From: mocnik@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro
Subject: Browns News - Aug 14th
Date: 14 Aug 92 10:52:41 EST

Browns News - August 14th
--------------------------

1. The Browns have been scrimmaging with the Giants this week in New Jersey.
   The two team will play a game on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. EDT in the 
   Meadowlands. CBS will be broadcasting the game nationally. I think
   Madden will be there to do the broadcasting, but I'm not positive.
   Some notes:
   - Hitting has been hard in the scrimmages as expected. 
   - Stephen Braggs and one of the Giants got into a skirmish on the practice 
     field on Wednesday. It was the usual wrestling match.
   - Mark Bavaro and Al Groh, both former Giants gave interviews to the
     New York media. Mark talked about his health. Al was talking about
     the criticisms against him, which blamed him for the Giants' defense
     last year. Al was the Giants defensive coordinator last year.
   - Mark Bavaro received a huge cheer after catching a pass during the
     scrimmage. Mark is and always will be a Giants fan favorite.
     Mark says he feels pain after each practice, but the pain is not
     enough for him to quit, so far. He must ice down the knee every day.
   - Bernie Kosar broke his media blackout, saying he is encouraged about the
     offense, but there is still a lot of hard work left to be done. 
   - Tony Jones was getting reps with the first team at his Left tackle
     spot. Earlier he had been getting work with the second team. Dan Fike
     who had been working at left tackle was getting work at both right and
     left tackle.

    Injury update..... Lynn James was released from the hospital. Nothing
    serious was found. Lynn still gets headaches and will not play in the
    Giants game. He didn't make the trip to New York.
    ..... Leroy Hoard was fitted with a brace which will limit
    the movement of his sprained knee. He will miss the remainder of the
    pre-season. Surgery is not anticipated at this point.
    .... Frank Minnifield was admitted to the Cleveland Clinic to see what is 
    the cause of his blood in the urine. Many tests will be done. Doctors are 
    somewhat baffled on this one. Frank's problem went away about a week ago,
    only to return a day later.
    .... Eric Turner has returned to practice and should play this weekend.
    His back was bothering him, such that he was held out of practice last week
    and also did not play against the Falcons.
    .... Kevin Mack's knee has been bothering him. He will not play against
    the Giants. This is the same knee that Kevin hurt 2 weeks ago at practice.
    It is also the same knee that had arthroscopic surgery on in the off season.
    A lot of people questioned the Browns drafting Tommy Vardell, but Kevin
    has continued his injury trend and with Leroy out, there is a definite
    need for a Tommy Vardell.
    .... Ernie Logan and James Jones both Defensive lineman are injured and
    will probably miss the Giants game. Ernie has a leg problem and James
    hurt his neck in the scrimmage yesterday.
    .... The following did not play last week due to injuries, I don't know
    if they will play this week:
         - Bill Johnson, DT/DE,  ankle injury
         - Johnnie Cooks, LB, hamstring injury
         - Gerald Dixon, rookie LB, leg injury
         - Derrick Douglas, RB, knee injury
         - Bruce Perkins, RB, groin injury
         - Selwyn Jones, DB, hip injury

       - Jeff Francis, QB, dressed but did not play. He should play this week.
       - Brian Greenfield, P, did not play. He also should play this week.

2. Paul Farren signed his contract. Paul's injured back will prevent him from 
   practicing for a while. He will probably end up on the injured reserve list
   or the Physically Unable to Perform list.
   The holdouts left are: Webster, Eric and Scott. That's Slaughter, Metcalf, 
   and Galbraith.
   No negotiations have happened recently. Previous posts listed the reasons.

3. The Browns released place kicker, Dirk Borgognone after signing Paul Farren.
   
4. Thanks for the correction by an LSU fan on my last post about the Falcon
   game. Brian Kinchen and NOT Todd Kinchen is the Tight End/Long snapper with 
   the Browns. Brian had a good game, receiving and snapping.

   [It's good to know that my posts are read.....]

5. I read an interesting article about Coach Bill in the News-Herald that I 
   found to be enjoyable. I hope you do to.

   "BELICHICK NOW SHOWING HIS WARMER SIDE"
    -------------------------------------
    By Hal Lebovitz (Sports Columnist)

     He's difficult to spot on the practice field. His garb is ragged, somewhat
  like a kid's on the street. He seems to make it a point of looking unimposing
  as he stands far in the rear or along the sidelines.
     If you didn't know he wears a white tennis visor, rather than a Browns 
  coaching cap, you might think Browns' head coach Bill Belichick wasn't there
  at all. But make no mistake. He's there and every player knows it.
     A year ago, in practice, it was different, Belichick was everywhere,
  teaching his coaching staff, teaching his players and constantly evaluating
  them. Now his staff already knows precisely what he wants, so they have taken 
  over the teaching of the fundamentals. The veterans already were evaluated
  last season to a great extent, taking another load off the sophomore coach.
     Presently he is even relaxed enough to speak occasionally during practice 
  to a memeber of the media who might be standing nearby. Last year that would
  have been as remarkable as Bernie Kosar winning a 50-yard dash.
     The introspective Belichick admits he's more comfortable and understanding
  his role as a head coach.
     But he refuses to relax his rule, his intensity to turn the team into a
  winner and his belief that hard work now pays off later.
     The players may beef about the gassers and climbing up Belichick Hill and
  his rigidity about his basic rules.
     But he remembers that last year his team lost six games in which they led
  going into the fourth quarter. Now he's trying to instill a mental toughness
  that will carry his men through the final 15 minutes.
     On a recent Monday, he had promised Nev Chandler he would be ready for 
  Channel 5's camera at 5:20 p.m. The interview was to be done at one end of the
  practice complex. The usually prompt coach wasn't there. He didn't like the
  way his players were running their concluding drill, sprinting the hill.
     He stayed there, kept lining them up, then blowing his whitsle to signal 
  "go". The players, partially in disbelief, partially in jest, shouted, "He's
  crazy. He's going crazy." But Bill kept lining them up and blowing his
  whistle. Finally satisfied, he ran across two practice fields to the Channel
  5 camera and gave Chandler a delightful interview in which the coach even 
  smiled.  [ I saw the interview and it was very good. Bill was very relaxed
             and open about his family and the team.]
     He may be more relaxed, more confortable but there is no doubt he's the 
  same tough boss. Anyone who might have thought otherwise got the message 
  quickly this season. When rookie George Williams reported one pound 
  overweight, the coach sent him home. "If we overlook a pound now we would
  be sending out the wrong message," explained Belichick. Williams quickly
  shed the pound. Another draft choice, Marcus Lowe, was sent home because he 
  was out of shape. When he didn't respond quickly, he was released.
     Belichick looks small, almost meek, standing along his huge players. 
  Michael Dean Perry, the team's defensive star, tried to intimidate him with 
  comments to the media. Several years ago Jim Brown said things that irritated
  Paul Brown. I was involved in one case and Paul Brown rapped me for making
  the fullbacks comments public.
     "Tell Jim," I said, "He's the one who made them."
     I cautioned Jim, "Paul's mad. He's going to talk to you."
     And Paul Brown never did. From then on he began to lose the team and it
  eventually led to his firing. Belichick could have lost the team if he had
  ignored Perry's blasts. Instead he accosted him and, in effect, said, 
  "Do you have a problem with me? If you do, tell me to my face."
  It was Perry who backed off and the veterans, most of whom are Perry's 
  pals, applauded the way the coach handled this volcanic situation. One
  told me, "Bill treats everyone equally. No favorites. I like that."
     When Belichick cut Tim Hill after he was shot outside a bar last week,
  he told the media during the noon news conference Hill was being released
  but asked everybody, "Don't publish it yet, I want to notify Hill first."
  And he didn't do it by fax or by having an assistant make the call. He phoned
  Hill himself.
     And the players also see his warm, caring side. Last week a woman passed
  out at one of the practice sessions. When she came to and looked up, 
  Belichick was there standing over her, wondering if he could help. She 
  thought she was hallucinating. She wasn't. It was Coach Belichick. We now see
  his full personality emerging. There's "deep depth" underneath his ragged
  coaching clothes.

  **END of ARTICLE**

6. I'm preparing my Browns season preview. It will have the roster, as it
   stands at that point, the schedule, some trivia, and of course, my 
   predictions for the coming year.
   I will post it on Sept. 3rd or 4th.

   I'm open to suggestions for any topics that you would like to see
   in this preview. E-mail me directly with any suggestions.


That's all for now. I'll post more later.


Don Mocnik

GOO-O-O-O-O-O-O BROWNS!!!!!!!

Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro