I like lists.
I think we all do.
No matter what they are lists of, they’re fun.
And they’re good.
They are thought-provoking.
That sparks debates.
And causes us to make our own lists.
As mentioned, we’ll make lists of anything and everything, from the best seafood restaurants to the best roller coasters to the worst ways to raise children.
Sports, because of the passion we have for them, may be best subject area for debate.
We all think we know sports, even when we don’t.
It’s a guy thing.
Women are smarter. They know sports as well as men, but they’re smart enough not to act like an expert in something they can’t even spell.
Men, on the other hand, will volunteer their opinions on the best racehorses of all-time when, in fact they don’t the difference between Secretariat and the lady who answered the phone at their grandfather’s business, and they don’t the difference between eqwestreean – er, equestrian — and the Equal Rights Amendment.
In sports, lists are best enjoyed in the offseason, when there’s much less news and thus much more time to let our minds wander and think about things.
Such as the best racehorses of all-time
Or the best definition of equestrian, if we could just spell it right.
We are at that point of the NFL year. The draft is over, and so is free agency. We are down to the Organized Team Activities, or OTAs, or mini camps, or, as they used to be called, quarterback schools. Even back in the day, coaches realized that quarterback is the most important position not just in this sport, but in any team sport.
And remember when former Browns head coach Butch Davis called these springtime practices, “runnin’ around in shorts and playing two-below football.”
Yeah, touch football.
When touch football ends in about a month and the NFL goes on vacation for about three weeks, the teams will be playing tackle football when they convene for the start of training camp.
But football fans don’t really take much time off.
They think about the sport pretty much all year ‘round.
Why?
Because it’s fun.
Like all those lists.
So between now, when we’re short on news but not shorts, and then, when there will be almost more news that we can keep up with, we are going to fill the time with lists. A lot of our daily stories on this website will consist of lists.
And that starts today.
There will be “the best of,” “the worst of,” “the most memorable of,” “the most forgettable of,” “the most favorite,” “the least favorite” and so on and so forth.
Some of these lists will make you glad, while others will make you mad, or sad.
But they will all be fun.
Guaranteed.
There aren’t too many guarantees in this world other than death, taxes and lists – fun lists.
So let’s go.
After following the Browns for well over a half-century, and covering them for over a quarter-century, I’ve watched – and met – a lot of players.
Here are My 20 Most Favorite Browns Players:
- Eddie Johnson – Nobody played with more heart or hit harder, or was more persevering. It popped New York Jets running back Roger Vick that I was afraid he had pushed him into the middle of next week. There was a reason they called him “The Assassin.”
2. Paul Warfield – The epitome of style and grace, and with great hands to boot. When he ran, it was like sweet music where everything worked together in perfect harmony.
3. Bill Willis – He endured more hate that any of us today can ever imagine, but he never retaliated against his protagonists except to shut them up by outplaying them — all the time. He was the quintessential gentleman.
4. Jim Brown – Come on, he’s The Greatest. He’s also the most interesting guy I’ve ever met. It’s like your grandfather on cool steroids.
5. Dave Logan – He reached out with one hand and grabbed a pass for a touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1979, and it made the cover of Sports Illustrated’s NFL Preview edition in 1980. What didn’t get on the cover was him taunting the guy he beat, Mel Blount.
6. Brian Sipe – Speaking of the Kardiac Kids and cool, he was the ringleader of the most exciting – and most fun – teams in Browns history.
7. Bernie Kosar – In him, a regional kid who grew up rooting for Sipe and those Kardiac Kids, we saw a bit of ourselves – if only we could slice up the best of defenses with smarts and precision passes.
8. Doug Dieken – When they held a raffle to see who would push the plunger to implode Three Rivers Stadium, he thought about buying all the tickets so that he made sure he would be the one to do it.
9. Hanford Dixon – He made watching the Browns so much fun, and still does.
10. Frank Minnifield – See No. 9.
11. Bobby Mitchell – Like Bill Willis and Paul Warfield, he was a selfless class act who was also a Pro Football Hall of Famer.
12. Jerry Sherk – He would be in the Hall of Fame, too, if he hadn’t suffered a staph infection on his knee, which nearly claimed his life but in essence ended his career. Yes, he was that good.
13. Reggie Langhorne – As tough as nails, he promised his dad that he would never lay down on a football field. And he never did.
14. Otto Graham – He may have been the best quarterback of all-time because he was the best winner of all-time. And he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind.
15. Dante Lavelli – Ditto for Graham’s favorite receiver. Nobody understood better what it meant to be a former Browns player in the Hall of Fame than this guy.
16. Phil Dawson – The first player of the expansion era, he, too, had a tremendous understanding, and it was of the greatness of the man he bested to become the greatest Browns kicker ever, Lou Groza. He was embarrassed that his name could be used in the same sentence with that of “The Toe.”
17. Orpheus Roye – Another expansion era player, he was a pro’s pro who never took himself too seriously. He loved his mom and used his earning to pay her back for all she had done for him while he was growing up. And don’t hold it against him that he played for the Steelers – on two different occasions, no less.
18. Brian Brennan – He was the second generation of “Ol’ Glue Fingers” Lavelli in that he had the surest hands around. And if The Drive hadn’t happened, then he would be the forever hero because his touchdown catch in that game would have put the Browns into the Super Bowl.
19. Lou Groza – He played 21 seasons with the Browns, college football’s award for its top kicker is named for him, he was the captain of a state champion boys basketball team in Ohio at Martins Ferry High School in 1941 and the road on which Browns Headquarters sets is also named for him. Other than that, he’s just an average joe.
20. Earnest Byner – He was a tremendous player with a big heart who has wrongly been labeled as the guy who kept the Browns out of the Super Bowl. My great hope is that he someday understands the truth, even if a lot of foolish people probably never will.
By Steve King
