The highs and lows of the sporting world are directly responsible for the love/hate relationship embraced with open arms from the average fan, and span the entire emotional spectrum.
As the religious followers of teams know, ranging from the casual couch potato to the traveling season ticket holder groupie, that the on the field performance and firestorm of conflicting personalities in the locker room of the beloved athletes, cascade down through legions of diehards and incite strong visceral reactions, based on the results of a game.
WJW-TV shares the story of a lifelong Cleveland Brows fan, who actually blamed his own demise on the putrid performance of the team. Thankfully, Ohio resident Paul Sterk passed away in front of friends and family before he could witness the Browns recording an astonishing 0-16 this season in cementing a legacy as one of the worst teams in NFL history. Sterk’s online obituary included a statement that his declining condition was in direct correlation to Cleveland’s futility on the gridiron, and officially places him in the record books as a true fanatic of professional football. Mercifully, he did not elaborate on the brutal legacy of the franchise and include biting snippets towards former owner Art Modell, “the fumble”, or the horrid luck in developing top draft picks.
The moral to the story is embrace the success of your favorite team and live in the moment, as decades of pain, suffering and frustration could be just around in the corner. In the case of Sterk and his hometown team, the Browns last claimed a championship in 1964.
Read the Full WJW-TV story here.
