Happy Birthday to No. 19

By Don Delco
NoLogoNeeded.com Staff Writer

Twenty years is a long time, yet Browns fans continue to romanticize the 1980s Browns. Bernie Kosar is a big reason why.

Born and raised in northeast Ohio (Boardman), when he finished his time at the University of Miami he wanted to return to Cleveland play for the Browns.

Unlike other local quarterbacks who have since mirrored Kosar’s journey — Charlie Frye and Brady Quinn — Kosar was the real deal.

It’s funny to think Kosar (1987) and Derek Anderson (2007) both have only one Pro Bowl appearance. But Kosar’s career numbers were the real deal.

In 108 games he started, Kosar threw for 23,301 yards and 124 touchdowns. His biggest asset was his ability to help the Browns win. Yeah, WIN football games.

Ever since he was shipped to Dallas in 1993, the Browns have been searching for a quarterback.

Last summer, Kosar was profiled by Miami Herald's Dan LeBatard. It was a sad story of a former NFL player who was having trouble as he reached middle-age.

"The game was fast and muscled. He was neither," wrote LeBatard. "He was always the giraffe trying to survive among lions. Still is, really. He has merely traded one cutthroat arena in which people compete for big dollars for another, and today's is a hell of a lot less fun than the one that made him famous. More painful, too, oddly enough."

Earlier this football season, the Browns reached out to Kosar and brought him back to the team as a consultant. While his future role within the team has yet to be determined let's hope it leads to him helping to returning this franchise to a similar product he helped produced more than 20 years ago.

More importantly, here's to wishing Bernie Kosar a happy 46th birthday and a "good luck" in helping return his life back on the the right track it deserves.