It was supposed to be different. Jimmy Haslam bought the Cleveland Browns from noted soccer enthusiast Randy Lerner. The truck stop magnate stopped by the Dawg Pound to promise fans that winning football was coming.
The year in sadness: A moving tribute to Jimmy Haslam’s Cleveland Browns
It’s been rough times since Jimmy Haslam bought the Factory of Sadness. SB Nation presents a very special reflection on the year in Browns.
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Try to pinpoint the one moment where Rob Chudzinski’s excitement turned to horror, when Joe Banner’s enthusiastic backslapping became passive aggressive petting and when someone finally realized that Michael Lombardi did his best work behind an NFL Network desk.
The Browns finished 4-12.
There really isn’t one moment when the Factory of Sadness started belching out smoke again over Lake Erie. It just sort of happened, culminating with a series of hasty purges to clean out the coaching staff and front office. Haslam made a new round of promises about the team getting better, and then disappeared back into his bunker waiting for Federal fraud investigators to come calling.
Is it over now? Maybe, maybe not. But it's a good time to reflect on the Browns' last 12 tumultuous months, from Brandon Weeden to Jason Campbell ... oh, and wiener dogs.
Enjoy, but keep a tissue handy.
