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Guardians front office has given up on the season and sent a bad message to fans and the locker room
Myles Garrett's trade request leaves Browns fans with one option and one option only
Opinion by Tim Shirer
With Myles Garrett requesting a trade from the Cleveland Browns, fans of the team are at an important crossroads. I hear from so many Browns fans all the time, “we are the greatest fans in sports.” NOPE!! I hear all the time, “We are the smartest fan base”, they think they are smart because they always come up with the most unrealistic free agent and trade scenario’s and think they are geniuses and everyone else is stupid. Are Browns fans the smartest fan base? NOPE!! Below are my reasons and what I think Browns fans need to do to get something to change with the worst organization in North American sports since 1999.
Clevelanders and the media love to call Cleveland “A football town”. In some ways it is, but I also think the Cleveland media has fed that to Cleveland sports fans the last 26 years and they have just believed it.
I’m not going to sit here at my laptop and tell Browns fans not still be Browns fans, what I am going to do is tell Browns fans to stop supporting Jimmy and Susan Haslam by going to games and buying their overpriced beer and other concessions because they know they have you hooked. They know that you think you are good fans because you buy overpriced tickets and support the awful product, they have consistently put on the field for the last 12+ season. The team’s record is literally 70-123-1 since week seven of the 2012 season when he officially took control of the franchise. It is by far, not even close the worst record in North American sports in that period.
Haslam is interested in making money and that is the top priority. By many accounts Haslam forced Browns general manager Ray Farmer to draft Johnny Manziel in 2014 because they would sell a lot of jerseys. The one thing Haslam knew was that the Cleveland fan base was going to buy in 100% because the Cleveland media would celebrate the pick and the fans would follow suite. He was right and even though the team continued to struggle what did the Haslam’s do? They fired Farmer and continued to make money off their horrible franchise because people kept buying tickets. To this day Brian Hoyer is still the only Browns quarterback to have a winning record with the Browns since they returned in 1999. Haslam wanted Hoyer replaced with Manziel because he would make more money. The Haslam’s know they have Browns fans right where they want them, in their pocket.
Why are Browns fans so afraid to protest their terrible owner? A lot of these same people have no problem complaining and not going to Guardians game because they think the Dolan family is cheap. Even though in the same period the Dolans have owned the Guardians as the Haslam’s the Guardians have made the postseason seven times and made a World Series appearance. The Browns have made the postseason twice under the Haslam’s and never made a Super Bowl appearance, but for some unknown reason Browns fans feel the need to boycott the better owner and support the worst owner in Cleveland sports since Ted Stepien. When Stepien was owner of the Cavaliers the team’s attendance plummeted to an average of 3,915 per game at the Richfield Coliseum which held 20,273. The reason for the attendance drop was because Stepien was a terrible owner and Cavs fans were not going to support a terrible owner. Stepien attempted to sell the team, but the NBA stepped in and forced him to sell the team to the Gund Brothers.
Browns fans do not even have the risk that Cavs fans had, the Cavs fans were faced with supporting a terrible team or boycott and risk the fact they might move. The fans won, the NBA helped the Cleveland fans and found an owner. I am not saying that the NFL is going to find a new owner and force the Haslam’s to sell, but if fans make it difficult, they might just do it on their own. I think the chances of Jimmy and Susan moving the franchise are nearly zero. Heck the city of Cleveland is suing them so they do not leave the city limits, what would happen if they tried to move the team out of the region? A new owner would be found then, due to the Modell Law.
Browns fans boycotting the team must be more than 10 to 15 people holding some signs up “Please Myles Stay” in front of Huntington Bank Field. That does ZERO, except get a sound bite on the local news and radio.
Browns fans as painful as it might be, you need to stay home on Sundays, watch at a friend or family members’ house or at a local bar/restaurant. Do not continue to buy tickets and enable Jimmy and Susan to continue to make horrendous, horrendous decisions like the Deshaun Watson trade and force good citizens and great players like Myles Garrett out of town because he wants to win a Super Bowl in his career.
Garrett is 100% the wrong guy to be mad at in this situation. Also, do not blame Browns GM Andrew Berry or head coach Kevin Stefanski for Garrett wanting to leave or for the Watson trade, absolutely not for the Watson trade. The Watson trade is 100% on Haslam’s. Anyone who thinks it isn’t, is naive. The only reason Berry and Stefanski survived this season is because Jimmy and Susan know they are responsible for where the team is right now, do not believe anything else.
The only way to end this cycle is to boycott this ownership group. I am not a Browns fan; I look in from the outside and can see objectively what the problem is. The problem is at the top, with Jimmy Haslam and his wife Susan. A couple that is worth over $8.5 billion. As strange as it might sound the only way to hurt Haslam’s is in their bank account and the way to do that is not buy tickets to Browns games.
Do not continue to cry foul if you aren’t going to do anything about it.
Browns fans, the ball is in your court now.
POSTED 02/03/2025 21:48
