The Browns Blues: Two Decades of Utter Frustration: Why Everything Kept Going Wrong for the Cleveland Browns by Terry Pluto

The Browns Blues: Two Decades of Utter Frustration: Why Everything Kept Going Wrong for the Cleveland Browns Reviews

• 
  Dave

  Pluto’s a great sportswriter, but this book is a quickie assembled for the beginning of the 2018 season. He has some excellent chapters on great Browns players (and some failed opportunities), but most chapters are mired in front office discussions and bogged down by repetition. Hope he rewrites it all later, when the Browns win the Super Bowl.
• 
  Carter Bozich

  "The Browns Blues" is a nonfiction novel that explains the troubles of the 21st century Cleveland Browns football team. Terry Pluto is both the author and narrator of the book. The setting took place in Cleveland, Ohio and starred many coaches and NFL players. Although there wasn’t a true main character, the person that came up the most was the former Browns owner, Randy Lerner. He was the main spokesperson and decision maker of the Browns from 2002 until 2012. The author explained what goes into developing a successful football team and the first step is to establish a great front office, and coaching staff. Randy Lerner hired five head coaches in just 10 years which didn’t create a consistent coaching staff at all. Due to the constant change of personnel, the players had to learn new schemes almost every year which negatively affected their play. Not only were the coaches bad, but the Browns draft picks were some of the worst in the entire National Football League. It all started when in 1999 the Browns drafted Tim Couch with the number one pick in the draft. He ended up playing only five seasons, and had more career interceptions than touchdowns. After this pick it seemed that every draft by the Browns resulted in major mistakes that the franchise would later regret. This included drafting wide receiver Corey Coleman who later got into a fight with former head coach Hugh Jackson, thus getting cut from the team. I could sympathize with young players such as Johnny Manziel and Josh Gordon who had talent but had three different head coaches in just two seasons. Terry Pluto created an engaging and interesting book that was both humorous, and entertaining that made it hard to put down. I loved when Browns fans had their own section in the novel to show their frustration with the team. It sounded very similar to my Dad because of his love for Cleveland sports. "The Browns Blues" is a fantastic novel that I would recommend to anybody especially one that enjoys sports, and football.
• 
  Adam Nowicki

  The Browns Blues picks up right where False Start leaves off, more or less. The continued misery of a Cleveland Browns fan is detailed through the people that caused the misery, even though they had good intentions all along the way.
  
  There is plenty of blame to go around since 1999, and it would have been easy for Terry Pluto to choose a couple of figures to take all the hate and call it a day, but every president, owner, GM, and coach is written about in a professional way, emphasizing their better qualities, and acknowledging but not harping on their weaknesses. The chapters on Cribbs, Thomas, and Dawson are standout, as they are players that define what playing like a Brown really mean.
  
  Pluto is also fair when talking about the many, many, many busts the Browns have had with players. Again, he doesn’t trash them in any way. He just talks about the circumstances that brought them to the Browns, their performance on and off the field, and how they left the organization.
  
  I acknowledged in my other Pluto review that I’m relatively new to being a serious football fan, and that my biggest problem with the last book was that there was just endless name after name of players that I had no clue about. They were just names on a page (pretty much how they were all just guys on a team, and not teammates). Perhaps is the recency of some of the names, or stuff I’ve heard in passing on the radio or from friends, but a lot of the names were familiar, had some weight behind them, and when I didn’t know about them there was a solid summary of each person to help me understand.
  
  This is a great quick read, and I highly recommend it. At this point in time, in 2020, it is the necessary continuation to False Start. This is 5/5. This couple with False Start is 5/5. And in retrospect probably would increase my score of False Start to 4/5 (but I’m not going to actually change the score).
  
• 
  Lance Lumley

  This book, written by Cleveland Plain Dealer's sports columnist, follows the journey of the Browns since returning in 1999 and all of the mistakes the team has made through bad choices in draft picks, injuries, and coaching changes. This book could have been a frustrating read with all the line up changes, but Pluto makes it entertaining, along with adding fans take on the team. Even if you are not a Browns fan, this is a good read for sports lovers.
  For an in depth review go to:
  https://lancewrites.wordpress.com/201...
• 
  Linda

  Terry Pluto has been the voice of the fans and therefore the voice of reason in Northeast Ohio for years. This book recounts the history of the resurrected Browns from the fan point of view, history and his recollections. Some of the history is actually laughable until you think about living through it again and again as a Browns' fan.
  
  Dare we hope it's finally turning around?
• 
  Brian Quast

  A great read for Browns fans; albeit a depressing reminder of this vicious circle the team has been caught up in since their return to the league in '99. Sad part is they continued the same, ugly trend this off-season that has kept them in NFL Hell for the better part of the past 20 years. Quit breaking our hearts & toying with our emotions!!! P.S. - #GoBrowns
• 
  Donald Ozello

  Great book. My favorite chapter was about Josh Cribbs.
• 
  Tom Pachuta

  No new revelations in this book, but a good read for any Browns fan.