Post by Rob Durkee on Sept 6, 2012 17:54:00 GMT -5
By ROCKIN' ROBIN
When I was a sports writer for The Elyria Chronicle-Telegram in the fall of 1978, I can vividly recall traveling with the Cleveland Browns for their road game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I was on the team bus and its was about to take off….when one final person was getting onto it. Before he sat down, that person looked at me and nicely observed, "Oh, you must be the writer from Elyria."
That person was then-Browns owner Art Modell. Sadly, he died overnight at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was 87.
Long ago, I've learned to forgive people for things they did when they were alive. I long ago forgave Ted Williams. In 1972, as manager of the Texas Rangers, as a writer for the Fort Worth Press, I offered to shake hands with him as we met in the dugout. Williams refused to shake hands with me. It was an embarrassing moment as I had to somehow softly introduce myself. Years later after he passed away, I learned to forgive the Hall of Famer because I knew he'd had many bad relationships with the news media. I was a victim of circumstance.
By the same token, I suppose I'll be the only person from Cleveland to forgive Art Modell for moving the Browns to Baltimore in the mid-1990s. So be it. The Browns were his biggest cash cow and he'd been losing money. He was seeing an antiquated Cleveland Stadium with crowds that were gradually getting smaller. He was seeing the Indians chalking up sellout after sellout at the Jake. And he was seeing the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame attracting people like never before. And his attempts to get a new stadium weren't working.
If you were the owner of an NFL team that was losing money playing in an old beat-up stadium…and another city offered you millions more to move your team to that city, including the guarantee of a new stadium, would you do it?
Art Modell will be remembered for one business decision that went against the city of Cleveland and its long-time faithful Browns' fans….but he shouldn't. Did you know he was President of the NFL from 1967 to 1969? That he helped negotiate some key national NFL TV contracts? That he pioneered something we take for granted today, Monday night football? That he was the driving force for the NFL exhibition game double-headers that began 50 years ago in 1962?
Don't be surprised if there's renewed attempts to get Art Modell into the Pro Football Hall Of Fame. I'll leave it at that.
When I was a sports writer for The Elyria Chronicle-Telegram in the fall of 1978, I can vividly recall traveling with the Cleveland Browns for their road game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I was on the team bus and its was about to take off….when one final person was getting onto it. Before he sat down, that person looked at me and nicely observed, "Oh, you must be the writer from Elyria."
That person was then-Browns owner Art Modell. Sadly, he died overnight at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was 87.
Long ago, I've learned to forgive people for things they did when they were alive. I long ago forgave Ted Williams. In 1972, as manager of the Texas Rangers, as a writer for the Fort Worth Press, I offered to shake hands with him as we met in the dugout. Williams refused to shake hands with me. It was an embarrassing moment as I had to somehow softly introduce myself. Years later after he passed away, I learned to forgive the Hall of Famer because I knew he'd had many bad relationships with the news media. I was a victim of circumstance.
By the same token, I suppose I'll be the only person from Cleveland to forgive Art Modell for moving the Browns to Baltimore in the mid-1990s. So be it. The Browns were his biggest cash cow and he'd been losing money. He was seeing an antiquated Cleveland Stadium with crowds that were gradually getting smaller. He was seeing the Indians chalking up sellout after sellout at the Jake. And he was seeing the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame attracting people like never before. And his attempts to get a new stadium weren't working.
If you were the owner of an NFL team that was losing money playing in an old beat-up stadium…and another city offered you millions more to move your team to that city, including the guarantee of a new stadium, would you do it?
Art Modell will be remembered for one business decision that went against the city of Cleveland and its long-time faithful Browns' fans….but he shouldn't. Did you know he was President of the NFL from 1967 to 1969? That he helped negotiate some key national NFL TV contracts? That he pioneered something we take for granted today, Monday night football? That he was the driving force for the NFL exhibition game double-headers that began 50 years ago in 1962?
Don't be surprised if there's renewed attempts to get Art Modell into the Pro Football Hall Of Fame. I'll leave it at that.
