The land of Bob Feller and Jim Brown has yielded many iconic sports figures, but other than the Browns of the 60’s and the Indians of the 40’s, the city has had a century of sports drought.

Cleveland fans are like the Boston fans of the early 90’s.  Nothing to show from being a rabid fan other than disappointment in both the MLB and NFL.

The Cleveland Browns played real football – smash mouth football before it even had a name for it.  They played outdoors in the cold.  They played serious football.  But thanks to “The Fumble” and “The Drive”, both too painful to discuss in detail here, they have never even made it to a Super Bowl, let alone have they won one.

And adding insult, the owner moved the team after not getting a stadium deal, to Baltimore to create the Baltimore Ravens, to fill a gap when the Baltimore Colts owner moved that team to Indianapolis in the middle of one winter night.  But Cleveland got a new team in 1999, which didn’t necessarily make up for the fact that the Baltimore Ravens went on to win a Super Bowl in the meantime.  In the 11 years since, they have had a great owner, and until Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert came on board in early 2010, had very poor management.

Now, things are looking up.  Colt McCoy, Scott Fujita, TJ Ward, Joe Thomas and Joe Haden are leading a revival at the Cleveland Browns.  Look for good things from them this year and don’t be surprised if they make the playoffs next year.

The Cleveland Indians teased the city in the 1990’s, but lost in playoff games and lost in the only World Series they got into.  They had a premier pitcher, C.C. Sabathia, but as a small city could never afford the contract he was going to get with the Yankees, so wisely traded him away for some good draft picks.  This upset fans.  Cliff Lee, who had won the Cy Young award with the Indians, was traded when his record was .500, and he wasn’t pitching very good, and the team knew they weren’t going to keep him anyway.  They got prospects, and more negative reactions from the fans. 

Finally the team is winning, or floating around .500.  They are a few hitters away from being a serious contender, but fortunately for the fans they are on the way up rather than down.