PUSKAS: Winning changes things

The Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Cleveland Indians.

The Cleveland Browns.

The Lake Erie Monsters.

Stipe Miocic.

As they used to sing on “Sesame Street,” one of these things is not like the others.

The others, you see, won championships in 2016.

You don’t really need a hint, but let’s go through the list anyway.

The Cavaliers won the NBA title. The Indians won the American League Central Division and the AL pennant. The Monsters won the AHL’s Calder Cup. Miocic won the UFC heavyweight title and successfully defended it.

The Browns? They’re just trying to win a game. If the Chicago Cubs have been baseball’s Lovable Losers since 1908, what do we call the 1999-present Browns?

I’m not sure what name fits, but lovable is not part of that title.

And sadly, that is the only way the word “title” becomes part of the discussion when it comes to the Browns.

But despite the fact that the Browns’ record since 1999 is the worst 18-year stretch in NFL history — at least since the advent of the 16-game schedule in 1978 — Cleveland fans still dutifully trudge into FirstEnergy Stadium with hope.

Admittedly, they often leave in droves by the middle of the third quarter, but it amazing to compare their attendance to that of the 2016 Indians, who spent most of the season in first place.

Oakland and Tampa Bay were the only teams that drew fewer than the Indians’ average home attendance of 19,650.

That is ridiculous.

The Indians’ amazing playoff run didn’t quite end the way Cleveland would have liked, but the Tribe’s young core of pitchers and position players is locked up for a while. So is manager Terry Francona, who turned nearly everything he touched into gold in 2016.

When was the last time you felt that good about the head coach of the Browns or the team’s direction?

And yet, even when the Indians were in the process of winning the AL Central, the Browns were still often the top subject on Cleveland’s sports-talk radio stations.

Because for some reason, Cleveland fans have been more willing to accept — perhaps even embrace — the product the Browns have put on the field since 1999 than an Indians team that has enjoyed four consecutive winning seasons.

For years, the knock on the Indians was that the Dolan family was cheap and wouldn’t spend the money to win.

But the Tribe’s World Series run — coming on the heels of the Cavaliers’ championship — might be just what Cleveland fans needed to realize what they don’t have in the Browns.

Cleveland’s other two major sports franchises have served notice to Browns owner Jimmy Haslam — who almost makes Randy Lerner look like Eddie DeBartolo Jr. — that expectations in Cleveland have changed.

You’re on the clock, Browns. Cleveland fans finally got a taste for winning in 2016 and your product will no longer satisfy them.

Write Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.