Bernie Kosar is back making nice with the Browns.
So are a lot of other well-known former Browns who have not felt welcome in Berea for several years — and for good reason, because they weren’t.
For whatever reason, the Browns sucker-punched their ex-players. The organization that once had the best alumni department, suddenly had the worst.
And it wasn’t even close.
The Browns were entrenched at No. 32 – dead-last – in the NFL, and they needed a telescope to see the team that was at No. 31.
You can credit people like former Browns president Alec Scheiner for that, and also team owner Jimmy Haslam, who thought former players should have nothing to do with the team.
Bad decision, Jimmy. Real bad. Shame on you for being so cheap and so ignorant.
I will defend you, Jimmy, when you do something right, and I will lay you flat when you mess up. Now get up, Jimmy, dust yourself off and carry on.
It took new head coach Hue Jackson to begin to mend fences – to put out the welcome mat and keep it out, as it should be.
Jackson has done a lot of great things since being hired, but in terms of its immediate impact, none of those things – NONE — has been as good as getting those former Browns involved again.
Good for Hue Jackson. Good for the Browns – the current ones and, best of all, the former ones.
Thanks, Hue.
Keep up the good work.
As part of that, here are five reasons why the former Browns should be involved with the present-day Browns:
- REVERSAL OF FORTUNE — It wasn’t always this bad. The Browns used to be winners – big ones. And the old players can tell that story to the current guys better than anyone.
2. BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID — It simply makes sense for the old Browns to have a key card to get into the building – the one they helped build with their success. Why would the Browns disassociate themselves with such great players and great teams? Is it that they were intimidated? Yeah, probably.
3. Moneyball – The NFL is a license to print money. For the Browns to try to cut costs by cutting the former players out of the equation is greed at its very worst.
4. KNOWLEDGE IS KING – The Browns have had such bad coaches for so long that these former players knew more football than those former coaches. By allowing the old players a voice would only go to prove further just how ignorant those former coaches were. Hue Jackson isn’t fazed by that because he is comfortable in his own skin.
5. IT’S A WIN-WIN – Getting involved with the Browns is obviously good for the former players. But it’s also good for the team, because the popularity of those former players will take the focus off of just how far the Browns have to go to be a contender again. It will buy them time – lots of time. The Browns would be silly to turn down that kind of goodwill.
