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Good morning, Cleveland Browns fans!
When I first started doing this Cleveland Browns nonsense on the internet in the mid-1990s, we didn't have a Browns team to talk about. Things were slow for new developments for Browns fans, so we mostly busied ourselves mocking the travails of the Bengals, Steelers, and, most of all, the Baltimore Ratbirds, who were hilariously bad in the mid-90s after Modell stole the team from Cleveland. Plus, there was the whole "they stole our team" thing, which made for endless fun since they were clearly the bad guys and couldn't defend themselves effectively.
This all took the form of what I called "The Rantatorium" or "The Rant", a discussion board where fans of the various teams gathered to poke fun at each other. For four or five years, it was a place I could go to have fun and bust out laughing at the various sides going after each other. There were some brilliant Browns fans in there - hilarious and knowledgeable - whose involvement convinced me to start up a Browns site when the team returned in 1999.
Over time, the Browns rebuilt their team, and we could focus on that instead of tormenting our competitors. Plus, the Browns' horrible play after returning to the league sort of took the wind out of our sails. The forum faded away, replaced by the Watercooler as the place where Browns fans gathered.
However, back in those days, I would rage at anyone who embarrassed the team by saying or doing something inane that reflected poorly on us, mainly because it was hard to defend against the rapacious Rat or Steeler fans in that forum. The early Browns did many embarrassing things.
These days, I'm sort of glad that the Rant is no longer around, as comments coming out of watching a single OTA practice are now showing up on Bengals, Steelers, and Rat sites. Headlines like "Bengals fans can only laugh at Dillon Gabriel news" or "Kenny Pickett named the worst quarterback" from Steeler sites have AFC North fans laughing at the Browns' ineptitude once more.
This comes from reporters or radio personalities seeking engagement or attention by offering their opinion about how good quarterbacks are after a single OTA practice, where they didn't even see some of the QBs in 11-on-11 situations. I'm sure they enjoy the attention, but I'm glad I don't have to defend their statements in an open forum of the AFC North anymore. I no longer care about the opinions of rival fans at this point. But it's a good thing, because the Browns media is giving them and the national press plenty of reasons to laugh at the orange and brown.
JOEL BITONIO IS A BLESSING
Joel Bitonio
Joel Bitonio at last year's Pro Bowl. (Photo: Getty)
It's so refreshing to hear Joel Bitonio, a great player in his twelfth year, dispense with a lot of the BS and talk with some honesty to reporters. He's at the I-can-say-what-I-want stage of his career, and I enjoyed hearing what he had to say, such as this tidbit about the Browns' 2025 offense:
Run it like it’s 2020. If you had any doubt what the Browns “new” Stefanski-Rees offense would look like.
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— Andrew Siciliano (@andrewsiciliano.bsky.social) June 2, 2025 at 11:42 AM
There was considerable doubt about whether Bitonio would return during the off-season, with some speculating that he would likely be gone since the Browns were unlikely to be a playoff contender. But Bitonio still wants to play and believes he can do so at a high level. If he's going to play, he wanted it to be in Cleveland.
At the team's golf outing, Bitonio discussed "establishing our standard ($)" as a run-focused offense and feels like he can be part of creating a potent running attack. He seems to enjoy new offensive line coach Mike Bloomgren, memorably saying that 'The O-line coach kind of needs to be a d***'.
In his way, Bitonio also simplified the Browns contentious and complicated quarterback battle, simply saying that "we want the best guy" who can "win as many games" as possible.
THE DAILY SHEDEUR: A mixed bag in the Daily Shedeur today, as media sites go out of their way to mention him in headlines as he's one of the league's biggest attention-getters during the 2025 pre-season. A lot of it is continuing coverage of Deion's interview the other day, where he said that the pre-draft speculation about his son was "hurtful".
BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!: There's plenty of miscellaneous stuff to be found in the remainder of the Browns news:
Have a good one! GO BROWNS!
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