Cleveland Browns: A jersey love affair
By Joel W. Cade
The Cleveland Browns “jersey” is portrayed by the national media as a symbol of depression and futility. However, the “jersey” is a symbol of fans love for Browns.
Nothing symbolizes the post-1999 Cleveland Browns quarterback mess better than the famous “jersey,” the one that John Breech of CBSSports.com calls the “saddest jersey in the NFL.”
Breech further describes it as the “most depressing jersey in sports” and tops off his analysis by claiming it is a “reminder that no team produces horrible quarterbacks quite like the Browns do.” Even ESPN staff writer Pat McManamon has stated that “it represents what everyone would like to forget, but can’t – the Browns’ seemingly endless struggle to find a quarterback.”
This type of analysis of the “jersey” is all too familiar to Cleveland Browns fans. The national narrative claims the Browns are a futile, mismanaged team with no hope of ever winning. Such talk is not without justification. The Browns have not been able to produce a consistent winner since their rebirth in 1999. They have not been able to find a consistent quarterback. And they have looked inept in the process.
However, when it comes to the “jersey,” the national narrative is wrong. The “jersey” is not a symbol of futility, depression, and a reminder of horrible quarterback play. Instead, the “jersey” is a feat of Cleveland humor, eternal faithfulness and an amazing story of perseverance by most loyal fan base in the NFL.
In case you somehow are not aware, the “jersey” is a No. 2 white Tim Couch jersey. The name Couch is crossed out with black marker. Underneath the crossed out name is white tape with Detmer (for Ty Detmer) written on it. His name his crossed out and there is another crossed out name underneath it and so on.
It continues with the last name of every quarterback to start for the Browns since 1999. Since the list includes 24 names, the number of quarterbacks the Browns have started since 1999 is impressive (not in a good way).
The list of names on the “jersey” read like a genealogy from the Bible: Tim Couch, Ty Detmer, Doug Pederson, Spergon Wynn, Kelly Holcomb, Jeff Garcia, Luke McCown, Trent Dilfer, Charlie Frye, Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn, Ken Dorsey, Bruce Gradkowski, Jake Delhomme, Colt McCoy, Seneca Wallace, Thaddeus Lewis, Brandon Weeden, Jason Campbell, Brian Hoyer, Johnny Manziel, Connor Shaw, Josh McCown and Austin Davis. Most of these guys have failed, some even in Biblical proportions.
The “jersey” resides in downtown Cleveland at the office of the Brokaw advertising agency. According to McManamon, the “jersey” started as a “prank after one of the many forgettable moments in Cleveland Browns post-1999 quarterback history.” Tim Brokaw, co-CEO of the agency, created the “jersey” for the second game of the 2007 season.
The 2007 season began with Charlie Frye starting at quarterback. During the season opener versus the Pittsburgh Steelers, Frye was sacked five times and was four-of-10 passing for 34 yards. He was replaced mid-game by then backup Derek Anderson. Two days later the Browns traded Frye to the Seattle Seahawks for a sixth-round pick. The Browns’ quarterback situation had reached a, then, all-time low.
The following week the Cincinnati Bengals were in town to face the Browns. Brokaw recounted for McManamon that the city was “down in the dumps after that (Pittsburgh loss).”
“I had clients coming into town for the Bengals-Browns game,” Brokaw recalled. “So I thought it would be entertaining to duct tape the names of all the quarterbacks on a jersey”.
Brokaw wore the jersey to the game and the “jersey’s” popularity has increased ever since.
The fact that the “jersey” was created as a way of entertaining out-of-town clients shows the contrast of what it started out as versus what it came to symbolize. It began as a typically Cleveland-esque response to the Browns.
An older brother is allowed to pick on the younger. That is the natural order of things. But if a non-family member picks on the younger brother, that is a whole different story. Make no mistake, Browns fans consider their team family. As a part of the family, the “jersey” is a bit of good-natured hazing directed at the family member you love.
And this is a love affair. Browns fan suffered through Red Right 88. Yet, they can also look back and celebrate just how fun those years were rooting for the Kardiac Kids. Browns fans suffered through The Drive and The Fumble. Yet, they can also look back and celebrate just how amazing those years with Bernie Kosar et al. were for the Dawg Pound. Like a long-term marriage, this relationship has its good years and bad years. But Browns fans are committed for better or worse.
Browns fans have seen a lot of “worse” since 1999. But that “worse” is better than the legal separation that occurred in November of 1995. Art Modell moved the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore to become the Ravens. Did Browns fans give up or cave in? No, they did not. When adversity hit Browns fans, they rose to the occasion. They fought. They fought Art Modell. They fought the NFL. They fought and won. In 1999, the Cleveland Browns were reborn in the NFL. The marriage was saved.
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Like a wedding tuxedo, the “jersey” is the symbol of the enduring faithfulness of Browns fans. Yes, the “jersey” demonstrates loud and clear the futility of the Browns quarterback situation. But at the same time, it demonstrates that Browns fans’ faithfulness and good-natured sense of humor in the midst of a depressing situation. The fact that Tim Brokaw has taken the time to create, produce and maintain this “jersey” speaks to a very Cleveland-esque way of simultaneously loving and poking fun at the Cleveland Browns.
It is a love that the national media does not seem to quite understand. One can imagine them asking, “Why do the Browns fans support such futility?” or “Maybe if they didn’t support the Browns they would change things”. Even this misses the point. In a long-term marriage, one does not leave their spouse because times got tough. Instead, one shows solidarity with their spouse. After the trauma of a legal separation, who can blame Browns fans for standing by their man – for better or worse.
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And that 2007 Browns season, the one that was so bad that it called for the creation of the “jersey”? The Browns just narrowly missed the playoffs and their quarterback went to the Pro Bowl.