Some things cut the dizziness.
Ed Bouchette is one of the better reporters who covers the NFL. He works for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, which might make him a bad guy to some merely because of where he lives. He's a good man, a professional and a standup guy. He's one of the best in the business, and he goes about his work patiently and properly. Sunday he wrote about the NFL layoffs, and he did it better than I could have ever done. I include the entire item here:
"CitiGroup, GM … and the NFL?
"Hardly. While the NFL salary cap climbed from $116 million last year to $127 million this year, the league and some of its teams responded by announcing layoffs. The league itself was trying to reduce its employees by 14 percent.
"Teams such as the Redskins, Browns, Jaguars, Panthers, Colts and others have laid off employees. The Steelers so far have kept their work force intact.
"Why are others laying off secretaries, public relations workers and such? Because the Redskins and Browns and the NFL are losing money? Hardly. They're using the economy as an excuse, for one, and there are suspicions that with the lack of a collective bargaining agreement, the NFL and its teams are trying to lay down a poor-me track as they head toward a conflict with the union.
"But by using the economy as an excuse, the most successful pro league in sports has set a poor example for others. They're throwing people out of work, not because they're losing money but because, at best, they fear the future — although it won't stop the owners from staying in $500-a-night rooms at their meetings on the California coast later this month.
"That is precisely the kind of thinking the country does not need now, and if we're getting it from one of the nation's thriving businesses, what can anyone else expect? Instead of leading in tough times, the NFL has cowered."
it has since been revealed that some of the staff were laid off because they leaked info to the media. i will note that this is at the very least interesting considering mangini's part in spygate before going on to say that while it makes life harder on the media, i see it as an indication of how much mangini wants to win.
sometimes winning involves achieving your own goals, but winning sometimes involves keeping an opponent or rival from achieving their goals – and the first step preventing that is to deny an opponent knowledge of what your goals are – especially when it comes to player acquisition. and the name of the game is having more info on your opponents than they have about you – as long as you come by it ethically.
and it's not just about the team – sports betting is a billion dollar industry, and inside info is literally *gold* if you know what to do with it.
Barry … just a factual statement. One person left the Browns because of a conversation he allegedly had with a media member (not me). That person departed after the layoffs took place. The secretaries, PR folks, etc.,. who were laid off had nothing to do with the one individual who departed. Thanks … pat.
I really think this is kind of funny myself as an unemployed auto worker.Why Pat do you continue to beat this drum.And try to find others to trumpet your cause.Where were you 10,20,30 years ago.When the same thing had been going on in the business world without a word from you.But now you want to single out the NFL.And in this case the Browns organization and their head coach.Because they laid off a few good people then start renovating the training complex.This has been going on for years in the auto industry and the steel industry and the manufacturing industry as a whole.I've never heard a single comment from you.Is it because you only cover sports.Well then maybe you should stick to the sports side in this case.A secretary has nothing to do with the Browns inability to pressure the quarterback.So why must you continually bring it up.The janitor didn't struggle with clock management this season and keeping the team focused.They should have fired the vice president in charge of advertising if he or she was the reason the defense couldn't stop the run.Your a sports writer stick to writing about sports.
The Jets cut Bowens prior to the free agent signing period, which saved them $2 million against the 2009 salary cap. Per the article, the Jets would like to re-sign Bowens at a smaller level of compensation.
However, Bowens, who visited Cleveland last week, supposedly prefers the Browns because he “loves” playing for former Jets coach Eric Mangini.
————————————————————————–
It can't be true?A player who would actually want to play for Mangini instead of Rex Ryan.The New York media will have to do some damage control.Lol.
superdawg, it's no surprise that you can't see the correlation of the browns treatment of it's staff and it's performance on the field. randy lerner could serve you a turd burger and you would eat it with a smile on your face.
Uhh … superdawg. Last I heard, and at least that's the rumor, Pat is a sportswriter. What in the hell does the car industry and the steel industry and the manufacturing industry have to do with the NFL?
The NFL, unlike the other professional sports, in reality, is proving to be pretty much recession-proof. There is no valid comparison to the other professional sports, nor is there any valid comparison to buying a freakin' new Buick LeSabre with a cupholder that will fall off after five minutes and an engine that needs steroids just to keep its A-Rods from flying out of the damn thing.
The NFL franchise owners, including Lerner, are weasels. And it should be pointed out that just because a guy is a nice guy in his personal life, it doesn't mean he can't be a lowlife weasel when it comes to down and dirty business. Money does funny things to people. If Lerner had a conscience, he'd have his rabbi on speed-dial.
As Bouchette pointed out, there just may be an underlying scheme here. A fraud, a total facade, to justify their future position when negotiations take place in the next collective-bargaining agreement. And who loses? Amongst others, the people who had jobs with the NFL franchises, now being used as nothing but pawns and lambs led to slaughter in a rich man's con-game.
I'm living on $365 a week unemployment benefits, superdawg. The Beacon Journal won't last past 2012, if that. The Plain Dealer, which not too long ago curiously removed the name "Cleveland" from its title, is going to buy it. Then more folks on unemployment. Cleveland Browns former employees, the grunts, are now on unemployment. Why? What is the real reason for this, because it sure as hell ain't because there are 25,000 people in the stands and because the NFL's television contracts, of which all of the owners receive a piece, don't exist.
What, did Mangini use his own money to buy paint on Craigslist? Did they use Mexican labor? Do they even have a freakin' budget in that office? In light of the fact a chubby black guy is still receiving a salary, then why is Lerner now also paying a chubby white guy to perform the exact same job? Same goes for the management position, the only difference being the two guys now being paid for that position know how to push away a dinner plate.
In the meantime, Lerner still receives all of the tax abatements and all of the other perks the city of Cleveland and the Cuyahoga County taxpayers are gifting unto him. So, superdawg, this is far more than just about your eloquent, "A secretary has nothing to do with the Browns inability to pressure the quarterback." Lousy argument. The sports franchises don't exist in a vacuum, they are tied into the community, not just emotionally, but financially.
If Lerner wants to pay multiple guys, then it should come out of his oqn pocket. Either that, or give back the tax abatements and the free lease and the free insurance and everything else he's been stuffing into his pockets courtesy of the public coffers. But you don't tell your hatchet man to fire some office schlub who has peanut butter stains on his shirt, and then say you can't afford him. That's total BS.
It just occurred to me … does Buick even make the LeSabre anymore? Or was it just too good a car for its own good?
I'll bet Lerner never drove a LeSabre. God forbid. Al probably bought him his first Jag at 16.
Since You sited a Pittsburgh columnist I'll mention that I was pleased to see that Dan Rooney was a big supporter of Obama. I'm sure, as filthy rich people go, he was in the minority.They will generally support an Adolph Hitler if he promises to lower their taxes.So not only are the Steelers a class act on the field[though it pains me greatly as a Browns fan to admit this], they have a good man running the show.
Tbomb, you got me curious about that … I looked it up in the federal database, just like his old man, Lerner's contribution checkbook comes out when the candidate is a Republican, which Obama is not.
Regardless, Rooney didn't support Obama out of some sort of noble purpose, there's always a quid pro quo. He's been campaigning to be named the U.S. ambassador to Ireland. Before that, he has repeatedly supported tax increases to line his pockets to pay for his stadium and his other businesses and investments.
Don't confuse the term "class act" with Rooney. He's no different than Lerner or anybody else of their ilk. Part good guy, part weasel.
I stand corrected.But gotta wonder,wouldn't his chances at an ambassadorship be better if he towed the line and voted with his fellow bluebloods? Or was he that convinced Obama would win.
I guess anybody who is rich is a weasel.Boy I should have known a couple of bleeding heart liberals.That's why everything you post is so negative. As far as football and the auto industry is concern it's a business dumb***.They all run on the same principle making money.Boy you guys are stupid. Hey dummies have you heard of advertising.Duh.Who do you think pays for all these free games you get to watch.Watch the commercials nimrod.Chevy,Chrysler and Ford pay billions of dollars to advertise.
As far as the Lerner's are concerned Al lerner was a middle class blue collar joe.He joined the Marines and served for his country.Then he used his smarts and hard work to be a self made multi billionaire.Shame on him for being successful.If you think Lerner hasn't done a lot for the city of Cleveland go to the Cleveland Clinic.And that's just part of the money the Lerner's have given to this area.Hey alant, you don't think that the auto industry is tied to the community financially.You better wake up bud cause your living in a bubble.There are millions of jobs tied into the auto industry.What did the Browns layoff a 100,000,10,000,1,000 or was it 100 people.That's your argument, the community is connected to the Browns financially.You have to be joking.Let see GM close the Parma plant.Ford close the Brookpark plant.And Chrysler close the Twinsburg plant and see what emotional effect that has on the community.You don't think there's a comparison between paying Romeo to do nothing.And these CEO walking away with millions of dollars to run a company in the ground.I think your heads stuck in a vacuum.
My points was if you want to talk about jobs being lost then go do it in the business section.This is the sports section and Pat has no business talking about it.Unless he wants to include every other corporation being effected.The banks have billions of dollars but their not loaning it out.And it's costing jobs.Does that have anything to do with the NFL?No.Then what does a couple of secretaries and an advertising executive have to do with the defense.Nothing.Absolutely nothing.Let it go Pat it doesn't belong in a sports forum.
Tbomb, look what I just found in yesterday's newspaper. Not a local newspaper, mind you. A Dublin, Ireland newspaper. See the link below.
No hidden agenda going on with Rooney. No ulterior motives whatsoever. A real class act.
Maybe if he would have screamed campaign slogans for Obama from the Terminal Tower instead of losing his mind with vertigo and mailing in a write-in Presidential ballot that said, "I vote for Phil Seghi!" it could have been Ambassador McManamon. Or not.
I noticed on the Browns' website that they are hiring for one job position. Apparently, they are looking to hire a software developer. I don't know, did they just lay one off? It expressly states that one of the major responsibilities is to "Interface with football personnel." Is this some sort of secret code? No wonder it sucks to work for them, they can't even communicate using basic English. Instead of having a conversation and a discussion while working together with another person, an employee may "interface."
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go interface with my dog.
http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2009/feb/22/american-football-boss-dan-rooney-to-be-next-us-am/
Uh … superdawg. I'm not talking about Al Lerner. I'm talking about Randolph Lerner. You know, the guy who gave the orders to lay off those 15 folks. Unless Al is passing notes from his grave like Dan Gilbert used to do with Paul Silas, I really don't think Al had anything to do with it.
With respect to your painfully lousy argument, the auto industry does not have multi-billion dollar TV contracts nor its very own TV network. People do not line up to buy tickets to watch cousin Earl screw in an exhaust pipe. Bruce Springsteen's band was not pretending to play their instruments while dancing around in a parking lot selling used Ford Probes. The Browns do not play their games inside a Parma auto plant, although many on the Browns roster probably should. With white socks, The Ghoul and Froggy.
Yet again, what in the world does some guy getting the ax from an assembly line have to do with an NFL franchise, a sports blog or a sports section of a paper newspaper or a sports section of an online newspaper? The answer is absolutely nothing.
If it happens to employees of an auto plant, then that's for the business section or the main section of the newspaper. If it happens to employees of NFL franchise, then that makes it ripe for the sports section anywhere, as well as for the business section or the main section, if the publishers and editors so choose.
National Football League. The operative word in the title being "Football." A sport.
General Motors. Chrysler. Ford. *Not* a sport.
Capiche?
Super.Al served his country then made his millions in the credit card bus.Hard to think of a higher calling.I wonder if he gave special low rates to military people.And of course he supported Wimpy II a real military man who couldn't even be bothered to ensure wounded vets were getting the care they needed.
I thought I'd post this, since it is very relevant to Pat's post. Another column from the terrific Roldo Bartimole. Once you read this, you'll realize Randy Lerner is a weasel, I don't care how decent a guy he seems, the late Alfred and son share the exact same weasel DNA. Mafia godfathers have been known to donate to hospitals, too. But at the end of the day, they're still Mafia godfathers. Oh, and superdawg, the taxpapers didn't build the Lerners an auto plant, they built the Lerners a stadium. A football stadium. As in a sports stadium. Making it fair game for any local sportswriter who wants to question why anybody who worked in the offices of that football sports stadium lost their job. Sports, superdawg.
Lerners and Their Money… ah, OUR Money
Perspective from Roldo Bartimole
07.09.08
Rich people work hard and earn their money. I lie.
It’s much more complex than that and we help enrich them in so many ways.
They know how to NOT pay taxes but get others to pay taxes that benefit them.
In Cuyahoga County it has become the way politicians do things.
The extra tax tab for our rich – and the public’s subsidy thereof – should be updated monthly so people understand that they are paying for that nearly always empty stadium on our lakefront. It’s a city-owned stadium that bestows amazing benefits to one of Cleveland’s richest families.
In June, County Auditor figures showed that Cuyahoga taxpayers shelled out $1.49 million in sales taxes to pay for Browns Stadium bonds, used almost exclusively by the Cleveland Browns, owned by the billionaire Lerner (credit card) Family. The Lerners pay rent of $250,000 – without any increase for inflation for 30 years – for use of the stadium. The city, in turn, generously picks up the casualty insurance at about half that cost.
Browns stadium packs in more than 70,000 fans each game with all receipts down to the last hot dog going to the supposedly generous and charitable Lerners. As do all revenues from food concessions… parking, advertising, naming rights and novelty sales also go to Lerner’s private business.
There are other taxes in addition to the “sin” taxes that support the Browns Stadium, built by the city at who knows what price. The cost is estimated at a low-ball $325 million but the real cost will never be known.
There are additional taxes supporting the bonds, including taxes on parking lots, car rentals, extra admission taxes to shows, games, etc., city utility subsidies, not to mention $33 million from the State of Ohio and $3 million from the destitute RTA.
The Lerners are paying less for the use of the new stadium than the scrounge Art Modell paid for the old stadium. Put that in your pipe and “sin-tax” smoke it.
You won’t read any of this in The Plain Dealer and it isn’t because Plain Dealer No Show on Rich Spending Our Tax Dollars there isn’t enough room in the new, skimpy PD. The PD doesn’t believe in monitoring the rich who live off the rest of us.
I called the stadium “Looter’s Dream Field.”
The $1.49 million tax bill was only for last month.
Since January, you paid $7,038,611.98 and since the start of the sin tax for Browns Stadium, the cigarettes, alcohol, wine, mixed beverages and beer taxes have paid a grand total of $40,743,883.80.
Now that’s a lot of public charity for the wealthy Lerners.
By the way, Schools Chief Executive Officer Eugene Sanders, we are told, needs money for school uniforms (how about education?), yet the billionaire Lerner family pays NO PROPERTY TAXES on the stadium. That means the school system gets NOTHING from the new 73,000 seat Browns Stadium. Nada.
Just to keep the new taxes in Cuyahoga County up to date: Smokers also paid $3.1 million in taxes for the Cuyahoga County arts and culture tax and $10.9 million for the year thus far and $27.09 million since the tax started February 2007.
The late Al Lerner appeared grudgingly only once at City Council for his sweetheart deal that gave him the stadium essentially free. He appeared with his chief operating officer Carmen Policy. Agog Council members were allowed to finger Policy’s 1994 San Francisco Super Bowl ring for a touch of celebrity, as I had written in the Free Times in 1998. You can imagine the oily unctuousness of that scene.
As the meeting ended, I approached Lerner. He was ready…
“You’re that very right-wing guy,” Lerner said quickly, trying to be cute.
I said to him…
“You said you never took a tax abatement. But you are taking a tax abatement on the stadium and it’s coming directly from the schools.”
He tried to dodge, saying he doesn’tTim Hagan Glad Hands Disgraced Governor Bob Taft take abatements for his office buildings.
However, in the case of the stadium, he said…
“I don’t consider this the same thing because this is a package that was put on the table… I had nothing to do with negotiating the tax exemption.”
Actually, Tim Hagan (pictured, left) and Mike White went to Columbus on a corporate jet and lobbied successfully that ALL Ohio stadiums/arenas would be tax exempt FOREVER. What sweet guys.
How clever a dodge for Lerner.
I suggested that he reject the abatement and his answer was…
“That’s just me making another donation.” Pressed, he said, “You’re talking to the wrong guy.”
I told him I was “talking to exactly the right guy.”
At that point, someone loomed close beside me. It was Browns security chief Lewis Merletti, a former director of the U. S. Secret Service.
“Is he going to be your bodyguard?” I asked Lerner.
Lerner got huffy. Merletti moved in to cut short the conversation, “We have to get going.” Lerner’s last remark was…
“I think it’s fair to say that there are a lot of things you and I are not going to agree on.”
He was right on that score.
I guess you really are clueless when it comes to the auto industry.Every time a new plant opens.20 to 25 years tax exempt.But they throw a couple million to build a new high school and athletic field.And maybe a rec. center.But no taxes.Toyota did it in Texas.Honda,Hyundai all the new plants being built.Tax exempt.And your very wrong the auto industry pumps BILLIONS of dollars in advertising.The auto industry is responsible from more jobs than any other industry.What this boils down to is you hate rich people.Period.And Pat needs to stay focused on the players.Because that is what sports is about.The fans and their connection with the players on the field.As far as the auto industry and sports.Have you ever heard of NASCAR.Duh.Did you say the Browns got rid of 15 employees.The inhumanity.Well Good night haters.
superdawg has one thing right. both the browns and the american auto industry have been cranking out crap product and expecting people to dish cash for it for a long time. too bad for americans got wise to the detroit hustle. unfortunately, the ranks of browns fans are swollen with myopic sheep marching glassy-eyed to buy psl's, merch and watered down beer.
Jeez. superdawg, you just don't "get it." The automobile industry sucking is very real. The NFL industry sucking is completely fake, a total pretext conconcted by a few wealthy men to line their pockets even more. To fire folks based upon a lie, well, it's unethical, it's immoral, it stinks. If you still don't understand this simple concept, then I just don't know what else to say.
With that being said, superdawg, let me ask you a cerebral economics question: How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
I meant concocted. I don't know what conconcted is. There's a dirty word somewhere in there, I believe these blue-blooded bastards should be shot, so maybe it was Freudian.
Singletary is built like a linebacker, Terje. Even a slight punch from him would carry some force. It also might have knocked the wind out of Linhart, given where it landed.
Big changes are coming for sports and it is going to start with those ultra rich conservatives & executives that buy the luxury suites. Just wait till next year when half the suites at the Q are dark on any given night even though the Cavs will be pumping out a great product. The Indians, no matter how good they are this year, will be lucky to draw 2mm and will be practically giving away tix to weeknight games against KC, Minny, etc. The Browns and the NFL will be fine for the time being. At least until the lockout comes, which is right around the corner.
I'll say it again, sports are in for big change and fans need to open their eyes. Players in the NBA are already being moved strictly to save owners money. The Patriots just traded Mike Vrabel solely because the couldn't afford his $1mm bonus. The freakin' most successful team in the NFL couldn't afford a $1mm roster bonus for their "glue" guy! Not to mention they purposely traded Cassel for a second round pick 'cause they couldn't afford another 1st round salary.
Also keep in mind that approximately half the franchises in the NBA including our Cavaliers could be in dire financial straits by this time next year. See the credit lifeline that the NBA needed to secure in order to keep several franchises running this year if you don't believe me. The NHL will be, and almost already is, near financial death. MLB & the NFL will survive but the lack of corporate sponsorship will make "game day" a much different experience.
So, here is my point; getting upset over a few jobs in Browns business operations is not worth getting all fired up over. There are going to be many more sports jobs lost in the next few years. For writers & fans to be obsessing over why the Browns marketing department got shown the door is pointless. Many more jobs in all sectors of this economy are going to be lost. We will be lucky if all 3 Cleveland teams are still in town by the time this recession is over with. But on the other hand the Columbus Cavaliers has a nice ring to it…
Realist, you're not being a realist. The NBA's and Gilbert's financial woes are real. Other businesses, real. The NFL's "woes?" Fake. The league and the owners are nothing but greedy opportunists taking advantage of the world around them. Thus, when the average Joe is fired based upon an outright lie, then outrage is the required response.
The NFL gets there money from the TV contracts and fans with jobs buying tickets.The auto industry pays to advertise on these TV stations during the time slots of each NFL game in each NFL city.If TV doesn't receive the funding from the auto indusrty to continue to televise these games for free.Guess what happens.The auto indusrty creates more jobs in the United States than any other industry.Nothing and no one is recession proof.Except maybe the IRS.They allows seem to have plenty of money to spend.I will say it again nobody spends more money in advertising than the auto industry.I can't help you two clowns aren't smart enough to become self made millionaires.So keep on crying.
The auto industry in the US is dead precisely because the UAW is wholly useless.
The UAW's refusal to adopt lean manufacturing meant that no US automaker can compete with the Japanese auto makers. Honda and Toyota don't need unions – because the UAW adds nothing that Japanese and Toyota line workers don't already receive.
As part of its contractual agreements for the NUMMI plant in California, Toyota fully trained 14 GM mid-managers in Six Sigma and Lean.. and none are currently working for GM today due to the UAW workers' gratuitously arrogant resistance to change. Now hundreds of thousands of UAW workers are without jobs – and it is 100% their own fault. If you and your team had adopted six sigma back in the 80's, you would probably still have a job today.
I have ZERO pity for UAW workers because their entire organization has always looked to rape the system rather than ensure they will be a part of a sustainable organization. They cannot demand $40/hour contracts for unskilled labor.. and then wonder why the factories have to shut down. Guess what – your labor cost has to be competitive. Your process waste has to be competitive. Today, none of it is.
Want to look for someone to blame, superdawg67? Look in the mirror.
Signed,
A Six Sigma Black Belt
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