If you dislike the Colts because they moved from Baltimore

You should also dislike the Baltimore Ravens, St. Louis Rams, Oakland Raiders, Washington Redskins (used to be the Boston Braves), Arizona Cardinals and probably some more than don't come to mind at the moment.
Anything less is stark hypocrisy.
Discuss.

I don't dislike any of the teams.

I just like calling them the Bolts.

But if you're from Baltimore and dislike Payless manning's team, it's understandable...you feel cheated, used.

That the Colts are evil for what they did and seem to not acknowledge that the did the same thing to Cleveland.

Or was that just the Colts. Such a cowardly act.

That was still selling out for money and a free stadium isn't loathesome? Bribery is worse than cowardice.

:)

Not because they moved from St Louis but because they moved from Chicago.

Tennessee Titans -- Houston Oilers
Detroit Lions -- Portsmouth Spartans
San Diego Chargers -- Los Angeles Chargers
Kansas City Chiefs -- Dallas Texans
Chicago Bears -- Decatur Staleys

I think that covers it.

unless of course you can find another team that snuck away under the cover of darkness...

and a free stadium to move. Somehow I think that a massive misuse of tax payer funds MY TAX dollars to screw the residents of Cleveland is a big deal. And in fact anger at the Democratic governor for doing that spilled over somewhat to the next election where a Republican was elected.

The Browns had unbelievably loyal fans and sold out every game right up until the end. This is another example of the NFL screwing the fans. The NFL should not have allowed the move but wait a moment the NFL cares about the local fan-not

That said, I think that when the league was first getting set up - in the 30s - and teams shifted around to make the NFL something logical, it's a bit different from moving an established team with a fan base.

And according to Wiki he did it in a sleazy, underhanded way.

From Wiki:

"Modell took control of Cleveland Municipal Stadium in 1973, which had been owned by the City of Cleveland but had become too expensive for the city to operate or maintain. He worked out a deal with the city whereby his newly formed entity, dubbed Stadium Corp., would rent the stadium from the City for $1 per year, assume all operating and repair costs and would sublease the stadium to its two primary tenants, the Browns and the Cleveland Indians, Cleveland's franchise in the American League of Major League Baseball.

The Indians organization became dissatisfied with Modell's Stadium Corp. as its landlord. Modell did not share the loge revenues earned from baseball games with the Indians. Also, rock concerts damaged the stadium playing field during baseball season, and Modell refused to improve the clubhouse. The Indians attributed to this their inability to attract high-quality free-agent players. Eventually the Indians persuaded City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County voters to fund a new ballpark (which became known as Jacobs Field), by imposition of new taxes.

In turn, Modell was dissatisfied with the Indians' new ballpark because Stadium Corp.'s suite rental revenue decreased once Jacobs Field opened. Many suite customers switched their business from Cleveland Stadium's older suites to Jacobs Field's newer suites, due to the Indians' newfound success and popularity in the mid 1990s and because Modell's Stadium Corp. refused to decrease the annual rent for the suites even though the events for which the suites could be used decreased substantially (81 home games) with the loss of the Indians as a tenant.

snip

Modell declined to become a tenant in Cleveland's new Gateway Sports and Entertainment Complex, instead asking for improvements to Municipal Stadium. Because Modell's Stadium Corp. still controlled Municipal Stadium, it may have made more business sense for Modell to try to keep the Indians at Municipal, particularly as the baseball team began to show signs of improvement both on the playing field and at the box office. (The Indians went on to play in the World Series in 1995 and 1997, and sold out 455 straight games at Jacobs Field from 1995 until 2001.) The City of Cleveland agreed to make the improvements to Municipal Stadium which were to be funded through an extension of the sin tax, which was used to provide funding for the Gateway Sports and Entertainment Complex.

While the City of Cleveland, Ohio agreed to improve Municipal Stadium, Modell issued a public moratorium on discussions relating to the stadium issue or the future of his franchise. It was during this time that Modell entered into secret discussions with the State of Maryland to move the franchise to Baltimore for the 1996 season. The announcement of the move occurred several days before the public referendum on the extension of the sin tax that would fund the improvements on Municipal Stadium as Modell had originally requested. Some say that the timing of the announcement was to cause the referendum to go down in defeat and thus allow Modell to make the case that he was not receiving the public support he needed to remain viable in Cleveland. The referendum was passed by a wide margin. He was assisted in the move by Alfred Lerner, who would go on to become the new owner of the reactivated Cleveland Browns franchise in 1998. Modell's move returned the NFL to Baltimore for the first time since the Colts left for Indianapolis after the 1983 season.

The reaction in Cleveland was, not surprisingly, very hostile. Modell had promised numerous times never to move the team. The Brooklyn native mentioned numerous times how saddened and betrayed he and other Brooklynites had felt when the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1957, he had publicly criticized the Baltimore Colts move to Indianapolis and he had testified in favor of the NFL in court cases where the league unsuccessfully tried to stop Al Davis from moving the Oakland Raiders from Oakland to Los Angeles.

THE SLIME CONTINUES: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Modell

at Dawgs By Nature: http://www.dawgsbynature.com/2010/1/22/1254095/why-modell-moved-the-browns


interesting excerpt:

All that was left was the vote of the owners. Many owners spoke out against the move. Some people thought that the move would be voted down due to the outrage of fans and media. Modell needed 23 out of the 30 owners to give him a yes. Three owners abstained from the vote, and two owners voted against the move. Ralph Wilson, who was considered one of Art Modell's closest friends in football, voted against him because Modell never gave the Browns a chance to match the offer he got from Baltimore. I am a Steeler hater, but I have the utmost respect for the Rooney family. They voted against the move of the Browns and handed out black armbands to their fans at the last Browns game in Pittsburgh. The fans gave a standing ovation to the Browns players when they were introduced. That is why the Browns-Steelers is the greatest NFL rivalry in the NFL. When the dust cleared, Modell had enough votes to move the Browns.

I missed the drama living in the Bay Area at the time. I hope the hire of Mike Holmgren can turn the team around and bury the demons of fifteen years ago.

It would almost be worth making the trip to Canton if Modell is ever elected the Hall of Fame. The public outcry would be great spectacle.

because they let Jerry Jones buy the Cowboys.

spent a sort of Babylonian captivity in L.A. (picking up another Super Bowl along the way), then returned home to Oakland.

And as for the Ravens, B-town wouldn't have been in the market for a new team if not for the perfidious Irsay pere.

P.S. I do dislike both the Rams and Cards for this reason, as well as for both having employed Tebow Sr. Warner.

P.P.S. Watch the ESPN 30 for 30 film "The Band that Wouldn't Die". It explains why Bawlmer is different than some of the other cities you mention, as well as how Modell became interested in Charm City in the first place.

Its a nice story. However that doesn't mitigate the fact that the move of the Ravens was motivated by GREED. How could Modell not want to move to a state that gave them so much money AND a free stadium? There is a reason why people in the Maryland/DC burbs dislike Baltimore...Because too often the governor of the state acts like the Governor of Baltimore. I'ym sure that 40 million giveaway could have been used for much better things. What made this all the worse to us in DC was that Governor Glendening was from PG county and he had no problem screwing over the DC area for Baltimore.

Edit: I thought Baltimore deserved a team again..but when it turned out to be the Browns...It broke my Dad's heart and I wondered why of ALL the teams to steal they had to take a team that was sooo loved and supported by their city. For this reason, I will ALWAYS loathe the Ravens more than just about any other team. I did have a bit of antipathy for Indianapolis before that. Never since.

Good man. His father was a major league asshole. But he didn't inherit that gene. The first owner to speak out against Limbaugh ownership bid.
Good friend of Stephen Stills, amongst other rockers. Reads Dylan Thomas. His players love him. What's not to like?

THEY STOLE THE TEAM IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT TWENTY YEARS AGO!!!!1!11!!!!

Poor little Baltimore hypocrites just can't get over it.

I allow a partial pass based on that alone, unlike the Rams and that ghastly darker color scheme.

But admittedly there is a domino effect. If the Colts never moved, we wouldn't be subjected to the Ravens' horrid logo.

Nothing is more despise worthy than the Oilers and that great derrick turning into the drippy Titans. I've never been able to look at their logo long enough to decipher what it pretends to be.

I already dislike the Ravens, Rams, Raiders, Redskins and Cardinals... and the Lakers, Dodgers, Giants, A's... and the Jazz, Hornets, Thunder, Braves, Texas Rangers, Natinals, and too many NHL teams to count.

None of it is because they moved, though.

At least you're an honest hater...:rofl: