Flugel

2 hours ago, Nero said:

Ironically, I took Nero about 12 years ago and didn't know it was Italian or anything... Though later I thought it suited me. Anyway, just to clarify, I'm Spanish, so bear in mind that I don't pronounce it like most of you would: "Niro"  I pronounce it like "Nero" instead. 

Hey, it works.  He was like the very first Andrew Dice Clay except he was in charge of the Roman Empire. 

Knowing you're Spanish - the only alternative screen name I could see for you was a badasss fictional Gladiator called "Spaniard".   

3 hours ago, Dutch Oven said:

I know I'd love to hear you call my mother a whore to my face. 

We Italian guys are well-known to really, really appreciate that, and we express our appreciation constantly so you would get the hang of it. 

Italian?  Then what's up with the screen name?  The last 2 Italian guys that wanted to be Dutch were Brutus and Cassius.

Now we have a Spanish guy that wants to be called Nero; and it's like Ancestry.Com just slapped you right upside the head with - how bout a little Michael Corleone needing to defend his mother here?

On 1/30/2019 at 8:13 AM, Tour2ma said:

Seven fewer yards than Flying J, but double FJ's number of TDs... and Flugs gets the nod???

RECOUNT!!!!

Thanks Tour!  Are they still selling that HE HATE ME jersey anywhere? 

21 hours ago, Tour2ma said:

So was the part you misread...

I need better sources... as in "I was mistaken"... not "I need a better source than you".

 

Now... don't you feel silly?

Silly?  No!   Dumber than a pet rock?  Yes!    

I was wondering how the Hell does a need a better source than Freddie! 

Now where did I put my village idiot hat?

On 1/22/2019 at 9:10 AM, Tour2ma said:

I need better sources...

Nothing wrong with this approach, but for me the key will be where Freddie spends his time when the D is on the field. With our young QB at least the first minutes need to be by his side. This is what McVay does with Goff in LA... this is what Hue never did with Kizer.

McVay has Wade Phillips... Hue had Williams... Kitch has Wilks. None have (or had) a reason not to be by their QB.

Ok, then why didn't you show me better sources (than Freddie) saying Freddie won't be calling the plays?   The biggest reason I wanted to listen to the presser after he was hired (on www.clevelandbrowns.com) was to get an idea of what the plan was for him as a 1st time HC.  I didn't want us to mess up the continuity of the drastic improvement in our offense over the final 8 weeks of the year.   I mean that from the spike in our rookie QB's numbers/efficiency to watching new players that struggled everywhere but Cleveland become reliable in important roles (like Perriman and Robinson).  I also noticed details like our WRs blocking people downfield when they weren't getting thrown to.  We also had a rookie RB average 5.2 yards a carry.  All that can be coached up during the week if you have the right guy in charge.   I've always felt the OC's that adapt well on game day are the ones that prepare best for opponents' strengths and situational tendencies to the extent they know exactly who to use and how to use them.   Freddie did that so I wanted to hear he'll still do that and look to his new OC as a very valuable consultant and important weekly preparation piece. Todd Monken can also help him either coach up players on the sideline (even though we have position coaches for that as well) or be an invaluable resource from above looking at what the defense is doing and where the ideal areas to exploit are.  An OC just doesn't call plays.  I see this as an ideal opportunity for Monken to come in here and prove to Freddie he can take on more as time goes on to eventually free himself up for more of the bigger picture. The reason I feel this way is I just watched Freddie go from position coach to looking like a very polished OC so I'm guessing he has a hope Monken can come in and grasp what's off the ground and help him get it soaring to all new heights. 

Everything else you wrote was extremely well said.

I think we can all agree McVay is very fortunate to have Wade Phillips perpetuating the unique situation of all the young HC has to be is an OC throughout the week and on game day.  That said, Andy Reid has been the same thing McVay has been since he took over Philly way back when they drafted McNabb #2 overall in 99 (and went to the playoffs from 2000-2010 w/ 5 NFC Championship appearances and 1 SB).  Not bad considering Philly had the worst record in the NFL in 98; and they would have drafted 1st if Cleveland wasn't re-entering the league.  The BIGGEST difference I saw is Reid never had the quality of Wade Phillips at DC.  Reid is doing the same thing in KC; but he's still in search of a Wade Phillips coordinating his defense. That said, KC was still just a Dee Ford lining up off sides away from sealing the deal.  

Anyway, the last time Denver won a SB, their MVP was Von Miller.  The irony of that was all those countless years Peyton Manning was an MVP/Pro Bowl QB - he could only win 1 SB.  The 1 year Manning played like he needed to retire - Denver won the SB swarming Carolina's offense to the extent Carolina only scored 1 TD.  That was HUGE considering the reality Denver's offense only had 11 first downs and 1 TD while it only converted 1 of 14 3rd downs against Wilks' (Carolina) Defense. The only guy that came close to standing out for Denver's offense was CJ Anderson with 90 yrds rushing Today, Gary Kubiak has a SB Championship on his HC resume thanks in large to Wade Phillips simplifying Kubiak's work to just the offense.  Irony here is Denver looked to Wade Phillips on Defense and the same CJ Anderson (minus 20 lbs) the LA Rams are now looking to.   And we're going to be looking to DC Wilks  (whose defense only gave up 1 offensive TD in the SB as well as limiting Denver to converting only 1 of 14 3rd downs) in 2019.   Now, if we can strengthen our defensive personnel this off season - I like our ability to take the next step.

11 hours ago, Tour2ma said:

Word was that his OC will call the plays.

Freddie said in his presser that he will be calling the plays - not the OC. 

The OC will probably be a lot like Andy Reid's OC in the sense he will be kept very busy during the week of preparation; while he keeps even busier on the sideline staying out of Andy's way (especially with the play calling).  That doesn't mean he won't give input during the week of things they can exploit. He may even put him up in the press box to watch the blitz and disguised/delayed blitz tendencies as well as some areas of vulnerability and mismatches to attack that weren't in the game plans.   

On 1/17/2019 at 10:18 PM, darren15 said:

Random thoughts:

Jim Dray brings back memories of our 2014 team that inexplicably got off to a 7-4 start.  He was a TE we signed from Arizona, if memory serves me right, that was brought here primarily for his blocking skills.   Oddly enough, what I remember most about him were some of the great catches he made in clutch situations. He wasn't all that fast either.  Anyway, this is the type of guy I could see helping young players tapping skills they aren't aware they have. 

I think the same Adam Henry who was the position coach for Odell Beckham Jr and Jarvis Landry at LSU - did a tremendous job coaching up our young WR Corps.  Even if just a coincidence, look at what he tapped out of Perriman that 2 other NFL teams couldn't.  And then there's Callaway overcoming the early season dropsies.  Above all, I noticed all of our WRs blocking on the perimeter when they weren't receiving passes (which many divas in this league won't do).  Jarvis Landry, in particular, was often seen blocking to the echo of the whistle frustrating DBs.  Not bad for a guy whose reputation said he was only a slot receiver.  Looking back on it all, I wonder if Adam Henry was one of the biggest reasons Landry wanted to come here (outside of the money we had to spend of course).

Living in the Clearwater/Tampa area - the local sports radio reflected fans liked OC Todd Monken way more than they liked Dirk Koetter. Some of that was fair and some wasn't.  Once upon a time, the offensive background of Koetter was what made him a HC candidate in the first place. Unfortunately, that doesn't always add up to  the right guy in charge of all 3 phases plus the coaching staff and players. That was my initial concern with Freddie as much as I loved the job he did as OC the last 8 weeks.  However, Freddie was quick to point out he wasn't just a RB coach during his 13 years of coaching experience in this league.  That put me a little more at ease with his jump from RB Coach to OC to Head Coach within 1 year in the sense Dorsey didn't exactly hire an NFL newbie.  Kitchens has seen first hand here what works and what doesn't with the staff and players.   Bill Belicheck may put monotone sentences together like Rain Man; BUT his ability to see things other coaches are incapable of creates and perpetuates all the cred he needs up-top.  Love him or hate him, there was also something in his body of work that brought him to his inevitable fate as an incredibly successful HC.  Any reason Freddie can't be the same kind of right guy in the right place at the right time in Cleveland?    We're just going to see...

If you made it this far - the drinks are on me.   I'll treat and you pay...

3 hours ago, Tour2ma said:

Agree... except I'm getting a different, bottom-line vibe...

Far from Dorsey being an "Indian", I get the feeling Dorsey is the one not wanting any over-sized personalities around the FO with whom he has to compete.

Further, I've had the feeling that his HC search was akin to Cheney's VP search for "W". That Dorsey's real conclusion was that he was the best choice... but recognized he was not a choice that was available to himself.

 

Just a couple feelings... but we all have to remember that there was a reason KC sent him packing...

... and it sure wasn't his lack of talent recognition.

Interesting points!  Hopefully he has a lot more smarts than Cheney especially when it comes to the safety of those he hunts with...

17 hours ago, darren15 said:

We also hired Packers O line coach ........

I'm still kind of stunned OL Coach Bob Wylie was fired here in a place where the continuity of progress should be extremely important. Near the end of the season I read an artcile full of Joel Bitonio's warm and fuzzy about the guy on the team's website.  He spoke about the job he did getting the line to gel and being the first line coach to tap Robinson's talent that reminded teammates why he was a 2nd pick overall.  I also thought our other OT (Hubbard) who struggled earlier in the year improved quite a bit in the 2nd part of the year.  I think the offensive line climbed up to an elite rating at the end of the year (which reflects well on Freddie as well as Wylie) IMO.

We had a rookie RB average 5.3 yards per carry.  We also had a rookie QB set a record throwing 27 TD passes despite only starting 13 games. Another positive trend that Freddie deserves a great deal of credit for was the reduction in sacks via getting Baker to get the ball out of his hands quicker.  That's usually an easier said than done with rookie QBs - especially in Cleveland.

As much as I like Dorsey, I'm still reading and hearing Jimmy continues to prefer more Chiefs than Indians when it comes time to make a decision.  That can get very rocky and turbulent as we've seen first hand. I just hope we're careful about all this changing especially after all the progress we finally saw on the offensive side of the ball.   I think we were a lot more happy with our running game and passing game than Green Bay fans were in the 2nd half of the season.  IMO, you can get too cute with changing to the extent you're changing something that didn't really need to be changed.  I always thought Goldie Hawn and Meg Ryan were hotties until they had plastic surgery. After looking to the unnecessary - their faces look deformed.  Why?  Same thing applies to what I thought we were just building.

All that said, if it was Freddie's input saying Bob Wylie NEEDED to be fired - I'd feel a lot better about it. I'm very glad we kept our WR Coach (Adam Henry) when I look at how much Callaway improved as well as how much more he got out of Perriman than any other NFL WR Coach to date.  Not only that, he actually had our WRs blocking people down field not to be confused with Webster Slaughter taking inventory of his groin while the guy he refused to block (Jeremiah Castille) stripped the ball from Byner. 

3 hours ago, Soju said:

This Wilks guy rubbed players the wrong way in Ariz., stubborn, and the defensive Hue Jackson type.  HATE this pick.

Other than all that - you think he's wonderful!  

5 hours ago, tiamat63 said:

Reading several pages on his schemes and philosophy now.   The one consistent is the amount of zone and pattern matching zone he plays.   With certain personnel he gets blitz happy and others not so much.   Appears to be pretty aggressive mostly running 1 gap assignments.  

On the fence about it because I see how badly the Cardinals fell off in defensive DVOA rankings after only one season.  But I also know that when you're offense puts your defense out on the field for 75% of the game, then they're bound to pack it up eventually.  

Still reading and versing myself.  Will comment more later. 

When you play 1 gap up front - you better have good LBers.  Wilks had that in Carolina and his defense was successful.  

What I like about zone coverage (aside from DBs not turning their backs on the QB) - is it doesn't give opposing offenses the Ray Hortonesque Ghost towns to exploit.  That knucklehead used to repeatedly leave an entire third of the field unmanned. So, what do you need to make zone coverage work?   LBs and DBs that can close and tackle.  Keuchly not only has elite 1st step instinct; but he's also well respected for his level of preparation.   It seems like quite a few of his opponents said something along the line of "that guy knew every play we were about to run; and he was never wrong."  

It wouldn't suck at all if we hired Wilks. No matter who we hire - we have to improve the LBer Corps, upgrade 1 starting DT and 1 starting DE as well as add depth/talent to the secondary.  That said, we have the FA cake and draft volume to make it happen.

On 1/9/2019 at 7:14 PM, tiamat63 said:

whole heartedly endorse this.  Guy is an asshole but coaches the hell out of defense, uses concepts similar to Williams and might be one of the more creative DC's in getting exotic with 4 man pressures.

I like Schwartz too; but this would only be a lateral move for the DC of the defending SB Champions. 

That Ratbird defense gives their QB way too much margin of error.    If our picks and money could bring us 1 more DT and DE to give Mayfield that kind of margin of error - we're looking at a very fun January next year...

20 hours ago, Dutch Oven said:

It was almost impressive how long Tebow had played QB with a throwing motion that looked like he was throwing with his wrong arm. 

Anyone remember the Head Coach that wanted to draft Tim Tebow in round 1?  It was Josh McDaniels, right before puberty, in his temporary coaching life without Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.  

How thankful are the Indy Colts that they ended up with Frank Reich?  

On 11/20/2018 at 8:54 AM, Zombo said:

Flugs, I hope you stayed in touch with Booger, I'm sure he is still baked, I don't remember him saying a word all night.

There is more to the story though ... After you left, Skippy and I call the Pizza Boy back to bring us beer ... and he did! Thanks to his mancrush on Stan. But then he wouldn't leave. Finally I got up and said "well, I've got to go to my room and go to bed" and the look on Skippy's face was priceless, fear and anger and future retribution all in one look ... I'm sure it took him 2 seconds to toss the Pizza Boy out of his room but I always gave him him shit that "Last thing I know, Stan and the Pizza Boy were alone in the room ..."

Skippy has a brother that lives here in Naples, and Skippy actually came down to Naples with me after the game and we did some partying at the local bars and visited with his brother's family ... Good Times!

Zombo

Classic stuff!  I can't believe how much of it we remembered 20 years later when you think about it, especially considering how much beer we consumed and how many brain cells we lost doing so...

It's nice to see others on the board getting the chance to meet each other for games/weekends for the opportunity to develop lasting friendships.  IMO, that's biggest hidden value this board offers.  

19 hours ago, Zombo said:

LMAO. 

Hilarious,  and all true ... Except I'm 5'11.

Z

And after you hit the table, the bump on your head had you over 6'...

The Tampa get together was something you'd see National Lampoon writing and directing. 

Stan came in Friday - did some family business.  Then I took him out to Joe's Crab Shack for food and drinks.   This way I could post later that night Skippy got crabs.  We had a lot of fun.  He had some real nervous energy about meeting Zombo for the first time the next day. He said what do you think he's like?  I said "You know he's fun the way he busts balls on the board.  He's Irish, which not only means he swings first and asks questions later but it also means he can drink.  Above all, he's told us he's the only 1 in his family (that resided in Erie, PA) that isn't a Steeler fan.  That's the kind of guy you want to go to an away game with."  

I brought my friend Karl from work, who could never spell his first name right but he had ideal seats/season tickets to Bucs games.  I show up to his house and the first thing out of his mouth is "Dude, I'm baked!"  I said, "Thank God you told me I just thought you poked both of your eyes and liked that Woodstock Air Freshener. Let's go drink some beer Karl." Then it was off to the Hotel Tailgate.

So, we get to the Hotel the afternoon about 12 hours before  it ended up looking like it got hit by a Hurricane. There's Stan with a beer in his hand and Zombo also arrived right around the same time.  We didn't even get through the intros before Zombo renamed Karl - "Booger".  For a first official get together - it felt like we had known each other for years.  A couple others from the board showed up (a husband and wife who's names I have forgotten) and VetteDawg from a taxicab that looked more like a go-cart.  Vette was sporting a Jim Brown jersey and the first thing out of his mouth was "Can you hear the barking?"  Poor Booger was hearing a lot more than barking because he looked like he smoked half an acre of something and his house smelled like it as I said. Vette was a blast.   He said "Not to put you on the spot Flugs but did you guys know I'm black?"  I said, "No, and Booger still doesn't know it..."

We drank, laughed and told stories (little did we know these were bedtime stories for Booger).  When Zombo learned about Stan being a badass DB was just Sandlot football - "YOU F---ER! YOU MADE IT SOUND LIKE YOU WERE A HANFORD DIXON WITH A BULLY'S AGENDA FOR A HIGH SCHOOL POWERHOUSE!" Anyway, we end up playing some Texas Hold Em unless we were playing something else and I was too drunk to understand why my money kept ending up with Skippy (Stan).  Well, I decide we better order some pizza while I still have some money left.  Next thing I know, this Mexican Pizza Delivery boy shows up with our pizza and he's sitting down at our card table right next to Stan.  He didn't know a lot of English but he did take notice Booger was in a deeper sleep than Rip Van Winkle. Anyway, I dropped something that went under the table and the pizza boy was trying to rub Skippy's upper inner thigh while asking "Smokey-smokey?" I hit the deck LMFAO!    Stan, came out of his chair like a Jack in the box with "WTF!  YOU BETTER GET BACK TO WORK KID!  THE ONLY GUY HERE WITH SMOKEY-SMOKEY ISN'T CONSCIOUS RIGHT NOW."  The best part of all that for me was Zombo was there with a front row seat.  The worst part of all that for Stan was Zombo was there with a front row seat.  This is what all that pizza delivery boy ball busting stuff was about...  And the steady reminders of it all could have been the karma/why that Male Cheerleader (Topjock) from the University of Kentucky hung around so long hoping for opposites to attract with Stan. That's why Stan started checking IDs at the door for what he called "Camp Couch Homos" and Kentucky students and alums.  

That night we all went off to the pre-season game for some football in between the thunder and lightning.  I guess you could say we all got frathoused before the Browns got rathoused. 

Now that you know happened in the game I guess I'll share our post game summary.   During the 1st quarter Vette stood up and asked the crowd if they could hear the barking; and he got beer thrown all over him and that gorgeous #32 jersey by the Tampa fans surrounding him.  Evidently, Security came and he had them at his very first F-Bomb; so they gave him quite the escort out of the stadium as other F-Bombs followed. Anyway, poor Vette looked and smelled like a Colt 45 Commercial gone wrong so this knucklehead that shouldn't have been driving - drove him home.  As legend would have it - I never did see his Vette. In fairness, he did tell us it was in the shop.

When I got back to the Hotel - Stan was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes as he informed me Hotel Security was trying to catch Zombo on an old golf cart that was in the process of running out gas.  He said "It's a damn good thing they were too old to catch him or see him on foot so they just gave up."  The hotel pool looked like it was attacked by a hurricane or a tornado; while we learned balcony and poolside furniture does not float.  After LMAO and drinking some caffeine I was ready to take Booger back to his house and get myself on home. On the way home, the only things I remembered Booger saying of any significance all night was "He sure made that sound like he was just an innocent bystander - didn't he?"   I laughed up a - "He did indeed!"  Then he finished with "Flugs, you got some very sick friends - hope we can do this again!"

On 11/13/2018 at 1:10 AM, Zombo said:

So I guess it is time for me to share my Stan story…

October of 1997 … The Indians and Marlins are in the World Series, the Browns are in limbo and I am assembling a desk in my new condo as I await the delivery of my Gateway2000 … I’m going on the World Wide Web, Ladies and Gentleman!

It arrives, I take it out of the box, plug in the phone line, turn it on, slap in that free AOL disk and I’m ready to surf. Screen name? Hmmm. I’ll pick one for business, Meehan2000, and one for fun … It’s Halloween, so how about my favorite Munster’s character … Zombo2000 it is. (Kids, “2000” was very sheik in 1997.)

So I’m in … And the first two words I typed in to the Internet were “Cleveland Browns”, Well those “keywords” took you to a place called AOL Grandstand. A wonderful place with all of these colorful characters like “Ghoolie” and “Hoorta” and “Furnier” posting about my beloved Cleveland Browns.

You have to remember, before the internet, many of us Browns fans were isolated. I spent my whole adult life Fall Sundays sitting by myself in the corner of a sports bar in New Jersey, Michigan, Florida, California or somewhere with the “bad TV” and no sound. So this was a spectacular discovery that I was not alone in my Browns obsession.

So then there was this character, “Anteater” or some sort of Sheet. He seemed like the “know-it-all” of the group. Who was this guy, an ex-football coach or something? He had a method of letting somebody get carried away with themselves and talking out of their asses … and then he would dissect their posts line by line and make them look like an idiot. This guy was good.

So after lurking for a couple weeks, I finally got up enough gumption to respond to one of his posts. It was a full year and a half before the “new” Browns first draft, but this Anteater guy was already trying to convince everybody that Ohio State LB Andy Katzenmoyer needed to be the Browns first pick. I made a reasonable reply that it was too early to choose, but that they should probably consider at QB with that pick, and I’m not sure how I worded it, but I will never forget his response: “That’s a real knee slapper, Zombo…” and it was on. I had my first internet battle. I famously called Katzenmoyer a “big dumb redneck” and we started debating and disagreeing on every subject … and we never stopped until last Saturday Night. In fact we were still arguing about the 1999 NFL draft the last time I saw him.

And when I say “argued”, I mean we almost always disagreed … but always made each other laugh.

After we both had that “Who’s this guy?” moment, the Atenears/Zombo show was on. We picked a side, dug in and destroyed everything in our path to make our point and took wild swings at each other’s loyal henchmen.

I became the leader of “Camp Couch” while Stan became the voice of “The Dark Side”.

We argued for days about legendary Browns like Corey Bridges, Darren “Chia Pet” Chiaverini and Terry “1700” Kirby. The only thing we agreed on was that Scott Rehberg sucked.

The 1999 NFL draft was more analyzed on the AOL board than any Presidential Election anywhere. Was Chris “Rosey” Palmer going to select my boy Tim Couch or Skippy’s idea of drafting Ricky “small hands” Williams or doing the Ditka Trade for a bevy of picks … if you supported anybody else, like say Akili Smith  … you were gay.

So when the dust had settled over the draft, and we looked over the scorched earth of the AOL Grandstand Board to see who was still standing … we realized we had a pretty good group. And we also realized that real football games were going to start and we should get together … as in meet as real people and not our screen name characters.

So, after the Hall of Fame game against Dallas (Couch looked great) our first preseason game was in Tampa, two hours from me. We knew this great Camp Couch Loyalist named “Flugels” who lived in the Tampa area, and I was only a couple hours away, so we convinced Stan he should come down to Tampa on “business”. So he set up a few sales call for his Penis Pump manufacturing business and made the trip and the first official Browns Board tailgate consisted of Me, Stan, Flugels, a crazy cat named “Vette” and some friend Flugels brought along who we called Booger … because he looked like the character from the Revenge of the Nerds movies ... in the parking lot of the Best Western walking distance from “The Big Sombrero” in Tampa.

That night was a whole story itself … If I see you at a tailgate next year ask me about the “Pizza Boy”, Vette’s arrest, the cops in the parking lot and the fight in the stands. What can I say … I may be one of the graybeards around here now, but when we started on AOL, I was 33 and Stan was 30 and we both acted like we were 20. Or 17. Some will say I still do.

So then Stan got together with Ed and Don and started the tailgate in the Flats down by some bridge. It was awesome. We had our own AOL Private “Clubhouse” board now, thanks Furnier, away from the prying eyes of trolling Steeler and Ravens fans, and Stan and some blonde chick named “Boo” were the moderators after we chased off the rent-a-cop moderators they provided us. Poor Boo … We gave her so much Sheet.

But Stan and Boo were on TV for the first ever Cleveland Browns Home Game in 99 against the Steelers telling the newcasters about this crazy “internet group” from the “world wide web” that had never met on-line before that day. And Ed was grilling burgers for a whole lot more people than he ever imagined.

I made it up to that tailgate later that season and finally met the legendary “Roachmaster”, “Furnier”, “Hoorta”, and the larger than life “Gumbo Dog” … amongst many, many other great folks that I met that day and at future tailgates.

I got Season Tickets in 2000 and always made it up to one or two tailgates a year and that is where my friendship with all these fine folks began … at the Browns Board Tailgate Stan started.

We may have found a permanent tailgate home in Cleveland (we thought), but we were still lost in the internet desert on-line, with Stan as our Moses trying to find us a place. The Clubhouse thing was dropped by AOL, we went back to the regular boards, but it was too trolly with Steeler and Ratbird heathen, we spent all of our time fighting with them and never got to discuss the important issues of the day like Wali Rainer’s bleeding forehead and Percy Ellsworth’s inability to cover anything.

We went to a CBS Sportsline forum that Stan secured for us … but it was too corporate … too many rules. Fatdad (Jim Deetz) started his own Cleveland website “The River Burns”, but God rest his soul, he wasn’t focused too much on the sports part of it and we knew we needed another place, a place devoted to Cleveland Browns Football … A Browns Board.

Stan and I were very tight friends at this point. He always invited me to stay at his house, offered to feed me, whatever I needed … but I was doing pretty well for myself so I’d usually get a hotel room for us to trash as we literally spent the entire tailgate weekends partying. He was with Kathy now … He was still with the “Toothless Hag” when I met him, and I was there for him through his divorce and then he met “Hag2” and they blended their two young families and added a fifth kid, Alexis … and Kathy put up with out shenanigans. Or, actually, she participated in most of them. The stories from this era are legendary, again, each should have it’s own thread: “The Bloody Turban”, the “Cab door”, Zombo Gets Arrested (OK, “detained”) Parts I, II, III and IV …

About this time, Stan decided he was buying his own website dedicated to Browns fans. He wanted me to be an administrator and moderator while he did the backstage tech stuff. I had never moderated, didn’t want to moderate … I wanted to be the “Bad Guy” … but when Stan asked, you knew it was for the good of our little on-line family, so I accepted, and here I am today moderating 2,000 cool guys and Ghoolie.

Marko and Hoorta were tabbed as moderators as well, and the First Lady of the Browns Board, KS “Kathy” Hutchins, affectionately known as “Mom”, kept us in line. And all was right with the world … Except the Browns still sucked.

My world changed in the Summer of 2007. That is when I found out that the woman that I had been married to for two and half years was actually a sick criminal strung out on prescription pain killers who had taken out second mortgages on all of my Florida properties, taken out countless credit lines under my name, stole $13,000 from my elderly mother and ran up $128,000 in credit cards in my name. In one year I went from thinking I was financially set to financial ruin. When I finally got away from this awful human to visit my family in Pennsylvania, I lost everything I owned in one day. She cleaned out our joint checking accounts, cleaned out our house, reported everything “stolen” and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it because I was married to it. All I had was the clothes on my back, my trusty beagle, my car and a friend's laptop. Thank God I had that laptop because the Brownsboard was my only place of peace.

Then came the hordes of false accusations of unspeakable crimes, going after my family, my Mom, my disabled brother, my innocent 10 year old niece … No, I didn’t kill her … But I should have. She went to prison. I went to hell.

The only person I reached out to outside of the family was Stan. I met Stan and Ed and a few others in Youngstown for a high school football game, it was the first time I had gone anywhere socially since everything went down, and I was a wreck inside. Stan never judged, never waivered. He had my back. He invited me out to the Browns opener against the Steelers on his dime. That’s when I met Marko, the Soup Nazi, Jarrod, and a few others but most importantly, I had a good time … and forgot my troubles for a day or two. I don’t think I ever thanked Stan for that, we never got all gushy and talked about feelings and Sheet … but he knew I had his back and I knew he had mine.

Eventually I got back in the game and the tailgates remained my one thing to look forward to every year no matter what. Marko, Mike from Atlanta, Howie and Gareth from the UK and Keith from Scotland joined our tightknit group with Stan and Ed and Don. There was Russ, and the other Russ, and Rich, and Gipper and the legendary Westside Steve. There are a ton of other folks that were huge parts of the Browns Board and the tailgates and if I started naming, names, that is a whole ‘nother thread too.

Then there was the big Anderson/Quinn wars where Stan and I MAY have taken out some frustrations in our personal life on half the Browns Board. The Browns Board had become too much work. It was supposed to be fun. Stan grew tired of people complaining about the way THEY wanted the board run, and he reminded everyone that it was his board. He once told me “You know, I just started all this so everyone could have a place to come and you, me and Flugels could enjoy ourselves at night”. It became too much. We chased off about half our membership, but lost a lot of good posters and good people in the process, and Stan was hurt that some of his closest and favorite posters went to the new rival board.

After that, I think Stan felt a little bit betrayed, and he became increasingly frustrated with how the Browns were run and he slowly relinquished control of the board to me and eventually pretty much stopped posting all together.

But he never closed the place down, he kept it going for his true friends. I know for a fact he has lost money on this site every year. And he grumbled about it. And he threatened to shut it down … but he never could. Because his friends were still there. And that will tell you everything you need to know about Stan.

 

GREAT post Zombo!  Like they say, "Tough times don't last - tough people do.." 

Remember how terrified and paranoid Stan always got about Lou Merletti?    We had a lot of funny smart assses on the board back when Bottlegate went down.  One of them superimposed a picture of Stan in the windup with a Budweiser bottle from the stands. 

I'm always reluctant to tell our road trip stories from the past because they'll all look like I'm adding Hollywood to them.  I guess I'll share a few.  Anyway, Stan instigated that entire van door flying off the hinges incident.  Here's the scene and unseen, if you will.  A taxi mini van has a 6'4" 330 lb GumboDog (Carl) in the back seat with me, Stan and one of Stan's local buddies all glommed in.  Zombo is seated in the front passenger seat with the only passenger door that opened out in lieu of sliding open. Anyway, we were out partying in the Flats.  Stan nudges me and whispers "Come on Flugel you gotta get Zombo ALL GOING."  Right on cue (coincidentally), there was a bus full of females from either a Bachelorette Party or a Sorority Girls Gone Wild excursion coming up from behind us on the lane to our right (closest to the curb).   Consequently, I reached forward placing my hands on Zombo's shoulders and said "ZOMBO, THERE'S A BUS FULL OF HOTTIES COMING UP ON OUR RIGHT. THEY'RE ALL LOOKING FOR A REAL MAN!"  Before that second sentence was finished, Zombo opened the door and the fast traveling bus to our right ripped it right off the hinges.  The best news is Zombo didn't try to get out of the van too quickly...   The driver of the vehicle that hit us got out and all I could say was "OMG we're getting yelled at by the Heat Miser from the Year Without a Santa Claus."  Not the brightest thing to do because now we had a van full of people laughing which only got the Heat Miser more heated.  I can't remember if that ended up with Zombo getting a ticket or not.  What I do remember is Zombo didn't like the cop's attitude...

The next morning we're tailgating and Zombo yells over to Stan - "Skippy, that's great!  No porta-potties. I gotta power squirt and there's a huge line at Panini's."  Stan replied, "REAL MEN, don't wait in line.  That's what alleys are for Zippy!"  As fate would have it, Zombo took Stan's advice and Cleveland Five-O was right there to give him a ticket.   Zombo concluded it all by showing Stan his ticket saying something like "I GOT YOUR REAL MEN DON'T WAIT IN LINES RIGHT HERE SKIPPY."

Then there's the bloody towel turban story from another year where all Zombo was missing in the Flats was the flip flops and camel.  Stan had this friend FatJeff (I was glad to see posting in this thread) that partied with us in the Hyatt.  He was built like the Tazmanian Devil and equipped with a low center of gravity. Anyway, as we were drinking - Stan broke out his football testosterone stories. FatJeff was his childhood hero that nobody could tackle and/or wanted to be tackled by.  All of a sudden, a previously quiet Zombo interrupted him with  "BULLSHITT!  He's built like a beach ball.  He couldn't even tackle my asss!"    So, now there's a challenge and bet in place between Stan and Zombo about who's buying drinks that night.  The challenge is Zombo wearing his traction-free docksiders has to make it past the end of the bed closest to the air conditioner for a TD.  As fate would have it, the 5'10" 180 lb Zombo had a great running start and made a valiant effort dipping a shoulder and flipping a forearm into a well grounded 5'7" 230 lb FatJeff. Zombo went airborne like Mary Lou Retton and his head hit the corner of the table between the 2 double beds shy of the goal line.  With an ear-to-ear grin that said "told you so" better than words, Stan said "Come here Dumbass!  Then he gave Zombo some beer cooler first aid.  1 cold beer for the buzz and 1 to put on the wound.  As the day went into the evening, the wound continued to bleed a little on and off. Zombo ended up wearing a white Hyatt towel over his head like a Turban to the Flats that night, which didn't take very long to show some blood staining through.    I think we were calling him something like Ali Haji Zombo.  He looked like a real sick bastard and we had a blast playing it up that night in the bars. In response to one cute little concerned and inquisitive mind, I pulled a Disney spin right out of my asss:   "Yeah, we don't quite have him fluent yet but he loves words like HOT, FREE, WIN and COLD (especially when he's drinking).  Unfortunately, someone taught him to say GAY every time he sees an umbrella in a drink. Today he tried out for the All Madden Team and came up just a yard or 2 short.  We're trying to get his mind off that tonight..."

On 11/12/2018 at 10:02 AM, Zombo said:

Flugs,

We go ALL the way back ... the original Browns Board Rat Pack. We terrorized Tampa and the the Flats. Such great memories.

It was great talking to you yesterday and seeing you in Tampa.

When I told Stan we were at the Tampa tailgate together he sent these pictures of a young dapper Flugels with the words "I kept that Sheet just in case I ever had to have a profile picture when I'm impostering Flug's on a Steeler Forum."

LOL!

I'll never forget it Zombo.  Stan told me he needed me to check out this message board he was ruffling feathers in. He had a couple Steeler fans, in particular, he wanted me to get under their skin.  I said "Say no more!  I won't just get their skin crawling - I'll get it doing aerobics!"

So I got there and that sick bastard was posting in 2 different screen names.  His own and one that had my last name in it.  He already had all kinds of guys making dart boards with me as the bullseye.  I hit the deck LMAO!   He was better at pissing people off in my name than I am if you can believe that. In fact, I became known on that board as the Flugel imposter/wannabee. 

Some guy said "Yeah, Flugel you probably sip lady liquor from a straw."  He fired back with "I got your straw right here" and launched that picture of me above back from Spring Break in college finishing a 2 beer funnel underwater...  And I mean this in the best possible way when I say WHAT A BASTARD!

Always an outrageous adventure.  That's why we'll never forget him!

4 hours ago, Zombo said:

Devastating news. The owner and founder of our board passed away last night, according to his wife, Kathy.

Stan was a hell of guy that I met back on the old AOL Grandstand in October of 1997. We traveled through the Browns internet desert together until he founded this place in 2003 to give us a home.

He always grumbled to me how he lost money on the this place, but he never pulled the cord on it because I know deep down it was near and dear to his heart.

I don't know any details at this time, I just know I have lost one of my best friends in life, and his wife and family are devastated, he had five kids, the youngest is a Senior in High School.

RIP Stan "Atenears" Aten

1967-2018

Godspeed, Skippy

CRUSHING NEWS! 

There's 2 reasons the old AOL board back in 98 felt like THE place to call home were you and Stan (ATENEARS). You 2 knuckleheads never agreed on anything,which brought to life a level of oneupsmanship entertainment I had never encountered.  Hilarious from the get-go! 

Stan hated Tim Couch while you were handing out Guinness Beer to anyone joining you, me and Hoorta in Camp Couch.  Stan was one of the funniest smart assses I had ever seen.  He attacked my first Tim Couch Makes Sense post with a fine tooth comb; and I knew I was never leaving. Then came the temporarily outspoken male cheerleader from Kentucky with the screen name TOPJOCK and a creepy groinal warming for Tim Couch. Next thing I know half our board was in the penalty box with TOS Violations. Stan vowed to us he was going to start a board some day that gave us as close to anything goes as possible with freedom of speech.  And here we are - what it is....

The biggest thing I remember about Stan was no matter how much we disagreed and busted balls in here - he opened his house up to you and me (and a slew of others that lived out of town).  He brought a whole bunch of people together from as far east as England and as far west as California. It was great to meet guys like Hoorta, Ed (Roach), Furnier, KSHutchins, Gumbodog34, the legendary FatJeff and so many others. It got to the point where you, me and Stan got together almost every year for training camp visits, scrimmages (ie: Edinboro, Rochester) or weekend road trips home/away games. Unforgettable fun!  When he asked me what the game plan would be in our first tailgate down in Tampa in the preseason of 99 - I said "Tell you what - we're not leaving until Zombo's heaving."  To which he replied, "I'M THERE!"  I'm still meeting and partying with great long-time fans like Canton Mike, RifferX, Calfox, WSS, Gipper and others in recent years. 

When Stan coached kids in baseball, playing time had nothing to do with how good the kid was.  It was all about how HOT the kid's mom was.  And he taught sportsmanship the way you'd expect him to with this classic epitome of the guy: "WE DON'T SHAKE THEIR HANDS UNTIL AFTER WE'VE KICKED THEIR ASSS!" The first time he ever mentioned his WIFE - he called her "THE TOOTHLESS HAG."  When he got remarried it evolved into "HAG2." 

Our world here lost a GREAT dude!    I think I speak for a lot of people when I say I'll never forget him!

14 minutes ago, Zombo said:

I knew you'd be back.

Props to Mahomes, your offense and basically, at this writing... you were right.

Hope we can give you a game Sunday, itll be fun if we do.

Z

KC is a FUN team to watch.  It'll be fun to see what Dorsey put together in KC vrs what he's putting together in Cleveland.

I hope we give them a game as long as we don't give them the game. 

On 8/12/2018 at 6:14 AM, TexasAg1969 said:

In watching the Broncos last night it is now obvious that Paxton Lynch is going to be 3rd string behind Chad Kelly unless a miracle happens the next 3 preseason games.

And when we factor in Chad Kelly was the last pick of an entire draft class, the good news is Paxton Lynch can still be a football messiah in Canada.

1 hour ago, Dutch Oven said:

Are you looking forward for 5th grade this upcoming school year? 

Can't you just see it?  Some kid named Flugel takes Ghoolie's lunch money and makes him watch the kid enjoying the lunch on his coin.    Before anyone could even begin to feel sorry for the torn spirited Ghoolie - the young, potty-mouthed Shakespeare in training finds a Cleveland Browns message board while he's watching an episode of Jerry Springer's #1 rated show capitalizing on passive aggressive behavior.  Suddenly, the "NOBODY'S KICKING SAND IN MY FACE IN CYBER SPACE" is born.  Just add alcohol and here we are today...

Sometimes I don't have the heart to tell him he's planting a steel toe right between his own lookers when he's assaulting the opinion he had just a week ago thinking it came from Hoorta or hoping it came from Zombo. 

3 hours ago, Dutch Oven said:

He's waffling.

He loves this draft, thinks Dorsey really nailed it out of the park. Good times for the Browns are on the horizon boys!...… You know what boys, I think the Browns blew this draft... Browns are going to keep sucking... The NFL sucks, I'm going to watch the XFL... scratch that, I'll pick another NFL team... 

Typical attention trolling. 

Did Donald Trump hack Ghoolie's account or vice versa?  The predictability factor is parked on WTF.

Poor Clark Kent has to be all bummed out learning that all he ever really needed was 2 tiny hands and a Twitter account on steroids... 

42 minutes ago, Dutch Oven said:

Stiffler's mom was hot. 

That was a classic!  Remember what this conversation led to?

On 6/15/2018 at 4:47 AM, nickers said:

Very sad to see this...Now when I think of this.. and the stupid bike stuff.. And then I think of how Big Ben could've been drafted by the Browns.. BUT! BUT! BUT! the great Andrew "Butch" Davis intervened.. And drafted "WIN-SLOW"... There's that sound that goes "THUD" And your heart sinks back to reality.. But this year figures to be different.. "fingers crossed"

Was that before or after he drafted the invisible work ethic of Gerrard Warren over LaDanian Tomlinson at #3 overall?   It is VERY sad to see this; but dangerous/aggressive animals belong in cages. There is no defending multiple rape allegations like Stink always does for Ben Riden&Rapen. He had a lot in common with Winslow from the motor cycle riding gone wrong to the female victim count hitting the plural.  Rooney had to cover that up and get it all quieted at warped speed as much as Joe PA had to perpetuate the extended look away in PA's other version of "Win at all costs."

Here's what I remember about Winslow.  Big time prospect that came from a decent family and dated/married a hottie - in spite of his brat-like tendencies seen on television. The guy even wanted to play on the kick block units, where he broke his arm after blocking a kick in a game we won largely because of it. Prior to the hitting a parking lot speed bump at about 55 mph, he had a very promising NFL career ahead.  Before injury rendered him to blocking from a pogo stick, he was a really good blocker downfield at the U while he was decent at setting the edge.  Multiple surgeries later, a fraction of him had a couple productive seasons inclusive of 1 Pro Bowl during our 10-6 season in 2007.