Photo courtesy of Kevin Naugle, OBR Watercooler forum
I've written a lot about this mural of Hall of Famers that used to be on wall in the Browns facility in Berea. Originally I had been told the mural had been painted over. In reality, it was taken down, but nobody can tell me if it was taken down intact. Stating it was painted was my error (he wrote, in the interest of full disclosure).
I called Bill Bonsiewicz, the Browns vice president for Communications, to find out why. He said the team has had plans for months to dedicate a portion of its lobby in Berea to the team's past and its tradition. There is a possibility that the mural of Hall of Famers could go there, Bonsiewicz said.
The mural came down because the entire downstairs of the building was painted for the first time in years, Bonsiewicz said. Bonsiewicz said new coach Eric Mangini did not demand it be removed. This mural obviously took a lot of work to put up, so I wondered why not just skip that wall when painting. Bonsiewicz said it was a matter of painting the entire downstairs.
Bonsiewicz could not say if the same mural could be placed in the lobby because he did not know if it came down intact. Fatheads are designed to be placed on a wall, removed and put in a new spot. He could not say, because he did not know, if the Hall of Fame mural came down intact.
No, this has nothing to do with football. But because I've written about it, I felt it fair to get the team's side. Bonsiewicz said plans to improve the lobby were in place before Mangini was hired. Prior to talking to him, though, I had been told to expect the team to say just that, that there were plans to move the mural all along and that the team would do that to blunt the criticism that followed the mural's removal.
Does it matter? Listen to Joe DeLamielleure, one of the team's Hall of Famers.
"They should do something different with it because (Mangini's) job and the great paycheck he's getting are coming off the backs of the guys in that mural," Delamielleure said.
During the discussion with Bonsiewicz, I also asked about the possibility of talking to new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan for a story for Sunday. He said Mangini was not ready to have his coordinators do individual interviews, that Mangini wanted to complete the hiring of his staff and then the coordinators would meet with the entire media contingent.
WHO CARES! Why cant cleveland browns fans realize its about HARD WORK!!!?
Haven't most painters ever heard of covering up what doesn't need to be painted, and then paint around what doesn't need to be painted? Most have. And then do. In other words, balderdash.
By the way, wasn't Bonsiewicz's boss extinguished in the recent purge?
i'm offline for a few days and all these mysterious commentors come out of the woodwork on the recent browns articles. i wonder how many of the i.p.'s track back to berea? i'm calling b.s. on a lot of them. these people come out to defend the browns over cuts but say nothing all season about the bad football? what a bunch of frauds.
Alright. . . I'm no graphic artist or sign maker, but you can see every mortar line between every cinder block on that wall. The mural is clearly affixed with some kind of adhesive if it isn't painted on. No way it could have been taken down intact, and if it was stripped from the wall, it was for the sole purpose of giving a cleaner surface for the new paint, and not for preservation purposes. And yes, it's pathetic that we are talking about this. But it is relevant, and it is relevant because the organization continues to make ham-handed moves like this (I guess Savage wasn't the only front office employee who lives in an alternate universe where interpersonal skills are considered a handicap). Bonsiewicz' answer as to why the mural wall couldn't be skipped over is classic — in essence, "Well, to paint that wall over we had to . . . you know. . . paint that wall over." Meanwhile, they have had a week to get their ducks in a row on this story, and the organizational defense is that they didn't paint it over, but instead took the mural down. Yet they claim to not know whether the mural was taken down intact (which, of course, it wasn't). Who knows. . . maybe there was a good reason for taking it down. Like maybe the mural wouldn't have gone well with the new Black and Gold color scheme Eric Mangini picked out for the downstairs. Regardless, for the duration of the two-to-three year run we can expect from Randy's latest new regime, the only thing that will be more frustrating than their refusal to share information with the fans will be those rare occassions when they actually do decide to share information with the fans.
I want to see a new mural, one that has the 2010 Superbowl Champion Cleveland Browns team on it.That would be a sight for sore eyes.GO BROWNS!!!
Eric Mangini's job is to make the Browns into a competitive football team by September..seriously..He's trying to assemble a coaching staff with the best people possible and evaluate the roster..I as a Browns fan am thrilled about the Mangini-Kokinis tandum..Let them do their jobs..Isn't spring baseball about to start..Lets leave the Browns to the coaches for a while and focus on our Indians and the red hot Cavs
I have an idea as to where the mural should be hung…in Baltimore, where the real Browns moved long ago. I could name myself Julius Erving, and that doesn't give me credibility, honor, tradition, talent, or an ability to dunk. The Browns are a joke. I read this because I like Pat.
you couldnt wait to publish the story and get on wknr to bash the browns about this… why no research ?? you have been bitter about the browns since they canned you. are their not 2 sides to every story or just one ….your side…you guys are newspaper reporters . not celebrities.. report facts..drop your egos.. tony grossi wannabe
It's tough for employees who remain when a new regime comes in and starts changing things. Every change seems like a snub to them, and everything they say should be taken with a grain of salt.
If this mural thing is one of the old employees' biggest gripes, I'd say the new guys are doing pretty well.
Whoa! Angry Browns fan-type-people! Go to your library and check out "Sundays at the Pound", by Jonathan Knight. It's about the Browns from 1985 to 1989, and it will calm you all down until Training Camp opens in the summer.
Read, relax, shhhhhh.
larry, what about those old employees who are about to collect $365 per week to $493 per week, depending upon if they have dependents and the number of those dependents? That's one hell of a "snub." I don't think any of the remaining employees would give a crap about a mural if it wasn't indicative of a much bigger picture. No pun intended.
I thought Pat said he hasn't been getting whatever diabolical secrets he wishes he could tell us from ex-employees.
But I'm sure the laid off guys are especially p.o.'d but of course I'd take what they have to say with an even bigger grain of salt. I'd hope they could come up with something better than the mural, however.
What if I told you that Mangini has outrageously replaced the Browns' regular grains of salt with shakers of kosher salt? Is that something better than the mural?
It seems about on par.
By the by, I hear Shapiro has now outlawed games of 'pepper' at spring training this year.