Gilbert's ego eliminates possibility of additional NBA championships

It’s funny how history always seems to repeat itself when it comes to sports in Cleveland. Okay, maybe not double-over-in-hysterics funny, but more like it-could-only-happen-in-Cleveland, ironic kind of funny. Some people even refer to it as “sick” humor – especially folks who’ve spent their entire lives here. But enough about me.

From the early 1960s up until the mid-'90s, the Cleveland Browns had an owner who went by the name of Art Modell. Maybe you’ve heard of him. After Modell purchased the Browns, he decided to use his expertise in advertising (where he made the bulk of his money) to help in promoting not only the Browns, but the entire NFL. The thing is, he was pretty good at it.

It’s funny how history always seems to repeat itself when it comes to sports in Cleveland. Okay, maybe not double-over-in-hysterics funny, but more like it-could-only-happen-in-Cleveland, ironic kind of funny. Some people even refer to it as “sick” humor – especially folks who’ve spent their entire lives here. But enough about me.

From the early 1960s up until the mid-'90s, the Cleveland Browns had an owner who went by the name of Art Modell. Maybe you’ve heard of him. After Modell purchased the Browns, he decided to use his expertise in advertising (where he made the bulk of his money) to help in promoting not only the Browns, but the entire NFL. The thing is, he was pretty good at it.

Critics scoffed when he announced the idea of preseason football doubleheaders, which featured a “preliminary” contest between two other NFL teams before the feature attraction of the Browns vs. someone else, often the then-woeful Pittsburgh Steelers. However, attendance picked up considerably.

Critics scoffed when he announced the idea of preseason football doubleheaders, which featured a “preliminary” contest between two other NFL teams before the feature attraction of the Browns vs. someone else, often the then-woeful Pittsburgh Steelers. However, attendance picked up considerably.

Modell was also instrumental in convincing the old school NFL owners that his radical concept of “Monday Night Football” might have some merit. “Who wants to watch football on Monday nights?” they snorted, but eventually relented, and everyone knows how the television and football marriage worked out. So Uncle Artie – as he was affectionately known (for a while, anyway) – was no dummy. There, I said it.

Unfortunately, Uncle Artie had an ego the size of a football field. He alienated a generation or two of Browns fans when he canned legendary Browns coach Paul Brown not long after buying the team. The Browns won the NFL title in 1964, and it was with Paul Brown’s team, but Art took the credit. He didn’t enjoy sharing the spotlight with others. When Ernie Accorsi (the Browns GM in the '80s) began receiving accolades for acquiring Bernie Kosar, and then getting the Browns into three AFC Championship games, Art didn’t think he was getting enough love or appreciation from the fans, so eventually Accorsi was forced to resign in 1992.

Art actually believed he could run the football team, and this is when the wheels began to come off of Uncle Artie’s little red wagon. It’s no coincidence that the Browns never achieved another stretch of success under Art’s guidance; in fact Modell would soon guide the team all the way to Baltimore after the 1995 season. It got very ugly then, and most of you know the story (too well), so I won’t re-open that wound.

The point of all of this is that the Cavs' owner, Dan Gilbert, has taken a similar "Modell" path with GM David Griffin. He thought Griffin got way too much credit for the Cavs' success and thus refused to give Griffin a raise that would place him up with the better NBA GM’s. Griffin had no choice but to part ways with the Cavs, and now Gilbert apparently will hire Chauncey Billups – a former NBA player and pal of Gilbert’s from their Detroit ties. And oh yeah, Billups has no front office experience. But that matters little, because Gilbert will really be running the team.

Right into the ground.