"Art Modell, who helped make professional football more popular than baseball and rich beyond its wildest dreams but who broke Cleveland’s heart by killing his money-losing team, the Browns, to give birth to the Baltimore Ravens, died on Thursday in Baltimore. He was 87.
The
death, at Johns Hopkins Hospital, was announced on the Ravens’ Web site.
Mr.
Modell, who lived in Cockeysville, Md., had a history of coronary problems. In
a postwar era when pro football was extending its franchises across America and
its reach into the fantasies of millions of armchair quarterbacks, Mr. Modell
was the hands-on owner of the Browns from 1961 to 1995 and of the Ravens from
1996 to 2003.
I don't profess to have any insight on how Cleveland Armchair Quarterbacks feel about Art Modell today, but I do appreciate that he was left out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his abandonment of the Browns and their proud fan base. Throw whatever darts you may at the man and his infamous moves, but he was one of the men that made the league what it is today.
Pay homage to the late great Art Modell by purchasing one of these unique Cleveland Armchair Quarterback dartboards. In terms of Art's legacy, let the darts land where they may.
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