By Jeff
Can we all agree the Cleveland Browns are a pretty terrible organization?
Sure, they got lucky with Jim Brown, Otto Graham and Ozzie Newsome, but can you name a great player within their organization that has played in the past 30 years?
The last time the team won a playoff game was 1994. Even Bill Belichick couldn't make winners out of them, and he is considered to be the best coach today and one of the best ever in many circles.
Why do I bring this up? Because their new owner Jimmy Haslam is continuing the franchise's streak of laughable ineptitude. Haslam, who unfortunately had a small stake in the Pittsburgh Steelers for a bit, bought the Brown for a reported $1 billion last year, a fact which is hilarious in itself. Seriously, $1 billion for the Browns? Dude got fleeced.
Anyway, it wasn't long before reports came out the truck-stop chain Pilot Flying J, which Haslam is the CEO and chairman of, is being investigated by the FBI for rebate fraud. Now there is news out of Cleveland Plains Dealer that the company is $4 billion in debt.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that the NFL is not looking to remove Haslam from ownership, and Haslam claims that he can pay down the debt quickly. But would you believe a guy whose company is being investigated for fraud?
Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plains Dealer makes an excellent point in his column linked below. "...you like the owner of your team to have a steady cash flow and not a mountain of legal concerns."
Stories like these just make you're extremely thankful to be a fan of a team run by a family like the Rooneys, right?
Here is the full story.
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