Cleveland Browns Fan's Obituary Takes One Huge Swing at Beloved Franchise

Scott E. Entsminger went out swinging. 

CBS Sports' Will Brinson directs our attention to a peculiar obituary of a man who died with nothing but love for his Cleveland Browns, despite their lackluster performance.

UPDATE: Tuesday, July 9, 2:45 p.m. ET

It seems the Cleveland Browns can most definitely take a joke, because the organization will give Entsminger's widow a personalized jersey, via PFT:

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Browns spokesman Zak Gilbert tells PFT that the team contacted Scott Entsminger’s wife as soon as they learned he’d passed.  She explained that Scott’s favorite player was Lou Groza.  At Tuesday’s memorial service for Scott Entsminger, a Browns representative will deliver to Entsminger’s wife a personalized jersey bearing Groza’s number, 76.

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Class. 

---End of update---

The full obituary for Entsminger, who died at the age of 55, can be found at The Columbus Dispatch. Right from the start, it's obvious that this man was a hardcore Browns fan:

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A lifelong Cleveland Browns fan and season ticket holder, he also wrote a song each year and sent it to the Cleveland Browns as well as offering other advice on how to run the team.

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He was such an avid supporter that his family is requesting all who attend the service on Tuesday wear their favorite Browns gear, making it a spectacle the recently departed would have truly appreciated.

The best part of the fond farewell is the joke embedded in the middle of it all—a not-so-subtle jab at a franchise that disappointed Entsminger for years:

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He respectfully requests six Cleveland Browns pallbearers so the Browns can let him down one last time.

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It's safe to say this clever tidbit is making a great deal of suffering Cleveland football fans smile. Seeing as how the Browns haven't won anything recently, they might as well be a punching bag for trying times.

This is hardly the first time a fan has had his or her funeral feature team loyalty. The Washington Post's Dan Steinberg recently reported on a Washington Redskins fan who was buried in a Robert Griffin III jersey despite not buying one when he was alive because he thought it might jinx the young quarterback.

Entsminger had to endure a great deal in the last couple of decades. His franchise moved to Baltimore for the 1996 season, leaving a huge hole where the NFL season used to be. The Browns once again landed in Cleveland in 1999, bringing a series of losing seasons that may have squandered hope, but never loyalty.

For fans like Entsminger, poor performance and below-.500 seasons are greeted like a warm blanket in the cold of winter. By the end, you wear each loss like a badge of honor.

Through it all, you learn to rely on your sense of humor, which can brighten any room—even the Life Celebration Reception Center in Mansfield, Ohio.

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