“Believeland” is a play on the word “Cleveland,” where the citizens are great in their faith that the Browns are going to be transported today into the NFL's postseason.
“Because we've got to believe in Cleveland,” P.J. said.
P.J. did not wish to identify himself in full. He is a security person at a tavern named The Blind Pig, which as P.J. explained is the official gathering place for Browns Backers in the Cleveland area.
Before the team's home games, the Browns Backers, Cleveland chapter, invite 12 delegates from their clubs throughout the nation to show up and express their allegiance. Browns Backers, you should know, are everywhere. There even is a branch in San Diego.
Around Cleveland yesterday were banners proclaiming “Believeland,” a concept that also was being carried out in the wording on T-shirts. Additionally, Bernie Kosar, a revered figure in the Ohio city, was scheduled to make an appearance at The Blind Pig.
“This is a Browns town,” P.J. said. “If the Cavs would win the NBA championship or the Indians would win the World Series, there would be celebrating, but if the Browns would win the Super Bowl, the city wouldn't know what to do with itself. I wouldn't want to be working that day.”
At the risk of being viewed as a common scold, I'm sorry, I cannot be counted among the believers. The NFL is no place for fantasies such as the one in the minds and hearts of the Cleveland faithful. This is a hard-eyed, even unfeeling environment in which there is no place for sentiment.
Consider the position Tony Dungy, the most gentlemanly of NFL coaches, is taking today with the Indianapolis Colts. Dungy does not intend to have Peyton Manning and others among his stars extend themselves unduly when the Colts oppose the Tennessee Titans under the RCA Dome, which I view as a disservice to the Browns. Unless the Colts win, the Cleveland club's season is over and it will be the Titans who will be bound for San Diego and a game against the Chargers in the wild-card round of the AFC eliminations. If the Titans win, the game the Browns are playing against the San Francisco 49ers is of no importance.
NFL players are paid to play 16 games. Play them, I say, play them with all hands, with effort, ethically. Folks in Cleveland are depending on it.
Moving on, I want to say that I am here to be of assistance, to Bill Parcells, to make this point. As one of his orders of business in his new position as a vice president of football operations of the Miami Dolphins, Parcells must determine what he wishes to do with the ranking choice in the NFL draft.
To this end, Jerry Jones, for 31 years the custodian of “the Drugstore List” of draft analysis, was consulted. Jones has Parcells' man. He is James Laurinaitis, an Ohio State linebacker.
Before advancing Laurinaitis' name, Jones weighed some things. That Parcells is fond of linebackers, particularly large ones. That his 12 seasons of backing up the middle of the Dolphins' line sit heavily upon Zach Thomas.
“If he (Parcells) has a liking for nasty linebackers who can really play the game, this would be the kid,” Jones said of the Buckeyes defender. “The kid is tough, he's instinctive and he's incredibly dedicated.”
Laurinaitis is a junior and must declare for the draft to be included in it, but as Jones noted, “Ohio State kids come willingly.”
The son of a professional wrestler, Laurinaitis, a 6-foot-3, 244-pounder, is termed “the perfect picture of controlled aggression” by Jones.
The St. Thomas Island, Ga., draft scholar recognized that trading the No. 1 pick is an option for Parcells. Selecting Arkansas running back Darren McFadden, whom Jones believes should have won the Heisman Award, is another.
“But I would guess that Parcells is going to take somebody who can play up close, a front seven guy of some sort,” Jones said. Enter Laurinaitis.
Jerry Magee: (619) 293-1830; jerry.magee@uniontrib.com
