Happy April Fools Day!

Make it even happier today by fooling your friends, family members or co-workers, then pat them on the back and say, “I got ya!,” and have a good belly laugh.

It’s the best day of the year to do that, for nobody gets mad at you.

Or at least they shouldn’t, anyway.

But 20 years ago today, in 1996, not a soul in Cleveland was laughing – certainly not heartily.

It had been a rough five months for Browns fans. What had seemed like an early – or late — April Fools Day joke in early November 1995 turned into a cruel reality when then owner Art Modell announced he was moving the original Browns franchise to Baltimore following the season.

The battle of all battles ensued, with the final result coming in February 1996 when the league allowed Modell to take his franchise to Baltimore while leaving behind the Browns’ name, colors and history for a new team to begin play in Cleveland in 1999 in a brand-new stadium.

About a month and a half later when April Fools Day rolled around, the reality of the situation had started to sink in with Browns fans. Yes, they had made history by fighting the NFL and winning to get a team back, but the city would be without football for three years, and for the first time since 1943 when the Cleveland Rams took a year off during a World War II. It made the victory a bit more bittersweet for the immediate future.

When 1999 finally did arrive, the fans were thrilled. Football was back. But not the winning.

And here it is 2016, and the winning still hasn’t returned. It has been, as we all know, an unmitigated disaster – a nightmare of outlandish proportions.

Understandably so, Browns fans are miserable.

But they’d be a lot more miserable if they were still without its Browns, as they were – sorta, kinda – on this day in 1996.

As such, never say it can’t get worse, for it always can.

And we all know that.

So be thankful for little victories and have a good laugh – or two or three. After all, It’s always better to laugh than cry.

Always.

Especially today.