Great week for Cleveland

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Today caps a fantastic week for Cleveland sports.

And the Browns snapping their 11-game losing streak just like they snapped their last 11-game skid -- with a home win over the Bengals -- was only part of it.

You can start with the Indians decision to fire Manny Acta and give Sandy Alomar the interim job for the last week of the regular season. He went 3-3 and his teams showed some fight that had been missing since ... well, arguably, since May.

Give the Indians credit for acting fast when it came to a new manager. They targeted two candidates -- Alomar and former Red Sox manager and Indians player/front office member Terry Francona -- interviewed them, made their decision, and hired who they feel is the best man for the job.

That man was Francona, who comes to town with two World Series rings on his fingers from his time with the Red Sox. One of those rings (2007) came at the expense of the Indians. Both of those ended a long streak of no championships for a town that lives and dies with their baseball team. The so-called "Curse of the Bambino," if you will, is no more.

With his seat getting hotter and hotter, Pat Shurmur (now easily third on the depth chart of professional coaches in this town behind Byron Scott and Francona) coached his beleagured Browns to a much-needed victory in their most complete performance since Shurmur took over. 34-24, and it honestly wasn't that close. A garbage TD pass by the Bengals cut the Browns lead from 17 to 10, and a cluch sack/forced fumble by Emmanuel Stephens with the Bengals in the red zone, which was recovered and returned 40 yards by Billy Wynn, thwarted any nonsense about a fourth-quarter meltdown.

The defense picked off three Andy "Ginger" Dalton passes. One of which was by the returning Joe Haden, whose impact was immediately felt in the defense. Another was a pick-six from veteran Sheldon Brown that cemented the Browns' victory.

Brandon Weeden, who you either love or hate (depending on which type of Browns fan you are), shut up a lot of his dectractors with a solid two-touchdown, 290-yard performance. His only interception came off a tipped ball at the line of scrimmage on the Browns' first offensive possession. He clearly outplayed Dalton Sunday.

Montario Hardesty, who many Browns fans were wondering why he even still had a job after not getting any playing time in the four previous games, had to spell an injured Trent Richardson and responded with 54 huge second-half yards and his first pro touchdown. Hardesty played his butt off.

The win has sent Cleveland fans riding a wave of euphoria not seen in a while, and that wave was only extended today when Jimmy Haslam III (see the above video) was unanimously approved as the new owner of the Cleveland Browns.

You can't help but love this guy. He's the first owner this team has had that truly "gets it" since Mickey McBride sold the team in the 1950s to David Jones. Say what you will about the Dead Judas, but I can't recall ever hearing him refer to the Cleveland Browns as "YOUR Cleveland Browns." His selfish move to the land of crabcakes proves that point.

Haslam has been a fixture at Browns headquarters since he first agreed in principle to buy the team from the Lerner Family in early August. He's been at every game. He's been in the locker room. He's been talking to everybody -- the media, the out-of-town media, the coaches, the front office, other NFL owners, you name it. You can probably count on one hand how many times Randy Lerner was spotted at Browns headquarters last year.

This is nothing about Randy Lerner, who I believe is a huge Browns fan and truly cared about the team. He just didn't want to be a team owner and didn't deal with the pressures of that, especially in a city and region such as this one that lives and dies with every Browns snap.

Simply throwing money at people to try to fix it became tiring. His lastest splurge -- five years and $40 million to Mike Holmgren -- will wind up being a wasted purchase.

Holmgren may have brought in some pieces, such as general manager Tom Heckert, to overhaul the Browns roster and add more talent and playmakers. However, his handling of the head coaching position -- from leaving Eric Mangini around for the first year when it was clear to everyone their philosophies would not mesh to hiring the untested Pat Shurmur and letting him twist in the wind for two miserable seasons -- will be his downfall here in town.

Holmgren's ego wouldn't allow him to bring in a head coach with cred. But yet, he didn't want to coach the team himself. Instead of helping out Shurmur, who clearly wasn't ready to be an NFL head coach, he disappeared to Seattle and was rarely around. He was more hands-on with Mangini was the head coach than he was his second year.

Holmgren essentially owned an NFL team without every having to purchase one. Hell, he was given $40 million to own a team. He had carte-blanche to do as he pleased because he didn't have any accountability. He was working for an absentee owner who didn't want to be bothered.

That changed when Lerner finally found a buyer in Jimmy Haslam. Haslam didn't need someone to go to the owners meetings for him or run the franchise for him. He plans on doing that himself.

Suddenly, Holmgren became expendable. Haslam's been around more than Holmgren has this year, and Haslam didn't officially own the team until today.

So, his retirement, which Haslam announced within the first minute of his introductary press conference, wasn't much of a surprise. He'll finish off the year working with the new CEO, Joe Banner, and helping Banner and Haslam transition to their positions of power. Then, he'll ride his Harley off into the sunset, or somewhere near the Puget Sound.

Regardless of what Haslam and Banner decide to do with Heckert and Shurmur in the offseason, it's apparent Haslam wants to turn the Browns into a consistant winning franchise. If he sees enough growth in Shurmur this year, he'll retain him. If not, he'll let him go.

If Haslam and Banner believe they can get a better general manager to be responsible for the makeup of this roster, they'll hire him and fire Heckert. If not, they'll retain him.

Heckert, of the three, has made more of a case to be retained by the new regime. But even then, what jaw-dropping maneuvers or signings has he made? His big splashes were the trade down the the Falcons for multiple draft picks (passing on wide receiver Julio Jones, who has done well with the Falcons) and the trade up with the Vikings to select Trent Richardson. The Weeden first-round draft pick has been scrutinized because of his age and because the Browns were in line to have the No. 1 overall pick (and their choice of either West Virginia's Geno Smith or USC's Matt Barkley) and because of his early-season struggles.

Joe Cleveland has thrown his trust behind Butch Davis, behind Phil Savage and behind Holmgren when they all came aboard. My trust has been crushed by all three of these individuals.

But, I trust Haslam. He's saying and doing all the right things. His presense has been a breath of fresh air in a town that has had it's share of terrible sports owners, including Lerner and Indians owners Larry and Paul Dolan. Dan Gilbert has enjoyed the top spot in Cleveland sports owner hirarchy since he rode into town from Detroit. However, he may have to vacate that spot for Haslam.

And, suddenly, the Browns schedule doesn't look so daunting. The Indianapolis Colts, with rookie Andrew Luck, look beatable, as does the underachieving San Diego Chargers, the Baltimore Ravens (who the Browns nearly beat a few weeks ago in Baltimore and are getting decimated on defense), the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Oakland Raiders, the Kansas City Chiefs, the RGIII-led Washington Redskins ... heck, even the underachieving Dallas Cowboys look beatable at this point.

There is room for the Browns to salvage this season and for Pat Shurmur to salvage his job for at least one season. Holmgren's gone -- Shurmur and Heckert are fresh out of friends. They will be held accountable for their jobs, and the No. 1 judge for that is how this team performs (and wins) on the field.

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As far as the Indians go, Francona was a smart hire. He was by far the top managerial candidate available, and he wanted to come here. When a guy with his credentials wants to come to town, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to screw it up.

Although, you can't put anything past Paul and Larry Dolan.

One thing that concerns me is the out-clause he put in his four-year contract that gives him the right to leave if the Indians decide to fire president Mark Shapiro and/or GM Chris Antonetti. Both of these guys are on shaky ground at the moment based on their mismanaging of the Indians' talent, draft and minor league system.

You want Shapiro and Antonetti to be more accountable for their jobs. But now, it seems that they have a four-year pass because they are married to Francona.

Do the Dolans want to lose Francona before that four-year contract is up? Or does player personnel decisions make it a gamble worth taking?

I can only hope that the money the Dolans forked over to bring in Francona (he certainly wasn't cheap) signals at least some type of hope that they invest some of those $30 million profits into bettering this roster. I'm not saying they need a $200 million payroll like the Red Sox. However, this $40 million payroll crap just ain't gonna cut it anymore.

If the Dolans weren't going to invest in their roster, it made more sense to hire the cost-effective Alomar. Alomar would have come cheaper than Francona and the fans would have given Alomar a longer leash than they gave Acta or Eric Wedge. The Indians could have sucked a few more years and the fans may have put up with it because of who the manager was.

While Francona is a credible name, he also comes in with high expectations from this fan base. They want to see results. That puts pressure on Shapiro and Antonetti to make sure those results happen, whether they want to believe it or not.

Yes, the Browns will always been No. 1 in this town. However, history has shown that this town can be a baseball town when the product is at least watchable. The anger and vitriol directed to the Dolans and Shapiro isn't because people don't like the Indians; on the contrary, it's because they still passionately care about the Indians and are tired of seeing this franchise that dominated the 1990s like no one has seen being drug through the mud based on terrible personnel decisions and horrrible decisions from an ownership group that is (fair or not) perceived as cheap.

Hopefully, the Francona hire signals a change in the mentality from the Tribe brass. Perhaps they do care about wins and losses instead of just about the bottom line. The funny part is, if you care more about wins and losses, the bottom line takes care of itself.

Joe Cleveland will keep a curious eye on the Indians this offseason to see what exactly they do. He'll also be keeping an eye on what happens with the Browns for the next two months and beyond.

Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!