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Toward the End: Readings, Writings, Football
Mayfield Memorandum 15: OBJ Didn’t Change
Odell Beckham Jr. leaves Cleveland having improved at least one part of the game he plays: It took him only half the time to prompt his second NFL team to give up on him as it did his first—2½ years to 5. He’s getting better, yet one thing remained the same: None of...
Mayfield Memorandum 14: Catch this Song & Dance
The Kabuki Dance is all but over. When Odell Beckham Jr.’s father took to social media near the deadline for National Football League teams to make trades and accused his son’s quarterback of “either hating on Odell or he just doesn’t want him to shine.” He offered...
Mayfield Memorandum 13: Beaten Up/Beaten Down
The last-place Cleveland Browns have turned into a beaten-up, beaten-down illusion. They aren’t what anyone thought they would be—probably including themselves. The roster, allegedly replete with talent, appears hollowed out, a sink hole of injuries or, to borrow...
Mayfield Memorandum 12: To Play or Not to Play
Since his left-shoulder injury forced an end to Baker Mayfield’s string of 53 consecutive games behind center, To Play or Not to Play, that is THE Question has been on an endless reel. He had never missed a game since taking over for Tyrod Taylor, his placeholder...
Dorothy Jackson: Warm Heart and a Spine of Steel
Former Akron Deputy Mayor Dorothy Jackson wore many hats and put on many faces during the course of a life that ended on the cusp of 88 years. She could separate the chaff from the wheat but had trouble differentiating between the two Akron mayors for whom she worked....
What a Devil of a Mess The Devil Strip Has Made
In the 1950s, small-town newspapers that practiced community journalism seemed not only larger than life but also life itself to us paperboys who delivered them. Readers and advertisers and most of those who ended up on its pages valued newspapers. They were part and...
Mayfield Memorandum 11: A Case in Point
The plot of the Cleveland Browns’ season thickened with revelations surrounding their 17-14 victory over the Denver Broncos at FirstEnergy Stadium. Some of the revelations occurred on the field. One could be observed stalking the sideline. And the most important may...
Mayfield Memorandum 10: Super Bowl ‘Average’
When I began the Mayfield Memorandum project this season, it seemed as if there would be countless opportunities to expand the focus from Baker Mayfield himself to those who made significant contributions to his and the Cleveland Brown’s success. And why not? The team...
Some Memories Come with a Street Guide
When I wrote Football, Fast Friends, and Small Towns: A Memoir Straight from a Broken Oklahoma Heart, I omitted a word from the title—journalism. I wasn’t trying to deceive readers but in these days of deep distrust and even hatred for the news media, it seemed the...
Mayfield Memorandum 9: Friends and Foes
The idiom goes like this: Two’s Company, Three’s a Crowd. In some circumstances—a ménage à trois, for instance—three is the perfect number. Other times, even two can be a crowd. It could have been the latter in the 2016 University of Oklahoma quarterback room that...