It’s great to beat your arch rival.
 
It’s even greater to beat up your arch rival in the process.
 
Still better is to do it in the arch rival’s building.
 
But the greatest thing? For all of this to earn you a championship.
 
That’s exactly what happened for the Browns exactly 51 years ago today, on Dec. 12, 1964.
 
The Browns roared to a 45-7 lead through three quarters en route to blowing out the New York Giants 52-20 and clinching the Eastern Conference title before a full house of 63,007 at Yankee Stadium.
 
The win, played in front of a national TV audience, came on a Saturday in the regular-season finale. It gave the Browns a 10-3-1 record and 1½-game lead over the runnerup St. Louis Cardinals. If the Giants had beaten Cleveland, then the Cardinals, who had topped the Browns 28-19 the week before after tying them 33-33 in week 2, could have won the conference championship by defeating the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday as the rest of the league’s teams finished the regular season.
 
The Cards did beat the Eagles 36-34, but it left them a half-game behind the Browns at 9-3-2 in one of the tightest races in Eastern Conference history.
 
The Browns had walloped the Giants 42-20 at Cleveland in the middle of the season. But their 32-point win in the rematch was even more pronounced, representing the third-biggest margin of victory in the teams’ long series. The point total is the second-highest by the Browns against the Giants.
 
In the 16-season span from 1950, when Cleveland entered the NFL from the All-America Football Conference, to 1965, either the Browns or New York won the conference title in all but one year. The Giants had captured the East the previous three seasons and five out of the last six. The Browns hadn’t won since 1957.
 
And oh, by the way, the Giants had swept the series in 1963, allowing them to finish 11-3, a game ahead of the Browns (10-4).
 
Cleveland and New York had twice finished the regular season tied for first place, forcing a playoff both times. In 1950, the Browns won that game, and in 1958, the Giants triumphed.
 
So these teams weren’t just rivals, but arch rivals. For those 16 seasons, when every game obviously meant a whole lot, it was the hottest rivalry in the NFL, and one of the hottest all-time.
 
So, considering all that, then, this trouncing of the Giants in 1964 – the second one, that is – was particularly sweet.
 
After trailing 7-3, the Browns led 24-7 at halftime on the arm and legs of quarterback Frank Ryan. He threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Gary Collins and a one-yarder to running back Ernie Green. Ryan ran 13 yards for another score.
 
Also, Lou Groza, the only member of the original 1946 Browns still playing anywhere, opened the game’s scoring with a 39-yard field goal.
 
In the second half, Ryan passed for three more TDs, giving him a team-record-tying five for the game, all in a row. They included a 25-yarder to Green, an eight-yarder to rookie wide receiver Paul Warfield from Warren Harding High School and Ohio State, and an eight-yarder to some running back named Jim Brown.
 
Then, just to add an exclamation point to the Browns’ big win, backup quarterback Jim Ninowski threw a 24-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter to another rookie wideout, Walter “the Flea” Roberts, all 5-9, 163 pounds of him.
 
Ryan, who threw for 25 TDs for the second straight year to lead the NFL, was nearly perfect, completing 12 of 13 passes for 202 yards with no interceptions. His passing rating of 158.33 was officially perfect and tied a team record.
 
Ninowski was 4 of 6 passing for 73 yards and no picks.
 
Warfield caught five passes for 103 yards, while Collins had three receptions for 48 yards.
 
Brown rushed for 99 yards in 20 attempts.
 
All told, the Browns had 428 yards of offense.
 
Against the hated Giants.
 
At Yankee Stadium.
 
To win the Eastern Conference title.
 
It doesn’t get any better than that.
 
Well, yes, it does, in fact.
 
And the Browns would find that out 15 days later.