Ahh, mid-to-late January. The winter has fully set in. Icy winds gust; coming directly off of the Great Lakes, they cause wind chills in Northern Ohio to drop as low as 40 below zero.
I hate this time of year.
But it so much more than the ridiculously frigid weather that makes me dread this part of the season.
By this point every year, the Browns have been done playing for weeks. Now is the time for the best of the best to compete. And as the playoffs go on, there are fewer and fewer games. No more Monday and Thursday night games.
The weekends go from being all about college football and the Buckeye Nation to NFL playoffs. I hate when the Bowl games are over and college football is done for the year. It’s a precursor to what is coming…the end of the football season.
The Super Bowl quickly approaches, which is the only silver lining to this whole process. My birthday is in early February, so I generally go to random Super Bowl parties and proclaim to the guests that they are actually attending my birthday party, then graciously thank them for coming. In 2010, that party happened to take place on Bourbon Street…when the Saints won the Super Bowl…for the first time…ever. Talk about a birthday party!
But, I digress. The Super Bowl is the literal and figurative end to another season. The Browns never even get close to the game, so I pick a team to root for to keep it interesting. It’s usually the underdog. That’s the Browns fan in me.
I am not a basketball fan. At all. I am, however, a huge Cleveland Indians fan. My other vice. That means I have approximately two months of a sports drought. During this period, there is usually a circus of firing and hiring of new coaches, coordinators, QBs, janitors, and anyone else who has been on payroll for more than 90 days. And the draft speculations. OMG, will the Browns draft a quarterback? Of course they will, and you’re stupid for asking. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.These people are crazier than half of Dennis Rodman’s personalities. The process will inevitably repeat itself and I truly worry about the next generation of Browns fans.
I can vaguely remember a time when the Browns were somewhat relevant. My children cannot. How long can my 9 year old daughter defend the Browns when kids (and adults) rattle off Browns jokes?
I try to focus on Spring. Count down the days til baseball. The Indians were on the brink last year. Baseball is Spring incarnate; new beginnings, bright horizons, and anything can happen. Hope is renewed.
As for now, I will blame the 30 mile-per-hour winds outside my window for this sense of forboding I feel. But I can’t shake the thought that it actually has more to do with Cleveland sports in 2014…and that more than likely, I’ll be hating this time of year again next year.
Dawg Pound Nation 