Last Place Laments.

• Author: Barrett, Wayne M.
• Position: SPORTS SCENE - San Francisco Giants, Cleveland Browns, and Tennessee Volunteers

BEYOND THE FACT that orange is part of their uniform color scheme, what do my three favorite teams--San Francisco Giants, Cleveland Browns, and Tennessee Volunteers--have in common? For the first time since I became a fan (in 1965), all three finished dead last in the same season. That's right--at present, I am stuck with a trio of cellar-dwelling, bottom-of-the-basement bums. Let the rest of the country fret about Trump and the Russians; I've got real worries.

Since spring training is underway, and opening day is a mere month away, I suppose I should start my crying-towel tirade with the Giants--after all, they are this decade's quasi-dynasty, having won the World Series three times since 2010 before posting baseball's worst record last year--but we'll break convention and begin with the Browns. After all, if you're into black comedy, the brutal Brownies just may present a picture of dark humor at its best--or worst, depending on your point of view.

Last season, they were winless, a big fat 0-16. The year before, they won a single game, making their record the last two years a beyond-pathetic 1-31. Over the last 10 years, things haven't been much better. In fact, one enterprising sportswriter (no, not me) even took the trouble to mix rotten apples and oranges by computing the winning percentages of the Browns over the last decade (160 games) and the 1962 New York Mets--the latter considered by fact and legend as the worst team of the modem baseball era--and the not-so-Amazin's came out ahead. Wow, talk about a sobering history lesson. (I guess this would be the appropriate time to mention that the New England Patriots' Bill Belichick's first NFL head coaching job was with the Cleveland Browns. He even got them into the playoffs.)

Of course, things weren't always so bleak in Cleveland. When the franchise debuted under its namesake coach Paul Brown in 1946, it won the All-America Football Conference championship. Then repeated three more times. When the AAFC folded, the Browns, Baltimore Colts, and San Francisco 49ers joined the National Football League. Now comes the fascinating (and groundbreaking) part: the Browns went to the NFL title game their first six years in the league (going 3-3). Not only hasn't that been done before or since, but when coupled with their AAFC stint, the Browns went to their league's championship game 10 years in a row. So, you take the franchise's first 10 years and then bookend that with its last 10 years...