Love the Bears comments. Da Bearsss! Yes, I do remember that Super Bowl XX win, was in New Orleans for it, hung out with Gary Fencik afterward. This means, basically, I’m old. As for the current Bears and Caleb Williams--they’ve ruined quarterbacks before him, and they’ll do it after him, and I’m worried now. But... Da Bearsss, my friends!!
Speaking as a contemporary, you aren't old, just well seasoned. I watched my Seahawks prevail 6-3 on Thursday and all I could think of was Ditka was somewhere yelling "Run the *!#$%& ball!!!!"
Every time I read one of these entries I want to hug a Browns fan. Then, I'm incredibly thankful for stressing out over nothing more than my team's first loss in a couple of months and how the broadcasters didn't make a big enough deal over the fact that our QB was hurt[s].
See, Joe, the one reason the Browns can't be fixed you didn't mention is the one I believe. It's the fans, Joe, many of them your readers.
I've been a Rams fan myself, from the Norm Van Brocklin days, long before the great Fearsome Foursome. But I count myself fortunate to have a close good friend who is a very long suffering Browns fan. I say that because it's no longer possible to write the words, Browns fan, without including duration and extent of their suffering.
It all reminds me of sexual S&M. There really is no sadist so bad that thousands of masochists won't love him or her. Browns fans continue to love their team, not in spite of all their sadistic gameplay, but because of it, in the same way a sexual masochist will become attached to a sexual sadist. Each requires the other to be complete. If the fans need to suffer, the team must be prepared to deliver the punishment. You can't just throw a Baker into the mix to start winning games and otherwise gum up all the works. The fans will never understand it and will look hard for the slightest reason to get rid of him. But give them a DeShaun and hey, this is more like it!
So yeah, it's the fans. If they didn't like this, you'd think they'd change it, hey?
Speaking as a fan of the Washington NFL Team in the 1960s, we knew the owner was a racist and not at all a role model. We loved the team. The team represented us, not the owner. Living in the other Washington for the past 50 years my allegiance is now to the Seahawks. During that time we've had good owners and bad, but our love was always for the team. The Brown fans are not now, nor have they ever been the problem in Cleveland.
Trading all of those picks and burning all of that cash to get Deshaun Watson is going to haunt this franchise for a long, long time. It's not quite the devastation of the Herschel Walker trade - I don't think - but it's not far from it. The Broncos basically made the same bad trade but without giving Russell Wilson a fully-guaranteed contract. The Broncos have kind of bounced back after replacing Wilson with Bo Nix. I can't see the Browns eating Deshaun's contract in the next year or two, though, so this one is going to linger for awhile.
The Vikings were far from devastated by the Herschel Walker trade. They gave up a ton to get him and he wasn't great for them but they traded for him in 1989 and made the playoffs. Then went:
1990 6-10
1991 8 - 8
1992 11- 5 Playoffs
1993 9-7 Playoffs
1994 10 - 6 Playoffs
It was a bad trade but the Browns would have been ecstatic to have the same record in the first five years after getting Watson.
That line caught my eye as well. By pure devastation to a franchise, this blows Herschel Walker out of the water. In fact, I think it might be the single worst trade in pro sports history. This was a franchise destroying trade and worse, it was predictably terrible.
That guy who dressed as … some kind of mutant Grinch-dog disguised as Santa? - anyway, he should have dressed as the Grinch’s dog Max. Poor Max, ever faithful, smiling, eager, despite the miserable treatment at the hands of his owner, so eager to please, doing his darndest to pull that sleigh. And what does he get in return? A whip lashing his back on a perilous, torturous climb up Mount Crumpet.
Cleveland fans are an entire stadium full of Maxes. Alas, Jimmy Haslam has no heart, not even one two sizes too small, to be moved.
Well, i did join up for the Browns diaries. And Joe does provide them! The 2024 season, alas, gone with the wind like most of the last 25 seasons. With the same Browns mantra - "No one in particular is to blame, yet everyone is to blame". What occurred is really abhorrent! 1. Come out of last year after firing the offensive coaches and Browns began season as oldest NFL team. 2. After hiring Buffalo's fired OC - Kevin Stefanski calls all the plays until DSW gets hurt (wasn't Ken Dorsey supposed to run the offense for DSW?). 3. Browns get clobbered on National TV; 1st game by Cowboys (who then go into a losing spiral) 4. After a bunch lost games, DSW goes down And Browns trade Amari Cooper -#1 receiver. 5. Winston replaces Watson. 6. Beats 2 divisional foes, sets the all-time single game passing record. 6. Winston reverts to old self via interceptions. 7. NFL flexes Browns-Bengals out of TNF. 8. DTR takes over helm, loses anyway. 9. Myles publicly does not want to go through a rebuild. (What rebuild? there's not enough good draft choices to rebuild with). 10. Passing the torch to the other side - Guardians trade popular 2nd baseman for more pitching because, while they were in on some starting pitching deals ... they were close 11 Then Guardians trade Josh Naylor, slugging 1st baseman for a pitching pepperoni. Immediately sign a 40 yr. old 1bman. Citing the need to "balance the present with the future" - adding more gas to the gaslight! 12. Meanwhile, Frustrated, disappointed Kevin and Perplexed Jimmy Haslem point to the future AND JH building a new, modern stadium! Stefanski, Haslem, and Berry .... Oh my!
Or standing in rain while … unemployed … allegedly for dealing PCP to office mates … while wearing a fake Santa suit … w old salmon stuffed in your pocket …while a dog pees on your leg … and no home to go to other than a couch in a prostitutes flat … all for $1. Yes. It could indeed be worse.
My son-in-law is from Cleveland. Many of my friends are from Cleveland area, from places like Kent, Chagrin Falls, Medina and so on. The grandkids are little and wear Browns gear. My son-in-law has a Charlie Frye jersey. I saw a Beckham jersey on his 10-year old. All these people, friends and my daughter’s family, I can safely say, are wounded.
The kids cry, the adults suffer. Mention ``Johhny Football’' and they look away. Tim Couch. As in ouch. Jimmy Haslam. Kellen Winslow Jr. Art Modell. The Drive. Earnest Byner. No one dare say the words Deshaun Watson or ``No Team for Three Years.’' The torment is passed along like a family curse, a genetic defect with no cure. I, luckily, have nothing to do with Cleveland, or even Ohio. I am immune. I have the Bears.
At least you are old enough to remember some good history from the Bears. Over the last 4 years the Bears are 20-46, 9 games worse than the Browns. They are 62-100 over the last decade, only 5 wins more, with the same number of playoff appearances and no wins (The Browns have one) This will likely be their 8th year with 5 wins or under since 2000. Not quite the Browns, but not so good either. (Hey, you are also ahead of both New York teams and the Jags the last decade. You're #28!) Recency wise, you are kind of living in a glass house at this point.
It sure looks like Caleb has all the chance in the world to be a great NFL QB, will the Bears hire the right coaching staff to put around him to reach his potential? I am a lifelong follower of the Lions and wonder if this is the year for Ben Johnson to leave to be a head coach, maybe for Da Bears. I’m always skeptical about assistants becoming head coaches in the NFL, it seems like a totally different gig and a hard transition to make for so many.
Never been a fan of the Chicago teams but I used to thoroughly enjoy that show with the reporters round table that you did, much better than the shows today with all the hot takes and everyone talking at once. What was that, like 40 years ago? Anyway, nice to see you here!
Joe, you had your chance. When you were looking for a different team to root for a few years ago, Detroit and Buffalo were high on your list. Detroit seemed like a natural fit. Imagine getting to write a Lions diary! Dan Campbell as a head coach would be fun to write about.
Agree to disagree. Joe rooting for a winning team does not fit Joe at all. I am glad that he who cannot be named is gone for at least the short term because writing about a bad team is up Joe's wheelhouse IMO. Joe's pain is our gain and we are all better for it (but Joe).
There’s a game on the Price is Right where there are four prizes and four price tags, and the contestant has 45 seconds to put the right price tag on each prize. After the contestant puts the price tags on the prizes, they run over to a scoreboard where they pull a handle and the board shows how many prices they have right - but not which ones. Then they run back over to the prizes, switch whatever price tags they want, run back and pull the handle again, and so on until the time runs out.
The Browns’ management seems like a contestant who has no clue what the prizes cost - or maybe even what the prizes are - so they run frantically switching price tags and pulling the handle hoping they get 4 right. They keep switching and maybe get 1 or 2 - and probably try the same wrong prices multiple times. At some point they bewilderedly look to the audience for help and listen to the guy yelling at them to draft Johnny Football. Time runs out and predictably they have no idea what happened but were sure they almost won all the prizes.
Maybe one of the problems with the Browns is the fiction of connecting the pre-1996 original Cleveland Browns with the expansion team that started in 1999. Joe and the fans buy into this fiction by linking their memories of the 1970s and 80s teams with the current team. Just because everyone pretended that because the post-1999 Browns had the same name and colors, that they also got to keep their “history.” This is, of course, nonsense. The Cleveland Browns that Joe grew up rooting for now play in Baltimore, and they’ve won two Superbowls, and have generally been a very good team.
An alternative viewpoint. When the Seattle Supersonics were rushed out of Seattle in the dark of night, it was done by OKC investors who swore when they bought the team that it would never be moved. They not only moved but took the memorabilia and claim to Sonics history with them. Well guess what? If we get an expansion team, they're going to be the Sonics and we're taking back the history.
Franchise distinctions don’t mean anything to the local fans. The Washington Senators had more success when they became the Minnesota Twins while Washington got to suffer with an expansion Senators that later became the Rangers. I don’t think Washington fans cared about either “franchise.” Same with Baltimore and the Indianapolis Colts. For the poor fans in Cleveland, it’s the city not the team name that matters to them.
Love the Bears comments. Da Bearsss! Yes, I do remember that Super Bowl XX win, was in New Orleans for it, hung out with Gary Fencik afterward. This means, basically, I’m old. As for the current Bears and Caleb Williams--they’ve ruined quarterbacks before him, and they’ll do it after him, and I’m worried now. But... Da Bearsss, my friends!!
Speaking as a contemporary, you aren't old, just well seasoned. I watched my Seahawks prevail 6-3 on Thursday and all I could think of was Ditka was somewhere yelling "Run the *!#$%& ball!!!!"
Every time I read one of these entries I want to hug a Browns fan. Then, I'm incredibly thankful for stressing out over nothing more than my team's first loss in a couple of months and how the broadcasters didn't make a big enough deal over the fact that our QB was hurt[s].
obviously, IT IS ALL OF THESE THINGS. It’s not because of a lack of effort.
It’s not because of a lack of talent.
It’s not because of poor practice habits.
It’s not because of poor practice management.
It’s not because of a lack of discipline.
It’s not because of the quarterback.
It’s not because of any one player.
It’s not because of the offensive or defensive schemes.
It’s also not because of any one coach.
It’s also not because of the front office.
It’s definitely not because of the owners
I agree, but when was the last time you heard an owner take the blame for anything? Same rule in business and politics as well.
indeed you speak the truth, sadly...
See, Joe, the one reason the Browns can't be fixed you didn't mention is the one I believe. It's the fans, Joe, many of them your readers.
I've been a Rams fan myself, from the Norm Van Brocklin days, long before the great Fearsome Foursome. But I count myself fortunate to have a close good friend who is a very long suffering Browns fan. I say that because it's no longer possible to write the words, Browns fan, without including duration and extent of their suffering.
It all reminds me of sexual S&M. There really is no sadist so bad that thousands of masochists won't love him or her. Browns fans continue to love their team, not in spite of all their sadistic gameplay, but because of it, in the same way a sexual masochist will become attached to a sexual sadist. Each requires the other to be complete. If the fans need to suffer, the team must be prepared to deliver the punishment. You can't just throw a Baker into the mix to start winning games and otherwise gum up all the works. The fans will never understand it and will look hard for the slightest reason to get rid of him. But give them a DeShaun and hey, this is more like it!
So yeah, it's the fans. If they didn't like this, you'd think they'd change it, hey?
Speaking as a fan of the Washington NFL Team in the 1960s, we knew the owner was a racist and not at all a role model. We loved the team. The team represented us, not the owner. Living in the other Washington for the past 50 years my allegiance is now to the Seahawks. During that time we've had good owners and bad, but our love was always for the team. The Brown fans are not now, nor have they ever been the problem in Cleveland.
Yeah, I was mostly just poking a little fun at them, at Joe, and especially at my friend, the LS Browns fan.
Trading all of those picks and burning all of that cash to get Deshaun Watson is going to haunt this franchise for a long, long time. It's not quite the devastation of the Herschel Walker trade - I don't think - but it's not far from it. The Broncos basically made the same bad trade but without giving Russell Wilson a fully-guaranteed contract. The Broncos have kind of bounced back after replacing Wilson with Bo Nix. I can't see the Browns eating Deshaun's contract in the next year or two, though, so this one is going to linger for awhile.
The Vikings were far from devastated by the Herschel Walker trade. They gave up a ton to get him and he wasn't great for them but they traded for him in 1989 and made the playoffs. Then went:
1990 6-10
1991 8 - 8
1992 11- 5 Playoffs
1993 9-7 Playoffs
1994 10 - 6 Playoffs
It was a bad trade but the Browns would have been ecstatic to have the same record in the first five years after getting Watson.
That line caught my eye as well. By pure devastation to a franchise, this blows Herschel Walker out of the water. In fact, I think it might be the single worst trade in pro sports history. This was a franchise destroying trade and worse, it was predictably terrible.
Frustrating.
That guy who dressed as … some kind of mutant Grinch-dog disguised as Santa? - anyway, he should have dressed as the Grinch’s dog Max. Poor Max, ever faithful, smiling, eager, despite the miserable treatment at the hands of his owner, so eager to please, doing his darndest to pull that sleigh. And what does he get in return? A whip lashing his back on a perilous, torturous climb up Mount Crumpet.
Cleveland fans are an entire stadium full of Maxes. Alas, Jimmy Haslam has no heart, not even one two sizes too small, to be moved.
Well played, sir!
Well, i did join up for the Browns diaries. And Joe does provide them! The 2024 season, alas, gone with the wind like most of the last 25 seasons. With the same Browns mantra - "No one in particular is to blame, yet everyone is to blame". What occurred is really abhorrent! 1. Come out of last year after firing the offensive coaches and Browns began season as oldest NFL team. 2. After hiring Buffalo's fired OC - Kevin Stefanski calls all the plays until DSW gets hurt (wasn't Ken Dorsey supposed to run the offense for DSW?). 3. Browns get clobbered on National TV; 1st game by Cowboys (who then go into a losing spiral) 4. After a bunch lost games, DSW goes down And Browns trade Amari Cooper -#1 receiver. 5. Winston replaces Watson. 6. Beats 2 divisional foes, sets the all-time single game passing record. 6. Winston reverts to old self via interceptions. 7. NFL flexes Browns-Bengals out of TNF. 8. DTR takes over helm, loses anyway. 9. Myles publicly does not want to go through a rebuild. (What rebuild? there's not enough good draft choices to rebuild with). 10. Passing the torch to the other side - Guardians trade popular 2nd baseman for more pitching because, while they were in on some starting pitching deals ... they were close 11 Then Guardians trade Josh Naylor, slugging 1st baseman for a pitching pepperoni. Immediately sign a 40 yr. old 1bman. Citing the need to "balance the present with the future" - adding more gas to the gaslight! 12. Meanwhile, Frustrated, disappointed Kevin and Perplexed Jimmy Haslem point to the future AND JH building a new, modern stadium! Stefanski, Haslem, and Berry .... Oh my!
Maybe it is Art Modell's fault?
"Could be worse. Could be raining."
Or standing in rain while … unemployed … allegedly for dealing PCP to office mates … while wearing a fake Santa suit … w old salmon stuffed in your pocket …while a dog pees on your leg … and no home to go to other than a couch in a prostitutes flat … all for $1. Yes. It could indeed be worse.
A couch in a young Jamie Lee Curtis' flat actually is more of a silver lining. Way better than news that HWMNBN is healing ahead of schedule.
great Trading Places references...
I thought it would be a Princess Bride reference. "Drunk, and unemployed ... in Greenland!"
hahaha! most people in Greenland ARE drunk and unemployed (know many Inuit from Greenland in Copenhagen from when i lived there)
My son-in-law is from Cleveland. Many of my friends are from Cleveland area, from places like Kent, Chagrin Falls, Medina and so on. The grandkids are little and wear Browns gear. My son-in-law has a Charlie Frye jersey. I saw a Beckham jersey on his 10-year old. All these people, friends and my daughter’s family, I can safely say, are wounded.
The kids cry, the adults suffer. Mention ``Johhny Football’' and they look away. Tim Couch. As in ouch. Jimmy Haslam. Kellen Winslow Jr. Art Modell. The Drive. Earnest Byner. No one dare say the words Deshaun Watson or ``No Team for Three Years.’' The torment is passed along like a family curse, a genetic defect with no cure. I, luckily, have nothing to do with Cleveland, or even Ohio. I am immune. I have the Bears.
At least you are old enough to remember some good history from the Bears. Over the last 4 years the Bears are 20-46, 9 games worse than the Browns. They are 62-100 over the last decade, only 5 wins more, with the same number of playoff appearances and no wins (The Browns have one) This will likely be their 8th year with 5 wins or under since 2000. Not quite the Browns, but not so good either. (Hey, you are also ahead of both New York teams and the Jags the last decade. You're #28!) Recency wise, you are kind of living in a glass house at this point.
It sure looks like Caleb has all the chance in the world to be a great NFL QB, will the Bears hire the right coaching staff to put around him to reach his potential? I am a lifelong follower of the Lions and wonder if this is the year for Ben Johnson to leave to be a head coach, maybe for Da Bears. I’m always skeptical about assistants becoming head coaches in the NFL, it seems like a totally different gig and a hard transition to make for so many.
Never been a fan of the Chicago teams but I used to thoroughly enjoy that show with the reporters round table that you did, much better than the shows today with all the hot takes and everyone talking at once. What was that, like 40 years ago? Anyway, nice to see you here!
Can someone diagram this sentence?? "To go wholesale and blow things up after one bad, albeit very bad one at that, season feels very rash."
Teacherz gonna teach.
Joe, you had your chance. When you were looking for a different team to root for a few years ago, Detroit and Buffalo were high on your list. Detroit seemed like a natural fit. Imagine getting to write a Lions diary! Dan Campbell as a head coach would be fun to write about.
Agree to disagree. Joe rooting for a winning team does not fit Joe at all. I am glad that he who cannot be named is gone for at least the short term because writing about a bad team is up Joe's wheelhouse IMO. Joe's pain is our gain and we are all better for it (but Joe).
Joe is our ‘Charlie’ Brown fan?
There’s a game on the Price is Right where there are four prizes and four price tags, and the contestant has 45 seconds to put the right price tag on each prize. After the contestant puts the price tags on the prizes, they run over to a scoreboard where they pull a handle and the board shows how many prices they have right - but not which ones. Then they run back over to the prizes, switch whatever price tags they want, run back and pull the handle again, and so on until the time runs out.
The Browns’ management seems like a contestant who has no clue what the prizes cost - or maybe even what the prizes are - so they run frantically switching price tags and pulling the handle hoping they get 4 right. They keep switching and maybe get 1 or 2 - and probably try the same wrong prices multiple times. At some point they bewilderedly look to the audience for help and listen to the guy yelling at them to draft Johnny Football. Time runs out and predictably they have no idea what happened but were sure they almost won all the prizes.
A better game analogy might be they’re playing checkers while other teams are playing chess.
Maybe one of the problems with the Browns is the fiction of connecting the pre-1996 original Cleveland Browns with the expansion team that started in 1999. Joe and the fans buy into this fiction by linking their memories of the 1970s and 80s teams with the current team. Just because everyone pretended that because the post-1999 Browns had the same name and colors, that they also got to keep their “history.” This is, of course, nonsense. The Cleveland Browns that Joe grew up rooting for now play in Baltimore, and they’ve won two Superbowls, and have generally been a very good team.
An alternative viewpoint. When the Seattle Supersonics were rushed out of Seattle in the dark of night, it was done by OKC investors who swore when they bought the team that it would never be moved. They not only moved but took the memorabilia and claim to Sonics history with them. Well guess what? If we get an expansion team, they're going to be the Sonics and we're taking back the history.
Franchise distinctions don’t mean anything to the local fans. The Washington Senators had more success when they became the Minnesota Twins while Washington got to suffer with an expansion Senators that later became the Rangers. I don’t think Washington fans cared about either “franchise.” Same with Baltimore and the Indianapolis Colts. For the poor fans in Cleveland, it’s the city not the team name that matters to them.
I was trying to interpret what Stefanski was saying and I’m pretty sure it’s that the frustrating disappointings were opportunities.