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Friday, July 28, 2006

The Cleveland Curse Continues

"No!!!" he yelled, clutching his knee.
Not again! is what every Browns fan yelled when they heard the news... including myself. As if having every possible form of heartbreak happen in every sport wasn't enough, it seems that we are almost getting spared the pain early this year. The Browns managed to have a great off-season, grabbing a number of good free agents including the most coveted man on the market: LeCharles Bentley, the Saints' Pro Bowl center. In today's 11-on-11 drills - the very first of the season - Bentley went down:
Stretched out on a flatbed cart, LeCharles Bentley covered his face with a towel to hide his disappointment and tears. This wasn't the homecoming he had planned.

His first season with the Cleveland Browns ended before it began.

Bentley, a two-time Pro Bowl center and one of the team's prized free-agent signings this winter, sustained a season-ending injury to his left knee on the first 11-on-11 drill of training camp Thursday -- a crushing blow for a club seemingly cursed by major injuries the past few seasons.

"He was the face of our free-agent class," general manager Phil Savage said. "We feel terrible for LeCharles, but life goes on."

Savage said Bentley tore his patellar tendon and will undergo surgery as early as Friday. Savage declined to say if Bentley's tear was partial or complete and would not speculate on a timeframe for recovery.

Blocking for Reuben Droughns on an off-tackle running play to the right, Bentley, who played four years at New Orleans, was briefly engaged in a block up front with nose tackle Ted Washington when his left knee buckled.

Bentley screamed, "No!" and grabbed his knee as Cleveland coach Romeo Crennel and his staff blew their whistles to halt play. While on his knees, the 26-year-old Bentley punched the ground in disgust as the Browns moved their scrimmage up the field so the club's medical staff could attend to him.
Aside from being a huge lifelong fan, I'm also an investor in the Browns. A friend and I own a pair of Cleveland Browns' 50-yard line seats, which we sell on StubHub every year [in the hopes of one day going to a playoff game... and making money until then]. It's a good thing we'd already sold a couple of the games, because the rest just dropped in value. Sorry, Dad, that means yours just dropped too. I guess my prediction that the Browns would win 9-10 games this year just became pretty doubtful...

:::sigh:::

I guess there's always next year... [sob]

14 comments:

  1. I apologize in advance if this comes off as a little too much, it's just...never mind, either you understand or you don't:

    Missiles, Nope. Bombs, uh-uh. Plague, keep trying. War, still not enough. Rider on a Pale Horse, OK maybe.

    The end of all things, the culmination of days, armageddon, the apocalypse, moshiach, the big shot clock in the sky reading zero...whatever you want to call it, we will know that it has arrived when the Cleveland Browns win a Super Bowl. Until then, we suffer.

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  2. It's always painful when a key player goes down in the preseason. A few years ago Michael Vick went down in a preseason game against Baltimore and the entire Atlanta was in aveilus. The Falcons went 3-13 that season, with Vick only playing in the last couple games.

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  3. Seriously, why the Browns? I have abandoned the Celtics and the Bruins as the failures they are. If I were you, I'd just go to the Rock 'n' Roll hall of fame every few weeks.

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  4. If you are living in New York why don't you just give up and become a Giant or Jets fan? If not, why don't you move back to Cleveland? Someone I know has been trying to convince me for the past couple of years to move to Cleveland because it is so much better than New York. I think NY is better but that is just my opinion.

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  5. G - I knew you'd have the best comment. So true.

    Jewboy - Heh. My brother-in-law is from Atlanta, and they live in Baltimore. I was at their house that weekend, and we were watching the game when that happened. You should have seen his face...

    CopyEdit - !!! Abandon my team!? Never. We are destined to a lifetime of sorrow, but we can't leave it.

    FWQ - :::shudder::: No way I'd ever be a Giants or Jets fan. I think their collective IQ is in the negatives. Cleveland is a nice, very cheap place to live, great schooling through 8th grade. Not for me, but most people love it. And anything is better than NY.

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  6. g - it already happened when the BoSox won the World Series!

    copyedit - fairweatherfan. Just wait till next year! (Or in the case of the Celtics and the Bruins, next... decade... whatever... hey, I still have my Celtics flag pennant from 1986 hanging in my closet!)

    I definitely root for the Browns when they're playing Pittsburgh! I don't care how bad they are! The worse they are, the sweeter the victory if they win!!

    Hey Ezzie... you'd better respect your elders over yonder! I'm old enough to be your... aunt! LOL!

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  7. Exactly, Chana! It's like when the Indians beat up on the Yankees. :)

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  8. FWQ - Oy!! Where to begin...
    -->If you are living in New York why don't you just give up and become a Giant or Jets fan?

    Bec. his father would never speak to him again...**thinking**...wait a minute!

    -->If not, why don't you move back to Cleveland?

    I now hereby change your name to Frum with GREAT Questions.

    -->Someone I know has been trying to convince me for the past couple of years to move to Cleveland because it is so much better than New York.

    I am truly sorry but that person was mistaken, one cannot hold N.Y. citizenship while living in Cleveland.

    -->I think NY is better but that is just my opinion.

    Never mind, back to plain old frumwithquestions

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  9. -->it already happened when the BoSox won the World Series!

    Really? This is it?
    Wow, talk about not living up to the hype :)

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  10. No way I'd ever be a Giants or Jets fan. I think their collective IQ is in the negatives.

    >:|

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