Opening games and quarterback debuts haven't been kind to the Cleveland Browns.
In Brandon Weeden, the latest new starting quarterback for a new season, the Browns have a player who's been here before.
Sort of.
Weeden was a second-round pick of the New York Yankees in the 2002 Major League Baseball Entry Draft. He played five years of Major League Baseball before enrolling at Oklahoma State, where he spent four years and two as the starting quarterback.
He's done the debut thing before, and he's done it well.
His first pro baseball start, with the rookie Yankees of the Gulf Coast League, came on June 24, 2002, at the Lakeland Tigers.
"I'm pretty sure there was nobody in the crowd," Weeden said.
Nobody got on base against Weeden, either. Weeden set the Tigers down in order over two innings.
"I do remember it," Weeden said last week. "I threw two innings and threw well. I was nervous as hell, but it turned out well. It seems like forever ago."
A glance at baseball-reference.com shows that Weeden went 2-1 in that first year with a 2.86 ERA in 11 games. He saved 1 game and allowed 1 home run.
His baseball stories get progressively worse in the following years. Long bus rides. Late nights. Giving up more home runs -- and ones that jumped off the bat.
"When it was time to give it up," he said. "I knew."
He never stopped loving football. He'd go back to Edmond Santa Fe High School, his alma mater, and volunteer coach the football team when his baseball seasons ended.
His first start for Santa Fe came in as a junior 2000, vs. backyard rival Edmond Memorial. It was played in front of a large crowd at Wantland Stadium at the University of Central Oklahoma, the home field for both Santa Fe and Memorial.
"Again, I was nervous as hell," Weeden said. "I probably weighed 115 pounds dripping wet. I was skinny and pretty much a nervous wreck."
A series of phone calls to the Santa Fe athletic department and Internet searches couldn't turn up a box score or any pictures.
But Weeden remembers.
"We ended up winning the football game," he said. "I'll never forget watching the film later and laughing about how skinny I was and how bad some of the throws I made were.
"Obviously, when you deal with a first start on any kind of high level, you don't know what to expect. There's a lot of anxiousness and anticipation. I've had a lot of eye-opening experiences. I specifically remember running out of the tunnel for that first high school game. It's a feeling you'd like to bottle up and keep the rest of your life."
He'd like to be able to recapture what he did in his first start at Oklahoma State on Sept. 4, 2010. The Cowboys ran Washington State off the field, 65-17, behind three touchdown passes from Weeden to Justin Blackmon.
His final numbers that were 22-of-30 for 318 yards. He'd go on to throw for 4,277 yards and 34 touchdowns on the season.
Sunday brings another first, one that's different from the others.
"Just the same this Sunday," Weeden said. "Just excited. It's a new chapter. It's going to be a lot of fun.
"I'm extremely blessed to have these chances. I'm just thrilled that we're getting this season started."
