by Bruce Bostwick

Created on: July 24, 2009

Art Modell is by far the most hated man in Cleveland when it comes to the Cleveland sports department. He had committed one of the biggest mistakes ever by moving the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore to have them become the Baltimore Ravens. It could play a role into bitterness and resentment for what he had done.

He was the owner of the Cleveland Browns and this team had obtained the NFL Championship in 1964, the last championship in the original Browns history. He had fired Paul Brown, the legendary head coach of the Browns who had obtained three NFL Championships prior to that. Little did anyone know that the team would no longer be the team that would get a major championship.

What made him hated was the thought of moving the team to another city. The city of Cleveland no matter what happens with the Browns have fans show up. By taking the team had made him a marked man and it was so bad that he actually avoided showing his face in Cleveland. It had to do with getting a new stadium but there had to be more because it seemed like he had this master plan of trying to cripple the city even further.

To make it even worse, the Baltimore Ravens went on to win the Super Bowl over the Giants with Modell holding the trophy. This really was like pouring salt on a wound. To see them win really made it even worse as it could be looked upon as the moment that Browns fans felt it should be there moment and not someone else getting the glory. It is like imagining working so hard to get to the top of the mountain only to have someone else taking credit for your hard work.

Other than that, there is nothing else that could honestly make Modell even more hated than he had all ready obtained. He became the personification and the symbol of Cleveland indirectly of course. Its bar for hatred has been set and no one has been able to match him so far. If he never moved the team, he might not have been hated so much. Perhaps looking back, it would have been better to simply sell the team to someone who was willing to buy it.

Sure, there were problems with getting a new stadium at first, but still it could have been worked out without a problem. The fans in Cleveland were going to stand by the team because that is just the way the city is. Due to this and perhaps other factors, he may never get to the NFL Hall of Fame.

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