The DWFs don't understand (or care) that there's a Caste System in U.S. sports, but a significant segment of them root for White RBs and WRs when they see them.
Browns' Peyton Hillis has captured the hearts of Clevelanders
By Rob Oller/The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
Barely four months removed from "The Decision" and Cleveland has another sellout, this one an NFL jersey with the number 40 stitched across the front and back.
Calls to multiple Cleveland-area sporting-goods stores, as well as one in Columbus, came up empty, which is to say every store had sold out of Peyton Hillis jerseys less than a week after the burly third-year running back led the Browns to a stunning 34-14 win Sunday over the New England
Patriots [
team stats].
Leave it to a knight in shining orange and brown armor to make Cleveland sports fans forget about a King.
LeBron who? Believeland is crazy for Hillis, the coolest thing in Cleveland since Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert e-mailed his stinging anti-James attack ad to Cavs fans the night LeBron broke ranks.
One Cleveland store sold all 24 of its $80 jerseys within two days of Hillis rushing for 184 yards on 29 carries against the Patriots. To date, he has 644 yards and seven touchdowns, with a 4.8-yard average per attempt.
One store in the Cleveland suburb of Westlake had two Hillis jerseys still in stock.
"But they'll be gone before you can get here," the salesperson said.
One could correctly reason that Hillis' popularity is a case of being able to produce in the right place (emotionally hurting Cleveland) at the right time (when the sports teams are borderline abysmal). But there is more to it than luck. Hillis epitomizes what this proud industrial city holds dear and defines the way it thinks; that is, he is a throwback playing in a town that cherishes its past.
Because the Browns have no championships to celebrate over the past four decades, their fans cling to the memory of Lou Groza, Paul Warfield and Frank Ryan. Where other cities have replaced their dusty heroes with a modern variety, Cleveland's long-ago legends remain framed on the rec room wall.
But early indications are that Hillis is a back to the future.
"Peyton Hillis is the best hard runner the Browns have had since Jim Brown or Leroy Kelly," said Glenn Geiger, president of the Buckeye Browns Backers fan club in Dublin.
Jim Brown represents the Babe Ruth of Cleveland sports (Browns founder Paul Brown merits George Washington status). He is the pearl of great price that no one -- not even Steelers fans and their six rings -- can steal. So anyone who reminds Clevelanders of Jim Brown is going to be worshipped, and hundreds of fans are building their altars to the 6-foot-1, 240-pound Arkansas cannonball by buying his jersey.
"I've been on eBay trying to find one, and sometimes they're at a halfway decent price," Geiger said. "But the sizes are kind of whacked. Most are super small or something like that."
I asked if "something like that" included XXXL.
"Super big would fit more Browns fans than super small," he said. "Look in the stands in Cleveland. They're kind of large."
Large and back in charge. The Browns are relevant again.
Before getting carried away, it must be noted that Cleveland is 3-5 and realistically -- not that Browns fans are realists -- are looking at a record no better than 8-8. But this season's record, while important, is not the essence of the anticipation. That enthusiasm rests with Hillis, rookie quarterback Colt McCoy and a young and improving defense. The sense is that Cleveland finally has a football future. The Browns can build on this bunch, which takes its identity from Hillis.
"He runs the ball, and he gets you fired up doing it," Browns center Alex Mack said.
Hillis has the look of a Larry Csonka but with better vision and more emotion. He is John Riggins with better feet. Some call him Cleveland's great white hope, but it is errant to bring race into the equation because Hillis is as much Brown as he is white.
Even his jersey is available in those two colors. Or was.
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/football/other_nfl/view.bg?articleid=1295825&srvc=sports&position=recent
