The Browns demote Bernie Kosar

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Demoting Bernie Kosar from television commentary on exhibition games is not a bad PR move by the Browns.

It's a horrible move.

Solomon Wilcots instead. A former Bengal and Steeler? Really?

What, a former Raven isn't available?

Whatever job Kosar gets on the Browns' website or radio or some other team forum, I know I'll miss his insight, humor and frankness when he had the broadcast audience.

It was some frank, quarterback-bashing remarks about St. Louis' Kellen Clemens that landed Kosar in hot water with the long-gone, little-missed Joe Banner. You remember the now deposed Banner, Hotspur Haslam's hand-picked top lieutenant?

Banner was the guy who always looked like somebody had been flatulent nearby, due to the perpetual scowl/sneer he had pasted on his face.
Kosar vs. Banner? Boy, that's a tough one.

There's Kosar -- a guy who drafted the Browns as much as the other way around, played with physical limitations behind an offensive line that was never a big priority, coped with a changing cast of coaches and coordinators, took the Browns to the brink of the Super Bowl three times on the strength of his video study and recognition of defensive tendencies, and bled for the team and the fans -- on the one hand.

And there's Banner -- the guy who plighted his troth, professionally anyway, with Mike Lombardi, king of front office intrigue, in cahoots with whom Banner deferred most of the 2013 draft to 2014 -- on the other hand.

It was a bad show all the way around, the overreaction to Kosar's criticism.

Peter King of Sports Illustrated went on Twitter, speculating about Kosar's documented dependency struggles after football. It was not a good moment by a respected writer. I've had those moments, too. If you really swing the bat in a column, you risk the chance that you will swing and miss at times. You can overdo it and overswing other times.

I've taken some shots at people in my career I wish I had back. There was the Browns' Earnest Byner, to whom I apologized, and the Indians' Ernie Camacho, to whom I should have. But at least my criticism was only about their performances on the field.

I seriously don't recall anything approaching the Bernie-must-be-drinking rumors for being nasty and personal.

Maybe Kosar was off base on his comments about Clemens. Kosar apologized. Under duress, but he still apologized. Should have been the end of the story.
At the very least, muting Kosar, or giving him a smaller platform than TV, or however the Browns spin it, continues the bland-leading-the-bland type of broadcasting that is a Cleveland staple.

One of the best NBA analysts in the business, Matt Guokas, got sacked by the Cavs  because he didn't wave pom-poms on the air.

Wilcots might do a fine job. For the sake of people who have to watch exhibition games, and Browns exhibitions at that, I hope he does.

But he won't have Kosar's background here, or his emotional resonance with the fans as the best player on the last teams that were consistent contenders. I doubt if Wilcots will have Bernie's way of explaining a play, which is close to that of a professor explaining a difficult passage in a book.

In that regard, I don't think his skills have diminished. He should have been allowed to do whatever he wanted to. They owe him.


(plaindealer.com)