Ohio Senator wants undefeated 1948 Browns championship team recognized as such.

[godef]

On the one hand, I say why not? Those Cleveland Browns were probably better than any NFL team that season.

But on the other hand, I'd have to say no. Certainly the Browns dominated the AAFC, but I have to believe some of those AAFC teams were pretty decrepit, and that the overall level of play in that league was inferior to the NFL. The Browns might have won a championship were they in the NFL that season, but they probably would not have been undefeated.

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

In related news, the Senate Judiciary Committee has announced that one of its members must be put in charge of the replay booth on Sunday or the NFL's antitrust exemption will be revoked.

The rule will be changed to permit an overruling of the play as called on the field only if there is (1) indisputable video evidence, or (2) the Senate guy doesn't like the call.

Also, a member of the House Ways and Means committee has demanded to be present this weekend at the Carbondale, Illinois Rodeo and Chili Cook-Off. He will be assisting the officials there to make sure that calf-roping rope lengths are in compliance with the official rules of the Illinois Steer and Pig Manual. If he is denied access, the NFL will lose its antitrust exemption, and the Patriots will forfeit two games next season.

 

[ShrewBeer]

On the one hand, I say why not? Those Cleveland Browns were probably better than any NFL team that season.

But on the other hand, I'd have to say no. Certainly the Browns dominated the AAFC, but I have to believe some of those AAFC teams were pretty decrepit, and that the overall level of play in that league was inferior to the NFL. The Browns might have won a championship were they in the NFL that season, but they probably would not have been undefeated.

well argued. here's how i see it. technically they should be in the books. they were part of a merger and if it were lombardi's packers that did it, they would be in.
however, i do believe they sucked. i would compare them to an nfc team of late. just a crappy league with crappy wins.
but hey, undefeated is undefeated. let em in!

 

[RayClay]

The Boston Yanks,


The Boston Yanks was a National Football League team based in Boston, Massachusetts that played from 1944 to 1948. The team played its home games at Fenway Park. Team owner Ted Collins, who managed singer Kate Smith, picked the name "Yanks" because he originally wanted to run a team that played at New York City's Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately, the Yanks could only manage a 2-8 record during its first regular season.

Due to a shortage of players caused by World War II, the Yanks were merged with the Brooklyn Tigers for the 1945 season, and styled as the Boston Yanks. The merged team played four home games in Boston and one in New York. But fans from neither cities cared as they finished with a 3-6-1 record.

When Brooklyn Tigers owner Dan Topping announced his intentions to join the All-America Football Conference in 1946, his NFL team was revoked and all of its players were assigned to the Yanks. After three continuous losing seasons, Collins finally was allowed to move the Yanks to New York and renamed it the New York Bulldogs.

Ain't as easy as some think. The league folded and only 2 teams remain.

AFL of the 1960's is still the most successful rival league in any sport I'm guessing.

 

[godef]

well argued. here's how i see it. technically they should be in the books. they were part of a merger and if it were lombardi's packers that did it, they would be in.
however, i do believe they sucked. i would compare them to an nfc team of late. just a crappy league with crappy wins.
but hey, undefeated is undefeated. let em in!

Except... it was not a complete merger. Only three of those teams, the Browns, 49ers, and Baltimore Colts (no relation to the Baltimore Colts that later became the Indy Colts, they lasted only a season in the NFL before disbanding). So it's difficult to consider ther merits of an undefeated season when a good majority of those contests did not involve NFL teams.

On the other hand, had a 60's AFL team gone undefeated, then I'd say you had a good case since ALL those teams merged into the NFL.

 

[godef]

The Boston Yanks,


The Boston Yanks was a National Football League team based in Boston, Massachusetts that played from 1944 to 1948. The team played its home games at Fenway Park. Team owner Ted Collins, who managed singer Kate Smith, picked the name "Yanks" because he originally wanted to run a team that played at New York City's Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately, the Yanks could only manage a 2-8 record during its first regular season.

Due to a shortage of players caused by World War II, the Yanks were merged with the Brooklyn Tigers for the 1945 season, and styled as the Boston Yanks. The merged team played four home games in Boston and one in New York. But fans from neither cities cared as they finished with a 3-6-1 record.

When Brooklyn Tigers owner Dan Topping announced his intentions to join the All-America Football Conference in 1946, his NFL team was revoked and all of its players were assigned to the Yanks. After three continuous losing seasons, Collins finally was allowed to move the Yanks to New York and renamed it the New York Bulldogs.

Ain't as easy as some think. The league folded and only 2 teams remain.

AFL of the 1960's is still the most successful rival league in any sport I'm guessing.

Good stuff, and accurate hsitory. A lot of people think that franchise moved to Dallas and became the Dallas Texans, and then a year later became the Baltimore Colts and ultimately the Indy Colts. But in fact, only a core of those Yanks went to Dallas, which was considered a new franchise, and then again, a core of those players went on to Baltimore, which was yet another new franchise.

 

[Disco Volante]

So the 1934/1942 Bears are always being compared with the Pats now, why not this Browns team with the Dolphins?

Lame.

 

[Dino 6 Rings]

Poor Browns fans...always reaching for a reason to be happy...I feel for them...really...oh, they went unbeaten cause we weren't on their schedule...its null and void...

 

[godef]

So the 1934/1942 Bears are always being compared with the Pats now, why not this Browns team with the Dolphins?

Lame.

Because it is not a legitimate comparison. The undefeated Dolphins team were by then full-fledge members of the NFL, playing all current NFL teams.

Not only were the Browns not a member of the NFL during their undefeated season, 5 out of the remaining 7 other teams never became part of the NFL. Presumably, the caliber of the competition was not nearly so good as the NFL.

Perhaps if the old Boston Patriots went undefeated in the old AFL, they might have had a legitimate argument, because ALL the teams they played went on to merge into the NFL, although even here, a case might be made against this if it occurred in the first few seasons of the AFL when many if not all of those teams were not yet up to NFL caliber.