To be a Cleveland Browns fan, you have to have patience and optimism. Without the two, it’s hopeless. The Browns have been like a bad soap opera lately.
Some people say, correctly, that Cleveland has not been any good since returning to the NFL in 1999. That’s true, but it’s only part of the story.
The truth is the Browns have been bad since way before the move to Baltimore in 1995. Cleveland has had just one 10-win season since 1988.
Since that season, the Browns have won seven games or less in a season 11 times, and have made just three playoff appearances.
Since 1988, the Browns have had seven head coaches, and they didn’t even have a team for three of those seasons.
But the fans keep coming back. The Browns have sold out every home game since 1999.
The Indians won 93 games in 2005 and just drew 2 million fans. The Cavaliers are only drawing because of LeBron James and the promise he brings. It’s true Cleveland went NBA-crazy last May, during the Cavs’ playoff run. But before LeBron, the Cavaliers were an afterthought.
Some say the Cavaliers were a bad team, but they certainly were no worse than the Browns have been.
Yet the Browns keep packing them in.
The fans have kept coming because Cleveland is a football city. I grew up in the Cleveland area, and even though the fans have gone nuts for the Indians and Cavs, the Browns are different. The Browns are like part of your family. A dysfunctional part, but an important part. How much do people care about the Browns? Here’s a few things I’ve seen:
• On a 1992 Sunday I attended church, and the priest finished with the usual “Go in peace to love and serve the lord.” Then he followed with: “I hope the Browns do better.”
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
If NFL teams were Back to the Future characters, the Browns would be George McFly.
2 - Kristopher
speaks from the heart man, speaks from the heart...only true browns fans like us know what it's gonna take and how long it'll be. we'll have our cake soon
3 - RJ Elliott
A good buddy of mine is a die-hard Cleveland Browns fan. I am a die-hard Detroit Lions fan. Football season is like suicide watch for both of us...
4 - Mark Saleski
rj, isn't it difficult not being a dolphins fan in florida?
5 - Bengal Fan
Wow... reading that gave me flashbacks. Even in the years that the Bengals went 2-14, we'd still put 55,000 people in the stands. For us Bengals fans, we had to endure 15 long years of hell, each year holding out hope that something or someone would save us. Then we got Marvin Lewis and Carson Palmer and it's like the past 15 years are a distant memory. Don't lose hope. Romeo is the first step in the Browns turning it around. Now if they could just avoid all of the bad luck......
6 - RJ Elliott
"rj, isn't it difficult not being a dolphins fan in florida?"
There are more Tampa Bay fans around here than Dolphins fans...
7 - Mark Saleski
oops....remember rj, i lived in florida (and was, like, ten years old) when the dolphins went undefeated. so i sort of tend to forget that there are other teams in that state.
8 - RJ Elliott
Yeah, the Bucs have had some recent success, so it seems like all Central Floridians are Bucs fans now...
South Florida fans of course support the 'Fins...
And North Florida fans root for the Jags...
Florida is pretty heterogeneous, you know. South Florida is comprised mostly of Cubans, Haitians, and Jews from New York. North Florida is basically just South Georgia and South Alabama. Central Florida, however, is where the normal, Mid-Western people live (amongst the Puerto Ricans, illegal Mexicans, Disney characters, and infirm elderly...).
9 - Mark Saleski
yea, we had a bunch of friends from cuba where we lived (just sound of palm beach). it seemed like most folks in that area were transplants.
the sports landscape has certainly changed in all of these years...what with the new football and baseball teams. nothin' like that back then, though we did get to see a bunch of spring training atlanta braves games.
my dad and his friends used to drive up north on sundays north of the "blackout radius" just to watch the dolphins games on a hotel room tv.