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October 4, 2013Leaders emerging in Cleveland Browns locker room
October 4, 2013Grantland’s Andrew Sharp may have just made himself a Clevelander for life.
The do-it-all staff editor, who proclaims his affinity for the Washington Wizards and writes about all sorts of usually whimsical topics at Grantland, paid a visit to Cleveland this week. He said he received an out-of-the-blue invite from a college friend with one ticket to both Wednesday’s Indians game and Thursday’s Browns game. So he did it.
Copied below are two highlights from Sharp’s fantastic article titled “A Field Trip to Believeland“, which is making the rounds among Cleveland fans. Please do give it a full read. It’s an incredibly accurate description of what our shared WaitingForNextYear mentality is all about.
After the end of Wednesday’s Indians loss…
We left the stadium looking forward to some good ol’ fashioned sports fan belligerence in the streets, but instead it was pretty much dead silent. No anger — not even depression, really. At this point Cleveland fans are familiar enough with the stages of grief that I think they just skip right to acceptance.
About how Cleveland fans stay upbeat…
Losing sucks, but most people in this city have a pretty good sense of humor about it. They can complain about everything, but then laugh about it. And win or lose, sports still give everyone a great excuse to get excited about something, ditch work early, show up, and throw a gigantic party.
And man, the final paragraph just gives me goosebumps for being so proud of being a Cleveland fan. Kudos, Andrew Sharp, you’ve won over our hearts.
[Related: Despite the loss, this was a game Cleveland needed]
10 Comments
After today’s unpleasant news, make that Bereave-Land.
That was an excellent read!
My favorite line: “When do these fans just light themselves on fire?”
If one of those Weeden initial misfires would have turned into a pick-6, then I’m not so sure he would have been able to write that as a joke.
Dude just nailed our sports fan personality, pretty impressive for someone on a quick swing through town. Oh, and he can also write a little bit.
Did you see that resturant in Tx serving the Schaub Burger. Pick Six (toppings) and pay dearly for it
http://www.cleveland.com/tipoff/index.ssf/2013/10/twenty_people_will_be_set_on_f.html#incart_m-rpt-2
This article is on point and perfectly explains our “agony” in Cleveland.
I liked this line: “The worst teams always have the best fans. Losing weeds out all the entitled people, and you’re left with a much better group.”
Here’s looking at your Steelers “fans.”