Some of you may recall that the NFL franchise Cleveland Browns completed a winless season a couple years ago. Apparently after 2 full seasons they only had one wins. And in the NFL's system, the continuity of bad seasons is not supposed to happen--it's bad for business. As a former Cincinnati Bengals fan, I understand the despair. The Bengals lost me in the horrible decade of the 1990's--and truth is, they haven't done much since. As fans we want our teams to win. Many of us derive joy from winning teams. Others of us, those with historically underperforming franchises suffer. That's why the fan parade celebrating the Brown's winless season was so awesome. For long suffering Browns fans, what else could you do, besides self-medicate? The fact that fans got together in sub-freezing temperatures, and walked in a "0" route around the stadium, is a testament that humor is one of those things we have in our life when all the rest of it is mucked up. When we could really cry and self-medicate in less than healthy ways, we can and do often use humor to help us through those tough times.
I've included some links to coverage of the parade. Some of the signs are great. And USA Today is right to put this under the "For The Win" section.
The boundless creativity of people never ceases to amaze--even in the hardest of times. Instead of moping around and being horribly cranky (as I might have done), some fans got together and moped and laughed as group. What else could they do? Well a lot actually, but this seems pretty healthy and bloody awesome. I am not sure I could do this with the Bengals. To all those Browns fans, you are better than I.
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