I've never been to Cleveland. Never once stepped foot onto Cleveland soil. But a part of me feels for the people there. I know some friends from Cleveland and some show pride in their hometown while others are happy to be out of there. Sure, Cleveland has endured a lot of jokes. The Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism videos are a YouTube favorite and Drew Carey, one of the most recognizable comedians on the planet and a Cleveland native, has made fun of his hometown, but he has also praised them. Cleveland has enjoyed success in the sports world in recent years. The Cavaliers won the NBA championship in 2016, overcoming a 3-1 deficit against the Golden State Warriors. The Indians came one game away from winning the World Series in 2016 (despite blowing a 3-1 lead and ending the longest drought without a world championship in sports history) but I'm just praising them. The Indians look like a World Series contender right now. So everything is right in the Land.

The Cleveland Browns, however, are cursed. On Sunday, if the Browns lose, they will join the 2008 Detroit Lions as the only teams in NFL history to go 0-16. They are 1-30 in the last two seasons.

I watched a video called "Only In Cleveland: The Browns Since Their Return To The NFL" on YouTube (second time I mentioned YouTube) and saw this over 20 minute video several times and I thought "Wow, this team is cursed!' They bring in hot college prospects in the draft, only to see them fail in Cleveland. They bring in hot coaching prospects into Cleveland, only to see their careers die. They bring in hotshot executives, only to see them frustrated towards the end of their tenures. Injuries aplenty also has cursed this team. In fact, LaCharles Bentley and Joe Jurevicius signed with the Browns in 2006, fulfilling a dream to play for their hometown team only to have their careers end to injury. What's worse is that they suffered staph infections that nearly killed them, to the point that they had to sue the Browns. How does that happen? From fans throwing bottles of beer at officials over a catch that wasn't to Kellen Winslow pretending he was Vin Diesel (he kind of looks like him) in the movie XXX by doing wheelies in a parking lot and crashing his motorcycle thus tearing his ACL to fans cheering when Tim Couch was lying on the ground hurt to Dwayne Ruud taking off his helmet prematurely while the play was still going on to you get the idea. In 18 years, the Browns have had only two winning seasons and one playoff berth to its credit and it's future doesn't look any brighter.

Let's really focus on the last two seasons in which the Browns compiled a 1-30 record.

After showing GM Ray Farmer and head coach Mike Pettine the door, owner Jimmy Haslam and company had an idea that would change the culture with a system that was the fad around some sports venues: Analytics. They hired Sashi Brown as VP of Football Operations and head coach Hue Jackson to lead the course. That was their first red flag there. Brown is a lawyer that is a crunch-the-numbers type of guy, while Jackson is a veteran of the old school style of football. They also brought in Paul DePodesta as chief strategy officer who made his mark in baseball as Billy Beane's right hand man with the Oakland Athletics. That's right. The Browns hired a baseball guy to be a part of football operations. Second red flag. The quarterback situation, as years past, hasn't been solved with the team flip-flopping on either DeShone Kizer, Cody Kessler and Kevin Hogan. They surprisingly released Joe Haden before the season, leaving a huge hole in the secondary and the botched A.J. McCarron trade left the Browns looking like a laughingstock. The organization finally 86ed Brown earlier this month and replaced him with John Dorsey, who then trolled Brown about how he didn't get the right players from the Browns. It's the usual state that this team has been in since their inception in 1999. CURSED!

But through all this, the Browns have some bright spots on the roster. Kizer seems like he has the poise to be a good quarterback, but since the Browns have the number one pick and could choose Sam Darnold or Josh Rosen, Kizer may be on his way out. Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson Jr. could be an excellent one-two punch in the running game. Corey Coleman would be a good talent at receiver, if he can stay healthy and David Njoku has shown flashes. Joe Thomas is a future HOFer who recently had his over 10,000 consecutive snap streak broken. Defensively, Myles Garrett looks like a total stud at DE. Jamie Collins is the leader of the linebacking corps and Jabrill Peppers is a genuine freak with great speed and a high football IQ. The Browns have future building blocks that can help them compete at a high level for years to come. Or like always, things will be the same.

Yep, the Cleveland Browns are indeed cursed.