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Home > Blogs > Dawging the Browns > Archives > 2009 > May > 30 > Entry
Dumb move by Mangenius
By essentially forcing the rookies to take a 10-hour bus trip to work a camp at his old high school in Connecticut this weekend, head coach Eric Mangini only succeeded in adding to the Browns’ reputation as an NFL laughingstock.
The team is being ridiculed nationally, even more than usual. An entire segment was devoted to the bus trip on one of those ESPN shows Friday night, with former players weighing in on the stupidity of it all. (Granted, these shows need to fill air time and anything goes, but why supply them with the ammunition on a silver platter?)
It’s nice to help kids, but 20 hours round trip on a bus in one weekend? It’s the dumbest thing a Browns coach/executive has done since Bill Belichick cut Bernie Kosar in the middle of the 1993 season.
That means it’s dumber than passing up LaDainian Tomlinson and Ben Roethlisberger in the draft.
Dumber than when Romeo Crennel flipped a coin to determine his starting quarterback in an exhibition game.
Dumber than Carmen Policy saying “those plastic bottles don’t pack much of a wallop” after fans threw them on the field to protest a bad call against Jacksonville a few years back.
All the talking-head, ex-NFL guys on ESPN agreed that if Mangini had to take the rookies to his old high school for a camp, they should have been able to fly.
Where’s billionaire owner Randy Lerner with the private jet if this is so important? Answer: An absentee owner, Lerner probably isn’t anywhere near Cleveland this weekend (did Aston Villa have a game?), but couldn’t such a flight have been arranged with a few phone calls? Or was the jet in for repairs?
Mangini insists the bus trip was “voluntary,” but we all know what that means. When you’re a rookie fighting to make the team, it’s more like forced labor. You only hope nobody falls asleep in a meeting on Monday when they’re back at work.
If exposing the rookies to the benefits of charity work is the goal, there are plenty of good causes closer to home to keep them busy.
Funny how you don’t hear about the Steelers or the Patriots (cheating scandal aside) making such gross miscalculations and exposing themselves to endless national ridicule. Why is that, I wonder. Maybe it’s because those organizations know what they’re doing.
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Comments
By Mark in SC
May 30, 2009 1:38 PM | Link to this
I’m sure it’s very frustrating to Browns fans, you deserve a lot better than your ownership has given you for a front office and team. As a fan of the Steelers, we’re looking forward to whooping you a few more times this season.By Crybaby
May 30, 2009 9:51 PM | Link to this
Sean - You’ll always find something to rag on regarding the Browns. What’s new.By Sean McClelland
May 31, 2009 12:23 AM | Link to this
You’re right, Crybaby. Everything’s great with the Browns. Has been since they’ve been back. My mistake.By Brian Sipe
May 31, 2009 7:52 AM | Link to this
They are rookies fo which probably only 4 make the team anyway. they got $1000 each and they di dnot take a jet becsaue this was not a Browns thing but a Mangini thing. He paid for the bus not the team. This is a non storyBy Crybaby
May 31, 2009 9:08 AM | Link to this
Sean…if that was you…the guy hasn’t coached a game in Cleveland yet, seems to be doing a good job mendiing fences with Rogers, Cribbs, and Edwards, and signed a more than decent DB this week in Rod Hood. I’m certain they aren’t done adding pieces prior to the coming season. No need to lecture me on the Browns lack of success. I’m a season ticketholder. You get to cover them. I think he’s doing a good job cleaning up fatboy’s and Silly Savage’s mess. Can’t lay 10 years of organizational at his feet incompetence. And I agree with Brian Sipe’s comments.By Ron Larison
May 31, 2009 9:37 AM | Link to this
In my opinion i think it was stupid that Mangini had the players travel 20 hrs. on a bus. Why didn’t he take them to a local high school and give them a thrill?By C Dawg
May 31, 2009 6:13 PM | Link to this
Laughing stock? Let’s see what you say when the hitting starts in September. This is sooooooooo petty. Get over it!By cbusdawg27
June 1, 2009 9:26 AM | Link to this
This is garbage, this is worst than not drafting some of those guys. Come on. Stick to writing about the Bungles, we in northern and central Ohio will worry about the Browns.By bob
June 1, 2009 10:21 AM | Link to this
This is nothing but more media-driven Mangini hate. If you actually seek out coverage of the camp, you’d see positive stories about pro athletes and coaches helping underserved kids. This should be a positive story, but the media love controversy so people like Sean McClelland, sensationalize it. Funny thing is, if you go to a real Browns fan site, like the OBR, you’ll see that fans think that having the rookies travel to the camp was a good thing.By bob
June 1, 2009 10:23 AM | Link to this
And Sean, why are you arguing with Crybaby? Seems pretty immature for someone getting paid to write a blog.By gs
June 1, 2009 10:47 AM | Link to this
lol,shut-up,do u think the steelers r going to play paddycake with our rooks,does anyone think of the smile on those kids faces,mankok is trying to change the losing culture in cleveland and could care less what anyone of u think.By Brandon
June 1, 2009 12:39 PM | Link to this
Sean, be serious now.. is this really news? You need to not go by what the people on ESPN say and actually maybe look at other accredited information sources (Cleveland Plain Dealer, Orange and Brown Report)about how they see the situation. Just copying what ESPN says is not credible journalism on your part. A TRUE Browns writer, as you supposedly are, needs to be focusing more on the issues dealing with taem personnel rather than a bus trip to Connecticut. Your comparisons to this situation ranking in dumbness with Bernie getting cut, Tomlinson and Roethlisberger getting passed is assonine. The real dumbness is this article, you hack.By Yohey
June 1, 2009 12:40 PM | Link to this
dont listen to brandon. he is a homoBy Jack
June 1, 2009 4:05 PM | Link to this
While it is dumb, its not that bad Sean. And please give it up with soccer thing (season is over by the way), how many other NFL owners own English teams…have they been criticized like Lerner? Glazer owns the biggest and most popular professional team in the world, yet that is never an issue with him and the Bucs.By CHRIS
June 1, 2009 4:22 PM | Link to this
WHO CARES ABOUT THE CLEVELAND CLOWNS. COME OUT AND SEE SOME GOOD LOCAL SEMI PRO FOOTBALL. CHEER ON THE MIAMI VALLEY WARRIORS FOOTBALL TEAM. CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE FOR TIMES AT MIAMIVALLEYWARRIORS DOT COM.By Steeler Mensch
June 1, 2009 5:37 PM | Link to this
Mangini is just prepping the rooks on how to handle being frustrated so later in the season when the Pittsburgh Steelers further Mangini’s lesson plan and reacquaint the Browns with the emotions disspointment, humiliation and hopelessness. The rooks will then understand why the veterans are crying into Terrible Towels…By dude
June 1, 2009 8:50 PM | Link to this
you should all do as i have, quit watching the overpaid,glorified, over pampered THUGS AND HOODLUMS who call themselves” pros”!! watch hockey!!!By E
June 2, 2009 12:43 PM | Link to this
Who cares? Big deal……they’re rookies. Must have been a slow news day!By Sean McClelland
June 2, 2009 4:18 PM | Link to this
Funny how this supposed “non-story” on a slow news day was still being discussed on ESPN Radio this morning, with Mike Golic adding his voice to those saying it was wrong to take the rookies on a 20-hour bus trip and wrong to think this was in any way a voluntary exercise. It just makes the organization look bad. Not as bad as when fired GM Phil Savage sent a profane e-mail to a fan, but bad nonetheless.By Braylon Edwards
June 2, 2009 10:52 PM | Link to this
Don’t worry mark in SC, you won’t have to whoop us because e will find a way to beat ourselves and uphold a Browns tradition.By Jack
June 3, 2009 11:56 AM | Link to this
Sean, really? Was just about to post that I had not heard a peep about this story since last Friday. But, as you can tell by the reaction here and in Cleveland, nobody really cares.By Phil
June 4, 2009 11:39 AM | Link to this
This is such a non-story. They didn’t drive, they got to get up to go to the bathroom, they got fed, and THEY GOT PAID. How did teams get aroud when there was no caost to coast air travel. Players today are so co coddled. Get ovet it already.By Phil
June 4, 2009 11:39 AM | Link to this
This is such a non-story. They didn’t drive, they got to get up to go to the bathroom, they got fed, and THEY GOT PAID. How did teams get aroud when there was no coast to coast air travel. Players today are so co coddled. Get ovet it already.By Phil
June 4, 2009 11:43 AM | Link to this
Sean McClelland is an idiot. Comparing this weekend trip to ending a players career, or passing on a player in a draft, just shows your ignorance, or your just wanting to get in on the browns bashing. Write about whet you know, nothing.By Phil
June 4, 2009 11:58 AM | Link to this
Did anyone who was dogging Mangini bother to mention the reason for the trip? McClellend did not mention the size or the scope of the project, dissming it as a high school “camp.” The rookies were part of a football camp that featured Browns staff and coaches, other pro players and more than 300 ohter volunteers. More than 800 athletes from around the country participated. Yea Sean, Check out the article on the Brown’s site and get the whole story on this “camp.” Your credibility is shot in the but, Sean.By Sean McClelland
June 4, 2009 5:15 PM | Link to this
Everybody knew the reason for the trip, Phil. Yes, it’s a wonderful camp, but I’m guessing that most of the “800 athletes from around the country” had a say in whether they got to attend. Not to mention having the option to fly rather than be on a bus for 20 hours, no matter how luxurious. Those are the main points of contention — and the reason it became a national story, whether you think it qualified as one or not.By cbusdawg27
June 5, 2009 12:46 PM | Link to this
Sean, you did no reporting. It is your opinion, please stop writing about the Browns. I told you worry about your dominate Bungles and leave us alone!By Chuck
June 6, 2009 2:49 PM | Link to this
I don’t know how you realistically say that this was a dumber move than Crennel’s coin flip for strating QB. Romeo proved what an idiot he was with that move. Golic is a buffoon as well.By Jack
June 10, 2009 4:15 PM | Link to this
Cbus, Sean is a Browns, and I believe born in Cleveland. If Sean doesnt talk Browns, then no one will here in Dayton. If I have to rid stories from the liar Chick Ludwig, I will cancel my subscription.By David K
July 4, 2009 6:24 PM | Link to this
McClelland you’ve been a has-been since Zirk Schwartzwalder and Katie Motz ran you out of town on a rail! Now back off the Clowns and focus on the Bungles like cbusdawg said you hack you!By Ralph
September 20, 2009 12:05 PM | Link to this
Pretty short sited by the writer of this article. Just because the national media rips something it’s a bad idea? What does ESPN know, or more importantly, care about the methods of Mangini? Isn’t it possible there is something a little deeper behind this than just wasting the players’ time? Does ESPN make fun of Phil Jackson making his players read books or meditate? No, Phil Jackson isn’t in Cleveland. But Mangini’s decision happened out of Cleveland, a city ESPN loves to make fun of, or at the very least, will never want to take seriously. It’s just too bad when supposed “fans” in Ohio take more seriously those ridiculing something and putting it down, rather than looking a little deeper into the fact that there is more to conditioning these guys to be physically and mentally ready than spoiling them with the easiest ways of doing things. I think it’s fantastic that these guys were forced to spend 10 hours on a bus together and get to know each other. But I’m just a coach. Not a professional ridiculer. ESPN has apparently convinced some people in Ohio that they are helpless and a joke. Far from it. Unfortunately the author of this article has fallen for their negative hype.