Like many commenters here, the Akron Beacon Journal’s Patrick McManamon is struggling to reconcile the Browns’ current historic winning streak with his own incredibly early calls for Eric Mangini to be fired as the team’s head coach. Unlike many commenters here, however, it’s not much of an option for McManamon to just stop writing. It’s also apparent that McManamon doesn’t view it as much of an option to simply admit that he has been wrong about Mangini. The perhaps unsurprising result is some remarkable writing on the Browns by McManamon, including this piece, “The Browns, the wins, and Eric Mangini,” that’s so remarkable that we’ll remark on every line of it here. McManamon is in italics, we’re [in brackets], but it’s the Bob Feller statue that steals the show.
Take it away, Pat:
I’m not changing my opinion on the coach of the Browns. I think good things have happened the past few games, but I’m not convinced that the present approach is best in the long run.
[“I really stepped in it by calling for Mangini’s head a few games into his first season with the Browns and since there’s still a chance that Holmgren will let me off the hook by canning him before he can make me look even dumber, I don’t have to admit how dumb I was there just yet.”]
Some may be more convinced than I am that it is the right approach, and I respect that opinion.
[You might be on to something here.]
I could be proven wrong.
[You could be proven even more wrong, yes. There's a good chance.]
Right now, though, I’m not changing my stance. Especially with a change in team presidents. It just seems that a fresh start for everyone would be best.
[It just seems that way. Don’t you see?]
I don’t buy, though, the claim that these wins mean more than they do. They are each 1/16th of a season and the Browns are 4-11.
[Guy: “Hey Pat, I’m telling you, these wins mean more than they do.”
Pat: “I don’t buy that.”
You’ve got to wake up pretty early in the morning to pull one over on old McManamon.]
That’s four wins, 11 losses.
[That's what "4-11" means.]
To state that these wins show that the players are playing for Eric Mangini or buying into what is happening more is just not justified.
[These wins show nothing, really.]
Players play the games to win the games. They will do that if they have a coach they love or if they are coached by the Bob Feller statue outside Progressive Field.
[Wins show nothing, and coaches don’t mean anything. The Bob Feller statue should coach the Browns. Think of all the money that Lerner could save.]
You do find out about the professionals when things are tough. A lot of Browns have stepped forward these past two weeks and played hard and played well.
[But trust me, these players are not buying into anything. I know this because it just seems this way.]
They deserve credit — as does Mangini and the coaching staff.
[And the Bob Feller statue.]
One thing I do not buy — at all — is that NFL teams pack it in. No NFL team packs it in. Kansas City didn’t. Oakland didn’t. Cleveland hasn’t.
[KC and Oakland played so hard, you almost hated to see them lose. The Steelers too. If only they'd had the Feller statue in their corner they might have beaten the Browns.]
The only teams that pack it in are teams that have clinched a playoff spot. The rest get 16 chances to prove themselves to their present team or to another team. They can’t afford to take one of those games off.
[The 2008 Browns must have looked a lot different from the press box.]
Me, at this point I’m trying not to overdo the negativity.
[Obviously. You could have used a bigger font for the “four wins, eleven losses” paragraph.]
I’ve stated my opinion about Eric Mangini.
I stand by it.
[Thanks for clarifying. It’s hard to see you hiding behind Holmgren.]
But I will promise this: If Mike Holmgren decides to keep Mangini, I promise I will start fresh in 2010. If I’m wrong in the long run, I’ll admit it — and I’d be happy to be wrong.
[Which begs the question, what really is “wrong”? And leads to the inescapable conclusion that the Beacon Journal should hire the Bob Feller statue to write about the Browns.]
———-
We’ll be back shortly this afternoon for today’s bowl picks. We have UCLA v. Temple at 4:30, and Miami v. Wisconsin at 8. On Tuesday!
———-
*In fairness to the ABJ, the piece highlighted here was posted at McManamon’s blog, not in the paper.
