R: Ohio has big bragging rights when it comes to the NCAA basketball tournament. The four Ohio schools in the Sweet Sixteen—Ohio University, Ohio State, Cincinnati, and Xavier—is the most from any one state in tournament history. In contrast, Browns fans have had little to brag about so far in the offseason.

P: I’m getting emails from Browns fans that say ‘I just wish that we would hear that a pretty good player even visited the complex.’ And what I hear from Browns fans is they’re tired of just guys. They want someone to get excited about.

R: So the president of the Browns, Mike Holmgren, I hear a lot of the fans saying ‘does he have a plan at this point?’  

P: That’s one of the big problems with the Browns. When you take over a business that has been unsuccessful for quite a while, and you come in with a pretty good reputation from somewhere else like Holmgren did, like a CEO from another company, he’s going to get the benefit of the doubt for a while. But you have to clearly articulate why what you’re going to be doing is new and improved. And what they’ve seen the first two years of Mike Holmgren is the same old thing, five and 11 and four and 12.

R: Well to top the frustration, star running back Peyton Hillis after all of these months of speculation, signs with Kansas City. How much does that hurt the fan base here that went out last season, bought his jersey the past two years he’s been the star of Cleveland? How much does hurt?

P: I think it hurts a fair amount because we saw he only signed a one-year-$3 million dollar contract, and they wonder why the Browns didn’t offer him a little more to keep him. Clearly the Browns were tired of him, think he can’t play; he’s too much trouble, or something. They didn’t want him. When you lose a player to another team on a contract that’s one-year-$3 million, basically that is minimum wage in NFL free agency. I’m just talking about the world as it is. That means you don’t want the guy.

R: So what happens now to the quarterback? There are rumors that Tim Tebow possibly coming here.

P: He’s not coming here.

R: He’s not coming here. Why’s that?

P: Mike Holmgren has as much said that at the last public press conference he had. I asked him about changing offenses around to suit quarterbacks, and he said it was a bad idea and he didn’t like that. On his own, he brought up that Denver changed everything around for Tim Tebow. He said ‘in the long run, I don’t think that’s a good idea.’ So it’s Colt McCoy. But you need a couple of veterans to help out.

R: For the state of Ohio to be so football focused, you turn your attention to the NCAA tournament, and we are dominating in basketball. We have four teams representing the Sweet Sixteen in NCAA tournament. How does that happen?

P: There’s been a lot of good basketball played around here for quite a while. I am thrilled to see Ohio, or Ohio University as it used to be called, in the Sweet Sixteen because the MAC has needed a team to win a couple of games in the tournament. They have not been able to get an at large bid. They only had one in their conference since 1999. The way you do this is to have a team that does something in the tournament. Ohio State should be a factor in the tournament every year. It’s a top ten school in football or basketball. Thad Matta knows how to coach and recruit. We lose track of them because they’re so far away, but down in the University of Cincinnati and Xavier, they have been good teams for quite a while.

R: Maybe some Browns fans can start paying attention to basketball for now?

P: To me the most fun sporting event for a couple of weeks is the NCAA tournament, because you start cheering for Murray State or Norfolk State or whoever, or these little schools you wouldn’t pay attention to. Duke lost to Lehigh, and everybody is cheering for Lehigh. These people cheering for Lehigh, watching this game didn’t know the coach of Lehigh, can’t name one guy on Lehigh, but you like the idea of Lehigh knocking off Duke unless you happen to be a Dukey.