By Mansfield Frazier
OK, so I began my boycott of the Browns back in 1970 when they traded Ohio native and Ohio State standout Paul Warfield to the Miami Dolphins (for a draft pick which was used on Purdue University quarterback Mike Phipps, remember him?). Of course, Warfield went on to become a major factor on the Dolphins’ 1972 championship team that had that perfect 17-0 season, while Phipps, well, let’s just say the Browns were spotty at best under his field generalship.
Of course, some would say 42 years is a long time to hold a grudge, but the way the Browns have played over those intervening years has given me no reason to relent. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see the team eventually return to its once winning ways; I do. And to prove it I have a suggestion: The fans should get together and buy the Browns.
Don’t laugh; the Green Bay Packers is owned by the fans, and they haven’t done so badly over the years. Maybe what the team needs is the “collective football wisdom” of thousands and thousands of fans driving major decisions. After all, fans think they know more than the owners, club executives, and coaches anyway, so why not let them call all the shots? At least there wouldn’t be so much bitchin’, moanin’ and backbiting when and if things go into the toilet if fans had control… they’d only have themselves to blame.
It’s not too late to derail this current deal that’s on the table. All fans have to do is form a group and set a deadline on when the requisite amount of money has to be raised. As rabid and plentiful as Browns fans are, raising close to a billion dollars shouldn’t pose that much of a real problem. Hell, some folks will mortgage their homes to be part owners of the Browns.
Then the fans tell the NFL if they’re not given the opportunity to take control of the franchise, they’ll do what I did 42 years ago: Begin an en masse boycott. After all, the team is nothing without the fans. Once they come up with a battle cry, they’re half way to victory. Something like “Remember the Alamo!” (which really doesn’t fit in this case, but you still get the point).
The Non-Debate Over Gun Control
Whenever the subject of guns comes up in America, the wet-noodle gun nuts always invoke the “Founding Fathers” as some kind of talisman to ward off any perceived danger to supposedly sacrosanct Second Amendment rights. Problem is, our Founding Fathers never envisioned modern-day pressures that cause demented individuals to rush into crowded theaters and open fire with semi-automatic weapons with banana clips — something else they didn’t envision.
Indeed, our Founding Fathers were for the most part statesmen, a breed of politician we haven’t seen in this country since the late Hubert Humphrey (thanks in no small part to the rise of the Religious Right). If our current political leaders had the courage to put the welfare of the citizenry of the Republic ahead of their own political ambitions, what they would do is get together on the gun threat and issue a joint statement, something along the lines of: “We both know something dramatic needs to be done to curtail firearm violence in America, and we’re making a promise to the American people that no matter which one of us gets elected, we’ll immediately move to force gun owners to purchase million dollar insurance policies on each of their weapons.”
If vehicles are insured because of the damage they can inflict, why not guns?
I know, in this current political environment where winning is the only thing, that’s expecting a bit too much… but I wish the NRA would quit using the imagery of Founding Father statesmen as they bully today’s politicians who are cut from far less substantial cloth.
A recent post stated, “The NRA gods routinely demand human sacrifices.”
Indeed, and our public officials — those in office as well as wannabes — are too cowardly to stand up against them, even for the American people.
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.neighborhoodsolutionsinc.com.
One Response to “MANSFIELD: “Remember the Alamo!””
Wayne Kuznar
The NFL prohibits further public ownership of teams. The NFL exists to gouge the fans, not to partner with them.
I have a better idea. Why don’t the mayors of 15 or so cities agree to start new professional sports leagues, called the Municipal Football League, Municipal Baseball League, etc. that would compete with the established leagues. The teams would be owned by the cities, thus guaranteed never to be held hostage to owners who threaten to move the franchise unless they get sweetheart deals. They would be designed to break even financially and provide fans with reasonably priced entertainment. We’re already paying for the stadiums and arenas in this town; why not let the taxpayers use these facilities along with the privately held teams?