Walk Through The Fire

I don't know if I ever mentioned it on these pages before, but growing up, I was a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan. ((The TV show, I've never seen the movie but I'm sure it's great.)) Not only were there plenty of crush-worthy ladies on the show, ((SMG notwithstanding, but Buffy and HIMYM made me an Alyson Hannigan fan for life.)) but it was expertly written by a then-budding-newcomer, a not-yet-problematic Joss Whedon. The snappy dialogue and the wink-nod notion that the show was in on the joke of itself endeared me, and it's still a comfort show despite the fact that it 1) centers around killing demons and 2) implies Cleveland is the home to a Hellmouth ((More on that in a bit.))The writing got a bit hairy as the seasons went by. "Monster of the week" was getting a little too tropey and the self-named "Scooby Gang" was powering up too quickly as Willow became a super witch, Anya embraced the demon she had always been, and Spike started brooding too close to the anti-hero line. The storylines became super interlaced, relationships meant to last were ended with little to no reason other than to keep drama abound. However, in the last season of the show, one of the best episodes of TV ever was created, titled "Once More With Feeling."Quick Seaosn 7 synopsis: Buffy had died, sacrificing herself for her sister Dawn, who wasn't really her sister and was, in fact, a specter of superpower that was granted sentience and put under the protection of the Slayer. Convoluted, absolutely, but in show it made sense. Cue back to super witch Willow, who couldn't grapple enough with the thought that her best friend Buffy was gone and cast a spell that brought her back from whatever plane of Hell she was in. Buffy returned but was not herself, and after Dawn accidentally summoned a demon that enraptured people to sing truths that they might not have wanted to share and dance until they spontaneously combusted, she admitted that, upon her death, she was transported to a dimension that was not Hell. It was Heaven. Her friends had ripped her out of Heaven and placed her in "hell" here on earth. It was a beautiful episode, with songs that are still bangers.After last night's game, I know what Buffy felt like: being in "heaven" and being ripped out of it, living in hell and trying to do your best to put on a happy face. Nick Chubb's injury, a gruesome twisting and crunching of ligaments and bone that should be ruled a dirty hit, ((Yes, I am likely fanning out about it, but Minkah Fitzpatrick absolutely was gunning for Chubb's knees as he was pinned against a Steelers defender. It was a dirty play and nobody can convince me otherwise.)) pulled us all out of whatever dream-like state we were in after that Week 1 win over Cincinnati. Fans across the nation mourned the loss (for the season) of one of the best players in the league and we were left watching a car wreck over and over again.The rest of the game mattered but didn't. It was winnable, but mistakes all over field, up and down the roster doomed the matchup that could have catapaluted Cleveland into national media darlings. Pittsburgh was downright putrid on offense and the foibles of the Browns offense spelled their demise. The team looked rightfully shellshocked, and Deshaun Watson embodied nothing like what you'd want your $230 million quarterback to look like. But I'll say this: if you have a Ferrari and take out the engine and put in one from a 2006 Honda Civic, it isn't gonna run the same. It might run closer to the original after some modifications, which I feel like the Browns will be able to do for the rest of the season, but that first time you turn the keys over, it's gonna sound gawdawful, which last night was.So what's next for Cleveland? Maybe it's Jerome Ford. He looked pretty good on the 69-yard ((nice.)) scramble in the 3rd quarter, and they have had him prepped to be the backup. Maybe you go to the free agency well and bring back Kareem Hunt or a street guy like Leonard Fournette. D'Earnest Johnson is on the practice squad in Jacksonville; he should be easy to acquire. Maybe the front office pushes even more chips in on this season and goes after Johnathan Taylor in Indianapolis. All of it feels dirty and gross to try and think about, as we look at what now feels like a lost season. Alas, as always, the Browns franchise and its fans will "walk through the fire" and see what we can do to deal with the thought of our heaven being ripped away.https://youtu.be/jK1aQlP62-M?si=jdZzB2hHOfHTjV9A