Sadness Week: The Time Traveler (part 1)
I grew up in the Baltimore metro area. Not in the city, so I can’t say I’m “from Baltimore”, not really, but close enough that Baltimore was the city I identified with growing up. I will always have an affection for the place. I grew up watching Orioles games and my favorite player ever, Cal Ripken Jr. I think the Baltimore Oriole is still the classiest looking bird on the planet. I loved and still love the city. I still love the Orioles, even though I haven’t cared about Baseball for over 10 years. Sometimes I actively wonder how my favorite sports team on the planet is from another city that I don’t even care about that much. I hate every NY sports team in existence (Except maybe the Islanders, who I just pity. Death to the Yankees), but my favorite team ever is the Giants. I have to blame my dad for that I guess. He’s a dirty Italian New Yorker.
I guess football as a child was different for me. I was born after the Colts left to the aforementioned New Yorker and a bitter Colts fan. Mom adopted the Giants and before the Ravens came into being I was a dedicated Giants fan. When the Ravens first came to town, I was pretty excited. My city would have a team again? That’s cool! I even got to meet Vinny Testaverde because his kid went to my elementary school and he stayed to sign autographs. I waited in line for over an hour. I took a tour of Ravens stadium, then called PSInet stadium.
But I never really latched on that hard. I already had a team, and while I liked and rooted for the Ravens, they couldn’t supplant my team. I was more into the O’s anyway. Another reason why was because my Mom didn’t like the way Baltimore had gained the team. I wouldn’t understand her sentiment till years later. I stopped liking the Ravens when they beat us in the super bowl and I got mercilessly teased for my fandom later. When your an adult, trash talk is easy to laugh at. When you’re a kid, it hurts a lot more. I was living in the city of the team that beat mine. It sucks. You can’t bring up football without everyone jumping on you. I don’t hold a grudge against those fans, but it turned me off the Ravens for a bit.
The slow, dawning realization of how the Ravens came to be turned me off forever.
I got more into football at the end of high school/early college. 2004-2005 or so. Around the dawning of Eli’s tenure. As I got more into it, I studied the history, fascinated by it. I started looking into what happened to the Cleveland Browns. I knew what happened to the Colts. Irsay wanted a new Stadium, Baltimore wouldn’t build it, so he snuck the team out behind everyone’s back. Dick move supreme. Every older Baltimore fan hates Indianapolis and the Colts with a passion. What turns me off being a Ravens fan is how they all reacted to getting the Browns. What happened to Cleveland was just the same, if not worse, than what had happened to Baltimore.
Baltimore fans, old and young, seem to think that it was the football gods fixing a divine injustice. Giving Baltimore a team back when they had one so tearfully stolen. And besides, it wasn’t so bad for Cleveland. They got to keep the name rights and history. Baltimore didn’t get to keep the Colts history. Cleveland would only be without Football for 3 years. Baltimore had to wait far longer. Baltimore viewed Art Modell as a hero.
Art Modell was a shithead.
I think what happened to Cleveland in ’95 was worse. Modell started out controversially. He fired the legendary coach of the Browns, Paul Brown. The guy the team is friggin named after. This so pissed off Brown that he helped found the Bengals, which his family line still owns. Think about that. The only team in Ohio to now have a connection to Paul Brown is not the Browns. But that’s largely irrelevant to the move. I just wanted to give a little “Modell started out as a shithead” backstory.
Modell was a talented promoter and marketer, but a questionable egotistical businessman. He owned Cleveland Municipal Stadium, and earned all the revenue from it. The stadium was shared by the Browns and Indians. The Indians generated a lot of the stadium revenue, but Modell wouldn’t share it with the baseball franchise. He took it for his stadium company. Then, the Indians moved out. Modell foolishly thought he would be fine, but losing the Indian’s revenue was sinking him.
He tried to get the city to sign off on refurbishments, using relocation as a threat, to get the Browns back in business. Cleveland…said yes.
But in secret, Modell kept pursuing a way out. The City wanted to keep the Browns, and Modell still tore them out. The reason Cleveland got to keep the history and name of The Browns? because they sued the daylights out of Modell, and fought as hard as they could to keep them. Fought and lost. This is why I think it was worse than the Colts leaving. Cleveland had the team ripped out of their hands. The team moved because Modell wanted out. Not because they couldn’t or wouldn’t fix up the stadium, not because of lack of support, but because the owner was too greedy to just sell the team and get out. What happened to Baltimore was terrible. What happened to Cleveland was worse. Not much worse, but worse.
Modell was literally forced by the NFL several years later to sell the team to Steve Bisciotti because he was still a bad businessman. So really, it didn’t even save him. There is far more in depth reading around, if you are willing to prod for it. The things Modell did to screw over the city is astonishing. Art Modell was not a hero. He was a shithead. I am not saying Ravens fans should stop rooting for the Ravens, or even necessarily to be ashamed. By all means, the Ravens are now your team, Baltimore. You should be proud of them. I love football in Baltimore. I love how passionate the city gets about it. The Ravens are now a Baltimore institution. I may never support the Ravens, but I’m glad that they exist. I just wish they existed for different reasons.
I just want every Baltimore fan to understand why they have a team. To understand that at the very end, they have a team because a shithead was a shithead. Art Modell is not a great man. He did not save Baltimore. He did not right any “wrongs”. He cared about Baltimore just as much as he cared about Cleveland. He moved the team because Baltimore had the best offer. He was just a greedy shithead.
I hope he never makes the Hall of Fame.
Also, I want to stress I’m not speaking about every Ravens fan. Plenty know everything, and plenty are good fans. The fans I have an issue with are largely the younger generation, my age. These fans (again, not everyone) tend to be the ones I see using the “It wasn’t as bad for Cleveland as it was for us” argument. I hate it because the people I see using it weren’t alive when the Colts move happened, and were merely kids when the Ravens came. I didn’t understand the move then, and I doubt anyone else my age did either. It seems wrong to belittle a city for being upset about their team moving when we were too young to know the pain of the Colts moving.
I see evil Art was looking at Sexy Rexy’s high school records there.
Sexy Rexy didn’t start high school until 1995. Maybe those are his rushing statistics from before he was a quarterback.
Looks like that time machine was one way. What a life for a Browns fan, getting to relive the last 19 years.
I’m not going to say Robert Irsay wasn’t a huge dick (because he was), but people always overlook that the whole sneaking out in the middle of the night thing happened because the city of Baltimore was about to seize the team away from him as eminent domain. I’d sure get out of Dodge if someone were about to take a sports team I owned.
Try being a Texans fan who had Bud Adams steal the team and history off to Nashville… NASHVILLE!
Or a Sonics fan who had Clay Bennett steal the team and ship them and their history to Oklahoma City….
I can’t speak for Baltimore football fans since I’m not from Baltimore myself, but living around the MD/PA border, I know plenty of them, and the impression I’ve always had, even from those who were around when the Colts left, is something along these lines:
They’re glad the move happened since it got them a team, which the NFL made it clear they weren’t interested in doing via expansion teams – seriously, Carolina I can kind of understand, but even I still can’t figure out why Jacksonville was given a franchise over Baltimore – but they wish it didn’t have to happen by taking someone else’s team. That said, they look it as Modell wanted out, so even if they didn’t take it, another city with an opening then or in the near-future like Tennessee or, once the Oilers moved, Houston, or LA, or someone else would’ve. “Why not us?” so to speak. This also relates to why they feel they had harder luck than Cleveland did, because while there was an extra expansion specifically to bring football back to Cleveland, there was none such for them.
There are certainly weird fans who treat Art Modell like a saint, but by and large most people I’ve met are glad they got his team and don’t really have any strong feelings about the guy beyond that. They stopped being bitter with the Colts over the past few years – a lot of them carried the whole “Chuck Strong” flag along with the Indy fans – but still hate Rob Irsay, and as such understand why Browns fans hate Modell, but don’t understand why still hate the Ravens so much more than any other divisional rivalry.
As for Modell and the hall of fame, that’s a whole different bucket of fish that I’m not even going to try and tackle because I don’t know enough about either side of the argument.
Also, for the sake of clarification – obligatory, it’s in the name – the city of Baltimore actually did sue Irsay just like Cleveland did for the rights to keep the Colts colors and history and all that, and the agreement that was settled upon was that Irsay got to keep the name and colors, but Baltimore got to keep the Superbowl V trophy, and when the NFL would next expand, Irsay would lobby for Baltimore to receive a team. Considering there’s no record of Irsay doing so and all but one of the owners – I believe it was Norman Braman of the Eagles – voted in favor of Jacksonville, while technically his actions were never disclosed so he couldn’t be taken back to court for it, it was less “We find you innocent” and more “We can’t prove your guilt.” So while Modell, if nothing else, did honor the court settlement and give the name and titles back, Irsay screwed Baltimore over to the point of breaking the settlement and depriving them of the agreement that made them willing to give up the blue & white uniforms, the NFL championships, and the names Unitas, Berry, Moore, etc.
Wow that was a lot longer than I thought. tl;dr then: Most Baltimore fans don’t look at Modell super positive or super negative but are glad they got his team, aren’t bitter with Indy but are bitter with Irsay, and understand why Browns fans are still bitter with Modell, but don’t understand why they’re still bitter with Baltimore. Also Robert Irsay was a dick to the point of breaking his court settlement that let him keep the Colts colors and titles. That’s pretty damn tough to out-dick, even for Modell.
This is a good post
no one would really care about modell being the douche that he was if the browns hadn’t managed to run their team into the ground in new and hilarious ways with every single new round of management, with unbelievable stupidity mixed with bad luck. The fact that the ravens won the superbowl a few years later didn’t help much either, altho that was an entirely different team. The only players left were Matt Stover and Rob Burnett, but it didn’t really stop the STOLEN GLORY stuff.
I figure that Browns fans and people in general need a good run for the browns before they stop using Art Modell as the ultimate boogeyman that is the only reason things are bad and if only that nasty modell hadn’t moved the team and also somehow sabotaged every single one of our first round picks in the past 17 years and made us hire the worst gms and coaches in the nfl time and time again!! I think it will take about a decade of good play before they can move past it and understand that Art Modell did not ruin football in Cleveland forever and taint you with the blood of the loser, but instead dicked a city out of a team that was immediately replaced. Because it sure as shit isn’t going to be just purely time, we still get this stuff pumped out 17 years later, and the more time goes on the more laughable and departed from the facts it will be.
Art Modell is a shithead, but i think after nearly 20 years its time to stop giving a shit, and face the fact that Modell has absolutely 0 to do with anything bad about the Browns right now. And it was never right to expect some sort of fucking penance from Ravens fans, but I suppose that will still be heavily implied as long as the Browns continue to put out an embarrassment of a team every single year.
Hall of Fame for the owners is fairly retarded. Art Modell deserves the Hof as much as any owner who wasn’t George Halas, Al Davis or Lamar Hunt. That is to say, not at all.
His work on TV revenue sharing and promotion was a pretty big deal and is actually important to the history of the league, but it really isn’t enough to stick him in the hall. It was frightening how many of my old Maryland friends were calling for it though.
And he hired the first black gm, which is pretty cool but I’m pretty sure these “accomplishments” just mean he was an nfl owner for like 40 years. Thats what he did. He owned an NFL team, badly, for like 40 years. He did nothing more than that(other than fuck over Cleveland). I really hate the concept of NFL owners in the hall of fame honestly. It feels so fucking self-aggrandizing for doing nothing, at all. If you weren’t as important as Al Davis then you don’t deserve to even be considered.
Honestly, Modell’s work on TV revenue sharing and promotion, while important, wasn’t really his own innovation, and any of several other owners could have done as-good-or-better at it. Pete Rozelle was the drive behind that, and while Modell largely supported Rozelle’s initiatives, it was Rozelle who saw the power of Television, it was Rozelle who drove the NFL and (with the movers-and-shakers in the AFL), the AFL toward the shared revenue that enabled the NFL to become what it is. Modell wasn’t innovative; he just had useful connections… connections that anyone with the money the NFL had could have easily acquired with a phone call. He saved them a step; that’s *IT*. He belongs in the Hall of Fame like a whale belongs in the Sahara. As a Broncos fan, I had no dog in the fight– I can support, readily, players, coaches, and owners from my division rivals in the Hall. Hell, I even kind of like the Ravens (Poe being my favorite poet). But Art Modell didn’t deserve the moment of silence he got, and the fact that Cleveland wasn’t going to give it to him was apropos. He was nothing but rich, and egotistical. His net influence to the NFL was detrimental. Even Irsay– for whatever his impact on Baltimore was, and it’s not entirely pardonable– has been a positive force in the NFL’s development, and unlike Modell, Irsay has been an innovative thinker in the NFL’s progress. Oh, and Pop? NFL owners don’t select HoF entrants. And it’s pretty damned naive to suggest they do nothing at all. They may not be on the field, but they are still essential to the development and growth of the NFL. The NFL would not be what it is today without Al Davis, Ralph Wilson, Lamar Hunt, Paul Brown, or even Irsay and Modell (wretched actions count to, after all). The sport is far more than the game played on the field, and it is that part of it that the owners deserve credit (and blame) for.
I just now read this, NFL Owners do nothing but count money and fuck over the actual important people in the nfl. I mean we just had a player lockout, a ref lockout and then a laughably tiny settlement for concussions after decades of actively covering up their effect on players making the league complicit in the deaths of dozens, if not hundreds of ex-players and they actively used the shitty quality of life they helped make a reality for the players to screw them out of the health care they need to live.
You have no leg to stand on to defend the owners about anything, ever. Ever.
Don’t forget that a William Belichick was the coach of the Browns when Modell moved the team. The previous year the Browns had made the divisional round of the playoffs and started 3-1 in the 1995 season before Modell announced the move. Modell even told Belichick he would at least be the coach in Baltimore before firing him. Once again, Art Modell is a shithead.
As amazing as the Browns franchise started off (7-3 record in 10 straight championship games) the pendulum had to swing back mightily to maintain balance. Having reached the low of 11 seasons running w/o a playoff berth (a sad, sad franchise record), surely now it must begin its’ travel back towards the positive, winning days… or we’ll just get to relish in the tiniest of victories, like Spencer Lanning being the first player since 1968 to punt, kick a PAT and throw a TD pass. Oh yeah that’s right- our punter IS the kicker too now. Go Browns.
As a lifelong Colts fan who’s had to deal with Baltimore’s hypocritical bullshit for 18 years, fucking THANK YOU.
Jesus Christ, Batlimore fans get so pissed at the Colts of Modern Era for something our owner’s dickhead dad did thirty years ago. Then they turn around and THEIR dickhead owner does the EXACT SAME dickhead move to Cleveland. Cleveland would have had a Superbowl win that the Ravens ended up getting. But does Cleveland complain? Never heard a peep out of them. Baltimore fans (who hate the Colts) are such fucking hypocrites.
Anyway good on ya Dave.
Can I just take a minute to bring up how stupid this whole “Baltimore won the Superbowl Cleveland should’ve had in 2000” argument is?
Half of the coaching staff and almost half of the players that were on the ’95 Browns weren’t on the ’96 Ravens. There were a grand total of three players on the 2000 Ravens that were on the 1995 Browns; Matt Stover, the kicker, Rob Burnett, a DE, and Larry Webster, a backup DT. As far as I know, a kicker, and two linemen, one a backup, do not make a championship team. No Cleveland coaches were left. The only two members of the front office outside of PR and stuff that were left from Cleveland were Ozzie Newsome and Modell, who was absolutely not making the personnel decisions.
“It would’ve happened in ’95 though, they started 3-1 before the announcement!” Big deal. So were the Eagles last year. And the Chargers. Hell, Arizona was 4-0 last year. A hot start means absolutely nothing, especially when you consider that two of those teams they beat went 7-9 that year, the one they lost to went 6-10, and the vast majority of that year’s ten losses were to playoff teams(Buffalo, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Pittsburgh again, San Diego), so there’s a solid argument that Cleveland’s 3-1 start benefitted from playing the teams drafting 7th, 12th, and 14th in that four-game stretch.
Saying that was Cleveland’s Superbowl would like saying Superbowl XXXIV LA’s Superbowl. It’s stupid, and it bugs me when I hear it.
That 95 browns a football life was such a sham of a program and its injected this Stolen Glory bullshit into the football fans conscious. Its such a horrific mix of omitted details and hindsight. The 93-95 browns were only in positive DVOA for one year, 94, where they had the 17th ranked offense and the 10th best defense, bolstered by a top tier special teams. In 93, they were similarly ranked in Offense and Defense, and were a mediocre team. The one year they were good, they were substantially below the top tier teams, ranking 9th in the nfl, with 4 teams having more than twice their total DVOA. They were not that good.
Those browns teams had coaches that ended up being good in entirely different circumstances and a team that was by all measures a middle of the road to bad team, that was gutted in record time before it was turned into an actual winner by a man hired by Art Modell. That man also would never have become the gm he is with Belichick as the coach, if he would have even been the gm and not Belichick himself. Just utter bullshit and wishfull thinking all around.
My point remains valid. They stole a team and complained about having their team stolen. they are cunts and deserve aids.
Your previous points “remain valid” even though they were shot down twice.
…OK…
…So your city stole a team and you’re complaining. Regardless of our opinions of Baltimore fans, Indy did indeed take the team that was in Baltimore.
So your complaint is about another city that stole a team complaining about a city that stole a team.
You realize you are doing the exact same thing that you are complaining about, right?
Jonathan Coulton’s a Browns fan?
What the Colts did was nowhere near as bad as what the Ravens did. They ultimately had no choice but to skip town due to Maryland’s scheming to take the team away from the owner.
But then again, I’m a Steelers fan who hates the Browns more than the Ravens, so what do I care?