No kidding? Newsome thinks Modell should be in the HOF

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Ozzie preached to the wrong choir about Art's HOF credentials.

Ozzie Newsome is a Cleveland Brown and will always be a Cleveland Brown. Those aren't my words, but those of the man himself in a guest column he wrote for the Plain Dealer today.  

"The Wizard of Oz" used two paragraphs to thank fans who supported him even when he was getting just one three-yard dink pass each Sunday to extend his reception streak (Those are my words, not Newsome's).

The ex-tight end's honeyed remarks were followed up by the expected blow: "I believe Art Modell should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame," he wrote. 

Facebook maps NFL fans and it's time to expel the middle of Ohio

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So Facebook knows way too much about our lives, I'm sure...and in this case they started mining their data for good instead of evil. And by "good", I mean "good thing we know which counties in Ohio are occupied by cockroaches Pittsburgh Steelers fans.

Obviously, the Browns dominate the smart part of the state, and the Bengals cover the southeast. But Pittsburgh yellow occupies not just the eastern edge of Ohio, as could be assumed, but the entire middle of the state south of roughly Millersburg (Holmes County), and even the Toledo and Columbus areas.  I think it's safe to say we'd be okay expelling those folks from Ohio on principle alone. 

Good news Bobcats fans! Athens county falls squarely in the brown-and-orange column. Must be a sad, sad place too. 

(Thanks to Deadspin for steering me to this monstrosity of a map...)

Cleveland Browns 1999-2012 Documentary

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I first learned about this video while reading Besides the Point this afternoon. I figured the Browns have consumed countless hours of my life, what's another 25 minutes. Brings back a lot of bad good memories. Hopefully Haslam, Banner, Lombardi, Chud and Co. can turn this rough patch in Browns history around.

Perception is everything in Browns, Kelly fallout

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"They like me, they REALLY like me.."

A story that seemed dead in Cleveland media circles came back to shambling life today as the Philadelphia Eagles announced the hire of Chip Kelly as their head coach.  More interesting than the hard news is the fallout. Reaction both local and national to Kelly's flip-flop mirrors the strange, defeatist attitude facing the Jimmy Haslam/Joe Banner ownership regime in its first months of operation.

The thought that the Browns were "duped," "schooled" or "look bad" for not taking another run at Kelly after initial talks broke down may not be the prevailing position around town, but the discomfiting clamor from Twitter, the blogosphere and professional sportswriters is too loud to be ignored.

If Chip Kelly thinks with his stomach, he will be the next Browns coach

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The old adage is that the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and Michael Symon is apparently a subscriber to that theory, making the plea to Chip Kelly today to come to Cleveland in return for a personally cooked dinner.

I'm not going to lie, I think that if Chip can negotiate two dinners out of Mr. Symon, the deal is closed. Hell, I'll take almost any job for a free dinner at Lola...