OT: Two of the "Three Stooges" have been fired in Cleveland
Mike Lombardi has been fired as Browns GM and Joe Banner will be stepping down as team CEO. Ray Farmer (who recently turned down the Dolphins GM job and now we know why) has been announced as Lombardi's replacement.
Thank God.
http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2014/02/cleveland_browns_shak…
February 11th, 2014 at 10:33 AM ^
February 11th, 2014 at 2:03 PM ^
Fuck Cleveland.
February 11th, 2014 at 10:34 AM ^
"Three Stoogies" huh...
February 11th, 2014 at 10:34 AM ^
What are your thoughts on Farmer? Is he a good replacement and why or why not?
February 11th, 2014 at 10:57 AM ^
I honestly don't know. What I understand is that he was very highly thought of by NFL executives and several articles here locally wondered why the Browns would retain Lombardi and let him walk. When he didnt take the Miami job I thought at the time somebody had told him to wait for a bit for a reason.
I sure hope Pettine was signed off by Farmer. I don't even want to think about another coaching search here for a long, long time.
February 11th, 2014 at 2:13 PM ^
a knee jerk job by Haslam. It has been in the works for a little while. Pettine is Haslam's choice, and Farmer was consulted via telephone (he was in Mobile). While Farmer hadn't been told he was in line for a promotion (allegedly), Haslam had already been discussing Banner's exit from the team with Banner a couple of weeks ago (again, rumor). The rumors of Lombardi being forced out have persited on Twitter for a couple of weeks at least. Apparently, he all but promised he could deliver McDaniels before Chud was let go, and, well, that didn't happen. Once that blew up in Lombardi's face, Haslam strted to get the idea that no one around the league has much respect for Lombardi, and that set things in motion.
February 11th, 2014 at 10:46 AM ^
is a Stoogie?
February 11th, 2014 at 10:54 AM ^
The obligitory misspelling I seem to make every time I post without hitting spellcheck.
Thanks for the heads-up. It's now fixed.
February 11th, 2014 at 10:56 AM ^
Miami for Cleveland. I assume he must have received a huge contract.
February 11th, 2014 at 11:02 AM ^
Rich Eisen had a tweet that summed this situation up rather nicely....
To review: buy team, fire everyone, hire front office, hire coach, play 1 year, fire coach, hire coach, fire front office, hire GM. Onward.
— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) February 11, 2014
February 11th, 2014 at 11:43 AM ^
What team fires the coach, hires a coach and then hires the GM? I guess he's ok with who's there but my "you're doing something really stupid" warning light would be going off.
February 11th, 2014 at 12:10 PM ^
hall of fame RB Bobby Mitchell so they could draft Ernie Davis.....Ernie Davis died from leukemia before ever playing a game.
February 11th, 2014 at 1:39 PM ^
you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all - Your Mom.
February 11th, 2014 at 2:19 PM ^
I was simply trying to point out that things just happen to this team, but I hate using the term "cursed"
There was also Don Rogers, he was the defensive rookie of the year after the Browns drafted him, Safety out of UCLA, he died of cardiac arrest after his rookie year.
February 11th, 2014 at 2:20 PM ^
Modell'd
seriously, Modell became majority owner in 1961. He fired Paul Brown in 1963. The Browns won the 64 NFL title with a team (led by Jim Brown) built largely by Paul Brown. Then he "fired" Jim freaking Brown. The next 30 years, zip. zilch. Nada. The, he took the team to Baltimore. Then the NFL granted the new Browns to Al Lerner, the guy who was unsuccessful in obtaining an NFL franchise for Baltimore when the league expanded with CAR/JAX, who also intorduced Modell to his Baltimore partners to work out a stadium deal on Lerners plane.
Seriously, you can tie everything bad that has ever happened to the Browns back to Art Modell. Burn in hell, Art Modell
February 11th, 2014 at 2:58 PM ^
Amen to that my friend. And thanks to Tony Grossi for being a one-man "never forget" army every time that douche bag's name got brought up by the HOV committee. He single-handidly kept that a-hole out of the hall.
Baltimore apologists be damned.
February 11th, 2014 at 3:00 PM ^
after ingesting too many drugs the day before he was to be married, IIRC. That isn't cursed so much as stupid.
February 11th, 2014 at 11:04 AM ^
Wasn't this only his first or second year? Trading Trent Richardson seemed like a pretty savvy move to me, not to mention moving on from Brandon Weeden. I'm a Lions fan though, so what do I know?
February 11th, 2014 at 11:04 AM ^
Maybe Im in the minority here.... however had Hoyer not gotten hurt, the Browns looked quite good.... this to me, is shocking..... Lombardi called Hoyer and was right.... makes you wonder had Hoyer stayed healthy, that the entire perception right now would be different.
February 11th, 2014 at 12:52 PM ^
Many Browns fans here want to see Hoyer get the starting job next season. I am one of them.
February 11th, 2014 at 6:56 PM ^
February 11th, 2014 at 11:04 AM ^
Maybe Im in the minority here.... however had Hoyer not gotten hurt, the Browns looked quite good.... this to me, is shocking..... Lombardi called Hoyer and was right.... makes you wonder had Hoyer stayed healthy, that the entire perception right now would be different.
February 11th, 2014 at 11:04 AM ^
As a Browns fan, this is a great move and a move that every Browns fan wanted. Farmer turned down the Dolphins job to stay with Cleveland and now we know why. #superbowl
February 11th, 2014 at 11:08 AM ^
I here you if Hoyer would have not gotten hurt we wouldve won more games and they keep there jobs. The team quit the last 4 games, thats why everyone is gone. I may sound like a homer but the Browns are very close. We are a few pieces away and this is the biggest draft and offseason for us in quite some time.
February 11th, 2014 at 1:31 PM ^
Hear. Their.
February 11th, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^
would've, kept, that's and we're.
February 11th, 2014 at 2:07 PM ^
you're point?
February 11th, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^
Banner and Lombardi were pretty universally reviled in Cleveland, Lombardi from past days and Banner for his snide, arrogant attitude. Apparently, Haslam noticed and decided he needed to take action. I am pleasantly surprised.
February 11th, 2014 at 4:16 PM ^
Haslam is the only stooge, dumping who he can to redirect blame and fan ire. Aka the Pistons way.
February 11th, 2014 at 11:17 AM ^
would choose to be fan of the browns, or the lions for that matter, is beyond me.
at what point do you get tired of stepping on the rake
February 11th, 2014 at 11:27 AM ^
February 11th, 2014 at 11:47 AM ^
Or, if you're born under a very bad sign, you're born and raised in Pontiac, Michigan so you're first and foremost a Lions fan and then you move to the Cleveland area for work in your late 20's and become a Browns fan over the past 30 years like me.
February 11th, 2014 at 12:24 PM ^
My dad was a Brown's fan and I grew up in metro-Detroit. The Lions are my team and the Browns are my other team of interest. Fandom of both teams was instilled in me as a kid. I have found it impossible to change.
Truthfully, I watch football on Saturdays and don't watch than much NFL. The Lions and Browns have basically cost me the NFL.
February 11th, 2014 at 3:58 PM ^
Dad from Ferndale, Mom from Collinwood. Born in Royal Oak and moved to the East Side of Cleveland when I was about a year old. At least I was saved from the Lions by my Dad, whoi disavowed them after they ruined Billy Sims. Too bad my maternal Grandfather had Browns season tix from 1948-1983.
February 11th, 2014 at 11:47 AM ^
February 11th, 2014 at 12:53 PM ^
This is why I have learned to love college sports more.
February 11th, 2014 at 11:19 AM ^
What a clown show. Makes the crew on Rotunda Drive look like they know what they're doing.
February 11th, 2014 at 12:17 PM ^
The rumors according to Tony Grossi (local and solid sports reporter) are:
That the Banner/Lombardi relationship was dysfuntional. Nobody could reallly get on board with Banner basically saying,"in the end, none of your opinions matter, I make the final decision."
Grossi also caught wind at the Super Bowl that Lombardi was going around inner circles blaming everything on Banner to take the heat off of himself.
The Chud firing/coaching search was as big of a dumpster fire as it appeared. I think Banner/Lombardi made promises that if Chud was fired they would produce so and so, and it didn't happen. This pissed off Haslam.
Their first draft was a disaster, this upcoming draft is the biggest opportunity the Browns have had since they've come back, it's starting to seem like Haslam didn't want Banner/Lombardi fucking it up.
-It took a lot for me to do this, listening to fellow Browns fans call into local sports talk is usually the equivalent of having a screwdriver jammed into my ear. It tends to reduce down to the Browns should be the Cleveland Buckeyes, and there is nobody that I DESPISE more than Aaron Goldhammer.
February 11th, 2014 at 12:57 PM ^
Oh, come on. Hammer is cool. The only time I don't like what he is doing is when he spews is democratic BS opinions on air and and acts like he knows something when it fact he is wrong. He is funny though for the most part.
February 11th, 2014 at 1:47 PM ^
Politics, srsly?
Agreed Goldhammer is usually pretty funny; I like his bits on trivia/movies and he's clearly not a Buckeye honk like Rizzo...jeebus.
Kind of makes the morning show listenable in that regard.
February 11th, 2014 at 1:59 PM ^
He does piss off Buckeye honks after they lose a big game.
February 11th, 2014 at 3:05 PM ^
the guy is an annoying jackass. As are most of the sports talkers, who have basically driven me away from ever listening to sports talk radio. Except for tonight.
February 11th, 2014 at 4:04 PM ^
Goldhammer is the worst. I can handle Rizz being a Buckeye honk. It's unsurprising and makes sense. I would always turn it off if it was a Buckeye segment. But, AG is the wort thing to ever happen to sports radio in Cleveland since I started listening in the late 80's. I stopped listening to Rizzo because of Goldhammer. I have also crossed paths with him in the past in Lakewood bars, and he's just as obnoxious in person. My Buddy was working the door one night and wouldn't let him in, saying is ID was fake. Goldhammer was apopleptic and it was hysterical.
February 11th, 2014 at 7:02 PM ^
February 11th, 2014 at 11:50 AM ^
#allclevelandfans
February 11th, 2014 at 12:00 PM ^
Optimism doesn't exactly run high around here.
February 11th, 2014 at 12:56 PM ^
The majority of my friends and family are Cleveland fans so I have to deal with it constantly. Let's not forget that most of them are also delusional Buckeye fans but at least that team is good.
*Sorry to any Browns/Michigan fans for that last jab but it's not completely false. And for formatting as this is from iPhone
February 11th, 2014 at 4:04 PM ^
we don't have faith
February 11th, 2014 at 11:56 AM ^