Cage the Badgers: Ohio State – Wisconsin Preview
October 14, 2016Stealing bases is key for Indians against Blue Jays in ALCS
October 14, 2016The Cleveland Browns’ loss to the New England Patriots was depressing even if predictable. The overwhelming length of this Browns season is starting to set in with each loss. Despite having our eyes wide open and (mostly) accepting “the plan,” it’s tough not to get wrapped up in the cold embrace of negativity as the losses continue to pile up like evidence in a legal case you’re about to lose. Think of the Browns as a defendant who is almost certainly guilty, and their best bet is to plead to a lesser charge if they can. To carry this comparison even further1 I feel like I submitted an essay as a character witness, but I’m starting to feel increasingly icky as the testimony is unfolding. Unlike my legal example, there’s no way to make this stop. We have to keep trying this bad case to the bitter end.
The damages in the present to any adult is likely somewhat minimal. For many of us, another bad season isn’t likely a shock or somehow going to change our direction as fans of the team. If we haven’t jumped off the wagon yet, the chances are good that we’re never going to or that our departure will be temporary.2 The real damages are occurring down with the youth that should be the future of Browns fans. The Browns are actively losing those fans, and there’s a realistic concern they might never come back in addition to the question as to if they even should.
I occasionally remind you all that I gave the Browns until this year to become a real live NFL football team. I wrote it shortly after my first son was born and did the math on my life as a Browns fan and decided that six years of age was the target for being relevant to pick up my son as a fan. As it turns out, I was a bit off. I think the Browns probably have a year or two more with my son, who hasn’t caught the sports bug as of yet. He loved staying up with me to watch the Cavaliers win the title, but he has not bought in to the point where he knows things and asks a million questions in order to really start to understand. We recently explained the basics of the four downs, ten yards for a first and things like that, but it is still very casual. Not every six-year old is still sitting on the sidelines, however.
I was with a friend recently and he was telling me about his son who is in school with mine. His son is all about watching football. He’s been raised on Buckeyes and Browns football, he’s already playing football, and he likes to watch with his dad. He knows players pretty well and even had an opportunity to meet some Buckeyes, including J.T. Barrett, over the summer. He’s being shaped as a sports fan right now, and he told his dad that he’s not going to be a Browns fan.
Like any beaten down Browns fan who feels they have no choice in the matter, he asked his son, “Why?” The answer is obvious and the kind of blunt truth that can only be unleashed upon the universe by a child who has no knowledge of the social incentive to sugarcoat. He said, “The Browns stink. They never win. They don’t make me happy.”
“The Browns stink. They never win. They don’t make me happy.”
This Cleveland Browns season will be denoted by occasional existential crises by this Browns writer. I don’t have the focus to maintain my exuberant tankerrific attitude for the whole season, especially as I continue to get complaints about the cost of tickets as the Browns “home games” turn into veritable away games. Even beyond the practical realities of dealing with such a bad year of Browns football, the concerns for the future aren’t a fictional work of doomed fantasy.
I’m 37 years old and I’ve bought in to this plan, but I also know I didn’t have any choice other than to quit watching the NFL entirely. The first part of the plan for the Browns seems like it’s even working, but a reality that nobody can deny is just how long a journey they have left to travel. The real danger for the Browns is that they’ve lost a sizeable chunk of their passengers before the train even gets started.
For the Browns, there wasn’t any other option but to start over. For die-hard Browns fans there wasn’t any option but to buy in and try to follow along. For those that had yet to become die-hards, there is a choice, and some will almost certainly take the opportunity to choose something else. It’s a scary proposition for Jimmy Haslam and the Cleveland Browns, but they can’t say I didn’t warn them.
49 Comments
We have the Indians for another 1-3 weeks, the Buckeyes up to December then once in January, the NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers are starting in 11 days. Scattered in there are Halloween weekend, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Want more? Try picking up hockey – seriously – very healthy league loaded with star power and young talent and an incredibly interesting sport.
If that’s not enough to distract you from your Browns addiction, send me a message, I have tickets for sale.
…depression is optional.
excellent article , CRAIG ! , excellent … i am 54 years old , so i got to enjoy the Browns of the mid-80’s & i have been a Buckeyes fan all my life as well … my oldest son is 34 & i did not try to influence his teams in any way … he liked the Cowboys early on when Troy & Emmitt were there , but his team is the Browns & he has never seen them have success. when he was a teen , i had tickets for the ND & Michigan game in Ann Arbor & I had no desire to go , but he went & has been hooked on Notre Dame ever since … and that’s okay.
now , my 15 year-old will say “Dad , how are the Browns doing today ?” … and once i tell him , i hear the ole “man , the Browns stink” … and it’s hard to disagree with him.
it’s another reason i truly appreciate everyone in this forum … whether it’s the hopeful guy , the skeptical guy or the negative guy , i know they’re all Browns fans ’til the end … or they wouldn’t be here.
Well said, Craig. I’ve managed to miss all but 2 games, and the Indians and Buckeyes have thankfully helped fill the sports void during this season of epic Browns futility.
But there seems to be a bigger picture that extends beyond the frustrations of the Cleveland market. The NFL’s ratings are starting to dip, and, while I’m sure it’s multi-factorial and subject to the normal vicissitudes of American watching habits, I’m also certain a major part of the decline involves peoples’ discomfort with supporting a league that has treated its players so poorly. Obviously the decades-long manipulation of data around the TBI-dementia link is troubling, but also the lack of long-term healthcare (or even basic concern) for players who are so physically and emotionally affected by the game. NFL fans aren’t all knuckle-draggers – many are sentient human beings that have a harder and harder time ignoring the stink emanating from the game they used to love.
good post , HUM …
Really good point. It’s not all about a woe is us/it’s just us…there’s something bigger going on as well. I think the NFL had (and still has) the strongest cards among major sports leagues; however, they are certainly in danger of overplaying their hand….be it the stifling rules, the non-guaranteed salaries in exchange for physical brutality, the hypocrisy, the stadium pushes, the TV contracts, the most despised commish in the history of any commishes, the general greed…
What’s happening with the Browns is just an offshoot of this pizza mentality that no matter how bad it is, people will still eat it up.
Craig – easiest solution for your friend is for him to push his kid to root for Buckeyes in the NFL but not a particular team. Let’s him watch a wide array of good talent too as Bosa showed last night.
Maybe he should let his kids root for whomever they want.
If you let your kids do what they want, they’ll turn out to be huge milk-drinking babies with poor social skills. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2959c0f0231047bdbc4463267f9c5a452274318ede12e4667ac50507370b5cfb.png
That’s how LeBron ends up a Yankee, Seminole, and Cowboy fan.
I mean, if you don’t care if your kid is THAT kid. Fine, whatever.
I only have influence on my kids for so long. I’m going to teach them to appreciate the nuance of sports and building communities, which goes beyond picking teams that win a bunch.
I have little doubt that the next generation (our kids’ kids) will not have football as their top sport.
It will be LaX
BUT DAAAAADD…. THE CUBZ R AWESUM!!
I really don’t care who LBJ roots for. Apparently you do.
Why is that?
or they might end up being sad sack losers who end up sitting alone in the cafeteria
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bbd75ace0f4f397bdc60b8c0831dfb799a8bb211162930c88f447eb89fe6f4ae.gif
Insecurity, mostly.
Or you can brainwash your kids to grow up to be adult crybabies…
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/228/1686/1600/Crying%20Buckeye.11.jpg
Or worse…
https://media.giphy.com/media/3oEjI25wdhnloghy12/giphy.gif
My Father was born and raised in Ferndale, MI (right outside of Detroit) (8 mile and Woodward to be exact). He grew up a Lions fanHe had great disdain for the Ford family, because, as he put it “they dont care if the team wins or loses, they know they’re going to sell out and make their money no matter how (crummy) the team is”
My Mom was born and raised in Collinwood. My Grandfather has Browns season tickets from the late 40’s to 1984. According to my Mom, they used to coast about $8 per year per seat. By the end of his run, he had 40 yd line second row upper deck seats. They were awesome.
My Dad never wanted me to be a fan of the Lions, due to his previously mentioned disdain for the Fords. He knew that I patterened myself off of him, that he was my Hero and anything he liked, Id like. He distanced himself from the Lions once we moved to Cleveland (FTR, I wasnt even 1 yet in 1978). He went to Browns games with my grandfather. He listened to WWWE every day in his “office” (which was a greenhouse). My summer days were filled with the sounds of Gary Dee, Sindelar, Drennan, Franklin and Needle. He wanted me to avoid the soul sucking pit of despair that was being a Lions fan.
Fate, it seems, had other ideas. I wasn’t much of a browns fan growing up. Not to be Mr. Hipster, but I hated Art Modell from the day he fired Marty. Iw anted the Browns to do well, but after Marty was gone, so too was the magic, in my eyes. I started to see a number of qualities in Modell that my Dad railed about with the Ford family. Maybe many owners are cut from the same cloth. Maybe by trying not to influence me, my Dad was influencing me more than he realized.
It wasnt until the return in 1999 that I was fully on the bandwagon. Those three years without the Browns changed me. i didnt watch the NFL at all from 1996-1999. I felt (like many of us) a sense of unity with my Cleveland brethren, and upon their return vowed to support the team through thick and thin, if only so the league would never have a reason to tear our hearts out again.
We got stuck with a bad owner who didnt care if the team won or lost because he knew he was going to fill the stadium and make money anyway. Just like the Fords that my Father wanted to steer me away from.
So, steer your kids, dont steer your kids, it doesnt matter. Its going to work out how it works out, and it has to do with a whole lot more than you might think it does. All you can do is teach them as best you can and hope they’re listening.
Come on! Give him a break…he wasn’t used to losing…that was like 15 years ago when Michigan was good for a year!
Who needs crappy pizza when you’ve always got food right under your nose!
https://twitter.com/holymolyhorsie/status/774692579787022340
I wish it was UM. It was the Michigan State game in 98.
I was watching that game in the basement of The Thirsty Scholar. đ
You can have both! That’s actually an authentic Little Caesar’s topping but it’s not on the menu. You have to tell the kid behind the counter that he is as useless as his month-old bong water and that you demand to talk to his manager.
I miss Geoff Sindelar.
Reading sob story Browns articles like…
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d3744c0722bc3c5ab1f2d7cc8f2f3faa4d7c9ebe33c9bd1860191e09dcc01850.jpg
(seriously i’ll never get tired of this image, i don’t care if anyone else is.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ5f3dvzN8s
It’s funny because on top of all the bi-line items you mention above the actual NFL product is atrocious.
(imo) NCAAF has three or even 4 games EVERY Saturday with more drama/excitement than the greatest NFL game of the year.
My explanation on NFL product decline… quarterback play that can’t match NFL defenses. The insane push for NCAAF kids to start year one in NFL QB roles over the last decade is absolutely absurd and it’s left a vacuous hole spread over 20+ teams.
What do you mean? Everytime I yell at them, they give me a free order of Loaded Crazy Bread Bites, with a wink and a smile!
(cue end of Usual Suspects realization moment….)
The quote from the guy’s son is so true, and I feel like it as well. Honestly, half the reason I haven’t migrated to other teams is because I don’t want to buy new gear.
yeah man… what a way to live.
http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/02c6869802093430b74a1c64b510cf5593fc426c/c=0-0-3946-2230&r=x1683&c=3200×1680/local/-/media/2015/01/13/USATODAY/USATODAY/635567181505224942-USP-NCAA-FOOTBALL-NATIONAL-CHAMPIONSHIP-OHIO-STAT-69986692.JPG
Ha. That was the exact sport I was thinking when I wrote that. Odds would be basketball today, but I see so many kids playing LAX now and the violence aspect is something I think that culturally humans always do want to watch.
Just noting I don’t want MY kids rooting for teams that just happen to always be good. He is a famous example.
I don’t know if I’d agree that it’s optional. I used to adore the NFL season. I just don’t now, but I want to. I miss the fun I used to have watching football. (To be fair, Goodell has ruined the NFL for me as much as the Browns have.)
I love myself some lax. But I bet the NBA is king in a few years. They seem to get it all right these days.
https://media.giphy.com/media/PLTVcmMMx3H9K/giphy.gif
Sigh… any gastronome knows milk with strawberry Quik pairs perfectly with steak. Simpletons.
There’s a Scooby Wright joke here somewhere, I just can’t pull it together.
yes, as I think about my slow drift from football I feel most regrettable that it impacts the enjoyment of watching games with other people. Scheduling weekends around Browns/Buckeyes games has been such a seasonal ritual for me, and it’s strange to envision an autumn without football as an organizing principle. But I’m partially experiencing that this year, and have only sat down to watch 3 or so games with other people.
great post , MAX !!
at least in fantasy football you are the owner , GM & HC … that way you know things are getting done the right way.
the other thing it does is it gives you interest in other teams & other games that your fantasy are involved in.
LMAO at CBI !!
outside the whole fact that stars can align (literally) and render 28-of-30 teams out of the championship picture before the games even begin
that is the one big issue with the NBA that I’m not sure how they solve. team sports at least grant the illusion of parity (football also has the issue that QB is super-dominant)
I think there’s a sense that we’re at a breaking point. In the past 17 years we’ve had lots of coaches and lots of GM’s but now we’ve got, arguably the best coach we could have gotten and, whatever you think about this analytics business, we’ve got a plan that’s new and different. And anything different has to be better, right? It can’t be worse.
But it also comes with the reality that the team is being razed to the ground maybe more than any other time since 99 and the unsaid explanation that it has to be done this way to be done right, and if we’re patient just one more time it’ll finally be worth it. And if they start to improve I think the fans will come back. There’s nothing like exciting football in Cleveland.
But if they don’t. I don’t know if the fans can stand another reset.
But he’s a Tribe fan now! Or he jumped on the bandwagon, one of the two.
The Browns can be fixed, they just need the right people in charge. A year ago the Indians weren’t even in contention and now they are 3 wins away from an improbable World Series. They did it with smart free agent signings and solid trades. The Cavs did the same thing. They knew they didn’t have enough to win so they traded for Frye and also signed Jefferson. And please stop firing people every 2 years and starting over.
The Indians change started in the year 2007. Shapiro was disgusted with the drafting and development program and decided to dare to go all-in on a progressive movement from college that had not yet hit MLB in bulk. He gave Ross Atkins the keys and said to go and find the best available men for the job. They hired Grant and instructed him to find the best tools players he could in the draft. They hired Hawkins and told him to develop the heck out of those tools.
It has taken 8-9 years of painstaking work, effort, and, yes, luck, to get to this point with the Cleveland Indians. That length of time though is also why when one man goes down with an injury, they have another waiting in the wings. It is a long process as much as that sucks. So, the hope is that the Browns hired the correct men in the FO. But, they need to be given time if Haslam believes such. They need their ability to develop what the Indians have where every single MLB front office opening has a member of the Indians as a finalist.
And, all are welcome to do so. We’ll take as many as we can get.
Good recap of the past decade. I remember a few seasons were rough after 2007. It seemed like this particular team came together the past few years.
Final pieces in Rajai, Nap, Miller, Guyer. The main corps guys though seem like they have been around awhile (in org. for youngsters) – Kip, Lon, Santana, J-Ram, Lindor, Kluber, Carrasco, Salazar, Tomlin, Naquin, etc.
Crazy how good this team is playing though — hoping they can find 6 more wins