Browns lose 13th game, fall to the Bengals, 23-10
December 11, 2016Browns to play a game in London next season
December 12, 2016As if the political climate leading up to—and arguably since—this November’s election wasn’t enough finger-pointing and side-taking for you, well you just wait. Ohio went from being a battleground, or “swing” state to one that has now had fans of the same team verbally and electronically spatting with one another over support or disdain (because there’s never a middle ground) of the “Perfect Season” parade which is to be thrown in the event the Cleveland Browns go 0-16.
We discussed the concept of said parade with the creator, and if you listen to the tone, it would have appeared that very few truly want the parade to go down. The temperature on Twitter has been steadily rising over the last few weeks as local media members and fans have been had a few back-and-forths about the legitimacy (or embarrassment levels) of such a parade.1 While taking up multiple tweets and oftentimes involved individuals jumping in to defend their side, most end with all parties living to tweet another day.
Nevertheless, as the Browns lost yet another game on Sunday, one which many analytic-based metrics said was their best chance to not go winless during the 2016 season, things continued to get worse. On Sunday afternoon, following the Browns’ 13-point loss, ESPN Cleveland’s Tony Rizzo took things a bit further. Listen below to the five-minute rant, one where a local media member who hasn’t legitimately covered a game in years opts to lower the common denominator even further.
So if you’re keeping score at home, one of the bigger bloviators in all of Cleveland did the following:
- Threatened physical violence on anyone planning the parade
- Challenged anyone who is doing so to come down to a public restaurant, one which is evidently a sponsor, to partake in said violence
- Pulled the Do You Know Who I Am card at a pregame tailgate
- Used the word “Loserest”
- Spoke of the Browns as something he is not only a part of, but something in which he gets to choose his “teammates”
- Referred to his mouth-breathing as a “take”
- Threatened additional violence on anyone who comes near his family
- Name-dropped the absolute shit out of anyone in city or state legislature (because Sherrod Brown has nothing more important to worry about)
- Threatened to “mow” participants down with a car
- Promised that said peaceful gathering will “end ugly” if it goes down
- Referred to “loopholes” in a permit he didn’t know existed seconds earlier
- Promised he will keep Mike Polk Jr. from attending
- Threatened to use his television platform to identify participants in the parade and encourage listeners to send them hate mail
- Swore to God he would use his television platform to publicly shame and entice additional discord
Hold on: Let us recalibrate for a second.
OK.
Wait, what’s that you’re saying? That wasn’t enough? Here’s more:
And anybody who gives the moron idiot who wants an 0-16 parade any credence deserves all the bad things that could ever happen to you!
— Greg Brinda (@SirFranksnBacon) December 11, 2016
…Which led to perhaps the best exchange of them all…
No, I'm actually at work now, on a ship, defending your right to have your shitty opinions heard on air for 30 years.
— Colin McConnel (@CrazyColin1) December 11, 2016
Point is, it’s getting bad out there, folks. Much like we all experienced a few weeks ago, people are leveraging their platforms to divide in a time where a group of folks who all want the same thing—you know, a winning football team—should be gathering together, unifying, rather than picking sides on how or where individuals should manifest their disdain for the product we’re forced to watch every Sunday.
And much like this past November where anti-media bias merely fueled the fire, we get random folks, ones whose Twitter bio talks of Cleveland fans as “family” wishing more violence.
This is a totally rational football fanbase. pic.twitter.com/oyjZYNyKeC
— Cole Lopez (@ColeLopez77) December 11, 2016
At some point, the tenor surrounding this parade has transitioned from one of humor and high-fives to one of outright anger and borderline terrorism. It’s gone from thinking ideas may be somewhat ill conceived to those revolving GIFs of characters firing guns. While those who take it too far will say it was “just words”2 or “good radio”3, it’s a fan base divided, and it doesn’t appear to be improving any time soon.
And much like the fallout following November’s election, we can turn to local media in hopes of them elevating the conversation, but as talk radio is wont to do, we only find them fanning the flames for ratings and retweets. The irony of this all, of course, is that those against the parade claim it makes the city “look bad”, before spouting off incoherently.
Most importantly, however, we can thank the Browns. In the end, this is all their fault anyway. As hard as it is to win in the NFL, odds tell us it’s much harder to never win. Then again, the Browns have been defying odds for decades.
70 Comments
This is hilarious and yet oh-so embarrassing.
Just consider it a “Welcome To Cleveland” parade for Myles Garrett.
Jeez, relax people. It’s just a stupid parade (which I hope to attend). A lark. No need to get all upset about it.
I feel like the parade is people trying to publicly shame the Browns organization. Which is something that needs to be done one way or the other.
Rizzo is just acting. He can’t feel that much emotion about a team that is 0-13. We haven’t had a team over .500 in a decade and now we go winless and people are upset? Impossible.
Jimmy Haslam should be paying the city of Cleveland or giving away free tickets for at least the next two seasons.
Wow, that escalated quickly. Scott, thank you for your capable dismantling of this bizarre sound and fury.
Looks like someone needs to do a West World-style reprogramming of Rizzo’s default settings.
You’re taking a lot of what he says out of context, selectively not mentioning a few of the things he said which makes it apparent a lot of what he says isnt entirely serious as well as ignoring the fact that he is in front of a live audience, . From a certain point of view, what you’re doing could be just as bad as anything Rizzo said.
He even referenced the Deathmobile from Animal House, just like we did in our thread about it. Flounder with 10,000 marbles, even. Like Tron said above me, Rizzo is just “acting” like grumpy old man.
Cripes. Everyone needs to ratchet it down a couple pegs
That reprogramming didn’t work out so well…
“He even referenced the Deathmobile from Animal House, just like we did in our thread about it. Flounder with 10,000 marbles, even. Like Tron said above me, Rizzo is just “acting” like grumpy old man.”
He must be a WFNY lurker…
Rizzo and Oribiasi have never been seen in the same room together. Im not sayin’, Im just sayin’
That station has been dying for years. Rizzo is doing anything for ratings.
I’m confident things would be handled with greater aplomb in Midwest World
Ahhh, so RGIII could access his old Bernie programming?
It could work.
Please keep in mind folks they refer WFNY a lot on 92.3, Scott is on 92.3 from time to time. I never hear anyone say anything bad about 92.3. Doesnt matter to me one way or another, but in the interest of full disclosure, it would appear WFNY would have something to gain by making the competitor of their de facto radio partners look bad.
I dont work for KNR, Im not related to anyone who works at KNR, but I am a fan of full disclosure and truth in advertising. To keep the election theme going, I found the worst part of the election to be the people who claimed they are all about justice and equality who are just as biased as the other side, just in their own way. People who say its wrong to judge people or their choices, yet they swiftly judge those who disagree with them, with no sense of irony whatsoever. Thats a special kind of ignorance (im talking mostly about twidiots right now)
I seem to recall a lot of Chuck Booms hate on WFNY when he had a job and some criticism of Adam the Bull picking fights with Trevor Bauer.
The remaining personalities on WKNR and The Fan are pretty bland talking heads-type that are hard to love or criticize.
… uptick for Colin McConnel.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/acc4589d085fd751394775c4d82e80f710a00e6c9263445abcacb7f69387a427.png
Good rule of thumb: Never mess with a quiet guy. The loud ones are usually not a problem. Guys that talk generally only talk.
on the right, is that a person bending over, or the back end of Swagger?
For the most part I agree. I usually bounce between the two, and the deciding factor is who is annoying me less at that time. I do like Baskin and Phelps. And Rizzo is much (Much much much) better since Jerod became his co-host and the dipwad went to the Afternoon slot, where I can avoid him entirely (which is a shame, since I like Emmet Golden)
I think the whole franchise has become synonymous with the back end of Swagger
Right, it’s just shtick, fake emo to fill his slot while the Indians are hibernating. It’s December and for Rizzo there’s no longer a Johnny gravy train. There’s no Josh misbehavior, no Ray Farmer texts, no new Jimmy indictments. There’s no QB worthy of a controversy, no exciting rookies or anything else on the football field to fill the radio hours. The Indians just entered deep hibernation and Cavs games won’t be meaningful for 3 more months. What’s a Rizzo to do? Found something, anything to talk about and start screaming like you’re angry.
“Fatuous, hysterical, and unhinged is no way to go through life, son”
Grossi on RBS arguing how Garrett won’t fit a 3-4 just like he argued last year Bosa wouldn’t fit a 3-4 (and somehow goes to SD’s 3-4 and has a season for the ages). This is the #1 media honk for Cleveland Browns and doesn’t understand the basic concepts of the game and Rizzo is right there backing him every step of the way. SMDH.
“Please keep in mind folks they refer WFNY a lot on 92.3, Scott is on 92.3 from time to time. I never hear anyone on WFNY say anything bad about 92.3. Doesnt matter to me one way or another, but in the interest of full disclosure, it would appear WFNY would have something to gain by making the competitor of their de facto radio partners look bad.”
This is hysterical.
I guess Rizzo’s wife must have RSVP’d to the 0-16 parade back in ’13…. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2b00fa6d3520cf75a05ddc41be70756299277fb08d58db85ef0ce8c1c0d0fef2.gif
I like Chico during baseball season because he is the only one who seems to have any idea what “bayz-bawl” is and how it is played.
Ooof, thanks for inadvertently reminding me that Horton will be coaching Garrett next year…
But has Rizzo ever said “BOOK IT!”
ESPN is the worst. Rizzo is also the worst. Brinda is the worst too. Many things about all of ESPN’s platforms are the worst.
The Browns are also the worst.
BOOK IT!
I gladly welcome any opportunity to pile on Chuck Booms.
Pretty much how the parade itself will be. Potential to be funny and yet not funny…especially when played on the national stage…like dudes burning their jerseys in angry viral video attempts. Hopefully participants will have a full, aware sense of humor about it.
Forget about Rizzo, I’m just fearful Steve’s going to drive his Prius through a street full of Browns fans.
Fortunately, the Four Letter is treating the Browns like radioactive waste. Stay away. Stay faaaaar away.
He “logs it in the manual of record keeping for posterity”
Hey, you started the election parallels, we’ve gone full-blown democrat vs. republican “THE MEDIA WANTS YOU TO BELIEVE THAT” now! (all the emojis)
Depends on how many Christmas Ales they’ve had beforehand.
Wish I could rec 1,000,000 x…and that rec’ing meant something.
Arguably, the only coach whose unit has shown improvement.
It needs to be sponsored by Great Lakes. Hopefully it’ll have the look and feel of a New Orleans’ jazz funeral. Get some brass bands playing, some costumes, some Christmas Ale….I’m actually warming up to this idea as we speak.
Rizzo is, and has been a joke, for years. He’s a blowhard at it’s worst.
0-16, here we come baby!
I’m just sitting here enjoying a champion basketball team and a fun-as-hell baseball team that was as close as it gets. What’s this dumb sport you guys call football anyway?
It’s super fun. Every Sunday, you line up, spread your legs out to give a wide stance, and get kicked in the balls really hard. You wince in pain, ice down the boys, and complain for the rest of the week, and then you’re ready to go again the following Sunday.
Your approval is enough for me!
Maybe just me but tOSU incident not far back enough for this to even be a little bit funny.
Geez. I think that’s a stretch to go there with it, but I guess if you did in your mind, I see how you wouldn’t find this funny.
Hang in there…Monday’s almost over.
To be fair, thought the same with Rizzo’s comment. Running people over with a car was a recent act of brutal consequences just two hours away from Cleveland. Just a bit raw to be going to that well so soon.
+1
I used to be a Browns fan, but… why? If they ever become a non-embarrassment I might come back on non-baseball Sundays.
Maybe the national media portrayed it differently but around here it was a mass stabbing with a few witnesses mentioning he drove his car into a… “crowd (?)” first.
Well at least you lumped me in the same boat as Rizzo. Wait what?!
It’s all over the top/sports hyperbole…I don’t think anyone literally imagines Rizzo is running anyone over with a car. And Steve either. Probably not.