{"id":956826,"date":"2026-07-27T12:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T12:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/956826\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T12:00:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T12:00:18","slug":"cleveland-browns-news-and-rumors-7-27-26-four-fingers-and-a-jump-cut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/956826\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleveland Browns News and Rumors 7\/27\/26: Four Fingers and a Jump Cut"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND, Ohio (TheOBR.com<\/a>) Good morning, Cleveland Browns fans!<\/p>\n

THE DAILY BLOVIATION<\/p>\n

Sports and politics don\u2019t mix, at least on the OBR. Because we\u2019re built around our community<\/a>, and communities can self-destruct when politics, religion and other sensitive and important topics are introduced, we try to push back on political discussion in the way that we moderate the forums. There are some members of our community who are passionate enough about their political views that they will refer to them, and we try to minimize those situations that slip under our radar. <\/p>\n

I mean, I get it. I have strong views myself, but refuse to cross a line where I use my platform here as a means to express them. I also refuse to allow this to be a place that separates friends over politics.<\/p>\n

The reason is that for an hour or two a day, we get to spend our time caring about something that does not require anyone to deal with the real problems facing us, or realms of hard-core belief. Instead, we ask whether the interior offensive line is fixed or merely rearranged? We ponder Shedeur Sanders and whether he can hit the deep out? <\/p>\n

It\u2019s about fun and escape from the noise that surrounds us. Nobody gets hurt in any real way. It\u2019s a fenced-in enclosure where we can just focus on a topic that we all, despite our differences in other areas, still continue to love after 27 years of shared aggravation.<\/p>\n

So, I get a little territorial when someone from the industry explains that the fence is naive.<\/p>\n

Outgoing ESPN executive vice president David Roberts, stepping into retirement after 48 years in the business, went on the Higher Learning podcast this week and took a shot at the \u201cstick to sports\u201d crowd<\/a>, including the executives inside his own building. \u201cNothing drove me crazier,\u201d he said, than hearing \u201cwe don\u2019t mix politics with sports.\u201d His verdict on that mentality: \u201cThat\u2019s just never been me, because that\u2019s not reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Look, I respect what Roberts has to say. He\u2019s got a long resume and track record of success in a business that prides itself on high turnover and chewing up and spitting out executives, sometimes for provably false justifications. I\u2019m one of them. <\/p>\n

At the same time, though, ESPN has deliberately backed away from mixing politics with sports after blowback from viewers. They just finished laying off some commentators who mixed politics with sports, which appears to be another step away from an old agenda that seemed to encourage intermixing the two. <\/p>\n

My problem is this: The fight over politics in sports is a symptom. The disease is that the entire sports, and arguably, the \u201creal news\u201d content economy now runs on exactly one fuel, and it isn\u2019t accuracy. It\u2019s heat. Whatever gets the click gets made. The major news networks slant coverage right or left because it\u2019s in their interest to carve out a dedicated audience that wants to be told what it wants to hear. Economics seems like a greater pull than true objectivity. <\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s stop creating narratives that aren\u2019t there for likes and clicks.\u201d – Jerry Jeudy, who understands today\u2019s media better than most of the people paid to analyze it. <\/p>\n

On Sunday, ESPN Cleveland posted a clip from a Jerry Jeudy TikTok livestream. A question about who he wants starting at quarterback appears on the screen. Jeudy throws up four fingers. Deshaun Watson wears No. 4. Cue approximately nine thousand takes about the locker room having spoken, including a long thread on the Watercooler<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There is only one problem, and both the real ESPN<\/a> site and Pro Football Talk<\/a> noticed it immediately: the video skips. There\u2019s a visible edit between the question and the fingers. As PFT put it with admirable bluntness, \u201cthe video isn\u2019t reliable.\u201d He could have been answering anything. Four fingers is four fingers. It\u2019s not a deposition.<\/p>\n

Jeudy, to his credit, did not send a publicist. He went straight at it via a Twitter reply: \u201cY\u2019all cut the clip perfectly for that narrative.\u201d Then, later, the whole philosophy in three sentences: \u201cI don\u2019t speak on decisions that aren\u2019t mine to make. I support my teammates\/Brothers, I do my job, and control what I can control. Let\u2019s stop creating narratives that aren\u2019t there for likes and clicks.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then the kicker, which I have not stopped thinking about since: \u201cI bet this won\u2019t go viral because it\u2019s too positive\/real for y\u2019all.\u201d<\/p>\n

It did not go viral.<\/p>\n

ESPN Cleveland could handle this easily. They could post the video pre- and post-edit to prove that the edit was just a convenience to keep it short and not something that changes the meaning of how Jeudy responded. They have not chosen to do so as of this morning. Given the station\u2019s penchant, despite the presence of legendary Browns reporter Tony Grossi, for playing fans for rubes with misleading camp passing statistics and dubious scoops from some hosts, I\u2019m going to side with Jeudy here until I see proof that the edit is legitimate. <\/p>\n

Still, none of this changes anything that matters. Watson is entering the final year of his team-wrecking contract, and is supposedly finally healthy after two Achilles surgeries. Sanders started seven games as a rookie and won three of them with an offensive line held together by duct tape and good intentions. The competition is real. The controversy, to a significant degree, is manufactured. <\/p>\n

So no, I don\u2019t want politics in my football. But I\u2019ll go further than that. I don\u2019t want the incentive structure that produces the politics fight anywhere near my football either, because it\u2019s the same structure that turns a receiver (perhaps) goofing around on TikTok into a locker-room referendum before he\u2019s finished the stream.<\/p>\n

Jeudy\u2019s right. It won\u2019t go viral. It\u2019s too positive and too real.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll run it anyway. That\u2019s sort of the whole idea around here.<\/p>\n

Have a good one! GO BROWNS!<\/p>\n

Newswire Bloviation Archive<\/a><\/p>\n

OBR GOODIES<\/p>\n

OBR VIDEO<\/p>\n

OBR ARTICLES<\/p>\n

Cleveland Browns What If..? They Lose The Final Two Games Of The Season<\/a> – Jack Duffin kicks off a five-part \u201cWhat If…?\u201d week with the Browns landing the first overall pick and Fernando Mendoza.Cleveland Browns News and Rumors 7\/26\/26: The Long Habit of Showing Up<\/a><\/p>\n

FROM THE FORUMS<\/p>\n

ASK THE INSIDERS<\/a> (VIP<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Who does Berry listen to?<\/a>Pete, When You Interview Jim Cobern\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n

INSIDER DISCUSSION<\/a> (VIP<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Cleveland Browns News and Rumors 7\/26\/26: The Long Habit of Showing Up<\/a><\/p>\n

THE WATERCOOLER<\/a><\/p>\n

Jerry Jeudy on who he wants to be QB<\/a>Jim Cobern on Sanders and Gabriel<\/a>THE LIFT<\/p>\n

Positive news from the world of sports and beyond…<\/p>\n

Scientists discover some bees have tiny magnetic, internal compasses helping them navigate the world<\/a> – Researchers ran 96 bee species through a magnetometer and found magnetic properties in 74 of them, social and solitary alike, which blew up their own hypothesis that the internal compass was a group-living adaptation. The trait appears to predate bees entirely. So a creature the size of your thumbnail has been quietly carrying an ancient, factory-installed sense of true north this whole time, while the rest of us are out here trying to determine direction by counting fingers in an edited video. Some of us are working with better equipment than others.<\/p>\n

WRAPPING UP<\/p>\n

When not demanding to see the unedited tape, Barry McBride is the Publisher and Founder of the OBR and bloviates this nonsense every morning. You can follow him on Twitter @barrymcbride<\/a> or write him at barry@theobr.com<\/a> if you are so compelled.<\/p>\n

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