The right uniforms, the right stuff

By STEVE KING

The Browns wore their Kardiac Kids era uniforms, orange pants and all, in their 37-34 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.

For that matter, they’ve worn them several times already this season, which seems appropriate since, in a lot of respects, the Browns are having a Kardiac Kids type of season thus far.

The Kardiac Kids were the Browns of the late 1970s into the early 1980s, 1978-83, specifically, when Sam Rutigliano was head coach and Brian Sipe was the quarterback. The Browns made the playoffs twice in that six-year span and barely missed out three other times. The signature season, of course, was 1980, when the Browns went 11-5 and won the AFC Central title for the first time in nine seasons.

To me — there are many others like me because I’ve heard from them, but I can only speak for myself — 1980 was not only a successful season, but also the most exciting one ever because 14 of the 17 games — including the playoffs — were not decided until the final two minutes, hence the nickname of Kardiac Kids. Every game was a nail-biter. It was theater on a football field, and tremendously entertaining.

This season is turning out in a similar way, especially with that game in Cincinnati.

Just three seasons removed from the winless nightmare that was 2017, the Browns are fun — a whole heckuva lot of fun — again, and wildly exciting. They are must-see TV, Fans want to see a lot of scoring. Every survey the NFL takes indicates that, which is why every rule change in the last 40 years has been made to take something from the defense and give it to the offense. As such, then, it’s also why, for the most part, defenses can’t stop offenses. They have nothing — or at least almost nothing — with which to fight back.

So with a lot of scoring — the Browns have tallied 32 points or more in all of their victories in this 5-2 start, and rung up nearly 50 once — the fact that their games are close and exciting and that they are winning, it is the perfect storm. It doesn’t get any better than that. Just ask the people who remember the Kardiac Kids.

This, then, is the theme of this season, and with each passing wee\k — and game — that theme becomes more substantiated.
So enjoy this — this big ol’, season-long party — Browns fans. Indeed, enjoy it to the hilt. You have certainly earned it.

Football is entertainment. It is not supposed to be drudgery. Rather, it is supposed to be something that puts a smile onto your face. It is supposed to be something that, once you catch your breath and your heart starts beating again after the game you’ve just watched, you begin looking forward to the next week’s game, which, in this case. comes Sunday when the Las Vegas Raiders of head coach and Sandusky native Jon Gruden come to FirstEnergy Stadium.

I, for one, can’t wait.