The Browns did the RIGHT THING by limiting the National Media Access at the Rookie Minicamp

Rookie Minicamp is over (The OTA's are starting.) and the National Media is still probably throwing a Hissy Fit that the Cleveland Browns decided to limit their access. BEST DECISION THEY COULD HAVE MADE! It was a no win situation for the Browns anyway. Don't allow the National Media in (...or Limiting their time.) and they whine about how they were restricted. Let the National Media have their way, then they would criticize the Browns for allowing a Circus to happen when in fact, it's the National Media that would bring the Circus.

Memo to the National Media: Let Johnny get to know his future teammates, coaches,
team facility, etc. before bringing your Circus to Town.

Considering that this is a New Coaching Staff, Rookies trying to make a good impression, etc. This is the only sane decision that the Browns could have made. A Media Circus that a player like Johnny Manziel attracts would have been an unwelcome distraction, not to mention that it also would have been unfair to the other Draft Picks and Rookie Free Agent Signees. Of course, they need to learn the Playbook, get to know the Coaches, learn their way around the Browns Facility (...and around the Cleveland Area.) etc.

But all that didn't matter to much of the National Sports Media who just wanted to show The Circus they would have created and they have their collective panties in a bunch that they didn't get to do this. (I won't mention the sports network who is the most guilty of this, but their name has four letters in it.) The Browns are allowing them access this Wednesday.

Fortunately, there are some members of the National Sports Media who are actually sane and agree with what the Browns did. One of these is Pat Kirwan of CBS Sports.com. Here is his Article from May 18 where he praises the Browns for this.

Don't Forget Larry Doby

This Week in Major League Baseball, it was Jackie Robinson Day on April 15, marking the 67th Anniversary of Jackie breaking the Color Barrier in Major League Baseball when he made his debut with The Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.


What he did is not only one of the most historic moments in sports, but in history. The Racism, Hatred, etc that he faced has been documented. However, there is another man who also made his Major League debut that same season but in the American League with The Cleveland Indians and faced the same problems that Jackie did but is now forgotten for the most part. His name was Larry Doby. Doby is important because it made it possible that Jackie Robinson was not the last.


You have to remember, there was no Interleague Baseball in the 1940's so Doby faced what Robinson did but in a lot of Stadiums that Robinson never played in. Doby made his Major League debut on July 5, 1947 after being signed from the Newark Eagles of the Negro Leagues. Just because Doby was the second man, does not mean that what he faced was any less than what Robinson did, nor are his contributions.


I believe that The Indians should have a Larry Doby Weekend honoring him in July every season.


Here are links where you can learn more about Larry Doby.
Wikipedia - Baseball Hall of Fame - Baseball-Reference.com

If I could redesign The Cleveland Browns Uniform (A Video I made for YouTube.)

I'll let the video do the talking...

The Five People you always see during March Madness

It's the time of the year where College Basketball ends up getting as much betting action (Legal and Otherwise.) as The Super Bowl does. I'm sure you have your bracket filled out and will try to get out of work this Thursday and Friday so you can watch. It's also this time of year that in the workplace or if you go to a bar, you will inevitably run into at least one (or maybe all...) of these types of people while watching the NCAA Men's College Basketball Tournament. So here are the five types of people you will see this time of year:
 
1. THE STAT GEEK GUY: He's the Numbers Cruncher with a few dozen spreadsheets filled with every type of Basketball Statistic you can think of (...along with a few you probably never thought of.) and tries to use this Pseudo-Science to fill out his bracket.
 
2. THE MULTI-BRACKET GUY: He's the guy who fills out at least 37 brackets in order to try to win money in betting pools and online contests by ESPN, CBS Sports, Fox Sports, etc. and ends up losing with all of them.
 
3. THE OFFICE POOL COMMISSIONER GUY: He's the guy who acts as if he's running one of the Vegas Books when it's just one of the local pools with a $20 Entry Fee.
 
4. THE "I CALLED THAT UPSET" GUY:  You always see at least one of these guys at the local sports bar. Everyone in the place is watching a 15-Seed pull the upset against a 2-Seed that nobody saw coming EXCEPT THE GUY IN THE BACK AND HE WON'T SHUT UP ABOUT IT FOR AT LEAST 30 MINUTES. Okay, we get it. How is the rest of your bracket, pal?!?!
 
5. THE "I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT BASKETBALL" PERSON: Where all the others are "Guys" because it is mostly males who do this, with this one, it's accurate to use "Person" since you find this a lot with both Genders. These are the people who wouldn't know a Rebound from a Rubber Band and use all kinds of ridiculous reasons to make their picks when filling out a bracket: Team Colors, Team Nickname. The Head Coach is Good Looking, whatever and yet, these are the people that end up winning whatever betting pool they end up joining.

Why American/Canadian Style Football would never work in the Olympics

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated in his "State of The NFL" Speech before The Super Bowl that Football would be an Olympic Sport by 2020. He obviously didn't think this through. Here are four reasons why it would never work as an Olympic Sport:

 

1. The Timing is bad.

The Winter Games usually take place in February, just after the season. No Pro, College or High School Player would want to play then, and I'm sure that Coaches, etc. wouldn't be too crazy about this either. The Summer Games? You can forget that too. They take place anywhere between July and September which would interfere with Training Camp or the start of the Season.

 

2. Football is a Game that is normally played once a Week.

Olympic Games span two weeks, at the most there could only be three games for a team: The Opening Round, The Semi-Final and The Medal Round. They would have to be played only on the Weekends.

 

3. American & Canadian Style Football isn't played in a lot of other Countries.

Seriously, name an NFL, CFL, Arena or even College Player that is a Citizen of a Country other than the United States or Canada? YOU CAN'T. This isn't Baseball, Basketball, Ice Hockey or Soccer. It is played as a Club Sport in some countries, and that is very few. I doubt there would be more that six countries and even that in my opinion is stretching it.

 

4. American and Canadian Football are different in terms of Field Dimensions and Scoring.

There would be a debate on what style to play. American Pro? American College? American High School? Canadian Pro? Canadian College? Canadian High School? The American Rules would likely be adopted which would force Canadians to play a style that they're not used to.

 

My guess is that Goodell based it on two things:

 

1. The Regular Season Game in London always attracts a big crowd. OF COURSE IT DOES. Over there, it's seen by Brits and Europeans the same way that Americans would attend a Soccer Game featuring well known International Clubs like Manchester United and FC Barcelona. IT'S SOMETHING DIFFERENT.

 

2. NFL Europe had good attendance. Well, there was a reason that most of the teams were based in Germany. All the US Military Based in Germany who obviously saw it as a little piece of home.

 

I haven't heard anymore about this. Maybe Goodell realized that it just wouldn't work. (...at least I hope so.)

Jimmy Haslam firing Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi isn't Dysfunction, It's the realization of Dysfunction

Since returning in '99, the Browns have been so bad that even when they cut out a couple of cancers like Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi, it's STILL seen as Dysfunction when in reality, it's the realization that there is Dysfunction and they were the source of it.



Mike Lombardi (Left) and Joe Banner were the Cause of the Dysfunction under the Haslam
Ownership. Anyone with common sense should be happy that these two have been
run out of town. Photo courtesy of ESPN Cleveland
Browns Fans kept hearing stories about how bad it was there. I personally heard from friends of mine in the Philadelphia Area nothing but bad things about Banner when he worked for the Eagles. Lombardi was never a popular hire with Browns Fans because of his previous tenure in Cleveland when he worked under Bill Belichick and seen by many Cleveland Area Observers as a Back-Stabbing Snake. It got so bad that there were executives with other teams that simply refused to do business with the Browns and potential Head Coaching Candidates would walk out of meetings because they were disgusted with Banner. It got to the point where Banner and Lombardi turned on each other. After Haslam fired Banner and Lombardi, the NFL Team Executives who wouldn't do business with The Browns came out (Anonymously.) and stated that they will again do business with the Browns now that they are gone.


Ray Farmer has taken over as the new General Manager. Farmer is highly thought of around NFL Circles.


The Following are various articles written about the firing of Banner and Lombardi:

Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam on having to part ways with Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi: "I underestimated this"



written by Mary Kay Cabot (Cleveland.com/Plain Dealer) on 2/11/2014



Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi ended on bad terms with each other, and Browns owner Jimmy Haslam wiped out both written by Mary Kay Cabot on 2/13/2014



Cleveland Browns and NFL Links: Peter King explains why Jimmy Haslam made changes written by Branson Wright


(Cleveland.com/Plain Dealer) on 2/13/2014. Includes a link to the Sports Illustrated "MMQB" Article written by Peter King


Transcript from news conference with new Browns GM Ray Farmer
by Nate Ulrich (Ohio.com/Akron Beacon-Journal) on 2/11/2014



New Cleveland Browns General Manager Ray Farmer. Let's hope that he is the right man for the job.
Photo courtesy of Ohio.com/Akron Beacon-Journal via AP

In Honor of The 50th Anniversary of The Beatles' first appearence on the Ed Sullivan Show... My Ten Favorite Beatles Songs

Tonight (February 9.) Marks the 50th Anniversary of The Beatles' First Appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. In honor of this, here are my Ten Favorite Beatles Songs (...by the way, it's not easy narrowing it down to just ten.) Oh, I was NOT named after George Harrison


10. Across The Universe



9. Penny Lane



8. Yesterday (By The Way, That was my Mom's Favorite. She used to sing it sometimes.)



7. I Am The Walrus


6. Nowhere Man



5. A Day in the Life



4. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With A Little Help From My Friends



3. Hello Goodbye



2. Help!



1. While My Guitar Gently Weeps

The Browns can't find a Head Coach. The REAL Problem is Banner and Lombardi

So, The two men that were on the top of my list to be the new Browns Head Coach: Ken Wisenhunt and Mike Zimmer both either rejected the Browns or Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi were too damn stupid to either think of talking to them. When will Jimmy Haslam realize that it's Banner and Lombardi are the problem?




Banner and Lombardi (ESPECIALLY Banner.) are a couple of Egomaniacs who think they know more about football than they actually do. Chudzinski was in a situation that even Paul Brown, Vince Lombardi and Bill Walsh couldn't have won games in.
 


Recently in a previous blog, I called for the NFL to take the team away from Jimmy Haslam http://thejamsessionbyjamdawg.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-nfl-needs-to-take-cleveland-browns.html (Considering the Federal Investigation of his company: Pilot/Flying J. they still may have to.) but if Haslam comes to the realization that Banner and Lombardi ARE the Problem, I may retract that statement.




The Browns are losing support within the state that it once ruled. Here is an eye opening article from the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer and in their website; Cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2014/01/browns_battleground_how_can_th.html


God Help Us All!

If I could redesign the Cleveland Browns Uniform

The Browns are considering a uniform change. Too bad the lawyers get in the way and you have to be legally solicited by someone (In this case, The Browns, the NFL or Nike.) just to show someone something. I'll bet that this will be better than anything they will come up with. (I used the Nike Combat Uni Template for this.)

 

To see this in the Original Size, Click Here

 

Browns Fans as a group tend to be very conservative when it comes to the uniform. You will get dirty looks from Browns Fans if you suggest that the helmet needs a logo. As you can see, I'm using elements of the Classic Browns Uniform and brought back the Two Color Drop Shadow Numbers that the Browns used in 1946. (Their first year of existence.)

 

Yes, I have been trying to get Legally Solicited to show these.


EDIT: Here is the ONLY Change I would make to the Browns Helmet.