I thought one final article on the Browns was in order.  A fun season, and for the first time since about Labor Day there is no Browns game to watch.  We'll still watch this weekend with a bitter taste at times as we keep an eye on the Texans after they eliminated us handily last week. The Texans of course is the team that we are still rebuilding taking them off the scrap heap from the big trade, as last year they were 3-13-1.  And we get to watch Baker chuck the ball around the yard in Detroit against the Lions. 

Baker Mayfield will always be a polarizing figure here as his time was turbulent and that's not all his fault.  I'm no Baker apologist, but his time here I feel should be looked at honestly.  Starting with this - I was no fan at all of making him the first pick in the draft.  I was on the Josh Allen bandwagon, but we'll never know what would have happened. Tons of coaches, bad decisions on both parts and owner meddling made things very difficult for everyone.

Baker was drafted #1 by the former regime, one that was very different than the guys in charge now.  Those guys were the like the Pickup trucks of the NFL.  Football guys.  The Browns had 1 win in two years and the culture needed to be changed.  It was thought that started with the team leader, and Baker is and was a very powerful presence that's both good and bad.  Like a pickup, Baker took some lumps, and bumps, drove himself into the mud at times to get stuck, but cleaned up at other times to everyone's delight.  For a while It looked like he was here for 300,000 all wheel drive miles.

But then a new regime came to town.  They are much more refined and they wanted a Porsche.  So they parked the pick up truck, and eventually gave it away making room in the garage.  The Porsche they picked out was quite expensive, but man it was something.  Turns out it has not been overly reliable spending a great deal of time in the shop and they keep putting more money into it.  Keeping it on the road has proven tough.  But when it runs, all is right with the world.

And this year, the coach and crew had to go out and buy another very used even older pickup that was the last vehicle of any kind on the lot when the Porsche broke down again.  The title search showed this truck had a great service record, had survived the test of time and just needed a wash, tires, tuneup and an oil change.  And in a about a week, man that thing purred and went right to work and the whole team fit in the truck bed.  I never saw the coach so happy in all these years as he was with that new/old truck that they got such an amazing bargain basement deal on.  He loved that old truck and was grateful for the short, but successful drives they took together.  That truck gave all it had and now it'll make someone else happy, as it certainly will be up for auction again.  It'll be checked out thoroughly, maybe it'll end up in a warmer climate.

So over the winter the Porsche is being worked on, and the hope is come summer they'll roll it out and we will cruise all fall long, right to this very date and beyond.  In the mean time, we will miss that very old truck and hope that someone buys it again for a fair price.  Maybe it'll drive some other team to the stadium only on Sundays, as it clearly still has something left under the hood and in the tank.

As for the newer pickup truck, it's been humming smoothly all fall and now winter long, as the new owners have it cleaned up, tuned up and running on the right gasoline at 75 MPH on a smooth Florida highway.  So what do we know? Like most winters, the trucks are still running and most of the Porsche's are waiting for spring.

Training camp opens in July -  GO BROWNS!