Anyone else excited about the Great Lakes Classic tonight? [View All]

[many a good man]

The trophy is a rusty old ore boat and goes to the winner of the annual exhibition season matchup between the Browns and Lions.



They are tradition-laden teams, but whatever trophies they haven't lost over the years may be bathed in rust.

It's been more than half of a century since the teams met in four NFL championship games in a six-year span: the Lions beating the Browns in 1952, 1953 and 1957; the Browns winning in 1954.

(The Browns History Database on cleveland.com features Plain Dealer game stories on every regular season and playoff game the Browns have played. Read about the Browns-Lions championship games: 1952; Lions 17, Browns 7; 1953, Lions 17, Browns 16; 1954, Browns 56, Lions 10; 1957, Lions 59, Browns 14.

More recent history captures the Browns and Lions' futilities.

The first Super Bowl was played following the 1966 season. Four teams have never played in the game: the Lions, who have been in the NFL since 1930; the Browns, who joined the league in 1950, but were dormant from 1996-98 after former owner Art Modell moved the team to Baltimore: the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Houston Texans, who joined the NFL in 1995 and 2002, respectively, as expansion teams.

More: http://www.cleveland.com/ohio-sports-blog/index.ssf/2011/08/cleveland_browns_pm_links_12.html