Tagliabue resigns

[wmurphyhh]

Labor peace, the Browns landing a Pro Bowl center, and TO in Dallas must be too much for Paul to take. He's done in July of this year.

[swerb]

Tagliabue will go down as the most successful commissioner in the recent history of sports.

Football has an ideal system and setup. It has a salary cap, and even the sorriest teams are massively profitable. Even the ones that don't sell out games. He's done a great job selling and advancing the sport, as evidenced by the monster television contracts that are the prime contributor to the aforementioned profitability teams enjoy.

He handled most of the sticky situations that have arose on his watch well, and helped get football back here in Cleveland.

I'm a little surprised Conman Policy's name hasn't arisen as a candidate to replace him. Policy is on record in past years as having an interest in the gig down the road if it became available. When he quit here, and went to go stomp grapes, I figured that he was just recharging the batteries before making a run at commish, or taking over a new franchise in LA.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want him in that post, just surprised it hasn't come up.

[swerb]

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plainde ... xml&coll=2

NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue will step down this summer brings to mind our November 2003 column, which stated Carmen Policy wouldn't complete the five-year extension he'd just signed as Browns president - and would plan a campaign to replace Tagliabue in 2006. The column item generated plenty of hysterical criticism and indignant denials (including from Policy). But, fact is, it stands up to the test of time:

Tagliabue did step down in 2006 (with years remaining on his contract).

Policy did leave the Browns months after the item appeared - despite insisting he wasn't going anywhere and shedding ample crocodile tears about having his commitment to the team questioned.

And, yes, Policy would now be an active candidate to replace Tagliabue - if word of his campaign strategy hadn't leaked out in 2003. Trust us.

[wmurphyhh]

So Roger Brown finally gets his one of his off the walls ideas to hit. Triv has to love that guy, he's the only one that keeps Triv from be the biggest jackass in town.

[Jon Cohodas]

He handled most of the sticky situations that have arose on his watch well, and helped get football back here in Cleveland.

He also did nothing to stop football from leaving Cleveland. In fact, he encouraged Modell to look into moving the Browns to Sacramento. He also helped insure that the man who helped Modell move the team could be the one to profit from the new franchise.

If I was one of the few getting rich off the NFL, I could see how his legacy improved things. He certainly did nothing to help the average Cleveland Browns fan.

[comish]

I'll take the job