Mondays.  I'm willing to bet that the majority of us depise them.  You're done with your weekend, and you're starting another week of work. Ugh.  Well, you don't have it so bad my friend.  As I wrote in my previous post, the time to watch/listen my beloved Cleveland Browns is usually 2 a.m.  Normally, I blow off the first half or so and wake myself up at a torturous 4 a.m.  Of course, the wife says I'm an #### for doing so, but hey, I'm a Browns fan babe; we do crazy things (not crazy enough for the quite lucky Chad Johnson, if I were in the 'Pound...). 

The last two weeks, my mornings started early. Each time, the game has just entered the 3rd quarter.  Usually I get a feel for how the game has gone from the message boards on theOBR.com.  I fire up my sopcast or streaming radio feed if available, and commence my unique Monday/Sunday football experience. 

The first week of the season; hopes were high.  I made sure I let the yinzer I work with over here in Japan know what I thought of his Steelers all week.  I sent him pictures of mullets and yinzer jokes, mostly taken from some Browns' related anti-yinzer websites.  I was expecting this to be an evenly matched game, based on what I had seen in the preseason (mistake), and also based on the amount of talent I thought we had in Cleveland.  I guess you can say I was sporting the brown and orange shades.  Needless to say, when I tuned in early in the 3rd quarter, the game was already over.  The Browns had laid a major egg.  The Watercooler was "en fuego" in a bad way.  Flamespraying anyone and everyone - coaches, players, fans, pets, and even spouses was rampant.  It was a mess.  My Monday was a mess.  It's amazing how much impact a Browns' loss, especially one that bad,  has on my Moday and even my workweek.  I was in a crappy mood, had some really horrible workouts, and was gloomy all week.  Seeing the trade of Charlie Frye and all of the negative news surrounding the Browns made it even worse.  I was tempted not to even watch the next game vs. the Bungles.

Dateline: Sep. 17, 2007. 0400 Hours, Yokosuka, Japan local time.  I decided to tempt fate and wake up early again to watch/listen to the Browns.  I was expecting them to be losing, most likely by a wide margin.  I mean, after last week, why not?  For all I knew, Derek Anderson was gonna throw 3 picks, the defense was going to get smoked, and we would manage to kick a field goal or two.  So, I fire up the ol' laptop, I open theOBR.com, I go to the Watercooler, and I check out the game thread.  It already has 30+ pages. What the heck? Somethings gotta be up.  Maybe Brady Quinn is in the game.  Maybe one of our stars got injured.  Something must have happened for there to be that much traffic in the third quarter.  So I go into the Fox Sports NFL scoreboard, and what do I see? 27-21 Cleveland? What?  We actually scored points?  Okay, I am excited now.  I close the door to make sure any emotion doesn't wake up the Missus.  I turn up the volume on the laptop and #### up the sopcast feed.  Kinda choppy but the game is on.  AFN decides to tease me with about 20 minutes of the game, enough time to see Jamal Lewis run 66 yards like he was playing for Baltimore and he was running against Cleveland a few years ago, except he was wearing a Browns uniform.  After Braylon Edwards made an amazing diving catch, and they were up 48-38, AFN decided to go to their next-scheduled game, which was the Ravens vs. the Jets, a game I could care less about.  Okay, no worries, back to the sopcast.  Oh great. A drive down into the red zone and we get a field goal. 51-38.  Another drive revolves around Mr. Palmer's strong arm.  Only up by 6.  They get the ball back.  They punt (for only the 2nd time in the game, thank you very much).  Prevent defense.  Ah, ####.  Flashbacks to Elway are coming back to me...and they are approaching midfield...and here we go again...and....picked off by Bodden!!  A game where he gets burned by Chad Johnson for over 200 yards, and he saves the game with an all-pro wide receiver-like catch tapping his left foot before he slides out of bounds.  The Browns win!  The Browns win!  Upset city!  Screw you Vegas!  Screw all of you so called "experts"!  My day, my week, and my life is spun into a positive note.  The national media actually commending the Browns.  The optimistic, upbeat, and positive posts are abound in the 'Cooler, with the only negative ones revolving around the "turncoat" activity of a few Dawg Pound "regulars" who were caught hugging and loving Chad Johnson while the "truer" Dawgs spilled beer and other amber #### liquids on ol' Ocho Stinko.  That took nads, and I doubt he does it again. 

Two different Mondays (Sundays for you all back in the US).  Two different outcomes.  So is the life of a Browns fan, a Browns fan living in Japan.  Bark hard Dawgs.  We go to Oakland next.  See you next time.