@mangini4life said:

i'll root for mangini's brown too, except when it concerns the jets, sorry i cannot leave the jets too much emotional attachment to them

i never said i can go cold turkey on the jets, its like an ex girlfriend that you broke up with even though you still like her, you still want to know what she is doing, you just don't want to spend every day miserable with her drama. I just want to talk Football with some real passionate fans who i respect, that are not bandwagon fans and that aren't idiotic hot heads like i find on the jets boards. When the Jets and Browns play i'll expect the Jets to loose like always, but i can't say who i'll root for, its too early in this process for me. But what i will say is i've had more enjoyment talking browns football (i'm even starting a browns madden franchise) in a week then i have talking jets football in 20 years.

@damajuki said:

Holy hell, Ithika, that is an incredible story. Thanks for sharing.

Turncoat, you will quickly learn to love the Orange and Brown. First of all, NO ONE dares to wear our colors but us, and that right there should tell you something about how special the Orange and Brown are. Second, the Orange and Brown are recognized by real football fans everywhere and are treated with respect by those who understand what real football is and what real football fans are all about. Third, you are an Orangeman so you should feel right at home in orange; you'll find the brown is a natural fit.

As for players, in addition to Kosar, Mack and Web-star, you also need to know the names of Clay Matthews, Earnest Byner, Reggie Langhorne, Hanford Dixon, Frank Minnifield, Bob Golic, Carl "Big Daddy" Hairston, Michael Dean Perry and many other greats of the 80's (my generation of Browns greats).

You are on track with hating the Steelers and Ravens. The Steelers -- and especially their fans -- we hate but with a mixture of pity and good humor, knowing how pathetic their lives are and how it took an historic heist of our team and a bumbling rebuilding process in order for them to ascend to their current place. (They won't be there too much longer, make no mistake.) The Ravens -- and their thieving city and fans -- we hate with the fury of a thousand suns (most of us, anyway) and view them with utter scorn. Their souls are as black as their mascot.

You also must keep a special place of derision in your heart for the Broncos, for what they did to us in '86. Though not quite raising to the level of hate, a strong distaste for the sight of that damn "D" is required. (Luckily, with their uniform change, we don't have quite the same reaction to them anymore.)

As for the current team, you nailed it with Thomas and Steinbach. I think Winslow could still be a great player and team leader if he's inspired and made to feel like he's valued. Cribbs is a beast, as you know, as is Big Baby Shaun Rogers who was worth everything we gave up to get him this year. D'Qwell Jackson is starting to look legit and though he's struggled, we're holding out hope for Kamerion Wimbley's resurgence.

Good to have another co-sufferer...er...fellow fan along for the ride.

The browns are a nice fit for sure, i went to the Browns Vs. Bengals game in the Nati a few seasons ago and i had a good time laughing at the bengals loosing so thats a nice bonus. I'm not conmfortable rooting for a dominant team, i like the underdog. All my teams The Orangemen, Brewers, Knicks and Rangers have pretty much stunk my whole like, the Rangers won a bit in 1994 and i haven't cared about the knicks since 99 either so not much to carea bout there, i invest most of my time in the Brewers and Jets but the whole point of this post and journey is, i simply am tired of rooting for the Jets, i dont even like the team anymore. Favre is a fraud although he's a gamer but the Jets owner is a total trust fund baby looser. The Jets would have gone 11-5 this season with Pennington but they sold their soul for Brett Favre and it cost them (although Pennington is nothing special believe me most Jet fans would prefer Brady Quinn)

As for Brown, Bring it on, Orange is a great match and i agree, football is about things like the Dog Pound and Mud Bowls and Crap Weather and all out war, glitz and glamor like the cowgirls flat pisses me off, and it will be very easy to keep hating pittsburg baltimore and denver. I hate denver anyway, always have, didn't like Elway and i didn't like Shanahan.

You guys are a fun bunch to talk football with, i look forward to getting in on the conversation.

@ithika said:

Do a google on Otto Graham. Second to Jim Brown the greatest Browns player in the history of the franchise and one of the best QB's to ever play the game. He's in the hall of fame and has several NFL records. I'll tell ya a little story since we're talking about the past.

I grew up in Sarasota FL and in the early 90's in fifth grade had my browns football cards in class and was drawing Browns logos and what not. My teacher asked me why I was interested in the Browns? You know how the early 90's were the Browns stunk, no one was a Browns fan in FL everyone loved the 9ers Cowboys and Raiders. So I told her I was from Dayton Ohio and my family raised me a Browns fan. She then told me she had a surprise for me the next day, I had no idea what she was talking about.

The next day came and she gave me an autographed black & white picture of a man posing throwing a football, looked a bit like the heisman pose. She said here ya go. I was like, thanks? Not knowing who the hell this guy was or what the hell this was about? The autograph read from an old Browns player to a young Browns fan. She then told me this is my father, his names Otto Graham. I still had no idea who this guy was and said thanks. That night I called my grandfather and uncles who basicly were the ones responsible for me becoming a Browns fan at birth.

I asked them who Otto Graham was and they dropped the phone! After picking it up they told me he's the greatest QB to ever play for the Browns and one the best to ever play the game. I then went to the library and got a book about Otto reading about his accomplishments at West Point being All American in basketball and football as well as his dominance in football winning ten championships with the Browns.

That week I told my teacher that I'd read about her father Otto and how amazing his career as a Browns player was to me. She told me she had one more surprise, he was going to come that friday during recess to throw football with my friends and I, I was exstatic! When he came that day I was so nervous to not drop any of the passes. I played football and played WR on offense and LB on defense, so I had very good hands and caught everything he threw me. It was a true honor to meet him and he was a very kind and generous man. Since that day, no matter what happens if the browns go 0-16 for the rest of the franchise history I will always be a Browns fan and am thankful I got to meet and catch passes from one of the greatest QB's of all time, the great Otto Graham.

If i make a movie, i'm taking that story, maybe i'll have Joe Namath be the guy or maybe i'll just keep it Otto Graham, but either way its a great story! Its good to love a team no matter how crappy, i just don't like rooting for a team that plays for the money, the jets are becoming that team.

@samoth said:

Man, it's the definition of a lateral move going from the Jets to the Browns.

When i was born in washington DC i was a brief fan of the Redskins until i was 6, my dad then moved, divorced my mom and married a woman who had two children, both of whom were Jet fans, before the days of direct TV you could only watch your local games so it was either root for the skins and never see them (made very little sense to me) root for the giants who i grew up hating, or root for a team i could watch, whose fans also hated the giants, along with my new step kin and thus i became a Jets fan. That year by the way was 1985 just a year before i watched the Kosar drive (which by the way Jet fans refer to as the "Bull Snot roughing the passer call on Gastaneau by the home town refs" so its interesting to see how different cities fans view history. I'm not sure Jet fans really are even over that play.

I left rooting for the yankees in 1995 to root for the Milwauke Brewers so i'm used to trading down. The bottom line is the reason i want to find a new team is simple A) MY owner wants to make money not win 2) they fired the coach who could deliver them a 10 year run and build a real culture instead of this transient horror we go through every 4 years. I believe your owner just wants to win and will be Patient with Eric, if he brings some of the staff he hired it could be a good thing (Rick Lyle was a Brown, he is on the staff and was a close friend of mine so hopefully you bring him over). As for Offense, Mangini doesn't know it, so examine your OC because i was not impressed with our efforts in many key situations. I hear the OC will be Dabol, he really didn't have enough time to get into our system since he was only with us a year but he never stood out in a bad way so thats good i guess.

So here is my take on Cleveland, feel free to respond

First the city - I love Cleveland, Rock and Roll hall of fame, Drew Carey and the subject of the greatest baseball movie ever made Major League (which also shares major Brewer influence)

Now the team -

Trivial Issue:

Should i like the uniform? Or is it something about living in the city that makes you identify with the blue color look, because i'm not sure anyone truly looks good in brown, but if i should start looking at this and loving it, i'll adapt

Stars:

Who are the all time Brown greats, besides Jim Brown (whom i already love being a Syracuse Graduate class of 2000) - if your 30 who do you consider the best guys to play in your life.

I remember a few names besides Kosar, i remember a HUGE running back that faced us in the 80's was his name Kevin Mack or something like that? He was a beast

I remember Webster Slaughter being a stud.

Give me some other old school names to look into

Enemies:

I assume i should just starting hating the Ravens and Steelers, i'll be honest, this is not much of a stretch for me - anyone else on the hate list? i'm a packers fan sort of kind of so i can't hate them, anyone else i'm happy to wish ill to

The Current Team:

reminds me of the Jets - inconsistent with glimpes of talent. Edwards is TO if he went a hand transplant with an infant baby. Cribs can play ball. The D has some players including Eric Wright who i loved out of UNLV (as a Jets fan the draft is really my forte). I am not sure about the Quinn Vs. Anderson debate. Why was Anderson a stud one year and a dud the next, sounds like he is somewhere in between those two years. Quinn was ok in college but i'm less than impressed with many aspects of Brady's current game, plus can he stay healthy?

Beware of trading your QB because you may find yourself with some 7th round miami backup has been guiding the ship for weeks at a time. As a Jet fan i've watched (Bubby Brister, Jeff Blake, Rick Mirer, Quincy Carter, Brooks Bollinger, Browning Nagle among others lead my team so you can't have enough qualified QB 's

Joe Thomas - STUD nuf said

Anyone that can get to the pass? I can't name a guy

Anyone that can play saftey? I can't even name the starters at that position

How about the right side of the line, i saw teams shifting away from Steinback / Thomas and over to the right towards shaffer all year, he wasn't that good in Atlanta, is he any better with Cleveland?

Ok Browns Fans, you welcomed me in, i'll start talking football here for a while, Go Mangini!

So here i am writing on a Cleveland Browns message board, something i thought unimaginable at one point in time. Not because of the browns, but because i don't even post on the Jets message boards more than once a year (although i read what Jet fans right on a daily basis because of my sick addiction to the jets). Anyway I'll get to my point quick, Jet fans suck. Their owner sucks and their fans (at least most of the long island fans) are rude and ignorant people. While I've always rooted for the team because i had older step brothers who converted me in 1985 from a 7 year old Redskins fan, i have never loved the fans. Now their owner makes a money driven idiotic move and fires a guy who would have been the face of the franchise for a decade if he was given time to develop himself. But he wasn't, he was used as a sacrificial lamb to explain away the fact that the Jets were a disaster down the stretch mostly because of a complete lack of offensive game. Although I'm sure I'll watch them again, I'm mentally done with the Jets. As a Brewer fan i have always liked Cleveland, (remember your run at Miller Park?) so its not a stretch to start rooting for the Browns, plus lets face it, how many people of a high sports intellect are running to jump over to the Browns bandwagon right now? so i feel i can get in on the ground floor, after all, aren't some of you secret Raven fans pissed you were robbed of your entire squad? So if you'll welcome me in, I'll give you my 2 cents about Mangini and what i know about the game, i reported for multiple papers and online outlets including Yahoo Sports and KFFL so i do carry some credentials. I know a lot about Mangini and his staff to be and I'm happy to start talking football with a new group of dedicated passionate (and usually disappointed) fans such as myself. So lets talk some Browns football and maybe you can help break my addiction of the Jets.

Feedback Welcomed and Encouraged:

JetsTurncoat