Your First... And Last?
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That was the infamous "Bernie literally drew up a touchdown pass in the dirt" game.
I was 16 I think, and watched it from a sports bar that was located in part of the old BF Goodrich factory just south of downtown Akron.
Then he was gone.
This sparked two good memories:
1) My Mom marched into 5th grade basketball practice that Monday and told me the Browns cut Bernie. I cried in front of the entire team, I didn't care. The Browns were my world.
2) Once I turned 10, my Dad would take me with him to the bar so we could watch the Browns on satellite. These days there are ALOT more Browns fans in Central Indiana. But 30 years ago, it felt like the nearest fans were in Dayton.
This sparked two good memories:
1) My Mom marched into 5th grade basketball practice that Monday and told me the Browns cut Bernie. I cried in front of the entire team, I didn't care. The Browns were my world.
2) Once I turned 10, my Dad would take me with him to the bar so we could watch the Browns on satellite. These days there are ALOT more Browns fans in Central Indiana. But 30 years ago, it felt like the nearest fans were in Dayton.
Were your parents from NE Ohio originally? How did your family end up Browns fans?
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This sparked two good memories:
1) My Mom marched into 5th grade basketball practice that Monday and told me the Browns cut Bernie. I cried in front of the entire team, I didn't care. The Browns were my world.
2) Once I turned 10, my Dad would take me with him to the bar so we could watch the Browns on satellite. These days there are ALOT more Browns fans in Central Indiana. But 30 years ago, it felt like the nearest fans were in Dayton.
Were your parents from NE Ohio originally? How did your family end up Browns fans?
Were your parents from NE Ohio originally? How did your family end up Browns fans?
NW PA.
Fourth generation fan. My Great Grandpa worked on the railroad and he would take my Grandpa on the train to Cleveland to watch the AAFC Browns.
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Were your parents from NE Ohio originally? How did your family end up Browns fans?
NW PA.
Fourth generation fan. My Great Grandpa worked on the railroad and he would take my Grandpa on the train to Cleveland to watch the AAFC Browns.
NW PA.
Fourth generation fan. My Great Grandpa worked on the railroad and he would take my Grandpa on the train to Cleveland to watch the AAFC Browns.
Oh yes, I remember talking to you about this before.
I have friends who live in Erie and the Oil City/Franklin areas.
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Oh yes, I remember talking to you about this before.
I have friends who live in Erie and the Oil City/Franklin areas.
There used to be multiple Browns Backers clubs in NW PA, Western NY and as far East as Syracuse (where Jim Browns and Ernie Davis both played college ball). I'm guessing there still is; but the Sunday Ticket lessens the need to leave one's home to watch them these days. Just so people understand, NYC was about a 6 hour ride from Rochester, NY. However, Cleveland was only about a 4-4.5 hour drive depending upon which side of Rochester one was travelling from. A couple other variables that recruited Rochester area attention/fans to the Browns were Otto Graham playing Pro Basketball for the Rochester Royals in 1946; and of course Jim Brown and Ernie Davis playing college football nearby in Syracuse. Most of all, my dad was addicted to Paul Brown's football program so I didn't get all adorable fictional bedtime stories other kids got. Oh no, I got Otto Graham one night, Jim Brown another, Gary Collins another, then Marion Motley and Lou The Toe, etc...
You're probably thinking why couldn't Flugel's dad have been a Steelers' fan? This place gets terrifying when his son thinks he knows what he's talking about in here...
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These stories of everyone's first Browns games at old Cleveland Stadium is making me sentimental. It was beat up, smelled funny with chipped paint and rusty steel and held together with duct tape and Browns fan's tears, but I mean this sincerely when I say:
If you are a Browns fan that never got to see a football game at Cleveland Stadium, you truly missed out. It was magnificent dump.
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It's the dead time of the Browns season... post-draft but months before training camp... thought it would be a good time for a quick questionnaire
1. When was your first Browns game you attended in person? What do you remember from it? It was against the Saints in 1984, days after Rutigliano was fired. Shottenheimer's first NFL game as head coach. Lost 16-14, with Ozzie scoring both touchdowns. I remember the cat walks in the upper deck, how incredibly big Cleveland Stadium was, and how absolutely scary and bombed out Cleveland looked on the way to the Stadium in the 80s.
2. When was your last Browns game you attended in person? Any good/funny anecdotes from it? Against the Bears this last season. Windy, rainy game, Bears fan in front of us (with his Browns buddy) finished off a bottle of bourbon between them. He started talking mad shit when they jumped ahead, and we gave it to him so hard when the Browns pulled out the win. He looked like he wanted to cry. Good times. (Post script: Didn't realize until I got home how close we came to losing the game on the last play Hail Mary. The play happened right in front of us, but all the players blocked how close the one WR came to catching it)
3. First favorite Browns player? Who was the Browns player you first really liked? I was born in 1975, so I kind of came in at the end of the Sipe years... really became a fan around the time I went to my first game, and I had two definite favorite players, one on offense, one on defense: Earnest Byner and Eddie "The Assassin" Johnson.
4. Last (current) favorite Browns player not named Nick Chubb? ? Joltin' Joel Bitonio!
5. First Browns jersey you owned? Who was the player? There's a photo somewhere of me dressed up as Brian Sipe for Halloween. It was one of those cheap knock-off jerseys you'd get at KMart back in the days before actual team jerseys were readily available.
6. Last Browns jersey you owned? Who? I received a Nick Chubb 1946-style white jersey for Jesus' birthday in 2022. It pairs well with my brown Nick Chubb jersey.
7. If you could go back in time and see any Browns game in person, what game would you go to? I think it would have to be the 1950 NFL Championship Game. Graham drives the Browns down the field to set up a Groza last minute winning field goal to make the Browns NFL champions in their first year in the league.
8. If you could put any current NFL player on the Browns, THAT DOESN'T PLAY QUARTERBACK, who would it be? Man, I think Chris Jones or some other stud DTackle would be a great idea. Then again, Tyreek Hill would be awesome to pair up with Cooper.
I remember the cat walks in the upper deck, how incredibly big Cleveland Stadium was, and how absolutely scary and bombed out Cleveland looked on the way to the Stadium in the 80s.
for me, the early 70's when we took the rapid transit (train) from Shaker Hts to the Terminal Tower had the same dreary look
He was pretty clutch in a short career. A few pick 6s, & blocked punts. Totally under rated, I loved watching him make plays.
he was good! Felix Wright came to the Vikings for about a year in 1991, but the Browns had his best career year(s)
1. When was your first Browns game you attended in person? What do you remember from it?
Dec 14 1980 Met Stadium https://www.footballdb.com/games/boxscore/cleveland-browns-vs-minnesota-vikings-1980121403
cold day, Browns with Sipe, Vikings with Kramer and what seemed to be a sure victory for the Browns and a playoff berth
until 2min Tommy put together a drive that ended with Ahmad Rashads game winning TD catch from a tip ..
2. When was your last Browns game you attendeat d in person? Any good/funny anecdotes from it?
Dec 17 1989 CLE Municipal https://www.footballdb.com/games/boxscore/minnesota-vikings-vs-cleveland-browns-1989121705
TD/OT winner by LB VanWaiters flip from holder on fake fieldgoal attempt in the dawgpound endzone -very cold and snowy weekend
friends from work and i drank the plane ride dry (probably just cut-off by NW Airlines) on the friday arrival - too much snow in Cle and multiple circiling around
Hopkins Int haha
then gameday my friends who had their horns and yellow braids vikes gear on almost got into some fights at the mens room
3. First favorite Browns player? Who was the Browns player you first really liked?
Bill Nelson / Gary Collins / Paul Warfield / Leroy Kelly hard to pick just one
4. Last (current) favorite Browns player not named Nick Chubb? ?
current players are all kids - Im too old to have such favorites such when i was younger (like Zombo said)
but Id say oline guys like Bitonio or Teller, great in thier own right but the kind who arent in the spotlight
5. First Browns jersey you owned? Who was the player?
a gift by my son in law a few years back- asked me what browns jersey i'd want, and instead of going classic level players
I went with (eegads) Kellen Winslow II
6. Last Browns jersey you owned? Who?
none- one mistake is enuf - I have a 70's version brown orange wool beanie with an orange ball on the top,
and a fitted baseball cap with the brownie emblem
7. If you could go back in time and see any Browns game in person, what game would you go to?
1964 Championship
8. If you could put any current NFL player on the Browns, THAT DOESN'T PLAY QUARTERBACK, who would it be?
I dont know, anyone (BPA) who could contribute and not be a drama queen or lockerroom problem
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Redhead
Beach blonde
I'm embarrassed that it took me two times looking at your response before the lightbulb flickered on... ?
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It's the dead time of the Browns season... post-draft but months before training camp... thought it would be a good time for a quick questionnaire
1. When was your first Browns game you attended in person? What do you remember from it?
2. When was your last Browns game you attended in person? Any good/funny anecdotes from it?
3. First favorite Browns player? Who was the Browns player you first really liked?
4. Last (current) favorite Browns player not named Nick Chubb? ?
5. First Browns jersey you owned? Who was the player?
6. Last Browns jersey you owned? Who?
7. If you could go back in time and see any Browns game in person, what game would you go to?
8. If you could put any current NFL player on the Browns, THAT DOESN'T PLAY QUARTERBACK, who would it be?
It's the dead time of the Browns season... post-draft but months before training camp... thought it would be a good time for a quick questionnaire
1. When was your first Browns game you attended in person? What do you remember from it?
1989 - 23-17 OT loss to the Colts at the Hoosier Dome. I cried the whole drive home.
2. When was your last Browns game you attended in person? Any good/funny anecdotes from it?
2018 - Preseason Game against the Colts. The buzz around the game was Andrew Luck's return. One week later, word would break during the Colts' final pre-season game that Luck was retiring. Fans (understandably) flipped their shit. Then when Irsay let him keep his contract money, they really flipped shit.
3. First favorite Browns player? Who was the Browns player you first really liked?
Bernie. BUT Steve Everitt really made an impression. My Dad never watched the games. He'd get me amd my brother to our seats, give us a $20, and go wander the Hoosier/RCA Dome. On one of his adventures, he found some side doors, and hallways that eventually led to the family gathering areas after the game. Both teams, one area, and the exit doors led to the bus dock for the away team. We didn't interfere with the families, but Steve Everitt was just drafted and single. He was the first one out of the locker room. He'd have a Metallica or GNR t-shirt on and was very generous to us with his time after games, the three times we met and talked. He gave us a bandana after one of those games. It was the same type when he was fined for wearing the Browns bandana under his Ravens helmet.
4. Last (current) favorite Browns player not named Nick Chubb? ?
Joel Bitonio
5. First Browns jersey you owned? Who was the player?
Never had a jersey, but my Mom found a Starter brand Browns jacket at our local mall in the early 90s. It was like finding a unicorn. I wore that jacket out!
6. Last Browns jersey you owned? Who?
7. If you could go back in time and see any Browns game in person, what game would you go to?
I'll give a few...1993 Steelers at home, Eric Metcalf returned the two punts for TDs, 1994 in Dallas, beating the defending Super Bowl Champs, the only Browns game I ever saw in Municipal Stadium, 1994 against the Oilers.
8. If you could put any current NFL player on the Browns, THAT DOESN'T PLAY QUARTERBACK, who would it be?
Trent Williams
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Great story about meeting Steve Everitt @ap1!
It always made me laugh when Braylon Edwards complained that the reason Browns fans didn't like him was because where he went to school, because of how liked Everitt was. I'll always have a soft spot in my Browns lovin' heart for him because of him wearing the Browns bandanna during the Ravens first season.
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