The last word sports

CLEVELAND, Ohio — As last words go, at least for Sam Rutigliano’s career as an NFL coach, his were unmatched for specificity.

The late Browns’ sportscaster Nev Chandler asked him after the news conference following his firing if he would do anything different. Three and a half seasons after Red Right 88,  Rutigliano said, «Kick field goals.»

Browns banner down

Before the 1980s were over, the end of the championship-contending Browns as fans knew them had arrived, not with last words but with an ominous event.

At the news conference Art Modell held at the same time, but at a different place, than his dismissed coach Marty Schottenheimer, the Browns banner hastily thumbtacked to the wall behind Modell fell in a fluttery heap as he began to speak.

The Browns have not since risen to the challenge as consistently as they did with Scheottenheimer.

Last words that lasted, or not

Andrew Miller was the last word in relieving during the Indians’ run to the 2016 World Series, at least until injuries in his next two seasons meant he was not.

Defining championship contention as reaching the NBA Finals, the first and last word for the Cavaliers was «LeBron.»

We see this in the college ranks at Ohio State, where the loss of Joey Bosa and then his brother Nick were the first and last words for mounting a disruptive pass rush.

The Browns, speaking the first words in the first round of the NFL draft for the third time since they returned in 1999, said, «Baker Mayfield,» hoping he will work out better than did Tim Couch and Courtney Brown. If Mayfield is not the last word in quarterbacking, at least he seems apt to stop the dismal parade of failures.

The French had words for it

Then there were the last words of French novelist Francois Rabelais, who, as he lay dying, said of the possibility of an afterlife, «I now go to seek the Great Perhaps.»

Sports words do not convey the end with the exactness of French grammarian Dominique Bouhours, who said, as friends and family surrounded him, «I am about to — or I am going to — die. Either expression is used.»

Present Bucks, future Browns

An eerie flashback to the Browns’ fate even in good times occurred in the Ohio State-Michigan State game Saturday, A shotgun snap deflected off receiver Bennie Fowler, who was  in motion, as Spartans quarterback Rocky Lombardi reached for it. Ohio State recovered the ball in the end zone for a game-breaking  touchdown.

The nearest the Browns have gotten to the Super Bowl turned on a similar play 32 years ago.

On «The Drive,» facing third-and-18 late in the game and trailing 20-13, John Elway called for  the snap in the shotgun. Wide receiver Steve Watson swept into the path of the ball as the man in motion, and it deflected off him.  Elway made a shoestring catch and came up firing, connecting for a 20-yard gain. The Browns fell in overtime.

Ohio State still lives and contemplates the «Great Perhaps» of a Big Ten division and conference championship, then a College Football Playoff berth.

As for the Browns, by mid season they usually are about to — or are going to — die. Either expression is refused. Sunday’s thrashing of Atlanta was Mayfield’s coming-out party.

Are the ghosts being exorcised? The great possibility of «perhaps» beckons.