Why are Cleveland Browns fans even more down-in-the-dumps today than most days? Because the team that was once ours won another Super Bowl! The story is long and complex but I'll simplify. The Baltimore Ravens were once The Cleveland Browns . You know the story...then Browns owner Art Modell announced during the 1995 season that he was moving the team to Baltimore. What a punch to the gut. We Browns fans were devistated but we fought back and were able to maintain our name, colors and history. Before Art pulled the plug on Cleveland, the Browns seemed to be assembling all the right pieces to return to glory. But it was not to be. Art took all those great players, coaches and management to Baltimore and in a very short time the Ravens captured the Lombardi Trophy making we Browns fans wonder what might have been.
Tagged an expansion franchise, The Cleveland Browns returned in 1999 but there's been little to cheer for since. (I challenge you to name all the head coaches and all the starting quarterbacks sine 99). And here we are watching those dirty birds celebrate another championship.
Our misery and frustration is hard for non football fans and casual observers to understand. But we do ache and want to puke. Sore losers? Probably. Bitterness? You bet! Still there those who have difficulty relating.
Enter one of our sales reps James. James spent Sunday night getting needled by, of all people, his wife about how that team that used to be the Browns won the Super Bowl. That prompted James to explain his position, bitterness and frustration this way...
How much would you root for me if I left you because I didn't like our house, immediately married another woman, took everything except the laundry and won the lottery twice with the numbers we played together for 40 years? Meanwhile you sit home alone for 4 years before accepting an arranged marriage with an uglier, clumsier, punchline version of me who wears my old clothes and looks like me but is actually just a big loser dressed like me. GO BROWNS!
