There’s a Browns story I’ve never told anyone before. It’s nothing big or significant at all.
On the contrary, it’s just a simple, pleasant, feel-good remembrance of the re-born team’s first head coach, Chris Palmer, as training camp was getting ready to begin in that expansion season of 1999.
If I’m ever going to tell it, this is the time because it has a Fourth of July theme to it. When I think of the 4th and any connection the holiday has to the Browns, this story comes to mind. So here goes:
Palmer is one of my favorite people of all-time. Granted, he was not a good NFL head coach – far from it, in fact — but he’s still a good football man, especially when it comes to quarterbacks and offense, which is critical because it’s that position and that side of the ball that drive the game today. So guys like Palmer are incredibly valuable on staffs.
More importantly, though, he’s just a good guy, about as kind and unpretentious as they come. He loves his family and he loves baseball and basketball. In fact, he was a very good high school hoops player in Danbury, Conn., competing against a really tall, really skinny and really talented kid by the name of Lew Alcindor. Perhaps you know him better by his current name, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Because of Palmer’s personality, all of the Browns beat reporters were hoping he’d be a huge success and stay a long time.
Remember, the last coach Browns coach we had covered, Bill Belichick, didn’t have such an affable personality. It was five tough years from 1991-95 trying to drag anything out of him. Palmer was just the opposite, being a total joy to work with.
Anyway, reporters gathered around Palmer prior to camp opening 18 years ago. It was an informal setting, and before we got into the nitty-gritty of breaking down the team, we asked him about what he had done in the three-week period at the end of June into the first part of July when all NFL coaches take their vacations.
Palmer first spoke at length about having gone to his longtime summer home on Cape Cod with his family, being able to kick back and take in some Fourth of July fireworks, which he really enjoyed. He knew he’d need all that down time to charge his battery for his first season as an NFL head coach.
He then spent a lot of time talking about having watched baseball’s All-Star Game, which, by the way, had four Indians elected to the starting lineup for the American League in first baseman Jim Thome, second baseman Roberto Alomar and outfielders Kenny Lofton and Manny Ramirez. Held at Fenway Park, the contest, which had been played the night before, served as what turned out to be the last significant public appearance of Boston Red Sox icon Ted Williams, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch to the utter delight of everyone in the park and those watching on TV.
“Greatest hitter ever, no doubt about it,” Palmer said of Williams.
In growing up about an hour north of New York City in Brewster, N.Y. and having watched him play during the latter part of his career in the late 1950s, Palmer knew all about Williams. He discussed the Hall of Famer – and the tribute to him at the game – for several minutes, seeming to revel in it all.
Indeed, Palmer was so relaxed as he talked. Coaches always are at ease when they’re away from the microphones, cameras and tape recorders talking about things that have nothing to do with their particular job or sport. And this was that kind of time since it was all just fun, off-the-record stuff.
When we finally switched gears to the Browns, the conversation obviously became much more serious and the smile left Palmer’s face. I don’t know if that smile ever returned, either, during his time in Cleveland, as the Browns fizzled in their return to the field, going 2-14 in 1999 and then following that up with a 3-13 mark in 2000 that caused Palmer to get fired.
So that time with Palmer before camp opened was, in essence, the calm before the storm – and a bad storm, at that. Not even the arrival of the man known as “The Quiet Storm,” defensive end Courtney Brown, as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2000 NFL Draft could save Palmer and the Browns.
Hopefully, there will be no storms, quiet, loud or anywhere in between – only blue skies, sunshine and the warmth of family, friends and a sizzling barbecue grill – as you celebrate the Fourth of July.
Enjoy it all! And be careful!
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