The Browns are 3–1 and I don’t know How to Act
It’s all in the title. I have literally not felt this way in decades. I wake up in the morning and don’t even care who the Browns play this Sunday because I think we can win. I also know we can lose and still be over .500! I’ve dreamed of this moment for so long. Every once in a while I would secretly pretend I had a Patriots shirt on and pucker my lip, lift my pinkie and wax poetic about how “we’re a good football team but the real season starts in the playoffs” and then spend five minutes bullshitting about my team’s weaknesses that don’t actually exist because the Patriots had Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. NOW I CAN DO THOSE THINGS FOR REAL! Ah, let us think about how the Browns may struggle against the Colts because our best running back is out with an MCL sprain and the Colts Defensive Line is strong. Let me feign worry about how Phillip Rivers still has enough in the tank to tear apart our fragile defensive backfield. But that’s all garbage. We have another RB1 in Kareem Hunt and the guys we brought in from the car dealership ran for hundreds of yards last week too! Baker Mayfield is accurate again! AND OBJ! Colts are in for a beating. If we somehow lose….we are still 3–2. Typing that puts a tear in my eye.
I work from home right now and I want to go outside and wear Browns gear so I can give high fives and see our fans in the wild. Every time a player pops positive for Covid-19 my heart stops. Don’t ruin this season for us. The Browns are finally good and like hell if I’m going to let some pandemic get in the way! (Take the pandemic seriously. It’s bad. The President is wrong) I wear a Derek Anderson jersey every week because we haven’t been good since DA was leading the Browns to double digit win seasons and missing the playoffs. This year is a paradigm shift.
The world is different right now. I measure a solid 5'11 on a really good day when the Earth’s rotation is in line with Venus but ever since we hit 3–1 I am a solid 6'1 (maybe taller?). I hit my head on the top of the doorframe yesterday while thinking about Jarvis Landry and realized I have never held my head this high. A Bengals fan congratulated me for the Browns early success and out of nowhere I said, “Thanks but the real season starts in the playoffs.” Who am I? What have I become? Why does it feel so good? 2020 has really challenged my faith in a lot of ways but when OBJ got the toss 15 yards in the backfield surrounded by Cowboys defenders last week and still slipped away for the score…. you can’t tell me God ain’t real! You can’t tell me he isn’t puttin’ in work this year! This has been a rough year and I needed a sliver lining. The silver lining right now is the Cleveland Browns. I am going to go put on my house shoes, grab my pipe and watch Baker Mayfield highlights. Thanks for reading, and go Browns!
