Raising the roof

So, the Cleveland media and the local sports-talkers were all abuzz the last few days over an observation made by incoming Browns owner Jimmy Haslam III when he met with members of Cleveland's City Council.

Haslam spoke about making improvements to Cleveland Browns Stadium and making better use out of it than it is currently. One councilman asked if those improvements factor in a dome or retractable roof. Haslam did not answer it directly, but did say that he will have three well-known archtect firms take a look at the stadium to see what improvements can be done in the future.

Suddenly, everyone in this town got Dome-Fever all of a sudden. There was no happy medium -- you either are for a roof on the stadium, or you are against it.

Joe Cleveland can only chuckle about this latest prospect of a dome on Cleveland Browns Stadium.

I can remember growing up in the 1980s and seeing signs posted in Downtown Cleveland proclaiming it to be the "future home of a domed stadium" that would have housed both the Browns and Indians. As we all know, that plan never came to fruition.

Eventually, Cuyahoga County taxpayers approved the Sin Tax to help build the Gateway facilities -- Jacobs (now Progressive) Field and Gund (now Quicken Loans) Arena. They also voted for an extension in 1995 that helped build Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Neither of the two stadiums were built with a dome or roof of some kind.

Back when the NFL came to their settlement agreement with the cities of Cleveland and Baltimore that paved the way for the dead Judas to relocate his football franchise while forcing him to leave behind the name, tradition, history and colors of the Cleveland Browns, part of the agreement was that Cleveland build the new team -- one that would be relocated or an expansion team -- a new football stadium. The NFL kicked in some of the costs and controlled the courtship over which teams could potentially move to Cleveland or if there would wind up being an expansion team (which the latter happened).

When Cleveland set to build the new stadium, the subject of a dome came up. A good portion of the fan base who were very angry about the move were dead set against a roof of any kind being put over the stadium. Browns Football was about the elements, damnit! It's not Cleveland Browns football without games being played on grass, outdoors in December and January, with low temperatures and swirling snow coming in off Lake Erie.

This is the Browns Football our parents and grandparents remember.

But, Cleveland went to the NFL and asked if it was feasible to put a roof over the new stadium. And, if they did, would the NFL consider staging the Super Bowl at the domed facility in Cleveland?

The NFL, at the time, was reeling from a PR-nightmare that was a Super Bowl in Minneapolis. Players and league executives complained about the outside temperatures and how it prevented them from doing fun things away from the game itself. So, they told Cleveland officials that there was "no chance" that a Super Bowl would be staged in ANY cold weather city, much less Cleveland.

Cleveland officials, satisfied with that answer, went ahead with the plan to build an open-air stadium.

The Browns situation paved the way for new stadiums to be built in Tampa, Indianapolis, Chicago, New England, Detroit, Seattle, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Houston, and led to extended talks in both San Francisco and Minneapolis. The Bucs, Colts, Bengals, Lions, 49ers, Bears and Vikings all flirted with moving to Cleveland before an expansion team was awarded in 1998. Pittsburgh, seeing what happened to Cleveland and having it hit close to home, wouldn't let the Rooneys make a similar decision with the Steelers and built Heinz Field, which opened in 2001.

Shortly after the Browns began playing in 1999, Detroit built a domed stadium in Downtown near a new baseball park and a new casino. The NFL promised Detroit a Super Bowl if they built the new domed stadium, and they delievered on their promise. Since then, the NFL has awarded Super Bowls to other cities with cold-weather climates, such as Indianapolis and New Jersey.

Now, Cleveland and Browns fans were a little angry. If these cities can get a Super Bowl, why can't Cleveland? And, it harkens back to the dome.

Now, everyone wants be a revisionist. Now, everyone looks at the "Crystal Palace" (as Jim Donovan calls it) and sees a "Factory of Sadness" (as Mike Polk Jr. calls it) that is only used 10 Sundays a year with a handful of other dates sprinked in for high school football, Ohio State football and the annual Black College game, and wonders why this beautiful facilty is festering away on the lakefront.

People think putting a dome, or at the very least, a retractable roof, over the place would rectify these things.

Joe Cleveland is saying to slow down for just a second.

You may build it, but they still may not come.

If Cleveland can get the NFL to promise (IN WRITING) that they will bring a Super Bowl here if the city puts a roof over the stadium, than I may be on board. However, the NFL is not going to do that.

The main thing seperating Cleveland from Detroit and Indianapolis is hotel space. Cleveland has some nice hotels in town and in the suburbs. However, the lodging would be inadequate for a huge event like the Super Bowl.

OK, then, what about things like the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four, or the Big Ten Championship Game, or even the MAC Championship Game, or the Big Ten Basketball Tournament. Wouldn't a domed facility be attractive to hold those types of events?

Sure they would, but why would the NCAA and the Big Ten come to Cleveland? They can get a dome anywhere.

Once again, it comes down to hotels. Indianapolis, Chicago, San Antonio, Detroit and New Orleans have it. Cleveland does not.

Well, as a buddy of mine argued, don't you think that more hotels would come to town if a domed facility came to fruition?

Possibily, but let's point out one big giant fact here.

When the casino bill passed statewide, Cleveland was one of the locations. The plan was for a hotel and casino and restaurant to be built. However, all the other hotel and restaurant owners in Cleveland complained that it would hurt their businesses.

So, the city made Dan Gilbert build the casino without a hotel. He had to buy the neighboring Ritz-Carlton just to secure the hotel rooms for the Horseshoe Casino.

There was a golden opportunity to add to the hotel space in Cleveland, and Cleveland wouldn't do it. What makes you think that any other hotel operator would come here under these particular guidelines?

If Dan Gilbert, the golden goose of Cleveland, couldn't get a hotel built, what makes you think that anyone else would?

So, in the end, we'd be left with a giant albatross of a facility that would only bs used as much as it currently is.

And, who's going to pay for this upgrade, if it's even feasible? Do you think Haslam, after shelling out $1 billion to buy the franchise, would pony up for it?

Nope.

Will Cleveland pay for it? Hell no!

So, it would be on you and me, the taxpayers of Cuyahoga County, to furnish the money to build this roof that, quite honestly, we really don't need.

Ticket prices would skyrocket for Browns games to help fund this roof, retractable or not. You think fans would willingly shell out $120 for tickets that already cost $60? I doubt it, especially if the team doesn't start winning.

Honestly, it would be in Jimmy Haslam's best interest to try to get the Browns to PLAY in a Super Bowl and WIN a Super Bowl and not worry about HOSTING a Super Bowl.

You want more revenue? Schedule some summer concerts at the stadium. The old Cleveland Stadium played host to numerous memorable concerts -- Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, The Jacksons, The Who, the World Series of Rock, the Concert for the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, the list goes on and on and on.

This past summer, Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw staged a concert at Cleveland Browns Stadium. I don't know how well it drew, but that should just be the tip of the iceberg.

If the "Big 4" of Metal (Metallica/Slayer/Megadeth/Anthrax) want to do a stadium tour, bring it to Cleveland Browns Stadium!

If Springsteen wants to play the stadium again, bring him back to Cleveland Browns Stadium!

The Who, the Rolling Stones, Van Halen, etc. Heck, go the country route again. Cleveland has a big country music fan base.

One thing the dead Judas did (and did well) was allow concert promoter Jules Belkin free reign to stage events around downtime that the Browns and Indians weren't playing. Cleveland Stadium truly rocked back in the 1970s, 80s and even the 90s before it got knocked down.

For whatever reason, the Lerner family never went that route.

You don't need a roof to stage a rock or country concert at the stadium!

Does Billy Graham want to stage a revival? Let him rent out the stadium! Does he need a roof over his head to do it? Isn't the whole point of a Christian revival to allow God in on the proceedings? Wouldn't an open-air stadium be perfect for that?

There's plenty of ways to use the facility without putting a roof over it, if it could even happen.

Joe Cleveland just isn't feeling the whole Dome-Hysteria, and it's not just because I'm a football purist at heart. Yes, I want my football played in the elements.

But, I think everyone believes that a domed facility would be the answer to all of our prayers and be able to stage all of these fantastic events, and I think those people are wrong.

It just reeks of Cleveland being late to the party and trying to cash in. If they really wanted a dome, they should have built one in the first place instead of trying to finagle some way to put one on the existing stadium.

In the end, I think Cleveland will lose more than they'll win. They'll lose without the additional revenue. They'll lose with higher taxes. They'll lose with higher ticket prices. And, if that's the case, they may end up losing their team ... again.

Stop worrying about the stadium and start worrying about the product that uses that stadium. If you build a winner, they will come.

Do you hear Pittsburgh, Baltimore or Cincinnati complaining that they didn't put a roof on their stadiums when they built them? I don't hear anything.

Do you hear New York and New Jersey complaining that they didn't put a roof on their brand-new stadium? I haven't heard anything.

Do you hear Boston and New England complaining that they didn't put a roof on Gilette Stadium? I can't say that I have.

Only in Cleveland do you hear these complaints.

To be honest, if the Browns were winning, you wouldn't hear any complaints. It would be like the good-ol' days of Paul Brown and the Kardiac Kids and Bernie Kosar all over again, games that were won and lost in the snow and freezing temperatures of old Cleveland Stadium while loons in the Dawg Pound barked without shirts on.

Winning cures everything. I'd rather have a winning team play on a parking lot than a losing team play under a dome.

If that means I "don't get it," than I guess I never will. But, you won't hear Joe Cleveland ever clamor for a domed stadium in Cleveland.

Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!

A "Factory of Sadness"

Yesterday, Joe Cleveland did what he usually does on Sundays when the Browns are hosting a home game -- he bundled up, pulled on one of his Browns jersies (Hillis was the "lucky" choice) and made the drive to Downtown Cleveland.

But, for the first time ever, Joe Cleveland attended that game all by himself.

I could not find one single solitary soul to take my extra season ticket off of my hands and watch the Browns play the Baltimore Ravens.

THE BALTIMORE RAVENS!!! You remember, the Thieving Bastards?!? The team that once upon a time was based in Cleveland, wore Brown and Orange and called themselves the Browns before a Judas of a man decided that Baltimore was offering him a deal that he couldn't refuse (remember, he "had no choice") and moved them to Colt-ville after the 1995 season? The team that Browns fans probably hate worse than any team not based in Pittsburgh who wears Black and Yellow (their name rhymes with "Feelers") was in town, and NOBODY wanted to go.

Apparently, not going was a popular choice on this cold, wet, miserable Sunday evening. There were at least 11,000 people dressed as empty orange seats yesterday, and that number got considerably bigger as the evening's festivities dragged on.

This is how bad it is for the Browns right now. People would rather eat their tickets then come down and watch them against one of their fiercest rivals.

Most people figured the Browns were going to lose anyway (they did, rather convincingly, I might add). Most people probably didn't want to get rained on while they were watching them lose said game (I don't blame them. Midway through the fourth quarter, I began to question my sanity about wanting to go).

Not only did fans not want to go, but it looked like the players didn't want to be there, either. What, with all the missed tackles on Ray Rice, who was made to look like the second-coming of Jim Brown, and all the dropped passes, blown blocking assignments, the inability to pick up half-a-yard on third-and-short, etc.

This team is 4-8. They go to Pittsburgh in three nights for a prime-time game against those hated Stillers. And, it pains Joe Cleveland to say this, but they will probably be 4-9 when that game is over.

Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if, when the season's all said and done, they are 4-12. That's a one-game failure from their two previous seasons under Eric Mangini, in case you weren't keeping score.

Fans wanted to believe that Mike Holmgren had a plan in place to turn this franchise around. And, he probably does. But, right now, with a rabid fan base going increasing impatient, anything less than better than how they did under Mangini will get you scrutinized.

Fans are tired of Pat Shurmur. They see a guy who looks in over his head. They see a guy who's brand of offense is just as boring as the brand of offense that Brian Daboll ran here the last two years. They see a guy playing not to lose instead of to win, and then picking the wrong spots to do so.

They see a team led by a young quarterback who is taking a beating every week. He had to leave the Ravens game with an injury. He came back, but how long before he has to leave for a few games, or for the rest of the season? They see a receiving corps who can't catch a pass to save their life. They see a team that's afraid to commit to the running game, especially when a certain runner wearing the No. 40 who has a contract due up that was on the cover of a popular video game is the main runner that day. Espeically, when the weather dictates that running the ball would be the way to go.

Baltimore ran the ball, and they won. Cleveland did at first, then went away from it.

Shurmur seems more willing to commit to a former college backup and practice squad player in Chris Ogbonnaya than a guy who rushed for 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns in Peyton Hillis.

The special teams has been a disaster, and not because the former Pro Bowl long snapper suddenly forgot how to snap a ball to the holder. Baltimore added another punt return touchdown against a unit that traditionally has been one of the best in the NFL. They've given up a touchdown off of a fake field goal. They had one punt return TD mercifully called back due to a block in the back penalty. Oh yeah, and despite having one of the best kick returners in the NFL at their disposal, they haven't been able to break one yet.

Josh Cribbs hasn't broken a kick or punt return since he returned two of them in a wild win over Kansas City on the second-to-last game of the 2009 season. After that, he got a nice contract extension ... I'll just leave it at that.

Fans are ready to toss Shurmur into Lake Erie and are thinking about taking Tom Heckert and Holmgren along for the ride. Can you blame them? Since Judas moved the team to Baltimore and was forced to leave behind the name, colors and legacy of the Cleveland Browns, these die-hard fans have been tortured and humilated to no end.

We had to put up with three years without football before watching 13 years of terrible football. Only a playoff berth in 2002 (which was capped by a playoff-game collapse against the Steelers) and a 10-win season in 2007 were bright spots in this festering cest pool.

A Cleveland comedian, who also happens to be a diehard Browns fan, made a viral video after the Browns were outclassed at Houston this season, yelling at a vacant Cleveland Browns Stadium. He capped the video by calling it a "Factory of Sadness." Then, after a pause, turned back to the palace on the lakefront and said, almost dejectedly, "See you next Sunday."

That's the thing. Browns fans (and Joe Cleveland is among them) put up with this steaming pile of shit every single week, every single season, but we still come out in droves to watch our team. And, if we're not watching them in person, we're turning on the TV and making the paint peel in our living rooms or "man caves" with our obsenities watching them shit down their leg another week.

After that video came out, the Browns then proceeded to choke away a game to the hapless Rams, win a nailbiter over the Jaguars despite doing their best efforts to lose it and then get punked by the Theiving Bastards on a cold and rainy night that only made things more depressing. And those are just the home games at the "Factory of Sadness."

Remember when the late Nev Chandler dubbed the stadium "Pandemonium Palace?" Ol Nev is probably turning over in his grave.

Now, there are a few Cleveland fans who want them to lose so they get a better draft choice. Really? Because, this team has had nothing but GREAT draft postion the last 13 years, and they ain't got SHIT to show for it!!!

I'm tired of playing for draft position. I'm tired of playing for a "future" that never seems to come. THE FUTURE??? This team has been back for 13 GOD-DAMNED YEARS!!! I'm tired of the future. I'm ready to succeed in the present.

That goes for our other teams in this town, the Indians and the Cavs. The Cavs are debating whether they should use this new "amnesty" clause that was negotiated in the recent farce of a CBA on either veterans Baron Davis or Antawn Jamison because "it could effect their future plans." FUTURE PLANS??? How about the novel concept of trying to actually WIN, and WIN THIS SEASON?!? Who knew that fans would want to pay their money to see a winner? What a novel concept, eh?

The Indians, despite pledges of "spending money," seem content to let the free-agency circus pass by without even stopping by for a visit. They've added the National League's losingest pitcher and brought back the once-popular but oft-injured Grady Sizemore, and feel that that's progress. PROGRESS??? This Central Division is winnable, as you yourselves showed last season, and that was with a very flawed team. Like they did after the 2007 season, it appears the Indians are willing to let the window of opportunity slam on them again. Which is a shame, because, of the three teams, they might be the closest ones to becoming a winner. They just need an owner willing to spend some money and a front office who knows what to spend that money on instead of wasting it on oft-injured designated hitters, over-the-hill starting pitchers and former "heartthrob" outfielders who have seen more of the training room than the playing field over the last several seasons.

As we embark on 2012, Joe Cleveland is not optimistic on any Cleveland team, besides the Cleveland State Vikings. Now THAT'S a winner. While the Browns settled for unknown and inexperienced coordinators like Shurmur and the Indians settled for managers with losing records like Manny Acta, the Vikings brought in a proven winner in Gary Waters, and Waters turned around a program that many felt was unsalvagable. It's a shame that more people don't realize the job Waters has done with this team and support their Division I collegiate hoops program more. But, even that comes with a cavaet -- CSU is good, but they're not good enough to outlast 68 other teams to win the NCAA Tournament.

Joe Cleveland aches for his brethran in this area who live and die with their sports team, who bleed their colors, who vent to sports talk radio every week because they HAVE to, who pay good money and sit out in a steady rain to watch his team lay down against the franchise that once called Cleveland home. I do, because I am one of you.

I've rambled a lot with this latest installment, because I'm just super frustrated. Frustrated because it seems like the people running these teams don't understand the pulse of these fans. Frustrated by players who don't seem to get it.

I took my two tickets and traded them with a scalper for a ticket 15 rows behind the Browns bench. I kept yelling to Josh Cribbs that I was frustrated with losing, too. I kept yelling to Pat Shurmur that throwing the ball 30 times on a rainy day was a recipe for disaster.

I wonder if they heard me. I don't think they listened, though.

Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!