Coming soon, from the young sportswriter who wrote the book (which I'm reading now and am very impressed with) on the
Kardiac Kids, it's
Sundays in the Pound: The Heroics And Heartbreak of the 1985-89 Cleveland Browns.
I've been thinking for months it was inevitable that a book on this bittersweet era would be written. I only wish I had been on the ball enough to do it myself. It's that whole 20-years-ago nostalgia cycle, plus some interesting parallels with the current Browns: a 3-4 defense, a hard-charging back wearing 34, and -- until our veteran "mentor" flaked on us -- an absolutely
uncanny quarterback situation.
Here's the
synopsis:
A look at the last championship seasons of the Browns
Before Art Modell moved the team to Baltimore, and before
the frustrating expansion years and countless front office mistakes of the
twenty-first century, there were the Browns of the late 1980s. The years
1985 to 1989 saw the Cleveland Browns explode out of a decade and a half
of inconsistency and mediocrity to win four American Football Conference
Central Division titles and make the playoffs five straight years. Twice
they came within inches of a Super Bowl appearance, led by an unforgettable
cast of characters Cleveland embraced and still cherishes. These teams are
perhaps the most memorable in the history of Cleveland professional sports.
Sundays in the Pound traces quarterback Bernie Kosar’s
winding path from Youngstown to Florida to Cleveland, explains why there
was so much more to running back Earnest Byner than one unforgotten fumble,
and reveals how cornerback Hanford Dixon created a canine phenomenon in the
endzone stands that has persevered to this day. Author Jonathan Knight delves
into “the Drive” and “the Fumble”; examines the fairy-tale
performance of an aging veteran quarterback who directed the Browns through
the snow and into the playoffs in his final game at the old, cavernous Cleveland
Stadium on Lake Erie’s shoreline; and recounts an epic playoffs saga
in which the Browns staged one of the greatest comebacks in the history of
Cleveland sports.
Cleveland Browns fans throughout the country fondly remember
the “Dawg Days,” and they will welcome Sundays in the Pound.
Based on the
table of contents, it looks to be structured similar to Kardiac Kids, which (though I'm now halfway through it) is very well-researched. Should be a very good read, and I bet it will sell quite well. Guess it's time to update the
Browns Bibliography ...