Cleveland is known for having perhaps the most loyal sports fans of any city, market or region in the nation.
However, the fans in Cleveland have had to endure numerous heartbreaking sports events in multiple sports for multiple decades.
Cleveland Browns fans have been especially unlucky, and when Chris Russo ranked his five most tortured NFL fan bases on ESPN, he had the Browns’ fan base at No. 2, behind only the Buffalo Bills’ supporters.
Browns fans of a certain age may have been around long enough to watch Jim Brown, arguably the greatest running back of all time, as well as the franchise winning four league championships prior to the AFL-NFL merger.
But the Browns have never been to the Super Bowl, and they have been snake-bit in their pursuit of a ticket to America’s biggest sporting event.
As Russo pointed out, their fans had to endure “The Drive” by John Elway in the 1986 AFC Championship Game, “The Fumble” by Earnest Byner, and owner Art Modell moving the original Browns to Baltimore in the mid-1990s.
More recently, the Browns appeared to have assembled a competitive team when they traded for three-time Pro Bowl quarterback Deshaun Watson in 2022. But he has struggled ever since coming to Northeast Ohio, and in October, he tore his Achilles.
In the meantime, Browns fans have had to watch Baker Mayfield become his best self with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and as a result, they have to wonder what it will take for their beloved franchise to finally catch a break and achieve respectability.
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