The post Todd Heap tells Nestor he flew back to Baltimore honor Art Modell appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.

Thousands of people took time earlier today to pay their respects to Art Modell. The Modell family, fully supported by the Baltimore Ravens family, set up a memorial at M&T Bank Stadium. Mr. Modell’s casket was laid out under a tent, fittingly, in the middle of the football field.

As I left, after a brief moment and sad goodbye to a truly classy guy, the lines were long and purple. Just the way Mr. Modell would’ve wanted it.

Days like today, times like these, bring about a need for moments of solitude and reflection. While driving away from M&T Bank Stadium, I was overcome with a heightened sense of awareness. I’m not sure why. The same streets I’ve traveled a thousand times over, just looked different. With my windows down, no radio, no real street noise invading my space, Baltimore was bustling, yet peaceful. Each stop light had me noticing something new in the city surroundings. Baltimore changes a lot and I guess I never really notice. Even my quick run down I83, a stretch I’ve taken countless times, alerted me to things I’ve never noticed before. I felt rested, really awake, calm and energized by the clarity. Honestly, I’m not sure what was happening. It was weird. I wish it happened more often.

I grabbed a quick lunch and began thinking about “life”, my life. I’m 44, and no longer qualify as “young” while not yet staring straight down the barrel of “old”. I’m truly in the “middle” – I hope.

I wont bore you with the details of personal thoughts as they pertain to me and the reflecting I was doing. I will share this – time is the only commodity worth cultivating. With enough of it, if spent wisely, everything else will fall into place. Wasting time is a sin.

Art Modell was 43 when I was born. He was in the “middle”. Art, purchased the Cleveland Browns in 1961 for $4 million, investing only $250,000 of his own money. He borrowed $2.7 million and partners kicked in the rest. He bought a storied NFL franchise with only $250k of his own cash, how cool is that? Multiple high-fives and chest bumps are in order. Very slick. Truly awesome. He was a hands on, active owner, who relished his role in the management of the team. In 1963 Art fired legendary coach Paul Brown. The Browns – Paul Brown. The legend – Paul Brown. Art Modell fired him – amazing! In 1969 Art married Pat, the love of his life and they were inseparable until her passing in 2011. He met and then married  “the one”, took vows of “until death do us part” and honored those vows. He adopted her two sons and furnished them wonderful lives. Art and Patricia Modell were together for 42 years – inspiring!

Art was entrenched in the era of NFL football when true titans came out to play and pioneer. Art, meshed his marketing, public relations, advertising and media savvy into the world of the NFL and helped lead the league to unimaginable and unprecedented prosperity. Art Modell was bold, tough and fearless yet knew how to kill you with kindness – the NFL needed guys like him in the ranks.

Thanksgiving Day football in “Prime Time” – Art Modell. Monday Night Football -  Art Modell. Lucrative TV contracts – Art Modell. NFL football back in Baltimore – Art Modell. Another Super Bowl trophy resting

The post Catch The Buzz: Thinking About Mr. Modell appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.

Today and all weekend at WNST.net & AM 1570 we will be presenting what I feel is the finest radio interview of my career – a long-winded, emotional, retrospective of the life and times of Arthur B. Modell, told in his own words.

In 2004, just after I retired from hosting a daily show after 13 years of grinding out quality sports talk radio, I decided to do a series of “sit downs” – I called them “Barbara Walters-style interviews” – with many Baltimore sports legends. Art Donovan, Cal Ripken, Phil Savage, Brian Billick, Marvin Lewis, Pam Shriver, Lenny Moore, Bob Ehrlich and several others were kind enough to participate in a series of monthly chats I did to shed light on their careers and how they came to enter their chosen field of work.

Every conversation was personal and memorable but nothing like my time with Art Modell.

I joined Art Modell at his office at M&T Bank Stadium in the spring of 2004 and wound up taking the better part of two mornings to get all of the questions answered.

I haven’t even listened to these yet myself to know exactly all of the ground we covered. I do remember him saying at the end, “You have enough there for a book. No one has ever asked me that many questions before!”

I remember him being emotional several times when I asked about his father. I remember him being a little upset at some of the line of questioning. I remember him being incredibly thoughtful and patient as I probed some memories that he was mostly uncomfortable sharing with me.

But I think we both brought our “A games” with us those two days as we chatted about his entire life and the many people who affected him and shaped his world. How he met soap opera actress Patricia Breslin and married her and adopted her two young sons, David and John. Tales of Jim Brown, Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Ozzie Newsome, Ray Lewis, Lou Groza, Cleveland, the Browns, Bernie Kosar, Bill Belichick, Pete Rozelle – there’s a lot of meat in this conversation.

This will take some time – there’s about 3 hours worth of chatter here, most of it dominated by Art telling the best stories of his life.

The last question I asked him was stolen from Jim Lipton (and Bernard Pivot):

If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

Art Modell deadpanned: “First and long…”

There’s a lot of humor in this conversation as well because that was Art’s Way.

We’ll be playing this interview all weekend on WNST-AM 1570. You can listen in your car or you can click below to take with you wherever you go.

I hope you enjoy the chat. And, quite frankly, I hope it’s as good as I remember it being.

Here are the links via WNST.net and our Buy A Toyota audio vault:

Part 1 of my WNST.net sitdown with Art Modell

Part 2 of my WNST.net sitdown with Art Modell

Part 3 of my WNST.net sitdown with Art Modell

Part 4 of my WNST.net sitdown with Art Modell

Part 5 of my WNST.net sitdown with Art Modell

Part 6 of my WNST.net sitdown with Art Modell

Part 7 of my WNST.net sitdown with Art Modell

Part 8 of my WNST.net sitdown with Art Modell

Part 9 of my WNST.net sitdown with Art Modell

The post Art Modell on the life of Art Modell – celebrating his amazing life all weekend at WNST.net appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.

On a personal level, it’s devastating. I loved Art Modell. And he always brightened my day with some kind words, jokes and he brought the Baltimore Ravens to this city and it changed my life. I’ll be eternally grateful.

I have so many memories with Art that it’s hard to even formulate them this morning. So, I’m putting together some of my memories here on this blog as my own therapy to remember our many great times together.

The last time I saw him was about two months ago in Owings Mills. He was always on a golf cart, always calling me over to tell me a joke or make me smile.

Here’s a WNSTV video I shot in 2008 of his big night at Sports Legends Museum:

I also famously lobbied Pro Football Hall of Fame voters many times on behalf of Art Modell, who deserves to be in Canton on the merit of his contributions and accomplishments for the NFL. It’s a crime that he died this morning never having been inducted.

So, in 2009, I went to Canton and inducted him myself:

Click on Page 2 to see more of my personal memories

The post My snapshots & memories of the great life of Arthur B. Modell… appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.

Flacco’s Ascension: Will the real Joe Flacco please stand up?  The steady quarterback has led the Ravens to 4 straight playoff appearances and remains solidly under center for the defending AFC North Champions, but many want to see more out of the young playcaller.   Flacco has said that he doesn’t think he gets the credit he deserves, which a point can be made for given his perennial playoff appearances.  But does Flacco really deserve more credit?  While he lead the Ravens to the door step of the Super Bowl, his regular season numbers were pedestrian compared to the league’s elite.  3,600 yds, 20 touchdowns, 12 interceptions = above average.    That’s 11th, 13th, and 18th respectively.  Ray Rice is a nice back to lean on, but if Flacco wants to be regarded inthe same class as the Rodgers, Brady, Brees, and the Manning brothers – he’s going to have to step us his production.

Rice’s Health:  Ray Rice’s 1,364 rushing yards were 2nd only to Maurice Jones-Drew last year. In addition, Rice lead the team with 76 receptions.   Rice did it all last year, occasionally getting a breather from a semi-productive Ricky Williams.    That won’t be the case this year with Williams having retirned for a 2nd time.  Who will backup Rice? Good question – none of the candidates have much NFL experience.  If Rice goes down with a major injury or misses a significant amount of time, even more pressure will be placed on Flacco.

An Aging Defence:  Can Ray Lewis and Co.  ignite the same fire that has kept the Ravensrelevant for the last decade?  I’m guessing yes – though Terrell Suggs injury will put them in an early bind.   If Lewis, Ed Reed, and Haloti Ngata can stay healthy, the Ravens defense should hold.

The division is the Ravens to lose — with the main competition for the Super Bowl coming from the (surprise surpise) Patriots.   The Ravens have enough talent to beat the Ravens head to head.   If Flacco takes the next step, Rice has another big year and the defense stays healthy – there’s no reason to think the Ravens can’t win it all in 2012.

The post 2012: Year of the Ravens appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.

There are a couple of ways of looking at the yearlong celebration that is 20 years of baseball at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

On the one hand it’s a reminder of just how right Baltimore “got it” back in the early 90’s in paying homage to baseball and the history of the game and its impact on Baltimore. In fact, Baltimore got it so right that others quickly felt compelled to follow suit, making the gem of a ballpark that is OPACY often imitated but never quite duplicated.

The 20 year “celebration” is also cause however for Orioles fans to reflect on the fact that in 2 decades of Orioles baseball therein, the O’s have a grand total of 4 winning seasons and just 2 playoff appearances. As the team looks as far away from “right” as ever, the stadium is simply the silk hat and lipstick that adorn the proverbial pig that is Orioles baseball. More often than not over the last 20 years, the only thing about the ballpark that wasn’t breathtaking was the team that occupied it and the brand of baseball that they’ve played.

Baseball has a long history of curses, at now 20 frustrating years into this experience, maybe it’s time to question whether Camden Yards itself has been cursed. For now though it seems fairly clear that the only pox on the house of Orioles baseball is the owner, Peter Angelos.

Still, for the Orioles and the city of Baltimore, OPACY has been both a blessing and a curse, with a myriad of unintended benefits and consequences.

First, OPACY started a revolution in baseball; it changed the game. It took the Orioles from a middling financial player to big spenders overnight. Predictably, the rest of baseball began following suit very quickly thereafter. When Cleveland and the Indians jumped into the baseball-only facility business, the beginning of the end of the Cleveland Browns was already underway…thanks in no small part to the influence of OPACY.

The park also gave the Maryland Stadium Authority clout. It earmarked the prospective property and plans for a football specific neighbor and had the city poised to pounce when an opportunity like Browns to Baltimore presented itself.

So OPACY started the revolution that Cleveland followed, thus leading the Browns into the financial strife that made them the Ravens. In far less then 6 degrees of separation, the construction of OPACY “created” the Ravens.

The other side of that coin is that the arrival of the Ravens and the cushy deal that they got from the city may have put Baltimore and Angelos at odds. Given the history of Angelos and seemingly everyone he does business with, it’s arguable that he and the city were bound to be at odds eventually…inevitably anyway.

The park also packed in enough fans night by night, regardless of the on-field product, to give baseball a case to park the Expos in DC, which led to the compromise that created MASN, and has essentially turned the Orioles profitable without having to worry much about filling the stands anymore. In that way, OPACY might be the biggest and most beautiful catch-22 ever constructed.

So in a very roundabout way of thinking, Oriole Park may have built the Ravens and killed the Orioles. Of course the Orioles aren’t actually dead, they’re just on life support, and the stadium isn’t what’s killing them, the owner is. The building though, at least helped to create the circumstances that precipitated both events, and it may once again host important and meaningful games at some point.

If asked back in 1994 or so if they’d trade 20-years of sub-standard baseball for the NFL’s return to Baltimore, I’m guessing most would have taken it. Like it or not, we’ve gotten it and then some (on both accounts). But Camden Yards…what have you done for us lately?

The post 20 Years of Unintended OPACY Consequences appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.

Look, no one loves the city or the sports teams or the “culture” of Baltimore more than me and I dare you to find someone who has displayed more civic pride over the last 25 years in the sports circle here than me and/or WNST.net.

But, honestly, I don’t know what that’s worth these days.

Every Facebook user and tweeter I can find within earshot all share the same opinion: DAMN, I’m glad it’s football season!

Hear, hear…

Yet the man who brought the team here, Art Modell, continues to be coldly left out of the Hall of Fame and no one here seems to be interested in picking up the torch and taking the slight a little more “seriously” or “personally” as a civic cause.

As a community, we were the city that fought desperately and embarrassingly through the loss of the Colts and the frequent use of our metropolis and tax payers by the NFL machine as a $20 hooker for more than a dozen years. The sham of the Paul Tagliabue era still stings. I remember the “museum” comments. I remember the Sundays without a team. I remember the disgusting expansion process. I remember the Saints-Dolphins game on 33rd Street. I remember the Charlotte and Jacksonville coronation.

I remember the desperation and the loss of hope like it was last night.

What these writers and disgruntled Cleveland Browns fans with an axe to grind — one that really isn’t based in true damage — are essentially saying is this: “We should all be embarrassed that the Baltimore Ravens even exist!”

And I find that unacceptable and an issue worth “fighting” for. And Art Modell’s Hall of Fame candidacy – or what’s left of it because it’s pretty clear he’s been blackballed and if there were any doubts before the reaction to Rod Woodson’s words there are none after the local reaction in Canton Saturday night – should be a MAJOR, MAJOR civic cause here.

The guy who brought the team here in the September of his life because Cleveland never took care of him deserves better treatment from all of the PSL owners and the people here in Baltimore who think the Ravens are pretty cool and pretty special.

I wonder if we can find 50,000 people who are willing to fight for Modell. Or even 50…

Steve Bisciotti once said to me: “You’re a cause guy!”

Well, yes I am, and I’ve started a Facebook page for Art Modell’s Hall of Fame candidacy. Feel free to join it and spread the word…

Here’s the direct address: http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=art+modell&init=quick#/group.php?gid=60824460336&ref=search&sid=1740947610.1010947778..1

It’ll be interesting to see how many people think that Cleveland and the NFL machine spitting on Modell is essentially spitting on Baltimore.

These Browns Backers are people with very short memories for facts and very long memories for acrimony and anger and bile.

As I said to the Cleveland blogger who wrote a typically-negative “Art doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame” piece after Woodson’s mention of Modell in his induction speech: the residual damage a decade later is ZERO! As a matter of fact, it’s been a GAIN not a loss.

It’s like being mad at your ex-wife after you’ve remarried and found a better life. They’ve gotten a better stadium, their name, their colors and their records. They got an ownership family with the Lerners that they allegedly were going to like more than the Modells. Other than a few 5-11 seasons 13 years ago, they’ve missed NOTHING and restored everything!

But again, we’re talking about Clevelanders. In general, my experience with their hospitality and intellect has been less than impressive.

And I’ve got a LOT of experience with Cleveland. I’ve been going to Cleveland for 25 years. I was in Cleveland Stadium on the 1986 day that John Elway drove 98 yards to send them home from the Super Bowl.

I’ve probably seen 75 sporting events in Cleveland over the years along with various concerts, events, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Flats – I’ve done it all.

And their fans stink!

The boo their team every single year that I’m there — win or lose. They hate virtually everything. And, let’s be honest, they haven’t won anything in my lifetime and their hometown hero, LeBron James, is about to drop all things Ohio like a habit and run to New York to try to win a championship elsewhere. (Imagine Cal Ripken pulling that in 1992?)

It’s kind of sad. It sucks to be a sports fan from Cleveland. Ask Drew Carey…

And the people in Cleveland have plenty to be angry about – including the crappy weather, economy and the current state of their football team – but to continue this petty grudge against Modell is almost silly and continues to further ingrain their shortcomings.

And for Tony Grossi or Peter King or anyone else in their camp to make a paper-thin argument that a man who owned the team for nearly 40 years and helped manage the league through prosperity that no other league in the history of the planet has ever seen is just downright small and petty. And to put Al Davis or Lamar Hunt or Ralph Wilson on a higher pedestal than Modell is a testament to the vindictive nature of this group of voters and their agenda.

The merger. The TV deals. Monday Night Football. A .600 winning percentage over the course of his ownership. Free agency. Revenue sharing. The salary cap. The rules. Modell voted in every meeting and was a leader in many areas, including moving his NFL team to the “AFL” after the merger and convincing the Colts and Steelers to come with him.

Oh, and there’s that little accomplishment that NEVER gets mentioned – the restoration and growth of Baltimore football in the shape of the Ravens, which this city is obsessed with 365 days a year. Oh, yeah, and the Super Bowl win as well…

Modell “rebirthed” the NFL in Baltimore and over the past 14 years I dare you find a more successful franchise at recruiting the community and feeding the fire with positive energy and great people in the organization from Ozzie Newsome straight on down.

Art Modell created Baltimore football as we know it.

Doesn’t that count for anything?

Well, it only does if we say it does.

Don’t expect anyone from Cleveland to lead the charge to get Modell into the Hall of Fame.

That has to come from Baltimore. That, quite frankly, has to come from you.

The post Hey Baltimore: Where is the fight in you on this Art Modell issue? appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.

As I have opined many times, I believe the powers that be in the NFL and the Pro Football Hall of Fame want no part of Art Modell being rightfully enshrined in Canton, Ohio for one glaring reason: the proximity of the induction ceremonies to Cleveland.

As was witnessed on Saturday night when Rod Woodson had the audicity to utter the words “Art Modell” within an earshot of both the Hall and the Cuyahoga River — the natives there are all but ready to roll into Canton and wreck the weekend for everyone if Modell were to be enshrined while he’s alive.

Why would the NFL lords and the Pro Football Hall of Fame want to deal with a very cranky and messy local contingent on their biggest weekend and promotional arm on the year?

Answer: They wouldn’t and won’t.

And most of the people who would fight for Modell’s place in Canton are already dead. Pete Rozelle and the men of that era who built the league along with Modell can’t speak up on his behalf.

I’m honestly shocked that Ozzie Newsome, Jim Brown and some others don’t speak out.

I’m shocked that Bisciotti and the Ravens don’t go on a tirade about it.

Why am I the only one who continually lobbies and speaks out about it?

Am I the only one who watches Ralph Wilson and company get inducted and say, “What about Art Modell?”

All of sudden accomplishments and contributions mean nothing. Art Modell will die without rightfully entering the Hall of Fame and the fans of Cleveland will take great delight in denying him his spot of honor while he and his family can enjoy it.

Unless Baltimore — collectively — does something about it, that is.

Yesterday, a friend forwarded a blog to me written by a Cleveland blogger, who typifies the sentiment in Ohio. This blogger (on The Burning River) doesn’t even have his name associated with the piece but I thought it offered great “insight” into the mind of the Browns Backers.

The headline:

Rod Woodson Simultaneously Enters Halls of Fame,Shame

I invited this typical Cleveland sports fan onto the radio show.

It would be an interesting debate.

We’ll see how it goes…

The post Cleveland continues to show why manure is Brown appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.

“Without Art Modell, old school owner. And I hope the voters get this right — by putting Art Modell in the Hall of Fame, he belongs there.”

With that came the usual cascade of classless “boos” from the Cleveland fans in Canton.

Woodson shook his head and responded visecerally:

“You can boo him because you disagree with him moving them but you can’t disagree with he did as an owner.”

He then said: “We had fun in Baltimore in 2000.” He thanked Marvin Lewis, Steve Bisciotti, Ray Lewis and Shannon Sharpe but left Brian Billick out of the speech.

This is my column from earlier in the evening:

9:05 p.m. — I sat down to the watch the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremonies tonight and really expected to be moved by great speeches made by great football players.

But before Rod Woodson even got a nanosecond of face time, I was watching Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson having the ultimate honor wearing the gold jacket and entering the hallowed halls of Canton. And as his family rose to his feet and Chris Berman “circled the wagons” it makes me sad and sick to think that Arthur B. Modell will never have a night like tonight, which he so richly deserves.

Wilson is talking about the AFL. He is talking about the legend of Lamar Hunt. He is talking about the merger. His is waxing on about Carroll Rosenbloom. He is talking about Buffalo and the players and the fans and the induction committee. He thanked the usual cast of thousands.

His speech just ended and he did not say the words “Art Modell” in a rambling 15-minute speech.

What a shame and what a cowardly act. Wilson, more than anyone, should’ve made a stand or statement regarding Modell’s significance to the NFL.

The sick truth: the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the NFL doesn’t really to see Modell inducted while he’s alive. They don’t really want to hear his name uttered anyone near the shrine.

The real truth: They wouldn’t want the trouble the Browns fans would bring 40 miles south to Canton and the bad blood. It’s sad, but this is the truth. That, and the biased small group of men and women who control this vote make a decision each February that has cheated Modell while rewarding his contemporaries like Al Davis, and tonight, Ralph Wilson.

In my opinion, both of those men deserve to be in the Hall of Fame because the story of the NFL couldn’t be written without them. But the same goes for Art Modell, who is now being held hostage in part because of the proximity to the Hall of Fame to Cleveland.

Modell is now 84 years of age. He doesn’t have a lot of time left. Last year, I went nuts distributing signs with a relatively luke-warm effect inside the stadium on the frigid night the Ravens beat the Redskins.

I’ve written tomes on why Modell should be in the Hall.You read everything I think by simply using my blog roll under ART MODELL.

I don’t vote for Baltimore. Scott Garceau does.

It’s HIS responsibility to get Art’s name into the room and create a lobby for Modell. I’ve grabbed several of the voters myself and have implored them to ignore the internal “pressure” of Canton and do the right thing.

I’m not the only one. Washington Post editor Len Shapiro has also publicly stumped for Modell. Several other members of the cabinet are aligned with the reality of Modell’s achievements and contributions to the NFL.

We don’t harp on this issue because of mere sentimentality. I think it’s a pretty cut and dried case and the track record is well documented.

It’s insane that Modell isn’t in the Hall of Fame. It cheapens the entire institution in my opinion and I’m a football nut and true historian. (Not to mention the goofy fact that every Baltimore NFL record lives under a sign that says Indianapolis down the hallway!)

There is no legitimate case to keep Modell out of the Hall of Fame, especially when you consider that he truly birthed the NFL in TWO cities. He created a sound franchise brand in Cleveland over 35 years and left the city its dignity and legacy. He brought Baltimore back its civic identity and pride.

He should be rewarded for that. And any self-respecting Ravens fan should fight for Art Modell’s good name in Canton, Ohio.

I’ll keep this one brief tonight – because I’m emotional about this. I’ve also been reading John Steadman’s book “From Colts to Ravens” over the past two weeks and the stories and vivid images of our time without a team is a daily reality in my reading.

Art Modell should’ve been on that stage tonight next to Wilson.

The truth: the NFL doesn’t want Modell in the Hall.

Just think about the scene the Browns fans would create. They’d organize and do everything in their power to wreck the event.

I know it. The NFL knows it. The Browns fans know it.

And, I think that’s the real story.

And it’s very, very sad that politics are keeping a man like Modell out of the Hall of Fame.

Watching Ralph Wilson go into the Hall of Fame tonight only reminded me of how wrong it is that Art Modell might never live to see his summer night in Canton.

The post Rod Woodson states the obvious: Art Modell belongs in Canton appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.

I’m at the Caps game right now and using Drew’s computer to blog, but I’m pretty salty about the whole thing and will need more time later to collect my thoughts and write a lengthier missive.

But once again, it’s the garbage of the Cleveland contingent led by Ohio’s angriest man, Tony Grossi.

They all should be ashamed of themselves and they should turn in their voting cards.

Art Modell belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

Period.

The post Modell shamelessly ignored by football writers appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.