SI

Browns’ Weird New Helmet Reveal Led to Lots of Jokes from NFL Fans

Patrick Andres

Dec 3, 2023; Inglewood, California, USA; Riddell speedflex Cleveland Browns helmets on the sidelines.
Dec 3, 2023; Inglewood, California, USA; Riddell speedflex Cleveland Browns helmets on the sidelines. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
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If the Cleveland Browns are known for anything aside from their losing ways over the past few decades, it is their ironclad commitment to minimalism.

For virtually the franchise's entire existence, the Browns have not had a true logo. Instead, their helmet of the moment has served as their logo—and their helmet has rarely deviated too far from a white stripe on an orange field.

It's the kind of what-you-see-is-what-you-get approach that makes any appreciable change look radical. That's why Cleveland switching its facemask color back to white—a color widely associated with the team's success in the 1980s—was greeted with such fanfare in Ohio.

Browns fans were quick to defend the change, which won a measure of ridicule for the hysteria surrounding it.

A few fans made fun of Cleveland's odd phrasing, which oxymoronically announced the return of a new era.

Browns fans reacted with cautious optimism to the change.

May every team get so sentimental about facemasks.

Published
Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .

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