COMMENTARY: Canton and the expanding Pro Football Hall of Fame would be the perfect home for the Cleveland Browns' training camp.

If life were fair (your mom was right, by the way), Canton, Ohio, would be home to an NFL team.

As we know, the American Professional Football Association, which became the NFL, was born here Sept. 17, 1920, in Ralph Hay's auto showroom located at the corner of present-day Third Street and Cleveland Avenue NW.

The original NFL included five Ohio teams: the Columbus Panhandles, Cleveland Indians, Dayton Triangles, Akron Pros and Jim Thorpe's legendary Canton Bulldogs, who won NFL Championships in 1922 and 1923.

Among the earliest NFL teams is the Green Bay Packers, the league's only publicly owned team, which explains perfectly why they're still in Green Bay, which is no larger than Canton.

If any city should have had permanent status for an NFL team, it only stands to reason Canton would have been the one. Even to this day, Canton produces NFL players like Hershey makes chocolate.

But you play the hand life deals you — in this case, the Cleveland Browns.

Columbus has enough

Last month, Browns fans in Northeast Ohio blanched at the news that the team was planning, yet again, to move its training camp from Berea to Columbus.

But the deal blew up, not unlike the offensive line.

Columbus is one of the nation's most successful cities; so what if the Statehouse looks a like a commode? They don't need the Browns. They have Ohio State, Jack Hanna, the Clippers (the Cleveland Indians' minor league team) and the Blue Jackets, who have set the NHL on fire. (Information has been changed to correct an error at 9:15 a.m. 1/4/17. See correction at end of story.)

Columbus also is a city that has grown more cosmopolitan through an influx of immigrants and young professionals. That equals more diversity and culture, which equals more to do on weekends.

In contrast, Northeast Ohio needs the Browns. It's something to divert us from the weather and our gimpy economy, even if that diversion is second-guessing and carping over the legally blind draft picking and what appears to be a square-dance method of hiring coaches.

Out of Egypt

Yet, through all the short-sightedness and incompetence, Browns fans in Northeast Ohio remain a faithful lot. No NFL team has enjoyed such deep loyalty as is found in the Factory of Sadness on Sunday afternoons. Had the Browns' front office been chosen to lead the Exodus, it still would be going on, even as fans held faith that, eventually, the team will stumble out of Egypt.

It's also why, if the Browns are itching to am-scray out of Berea, there's no better alternative than Canton. For one, the logistics are perfect. For two, Canton is trying to position itself as the nirvana of NFL football through the Pro Football Hall of Fame's expansion project.

Linking the Browns' practice facility to the Hall not only would boost the local economy and raise Canton's profile, but it also would foster a greater sense of ownership among residents who still aren't quite sure why they should be excited about the expansion project.

It's a pipe dream, of course. Chances are no one in Berea has given Canton so much as a glimpse. That's too bad. Northeast Ohio deserves more than the team's annual "we're sorry" letter.

Recently, coach Hue Jackson mused that if the Browns repeat their ignominious 1-15 season, he'll probably end up in Lake Erie.

Coach, the water in Meyers Lake is just as wet.

Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP

Correction: The Columbus Clippers are a minor league affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. The wrong affiliation was cited when this story was first published online 1/3/17.