They Sure Are Something Brown

During this Sunday’s Brown’s game, which the Browns lost to the Bengals, Braylon Edwards grabbed quarterback Charlie Frye’s jersey in frustration, lambasting the team for not trying hard enough and not protecting the quarterback (apparently saying something like, “your jersey should not be this dirty”). The aftermath has been that it was a private matter, and Edwards should not have gone off like that on the field in front of the media and the fans.

But here’s the thing. Far be it for me to agree with someone from Michigan, but he was right. I missed the tirade because I was too bored out of my mind and fell asleep watching. Frankly, I’m glad to learn that at least one of the Browns players cares about winning.

As I see it, as a lifelong Browns fan, it’s frustrated me year after year to keep watching our team suck. I was talking recently to a friend who I suppose felt bad admitting that she, living in Cleveland, is not a Browns fan. Personally, I consider her lucky that she’s escaped this affliction that drains the souls and positive attitude (yet somehow not the hope) of many Clevelanders. Sadly, I have been afflicted with this disease (people call it being a fan) since childhood, and I am passing it on to my kids.

But here’s the thing. The Browns will never be good. Why?
Because we’ve got the best fans here in Cleveland. Through thick or thin (so far, pretty much all thin), Cleveland fans support their teams. People fill the stands of the open-air stadium next to Lake Erie on the coldest winter days, tailgating for hours beforehand. We buy the t-shirts, hats, sweatshirts, foam fingers, Christmas ornaments, dolls, baby clothes, and any other piece of crap novelty item with the Browns logo on it. When they updated their logo, we bought all new stuff. And year after year, more fans come on board, because here in the Midwest, with little else to do when it gets cold, families sit around a television and bond while watching the Browns lose and showing “team spirit”. Being a Browns fan builds families, it builds character, it teaches kids that it’s important to believe in something, that you don’t always get what you want but that it’s all right.

We love our Browns like we love our kids. It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, we tell our kids, what matters is how you play the game. Right? That’s good parenting, and it’s what we all strive for. And so we breed generation after generation of good sports, while those who don’t seem to get that, who somehow still graduate high school with that fierce competitive spirit that is so anathema here, leave.

Well, most of the time. Now we have LeBron, who will, I believe, do his darndest to make Cleveland a championship city. And we’ll see how that plays out, but personally, I think they have the best chance of winning it all because they have the most to prove. The NBA is not as big here, so they’ll have to try harder to win over fans. Of course, I’ve long believed the NBA is fixed; that the big stars who can get the commercial contracts are allowed to travel and commit other fouls that are ignored so that they can make the great plays that look great on the highlight reels; and that with the infusion of celebrities like Usher and LeBron, we’re finally big enough to draw a nationwide audience and thus be allowed to win it all. But that’s beside the point.

The Indians came close, and did display examples of winningness, but in the end, they proved to be a true Cleveland team and have returned to the standard entertainment lineup. Going to an Indians game is a fun thing to do on a warm day, but we could just as well go out for ice cream. By airing games only on cable and keeping ticket prices relatively high (what with the nice new ballpark), the Indians managed to turn baseball in Cleveland from an everyman’s game to a more elite event. And elitists tend to prefer nicer weather.

(Don’t you love my gross generalizations and stereotypes being portrayed here? If anyone is offended or disagrees, you’re welcome to post a comment, you know.)

So anyhow, back to the Browns. In the end, the Browns, the Cavs, and the Indians are all businesses. And they’re here to stay (I know, I know, we thought that about the Browns before Art Modell slinked away in the middle of the night). They generate a good deal of money for their owners. If, without even having a winning season, the Browns can sell tickets, merchandise, and events featuring a Browns player, then why should they win? What is the motivation? Will we stop watching? Will we stop going to the games? My husband wants to write a letter to Phil Savage stating that he’ll not only stop watching, but he’ll also stop buying what the advertisers are selling if the Browns don’t get their act together. That’s a great sentiment, but we’ll see how that plays out this Sunday.