Sixteen years ago, back in that wacky 2002 season, I began an “expansion weblog.” In the first post, my intentions for this first Browns blog culminated with a wish to provide “a contemporaneous account of the first season when the Browns reach the pinnacle and win the Super Bowl.”

Perhaps hundreds of Browns blogs have since come and gone or stayed or morphed into newer forms of engagement. But I haven’t given up on that original hope.

And so with the NFL beginning its 2019 league year at 4 p.m. today, it’s more possible than ever that we’re officially at the outset of such a superlative Browns season.

I feel more hopeful of this now, more than I ever have in this long zombie era of Browns history, with all its tortuous turns and torturous screw turns. Expect overall anticipation for the Browns’ season to well exceed 2008, when they thought they might build on a 10-6 season with all those young Pro Bowlers on offense.

So my account of the Browns’ 2019 adventure starts here and now. But it shall not be my account alone, for fandom best feeds on fellow fandom. Follow me?

For now, it just seems amazing to consider that the Browns have traded for perhaps the best receiver in today’s game, Odell Beckham Jr! That alone deserves a series of posts.

Hard to eclipse Sheldon Richardson, but that’s huge too! And thus acquiring Olivier Vernon –another productive pass rusher opposite Myles Garrett — is at best the third biggest John Dorsey move in preparation for this day and this league year. And, oh yeah, we picked up Kareem Hunt totally on the cheap.

Gone are Jabrill Peppers, Kevin Zeitler, Jamie Collins, Brashad Perriman, Tyrod Taylor and other ’17 contributors too, but the wheels are still turning on this train, and it’s no runaway this time.

It’s gearing up to hit the fast track, and folks are climbin’ aboard, four Pro Bowlers so far. So buckle up, buddy boy. We got our franchise QB, loads of talent around him, and the start of some legit swagger, small S. It’s the big time.

Happy New League Year!