To be clear, just because 94% of Browns fans do not blame Myles for wanting out of here, that doesn’t mean we actually WANT him to leave.
CLEVELAND — When Cleveland Browns superstar Myles Garrett announced yesterday that he wants to break up with us and start dating other football franchises, it didn’t surprise me. But I will admit I have been surprised by the fan reaction to the news: more specifically, how rational it’s been.
Traditionally, when a Cleveland pro athlete expresses that they no longer wish to remain in our city, we don’t tend to take it well.
Because even if that decision is reasonable, it’s impossible not to feel somewhat dejected when someone we’ve supported for a long time publicly announces that they wish to leave our city as soon as possible, so they can start living their best life and finally achieve their dreams, which they’ve determined could never happen with us here in Cleveland.
Following these announcements, fans typically tend to lay a healthy part of the blame on the disgruntled player who wants out of town. After all, we say, ”What are these multi-millionaire crybabies grousing about anyways? Now he wants to turn his back on us!? Sounds like it’s time for another Cleveland Traitor Jersey BBQ.”
But that certainly does not appear to be the case this time around. In fact, the Browns fanbase is decidedly pro-Myles.
Just check out the results from a poll conducted yesterday by our good friends at ESPN Cleveland, in which they asked whether Garrett’s desire to leave town should be blamed on the Browns or Myles himself. As you can see, of the nearly 5000 respondents, 94% of them blame the organization.
That is a ludicrous level of consensus in today’s culture. Do you have any idea how rare it is to achieve even lukewarm agreement amongst any group of Americans regarding any topic right now?
I mean, according to a recent YouGov poll, only 75% of Americans say they like Dolly Parton, for Pete’s sake. And she’s the angel that walks among who wrote “Jolene”.
But apparently the one opinion in our fractured society on which you can find a near consensus right now is that the Browns organization is a profoundly-incompetent tire fire that deserves universal shame and scorn. It’s not what I would have chosen to bring us all together, but any port in a storm, I suppose.
And to be clear, just because 94% of Browns fans do not blame Myles for wanting out of here, that doesn’t mean we actually WANT him to leave, of course. That would be ridiculous. In fact, it’s BECAUSE we love him that we’re not upset with his request.
Of course he wants to get away from here! He’s a future Hall of Famer. He’s devoted his life to this profession and he wants to succeed at the highest level. He’s now had 8 years to evaluate this organization from within and in that time he has determined it to be straight hot trash.
That’s hard to argue from a fan perspective, even if we wanted to, because we’ve been watching and suffering right along with him the whole time.
In fact, I believe a major reason that Browns fans don’t blame Myles for his request to leave the team, is that we envy him and we’re living vicariously through him. Unlike players, fans of terrible sports franchises don’t have the option of demanding to be traded to another more successful fanbase, no matter how poorly we’re treated. Because we live here. So we either have to stick it out or just quit watching. But Myles has options. He can escape this carnival of horrors and deserves the right to do so.
So no hard feelings, Myles! Go! Run! Go to a good team and live for all of us, you big goofy Freight Train! You’ve earned it! And don’t worry about us, we’ll get by. And if you need us, we’ll still be here, and as always, we’ll be rebuilding. Go Cavs.