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ESPN: Owners we love to hate

rolliefingers

By rolliefingers
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rolliefingers All-Star

rolliefingers

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http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=keri/owners/070924

Not sure if this belongs here, even if our own lovable tort lawyer is #6 on the list. The real reason I'm posting this is because, well, just read the following:

11. Calvin Griffith, Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins: Griffith first made enemies in D.C., transplanting the team to Minnesota a few years after inheriting it from his uncle, Clark Griffith. Speaking at a 1978 Lions Club function in Minnesota, Griffith revealed his reason for moving the team out of Washington: "I'll tell you why we came to Minnesota," he explained. "It was when we found out you only had 15,000 blacks here. Black people don't go to ballgames, but they'll fill up a rassling ring and put up such a chant it'll scare you to death. We came here because you've got good, hardworking white people here."

Just...I mean...I can't even think of anything to say to that.

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Miller192 Hangout Veteran Council

Miller192

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Sweet Baltimore has 2 of the top 6!! Glad to see that were tops at something. Although I would definitely rank Irsay over Modell for the top spot.

Absolutely. There's really no comparison between the two. Irsay was hated by his fellow owners, city and players and made no contributions to the NFL/USFL.

Modell at least was an asset to the league in bringing in TV contracts and assisting with labor negotiations.

I'm not trying to be a homer here but Modell left Cleveland in much better shape to obtain another franchise than Irsay left Baltimore.

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rolliefingers All-Star

rolliefingers

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Absolutely. There's really no comparison between the two. Irsay was hated by his fellow owners, city and players and made no contributions to the NFL/USFL.

Modell at least was an asset to the league in bringing in TV contracts and assisting with labor negotiations.

I'm not trying to be a homer here but Modell left Cleveland in much better shape to obtain another franchise than Irsay left Baltimore.

I agree. Even the writer himself seems to imply that Irsay was worse, so I'm not sure why they're in that order.

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RShack Hangout Grand Counsel

RShack

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I'm not trying to be a homer here but Modell left Cleveland in much better shape to obtain another franchise than Irsay left Baltimore.

I have no particular opinion about Modell, one way or the other, but I don't understand why you'd say that. I don't know how Modell "left Cleveland in much better shape".

AFAIK, the main reason Cleveland got to keep the Browns name and records is the widespread recognition that Irsay was a scumbag and that the big mistake in Irsay's case was that the NFL failed to let Baltimore keep the Colts name and records. I'd say it was the sad tale of what Irsay did to the Baltimore Colts that left Cleveland in much better shape to keep its NFL tradition... not anything Modell did for Cleveland...

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RShack Hangout Grand Counsel

RShack

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Irsay burned us so bad we didnt want anyone to feel the pain we did. Also we didnt want anything to do with Browns. We aint the Browns. If we were we would of kept the St. Louis Brown. Nope. We like bird names.

The decision for CLE to keep the Browns name had zilch to do with any local Baltimore decision. It was a league decision. AFAIK, the biggest impetus for that decision was the fact that the Colts debacle left a bad taste in everybody's mouth, not just Baltimore's....

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orioles119 All-Star

orioles119

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Irsay burned us so bad we didnt want anyone to feel the pain we did. Also we didnt want anything to do with Browns. We aint the Browns. If we were we would of kept the St. Louis Brown. Nope. We like bird names.

Modell shouldn't even be on the list. He's the most hated owner in Cleveland, but that's it. Modell left the Browns name in Cleveland. What did Irsay do? He took the name of the Colts with him. He could have changed it, but he wanted to stick it to the city.

There is no comparison to what Modell did and what Irsay did.

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Boy Howdy All-Star

Boy Howdy

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I was only 8 at the time, but I believe Griffith's idiotic statements incensed the Twins best player -Rod Carew- so much that they ended up having to trade him to the Angels before spring training.

The Twins got four players back, but nobody better than Ken Landreaux. (Oddly, Kenneth Francis Landreaux's nickname of choice was "KT")

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orioles119 All-Star

orioles119

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The decision for CLE to keep the Browns name had zilch to do with any local Baltimore decision. It was a league decision. AFAIK, the biggest impetus for that decision was the fact that the Colts debacle left a bad taste in everybody's mouth, not just Baltimore's....

Well, why didn't the league make Irsay keep the Colts name in Baltimore?

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square634 Perennial All-Star

square634

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I think Modell should be recognized as being one of the most important owners in NFL history well before the move out of Cleveland. Other teams have moved to different cities, and unlike guys like Irsay, my impression is that Modell was well-liked in Cleveland before the move, and he was certainly well-liked in Baltimore after the move. The author of the article says Modell moved out of greed, which is true in a twisted way because he fails to mention that cash flow was an issue and that Modell incurred moderate debts by using his personal money to pay for signing bonuses.

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rolliefingers All-Star

rolliefingers

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I was only 8 at the time, but I believe Griffith's idiotic statements incensed the Twins best player -Rod Carew- so much that they ended up having to trade him to the Angels before spring training.

The Twins got four players back, but nobody better than Ken Landreaux. (Oddly, Kenneth Francis Landreaux's nickname of choice was "KT")

Congrats on being the only person to actually comment on Griffith's statements.

I had never heard those before. I'm still speechless.

Carew was traded after the 1978 season, so you could be right about his reason. I wouldn't blame him.

Edit again: Wikipedia says you're right.

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