Browns are a complete disaster
The Cleveland Browns were once an example of how sports organizations should be run. Originating in the All-America Football Conference back in 1946, the Browns won the four championships in that league before being absorbed along with four other franchises into the National Football League prior to the 1950 campaign.
That year, Cleveland took to the field and dominated the competition, eventually beat the Los Angeles Rams 30-28 in the NFL championship game. The Browns would go on to be in the next five NFL title games with Otto Graham at quarterback and head coach/owner/founder Paul Brown roaming the sideline.
In the 1960s, Cleveland had moved on from both Brown and Graham, but won another title in 1964 with Blanton Collier and Frank Ryan at the controls. Cleveland beat the Baltimore Colts 27-0 in a stunning upset, and it remains the last time a major sports team has won a title for the city.
However, the Browns were still decent. In the 1970s, the team was middling with a few playoff appearances before producing some terrific groups the following decade. After watching the Kardiac Kids in 1980 win the AFC Central, the Browns hired Marty Schottenheimer and he took the Browns to a pair of AFC title games in 1986 and 1987, only to be thwarted by John Elway and the Denver Broncos.
Bud Carson would get Cleveland back to the same spot in 1989, only to once again be beaten by Elway. The last playoff win in franchise history can in 1994, when Bill Belichick defeated Bill Parcells and the New England Patriots in the Wild Card round. The team would move to Baltimore following the 1995 campaign, leaving Cleveland without a team until the Browns re-emerged in 1999.
Since that point, it has been nothing but an utter circus for the folks who make their home next to Lake Erie. The Browns have shuffled two-dozen starting quarterbacks in and out of the lineup, while only being able to foster one playoff appearance back in 2002. The Browns have also gone through coaches like its their job, and on Sunday made the latest firing in the person of second-year coach Mike Pettine.
In typical Browns fashion, things got even worse. Owner Jimmy Haslam immediately named something called Sashi Browns to be the lead on all personnel moves, while saying that the team would hire a coach and then allow him to find a general manager, who does not have the final say on the 53-man roster. Then, on Tuesday, Haslam decided to hire a lifelong baseball executive from the New York Mets, Paul DePodesta to help run the show.
Regardless of who you root for, you have to feel for Browns fans. Nobody deserves this kind of sports torture.
Just remember, though, the Browns can be great. They once were the gold standard.
