@bob806 said:

After all, he flew Art back & forth to Baltimore on his private jet. Wonder why he got the expansion bid

I was referring to Randy actually.  Sure, he hired the wrong people, but Haslam does that in spades.  

At least Randy new enough not to fuck up the uniforms.  The Haslams haven't a clue about Browns lore. 

@bob806 said:

No, not "pure and simple." You, of all folks are going to defend the Lerners?

Anything but. Art signed the move agreement on Lerner's jet. Art blocked expansion into Baltimore. Lerner may have bid the highest, but no doubt his role in helping Art played a big part in obtaining the rights to the expansion Browns. 

No, really....Lerner got the team  purely because he offered the most money.   I don't think him helping Modell had anything to do with it, as far as the league was concerned.  And they were the ones in control of the process.

Maybe Lerner's guilt over helping Modell motivated him to make an offer far beyond what was expected to be made, thus insuring that he got the team,  but that fact had nothing to do with the actual awarding of the bid.  There were several other groups in contention. 

Apparently the next closest bid to Lerner's 530 million was made by Howard Millstein.   This article says that there were 7 bidders, but only identified 4:  Lerner, Milstein, Wolstein, and Larry Dolan:

Howard Milstein, the New York-based real estate developer and banker, lost with an all-cash offer of $450 million. ''I thought our bid could survive a gap of maybe $1 million per team, but not one this wide,'' he said. ''Our bid was the correct bid for the value we saw. Others may have seen other value.''

Lerner's selection concludes an intriguing chapter in sports business. In January 1996, two months after Modell agreed to leave Cleveland for a revenue-rich deal in a new Baltimore stadium, the league promised to bring a team back to Cleveland. Last March, the league decided to make it an expansion team, not one relocated from another city.

The process attracted seven bidders, who brought in star partners or executives, such as Carmen Policy, the former president of the San Francisco 49ers, who is Lerner's chief executive. The Dolans' group featured the entertainer Bill Cosby and the former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula. Milstein's group included the former Browns Paul Warfield and Calvin Hill. And Jim Brown, the Browns' Hall of Fame fullback, brought pizazz to a group financed by Bart Wolstein, a Cleveland developer.

Three bidders dropped out before submitting ''final bids'' last Tuesday, leaving the Lerner, Dolan, Milstein and Wolstein groups. Since last week, the league's financial adviser, Goldman, Sachs & Company worked to cajole those bids upward.

Paul Tagliabue, the N.F.L. commissioner, said the Lerner and Dolan groups raised their offers by $20 million to $50 million over the past week.

Lerner said only that ''we came up some,'' and that the last call from the league seeking a higher bid came last night ''which detracted from 'Monday Night Football.' ''

Through nearly six hours of debate today -- in the same airport hotel ballroom where the league voted to let Modell move to Baltimore -- discussion centered on the Lerner and Dolan bids. The seven-man expansion committee brought both offers in for the full ownership's consideration, but recommended Lerner's. It did not bring in Milstein's.

''They were very respectful and thoughtful discussions,'' Tagliabue said. ''There was no negative campaigning.'' Modell was expected to speak out against Lerner, a former minority partner in the Browns, who counseled Modell to move to Baltimore.

In the third ballot of the 30 owners, Lerner was one vote short of the 23 required for approval. Seven were aligned with the Dolan group, including the Jets, Giants and Ravens. But on a motion by Modell, the minority favoring Dolan switched to Lerner. The Oakland Raiders abstained.

@the-gipper said:

Al Lerner (not Randy)....got the bid because he bid the highest price.  Pure and simple.

No, not "pure and simple." You, of all folks are going to defend the Lerners?

Anything but. Art signed the move agreement on Lerner's jet. Art blocked expansion into Baltimore. Lerner may have bid the highest, but no doubt his role in helping Art played a big part in obtaining the rights to the expansion Browns. 

@mjp28 said:

LeBron was your nephew?  Wow, I'm impressed, does your wife know about this?   

My nephew was a high school classmate of LeBron.   Read much? 

@dutch-oven said:

Grossi got shitcanned for saying, basically, that Randy Lerner was a waste of space as the Browns owner. 

I'm failing to find anything remotely incorrect about that. 

Grossi was caught talking shit with a hot mic close enough to pick up his conversation.

I agree with your sentiments on Lerner, but in that same line of thought Haslam really isn't an upgrade as an owner.

BTW, Grossi blocked me on Twitter because I told him that then current GM Ray Farmer couldn't carry Tom Heckert's clipboard.

Talk about thin skinned.

@the-gipper said:

Check.   And I stood right next to it at his high school graduation, in the parking deck of EJ Thomas Hall,  Akron U, as my nephew was a classmate.

LeBron was your nephew?  Wow, I'm impressed, does your wife know about this?   

@hoorta said:

LeBron?

Check.   And I stood right next to it at his high school graduation, in the parking deck of EJ Thomas Hall,  Akron U, as my nephew was a classmate.

@texasag1969 said:

Linda Lovelace??

Good Answer.....not right....but a good answer.

@bob806 said:

He (Lerner) knew better. After all, he flew Art back & forth to Baltimore on his private jet. Wonder why he got the expansion bid?

Al Lerner (not Randy)....got the bid because he bid the highest price.  Pure and simple.

@the-gipper said:

No,  Broncos.

Trivia question:   who owned the most famous Gold Hummer?

LeBron?

@the-gipper said:

No,  Broncos.

Trivia question:   who owned the most famous Gold Hummer?

Linda Lovelace??

@orion said:

...and Haslam is better?

Lerner stayed in the background.  That's what we actually want.

He (Lerner) knew better. After all, he flew Art back & forth to Baltimore on his private jet. Wonder why he got the expansion bid?

@hoorta said:

Gold hummer secretly  gives Big Ben hummers. He's a  Squealer  fan IIRC. 

No,  Broncos.

Trivia question:   who owned the most famous Gold Hummer?

@dutch-oven said:

Grossi got shitcanned for saying, basically, that Randy Lerner was a waste of space as the Browns owner. 

I'm failing to find anything remotely incorrect about that. 

...and Haslam is better?

Lerner stayed in the background.  That's what we actually want.

@diehardbrownsfan said:

Telling the truth always gets you in trouble.

LOL! I had my 5'0" (used to be a "claimed" 5'1") wife at an outdoor Texas produce market one day and remarked, "Look dear, their selling your relatives!" It was a Texas Gulf Coast Shrimp display. This woman right next to me who was a complete stranger hits me on the arm and quickly realizes she has hit a stranger and says to my wife, "I did it for you!" My wife comes from a family of 4 girls plus their Mom & grandmother, none more than 5'4", most 5'2" at best. I was just being truthful is all.??

@browns149 said:

I’d rather listen to an insensitive Grossi then Goldhummer.
 

That guy has ZERO talent and doesn’t belong on Cleveland radio

Gold hummer secretly  gives Big Ben hummers. He's a  Squealer  fan IIRC. 

@gumby73 said:

Any browns employee that walks to a microphone, you will see Peter John-Baptiste..Senior VP of Communications...Your job is to suspend Grossi no matter where he works at next.. this team needs no more drama in the locker room.. Enjoy a year off T.G.. 

Grossi isn’t employed by the team. He is employed by the station that is the ESPN affiliate of the team

My guess is he will be fired. But this is the same station that employs a noted BROWNS hater, that had to eat horse shit. 
 

I will be listening to 92.3 from now on. 
And I’m friends with Rizz. Sorry Tony

Too soon? 

@tour2ma said:

On the bright side...

A fresh fire may have just been lit under Baker's "fucking too close to the ground" ass... thanks, Tony...

I hope so.  The guy is becoming a fat ass like me.  He is a professional QB and about 40-45 years younger than I am.

I have an excuse.  Age tends to do that to people.  Lazy tends to do that to a 25  year old.

As for Grossi, I don't find anything wrong with saying Midget.

@canton-dawg said:

Grossi is a joke in the sports media realm.

The Plain Dealer shit canned him for derogatory remarks about Randy Lerner.

One would think this dipshit could’ve learned something from his past mistakes. 

His only mistake was getting caught, because what he said about Lerner was true. Lerner had had better things to do, like go the England and root for his English soccer team.