Never Pick A Brown

I have one rule when it comes to our fantasy football draft..."Never pick a Cleveland Brown." This strategy has worked for me going on sixteen years. In that time I have won a number of league championships, scored the most points that year, or backed into the playoffs. I can think of maybe two or three years when enjoying my favorite hobby landed me on the outside looking in. As an avid Browns fan, I have suffered like many of you since the teams return in 1999. The Browns road to success has been like a woolly mammoth sloshing through the La Brea Tar Pits. Long ago I asked myself this question..."Why suffer twice when I only have to suffer once?" No longer would the names Charlie Frye, Kelly Holcomb, Lee Suggs, William Green, Chansi Stuckey, and the great Brian Robiskie roll off my tongue on fantasy draft night. My passion for winning overtook the urge to trade for a red hot Derrick Anderson or pick up fan favorite Peyton Hillis off the waiver wire. I could still root for them, wear their jerseys on game day, even beg for their autograph at the Cleveland RV Show, but by no means would I be plugging them into my starting lineup that week. What has helped me ease the temptation of selecting one of our beloved Brownies over the years is being in the league with, "Cleveland Brown Guy." If you're lucky you may have experienced CBG in one of your leagues. He's the guy that will select the first Browns player on the board. He will reach round after round to secure a team of brown and orange. He'll even name his team something like..."Browns Town" or "The Big Dawgs," only to find himself in the dog house by years end. When CBG has a huge week, that means the other nine teams players were all on a bye. It could be that Phil Dawson kicked six field goals and that the Browns defense scored on a Josh Cribbs kickoff return. Does all that mean CBG is a better Browns fan than I? Not really. It means that in the words of former New York Jets coach and ESPN football annalist Herm Edwards, "You Play To Win The Game." The game is fantasy football and I'm in it to win it. Even if I do pass on Mohamed Massaquoi.