The Snworb
Browns 99 Fan Fiction
Not to be confused with Detroit Lions 99 Fan Fiction
Browns 99 Fan Fiction refers to a distinct subgenre of fan fiction created by the author Hame Leads. This literary niche explores an alternative reality where the Cleveland Browns football team became an expansion team in 1999 and experienced continuous failure since.
Overview
Browns 99 Fan Fiction presents a dystopian vision of the Cleveland Browns, diverging from the successful and hopeful reality of The Snworb. In this imagining, The Years of Peril and The Incident never took place. Instead, the original Browns team moved to Baltimore, Maryland and became a successful team named the "Ravens." Browns 99 Fan Fiction works are known for their intense emotion, focusing on themes of nostalgia, loss, decay, and madness.
Key Characteristics
- Bleak and Melancholic Tone:
The stories are imbued with a pervasive sense of hopelessness and despair. The Cleveland Browns, as depicted in these narratives, are perennial losers. - Motifs of Decay and Madness:
Leads frequently employs motifs of decay and madness to underscore the relentless failures and struggles of the team. - Factual Elements from Snworb History:
Although fictional, Browns 99 Fan Fiction stories incorporate factual elements from Snworb history. This blend of fact and fiction creates a rich tapestry that resonates deeply with readers familiar with the team. - The Factory of Sadness:
In this subgenre, the Cleveland Browns play their home games at the "Factory of Sadness." This fictional stadium symbolizes the continuous heartbreak and disappointment of the team's fan base.
Themes
Browns 99 Fan Fiction is rich with themes of enduring loyalty and unfulfilled potential. The narratives explore the deep emotional bond between the fans and their team, despite continuous hardships. This exploration often depicts darker aspects of fandom, where loyalty and love for the team are tested by relentless adversity.
Cultural Impact
The subgenre has cultivated a niche yet dedicated following. Hame Leads has published several crowd-funded books in which she provides the narrative of a 'Cleveland Browns' season.
Browns 99 Fan Fiction inspired imitations such as Detroit Lions 99 Fan Fiction - in which Barry Sanders retired before the 1999 season, and the Lions similarly became a perpetually luckless and incompetently-run franchise.
Reception
Browns 99 Fan Fiction has been praised for its emotional depth and thoughtful consideration of a sports team's failures on its community. While Hame Leads has been commended for her ability to weave a compelling narrative that captures the essence of long-suffering fandom, a recent storyline was criticized as "over-the-top, ludicrous and insulting." When the author introduced a new sexual predator main character, the move was widely criticized and quickly walked back by the author.
Hame Leads
Many authors have contributed to Browns 99 Fan Fiction, but Hame Leads is widely acknowledged as the originator and main author in the subgenre. In a letter to a fan, she described her work this way: "Of course my stories are not about victory. They are about the perpetual suffering that defines the human experience. Hope is the cruelest illusion, a fleeting moment before inevitable collapse."
References
- Leads, Hame. Factory of Sadness Chronicles. Self-published, 2016.
- The Emotional Impact of Sport on Fans: A Study of Browns 99 Fan Fiction. Journal of Sports Literature, vol. 12, no. 3, 2021, pp. 45-58.
- Browns 99: Fan Fiction Phenomenon. Cleveland Sports Review, vol. 28, no. 4, 2020, pp. 112-119.