In Praise of the Dolans’ “every four or five years” Pledge

June 15, 2011

Even in the midst of a precipitous decline that’s all but erased the euphoria of their record-setting start, the Indians’ proximity to first place in the American League’s Central Division is still more than a nice surprise. After what happened between the Cavaliers and the kid from Akron, and with the Browns having rebooted the […]

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Mangenius Interrupted: An Institutional Failure in Five Acts (Vol. II)

January 5, 2011

Volume I including Acts I and II is available here. Act III picks up with Mike Holmgren having risen in Cleveland from the ashes of the historically incompetent Randy Lerner’s overreaction to a self-interested stunt on the part of one uniquely-positioned publicity hound, “Dawg Pound Mike” Randall: ACT III: Cleveland Lays Down the Palms for […]

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Mangenius Interrupted: An Institutional Failure in Five Acts (Vol. 1)

January 4, 2011

Before we get into further details of Mike Holmgren’s incredible press conference of yesterday in which he explained his decision to fire Eric Mangini as Browns head coach, note that the only tangible reason Holmgren offered for his decision was that “[the Browns] didn’t win enough games this year;” that his “expectations were higher.” The […]

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“There will be no buck dancing” — Questions about Jim Brown, Mike Holmgren and Randy Lerner

September 1, 2010

Maybe someone in a position to do something about it should have seen it coming: A man who embraced a role as a radical civil rights activist*; who served four months in jail (including a two week hunger strike) instead of accepting community service and probation in exchange for a guilty plea on vandalism charges; who […]

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We Are All Losers

July 12, 2010

It’s some coincidence that The Decision fell on the same weekend as the World Cup final, the most widely-celebrated world championship in sport. To see the Spanish players prostrate in celebration of not just a victory at the highest level but one for their country was the first starkest reminder of what’s sure to be […]

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Agent for Josh Cribbs Confirms Suspicions (UPDATE)

January 9, 2010

I wrote earlier this week that Josh Cribbs’ seemingly untenable position in his current contract negotiations with the Browns might be a result of bad advice from his agents, J.R. Rickert and Peter Schaffer. I noted that Cribbs’ agents have embarrassed him in the past with ridiculous claims about the commonplace reality of NFL teams […]

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Josh Cribbs: Pay the Man, but How Much?

January 7, 2010

The top story at the Plain Dealer this morning is that “Josh Cribbs and his agents are insulted” by the Browns latest offer to pay Cribbs some $1.2 million on top of the $3 million or so that he’s set to make under his current contract that runs for three more seasons. Cribbs’ agent called […]

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Questions about a "Dilemma" and Free Agent Superstar "Football Czars"

December 18, 2009

Given that the Browns have offered Mike Holmgren an obscene amount of money to fill a position where he’s never had any substantial success, and that nobody else wants to pay him as much (anything?) to do anything as much fun, it seems inevitable that Holmgren will accept a job as head of football operations […]

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SI Swimsuit Letter Mystery Solved: Officer Ricky Thurman Still at Large

April 24, 2009

We can all rest easier today knowing that Sports Illustrated was almost certainly not behind the admittedly fake letter that they published about the cop named Ricky Thurman who pulled over the kid who was speeding home to get the swimsuit Issue out of his mailbox before his father could get his hands on it. […]

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Who Is Ricky Thurman? — SI Letter Fraud Update

April 20, 2009

Remember the unbelievable letter that Sports Illustrated printed about the kid who was pulled over for speeding by a so-called Officer Ricky Thurman, but was let go with a warning by Thurman because the kid was racing home to beat his dad to the mailbox to fish out the SI Swimsuit Issue? Remember that a […]

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