The Pro Football Hall of Fame is taking a road trip. One hundred NFL Hall of Famers will participate in the first-ever Hall of Fame Fan Fest May 3 and 4 at Cleveland's I-X Center.
All-time NFL greats, like Jim Brown, Terry Bradshaw, Marcus Allen and Joe Namath, to name just a few, will participate in special shows, clinics and meet-and-greets at this amazing event. Shows and exhibits will cover one million square feet at the sprawling Cleveland I-X Center.
One of the featured spectacles at Hall of Fame Fan fest is Pro Football and the American Sprit, a unique tribute to NFL players who missed playing time, while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Mark Barnes is an education author and consultant and the publisher of Brilliant or Insane. Learn more about Mark on our Team page. Follow him on Twitter here.
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.
Heading into the 2013 National Football League season, team owners and league administrators wanted to cut down on head injuries. The answer? Tighten the rules on hits above the chest.
via: businessinsider.com
The result? More hits below the waist and a bushel full of torn ACLs. A couple of key players blow out their knees, and the league's collective eyebrows furrow. When New England's Rob Gronkowski has his knee shredded, in a vicious hit from Browns safety T.J. Ward, heads turn.
Since the new rule that levies harsh fines on players for hitting high, NFL defenders are admittedly aiming for the legs, ending many receivers' seasons and threatening the careers of others; this is the second major injury in as many years for Gronkowski, the supremely talented Patriots tight end.
There is little doubt that the NFL's competition committee will have a bevy of intense debates about this latest rash of serious injuries, due to devastating hits on defenseless players. If you can't hit high and you can't hit low, what's left?
Is it time for the NFL to create a hitting zone on all players? I'm envisioning new uniforms with big -- or not so big -- target, centered between the navel and neck.
When Calvin Johnson takes a helmet to the stomach, cracking a rib, what happens to the target then?
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.
When Bill Belichick coached my hometown Cleveland Browns from 1991-1995, I was convinced he was a loser, unworthy of the title of head coach in the National Football League.
Who knew that 18 seasons later, Belichick would be the topic of a Buy or Sell post?
I'm buying Bill Belichick as the best-ever NFL head coach
Let me begin with the obvious -- five Super Bowl appearances and three wins. I realize Pittsburgh's Chuck Noll won four titles, but the big trophy isn't the only measure of greatness.
Belichick is in the top 10 in all-time wins (keep quiet all you Don Shula fans; the guy coached for 157 years). Plus, Belichick's Patriots were a perfect 16-0 in 2007, and the New England head coach is an uncanny 18-8 all-time in the playoffs.
These are truly remarkable feats, but they don't come close to what distinguishes "The Hoodie" above all NFL coaches.
Just when I thought Belichick couldn't add to his resume, until the playoffs begin, he did something virtually everyone on the planet who watches football would have bet against. Belichick and his Patriots came back from a 24-0 halftime deficit to defeat Peyton Manning and a Super Bowl-contending Denver Broncos team.
Still unimpressed? Get this, prior to that win, teams facing 24-0 halftime deficits were 5-617, according to Elias Sports. That is a .008 winning percentage for the trailing teams. Let's not forget that Belichick had to rally his troops against Peyton Manning, who is having arguably the greatest season of any passer in history.
If this astonishing win were the only one in Bill Belichick's coaching career, I might still buy him as best-ever NFL coach.
