The peak of pain

It’s official. The NFL, through its own website, has “honored” the Browns as the top team in their Pain Rankings.

Writer Dan Hanzus’ piece is a pretty decent overview of the various disasters of the Super Bowl era, and if you haven’t seen the various videos associated with The Move, The Drive, The Fumble, Red Right 88, it’s probably a positive exercise in fortitude to do so. Once, anyway.

A few phrases that hit home:

  • There’s a parallel universe — one I don’t suggest Browns fans even try to imagine — in which Bill Belichick coached Ray Lewis for 15 years in Cleveland.
  • This is a team that took Kellen Winslow Jr. when Ben Roethlisberger was available. (The only thing Big Ben and Winslow had in common was flawed motorcycle-riding abilities.)
  • Even Lindsay Lohan is disturbed by Johnny Football’s fall from grace.
  • [Cleveland fan/comedian Mike Polk Jr.:] “I care less and less about pretty much every aspect of life as I get older, and fortunately one of the positive byproducts of that is that I don’t freak out to that degree about Browns games anymore.”