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Cleveland
Browns: The Official Illustrated History
Edited By Ron Smith
The Sporting News, 228 pages
$20.97, 30%
off at Amazon.com
By David Kozo
Cleveland
Browns fans, do yourselves a favor one of these Sunday afternoons:
rather than watch your newly minted franchise get clocked again, curl
up to this new Sporting News book, which is such a wonderful tribute to
your proud franchise that it can make even us non-fans want to gain weight
and throw on a 15-year-old flannel shirt.
The book is designed to commemorate the rebirth of the team after Art
Modell took the old one with him to Baltimore after the 1995 season. The
early pages are a bit rocky, with breathless proclamations about the new
team, new stadium, and new quarterback (Tim Couch) that read like a souvenir
game program. But then come stronger chapters devoted to old Municipal
Stadium, father of the franchise Paul Brown, running great Jim Brown,
and others.
An especially moving chapter explores the tragedy of Ernie Davis, the
1961 Heisman Trophy-winning back that tragically died of leukemia before
getting the chance to play for the Browns. But the bulk of the book is
a no-nonsense year-by-year recap, complete with game scores and recaps
from all 50-odd seasons.
The photos are fantastic, mostly taken from field level, and the book
doesn't gloss over the team's darker moments. Brian Sipe's interception
against the Raiders in 1980 and John Elway's Drive in 1987 are each given
their own chapter. And the treatment given the sad final game at Municipal
Stadium in December 1995 is unblinking.
The devoted fans of the Dawg Pound are given their proper due and things
end on a high note, with pictures of the new stadium and some of the personnel.
The book's entire back cover is even graced with a shot of a smiling Couch
holding up his new jersey, which could make the book a collector's item
if he doesn't live up to expectations. But it should be one anyway for
those Dawgs out there who, this season at least, can use this recount
of past glory as a salve for their wounds.
Grade: A-
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