Scott Raab on Andy Samberg, The Freedom Tower, “cart-offs,” the Browns and Tribe – WFNY Podcast – 2013-08-19
August 19, 2013Study says Browns fans ranked 20th in NFL “fan equity”
August 19, 2013ESPN’s Jeffri Chadiha writes in his latest training camp piece that the Steelers and their fans could be looking at a long season.
“The closer we get to this regular season, the more the Steelers look like they could be even less competitive than when they finished 8-8 last year. It’s simply their time to struggle through the same stretch of futility that hits every organization eventually.
Optimists like to point to how Pittsburgh historically has played after missing the postseason — the Steelers have made the playoffs in the season that followed their past three years without a postseason appearance. But it’s hard to see the positives in this bunch. The offense has quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and a ton of questions. The defense is old and missing key performers from a unit that led the league in total yards allowed in 2012. Head coach Mike Tomlin remains among the best in the business, but even he doesn’t have the ability to create miracles.”
Nothing would make Browns fans any happier.
Since the team’s return to the league in 1999, the Browns have been depressingly bad against the Steelers. The Browns are 5-24 against Pittsburgh in that time. They have been shutout four times. There was a streak of 12 consecutive losses dating from November 23rd, 2003 to December 10th, 2009. The Browns have not beaten the Steelers in Pittsburgh since that win back in 2003.
Cleveland hosts the Steelers on November 24th, and then travels to Pittsburgh for the final game of the regular season on December 29th. Both games are 1:00 pm starts.
[Related: Cleveland Browns training camp reflections]
36 Comments
Sad, ain’t it, that headlines like this are somehow important to Cleveland fans?
It will be great when, one day, we’ll be able to have the attitude of General Grant, who instructed his staff during the Civil War: “Don’t tell me what the enemy is going to do to us. Tell me what we are going to do to him.”
If the Browns won the division three straight times, this kind of headline would still be really important to me as a Browns fan. The division is one of the biggest pains for Browns fans, and also something that I really love as an NFL fan.
At the same time, I’m sure General Grant would have been more than happy to have seen the Confederate troops wielding broken rifles and greatly outdated muskets as well.
Oh, I get it – and feel the same way, too. It wasn’t criticism, just an observation that our collective response to these types of headlines evoke a certain emotional response now that is different than it will be after those three straight divisional titles. The difference between “maybe there’s a chance!” and “okay, nice to see what’s going on behind us.”
It’s amazing to see the arms races that naturally develop within the divisions. The run-game and defense focused mindset in the AFC North, the pass happy teams in the NFC South, to even the mirror images of the Seahawks and 49ers in the NFC West. Definitely makes for some interesting rivalries and matchups each and every year.
Oh sure. There’s always a place for intelligence gathering.
I guess I’m just looking forward to the day where we Browns fans will be more like the Army of the Potomac under Meade and Grant and less like the Army under Maclellan, et al. Indeed, Lee always had broken gear and outdated equipment, but always figured out how to beat everyone but Grant. Let’s hope Chud is Meade and Hasbannerbardi is Grant.
You definitely need to copyright “Hasbannerbardi”, right now.
Already done. And in fact, you’ll soon be receiving notice of my lawsuit for improper appropriation of the term.
that’s right. In the 80s we glanced over with mild interest when promising reports came out about Bubby Brister. Then we went about our own bidness of worrying how our guys would perform.
Yea to bad Cincinnati has only gotten dramatically better and Baltimore is still around but sure, lets focus and hope Pittsburgh’s worse! Oh and I’ll believe it when I see it. The Steelers have been rumored to be less then themselves for a few years now yet always seem to find a way to be relevant unlike the Browns.
Is this like Heisenberg? (If you did less spooning while watching “Downtown Abbey” you’d know what I was talking about!)
Good Lord we gotta go all the way back to the Civil War days? Couldn’t you find something more relevant for the kiddies on here perhaps WWII or Korea or Viet Nam or Persian Gulf or Kuwait or Iraq or Afghanistan. Man we sure love our wars I mean invasions I mean conflicts!
Dr. Heisenberg? I love quantum mechanics. That’s right in my wheelhouse.
Don’t hate, Shammy. Envy green is not your color, despite your screen name.
Careful!
Well yes the real Heisenberg was behind the “character” for the show but that’s as far as I go bro. The only way I wanna learn quantum mechanics is if a blonde, a brunette and a red head are involved. I’m not bias oh and for you who like to parse vocabulary I mean females. Sorry Steven.
“Tread lightly” by your command!
Affirmative.
See, now we’re getting somewhere! I am certain that by observing the proposed subjects of your study, such observation would undoubtedly affect the behavior of the targeted subjects. (My hunch would be a “dispersal” or “repulsion”; but, that’s just a hypothesis.)
This is a family site, c’mon man!
They abbey is not “downtown.” I now hate the show after last season’s fiasco, don’t want to discuss it anymore. But get the concept right and the correct name will follow.
It’s become kind of a family tradition that we visit my in-laws on a Sunday afternoon right around New Year’s to exchange gifts and watch the Brownies get drilled by Pittsburgh.
I would love to see them fall apart. Their fans are annoying and classless. Watch how they’ll disappear…
Not what I heard about Abbey I’m just sayin’!
I agree what’s up with Browns fans?
we’ve been expecting the steelers regression for years,, decades.
i flat-out dont buy this article and i wonder if chadiha has watched the steelers preseason games. from reading it, it doesn’t appear that he has.
if he had been watching he’d have seen that jarvis jones look impressive, much larger than i thought he was. all over the field. dave decastro looks great — consistently under his opponents pads and pushing to second level. antonio brown is the second most polished WR in the division (aj green); roethlisberger still the best QB in the division
but if you do believe this, you should be jumping all over the steelers under 9.5 wins.
how has Cinci gotten dramatically better since the end of last season? they still look like a fringe playoff team that will likely be 1-n-done if they get in to me because they still have Dalton at QB (yes, that is a much better scenario than which the Browns currently reside).
yep, they still have Ben and, that is enough in the NFL to get somewhere near 8 wins. if their OL is better/healthier (it should be) and their defense remains good, then they could be the 2nd AFC North team in the playoffs (or 3rd — AFC seems pretty weak overall this year).
as much as i love the bengals roster and have been touting them, i’m not a believer in dalton either.
If you know any hardcore Pittsburgh fans, you know that they complain about officiating even if their are winning by 24, that they believe their drafts have produced nothing, the NFL has a conspiracy against them, and that this year (what ever year it is) is the year everything finally falls apart. I’m not sure how a team can be so successful and the fans so sure it’s going to fall apart. Other then telling every other team “six super bowls” they complain as much as anyone.
Unless Tomlin is actually saying the team is worse, this isn’t anything new for 2013.
Also, if you know any hardcore Pittsburgh fans, your intelligence has been reduced in direct proportion to the amount of time that you have known them. That’s science.
1 n done perhaps but they aren’t a fringe playoff team no matter what Browns fans want to think.
Dalton certainly isn’t Tom Brady but like you said he’s no Weeden either. He has a deep young talented WR plus two TEs now. The RBs could use a little help but with the Law firm and the youngster who is getting alot of play this preseason you might be surprised. The defense is young but has some very promising players IMO. Atkins is a beast I think Burfact will be even better. I think Mays will be better too.
I’ve heard winning especially seasonal can lead to a numbing of the senses. I know a lot of Bostonian’s suffer from it. It’s a necessary side effect. But how does that explain Cleveland fans then? đ
any team that I would consider to be likely 1-n-done is a fringe playoff team to me. we are likely arguing semantics here.
1 n done = fringe playoff team is probably the correct thinking and since Cincinnati has yet to win a playoff game even though they’ve made the playoffs I get it. That being said I predict that changes this season. Not only will the Bengals win the division but they’ll finally win a playoff game.
I remember growing up losing to Michigan every damn year. Things change, and when they do, we really won’t care about stories like this. Hell we shouldn’t care about them now.
“Head coach Mike Tomlin remains among the best in the business”
The best at managing Bill Cowher’s team into retirement. Seriously, what part of the Steelers success is due to Tomlin?