CLEVELAND, OHIO (TheOBR.com) - Good morning, Cleveland Browns fans!
THE DAILY BLOVIATION
One thing I've learned about Browns fans over the years is that we tend to take a critical stance towards players with a bent towards self-promotion. Befitting our anti-glamorous, hard-working region, the majority of Browns fans seem to have little patience for anyone who seems more focused on themselves than the team.
I've seen this play out many times over the years, from Browns fans rejecting "superfans" who try to stand out from the crowd and get involved in the conduct of the team, to players like Odell Beckham, Jr., who were criticized for their perceived self-promotion.
On the other hand, ask most Browns fans to name two of the most beloved Browns in the last decade or so, and you come up with the names Joe Thomas and Nick Chubb. Thomas played a less-than-glamorous position and showed up for work every snap, never causing locker room issues or making headlines with complaints about a Hall of Fame career spent on a losing team. Chubb, meanwhile, kept his head down, mouth closed, and ran the ball as hard as he could until a fateful night in Pittsburgh. Cleveland loved him. Cleveland loved both of them.
Even being perhaps the best player in the NFL, at least on the defensive side, isn't enough to earn the town's adoration. While Myles Garrett was lauded for his incredible talent and success tormenting opposing quarterbacks, the city never really embraced him the way they did for players like Thomas, Chubb and others reaching back to Bernie Kosar. Garrett, for all his greatness, was never "one of us".
All of which brings us to the situation around Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who yesterday released a short film filled with off-field clips of the young quarterback and a voiceover proclaiming his independence from social media. I posted it on the Watercooler, and the response wasn't overwhelmingly positive, with many saying that they clicked off of it almost immediately or didn't watch it at all.
Sanders, who spent most of the last week or so in Miami with QB horse race competitor Deshaun Watson working with the team's wide receivers, also spent the day yesterday appearing at a football camp for kids, where he was greeted with enthusiasm unseen in these parts for a few years.
There's nothing wrong with these things - at all. On the same day, though, he releases his little film, and I'm not sure what to think.
As of now, Sanders is given a considerable amount of slack by some, as he represents hope for Browns fans as a possible solution to the never-ending quarterback vacancy the team faces. But self-promotional efforts like his short film, I predict, won't play here well over the long-term. Clevelanders seem to like their players to be humble, hard-working, and not self-involved. Sanders represents some of those things, but at the same time leaves in his wake a hard-core Sanders fanbase that is oversized relative to his on-field production to date, and efforts like this short film.
Shedeur Sanders
Shedeur Sanders at a local camp yesterday (Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
This mixture of attributes leaves some Browns fans hesitant to embrace Sanders, as indicated by the response in the Cooler. While Sanders is in high media demand, the route to being loved in Cleveland doesn't include interviews, short films, rap songs, and anything that looks like self-infatuation.
At the same time, Sanders draws criticism from people who ignore all but the self-promotional side of him. Included is look-at-me commentator Rex Ryan, who quizzically slammed Sanders for the film while seemingly loving any spotlight he can shine on himself. "Get a load of this kid…", Ryan blustered, "Great talent needs to realize as a 'franchise' QB there has to be more we than me".
"More we than me" is not the phrase that comes to mind when recalling Ryan's career in coaching and broadcasting.
The replies to Ryan's tweet bashing Sanders were, to be kind, mixed. If Sanders is going to face criticism of the way he conducts himself, Ryan is exactly the wrong vessel to carry it.
I suspect that there are those out there in the Cleveland fanbase who aren't sure how to feel about the Browns' second-year quarterback. While he expresses humility and a hard work ethic, efforts like the short film probably aren't the best way to win over an adoring local fanbase. That way lies in hard work, team-orientation, and success on the field. Total focus on football. If he wants to be embraced by his new home, that's the way to go.
Have a good one! GO BROWNS!
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THE WATERCOOLERMessi;
...and now, a short film from Shedeur Sanders.
THE LIFT
Positive news from the world of sports and beyond...
A Kansas City cop kept working a stolen e-bike case for a month after everyone else would've closed the file, because the bike belonged to a cancer patient who needed it to get around. He found it. That's the whole story, and it's a good one. (Source: Good News Network)
WRAPPING UP
When not spending too much time and effort burning things for carnivorous consumption, Barry McBride is the Publisher and Founder of the OBR and bloviates this nonsense every morning. You can follow him on Twitter @barrymcbride or write him at barry@theobr.com if you are so compelled.
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