Melody column quoted in NY Times

The longest civic losing streak in the nation is now in jeopardy.

That was the lead in a Sunday story by David Leonhardt in the New York Times which quotes a column written by the BJ’s Tom Melody in 1964. Here’s the lead:

The city of Cleveland last celebrated a major sports title on Dec. 27, 1964, when the Browns upset the Baltimore Colts in the N.F.L. championship game. In the more than four decades since, the Indians once took a lead into the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 of the World Series, while the Browns endured three of the more painful playoff losses in National Football League history.

But no major Cleveland pro team has won another championship. Those teams have played 123 combined seasons since the Browns' 1964 title, making Cleveland the hardest-luck sports town in the country. Philadelphia, with 96 straight titleless seasons, ranks a distant second.

“If Cleveland's streak is going to end this month, it will have to involve an upset as big as the Browns' victory over the Colts,” the story continues.

The Colts were favored to win the 1964 championship game by a touchdown, even though the game was being played on a freezing, windy day in Cleveland. (At the time, championship games alternated between the home city of the Eastern Division winner ù Cleveland that year ù and the Western Division winner.)

Behind Johnny Unitas, Baltimore had been the league's dominant team that season. The Colts had finished the regular season at 12-2, scoring more points than any other team in the league and allowing the fewest. Before the game, Tom Melody, who covered the Browns for The Akron Beacon Journal, wrote, "It is unreasonable to imagine the Browns emerging triumphant."

But with an aggressive defensive strategy, heavy on blitzes and bump-and-run coverage, the Browns won, 27-0. Cleveland's quarterback, Frank Ryan, who was studying for a doctorate in math from Rice University during his playing days, threw three touchdown passes, all to Gary Collins. The 40-year-old Lou Groza, who was known as the Toe, kicked two field goals, and Jim Brown ran for 114 yards.

The day after the game, an article in The Plain Dealer in Cleveland suggested that the Browns might be a dynasty in the making. Instead, the team lost three title games over the next five years, starting a run of biblical-like misery for Cleveland fans.

Click on the headline to read the full story.