Some things just feel like common sense to me. For instance, if you grow up in Cleveland and take any liking to football at all, you root for the Browns. In turn, your feelings towards the Pittsburgh Steelers should be negative, even if there’s a variable level of disinterest towards that professional football team in Western Pennsylvania. It’s probably unhealthy to reach dangerous levels of hate that make you want to vandalize cars, swear at children, or spit in the faces of anything or anyone that supports the black and yellow team. All that I expect, out of respect for your hometown, whether you still reside there or not, is that you would stop short of wishing them well; it’s a simple matter of civic pride.
Personally, when I sit down at the keyboard to publicly share my thoughts, I have to step outside of myself a little bit, maintain a cooler head for the sake of credibility. I honestly don’t know if it’s a matter of Superman pretending to be Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne pretending to be Batman; whatever character in me exists outside of cyberspace is the one that irrationally abhors the Pittsburgh Steelers on every level. I see every supporter of such an evil empire, some good friends among them, as the enemy. Now, I do stop short of being criminally insane about it, limiting my disgust to a disapproving nod or roll of the eyes, and maybe a playful Facebook post that is almost always perceived by its target audience as malicious and hateful. In reality, malice and hate don’t exist for me with something as ultimately trivial as sports; they are just the Roadrunner to my Wile E Coyote.
As training camp starts I thought I should take a moment to talk about some of the things I will have my eye on as camp unfolds. Over the last three years GM Tom Heckert has dramatically changed the roster composition by engaging in a full blown youth movement, so in general the roster is filled with young, talented players and a few veterans sprinkled in to keep the ship on the right course.
Coming into the 2011 season, it was surmised by most that the Browns and Madden coverboy Peyton Hillis would embrace in a harmonious hug and ink a deal to make the previously-unheralded RB the face of the future.
The good news is this was the last weekend where there won’t be any hitting in Berea as Browns camp opens later this week. The bad news is that the Indians appear to be ready and able to not hit for as long as their season goes on. And the other bad news is that after either over paying or paying the very maximum in order to select Trent Richardson and Brandon Weeden, the Browns are now suddenly fiscally conservative and responsible (or just stupid) and willing to risk not getting the kids into camp on time so they can actually fully benefit from them.
What’s up Browns fans and fellow football junkies? As the “dawg days” of summer begin, my body can’t control the fever that comes over me, and that’s how I know it’s time to get to typing again because football is back!.