Imagine being a fan of the Cleveland Browns.
Your team leaves. It comes back. And becomes an NFL punchline for decades.
Now, on the verge of, potentially, Cleveland’s first division championship in decades, you renounce your fandom to start rooting for …
… the hated Pittsburgh Steelers?
That’s what DeAndre Layne is doing. He’s the father of Justin Layne, the Michigan State cornerback the Steelers drafted in the third round last weekend.
Justin Layne was a star wide receiver at Benedictine High School in Cleveland before enrolling in school in East Lansing.
But his regional ties are not stopping his family’s rooting interests from crossing state lines.
Layne’s dad called into Cleveland sports talk radio station “92.3 The Fan” to make his declaration public—the family now bleeds Black and Gold.
Cleveland wanted a cornerback. But the club liked LSU’s Greedy Williams better. So they took him in the second round instead of Layne.
“They got their guy, which is great, but we have to have a divorce at this point,” Layne said of his relationship with the Browns on the “Carman and Lima” radio show.
Layne says emotions were rubbed raw because the Browns made his son believe he’d be coming home to play in the NFL.
“Two nights before the draft, they took (Justin) out to dinner and made him feel good about getting picked,” Layne told Ken Carman and Anthony Lima. “Then they slept on him, so here we are.”
According to “News 5” in Cleveland, Layne claimed that his son was wearing Browns socks while watching the draft, hoping that his hometown team would choose him.
Clearly, ignoring loyalty displayed through footwear is the ultimate betrayal. So Layne’s dad responded in kind.
By repainting his bathroom. Here is what it looked like before the draft, again via “News 5.”
And then this is it after the draft:
No chance pic.twitter.com/Bi67RMNr5z
— Dre Layne (@nitetrainln) April 29, 2019
Note the use of Wiz Khalifa’s “Black and Yellow” in the background.
Subtle, DeAndre. Totally understated.
