My Family Tradition as Browns Fans

[TexasAg1969]

I followed them with Jim Brown, but only through the newspapers since from 59-65 I lived in Venezuela. Never saw him actually play a game, but have enjoyed the youtubes.

Came here with JFF and remained to give you all Myles to make up for it and I think he has already. If we can just get a season going this year, I think it gets real interesting.

Loved reading the different stories on here about the rest of you and your connection with the Browns.

[SdBacker80]

On 7/13/2020 at 7:30 AM, mjp28 said:

Great stuff !  Where abouts were you in the Youngstown area to listen to Nev on the radio?

The BROWNS, INDIANS and even CAVS all had good radio and TV people......but we might have been a bit prejudicial on our opinions.

GO BROWNS, TRIBE and CAVS (well when LBJ was there).......oh yeah !

I grew up in between Akron and Youngstown.  I don’t recall the station but I remember Nev.

Having spent time around Philadelphia radio, San Diego and So Cal radio.  I agree we have some great radio people.  Tom Hamilton is one of my favorites. I’d put him up against anyone. 
 
I think we feel exactly the same about Browns Tribe and Cavs although I enjoyed the Price Nance Daugherty Cavs there were just too many dismal tanking years in between that and LBJ And even after LBJ that my interest was lost a little.

[mjp28]

2 hours ago, SdBacker80 said:

I grew up in between Akron and Youngstown.  I don’t recall the station but I remember Nev.

Having spent time around Philadelphia radio, San Diego and So Cal radio.  I agree we have some great radio people.  Tom Hamilton is one of my favorites. I’d put him up against anyone. 
 
I think we feel exactly the same about Browns Tribe and Cavs although I enjoyed the Price Nance Daugherty Cavs there were just too many dismal tanking years in between that and LBJ And even after LBJ that my interest was lost a little.

I'll agree with Hammy anytime and the great and classy Herb Score or Joe Tait or Jimmy Dudley going way back.  I used to like going in the backyard with my grandfather and have a nice relaxing afternoon listening to a Tribe game especially when there were fewer games on TV.

And the BROWNS especially now when they're blacked out on the Ohio/pa line for the Steelers with Donovan & Dieken and before that with Nev and Gib.

I'm not a big hoops guy but I remember the Cavs in the big Brad and free throw champ Mark Price era and going back to the Richmond arena era with Joe Tait.  I would like to catch games on my car radio when traveling.  LBJ was incredible in his era which is probably gone now in Ohio.

Amazing too how reminiscing about sports brings back all of these great times in our lives.

GO BROWNS, TRIBE, BUCKEYES and Cavs......

[AP1]

My Great-Grandpa's family landed in Baltimore like many other Jewish Slavs, made their way to Pittsburgh and settled in Albion, PA south of Erie. He worked on the railroad and was the first to take my Grandpa to the city on a train to watch the Browns and Indians. My Grandpa was born in 1938, so he had the thrills of the Paul Brown juggernaut teams of the 1940s and 50s and the Jim Brown era. My Dad was born in 1960 and lived the Kardiac Kids, I was born in 1982, the Schottenheimer through Belichick Browns were my everything. We moved to Central Indiana in 1984. Dad was one of the first of all of his uncles and cousins that didn't work in the mills, foundries or tool and dye shops of NW PA.

 

We watched football every Sunday, but the Browns were never on until the playoffs. The in game updates back then were absolute treats. My Grandma would occasionally record games with the VCR and send them to us and we had a Browns' News/Illustrated subscription. And that's how we got our Browns' information! I'd sit at the kitchen table and immerse myself in that thing. That periodical was truly a gem.

 

Every time the Browns played in Indianapolis we would go and it seemed in the late 80's, early 90's that was a yearly event. The Colts were absolute trash then and many years the Brownies wore their Brown on White uniforms and our fellow Browns' fans traveled so well that those games always felt like Browns' home games. After the game, my Dad would take us down to the player-family area right by the loading docks where the team buses parked. We were in Heaven. We met and received autographs from our Heroes - Bernie, Clay Matthews, Steve Everitt, Eric Metcalf, Ozzie Newsome, Kevin Mack, Ernest Byner, Michael Dean Perry, Pepper Johnson, Mike Caldwell, Vinny, Bill Belichick, Tom Tupa, Leroy Hoard, James Jones, Michael Jackson, Antonio Langham and Eric Turner to name a few.

 

My Dad had a pretty good relationship with a guy that ran a local watering hole and a couple times in the early 90's, I got to go to the bar with Dad to watch some games. He'd order a couple appetizers and we'd sit in the corner and watch the Browns on satellite, which was a huge deal. I remember a few games of note being televised locally, it was sporadic: the Monday Night win vs the 49ers, an opening day loss in NE, Metcalf taking two punts back vs the Steelers and the win in Dallas in '94.

 

On Thanksgiving weekend 1994, we finally got a chance to see the Browns play in Municipal Stadium, I came remember not wanting to leave after the game. They beat the Oilers 39-24. It was awesome and my brother, fours year younger, and I soaked up the experience. Just being around passionate Browns fan that I knew had cheered and screamed as loud as we had and cried like we had until there was nothing in the tank was fulfilling. Oddly enough, a family in front of us did not stand for the National Anthem and the guys around us in Carhartts and the old Orange hard hats let the man of the family know how he felt. Words were exchanged, the guy in the hard hat rolled up his program and hit the man that sat on the head a couple times. He had plenty of words. The family left immediately never to return.

 

The last two decades have been no different as far as our love. However, my outlook has changed from that of a starry-eyed boy ever the optimist, to a man that questions making the same decisions and expecting a different result. We were raised and have remained steadfast Browns fans in the darkest four decades of the franchise. My brother is out East, he's still a die-hard Browns fan. My sister is out West, she's still a Browns fan. My mom, raised in a Steeler home, is a Browns fan and Dad and Grandpa are still going strong. Even my little girls who cheer for "Daddy's Team" are Browns fans.

[Flugel]

3 hours ago, AP1 said:

My Great-Grandpa's family landed in Baltimore like many other Jewish Slavs, made their way to Pittsburgh and settled in Albion, PA south of Erie. He worked on the railroad and was the first to take my Grandpa to the city on a train to watch the Browns and Indians. My Grandpa was born in 1938, so he had the thrills of the Paul Brown juggernaut teams of the 1940s and 50s and the Jim Brown era. My Dad was born in 1960 and lived the Kardiac Kids, I was born in 1982, the Schottenheimer through Belichick Browns were my everything. We moved to Central Indiana in 1984. Dad was one of the first of all of his uncles and cousins that didn't work in the mills, foundries or tool and dye shops of NW PA.

We watched football every Sunday, but the Browns were never on until the playoffs. The in game updates back then were absolute treats. My Grandma would occasionally record games with the VCR and send them to us and we had a Browns' News/Illustrated subscription. And that's how we got our Browns' information! I'd sit at the kitchen table and immerse myself in that thing. That periodical was truly a gem.

 

Every time the Browns played in Indianapolis we would go and it seemed in the late 80's, early 90's that was a yearly event. The Colts were absolute trash then and many years the Brownies wore their Brown on White uniforms and our fellow Browns' fans traveled so well that those games always felt like Browns' home games. After the game, my Dad would take us down to the player-family area right by the loading docks where the team buses parked. We were in Heaven. We met and received autographs from our Heroes - Bernie, Clay Matthews, Steve Everitt, Eric Metcalf, Ozzie Newsome, Kevin Mack, Ernest Byner, Michael Dean Perry, Pepper Johnson, Mike Caldwell, Vinny, Bill Belichick, Tom Tupa, Leroy Hoard, James Jones, Michael Jackson, Antonio Langham and Eric Turner to name a few.

 

My Dad had a pretty good relationship with a guy that ran a local watering hole and a couple times in the early 90's, I got to go to the bar with Dad to watch some games. He'd order a couple appetizers and we'd sit in the corner and watch the Browns on satellite, which was a huge deal. I remember a few games of note being televised locally, it was sporadic: the Monday Night win vs the 49ers, an opening day loss in NE, Metcalf taking two punts back vs the Steelers and the win in Dallas in '94.

 

On Thanksgiving weekend 1994, we finally got a chance to see the Browns play in Municipal Stadium, I came remember not wanting to leave after the game. They beat the Oilers 39-24. It was awesome and my brother, fours year younger, and I soaked up the experience. Just being around passionate Browns fan that I knew had cheered and screamed as loud as we had and cried like we had until there was nothing in the tank was fulfilling. Oddly enough, a family in front of us did not stand for the National Anthem and the guys around us in Carhartts and the old Orange hard hats let the man of the family know how he felt. Words were exchanged, the guy in the hard hat rolled up his program and hit the man that sat on the head a couple times. He had plenty of words. The family left immediately never to return.

 

The last two decades have been no different as far as our love. However, my outlook has changed from that of a starry-eyed boy ever the optimist, to a man that questions making the same decisions and expecting a different result. We were raised and have remained steadfast Browns fans in the darkest four decades of the franchise. My brother is out East, he's still a die-hard Browns fan. My sister is out West, she's still a Browns fan. My mom, raised in a Steeler home, is a Browns fan and Dad and Grandpa are still going strong. Even my little girls who cheer for "Daddy's Team" are Browns fans.

Way to go - another GREAT story in this thread!   Loved our 80s Browns, which began 2 years after we drafted Clay Matthews and Ozzie Newsome in the first round in 1978. The 80s also treated fans to my 2 favorite QBs - Brian Sipe and Bernie Kosar.  These were some of the RBs/FBs in the 80s: Greg Pruitt, Cleo Miller, Mike Pruitt, Calvin Hill, Charles White, Boyce Green, Earnest Byner, Kevin Mack, Curtis Dickey, Herman Fontenot, Tim Manoa, and Eric Metcalf.  And your mention of the Browns News Illustrated brought back fond memories and the weekend discussions it would lead to about the team.

 

[Flugel]

This has been a lot fun reading where all the passion comes from in this fan base/message board.  Incredible stuff and much appreciated folks!  Looking forward to reading more of them.  Don't hold that stuff hostage...

[gumby73]

5 hours ago, AP1 said:

 

Browns' News/Illustrated subscription. And that's how we got our Browns' information! I'd sit at the kitchen table and immerse myself in that thing. 

 

On Thanksgiving weekend 1994, we finally got a chance to see the Browns play in Municipal Stadium, I came remember not wanting to leave after the game. They beat the Oilers 39-24. It was awesome and my brother, fours year younger, and I soaked up the experience. Just being around passionate Browns fan that I knew had cheered and screamed as loud as we had and cried like we had until there was nothing in the tank was fulfilling. 

Our Browns friend, your whole post was awesome.. Thanks for sharing..this got me^^.Nothing like the tingle when your arm hair's stand straight up!  What a ballgame! I also now remember making the trip from NC back to Ohio to my Sisters with Dad & All the Family...Thanks AP! It took a few 30, but Dad & I, finally broke mom of removing the browns illustrated from the kitchen table..

[mjp28]

15 hours ago, gumby73 said:

Our Browns friend, your whole post was awesome.. Thanks for sharing..this got me^^.Nothing like the tingle when your arm hair's stand straight up!  What a ballgame! I also now remember making the trip from NC back to Ohio to my Sisters with Dad & All the Family...Thanks AP! It took a few 30, but Dad & I, finally broke mom of removing the browns illustrated from the kitchen table..

I'm not sure if some of the young kids feel this way about the BROWNS or football or even real sports today but then again they didn't have their Bernie or Sipe moments the way we older geezers have.  They'd rather play grand theft auto VIII or other video games with their friends in mom's cellar and not get out and play football or go to real life games.

Too bad their loss the kids in our neighborhood have a big beautiful meadow that is mowed and kept up by the township and they never, ever go there to play football or baseball or even soccer. After these kids get home from school it is beautifully quiet in our neighborhood except maybe for a few young kids riding bikes.

Their loss, oh well.......

GO BROWNS, INDIANS, BUCKEYES..... just win baby !

[AP1]

30 minutes ago, mjp28 said:

I'm not sure if some of the young kids feel this way about the BROWNS or football or even real sports today but then again they didn't have their Bernie or Sipe moments the way we older geezers have.  They'd rather play grand theft auto VIII or other video games with their friends in mom's cellar and not get out and play football or go to real life games.

Too bad their loss the kids in our neighborhood have a big beautiful meadow that is mowed and kept up by the township and they never, ever go there to play football or baseball or even soccer. After these kids get home from school it is beautifully quiet in our neighborhood except maybe for a few young kids riding bikes.

Their loss, oh well.......

GO BROWNS, INDIANS, BUCKEYES..... just win baby !

Priorities have changed, no doubt. And it's not just playing video games and not playing outside. It seems teams are followed less and players and apparel companies are followed more.

Did young kids really like the Cavs or do they like Lebron James? I understand in world of four year max deals that's likely to be the case, but few have team loyalty. They aren't moved by team highlights and are more inclined to watch a Sports Center Top 10 of a specific player. Loyalty changes like the flavor of the week based on uniforms, social media and apparel maker.

And remember, unlike in real life, if something happens on the video games someone can just jump up and turn off the console like it never happened so that the perfect game can never be ruined. 

[ballpeen]

Give me a Bobby "Bingo" Smith jersey.

[Canton Mike]

26 minutes ago, ballpeen said:

Give me a Bobby "Bingo" Smith jersey.

Oh man! LOL The ultimate gunner.....either "fire hot" or "icy cold". Whenever he would come in, my standard yell was, "If he misses his 1st 2 shots, get him the hell OUTTA there!". 

Mike

[ballpeen]

When he was hot, he was hot.  When not, he's not, to play off a Jerry Reed song.

[Zombo]

On 7/11/2020 at 4:56 PM, Flugel said:

My dad, the guy in the middle of the top picture below, is responsible for morphing me and my brother John into die hard Cleveland Browns fans.  That picture was after his first bout beating cancer some 30 years before he lost to it.  Anyway, he raised us in Fairport, NY (a suburb of Rochester).   Before there was was DirecTV, my dad used to set up an antennae on the house that got us Cleveland game feeds from all over.  1 time we watched the Browns vrs the Saints in French in a feed from Ottawa, Canada.  Other times we'd get them in other parts that used to televise the Browns. He also did this for some of his buddies he worked with at Rochester Telephone Company back in the day. The first game we ever went to in Cleveland was vrs the Steelers when David Mays led us to victory on the same day Turkey Jones slammed Bradshaw.  Believe it or not, our tickets were in the standing room only section.  Who felt like sitting that day anyway?  After that, we made 1-2 road trips per year. Rochester had 4 different Browns Backers clubs (and another unofficial club that got together) when I moved to Nashville in 2006.  It's closer to Cleveland than it is NYC.  I guess Jimmy Brown and Ernie Davis playing at Syracuse recruited a lot of interest of guys my dad's age.  Another guy that drew interest from people in Rochester was Otto Graham who played Pro Basketball for the Rochester Royals and helped them win the Championship.  That was my dad's biggest hero and he got to meet him in Sarasota. If memory serves me right he was the golf pro at my dad's country club there.  Otto Graham feels like the most forgotten exceptional athlete on the planet.  How many other Pro Football QBs in America can say they led their teams to the Championship Game the first/all 10 years of their career and won 7 of them? 

In the top picture below, I'm the 18 year old knucklehead on the left in all blue.  My brother John who was a damn good offensive guard 5 years before I played the same position is on the far right.  Back then, he had the same compact build without the belly.  He used to be really quick off the ball and always had superior leverage.  He taught me the way to lift and how to win in the trenches. I was very fortunate to have played in back to back Championships in High School.  We won it my junior year and got rat-housed 42-15 my senior year.  Had a great Coach; loved my teammates; and felt blessed with what was accomplished.  I was also fortunate enough to end the 80s and begin the 90s being paid to coach High School Football from all my experience and countless football camps attended. LOVED IT!  A guy that used to play behind my brother (Dan Enright) who later became a Captain at West Point and snapped for Art Schlichter in the Hula Bowl said "your brother was the best Guard/OL we had on our undefeated team in 77; and then he inexplicably blew off the scrimmage he was supposed to start in to go on a road trip to Canada with some pot heads. I was getting excited to play next to him"  He said football and sports came so easy to your brother he was bored with the challenge (ie; Josh "Potsy" Gordon).  When it was my time I got the feeling my brother regretted what he walked away from his senior year so he motivated me.  He was a free spirit that forever haunted my dad with the phrase "Don't worry about it!" My dad pretty much changed his name to assshole. My brother died in a car accident 2 years after my dad.  In his honor, I name my fantasy football teams after him every year "DRINK BEER!" 

The second picture includes our cousin Mary Ann who is a lot of fun. This was my dad's family reunion and he was the youngest of 9.  The last picture is my brother's landscaping crew/business crashing the party. As you might have guessed my dad called my brother's business "Don't Worry About It/DWAI Landscape" for the obvious reasons pictured.  If there's a sum of 3 brain cells in that picture I prolly owned 2 of them; and that ain't good.  They were trying to figure out how they were going to throw me into the lake without getting hurt.  I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

F

If you made it this far - Thanks!    I'm just as interested in reading about some of your family traditions following this team...

Great stuff, Flugs ... and sexy legs.

As most of you know, I was raised by a pack of Steeler fans. I would have rather been raised by wolves.

But props to my Dad, who took me to Cleveland, where my Mom had relatives, to see Browns and Indians games. It was a four hour drive, and he had no real interest, he was just catering to my obsession (My Mom probably made him, to get us both out of the house).

I'll never forget my first Browns game (Crushed the Oilers, got to see my idol, Leroy Kelly) or my first Indians game (Beat the Tigers, rookie fave Buddy Bell played the outfield) or seeing that Chief Wahoo as we came down Lakefront Boulevard toward the stadium.

But my favorite family memory is watching my brother cry after the Turkey Jones/ David Mays game. That was beautiful.

Zombo

[Gorka]

I don't get all the adulation for Hamilton. He blows. Too much "oh the humanity" sensationalism and unnecessary yelling.. I guess he's good  if you're into that kind of thing.

A truly talented play by play announcer is one can make the game exiting without raising his voice. Dodgers announcer Vin Scully was one.

Hamilton is the only Cleveland play by play guy ever to suck donkey dick. Joe "wham with the right hand" Tait was great, so was Nev Chandler. Jim Donovan is good. Herb Score was the polar opposite of Hamilton, perhaps a little boring but still more pleasant to the ear than Hysterical Hamilton.

[Dutch Oven]

2 hours ago, Gorka said:

I don't get all the adulation for Hamilton. He blows. Too much "oh the humanity" sensationalism and unnecessary yelling.. I guess he's good  if you're into that kind of thing.

A truly talented play by play announcer is one can make the game exiting without raising his voice. Dodgers announcer Vin Scully was one.

Hamilton is the only Cleveland play by play guy ever to suck donkey dick. Joe "wham with the right hand" Tait was great, so was Nev Chandler. Jim Donovan is good. Herb Score was the polar opposite of Hamilton, perhaps a little boring but still more pleasant to the ear than Hysterical Hamilton.

Glad to see your thoughts on baseball announcers are as worthless as your political views. 

Some people value consistency. 

[ballpeen]

3 hours ago, Gorka said:

I don't get all the adulation for Hamilton. He blows. Too much "oh the humanity" sensationalism and unnecessary yelling.. I guess he's good  if you're into that kind of thing.

A truly talented play by play announcer is one can make the game exiting without raising his voice. Dodgers announcer Vin Scully was one.

Hamilton is the only Cleveland play by play guy ever to suck donkey dick. Joe "wham with the right hand" Tait was great, so was Nev Chandler. Jim Donovan is good. Herb Score was the polar opposite of Hamilton, perhaps a little boring but still more pleasant to the ear than Hysterical Hamilton.

I like Hamilton.

 

I live 600 miles away but can pick up 1100 AM after dark.  It may fade in and out, but I still pick it up, so I listen to Indians and Cavs games.  Coast to coast after that.  If still in bed at 5 AM, Wills and Snyder in the AM.  It is what I did as a kid, listen to Jimmy Dudley calling Indians games.  It might have been WKYC in those years.  I'd put the transistor under my pillow, low volume so my Mom or Dad couldn't hear it, but I could.

 

I saw the world on my radio.  Pick up the Grand Ole Opry on WSM out of Nashville.   That was a world away as a kid.  I'd pick up stations out of New Orleans sometimes.  Stations out of Canada, St Louis...those were big  moments in a 10 year old  boys life.  Just seeking a bit beyond the horizon I suppose.

[Dutch Oven]

43 minutes ago, ballpeen said:

I live 600 miles away but can pick up 1100 AM after dark.  It may fade in and out, but I still pick it up, so I listen to Indians and Cavs games.  Coast to coast after that.  If still in bed at 5 AM, Wills and Snyder in the AM.  It is what I did as a kid, listen to Jimmy Dudley calling Indians games.  It might have been WKYC in those years.  I'd put the transistor under my pillow, low volume so my Mom or Dad couldn't hear it, but I could. 

I saw the world on my radio.  Pick up the Grand Ole Opry on WSM out of Nashville.   That was a world away as a kid.  I'd pick up stations out of New Orleans sometimes.  Stations out of Canada, St Louis...those were big  moments in a 10 year old  boys life.  Just seeking a bit beyond the horizon I suppose.

I've listened to Tribe games on 1100 from the middle of nowhere West Virginia (down by the New River Bridge) and as we were leaving a pizza joint under the Brooklyn Bridge... 

[mjp28]

37 minutes ago, ballpeen said:

I like Hamilton.

I live 600 miles away but can pick up 1100 AM after dark.  It may fade in and out, but I still pick it up, so I listen to Indians and Cavs games.  Coast to coast after that.  If still in bed at 5 AM, Wills and Snyder in the AM.  It is what I did as a kid, listen to Jimmy Dudley calling Indians games.  It might have been WKYC in those years. I'd put the transistor under my pillow, low volume so my Mom or Dad couldn't hear it, but I could.

I saw the world on my radio.  Pick up the Grand Ole Opry on WSM out of Nashville.   That was a world away as a kid.  I'd pick up stations out of New Orleans sometimes.  Stations out of Canada, St Louis...those were big  moments in a 10 year old  boys life.  Just seeking a bit beyond the horizon I suppose.

Oh yes the world and radio !   In 1963 I got a transistor radio for my 13th birthday with an ear piece and dad was smart enough to get a battery adapter.

For rock n roll WHOT Youngstown then late night WLS Chicago and WBZ Boston.  Plus baseball and football whenever I could.

I also got into amateur radio that year and worked the world for 6 more years.  Fun times.

[gumby73]

37 minutes ago, ballpeen said:

 I'd put the transistor under my pillow, low volume so my Mom or Dad couldn't hear it, but I could.

I spent most my elementary school years doing the same..worked great for the late west coast games with Brennaman & Harwell ... What ever happened to old Gib Shanley? Browns former play/play guy  

[mjp28]

18 minutes ago, gumby73 said:

I spent most my elementary school years doing the same..worked great for the late west coast games with Brennaman & Harwell ... What ever happened to old Gib Shanley? Browns former play/play guy  

Gib was a great long time announcer for the BROWNS who was followed by Nev Chandler, I listened to them both.  Gib passed away in 2006.

[mjp28]

8 minutes ago, gumby73 said:

did he really burn a Iranian flag? am digging deeper into this now 👀 

Pneumonia.  I'm not sure on the flag thing.

[Bob806]

10 hours ago, mjp28 said:

Pneumonia.  I'm not sure on the flag thing.

Gumby & mjp....yes, he did burn the Iranian flag. It was during the hostage crisis and was truly something unheard of at the time, completely awesome.

I grew up listening to Gib call the games. He really was the best at painting a picture for the radio listeners.  I can still hear him " out of the eye to the tee, Hooker split left, Phipps drops back to throw..."

When the Browns won in Cincy to clinch the division in 1980, there wasn't a happier fan than Gib Shanley. He was the best.

[mjp28]

2 hours ago, Bob806 said:

Gumby & mjp....yes, he did burn the Iranian flag. It was during the hostage crisis and was truly something unheard of at the time, completely awesome.

I grew up listening to Gib call the games. He really was the best at painting a picture for the radio listeners.  I can still hear him " out of the eye to the tee, Hooker split left, Phipps drops back to throw..."

When the Browns won in Cincy to clinch the division in 1980, there wasn't a happier fan than Gib Shanley. He was the best.

We're all a bit tainted toward our Cleveland teams -but- we've been blessed with some really good TV and radio people for the BROWNS, INDIANS and Cavs for as long as I've been around.

The BROWNS have had Gib, Nev and now a good pair in the radio booth for almost as long as Cleveland has had an NFL team.

I like them better than many network people.

GO CLEVELAND, TV or radio no problem !

[mjp28]

Flugs and others.  ❤️  I just stumbled across this thread again,  totally by accident and figured it would be good going into Week 6.  

From July 2022 before this season started.  It's a quick read.

[calfoxwc]

36 minutes ago, mjp28 said:

Flugs and others.  ❤️  I just stumbled across this thread again,  totally by accident and figured it would be good going into Week 6.  

From July 2022 before this season started.  It's a quick read.

It is a great read. For so many years, we would only go fishing in the morning, to make sure we were back in time to watch the Browns games. There were games we went to, before my Dad had his badly damaged knee over the years replaced, that he limped badly all the way up the ramp - not waiting for the crowd to get done with the elevator. Like MJP, I was born in '50. Ever since I can remember, we had been that way. The season after he got his knee replaced - I got a chance at better seats for bigger bucks, and he and I went to a game. That time, it was a big game - and -I- was the one badly limping up the ramp. lol. But now, that feeling isn't there anymore. That stupid trade was just the giant  stinking haybale that did it.

But Amari Cooper was an excellent addition, outstanding? secondary, DE's.... and the best set of running backs in the NFL, with one of the best olines in the NFL, and FINALLY a legit terrific deep threat - (Amari Cooper)..... and they changed qb's to a bigger guy who can run but is inaccurate on sideline and long throws, and throws an INT in crunch time/end of the game that would have won it, but .....

     sad. and now, they have released Josh Rosen off their practice squad, ticking off half the "guaranteed best pure pocket passer" who had emphatic fans on this board, .... off their practice squad.

   I'd rather go camping, or fishing, or playing cards with friends...or out back to squirrel hunt, or go garage sailing with the Wife - and watch the Browns games sometime on record.

[Ghoolie Always Ghoolie]

On 7/11/2020 at 3:56 PM, Flugel said:

My dad, the guy in the middle of the top picture below, is responsible for morphing me and my brother John into die hard Cleveland Browns fans.  That picture was after his first bout beating cancer some 30 years before he lost to it.  Anyway, he raised us in Fairport, NY (a suburb of Rochester).   Before there was was DirecTV, my dad used to set up an antennae on the house that got us Cleveland game feeds from all over.  1 time we watched the Browns vrs the Saints in French in a feed from Ottawa, Canada.  Other times we'd get them in other parts that used to televise the Browns. He also did this for some of his buddies he worked with at Rochester Telephone Company back in the day. The first game we ever went to in Cleveland was vrs the Steelers when David Mays led us to victory on the same day Turkey Jones slammed Bradshaw.  Believe it or not, our tickets were in the standing room only section.  Who felt like sitting that day anyway?  After that, we made 1-2 road trips per year. Rochester had 4 different Browns Backers clubs (and another unofficial club that got together) when I moved to Nashville in 2006.  It's closer to Cleveland than it is NYC.  I guess Jimmy Brown and Ernie Davis playing at Syracuse recruited a lot of interest of guys my dad's age.  Another guy that drew interest from people in Rochester was Otto Graham who played Pro Basketball for the Rochester Royals and helped them win the Championship.  That was my dad's biggest hero and he got to meet him in Sarasota. If memory serves me right he was the golf pro at my dad's country club there.  Otto Graham feels like the most forgotten exceptional athlete on the planet.  How many other Pro Football QBs in America can say they led their teams to the Championship Game the first/all 10 years of their career and won 7 of them? 

In the top picture below, I'm the 18 year old knucklehead on the left in all blue.  My brother John who was a damn good offensive guard 5 years before I played the same position is on the far right.  Back then, he had the same compact build without the belly.  He used to be really quick off the ball and always had superior leverage.  He taught me the way to lift and how to win in the trenches. I was very fortunate to have played in back to back Championships in High School.  We won it my junior year and got rat-housed 42-15 my senior year.  Had a great Coach; loved my teammates; and felt blessed with what was accomplished.  I was also fortunate enough to end the 80s and begin the 90s being paid to coach High School Football from all my experience and countless football camps attended. LOVED IT!  A guy that used to play behind my brother (Dan Enright) who later became a Captain at West Point and snapped for Art Schlichter in the Hula Bowl said "your brother was the best Guard/OL we had on our undefeated team in 77; and then he inexplicably blew off the scrimmage he was supposed to start in to go on a road trip to Canada with some pot heads. I was getting excited to play next to him"  He said football and sports came so easy to your brother he was bored with the challenge (ie; Josh "Potsy" Gordon).  When it was my time I got the feeling my brother regretted what he walked away from his senior year so he motivated me.  He was a free spirit that forever haunted my dad with the phrase "Don't worry about it!" My dad pretty much changed his name to assshole. My brother died in a car accident 2 years after my dad.  In his honor, I name my fantasy football teams after him every year "DRINK BEER!" 

The second picture includes our cousin Mary Ann who is a lot of fun. This was my dad's family reunion and he was the youngest of 9.  The last picture is my brother's landscaping crew/business crashing the party. As you might have guessed my dad called my brother's business "Don't Worry About It/DWAI Landscape" for the obvious reasons pictured.  If there's a sum of 3 brain cells in that picture I prolly owned 2 of them; and that ain't good.  They were trying to figure out how they were going to throw me into the lake without getting hurt.  I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

F

If you made it this far - Thanks!    I'm just as interested in reading about some of your family traditions following this team...

Norman Rockwell material. Nice post , Tom.

[Dutch Oven]

4 hours ago, calfoxwc said:

 I'd rather go camping, or fishing, or playing cards with friends...or out back to squirrel hunt, or go garage sailing with the Wife - and watch the Browns games sometime on record.

Yes we know.

You've said this over and over.

[Flugel]

55 minutes ago, Ghoolie Always Ghoolie said:

Norman Rockwell material. Nice post , Tom.

Really appreciate that Ghoolie!  Glad you enjoyed it!

[D Bone]

On 7/12/2020 at 10:51 AM, D Bone said:

Hell yea! Now this is a thread that should be 22 pages by months end. Very cool. 

A) I'm glad I'm still alive

2) Quoting myself is a badass way to get to 22 pages

C) There's some hot chicks in that pic, well done boys

[Ghoolie Always Ghoolie]

7 hours ago, Flugel said:

Really appreciate that Ghoolie!  Glad you enjoyed it!

Reminded me of my home and family