Berea is buzzing in the aftermath of new Browns safety Damarious Randall's offer to buy a jersey for hundreds of thousands if the Cavaliers beat his favorite team, Golden State.
BEREA Short of digging for gold in Parma, how might Damarious Randall pay for his Golden State goof?
This tweet got the new Browns free safety in unusual trouble: "If the Cleveland Cavaliers win the 2018 NBA title, I'll buy everyone who retweets this a jersey."
When Browns practice opened Wednesday, Randall had set a Twitter record for number of retweets in response to an NFL player, more than 700,000.
By the time he drove away from the team complex, the number of retweets was pushing toward a million.
Trying to keep a sense of humor about a subject that ticked off a lot of people, Randall said, "Do I get a trophy?"
Browns radio voice Jim Donovan responded, "No, you get a jersey."
Randall, an unabashed Warriors fans now working in Cavaliers country, has taken a smug Twitter approach to suggesting Cleveland has no chance against in the NBA Finals.
He initially indicated he would secure a courtside seat at "The Q" when the championship series swings to Cleveland. He suggested Wednesday that plan is likely to change.
"He needs to be careful about popcorn and sodas that could come your way," head coach Hue Jackson said.
Jackson was joking. That's what Randall says he was doing.
Some jokes are better left untold.
The Browns brought in veteran Tyrod Taylor to lead the team while Baker Mayfield reveals himself. While Mayfield is making no unwelcome waves, Taylor wasted no time in saying Randall made a glaring rookie mistake.
"He should have been smarter," the 28-year-old quarterback said, "whether he feels that way or not."
Randall spent three years as a Packers defensive back before arriving in Cleveland via a March trade for DeShone Kizer. He had a quiet first two months with his new team, mentioned mostly as the guy who would be paired at safety with Jabrill Peppers, making it possible for Peppers to play closer to the line of scrimmage.
Cheerleading for the Warriors on Twitter has given Randall a new identity. The clincher was the tweet about buying jerseys if the Cavs somehow win the championship series.
Randall would be on the hook for quite a chunk of change, even if he figured out how to hire a crew to make jerseys out of paper bags.
The practical matter of the jerseys is one thing. Randall's biggest mistake perhaps was ignoring common sense.
"I think he understands what he did," Taylor said.
Coach Jackson said he learned the hard way about talking before thinking. Jackson will jump in Lake Erie on Friday to back up a promise he made coming off a 1-15 year in 2016. He said he would jump in the lake if the team went 0-16.
"I've learned to shut my mouth," Jackson said. "Don't wind up saying something you might not want to do."
T.J. Carrie, who like Randall is a veteran defensive back in his first year with the Browns, said the aftermath of "The Tweet" has been "interesting."
"He definitely did a couple things the Dawg Pound did not like," Carrie said.
Randall was noncommittal after practice about what he will do if the Cavaliers win the series.
"I guess we'll have to watch the series and see," he said.
What was he thinking when he made the jersey promise?
"Obviously, it was a joke," he said.
Randall said he respects the Cavaliers and acknowledges LeBron James as "one of the greatest players ever to touch a basketball." He said he would be rooting for the Cavs if they were facing any team but his favorite, Golden State.
Randall grew up in Florida and played college football at Arizona State. He was a first-round draft pick by Green Bay in 2015, when he signed a four-year, $7.9 million contract. The Browns took on the final year of his rookie contract in the trade and agreed to pay him a fifth-year option for 2019, worth $9.1 million.
Randall seemed to be of a mind to put the best face on the situation. He also seemed eager to be done with his press conference ASAP He made a beeline for the locker room after the last question.
Before he left, he said, "This is just going to make the games a lot more exciting, for the fans, and myself."
The new quarterback, Taylor, suggested it is excitement the football team could do without.
"A lesson to be learned, for sure," Taylor said.
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