The Cleveland Browns’ regular-season home opener will include the unveiling of the team’s Ring of Honor, recognizing the greatest contributors in the franchise’s history.
But the greatest Browns player of them all won’t be there.
In what Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plain Dealer describes as a “profound snub” caused by “frosty relations between the franchise and its greatest player,” Brown is planning to skip the event.
Brown hasn’t told Browns officials directly that he won’t be there, but his wife confirmed that he will not attend.
“He won’t be able to make it,” Monique Brown said. “He tried to move a few things around [his schedule], but wasn’t able to.”
Brown has refrained from publicly criticizing the team this offseason, but he was miffed that Mike Holmgren removed him from his senior management position with the team. And Grossi reports that Brown is also upset that the team curtailed its financial involvement in Brown’s Amer-I-Can Program.
One source told Grossi, “I’m afraid we’ve seen the last of Jim Brown around here.”
That would be a shame.