You Gotta Be Tough..ramblings of a Browns fan

[RCFJLockwood]

A buddy of mine started a Browns blog and I encourage you to check it out. I have really enjoyed his posts so far. Especially the photo captions.

Blog: Click Here to Visit "You Gotta Be Tough"

Posts:

A Young Addicts Perspective

I grew up in Lakewood, Ohio (right on the border of Cleveland proper). At the age of 4, my parents started allowing me to dabble with something very dangerous. I remember sitting in front of my parents’ 19″ television with the bunny ears adjusted just so in order to get a crisp image on the screen. That TV screen introduced me to what I now consider a life-long addiction that consistently causes me more unhappiness than happiness. But I guess that’s what addictions typically do. My addiction? Being a fan of the Cleveland Browns.

Vividly replaying in my mind as I type this, John Elway of the Denver Broncos methodically picks apart the Browns defense with both his arm and his legs in the 1987 AFC Championship game. At the end of that game, being very young, I didn’t fully comprehend that the Browns’ season had ended. I KNEW Bernie Kosar and Kevin Mack were going to take us to the Super Bowl. But my father and grandmother explained to me that it was over and that we had next year to look forward to!

Introducing the Cleveland Bills

Just a quick scoot south on Route 237 from my home sits Berea, Ohio. This is the home of the Cleveland Bills… err… I mean… The Cleveland Browns. Sorry about that. Give me a chance to talk about this for a few minutes and I think you will understand why I was confused.

On Thursday, January 23, the Cleveland Browns hired Mike Pettine, the Bills’ former defensive coordinator, as their new head coach. If you read my post I just linked to, you’ll see that I really liked Mike Pettine as a person. As a coach, I’m, as yet, undecided. He’s gotta coach some football games for the Browns before I will pass my judgement.

On Monday, January 27th, I read a couple of reports stating that the Browns are hiring Chuck Driesbach, the man who was the Inside Linebackers coach for the Bills this past season. According to Driesbach, he was let go by the Bills on January 13th for apparently no reason.

 

[Wulfgar1224]

I'm 36 now so probably one of the older posters in this forum. The point being is that I am actually old enough to remember the Drive and Fumble. I remember the Browns before they moved. It used to be such a proud franchise. They had winning records against Pittsburgh and Cincy when they left. I knew with the way the expansion was set up it would take them 5 or 6 years to get the franchise on solid ground. But, I never imagined things would go this catastrophic. It is stunning really. The way the NFL is set up with the hard cap, it doesn't take a whole lot to churn out 7 and 8 win mediocre teams each season. You don't even have to be that great of a franchise. However, regime after regime with the Browns makes it seem like some unattainable monumental conquest. I can't imagine I'd even be a Browns fan if I were 10 years younger and couldn't remember anything but the expansion era. I don't even get upset anymore. I'm just numb to it now.

 

[theshad]

I'm 36 now so probably one of the older posters in this forum. The point being is that I am actually old enough to remember the Drive and Fumble. I remember the Browns before they moved. It used to be such a proud franchise. They had winning records against Pittsburgh and Cincy when they left. I knew with the way the expansion was set up it would take them 5 or 6 years to get the franchise on solid ground. But, I never imagined things would go this catastrophic. It is stunning really. The way the NFL is set up with the hard cap, it doesn't take a whole lot to churn out 7 and 8 win mediocre teams each season. You don't even have to be that great of a franchise. However, regime after regime with the Browns makes it seem like some unattainable monumental conquest. I can't imagine I'd even be a Browns fan if I were 10 years younger and couldn't remember anything but the expansion era. I don't even get upset anymore. I'm just numb to it now.

I'm a 25 year old fan who as a child was hardcore into hockey and mostly neglected football. The best season that I have witnessed myself was 2007 -_-

2 seasons above .500 that I have actually watched. I'd say a good 30% of my friends who grew up in NE Ohio with me that are my age are inexplicably Steelers fans also. So I get to hear their nonsense constantly.

 

[bcort]

[video=youtube;EnPOqE8R5M0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnPOqE8R5M0[/video]