If you can read this, either the style sheet didn't load or you have an older browser that doesn't support style sheets. Try clearing your browser cache and refreshing the page.

(Pro Football Talk) Asinine Cleveland Browns beat reporter learns that the difference between a private and public Tweet can cost you your job and that some NFL owners are very thin skinned   (profootballtalk.nbcsports.com) divider line 41
More: Asinine, Browns, Plain Dealer, Beat reporting, NFL, Randy Lerner, Tony Grossi, NFL franchise owners, PFT Live  
•       •       •

2829 clicks; posted to Sports » on 27 Jan 2012 at 10:20 AM   |  Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook   more»   |    Get this fabulous T-Shirt and impress the methane out of your friends! shirt it!



41 Comments   (+0 »)
   
View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest
 
IAmRight [TotalFark]
2012-01-27 09:31:07 AM
I like that this news comes a day after I tried to name all the NFL owners I knew and Cleveland was one of the teams that I had no idea who the hell owned them and never knew because no one cared about them.

Which makes it seem like the writer is right.

As for my opinion on the matter, I'd say that the paper could make the legitimate case that he can't really be expected to be considered an objective reporter of the Browns with that opinion known (though I believe that there's no such thing as objectivity in reporting and it's a stupid ideal to strive for anyway - just be honest with your biases up front).

If Lerner forced them to, then he's a pathetic person, which proves the writer's point.

I personally appreciate when people who know a lot about things voice their opinions about what they cover, be it accidental or not. That's just one of those things I like as a reader/writer - honesty. I know it's frowned upon in business and ass-kissing (but then I repeat myself), which is what papers are all about now.
 
UNC_Samurai
2012-01-27 10:26:34 AM
Lerner is just a cog in the sadness-industrial complex.
 
PunchDrunkPanda
2012-01-27 10:27:24 AM
Good to see I'm Really Glad I Tweeted That is still battling Thank God I Had A Gun for shortest book ever.
 
kukukupo
2012-01-27 10:27:58 AM
Cleveland had finally found something that worked: Mangini with a classic Cleveland Browns running attack and a good defense. Then, of course, they fired him and brought in a new system/regime/etc.

I give it another 3-4 years before they begin the cycle again. (They spent a lot on Holmgren - they will ride him out, unfortunately)
 
ha-ha-guy
2012-01-27 10:29:05 AM
The reporter deserves to be fired. Part of being that kind of reporter involves some ass kissing and the like to gain access to the team and be able to break the news. You can't do that if you poison the well.

You can hate the guy, just never say it.
 
GypsyJoker
2012-01-27 10:32:17 AM
UNC_Samurai: Lerner is just a cog in the sadness-industrial complex.

Superb. +2.

As for TFA, sounds like Mr. Grossi is going to be throwing up poop.
 
cleveoh
2012-01-27 10:34:51 AM
I can blame Randy Lerner for A LOT of things, but I don't think he had any part in this. As for Tony Grossi, what he he did was gross-ily (ha!) unprofessional, but he is a very good NFL reporter & he has apologized, so a suspension from & eventual return to his Browns beat seems like a more fitting punishment to me.
 
p the boiler
2012-01-27 10:39:56 AM
what was the actual text of the tweet?
 
Psychohazard
2012-01-27 10:43:16 AM
p the boiler: what was the actual text of the tweet?

You want a news article to be informative? Yeesh!
 
regindyn
2012-01-27 10:43:36 AM
p the boiler: what was the actual text of the tweet?

I think this is it: "He is a pathetic figure, the most irrelevant billionaire in the world,"

Also, UNC_Samurai and PunchDrunkPanda, excellent work. :)
 
Alphakronik
2012-01-27 10:45:43 AM
Article about people I don't give a flying fark about.
 
IlGreven
2012-01-27 10:52:21 AM
kukukupo: Cleveland had finally found something that worked: Mangini Crennel with a classic Cleveland Browns running attack and a good defense. Then, of course, they fired him and brought in a new system/regime/etc.

I give it another 3-4 years before they begin the cycle again. (They spent a lot on Holmgren - they will ride him out, unfortunately)

Other than the HC that had stuff going, that post is spot-on. Or in Fark-ese, this.

/Crennel is gonna follow in Marty Schottenheimer's footsteps, I'll bet.
 
veedeevadeevoodee
2012-01-27 10:52:52 AM
footballcraze.contentcreatorz.com

/ too bad the Browns can't fire Lerner
 
SuburbanSound
2012-01-27 10:58:30 AM
It's hilarious around here because people calling into sports talk shows are so pissed that he was removed from the "Browns Beat". People have been blaming Lerner for the Browns problems since his father died and he took over. The thing is, the guy has no visible involvement with the team. He does not speak publicly. He does not choose who they draft. He does not come down to the sidelines. He does what a good sports team owner should do. He cuts the checks, shuts up and leaves the football decisions to people that supposedly know what they are doing. I'll take that over Al Davis/Jerry Jones/Dan Snyder any day. Sure he has made some bad hires in the past, but has a decent structure now. Holmgren as president and Heckert as GM, puts credible football professionals in charge.

Oh and Grossi is a hack anyway.
 
IAmRight [TotalFark]
2012-01-27 11:14:34 AM
I think this is it: "He is a pathetic figure, the most irrelevant billionaire in the world,"


That's what I saw, but that can't be the only text - there's no reference to who it was, so we just assume it's Lerner (well, it obviously was now that there's been an apology and everything)?
 
El Brujo
2012-01-27 11:20:59 AM
UNC_Samurai: Lerner is just a cog in the sadness-industrial complex.

I reposted this on facebook (didn't take credit). Brilliant.
 
The Smails Kid
2012-01-27 11:31:06 AM
PunchDrunkPanda: Good to see I'm Really Glad I Tweeted That is still battling Thank God I Had A Gun for shortest book ever.

1/10
 
The_Six_Fingered_Man
2012-01-27 11:41:37 AM
SuburbanSound: The thing is, the guy has no visible involvement with the team.

So he really is the most irrelevant billionaire in the world.

SuburbanSound: Oh and Grossi is a hack anyway.

And well....this.
 
IlGreven
2012-01-27 11:51:56 AM
SuburbanSound: He does what a good sports team owner should do. He cuts the checks, shuts up and leaves the football decisions to people that supposedly know what they are doing.

The two problems with that are:

1. The people that he hires who "supposedly know what they are doing", don't.
2. The hands-off approach makes him look like he'd rather have Aston Villa succeed than the Browns.
 
aNihilV10L8tr
2012-01-27 11:54:38 AM
About Grossi---he wrote about football, but knows nothing about the business. He constantly would parrot the views of the fans, and try to "break" the stories after other local media figures did the legwork.
Being unbiased and reporting negative news is one thing, a personal attack on an owner is another and has no business in the news or spewed by those reporting the news.

About Lerner---No one wants a Browns owner that interferes in operations like Jerry Jones or Dan Snyder, but then people biatch and cry that Lerner isn't involved in day to day operations and is an absentee owner. Dude lives outside Cleveland, is supposedly at team facilities daily, and oversees the people like Holmgren who know more about football than him. He acts like the boss by letting his football people handle football, and takes the high road by acting classy while taking personal shots from ignorant fools like Grossi. Sounds like a horrible owner.
 
IlGreven
2012-01-27 11:57:47 AM
IAmRight: I think this is it: "He is a pathetic figure, the most irrelevant billionaire in the world,"


That's what I saw, but that can't be the only text - there's no reference to who it was, so we just assume it's Lerner (well, it obviously was now that there's been an apology and everything)?

There's another, non-deleted tweet where he says he wasn't listening to Lerner's interview on Cleveland radio...and another where he defends this by saying it's not his job. So it's not the Browns beat writer's job to analyze all of the material pertaining to the Browns, especially what the Browns' owner's vision of the team might be?

/Oh, and Brad Childress might be taking the Browns' OC job.
//Dunno whether it's a good thing or a bad thing that both coordinators will have more head coaching experience than the HC.
 
SniperJoe
2012-01-27 12:01:09 PM
IlGreven: SuburbanSound: He does what a good sports team owner should do. He cuts the checks, shuts up and leaves the football decisions to people that supposedly know what they are doing.

The two problems with that are:

1. The people that he hires who "supposedly know what they are doing", don't.
2. The hands-off approach makes him look like he'd rather have Aston Villa succeed than the Browns.

That's along the same lines as I was thinking, except (I'm not a football expert) I would imagine that no one wants an owner who is completely hands off and runs it like a business. While it is obviously a business, I would imagine that fans want someone who WANTS to own a football team because they want an owner who cares about football. They want an owner who shows their support and is aware of what is going on to the point where it's obvious that the team has the support and resources that it needs to get the job done. Hands off but not TOO hands off, which I imagine is a bit of a tightrope to walk.
 
pacified
2012-01-27 12:23:58 PM
who know billionaires had such delicate fee-fees. What a vagina.

A perfect reason why ALL sports teams should be publicly owned. Why should that glorified vag of a douche get to make money of the team?

Maybe will all his money, he could by some balls.
 
jack_o_the_hills
2012-01-27 12:29:43 PM
Browns fans deserve Lerner. Lerner deserves Browns fans. Apathy+Indifference^2

Can't wait for the clowns to be moved again.
 
The Smails Kid
2012-01-27 12:50:08 PM
I read "Cleveland Browns beat reporter" and I'm all, "Yeah! We won a game!"

And then I read the rest of the headline and now I has a sad.
 
RonwellQuincyDobbs
2012-01-27 01:13:37 PM
aNihilV10L8tr: About Grossi---he wrote about football, but knows nothing about the business. He constantly would parrot the views of the fans, and try to "break" the stories after other local media figures did the legwork.
Being unbiased and reporting negative news is one thing, a personal attack on an owner is another and has no business in the news or spewed by those reporting the news.

About Lerner---No one wants a Browns owner that interferes in operations like Jerry Jones or Dan Snyder, but then people biatch and cry that Lerner isn't involved in day to day operations and is an absentee owner. Dude lives outside Cleveland, is supposedly at team facilities daily, and oversees the people like Holmgren who know more about football than him. He acts like the boss by letting his football people handle football, and takes the high road by acting classy while taking personal shots from ignorant fools like Grossi. Sounds like a horrible owner.

Good point, but their record since he took over in 2002 (2 winning seasons, averaging ~5 wins in their other seasons) indicates he's certainly doing something wrong.
 
aNihilV10L8tr
2012-01-27 01:32:42 PM
IlGreven:

There's another, non-deleted tweet where he says he wasn't listening to Lerner's interview on Cleveland radio...and another where he defends this by saying it's not his job. So it's not the Browns beat writer's job to analyze all of the material pertaining to the Browns, especially what the Browns' owner's vision of the team might be?

Grossi pouting like a girl because a local radio host with more pull than the "insider Browns guy" was doing the interview.

jack_o_the_hills: Browns fans deserve Lerner. Lerner deserves Browns fans. Apathy+Indifference^2

Can't wait for the clowns to be moved again.

Apathy, indifference? Lerner is still paying salary to the last three coaches that didn't work out. Butch Davis, Romeo Crennell, eric mangINA...each coach was heralded at the time by the pros, the media, and the fans as smart choices, all were the hot property at the time.
Paying top dollar for coaches who are supposed to be the next big thing in times when no coaches with established credentials are available again proves the ineptitude of this guy. THen to overpay Holmgren to come in and run the operation simply because he was the first person with any background of winning that came available...how did this guy stay a billionaire with a strategy of "overpay to bring the best into the city"?
I admit Browns have sucked since the team returned to the league but to bring all the blame on this guy is a bit ignorant.
 
Ken VeryBigLiar
2012-01-27 01:55:59 PM
SuburbanSound: I'll take that over Al Davis/Jerry Jones/Dan Snyder any day.

Because three Super Bowl wins is such a burden...I mean you have buy silver polish for them and built a display. Yup, better to be a team that goes 6-10 almost all the time.
 
UNC_Samurai
2012-01-27 02:06:50 PM
Ken VeryBigLiar: SuburbanSound: I'll take that over Al Davis/Jerry Jones/Dan Snyder any day.

Because three Super Bowl wins is such a burden...I mean you have buy silver polish for them and built a display. Yup, better to be a team that goes 6-10 almost all the time.

Jerry Jones didn't win those Super Bowls; the Vikings did when they handed Jimmy Johnson half the draft of the 1990s for Herschel Walker
 
cleveoh
2012-01-27 02:17:01 PM
aNihilV10L8tr: IlGreven:

Grossi pouting like a girl because a local radio host with more pull than the "insider Browns guy" was doing the interview.

Actually, it was Mike Trivisonno, who acts as a lapdog/spokemodel for all the pro teams in town. I'm sure any questions he had for Lerner were pre-written & pre-approved, as Mike can barely speak English, much less conduct an interview on his own,.
 
cleveoh
2012-01-27 02:21:57 PM
cleveoh: aNihilV10L8tr: IlGreven:

Grossi pouting like a girl because a local radio host with more pull than the "insider Browns guy" was doing the interview.

Actually, it was Mike Trivisonno, who acts as a lapdog/spokeSmodel for all the pro teams in town. I'm sure any questions he had for Lerner were pre-written & pre-approved, as Mike can barely speak English, much less conduct an interview on his own,.

Always good when you're criticizing someone else's grasp of grammar & the English language...
 
IAmRight [TotalFark]
2012-01-27 02:47:37 PM
aNihilV10L8tr: Grossi pouting like a girl because a local radio host with more pull than the "insider Browns guy" was doing the interview.

Well, newspaper writers DO get the sh*ttiest deal of all - they probably do more work than anyone else and yet they're always the last in line when it comes to people giving them their time or giving a sh*t if they got what information they need to know. All for the lowest pay in a dying industry and knowing their job may not be around very soon. Great deal!

/which is why I may have majored in journalism but have no desire to do something as awful to myself as work for a paper
 
FakeMeat
2012-01-27 02:52:25 PM
PunchDrunkPanda: Good to see I'm Really Glad I Tweeted That is still battling Thank God I Had A Gun for shortest book ever.

Funny!

The Smails Kid: I read "Cleveland Browns beat reporter" and I'm all, "Yeah! We won a game!"

And then I read the rest of the headline and now I has a sad.

This was also excellent.
 
T.rex
2012-01-27 03:20:17 PM
IAmRight: was one of the teams that I had no idea who the hell owned them and never knew because no one cared about them.

Actually, they boast one of the largest backer's club worldwide, impressive considering how routinely bad the team does in the standings.

But Lerner is not a hands-on owner. He inherited the team from his late dad, and while he will spend the money, he's not a football guy and thus doesn't know what steps need to be taken... He hires football men like Holmgren, who he hopes will take care of things.

Lerner is not a bad guy, and he means well, but the team would benefit from new ownership from a group that actually has a passion and understanding of the game of football.
 
Poison
2012-01-27 03:26:20 PM
This brings me to a bigger issue-tweeting. Why in the hell does anyone think that it's a great idea to share every thought that comes into your head with the world? Has any good ever come from tweeting?

Other than wanna-be starlets tweeting pictures of themselves topless, I mean.
 
whither_apophis
2012-01-27 03:57:21 PM
ha-ha-guy: The reporter deserves to be fired. Part of being that kind of reporter involves some ass kissing and the like to gain access to the team and be able to break the news. You can't do that if you poison the well.

You can hate the guy, just never say it.

But that's a catch-22: suck up, get access but if you find out the coach is drunk all the time, you can't report it or you lose access.

/not on either side on this one, haven't cared about Cleveland since Marge Schottenheimer died
 
IAmRight [TotalFark]
2012-01-27 04:55:59 PM
Poison: This brings me to a bigger issue-tweeting. Why in the hell does anyone think that it's a great idea to share every thought that comes into your head with the world? Has any good ever come from tweeting?

If you don't get it at this point, you might as well just stick around and go extinct with newspapers.
 
DrippinBalls [TotalFark]
2012-01-27 06:32:06 PM
Oh, for God's sakes, your talking about Lerner, Schumer and Cleveland sports. It's loserville any way you view it. The city is a dump, the sports teams are trash.
 
Poison
2012-01-27 09:00:11 PM
IAmRight: Poison: This brings me to a bigger issue-tweeting. Why in the hell does anyone think that it's a great idea to share every thought that comes into your head with the world? Has any good ever come from tweeting?

If you don't get it at this point, you might as well just stick around and go extinct with newspapers.

Well, haven't read a newspaper in a long time. All I hear about Twitter is inane comments like the one this reporter sent, and the other really intelligent postings that have appeared here on Fark to be ridiculed.
 
NotoriousW.O.P
2012-01-27 09:34:29 PM
To everyone who's saying that Lerner's a hands-off, distant, irrelevant owner, I have this to say:
The Browns had a hands-on, up-close and personal owner. It was Art Modell. He fired Paul Brown. He fired Marty Schottenheimer. He fired Bill Belichick (although that was technically as Ravens owner). He thought Andre Rison was going to be the playmaker to put the Browns over the top. He loved Bernie Kosar like a son, but let Belichick run him out of town (which was probably the right move, but handled wrong).
And then he moved the team because he was tapped out.
I'll take a guy who is content to sign the checks (backed with his own cash) and leave football decisions to football people every day of the week.
 
T.rex
2012-01-30 05:24:09 PM
NotoriousW.O.P: To everyone who's saying that Lerner's a hands-off, distant, irrelevant owner, I have this to say:
The Browns had a hands-on, up-close and personal owner. It was Art Modell. He fired Paul Brown. He fired Marty Schottenheimer. He fired Bill Belichick (although that was technically as Ravens owner). He thought Andre Rison was going to be the playmaker to put the Browns over the top. He loved Bernie Kosar like a son, but let Belichick run him out of town (which was probably the right move, but handled wrong).
And then he moved the team because he was tapped out.
I'll take a guy who is content to sign the checks (backed with his own cash) and leave football decisions to football people every day of the week.

Every thing you said is true, and let me also add that the Browns were last perennial Playoff bound during Model's era, not to mention their last championship.
 
Displayed 41 of 41 comments

View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest

Redisplay/refresh comments

This thread is closed to new comments.

Continue Farking
Submit a Link »
From the Fark Shop:
More from the Fark Shop »