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Browns Parade A 'Perfect Season'

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

A parade in Cleveland today for the Cleveland Browns to celebrate what they call their perfect season, 0-16 - 16 losses and 0 wins. The Browns had an almost perfect season last year but managed to win one game toward the end. It did not begin a tradition. A fan named Chris McNeil has organized the parade to march around the team's oval-shaped stadium, which observers note is the shape of a zero. He told The Guardian, we are not having a celebration of losing. We are having a protest of losing. We want to let the Browns ownership and front office know we're holding them accountable for having such a bad team. And maybe we'll have some fun while doing it.

Marching outdoors in 10-degree weather doesn't sound like much fun. Fans will drive hearses and ambulances in the parade and display tombstones etched with the names of the 28 quarterbacks who've started for the Browns since 1999. Since then, the team has won just 88 games and lost 216. Money will be raised for a local food bank, so there is a win for all. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy.