Still, even when Cleveland defaulted on bank loans in ’78-the first American city since the Great Depression to do so-the stadium remained packed. But by the 1960s the town’s steel and iron factories were closing, and people fled en masse, the city left so polluted that in ’69 the Cuyahoga River turned inferno after debris caught fire, still a source of embarrassment. ”Ĭleveland was booming back then, its economy flourishing, its population approaching one million. We still have eight championships.” “That means something.” “It’s part of history.” “ Our history. He’ll push that message on his players daily-that and, of course, Don’t Be Scared. “We ain’t done s-,” he says, suggesting a magazine headline along the lines of unfinished business. He reminds everyone that, despite all their success last year, the Browns finished third in the AFC North. Like UFOs, Beckham says.ĭorsey, meanwhile, has been listening this offseason to Public Enemy’s rap anthem “Don’t Believe the Hype” and relaying that message to his players. From their viewpoint, they’ve simply been misunderstood-the same way people classify anything else they don’t understand, to make them feel more comfortable. He and Landry push back on the notion that Cleveland’s combination of locker room personalities could be combustible. He laments, though, that the media doesn’t appear willing to let him start fresh, pointing out all the attention he already received for skipping voluntary OTAs in May.
They thought they’d send me here to die.” (The Giants declined to comment on Beckham’s exit.)Īll the receiver wants now is “to play football and not deal with the extra stuff”-he even shaved off his golden curls as proof. In fact, he claims to know that the Giants received better offers and still chose to send him to Cleveland, out of spite, hoping to stain his career with the enduring stigma that comes with playing for the Browns. In a situation like his, Beckham says, a star player will often get a chance to discuss his preferred trade destinations. The conversation, he says, lasted seconds. He knew he was getting traded he just didn’t know where. Dorsey told his fellow staffers, “Damn, we may have a chance.”īeckham was heading to a restaurant in Paris when he got the call from Gettleman. Dorsey made an offer Gettleman countered Dorsey hung up. When Dorsey called Gettleman on March 11, it marked the first conversation the two GMs had had about Beckham, and it was straightforward. And wouldn’t it be fitting in this city, of all cities, if greater anticipation led only to greater disappointment? “It is almost like: Cleveland is now back on top, like it should be.”īut these inflated hopes, in a city that for so long has accepted the inevitability of disappointment, under a first-year coach and a second-year QB and a collection of players seen as emotionally volatile, could lead one to see this team as something other than blessed. “It seems Jesus has been at work,” says Hall of Fame back Jim Brown, who retired shortly after the Browns’ last title appearance, in 1966. Even after years of heartbreak, after owner Art Modell whisked the original team away to Baltimore even after a singular futility since returning, with just one postseason appearance in two decades, the fans have largely remained. The league was born an hour south, in Canton the state yielded four of the first five champions and the Browns were a preeminent early dynasty.
#JARVIS LANDRY WIFE FULL#
It’s no coincidence, those in northern Ohio believe, that the franchise is coming full circle as the NFL celebrates its 100th anniversary.
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