Browns Diary, Week 13: The Wrong Mindset

L.A. Rams 36, Cleveland 19

So, I could tell you that this game was surely closer than the score indicated, and I could tell you that almost 39-year-old father of five Joe Flacco was shockingly good at quarterback, and I could tell you that I’ve never heard an official MOCK a coach for a challenge call quite like John Hussey mocked our guy Kevin Stefanski at the end of this one.

But let’s start with the old game Tecmo Super Bowl and a player’s condition.

If you’re old enough to have played Tecmo Super Bowl religiously as we did, you know: A player’s health condition was EVERYTHING. When a player’s condition was EXCELLENT, look out. An EXCELLENT condition Bo Jackson was literally unstoppable. In this famous video of Bo Jackson running up and down the field, from one goal line to the other then back again then back yet again, Bo’s condition was most clearly EXCELLENT.

When Bo’s condition was GOOD, he was still pretty unstoppable, but not this level of unstoppable. When Bo’s condition was AVERAGE, sure, he was still really good but you had to use him differently. And when Bo’s condition was BAD, forget about it, he was just another guy, and the Raiders were no fun at all to play with.

I’m not here to tell you that all football questions can be answered by Tecmo Super Bowl.

But I am here to tell you that