The Curse of the Cleveland Browns Move

They're all cursed. Everyone involved with the departure of the old Browns and the arrival of the new Browns are now dead or in exile. You will never convince me it is an accident or a coincidence. No. There's something supernatural at work here. It is unholy. This team is under the influence of an evil curse.

On Thursday, July 23, 1998, Cleveland mayor Mike White presided over a press conference at the Wyndham Hotel in downtown Cleveland where he introduced his choice to become the new owner of the Cleveland Browns -- Al Lerner. Sitting with them on the dais were Bernie Kosar and Carmen Policy. There were four of them up there.

Lerner, fueled by a fortune of $8 billion, was a last-minute entry in the NFL's auction for the expansion Browns. Lerner had been quietly sitting on the sidelines and for good reason. In a sense, he had driven the getaway car for his good friend Modell. It wasn't a car, however. It was a plane. Lerner used his private plane to fly Modell to Baltimore. The secret knock was tapped out on the door of Lerner's plane.

This is what I wrote in the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram at the time.

Five other candidates who had declared their intentions earlier felt as though they had been stabbed in the back.

Howard Milstein, for one, checked with Lerner before he made his application and was assured that Lerner would not be a candidate.

Incorrectly, the other applicants believed the mayor would not choose sides in the race.

But Mayor White is a political creature and politics is a game of deception and vengeance.

"It was an ambush. It was a double cross," someone complained.

White's candor that day was astonishing. Shortly after the Browns left town, White said, he began a secret relationship with Lerner.

"He and I began to have back-channel discussions," White disclosed.

It led to the mayor's endorsement of Lerner's ownership, which clinched the deal. All that remained was for Lerner to write the biggest check, $535 million. Nobody else could top his bankroll. Lerner was the guy all along, but he needed the endorsement of the mayor and Kosar to soften his landing.

None of this has a happy ending. Absolutely none. Al Lerner came down with cancer and died. The team fell into the hands of his disinterested son who lives on Long Island, N.Y.

Former Mayor White is in mysterious exile in Tuscarawas County. He has rarely been seen in public for several years. Just like that, this celebrity politician has dropped out of sight as though he were whisked away by aliens from outer space.

Bernie Kosar has filed for bankruptcy in Broward County, FL., and sadly has undergone a divorce.

Carmen Policy, who made such a mess of the Browns' startup, walked away with $50 million of Lerner's money and is growing grapes in California.

As for Art Modell, he is now in poor health, exiled in Palm Beach, FL., and out of football.

Back home, the fans remain slavishly loyal to an undeserving organization. The American Psychiatric Institute should study this phenomenon.

This article reprinted from CoughlinUnplugged.com, through a partnership between Dan Coughlin and The Cleveland Leader. To read more of his writing, visit his website.