Mark Craig: Browns lose, and city goes hungry

CINCINNATI - There's a billboard on the left-hand side of southbound Interstate 71 about 75 miles northeast of Cincinnati. It has these huge white block letters that Browns fans -- heck, fans of any Cleveland team with a ball, a bat or both -- could relate to as they made the journey toward yet another disappointment on Sunday.

"HELL IS REAL!" the sign blares.

Darn straight.

The Twin Cities moan because the Vikings lost four Super Bowls. Trying going XLI of them -- and counting -- without even playing in one.

The Twin Cities moan because it has been 16 years since a sports team won a major championship. Try adding 27 years on top of that. Even some middle-aged sportswriters weren't born when Jim Brown led the Browns to that 1964 NFL championship.

"Yes, that does surprise me very much," Brown, now a team consultant, said in the wake of Sunday's deflating 19-14 loss to the Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. "You wonder what's been going on around Cleveland. It's strange. You ask yourself, 'Why can't anybody win around here?' "

Boston was whining about the Red Sox while the Celtics and then the Patriots were ringing up championships.

Chicago was whining about its baseball teams while Da Bears won a title and then Michael won six of them. Then the White Sox won their own.

Meanwhile, in Cleveland, there are more catch phrases depicting heartache than there are titles. "Red Right 88" ... "The Drive" ... "The Fumble" ... "The Shot" ...

The Browns were good when John Elway was great. The Cavs were good when Michael Jordan was better than great. The Indians were good the only year Atlanta actually won it all.

The Cavs made their first NBA Finals this year. They got swept. The Indians, who haven't won a title since 1948, had a 3-1 lead over Boston in the ALCS. Then they lost three in a row.

"This city is hungry like you wouldn't believe," said Browns receiver Joe Jurevicius, a Cleveland native who grew up on the city's east side. "I've been to three Super Bowls [with the Giants, Buccaneers and Seahawks], and I know what it's like to win a championship [with the Buccaneers]. I want that to happen here because this is a Browns town, no matter what has happened. That's what makes [Sunday] so hard to take."

In a quirky playoff scenario, the Browns' game against San Francisco is meaningless. If the Titans win at Indianapolis on Sunday night, they're in. If they lose, the Browns are in for only the second time since being reborn as an expansion team in 1999 following a three-year absence from the league.

You can imagine which way your typical Clevelander thinks the Titans game will go.

After all, this is a Browns franchise that went 40-88 from 1999 to 2006. The franchise that botched consecutive No. 1 picks in 1999 (Tim Couch) and 2000 (Courtney Brown) and a No. 3 in 2001 (Gerard Warren). The franchise that saw Kellen Winslow II crash his motorcycle and prized free-agent center LeCharles Bentley blow out a knee in his first practice while wearing shorts during a noncontact drill.

"You don't want to think a team is cursed," Browns General Manager Phil Savage said, "but you do wonder a little bit when some of this stuff happens."

The Browns have not won a playoff game since 1994. They have not won their division since 1989, the year the Columbus, Ohio, native Quinn believes he rode up I-71 with his father, grandfather and uncle to attend his first Browns game.

This has been a tough decade to watch the Super Bowl for Browns fans. Titles have been won by the Ravens, who used to be the Browns before moving to Baltimore in 1995; the Patriots and Bill Belichick, who was 36-44 and despised when he coached the Browns (1991-95); and the hated Steelers.

"The great thing about Cleveland is they do still love the Browns," Savage said. "It is the identity of the city in a lot of ways. This year has been great for the fans because they've been through a lot. I think it would be somewhat of a redemption for them if we can get into the playoffs this year."

Savage said that about an hour before kickoff in a game the Browns were favored to win by a touchdown. Naturally, the celebration turned sour about four hours later.