NFL

All Disgrunted Browns Fans Want for Christmas Is Bill Cowher

Posted Nov 09, 2008 9:00AM By Ryan Wilson (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Browns, Steelers, AFC North

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There was a two-week period, late last season, when Browns fans didn't want to run head coach Romeo Crennel out of town. The team was making a late-season playoff run, Derek Anderson and Braylon Edwards were emerging as franchise players, and Kellen Winslow wasn't trying to sabotage the organization.

Some 10 months later, it's business as usual in Berea: the Browns aren't very good; Anderson has been benched and Edwards has more drops than catches*, the fans are frustrated, and they're looking for change.

Which is why one disaffected supporter has decided to take to the internets to get the word out. Thankfully, it's not another one of those lame Fire [Insert Coach Here].com sites that provide angry fans a place to vent and nothing more, but an online petition to recruit Crennel's replacement, William Laird Cowher. Yep, that one. This'll definitely work.
Cowher09.com debuted a month ago "out of frustration," said co-creator Ryan Martz, a 25-year-old mortgage loan officer in Columbus. ...

"When you have a team with tremendous talent and they go and swallow it, you have to question the coaching," Martz said. "I'm only 25. There are fans who have been with the Browns for 60 years and at some point they're going to lose them.

"People are spending $75 a ticket and they don't have jobs. It's frustrating. That's why we started the site.
Martz added, "Ever since we've come back [in 1999], we've experimented with inexperienced coaches," Martz said. "We just haven't had a coach with fire. I'm sure Romeo is a great guy and a helluva assistant coach. But there comes a point when you have to move on."

I'd agree with that; Romeo seems like a swell guy -- the chubby uncle who's always busting out the magic tricks at the family reunion -- but just because he can pull a quarter out of your ear doesn't mean he's capable of making the Browns defense suddenly un-crappy, for example.

Interestingly, Martz told the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Tony Grossi that the perception that Browns fans influence front office decisions -- a perception perpetrated by ESPN's Trent Dilfer last week when he suggested that the only reason Anderson was benched for Quinn was because the villagers wanted it -- is the why he started Cowher09.com.

This isn't the first time this season that "Cowher to Cleveland" rumors have surfaced, even though he's been very clear about not wanting to coach in 2009. Of course, Brett Favre said he was really retiring last offseason and he came back. And, honestly, who saw that coming?

via PFT

* exaggeration, but not by much

Tags: Braylon+Edwards, BraylonEdwards, Brett+Favre, BrettFavre, Derek+Anderson, DerekAnderson, Kellen+Winslow, KellenWinslow, Romeo+Crennel, RomeoCrennel, Trent+Dilfer, TrentDilfer

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