| | | I'm betting on the underdog Sunday.
I'd bet on the Giants anyway. Even if I knew the Ravens were a lock to win, I wouldn't bet on them. I wouldn't care how much money I'd lose.
|  | | Art Modell, left, Ray Lewis and the Ravens are in the Super Bowl -- much to Cleveland's chagrin. |
I hope Art Modell doesn't win. I hope he never feels the joy of holding a Super Bowl trophy. I just don't think someone who rips a football team away from a whole city should get away with it.
After all, if you're born in Cleveland, you have to be a Browns fan. They just don't allow you to root for any other team. They instill in you a hatred for the Steelers and a love for the Browns, and that's all there is to it.
Being a Browns fan wasn't always easy, though. They could break your heart. Take the 1986 AFC Championship Game, Broncos vs. Browns. Cleveland's up 20-13 with 39 seconds left. Then John Elway orchestrates a 98-yard drive ending in a game-tying touchdown, the Broncos win in OT, and "The Drive" becomes legendary.
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I hope Art Modell doesn't win. I hope he never feels the joy of holding a Super Bowl trophy. I just don't think someone who rips a football team away from a whole city should get away with it. |
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And then came the 1987 AFC Championship Game, Browns vs. Broncos again. Time for redemption. Denver's winning 38-33, but the Browns are at the Denver 3-yard line. Earnest Byner goes for the six, and fumbles. Game over. It was worse than the year before -- with a chance to avenge "The Drive," the Browns can only muster "The Fumble."
It might have been tough at some points, but you don't just give up. You don't just let the team go downhill.
But that's just what Modell did, with the hiring of Bill Belichick and the release of quarterback Bernie Kosar. Modell could have taken steps and not let that happen, but he didn't. He took $50 million, and then he took the team away.
I didn't watch football much after the team left. I didn't care about it. The loss taught me that you can get along without football, that there's other stuff to do on Sunday.
As for this Sunday, you might want to watch. But if you do watch, don't root for the Ravens. If they win, Art Modell will be the villain who got away with the crime.
Comedian Drew Carey is the star of "The Drew Carey Show" and the producer and host of "Whose Line Is It Anyway" on ABC. He is the author of Dirty Jokes and Beer: Stories of the Unrefined.
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Comedian/Actor/Browns fan Drew Carey talks with ESPN's Trey Wingo about Art Modell's trip to the Super Bowl.