BOISE, Idaho — This Day In Sports…September 12, 1999, 25 years ago today:
The reincarnation of the Cleveland Browns franchise makes its debut, suffering a 41-0 rout at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was three years after the original Browns, a fixture in Cleveland for 50 years, were moved to Baltimore by the late Art Modell and became the Ravens. Modell, who had promised never to move the Browns when he signed a 25-year lease for Cleveland’s old Municipal Stadium in 1975, claimed to have lost $21 million between 1993 and 1994.
Believing that the Cleveland populace would never vote for a “sin tax” that would support renovation of the aging stadium, Modell announced that he was taking the team to Baltimore on November 6, 1995. Voters approved the tax the very next day, but Modell said he and the city had irreconcilable differences. Cleveland was understandably livid about what fans called “The Move” and filed numerous legal actions against the NFL. Eventually, an agreement between Modell and Cleveland ensured that the Browns’ legacy (name, color scheme, logo, history, records) would remain with the city.
The expansion version of the Browns looked the same, and unfortunately they kind of played the same. Cleveland won NFL championships in 1950, 1954, 1955 and 1964. But they are one of only four teams to never play in a Super Bowl. And two of those organizations haven’t been around that long, comparatively speaking. The Jacksonville Jaguars, who began play in 1995, are on the short list, as are the Houston Texans, who in 2002 became the NFL’s most recent expansion franchise. Only the Detroit Lions, whose last NFL championship came in 1957, share the Browns’ level of futility.
That hasn’t deterred the “Dawg Pound,” Cleveland’s notorious east end zone fan section at home games. The Dawg Pound sports various canine-related gear and is one of the loudest, rowdiest and most loyal fan groups in the NFL. Can you imagine how the Dawg Pound would react if its beloved Browns ever hosted an NFL playoff game? Out of 32 current NFL stadiums, 31 have experienced a playoff game. Only Cleveland’s Huntington Bank Field, which opened in conjunction with the Browns’ rebirth a quarter-century ago, has never seen one.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
