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Good morning, Cleveland Browns fans!
Today's Newswire features little steps that advance the Quinshon Judkins and the Cleveland Browns Dome stories. Frankly, I'm sick of talking about both already.
The Judkins story will likely result in his suspension and will be unhelpful to the Browns as they begin a rough stretch of games against tough opponents over the first six weeks. I had already pegged them as coming out of those first 5-6 games with a losing record, and the Judkins situation does not help that scenario.
Concerning the dome, I've been saying for months that the outcome is inevitable, and that the only question is when the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County will accept this and start to work constructively with the team to develop the lakefront.
In either case, there's little mystery about the outcome. It's not exactly edge-of-your-seat news.
I'd rather discuss some of my immediate plans for this website and my role here. If you just care about Browns news, feel free to skip this section and scroll down a bit to where I cover today's news.
THE RANT BEGINS: In an era when many sports news sites have prioritized page views over other metrics, one aspect that has been lost is respect for Browns fans, the consumers of this content.
I'm not here to make enemies or put down other people trying to make a living, but their priorities are not my priorities. One of the primary drivers behind this website, when I started it in the mid-1990s, was the lack of respect that local media showed to fan groups fighting to save their team, secure an expansion franchise, and express their concerns about the stadium atmosphere. Some scribes derided the fans and the issues that these groups (myself included) were concerned about. As a lifetime Browns fan, I was deeply offended.
So, I figured I would start my own news site, one sympathetic to the fans and what they desired from this franchise. Over the past 30 years, it has evolved from a hobby to my career.
The disrespect toward Browns fans has shifted. While economic factors have compelled the established media to set aside much of their old-guard arrogance and engage more with fans, I still witness fans being treated like idiots daily by clickbaiters and aggregators seeking to capitalize on misleading stories and convince fans to impale themselves on ads.
Microphone OBR
Hey, I want to say something. (Photo: Jason Rosewell on Unsplash)
Here's an example. Yesterday, I spent some time with the OBR team, showing them around my information tracking tools, as I'm delegating some of my efforts to my team (more on that later). I showed them how the tools segment credentialed sites from "fan blogs and aggregators". As I was doing so, the very first story in the aggregation feed was titled something akin to "Kenny Pickett Gets Disturbing News during Quarterback Competition".
I had not seen the story or looked at it, but I told the team that I guaranteed that the story was misleading and trying to trick Browns fans into clicking. I guessed that the story was actually about a local reporter offering a (debatable) opinion that Kenny Pickett wasn't playing well. This is not "disturbing news". It's a damn opinion and, frankly, one I don't take very seriously. But Browns fans are being played again, and this time it's online, where misleading and sometimes entirely bogus narratives are being disseminated for profit.
I'm sick of how Browns fans are being treated, not by the team, not by the owner, but by people on the internet pushing garbage on you, trying to trick you into being part of their engagement goals. There's no respect for the fans—only a grasping quest for dollars. As for how the Browns themselves are treating fans, that's a whole other issue subject to wide variations in opinion.
So, I'm desperately trying to carve out time to write more, to react to the narratives that are floated daily, pushing fans away from truth, or at least the truth as I see it. To me, these false narratives need to be addressed with logic, humor, and a focus on putting the interests of fans first. So, I'm trying to take my bloviating to the next level by writing more frequently than I do in my early morning rants.
I want this website to respect its fans by not deceiving them with false headlines, offering the truth as we see it, and providing answers to the nonsense being pushed by cynical opportunists. The OBR has and will always put the fans first, as long as I run it. We don't mean this as marketing tripe. It's baked into the core of what we need to do.
THE RANT ENDS: Thank God that's over. But, phew, I feel better now.
DOME STORY MOVES FORWARD: The biggest dome story of the day doesn't concern the city's desperate grasp to have a judge stop work on the edifice, but rather about what happens after the Browns leave. The city is starting to explore waterfront ideas (supposedly with or without the current stadium), but it turns out that the Browns had already discussed this matter with the city.
They were, according to them, not exactly rebuffed, but told to wait.
It beggars the imagination (to me, at least) that the City has failed to accept the inevitability of the Brook Park development and has failed to grasp the potential for working with the team to transform the lakefront, which is exactly what I've been suggesting they do since the beginning of this confrontation.
Of course, it's unrealistic to expect politicians to listen to (or even pay attention to) a webdork on a Cleveland Browns site. But they should have long ago accepted that there's no great spot in Cleveland to put a complex like the Haslams envision and make the best of it.
Meanwhile, Cleveland.com is worried about traffic congestion at the airport, which is a legitimate issue but not exactly at the top of my mind this morning.
911 CALL RELEASED ON JUDKINS CASE: A short story on the Akron Beacon-Journal site is all I can find about Fort Lauderdale police releasing the audio of the call. Nothing in the audio is shocking, but it confirms the reporting to date.
In the meantime, reports are that the Browns are in "no rush" to push the rookie to sign his deal or report to camp while they investigate the incident. PFT suggests that the NFL will wait to put Judkins on paid leave until his contract is signed.
Terry Pluto relays that Browns fans are weary of these sorts of incidents, which is undoubtedly true.
BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!
OBR STUFF
ARTICLES FROM YESTERDAY
Cleveland Browns 2026 & 2027 Cornerback Prediction - Jack
Cleveland Browns Quarterback Dillon Gabriel: What Weve Been Told - Lane and Pete
Cleveland Browns News and Rumors 7/15: Men in Suits Arguing with Each Other and Other NFL Oddities - Barry
The Cleveland Browns UDFAs Chances of Making The Final 53 Plus Where Browns Could Look To Upgrade - Brad
OBR STREAMING NETWORK
Last night
Browns 3D: Browns Training Camp Preview 2025 Defensive Line
The React: Browns Process Questioned, Judkins Fallout, Time WiIl Tell In 2025
Garage Beers: EPISODE 272 - FT. DEAN EVASON!!
Scheduled tonight
6PM: Browns 3-D
7PM: OBR Weekly
Watch on YouTube or Twitch
FORUM POSTS
Final 53 4 QBs “loophole” (ATI)
Insiders Contract Talks W/Judkins (ATI)
RB plan B (ATI)
New Stadium question (ATI)
LiveWire Thread for 715 - Twitter, Video, Articles (Cooler)
Have a good one! GO BROWNS!
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