Root to lose? Really? More than a few Browns fans think that’s what we ought to do. After all, maybe we’ll get a higher draft position, and that will result in better players and better times in the long run.
Wrong answer! Go ahead and act on your own definition of fandom or your tortured logic, but me, I’m rooting for the Browns to win every game. Any game. Any time now…
I know we’re 3-11. I know we’re out of the playoffs. I know this season will go down as a disappointment no matter what happens in Miami and Houston.
Still, I want them to win. Not just play hard, not just put on a good show. Win. Every chance there is, take it. Every game day, seize it.
Some may say that these last few games don’t matter. Well then, hangdawg, my answer for you is this: either they all matter, or none of them matter. After all, they are just games. They are played to entertain us. At this point, the stakes may not be as high, even the interest level may flag, but to root for the Browns to lose? Unthinkable blasphemy.
I simply cannot imagine gaining more satisfaction from a Browns loss than a Browns win. It would violate both my conditioning and my values.
I would no sooner root against the Browns than I would wish for a chronically sick friend to go broke too so that he might get more help.
The Browns are a team in need, no doubt. But rooting for a loss in hopes of a higher draft pick is just plain bad for the spirit. Maybe it’s a reflection of fan frustration, but we ought not succumb to such defeatism. It’s bad karma.
What if you root for the Browns to lose, and then they win? Do you curse their success? Do you consider yourself a victim of yet another twist of the emotional dagger? Why rob yourself of the pure happiness of a Browns win (no matter how bittersweet or fleeting or overdue)? So you can hedge your heart’s bet?
Besides, higher draft picks are no guarantee of anything. And the salary cap evens things even out anyway. Higher picks demand more money. Something’s gotta give. It’s not when you draft, it’s whom you draft. And it’s how you develop the team. And it’s how that team performs on the field. And that brings me back to the next two Sundays.
They are the last two chances to see the Browns until next summer. This heretofore sorry squad may spark some measure of hope. They may go out in flames. But I shall not. For there is no shame is staying true to your team and its purpose, which is to rise to every challenge, compete and win. Every time, no matter when or where or why not. Call it pride. Call it a habit.
