commentary...

I HATED ART MODELL!!! when he took the original Cleveland Browns franchise,to Baltimore,to become the Ravens,i was a big Browns' fan,and would have loved to be in the "Dawg Pound",to see the Browns play,and was quite upset,when the Ravens won the Super Bowl,in 2000,thinking the Browns got jobbed out of a championship,and hated Modell even more,but over the years,my opinion has definitely mellowed,and when i found out that Cleveland had built many stadiums,and museums,in downtown Cleveland,but at the time of the Browns' move,the city simply refused,without help from Modell,to build the Browns a new stadium,and at the time the Browns were on the verge of being bankrupt,as Modell said,and with a decaying stadium,i can understand the moving of the franchise... the stadium was known as,"the mistake by the Lake"(Lake Erie)...
what mellowed my opinion was the fact that the city of Cleveland did build that stadium,shortly after Modell left town,when the NFL gave Cleveland an expansion franchise... i guess the city's head honchos hated Modell,even though Modell did more for the city,and the NFL,than people can say,and did deserve getting a new stadium built,period,for the Browns... the fact remains that he never forgot Cleveland,and it honestly,really,broke his heart to leave Cleveland,when he moved the franchise,to Baltimore... he said,in an interview,that he wished he could make it up to "the people who sat in the Dawg Pound,every Sunday",and that he still missed Cleveland,even now... to the family of Art Modell,i send my sincerest condolences,and prayers,as they grief for their loss...