The Cleveland Browns had another disappointing season. It goes without saying that the fans and everyone in the city is fed up with the poor play. One person, Chris McNeil (with the help of many other fans) put together a 0-16 parade that was met with plenty of skepticism. With multiple sponsorships under his belt and donations from fans as well, they were able to raise a lot of money as they “celebrated” the Browns 0-16 season.
The Browns Parade raised $17,157 for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, which equates to 68,628 meals, according to their website. With perishable food donations included, over 70,000 meals will be provided thanks to the Parade.
— Hayden Grove (@H_Grove) January 10, 2018
McNeil, speaking to the Associated Press expressed how special the parade was despite the many detractors.
“This stuff matters in this town,” said McNeil, who is donating nearly $15,000 raised for the event to the Cleveland Food Bank. “That’s why I care about this stuff. I almost get choked up when I think about it, because people don’t realize that. You go to other markets, and people enjoy their teams and I get that. But there’s a connection here where it’s like family. And to see something like the Browns be bad, it’s easy for me to make jokes, it’s either you do that or you cry.
“But then you look at something like this and you say, ‘Man, we had this. In the ’80s, this is when you’d leave a ballgame. I remember that. As a kid I’d be sitting in the backseat people honking, people yelling. You’d see that all the time after wins. To get that, we have to create this parade. It just says so much about the character of this city, the character of the people here.
“This is all positive and fun.”
Last year during the 2016-17 campaign, McNeil did the same thing and when they won in their final game, once again donated all of the money to the food bank. The Browns may still be a joke, but the passion shown by the fans is no laughing matter.
About Sam Blazer
Sam is a self proclaimed chess prodigy. He once placed seventh in the state of Ohio in Chess when he was in kindergarten. He will rarely if ever mention though that only eight people were entered in this tournament. Contact him at sblaze17@gmail.com