In the 1950s and 60s, the Cleveland Browns were the premiere franchise of football. They arrived in the National Football League in 1950 having won the previous four titles of the now-defunct league called the AAFC and were pitted against the two-time defending NFL Champion Philadelphia Eagles. Cleveland blew out Philly and went on to win the NFL title that year. The Browns would win four titles from 1950 to 1964 led by football immortals Paul Brown, Otto Graham and the Michael Jordan of football, Jim Brown.
That was then, and this is now: The Browns are the worst franchise in not only the NFL but in all of sports. They are coming off a 0-16 season, the year before that was a 1-15 season. Before that was a losing season every year since 2007. Before that was a non-playoff appearance every year since 2002. Before that was when the franchise was reborn in 1999 after the original version moved to Baltimore to become the Ravens in 1995 (the same Ravens franchise that has won 2 Super Bowls and inducted 2 members of their 1996 draft class into the Hall of Fame). And before that was their last playoff win in 1994 led by young and ambitious head coach Bill Belichick. Before that was a series of soul-crushing playoff losses in the 1980s. Before that was Jim Brown's abrupt retirement at the age of 29 just so he didn't have to receive fines for missing training camp so he could film a movie called "The Dirty Dozen."
In other words, things haven't been going so well for Cleveland football since 1964. And after hitting rock bottom last year, their climb back to respectably will be documented in the HBO sports documentary series called "Hard Knocks".
Since 2001, the "Hard Knocks" series has documented a team training camp before the start of the regular season. Filming the day-to-day highs and lows of a team preparing for the season and shaping the roster. Great moments of the series include players working hard every day just to make the final roster, coaches berating their players on the field or in the facilities, and an in-depth look at the organization's day-to-day operations behind the glitz and glamor of the National Football League.
What makes the 2018 Cleveland Browns one of the more fascinating Hard Knocks series already is that it's about a franchise whose incompetency and dysfunction has to be seen to be believed. Every first round pick is off the team within a few years. Head coaches and general managers are fired after a series of disastrous decisions. It's a franchise that has redefined nihilism in sports. And yet somehow the rabid fans whose hearts have been ripped out and stomped on repeatedly still show up and cheer on their Browns. It's pathetic yet admirable how somehow, someway, the Cleveland spirit survives.
This time, the players and coaches who will take their turn at trying to make the Browns winners include head coach Hue Jackson, who somehow survived two horrendous seasons as the head coach after going 1-31. The somehow optimistic head coach continues to fight the weary and exhaustion of the team with new players such as Number one overall pick and quarterback Baker Mayfield. The Heisman Trophy winner from Oklahoma, Mayfield is up against a jersey of literally dozens of names (including Super Bowl-winning head coach Doug Pederson). Can he finally do what so many other quarterbacks failed to?
New members of the team include star receiver Javaris Landry, who already made a fiery and passionate speech to the veteran receivers about how he has no desire to lose. Veteran quarterback Tyrod Taylor who is expected to start before Mayfield after leading the Buffalo Bills to their first playoff appearance since 1999. And current players like last years Number one pick Myles Garrett and, of course, the troubled receiver Josh Gordon who already took a leave of absence from training camp after years of dealing with off-field issues.
In a time where Cleveland is looking for new heroes in the wake of LeBron James's departure to Los Angeles, the 2018 Browns look to fill that void and shake off the embarrassment that has defined them for decades.
