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The Browns Bandwagon: Who's On and Who's Off

The Browns stand at 5-3 at the halfway point of the 2014 season. How is the Browns Bandwagon looking right now?

By Joe Ginley
Ron Schwane-USA TODAY Sports

The 2014 season is halfway complete for the Cleveland Browns. It's been interesting to say the least.

By some miracle, the Browns stand at 5-3 and find themselves in the thick of the playoff hunt. Who would have predicted this at the beginning of the season?

Along the way, the Browns Bandwagon has picked up and dropped off plenty of supporters. Plenty of people jumped off after the Jaguars loss, but many have hopped back on following wins over the Raiders and the Buccaneers.

Let's take a peek at who is riding the Orange and Brown bandwagon and who has already lost faith in the Browns.

Onboard

Bernie Kosar

Few former NFL players have unwavering dedication to a former team like that of Kosar with the Browns.

The former Cleveland quarterback is a fan favorite because he remains committed to the team, no matter what. Despite the suffering and heartbreak this team causes, plus the deplorable way the team treated him last season, good ol' Bernie remains firmly a Browns fan.

Kosar has been particularly active on social media lately, showing his support for the Browns. His tweets land him atop this list.

MMQB

Peter King and the fellows at Monday Morning Quarterback, an offspring of SI.com, have spent a lot of time covering the upstart Browns.

One of the top stories on Tuesday on MMQB was a piece by King entitled, "The Battle of Ohio Matters." King wrote other articles about the Browns earlier in the season, one of which asked: "Could Brian Hoyer be the QB of the Future in Cleveland?" Both pieces are well worth reading.

The site also gave Joel Bittonio an open forum last week about his experience thus far as a rookie.

King and the writers at MMQB have not overtly supported the Browns, but the site's coverage of the team suggests that the staff respects the Browns.

Turtle from Entourage

Jerry Ferrara, otherwise known as Turtle from Entourage, has become a Browns fan. The Brooklyn native is supposedly dating an Akron girl, leading him to take an interest in the Browns.

Ferrara recently posted a YouTube video of himself at a home game wearing Browns apparel, according to both Bottlegate.com and Reddit. In the video description, he claims that he is not a "trader" and remains a true "Giants fan."

Don't worry, we'll convert you soon enough, Turtle.

Huffington Post

The Huffington Post posted an article on Monday titled, "Cleveland, Ohio is an awesome place." Who wouldn't agree with that?

Posted by Stacy Bare, the article details all the awesome things to do in Cleveland, including a suggestion to attend a Browns game.

I'm not sure what the angle on the article is, but I love it. Give it a read. It's nice to see people getting on the Cleveland Bandwagon, too.

Mike Greenberg

The co-host of Mike & Mike seems has been impressed with the Browns lately.

Greenberg has taken to Twitter recently to express his feelings about the Browns. The national radio show host hasn't gone out of his way to praise the Browns, but he has been dealing out more praise for the Browns lately.

The New York Times

During elections season, The New York Times spent a lot of time on national politics, but managed to find some time to write about that team from Cleveland.

Twice within the span of a week in mid-October, the Times wrote about the Browns. The articles were entitled, "A Hometown Hero in a Cleveland Shadow," a piece about Hoyer and Johnny Manziel, and "As Browns Learn to Win, Fans May Learn to Believe."

Both are great reads, and worth the time if you haven't seen them yet. It's always cool to see a national outlet write about your favorite local team.

Tom Brady

I could have almost written a separate article on the Hoyer Bandwagon, but I'll lump in praise of Hoyer into this article.

Ever since the Patriots jettisoned Hoyer, star quarterback Tom Brady has been generous with praise for Hoyer, his former prodigy. As recently as a few weeks ago, Brady made it a point to talk about Hoyer.

During one weekly radio appearance on WEEI, Brady said of Hoyer: "He's doing a great job. [The Browns] are doing a great job in that division."

Brett Favre

Make that two legendary quarterbacks in Hoyer's corner.

After the Browns' loss to the Jags a few weeks ago, Favre told ESPN.com's Ed Werder that Hoyer could be the next Tom Brady or Kurt Warner.

That's high praise coming from one of the best quarterbacks of all-time.

On the Fence

Adam Schefter

This NFL Insider has been hot and cold with the Browns this season.

ESPN's Schefter wrote an upbeat article on the Browns earlier this season called, "Browns pointed in right direction." Schefter wrote about Hoyer's leadership and a resurgent Browns offense following a glorious 31-10 win over the Steelers.

Since then, Schefter has soured a bit on the Browns. He criticized the Browns in hindsight for not dealing Josh Gordon to San Francisco last season for draft picks.

The tweet didn't go down well with Browns fans, especially Gordon.

Andrew Hawkins' son

As an NFL player, you would expect your son to be your #1 fan. Andrew Hawkins discovered this isn't necessarily always true.

Hawkins asked his son who his favorite player was, and the cute 2-year-old proceeds to respond with "Sanu and A.J.," referring to Hawkins' former teammates Mohammed Sanu and A.J. Green. Hawkins then proceeds to "banish" the adorable kid out of the house.

Hawkins posted a hilarious video of the exchange on Instagram, which got over 7,000 likes. If you haven't done so, watch it now. Tom Reed also wrote a nice article with quotes from Hawkins on Cleveland.com

LeBron James

How did LeBron get to be a Cowboys fan in the first place?

The Browns are doing everything in their power to convert the local hero from Silver and Blue to Orange and Brown. The Cavaliers star has never associated much with the Browns, which Hoyer and others are trying to change. It might be working.

LeBron watched the Browns take on the Raiders a couple of weeks ago, and attended a practice during training camp.

Will LeBron hop aboard the bandwagon? Only time will tell.

Throwing eggs at the bandwagon

Greg Little

Look up "salty" in the dictionary, and you'll find a picture of Greg Little.

The former Browns wideout has repeatedly shown contempt for his old employer. He tweeted that he would circle an upcoming matchup with the Browns before being cut by the Raiders.

Now with the Bengals, Little is stirring up the pot once again.

On Tuesday, as ESPN.com's Pat McManamon reported, Little said, "They said that I wasn't good enough to play on their team. That's about all else I need."

Little also attacked Pettine.

"I did not get along with Pettine. Pettine doesn't talk with any of his players,"Little said. "Like you will walk past him in the hallway and he won't even speak to you. To have that type of [approach] for a coach is kind of odd. I can't go out and say I'm going to lay it on the line for a guy who won't even speak to me if we were the only two people in the hallway."

Sounds like Pettine won't be getting a Christmas card from Greg Little for a while.

Jeremy Fowler/ESPN Power Rankings

In an article entitled, "No. 19 Browns the worst team with a winning record in the ESPN Power Rankings," Fowler proceeded to tear down the hopes and dreams of any optimistic Browns fan.

Consider the opening from the article:

Take notice! Cleveland's got a winner!

"They definitely know about the Cleveland Browns," said safety Tashaun Gipson about the rest of the league.

Eh, not really -- at least according to ESPN's Power Rankings, which have the Browns (5-3) at No. 19, the worst among winning teams.

I'm not saying that Fowler always covers the team negatively. But he really came off sounding like a Debbie Downer here.

Steelers fans

This is fairly obvious since the Browns and Steelers are bitter archrivals. But many Pittsburgh faithful still haven't recovered from the Browns' 31-10 win over the Steelers on Oct.12.

Where do you stand? Are you on the Browns bandwagon? Vote in the poll below and remember to voice your opinions in the comments section, too.

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