The Observation Deck

Since some readers have asked for "non-hospital" topics, here is a nice easy one:
I'm doing a story in the next issue about a local Cleveland Browns "superfan", and I'd like to get some feedback from the Deck:

*Have you ever been a Browns fan?
*Have the team's many, many years of failure made you less of a fan? Or perhaps caused you to stop being a fan altogether?
*Have you stopped following the Browns due to off-field issues such as stadium costs, the 1995 move, or concussions?

Feel free to add any thoughts on the topic.

Browns fans are pathetic. To root for a consistently horrible team is just stupid. To support this awful product with your hard earned dollars is just incomprehensible.

Nuff said.

I am a HUGE browns fan. I will support them always. I like Johnny....I can't explain why but I do.
Funny thing is my autistic son has a Joe Haden stuffed doll. He takes that with him everywhere. It is his most prized possession. Joe has his own bed, blanket, pillow and sits with my son all day long. I must say good morning, or good night to him every single day. It is like I have another child with this doll. My son is a huge Browns fan, and loves them no matter what. He gets that from me. (and maybe because he always felt like the "underdog" in life, so he relates to them)

I have a question about the core of fans who are "fanatic fans", the crazies you see in the Dawg Pound. Most of my life, I've been a competitive athlete in different sports and even once ranking at the national level and I can't wrap my mind around what goes on in the minds of these people.

Do people who have been or are very competitive athletes become these kinds of fans or is this sub-culture reserved for mainly vicarious athletes?

*Have you ever been a Browns fan?
Yes, always. there was a period when I was a Chicago Bears fan, but really I was a Walter Payton fan.

*Have the team's many, many years of failure made you less of a fan? Or perhaps caused you to stop being a fan altogether?
No, I am not less of a fan. There have been some fun years mixed in with the bad, so it's like that one good golf shot that keeps you coming back for more. Plus, it's the Browns!

*Have you stopped following the Browns due to off-field issues such as stadium costs, the 1995 move, or concussions?
The cost has definitely hurt people's ability to attend games. Gamedays (pricing) rank up there with one day vacation rates.

Go Browns!

Alex Belisle wrote:
Do people who have been or are very competitive athletes become these kinds of fans or is this sub-culture reserved for mainly vicarious athletes?

Any and all types of people can become any and all types of fans.
Any and all types of athletes can become any and all types of fans.

Living with physical challenges, I went down the roads of education and music, so I actually had little interest in professional competitive sports, beyond the superficial socializing that goes with a party on game day. Additionally, as an educator, I am also greatly concerned about safety, particularly for students, but generally for anyone playing contact sports.

That said, being from western Pennsylvania, the football team that we generally rooted for did not have brown uniforms, nor did they lose many games, at least later on.

Oh yes, when moving here, we probably COULD have changed loyalties, but you have to understand this, and understand it well...fans really GET IT when you talk loyalty, and football fans RARELY change loyalties.

(Of course, I never could quite understand why a born-in-Ohio Greater Clevelander would be a serious fan of another football team, but that's just me...)

When I was young, that Pennsylvania team we rooted for was not always a winning team, but we rooted for them anyway. They became one, however, (starting big-time about 1973) and continue to be one, for very good reasons.

We were loyal when they were not often winners, and we remained loyal when they became Super Bowl Champions, time and time and time and time and time and time again.

You have your tradition, memories, and loyalty, Greater Clevelanders? Good for you. If you are from Cleveland, you wore brown, and grew up having brownies for lunch every day, didn't you? Good for you!

My family and I would certainly understand, We had brownies for lunch too, but generally only on certain game days.

Seriously, Dad and I had both team jackets and would often go out to eat that way. It drove our friends to distraction...

Don't worry, dear friends. I'll still root for Cleveland oftentimes. Just not always.

Back to the banjo...

Gary Rice wrote:Living with physical challenges, I went down the roads of education and music, so I actually had little interest in professional competitive sports, beyond the superficial socializing that goes with a party on game day. Additionally, as an educator, I am also greatly concerned about safety, particularly for students, but generally for anyone playing contact sports.

That said, being from western Pennsylvania, the football team that we generally rooted for did not have brown uniforms, nor did they lose many games, at least later on.

Oh yes, when moving here, we probably COULD have changed loyalties, but you have to understand this, and understand it well...fans really GET IT when you talk loyalty, and football fans RARELY change loyalties.

(Of course, I never could quite understand why a born-in-Ohio Greater Clevelander would be a serious fan of another football team, but that's just me...)

When I was young, that Pennsylvania team we rooted for was not always a winning team, but we rooted for them anyway. They became one, however, (starting big-time about 1973) and continue to be one, for very good reasons.

We were loyal when they were not often winners, and we remained loyal when they became Super Bowl Champions, time and time and time and time and time and time again.

You have your tradition, memories, and loyalty, Greater Clevelanders? Good for you. If you are from Cleveland, you wore brown, and grew up having brownies for lunch every day, didn't you? Good for you!

My family and I would certainly understand, We had brownies for lunch too, but generally only on certain game days.

Seriously, Dad and I had both team jackets and would often go out to eat that way. It drove our friends to distraction...

Don't worry, dear friends. I'll still root for Cleveland oftentimes. Just not always.

Back to the banjo...

You speak about winning and losing teams...

I grew up in an era of Lakewood Ranger Football where they didn't always win. When the teams that I was on played, we happened to win a lot.

I went on to Wittenberg University and played for the college team (until six knee surgeries ended my playing days). The team won a lot...a lot.

If asked today, I am a Lakewood Ranger first and Wittenberg Tiger second.

The Cleveland Brown have barely won in my lifetime, yet I am a Browns fan.

Competitive athlete, athlete, athletic supporter, or casual fans...it doesn't matter, it's all a matter of what team is your team.

Growing up in the NY area, pro football was just a rumor to me, so when we moved here over 30 years ago, the Browns became my pro football team - they were pretty good back then.

Way back, when I was became able to make such decisions for myself, I changed my baseball allegiance from the Yankees to the expansion Mets - arguably the worst team ever in baseball's modern era, and they played in the decrepit Polo Grounds. It taught me how to watch just to see how the team will fail this time. In that vein, the Browns have provided some very entertaining seasons lately, although it's been hard to generate much enthusiasm for them. Although I agree with Livingston that he's a moron, Manziel is an entertaining moron and he might even become a pro football player some day.

So this little funk the Browns are in is nothing. IMO all they need is a savvy owner, a less porous offensive line (has anyone in that organization noticed they go through three quarterbacks a season?), and they'll be back. Actually, the concussion issue is a bigger challenge to my interest in football in general.

Corey,

You were part of a fine Rangers team!

Back to the banjo.

Gary Rice wrote:Corey,

You were part of a fine Rangers team!

Back to the banjo.

Thank you. We had a great time, with a fantastic group of friends/teammates and made a lot of great memories.

https://youtu.be/nvUOgIgLqOQ

Michael Deneen wrote:Since some readers have asked for "non-hospital" topics, here is a nice easy one:
I'm doing a story in the next issue about a local Cleveland Browns "superfan", and I'd like to get some feedback from the Deck:

*Have you ever been a Browns fan?
*Have the team's many, many years of failure made you less of a fan? Or perhaps caused you to stop being a fan altogether?
*Have you stopped following the Browns due to off-field issues such as stadium costs, the 1995 move, or concussions?

Feel free to add any thoughts on the topic.

Michael

Long time Browns fan, season ticket holders for decades, stopped with the seat licenses. The reason being over 20+ years we our section had grown into a large group of friends, that had great fun every game win or lose. But when they broke into buying by years of season ticket holders, some were from the beginning, some from 20 years from some 5 years. We were scattered to the winds with picking. Chink in armor one.

I worked for years with Hanford Dixon on the Cleveland Kennel Club, and couldn't shake the feeling all the NFL cared about was selling things brown and orange. Also fandom, had taken on this weird win at all costs, the only thing that matters was wins, as if their bottom lined, health and over all happiness was tied to millionaires on the field or court.

Sadly, we got robbed, though legal, there have been various efforts to make us whole again, but it has been a circus that is getting downright embarrassing. At least the Indians were the farm team to the Yankees, this group isn't even that.



yep, waaaaay before GV opened, they manager looked at the Old Kennel Club Art...




Approved by Sony and David Grishman, and Grateful Dead!





And waaaaay before "chomps" was "Hanford."







Anyway, Clevelanders need to understand a day at "the game" is better than working, and while it is great to win, it is not life or death.

AND

Do not feed the machine until it deserves to be fed. Do the Browns and NFL make more money on the sales of hyped rookies in orange and brown, or playoff tickets?

You want to show support for local teams that don't win, make your own shirts, wear the colors, buy GV shirts without NFL stickers, and go to the games. But don't make them rich on our pain.

FWIW

.

So Corey-- if it wasn't for that knee injury could you have broken into the pro's? Stan

Stan Austin wrote:So Corey-- if it wasn't for that knee injury could you have broken into the pro's? Stan

Nope, but I would be able to...Walk better. Bend my leg. Straighten my leg. Run. Play basketball. Play catcher in a squated position for my kids while they pitch instead of sitting on a 5 gallon bucket. Sit in a movie theater without being uncomfortable. Go bowling without the ball veering to the right as it goes down the lane. Beat Stan Austin in a race.

One thing all of my knee surgeries, staph infection and hospital time did give me...a new perspective/outlook on almost everything.

Gotcha pal