Cleveland Browns helmets need to stay orange

Every year, there seems to be a call to change the helmet of the Cleveland Browns but there’s no need to mess up a good thing.

To those trying to change the Cleveland Browns orange helmet…please stop.

You bring it up every offseason like you can’t take a hint.

HINT: They’re NOT changing it.

Nor should they, whoever they are, whoever approves new helmet designs – Dorsey’s front office? The Haslams? Browns Alumni?

Why keep them?

1.  Tradition

The Browns’ solid orange logo-less, number-less helmet with a brown-white-brown stripe sequence has been used in Cleveland since 1961. You know, back when the Browns were really good, NFL Championship winning good, Paul Warfield, Blanton Collier, Jim Brown good.

That ugly orange helmet scared the holy crud out of teams back then. You couldn’t miss it or mistake it. You didn’t mock it, you just feared it.

2.  One of a kind

Of course, orange is a difficult color to love, it’s the ugly mutt of red and yellow and it’s tough to match with an existing wardrobe. But it’s original, and it only feels ugly right now because it’s been associated with a team that was, ahem, struggling.

Watch what happens when the winning starts – orange will overtake the fashion world because that’s how it works. As the Browns become a powerhouse, Baker Mayfield and Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham, Jr. will start pushing pumpkin-and-chocolate colored wardrobes and the rest of the fashion world will be scrambling to catch up.

3.  Changing now looks kinda weak

The Browns have a unique look, and that orange helmet is a huge part of it, so changing that look right when they’re about to start winning looks like a panic move. Like they’re giving in to social pressure. Like they care what people think.

Imagine if Dave Letterman had gotten braces or if Barbara Streisand had paid for a nose job. Changing something unique about yourself cries desperation, embracing your originality shows confidence.

Besides, all the other options I’ve been seeing online are just silly.

Case in point:

Analysis: The first helmet looks like a race car driver’s dipped in chocolate, the Dawg logo helmet looks like a college team, and the golden orange helmet with the brown skid marks on the bottom edge looks like a victim.

And for those who prefer the solid orange helmet without a stripe, don’t forget what that stripe means to all those athletes in training camp trying to make that final 53-man roster. Earning that stripe has to feel pretty special, assuming motivation like that still works on young millionaires.

Every offseason I’ve been following the Cleveland Browns since the early seventies, calls to change the helmet have been made and thankfully have fallen on deaf ears.

When those orange helmets start scaring the crud out of teams again and when football in January includes the city of Cleveland again, the world will start accessorizing in orange and brown.

Then Browns fans can laugh and say, what took you so long, slowpokes?