There’s a terrible war in Ukraine and crushing inflation at home as the country staggers out of Covid. The president is infirm, about to make a deal with Putin and Iran’s mullahs that is naked appeasement, and generally can be counted on to butcher any important message. In short, it is a lousy year already, so we don’t need sports to make it worse, but rather to divert and entertain.

Instead the Cleveland Browns organization, in a move that is just so absolutely oblivious to the feelings of their fans and the standards of The Land when it comes to moral conduct, blows up a long-awaited rebuild by offering –very publicly– to sell the future of the franchise for three draft years ahead in exchange for a player, Deshaun Watson, who, at a minimum, lacks a moral compass. At. A. Minimum. In the process of doing this the club management pulls the equivalent of Bill Belichick cutting Bernie Kosar in November of 1993 but alientating their star QB (who is beloved by a significant majority of fans) Baker Mayfield, who not surprisingly demands a trade.

“Tough, smart, accountable” has been the mantra of the Browns for past two years after a much sought-after “alignment” was attained. Except it all went out the window this week, and to what end? How could anyone think fans would be ok with this? My morning monologue:

Audio:

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