The most famous face in Cleveland was on the sidelines at Browns practice today.
And then his friend LeBron James showed up.
For all the hysteria Johnny Manziel has created, it doesn’t compare to the excitement when the NBA superstar showed up for practice, making Cleveland the center of the universe.
“Stuff like this doesn’t happen [here],’' Cleveland native and Browns safety Donte Whitner said, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “That’s why it’s time for a change. LeBron’s from Northeast Ohio, getting Johnny Football here, it’s a lot of excitement, man, we pretty much deserve it. A lot of people kick us around a lot, talk a lot of trash about us, but we deserve it and hopefully we can go out there and put some wins on the board and then we’ll have a happy town.’'
James showed up during practice with his kids, and immediately created a buzz, bigger than Manziel has since he turned up on an inflatable swan.
“I’m going to be father of the year now,’' Browns coach Mike Pettine said. “I got my daughter a picture with LeBron. She could care less about a picture with me, but ...’'
Pettine had just met Jim Brown the day before, so he said he had: “Two things off the bucket list.”
The attention James draws can actually be helpful to the Browns, if only that it diverts from Manziel. If James can help his marketing partner learn how to deal with celebrity, the Browns will be even better off.