Note: This was written 1/6/2018
If you think I’m ignoring – or, at least, I had been ignoring — the 0-16 Browns parade that was held on Saturday in Cleveland, you’re right.
I have no interest – absolutely, positively no interest – in people going out in sub-zero wind chills and marching up and down the main drags of town to draw attention to the low point in Browns history.
Remembering the Browns’ Championship and what it would be like now
I get it that it’s actually a protest march to show owner Jimmy Haslam and the rest of team management that fans are extremely upset about the way the Browns are being run and won’t take it anymore. They have a real point. A winless season following a 1-15 record in 2016, plus 10 straight losing years overall, is all embarrassing to the nth degree. You can’t really quantify just how humiliating it is.
But the organizer of the parade, Chris McNeil, a self-confessed Browns fan, while having the right intentions, is not thinking this thing through – he’s not very smart, really; he lacks common sense — when he laments the fact that many people, especially those outside of the area, don’t realize it’s a protest parade.
Well, duh!
Perception is 90 percent of reality, as they say, and the reality of it, particularly to people around the country, is that this is just another bad Cleveland joke.
You can hear it now: “Those knuckleheads in Cleveland are having a parade to celebrate the Browns not winning a single game. They can’t do anything right.”
Like it or not, Chris McNeil, that will be the lasting memory from this, that the people in Cleveland get geeked up about losing, so much so they brave polar elements to do it. So you got the attention of a few thousand people but did so at the expense of the rest of Northeast Ohio, Browns Nation and all the great players and coaches who made the team one of the best in pro football history during the 50-year lifespan of the original franchise from 1946-95.
I had the rare privilege to meet many of those men, and for McNeil to take their legacies and drag them through the mud – or, as it were, the snow and ice – for all the world to see makes me want to throw him into a frozen Lake Erie. He’s an idiot.
You want to send a message to Haslam and his decision-makers? Quit buying tickets and merchandise. Quit tuning in to the team’s TV and radio programming. Money – and the loss of it in terms of revenue – always gets everybody’s attention.
Parades about futility never, ever do.
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WR Odell Beckham Jr. (9.26.21)
On how he felt playing again:
“Exhausted (laughter). It was the first time in a very long time. A lot of emotions and a lot of things just running through you as you are back in the stadium. It is still a dream to play in the NFL and be in this game. It was a lot to take in today. I just felt like I could never get my legs going, but we came out with the W and that is all that matters.”
On if he played more than expected:
“I am one of those people that I am going to go as much as I can go. It is hard for me to sit out, but any time I needed a break, I was not hesitant to take it. I pushed it, but I gave it everything I could for today.”
Postgame Notes, Top Photos, Key Stats and More
On if he felt a connection with QB Baker Mayfield:
“Absolutely. Just the scheme that we had. We had a couple throws, but there are definitely things that I can work on. Like I said, for the first game back, I just felt like I could never get my legs underneath me. It was definitely a tough game, but I got my feet wet. Glad to get that one out of the way. 1-0 and move onto next week.”
On what his first hit felt like:
“Needed it (laughter). Just needed it. First hit came on a pass that I did not catch, and my shoulder popped out. I was like, alright of course something like that would happen. It was good to feel that and get back into it. The game went on, and it was a little bit smoother.”
On his emotions at the start of the game:
“It is just so many. There has been so much made of the first game back. I try to downplay it but everyone else close to you and the people around you, the whole kind of vibe. You are trying not to think about it and then it gets put on you. I came out and tried not to go crazy in warmup or anything. Just get my legs underneath me. I got to the game, and I swear I just felt like each play I could not get them underneath me. A lot of things to look at the film and improve on and that is all we can do.”
On clarifying his shoulder comment on the hit:
“Football stuff. Shoulder pops out; put it back in. Keep playing. It is like a boxer whose legs you cannot get underneath you. You do not have the same balance. It is not a lack of exposure or anything like that. It is just that first game back energy and emotions running through you. I just could not get my legs going.”
