Chip Bok cartoon : for Browns fans

Chip Bok cartoon via Townhall  

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Weekend meme

Found somewhere on social media by a Steelers fan (with apologies to all you die-hard Browns fans):

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My gosh, the Browns won

Just when you think there is still time for them to lose, 

the Browns win over the Atlanta Falcons. 

image credit: onsizzle.com

Jim Brown on President Trump, our national anthem, and race

Photo credit: mmqb.si.com

I’m old enough to remember football legend Jim Brown playing for the Cleveland Browns back in the 1960’s. He is still "the greatest football player of all time." And he is speaking up about President Trump, taking a knee, and the black community. Brian Kilmeade interviewed him on Fox and Friends. I missed it, but Steven Beyer at Western Journal reported on the interview:

NFL legend and social activist Jim Brown appeared on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday morning and delivered a charge to the “black community” by asking it to take responsibility over shifting the blame onto President Donald Trump.

The former star running back started the interview by heaping praise on Trump for being “accessible.”

He told Fox’s Brian Kilmeade, “I have access to the president, and anytime I have access to the president, and he will listen to my thoughts, that’s all I can ask of him.”

“This president is accessible,” Brown said. “He’s different. He’s challenging, and he pays attention to what I say.”

Brown then turned his attention to the black community, telling Kilmeade, “We should look at ourselves first before we look at the president.”

Kilmede asked him if he felt Trump was doing a good job of “producing” for the black community.

“Well, I tell you it’s very hard to produce for the black community in a certain way,” Brown replied. “The black community, and I’m a part of the black community, has a responsibility regardless of what the president does. If you have a homicide rate in your black community, then it’s not the president that’s created that homicide rate. It’s the black community itself that needs to address it.”

“So I don’t want to put everything on him, and I’m sorry to say the black community is not doing what we should do, and that includes myself,” Brown added.

Kilmede asked Brown if he believed the president to be a racist.

“I’m so glad you asked me that,” Brown replied. “Of course not. Is America racist? Of course not.”

Brown went on talk about the national anthem protests saying, “We should never denigrate our flag and our national anthem. We should always be Americans first and we should work our butts off to do the right thing and make it a better country.”

“But to not respect your flag and national anthem is something I’d never do,” he added.

The video interview is embedded at the link here.

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Football fans disguised as empty seats

Another Sunday with plenty of empty seats at NFL games. Here's a photo from today's Browns game (I hear they lost again):

photo credit: Gateway Pundit

The Browns are still losers

A group of Browns players raised their fists 

during the playing of the national anthem on Sunday.

(Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com)

The Browns are still losers. Photo and caption above, and story here on cleveland.com.

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NFL takes a knee

Cleveland Browns just before the game

photo credit : The Telegraph

UPDATE at 7:04 (see next blog here). 

There’s tons of commentary on the NFL’s growing disrespect for our National Anthem and flag, and by extension, the American people. The essay by Daniel John Sobieski at American Thinker struck me as one of the best. Here’s a short extract:

Those who take a knee were indeed given that right by many who no longer have knees and are privileged to take a knee in a sport paid for by millions of fans who may disagree with them and who paid to see a game, not a protest. Players who take a knee think they are being patriotic, when they are merely being self-indulgent and selfish. Go rent out a stadium and invite people to pay just to see you take a knee and see if anybody shows up. 

The rest is here. Chris Buskirk at American Greatness has another worthwhile take:

Intoxicated with their own sense of self-righteousness today’s athlete-protesters look more like rich drunks spouting nonsense than responsible citizens seeking redress. And in doing so they have popped the sports bubble and reminded us that we should stop idolizing overprivileged millionaire Millennials who disrespect this country, her people, and her history. Millions of Americans have recoiled at the divisiveness brought into sports by people like Kaepernick and Curry. And for this we can thank them.

The rest of Buskirk’s essay is here. 

It’s a sad day when Steelers player Alejandro Villanueva makes headlines for standing for our Anthem; then the coach deplores Villanuevo's decision (while inadvertently exhibiting his support for lockstep groupthink); the rest of the Steelers hide in the locker room; and the Browns lose again -- in more ways than one. 

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Standing for the flag or kneeling with some of the Browns

Sometimes it’s the little things that you can do. Cleveland.com reported on the President of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association Steve Loomis’s announcement that officers would not participate in opening ceremonies with the Cleveland Browns:

Cleveland's police union will not be holding the American flag for a pregame ceremony for the Brown's first game Sept. 10, Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association President Steve Loomis said late Friday.

Union members had planned on participating in the flag ceremony for the first game on Sept. 10 until some Browns players kneeled during the National Anthem before a preseason game, Loomis said in an interview with cleveland.com.

The players not standing for the national anthem is offensive because of the sacrifices that people make that allows these guys to enjoy the success that they have, Loomis said. While they're benefiting from protection of the flag they are kneeling in disrespect of it, he said.

Joining the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association out of respect for our flag is “the union that represents the city's dispatchers, EMTs and paramedics.”

Cleveland.com also reported on Police Chief Calvin Williams’s response:

we as Cleveland Police Officers strive to open the lines of communication with all of our citizens--athletes and enthusiastic Browns fans alike. Who are we kidding?! We are CLEVELAND!! And we stay strong together. We stand together. 

Moving forward, I can tell you that we within the Cleveland Division of Police are in communication with the Cleveland Browns Organization as we have been in the past. We want to hear from our players, the fans and our citizens of this great city. We want to bridge the gap. We want to talk.

I look forward to a continued partnership with our CLEVELAND athletes, our community and a great BROWNS season!!!"

Loomis respects our flag and National Anthem and takes a stand. As I see it, Cleveland Police Chief Williams is not taking that stand. 

You can email both Steve Loomis and Chief Williams to let them know what you think:

• Steve Loomis at <Steveloomis[insert the ‘at” symbol]aol.com>
• For Police Chief Calvin Williams, click here and choose “City Services” and “Division of Police” in the drop-downs. 

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Cleveland Browns: new ways to lose

At American Thinker today, Silvio Canto, Jr. comments on the dozen Cleveland Browns players who decided to follow Colin Kaepernick’s "example" at the game over the weekend:

Over the years, we've grown accustomed to the National Anthem to start sporting events.  It means that the umpire is about to say "play ball," or the referee is about to flip the coin.  It's like a prayer before dinner or one of those moments when you see the big picture, where you are part of something bigger than yourself.

A few days ago, some of the Cleveland Browns decided to create their 15 minutes of fame.  They decided to take a knee during the National Anthem.

Here is the story:

On Monday, before their game against the New York Giants, a dozen Cleveland Browns players took a knee during the playing of the national anthem while several players placed a hand on the shoulders of kneeling players in a show of support, ESPN reports.

"There's a lot of racial and social injustices in the world that are going on right now," Browns rookie safety Jabrill Peppers told ESPN. "We just decided to take a knee and pray for the people who have been affected and just pray for the world in general."

Players said linebacker Christian Kirksey led the prayer.

"We did it out of respect," Kirksey said. "No disrespect for anyone, we just felt like it was the right time and the need to do it."

No disrespect for anyone?  What about respect for the National Anthem or the flag?

. . . a 3-13 team projected to go 2-14 should be grateful that anyone pays to see them play or gives them a uniform to wear.

The Browns are finding more ways to be losers. Sad.

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Cleveland Browns secret weapon

A little off topic but . . .

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Russia hacks The Browns

Via a Facebook share:

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Is the Professional Sporting Event Ticket You Buy Really Yours? Nope!

Now that the election is over and our groups have had a chance to regroup from the election season there is an issue that may not be on your radar, but deserves some serious attention. 

Did you know that most ticket companies, team owners, venues, and artists they work with don’t believe that the ticket you buy to their event actually belongs to you? As a fan, a ticket, like any other product you buy should carry with it inherent ownership rights, including the right to sell, give away, or donate that ticket. When you purchase a ticket, the ticket becomes your property. Once you buy it, you own it!

A recent op-ed by Cleveland State University Law professor Christopher Sagers exposes some of the most egregious acts by the highly subsidized NFL and NBA franchises in Cleveland. Serial government handout seeker, and owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, Dan Gilbert, and convicted fraudster and Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, are two of the biggest abusers of Cleveland taxpayers.

The article mentions several examples of anti-competitive practices that are anti-free market and place undue restrictions against ticket owners. For example, the Cleveland Browns impose an arbitrary price floor on its affiliated resale website, Ticketmaster’s TicketExchange.

The use of a hidden price floor on the official resale site of the Browns should concern taxpayers in Cleveland and around Ohio. The Cleveland Browns stadium is owned by the city of Cleveland and leased to the team. Taxpayers have contributed heavily to the upkeep and renovation of the stadium. 

According to a November 2013 report by Cleveland.com renovation on the Browns stadium, approved last year, will cost upwards of $120 million and of that $30 million will be paid for by the city at the expense of taxpayers.

The Browns are not the only one using taxpayers. Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavs, who has received millions in tax payer handouts and supported the extension of the sin tax, to the tune of a $1.8 million collective effort is a proponent of restricting the resale market. 

Instead of competing for a chunk of the $10 billion a year resale business Gilbert wants to destroy the entire market by restricting fans to only use the resale Flashseats, the resale platform operated by his ticketing company, Veritix. 

Fans who are unaware of the restriction and use any other platform have been stripped of their season tickets and threatened with further action. Rather than compete against other platforms, Glibert is seeking to prevent competition and the end result will be higher ticket prices for fans.

The amount of money taxpayers shell out for all three major teams is astronomical. The Browns, Indians and Cavs cost the taxpayers millions annually. This was compounded by the extension of the Sin Tax which was extended to the tune of $260 million last year.

Whatever your political leanings may be, this issue is about personal property rights, your right as a ticket buying consumer and rigging of the free market. Gilbert, Ticketmaster, and others are using their power and influence to destroy the market and strip fans of their basic ownership rights. Ticket resale should be protected and consenting adults should have every right to sell their tickets where they choose and for a price they agree on, without restriction.

That is why you will soon see a broad coalition of grassroots activists from the left & the right, think tanks, nonprofits and consumer groups are teaming up to call on Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine to look into these anti-competitive practices and put a stop to them.

As taxpayers we should have a voice against these abuses. Attorney General DeWine should know that these issues exist and do whatever it takes to stop them. We hope you will join us as we continue to push forward with this fight and look forward to working with you to protect the free market and personal property rights of fans.