When is the beginning of the season also the end of the season– or at least with a strong possibility that it could be such?
 
One of the few times in pro sports history that this looked to be the case was in the 1982 NFL season.
 
When the teams completed Week 2 of the 16-game schedule, the players went on strike in an effort to get more of the league’s gross revenue. The strike lasted for 57 days, causing seven games to be cancelled and forcing the season to be shortened to just nine contests. For most of that time, the two sides – the NFL Players Association and the team owners – were so far apart that it seemed the season was over.
 
It was 33 years ago, on Sept. 19, 1982, that the Browns played their last game before the strike, losing 24-21 to the Philadelphia Eagles at Cleveland Stadium to fall to 1-1.
 
If that were indeed the final game the Browns would play that year, then it had been a thriller – and a huge disappointment.
 
The Browns led 7-3 at halftime on Brian Sipe’s 19-yard touchdown pass to tight end Ozzie Newsome in the first quarter. It stayed that way until the fourth quarter, when both teams got revved up.
 
The Browns increased their advantage to 14-3 on Charles White’s three-yard TD run, then the Eagles answered with a pair of scoring passes from Youngstown State University product Ron Jaworski, now an analyst on ESPN, to get their first lead, 17-14.
 
Cleveland came right back with Sipe connecting with Newsome again for a TD pass, this one covering 34 yards, to retake the advantage at 21-17 with but 57 seconds remaining.
 
With so little time left and Philadelphia needing a TD to go ahead, it seemed the Browns had won the game. But the Eagles had other ideas, as Jaworski, in a veritable blink of an eye, marched them 65 yards in just four plays for Leroy Harris’s game-winning two-yard scoring run with only 22 seconds remaining.
 
Those in the full house of 78,830 at Cleveland had seen a good game, and a hard one to swallow. But, understanding that a strike was almost inevitable, they filed out not knowing if they would see any games – good or bad, delightful or miserable – for the rest of the season.