Why are you a fan?
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Gotta admit to giving love to the likes of Jerry Shrek and Gerald Irons. Turkey Jones was on the radio when he was asked how his style of play would compare to today. He replied that he would most likely be suspended for over a year a fined a million +
His era was all legal, now he had a high rpm motor!
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Gotta admit to giving love to the likes of Jerry Shrek and Gerald Irons. Turkey Jones was on the radio when he was asked how his style of play would compare to today. He replied that he would most likely be suspended for over a year a fined a million +
His era was all legal, now he had a high rpm motor!
Gotta admit to giving love to the likes of Jerry Shrek...
lol... Sherk wasn't that big... nor was he green.
Still deserves to be in the HOF IMO...
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I attended Browns games with my parents before I was born. It's in
my blood, that will never change.
Got to see Jim Brown play, but I admired Leroy Kelly. I always wanted to be
a running back in football, but, was never able to play. well...never allowed to play.
But if I could have, I would have run like Leroy Kelly, I studied his moves every game.
I signed up one time, and I got told off by the athletic director, old Mr. Tyree, his real name...
and got royally yelled at by my surgeon.
Picky, picky, picky.
Jerry Sherk, Walter Johnson, Bobby Mitchell, one of my real favorites, too..Milt Morin, Gary Collins, Jim Houston...
eh...Charlie Hall, Frank Ryan scrambling around in the backfield, Don Cockroft.. that's all I remember from
the early days. I never liked Jim Brown.
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Why am I a Browns' Fan?.......
Because I was, am now, & always will be a true & loyal Browns' Fan just like my Dad, uncles, brothers, & cousins. It's a form of Patriotism....Unconditional love for the USA & the Browns (and other Cleveland Sports Teams).
Regardless of record, I will always support them.
Challenge....The Browns need that important "12th man" more now than ever & only we Fans can provide that, so instead of bitching on message boards, get off your dead asses, get to the Stadium, & support our Browns!!
Mike
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From California started watching football 14 years ago. Somehow Bengals vs Browns was televised. I was hooked on football. I told myself whoever loses this game I will be a loyal fan. Browns ended up losing and ive been following them ever since. Went to a game a couple years back in Cleveland and they won against the Bengals. It was awesome. Walking down the streets of Cleveland after a win was fucken epic. I met Phil Taylor in downtown Cleveland that day and I witnessed him getting pulled over and his mom saying "they just won the game and yall pulling us over..." cop ended up letting it go. Haha. But it will always be GO Browns even if we get 0-16. And Fuck the Steelers.
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From California started watching football 14 years ago. Somehow Bengals vs Browns was televised. I was hooked on football. I told myself whoever loses this game I will be a loyal fan. Browns ended up losing and ive been following them ever since. Went to a game a couple years back in Cleveland and they won against the Bengals. It was awesome. Walking down the streets of Cleveland after a win was fucken epic. I met Phil Taylor in downtown Cleveland that day and I witnessed him getting pulled over and his mom saying "they just won the game and yall pulling us over..." cop ended up letting it go. Haha. But it will always be GO Browns even if we get 0-16. And Fuck the Steelers.
But it will always be GO Browns even if we get 0-16. And Fuck the Steelers.
If you can adapt that kind of attitude to Gig 'em Aggies at 0-12, I'd make you an honorary Aggie. I love that kind of spirit in a fan!
From one of our school songs, The 12th Man: "When we're down the goin's rough and tough, we just grin and yell we've got the stuff........................................we're the 12th man on that fightin' Aggie team!"
That's what I see on this board that keeps me hanging around. True Browns fans!!
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0-16? So what?
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Gotta admit to giving love to the likes of Jerry Shrek...
lol... Sherk wasn't that big... nor was he green.
Still deserves to be in the HOF IMO...
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I heard some folks are talking about having a parade for the Browns if they go 0-16.
That's just funny.
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The way the parade idea is being presented, brings the term "shammockery" to mind...
Odd thing is, if it was a sincere thought to "buck up" the team... the franchise... the fans.... after enduring a very hard season, then it's actually be kinda cool. A kind of catharsis...
Could even end with a ceremonial burial of the 2016 schedule... hopefully with the use of the solid brown uni's...
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It is funny and shows the personality of people from Cleveland. I've loved every visit they are great people.
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The theme should be "Cleveland Browns-putting the 0 and 16 into 2016!"
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The theme should be "Cleveland Browns-putting the 0 and 16 into 2016!"
The theme should be "Cleveland Browns-putting the 0 and 16 into 2016!"
Ouch... but it's good to know I can still wince and laugh at the same time...
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Shame the parade will be in Jan. I am going with my wife to Akumal, Mexico on the Caribbean Sea in Jan. Let me see snow, beach, snow, beach, snowsledding, snorkeling...............................................Nope, the beach wins!!
Speaking of 0-16 Joe be mad.
http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2016/12/browns_joe_haden_were_the_laug.html
"Now go out there and give 10%" http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2016/12/the_browns_are_0-12_and_stephe.html
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Born and raised in Ridgway, Pa. My Dad was a Steeler fan, my Grandfathers were Steeler fans, my uncles were Steeler fans, my older Brother was a Steeler fan ... I guess ... you'd never know, because at the time of this story it was the late 60's and the Steelers still sucked and I don't remember them talking about them. Now, of course, the survivors are proud to be Steeler fans. Family get-togethers can be tense.
I was born in April 1964. They must have put my crib close to the TV on December 27th of that year. Because while my five older siblings were running around the house in their little Steeler pajamas, playing with their Christmas toys, I must have been soaking in Jim Brown, Gary Collins, and the Browns defense putting away the Colts in stellar fashion.
I had two Aunts, my Mothers sisters, that lived in Cleveland, one in Euclid and the other in Lakewood. In the Summer of 1968, we held a family reunion at My Aunt Kate's house in Lakewood. She had 7 kids, all older than me, the boys would have been Browns fans. I've always loved big cities, didn't belong in little Ridgway, and I must have fell in love with Cleveland that weekend. Cleveland was the "Big City" to four-year-old Zombo, I had never been to Pittsburgh ... probably for safety reasons.
That fall, four-year-old Zombo ventured into the family room on a Sunday while my Brother (six years older) was watching football. I said, "Who's playing?". He answered "Pittsburgh is playing Cleveland. We're for Pittsburgh." I guess I was a bit of rebel already at that young age, with fresh memories of the Summer trip to Cleveland, because I responded "No, you're for Pittsburgh ... I'm for Cleveland."
Here I sit 48 years later, blowing off pressing business matters so that I can write about how much I love the Cleveland Browns in the midst of soul-crushing 0-12 season.
The Browns won that game that day, and having my brother pissed off at me was priceless. By the time I entered the First Grade two years later, I had memorized the backs of the football cards of all the Browns: Bill Nelson, Walter Johnson, Gary Collins, Erich Barnes, Paul Warfield, Gene Hickerson, and my hero ... Leroy Kelly.
My mom enabled my Browns crush, and every year when she went to do Christmas shopping in Erie, PA, I got Browns gear for Christmas. I had a Brown and Orange shirt with "44" on it, and I was Leroy Kelly playing football with the older kids in the mud bowl that was our front lawn. As the youngest child, I skipped a family Christmas party with "Santa Claus" down at the local Knights of Columus so I could stay home alone and watch the Browns play the Redskins in a game with playoff implications. I was Seven.
As the 70's wore on, the Browns greatness faded and The Steel Curtain hovered over my tiny town. All the kids wore their black and "gold" (It's yellow), and they were all football experts now that the Steelers were winning Super Bowls. On your typical school bus there were 40 little Steeler fans, the odd Cowboy or Raider front-runner wannabe ... and me. Decked out in my Brown and Orange winter gear that my Mom got at J.C. Penny's in the Millcreek Mall.
Snowballs whizzed past my head as I waited for the bus. Hats and gloves were stolen. I learned to hate Steeler fans with a passion. If they Beat the Browns, 25 kids had to tell me about it the next day. If the Browns won, no one talked to me ... Oh, Thank You, Dr. David Mays and Joe "Turkey" Jones, Thank You.
Under the guise of visiting my aunts and cousins, my father took to me a couple of Browns game in Cleveland. My first live Pro Football Game was a Browns whipping of the Houston Oilers at the old Muni, 42-13. Ol' Leroy Kelly was slowing down at this point, and there were some guys, probably in their 20's or early 30's, there heckling him. Young 9 year-old Zombo got in their faces and scolded them, and they liked my spunk and bought me a coke.
After Kelly retired, Greg Pruitt became my hero, and then Brian Sipe. My passion for the Browns spread into other sports and I am certain that I was the only Indians and Cavaliers fan in Elk County PA in the 70's. I used my money cutting grass not only on football cards, but to send away for Sports Illustrated posters, and each wall of my bedroom had one: Greg Pruitt, Buddy Bell, Brian Sipe and Austin Carr.
By 1980, I was 16 years old and I was wearing out the record player (and irritating my family) by playing "12 Days of a Cleveland Browns Christmas" on a continuous loop. I was all about the Kardiac Kids. The week between the Browns winning the Division Title in Cincinnati and hosting their playoff game, I had my first date on the night the Oilers and Raiders were playing in the Wild Card game ... I wasn't too worried about those teams, this was the Browns year, the football gods were going to make everything right again, and Dean (the odd Cowboy fan) and I had a double date with two Catholic girls from St. Mary's in my little red Chevette ... these were pretty heady times.
The next week an experienced Zombo sat down to watch Sipe and the Browns take on those Raiders on the frozen turf at Muni. There was the Ron Bolton pick six, there was the missed extra point ... and FGs ... and there was a whole lot of rising tension. My nephew was about one year old and was toddling around the room as my sister (Steeler fan) and Mom (By now a converted Browns fan) watched the game with me. I thought Don Cockroft had one good kick left in him, but Same Rutigliano, the "Riverboat Gambler" decided to roll the dice one more time and put the whole Kardiac Kid Season on the right arm of my hero, Sipe. I watched in disbelief as that ball floated into the end zone in the arms of that SOB, Mike Davis. I knew right away that the game was over and while my Mom and Sister were still figuring out what was going on, I stormed out of the room, and in doing so, accidently knocked my little nephew over. I still remember being yelled at for my outburst as I headed to my room to sulk. but once again the powers of TV absorption were at work ... as that nephew was the only one I was able to convert to being a Browns fan ... and he now meets me in Cleveland for a game every year.
In 1986 I was just out of college, and I was now a young professional, working for People Express Airlines and sharing an apartment with six other people in Woodbridge, NJ. We didn't have a lot of furniture, but we had a huge TV in the living room, a couple of folding chairs, and plenty of beer as I sat down to watch the Browns first appearance in the AFC Championship Game. My roommate was a Browns fan from Salem, Ohio ... Finally, I wasn't alone in my Browns obsession. That was the day I spoke the words that I will never speak again, and that I apologize profusely to all Browns fans for ever uttering. I guess it was the beer. I guess it was all those years of frustration of growing up in Steeler Country in the 70's. I guess it was the sheer excitement of the moment. But when Bernie Kosar hit Brian Brennan down the sideline for a TD to put the Browns up seven with five minutes to go and the best defense in the land on our side, I turned to my friend Bob, and said "Oh my God, the Browns are going to the Super Bowl." I am sorry. I am heartily sorry.
The next year I sat alone in a hotel room in Orlando with a pizza and a 6-pack of Sam Adams as Ernest Byner fumbled away a Fairy Tale come back. Luckily I was not savvy enough to make a noose out of the hotel bath towels.
Two years later I had gone back to school and my girlfriend watched in horror as I melted down in my apartment as the Browns lost a third chance to go to the Super Bowl. She didn't make it through the next season. I barely did.
By 1994 I was living here in Sunny Florida, and the Browns were relevant again. They had a hotshot coach named Belichick, a defensive coordinator named Saban, a guy picking the players named Newsome, and defense that would knock you the f*** out. Even though they lost in the second round of the playoffs to the hated Steelers that year, you sensed, no, you knew there were great things ahead.
Cut to 1995. I took a job running a Real Estate office on Marco Island and was living on the island. My Sunday ritual was to walk over to the local sports bar and enjoy a bucket of beers and a steak sandwich as I watched the Browns on the satellite. On one such October Sunday, I was preparing to head over, as the Browns were to play the Oilers, but Chris Berman was very somber on the pregame show in my living room while I put my Browns gear on. Some how ... Some way ... Art Modell had made arrangements to MOVE the Cleveland Browns and the cat was out of the bag. I had been in a few fights in my youth, but I had never been hit as hard in the gut as I did that moment.
I still went over and watched the game in silence, by myself, all the time mulling what I had just heard. I was, of course, everyone's "one Browns fan friend" and the calls were pouring in. I honestly didn't know how to react. I just knew I was sad, I hurt, and that my life would never be the same ...
The next three years were an abyss. No Browns. Nothing in the sports world tasted the same to me ... football, baseball, basketball ... sports had betrayed my trust. And I really had no one around to talk about my Browns angst with. I concentrated on business, and in October of 1997, I decided to buy myself a home computer so I could work 24/7. I unpacked my "Gateway 2000" and hooked it up to the phone line, and heard that now familiar buzz as it connected me to this great thing I had heard of ... "AOL". I had to choose a screenname, so I choose one for work, and one for play. It was close to Halloween, so I went with "Zombo2000" after a funny character named Zombo on a Munsters episode. Then a screen came up that said "type in a keyword". And the first thing I typed into the "World Wide Web" was "Cleveland Browns". It took me to the page called the Cleveland Browns Grandstand, and when I clicked on it I was amazed to find ... people like me! There were characters named Hoorta and Atenears and Furnier ... and even a "Ghoolie" ... and they were all obsessed with the Cleveland Browns.
For years we debated the 99 Browns, that 99 draft class was the most scrutinized draft in on-line history, to this day if you name any guy taken in that draft I can tell you all about them. We had some epic battles and different "camps", but in the end, we all became friends, and I started making annual pilgrimages to Cleveland to see this fledgling floundering football team and connect with my on-line family. I eventually bought season tickets and would fly up a couple times a year from Florida for a Browns loss and an epic tailgate.
Back here in Naples, when the Browns came back in 99 I started going to a bar call B.T. Boomers, owned by a Browns fan, but half the bar was Steeler fans ... Can't get away from them. We started with a group of 8 or ten Browns fans, and like Moses in the desert we kept moving from place to place as they closed down or gave us the crappy TV in the corner. Finally, in 2011, we decided to make it official and I started a Browns Backer Chapter. Suddenly, everyone was finding us and we were getting upwards of 100 fans a week to watch this struggling franchise. We started doing charity raffles and have raised over $10,000 for families of cancer victims and other charities. We also attend all of the Browns games in Florida and tailgate our butts off. This year we moved into a new, bigger facility and we still pulled in 75 fans last week to watch the winless Browns get beat down by the Giants.
I refuse to give up on this team, or this franchise ... I love them ... they are just part of me. A big part.
So anyway, what was the question? ... Why am I a fan? I guess I didn't like my brother's tone.
ZomboZombo said:
I refuse to give up on this team, or this franchise ... I love them ... they are just part of me. A big part.
So anyway, what was the question? ... Why am I a fan? I guess I didn't like my brother's tone.
Zombo
Epic post with a classic ending!
There's a lot of great fans and passion on this board posting from all over the country. We definitely deserve better for our never ending loyalty.
My dad died in 2012. As I reflect back on why I'm a fan, I was the only kid in my neighborhood getting tucked in with bedtime stories about Paul Brown, Otto Graham and Jimmy Brown in Rochester, NY. I was often reminded the Browns won their last Championship the year I was born in 1964. My dad used to work for Rochester Telephone so he mounted a big antenna on our roof to get games that weren't televised locally for us to watch. For example, we once got a feed out of Ottawa (Canada) when the Browns played at New Orleans and the commentators spoke French. When technology improved, we had a big satellite dish in life before DirecTV. My dad also got his annual subscriptions to Browns News Illustrated (BNI) to keep us updated on current events with the team.
At first we only attended games when Cleveland visited the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park. The year our neighbors moved to Cleveland mid 70s, we attended our first game in Cleveland the day Turkey Jones power slammed Bradshaw. As Zombo mentioned, that was the day backup QB David Mays had to be the winning QB. While Steelers fans cried about dirty football, Turkey Jones was merely reminding them if Lambert was going to cheap shot Sipe way out of bounds (after the whistle) - he'd fully cooperate with the precedent. Land ho! After that, we made the 4 hour trip to Cleveland once a season. Later on, we joined some Browns Backers trips to Cleveland for games. There's nothing better than riding along the contour of Lake Erie when you arrive in Cleveland for a game.
Aside from all of my dad's efforts to influence me and my older brother (John), the strong tradition of a running game reeled me in. I never got to see Marion Motley, Bobby Mitchell and Jim Brown but it was a blast to learn about their importance when this team won 8 Pro Football Championships. As others have said, Leroy Kelly was the man when I was first tuning in. He played from 64-73 before it was time for Greg Pruitt to show us he could score from anywhere on the field. Prior to becoming my avatar, he became the reason the NFL needed to do away with tear away jerseys from his blend of speed and power. This took my interest to another level throughout the time he was here from 73-81. From there, I got to enjoy Mike Pruitt from 76-84 with some Pro Bowl seasons. Calvin Hill also showed up to be a very efficient 3rd down back from 78-81. In the mid 80s came one of the most enjoyable and physical backfield tandems to watch as a fan with Earnest Byner and Kevin Mack. Byner was a 10th round steal out of East Carolina who played for us from 84-88 & 94-95 while Mack played from 85-93. The last time this team won a playoff game was in the 90s when Leroy Hoard ran the ball so hard behind a very underrated run blocking unit, he made the Pro Bowl at a position he didn't even play - Fullback. This was a year we went 11-5 in the regular season inclusive of running the ball down the esophagus of Philly and Dallas.
While I'm sharing fond memories of running games past, I need to appreciate one position this franchise has always done well adding - Offensive Tackle. Today Left Tackles are known for their pass pro strengths but these are our first 3 Left tackles that also did extremely well for our running game:
1) Lou Groza started at LT from 46-59 with 9 Pro Bowls and 4 All Pro selections. He also place kicked from 61-67.
2) Dick Shafrath after cracking in as a Guard in 59 he found a home at LT after Groza until 1971.
3) Doug Dieken (71-84) with 1 Pro Bowl .
We've also had some other good LTs like the versatile Paul Farren we drafted in round 12 and then the underrated Tony T-Bone Jones before Joe Thomas showed up in 2007 to frequent the Pro Bowl every single season. Meanwhile, we've also had some great fortunes at RT with Mike McCormack from 54-62. In Paul Zimmerman's "Man's Guide to Pro Football" in 84 indicated Paul Brown said "McCormack is the best offensive lineman I've ever coached." Wow! And then there's the 7th round pick from Texas A&M - Cody Risien who made a couple Pro Bowls for some very productive running games here during his tenure.
In all the years I've followed this team - the 1 thing that has never changed is the Lake Erie climate in October, November, December and January. When tandems of front offices and coaching staffs have been cognizant of this - the QB position never seemed impossible. There's no such thing as a play action perk without a running game. The last 2 QBs that had double digit wins in the regular season were Vinny Testaverde and Derek Anderson. When William Green closed out his rookie year averaging 100 yards rushing per game during his last 5 or 6 games - we made the playoffs in 2002. If we can ever get our leadership tandems to understand what has worked really well in this climate in the past, the future just might get back to feeling doable again. My brother died at only 52 years of age just 1 year after my dad passed; so I'll spend the rest of my days honoring the Cleveland Browns as our strong bonded family tradition. I'm very thankful for this board and all the passion I get to read from all of you.
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I heard some folks are talking about having a parade for the Browns if they go 0-16.
That's just funny.
I heard some folks are talking about having a parade for the Browns if they go 0-16.
That's just funny.
But it's really true Cal. A guy found out it only cost $25 to pull a parade permit, so he did it. Not out much if they win a game, huh? I just might attend, wearing my Couch Jersey, and carry a "Factory of Sadness" sign.
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Living in CNY my father was a Jim Brown fan so when he left SU for the Browns they became my Dad's favorite team. In 1984 my current team the Miami Dolphins broke my heart, I was 9, by getting killed by the 49ers in the Super Bowl. I jumped ship for my Dad's favorite team and now I wish I was born in Dallas.
Concerning all the losing, fuck off.
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I was born into it
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I live near Youngstown. Browns fans actually out number the stool and urine. They just haven't had reason to put out the colors for soooo long. But when the Browns finally wake up, you will see this regions true colors. It's still N E Ohio.Mitch2Pryor said:
Born and raised in Cleveland
I'm 24.. so I take pride in the fact I've stuck around even though we've had no success since I've been watching. Wouldn't have it any other way because the success will be SO sweet when we turn the corner
Was always a fan but started watching every single game and really getting into it in 2012.. Brandon Weeden's rookie season
I CANT WAIT for our rise and the Steelers fall
It will be hilarious when all those Steelers fans in Youngstown change that flag in their front lawn from Black and Yellow to Orange and Brown.
I live near Youngstown. Browns fans actually out number the stool and urine. They just haven't had reason to put out the colors for soooo long. But when the Browns finally wake up, you will see this regions true colors. It's still N E Ohio.
I hope you're right, it seems that it's 50/50 at best. Unfortunately the Steelers fans will talk shit until the Browns win 6 superbowls...
I became a Browns fan when they came back in '99, and while I'm old enough to remember the early 90's teams, I didn't really start caring about sports until I was a little older. Being born and raised in Akron I concluded that the only team that I had a connection to, or any objective reason to support was the NEOhio team. as far as the losing goes....I came to grips with this shit a long time ago. The simple fact of the matter is that I'm a bigger Browns fan than an NFL fan. If I ever stop considering myself a Browns fan, it's because I don't watch NFL anymore, not because I found a different team. I don't really view my fanship as negotiable; I want to watch football, I'll root for the Browns.
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I heard some folks are talking about having a parade for the Browns if they go 0-16.
That's just funny.
But it's really true Cal. A guy found out it only cost $25 to pull a parade permit, so he did it. Not out much if they win a game, huh? I just might attend, wearing my Couch Jersey, and carry a "Factory of Sadness" sign.
But it's really true Cal. A guy found out it only cost $25 to pull a parade permit, so he did it. Not out much if they win a game, huh? I just might attend, wearing my Couch Jersey, and carry a "Factory of Sadness" sign.
I'll be there with my Gordon Jersey and a quarter-pound of Afghan Kush to throw into the crowd.
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