BROWNS-BILLS.JPG

The Browns and Bills have played in some low scoring games in recent years. Here Robaire Smith forces a Trent Edwards' incomplete pass in Cleveland's 8-0 win in 2007.

(John Kuntz, The Plain Dealer)

BEREA, Ohio – Cleveland and Buffalo share a Great Lake, brutal winters and a trophy case badly in need of restocking. Their passionate sports fans could meet in Erie, Pa., someday and compare scar tissue from the last four decades.

Joe DeLamielleure, the Pro Football Hall of Fame guard who blocked for O.J. Simpson and Brian Sipe, doesn’t cheer as much for the teams as he does the cities. These are his people.

“They have been through so much and they are still there for their teams every season,” DeLamielleure said. “My wife (Gerri) used to say the fans in Cleveland are so into their teams they’d probably buy Brownies tickets before they would buy shoes for their kids.”

DeLamielleue is bringing a group from Western New York to FirstEnergy Stadium on Thursday for the prime-time game between the Browns (2-2) and Bills (2-2). He sees two franchises, with one playoff appearance each since 1999, finally on the come. Joe D loves him some Brian Hoyer and Bills defensive tackle Kyle Williams. He thinks both organizations got it right with the hires of Rob Chudzinski and Doug Marrone.

“These are two good teams that are getting better,” he said. “And the similarities between the cities and fans are amazing.”

It’s too early to make definitive statements about either team. Each has seen promising seasons go bust in the past 14 years. The Bills started 4-1 two years ago and won twice the rest of the season. Browns fans are all too familiar with the optimism surrounding the 2008 club.

But DeLamielleure’s description of the two markets is dead on. Buffalo is not a city that consumes our sports thoughts. We don’t share a division with it. It’s not home to the Steelers, Ravens, Tigers, Pistons, Bulls or White Sox. We think of Ann Arbor before we think of Buffalo. Yet there on the northeast shores of Lake Erie is our mirror image.

Like Cleveland, Buffalo has suffered traumatic losses. Dallas Stars' Brett Hull scores the 1999 Stanley Cup winning goal against the Sabres. Hull's skate was in the crease and many believe the goal should have been disallowed.

Buffalo knows the pain of losing manufacturing jobs and a sports franchise. It recalls winning football titles in the mid-60s and the good times of the late 1980s and early '90s. Cleveland has Bernie Kosar. Buffalo has Jim Kelly.

While we believe no city has suffered more wrenching post-season defeats, Buffalo reminds us sometimes it's better to fall one win shy of the Super Bowl. Cleveland has Earnest Byner. Buffalo has Scott Norwood, whose missed field goal is the impetus for Vincent Gallo's 1998 dark comedy Buffalo '66.

And while coming within two outs of a 1997 World Series is difficult to top, at least the Cleveland fan base never felt cheated by the officials.

The Buffalo Sabres’ Game 6 loss to the Dallas Stars in triple overtime of the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals includes one of the most controversial calls in sports history. The Stars’ Brett Hull scored the series winner with his skate clearly in the crease before the puck – illegal at the time – even as the NHL concocted an explanation to justify the ruling. A season later, the league changed the rule.

Cleveland has The Shot. Buffalo has No Goal.

“I remember seeing the refs blow the call and wondering, ‘God, is it ever going to happen for Buffalo?’ said DeLamielleure of a city whose last major title is the Bills’ 1965 AFL Championship.

When Art Modell moved the Browns to Baltimore in 1995, Buffalo showed its support. The city had lost its NBA franchise, the Braves, in 1978. Unlike the Browns, it never returned. Pro Football Hall of Fame executive Joe Horrigan said Bills’ Ralph Wilson was one of the owners who voted against relocation.

“When the Browns moved, Ralph Wilson offered to reserve a section in the stadium for Cleveland fans so they could make it their own Dawg Pound,” Horrigan said.

Neither fan base has had much reason to cheer since the Browns returned. The Bills have won more than seven games three times since 1999, a span that includes seven head coaches and 10 starting quarterbacks. No NFL team has a longer playoff drought – 13 years and counting.

In the past six years, the Browns and Bills have combined to commit crimes against modern football. Twice the Browns have won without scoring a touchdown. In 2007, they beat the Bills, 8-0, in blizzard conditions at FirstEnergy Stadium.

"It looked like something I saw on the Discovery Channel, like something about the North Pole," former Bills running back Marshawn Lynch told The Plain Dealer.

Two years later, the Browns prevailed, 6-3, despite quarterback Derek Anderson completing two of 17 passes at windswept Ralph Wilson Stadium. The Browns dropped nine passes. The Bills committed nine false starts.

"Obviously, this is a low point for all of us," former Bills coach Dick Jauron told The Plain Dealer.

The NFL took note. Neither team has been scheduled for a Sunday or Monday prime-time game since 2009, the longest absence in the league. But the Browns and Bills enter Thursday night’s game believing their fortunes are turning. Each has a fan base waiting for a return to the good times of the late 1980s and '90s.

“The sports franchises in both cities elevate the quality of life,” said Horrigan, who grew up in Buffalo. “Sports is engrained in the culture. That’s not unique, but it runs very deep in those cities.”

DeLamielleure, a Detroit native who rooted for the Lions as a kid, shared a crazy thought Tuesday night while discussing the Browns.

“People say the Lions and Browns will be in a Super Bowl when hell freezes over,” he said. “Well, they’re playing it outdoors in New York in February. Maybe it will.”