NFL 2009: Browns ownership still learning to walk 10 years later

Browns owner Randy Lerner is his best Aston Villa garb.  (photo from BBC News)

Has it already been 10 years? You can’t help but feel older when you realize it’s been a decade since experiencing that hum of optimism surrounding the return of the Cleveland Browns in 1999; a team that was abruptly taken from its fans with little notice. After suffering an injustice like that, Browns backers certainly deserved a winner.

Everybody knew there’d be growing pains. No one expected a playoff team in the first few seasons. But few could have envisioned a cycle of dysfunction that has stuck with the team through three head coaches, two GM’s, and only one playoff appearance in 10 seasons.

The Browns are part of a shrinking list of NFL teams that have never reached the Super Bowl. They are joined only by the Lions as franchises in existence before the AFL-NFL merger who have never made it. (others include the Saints, Jaguars, and Texans, but are all expansion teams). Cleveland still clings to the excuse of losing their team and then having to rebuild from scratch.

That excuse had merit early on. But fans should have sniffed something foul as soon as they learned who the new owner would be. The fact that Al Lerner, a friend of Art Modell, became the team’s latest man-in-charge always reeked of trouble. It seemed to be in the Browns best interest to cut ties altogether with Modell and anyone associated with him.  But ownership went to Lerner who actually played a part in the team’s departure to Baltimore. In the city’s glee of simply having a team again, that fact was largely glossed over.

After Al Lerner’s death in 2002, ownership was passed into the hands of his son Randy. The franchise stumbled through six more seasons of small peaks and deep valleys. With all the “success” Randy had with his Browns, he decided it was time to move into the world of soccer, buying Aston Villa of the English Premiere League in 2006. During his brief time as that team’s owner, he has brought a storied franchise back to prominence after Aston Villa qualified for the UEFA Europa Cup in 2009 and finished 6th in the table (out of 20 teams).

As Lerner watched his soccer team succeed (often in person, on Sundays during the NFL season), his other storied franchise moved on to its fourth head coach and third GM in the Lerner era. Lerner has proven his commitment to Aston Villa by building his team a state-of-the-art training facility. He’s shown his obligation to the Browns by simply telling the world through interviews that he’s committed. But don’t actions speak louder than words?

Lerner knows that he doesn’t have to put a winner on the field to turn a profit on the Browns. Win or lose, 75,000 fans will pack the stadium, most wearing their $100 Brady Quinn jerseys and drinking their $7 beers while their cars sit in $20 spaces. He’s pushing the limits on how much Browns fans are willing to accept in this weakened economy.

The 2009 ticket price freeze and another new head coach should buy Lerner more time. But there’s a saying by the great George W. Bush that goes something like (in your best Texas accent) “Fool me once…shame on…shame on you. Fool me… we can’t get fooled again.” 

Browns fans run the risk of looking just as foolish as GW if they continue to shell out hard earned dollars on a team that gives back nothing but misery. This latest regime of Kokinis and Mangini, the KokiMan combo if you will, is Lerner’s latest offering for fans. It represents another shot at brining football respectability back to a city that is sorely in need of just that.