Football, like life itself, is a matter of perspective. How things look depends on where you’re looking at it from, and what you were hoping to see.

For example, my beloved Cleveland Browns eked out another win this week, albeit an ugly one, against the Miami Dolphins. The game itself was about as thrilling as as my last nap, but a W is a W, whether it’s come by ugly, sloppy, or whatever. Delhomme didn’t throw the ball to the wrong team, we mostly kept penalties in check, and, most important, we scored more points than they did. As a result, our record year-to-date is 5-7. We ended last season at 5-11; we have four more games to show an improvement over 2009, and, although we’ll be playing some tough teams, it should be doable. We’ve won four of our last six; we should certainly be able to snag one more W.

I have a friend who is a diehard Tennessee Titans fan, and has been since they were the Houston Oilers. Part of (or maybe most of) the reason is that his brother-in-law is the Titans’ offensive line coach, Hall of Famer Mike Munchak. Like most of us fans, Jeff’s mood at this time of year rises and falls with the fortunes of his team, and right now his team is sitting at 5-7. This was after a 5-2 start; they’ve lost five games in a row. Their starting quarterback had (another) meltdown after a recent loss, before being put on IR; back up QB Kerry Collins is playing banged-up after rookie third stringer Rusty Smith had a horrible game two weeks ago. hey are getting booed at home, fans are calling for Coach Jeff Fisher’s head, and things are basically in turmoil.

So you have two 5-7 teams. I’m thrilled and excited and can’t wait for next Sunday; Jeff is forlorn and can’t wait for the season to end so the Titans can hopefully put an end to their problems during the offseason.

Of course, we may not have a 2011 season anyway, so we may have to wait two years to see how things play out.

This week’s results:

Yahoo Teams

RTVP League:  (8-5 – Clinched Playoff Spot) Angus’ All Stars 95, RimRats 57
Chix & Dix League: (4-9) Stratoblasters 218.0, IceholeWarriors 341.50
Purple Pride League: (10-3 – Clinched Playoff Spot) 4th And 10 149.00,  Primetime 117.00
Beer & Brats League:  (5-8) The Others 106.98, Shafiano 104.02
Pros Joes & Schmoes League:  (7-6) The New No. 2 197.86,  Jayus’ Jesters 171.85

NFL.com

League 5101: (5-8) The Dharma Initiative 101.8, 49ER NATION 133.84
League 6613: (8-5) Reedy Creek Ramblers 103.96, Special Needs 75.38

Fox Sports Public League 6970A: (9-4 – Clinched Playoff Spot) A Team Called Brian 96.3, Newc’s Cowboys 88.3

ESPN Players League: (3-9-1) Intimidating Team Name 115, Team Curtis 135

So I’m a combined 6-3  for the week, and 59-57-1 for the season in my head-to-head contests. Playoffs start next week in most leagues.