Pride of Place
Nothing a little snow can't fix.
This week, everything changed for me. Thanks to a dubious Thursday Night Football countdown clock on the Amazon.com homepage, I was reminded that the lowly Cleveland Browns were hosting their nemesis and rival Pittsburgh Steelers on the shores of Lake Erie. It doesn’t even feel fair to call this a rivalry, with it being as one-sided as it is. I have been doing everything I could think of to detach myself from the mental anguish that is the Browns 2024 campaign. I have finally vowed to cancel my Sunday Ticket once and for all. My lifelong affinity for this team has finally been broken for all of the reasons we all know. So when I see the countdown clock on Amazon, it’s just another NFL game — I have no feelings either way.
I am not mad about any of this. I have handled this like an adult. I have finally recognized that the team doesn’t represent the character of my city — it’s just an entertainment product. I was reminded of a clip I saw in 2011 when the Boston Bruins fans were chanting, “USA! USA!” after beating the Vancouver Canucks in the 2011 Stanley Cup. Exactly one player on that Boston team was American, and 75% were Canadian. All I’m saying here is that a team is not a city. Full stop.