Browns Sale: Super Bowl Bound!
By E.C. Mercer
I’m starting this article off with complete and un-adulterated disclosure; I am a life long, die hard Cleveland Browns fan, so forgive me the supremely optimistic title. I’m old enough to have lived through, survived and come out on the other side of such times as Red Right 88, The Cardiac Kids, The Drive, The Fumble, The Traitor, and the last 13 years which I like to call The Slow Burning Stink.
This brings me to Jimmy Haslam. The Flying J of Tennessee. If you have been following The NFL Network the last couple of weeks, you’ve been enjoying hours and hours of wonderful NY Jets, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos and even a little bit of Washington Redskins camp coverage. In between the love affair with all things Tebow, Manning and RGIII you just might have noticed the press conference starring the new owner of the Browns. Whether you caught it or not, understand that to me, at least, this was the most significant off season move. Not just for the Browns, mind you, but in the NFL, period. Let me tell you why.
First, a little history: Randy Lerner inherited the Browns from his late father Al in 2002. He didn’t seek out a purchase, the Browns dropped in his lap. He is also a very public-phobic philanthropist, who said from the very beginning of his Browns tenure that he would not be a visible entity and would leave the public running of the organization to his management teams. Now, I know there are various types of owners, but Randy Lerner was on the extreme opposite side of Jerry Jones. I also am not doubting that Lerner wanted to win in Cleveland, so I am not writing this piece to bash him. I just think his true passion lay on the other side of the ocean with his other football team.
What I AM going to do is tell you that I could not be more excited about Jimmy Haslam III becoming our new owner. How well do I know the man? Zip, zilch, nada. I don’t know him, other than the Flying J Truck Stops, which I frequented quite a bit on drives back and forth from Cincinnati to Columbus when I lived in Ohio. But, getting to “meet” him over a 15 minute press conference that I did not attend literally caused me to stop what I was doing, sit down and pay attention like I was watching The State of the Union. And it was a symphony to my ears; an owner who was giddy and serious all at the same time, telling a long suffering city that we would have a winner and he was going to make sure it happened. Nice.
Jimmy Haslam has been seeking this out for years, driven to own a professional football team. Yes, yes, he was a Steeler fan when he came on board there as a minority owner. What did you want him to say? “I now own a piece of Pittsburgh, but I live and breath Titans”. He didn’t care who it was, just that when a team came available, he wanted to be the one to buy it. You could just feel this guys passion to build something in Cleveland, and I have to tell you, to actually get to see someone visibly almost jump for joy, well, this is what Cleveland needs in it’s owner. And, this is significant for the NFL as a whole because football runs deep in Cleveland. The league will be stronger when the Browns get back to winning. Our fans spend money, filling the stadium every Sunday and forking out dough for Browns paraphernalia. We are all over the country and strong in our loyalty.
Yes, Cleveland is getting better, finally. We have Haden, Taylor, Thomas, Mack, Jackson, Sheard, Rubin, Ward and drafted Richardson and Weeden (yes, I like the pick). But, Haslam will now bring a passionate business acumen that I have only seen elsewhere in Dallas, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, just to name a few. I believe Haslam will take his time assessing what we have from the top down and use his business experience and love of football to create long term stability in Cleveland. Read that last part again. Stability. Cleveland. It’s going to be a culture shock to Browns fans and NFL fans alike, I believe.
But, here is something I really like; he is not going to be afraid to change things. Change. As in the stadium, the perception, the attitudes, and yes dear Browns fans, even the uniforms. Burn it all down, I say. Do what you do best Mr. Haslam, market the hell out of the Browns and the 60’s be damned! I’m only partially kidding, but in all seriousness, haven’t we had enough of the losing? In all aspects of being Browns fans? Does it matter what Mr. Haslam does to the peripheries, as long as we become relevant? Not to me. Not to a Browns fan who just wants to win and do it consistently. Ask yourself this if you are a Browns fan: what is most important to you? Making sure we continue the tradition of wearing the white uniforms or winning ball games? Keeping the orange helmets (which I think we will), or being on Monday Night Football again because we offer a good product worthy of its fan base? Think about it.
This bit of news was Christmas in July, at least for me. I’ve suffered enough during my years being a Browns fan, and here’s to Jimmy The Flying J Haslam. Bring us home brother, bring us home.