FROM LAUGHS TO A LIAR, AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN

By STEVE KING

Sam Rutigliano was a quote machine. He was doing stand-up comedy, and it was hilarious.
Marty Schottenheimer, he of the “Men, there’s a gleam” comment, would talk a lot in a bravado tone and it sounded really good, but when you listened closely, it became evident he was saying nothing profound.
Bill Belichick said less than nothing. Imagine that?
Eric Mangini lied every time he opened his mouth. He would say, “ummm,” as he concocted his story, And he was just plain mean. Belichick won’t have anything to do with him.
Romeo Crennel was a nice guy who wasn’t about to say anything important.
Ditto for Chris Palmer.
Butch Davis was kind of sneaky. You always thought he was up to something. And, as we now know, he was.
Freddie Kitchens yukked it up like the country boy he was.
Hue Jackson would paint with a very broad brush, then laugh.
Yes, these former Browns head coaches all had their way of communicating with the media, and no two ways were exactly alike.
The current guy, Kevin Stefanski, who addressed the media the other day, is different from all of them, too, continuing the tradition. He and Browns General Manager Andrew Berry are much alike, though. They are true wordsmiths who make everything they say sound intelligent, well-spoken and well-thought-out, but you would get top-secret information from the Pentagon before you’d get the Browns’ top men to reveal anything at all about anything.
That’s fine, because any media person who expects anything from NFL people, especially at NFL Draft time, is just kidding themselves. THis is a tough, dog-eat-dog business, and they’ve got to play it close to the vest — while at the same time not coming off sounding like pompous jerks.
And nobody does it better than Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry. Browns fans will not just tolerate it, but they’ll also embrace it because it has been part of a winning formula.
“You go, guys!”