kshutchins Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 The youngsters here won't remember the days when monochrome monitors sent us through cyberspace to locales like NVN and Prodigy. AOL was a newbie on the block and true social networking was in its fetal stage. It was actually possible back then to know, by name, most of the Browns fans who posted regularly on line and 100 emails a day was an unheard of amount. Fifteen years ago today I was typing on Prodigy to a friend, Collin Agee, who was in the Army stationed in Heidelberg. It was after Browns fans had congregated in Atlanta to present petitions to the NFL in an effort to Save Our Browns. Some of you will recognize the names in this account. Enjoy! Collin, I've got pictures from Atlanta so when I sort through them, I'll send a few as mementos. My other treasured mementos from the event are: a piece of the Dawg Pound bench (row 35) given to me by Sam Chambers, my penlight from the "candle"-light vigil at the Stouffer Renaissance where the owners stayed (the light is imprinted with "Save Our Browns" Wednesday January 17, 1996, Atlanta, Georgia"), my "Save Our Browns VIP Staff" badge, and the "Dawg Gone" pin given to me by Joe Melchior, the organizer of the SOBIG (Save Our Browns Internet Group). Funniest thing heard at the rally: When the SOB organizers arrived at the airport, they were greeted by media, hauled themselves off the plane, dragged through the airport, clawed through luggage retrieval, and were finally making way to their transportation to the hotel. As they emerged from the terminal, a line of limosines was waiting by the curb for various VIPs. One special limo was from the "Hades Limosine Service." In front of it, stood a devil with a pitchfork and bearing the sign "Art Modell" as he scanned the crowd for the familiar face. Everyone was immediately cheered. The pie in the face of the weekend was the WBAL sign outside of the Stouffer Renaissance where the candlelight vigil was held. It said something gross like "Baltimore means Browns." I could really barely look at the thing. It was nauseating. I arrived at the Sheraton Gateway at 10:30 AM, thinking I'd get there with time to check in and get something to eat before the buses from Cleveland arrived. Actually, I got there right about the same time the buses did. The SOB staff had spent the previous evening setting up one of the meeting rooms for the rally. a green carpet runner striped to look like stadium turf led up to the stage. Signs and banners surrounded the room. outside the meeting room, Gary, of SOB, was scurrying around identifying rally participants and giving out assignments. My job was to represent the Browns Backers of Greenville, South Carolina. (At one point during the rally, the club representatives had their names, and the names of their clubs called out as we carried petitions into the rally to be added to the pile.) While we waited for the festivities to get under way, I got to meet Joe Melchior and Mary Ann Consolo with whom I've corresponded via e-mail. I also met Bob Grace who's now heading up the Cleveland Browns Backers. At about noon the festivities got under way. As tv cameras rolled, the appropriately attired dawg pound cheered as our community and campaign leaders made our case on video for the owners, who will each receive a copy. Greg Pruitt and Cleo Miller offered encouragement. Big Dawg broke our hears with his tearful account of his early experiences as a Browns fan in the Punt, Pass and Kick competitions. Mayor White rallied the troops into a frenzy as the pile of petitions grew and grew as members of our group carried them to the foot of the stage. Plans changed from moment to moment as events dictated. At one point we became aware that the owners would allow Mayor White and a small contingent of fans to present the petitions in person to a representative of the NFL ... as long as we could be there with all the stuff at 1:15 PM. You'll recall that most of the folks at the rally arrived by bus ... There weren't any readily available vehicles to transport a mountain of petitions. Cars, trucks, taxis and hotel limosines were rounded up and stuffed with people and petitions and the caravan set off with police escort to the owners' hotel. I imagine there are a lot of people in Atlanta who were scratching their heads wondering why this unlikely string of vehicles merited a police escort. One very irritated trucker nearly ran me off the road as he jammed his way into our line of cars. Once we pointed him out to one of our cop pals, he was chased out of our lane ... I suspect he missed his exit. (tsk tsk) When we all got to the hotel, a limited number of us were allowed into the lobby, where the petitions were unrolled and spread around the floor. In the center of a tight cluster of media cameras, Mayor White and one of the children presented the petitions officially to the NFL. Mayor White exited the lobby and answered media questions. It was all over in about 15 minutes. None of the people in my car had a clue how to get back to our hotel so, in a classic moment, one of my backseat drivers said, "Follow that cab." We did, and in a few minutes we were back at our hotel. By this time I suddenly began to realize that I hadn't eaten since 6 AM and was starving. After finding my room, I showered and changed for the remainder of the day's events and went downstairs seeking food. I grabbed a bite to eat in the hotel club where I ran into Gary Christopher (the SOB Browns Internet Group coordinator). We went up to the second floor board room seeking the computer. I got to see Gary's e'mail, which was formidable (about 300 pieces in three days). I finally got to type for Gary (I'm always giving him a hard time about his slow typing) ... he dictated a letter to Mr. Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers in response to his pointed remarks that Browns fans had gone too far. At the bottom of the letter Gary (what a guy) had me CC: ClevFanJoe, MetalMarte, KSHutchins, MaryAnnClv, BeesIndy and anyone else we could think of (y'all are famous) We had to fax ouselves a copy so Gary could sign the letter (no printer) and then Gary faxed it out to all the owners. Everyone congregated in the meeting room at 5 PM to receive instructions. When we'd all gotten our "marching orders" (be QUIET, no chants, no signs, be respectful ...) we climbed on the buses, received our commemorative flashlights, and headed back to the Stouffer Renaissance. We lined the walkway in front of the hotel and waited with flashlights darkened as we waited for sunset. At the predetermined time, Mayor White proceeded along our lines, shaking the hand of each person and offering thanks for the good job we were doing. As the Mayor passed along the line, we turned on our lights and stood quietly as the media snapped our pictures and ran miles of video tape. We were trying to be very serious and I was succeeding until Jim Soltis turned to me and said, "You know, if you put one of these in your nostril, it lights up your nose." The moment became solemn once again as a man who strongly resembled Mr. Modell came to the window of one of the rooms and watched the events outside. After various interviews and general visiting all around, the *P group (Sam, Jimbo, MaryAnn and myself) took off in cars and headed for the Beer Mug. The buses went back to the hotel to drop off people who didn't want to attend the party. We all had something to eat while we waited for the buses to arrive at the club. It took a while but they eventually made it. The party was just loud noise, announcements by Bob Grace and anyone else moved to grab a microphone, media filming and interviews, music, conversation, exchange of memorabilia, with video of Browns games on the TV's in the background. It was great good fun. I finally hit the sack at 1: 30 AM. My wakeup call was at 5:15 AM. Aside from the blinding headache, lack of sleep, no breakfast and the three hour drive to work ... I felt GREAT!! It was a VERY cool day. More tomorrow after I sleep. Kathy My kids and I signing one of the petitions in Cleveland. Setting up for the rally. Rally in progress Mayor White extolling the troops Stacking the petitions and signs for presentation to NFL owners Presentation of the petitions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATENEARS Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 Kathy, Did any of the media ever have their footage collected for a documentary? If not, I wonder what still exists to be colaborated. I can remember back in the day (a few years after these events, I sure), I broke into this Online-Browns-Family by typing current news to out of town fans. You couldn't just search or go to just any media website and copy-and-paste the articles, they just weren't available online. We hand typed news paper clippings to share with others in the dark as to what was going on with the state of the Browns. Good stuff, strange memories. I can still remember waking up to a radio interview of Art Modell, and something in his voice perked my attention immediately as he went on to announce that he was moving the team. I had to leave the house, and drove around aimlessly as the story broke that day. I can remember vividly debating expansion or relocating another team here. The owners race; I still have propaganda from the various ownership partys vying for the team. We had been online for several years debating the Browns before such subjects of substance ever existed. Had I known that the Browns franchise was going to be so mis-managed and woeful, I would have wished for strength to end any relationship with the NFL. These past 15 years have just been horrible as a Browns Fan. The best thing sprouting from it all is the friendships we've all made here. Cheers to you Brothers and Sisters, as you've become the Cleveland Browns to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshutchins Posted January 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 Kathy, Did any of the media ever have their footage collected for a documentary? If not, I wonder what still exists to be colaborated. I can remember back in the day (a few years after these events, I sure), I broke into this Online-Browns-Family by typing current news to out of town fans. You couldn't just search or go to just any media website and copy-and-paste the articles, they just weren't available online. We hand typed news paper clippings to share with others in the dark as to what was going on with the state of the Browns. Good stuff, strange memories. I can still remember waking up to a radio interview of Art Modell, and something in his voice perked my attention immediately as he went on to announce that he was moving the team. I had to leave the house, and drove around aimlessly as the story broke that day. I can remember vividly debating expansion or relocating another team here. The owners race; I still have propaganda from the various ownership partys vying for the team. We had been online for several years debating the Browns before such subjects of substance ever existed. Had I known that the Browns franchise was going to be so mis-managed and woeful, I would have wished for strength to end any relationship with the NFL. These past 15 years have just been horrible as a Browns Fan. The best thing sprouting from it all is the friendships we've all made here. Cheers to you Brothers and Sisters, as you've become the Cleveland Browns to me! I don't know if anyone saved the video of that or any of the Cleveland rallies. I do know that this was long before the days when everyone and his brother had a camera in their cell phone. I don't recall seeing any other still camera at the Atlanta rally other than my own. For some reason I have yet to fathom, I printed out a stack of the internet traffic pertaining to the Save Our Browns effort. I have a binder full of message board posts and emails thanks to my dot matrix printer. I am still amazed at the amount of information we were able to round up from various sources BEFORE it appeared in the media. Everyone has their unique memories of that nutty time. Beanpot was telling me about a "Diaper Day" event in Baltimore which was designed to mock Browns fans for crying over the loss of their team. I don't remember hearing about that. I don't have a clue what made me dig through this stuff today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATENEARS Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 I remember Diaper Day. We used to have it out on AOL on a daily basis with the asshole who coordinated that, I belive his name was something ___Meister or Miser. I may have a box of old posting around as well. I have old newspapers and I have saved souvenirs from the ownership race of Milstein, Thomas Murdough, Wolstein, Dolans, Jacobs, Lerner, etc ... I have a mini nerf football with I believe Milstein & Calvin Hill ownership imprinted on it. They also mailed out key chains and such. I barely opened the stuff but just stored it away as I new the things would be memorable one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATENEARS Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 Regarding 'Diaper Day', I found an archived story. The guys name was Adam Meisters, but I can't remember his screen name but I believe it had part of his last name within. http://www2.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=3680 I believe 'Art Beitz' had a few bandwidth directed at that guy with his RavenSucks zone url. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshutchins Posted January 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 I remember Diaper Day. We used to have it out on AOL on a daily basis with the asshole who coordinated that, I belive his name was something ___Meister or Miser. I may have a box of old posting around as well. I have old newspapers and I have saved souvenirs from the ownership race of Milstein, Thomas Murdough, Wolstein, Dolans, Jacobs, Lerner, etc ... I have a mini nerf football with I believe Milstein & Calvin Hill ownership imprinted on it. They also mailed out key chains and such. I barely opened the stuff but just stored it away as I new the things would be memorable one day. I've got some of that stuff too but since I wasn't in Cleveland at the time I'm sure I don't have as much, just what my family and various folks sent me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshutchins Posted January 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 Yep, Adam Meister. We used to beat the shit out of that douche on aol. I think four people showed up for "diaper day". Dumbest idea ever. He's probably a bag boy and a registered sex offender these days. http://www2.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=3680# Zombo Ah .... it's starting to come back to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedyd900rr Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 I will never get the sound of a dial up modem out of my head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshutchins Posted January 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 I will never get the sound of a dial up modem out of my head. lol. The last time I heard it was in the movie "The Proposal." Cracked me up when Sandra Bullock's character didn't know what it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Go 'Losers Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 Ominous anniversary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamAtlanta Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Baroness! I'll have to send Jim a link, to remind him how much of a goofball he could be back then! For the youngsters: Prodigy: One of the "Big 3" computer services, along with AOL and Compuserve. They were the first to allow their users to send and receive e-mails to/from other services. There was a thriving Browns board there, the highlight of which was Pat Hadad re-typing the day's Browns news for we expatriates. NVN was "National Videotext Network". A bunch of us were active there, as well as the old Prodigy and AOL boards. It's how many of us met all those years ago, when nobody actually met people they conversed with online. (Actually, we didn't call it "online", but "over the computer".) It was a great service until they abruptly closed up shop one day. Hey Woofie, remember this one: "I'd settle for semi-reliable rumor." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshutchins Posted January 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Baroness! I'll have to send Jim a link, to remind him how much of a goofball he could be back then! For the youngsters: Prodigy: One of the "Big 3" computer services, along with AOL and Compuserve. They were the first to allow their users to send and receive e-mails to/from other services. There was a thriving Browns board there, the highlight of which was Pat Hadad re-typing the day's Browns news for we expatriates. NVN was "National Videotext Network". A bunch of us were active there, as well as the old Prodigy and AOL boards. It's how many of us met all those years ago, when nobody actually met people they conversed with online. (Actually, we didn't call it "online", but "over the computer".) It was a great service until they abruptly closed up shop one day. Hey Woofie, remember this one: "I'd settle for semi-reliable rumor." Glad to oblige! A real blast from the past. Is Pat still around? lolololol ... over the computer .... lolololol You can tell Jim from me that one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life was at a talent show. Two guys "performed" to dueling banjos with penlights illuminating their noses in time with the music. I laughed until it hurt. Woofie aka The Baroness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. T Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 Everytime this is brought up I get sick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamAtlanta Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 Glad to oblige! A real blast from the past. Is Pat still around? lolololol ... over the computer .... lolololol You can tell Jim from me that one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life was at a talent show. Two guys "performed" to dueling banjos with penlights illuminating their noses in time with the music. I laughed until it hurt. Woofie aka The Baroness I haven't heard from, or about, Pat in many years. I got to meet her at the first game back in 1999, but lost touch with her after that. She was very nice, but quiet and rather shy. When I was doing the Atlanta BB thing, our members wondered how I got the information for our weekly newsletters. I always gave the credit to Pat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamAtlanta Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 One of my lasting memories of that event (there were many) was the protest outside the owners' hotel. The WBAL sign was a mobile billboard towed by a pickup truck with one guy in it. I think it said "Baltimore and the Browns...A great team". A few of the Atlanta BB guys spotted it and headed that direction. Mayor White sprinted after them, blocked their path and said, "No, no, no. This isn't what we're about." They rejoined the rest of the group. For the record, they did pay the guy towing the sign a friendly visit after the rally. I believe he had to call AAA after all of his tires inexplicably went flat. Wisely, he didn't put up a fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshutchins Posted January 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 One of my lasting memories of that event (there were many) was the protest outside the owners' hotel. The WBAL sign was a mobile billboard towed by a pickup truck with one guy in it. I think it said "Baltimore and the Browns...A great team". A few of the Atlanta BB guys spotted it and headed that direction. Mayor White sprinted after them, blocked their path and said, "No, no, no. This isn't what we're about." They rejoined the rest of the group. For the record, they did pay the guy towing the sign a friendly visit after the rally. I believe he had to call AAA after all of his tires inexplicably went flat. Wisely, he didn't put up a fight. I was told that a few SOBers turned off or did something to the sign. Apparently the hotel security saw the folks who did it but looked the other way. Pat was a godsend during those days. I wish I knew where she was to tell her that we still appreciate all she did to keep us informed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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