes, I agree with this 100% but I’m not sure why he gets the support he gets. Respect for arguably being one of the best to play the game makes sense but not support. Why do we support a guy with a longer rap sheet than Lindsay Lohan? And why do we let him mentor our young impressionable players?  We are talking about the guy who quit on us in 1965 to be an actor and then couldn’t even show up for the induction ceremony for the ring of honor.  Yeah, you really care about these fans Jim.

1965, Brown accused of beating and sexually molesting two teen-age girls.

1968, Jim was accused of throwing his girlfriend off a second-story balcony.

He managed to escape charges that alleged he assaulted another man following a traffic accident.

1978, he was jailed for a day and fined $500 for beating up a pro at a Los Angeles golf course in an argument over the placement of a golf ball.

1985, Brown was arrested together with a woman companion on suspicion of rape and sexual battery on a 33-year-old woman at Brown's Hollywood Hills home.

1987, Brown was arrested for spousal battery.

1999, Brown was convicted of smashing the window of his wife's car, after refusing to attend counseling.

1999, Jim Brown was arrested in Los Angeles for allegedly making "terrorist threats" against his wife.

Brown served a six-month jail sentence in 2002.

“I look forward to getting started and once again make difference, not just with the franchise but in the Northeast Ohio community” – Right! What he really looks forward to is collecting a paycheck because of his name and bashing other pro athletes for not being “social activists” and good role models for young black athletes i.e. Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Magic Johnson.  Because yes, beating women and having anger issues like Jim are perfectly acceptable traits for being a role model.

It is sad to say but I hate that Jim Brown is involved with the Cleveland Browns organization.  He is a loud mouth hypocrite with an agenda and none of it has anything to do with football.  The attention he brings to himself is distracting and has no place in a football organization.  Jimmy Haslam, this is your first mistake with the Browns, let’s hope it’s the last.



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