As I was scrolling through my Twitter feed earlier this summer, I saw an NFL analyst tweet about a Browns fan who had just died. Now, of course I felt sympathy for the family in wake of the death, but I do not know this guy personally so it didn’t have that much of an effect on me.

What did have an effect, though, is what was said in the obituary that was both hilarious and compelling at the same time.

The man was literally a “die-hard” Cleveland Browns fan. He was so passionate about his team every year, and every year the Browns seem to disappoint not only him but the rest of Cleveland as well. (To be honest, I have really lost all my sympathy for Cleveland fans. It actually gives me a certain amount of joy watching friends suffer through the struggles of their beloved teams.)

But this Cleveland fan provided me with some great laughs earlier today so I felt compelled to share. His obituary said, “he respectfully requests six Cleveland Browns pall bearers so the Browns can let him down one last time”.

Whether that has been done before or not, talk about taking your team with you to the grave. I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody starts a business out of this soon in Chicago. Get 6 current or former Cubs players that will let you down just one more time! I think a lot of fans might feel this way, but those over in Cleveland definitely have the right to.

What really makes this statement special, other than the fact that it is hilarious, is that it truly signifies what a “die-hard” fan means. There are so many of us out there that simply love our sports teams. We will go to the ends of the earth just to see our team win a championship. It’s the reason we have ESPN as our homepage, paint our rooms certain colors, and follow certain superstitious traditions on gamedays.

Die-hard fans will literally go to the grave with their team’s colors on the casket. That says a lot about the power of sports. It has the ability to lift you up to great heights, yet bring you down to great lows; going as far as 6 feet deep as we now know. There are very few things that bring out passion the way that sports do and that is why this Cleveland fan will be remembered for a long time.

Out of all the b&%%$*t that we hear about on a day to day basis regarding sports, it is nice to hear about something like this because it really does raise a good message. Although very humorous, I’m sure that this guy truly felt like the Browns owed him something. The same way many of us fans do (especially us Cub fans). We all want to see success out of our teams, and sometimes like in this guys case, it kills us to see them lose.

Maybe you call yourself a die-hard fan, maybe you don’t, but there is definitely something to be said about caring so much for one team.

At the end of each month, you expect a paycheck for the hard work that you put in at your job. At the end of each semester, you expect to have gained knowledge for all the time and money you have spent on your classes. And if you’re a die-hard fan like this man, at the end of your life, you expect your team to give you something in return for all the time you invested in them. When that does not happen, they might as well let you down into your grave.