What Made You a Browns Fan?
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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%. -
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.
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.
Folks, it's been a lot of fun reading your replies so thanks for giving us your connection. This is a great common bond we share here from all over the country and over into England. Please keep them coming if you haven't already done so or if you'd like to add something you might have forgotten.
That Cornhusker perspective about the Packers is not only unparalleled entertainment value but it's 100% free. You'd make a great welcome wagon for AFC North trolls. And then Bacon shows up telling us why his dad ain't getting a card today. God bless yuz!
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Dad always rooted for the local team. I guess I got that from him. "Always root for the home team and always root for the underdog." He always hated the "greats" like MJ, the Yankees, Cowboys, or any other popular "dynasty" of my life time. Made me never be a front-runner and made me love Ohio teams, unless they're playing against my team...
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Born in 63, in Toledo and when you leave St. Charles Hosp. in a Browns Onezie you really got no chance. Thanks Dad. Happy Father's Day to all. My father a 25 year season ticket holder and those memories never go away. Seen The Drive and All the Mistakes by the Lake. I was raised on the L. Kelly, Pruitt's, Mack and Byner and still my Greatest memory with dad was the 2 years we would watch his projector game film of Jim Brown and reading his books on his Hero. Dads doing well at 80 in Alpena, Mi. but could never convince him that the My Buckeyes were better than his alma mater Wolverines but I am still trying but it will never happen. Great game at The Big House was when Pitt came in with Marino and Dorsett and he will always hate everything in Pittsburg always #1 except for when you drive threw the Tunnel at Night and Pop out into the city Skylights, It is Amazing. Thanks Dad and Happy Fathers Day To All..
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As with most of us here it was Dad. He was a big Paul Brown fan so that made me a Browns fan too. Dad started following the bungles after Brown got the boot but by then it was too late for me. Browns for life!!
I lost my dad in March after 10 long suffering years and I'm sure I'll shed a tear, as I'm doing now, every time we play cincy but just as sure either one of us will be laughing depending on which team wins. LOVE YA, DAD!!
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I grew up a Browns fan because I was born in Euclid and grew up 30 miles east of Cleveland back in the Collier, Ryan, Jim Brown, Groza, Warfield, Kelly, Bo Scott etc etc days..... I was transplanted to Florida in 73 as a young man and became a Bucs fan at their inception.. I vividly remember 0-26.. No fan anywhere should have to endure that.
So, as a result I am a Bucs fan first.. And a Browns fan second..
I never thought I would see the Bucs win a Super Bowl... I believed without question I would see my Browns win one first. FUCK YOU ART MODEL!!!
I WILL see the Browns win a Lombardi in my lifetime..
Our musical works to date http://www.arielsatticmusic.com/ -
I was never interested in the NFL or football at all growing up. I remember getting back from the pub around 1am one night, and turned on the tv and it happened to be the superbowl, colts vs saints I think. I had no idea what was going on but I loved it. Trouble is, next day I didn't really remember much, and it being the offseason, the interest went away. A couple years of just watching superbowls later, I decided I wanted to get more interested, and nothing makes things more interesting than having a team to follow. So rather than just going generic, like so many fans here, and picking patriots, giants, or whoever just won the most recent superbowl, I wanted to find a team I had a legitimate connection to. Since I have distant family in Ohio (newark), I ended up gravitating towards the browns. Because, ya know, fuck the bengals - seriously, I never really even considered them and especially once I found out the browns were the original and best, it became a no brainer.
After that, it became evident that the passion of browns fans, and the history and suffering of browns fans, matched that of my soccer team, and basically I was hooked. Haven't looked back since.
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FWIW, I now have the added bonus of having to defend and explain football to anyone and everyone that learns I'm interested. Apparently, the sport is boring, girly and unnecessarily complicated for people just starting to get in to it. I can appreciate that, because about 15 years ago I had the same impression, but know better now
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I watched the It's a football life documentary on the move to Baltimore and fell for the Browns fans passion first. It made me read up on the history of the Browns and I've been hooked ever since.
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Serendipity made me a Browns fan.
Serendipity made me a Browns fan.
OK, a little more: Unlike many of you...it was not my Dad. My dad was not big sports fan.....well, not stick and ball sports. He was a "sportsman", he did like his hunting and fishing....and for a while I went along with that, but had no love for it. At a certain point we would be out hunting in the fall....and I started thinking about the football games I was missing, so eventually I just begged off going hunting. I got to the point where I didn't like trying to kill things for sport. (though my dad would eat the rabbits/squirrels that he shot....and he would give the groundhogs away to some people who live....well, shall we say, in the local ghetto). At about 15 I stopped the hunting. My brother took after my dad more (to the point where he became a professional outfitter and hunting guide in Wyoming). My son has no love for "sports" either. Though he likes to fish (but not hunt). In fact, he and I went on a fly fishing trip to Montana last year. Though I didn't fish. My job was to get him to the spots for fishing and to relax and watch him.
As far as my association with the Browns....quite simple. They were the local team, all the kids and people that I knew that were sports fans were Browns fans, and so I became one. My DNA was just a little different from the rest of my family in terms of sports.
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FWIW, I now have the added bonus of having to defend and explain football to anyone and everyone that learns I'm interested. Apparently, the sport is boring, girly and unnecessarily complicated for people just starting to get in to it. I can appreciate that, because about 15 years ago I had the same impression, but know better now
FWIW, I now have the added bonus of having to defend and explain football to anyone and everyone that learns I'm interested. Apparently, the sport is boring, girly and unnecessarily complicated for people just starting to get in to it. I can appreciate that, because about 15 years ago I had the same impression, but know better now
That is what we say about soccer....that it is boring, girly......but not that complicated. The difference is, we are right, and they aren't.
(If they think it is girly....just ask them to allow you to demonstrate by letting you run at them full force, then slam your shoulder into their chest and driving them into the ground. And tell them that 11 men do this to 11 other men virtually on every single play.
As for boring....show them this link: the last 0-0 game in NFL history was in 1943.
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/game_scores_find.cgi?pts_win=0&pts_lose=0
When was the last 0-0 soccer game? We got over that kind of boring since WWII.
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I watched the It's a football life documentary on the move to Baltimore and fell for the Browns fans passion first. It made me read up on the history of the Browns and I've been hooked ever since.
I watched the It's a football life documentary on the move to Baltimore and fell for the Browns fans passion first. It made me read up on the history of the Browns and I've been hooked ever since.
And, FYI, the Browns NEVER moved to Baltimore.
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