Can Brian Hoyer help LeBron James become Mr. Ohio?

Can one really blame LeBron James for be-fanning a football team outside of Cleveland? During most of the years when LeBron was growing up and becoming interested in sports, Cleveland didn’t have a football franchise. The team had moved away in 1995 and didn’t return until just before the turn of the millennium. Being the big football fan and player he was, LeBron decided to be loyal to the ‘Boys. Although he did choose Dallas, Cleveland fans can somewhat understand why LeBron roots for a football team outside of his home state. (There is no excuse for his fandom in baseball, however. The Indians were one of the most exciting ball clubs during the aforementioned period when the Browns were missing. But he instead chose the Yankees. The Yankees!!!).

On Sunday both the Cowboys and Browns came away with huge wins. The Cowboys upset the reigning Super Bowl champions at home to improve to a league-best 5-1. The Browns sought revenge against the Pittsburgh Steelers after narrowly coming away with a huge comeback victory in week one. In Cleveland the Browns throttled the Steelers 31-10 for the franchise’s most impressive and rewarding victory in some time. LeBron James wished both of the aforementioned teams good luck on Twitter before the day started, but he also sent the Browns a kudos tweet following the blowout win.

Of course whenever a polarizing figure like LeBron James mentions your sports team, there are going to be questions to follow. With Johnny Manziel and Kevin Love in town, the press conference crossover is something to be expected at this point. On Monday when media had the opportunity to talk to Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer, who improved to 6-2 as a starter for Cleveland, the city-bred gun slinger said that the Browns left a void in the lives of football fans, “So you’ve got to cheer for someone and hopefully we can bring him around to it.” Hoyer told media that he hopes that the Browns can replace the Cowboys as LeBron’s favorite team, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon. What I do see happening is LeBron James becoming the ultimate Ohio brand. He’s a documented Ohio State Buckeyes fan who has already been spotted on the sidelines since returning to Cleveland. His kids could potentially go to college there, so the university will let LeBron do as he pleases. Do I even need to say what his basketball status is like in Cleveland?

"So you’ve got to cheer for someone and hopefully we can bring him around to it."

So maybe LeBron James is already on board. Following Cavs practice on Monday, LeBron talked about his Sunday, saying, “It was a great day. Browns won. Cowboys won. I had a great Sunday.” We can tell by two of LeBron’s favorite sports teams that he loves proven winners. With the Browns sitting at 3-2 — with their only two losses coming by a combined six points — now is as good a time as ever for LeBron to hop on the Browns bandwagon.

"It was a great day. Browns won. Cowboys won. I had a great Sunday."

LeBron James took the first step in having his home state forgive him by returning to the Cavs this off-season. We know how much he cares about Akron, but he is putting a lot of effort into showing that he’s all in for Ohio. If Hoyer and the Browns can continue to make LeBron a believer, all things will be coming up Ohio in the near future.