Saturday’s trip to Columbus had nothing – absolutely, positively nothing – to do with the Browns getting better on the field.
On the contrary, it probably set them back a bit, for it wasn’t real productive in terms of using time efficiently.
The small amount of football activities they did during the second annual Orange and Brown Scrimmage at Ohio Stadium on the campus of Ohio State University, could have taken place at Browns Headquarters, or in a hotel ballroom someplace. Yes, the drills were that low-key, that slow-paced.
If the Browns had wanted to do a virtual walk-through at a big facility, they could have gone 25 minutes up the road to their own place, FirstEnergy Stadium in Downtown Cleveland.
Because of all the things he needs to do to try to get the Browns back on track, Browns head coach Hue Jackson starts each day overbooked. So the last thing he wanted to do on Saturday, six days ahead of the team’s preseason opener at Green Bay, was climb aboard a bus in the morning and ride two hours south along Interstate 71, then get back onto the bus early that evening and ride two hours back home. It’s four hours of his life he’ll never get back, at a time when he doesn’t have even four minutes to spare.
Indeed, the trip was the tail wagging the dog. It was all about making the Browns better off the field, and that’s a worthy desire, too. Jackson and his players were merely the props that helped the process along.
It’s hardly a secret that the Browns want to capture the Columbus area marketing-wise. In fact, they’ve wanted to capture the Columbus market for years.
In the expansion era, that quest began about 15 years ago with then Browns President Carmen Policy looking at places to move training camp and mentioning Otterbein University, in the trendy suburb of Westerville, located on the northeast edge of the Greater Columbus area, as one of the possibilities.
But Policy was excommunicated when Randy Lerner took over ownership of the Browns following the death of his father, Al, in 2002, and as such his idea – his search for a new camp home — went nowhere.
Back when Policy was still living in Youngstown, though, the Browns – with the help of the Cincinnati Bengals – made their first foray into the Columbus market when they played each other in three annual preseason games at Ohio Stadium from 1972-74. This is the same era that the Browns played the Detroit Lions at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor (1972), and faced the Chicago Bears at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend (1971).
Those were great ideas to try to get into new markets, especially those that are home to major college football, but they were just a little too far ahead of their time.
In the 4½ decades since, the time for those far-reaching ideas to be put forth to see if they blossom, has arrived.
Columbus, the capital city of the state, has now moved ahead of Cleveland as Ohio’s largest city as well, with Cincinnati remaining third. That’s a huge lure for the Browns to be able to “double” their reach, as it were, and tap into a possible financial windfall. Absolutely, It would be a tremendous coup to win over the city.
Located at the intersection of I-71, which, of course, connects Cleveland and Cincinnati, and I-70, which links Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, Columbus is situated almost perfectly by NFL standards. Two hours away from Cleveland, three hours from Pittsburgh, 1 hour, 40 minutes from Cincinnati and 2 hours, 40 minutes from Indianapolis, Columbus is home to fans of the Browns, Bengals, Colts and Steelers.
The Browns understand that – as mentioned, they’ve understood it for quite a while – and they are the only one of the four teams aggressively trying to win the heart of all those fans.
The Browns, of course, almost moved their camp to Columbus this year. Make no mistake about it, that will eventually happen. You can bet on it. They are just waiting on the right time, and they likely decided it wasn’t quite the right time for two reasons.
With the coaching change in the offseason, Jackson needed to stay in Berea – save for a little one-day, one-tank trip to Columbus yesterday, of course – so as to be able to maximize every minute possible to get the Browns off on the right foot.
Then, too, the Browns didn’t want to swoop into town trying to market themselves on a grand scale while they’re coming off of eight consecutive losing seasons. That would be like going over to your best girl’s house to pick her up for a date while wearing a shirt with a ketchup stain on it. Go home and change first so you can put your best foot forward. It will take a little longer, but it will be well worth it.
So if the Browns can come out of this season with a little momentum and feeling good about themselves and where they’re headed, the moving of camp to Columbus could come as early as next year. Meanwhile, the Browns still needed to go to Columbus this year to keep their name and face in the minds of Central Ohioans.
As they outta sight, outta mind.
With all that at stake, Hue Jackson and his players and coaches can give up one day to help out, can’t they?
Sure.
