As Tim told me the other day, this may be the ultimate “we’re not here to cooperate” column - which is probably the reason I’m willing to write it.
This is the first fall I’ve been in Cleveland for in a while. The matter of whether or not I’ll still be here next fall is an entirely different story. With that said, witnessing the lead up to the start of the Browns’ season, has made it perfectly clear to me that this town is obsessed with football.
In fact, Cleveland may be obsessed with football in a way that is not necessarily healthy.
One of the reasons we started this site was because we wanted to try to influence attitudes. Too often - in my opinion, at least … I won’t speak for Dad and Tim - Cleveland defines its self-worth by how well its sports teams perform. Phrases like “only in Cleveland” or “there’s always next year” are prevalent. Because sports are so important to so many people in Northeast Ohio, this kind of thinking has significant ramifications. My dad and I have talked about how the office is quiet on Monday mornings after a Browns’ loss. We’ve even discussed how he used to have sleepless nights when the team couldn’t pull out a win (thankfully, those nights are now in the past).
The national media loves to write about Cleveland’s tortured love affair with its sports teams. Conflict, of course, means drama. Writers like drama, even if they’re reporters. And the story of Cleveland that they have written is this: a city full of hard working, loyal, blue collar fans who live and die by the success and failure of their favorite teams. And, since the teams in Cleveland have done a lot more losing than winning since 1964, this down on its luck city has done a lot more dying than living.
This narrative, which is continually discussed locally and nationally, creates what I would call a dreaded mythology. That we are a bunch of losers. And, in my opinion, no team in the city is worse at propagating this dreaded mythology than the Browns.
The Indians, I realize, have a long history of pathetic activities. But they don’t mean as much to this city as the Browns do. Anyone living in Northeast Ohio can sense this.
One of my least favorite topics of conversation is the so-called “great tradition” of the Browns. The Ring of Honor ceremony - while well intentioned - was a scam. The Browns should be more concerned with creating a winning football program than with drawing attention to things that happened over 40 years ago. As far as I’m concerned, an organization that’s never been to the Super Bowl doesn’t have a “great tradition.” They have a history of losing. And almost no one in the NFL has been worse than the Browns since they returned in 1999. Two winning seasons. One playoff berth. Not good.
This brings me to my overall point: Cleveland would be better off if the Browns never came back.
An extraordinary amount of energy has been devoted to this football team since it returned in 1999 - with almost nothing to show for it. Time and money have been wasted. 74.4% of Cleveland Browns stadium was built with taxpayer money. The results have been pitiful. The stadium didn’t help that part of the city at all. The Rock Hall and the Great Lakes Science center were already there. The stadium itself is all but useless between January and August. No other type of development has sprung up in the area. And for what? So the Browns continual penchant for losing can lower this city’s already damaged self-esteem?
I understand that similar criticisms could be lobbed at the Gateway project - but I have a difficult time imagining what downtown would look like without Progressive Field and Quicken Loans Arena. Both facilities did spark actual redevelopment. Furthermore, in the case of The Q, that facility is used all year round. For all intents and purposes it also allowed the Cavs to move to Cleveland. Prior to the construction of what was then called Gund Arena, the Cavaliers may as well have been deemed the Richfield Cavaliers.
Finally, the most prosperous time in the history of the Cleveland Indians (aka the sellout streak) stretched through the period when the Browns were gone. I would make the case that resources in Northeast Ohio are thin at the moment. I don’t think too many people would argue with that. Because of this, I would argue that the area would be better off if it was focusing its energy, time, and money into a single part of the city and a single sport. Or at least two sports instead of three. And if I was going to choose which sports, I would choose the Indians and the Cavaliers because of the length of their seasons, the location of their facilities, and - at least in the case of The Q - the fact those facilities are multi-use.
The Browns are not only a drain on the psychology of Cleveland - they’re also a drain on the city’s focus and its pocketbooks. Nothing good has come from the NFL bringing the Browns back to the area, and it will probably be even worse when, one day down the road, football is reduced to the level of legitimacy boxing now has due to concerns over head injuries and the sport’s proclivity for turning its players into cripples later on in life.
