“They Can’t Do That To Our Pledges! Only WE Can Do That To Our Pledges!”
September 18, 2008Indians, Clippers. Clippers, Indians.
September 18, 2008Take a good hard look at the NFL team you follow. If you are reading this site chances are pretty good that team is the Browns. Go ahead and look at ’em. What do you see?
What you are looking at, according to ESPN’s latest rankings is the 29th team in the league. By the way, that isn’t for the 2008 season. That’s the Browns All-Time ranking according to the ‘Leader’. ESPN conducted a ‘study’ of all the teams, and here’s the key- since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. Gone are the title seasons. Heart breaking losses to Denver in the AFC Title game counted against us big time. Three of the top 50 ‘busts’ of all time counted against us. (Mike Junkin, Tim Couch and Craig Powell according to the article.) Here is the explanation for Cleveland’s ranking-
What in the name of Tim Couch is going on here? No. 29! Not to heap more suffering on members of the Dawg Pound, but the statistics tell the story. Consider that the Ravens have more first-team All-Pro selections and postseason wins in 12 seasons than the Browns do in the past 35. Now add two crushing playoff defeats — not including Red Right 88. Unlike the teams ranked below, the Browns’ franchise isn’t without splendor. Unfortunately, nearly all of it came before 1970.
Also from ESPN, Dave Dameshek in his podcast gives Browns fans jerk of the week honors for “continuing to call the Browns and Steelers rivals.” According to Dameshek the Browns are no more rivals to Pittsburgh than “Wile E. Coyote is to the Road Runner.”
Then there is the Akron Beacon Journal ‘columnist’ who recently encouraged all the paper’s readers to become Steeler fans, since they are the better team. (I will not link to the article, nor mention the name because I half expect he did it to stir up readership, and quite frankly I hope I’m the only one that read it.) Here’s a better idea you hack, why don’t YOU go WRITE for Pittsburgh and save us all a headache.
I’m not mad at ESPN for these rankings. I’m not even going to try and argue that the Browns should be higher. (I have to admit I was surprised that the Buccaneers and Falcons were rated higher.) What gets my blood boiling is that if you take the fan rankings they did a few weeks ago, in which Cleveland fans finished 3rd, and the team rankings something doesn’t add up.
Here’s what I mean- the Cardinals were the worst team, and it’s fanbase had the worst ranking as well. The Colts were ranked 16th as a team, and the fans were 16th as well. Those fans are getting exactly what they deserve. Namely each other. For fun I compared the two lists and gave a score based on the difference between the two rankings. A positive number means the team is performing better than the fan support they receive (and remember this is according to ESPN’s findings, not my own.) A negative number indicates that the fans are more supportive than the team is successful.
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+24 Miami
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+21 San Francisco
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+20 St. Louis
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+12 Minnesota
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+11 Dallas
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+7 Jacksonville
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+7 Houston
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+4 Detroit
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+3 Carolina
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+3 Oakland
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+2 Denver
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+2 Baltimore
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+2 Cincinnati
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+1 Chicago
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+1 Tennessee
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+1 Seattle
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0 Indianapolis
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0 Arizona
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-1 Pittsburgh
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-1 New York Giants
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-1 San Diego
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-2 Washington
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-2 New England
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-4 Tampa Bay
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-4 Atlanta
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-7 Buffalo
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-9 Philadelphia
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-12 Green Bay
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-14 New York Jets
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-16 Kansas City
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-16 New Orleans
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-26 Cleveland
Now this list IS NOT scientific. What we can reasonably assume, is that the teams near the top of the list have outpaced the fan support they receive. Those at the bottom of the list naturally are the cities that everyone thinks of when that ‘tortured’ tag gets thrown around. But how about Browns fans outpacing the team by 26 spots on the ranking scales?
I think this team owes us. I also think that if they don’t start winning soon (in the next decade) they are going to start losing the fan base. We’ve already talked before about the younger generation having no emotional ties to this team. Look at that list again. Does it surprise you where Detroit ranks? I think a lot of those fans have just flat given up on the Lions. The same is probably true of the Dolphins. What makes me sad is that the tradition of the Browns could go by the wayside eventually. The younger fans need a championship run. They need to connect to these players. They need a reason to cheer, and I don’t want those cheers to be chants for the Steelers. Makes me sick to even think it.
23 Comments
decade? are we being lenient?
Could be Scott. I do wonder how the Cubs have kept their fanbase, if you take WGN out of the equation.
Try living in Youngstown where the population up until last year was about 60/40 -70/30 Steeler fans/Browns fans.
That’s tough comparison overall because it’s only the last 5 years for the fans and last 38 for the teams.
But when you break it down…
GB are only that low because they sucked before that one dude started playing QB there. NE has only had fans for the last 5 years. Not sure NO had ANY fans before their playoff run 2 years ago.
So if anything you could argue our gap could be bigger.
Im 22 and im about ready to quit on the browns if they can’t turn the boat around in about 2-3 years. I’d rather slit my wrists than be a steelers fan, but I could see myself becoming a panather fan….
@Chuck- Try living near Lima and Findlay where Roethlispuker grew up, but yeah, Youngstown is a tough place to be a Browns fan.
“but I could see myself becoming a panather fan…”
…why?
if you were born & raised in cleveland and a fan of the NFL how can you be a fan of any other team? not being a fan of your home team simply because they’re not very good right now is the definition of a fair-weather fan. we’re better than that cleveland
Well, they never moved away, for one. Two, while they’ve been sans-banner, they’ve been right there most of the seasons. And when they have injuries/holes, they fill gaps with trades mid-season (a la Rich Harden).
If you’re a fan of the NFL it’s easy to be a fan of other teams. I’m a Chargers, Dolphins, Jaguars, Eagles, Packers (only after BF) fan. They all take a backseat to the Browns.
I’m 28 so barely old enough to remember the fumble and drive. I was really afraid after the beginning of last year that Crennel and Savage were going to get fired and we were going to go into rebuilding mode again. I can’t handle that.
I’ll support a bad team (injuries, the first or second rebuild, etc) but I won’t support a team with no plan on getting better (ala Bengals).
The only reason I’m still a Brown’s fan is the winning teams with Sipe/Kosar. Take those away and all I’d be left with is a perennial loser. Sorry, but a little self respect dictates you root for someone else. Regardless of were I was born and raised. So, if the younger generation of fans never get a taste of winning with the Browns, then I for one would not deny them the pleasure of rooting for another a team. As long as it’s not the Steelers or Ravens.
I do feel bad for kids today growing up as Browns fans. Who is their Bernie Kosar? Is it Phil Dawson??? There is no face of this franchise, no face of this city/area/region. Bernie Kosar meant so much more to Cleveland than just being the QB of Browns, similar to LeBron in the NBA. This new installment of the Browns has no identity whatsoever. I’m hoping Quinn can be that guy. I’m hoping Joe Thomas can be that. I want K2 to be that guy, and I think he could be if he can stay healthy and the Browns/DA would stop forgetting about him at crucial moments. I am so tired of this team losing. Enough is enough.
I guarantee you that the Akron Beacon Journal column was done only to get people to read it. I didn’t actually read it, but that is just the state of journalism today; say things that are ridiculous and get people talking about the ridiculousness. Thats one of the reasons I like this site, its quite the opposite of that.
It will be a sad day for me when people start not liking the Browns anymore like Lions fans don’t like that team anymore. I am only 20 but nothing will ever make me not a Browns fan even though I have never seen a playoff victory and only 2 winning seasons (I didn’t live in Cleveland until the year the moved so I don’t remember anything before then, but I did go to the last game at Municipal Stadium which was cool. I learned a lot of new words that day). I’m a little surprised that when the Browns were away that more kids did not choose to like other teams, that would have been reasonable for a young football fan to do but as far as I can see that didn’t happen. My Dad refused to let me even watch the NFL until the Browns came back. I like to believe that this team, despite starting 0-2, is going in the right direction talent wise, but you just can’t be sure until you consistently see victories. The day that Cleveland is no longer a football city will be a very very sad day
When the Browns left, I did choose another team. The Ohio State Buckeyes.
Listen, I know the current Browns teams don’t have that one personality to drive fans memories until the end of time, but that is just the state of the NFL these days. There are very few players like that anymore. Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, are good examples, but who else is there? Even Brett Favre has now been tainted by the modern era of player mobility.
There is something to be said for the Boston mentality that I have been very critical of in the past. They embrace their stars while they are there, but the team names and logos always supersede everything. So a generation of kids falls in love with the Red Sox based on Mo Vaughn. When they run him out of town and call him a bum, that is just a part of the culture of being a Boston fan. Randy Moss is their favorite player right now, but when he burns the bridge, the fans will hang his effigy in the stands while still loving the Pats.
Cleveland fans don’t need to be so cold-hearted, but it isn’t about the players like Bernie Kosar. It is about that team. This team’s fans get cemented by the bad years as much as the good ones. We are cemented together by Tim Couch and Terry Kirby. We are cemented by Butch Davis and his departure. We are cemented by Dennis Northcutt’s cement-laden hands. Just like we were cemented by WebSTAR Slaughter, Eric Metcalf and Bernie Kosar.
Even if we have to look to the small stars to do it, we have a TV show on local cable called Josh’s Cribbs. The rest of it is just the normal waning and waxing of popularity that any town faces in lean years. There were no Pats fans from 1986 until the 90’s, right?
Well you won’t have to read his articles for much longer. He recently revealed in his blog that he is one of the five reporters the ABJ is laying off in November.
As a Browns fan who was four when they moved to Baltimore I am not even craving excellence for this team, simply mediocrity. The consistency of being at or above 500 every year.
What is interesting, though, is that we are leading the Steelers in actual franchise value. According to forbes’ latest value rankings, the Browns are ranked 15th compared to the Steelers being 18th. You would think that for having the number one fan base and the number two team in the NFL that the Steelers would have a higher worth.
Cleveland is a football first town, and it will be for a good while, whether or not the Browns accomplish anything. People here live and die in the next 15 weeks of the year, and I’d like to think I was one of them.
Lately? I like watching the Cowboys play. I don’t root for them, nor do I care if they win, but they are a damn fun team to watch. The Browns are a painful team to watch, whether or not you’re a fan. 10-6 on a Sunday night? Granted there were gale-force winds, but the Monday night follow-up was a 41-37 shootout with 7 or 8 lead changes between the Eagles and the Cowboys. I had a better time watching that game than I did watching the debacle here.
I won’t give up on the Browns, the Indians, the Cavs or any other Cleveland team simply because I am from here, live here, work here, and probably will die here. So sometime before that happens (50 years by average) I hope to see the Lombardi Trophy in Cleveland.
on an unrelated note, you have some young readers…
Man I love me some panananananathers.
I agree on the young readership (myself being in the under 25).
I’m pleasantly surprised and proud of you old farts who can figure out how to read articles on the computer box. Those of you that can write replies, well – you astound me.
Let’s see if my gnarled, shaky old hands can figure out this keyboard thingy.
No one would be disgusted with the Browns if their talent evaluation was at least mediocre. Think about those stats on number of Pro Bowl players. This “woe is me” city will love anyone that can bring it, even such guys like Albert Belle. Just a little history: The last really good Browns team was quickly built by Ernie Accorsi around some unusual circumstances: Kosar engineering his arrival here thru the supplemental draft, the folding of the USFL which brought us Kevin Mack, Mike Johnson, Dan Fike, Frank Minniefield all at the same time, and we already had a few good older players like Dieken, Matthews and Newsome. Then for a short time they didn’t blow all of their picks, and drafted Chip Banks, Brennan, Slaughter, and Michael Dean Perry at the very end of that run. But consistently wasted high draft picks started to do them in long term, in trades to move up to get guys like Metcalf, bad talent evaluations (Clifford Charlton, Junkin, that wide receiver taken at the top of the second round that they moved up to get), and bad luck (Don Rogers). A few years of average picks, a competent coach, a consistent plan and they’ll be watchable again.
Sorry this post is so long. This subject just really riles me up. Time for my heart meds.
I’m 17, barely even remember the years that the browns weren’t here, but I am, and always will be, a Browns fan. I live in Columbus, but at my school, i know of 3, maybe 4 browns fans other than myself. the others? mostly steelers fans, maybe a few bengals fans, but not many browns fans… and this is Columbus. Personally, knock on wood, the browns could lose every game for the next 10 years and i wouldnt change my allegiance, ever.
@RockKing, for me, it is Phil Dawson, I cant think of a browns player i love more than him
Phil Dawson? Really? That’s hard to hear from someone that was around when the “Dawg Pound” was started. I can still smell the dog biscuits, and feel the chill wind whipping off the lake at Muni. That was before NFL stadiums became giant billboards, and the stadium announcer turned into the head cheerleader. It’s hard top explain, but those Browns had the city’s unwaivering love. Sunday’s had no meaning unless the Browns were playing. The “new” Browns haven’t attained that status, yet. They may never for me. Of course I’ll always be a Browns fan.
I’m 86 years old and I can remember riding the Rapid Transit to Browns games with my brothers. One Sunday Marion Motley hopped on at Windemere all out of breath and scared cause his car broke down and he was going to be late for the game. Said Coach Brown would kill him. Never saw a big man run so fast before. Not during the game, but from the Terminal Tower all the way to the stadium. Lost sight of him near a snowdrift at city hall. Brown benched Motley in the first half but he scored two touchdowns in the 4th quarter to beat the Eagles.
You know, I think this computer thing may catch on.
I grew up in Cleveland and then moved to Pitsburgh 5 years ago for work and marriage. I no longer measure my affection for the browns in actually loving my home team, but in how much I hate the steelers. And since I have gotten here, I hate them more and more and more and more…well you get the picture.
It’s brutal here guys. you think you’ve got it bad. Just imagine what you feel but also being in the middle of shitsburgh hearing all the…nevermind.
anyways, screw the playoffs, the superbowl, the winning records for awhile. please, for my sanity and actual physical health, please just start beating the steelers. please.
No way I’d ever stop liking the Browns. I’m die hard Clevelander, and they couldn’t ever get me to stop watching. yeah, I may get pissed and turn the game off early, but I’ll be right back there next Sunday getting my dreams ruined again.