Browns Plainly Podcast

It's an emergency podcast episode shortly after the announcement from LeBron James on Sunday night that he's signing with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Doug Lesmerises thought the Cavs should not tank next year with LeBron gone and should do their best to keep winning. But a vast majority of Cavs fans disagreed and are ready for a total rebuild. Doug talks through that thinking and tries to decide if he was wrong.

Also, an appreciation for James' 1,0001 games as a Cavalier and the hope that fans won't let their disappointment and anger in the moment turn into hatred toward the greatest player the Cavs will ever see.

Cleveland Browns players talk about why they chose their jersey numbers.

Lou Groza's grandson Justin Groza recounts the story of his grandfather getting a letter from Paul Brown with his Cleveland Browns contract inside.

Jarvis Landry held his first football camp in Cleveland in which he taught kids how to run routes, worked with them on footwork and enforced the spirit of healthy competition among the kids.

Former Browns defensive lineman Bob Golic looks back at how he felt about the 1986 Cleveland Browns season, from a fan perspective.

How does a 10-6 Browns season sound to you?

Exciting?

How does hoping for a 10-6 year and getting 6-10 sound?

In this episode of Takes By The Lake, we take on the idea of irrational exuberance around the Browns by welcoming three NFL analysts: Samantha Bunten of NBCSports.com, Charles McDonald of SB Nation and Michael Salfino, who writes for the Wall Street Journal and fivethirtyeight.com.

But first, host Doug Lesmerises of cleveland.com is joined by a fan who makes a reasonable case for 10-6. That's DawgPound Dave, who wouldn't give us his full name, but who did provide enough NFL history and roster analysis of this Browns team to make 10-6 sound almost possible.

Why burst the balloon on the Browns in June? We're less than a month from the start of training camp, and the last thing Browns fans need to do off an excruciating 0-16 season is to set themselves up to be disappointed with a six-win improvement.

On this podcast, we looked closely at Gregg Williams leading a young, talented defense, and examined why Tyrod Taylor maybe isn't the quarterback answer the way some people are talking him up to be.

It's a big meaty Browns investigation, all with the idea of giving you a realistic look at where Cleveland's football team stands.

Let's hold the playoff talk for a year.

But 2019? That should be a different story.

The Browns are less than a month away from the opening of training camp. Mary Kay Cabot and Dan Labbe continue their airport series of podcasts as Mary Kay is off to another far-off(ish) destination.

We asked and answered four different Browns questions in today's episode, including:

Who is the most important offseason acquisition? (2:25)

Who is the most important draft pick for the 2018 season? (9:25)

Which second-year player will make the biggest leap in 2018? (14:55)

Who is the player Browns fans will fall in love with during training camp? (20:55)

The Browns First and Ten Blood Drive is coming up this summer on Saturday, July 28.

After recently having a newborn son, third year defensive back Briean Boddy-Calhoun takes you through a day of his off-season while juggling training, spending time with his son, managing a record label and giving back to the community.

The Cleveland Browns get talked about in political circles in Washington. The Indians get talked about. The Cavs get talked about.

Hugh Hewitt makes sure of that.

The political commentator on NBC and MSNBC and long-time radio host is a big hitter in national politics and served as a co-moderator for several presidential debates. At his core, Hewitt is a 62-year-old kid from Warren who wants to talk sports with his friends.

That's what Hewitt said happens in the green room before political talk shows - sports talk. So we asked him to bring that talk to the latest episode of Takes By The Lake with Doug Lesmerises.

Part of what we want to do in our all-sports podcast is interview well-known guests who are diehard Cleveland fans. Hewitt is the latest guest on that list. He's lived in Washington and California since growing up in Ohio, but he's still a Browns season ticket holder.

We talked some about the intersection of sports and politics, and whether we could see a current sports figure run for president. We examined the idea of LeBron James playing in Washington, D.C. But primarily, we got Hewitt's thoughts on the Indians, Browns and Cavs, a lifetime of rooting for them and what it's like for him now, when Cleveland sports gives him something to brag about.