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Good morning, Cleveland Browns fans!
Not a single day goes by without some Cleveland Browns development or another. That's not to say that a particular day's events are interesting per se, but things seem to happen in the Brownsphere pretty much every 24 hours.
For example, on Wednesday, the NFL schedule debuted, giving us something to talk about Thursday morning. Then there was the battle between each NFL franchise's creative teams to create schedule videos that are sometimes great and sometimes pulled down in disgrace. Other times, you have inexplicable team videos saved by introducing high-tech, elaborately produced schedule videos from independent sites. It's all quite exciting.
Add to that all the complaints about the Browns not getting primetime games, which Grant Delpit and I consider kind of cool, in the latter case because I'm an old guy who goes to bed about the time those games would start.
Hopefully, Thursday was just as interesting. Please look: I have about three dozen articles lined up for linking. Surely, those stories are interesting and provocative, and they are not just a bunch of national desks looking for content by creating listicles about "one veteran player who might get injured on each NFL team" or whatever. Right?
Well, let's plow into it and find out! Seize the day!
NEFARIOUS MACHINATIONS RULE THE DAY: There's been this thought that the Cleveland Browns might, under the aegis of the Haslam Sports Group, create this elaborate complex of hotels, restaurants, and entertainment venues (including a super-expensive domed stadium) in the flatlands of Brook Park for the team to play. Here in these pages, we've been referring to the complex as "Jimmyworld", which probably annoys some people, but it's easier to type than "Brookpark dome and entertainment complex".
But, whoa! There are differences of opinion! Some folks in charge of the city where the Browns currently play, Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, are unenthused. They think that the populace would be better served by the Browns staying where they are, so they've been making a fuss about whether they back such an initiative.
So, basically, yesterday's news was that the Haslam Sports Group told Cuyahoga County to scram. They didn't care whether the County wanted Jimmyworld built or not, because they're going to go ahead and make it regardless. HSG called the resistance of County Exec Chris Ronayne "inexplicable" and "truly disheartening", which I think are PR-approved terms for "stupid" and "annoying".
Ronayne, for his part, has been calling the project "risky" and the information provided by the Haslam Sports Group as misleading.
Dome
This? Risky? Look at how happy the little people are! (Photo: Screen Grab of Cleveland Browns Render)
You know that the letter meant business because it used ten well-constructed bullet points to make its argument, as opposed to the historically sloppy usage of bullet points in this Massive Morning Missive of Fun.
So, with that annoyance out of the way, Jimmyworld will likely be built with state assistance in the form of $600 million in bonds as various sides (likely accurately) accuse the other of disseminating misinformation. Just like we've been saying here for weeks and weeks.
Meanwhile, down in Cincitucky, they've discovered that a consultant working with the country has ties to Cleveland (gasp!), which surely involves some level of skullduggery.
So many layers here. I can't do it justice.
CHARLES WOODSON BUYS IN: In a story I truly do not care about, NFL Hall of Famer Charles Woodson is buying a minuscule stake in the Browns, estimated at 0.1% of the franchise. This is considered a good thing, I guess, because it gives an ex-player (albeit not for the Browns) some of that great, always-increasing NFL franchise valuation.
Woodson's face/name is on products such as booze, and he will have to remove that from his portfolio before proceeding with the purchase. I guess this is because NFL franchises can't be involved with booze, a disreputable enterprise compared to the league's embrace of family-friendly, lovable gambling partners.
I am a bit baffled as to why this means anything to anyone, since Woodson isn't going to suit up. Maybe he'll tell Andrew Berry which defensive backs to select in the draft. Maybe he will improve our luck with free-agent safeties, a prior one of whom is plotting his revenge deep in the heart of mountainous Western Pennsylvania.
BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!:
Have a good one! GO BROWNS!
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