APIt sounded like a story from The Onion: The Browns said this week that they would hand out white flags for the fans at Cleveland Browns Stadium to wave during Sunday’s game against the Steelers.
Now the team has scrapped the idea.
In a statement released by a team spokesman, the Browns said on Saturday that they were no longer going to ask their fans to wave the white flag.
“After further and careful consideration, we felt it was in the best interests of everyone involved that we not have a giveaway item at tomorrow’s game,” the statement said. “It is something that was intended to be fun for our fans and that they could rally around, and we regret that some didn’t perceive it that way. We want to thank all of our fans for their tremendous support and we look forward to seeing them out in force at the stadium tomorrow.”
It’s surprising that the Browns didn’t anticipate that some fans would perceive waving white flags as a symbol of surrender. It’s fine that the Browns wanted to counter all the Terrible Towels that Steelers fans would be waving, but white flags aren’t exactly the kind of look you want if you’re trying to convince fans that you haven’t given up on the season. The Browns were wise to scrap this idea.
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they’ll be more Terrible Towels then Browns fans
Wouldn’t you just love to have been a fly on the wall in the meeting where this got the green light? Did somebody first suggest brown or orange and get overruled by a higher up? Did nobody mention that “waving a white flag” carries meaning they didn’t want to convey?
Novel idea; how about brown towels?
Obviously someone didn’t listen to the intern when s/he quietly suggested this is a bad idea.
You can’t make this stuff up.
The genius who had this idea, please step forward…
I don’t think the connection between waving a white flag and surrendering is a new discovery or anything.
One of these days the Browns will get something right.
They should at least still have the option of distributing them to players.
“It sounded like a story from The Onion”….that was my first thought too.
In my opinion, the Browns’ marketing department payroll needs to be trimmed.
No wonder Mike Homlgrem says he’s okay with being shown the exit door with that kind of brain trust to work with.
I think Rex Ryan and the Jets could have used those white flags in the first quarter Thursday night!
Don’t they wave them this time of year already?
2nd to 3rd tier NFL city at this point.
I doubt the Browns will make it easy for QB Charlie Batch.
Terrible towels are pretty…… Terrible. No one should try and emulate the trashy Steeler faithful. Hope the Browns crush them.
The white flag should’ve been raised on this franchise 10 years ago
I heard some French tourists pointed this out to ownership.
Perhaps Holmgren and the coach should waive the white flag.
What would be wrong with orange towels like the Giants had in the MLB Postseason?
Jimmy Haslem mistake #1.
I can understand the towel idea, trying to copy the Steelers, like hopefully he will do with his coaches and front office.
BUT, waiving the white flag? Seriously?
Figures the Browns would come up with the idea to wave the international symbol for surrender…
The part that gets me is that it’s an inflatable flag. Can Browns fans not be trusted with real flags?
And people wonder why the organization hasn’t win anything in decades
I wonder what they are going to do with 30 or 40,000 white towels? New problem for the intern.
Our helmets are orange, we’re called the browns, and our fans wave white flags…
It’s not like other sports teams dont wave white towels, even in Pittsburgh. The Penguins and Penn State both wave white towels. How ’bout not bowing to the negative people out there and stick to your decision, even if it was the wrong color.
They should hand out orange paperbags. Not those cheap ones either.. the fans will want to use them for the next decade so make sure they are sturdy.
I wipe my big behind with towels I take from stool fans
What was that last promo, you know, where the Browns packed there bags and moved to Baltimore. How did that work out?
let’s go browns need ya to put the Steelers away
Why not just call them white towels? People wave them in hockey all the time, and there is no stigma of waving the white flag for surrender.
Or the orange flags they usually give away. I mean I got like three of them… and somebody thought this was a BETTER idea?
Get that resume ready… with Haslam there’s a new sheriff in town
Pittsburgh should hand out white flags to Browns fans.
This must have come from the teams president grandson lol
I think the more pertinent question is whether they will follow through with the “brown paper bag” giveaway scheduled for next week!
It’s that lovely time of year when Bowns fans everywhere can stop planning their Sunday around the Browns’ game and watch some good movies and read some books.
I hate the whole concept of the towels simply because with the hundreds of dollars it costs now to go to a game including parking, eating and drinking the last thing I would want is rows of people waving crap so I can’t see what’s happening on the field.
as an experiment I asked my youngest son (8yrs) what the white flag meant….he knew! for shame Browns organization! lol
How about a white towel with a brown skid mark across the middle?
Yes, it was a brain-dead idea, but considering the Steeler problems, don’t count the Brownies out just yet.
At least they aren’t emulating those godawful bumble bee uniforms the steelers wore last week.
Hopefully they’ll get shipped to a 3rd world country and actually be used for what they were made for, to surrender now that they have 73,200 white flags to get rid of.
The browns have beat the Steelers 6 times since Cowher took over in 1992.
Think about that.
Marketing guy: Hey boss, how bout we give every fan a white towel to wave? Owner: Son, you can go home for the day, thank you…. Subconciously, the browns know they will lose.
Hilarious. I bet theyre proud of the six figure investment on the schmuck who had that idea
I’ve come back and read this all day at least 7-8 times convinced is WAS an Onion piece that somehow slipped in. Now that it seems for real I must say while funny as hell this has to be the stupidest promotion idea I’ve ever heard of! I feel sorry for Mr. Haslam. $1,050,000,000.00 and this batch of yahoos is what you get?
Orange I would get…but white?
It’s OK. Browns fans already have their own white flags. They’ve been waving them quite a bit for the last decade.
I’d make a joke about how the Browns actually have been waving the white flag for years, but really… the team and town do a fine enough job of making jokes of themselves without any outside help.
I think it is funny how teams/ organizations spend how much money per year on marketing and such and it seems like they always end TRYING to counter the terrible towel in some way.. I have a hard time believing that after all these years, teams in sports cant come up with thier own thing… seems like teams and the SPORTS ITSELF ie baseball, have to give out free towels for playoffs ect … I cant understand why teams cant possibly find their own thing..
Somewhere those white towels exist still. They’ll appear on eBay eventually for us collectors of tat.
Here’s an idea- Orange it out: Orange flags, Orange Jerseys. I think Brown would be to dark to really notice very well. I loved the orange jerseys why don’t they ever wear them?
Give them tiny sticks with tiny white flags.