Dan Nied is sick of non-football-fans muscling in on his super holiday. He isn't taking it anymore.
By Dan Nied [send email]It’s time that real fans take back their game.
Here’s the scene: You’re really interested in how the Patriots will try to stop the Panthers’ rushing attack in Sunday’s Super Bowl. Your buddy is having about 20 people over to watch the game. Suddenly, Tom Brady is orchestrating a game-winning fourth-quarter drive but all you can hear is a conversation about someone’s work.
You have no choice but to listen to two people ramble aimlessly while the biggest sports moment of the year unfolds before your eyes.
Welcome to the average Super Bowl party.
The Super Bowl party has almost single-handedly zapped the football part from the biggest football game of the year. And nobody realizes it.
It isn’t that I’m anti-social, anti-party or a recluse. It’s just that nobody can be considered a real football fan if they are at the buffet table gathering nachos during play. Of course, the only time you can spare to grab any food is during play since the only thing unanimously important to a typical Super Bowl party crowd is the commercials.
Super Bowl Sunday is the Fourth of July in winter. But it is more like Christmas a month late as the day has lost its true meaning, only to be celebrated by people who have no real reason to celebrate it other than the fact that everyone else is.
When I hear someone chat about relationships or dolls or cars during the game and then shush me when the commercials come on, I want to punch myself in the neck.
This needs to stop. If a person cannot name at least 10 players participating in the game, then that person should be barred from all Super Bowl-related activity outside their own home. Same goes for someone who hasn’t watched at least one football game during the regular season. And if you think that football is a form of animal cruelty because, well they don’t need to make the ball out of a pig, do they? Then you need to sit this one out too.
I have accepted the fact that the Super Bowl has combined popular culture and sports. In fact, I have embraced it as a chance to indulge in both for a full four hours. I enjoy MTV-produced halftime shows that feature Britney Spears in football pants. Terry Tate: Office Linebacker got me giddy. I was quite disappointed when they stopped the Bud Bowl (I had money on Bud Light that year). Hell, I even watched the halftime show in 3-D glasses in the early 1990s. But I love all aspects of this game. Sunday, most “football fans” will be watching only to see who comes out on top in the cola wars.
If this is you, then fine, enjoy the national anthem and the commercials and the halftime show on Sunday, but please do it with your own kind. And don’t do it around me, unless you want me to inflict a deep neck wound on myself.
Erik Pepple takes a look at who's up for what -- and why in hell "Kill Bill" isn't on the list.
By Erik PeppleWhen Frank Pierson, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, walked onstage with Sigourney Weaver to announce the nominees for the 76th Academy Awards, few thought that a low-budget and little-seen Brazilian film (“City of God”) would rake in two major nominations. Fewer still thought alleged shoo-ins Nicole Kidman (for her solid work in “Cold Mountain”) and Scarlett Johannsen (for her lovely turns in “Lost in Translation” or “The Girl with the Pearl Earring”) would get the shaft. And even fewer still, most of them likely being fired from Miramax Pictures’ marketing department, thought “Cold Mountain” would go without a best picture nod.
It’s an interesting list of nominees, with some glaring omissions (“Kill Bill”) and some terrific additions that add up to what could be one of the most intriguing Oscar races in years. Not since the mid-90s when pictures like “Pulp Fiction” and “Fargo” were considered viable contenders have so many smaller, low-budget films been recognized. That’s not say that the Academy has forgotten about Hollywood spectacle-“Return of the King,” racked up 11 nominations and “Master and Commander” scored 10-but even these pictures have a depth to them that typical Hollywood fare lacks. If anything, for all their massive battles, they are interior epics, more concerned with internal conflict than blowing shit up real good.
Does this indicate a shift in Academy taste? Most likely not, but it does bode well for a lot of smaller pictures to gain some much needed attention.
Here’s a look, with commentary, at the major nominations.
BEST PICTURE
Thanks to a huge publicity push by Universal Pictures, "Seabiscuit" swept in and picked up what Miramax probably considered a lock. In many ways "Seabiscuit" represents the "crowd-pleaser" slot that has been filled by the likes of "Chocolat" or "The Cider House Rules." Whatever the reason, it's a big moment in Oscar history as it marks the first time in 11 years that Miramax hasn't had a film nominated for the top prize.
So how to explain "Cold Mountain's" snubbing? The best bet is a Hollywood backlash towards Miramax. After Miramax earned a degree of infamy for its alleged dirty tricks campaign against last year's nominees, this may be a warning shot fired in the direction of Miramax's hardball tactics. Coupled with the release of Peter Biskind's excellent book, "Down and Dirty Pictures," which paints a highly unflattering portrait of some of Miramax business strategies, this could be a way of serving the company its just desserts or at the very least an attempt to ratchet them down a notch.
As for the other nominees, all are obvious choices, with "Return of the King" clearly the movie to beat after sweeping the Golden Globes on Sunday. While my affection for the "Lord of the Rings" films is lukewarm at best, they are grand achievements and impeccably made epics that have nabbed the zeitgeist. Still my heart lies with Sophia Coppola's remarkable "Lost in Translation," a deeply moving almost-romance. And Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River" still retains its power as a poetic street-level opera about the cycle of violence and the scars it leaves on generation after generation.
BEST DIRECTOR
Once again “Cold Mountain” was snubbed, with director Anthony Minghella being overlooked in favor of Fernando Meirelles of “City of God.” It is clearly the year’s most surprising choice, considering the picture barely received release earlier this year. I’ve yet to see it (it played theaters near 210 West’s central Ohio offices for under a week), but the word is overwhelmingly positive. Still, it doesn’t have a chance, but ultimately the attention it gains from this nomination will have to be reward enough.
As usual the director and best picture nominees don’t sync up, which means “Seabiscuit” won’t likely win best picture. The odds of it happening are rare, but not without precedent-Steven Spielberg took best director in 1998 for “Saving Private Ryan” while “Shakespeare in Love” ganked best picture and last year “Chicago” got best picture while Roman Polanski received best director for “The Pianist.”
Coppola will take the original screenplay award and the honor of being only the third woman and first American woman ever nominated for best director. Not only that, but her win will make her one of the great Hollywood success stories: scion of a Hollywood dynasty goes from acting infamy in "The Godfather, Part III" to well-respected writer/director in a little under 15 years. It's prime fodder for a Hollywood anecdote, and in this case, her work is more than deserving of the accolades.
This category boils down to Eastwood and Jackson. I think Jackson is about as close to a sure thing as can be. His work on the trilogy is almost unparalleled in Hollywood and it’s been pretty clear that by making “Lord of the Rings” the bridesmaid for the last two years the Academy has been waiting to honor the final film as a cumulative achievement. But don’t count Eastwood out. “Mystic River” is regaining momentum thanks to a successful re-release and his professionalism and craft on that film is superb and in many ways could be a factor in priming the pump for an upset.
BEST ACTOR
After Bill Murray’s win at the Golden Globes he’s close to being the front-runner. His work in “Translation” is stunning, but all signs point to Penn taking the Award. Penn is an actor who has consistently given great performances and his work in “Mystic River” ranks as one of his best.
While none of the nominees are all that surprising, Johnny Depp’s nod is a bit unexpected. It is a brilliant comedic performance, and made the overlong, underwritten “Pirates” watchable, but Depp’s Oscar will come somewhere else down the line. The most glaring oversight is Paul Giamatti in “American Splendor.” Along with Penn and Murray it was one of the year’s best performances.
BEST ACTRESS
In the interests of full disclosure, I admit that of all the nominees I’ve only seen Diane Keaton in “Something’s Gotta Give.” It’s a stellar comic performance, and that will be its jinx, unless she triggers a groundswell of nostalgia.
All signs point to Charlize Theron and her transformation into serial killer Aileen Wuornos in “Monster” as being the performance to beat. The nomination for “Whale Rider” is especially surprising, considering Castle-Hughes is only 13, which in some ways might work in her favor a la Anna Paquin in “The Piano.” And while it may seem funny to some, Uma Thurman deserved a nod for her graceful, hard-assed performance in “Kill Bill.”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robbins has got the momentum after his Golden Globe win, and his work as the victim of childhood abuse in “Mystic River” is outstanding. His choice to play his character as a dead man walking, shell-shocked by violence was a wise one, and he has several moments that will break the heart of all but the strongest of souls.
Though a long shot, it would be great to see Baldwin take the Oscar for his ferocious work in “The Cooler.” Over the last decade Baldwin has slowly been finding his niche as a tough-guy character actor and superb comedic actor, and “The Cooler” is the end result. It’s a brutal, funny, and weirdly charming performance.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
The supporting actress category is generally where the Academy surprises. Marcia Gay Harden pulled an upset when she was honored for “Pollock” a few years ago and pretty much everyone remembers Marisa Tomei’s unexpected win for “My Cousin Vinny.” It makes this category that much more difficult to predict, even if Zellweger seems to be the expected winner. That said, don’t be shocked if Aghdashloo or Clarkson walks away with the nod.
The most stunning omission is Scarlett Johansen’s subtle work in “Lost in Translation.” Odds are she split the vote with herself between her work in “The Girl in the Pearl Earring” and “Translation.” She may be out now, but she’s building the kind of career that gets its honors down the road.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The surprising nods for "Dirty Pretty Things" and "Barbarian Invasions" aside, this is clearly Coppola's award. Her quiet, gentle writing for "Translation" wisely utilized silence and atmosphere and had an inherent understanding of the unnerving feeling of romantic and geographic displacement. And "Finding Nemo" is a well-deserved nomination as it was one of the year's most cleanly written and witty mainstream pictures.
The biggest rip here is Quentin Tarantino's writing for "Kill Bill" being passed over. Sure it was a Grand Guignol of grindhouse violence, but "Bill" is an elegantly structured work of B movie genius. Perhaps it's because Tarantino played Solomon and sliced his movie into two parts and the Academy is waiting to honor part two next year, but most likely it's because "Kill Bill" is such a unique piece of work that no one knows quite how to take it.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Despite “City of God’s” other surprise nomination, the adapted screenplay category is “Lord of the Rings’” to lose. It’s nice to see “American Splendor’s” structural innovation recognized, and it’s clearly the best-written piece of all the nominees, but at this point, even with no acting nominations, “Return of the King” is a hobbit-powered steam roller that will take home pretty much everything it’s up for.
So Pete Rose doesn't have the integrity to make it into the Hall of Fame. Zach Baker takes issue with a sport that condemns Rose's character while swindling its fans.
By Zack Baker
210 west Writer [send email]
Congratulations if you have survived this whole Pete Rose fiasco without forgetting that Rose was a baseball player at one time.
It’s funny how people said that all he had to do was admit he bet on baseball, and he’d be in the coveted Hall of Fame. (Although now that Gary Carter is in, just how special the honor is up to question.)
So he comes out with a somewhat delusional version of the truth, and people want to pounce on him for admitting what they had claimed they already knew.
Pete did confess. It wasn’t a perfect confession, but he admitted he broke the rules.
I don’t condone what Rose did as manager of the Reds in the late 1980s. But baseball has no place at this point to talk about integrity.
This is a sport that has players on steroids, and their answer to the problem is treatment rather than suspension. They have dealt with an obvious problem like a labor issue, one that was bargained for with the players union. If you get caught breaking the rules four times, you might get suspended for a year.
During the Tuesday's State of the Union address, Pesident Bush called on sports to eradicate steroid use.
Somehow I don’t think the baseball players association is listening.
This is a sport that lies to its fans, charging $70 to an all star game and then having it end in a tie, a sport that has its finances so out of whack that a team can spend more money than anyone else and basically guarantee themselves the American League Championship. (Yes, Mr. Steinbrenner, I’m talking to you.)
Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is himself a walking contradiction. He’s the supposed unbiased commissioner who actually OWNED a baseball team, and still has his family in charge of it. If that doesn’t make you question this man enough, consider that he tried to contract the first place Minnesota Twins in 2002, while his loser franchise, the Milwaukee Brewers, would remain in tact.
Hey, come to think of it, which baseball team is closest to Minneapolis and therefore would gain more television revenue should the Twins fold?
You got it, the Brewers.
Only now has his family decided to sell the Brewers, almost a decade too late.
Well, to hell with baseball and its self-righteousness.
Pete Rose is a troubled man, but make no mistake, baseball is a troubled sport.
Hall of Famer and former Reds manager Sparky Anderson once said of Rose in Pete’s playing days: “He’s the best thing to happen to the game since … well, the game.”
Time and reality have proven that to be false.
Baseball has written rules about gambling, but it also has rules about drugs, about cheating, about all sorts of things.
Ask Steve Howe and Darryl Strawberry about how strictly those rules are enforced.
Ask Gaylord Perry if he always played the game without cheating.
He’s in the Hall.
Pete is still lying, I think. He bet on baseball, and he bet on the Reds. He should never be allowed back in the game in any capacity.
For Rose, that’s more than a just punishment. But don’t insult the intelligence of the fan by arguing that Rose doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame.
There is some passage in the voting credentials about character.
Boy yeah, character. If Rose gets in, they’d have to let in Ty Cobb.
Oh wait, they already did.
Had Rose not gotten into trouble, he would have been a first ballot Hall of Famer. He made a mistake, and has yet to really apologize for it or even correct it.
But look at the Walls of Cooperstown, and you’ll see the names of Cobb, Perry, and others with bad records off the field.
It’s not a Hall of Character.
If it were, you’d have to hire a U-Haul to take all the plaques away.
So The Philadelphia Eagles lost three straight NFC title games. Long suffering Cleveland Browns fan Vince Guerrieri isn't impressed. But he can empathize as the people of Cleveland know how they feel in the city of Brotherly Love.
By Vince Guerrieri
210 west Managing Editor [send email]
On Sept. 16, 1950, the defending NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles hosted the Cleveland Browns, who had just joined the league after the All-American Conference had folded.
The Browns had won all four of the conference’s championships, but were treated lightly by potential NFL opponents. Fans and players in the City of Brotherly Love expected the game to be a pasting.
It was, but not like they expected. The Browns won 35-10.
The two reams played regularly until the Browns moved to the American Football Conference in 1970, but their fates continued to be intertwined. They’ve both faced lean years. The Browns are still on relatively hard times (I fear that last year’s playoff appearance was a fluke), but the Eagles have been heartbroken.
For the third straight year in a row, the Eagles have lost the conference championship. They’ve become the first team to lose back-to-back conference championships at home. Some people are already comparing them to the Buffalo Bills of the early 1990s, the team that lost four straight Super Bowls, and considered changing their area code to 044 (that’s a joke, son, I say, a joke).
But that’s not fair. The Bills at least made it to the Super Bowl. Some are comparing them to the Dallas Cowboys of the early 1980s, who lost three straight conference championships (one to the Eagles). But glory has come before and since for “America’s Team.” A more apt comparison would be to the Browns of the late 1980s.
Not only did both teams break the hearts of their fans, but they did so in championship-starved cities.
The Eagles went to the Super Bowl in 1980 and lost to the Oakland Raiders. That same year, the Phillies won the World Series, the only one they’ve won so far. They went back to the World Series in 1983 and 1993. Haven’t come close since. The 76ers won an NBA title in the 1982-83 season.
Meanwhile, in Cleveland, the last time the Indians won a World Series, Harry Truman was president. The Tribe made trips to the Fall Classic in 1995 and 1997, but both times fell short. The 1997 World Series was the worst. Victory was so close, I could taste it. I was ready to blow off classes and go to the parade. But it was not to be.
The Browns won the NFL in 1964, and haven’t won it all since. The Cavaliers were good in the late 1980s, but that coincided with the ascendance of Michael Jordan. A similar case could be brought for the Browns, who had the lousy fortune to appear in the playoffs five years in a row (1985-1989), and lose three AFC championship games to the same goddamn team.
I’m speaking, of course, of the Denver Fucking Broncos, quarterbacked by John Fucking Elway. I gained a little consolation, though, from the fact that in the three Super Bowls the Broncos went to after beating the Browns, they lost by an average of 32 points.
But now, baseball season beckons. Well, at least in Philly. They’ve got a new ballpark and a nucleus that could get them into the playoffs.
In Cleveland, on the other hand, it’s only six months until training camp starts…for Ohio State.
Jeff Hindenach went through the doorway of the San Francisco Mac Expo, and came out the other side a new man.
[View pictures of this event, courtesy of Kenney Marlatt.]
By Jeff Hindenach
210 west News Editor [send email]
My life is now validated. I've been to the other side, and seen how the other half lives. And it's a scary sight.
I'm speaking of MacWorld, the international trade show and convention for the tech geek extraordinaire. Once a year, the geeks flock from all over the globe to the tiny Moscone Convention Center in the heart of San Francisco's Financial District to see all the new tech toys, talk the tech talk and show off all their toys to the other geeks.
To the non-technically inclined average Joe, this can be unnerving.
I've never in my life felt more out of place. It was like a whole other world, full of PDA's, WiFi's and airport hook-ups. (Apparently, in tech talk, airports have nothing to do with flying.) I couldn't understand a word anyone was saying. Apparently, in Mac Land, every word starts with i (iPod, iChatting, iSight, iLife). Luckily, my tech-inclined friend was with me to translate, although he was quite embarrassed to be answering my questions, which included:
What's a PDA? What's streaming? What's a WiFi?
How can they get so many geeks into one building without the earth imploding? (Ok, that wasn't one I asked out loud, but I was thinking it.)
The geeks all looked at me funny. For once in my life, I felt uncool for not knowing the answers to these questions. But then I saw the kid with the sports jersey that said "Macman" on the back with a number 7, and I suddenly started to feel the validation set in. In the real world, I'm the cool one. Right?
So the hours went on and I became more comfortable. Highlights of the trip after I accepted my fate:
The new mini iPod's: The new colors make them seem cooler, but for only $40 less, it seems shady that it only holds 1,000 songs. My tech friend tells me the buttons are better too because they are attached to the wheel-sensor thingy. I'm not up on the lingo.
The new Garage Band software: You can basically just plug in your instruments and the computer records it for you. You can mix pre-recorded music and beats. It's all very high-tech and cool. And I got to see one of the geeks jam on the guitar.
Touch-screen software: One of the booths was demonstrating this software where you could just touch the screen to move the cursor, choose menus and move things around. Of course, first thing that pops into my mind is "How easy would it be to layout a news page with that!" But it was pretty cool stuff, way high-tech.
Macs through the years: We stumbled across an exhibit that showcased Macs through the years. It was cool to see the computers that we put the newspaper together on in high school. And then, a nice fellow, Haines Cohen, apparently from BMUG (the Berkeley Mac Users Group, as explained to me later), was nice enough to decorate one of the older Macs with floppies from the 1980's. We took a picture.
Our ID badges: I type my name and occupation into the registration computer, and in the two seconds it takes me to walk over to the badge booth, I already have a sleek, plastic, credit card type ID badge to wear around my neck. How do they do that?!
Geek moment of the trip: My friend, who's friends have iSight (I had no idea what iSight was until this point), chatted with his friend from Denver to rub in the fact that he was at MacWorld. I took a picture of him iChatting with his digital camera. Complete geekiness.
Highlights of the trip for the non-geek: The fact we got in for free because we showed up for the last 2 hours. The ice cream and water we got at the little deli at the Convention Center. The guy with the "Want Powerbook, Have Money" sign taped to his back.
But the most shocking part of the trip was the shut down. At 4 p.m. sharp, it was like someone had flipped a switch. All the lights went out, people started streaming out from behind these curtains and tearing everything down. Literally, at 4:01 p.m., as we were trying to get out, workers started to pull the carpet up from underneath our feet. Apparently there was a Dungeons and Dragons convention right after. (Joking. Just some geek jokes.)
All and all, it was a successful trip. I learned way more than I needed to about technology, got to see a bunch of sweet presentations and got a cool poster for my geek friend in Baltimore. But I think next year I'll go across the street to the MOMA and check out whatever exhibit is going on there. I have to feel more comfortable at a museum. Right?
Vince Guerrieri writes: Art Modell's reign of terror is now over.
The day they put you under, what I do on your grave won’t pass for flowers
--Marshall Thibido (Henry Morgan) to J.B. Books (John Wayne), The Shootist
By Vince Guerrieri
210 west Managing Editor [send email]
Modell, the owner of the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens for more than 40 years, watched his season end with a playoff loss, an ending far too common to Browns fans. But this one made Browns fans happy. It’s the last game for a football team owned by Art Modell. Next year, he’ll be nothing more than a fan.
In the past three years, Art Modell has undergone one of the greatest image rehabilitations this side of Ronald Reagan. He’s gone from a greedy meddling owner to a pillar of the community. He mismanaged two football teams enough so that he had to move one and sell the other, but he’s heralded as a man who brought the National Football League to prominence and God help me, is called a candidate for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
However, the only people who sing his praises are people who made money off of him. Ravenscoach Brian Billick said one day Cleveland fans will realize that city leaders and not Modell were the bad guys in the Browns’ 1995 move. Modell’s fellow owners sing his praises for negotiating the first of what has become an insanely lucrative television deal (from $4.65 million in 1962 to $18 billion today).
Fans in other football-mad cities (like here in Pittsburgh) realize that if Modell can move a team that consistently was one of the top draws in the NFL, then anyone can. Modell tried to engineer his own spin campaign by collaborating with Dick Schaap on his autobiography. Schaap died. I don’t believe that’s a coincidence.
Art Modell shouldn’t be venerated. He should be buried, not praised. Owning a football team in Cleveland should be a license to print money, but Art Modell couldn’t do that right, so he had to flee to Baltimore, which should have been just as lucrative. But he couldn’t do that, and was forced to sell the team. The man who couldn’t make money with teams in Cleveland or Baltimore sold the team for $600 million -- 150 times more than for what he bought it.
Now, a little personal disclosure. I am a Browns fan. Growing up in Youngstown, I had a choice. We were equidistant between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, but my allegiances laid with the Browns. I don’t recall Red Right 88 with great clarity, but I have more than enough bitterness for the Fumble and the Drive. I hid my head in shame in the Volney Rogers Junior High cafeteria the season the Browns went 3-13. I agonized through the 1994 playoffs, when the Steelers beat the Browns for the third time that year.
In the fall of 1995, I was in college. The Indians were playing in a World Series for the first time since 1954, at a brand new stadium. The Cavaliers had a new arena. The Browns were still in Municipal Stadium, their home for their entire existence, since 1946.
The Friday after the Indians fell to the Atlanta Braves, I was jostled into a state of semiconsciousness by my clock radio. I was midway between dreamland and this world when I heard a voice on the radio say that the Browns were moving to Baltimore.
I was then completely wide awake.
Modell pleaded poverty, saying that he had to move the team to Baltimore because he could no longer remain competitive in Cleveland. He said the city had given stadiums to the Indians and the Cavs but not to him. So he took $50 million and a brand-new stadium in Baltimore and ran, after imposing a moratorium on stadium discussions and saying he’d never move the team.
It’s entirely possible that Modell was a shoestring away from bankruptcy. But it was his own doing. He took over Cleveland Stadium in 1973 and ran it, gouging the Indians for rent and doing nothing to improve the appearance of the Mistake by the Lake. The troughs in the men’s rooms would overflow at halftime of Browns games.
But Modell held on to Municipal Stadium because he could sell lots of tickets. At its peak, the stadium held nearly 80,000 people. And fans turned out. Despite the weather, they turned out. Despite the heartbreak, they turned out. By comparison, Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh held around 57,000 people. The NFL blackout rule stipulated that a percentage (not a flat rate) of tickets had to be sold for the game to be on television. So Steelers fans could watch a game with 57,000 tickets sold. Browns fans couldn’t watch a game with 70,000 tickets sold. And who wrote the NFL blackout rule? Yep, you guessed it, Art Modell.
He said municipal officials are the bad guys because they wouldn’t build him a new stadium. But to most people on the North Coast, it’s Modell who’s the bad guy. He hasn’t even returned to Cleveland since his unceremonious departure. I sent him a letter this year asking him if I could have his tickets to the Browns-Ravens game in Cleveland if he wasn’t going to use them. I even included a self-addressed stamped envelope, but got no reply. (After the shellacking Jamal Lewis and the Ravens put on the Browns, he might have done me a favor.)
People talk of his charitable contributions in Cleveland, and that might also be true. But he was a meddling owner who took too active a role in football. He wanted to be the top dog, and to show it, he fired Paul Brown, possibly the greatest coach in football. One of the straws that broke his back and led to the move was the high-priced front-loaded signing of Andre Rison — a signing Modell wanted. When Earnest Byner fumbled in the AFC Championship Game, Modell cut him loose. Byner went on to power the Washington Redskins to a Super Bowl victory.
It’s not coincidence that the only two Modell-owned teams to win it all were made of people assembled by his predecessor (the ’64 Browns) or of a football mind while Modell was ill, if not incapacitated (the ’00 Ravens, put together by Ozzie Newsome). If there is one good thing that came of the Ravens, it’s that Modell hired Ozzie Newsome – a guy who’s 18 shades of all right – as the first black general manager in the NFL.
And for the second year, Art Modell is eligible for the Football Hall of Fame. His apologists are saying he’s due for a bust in Canton because of what he did for the National Football League. All he did was make them money.
But maybe John Huston was on to something in Chinatown. Whores, politicians and ugly buildings get respectable, he said. Maybe Art Modell is venerated for nothing else than being venerable. Maybe just by sticking around, he can be viewed as something other than an incompetent rat bastard.
Naah.
Al Gore's backing of Howard Dean for the democratic presidential nomination could set the stage for a miracle comeback for the old Vice President. Vince Guerrieri swears he has seen this before.
By Vince Guerrieri
210 west Managing Editor [send email]
People see me and they think, “He’s risen from the dead!”
--Richard Nixon
Al Gore, I’m on to you!
Gore, the former Vice-President and former next president of the United States, endorsed Howard Dean in his bid for President in 2004. Reports state that Gore believed that a protracted primary season fought among Democratic candidates would bode well for President Bush.
But I know the real reason Gore’s endorsing the former Vermont governor. It’s the latest step in a Nixon-like reimaging, culminating in Al Gore—tanned, rested and ready—becoming president in 2008.
First, a little historical perspective. Richard Nixon served as vice president for Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961 before running for president in 1960 against John Kennedy, the scion of a political dynasty. Nixon was regarded as the more substantive candidate, but lost in a squeaker in the first modern television campaign, which saw Nixon playing the piano on “The Tonight Show.”
After that, Nixon ran for governor of California in 1962, losing to Edmund G. “Pat” Brown. Nixon then gave the immortal press conference that included the phrase “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.” He lied.
Nixon campaigned for Barry Goldwater for president in 1964. Goldwater then went on to lose to Lyndon Johnson in what was at the time the largest presidential victory ever.
But by 1968, Nixon was back and the Democratic Party was in shambles (so what else is new?). A Texan was president, and the United States was in a protracted land war in Southeast Asia. Nixon appeared on “Laugh-In.” The election against Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey was another squeaker, but this time, Nixon emerged victorious. Four years later, Nixon rolled to the largest margin of victory in American history against George McGovern, winning 49 of 50 states (a feat duplicated by Ronald Reagan 12 years later).
Goldwater and Nixon had far-reaching effects. Goldwater crystallized the conservative base of the Republican Party, which swept Reagan into office and led to Republican control of Congress in the 1990s. Nixon normalized relations with China, got the United States out of Vietnam and brought peace to the streets. Were it not for Watergate, he’d be the president lionized by today’s Republicans, not Reagan.
However, it was Watergate that paved the way for Reagan and the first George Bush, and Bush really sowed the seeds of his own demise, which led us to the orgy that was the Clinton administration.
Al Gore ran for president in 2000 after serving as Bill Clinton’s vice president for eight years. He ran against George W. Bush, the scion of a political dynasty. Gore was regarded as the more substantive candidate, but lost in a squeaker. Gore retired to private life, having his fill of politics…for a while. He hosted Saturday Night Live (which I thought Bill Clinton would do first).
And now what? The Democrats appear to be in just as much disarray as the Republicans were coming into 1964. Much as Goldwater was painted as a radical conservative (saying “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice” will do that for a man), the Democratic candidates are painted as bleeding-heart liberals. A Texan’s gotten us involved in what will likely be a protracted land war in the Middle East.
But even if we get four more years of Dubya, Al Gore will come out smelling like a rose. It could be Richard Nixon’s ultimate revenge.
You heard it here first.