Despite temperatures forecast in the single digits Glover Quin Jersey , thousands of disillusioned fans are expected to attend a parade on Saturday to commemorate – and protest – the historically inept 0-16 season.
Nothing like some floats and frostbite.
The ”Perfect Season Parade” organizer Chris McNeil’s tongue-in-cheek tweet more than a year ago spawned a small uprising within Cleveland’s passionate fan base. He’s spent the past few days finalizing preparation for the parade. There will be a bus, RVs, an ambulance and hearse – to symbolically bury the season.
Fans will make a counter-clockwise ”no victory” lap around FirstEnergy Stadium to form a zero to match the team’s win total.
”There’s no turning back now,” said McNeil, who has been condemned and praised leading up to the parade.
A season-ticket holder, McNeil never wanted the parade to happen. The Browns, though, turned an intended joke into reality by becoming the second team in NFL history to lose 16 games in a season. In joining the 2008 Detroit Lions, Cleveland’s team has found a new low in nearly two decades of disgrace since returning as an expansion franchise in 1999.
The Browns were stumbling toward a 1-15 record in 2016 under first-year coach Hue Jackson. McNeil, who like other fans was basking in the aftermath of the Cavaliers winning the NBA title to end the city’s 52-year championship drought, posted a sarcastic message on Twitter about the Browns: ”This team deserves a parade.”
The sentiment created a stir on social media. Soon McNeil, better known as (at)Reflog-18 on Twitter, was obtaining a permit from the city to hold a parade. But it was canceled when the Browns finally won on Christmas Eve after 14 straight losses.
McNeil gave money raised to hold the event to the Cleveland Food Bank A'Shawn Robinson Jersey , a gift that reached nearly $50,000 after Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam doubled the donation.
McNeil never considered the possibility of another parade, but when the Browns lost in Pittsburgh last Sunday, it became official.
He’s organized on the fly, hiring security, taking out insurance and renting portable bathrooms. McNeil set up a GoFundMe account to help cover expenses. Excedrin donated nearly $8,000, saying Browns fans didn’t need another headache after what they’ve endured.
As of Friday morning, the event’s Facebook page says 6,300 people have committed to attend and 20,000 more are interested.
McNeil knows of fans flying from California. Area hotels have informed him that guests intend to attend the parade despite a weather forecast better suited for penguins and polar bears.
In recent weeks, McNeil has sensed the tone change from sarcastic to serious. Browns fans are demanding better.
”Some people are saying they want to turn this thing around,” he said. ”Others say they want to fire Hue Jackson or change ownership. Others just want to go down there and have a cathartic experience.”
The Browns haven’t impeded McNeil and understand this comes with the territory after going 1-31 in two years.
”We greatly appreciate the passion of all our fans and we apologize to them for not making 2017 an enjoyable season Nevin Lawson Jersey ,” the Browns said in a statement. ”We certainly hear them and understand their frustration. Obviously, we want the same thing as our fans; winning results. We are committed to doing everything we can to improve and build them the type of team they most certainly deserve.”
McNeil is criticized by some who feel he’s mocking the Browns and only bringing more embarrassment to Cleveland, whose image was scarred for years by the city’s sports failures.
He argues his goal was to give fans a voice to reach the Haslams.
”People know we have been wronged by this organization and we deserve better and they know while it’s a tongue-in-cheek thing by calling it a parade, it really is a protest,” he said. ”We’re not out here saying we’re happy about 0-16. When I think of embarrassment, I think of a team that has won one game in two years.”
Not that long ago, the Chicago Cubs probably viewed a series against the Cincinnati Reds as a near-guaranteed way to pick up some quick victories and gain some ground in the National League Central standings.
Those days have changed. And so is the Cubs-Reds rivalry.
The Cubs couldn’t hold a multi-run lead for the second straight night, and the Reds won their fifth in a row and eighth in 10 games — quite a run for a team that played .250 ball for the first month-plus of the season — by rallying for a 6-3 victory on Friday night.
Now, the Cubs are expected to ask their bullpen to carry them through the third game of the four-game series Saturday at Great American Ball Park — a series that isn’t going much like most of those Cubs-Reds matchups for the last four seasons.
Going into the series, the Cubs were 43-19 against the Reds since 2015, but the Reds are playing much differently now than they did when they were 8-27 on May 7. They’re 4-0 on their current homestand, even though they still remain well below .500 at 30-45.
“Even when we were losing, they (his veteran players) felt like Taylor Decker Jersey , ‘We’re a good ballclub, we’re going to get our share (of wins),'” Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman said. “(When) we’re on a roll like this, they feel like we’re just going to keep going with it.”
Eugenio Suarez lifted his average to .304 by going 3-for-4 with a go-ahead two-run homer in the fifth inning off Jose Quintana (6-6) and Joey Votto had two hits and an RBI. Quintana gave up four runs and nine hits in five innings.
“We’re playing really good baseball,” Suarez said. “We’ve got to keep doing what we’re doing — and keep winning. If we play like this, something good is going to happen.”
The Cubs scored three times against Reds starter Luis Castillo (5-8) in 5 2/3 innings — Kyle Schwarber hit a two-run homer in the fourth — but former Cleveland Indians pitcher Kyle Crockett pitched out of a two-on jam in the sixth in his Reds debut.
The Cubs managed only four hits in the game, David Hernandez pitched two scoreless innings and Raisel Iglesias finished in the ninth for his 12th save.
The Cincinnati bullpen has pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings in the series so far.
“That was one of the cleaner games we’re played — offensively, defensively, we ran the bases well … and got timely hits,” Riggleman said. “When you do that, you’re probably going to win.”
Now, the Reds have the improving Anthony DeSclafani (2-1) pitching Saturday. The right-hander missed the first two months of the season with an oblique injury after sitting out all of last season with an elbow injury, but he has won his last two starts while lowering his ERA from 7.60 to 4.20.
He’s 2-2 in seven career starts against the Cubs Golden Tate III Jersey , and he handles Chicago cleanup hitter Anthony Rizzo (2-for-20, .100) especially well.
It’s expected to be a bullpen game for the Cubs, with former Reds pitcher Luke Farrell (2-2) making his first start of the season and only the second of his major league career. The longest he has pitched this season was five shutout relief innings during the Cubs’ 7-1, 14-inning victory over the New York Mets on June 2.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon stayed with his recent experiment of using slugger Kris Bryant as a leadoff hitter — he was 9-for-24 (.375) with three RBIs in that spot going into the game — but he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
“He gets on base a lot, he’s possibly one of the best baserunners on the team,” Maddon told reporters. “It’s one of those things — preconceived notions — that you get hung up on. But I like what he’s doing. When the bottom of the order has been productive, there’s a potential for a lot of baserunners in the one-hole.”
Only there wasn’t any such potential Friday as the Cubs’ No. 7-8-9 batters were a combined 0-for-9. It also didn’t help that Rizzo went 0-for-4 and stranded three runners.
And, now, suddenly the Cubs-Reds rivalry isn’t what it used to be.
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