The Fumble: 1987-88 AFC Championship Game -- With 1:12 left in the game, Earnest Byner appears to be heading into the endzone for a game-tying touchdown when he is stripped by Denver's Jeremiah Castille. The Broncos recover the fumble and win the game. In fairness to Byner, he played an outstanding game before fumbling, totalling 67 yards rushing, 7 receptions for 120 yards, and 2 touchdowns. The Fumble is often attributed to Browns receiver Webster Slaughter's failure to block Castille.
The Shot: 1989 Eastern Conference Finals, Game 5 -- With 3.2 seconds left in the deciding game of the series the Bulls inbound the ball to Michael Jordan who hits the game winner over Craig Ehlo, setting off the Bulls dynasty and sending home what was perhaps the best Cavaliers squad in team history. The Bulls were winless in six games against the Cavaliers in the 1988-89 regular season.
The Move: Coming off a playoff season when the Browns lost to rival Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Divisional Playoffs, hopes were high entering the 1995 season, until Browns owner Art Modell announced his plans to move the beloved Browns to Baltimore. Modell moved the Browns, who became the Baltimore Ravens, despite constant sellout crowds and rabid fan support in Cleveland. The Ravens won Superbowl XXXV in 2001.
Game Seven: 1997 World Series, Game Seven -- Leading 2-1 entering the bottom half of the 9th inning, Jose Mesa surrenders the tying run on a Craig Counsell sacrifice fly. Counsell reaches base in the 11th inning when Tony Fernandez misplays his slow rolling ground ball, and eventually scores the winning run for the Florida Marlins, who become World Series Champions in their fifth year of existence.
There is also Red Right 88, losing a 3-1 lead over the Red Sox in the '07 ALCS, the Buckeyes' embarrassing losses to SEC teams in the last two BCS Championship games, and a whole lot more.
The deep creases in our brow are due in no small part to our efforts to understand what might be behind this remarkable streak of misfortune on the part of our local ballclubs, and why we continue to allow our hearts to be broken by the ballteams in this way. We also wonder what effect the results on the ballfields have had on the way both locals and outsiders feel about our city, which is repeatedly sh*t on by the national media, celebrities, and random average joes, many of whom have never been here.
One thing we do know is that many who live in the area fail to appreciate what it has to offer. Even setting its tragic sports history aside, our city has been through challenging times in recent decades, and there will be struggles ahead, to be sure. But Cleveland served our country well in its former role as a global manufacturing hub and way-station between the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, and we're sure that patience is in order as Cleveland makes the transition with the rest of America from a manufacturing to a service economy -- a transition that's more difficult for Cleveland than most of the rest of America due to the unique role that it played in the old economy. Our local sports teams and figures are sure to figure into this transition, and because we enjoy following the games that they play as much as we do, we look to these ballgames as a fine a lens as any through which to try to understand it.
And however it plays out, whatever it might turn out to mean, we at Cleveland Frowns will continue to love our town, our teams, our river valley, our neighbors, our beer, and all four of our seasons; and like Frownie up there, who knows that sometimes sh*t happens, we'll do our best to see our way through it to a better day.
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UPDATE: Since we wrote this post, we believe we've come to at least something of a better understanding of the answer to the question, "why the long face?".
Thank you for reading Cleveland Frowns.
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4 comments:
Love the Browns logo at the top...although the Brownies performance this year certainly didn't stink! Cleveland sports is on the up...watch out for Bron come playoff time. Shout out to my boy Dennis!
It makes you wonder what the city of Cleveland may look like had half of those disasters turned our way. I know there are a lot of problems with the city, but maybe there would have been a brighter outlook over the years and the city would not be bankrupt, who knows?
the drive was 86, the fumble was 87-both were marty teams-the broncos subsequently lost to the giants then the redskins, they got smashed by the 49ers after the third one
IIRC
Hey, I know it's before your time (and, believe it or not, even before MINE), but you gotta include The Catch in your list of Cleveland Frowns heartbreaks. Willie Mays of the New York Giants put a dagger through the heart of the Cleveland Indians at the Polo Grounds that day back in 1954.
Mays's over-the-shoulder catch of a potential game-winning hit in Game 1 of the World Series and follow-up throw to keep the Indians runner pinned at third, have gone down in the annals of baseball as one of the most memorable plays---but people forget it was once again the Indians on the short end of history.
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