Blackened Browns

Yesterday's game just wasn't fun.  Both teams played terribly, just that Detroit played not quite as badly.  Garcia didn't look great, but he got it done for Detroit. Dilfer just looked awful.  I was in favor of keeping Frye on the bench, but I am wondering just what we are saving him for.  What is he learning by watching this?  Then again, throwing him in may be a mistake, just like it was for Couch, just like it appears to be for David Carr down in Houston.  I left the stadium feeling like I had wasted my day. I remember the Shottenheimer--Kosar era from the late 80s, and really, that was the last time this team was actually any good.  The Belichick team from 1994 may have been a rough draft of what he'd eventually do in New England, but it wasn't exactly a great team.  But I look at people half my age, and why would they root for the Browns?  What do they remember?  Take someone who is 18 now.  This team returned in 1999 when that kid was 12.  The team announced its move to Baltimore in 1995 when that kid was 8.  And that kid was probably still wearing diapers the last time the Browns were in the AFC Championship game.  Why would that kid root for the Browns?  Growing up, I was around for Red Right 88, The Drive, and The Fumble.  At least we were in the hunt.  But the Browns haven't been the champs since 1964.  Anyone who is mid-forties or younger has no personal recollection of that.  Even people in their late 40s would only have a vague recollection of that championship.  Even the Steelers-Browns rivalry is becoming a bit one-sided.  Steelers fans have a lot more reason to hate New England than to hate the Browns.  Take a Steelers fan who is 18 today.  Apart from it being a divisional game, why would he even care enough to dislike the Browns?  What have the Browns ever done to his Steelers in his lifetime?  It is probably almost as peculiar to him as it is to me that once upon a time the Browns and Giants were huge rivals -- but that ended with the NFL/AFL merger -- which happened before I was born.  That kid could very well feel the way I feel when the Indians play the Royals. Right now, I could hardly care if I go to another game this year.  It really stinks when something that used to excite you suddenly just pisses you off.  The hours spent at the stadium would have been better spent at the office, or doing laundry, or practically anything else.  And the money I've spent on PSLs and tickets since 1999 -- that is money I could have put toward my retirement or something.  Ugh, the more I think about it, the worse I feel about it.  How is THAT for a Monday Moan?