Come on Browns, MAN UP!

I told you when we started this blog that I'm not one of those happy idiots who call talk radio shows and say that every year's version of the Browns is a sure thing to go 11-5. In fact, I've never been accused of being someone who thinks the glass is half full. To the contrary, I'm one of the most dour and relentlessly negative people that I know.

But like most Cleveland Browns fans, I'm also not a quitter. The fact that the team's enjoyed high television ratings and full stadiums week in and week out over the course of seven years of some of the most consistently god-awful football in NFL history amply demonstrates the perseverence of the average Browns fan.

That's why the sight of some Browns players wallowing in the "jinx" bullshit following LeCharles Bentley's injury is so infuriating. The quotes from Lee Suggs and Gary Baxter that appeared in Pat McManamon's Beacon-Journal article on Saturday are an embarrassment. If you read Bud Shaw's column in Sunday's Plain Dealer, it corroborates the view that Bentley's injury has the team fighting to avoid falling into a "woe is me" funk.

Sorry guys. Bentley is a huge loss, but I refuse to cut the Cleveland Browns any slack. I know that I speak for thousands of my fellow season ticket holders when I say that we expect a better product on the field this year. In fact, we demand it. Seven years of unrelentingly lousy football is more than anyone should be expected to tolerate. With this kind of a setback, how do the Browns get there from here? Hey, we're just fans-- that's why you guys make the big bucks. You figure it the hell out!

A lot of people have written off this team. Screw them. I still think the 2006 Browns have the potential to surprise people, but if the Gary Baxters and Lee Suggs of the world seriously prefer to talk about jinxes instead of preparing to win football games, then get them the hell out of town.

Enough of this crap. Man up, play the hand you've been dealt, and get ready to play some football.