This column was originally published in The Carroll News on January 29, 2009 - three days before the Pittsburgh Steelers were set to take on the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII.- - -
I love the Cleveland Browns – probably more than I should.
When I was seven years old and all the other neighborhood kids were dressed as Power Rangers or Ninja Turtles for Halloween, I went dressed as then-Cleveland Browns head coach Bill Belichick, with the headphones, clipboard and all.
Then the Browns went and broke my little heart and left for Baltimore, leaving our city without a team for three years. The Indians were the best team in the American League during this time, so deep into October we had the Tribe to keep our minds occupied. Still, once November rolled around it was obvious something was missing.
It was missing for three Novembers, from 1996 through 1998. Then in 1999, the NFL awarded the Browns an expansion team and our beloved team was back. The city was ecstatic just to have a team to root for again.
Then the games started.
The Browns have had some good years since returning – two if you’re counting – and more than their share of rough years. All in all, they own a 54-107 record (.335 winning percentage) since the reincarnation of the franchise a decade ago, including a sole playoff berth that ended in the first round with a heartbreaking loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The first few years of losing were tolerable because we were an expansion team, but by this point we expected a contender.
What we got this year was a team that went 4-12. They scored 232 points the entire season, down from 402 in 2007. In the last six games, Browns fans were treated to zero offensive touchdowns.
Needless to say, there were a lot of tough weekends for Browns fans this fall.
But even with all the horrific play we saw this season, I fear the worst site of this entire football season may come this Sunday night in Tampa Bay. I’m afraid that all of us Browns fans are going to have to watch as “Big Ben” and Hines Ward raise the Lombardi Trophy – again.
Do I want Pittsburgh to win? No. I hope they lose by a million. I will probably have a lot of bad thoughts regarding the medical status of their players, namely No. 7, which I will have to apologize for in church immediately after the game. It’s sad. It’s pathetic. It’s true.
But Steelers fans, do know this: I, and all Browns fans, are envious of what you have going on in the Steel City. You have an owner who cares, a coach who looks like he enjoys football (hopefully we just hired one of those) and an extremely talented football team. Pittsburgh has defeated the Browns 18 out of the 21 times they have battled since 1999. Boy, that hurts to say.
I write this column so that you Steelers fans make sure you don’t take this for granted.
We would kill to have the team you have. While you guys attempt to win your sixth Super Bowl, we here in Cleveland are still waiting for the opportunity to play for the game’s most coveted prize and no longer be an answer for that stupid trivia question: “Name the only five teams to never play in a Super Bowl.”
So if you win Sunday, celebrate and wave your Terrible Towels around and scream and yell. All the Bears, Bills and Browns fans that fill up the rest of the fan population at JCU will talk about how obnoxious people from Pittsburgh are. Rest assured, we would act the exact same way if we had the chance. We don’t know what it’s like because none of us have been alive to see our city host a Super Bowl victory parade.
All that we know is that after Sunday we start over and every team is 0-0. We also know that the NFL Draft, the day we circle before the season starts, is 86 days away.
Perhaps this is where we get that missing link, and next year it will be us in the Super Bowl. It doesn’t hurt to dream.
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