Browns fans will judge propriety of Watson signing the way they always do – in the win column: Ted Diadiun - cleveland.com

CLEVELAND -- As the Browns conducted their annual Organized Team Activities ("OTAs," in headlinese and sports stories) that ended on Thursday, we got our first look at Deshaun Watson in a Cleveland uniform.

To a man, the Browns players and coaching staff enthusiastically pronounced it good. Powerful arm. Elusive runner. Accurate delivery. Welcomed teammate.

Another important entity has yet to make it official, however – and the early returns are not similarly unanimous:

That would be the fans, many of whom have vowed to vote with their feet and TV remotes in registering their revulsion at the team's mortgaging its future on a guy with, shall we say, such a faulty moral compass.

Just how much that translates into real numbers is yet to be determined.

But my experience tells me that the dire predictions of doom many are making are overblown. The alleged wisdom I've absorbed over a journalism career that stretches back to my nascent sportswriting days in 1968 tells me that such threats are generally more sound and fury than substance.

The moment Watson quarterbacks his first win for the Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium, whenever that might be, all will be forgiven … if not, perhaps, forgotten.

The capacity crowd will erupt in a cacophony of barks and cheers. The sports chatterers will embrace a burgeoning gaggle of armchair experts. The waiting list for season tickets will grow, and the intoxicating aroma of Super Bowl fever will spread across the North Coast. Songs will be written and sung. Happy days will be here again for ticket scalpers.

"When," of course, is the operable question, and I've got no more insight as to when and what the NFL officers will decree than anyone else does.

But in the long term, there are few knowledgeable football people who do not believe that, barring injury or some other catastrophe, the insertion of the talented Mr. Watson into an already potent Cleveland offense will spur the team closer to its long-denied quest for a championship.

And shoved into the background will be that business down in Houston that cast a pall over Watson's arrival two and a half months ago – what was it again? – as Northeast Ohio gets back into the business of all-Browns, all-the-time.

Such is the fickle nature of sports fans.

That doesn't mean it's an admirable, or even a defendable, reaction. And it's not to diminish the accusations of sexual imposition against the quarterback that have been made by a growing assemblage of massage therapists who have filed civil suits, which as of this writing number 24.

I'm just saying, as a longtime observer of the mercurial nature of sports fans, that it all will take a back seat to what happens on the field when Watson takes over.

Since March 18, when the Browns announced the stunning news that they had sent a passel of draft picks to the Houston Texans for Watson's services and then signed him to the largest guaranteed contract in NFL history, the Watson controversy has been a hot and emotional topic.

The overwhelming initial public reaction was one of anger and disgust over the accusations against him, buttressed by a belief that the Browns, who had trumpeted their fealty to character and good citizenship in rebuilding their team, had broken faith with their fan base. Social media was alive with fulminating critics, vowing they would never again watch or attend another Browns game.

When I see things like that, I always think of the late Bill Veeck, the canny owner of the last Indians team to win a World Series (71 years ago and counting!), and his view of front office decisions that might enrage a portion of his customers.

"The fans vow never to enter the park again; a few zealots even picket the park carrying banners proclaiming their unyielding purpose," Veeck wrote in his autobiography. "The next time the Yankees are in town, they're all there pleading for two tickets behind first base."

That is easily translated into football vernacular, and as with many of his observations about the human condition, Veeck was insightful.

Righteous indignation is one thing. Victories on the field and the chance to root the home team to a championship are quite another. But the owner had better be right, and the team had better win.

As Exhibit A, I offer you Joe Mixon, running back, Cincinnati Bengals.

In 2014, Mixon, then a member of the University of Oklahoma football team, got into an argument with a woman in a Norman, Oklahoma, restaurant after, she says, he directed a homophobic insult to a friend. The argument escalated and she slapped him, after which he threw a punch that exploded into her face, breaking four bones and putting her in the hospital.

Norman being the heart of Sooner football, Mixon was allowed to plead to a misdemeanor charge. He was suspended from the team for the season, which he used as his red-shirt year, missing no important time. He paid no substantial price, went on to a successful college career and was drafted in the second round by the Cincinnati Bengals for the usual seven-figure contract.

After the draft, a Cincinnati TV station urged a boycott against the Bengals, suggesting instead that fans donate what they would have paid for their Bengals tickets to organizations that work to prevent violence against women.

Who is surprised that the suggestion went nowhere?

Bengals president Mike Brown responded with a letter speaking of Mixon's resolve to do better and his meeting with the woman to "resolve their differences" – not to mention the settlement of her civil suit. Soon enough, all was well: Mixon became a valued star for the Bengals and helped lead the team to last year's Super Bowl.

I invite you to watch the video of what happened in that Norman, Oklahoma, restaurant. You can find it at tinyurl.com/mixonpunch. You can decide for yourself whether what Mixon did was worse than Watson's alleged transgressions. Either way, it's a telling example of what fans will overlook and forgive if it means more victories on the field.

Deshaun Watson is not an admirable guy. I don't condone his conduct. I have a daughter who was a massage therapist, and if anyone acted like this with her, I would be furious to the point of violence.

But two separate grand juries considered the evidence against him and failed to return an indictment, so the question is, will his alleged actions make a difference to you as a Browns fan? Should he play for the Browns this season or shouldn't he? And will you walk away from the team if he does, or won't you?

Maybe all this should matter. Maybe it will. The Browns might well pay a heavy price for putting on-the-field success ahead of ethical concerns.

But I doubt it.

Whatever happens, odds are that Cleveland fans will be like sports fans everywhere, and base their judgment of Watson as they always do:

Whatever he does on the field – whenever he gets there.

Ted Diadiun is a member of the editorial board of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.

To reach Ted Diadiun: tdiadiun@cleveland.com

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Browns fans will judge propriety of Watson signing the way they always do – in the win column: Ted Diadiun - cleveland.com