Cleveland Browns fans mark 0-16 season with mock parade

LOS ANGELES, USA – More than 2,000 Cleveland Browns fans held a parade around their team’s stadium on Saturday to vent their frustration at the team’s 0-16 NFL season, their 15th campaign in a row without making the playoffs.

Dubbed the Perfect Season Parade 2.0 – after the Browns joined the 2008 Detroit Lions as the only teams to finish an NFL season 0-16 – the parade was considered a protest by fed-up fans.

“It was that kind of macabre-type humor that I think the Browns fans have,” organizer Chris McNeil told ESPN. “I think we have every right to have after this organization has given us nothing now for how many years.”

The parade included a pickup truck sponsored by a funeral home with a casket on the back and several Browns-painted buses with signs criticizing team management and owner Jimmy Haslam.

Many watching or participating wore bags over their heads.

The parade also included Browns’ quarterback graveyard, with faux headstones for every starting quarterback the team has had since 1999.

McNeil said at least four vans were full of food to donate to the Cleveland Food Bank and nearly $14,696 was raised for the charity.

“We care. Everyone thinks that the people down here are not true fans, it’s actually the opposite,” parade participant Tony Timoteo told ESPN. “Everyone says that if you want to protest, stop going to the games, cancel your season tickets. 

“No, we want the team to win. We had to find another media outlet and Chris McNeil, who is a genius organizer – he came up with another media outlet to show our frustration.

“We’re not going to cancel season tickets and we’re going to go to the games because we want them to win.”

Some Cleveland players found the parade offensive, with defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah called the parade “a joke” on Twitter. 

Teammate Danny Shelton also wrote on Twitter that the event “isn’t encouraging a change, it’s more so encouraging players to avoid the opportunity to play here”. – Rappler.com