RIP Art Modell

[Brian]

The pain Baltimore suffered makes its courting of another team's franchise all the more worse. They knew what it felt like, then decided to inflict it upon another city. I agree much of the blame falls at the NFL's feet. Baltimore deserved an expansion franchise.

 

[Boom_70]

Pro sports philosophy question: What does any franchise owe its city?

Presumably, most of their revenue stream would come from residents of said city and surrounding area, so I'd say "everything."

And don't forget the bond issue for the stadium, and the tax incentives, and the sweetheart leases on the parking lots.

But that's just money. People aren't mad at Modell or O'Malley about the money.

"Ask not what your pro sports franchise can do for you, but ask what you can do for your pro sports franchise."

 

[BNWriter]

Goodness, the hatred some people have over the most insignificant things . . .

Please tell me that was tongue in cheek. It was not insignificant for the fans when their team packed and left for Baltimore. My father, who was raised in Akron and is a lifelong Browns fan, was not amused at the move. I wish I could RIP him, but I really can't. Sorry he has died, but rest in peace...? Uh...No.

 

[proudpittsburgher]

Cleveland has every right to hate Modell until the end of time. My sympathy for what happened, however, lessens when I see fans justifying that hate by saying "no one can ever understand our pain." Actually, the people of Baltimore understand all too well. In the grand scheme of it, the screwing Cleveland took was not nearly as bull**** as what happened in Baltimore. Cleveland doesn't have to acknowledge or understand it, but other people should before they go repeating the claims that no city ever suffered the heartbreak Cleveland did.

I guess I didn't see anyone doing that . . . just that their hatred was justified, in their eyes, because of what he did to them. What happened to Baltimore with Irsay doesn't lesson their vitrol for Modell. Now, the first time they tell Baltimore Colts fans they shouldn't hold a grudge . . . well, they are on their own then.

 

[Double Down]

The only way Baltimore was ever going to get a team was to steal one. Hypocritical? Maybe. But the city tried to do it the right way for a DECADE. Tagliabue decided Jacksonville was a better market. The "noble" choice for Baltimore would have been rooting for a CFL team for the rest of time. Again, Cleveland didn't lose the Browns as much as the franchise simply went on hiatus until the league did backflips to write a wrong. After awhile, the angst seems a bit much to Colts fans. It's not like Bernie Kosar had to be honored in the Cleveland Knighthawks Ring of Honor the way Unitas had to be with the Ravens.

 

[Boom_70]

Almost all fans hate almost all owners. But it's interesting how completely we hate certain owners.

The Rooneys are hated in Pittsburgh, Maras in New York, Kraft in NE?

Hence the word 'almost.'

Would add that Jet fans are not sure what to think of Woody Johnson.

There was a time when Jet fans despised Leon Hess mainly because of failure on the field. What Jet fans did not realize was that he refused to do PSL's and insisted on keeping seat prices low so that families could afford to go to a game. When Hess owned the team Jet seat prices were always one of lowest in the league.

It all turned around for Hess when he hired Parcells, and Francesa started to refer to him as "Mr. Hess."

Yup when prior Francesa called him a doddering old fool.

 

[Drip]

RIP Mr. Modell.
The man picked up a dinner tab for me and about 8 other greedy scribes a few moons ago in Cleveland. He didn't have to do that.

Why would you let him?

When we went to pay for the tab, the waiter said "Mr. Modell is picking up the bill. Don't worry about a thing and enjoy yourself." We purchased another round of drinks and tacked on a bottle of vino.
When I saw him the next day, I personally thanked him and he said "No problem."

Jesus. Forget the ethics for a minute, that's just tacky as hell.

I hope you at least left the tip yourselves, and were generous.

I keep forgetting your elevator gets stuck. There's not a damn thing tacky and nothing unethical. The guy picked up a dinner tab. It was a nice gesture and yes, there was a generous tip.
What's the problem?

It is if any of the 8 scribes were Browns beat writers.

None were Browns beat writers.

 

[Norrin Radd]

RIP?

The man's historic impact on the game itself was minimal (unlike, say, other noted prick Al Davis), and he thumbed his nose at some of the most passionately loyal fans in sports.

He broke a city. And he didn't care.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Fake Art Modell is finally funny: https://twitter.com/fakeartmodell

Oh my Lord! That's about 1,000 kinds of inappropriate.

But it's all also an all-time "burn in hell for laughing at this" entry if I've ever seen one. It's especially funny if you've ever spent any time at all in NE Ohio.

This is too funny. And I know quite a few Browns fans that will never forgive, and are probably throwing a party right about now.

Asked one friend of mine why he hadn't posted about this on Facebook yet, and he said he was waiting word on LeBron too.

Know one guy who had a toilet on his Browns party bus with Modell's face in it.

If they would even mention it Sunday, the place gets drowned out in boos.

 

[Azrael]

RIP?

The man's historic impact on the game itself was minimal (unlike, say, other noted prick Al Davis), and he thumbed his nose at some of the most passionately loyal fans in sports.

He broke a city. And he didn't care.

All due respect, but the collapse decades earlier of the Great Lakes/Rust Belt economy broke the city.

Art Modell broke the city's heart.

 

[Double Down]

RIP?

The man's historic impact on the game itself was minimal....

If not for Rozelle, Mara and Modell, there would be no revenue sharing, and that socialist principle is probably what made the NFL what it is today. Modell also came up with the idea for Monday Night Football, which played a huge role in the growth of the game. Hate him all you want, but his impact was not minimal.

 

[Chef2]

RIP Mr. Modell.
The man picked up a dinner tab for me and about 8 other greedy scribes a few moons ago in Cleveland. He didn't have to do that.

Why would you let him?

When we went to pay for the tab, the waiter said "Mr. Modell is picking up the bill. Don't worry about a thing and enjoy yourself." We purchased another round of drinks and tacked on a bottle of vino.
When I saw him the next day, I personally thanked him and he said "No problem."

Jesus. Forget the ethics for a minute, that's just tacky as hell.

I hope you at least left the tip yourselves, and were generous.

I keep forgetting your elevator gets stuck. There's not a damn thing tacky and nothing unethical. The guy picked up a dinner tab. It was a nice gesture and yes, there was a generous tip.
What's the problem?

It is if any of the 8 scribes were Browns beat writers.

None were Browns beat writers.

The tackiness comes in when you added more drinks and a bottle of wine.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

RIP Mr. Modell.
The man picked up a dinner tab for me and about 8 other greedy scribes a few moons ago in Cleveland. He didn't have to do that.

Why would you let him?

When we went to pay for the tab, the waiter said "Mr. Modell is picking up the bill. Don't worry about a thing and enjoy yourself." We purchased another round of drinks and tacked on a bottle of vino.
When I saw him the next day, I personally thanked him and he said "No problem."

Jesus. Forget the ethics for a minute, that's just tacky as hell.

I hope you at least left the tip yourselves, and were generous.

I keep forgetting your elevator gets stuck. There's not a damn thing tacky and nothing unethical. The guy picked up a dinner tab. It was a nice gesture and yes, there was a generous tip.
What's the problem?

Not to speak for YF, but I read his response of finding it tacky because it sounds like you found out Modell was footing the bill, then decided to add another round of drinks and bottle of wine because it was free.

Like Chef2 said when I was posting.

 

[Drip]

RIP Mr. Modell.
The man picked up a dinner tab for me and about 8 other greedy scribes a few moons ago in Cleveland. He didn't have to do that.

Why would you let him?

When we went to pay for the tab, the waiter said "Mr. Modell is picking up the bill. Don't worry about a thing and enjoy yourself." We purchased another round of drinks and tacked on a bottle of vino.
When I saw him the next day, I personally thanked him and he said "No problem."

Jesus. Forget the ethics for a minute, that's just tacky as hell.

I hope you at least left the tip yourselves, and were generous.

I keep forgetting your elevator gets stuck. There's not a damn thing tacky and nothing unethical. The guy picked up a dinner tab. It was a nice gesture and yes, there was a generous tip.
What's the problem?

It is if any of the 8 scribes were Browns beat writers.

None were Browns beat writers.

The tackiness comes in when you added more drinks and a bottle of wine.

No it wasn't. We were told to do so by the waiter, courtesy of Mr. Modell.

 

[YGBFKM]

Modell didn't break Cleveland's heart, its ****ty sports teams did.

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

I really think he got a sick thrill enforcing the NFL blackout rules when the stadium was a couple thousand short of a sellout. The memory may be a little hazy, but something tells me that he even gave bars a hard time (even those like 50 miles outside of the city) for showing those games that were blacked out.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

This is a weird day for Baltimore. My wife's family is from Baltimore, so I feel it.

On one hand, no one understands the way Cleveland felt the day the Browns left better than the city of Baltimore. It's like having a piece of your soul snatched away by someone you desperately wanted to trust. It's like having your heart broken for the first time. You never, ever completely get over it, because the rest of your life, you'll never love a sports team without reservation, without holding something back to guard against that feeling again.

On the other hand, I grow a little weary of Cleveland's martyr complex when it comes to Modell and the Browns. Mizzou is saying earlier in this thread, "Imagine Pittsburgh without the Steelers, Green Bay without the Packers, Dallas without the Cowboys..." but you don't have to imagine it at all. Imagine Baltimore without the Colts.

Imagine if, instead of the Browns being back in Cleveland in less than three years, there was a team called the Jacksonville Browns. Or the San Antonio Browns or the Las Vegas Browns. And that team tried to pretend Jim Brown was part of its legacy, and the NFL Hall of Fame was like "Yup, as far as we're concerned, the Las Vegas Browns all-time leading rusher was Jim Brown."

When Modell stabbed Cleveland in the back, the NFL bent over backward to give the city another team in the next round of expansion. When Baltimore lost the Colts, Paul Tagliabue literally told the city to "go build a museum" downtown because they were never going to get another team. Modell said "Sorry to screw you, but I'm leaving after this season." The Irsays said "We are absolutely not leaving, we absolutely did not meet with Phoenix and Indianapolis, anyone who says so is a liar, and no that's not bourbon on my breath" and then packed up a truck in the middle of the night and left. And it was 13 years, not three, before Baltimore got football back. If the city hadn't romanced Modell, they'd still be begging for a team or rooting for a CFL franchise. Instead, they sell out every single game.

I understand that the Browns leaving prayed on some of Cleveland's sports insecurity, because their departure was woven together with years and years of heartbreak from the Indians and, over time, the Cavs. I guess I don't quite get, logically, how people can feel no one in the history of the NFL was wronged the way they were wronged, when Baltimore was wronged for far longer and much worse. The league was determined to fix what happened in Cleveland. The league actively tried to prevent football from ever returning to Baltimore. Art Modell may be the devil in Cleveland, and perhaps justifiably so. But he literally saved professional football in Baltimore, and in the end, Cleveland fans still get to cheer for the same uniforms and feel like they're a part of the same history that their parents rooted for.

The NFL was forced by the people of Cleveland to give a new franchise to the city. Football was over in Cleveland. Gone. Kaput. Clevelanders went berzerk. They shut down the fax machines in the NFL offices with demands to give Cleveland a new team. The City of Cleveland sued Modell to force him to play out the final three years of his lease in Cleveland. Baltimore sued the NFL over antitrust violations.

 

[LanceyHoward]

I interviewed him at the owners' meetings in 2004 right before he stepped down.

I certainly understand why Cleveland fans hate him. But the NFL as we know it, probably would not have the revenue sharing that most believe has made it successful without Modell giving up the TV contract he had at early on... There was another owner (maybe Mara) who did the same thing.

RIP...

I don't have the time to go exact dates and look this up but combined TV contract required an act of Congress, the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, to be implemented. Modell bought the team in 1961. When Modell bought the team the agreement to give up the rights had already been made by the previous owners. And while history is the propaganda of the winners the chief impetus for the owners to combine the rights is that the AFL already had a combined contract, and in 1960 earned more per team than the NFL. Which freaked the owners out and given the political skills of Rozelle moved them to a combined contract.

Now did Modell take credit for this at owners meetings 35 years later? Probably.

 

[Chef2]

RIP Mr. Modell.
The man picked up a dinner tab for me and about 8 other greedy scribes a few moons ago in Cleveland. He didn't have to do that.

Why would you let him?

When we went to pay for the tab, the waiter said "Mr. Modell is picking up the bill. Don't worry about a thing and enjoy yourself." We purchased another round of drinks and tacked on a bottle of vino.
When I saw him the next day, I personally thanked him and he said "No problem."

Jesus. Forget the ethics for a minute, that's just tacky as hell.

I hope you at least left the tip yourselves, and were generous.

I keep forgetting your elevator gets stuck. There's not a damn thing tacky and nothing unethical. The guy picked up a dinner tab. It was a nice gesture and yes, there was a generous tip.
What's the problem?

It is if any of the 8 scribes were Browns beat writers.

None were Browns beat writers.

The tackiness comes in when you added more drinks and a bottle of wine.

No it wasn't. We were told to do so by the waiter, courtesy of Mr. Modell.

Rubbish. Pick up the extra drinks out of your own pocket. While you were at it, the 8 of you should have gotten 3 or 4 Filet Mignons..a couple of T-Bones...Maybe a lobster or two to go......

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Cleveland has every right to hate Modell until the end of time. My sympathy for what happened, however, lessens when I see fans justifying that hate by saying "no one can ever understand our pain." Actually, the people of Baltimore understand all too well. In the grand scheme of it, the screwing Cleveland took was not nearly as bull**** as what happened in Baltimore. Cleveland doesn't have to acknowledge or understand it, but other people should before they go repeating the claims that no city ever suffered the heartbreak Cleveland did.

You're seeing something which isn't happening. There's no one saying this, and if there are it isn't many people. It's definitely not a major sentiment here in Cleveland. The one person you're citing on this thread as saying it probably hasn't been in Cleveland for more than a 12-hour stretch.

One of the things talked about when the Browns moved was that maybe Cleveland could take the Vikings. There were plenty of people who said Cleveland could not do that after what just happened with Baltimore taking the Browns.