Events Calendar
In This Section
Quarterback Delhomme ready to compete for job
Holmgren, Mangini explain recent moves
Linebacker Foote returning to Steelers
Trades send Quinn, Wimbley packing
Hard to see deals making Browns better
Annual banquet to honor Rutigliano, Kardiac Kids
Tight end Benjamin Watson joining Browns
Browns report: Delhomme, two others talk jobs, depart unsigned
Most Read Stories
Tallmadge man dies after motorcycle crash
Man on leave from Iraq war slain in Akron
Passers-by call police over topless gardener
Soldier on leave dies after shooting near UA
Man breaks into house, flees when owner wakes up
Slow starts might hurt Cavs' big finish
Quinn tells Denver his foot has healed
Teen accused of drinking, dancing topless in club
Blogs:
Akron Docs in Haiti:
Almost home
First Bell - On Education:
21st Century Skills and Akron’s new middle school
Pets:
Lost Mini Schnauzer around Cascade Valley Park
The Heldenfiles:
Fess Parker, R.I.P.
Akron Zips:
Looking back on the season
Tribe Matters:
Seven prospects reassigned to minor-league camp
Cleveland Browns:
Yates latest to re-sign
Balanced Ledger:
How times have changed?
Kent State Sports:
Kent State gears up for WNIT at Michigan
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs at Chicago Bulls (Green Mascot and All)
Buckeye Blogging:
Bucks High Seed – Turner High Praise
Varsity Letters:
Report: Ohio offers Olack
All Da King's Men:
ObamaCare To Reduce Premiums By 3000% ?
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Pathetic GOP Nullification Attempts
Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (110) CBO and JCT Reports on Reconciliation Bill, H.R. 4872
Car Chase:
2010 CONCOURS SEASON IS UPON US
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Deals in Miami?!.
Sound Check:
Willie Nelson & Family coming to the Akron Civic Theatre May 11
See Jane Style:
Who Wore What – The Oscars
HRLite House:
Horses of Courses
Akron Gamer:
Video: Gamers expected to 'reach' for new 'Halo'
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sports columnist
POSTED: 06:58 a.m. EST, Dec 24, 2008
Pardon the indulgence of a personal story not totally related to sports.
It is the holidays, after all.
Someone very close to me to has been through the horrible ordeal of breast cancer. The exams, the tests, the lumpectomy followed by double mastectomy followed by chemotherapy.
Calling it hell on earth probably does not do justice to the process.
During a visit the day after the double mastectomy surgery, we decided to walk the hallway outside her room at the Cleveland Clinic.
Now this room was eye-opening.
Single bed. Nice furniture. A private TV with remote control. Well-appointed. Flowers. Personal touches that made it anything but the typical sterile hospital room.
As we walked and I tried to think of things to say — no doubt they were pretty dopey — we came to the end of the hall and saw a plaque on the wall.
This plaque was not large, ornate or anything that could draw attention to itself.
But for whatever reason it caught my eye, and reading it produced chills.
Paraphrasing, it said that the wing patients were using was the gift of two people: Al and Norma Lerner.
The thought washed over me: How many people has this wing helped? How many people have been touched by the fact they can go through this ordeal and be fortunate enough to at least spend time in a pleasant environment made for recovery?
And how few people knew about this gift from the Lerners?
This story comes to mind every time someone writes or calls or e-mails on a rant that the Lerners are ruining the Browns, and their coach is a chisel-brained doofus, and their general manager can't pick a flower.
The emotions clearly are real, and the frustrations of seven 10-loss seasons since 1999 are completely justified.
But sometimes the anger obscures other things that happen. Browns owner Randy Lerner, for instance, is a very private guy, but he's also very involved in international efforts to save kids from fates that would make anyone's skin crawl.
Call me myopic, but that tends to me to be more important than whether he's batting 1.000 in his decisions running the Browns.
Coach Romeo Crennel remains a dignified and a good man who could be a role model for any father anywhere.
General Manager Phil Savage has been involved very quietly in helping his brother's causes, which has led to food for the needy and an uplifting vision for the hurting.
Clearly, just because someone is a good person does not mean he or she will be good at their job.
Jimmy Carter is an eminently good person, but he wasn't our best president.
Sometimes job performance warrants change. This waste of a season has taken a toll on everyone, and it surely will lead to changes.
But when people cry to me to ''fire'' someone in print, I kind of cringe.
I've looked down the barrel of possibly losing a job and it's not pleasant.
And there are a lot of others in our society today who have lost their jobs. Ask them what it means to be let go.
But more important, when a guy is trying and doing his best and working his hardest and it's just not working, well it seems unfair to scream as if he's stealing from the Salvation Army bin.
There's a difference between a bad decision on the sideline and being a bad person, and personally it seems that the good person deserves respect and consideration.
It's why I've always maintained that Crennel will be as honest as anyone when his tenure with the Browns ends. He has said from Day One that he has to win, and that if he doesn't, the team will have another coach.
When he's let go, Crennel will man up and simply concede that he didn't win enough.
Too, he knows as well as I do that sometimes a change is needed, and sometimes a change can bring a fresh direction. The Browns might have reached that point.
But I've been less critical of Crennel than Savage this season, because some of the things Savage did this season raised questions about leadership. It went beyond decisions that every NFL team makes, decisions that can just as easily turn out to be right or wrong.
They dealt with turf protection and power and those kinds of things.
Lerner will decide what to do when the season ends, but me, I would be more concerned about those leadership issues than whether a coach called for a field goal or to go for it on fourth down.
But to scream to fire someone two games into a season?
To call out a good man because his teams are having a brutal season?
To rip the owner apart personally because his team hasn't won?
Sorry, that's not fair. They're trying. They care. They hate losing. And the hours they and the people who work for them put in would amaze any of us.
This will take care of itself after the season, and fans will be back next season — probably cheering a new coach on the sideline.
The last rebirth came when Butch Davis was let go. And it was during that time that criticism again was loud.
During those holidays, I was introduced to Norma Lerner, a quiet, polite, pleasant white-haired lady.
She lamented the things being said about her family because a football team was losing, but I could not let the moment go without telling her how much it meant to see that plaque on that wall at the Clinic.
''I guess that's what matters,'' she said, a hint of resignation in her voice.
Anyone who has walked that hallway understands.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/mcmanamon/.
Pardon the indulgence of a personal story not totally related to sports.
It is the holidays, after all.
Someone very close to me to has been through the horrible ordeal of breast cancer. The exams, the tests, the lumpectomy followed by double mastectomy followed by chemotherapy.
Calling it hell on earth probably does not do justice to the process.
During a visit the day after the double mastectomy surgery, we decided to walk the hallway outside her room at the Cleveland Clinic.
Now this room was eye-opening.
Single bed. Nice furniture. A private TV with remote control. Well-appointed. Flowers. Personal touches that made it anything but the typical sterile hospital room.
As we walked and I tried to think of things to say — no doubt they were pretty dopey — we came to the end of the hall and saw a plaque on the wall.
This plaque was not large, ornate or anything that could draw attention to itself.
But for whatever reason it caught my eye, and reading it produced chills.
Paraphrasing, it said that the wing patients were using was the gift of two people: Al and Norma Lerner.
The thought washed over me: How many people has this wing helped? How many people have been touched by the fact they can go through this ordeal and be fortunate enough to at least spend time in a pleasant environment made for recovery?
And how few people knew about this gift from the Lerners?
This story comes to mind every time someone writes or calls or e-mails on a rant that the Lerners are ruining the Browns, and their coach is a chisel-brained doofus, and their general manager can't pick a flower.
The emotions clearly are real, and the frustrations of seven 10-loss seasons since 1999 are completely justified.
But sometimes the anger obscures other things that happen. Browns owner Randy Lerner, for instance, is a very private guy, but he's also very involved in international efforts to save kids from fates that would make anyone's skin crawl.
Call me myopic, but that tends to me to be more important than whether he's batting 1.000 in his decisions running the Browns.
Coach Romeo Crennel remains a dignified and a good man who could be a role model for any father anywhere.
General Manager Phil Savage has been involved very quietly in helping his brother's causes, which has led to food for the needy and an uplifting vision for the hurting.
Clearly, just because someone is a good person does not mean he or she will be good at their job.
Jimmy Carter is an eminently good person, but he wasn't our best president.
Sometimes job performance warrants change. This waste of a season has taken a toll on everyone, and it surely will lead to changes.
But when people cry to me to ''fire'' someone in print, I kind of cringe.
I've looked down the barrel of possibly losing a job and it's not pleasant.
And there are a lot of others in our society today who have lost their jobs. Ask them what it means to be let go.
But more important, when a guy is trying and doing his best and working his hardest and it's just not working, well it seems unfair to scream as if he's stealing from the Salvation Army bin.
There's a difference between a bad decision on the sideline and being a bad person, and personally it seems that the good person deserves respect and consideration.
It's why I've always maintained that Crennel will be as honest as anyone when his tenure with the Browns ends. He has said from Day One that he has to win, and that if he doesn't, the team will have another coach.
When he's let go, Crennel will man up and simply concede that he didn't win enough.
Too, he knows as well as I do that sometimes a change is needed, and sometimes a change can bring a fresh direction. The Browns might have reached that point.
But I've been less critical of Crennel than Savage this season, because some of the things Savage did this season raised questions about leadership. It went beyond decisions that every NFL team makes, decisions that can just as easily turn out to be right or wrong.
They dealt with turf protection and power and those kinds of things.
Lerner will decide what to do when the season ends, but me, I would be more concerned about those leadership issues than whether a coach called for a field goal or to go for it on fourth down.
But to scream to fire someone two games into a season?
To call out a good man because his teams are having a brutal season?
To rip the owner apart personally because his team hasn't won?
Sorry, that's not fair. They're trying. They care. They hate losing. And the hours they and the people who work for them put in would amaze any of us.
This will take care of itself after the season, and fans will be back next season — probably cheering a new coach on the sideline.
The last rebirth came when Butch Davis was let go. And it was during that time that criticism again was loud.
During those holidays, I was introduced to Norma Lerner, a quiet, polite, pleasant white-haired lady.
She lamented the things being said about her family because a football team was losing, but I could not let the moment go without telling her how much it meant to see that plaque on that wall at the Clinic.
''I guess that's what matters,'' she said, a hint of resignation in her voice.
Anyone who has walked that hallway understands.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/mcmanamon/.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Posted 03:31 PM, 12/23/2008
What matters IS making a difference in the lives of other people. Owning a football organization is a whole different aspect. Especially a team that holds the heartbeat of the city no matter how well the Cavs and Indians may do. It is also a bad comparison of common people looking at losing their jobs and those people in the Browns organization, Like Crennel or Savage who have made millions and will still make them while sitting on their home couch for the next few years if they so choose to do so. I do not feel sorry for them, they are paid millions to win, bottom line, and if they dont they need to be relieved of their duties.
Posted 04:00 PM, 12/23/2008
It is nice to see that the Lerners are good people. It doesn't mean that they know football. (Obviously)
Woodbine, MD
Posted 04:54 PM, 12/23/2008
Thanks, Pat, for helping us maintain perspective. Merry Christmas to all.
Stow, OH
Posted 05:40 PM, 12/23/2008
I agree with Gator, you cannot compare a normal person and a person making a million or so on a contract ,that they will still make when they leave does not compare to you and me when we lose ours,and I have lost mine several times over the decades. People in this town deserve a winner at least once in a while , not every half century ! Being a nice guy and not knowing how to manage a basic skill of your profession like time clock management is no reason to keep a person around.
Posted 06:12 PM, 12/23/2008
Lots of good people are incompetent in their jobs and they get fired.
That's life. Perform or move on ... sad, but true.
That's the case here. What Lerner, Savage or Crennel do on their own time has no bearing on how they perform as Browns management.
They have all failed miserably and must go. Four years is more than enough time to prove your worth, and they have all come up short.
Lerner is too distracted with his other ventures, Savage is not a GM (he is a scouting guru only), and Romeo was in over his head from day one. Time for all three to leave the Browns and give the fans some hope for the future.
akron, oh
Posted 07:15 PM, 12/23/2008
As a retired employee at the stadium I can tell you personally these are all good people. I know the leaders are always the ones with targets on their back and I too question why players are allowed to perform at a sub standard level without repercussions. If one of my employees screwed up, they heard about it, quickly. I would have benched Braylon(hands of stone) Edwards a long time ago. I can tell you the mood around the stadium is to be sure very gloomy after this kind of season, with employees just praying that the season ends. Pat, always enjoy your comments, may you and yours have a Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year.
Posted 07:31 PM, 12/23/2008
Very nice Patrick, I give to charities, I gave my boat away this year to a homeless mission, I give to United Way every paycheck. My wife and I give last years clothes to the Salvation Army. My boss knows this and he also knows that if I don't do my job, it is his responsibility to show me to the door. I also donate to the Browns every year when I buy the NFL package just to watch the Browns. For all of my charity I want a winning team. Stuff the sob story.
, ..
Posted 08:05 PM, 12/23/2008
I have no "Sympathy for the Devil's"..........And professionally that's just what Savage and Crannial are. So lets get some bad people in place so we can win for a change. I'm ready to sell my soul to win the Super Bowl. Lerner needs to hire people who, in their personal lives, are unethical, immoral rogues. Please allow us to meet some bad people who might do a good job. I'm tired of hearing what a great person Chris Palmer is and what a great family man Butch Davis is and what a stand up man Romeo is, no, I want to hear that our next coach is a M***er F***ing ex-convict who can't be trusted with your wife.
A, O
Posted 10:25 PM, 12/23/2008
The players like RC but they dont respect him. they need a tough SOB to tell it like it is. They need a coach who will take control over the team and personel instead of Savage or Lerner do it.
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 06:52 AM, 12/24/2008
Good people who know nothing about winning NFL championships. Browns fans once again are disappointed.
Urbana, Oh
Posted 07:01 AM, 12/24/2008
Yes, I am sure the "leadership" of the Browns are good honest people, but the bottom line is we are not winning football games, because these good, honest people have not lived up to the expectations of die hard Browns fans. Here we are, an organization with one of the largest fan bases nation wide. I have been a fan for over 35 years and it is getting very frustrating to constantly be "waiting for next year" which never comes. No one can blame the fans for being angry with this whole organization. All we want is a championship in this city...The Cavs, Indians and Browns take us to the edge, only to disappoint us. This is a town starving for a championship... ANY Championship!Cleveland is a football town and the fans are what brought the Browns back after they moved away. Yes, we are critical of letdowns and empty promises and why shouldn't we be? I'm a nice guy and also generous when I can be, but if I do not live up to the expectations of my job...then I will be replaced. Face it Patrick; there are problems on this team and we need to keep on changing the leadership and the players until we get it right. Give this city a winning football team and then write the nice guy column.
youngstown, oh
Posted 07:55 AM, 12/24/2008
It is one thing to critisize the functionality of the person; it is quite another and egregious to critisize the persona of person. Name calling "Crennelaphant" is disgusting and wrong and serves no purpose. If he were really thin and the Browns were losing would he be Crennelerexia? I admit it happens mostly at the PD and it disgusts me to read it, so I rarely read it online. I buy it at the newsstand. But what is the point?
Reston, VA
Posted 09:08 AM, 12/24/2008
Great perspective.
The Lerner family has and continues to do wonderful things for the city and for the less fortunate. This should not be forgotten, and they are an example for all of us in many ways.
The Lerners have done many fan-friendly things for Browns fans since taking over. (Maintaining lower ticket prices / refusing to sell naming rights for the stadium immediately come to mind.)
We can save the criticism on how they manage our team for another day - but that part of their legacy is important. There isn't another team out there like the Browns. No city has supported their team so deeply while having it yanked away from them. No city had fought AND WON against the NFL to get their team back. How the Lerners manage this special asset matters.
I wish Browns and all a happy and blessed holiday season. And I hope for a Browns turnaround to finally make the fan's efforts to keep them worthwhile.
barberton, oh
Posted 09:16 AM, 12/24/2008
Well said Pat. You know, he had his chances ( Romeo ) and blew everyone of them. He didn'r even make the playoffs last year and got an extension. R Lerner and clan don't know jack about football, simple fact. Time for the next try at getting a winner in the GM and Head Coaching positions. Sit back and see what happens in the off season....
Berrien Springs, MI
Posted 09:57 AM, 12/24/2008
Thanks Pat for the perspective - and you are right. We are talking about good people compared to stupid football games. We ALL have examples of these in our lives.
However, don't try to give me a guilt trip, Pat. Savage and Crennel and Randy Lerner and the players are responsible for losing and looking terrible doing it. This team is a team of losers not because they don't build hospitals and visit caner patients. But because they do not give their all on the field.
More power to their charitable side of their lives. Thanks to them for it. But to the football side of their lives - LOSERS.
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Posted 11:03 AM, 12/24/2008
I think that Pat's general point was that in the grand scheme of life here on this planet, whether or not the Cleveland Browns have a winning season ain't really all that big of a deal. It would appear that some folks don't quite see it that way, and frankly I find that kinda sad. Oh well...to each his own. Merry Christmas, Pat. Thanks for a little perspective.
Bay Village, OH
Posted 11:10 AM, 12/24/2008
With all due respect to the Lerner family philanthropy:
Let's not forget that Al Lerner made his multi-billions loan-sharking the average Joe with high interest rate credit cards. The federal government is just now getting around to capping the way credit card companies manipulate interest rates.
And lets not forget that it was on Al Lerner's Gulfstream business jet that Art Modell made the deal with Maryland Gov. Parris Glendenning to move the Browns to Baltimore.
Being rich has some unpleasant side effects. But, hey, we all have problems, rich people just arrive at theirs in style....And whether the Browns win or lose, the Lerners will still be rich.
Barberton, OH
Posted 12:33 PM, 12/24/2008
On one hand, Lerner is a noble local philanthropist, and on the other he's an owner who needs to hire someone like Parcells to run his ENTIRE organization. He and his father have made some bad hires in the past ten years, and it's time for him to bring in some better qualified football people when deciding the GM and coaching positions.
Posted 02:43 PM, 12/24/2008
Say what you will about Savage and Romeo...I think Lerner made just two big mistakes...He hired Romeo and when Savage wanted to get rid of him in 06 he nixed the idea...
He will pay a high price in CASH to solve that problem...
Otherwise he is the ideal Owner...
1) He cares about the community and It's team...
2) He has kept Prices Relatively low for those who want to see games.
3) He has an open check book for the players that we Want...
4) For the most part he has learned to keep his nose out of the daily football business and the Running of the team and NOW sticks to just the big picture ...
THE GUY IS AN IDEAL OWNER AND WE SHOULD APPRECIATE HIM MORE....He was a rookie owner and has learned from his mistakes....
BELIEVE ME YOU NEVER WANT TO LOSE AN OWNER LIKE RANDY LERNER
New Carlisle, OH
Posted 03:12 PM, 12/24/2008
Pat
Good article. I am as disappointed as any Browns' fan can be after this clunker of a season. I have followed the Browns since 1960 and have the Drive, the Fumble, and Red Right 88 etched into my brain. But I do think that Randy Lerner, Romeo Crennel, and Phil Savage are good men who have been trying to get Cleveland a Super Bowl. We can criticize job performance without degrading these quality men.
Posted 02:39 AM, 12/25/2008
Apples and oranges Pat. Plus, all of the folks you mention as leaders of the Browns will not have to worry that if they lose their jobs they will have their homes foreclosed like so many northeastern ohioans who live paycheck to paycheck. So spare me the push for sympathy especially this time of year for Crennel or Savage.
Posted 11:14 AM, 12/26/2008
I am so tired of Pat saying how much of a nice guy Crennel is. Crennel is PAID to coach a fottball team and BE IN CONTROL and make his team better. He has displayed NONE of those skills so who cares if he is a 'nice guy'. If he is not qualified for the job skills, then FIRE him and getsome in here who is.
Posted 04:58 PM, 12/27/2008
lose your job and still have millions in the bank? boo hoo hoo!!!
Posted 05:13 PM, 12/27/2008
nice guys finish last!!!!
Carrollton, TX
Posted 05:03 PM, 12/28/2008
I'm a long time Cleveland Browns fan living in Dallas where football is 24/7 365 days a year. Cleveland has had their share of injuries but the way they have been coached & played has been an embarrassment. The team & coaches have simply given up.
Where is the leadership on the team?
Where is the leadership from the owner, GM and Head Coach?
Lerner is a businessman not a football man. Yay for him for being such a giver, more people need to be like that. Say what you will about Jerry Jones and Jerry World (new Cowboys stadium) but he is a football & businessman. Lerner could use some lessons from him. Not the ones about signing every paroled NFL player but how to build and run a NFL team today.
The Cleveland Browns players & fans deserve to have an Owner, GM and Head Coach who care about football, want to win and will do whatever it takes to get it done.
