Written by Brian McPeek

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It’s an “off the cuff” edition of The Weekend wrap this week. Some thoughts on the Browns, the Cavs, Art Modell’s Hall of Fame candidacy and whatever else pops into my head while I dedicate the time to to think about our North Coast sports scene.

My Give a Damn is Busted

I feel like I’ve been carpet bombed with Anti-Art Modell articles, FaceBook posts and tweets all week. No one was any more upset, shocked or enraged when Modell announced almost 20 years ago that he was moving the Browns to Baltimore. It was a despicable, cowardly and selfish thing to do. But you know what? I’m over it.

I’ll never again take for granted that something like that can’t happen here, and I’ll live forever with the images of attending that ‘final’ game in a stadium that was blacked out of advertising and of every emotion except hatred, but I’m done with the outrage and the fist pounding about the guy getting into the Hall of Fame.

I understand if you’re not at that point. I’m just telling you I am.

He is going to get in at some point and I don’t care that he does.

Art Modell is still dead as far as I know. The fact he didn’t live long enough to be able to see something he held very dear to his heart is good enough for me. I’d probably be even happier if he wasn’t inducted until after his step-son David was no longer around to see it and to feel some sort of justification at the old man’s induction, but I don’t even care about that. If David Modell gets some sort of satisfaction in the ‘accomplishments’ of his step-father than he’s even more pathetic a person than I already believe him to be, and I have zero regard for David Modell already.

I worked for the Browns for a few years and met Art a few times. He was a genuinely decent man as far as I’m concerned. He took time to talk to the ball boys and to whomever else was around when he rode around Lakeland Community College in the mid 80’s in his golf cart. He was friendly and he was generous and he was engaging. He was also passionate about his team and its place in Cleveland.

But big mistakes and self-preservation, along with the obligations he had to his family to leave them with something other than memories, forced him to do what he did. Make no mistake, the issues he faced that prompted the move were, by and large, his own. He squandered money and assumed far too much in terms of his importance and place here in Cleveland and it ultimately bit him in the ass.

But even that no longer bothers me like it once it did.

The bottom line is Art Modell helped make a lot of men a lot of money. His supporters would have you believe he was far more important in securing national television contracts and in the advent of Monday Night Football than he probably was, while his detractors would tell you he did nothing but leak money and get himself into a position that only the move to Baltimore could resolve, and even then he ultimately had to sell the team to realize a financial gain.

As usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle.

But I’m amused by how so many who likely never met the man or spoke with him judge him. Many were too young to be able to actually base their arguments in firsthand knowledge. Of course, that’s not a requirement to make an argument.

But the bottom line is Art Modell will get into the Hall of Fame. It may not be this year or next or the year after that, but he will go in one day. But as Clint Eastwood’s character Will Munny said in ‘The Unforgiven’, “Deserve’s got nothin’ to do with it.”

Modell is simply serving his penance in Hall of Fame purgatory right now, waiting out an unwritten sentence for crimes committed against the city of Cleveland. At some point the emotions will die just like old Art died and Modell will get a post-mortem induction ceremony in Canton. That day will probably be another dark day in Browns history with fans who didn’t know the guy and weren’t around or who weren’t at an age of reason showing up in orange RVs and making a scene that promises to make “Bottlegate” look tame.

The Hall of Fames for all sports are filled with some despicable men who were racists and bigots and who came by the wealth and fame at the expense of others. And in that regard, Arthur B. Modell will finally be at home when his induction day comes.

When it happens, it happens. Pass the beer nuts.

Ky-Really?™

Ever since You Know Who did You Know What and took his talents to South Beach I’ve truly tried to keep athletes at an arm’s length in terms of getting attached to them. I’ve been around way too long and seen way too many come and go, despite thinking this one is “different”, and I should (and still do) know better.

But Kyrie Irving is hard to keep at an arm’s length.

His latest wizardry?

The kid is bright, engaging, grounded, quick to share the kudos with teammates and, above all else, is a ridiculously talented and effective basketball player who keeps better every night right before our eyes. That said, his All-Star selection this week surprised me, mostly because of the name on the front of his jersey.

I don’t get to watch Chris Paul or Rajon Rondo every night. But Irving amazes me in that he’s smaller and he’s somewhat slight and yet he attacks the basket without regard for any of that. And when he gets there he finishes with a ridiculous array of moves and shots that have to have come from years and years of taking guys to the rim who were bigger and stronger than Irving. I can’t imagine the amount of time the kid has spent perfecting his craft.

Irving is simply a magician with the basketball and it’s impossible not to be amazed by what he does on the court and equally impossible not to be impressed how he carries himself off of it.

Now, I still think Kyrie leaves like all the others when it suits him financially and when free agents in their prime continue to avoid Cleveland when there are bigger markets and warmer beaches elsewhere, but I am willing to appreciate and enjoy him while he’s here. The fact that he’s personally responsible for me even going that far should speak volumes.

And along those lines, I’m thrilled to see Cavs GM Chris Grant making moves like the one that sent Jon Leuer to Memphis for Marreese Speights, Wayne Ellington, Josh Selby and a future 1^st round pick. Accumulating guys who can play and are better than guys already on your roster is simplistically the right thing to do. Spending a bit of money to acquire them while also nabbing yet another first round pick is how you’ll ultimately accumulate enough talent to keep a guy like Kyrie here. And look at all those picks.

Grant understands the point I made about premier free agents above and he understands the only way around that issue is to draft premier players. The jury is still out on whether Grant has that part of the equation down or whether guys like Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters will blow up in his face. But before you can acquire first round draft gems or busts you have to acquire first round picks and Grant is stockpiling those.

Any deal that makes you better in the present and potentially much better down the road is one to be lauded and appreciated. Now cash those in and maybe more of us will head back down to The Q and watch these guys. God knows watching the on TV with Austin Carr providing the color commentary is pretty damn painful. I’d rather expose myself to the ridiculously loud music and constant sensory bombardment than listen to one more “Throws the Hammer Down” from Carr. But listening to Carr is still better than driving downtown, paying the pound of flesh for tickets and parking, and watching C.J. Miles and Omri Casspi.

But the gap has narrowed with this deal and with the excitement that Irving brings every night.

It’s a Date

Pitchers and catchers report to Goodyear, AZ  two weeks from Monday and full squads report in 17 days. The Opener is only about nine weeks away.

Think about it: Thanksgiving was only about nine weeks ago and here we are today wondering where the time between then and now went. It’ll be here before you can believe it and I, for one, cannot wait.

Here’s to Justin Masterson’s location and Ubaldo Jimenez’s mechanics to arrive in Goodyear in February as well. If those two things show up, along with maybe a decent DH, it could at least be an exciting and competitive season down at Progressive Field.

Please let it be so. Delving deeply into the Browns draftees in June might kill me.

 

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