FEATURED JOBS
Comments (2)The football season has arrived with a monstrous amount of interest after last year’s surprise run in the playoffs. Expectations are rampant that this could be our year, and that the team could be headed for Miami in a return engagement to the Super Bowl. The dismal summer of suffering that has been pervasive and incessant with the Orioles is now over, and the good vibes of winning and anticipation for success is exhilarating.
Since we’re most definitely in a gloating mood, I thought it was an opportune time to bring you back to the mid-‘90s when this town was without a professional football team, and was sucking ass to get one through the expansion process orchestrated by then-Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. When the NFL decided to expand in the early ‘90s, they sent out the word and Baltimore was so hyped they had two bidders for our expansion team. One group was headed by Malcolm Glazer and his sons and another by Baltimore legend Leonard “Boogie” Weinglass.
The fix was in, and the deal was bent from the start. Tagliabue was in the pocket of Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke. He was never going to allow a team in Baltimore because Kent Cooke wanted this territory to become under the domination and influence of the Skins. Next to the Steelers, the Skins are the most despised team in Baltimore . Little did that matter to both of them. Kent Cooke, who had taken his act out of Los Angeles after he sold the Lakers and The Forum to Jerry Buss, was a self-made multimillionaire who believed that he was too rich and too powerful to die. I’m not making this up. This egomaniac actually thought he could cheat death, and Tagliabue without reservation, did his bidding in the expansion screw job of Baltimore .
Two franchises were going to be awarded. One was clearly going to be Charlotte , which had all the proper pedigrees with the demographics, and the principal owner was former Colt Jerry Richardson, who had made his fortune on selling fast food at your local Hardees. The other one was very much up for grabs.
The NFL and Tagliabue, in their infinite wisdom, awarded it to Jacksonville —approximately, the 60th largest market in the U.S. Jacksonville, home of the Gator Bowl and site of the annual Florida-Georgia game that was called the largest outdoor cocktail party in the world. In all respects, it is a city far below Baltimore in population and sophistication. Then Tagliabue, at that time, made his infamous remark that “ Baltimore should start building a museum.” With that thinking, he figured he had sealed the deal forever, keeping us out of the fold.
Art Modell, of course foiled his and Kent Cooke’s plan when he pulled out of Cleveland a la the Colts, and later the Rams, and brought us back to the NFL. Modell had so screwed up his franchise he had to seek asylym in Baltimore. As they say, ” the rest is history.”
Like one of those Kevin Bacon six degrees of separation charts, the litany of those participants and those who are connected with the Ravens over the last 15 years are all tied into Tagliabue. Here’s the list for your edification:
* Glazer and sons—fails to get Baltimore , gets Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a Super Bowl and owns Manchester United, the New York Yankees of soccer.
* Boogie Weinglass—hangs out in Aspen , home of the Aspen Comedy Festival and Claudine Longet .
* Jack Kent Cooke—his plan to cheat death did not work out the way he hoped and he leaves a mess with the girlfriend, wife and sons engaged in lawsuits over the booty. Sells Redskins to Dan Snyder. Has new stadium named after him.
* Dan Snyder—becomes one of the worst owners of football.
* Jerry Richardson—has had perpetual trouble with attendance in Charlotte , fires his children as executives with the team, and is looking for a buyer.
* Wayne Weaver—as owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, he can’t fill up the stadium and is subject to blackouts for home games on TV. Weakest franchise in the league financially. A total loser.
* Art Modell—busted in Cleveland, a hero in Baltimore , is forced out by the league and blackballed from the Hall of Fame.
* Steve Bisciotti—buys the team from Modell. Makes a smart move to fire Billick and is headed for glory with hometown team.
* Alfred Lerner—the former owner of the Browns, with Modell becomes majority new owner of the Cleveland Browns team in 1998.
* Randy Lerner—Alfred’s son, who is now running the Browns, one of the most dysfunctional teams in the league.
* Baltimore Colts—goes to Indy with the biggest scoundrel, alcoholic Bob Irsay. Takes the Colt’s name with him, something that still irks Baltimorean. The only good thing about this is Peyton Manning, a class act and worthy successor to the greatest ever, Johnny Unitas.
