Top 10 Villains in Cleveland Sports History

Top 10 Villains in Cleveland Sports History

Now that the great city of Cleveland has suffered yet another injustice in the world of sports, I figured it was the right time to go back and retrospectively order the many villains that affected the Browns, Cavaliers, and Indians. While this may seem like a knee-jerk reaction to LeBron James running off to South Beach, talents and all, this is something that has been weighing on my mind for a while. The villainous act of James simply gives the list another addition and makes it more recent and topical. So without further ado, here is the list of Cleveland’s top 10 sports villains.

#10.) Albert Belle.

World class baseball player. Grade A jackass. Most Tribe fans eventually grew tired of his antics, but didn’t mind it as long as he kept doing what he did best, smash the hell out of the ball. Major League Baseball’s only player ever to hit 50 home runs and 50 doubles in the same season, Belle had a variety of on and off the field issues. These ranged from throwing a baseball at a fan and hitting him in the chest to tearing up the clubhouse numerous times to chasing kids (who were egging his house) off his property on Halloween with his truck (and hitting one of them) to using a corked bat and trying to steal the evidence. However, the fans looked past it, mainly because Belle was one of the key pieces of the Tribe’s rise to greatness.

The 1996 season had ended and the Indians were upset by the Baltimore Orioles in the playoffs. They were just 2 years removed from their 1st World Series appearance in 41 years. Belle was a free agent and went fishing for the money, signing a 5 year $55 Million deal with the Chicago White Sox, the Tribe’s division rival, becoming the highest paid player in MLB history ($11 M per season), the first player in history to make 8 figures per season, and baseball’s first $50 million man in the process. His contract not only started the new wave of ridiculous contracts in the MLB, but also started the run of the Tribe’s big name free agents leaving the team (Manny Ramirez & Jim Thome would follow suit 5 & 7 years later, respectively).

On a semi-related note: Remember when the MLB’s biggest problem was corked bats? Bet they wish they were back in that era right about now.

9.) Bill Belichick.

After suffering through their 1st non-playoff season in 6 years, the Browns fired head coach Bud Carson 13 games into the 1990 season and would be in search for a new head man after the season ended. Bill Belichick had worked as the Defensive Coordinator under Bill Parcells for the previous 6 seasons, winning 2 Super Bowl rings in the process. He was coming off of a big upset win over Buffalo in Super Bowl XXV, a game in which he was heralded for his defensive game plan, which is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was a hot commodity at the time and Modell snatched him up as the new Browns head coach.

During his tenure in Cleveland, Belichick was never known to be “one with the media.” He often spent interviews talking about how much he hated doing interviews. He was known as a hard ass, as a guy that had little to no personality, who couldn’t really relate to the fans & who ultimately kept to himself.

During the 1993 season, the Browns had a little bit of a QB controversy (big shock, I know!) between long time fan favorite Bernie Kosar and Vinny Testaverde. They would go back & forth in playing time, until Vinny hurt his throwing shoulder in Week 8 vs. Pittsburgh. What happened next baffled everybody. With Testaverde out for a month, and Kosar performing well in the 1st game post Vinny (a loss vs. Denver), Belichick released Kosar, citing diminishing skills. That left the team in the hands of Todd Philcox, a guy who had played in just 8 games prior to the 1993 season. Browns fans were outraged! Kosar was a hero to them right out of college, when he chose to play for his hometown team, the Browns. He was, in effect, the opposite of Belichick, as he always loved interacting with fans and was actually just like them. He wasn’t the most athletic football player, but he played his heart out, leading the Browns to the AFC Championship Game in 3 out of 4 years. Kosar was one of us, and releasing him was like getting kicked in the nuts to Browns fans, only Browns fans would have probably preferred the latter.

Despite all that, Belichick looked like he had Browns football back on the rise. After finishing the 1993 season 7-9, the 1994 season showed significant improvement, as the Browns finished 11-5 and won their 1st playoff game in 5 years. The 1995 season showed promise, with a 3-1 start, until Art Modell announced that the team was moving to Baltimore. From there, it was all downhill. The team finished the season with a 5-11 record before moving. Despite the apparent upswing, it was obvious Belichick wasn’t ready to be the head man quite yet, and he knew it, going back to be an Assistant Head Coach under Bill Parcells in New England, then the Jets, before finally becoming head coach again in 2000 for the Patriots (and we all know the rest from there, 3 Super Bowl wins later…).

Despite looking like he was getting the franchise back on track, Belichick will unfortunately always be known by Browns fans as the guy who released one of our own.

8.) John Elway.

Cleveland, Ohio. January 11, 1987. The top 2 seeds in the AFC battling it out in the AFC Championship Game. Our Cleveland Browns, the #1 seed, were on an absolute tear, having won 12 of their past 14 games and 6 in a row, including their 1st playoff win in 18 seasons.

The Browns took a 20-13 lead with less than 6 minutes left in the game. Luck even seemed to be on their side, as Denver botched the ensuing kickoff, forcing themselves to start on their own 2 yard line with just 5:32 left to play. That’s when John Elway completely took over the game, engineering a remarkable 15 play, 98 yard drive that ended on a 5 yard TD pass to Mark Jackson with :39 remaining to tie the game, in what would become known as The Drive in Cleveland lore. In effect, it ended any chance of the Browns making their 1st ever Super Bowl appearance. Elway went 6-9 for 78 yards on the drive, including a 20 yard completion to Jackson on a 3rd & 18 with less than 2:00 to go in the game, and ran 2 times for 20 yards.

Yes, the Browns technically still had a chance to win the game, as it went into overtime, but in their hearts, they lost the game during that drive.

7.) Michael Jordan.

While Michael Jordan had to surpass the Detroit Pistons to get rolling on the 1st of his eventual 6 NBA championship rings, he literally flew right over the Cavaliers to get there. Out of a 6 year span, his Chicago Bulls would face, and beat, the Cavaliers in the postseason 4 times, including a 2nd straight time in 1989, when Jordan’s Bulls beat the favored Cavaliers, 3 games to 2 in the 1st round of the playoffs.

It was Jordan’s infamous ”Shot” over Craig Ehlo to end the deciding Game 5 in that series that started his (and Chicago’s) path to greatness. They would make their 1st Eastern Conference Finals appearance that year, where they would lose to Detroit, and go on to win their 1st NBA title just 2 years later over the Magic Johnson led Lakers.

Jordan did it to Cavs fans again in 1992, this time further into the playoffs, in the ECF, albeit with less drama, defeating the Cavaliers 4 games to 2 in the best of 7 series en route to their 2nd straight NBA title. It was the 2nd time in the span of 5 years where 1 athlete single handedly stopped a Cleveland team from getting to the Championship Games/Finals series. Jordan’s Bulls would again defeat the Cavaliers in a clean sweep in the 2nd round of the 1993 NBA playoffs to round out the beatings. Yes, during those 4 years, the Bulls defeated the Cavs in each round at least once. And perhaps the most loved core in Cavaliers history failed to bring home a championship for the fans that loved them so much. Not because of a lack of talent, not because of a lack of comaraderie. Only because of Michael Jordan.

6.) Jim Thome.

After losing Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez to more money via free agency in a 5 year time frame, the situation arose again in 2002, with fan favorite Jim Thome. Seeing Belle go after the money with the Tribe’s hated rival, the White Sox, and Ramirez turn down a 7 year, $119+ million offer from the Tribe for an 8 year, $160 million deal with the Red Sox, Tribe fans were prepared for the worst. But for some reason, this felt different.

Thome wasn’t a headcase like Albert Belle. He got along with the fans, was a very likeable player on & off the field, was very quiet & to himself, and just did what he had to do on the diamond. He wasn’t like Manny, who was very unpredictable on the field, made boneheaded play after boneheaded play, and always seemed like he thought he was too big for Cleveland. Thome thought of Cleveland as his 2nd home. He told the fans he didn’t care about the money, he told them that they would have to “rip the shirt off my back for me to leave.” This was a refreshing change for Cleveland fans, as they weren’t used to hearing that an athlete wanted to stay put.

During free agency, the 32 year old Thome let it be known that he wanted a guaranteed 6 year deal. The Indians offered him as much as 5 years, $60 million, but had a vesting option for a 6th year that would have made it very easy for Thome to achieve that 6th year, virtually guaranteeing it. Included in the contract were the following:

This offer came after the Philadelphia Phillies offered him a 6 year, $85 million deal. Thome went for the money, breaking Cleveland fans’ hearts once again. He would claim it was because he wanted to win, he would claim it was because of the 6th year. Remember, the 6th year in the Tribe’s offer was virtually guaranteed, and the $60 million + the extras in the offer would make it pretty close to the $85 million Philly was offering. Also remember that even though Thome knew the Tribe had traded ace Bartolo Colon & were starting a re-building phase, he still told the fans that they’d have to tear the shirt off his back for him to leave.

Apparently, the sound of money was enough for it to just fall off.

5.) Carlos Boozer.

A 2nd round pick in the 2002 NBA draft, Carlos Boozer turned into an absolute steal for the Cavaliers. Averaging 10.0 points & 7.5 rebounds in just 25 minutes per night as a rookie, Boozer showed promise right off the bat. His role expanded in ‘03-’04 and he had a breakout season, averaging 15.5 points & 11.5 boards per night in 10 more minutes per game than he averaged in his rookie season. Being a 2nd round pick, Boozer was only guaranteed 2 seasons, with the 3rd season being a team option.

However, with the breakout season he had, the Cavaliers were convinced Boozer was a integral part of their future core and wanted to lock him up to a long term deal, coming to an understanding with Boozer that if they declined his team option he’d sign a 6 year, $39 million contract with the team, keeping him under contract through the 2010 season. The problem was that declining his team option would make him an unrestricted free agent. As soon as he was free, Utah swooped in with a 6 year $70 million contract offer, which Boozer signed on the dotted line for, even though he had an understanding in place with the Cavaliers & owner Gordon Gund. Cavalier fans were outraged, and while some found it gullible to take an athlete’s word, most blamed Boozer for going back on his word & running at the first sight of dollar signs.

When it came down to it, Gund trusted Boozer on his word to sign the contract, but Boozer found 31 million reasons to go back on his word.

4.) Frank “Trader” Lane.

Anytime you see a General Manager have the nickname “trader,” you know he loves to make moves. Boy, did Frank Lane ever love to wheel & deal. Before becoming the GM of our Indians in November 1957, his most famous stop was with the White Sox, where he was the GM from 1948-1955, during which he made an astounding 241 trades! Obviously, with such a large amount of trades being made, some were bound to fail or be unpopular. Enter his Cleveland tenure, which only lasted 3 seasons, but involved 50 trades including 112 players.

His 1st deal for the Tribe was one of his worst, as he traded away Early Wynn to the White Sox as part of a 4 player trade for Minnie Minoso. While Minoso would hit .302 with 45 home runs over 2 seasons with the Tribe, Wynn would go on to win 22 games with an ERA of 3.17 in 1959, helping the White Sox edge out the Tribe to take home the AL pennant, earning the Cy Young Award in the process.

It was during the 1960 season in which Lane would make 3 significant deals, one being one of the worst trades in Indians history, another being significant in the sense that it is the only occurrence of such an event in MLB history, and the 3rd being the most unpopular trade in Indians history.

First, the horrible trade. Lane traded a 24 year old 1B named Norm Cash to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for 24 year old 3B Steve Demeter. Seemed like just a minor trade of young prospects, right? Wrong. While Demeter was busy playing in 4 games for the 1960 Indians, Cash would go on to hit .286 with 18 HR & 63 RBI in 121 games with the Tigers. That was just the tip of the iceberg. Demeter would not play another game in the majors after the 1960 season, while Cash would play another 14 seasons with the Tigers, hitting 377 home runs and driving in 1,103 runs. He finished as a 5x all-star and a World Series Champion.

The 2nd would be another trade. But not one you’d expect. On August 3rd, Lane would trade Tribe manager Joe Gordon to the Detroit Tigers for their manager, Jimmy Dykes. No, that wasn’t a typo. Lane actually traded managers with the Detroit Tigers. While neither manager would go on to manager above .500 teams the rest of their managerial career, it just shows the things Lane was capable of pulling off.

However, Trader Lane was most hated for when he “put a curse on Indians baseball.” “The Rock,” Rocky Colavito was enormously popular with the Cleveland fans, due to his charismatic good looks and his approachability. He would always sign autographs for the sometimes hundreds of fans after each game, even if it took him hours. Lane traded him to the Tigers for Harvey Kuenn, who was the defending batting champion (.353), but played just 1 year for the Tribe, batting .308 in 126 games. Colavito would go on to hit 173 HR over the next 5 seasons before returning to the Tribe in 1965.

So was born “The curse of Rocky Colavito.”

3.) Ted Stepien.

Stepien bought the Cavaliers in the Spring of 1980 and proved to be a train wreck after his 1st season owning the team, paying $2 million (then, a hefty price) for the services of Scott Wedman, James Edwards, and Bobby Wilkerson, giving up a 1st round pick for Wedman in the process (something that would be seen all too frequently with Stepien).

It was before this, however, in which Stepien made one of his most unpopular decisions, when he fired very popular radio play by play announcer Joe Tait towards the end of the 1980-81 season, due to his criticism of the team on the air. Fans were outraged and showed their support for Tait in the final home game of the season.

Things didn’t get any better the following season, when Stepien went through 4, count them, 4 different head coaches. Don Delaney, Bob Kloppenburg, and Chuck Daly (yes, that Chuck Daly) would all get the axe only for Stepien to end up with the same coach in which he fired with 11 games remaining in the previous season, Bill Musselman.

Among Stepien’s bright ideas (which, thankfully never came to fruition) was the thought to rename the team the “Ohio Cavaliers,” while playing games in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and even Pittsburgh, with the hopes of gaining more fans. He even threatened to move the team to Toronto, going as far as holding a press conference in Toronto to announce plans to move the team there & rename them the Toronto Towers.

However, it was also his transactions with the players that got him in trouble. This is from an article published by Sports Illustrated in July 1981:

If the draft were to be abolished tomorrow the Cavaliers would be way ahead of the game. Because of trades, the Cavs have just one first-round pick until 1987.

So, over the next six drafts, the Cavs would have had one 1st round pick total. Let’s take a look at some of the beautiful trades that Stepien made, and just for emphasis, I put in parenthesis who was drafted with the traded pick:

*Available at this point to draft had he not traded this pick: Larry Nance, Danny Ainge.

**Available at this point to draft had he not traded this pick: Mike Sanders, Mark Eaton, Craig Hodges, Rod Higgins.

The Stepien era went through 5 different coaches (in 3 seasons), saw a record of 66-180, and traded away 5 straight 1st round picks (including a 3 month span where they traded their ‘83, ‘84, ‘85, and ‘86 1st round picks to the Mavericks in 3 separate deals). Thankfully, the NBA put an end to the mayhem (and any future mayhem by instituting the “Stepien Rule”), as they forced Stepien to sell the team, and he did so, to the Gund family prior to the 1983-84 season. And life was good again.

2.) LeBron James.

“King James.” “The Chosen One.” Those were the nicknames for LeBron James before he even stepped foot on an NBA floor. The Cavaliers won just 17 games in the 2002-2003 NBA season to “earn” the most pingpong balls for the 2003 draft lottery (tied with Denver for best odds). For once, things went right for Cleveland, and it seemed like the Cleveland curse would finally be lifted in due time. The superstar was finally on our side, as was a little bit of luck, for what seemed like the first time.

During his tenure in Cleveland, LeBron James took a lot of heat from outsiders. There were complaints that he wasn’t improving his game, that he was too worried about his pre-game routines, that he wasn’t determined enough, and that he didn’t have a killer instinct, just to name a few. However, most Cavalier fans defended him for the same reason we defended Albert Belle in the mid-90’s, because his play backed it up. LeBron James was the best chance we had to finally win a championship, and damn it, we were going to defend that no matter what the critics said about him, even if we thought some of the things they were saying were true.

It’s all about competing, about trying to be the best. It’s also important to me to make the team I’m on now the best. I don’t want to go ring-chasing, as I call it; you know, going to a team that’s already pretty established and trying to win a ring with them. I want to stay with the Cavs and build a champion. And I feel like we’re on our way.

-LeBron James, 2006 Sports Illustrated.

The free agent class of 2010 was making headlines years before 2010 was even here. All of the talk surrounded LeBron James. Would the hometown kid stay or go? As Clevelanders, we were ready for the heartbreak, even though we may not have thought he would actually go through with it and leave. I mean, he promised us championships, saying his mission wouldn’t be complete without winning a championship for Cleveland. He would be viewed as a sports icon by all if he could break the vaulted “Cleveland curse.” He’d be viewed as bigger than even Jordan himself. His home was here, his family was here. He received whatever he wanted here. Dan Gilbert would spend limitless amounts of money to put a championship team around him. He’d be stupid to leave, right?

The 2010 NBA playoffs was almost a mirror image to the 2008 playoffs for Cavs fans. A 2nd round exit at the hands of the Celtics. But the biggest difference was the play of LeBron James. Anybody who’s anybody could see he was not himself, especially in Games 5 & 6 of the Boston series. Yes, he finished with a triple double in Game 6, but his energy & effort were very subpar. He didn’t show the competitiveness we were used to seeing, especially for an elimination game. Talks were starting and have not stopped since that he quit on his team.

Enter free agency. Cavs fans thought it was a good sign that right off the bat it was announced he was making teams come to him in Cleveland to present their cases, meaning that he would no longer go on his “free agent tour.” In reality, the fact that he wasn’t going from city to city only proved that he knew where he was going already. Later on, it was announced that he would make his decision in an hour long special on ESPN, entitled “The Decision.” Cavs fans also thought this was a good sign. No way would he go on national television just to announce that he was leaving. That would just be the ultimate slap in the face to the city and to his hometown. No way in hell he could do that, could he? LeBron knows all about Cleveland sports history and all about Cleveland heartache. In reality, he called it “The Decision” for a reason: he wanted it to be bigger than anything else Cleveland has endured. He wanted it to be the first thing people thought of when they thought of Cleveland heartbreak.

I, for one, won’t give him that glory. The Shot, The Drive, The Fumble, The Betrayal.

1.) Art Modell.

Since 1946, the Cleveland Browns were a staple in Cleveland. They won all 4 of the short lived AAFC’s Championship games (losing only 4 total games in the process) and added 4 NFL Championships, including a string of 10 consecutive playoff appearances spanning the 2 leagues. Because of the immediate success, the Browns had terrific support from the Cleveland fanbase right off the bat, which has lasted throughout the team’s entire existence.

Art Modell took over ownership in 1961 and fired the only head coach the Browns had up until that point, Paul Brown (an Ohio legend and all-time great coach), after the 1962 season, a very unpopular move at the time. It received little media attention because of the local newspaper strike, which didn’t seem like such a coincidence to many. Rumors persisted that Modell fired Brown due to his overshadowing of Modell, and ignoring his suggestions.

Modell continued damaging his image among Browns fans with his contract battles with various players, including the great Leroy Kelly, during the late 60’s and 70’s. Fans were irate that the money they were dishing out to sell out Cleveland Stadium wasn’t being used to bolster the team. It was during this time that the fans started to speak out publicly against Modell at the stadium, bringing anti-Modell banners with them to flaunt.

In 1973, Modell would take control of Cleveland Stadium by buying it from the city. He would rent the stadium from the city for $1 per year, and take care of any repair & operating costs for the stadium. Problem is, the Indians shared the stadium & were growing tired of Modell’s antics as landlord. He refused to share the loge revenues earned from Indians games with the team, refused to make essential repairs, and the Indians wanted out.

Fast forward almost 30 years and enter the Gateway Project, which would see the Cavaliers move back to downtown Cleveland and new stadiums for the Browns & Indians. Modell refused to participate, and instead asked for improvements to Cleveland Stadium. Before the public referendum on the Gateway Project was voted on, Modell engaged in talks with the city of Baltimore about moving the team there. Unfortunately, I don’t have to go into any more detail, as we know the rest of how this story goes.

During the final game at Cleveland Stadium before the move, NBC announcer & former great Bears coach Mike Ditka said it best: “These are the best fans in the NFL. I said that when I came here with my Bears. They don’t deserve this. If Modell had any sort of sense of dignity he would have sold the team.”

Indeed, Ditka, we didn’t deserve any of this.

Top 10 Villains in Cleveland Sports History

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