DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Lesmerises: Haslam should leave for two years and finally give the Browns a chance to win

Jimmy Haslam should leave for two years and finally give the Browns a chance to win: Doug Lesmerises | cleveland.com
https://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2018/10/jimmy_haslam_should_leave_for.html

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- First of all, Jimmy Haslam doesn't write the checks.

He cashes them.

Owning an NFL team is not a charitable endeavor. It is not an up-by-the-bootstraps small business. It's a pile of money.

Jimmy and Dee Haslam sit on the money and parcel it out to players and coaches and staff. But every time they give a bundle of cash away, the pile grows. They purchased the Browns for $987 million in 2012. The franchise, according to Forbes, now has an estimated worth of $1.95 billion.

Since officially taking over a 1-6 team in October of 2012, they are 21-75-1 as owners. They have hired five front-office decision makers and fired four. They have hired three coaches and fired four (after inheriting Pat Shurmur).

They have picked the wrong people, handled them the wrong way, set up an organizational structure doomed to fail and sowed dysfunction. And their investment has doubled in value. Six years of failure made them a billion dollars.

So don't give them credit for writing the checks, when the Haslam family in the end is going to cash one giant check and profit from the pain of Browns fans.

"He pays the bills," GM John Dorsey, seated next to Jimmy Haslam, said at Monday's news conference to announce the firing of Hue Jackson.

It was said as if making a ton of money for doing nothing, and then handing out some of it, is a skill. Haslam is Dorsey's boss, so of course he's going to say that. But no one else has to.

The Haslams are the problem with the Browns.

That doesn't exclude Jackson from being a problem or players on the field from being a problem or some bad moves by past and current GMs from being problems. More than one person can be bad at their job at the same time.

There's no point in asking the Haslams to sell. Remember the part about the pile of money that magically grows no matter how many bad decisions you make?

So, in the name of doing right by Browns fans, we can ask the Haslams to do this, at least for a year or two:

Go away.

Jimmy Haslam said Monday he's around the Browns about half the time.

"When I am here," he said, "I am involved with the football and business people."

Let's make that none of the time.

Haslam repeatedly has hired a coach and a GM and made both of them report to the owner separately. In your "How to Create a Power Struggle" manual, that's Step One. Heck, it's practically the only step.

Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley were both fired because Haslam said the Browns wouldn't tolerate internal discord. When asked why that discord keeps occurring in Bera, Haslam said it's on him.

"I will accept the blame because ultimately, it is the person at the head of the ship. I will take the blame as ownership," Haslam said. "I can't explain it more than that. We have had different situations with different people. I know that it is something that we are not going to tolerate moving forward."

OK, then. So this time, instead of just firing the people below you, fire yourself.

Keep the money. Lose the control.

Haslam's insistence on sitting not only on the pile of money but at the top of the power structure has set up the Browns to repeat their losing and their in-fighting. Now, if he has a GM in Dorsey that he trusts, he must put Dorsey in charge of the coaching search and in charge of every aspect of the football operation.

Go visit your friends in Tennessee, play golf with Peyton Manning and read cleveland.com. We'll keep you updated on your team.

Here's a solid bet -- the Browns will work better while you're gone.

Give it at least two full seasons. Check back at the end of 2020.

At the news conference to introduce Dorsey a year ago, I asked Haslam what he would do if he realized ownership was the real problem.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Haslam said then.

Let that bridge take you to the muni lot for the next 26 months. Act like a fan, not like an owner. But let's be clear about one thing.

No one is asking Haslam to sacrifice. The argument for overly involved or disruptive owners is always the idea that it's their team, and they can do what they want. Don't give them that much credit or empathy.

Owning an NFL team is a privilege. Being an NFL fan is a birthright.

Fans get nothing out of this other than what their team gives them. Haslam gets the pile of money regardless.

If you think asking a billionaire to back off is too much of a sacrifice for the guy who pays the bills, think about what the fans have already sacrificed.

On the other side, there have been plenty of complaints from sports fans across the country about absentee owners who don't seem to care about their teams. Sometimes, we object to an investment of only money that isn't accompanied by any time or care.

But things have gone wrong for long enough under Haslam that absentee ownership is worth a shot. Remember that he's not really paying for anything. The Browns have been making money for the Haslams every day, while the Haslams have been making the Browns lose.

Keep the money. Don't sell, but pretend that you did.

Leave for now, and finally, give your team a chance to win.

Why not try it? Can't be worse.

I disagree. I went in to this on another post.

Randy Lerner was like that and people said he didn't care and needed to be in Cleveland rather than England.

Jimmy cares, I am 100% certain about that. He is not simply looking at this as some asset that continues to pay dividends.

Strong take. I don't disagree.

Maybe he can hire an ex-gambler to privately investigate a player to try and get out of a contract, get caught, and then get suspended by the league. Meanwhile the people who he hired can do their job without obstruction and build a dynasty.

Hmm I wonder who just said this 2 days ago?

If you don't like the owner, pull together 3 and a half billion and buy the team from him.

This article is overly dramatic, like the crap about the "birthright," but Haslam sucks as an owner.

I said on Diam's thread that I was saddened and disappointed in the morning when I heard Hue had been fired.

However, after watching the PC, I became livid. Jimmy Haslam is an arrogant, egotistical, piece of crap. I wanted to slap him across his face.

I get it. He owns the team and can do what he wants. However, he isn't learning from his mistakes.

The way he openly laughed at that one reporter as if the guy was the dumbest guy in the world was obscene. The guy did sound dumb, but is that how you treat people at a national new's conference? Is that how you treat people when your team went 1 and 31 the two previous seasons? Is that how you treat people when you fire more people than accumulating wins?

Screw you, Haslam! You are a piece of crap!

I could care less how much the man cares .. he’s INCOMPETENT AS could be ....

By god man he’s been responsible for the WORST RUN IN THE HISTORY OF SPORTS ...

He’s emberrased this franchise beyond belief ... he’s made the previous FRUITLESS YEARS before him seem like Shangrala ....

And now your gonna tell me who cares ... WHO GIVES A RATS BEHIND ...

If he cared .. he’d do an HONEST EVALUATION of what the PROBLEM HAS BEEN PEEN ...

Do him and Dee hides all the DANG MIRRORS IN THE HOUSE ...

This dudes PATHETIC ...

Our best shot is he finally wakes up and gets out of the dang way ..

He cares ... WIPPIE FRICKING DOOO ...

He could do one thing to make the situation better. It might cost us Dorsey(not sure how they would get along) but I'd still do it. Hire Ozzy as President of Football Operations, hand him the keys and then stay the hell out of it. Sit in the owner's box and watch like a fan. Period. Offer Ozzy a huge pile of money and maybe a small percentage of the team and I bet he'd come back to Cleveland...

Stupid artical and stupid premises. Haslem writes huge checks right now for players that are long gone, coaches that are long gone and invested a BILLION dollars of his money. The "Net worth" figure is meaningless till u sell or take out more loans to finance the current debt. Its Haslems right to do what he wants and if we dont like it then we can stop watching. Jerry Jones makes stupid mistakes all the time and he could care less about other peoples take on it. Its EGO for him as well as loving what he does. Right or wrong... if I hit the mega millions and could buy the team, I promise u Dorsey wouldnt hire a head coach without my OK. Ask yourself the same question if it was YOUR team..

I guess I won't get a season ticket next year... I forgot it was because of jimmy H that I bought the tixs...had nothing to do with enjoying a tailgate and a game...

Imminent domain. Make the Cleveland Browns and Cavs, while we're at it, property of the city. It is the only way to cure our woes of incompetent owners who could move the team whenever they want a new stadium.

Every now and then we have a Pet Peeves thread here on DT, and I always forget to mention how it grinds me the way Browns' fans fawn over Ozzie Newsome. Ozzie was a great TE for a long career that went 2-3 years longer than it should have thanks to Bernie Kosar always being sure to feed Ozzie his next consecutive-game pass early in the game to get it out of the way, even after it was clear than Ozzie was no longer a shadow of the player he was in his prime. Then, when Belichick unceremoniously dumped Kosar in favor of Todd Philcox - yes - Todd Freaking Philcox (Vinny had a separated shoulder) - Ozzie, as a member of the Browns front office, stood before a group of Seattle Brown's Backers and raised his glass in a toast to the assembled Browns' fan ... "Here's to Bernie throwing 3 interceptions tomorrow for the Cowboys" (Bernie had signed with Dallas after being cut, and started for an injured Troy Aikman). Newsome got booed out of the place. That was how he repaid Bernie's for his loyalty and his tribute to him, week in and week out, long after Ozzie was no longer was a force at TE. Then, when Modell ripped the team from Cleveland and stood on that dais in Baltimore proclaiming the arrival of the new Baltimore Browns, Ozzie was right there with him. He had no choice, I suppose, since his head was so far up Art's ass. I have no use for Ozzie Newsome here, thank you.

We agree and disagree.


I am not sickening up for the guy, bit in a way I am.



It makes no sense for him to go away for 2 years

That's clever - good one.

Thanks.

Ozzie is a very good man and BB benched Bernie because the guy wouldn't accept his coaching.

But, I get the "hate" thing.

You "get" nothing.

j/c,

Who amoung you, if the owner of the Browns, and would have absolutely nothing to do with your assets?

Such hypocrisy!

Go buy a team and do with it as you like ... You're asking for the moon.

Agree.... I don't wgree with all of haslams choices but it's obvious he's trying to put together a winner...

Amen. People crack me up.

I love the double standard around here.

It's okay to freaking crucify Hue. I'm not talking about questioning him...........I'm talking about crucifying him in thread after thread and then people are freaking because we question Jimmy Haslam.

Pfffttttt........

No kidding... it's his team... he can do what he wants... I get people think he's the problem but it's his team...

Now that’s some authentic melodrama!

jay, we know it is his team. No one has denied that. In fact, I even said it in my post.

What we are saying is that he has failed repeatedly in his handling of the team. The Browns suck. Perhaps it is time to drop the arrogance and try something new.

However, if you are happy w/the results of the team since he has assumed ownership, that is your right.

Honestly didn't see most of the posts on this thread and missed yours... I think it's people's rights to question him and write what ever you want about him... I just think it's pointless cuz dude will do what he wants... we can look to change the coach... gm... qb.. whoever... we ain't changing the coac unless he starts spewing some racist remarks or something...

You're right about all of that.

I thought you were bashing me and a couple of others who were critical of Haslam.

My bad.

Oh no... sorry... didn't mean to come across that way....

It's okay, jay.

I misinterpreted it.

I was wondering...........because you and Fate are almost always great guys.

My bad.

Haslam is awful.

If he doesn't change the reporting structure for the new coach, it will be doom from the beginning.

I don't remember him laughing at the reporter, but I remember his face and reaction when asked if he would change the reporting structure and essentially step aside and you could tell his ego couldn't even contemplate that his meddling is an issue.

Pay the bills and step aside. For the sake of all Browns fans, please.

I don't want him to go into the shadows but 100% agree that he should have the coach export to Dorsey... not sense having them on the same level...

Bro, I'm certainly not trying to bash anybody, I just seriously find it humorous that A: someone would write an article with a premise that ridiculous... B: Anybody would think that someone would pay 1B for a sports team and go hide on an island for two years.

Now, imagine you paid 1B for a business... and Michael Lombardi is in charge... ready to step away?

What about Ray Farmer? Still no?? Can't say I blame you.

The next guy, Sliderule Sashi was hired to take the win total and payroll as close to zero as humanly possible.

10 months into Dorsey and everyone is wondering why Haslam is still "meddling". Simple answer - because he is still not sure anyone is ready to take the reigns of his 1B sports team.

Another thing funny to me. If Dorsey came out solo for the press conference, everybody would still be screaming "where the heck is Jimmy??"

Good post.

The perception is that the HC by passes Dorsey, but in reality, their duties remain the same.

Dorsey still has control over the roster and to me that is the more relevant thing here.

This is quite possibly one of the dumbest articles I only halfway read.

It was so dumb I couldn't finish reading it.

I'd guess there is a reason I never heard of Doug Lesmerises.
And this is it.

"Wahhhhh Jimmy Haslam made a billion dollar investment and got paid. I'm going to whine about Jimmy Haslam's money. Everything that's wrong in the universe must be because of Jimmy Haslam's money."

C'mon man.

It's not a matter of stepping aside. I already agreed that Dorsey needs to have the coach reporting to him, and Dorsey to Haslam. Dorsey needs to be the driving force in hiring the coach. That way we will end up with a coach and GM who have the same vision...or, should end up that way.

That doesn't mean that Haslam just slouches over in some corner. I'd still expect him to sit in on meetings. That way if there are difference of opinion between the coach and GM, he at least knows where each stood on a issue of difference and can judge that some time down the road.

To this point I don't think Haslam has gotten involved in game planning, or draft selections other than possibly the Manziel selection, but even that is up in the air

Some years back people were all over Randy Lerner because he was a hands off owner. Now we have a owner who does get involved to some extent and people want him to head over to England for a few years.

He does need to install a straight line of command. Having the GM and Head Coach reporting directly to him puts him in the middle...I say that is creating a wedge. Both guys will be competing for his ear, and we have seen how that works out at the first sign of trouble. The fingers start pointing.

Didn't care for the article. I will pull for things to get better. Not the voice of authority here.

What is a Lesmer-whatever? I agree it is stupid.

If I owned an NFL team,not only I would coach it, but I would play some snaps also...

Wouldn't give a rat's ass on what people would think... YOLO