Being a major sports franchise general manager in Cleveland is sort of like being snow in Atlanta; you are a really big deal for about a minute, then you're gone a second later.
Lombardi must have been smelling something rotten in Cleveland, as news recently spread that the Browns where doing all they could to dissuade Ray Farmer from taking the general manager position in Miami. Farmer stayed and was swiftly promoted to GM, as Lombardi was ousted after one year, suffering the same demise as former head coach Rob Chudzinski.
Shortly after firing Lombardi, Browns owner, Jimmy Haslam, said that Farmer has a tremendous football IQ.
For the sake of Browns fans, let's hope so.
Brilliant or Insane publisher Mark Barnes wrote about the Browns for the Warren Tribune in the 1980s. He now writes primarily about education.
As the 2013 NFL regular season ended, head coaches rapidly joined unemployment lines.
No one who has ever followed the Cleveland Browns could have been even mildly surprised that
via: Cleveland.com
Browns coach Rob Chudzinski was one of the victims of the falling ax, after just one season at the helm.
As I listened to local media comment on the decision, I wondered if Chud's firing makes any difference to ardent fans or indifferent viewers (I'm more of the latter, I suppose).
Since their 1999 return to the NFL from a three-year absence, the Cleveland Browns have had only two winning seasons and one playoff appearance. Their won-loss record in the last 15 years is an appalling 77-163 for a horrid winning percentage of .320.
During that 15-year period, the Browns have had seven head coaches. By comparison, in the last 45 years, the Browns' most hated rival, Pittsburgh, has had just three head coaches. Those great leaders led the Steelers to eight Super Bowl appearances and six victories.
Although I used to be a sportswriter, I never covered the NFL or the Browns, so I may not be the foremost expert on the sport. It does stand to reason, though, that some semblance of stability at head coach equates to winning. At least it does for Pittsburgh, and it has for New England, another perennial playoff team, who has been coached by Bill Belichick since 2000 and has won three Super Bowls.
Cleveland ownership never seems to pay much attention to coaching tenure though. So, a new coach will be hired -- the eighth, since 1999. He will be wise to leave his bags packed, because head coaches don't last long on the shores of Lake Erie.
Meanwhile, the Browns and their fans will live to lose another day.
Maybe you laugh at the title of this blog post, but is it really so farfetched that the Cleveland Browns might choose me as their next starting field general? Hey, I was a helluva good street quarterback, when I was a kid.
"Here's what we're going to do," I'd tell my friends in our makeshift huddle in a neighbor's driveway, as we interrupted play for passing cars. "Jeff, you break off your route by that red car and cut hard toward the Miller's house. Eric, you sprint straight and button-hook just behind that blue Chevy."
Alex Tanney, via Yahoo Sports
Seconds later, I'd fire a dart to Jeff's outstretched hands, just before he stepped out of bounds near the tree lawn. Of course, Jeff made the catch; I swear that kid had Super Glue on his fingertips.
Sure, it's more than three decades later, and my arm is not as strong. Oh, and I never did play organized football. These may be strikes, but do they really make me less attractive to the Browns than Caleb Hanie or Alex Tanney?
Be honest, are Hanie or Tanney any more recognizable to you in name than I am? Unless they give me a shot, how can the Browns coaches know I won't give them a better chance at victory?
After all, Tanney has never thrown a pass in a regular season NFL game, and Hanie has thrown just 116, and 10 of those were intercepted.
I know with a few practice reps and Josh Gordon on my team, I definitely won't be giving the ball to the opponent as often as Hanie does.
So, that's it. I'm ready. Give me a call, and I'll be the next Cleveland Browns quarterback.
If you know the Browns, you know they could do worse.
