Downright dejected.
It's the best way to describe the Cleveland Browns' fanbase after decades of futility, ranging from never getting within sniffing distance of the Super Bowl to years of having a quarterback carousel, which, just last week, included the release of Johnny Manziel, a 2014 NFL Draft first-round pick who has battled personal demons, including reported substance abuse issues.
All of that compounded with another losing season — 3-13 in 2015 — seemingly adds up to many more days of the Dawg Pound faithful donning brown paper bags to hide their identities as fans of the team.
Adding insult to injury is Siri.
WEWS-TV in Cleveland, as spotted by ESPN, is reporting that, if you ask Apple's personal voice assistant — while in the city — "Where is sadness?" she'll generate a photo of the Browns' FirstEnergy Stadium, along with the address of 100 Alfred Lerner Way and the ability to click on Yelp reviews.
This more than shows that Apple has a sense of humor, although it's coming at the expense of Browns fans. Maybe some of the minds at the company behind Siri are Cincinnati Bengals fans or Pittsburgh Steelers fans. We posed the same question of "Where is sadness?" in New York City, thinking Siri would direct us to Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks are turning in another sputtering season, but weren't directed to the Garden after all.
On second thought, the New York Rangers call the Garden home, too, and they are still very competitive in the NHL. The one glimmer of hope for Browns fans is they hired a new coach, Hue Jackson, this past January. Either the franchise's 16th head coach — and eighth since 1999 — will find some success leading the team or wind up where the others before him did — fired, with fans in Cleveland feeling even more hopeless afterward.
"That's those coaches," Jackson told ESPN about being the sixth coach hired by the team in the past eight years. "At the end of the day, I do understand that this is a performance business. I know that this is about wins and losses. That's how I get judged, and I respect that. I know what I signed up for."
Regardless of how the Browns' 2016 season pans out, we're sure Siri will be well equipped with a response.
