Saturday, January 27, 2001
Modell gets a facelift
TAMPA, Fla. — Winning puts a pretty face on everything it touches, so Art Modell is no longer a carpetbagging heartbreaker who took 35 years of tradition and packed it in cardboard. In fact, Modell might not even be Modell anymore, given the extent of the history revision. Seen the camel-hair coat lately?
No, Art Modell is a long-suffering scion of the NFL, finally getting his reward. He's a survivor who was unfairly creamed in Cleveland by the politicians and the sportswriters. In point of fact, Art Modell is a heckuva guy.
Art Modell greets Jim Brown in Tampa Friday.
(AP photo)
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“Anyone who interacts with Art has genuine affection for him,” Baltimore Ravens coach Brian Billick decided.
There are lots of little history amendments at this Super Bowl: long-
suffering Trent Dilfer, long-suffering Baltimore football fans, long-suffering Ray Lewis, all being rewarded for their struggles. But there is only one whopper, one leviathan in the image makeover business, one granddaddy of them all.
Modell.
Who is this man?
This week, the tributes to Modell sound like a testimonial dinner. Read and hear enough of them, you begin to wonder: Who was it that bailed on Cleveland with three years left on his lease?
Who was it that said a year before he moved the team, “I would never consider moving the team.” Who was it that left 70,000 Cleveland Stadium regulars crying in their Budweisers?
Who was it in 1962 that fired Paul Brown and, according to PB, had the contents of Brown's desk deposited on The Great Man's doorstep?
And, most shamelessly, who has tried to co-opt the storied history of the Baltimore Colts to include his Baltimore Ravens?
“We're part of the fabric,” Modell decided, “not unlike the Colts of old.”
Uh, not really. Those of us who grew up near Baltimore knew the Colts. And Art, you aren't the Colts. Living in Detroit doesn't make you related to the Ford family.
Art Modell showed up at Media Day Tuesday, mostly because he couldn't stay away. Art always has wanted to be the man in the middle, whether he was firing the NFL's first great coach or telling the media he was responsible for the recent wave of stadium-building and civic-blackmailing, as if that's a good thing.
“The residual effect of my moving,” Modell called it. “It helped in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and a few other places. I think it precipitated some favorable action in those markets.”
Bad business
The fact is, Cleveland would have dealt with Modell in time, but he had the lease, so what was the rush? It wasn't the city's fault Modell was such a lousy businessman he was hemorrhaging money in a league so socialist Karl Marx could be its commissioner.
Even with the cash Baltimore threw at him, Modell had to sell 49 percent of the Ravens. The buyer has a two-year option, beginning in 2004, to buy the other 51 percent.
So for Modell to say this week that he was “taken for granted” by Cleveland is not exactly true. It's like saying Trent Dilfer is not a mediocre quarterback but rather a “leader” who has inspired “confidence” among his teammates while contributing immensely to the “chemistry” the Ravens cite for their success.
It's like saying Baltimore isn't a city that swiped another city's football team but rather a long-suffering burg rewarded for its patience.
Winning scrubs clean the messes facts make. The face of winning isn't always true. But it sure is pretty. If the Ravens return to the Super Bowl next year, maybe Modell is the pope.
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DAUGHERTY: Modell gets a facelift
