Browns add orange pants?

By STEVE KING

Advertisement: For a free insurance review visit Allstate Agent Clint Stott

Many Browns fans – actually, probably most of them – gave the Browns a big thumbs up for the new/old uniforms they unveiled on Wednesday.

The fans had said for the last five years, since the failed uniform re-do, that they wanted the team to go back to its classic look tracing back to the Browns’ first season of 1946.

 So, good job, Browns.

Advertisement: Buying or selling a home? Visit the Jacob Coker Group with Keller Williams Chervenic Realty

The only mistake they may have made, though, is not including orange pants in their re-do. Actually, I would say emphatically that they did make an error with that, and the reaction from fans on social media suggests I have a lot of company in that regard.

The orange pants were used from 1975-83, which includes the extremely popular Kardiac Kids era from 1978-83. The 1980 season, in fact, featuring NFL MVP Brian Sipe, Ozzie Newsome, Greg and Mike Pruitt, Dave Logan, Clay Matthews, Doug Dieken and all the rest, is my all-time favorite year for any team in any sport at any level. Watching it play out, with 14 of the 17 games (including the divisional playoff) not being decided until the final two minutes, was a tremendous thrill. The Browns went 11-5 to win their first AFC Central title in nine seasons while making the playoffs for the first time in eight years.

And I don’t think I’m the only one who feels that way. Whenever there is an event featuring head coach Sam Rutigliano and any of the players from that team, it draws huge crowds.

As such, then, that the orange pants were a clear omission. The fans want those, too.

But is this omission possibly for only a short time? Could the Browns add orange pants still?

That remains to be seen. However, Browns Executive Vice President and Owner JW Johnson, who was instrumental in the uniform re-do, for which he deserves much credit, admitted on Wednesday’s “Browns Daily” radio show on Cleveland’s WKNR-AM, about 70 minutes after the uniform unveiling, that he was not aware that the orange pants were so popular. He seemed truly taken aback by it.

“Maybe we can go back to (uniform provider) Nike and see if we can add the orange pants,” Johnson said.

I don’t know if changes, or additions, even a veritable small one like this, can be made to the uniform package at this point. I also don’t know if he was serious, but it seemed he was.

But I do know this: If the orange pants could be added, then this already great uniform re-do would get only better.

Cleveland Browns:

• “Joseph Hopes To Work Out Something ‘Long Term’ With The Browns” (OBR)
• Browns most exciting season(Browns Daily Dose)
• “Browns GM Andrew Berry is the decision maker you want in charge with the NFL Draft in flux” (cleveland.com)
• Myles Garrett re-instated (Browns Daily Dose)
• “Will Baker Mayfield Have a Career Year With the Browns?” (numberFire)
• “Proceeds from new Cleveland Browns jersey sales to benefit coronavirus relief” (WKYC)

Advertisement: What is Survival Frog?