There are some things – some really, really good things – that have gotten lost about the Browns in this expansion era

That’s what all this losing does. It stains everything and everybody, including those in – and out – of the organization.

For starters, there’s a gem of a guy named Mike McLain. You may not know much about him – you may have never heard of him – but the now-retired longtime (three decades-plus) Browns beat writer from the Warren Tribune-Chronicle knows as much about this team, both now and from back in the day, as anybody. In fact, he knows more than most.

So when Mike, whom I’ve known for 28 years, texts me something in the middle of the day, I take immediate notice – even though I may be extremely busy doing non-football stuff.

Mike told me he heard Browns play-by-by announcer Jim Donovan, the best in the business, say on a webcast Monday night, following the retirement press conference of left tackle Joe Thomas, that he has seen his longtime partner in the booth, color analyst Doug Dieken, cry only twice.

One, Donovan said, was when Dieken left the booth after Thomas suffered a torn triceps injury midway through last season, and the other was when Dieken saw the end of the movie, “Beauty and the Beast.”

The latter crying episode is just a joke by Donovan to poke fun at his friend. But the first one is real.

Like Mike, Dieken is a gem of a guy whose knowledge of this team, and his own history with it, has been obscured by the losing. As such, then, it had to be a poignant moment when he watched Thomas get hurt.

You see, another gem that’s been clouded by the losing is the fact the Browns have had a great – truly great – tradition at left tackle from the very start through the present, and Dieken is an integral part of that, having held down the position from midway through his rookie season of 1971 through ’84, during which he set club records for consecutive starts and consecutive games played.

Dieken knew – very well – the late Lou Groza, a Pro Football Hall of Famer and a Martins Ferry (Ohio) High School product who was a part-time starter at left tackle in the team’s first two seasons of 1946 and ’47 before taking over full-time in 1948 and remaining there through ’59.

Dieken knows – very well — Wooster High School and Ohio State product Dick Schafrath, who should be in the Hall of Fame and served as the starter from 1960 until Dieken took over.

Dieken knows Paul Farren, the left tackle who followed him, and also Tony Jones, who followed Farren. Both Farren and Jones were good players.

Then in 2007 along came Thomas, who is headed to the Hall in about five years. Dieken knew from the very first rookie mini camp practice 11 years ago that Thomas was special. He and Thomas have become close over the years.

So Dieken is the only man alive who knows – or has known – every piece of that great tradition at left tackle. Thus, when he saw Thomas go down, he knew not only that his incredible consecutive snaps streak was over, but also his career. Nothing was lost on Dieken, who knows just about everything there is to know about playing the position.

It was a sobering moment for Dieken to see the greatest of them all, Thomas, on his back, writhing in pain. It was the end of something very special, breaking that long, long chain perhaps for a significant amount of time because the Browns do not have a capable replacement right now. There is no Groza, Schafrath, Dieken, Farren, Jones or Thomas – or anyone even remotely close to those players’ levels — waiting in the wings

Thanks, Mike, for the heads-up on that text and that cool story – a heads-up that only someone like you, who knows the history of this team, would be able to fully comprehend in something as obscure as a webcast on a cold night on the last full day of winter.