Fans cope after Cleveland Browns make another major personnel change

WILLOUGHBY,Ohio - Wearing his brother's Baldwin-Wallace knit cap, Bob Piotrkowski crunches his way along an icy, still holiday-festive Erie Street sidewalk in downtown Willoughby on Wednesday.

His mood is somber and a look of despair arises on his face when asked about the recent change to the Cleveland Browns coaching staff by new owner Jimmy Haslam.

"It’s a weird feeling, you know. It seems like when I was growing up, still being like a younger guy, all the older guys who have been watching Browns football all their entire life. They're already at the point where they're saying ‘You guys are young and you don't what it's like yet.’ I'm starting to feel like one of those older guys, like I'm starting to accept the fate of a Browns fan, you know," Piotrkowski said.

While most Browns fans have learned early on that optimism is but one winning season away from euphoria, many have trouble coping with change.

Human beings are not programmed to embrace change on a regular basis, especially when that change ends in bad decisions creating turmoil. 

Clinical health psychologist Lori Stevic-Rust has her office just above the same icy sidewalk where Piotrkowski worries about his mental endurance for another Browns season of change and rebuilding. Stevic-Rust has seen plenty of anxiety from Cleveland fans over the years.

Her own longtime-Browns-fan patience wearing thin, waiting for a winning season. From LeBron James’ move to Miami to Haslam's latest upheaval, she offered some perspective on how the Browns are simply supposed to be entertainment, not something within our own control to fix.

"When we talk about change, change always creates anxiety," Stevic-Rust said.

"When it comes to something that really should just be entertainment, you know sports should be entertainment, that's what we have to keep a balance in our life. People who sometimes take it to the extreme in sports, and it becomes their whole life. It should really be something that augments our life that we keep ourselves in balance. If we do that, I think we can manage our anxiety a little better."

One thing is for certain, a winning season, let alone playoff run, would be on huge step toward improving the mental health and mood of an emotional-spent fan base.

"I feel like it’s a little bit hopeful. You can't be a Cleveland Browns fan and not be a little bit hopeful,” Piotrkowski said.