Customer Reviews

False Start: How The New Browns Were Set Up To Fail

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Terry Pluto has written a number of excellent books and this book on the Browns is one of his best. The book is an absolute must read for all Brown's fans. It gives an insight that can be found no where else. If you've wondered why the Browns are struggling in 2004 it is because of decisions made or not made in 1998 and 1999. It portrays a team that the NFL and the other owners milked to line their own pockets. It shows a team that struggled from day one because it never had a true general manager, didn't get the coach it wanted, and never had a master plan as to how to build a successful NFL team. Unfortunately it shows that things haven't changed much with current coach and de facto GM Butch Davis.

It also shows the passion of the fans that has been a hallmark of the franchise for almost 60 years. And despite the mis-management and incompetence of those who have run or are running the team,fans speak from their heart and show that the love affair with Browns is as strong today as it ever was.

Terry Pluto has put together a well-written documentation of how Brown's fans were short-changed by the NFL upon their return in 1999. I think all NFL fans will find this interesting, just to get an insight into just how powerful and greedy the NFL money machine has become.

While Mr. Pluto does not sugar-coat the truth, he remains positive and upbeat throughout, showing just how important football and The Browns are to him. Hindsight is 20/20, but there were so many things that Browns fans just accepted because of their undying loyalty to their team, and this will open the eyes of many, I know it did for me.

Great book, thank you Mr. Pluto!

Terry Pluto has out done himself here again. The Curse of Rocky Colavito is great but this book just hits home with our beloved Cleveland Browns. He goes into detail on how The NFL "Took care" of one of the most proud franchises and turned it into a laughing stock. Its a great read. Cleveland Browns fans take notice that pain and misery goes on...I pray for a Super Bowl win before I die

A very light, superficial account of the new Browns. Terry Pluto is one of my favorite writers because he lacks any pretension, but I expected more from this book.

There was obviously little heavy research that went into the story, other than a few interviews with the major players. The page count was fleshed out by dozens of only slightly interesting anecdotes from Browns' fans. Pluto also quoted liberally from his past columns.

Pluto's done better, and I'm sure he knows it, too.

Basically the Browns:

1) Weren't given enough time to prepare for their initial season;

2) The expansion draft rules were < favorable than 1995;

3) Carmen Policy had no frame of reference on running an expansion team and he was overrated because he fell into a good situation in SF where Walsh did all the heavy lifting;

4) Dwight Clark was over his head as GM;

5) Because of the short time before their initial season the candidate field for head coach was limited unless they wanted a college coach;

6) Brain Billick didn't want to coach an expansion team, nor did any other perhaps better qualified coaches. The Browns were desperate for a head coach and tried to pressure Billick into the job;

7) Because of the constraints placed on hiring other NFL assistant coaches, Chris Palmer's pool of NFL assistants was limited to coaches who had been fired from NFL jobs; and,

8) Did some lousy drafting.

That's just about it.

False Start: How The New Browns Were Set Up To Fail

Terry Pluto explained what all us loyal Browns fans have known - just needed someone with clout to expose the truth. What a costly mistake to Cleveland - a huge city with a reputation at stake! What a clear example of the heartlessness and greed Art Modell was really made of! Giving us underhanded crap to a town that had fans many other pro-teams were jealous of. The fans need to 'own' the Cleveland Browns as we're the ones who would find the heart and soul in administration and coaches - ones that we can trust. I feel for the guys who are playing for the Browns as they need winning leadership to rise out of the ashes that Modell left behind. Time to clean up and stop messin' around!
Elaine W, Ohio
Lifetime fan

Terry Pluto has proven again why he is the top sports journalist in northeastern ohio..this book describes the ways Browns fan were ripped off and let down by the NFL for giving us an inferior team @ higher costs..it's not a total negative read,it's just an honest assessment from someone who truly cares about the Browns.a must read for "True" Browns fans...

THIS IS A VERY SHORT YET DETAILED STORY CONCERNING THE CURRENT ADDITION OF THE CLEVELAND BROWNS. MR PLUTO STARTS FROM WHEN ART MODELL MOVED THE TEAM AND ENDS WITH THE RESIGNATION OF CARMEN POLICY RIGHT BEFORE THE START OF THE 2004 SEASON. HE TELLS IT LIKE IT IS, ESPECIALLY THE MANY BLUNDERS FROM CARMEN POLICY AND DWIGHT CLARK. THE TEAM WAS DOOMED FROM THE START, LITTLE TIME FOR PREPARATION THE MAIN PROBLEM. THEN THE MANY DRAFTS THAT WERE OF NO HELP TO THE HIRING OF BUTCH DAVIS. CARMEN POLICY PUT ALOT OF TRUST IN PEOPLE WHO WERE NOT QUALIFIED FOR THE JOB AND HE TOOK A QUICK EXIT AND RETURNED TO WINE COUNTRY IN CALIFORNIA WHERE HE SHOULD STAYED IN THE FIRST PLACE. NOW BUTCH DAVIS HAS BEEN FIRED AND A NEW REGIME IS IN CHARGE NOW. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FOR ALL BROWNS FANS AND FANS OF FOOTBALL TEAMS WHO START OR HAVE STARTED AS AN EXPANSION TEAM. TERRY TAKES HIS SHOT AT THE NFL GREEDY OWNERS AND IS 100 % CORRECT IS HIS ASSESSMENT THAT ALL THEY ARE INTERESTED IN IS $$$$$$$$. A MUST READ.

For those who are looking for new material on the birth of the new Browns, forget this book.

Terry Pluto, a long-time columnist for the Akron (OH) Beacon-Journal newspaper, takes the lazy way in spinning his conspiracy theory on how the new Browns were doomed to fail due to league officials literally tossing dog biscuits to Cleveland's political leaders, competing ownership groups and fans who demanded a new franchise when the team relocated to Baltimore.

One should expect that a journalist with the years of experience like Pluto would pen a book based on new information or new angles to previously published information. Instead, he covers old ground through old columns; simply a cheap "best of" format.

Time doesn't stand still, but for Pluto it had to so his theories would hold up in this thin book. Soon after False Start was published, an expose on the anatomy of the new franchise appeared in the sports section in The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. It used tangible statistical information culled from other expansion periods (Carolina & Jacksonville, Houston) which should have put to rest the fiction that many feel is fact concerning the new Browns.

But Pluto as a columnist in the period covered in the book and Pluto as a columnist today will continue to play the everyman's victim card with the Browns. It is much too late in the game for him to turn back toward the field filled with the truth.

Heck, in a year or so he may even get another book deal out of it.