Cleveland Municipal Stadium was my cathedral as a boy and as a young man. I felt actual grief when they took a wrecking ball to it after Modell took the team to Baltimore. Every day back then I drove the Shoreway to work, and I watched the Old Gray Lady go to ground. It grinded me to watch that.
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Jeudy is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Tillman is flanked out wide to the right. Judkins and Ford are split in the backfield as Flacco takes the snap ... Here we go."
September 1991 vs the Bengals, Browns kick a last second FG to win. I went to basic training the next morning.
Not really sure of the year, 87 or 88 maybe, beating the Vikings and staying in a hotel that night, got up the next day and we were snowed in. My dad made the call, but my best friend and me enjoyed the day at the hotel, and missed a day of school.
Loved the Muni, many other days going to Indians games mid 80’s, walked up got tickets maybe 5 rows from the field.
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Jeudy is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Tillman is flanked out wide to the right. Judkins and Ford are split in the backfield as Flacco takes the snap ... Here we go."
A few great memories ... jets playoff game ... WOW .. many many left ... more left than stood ... some GREAT MEMORIES ... loved watching Leroy get up in that home white uni covered in mud ... each carry it got worse ... LOVED IT as a kid ...
Never forget walking into it the first time ... it was before it turned into a delineated... man ... walking through that tunnel the first time, the green grass, the smell .. i’ll never forget it .. i was 13 or 14 and a family friend that was a dawg took me on the 6 hour journey .. it seemed like it took eternity to get there ... i’ll Take that one to the grave with me ...
For me .. they still couldn’t tear it down fast enough .. what a POS place to start with ... then add to it the HORRIFIC SITE LINES .... there was plenty of HORRIBLE SEATS with terrible site lines ...
I’m no prude ... but those bathrooms were SICKENING ... even if u were the first one in the place the troughs on the top floor looked and smelled like they hadn’t been cleaned in YEARS ... and that was before the drunks came in and trashed the place ...
That place ended up being a complete and utter CRAPHOLE ... glad its gone ... should have been torn down at least 20 years earlier ...
Only wine and cheese people would mind those troughs. That was old school G!
Especially when guys waiting in line would take a leak in the sink .... trash can .... or just on the floor.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
Be fair! They promised ticket holders internal plumbing and running water. Public RR's were worlds better then the visitors' locker room.
Best bad memory: Our family got to seek app and the Vikings get beat in a later season game that featured sleet, freezing rain, and blowing snow (the Cleveland Trifecta! LOLetc.) and Muni remained packed! Shovels at half-time. It may have been an armpit come winter, but it was OUR Armpit. Lots of happy people cheering around us.
"Every responsibility implies opportunity, and every opportunity implies responsibility." Otis Allen Glazebrook, 1880
Only wine and cheese people would mind those troughs. That was old school G!
Yep, nothing like some dude next to you splashing pee on you. Yep, those are the good old days.
Give me a break. That place was a dump in the 60's and the reason why the Browns moved in the 90's.
U have to consider the source ... if its what your used too ... when i was in the military i expected times where things wouldn’t be so nice ... i don’t expect to be gagged walking into the facilities at a sporting event ...
That POS stadium cost us our SUPER BOWL victory ... the stadium was 1/2 the problem therefore 1/2 the reason we left ...
Only wine and cheese people would mind those troughs. That was old school G!
Especially when guys waiting in line would take a leak in the sink .... trash can .... or just on the floor.
Yep, that's what I remember from my first experience when I was 13. Waiting in line at the men's room only to be greeted by a trash can. Trash can it was.
That and all of the funny smelling smoke in the Dawg Pound.
------------------------------ *In Baker we trust* -------------------------------
Like my name? I was in third grade and saw the double overtime Jets game in person. I was also there a week later for “The Drive”. I was also there throughout the ‘94 playoff season with my high school friends. And yes, I was there for the last game against Cincy in ‘95. Municipal Stadium, as opposed to what’s there now, was a man’s stadium. Old brick, wood, troughs, zero color coordination, etc.. but a place where men went to watch football and be around other men who drank beer, smoked cigarettes/cigars and shot smuggled in whiskey. It wasn’t the Disney production that exists now. My only hope is is that the XFL harnesses my sentiments and brings back the masculinity to watching a football game. I’m sick and tired of watching Disney on Sunday.
I remember going there with my parents for Indians games, had a blast! Sometimes we went to the doubleheaders and if you hung out near the Indians dugout between games, you could get autographs. Also they used to keep the admission gate open after about the 6th inning and you could get in for free. I spent many Saturday afternoons hanging out downtown and then watching the Tribe late in the day.
Only wine and cheese people would mind those troughs. That was old school G!
Yep, nothing like some dude next to you splashing pee on you. Yep, those are the good old days.
Give me a break. That place was a dump in the 60's and the reason why the Browns moved in the 90's.
U have to consider the source ... if its what your used too ... when i was in the military i expected times where things wouldn’t be so nice ... i don’t expect to be gagged walking into the facilities at a sporting event ...
That POS stadium cost us our SUPER BOWL victory ... the stadium was 1/2 the problem therefore 1/2 the reason we left ...
Sure, Art was the one who moved the team, but it was because of the stadium. It was the worst facility in the NFL, and was for a long time. It was built in the early 30's for crying out loud. It was over 60 years old when the team moved.
The sight lines sucked, you had poles obstructing views, and you can go look, most of the seats except the dawg pound were a mile away from the field. Not to mention the restrooms were unsanitary.
I have good memories there, but that place was a dump.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.
You also could get a good seat for 20 bucks. It's funny that the main thing everyone remembers is the urine troughs.
Most of the seats were angled away from the football playing surface. The were straight backed wooden slat seats with cracks that would pinch your butt if you sat down wrong. There were no good seats in that place. The pound was splintered wood bleachers. That's why nobody say down. They didn't want their wife to have to pull 1/2 inch splinters out of their bottom when they got home.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.
I still have my 'seat' from the old pound - hanging in my office. Had season tickets for about 6 years? I don't recall for sure.
At the last game, the guy that sat beside me pulled out a hacksaw blade and started cutting in the 2nd quarter.
As the game progressed, and watching people in the 'stadium' seats on the sidelines pull them up in rows and pass them down to be thrown on the field, I decided I wanted MY seats. (4 of them). But, since the guy beside me had cut his out already, after the game I went into 'workhorse' mode. I only had 1 'base' to work around. (base: the stand that the seats were bolted to, that went into the cement - I'm sure that's not clear, but......)
Knelt underneath, and just used my back to pry the board up off the other base.
The Muni was an awesome, terrible place to watch a game by todays standards. Even the standards of the day back then.
When I was probably about 14 years old, I took the bus down to the stadium for a couple Indians day games that summer with the few bucks I had from my Cleveland Press paper route.
The stadium looked empty with < 5,000 fans.
During the game I would go get a hotdog and soda for lunch.
One time, I stopped into the dank, dark Cleveland Indians museum (or Hall of Fame?) under the concourse during the game.
I had a cardboard tray with a hotdog and soda.
The place was empty except for me and two black brothers. Probably ~ 16 years old.
They immediately came up on me and asked for money.
I told them I didn’t have any and one of them felt my pocket and said “Ya, you do.”
I told them I needed it for the bus home (true). Just then someone else wandered in and one of them took my soda and dumped it on my hotdog and they walked out.