The Browns already are the laughing stock of the NFL and have been for quite some time. So it must have come as quite a surprise to a lot of fans when it was announced Cleveland would be handing out inflatable white flags for people to, well, wave when the team plays the Steelers on Sunday.
Cleveland Browns decided against giving out white flags against Steelers
Unfortunately, surrender is no longer an option.
Arrive early Sunday. All fans in attendance will receive a Browns Inflatable Flag courtesy of @nfltixexchange.
— Cleveland Browns (@OfficialBrowns) November 21, 2012
At first, I was happy the Browns had a sense of humor. Of course, the Steelers wave the Terrible Towels, and the Browns wave the white flag(s). The only thing worse than having a promotion like this, printing up all these white flags and announcing it, is changing your mind about it, refusing to take blame for the shoddy idea and somehow finding a way to blame the fans.
And that’s exactly what the team did.
#Browns announce they will not giveaway the white flags tomorrow
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) November 24, 2012
"After further & careful consideration, we felt it was in the best interests of everyone involved that we not have a giveaway item....
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) November 24, 2012
At tomorrow's game. It is something that was intended to be fun for our fans and that they could rally around....
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) November 24, 2012
And we regret that some didn't perceive it that way.We want to thank all of our fans for their tremendous support....
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) November 24, 2012
"And we look forward to seeing them out in force at the stadium tomorrow." End statement #Browns
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) November 24, 2012
Oh, Browns.
Look, just embrace the failure. Have fun with it. Play videos of the great surrenders in history. Hire Cheap Trick to come and sing “Surrender.” Wave those flags with pride. That would have been way better than turning around and saying, “Welp, you people thought our horrible idea to wave white flags was actually a horrible idea and we’re sorry you feel that way.”
No one has ever rallied behind waving a white flag. It could have been a first. Instead it’s going to end up being just another boring game coached by Pat Shurmur.
Photo via @OfficialBrowns
See More:
