DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Betrayed

I know we shouldn't be talking about health issues on this thread so I apologize to my fellow posters. I appreciate the prayers EO thank you and get angry if you want. You have a right to get angry. Take care my friend.

This made me chuckle. And along these lines, I think I'm going to be coming up for the Cinci game. Friend and friend-of-friend are organizing, but I'll try to escape or have us wander over to dawgtalkers locations.

Lol. Me too. Deisle was behind me in the club a few weeks back yelling "Fate, Fate!" Luckily it's a screen name I've used since the advent of the internet, so there's been plenty of rock concerts and sporting events with people yelling "Fate!"... I always respond pretty quickly.

Imagine scurrying through a crowd trying to catch one of our members, yelling, "waiting for next year, waiting for next year!". The crowd around you would be sure that this team finally put you over the edge!

"Is there an Oobernoober here!? First name 'Oober', last name 'noober'?"

I don't consider it betrayal. When I think of being betrayed, I assume intent. As in, they said they were going to be good but lied and didn't even try to be good.

The media hype machine is what built the expectations, not the team. The team just added players and tried to get better.

I think what you are seeing is just how hard it is to be good consistently in this league. We ended last year on a high in large part thanks to catching other teams by surprise, momentum we built up, a very weak schedule, and a Steelers team that was reeling at the end of the season.

It takes a lot to show up every year able to compete and win games and win the division. You have to change enough to be fresh but you also have to stay true to the talent you have, it's not easy. We have a 2nd year coach who was only an OC for a year and a half before that. A lot of our talent is still relatively young and isn't used to winning at this level, which is a learned thing. Even though we aren't where we all hoped we would be, we are still a playoff contending team that nobody is going to "look past" and we have a much tougher schedule.

It takes a lot of key things, all working together, to be good year in and year out in this league.. and we haven't figured out that symmetry yet.

Everybody laughed last year when Brady went to the Bucs and the Pats struggled and the Bucs, with a highly regarded veteran coach, went on to win the super bowl.. they said, "See, I told you it was all about Tom Brady".... are they saying that now? It took Belichick one down year to retool, go get a young QB that he liked, figure out an offense for him.. and the Patriots are probably the best team in the AFC right now. It wasn't all Tom Brady, it was they synergy of things and Belichick just needed a year to find replacements for what he had lost because he is that freakin' good as a coach.

We have whined and complained that defenses are putting 7 men in the box and stopping our run.. Belichick said "I don't care" and the Bills had 8 and 9 in the box and he ran anyway, with success. Threw the ball THREE TIMES and won the game. Does Stefanski have the strength of conviction to do that? No, at least not yet. There is a lot to like about Stefanski but he is still very inexperienced at his job and he needs to figure these things out. And the team, from Baker on down, need to learn how to win in this league, how to win late, how to win ugly, how to win unconventionally, just win...

j/c:

Yes it's sad that most of us thought it would be a fantastic year of Browns football and it hasn't been. The good news is we aren't horrible anymore and the bad news is we are now a mediocre football team with a QB that can be viewed as the same. There are some obviously great players on the team but unfortunately we are still struggling beating most of the better teams.

It's hard being a diehard Browns fan, it really is.

Looking at the glass half full, at least we don't suck anymore. You know?

Yep, I teeter in that area of not wanting to settle for mediocrity or substandard play (based on talent)...

while at the same time, remembering how happy I thought I would be if we could just get to mid-December and be .500 or better and still have a legit path to the playoffs....

Same here. I am happy that we're at the point where we're playing meaningul football at the end of the season, but like everyone else, I don't feel the team is playing to their potential or our expectations.

On to the thread topic. No one should feel betrayed. Betrayal is a deliberate, intentional act. I don't think anyone in that building it trying to play like crap, coach like crap or lose games.

This is how I've been looking at it.
Perspective.
We won't be a 4-12(13) team this year, after dwelling for decades in the sub-.500 basement.

I'm still allowing myself to feel some disappointment at the record, considering the way we finished last season. I'm just not wallowing in it.

For the second year in a row, CLE is playing meaningful ball in Dec.
For those who have been quick to trot out the "same old Browns" trope, I say this: "Same old Browns" would have us posting in draft-related threads by Thanksgiving weekend.

Human beings are notoriously bad at remembering pain over time. Physical and emotional. Lemme help with that- just place yourself back a few years, and remember how soul-suckingly awful Sundays were during that 1-31 stretch. This team is not that.

What is the difference between going 0-17 and 6-11, 7-10 or 8-9? Answer: Besides a lower or higher draft pick: Nothing. We go home either way.

Mathematics alone says the difference between going 1-16 and going 8-9 is having 7 more weekends of watching my team win. I’ll take it.

That would be fun to just start shouting "Ballpeen!" while wondering the club.

Peen....I'm actually on the city club side, opposite of you.

The last several games, my neighbor and I have been taking our kids and going to the Rowley Inn for brunch before the games. They have a fantastic brunch. Located in the Tremont neighborhood.

Rowley Inn: Brunch

I've seen every game since the early-early 60's. Every game. Even the non-televised due to non-sellouts in the early 90's. Bar just north on State Rd off 480 pirated it. Packed. Even on duty cops were there watching it.

The only period/years I've truly felt "betrayed" was in seasons 1996, 1997 and 1998.