CLEVELAND: No one needed the Cavaliers to end Cleveland’s 52-year championship curse more than former Browns running back Earnest Byner.
While the Browns of the 1980s hold a special place in fans’ hearts, Byner was the perfect foil for their wrath. The team failed to get to the Super Bowl after playing in three AFC Championship games, even as Byner was traded to the Redskins before the last one in 1989.
It’s hard to blame an entire defense and coach Marty Schottenheimer’s prevent strategy for “The Drive.”
“The Fumble” by Byner in the 1987 AFC Championship Game would have only tied the game, and his 167 combined yards and two touchdowns helped rally the Browns from a 21-3 halftime deficit. But it was easy to point to Byner after his crucial turnover with 1:12 remaining.
It brought catcalls, barbs, people staring then looking away. He told ESPN.com in February 2015 that the weight became heavier by the day and didn’t lessen until he got to Washington.
But the weight has never really left.
If it had, he wouldn’t have written a book titled Everybody Fumbles. The pain in his eyes wouldn’t have been visible during his interview for ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary Believeland.
He said he attended the Cavaliers’ NBA championship parade Wednesday to participate in the filming of a new ending for the documentary. He intended to watch just “for a little bit.”
Asked if there was any doubt he was coming, he said, “No, no doubt at all. It’s almost like we had to be here. It’s a championship for all the sports; a championship for us.”
Thanks to Cavs coach Tyronn Lue’s appreciation for the city’s sports anguish, the weight in Byner’s heart might soon be lifted.
Now assisting Browns running backs through training camp, Byner and his wife, Tina, hung around the VIP area before the parade. He did a few media interviews, including one with SportsCenter, then stood outside Quicken Loans Arena as the players walked to their respective convertibles and trucks.
When Lue spotted Byner, wearing his Browns’ No. 44 jersey, he stopped and shook hands and talked for a minute.
Byner returned to his spot alongside the wall of the Q. When LeBron James went by, he didn’t look up.
Byner waited on the sidewalk as the vehicles began to leave. Then the assistant coaches, riding in a truck with Lue, waved him over. At Lue’s urging, Byner climbed in. Seconds later Tina was summoned to join them.
“I’ve been at peace, to tell you the truth,” he said before he left. “Once Believeland came out, I think the healing process will definitely continue.
“In reality, I feel like this is an extension of all the stuff that kind of had to get washed away before the championships started to come. I think it’s going to serve the Indians and also the Browns.”
Byner tried not to talk about it, but his own burden had to be on his mind.
When it was suggested that players like him needed the Cavs’ Game 7 title triumph over the defending champion Golden State Warriors, he said, “It’s all part of the story. It’s still part of the story. But obviously with them winning a championship, the story is a little bit different.
“Our history is still that history. There’s still a history of good football, basketball and baseball being played. Even though the heartbreak was there, there still was some good schnicketty that had to happen for us to be in those positions.”
While some may have wondered what Byner was doing on that flatbed truck as it inched by, it was for me the day’s most touching moment until Browns hall of famer Jim Brown presented James the Larry O’Brien trophy to end the rally on Mall B.
Before Lue and the coaches tried to help exorcize Byner’s demons, I told him he’d been in my thoughts for days.
“Well, you thought about me enough to bring us together,” he said.
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at www.ohio.com/marla. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.