~ AND ~ ? only 204 days and now 92 ? 57 ? 32 ? 19 ? YES really ! And still counting... ? ....​​​​​​​?

[Dutch Oven]

@mjp28 said:

Relax Dutch there were only 15 guys that ever wore the  #41 and only  ONE had more games than  Ray Ventrone  and he was a TE from (as in born in)  MISSISSIPPI with the nickname  "catfish "   with exactly -0- TDs.... i have no idea whatsoever why .....  EXCEPT I wouldn't want a locker next to his in any direction..... 

SO you're safe there,  I imagine you might have real good picks coming up real soon !    I'll pass it  over to you..... and feel that somehow I need a shower..... soon.        

#41 wasn't a bumper crop of choices to pick from, but....

the guy I picked could very well end up being the next Cleveland Browns head coach. 

[Dutch Oven]

Been busy keeping up-to-date with all the Guardians trade moves, but never too busy to remind all you fine people that we are now Dub Jones days until the start of the 2023 Cleveland Browns season. William "Dub" Jones was a Louisiana native who started college at LSU, then transferred to Tulane due to the WWII era officer training program. He started his pro football career playing for the AAFC Miami Seahawks and Brooklyn (Football) Dodgers, before being traded to the Browns prior to the 1948 season. The tall halfback/flanker was a dual running/receiving threat, and would be named to the NFL Pro Bowl twice. He is the co-holder of the most touchdowns in NFL history when he nabbed six of them vs Chicago in 1951. In his career, which spanned from 1946-55, he would rush for 2210 yards and 21 touchdowns, and add 171 receptions for 2874 yards and another 20 touchdowns.

After his playing career ended, he would return to the Browns as an assistant coach for a handful of years. He is the father of 1976 NFL MVP QB Bert Jones, of the Baltimore Colts. 

[Flugel]

@dutch-oven said:

#41 wasn't a bumper crop of choices to pick from, but....

the guy I picked could very well end up being the next Cleveland Browns head coach. 

I saw it earlier but didn't read it yet.  Judging by the reaction of our fans in here when he got hired as the STs Coordinator - people liked him enough as a player to be excited he's back as a coach.  I didn't even know he ever had short hair when I saw your post this morning.  I used to get a kick out him flying down the field with that Billy Ray Cyrus hairdo coming out of his helmet.  The only thing missing was the shit kickers.  

[Dutch Oven]

@flugel said:

I saw it earlier but didn't read it yet.  Judging by the reaction of our fans in here when he got hired as the STs Coordinator - people liked him enough as a player to be excited he's back as a coach.  I didn't even know he ever had short hair when I saw your post this morning.  I used to get a kick out him flying down the field with that Billy Ray Cyrus hairdo coming out of his helmet.  The only thing missing was the shit kickers.  

It also didn't hurt that the special teams under Pfeifer were hot garbage, so getting a ST coach who was considered "not hot garbage" was nice. ?

[Flugel]

@dutch-oven said:

It also didn't hurt that the special teams under Pfeifer were hot garbage, so getting a ST coach who was considered "not hot garbage" was nice. ?

Definitely that!  1 final cleanse. "Okay, do we have all 12 of ya?  Make it happen!"  

[Dutch Oven]

We are barely 24 hours from the kickoff to the Browns preseason, and only Tashaun Gipson days until the start of the 2023 Cleveland Browns regular season. Gipson was an undrafted free agent picked up by the Browns out of Wyoming in 2012, and he's still playing! Gipson played with the Browns for four seasons (2012-15), being named to the Pro Bowl in 2014. After the Browns, the safety played for Jacksonville, Houston, Chicago and currently with San Francisco. He has 32 career interceptions, and 3 defensive touchdowns. 

[mjp28]

@dutch-oven said:

We are barely 24 hours from the kickoff to the Browns preseason, and only Tashaun Gipson days until the start of the 2023 Cleveland Browns regular season. Gipson was an undrafted free agent picked up by the Browns out of Wyoming in 2012, and he's still playing! Gipson played with the Browns for four seasons (2012-15), being named to the Pro Bowl in 2014. After the Browns, the safety played for Jacksonville, Houston, Chicago and currently with San Francisco. He has 32 career interceptions, and 3 defensive touchdowns. 

From an UFA to some pretty good numbers  ..... not bad at all.  I'll take that. 

[Dutch Oven]

@mjp28 said:

From an UFA to some pretty good numbers  ..... not bad at all.  I'll take that. 

The next few days are a little on the light side of "Browns greats", but you'll have that. It will pick up this weekend

[mjp28]

@dutch-oven said:

The next few days are a little on the light side of "Browns greats", but you'll have that. It will pick up this weekend

That's  TRUE ......  then it should pick up a lot in the mid to lower #30's  I think we all can count on that  BIG time including a GOAT or two.      

[Flugel]

@dutch-oven said:

We are barely 24 hours from the kickoff to the Browns preseason, and only Tashaun Gipson days until the start of the 2023 Cleveland Browns regular season. Gipson was an undrafted free agent picked up by the Browns out of Wyoming in 2012, and he's still playing! Gipson played with the Browns for four seasons (2012-15), being named to the Pro Bowl in 2014. After the Browns, the safety played for Jacksonville, Houston, Chicago and currently with San Francisco. He has 32 career interceptions, and 3 defensive touchdowns. 

Looking at his career volume of INTs and TDs - can you imagine how many he had in practice against some of the names on that QB T-shirt?   He had to be thinking "Here Comes Santa Claus" all practice.  This place should have been the recruiting capital for Undrafted FA DBs looking to make a team.  Gipson knew what he was doing coming here.

Meanwhile, I can't help but thinking ahead to the number on my avatar.  @syd shared a 23 minute highlight video of him from 1973 to 1976 in a thread earlier this year.  Ever since, and I mean this in a good way, I put Sydsies in the Cleveland Browns football junkie category.   That's only 1 one of the gems we had that wore #34 though...

[syd]

@flugel said:

Looking at his career volume of INTs and TDs - can you imagine how many he had in practice against some of the names on that QB T-shirt?   He had to be thinking "Here Comes Santa Claus" all practice.  This place should have been the recruiting capital for Undrafted FA DBs looking to make a team.  Gipson knew what he was doing coming here.

Meanwhile, I can't help but thinking ahead to the number on my avatar.  @syd shared a 23 minute highlight video of him from 1973 to 1976 in a thread earlier this year.  Ever since, and I mean this in a good way, I put Sydsies in the Cleveland Browns football junkie category.   That's only 1 one of the gems we had that wore #34 though...

32 mins to kickoff and unfortunately there will not be a #34 on the field tonight for The Browns

[Dutch Oven]

Less than 30 minutes from the start of the 2023 Browns season, and Antonio Langham days until the Browns and Bengals kickoff the regular season. Langham was an All-American cornerback at Alabama, in fact, he still holds the record for most career interceptions for the Crimson Tide with 19. The Browns selected the corner in the first round (#9 overall) and he was a solid player for the team for his first two seasons. Then Modell moved the team, and Langham moved with them to Baltimore, playing there for two more seasons. Eventually the Browns would select Langham in the 1999 expansion draft, and he would be one of two players (OTackle Orlando Brown being the other) who would play for the original Browns AND the expansion Browns. 

[Dutch Oven]

With the first preseason game under our belts, we're rounding third and heading home on our march towards the start of the 2023 Cleveland Browns season, as we are only Anthony Henry days left! Henry was a 2001 fourth round pick out of South Florida, and the cornerback hit the ground running his rookie season, grabbing 10 interceptions on the year, including four in one game vs Detroit (I was there!). After the 2004 season, Henry would leave in free agency and go to Dallas for another four seasons, before ending his career in Detroit after the 2009 season. 

I posted this photo to remind all of you how ugly the Butch Davis era orange jerseys were. Oof. 

[mjp28]

@dutch-oven said:

With the first preseason game under our belts, we're rounding third and heading home on our march towards the start of the 2023 Cleveland Browns season, as we are only Anthony Henry days left! Henry was a 2001 fourth round pick out of South Florida, and the cornerback hit the ground running his rookie season, grabbing 10 interceptions on the year, including four in one game vs Detroit (I was there!). After the 2004 season, Henry would leave in free agency and go to Dallas for another four seasons, before ending his career in Detroit after the 2009 season. 

I posted this photo to remind all of you how ugly the Butch Davis era orange jerseys were. Oof. 

Oh YES .... well we are trying to look for the great  .... well maybe good,  ok ?   Yes looking for the   "ok-est"  numbers in this very small dip in our Cleveland BROWNS jersey countdown to the beginning of the  2023 football season. 

And some real good,  no greatest are not far off.    

[Dutch Oven]

Happy weekend to most of you, as we've now arrived at Marion Motley days until the start of the 2023 Cleveland Browns season. Motley was born in Georgia, but he and his family moved to Canton when he was 3 years old. He starred at Canton McKinley, where the Bulldogs went 25-3 during his time there. The three losses? All to rival Massillon Washington High School, coached by one Paul Brown. Motley then went to historically black college South Carolina State, before transferring to the University of Nevada.   ★ During WWII he would leave Nevada and play football at the Great Lakes Training Center, coached by Paul Brown. Brown would recruit Motley to pair up with Bill Willis to be two of the four black players to break the color barrier in 1946 (the other two being Kenny Washington and Woody Strode of the LA Rams).

Motley would play fullback and linebacker for the Browns from 1946-1953. The Browns would go to the Championship game in every year he played for them, winning titles from 1946-1950, and losing three tough games in 1951-1953. He ran for 4720 yards for a staggering 5.7 average and 31 touchdowns. He came back in 1955 to play one more year for the Pittsburgh Steelers at linebacker before retiring for good. He would be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968. 

Otto Graham believed that Marion Motley was the superior fullback to Jim Brown. Motley was a running, receiving and blocking monster. 

[mjp28]

@dutch-oven said:

Happy weekend to most of you, as we've now arrived at Marion Motley days until the start of the 2023 Cleveland Browns season. Motley was born in Georgia, but he and his family moved to Canton when he was 3 years old. He starred at Canton McKinley, where the Bulldogs went 25-3 during his time there. The three losses? All to rival Massillon Washington High School, coached by one Paul Brown. Motley then went to historically black college South Carolina State, before transferring to the University of Nevada. ★ During WWII he would leave Nevada and play football at the Great Lakes Training Center, coached by Paul Brown. Brown would recruit Motley to pair up with Bill Willis to be two of the four black players to break the color barrier in 1946 (the other two being Kenny Washington and Woody Strode of the LA Rams).

Motley would play fullback and linebacker for the Browns from 1946-1953. The Browns would go to the Championship game in every year he played for them, winning titles from 1946-1950, and losing three tough games in 1951-1953. He ran for 4720 yards for a staggering 5.7 average and 31 touchdowns. He came back in 1955 to play one more year for the Pittsburgh Steelers at linebacker before retiring for good. He would be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968. 

★   Otto Graham believed that Marion Motley was the superior fullback to Jim Brown. Motley was a running, receiving and blocking monster. 

★ OH yes #36  (or #76, take your pick) Marion Motley  an absolute bulldozer with the ball in his right arm   -or-   as a blocker protecting anyone else.  I can see why Mr Otto Graham was correct Marion Motley might have been the GOAT  there as the greatest ever runner/blocker even better than the  GOAT  Jim Brown. 

And they were  both Cleveland BROWNS.   Another thing anytime I see or hear of the Great Lakes Training Center  in association with coach Paul Brown  whether it's football or baseball  during  WWII I remember ....... These were the guys that kept the NFL going and beyond into the 1950s and its meteoric rise to today.

I remember it from my dad's run through his Great Lakes and WWII experiences whether it's Paul Brown or Bob Feller they were the absolute best and represented Cleveland well.    A little more about the Great Lakes Training Center and WWII and sports for you.  ..... then back to  #35 on our countdown  to September. 

︎~~~~~~~~~~︎

★ The best team in baseball in 1942 didn’t get to play in the World Series. That’s because the players had other jobs to do that were more important.

*(Sorry if I'm going on with this but it is a favorite topic for me .... the history of sports.)  

But the real stockpile of talent for the Navy team was on the pitching staff. Former Detroit star Schoolboy Rowe served as a coach as well as a pitcher. Then there were big-time major league stars Johnny VanderMeer, George McQuillan, Virgil Trucks, Johnny Schmitz, and Walt Masterson.

The Blue Jackets also boasted the greatest pitcher in the world, albeit briefly. Before he was shipped out to sea, Bob Feller  showed off his blazing fastball in a Great Lakes uniform.

* In 1942 the Great Lakes team posted a 52-10-1 record in games against college programs, minor league teams, other service teams, and even major league clubs.

During the second World War, the Naval Station at Great Lakes, Illinois on the north side of Chicago was home to some of the greatest ballplayers on the planet. These were major leaguers who had stepped away from their big league jobs to serve their country. Their leader for three years was Mickey Cochrane, the former star catcher and manager of the Detroit Tigers, a man whom the secretary of the Navy had tapped for a special job......

......Great Lakes was opened in 1911 after initially being funded by Theodore Roosevelt several years earlier. Sailors were trained there during World War I and in the intervening years leading up to WWII. But the station was actually closed during the Great Depression briefly before it was rescued by Illinois congressmen. It was during World War II that it became a city unto itself. At its peak there were more than 100,000 sailors on the site during World War II. Great Lakes was the largest military training station in the world at that time. Spread over 160 acres at its peak, there were thousands of barracks, classrooms, and training fields, as well as more than 90 swimming pools and their own fire department and water works department.  |---> continued at GLTC -->

www.vintagedetroit.com. or  https://www.vintagedetroit.com/author/dan-holmes/

[Flugel]

@dutch-oven said:

Happy weekend to most of you, as we've now arrived at Marion Motley days until the start of the 2023 Cleveland Browns season. Motley was born in Georgia, but he and his family moved to Canton when he was 3 years old. He starred at Canton McKinley, where the Bulldogs went 25-3 during his time there. The three losses? All to rival Massillon Washington High School, coached by one Paul Brown. Motley then went to historically black college South Carolina State, before transferring to the University of Nevada.   ★ During WWII he would leave Nevada and play football at the Great Lakes Training Center, coached by Paul Brown. Brown would recruit Motley to pair up with Bill Willis to be two of the four black players to break the color barrier in 1946 (the other two being Kenny Washington and Woody Strode of the LA Rams).

Motley would play fullback and linebacker for the Browns from 1946-1953. The Browns would go to the Championship game in every year he played for them, winning titles from 1946-1950, and losing three tough games in 1951-1953. He ran for 4720 yards for a staggering 5.7 average and 31 touchdowns. He came back in 1955 to play one more year for the Pittsburgh Steelers at linebacker before retiring for good. He would be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968. 

Otto Graham believed that Marion Motley was the superior fullback to Jim Brown. Motley was a running, receiving and blocking monster. 

When we really think about it - a Fullback is what it says it is.  A back that does the full work load of blocking, running and receiving (ie; Larry Csonka).  I always refer to Jim Brown as a RB while often specifying he was a power runner that could also catch the ball when needed.  That said, he could also jet and outrun people when that was warranted. Nobody ever seems to remember seeing him throw a block; which is probably why he remained healthy enough to never miss a game.  What I don't want people to start doing some day (and I know it'll happen) is people will start saying "yeah Jim Brown was the best FB but this guy is the best RB."   They've already era snobbed Otto Graham - a guy that led his to the Championship Game every single year of his Pro Football career.  He won 7 of the 10 Championships and 6 of 10 were in the NFL where he won 3 of the 6.  That was after the NFL couldn't wait to see how Cleveland handled the alleged REAL COMPETITION.  How could we sum up going to the Championship Title Game every season in the 1st 6 years they participated in that league?  I'd say they aced it! ?

My dad loved to tell me and my brother about Otto Graham and Marion Motley so this was a fun post to read above.

[Dutch Oven]

May I interrupt your observance of an invisible guy in the sky to inform you that we are now Jerome Harrison days until the start of the 2023 Cleveland Browns season? Now, there might have been a few Browns players who had longer, more overall productive years with the Browns who wore #35 than Harrison, but for one day, well..... damn. 

Harrison was a 5th round Browns pick of the 2006 Draft that also brought Lawrence Vickers, and he was a backup for his first three seasons (450 yards rushing combined) but would take over as starter after the departure of Jamal Lewis, and would go bonkers down the stretch of the 2009 season. On the road vs the Kansas City Chiefs, he would erupt for team record 286 yards rushing, and three touchdowns, obliterating Jim Browns game record. 

During the following season, the Browns would trade the 5'9, 205lb RB to Philadelphia. In 2011, while with Detroit, the Lions attempted to trade him back to the Eagles and Harrison would fail the physical because a brain tumor was found. The tumor was benign, but complications from the surgery would end Harrison's career. He would rush for 1681 yards for an impressive 4.7 per carry average. 

[mjp28]

@dutch-oven said:

May I interrupt your observance of an invisible guy in the sky to inform you that we are now Jerome Harrison days until the start of the 2023 Cleveland Browns season? Now, there might have been a few Browns players who had longer, more overall productive years with the Browns who wore #35 than Harrison, but for one day, well..... damn. 

Harrison was a 5th round Browns pick of the 2006 Draft that also brought Lawrence Vickers, and he was a backup for his first three seasons (450 yards rushing combined) but would take over as starter after the departure of Jamal Lewis, and would go bonkers down the stretch of the 2009 season. On the road vs the Kansas City Chiefs, he would erupt for team record 286 yards rushing, and three touchdowns, obliterating Jim Browns game record. 

During the following season, the Browns would trade the 5'9, 205lb RB to Philadelphia. In 2011, while with Detroit, the Lions attempted to trade him back to the Eagles and Harrison would fail the physical because a brain tumor was found. The tumor was benign, but complications from the surgery would end Harrison's career. He would rush for 1681 yards for an impressive 4.7 per carry average. 

~    And I might add two  Honorable Mentions  on the #35 jersey countdown list .....  Galen Fiss  and  Bo Scott.

︎  Galen Fiss  #35. RILB/ILB  is from my era 1956-1966  with 139 games. 6-0, 227lb. Not flashy just dependable.  Right up and through the 1964 Championship Team, he did his part.

(1931 -2006.)  College: Kansas  Draft: Cleveland Browns in the 13th round (156th overall) of the 1953 NFL Draft.

︎. Bo Scott  #35  FB/RB  from 1969 - 2006 with 73 games  Rushing & Rec 666 touches  2950 yards. And two pro bowls.    That is all a FB /REC / Blocker too.

 

• Galen Fiss Overview

[Flugel]

@mjp28 said:

~    And I might add two  Honorable Mentions  on the #35 jersey countdown list .....  Galen Fiss  and  Bo Scott.

︎  Galen Fiss  #35. RILB/ILB  is from my era 1956-1966  with 139 games. 6-0, 227lb. Not flashy just dependable.  Right up and through the 1964 Championship Team, he did his part.

(1931 -2006.)  College: Kansas  Draft: Cleveland Browns in the 13th round (156th overall) of the 1953 NFL Draft.

︎. Bo Scott  #35  FB/RB  from 1969 - 2006 with 73 games  Rushing & Rec 666 touches  2950 yards. And two pro bowls.    That is all a FB /REC / Blocker too.

 

• Galen Fiss Overview

Calvin Hill wasn't bad either as a 3rd down receiver out of the backfield for about 3 or 4 years or so.  I've heard about Fiss; but I had the pleasure of watching Bo Scott play.  He did it all.  I mostly remember him as a FB.