What Made You a Browns Fan?
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When I was a kid I told my dad I liked the chargers because the lightning bolt was cool. He sent me to timeout and told me to come out when I was a browns fan.
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Sons become Browns fans just to piss their father off.lol
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What made me a Browns fan? Birth...
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ahhh....Flugels taking me down memory lane ....again.....my one word answer?.......Dad....but it's so much more....(here come 40 years of my Browns memories.....so just look away if you cant bear it)......
For me it was just part of life.....Dad had 4 seats(1st row upper deck....about on the 28 yrd line/closed end)....GREAT SEATS....and my memory of going to games pretty much starts about 1970 and the drafting of Phipps and Sherk.....my built in hero was Leroy Kelly of course....but Sherk was my first "rookie" hero. Of course, I couldnt like Phipps because my Dad wouldnt allow it. He was a hack and cost us Paul Warfield(whatever THAT meant), but I knew better than to like him......so it was Jerry Sherk and Joe Jones I watched from the early days, developing an early love for defense.......I also had twin older brothers who both played and were kind of my heroes at the time. They ended up being matching book end DE's for Cleve Hts tigers. So, again, just watching my bro's play, it was always a D thing.......
I cant say I went every single game.....but damn near every one for sure.....from then(70) thru the early 80's. All the ups and downs. My favorites all along were the D guys....Mathews - RL Jackson - Tom Darden - Big Daddy - Bob Golik - Frank and Hanford - Tom Deleon....etc etc.....and I admit I did stray in the mid 70's(as 12 yr olds do) and fell in love with the Purple People Eaters and the Vikings tough style.....my Dad HATED that and refused to buy me Vikings stuff and bitched about my Alan Page poster, etc.....but I think Sherk and Page, Eller and Marshall were where Defense just became everything to me.....
Somwhere in there, we tapped both Pruitts, RL Jackson, Clay Mathews, Dave Logan, Tom Darden and Ozzy all in just a couple/few quick years and....
then....it happened!......I was in high school and loving the Browns again and the Kardiac Kids showed up on the scene......WOW!.....this was the year I truly became a fanatic....everybody went crazy...there game watch parties every week and the stadium was electric!!!.....and just the game no longer was enough, now I needed every drop and morsel of Browns I could get.....started going to Kent State and then Lakeland to watch them train...started buying extra news papers and magazines just for some stats or info....started paying attention to draft.....etc......
The Bernie years hit just in time for my to fully appreciate what was happening. I was in my early 20's and could see the talent we had. And, after red right 88, I was hoping to experience more. The USFL was folding and we scored some GREAT players and I could just feel the buzz(which Im starting to feel again),,,,and KNEW we were in for great things!!!......And, by this time, I hadn't missed attending a game in 5 years.....
Of course we know all the great games and victories, as well as the pain, that came with that era. I was amazing and terrible all at the same time.......and it was when I learned to make the Browns a hobby, more than anything else. Dropped the blind love and traded for realistic and pragmatic....and really started enjoying it year round. Became a draft nut, #'s fanatic, etc just because it was fun to do AND it would never break my heart. So, now, more hobby....less fanatic.
but ...in the end.....I love the Browns and could never EVER follow another team. They've been with me my whole life. But they are not my girl friend that will tear my heart out....they are more like an old muscle car that Ive had for decades now..... I like to tinker with it and race around......but it's old and can break down, but no sweat.... I dont get mad, I just roll up my sleeve and realize Ive got more tinkring to do.....which is my hobby, so it works out.......and, WOW, when she runs sweet?......well thats perfect!
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What made me a Browns' fan?
I guess it was the football culture of the Greater Cleveland I was born into in the early 50's.
Can't peg the exact year I became truly "Browns aware", but I still have a scrapbook (somewhere) of Monday Plain Dealer clippings about games plus many of the game photos in glorious B&W. Some have to be dated.
Add the voice of Ken Coleman over the radio at home games and channel 8 (IIRC) during away game broadcasts and his "Quarterback Club" game highlights, broadcasts every week and the path was set.
But the clincher had to be my first live game sometime around '59, give or take. I'd been to Indians' games before and while the contrast from the gray, shady bowels of old Muni to the brilliant green, sunlit field before you as you exited the ramp was always jarring, those visits did not carry the added impact of nearly full stands. That was the clincher.
I can still hear the Browns "fight song" playing over the QB Club's opening credits.
"When you have a shared vision it is a lot easier to make unpopular decisions." - Paul DePodesta "When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less." - Paul Brown Complete 2017 Browns Board Mock: http://thebrownsboard.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=46196 -
Living in Nebraska, there isn't really a natural team to root for. A lot of Donkey fans around here, and the Pollocks all root for the Packers. I was never interested in either growing up. I'm a die-hard Nebraska football fan, only missed three games since 1993. So, when Scott Frost entered the league when I was 12, I became a fan of the Jets.
NFL was never really my big interest. I'd watch it, but I didn't really care that much about how the Jets did, so when Frosty went to the Buccaneers, it was easy for me to jump ship. Then Frost went to the Browns, and being a douchebag teenager, I didn't want to be a Browns fan, and went back to the Jets.
Fast forward to Bill Callahan running NU football into the ground, and running off to NY. Being a Husker fan made me question my allegiances again. Bear in mind, I still wasn't much of an NFL fan, just felt like I needed to have a team.
I decided to give the Browns a shot. They had classic uniforms, have probably the most collegiate like fan base, and they were really the rightful heir to my allegiance.
Turns out, being a Browns fan was what I needed to jump start my NFL fandom. Nebraska football is still first and foremost, but I find myself living and dying with the Browns on Sundays, just as I do with the Huskers on Saturdays.
I'm ashamed to say I shunned the Browns at one point, but I'm proud to say they're my team now.
That may seem like a stupid reason to be a Fan of a team, or like I'm not really invested in it as much as others, but I am full-fledged Brownies till I die.
It's also a lot better reason than why I'm a Knicks fan. I loved their arena music when I was 8, and just stuck with them.
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It's times like this I feel like a bit of an outsider...
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Born here. Born with this curse
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BIRTH!!
I was born November 30, 1946 in Berea during the Browns inaugural season, which is a natural bond. Not much to say other than I was born with the Browns. There was never another Team for me, nor will there ever be. I feel bad for those Fans who weren't BORN with a Team right in their back yard. While my family was poor, we had our Browns. Now I have season tickets & I feel my Dad's presence every game, especially those when I have my Son or Grandson with me.
There's something very special growing here now & I implore you youngsters to get on this train for one hellacious ride. Believe me, it's worth it!
Mike
INΒ DORSEY I TRUST -
I was born in Berea, Ohio in 1970.
I have lived in and around the westside of Cleveland all 45 years of my life
My father is a Browns fan.
Can't see any reason to root for any other team
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I attended a few Browns games at the old stadium before I was born.
It's in my DNA.
Always part of my makeup.Same thing with root beer...
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Just because they drafted Johnny....
My father is from Cleveland. Parents met at Lake Erie College (my dad somehow attended an all girls school). He doesn't like sports but my uncle came around every few years and would always give me Browns stuff.
Like brogan, was never a huge NFL guy until the 2013 season. College was always my game but the last two seasons have been really fun just learning the nuances of the league and how it's different from the college game.
I've tried to get into other teams here and there all throughout my life but you never forget your first love. No team ever felt right like the Cleveland Browns.
Funny thing is both of my father's parents were from Pittsburgh. My dad didn't live in Cleveland til he was about 10 (military kid), so no one could fault me if I had chosen the Steelers. But credit my uncle for doing his job of indoctrination.
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Watching the Browns on black and white television with my dad on Sundays in the mid 60's. I remember dad turning my mom (a former football hater) into a rabid Browns fan and he taught me everything I know about being a couch potato on Sunday afternoons.
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My dad was the influence as well. He was a huge Browns fan, and when I was little, I'd sit there and listen to Gib Shanley on the radio with him, or watch the road games on tv.
He took me to my first game in 1972 vs Cincinnati. I'll never forget it- we kicked off, and Boobie Clark was one of the return men. He and the other guy (2 were deep) simply watched the ball bounce around, and the Browns recovered on the 5 yard line. The place was going nuts,& I was hooked. Leroy Kelly scored on the 2nd play of the game. Browns won 27-6.
I ended up getting season tickets when I was a junior in High School at Rhodes. Bleachers, $60 for the whole season. Now, It's $60 per ticket, and I still go. I think this season the Browns will turn this thing around, pending decent QB play by Shaw or McCown.
I passed the love down as well. My 3 sons are moved out now. One's in Houston, another is in Phoenix. They attend at Browns Backers bars and hope for the best. My other son tailgates with us, heading into his senior year at John Carroll.
GO BROWNS!!
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I remember going into the attic with a black and white TV with the rabbit ears pointing out the vent so we could pick up the Toledo station to watch home games back in the 70's
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BIRTH!!
I was born November 30, 1946 in Berea during the Browns inaugural season, which is a natural bond. Not much to say other than I was born with the Browns. There was never another Team for me, nor will there ever be. I feel bad for those Fans who weren't BORN with a Team right in their back yard. While my family was poor, we had our Browns. Now I have season tickets & I feel my Dad's presence every game, especially those when I have my Son or Grandson with me.
There's something very special growing here now & I implore you youngsters to get on this train for one hellacious ride. Believe me, it's worth it!
Mike
BIRTH!!
I was born November 30, 1946 in Berea during the Browns inaugural season, which is a natural bond. Not much to say other than I was born with the Browns. There was never another Team for me, nor will there ever be. I feel bad for those Fans who weren't BORN with a Team right in their back yard. While my family was poor, we had our Browns. Now I have season tickets & I feel my Dad's presence every game, especially those when I have my Son or Grandson with me.
There's something very special growing here now & I implore you youngsters to get on this train for one hellacious ride. Believe me, it's worth it!
Mike
I agree with Mike- though he has a few years (very few) on me. Also born in Cleveland. It was watch every away game on the B&W TV, and listen on the radio to every home game. Monday Night was quarterback Club evening. .
Occasionally, Grandpa would be able to get (great) seats from work- and take us kids. When you're 10, you don't appreciate what a treat it was to sit 30 yard line lower deck. So yes, I got to see Jim Brown play in person many times, as well as see the Browns routinely beat the tar out of the expansion Cowboys 42-7.
I've said many times here before one of my greatest regrets in life was not spending some of my paper route money, buying a ticket to the '64 Championship game and hopping on the bus to the Stadium.To this day, I've never seen that game in it's entirety. But we were so spoiled back then- the Browns won all the time, no reason to believe it wasn't going to happen again soon.
But when you're a fan in your 30s you try to make up for lost time. Yeah, I was in what was to become the Dawg Pound for Red Right 88, as well as at the Jets double overtime game. I was staying for that one till the bitter end, and it was hysterical seeing fans running back into the stadium after hearing on the radio we had tied the game up.
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I just enjoyed how Jim Brown ran but admit when I lived in Colorado and Wyoming I became a Broncos fan. Johnny Football brought me back and now it's just the fun of watching the evolution of a great team that keeps me hanging around. I like underdogs especially when I see clear signs they are about to bite a bunch of entitled jackass "prima donnas" in the ass.
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Father, that's why he gets no card today
Father, that's why he gets no card today
LOL
... Hang in there this team with Farmer and Pettine directing them are not the same old Browns. I believe that 100%.
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