Turning the wheel over to the young people

By STEVE KING

For years, old guys like me have talked about the history of the Browns, not just that of the expansion era but of their entire existence back to 1946.

This great moment, that great moment.

This great game, that great game.

This great season, that great season.

This great player, that great player.

This great team, that great team.

This great coach, that great coach.

And so on and so forth.

That was great — there’s that word again — news for all Browns fans, especially the old guys like me but not so much for the younger fans. Their memories of the Browns — that which has been accomplished, or not, since 1999 in the expansion era — have been more like a seemingly endless string of nightmares.

They were living vicariously through the old guys, which is absolutely, positively no way to build a fan base that will sustain the Browns for the next 50 years, at least. For us old guys are much, much closer to the end than to the beginning. We’ll die in the next 20 or 30 years — some sooner, unfortunately — and when we do, then the Browns will have to survive on the affection of the younger fans.

Now, finally, these young people have something on which to chew. It is called the 2020 season.

Nearly everything else in 2020 was a dumpster fire. But the Browns, at long last, were not, are not and likely will not be going forward in the foreseeable future.

All these great, exciting wins this season, including the ones against the Pittsburgh Steelers the last two Sundays, are their good memories.

As an old guy, I stand aside and give them a turn at taking the wheel to steer this Browns ship for a while — perhaps permanently.

It is the rite of passage, just like my dad bequeathed the steering wheel to me when he passed away 40 years ago.

With that, I will move over the passenger seat.

And by the way, pull over at the next rest stop. I need to run in there.

Don’t give me any junk about it. I’m old. You’ll get this way, too, someday.