VIA: 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.
The full obituary for Entsminger, who died at the age of 55, can be found at The Columbus Dispatch, and from the start we begin to see how big a fan this man truly was:
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.
He was such a big fan that the family requests 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 subtle slam that actually acts like a sledgehammer to a franchise that disappointed Entsminger for years:
He respectfully requests six Cleveland Browns pallbearers so the Browns can let him down one last time.
It's safe to say this clever jab is making a great deal of suffering Browns fans smile. Seeing as how the team hasn't won anything recently, it 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 (h/t Pro Football Talk) 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 QB.
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, lackluster seasons and poor performance are greeted like a warm comforting 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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