MY FAVORITES OF 2014

It's time to wash our hands of yet another playoff free year in Cleveland. I've had a lot of fun posting crazy jokes for everyone this season.  More fun than watching many of the games that these jokes were based on.  So to celebrate the new year I want to look back at some of my favorite jokes of the past year.

The year started with insanity.  The Browns fired the coach they had just hired.  There were a lot of questions about the front office.  Dysfunction seemed to be in order.  Nobody seemed to know their role, or who to answer too.  I would like to think this picture was single handedly responsible for the removal of Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi.

2014 was also mercifully the end of the Brandon Weeden era.  

Weeds was part of Jerry Jones master plan.

Meanwhile we still needed a coach...
Our search went everywhere... well almost everywhere.

And then we found one.

Thankfully the Indians started up because the NFL Draft narrative was getting old quick.  And I was ready for something to go right for at least one of our teams.  I've always liked this homage to the Super Mario Bros coin tone... but now that I look at it, it is already outdated.  The bullpen setup will be much different this year.  Awesome, can't wait for the trolls if I try to recycle this one this one next year.  

And finally the games started...

And thank goodness for Tom Hamilton, because the job didn't get any easier in the offseason.

 Then the Indians came out in April and just couldn't get any momentum.

I tried my best to help some guys out...

But in the end it wasn't an exciting beginning for the Indians, so draft talk took right back over...

Jimmy Haslam really took this draft seriously.  There was a great desire to address the Quarterback position, so they literally went down every alley possible in determining who they would draft.

And they decided to go with the hype.

Luckily the Indians began to turn things around.  Thanks from help from clutch hitting from "Good Guy" David Murphy...

...and "Old Man" Scott Atchison.

But the real gem of the 2014 baseball season was certainly Corey Kluber.  While I did tons of jokes about Kluber these here are among my favorties.

The Indians managed to keep themselves relevant for the better part of the season.  Which made many in the fan base very happy.

Guys who had early season struggles reconnected with the force as the season went on.

And even tried to be the answer to the QB controversy brewing in Berea.

And in the end the Indians fell a little short of their postseason goals.  But my prediction on the postseason awards didn't go exactly how I thought.  The MLB writers just gave Kluber the Cy Young Award, instead of changing the award in his honor.

The Indians struggles on defense was real however.  Case in point, a 2nd baseman playing left field made the defensive play of the year.

Meanwhile after another disappointing year the Cavs looked to make some waves this offseason, and waves they made.

And the hype lasted clear until the end of the first game when they got beat by the lowly Knicks.

So guess who was back in the forefront of the media's eyes.  Here is Johnny at the bar studying the playbook and drinking milk.

And Josh Gordon made news by pissing away his football career, for another in car sales.

And Kluber decided that maybe he should help out as well.

But suddenly the unexpected happened... the Browns won some games.

And a new hero was beginning to emerge.

Then the unthinkable happened... we kicked the Steelers asses.

We were on top of the world.

Browns fans for the most part were happy.  But the in typical Browns fashion, the wheels started to fall off.

Joe Thomas turned out to be an enemy to the environment. 

Ben Tate was thrown from the building.

And Brian Hoyer fell apart...

So it was time for the young man to take over...

...and in 7 quarters all but proved he was barely NFL caliber.  Then he admitted he didn't take the season very seriously, and lost nearly every fan that he had.

Josh Gordon didn't do himself any favors with the fans either.  

And with Justin Gilbert not endearing himself to the fans, coaches or teammates the year 2014 ended full circle.

Here's to a better 2015!

DID MIKE PETTINE AND THE BROWNS REALLY FLIP THE SCRIPT?

I've watched the Browns for long enough to know to always expect the worst.  They have managed to develop this weird template for losing that allows a key mistake help them end up on the short end of the stick week after painful week.  Last Sunday when the Browns were handling business against a tough New Orleans Saints team a botched extra point was sticking out in my head as the catalyst for our next impending loss.

I could see it all in my head.  The defense breaking down and allowing New Orleans back into the game.  The offense not executing and keeping the pressure on.  And eventually the Saints would complete a drive that normally would have tied the game, but due to that missed point and up giving them the the lead with about 3 minutes to play.  Just to end up with the Browns burning all of their timeouts only to give the ball back after throwing a horrible interception somewhere around midfield.  Saints take a knee and Browns fans are furious.

I could see the posts of people angry saying that we just lost a game because of a play that the league deemed so easy they are kicking around the idea of changing the rules of it.  I could see the Brian Hoyer meltdown posts.  I could see the people screaming for the coaches' heads.

Then the defense started to break down, the offense started to scuffle, and then they tied the game with a little less than three minutes to go... and they still had the extra point to kick.  The nightmare was almost there when Brian Hoyer and the Browns offense took the field needing a score to win.  The only real question was will they give it up on downs, or turn the ball over?

I was banking on turnover, but that didn't happen.  Gary Barnidge made a clutch catch to keep the drive alive.  Miles Austin pulled the double whammy by making a tough sideline catch and getting out of bounds for another first down.  The Saints defense got desperate and called an all out blitz that was picked up, and allowed Andrew Hawkins his own zip code in the secondary.  Hoyer stayed calm and delivered the ball for a big gain that setup the game winning Billy Cundiff field goal.

 
And with that not only did the Browns win their first home opener in a decade, they won a meaningful game against a quality opponent.  They won a game in which they didn't depend on the other team to make mistakes.  And most importantly the win comes before all hope is already dashed in the season.

In the end this team can hold their heads up high knowing that they simply outplayed one of the better teams in the game.  They hung on versus a team that they genuinely don't match up well against.  They overcame their mistakes, and were the better team.

Could it be a catalyst for something special?  To be honest I find it ironic that it is the Saints that we got this big win off of.  For years the Saints organization was very similar to what you have seen in Cleveland for the past decade in a half.  They couldn't do anything right.  They couldn't draft they couldn't utilize the talent they had.  They were a joke, a laughing stock, no one took them seriously... until one fateful day in Cleveland.

After acquiring Drew Brees and hiring Sean Payton in 2006, the Saints weren't expected to make much splash.  But they opened against the Browns in Cleveland and beat them in a tightly contested game 19-14.  The win catapulted the team into much bigger and better things as the Saints finally became the feared Saints team that nobody would have believed existed in the 80's.

To me it is a great thought to think that maybe the Saints would provide us with the spark we needed to create a sustainable winner in Cleveland.  It would be awesome, especially considering that we are without Jordan Cameron, Ben Tate and Josh Gordon.

During wins I usually like to name some standouts on the team and praise them for their efforts but this week is going to be hard.  This was a great team win so I am going to congratulate not only the 53 players on the active roster, but the coaching staff, and most importantly the 70,000 that were in the stands watching it, you all did it.

So hopefully this isn't just one of our annual five wins, and the team has genuinely flipped the script.  Only time will tell, In the meantime lets go ahead and soak this one in.

TIME TO PUT THE NAIL IN ROGER GOODELL'S COMMISSIONER COFFIN

This week I had planned on writing a review on the opening week of the Browns' season.  And guess what the story was?  Well yet again the Browns didn't show up ready for the season.  This shouldn't be shocking, Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini, Pat Shurmur, and Rob Chudzinski head a list of Browns coaches that tended not to get their teams ready for the year.

Mike Pettine already had his work cut out for him.  He inherited a team that was already in front office transition.  His team drafted the most enigmatic player in the draft in Johnny Manziel.  He had disgruntled veterans, tired of the constant turnover within the team.  Then on the 2nd day of the draft in early May, he was informed that the league's reigning receiving champion was facing banishment from the league.

With the laundry list of distractions that Pettine had to fight through, he and GM Ray Farmer were forced to sit and wait patiently for the Josh Gordon appeal to be heard.  Replacing the league's top receiver wasn't going to be possible, but not knowing what timeframe they were going to have to replace him made the scenario that much worse.

However the summer just ticked by, and by the time the league heard Gordon's appeal training camp was in full swing.  He was continued to be allowed to practice and play with the team throughout most of the preseason, until about a week and a half before the regular season began.  And after many of the roster decision had to be made, the team finally received the word that the league spent the entire summer dragging their feet to simply uphold their original ruling.

The Browns were then forced to make major roster changes to facilitate the hole in the roster.  Only to soon find out that Gordon may have been part of an elaborate ploy to force the NFLPA to agree to sweeping changes in the league's drug policies.  Suddenly there is word that Gordon and several high profile players could be removed from suspension if the NFL's demands are met, and the Browns and several other teams are now sitting and being teased with the notion of getting their players back. Wouldn't common sense dictate these issues should have been dealt with in the offseason?  But instead they are being dealt with as the season is under way.

While I am certainly not solely blaming the league office for the Browns issues last Sunday, you will never be able to convince me they weren't a factor.  Which to me begs the question, is the commissioner worried more about running the NFL like an asshole high school principal who treats his student body like delinquents, or is he more worried about the product that gets put onto the field on Sundays for us fans?

Goodell has been in the forefront of weeding out the fun factor of the game.  Celebrations of almost any kind are now frowned upon and can be penalized, effecting game outcomes.  The current Super Bowl Champions won the league due to a tough, physical secondary.  So what did Goodell do?  Well he tightened up the rules about how tough and physical a secondary could be.

Has the product suffered?  Without a doubt.  The league's insanely strict drug policy has promptly removed many of the top talent from the field.  Anyone who watched the preseason can testify how almost unwatchable the games were, as the referees were probably responsible for as much scoring as any of the players were.  So I think my question is answered, yes he wants to be that asshole high school principal.

So there I think that I have pleaded my case for Roger Goodell's removal from his position and not once did I even have to mention Ray Rice.

And for those of you that are wondering, yes I have a plan to go forward as well...

No this is not a joke, I will genuinely say that if I was building a model of what I think is the commissioner needed to save football, it would be former Browns safety Felix Wright (follow him at @FelixWright22)

I like Felix for the job for several reasons.  First off after an 8 year NFL career as a player, Felix has been in an authority position with the NFL since 2001 (where yes he delivers fines to players).  I think that Felix's unique perspective as both a player and authority figure would serve him well in the commissioner's chair.

Felix played the game clean.  Still to this day he shows a respect for his former teammates, and opponents.  Away from the field Felix has quickly become a tremendous ambassador for the Cleveland Browns.  Felix has taken to social media, where he is possibly one of the most personable and humble professional athletes that I have ever seen.  Felix routinely takes the time out of his day, to make a bunch of fans' days.  So please don't tell me the NFL couldn't use his PR help.

And something tells me he would be willing to do the job...

Follow me @BrownsMemes and help me out with #FelixWright4NFLCommissioner