For most Browns fans you can remember back to which game it was when you 1st became a fan. I can remember that exact game but before that, I can remember the day that being a Browns fan was important to my mother.
It was January 4th, 1981, the divisional playoff game when the Oakland Raiders came to Municipal Stadium to face our Cleveland Browns. I was a 6-year-old kid just playing on the carpet with likely my Star Wars figures or Hot Wheels paying zero attention to the game on tv. The only reason I remember this game is because when the infamous Red Right 88 play happened it was the first time, I ever heard my good Catholic school girl mom use a curse word. That automatically drew my attention to the tv where saw the silver and black and orange and brown helmets on the screen. I didn’t realize she cared that much about football.
As the early to mid 80’s went by I can remember driving north from Stark County to visit my aunts, uncles, and grandparents on Sundays. Many of those times I can remember catching glimpses of the Browns games as my cousins and my sister, and I would run around the house playing like kids do. I can remember a Harry Holt catch near the end of one game where my family were celebrating loudly. I remember going to my one aunt’s apartment and the armrests on their couch and loveseats where sunken in when you laid your arms in them. That’s because my uncle would pound on them during games. Needless to say, there were plenty of games to be frustrated about during that time period. My other aunt used to work at the bank where several players would bank at, so she’d get me autographs from players. Being a Cleveland fan in general was just as strong with the females in my family as the men.
My dad would buy me a few packs of football cards starting when I was 3. He grew up in Maryland where he grew up a Baltimore Colts fan and liked Johnny Unitas. He moved to Ohio after the Marine Corps where he met my mother while working with my grandmother in the Cleveland area. I remember in 1985 I was competing in a swim meet, and they had a Browns Dolphins playoff game on a tv just outside the pool area. It was a small room, but it was packed but I had to see what was going on with the game. That’s where I first knew who Bernie Kosar was. 1986, the Browns became really good this season. They won the AFC Central Division title, and the Dawg Defense and Dawg Pound was born. They were hosting their first home playoff game in years vs the New York Jets and my dad got us tickets to the game.
This was my 1st Browns game to attend so I was excited to go see in person only what I knew from tv. I had been to the stadium for Indians games and to the Hall of Fame games in Canton, but this was different. There was a lot of snow and cold that day. My dad was supposed to have 2 customers of his meet us to go to the game. They couldn’t make it because they got snowed in in Pennsylvania. My dad had 2 extra tickets and the parking attendants wanted them. One attendant ran back to the stadium to see if they could get fronted the money so they could buy them. We waited for him to return but my dad said we need to get into the stadium. He kept the tickets and to this day I still have the 2 unused tickets and Browns double bar face masked envelope they came in.
Inside the stadium for pregame was bonkers. I had never heard a crowd that loud and all the barking going on during the starting lineup announcements. I’ve rewatched the intros on YouTube and still get chills all these years later. The game was competitive and then the 4th happened. The Jets went up 2 scores and the game seemed over. Fans were starting to leave, and I remember yelling “Bernie Sipe” because he couldn’t win the home playoff game either. I couldn’t have been happier that he made me eat those words. Unlike the many that left my dad decided to stay and I couldn’t be more thankful to this day that we did. The Browns made their incredible comeback in the 4th quarter to finally win it on the Mark Mosley FG in double overtime. That experience alone is where the love of my favorite team became an obsession.
The next week for school I took a pair of white shoes and my parents let me buy orange spray paint and paint them in our garage. I wore those bad boys proudly just like my favorite WR Webster Slaughter. My dad tried to get tickets to the AFC Championship game that week. He actually slept in the car overnight in the cold parking lot of a Sears to get in line early at Ticketron inside the back of their store. Unfortunately, after all of that, he still wasn’t unable to get tickets to the Broncos game that could’ve sent us to the Super Bowl. We went to a friend’s house to watch the game and to spare all the details, me and my orange shoes thought Rich Karlis missed the FG that day. Regardless, I was hooked on this team and the entire experience of it all.
There’s so much more I could get into from the move to the rebirth and all the games since 1999. I will say that my favorite game at the new stadium was the first ever preseason game against the Vikings and that’s because I got to be there with my younger sister who was battling cancer at the time. She sadly lost her life to the disease 8 months later, but I’ll always have that memory with her.
That brings me to today, September 4th, 2023. For years I’ve been excited for draft picks, training camp, and preseason. Those days have been minimized because of the failures of our organization to put a winner on the field. What I’ve learned is from our 80’s teams of Martyball is that we’ve failed year after year to build a team that can play as physical and as disciplined as the Steelers and Ravens. Now the Bengals are good and with Joe Burrow looking like a potential MVP QB in the future. Where does all of this leave us? We have what I believe to be one of the most talented rosters I’ve seen since the 90’s. Talent alone doesn’t win you anything on paper. My challenge to this team is when the ball is snapped how do we impose our will longer than the other teams in our division? I want to start there because it’s been 34 years since we won a division title over our rivals. 34!!! (1989 AFC Central) That’s where we need to start! Yes, compete against everyone in the NFL but damn it our division opponents need to know we’re not a walking W on their schedule anymore. I want to host a home playoff game. I want kids going to that game with their parents and having the experience I did Iike January 1987. It’s way past time that our younger generations of fans get to see what Browns town is like for an entire week and not just a Sunday game day. Experience playoff football in this great city that I love and the fans I love to embrace as my football family because there is nothing like football in northeast Ohio from our youth leagues to the NFL.
My only prediction this season is this. Our area will finally have some really enjoyable times watching and attending Browns football this season. This season won’t be about who made the Pro Bowl as a top honor for our players, it’s about seeing the team play at the level of our expectations, their eco and rewarding us fans with a division title ending the drought of being called a champion of anything. Someone from Cleveland once said, nothing is given. Everything is earned. I believe what we earn this season will have a special feeling where you don’t feel like you wasted your time or money on a game day.
Browns fans, It’s Time!
Rick Swan
September 6, 2023 at 4:32 pm
Great tribute and expectations!