I've stated over and over that the Browns of this season are worse than they've been since they returned to the field in 1999. Now there's proof. The Orange and Brownreport (www.cle.scout.com) crunched the numbers n great detail in comparing the '09 and '99 Browns, and the results are here. It's not a pretty picture.
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The proof is in the numbers
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{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
The lyrics in that Prince song said the Browns are going to farty like it's 1999. He was right.
Facts don't lie. Mangini's Browns are "worse than an expansion team." Will Lerner care? No, he's too proud to admit his error (yet another atrocious hiring, BTW). WHO is advising this guy? If it weren't for his daddy's money, I fear Randy Boy would actually be bankrupt and living on welfare. He doesn't seem to have the wherewithal to make a business decision to save his life. Or his franchise.
While driving my truck at work, I've begun singing the song "Dandy" by the Kinks.By altering the lyrics I have created a scathing little diddy that properly lampoons our hapless effeminate owner. I'm guessing Trivisonno will not be interested in my singing it on his show. Anyway, it's very therapeutic (for me not Randie).
Proof's in the puddin'….and the puddin' is in Man-glee-nee's belly. Lots and lots of puddin'.
I think Pluto's book said it all: the Browns were forced to create a team too quickly in comparison to other expansion teams.
Here is the book title, I highly recommend it if you want to get even more pissed off.
False Start: How The New Browns Were Set Up To Fail
http://www.flipkart.com/false-start-terry-pluto-new/1886228884-c1×3fxiszd
And no, Terry isn't paying me.
What a coincidence. Pluto isn't paying you, and nobody is paying his editors. Ever since he went from Simon & Schuster to Cleveland's very own discount publisher Gray & Company, his books read like the Cleveland Heights High School newspaper. It's a bad joke. College kids have drinking games just going through all of his Gray & Company books and finding the dozens of misspellings and grammatical errors. His books contribute to the country's problem with alcoholism. Tens of thousands of Bernie Kosars stumbling across college campuses all across America.
But the point is, 11 years is sufficient time to escape from expansion team mode, let alone take a Greg Louganis nosedive straight back into it. The Browns weren't set up to fail because of the NFL's greed, the Browns were set up to fail because Al Lerner was the guy that cut the check.
Alan,
Is it enough time? See: Tampa Bay and New Orleans.
However, Alan, I do agree that the Lerners do not get a free pass, and are responsible as well. Their aversion to interviewing/hiring coaches with pro football head coaching experience is perplexing (Mangini doesn't count as having head coaching experience).
Tampa Bay won their division in two of their first six seasons. Playoffs in three of their first seven seasons. New Orleans is another story. But as bad as they were, the Browns are even worse. The only thing New Orleans had that the Browns don't is a kicker missing half of his foot.
Does anyone think the Browns have made a good hire at head coach or general manager since coming back? Have any of those hires had winning (not just above .500 for a season) experience? What about the warm bodies populating our rosters? NCAA championships or NFL success?
Look, we've bottomed out. Finish out this season and in the meantime, get a plan together: hire a coach who is a winner; find some winning players and make sure those guys are in critical positions. I think fans would be more willing to deal with a rebuild in 2010, than another season of "wait and see".
Things will never change because Cleveland fans (in all sports) are some of the most stupid fans that God has ever put on this Earth. Exhibit A is this planned "Brown Out."
For folks unaware, ya see, a couple of fangeniuses are going to try to persuade tens of thousands of other fangeniuses not to get into their seats until after kickoff of the Monday Night Game. Of course, after kickoff, they'll still be in their seats and will still make total pigs of themselves at the concession stands, but these Einsteins are organizing a major "protest" by not sitting down at kickoff.
Oooooooooooohhhhhhhhh. Yeah, that'll tell him! "We'll still give you our money, but dagnabbit, it will be one minute after kickoff and not a minute sooner!!!"
I guess these complete dumb arses (I'm using British out of respect for Lerner's English football team) are unaware that this is the way Los Angeles Lakers customers operate every game of every season without any protest whatsoever taking place. Fashionably late.
Alan,
I think it is the Dodgers to which you are referring.
No, I was referring to the Lakers. Although, they do the same things at Dodgers and Kings games, too. Oh so fashionably late.
Speaking of Tampa Bay, the Bucs played in the NFC Championship game in their fourth year after looking much worse than this Brown's team on their way to losing their first 26 games.
There is no 'proof' in those numbers, which contain an entire season for 1999 and just seven games for 2009. The way the blogger and apparently Pat comes to their statistical conclusion–comparing league rankings in a number of stats, then giving each stat equal weight and counting them up–is meaningless.
"I think Pluto's book said it all: the Browns were forced to create a team too quickly in comparison to other expansion teams."
drew, are you saying that the failure of the 2009 team is because of the pre-1999 years? seriously?
larry, you're full of excuses for mangini but you offer no tangible evidence that supports keeping him. i'm begging you and all mangini lovers—give me just ONE thing about mangini that supports the assertion that he should be kept on as browns head coach without using meaningless terms like "process" and "discipline".
Terje: you forgot "grind" and "separate." I'm sure Mark got custody of those when he canned Wedge, he can pass them over
Terje,
I am not saying that the expansion debacle is solely responsible for what is transpiring 11 years later; I am merely pointing out that this franchise was not given equal footing as other expansion teams, even before the 1st building block was put into place.
Add in an owner that gets horrible advice and makes horrible decisions, and head coaches that have no NFL head-coaching experience: ladies and gentlemen, your Cleveland Browns!
drew, i understand and agree about the disadvantage that the browns had when starting the franchise but that isn't really a factor after a decade of several top five and higher draft picks.
your point about the owner and the coaches is the true problem.
Dandy, Dandy with a spine of cotton candy….
Dandy, Dandy makes Art Modell look handy…