Study In Brown

The Cleveland Browns ⇒ is a professional gridiron football ⇒ franchise of the National Football League ⇒ (“NFL”). The team plays within the North Division of the American Football Conference (“AFC”), but have also played with the AFC Central Division, Eastern Conference Century Division, and American Conference. Home games are now played at Cleveland Browns Stadium, and in the past at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

The Browns helmet, as can be seen in the picture above, demands clarification. Unexpectedly, the main color orange. The only brown being two stripes down the middle sandwiching a white line. This dates back to an obsolete rule against away team light colored helmets. Every team in the NFL except for the Browns has at least one logo on their helmets. When there is a need for a logo, such as on this shirt, the helmet itself becomes the main logo for the logoless team.

The current iteration of the Browns is a revival of the original franchise which moved to became the Baltimore Ravens ⇒. Neither version has competed in the modern era league championship game nor win an AFC Championship Game in order to qualify for the Super Bowl ⇒. Those appearances took place during the late 80s against the Denver Broncos ⇒ led by John Elway who would always find a way to beat the Browns. The 1980 Browns team was called the Kardiac Kids for coming back from behind. Nonetheless, there has been more disappointment than celebration during most seasons after the merger of the NFL and the American Football League ⇒.

The recent disappointment is in contrast to the team’s performance in the pre-merger NFL and All-America Football Conference ⇒ (“AAFC”). Upon entering the NFL in 1950, the Browns won their first NFL championship and remained a championship threat through the mid-1960s until then new owner Art Modell started to micro-manage. The Browns thoroughly dominated the AAFC. Not only did the 1948 squad go undefeated, but the Browns won the AAFC championship for each of the four years that the conference existed.

Who’s That? Brown!

Two men with the last name Brown loom large in team lore.

Coach Paul Brown ⇒ was perhaps the namesake of the team, though different sources arrive at different conclusions on this point. In any event, Paul Brown innovated the use of game film, facemasks at the pro level, classroom instruction in pro locker rooms, sending in guards with play calls, in addition to being a minority owner of the Browns before becoming majority owner of the Cincinnati Bengals ⇒ of the AFL. and winning through passing in a time when the run dominated the game. He also coached the team to all but one of their seven championships.

Fullback Jim Brown ⇒ ran with a bold, fearless style that made him the league leading runner of his day. Brown held nearly every meaningful record for his position at the time of his early retirement. Some of those records still stand. He parlayed football into an acting career ⇒. Brown is also an National Lacrosse Hall of Famer ⇒

Brownies

Donor, Receiver, & Proofreader Dale* is an ardent supporter of both the Free Shirt Archive and the Cleveland Browns. He was the natural person to whom I could donate this shirt. He was appreciative to become a receiver.