Thursday is the 37th anniversary of the most exciting season in Browns history.

It was on Jan. 4, 1981 that the Kardiac Kids bowed out, losing 14-12 to the Oakland Raiders at frigid Cleveland Stadium in the 1980 AFC divisional playoffs.

Yes, this is the famed “Red Right 88” game, with Brian Sipe’s pass for Ozzie Newsome in the waning seconds being intercepted in the end zone by little-known Mike Davis.

It was a gut-wrenching end, to be sure. But I don’t want to focus on that. It didn’t define that season – not at all.

What did define 1980 was how much fun it was. There had never been anything quite like it up to that point in Browns history, and there has been anything quite like it since.

As such, it was 180 degrees removed from the miserable situation now, coming off an 0-16 season and a 1-31 record over the two years. There is absolutely nothing fun about that.

I wish the movers and shakers of the current Browns regime would watch the highlight film – yes, it was a film – of the 1980 season, when the team, behind some guy named Brian Sipe, went 11-5 and won the AFC Central title for the first time in nine years.

I wish they would see that 14 of the 17 games (including the playoff) were not decided until the final two minutes.

I wish they would see that the Browns were never out of a game, while at the same time, they never had an insurmountable lead.

I wish they would see that each game was a three-hour thriller that had more twists and turns than the best roller-coaster you’ve ever ridden.

I wish they would see how a different hero would step up every week to save the day.

I wish they would see how incredible all this was. You had to witness it to believe it, and even then, it was still hard to fathom.

I wish they would see just how much the fans loved it and continue to relish it to this day.

Now, wasn’t that a nice, one-day diversion from focusing on the 2018 Browns?

Yeah, I think so, too.