Welcome, Cleveland Browns, to the land of expectations.

It's a place of challenge and intrigue, mystique and memories.

Either that or we've just started working for Disney.

At any rate, a team knows it has arrived when the National Football League schedules it for a certain amount of night games. An up-and-coming team might get one or two. That's what most observers thought the Browns would get in 2008. After all, they had come off two losing seasons to go 10-6 in 2007 — and they hadn't even made the playoffs.

But no.

The NFL, which released its 2008 schedule Tuesday, has the Browns down for five prime-time games, two on the road.

The league and the TV networks simply do not give a team that many night games if said team is expected to struggle. The Browns could fall flat on their faces, which would not be a good thing for the league or the team. But for now, it's evident everyone thinks the Browns are very good.

The Browns have been scheduled for five night games.

The New York Giants, the defending Super Bowl champions, have four. The New England Patriots, who flirted with a perfect season a year ago, have as many as the Browns. And the San Diego Chargers, a team that features LaDainian Tomlinson, have six.

The Browns have been placed in elite company.

Come September, they must prove they belong.

It will not be easy.

The first night game is on Sunday night in week two, at home against Pittsburgh. It follows a 4:15 p.m. opener against the Dallas Cowboys.

Can anyone say, ''Who in the world decided that would be a good way to start the season?''

The next two games are on the road, at Baltimore and Cincinnati. Can anyone say, ''Geez, lighten up will ya?''

The second night game follows the bye week. It's on
Monday night, at home, against the Giants. That would be the Vince Lombardi Trophy-holding New York Giants.

Nice challenge for October.

But the league compounded things by sending the Browns on the road the following week to Washington. Teams routinely struggle with road games following Monday night games, and the Browns will visit a team that reached the playoffs last season.

Yikes!

Then they'll go on the road the following week to play Jacksonville, another 2007 playoff team.

Double yikes!

The third night game is at home against Denver on the NFL Network. Not many local fans will see the game on the NFL's network, though; it's not on many cable systems. Thankfully, the game will be broadcast on a local channel.

The last two night games are a coach's nightmare: on the road on Monday night, at Buffalo and at Philadelphia.

The Browns will play a home game following each, but the travels are never easy.

The team also finishes with three road games in the final four weeks, including the season finale in Pittsburgh on Dec. 27.

Five of the last six games are listed as 1 p.m. starts, but the league's flexible scheduling kicks in for week 11, meaning any 1 p.m. game might be moved to Sunday night.

So the best that can be said right now is that the Browns have five night games at a minimum, and if they're competitive late in the season, it's more than conceivable that games against the Colts and Steelers could be moved to prime time.

That would make what looks like a difficult schedule even more difficult. Consider:

• The opener against Dallas marks the 10th year in a row the Browns will open at home. Since 1999, the Browns have gone 1-8 in season openers. The Cowboys will be making their first appearance in Cleveland since 1991.

• The last three Super Bowl champions — the Giants, Colts and Steelers — will play in Cleveland.

• The combined won-lost record of the opponents is 137-119 (.535). Six opponents won 10 games in 2007, and nine were better than .500.

Difficult? On paper, yes.

But the one undeniable truth of the NFL these days is that things can change drastically from year to year. What looks tough right now might not be so tough when the games arrive.

What isn't arguable is that the league and the TV networks feel the Browns have arrived.

It's exciting — and surely a lot more fun than wondering where the Browns will pick in the draft following the season.

But it brings expectations.

Now the pressure falls on the team to live up to the hype.

Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com.