DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Your Ties to Cleveland

I was just thinking about how this is obviously a Browns fan board, yet we have people all over the place. So, I figured I'd start a discussion on how we all became affiliated with Cleveland and/or the Browns.

My family always refers to Cleveland and Ohio as the "nursery" of the country. Lots of people born there, and lots of people from there, but then many leave the nest and usually settle elsewhere.

Like I mentioned in another thread, the last place I lived in Cleveland was Westlake. I am originally from West Park, off Rocky River Drive between Kamm's Corner and Puritas. Right by where the Old Bearden's was decades ago. Used to go to Gene's Place a lot, and still do every time I am in town. Started working at Westwood Country Club as a caddie when I was 13 where I met the guy who is now the HC of the AZ Cardinals. We ended up going to high school together as well. We used to golf there on Mondays when the club house was closed and employees could golf. Also did a few rounds at Little Met which was closer to my house.

Used to play on our street from sun up to sun down, occasionally going to Gunning. Always remember Sundays when I was really little and hearing my dad shout "GO! GO! GO!" when the Browns were on and scoring a TD, lol. He was broken when they left.

I am the youngest of six kids, so when I was 16 years old, my dad realized that he was going to lose his years of free manual labor shortly. At that point, we moved out to Westlake, to a free standing condominium, which is really just a house where they do your yard work for you. It was nice for me because most of my friends lived there, including the guy who to this day remains my closest friend. He now lives in Jacksonville. I had another buddy who lived in Westlake, just down the street from Tim Couch. We would play football in front of his house, hoping he would come outside. He never did, lol.

Went to college at Xavier, where I met my now wife, who is a native of Tampa. We both swore we would leave the area, but here we are 20 years later in a new house that we just built last summer. I haven't actually lived in Cleveland for almost 20 years, but every time I go back, it still feels like home.

How about all of you? What are your ties to Cleveland or the Browns?

I grew up in Westlake. My Dad was transferred there for work in 1981. We moved away when I graduated high school. We lived in a neighborhood that lots of Browns players lived in. One of them used to babysit me, but I don't remember who. I was a big Browns fan growing up, but my Dad never took us to any games. I didn't get to see the Browns play in person until after 1999. I've only seen them win one game, in person. That was vs Atlanta. Weirdly I went to Cleveland to watch them play Atlanta. Baker threw a TD right in front of me. And Chubb did that 99 yard TD run. Great game!

I stil watch the Spanish broadcast of that run from time to time.

I was originally born in Bay Village, but moved around quite a bit until coming back to Cleveland during high school and college years (1998-2007). After finishing up school, I moved back out to California and was there for 10-15 years (briefly in LA, but mostly in San Diego). Once I got married (wife is also from Cleveland w/o the moving around) and our son was born, we moved back to Ohio (Cincinnati). My parents live down here now but my in-laws are still up in NEO.

I'll say one thing... I found that living in Cleveland makes it harder to be a Cleveland fan. It wasn't until after college (after I was back in CA) that I was able to really become an avid Browns fan.

I was born in Mentor Ohio in 1957.

My father was an avid sports fan and became a season tickets holder in the early 60's when I became of age and/or understood the game.

He passed away in 1973 at the ripe old age of 37 years, 6 months and 5 days.

To this day I think of him when I watch any Browns game and/or any other NFL games.

I actually have no geographic ties to Cleveland. My ties to the Browns revolve around my grandpa. He took me to me first Browns game when I was six years old in 1964. The two of us were very close. I had my Browns hat, my Browns shirt along with a Browns jacket. All things my grandpa had bought for me. He had a massive heart attack on New Years Eve that year and passed away the morning after on New Years Day of 1965. He was 49 years old.

I am much older than my younger brothers. Growing up in the greater Dayton area the Browns were always the home team until the Bengals came along in 1968. My dad was more of a Paul Brown fan than a Browns fan so he quickly followed the Bengals. My siblings were so young that they never remembered a time when the Browns were the home team and my grandpa died before any of them were born. But NFL players didn't really make that much money back then. They were more of the lunch pail variety than the mansion and car collection kind we see today. So with that in mind and in honor of my grandpa, I always remained a Browns fan. Through the good times and the bad it didn't matter. As most everyone who reads this board knows, I'm having a much tougher time with that right now. As such it makes me reflect and wonder what my grandpa would have thought about all of this.

Wow, sorry you lost him so young. That kind of stuff haunts me as a father. I lost my dad in 2014, but he was 80, almost 81. I think about him a lot during Browns games too.

Wow, another man gone too young. It's amazing the impression they can have on us for the rest of our lives.

I remember what you are saying about players not getting paid much. Interesting story from my life - my dad and Lou Groza were actually partners for a while at an insurance agency in the Terminal Tower. Crazy that Lou was a hall of famer, but still had to have a desk job to earn enough income. My dad went to Michigan and Lou went to Ohio State, so they used to bet each other on the game every year and rib each other.

They eventually took their practices separate ways, but remained friends until Lou died.

Great story about your dad and Lou.

j/c:

I'm a born and raised Clevelander. I'll most likely die here. I love the fabric of this town....it's diversity in many different forms, it's people, culture, history, neighborhoods, lake and river fronts, all eight of its seasons, and the fact it's underrated by so many who have never been here.

I grew up on the east side in Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights before heading off to school in Cincinnati, then Memphis for work (thus the reference in my profile name), back to Cincinnati, then home to Cleveland a decade ago --living in Tremont before settling in a neighborhood in Cleveland proper.

For a former employer, I travelled around the country 2 weeks out of every month to most major cities in the US, but Cleveland always called back to me and knew I'd eventually make my way home. Sports is, arguably, the first-ever reality TV show and I tend to mirror the city in the sense that the Browns are my favorite Cleveland team, although follow all the big three rather aggressively. But the NFL does an amazing job promoting the idea that there is never really an offseason and always something to discuss and see, and I think that's really where my growing investment of the Browns came from. My family will get together most Sundays at 1PM to watch the games and the Browns have served as a connector in a way to keep family engagement ever present and expected at the start of each season. As family members leave us, hopefully that tradition of Sunday get-togethers doesn't.

This is kinda how I'm feeling (and I am also in the Cinci area right now). Well said.

*I'll apologize in advance, this wasn't meant to be so long. This is what a trip down memory lane always does to me.*


I was born and lived my first six years in Bedford Heights. Lost my dad, a die-hard fan, at the age of two. Lost my mom at the age of six.

Then on to Cleveland, being raised by my half-brother and sister-in-law. He didn't care for sports, so it wasn't until he was long gone and my sister-in-law (by then, my "mom") was remarried, that I had an actual step-dad who was a passionate Browns fan.

Before they were married, my "mom" introduced him to my (real) dad via an 8mm film from years before. We watched my dad's recording from the ending minutes of our Championship against the Lions (1954) in Municipal Stadium. It was the first time I actually shed tears watching that "filmstrip". I didn't say anything, but they weren't tears for my dad, they were for the young boy next to him, frozen in time in those frames. I was finally old enough to do the math and experience the gravity of knowing that was his oldest son (from another marriage) who had drowned with him on that fateful fishing trip in Canada.



It was only a few weeks later that step-dad was taking me to my first game. Browns / Bengals 1978. As an 11 year old, the craziest memories of that day were: piss troughs in the bathrooms; Hell's Angels roaming the aisles looking for someone; some crazed Browns fan marching around trying to get anyone to bet him $10 dollars that we lose, after we had scored our only 10 points in the 4th to tie the game (everyone seemed sure we would lose, I didn't yet know the same BBS they did)... and then finally, the Don Cockroft FG in overtime... and the roar of the 80,000+ that had me hooked. for. life.

Although by high-school I was moving on to another family situation, I cherish growing up on the East side of Cleveland. 71st and Gertrude (couple streets over from Fleet). A Polish neighborhood where everyone took care of each other. We played hard from early in the day 'til sundown. Usually football, usually on the grounds of Fullerton Elementary. The school cafeteria was open all summer with free breakfast for kids. I can't count the times my friends and I would be there for breakfast and then go on to play football all day. Limping home with some blood stains and a little sunburn wasn't all that uncommon.

From a kid on the playground, to a young man getting "bussed" to Jr High in "the hood", Cleveland never scared or intimidated me, because I was Cleveland. Not even walking through that hood, hand in hand with my girlfriend, both of us getting it from all angles... because she was black and I was white. As segregated as the city was, it was still a "melting pot". As much as people liked to portray things as black and white, with no room for gray, my friends were black and white, we played in their neighborhood and they played in ours. All you needed in those days was someone to walk up by your side and introduce you as their friend. I'm not saying that was the experience for everyone, but that was ours.



The Browns still had stiff competition in my heart though. My first love was boxing. My second love was the Cavs as my step-mom's best friend was dating a player. I woke up one night to see *most* of the 75-76 Cavs starters sitting in my living room passing a joint at 2am. I had all of their autographs and went to a playoff game against the Bullets during that Cinderella journey.

And the Indians... thinking back to those days, one memory that always comes quickly is the transistor radio that went with me everyday on my paper route. It was always tuned in to the Tribe or Cleveland sports radio. I knew every player stat, dug into every box score if I didn't see or hear the game, I bled Cleveland Indians baseball. That green, dirty, transistor radio makes one of it's most famous cameos one evening in May, 1981... as it lands on the dining room table and I race into the living room, trading in Herb Score and Nev Chandler for Joe Tait and Bruce Drennan, and the 9th inning of Lenny Barker's perfect game on channel 43.



The "johnny-come-lately" Browns quickly dealt plenty of heartache. I had my radio, but had to break away from my step-mom to chase down the wall of 20" TVs in an Uncle Bill's department store -- just in time to see Ahmad Rashad's one-handed catch under an expired clock. I actually lost $5 of my paper route profits on a bet with my step-dad (he always knew when the Browns would lose, even in games that we spent 60 full minutes with the lead). Three weeks later, I trudged through the wind and snow to go to a friend's house and watch Red Right 88 end our Cardiac Kids.

I think there was already enough Cleveland sports heartbreak to know this would be a long journey. I had no idea it would be this long.



I'm "tied" to Cleveland. At times the ties seem more like chains. But it doesn't matter, I'm a willing prisoner. Being a Browns fan is truly Stockholm Syndrome explained in it's purest form. Doesn't matter how bad the teams are or how much farther I am along this road we call life -- when my feet hit the ground in Cleveland -- I'm home. The home that has stood the truest test of time in my long and winding road.

I just hope I'm still here for "that day". It's sad and funny and so improbable. It's to be made fun of by the rest of the world while we don't even care that we're the brunt. We still wear the colors with pride and will stick a fat middle finger in the face of anyone with a smirk. I never, ever envisioned, as a young Browns fan that the fast-forward in my filmstrip would (will) have me looking straight to the sky when the day comes, saying "this is for dad, this is for Ricky, this is for Matt, this is for Dave"... and on and on, right through eotab.


No one else, in no other place on earth, will have even the slightest chance of understanding the feeling.

Your neighborhood is going down hill anyways.

Dude that was freaking incredible. What a life you've had.

I grew up in NW rural Ohio, Mercer County. I have been to Cleveland maybe 6-8 times, usually for a Browns game. IT was a good 4 hour drive me, which is one of the reasons I went to so few games.

I started watching the NFL in 1969. I came from a big family (9) kids, and my brother, who was 12 years older than me was a huge Browns fan and he went to Kent State after graduating HS in 1967 and would travel to Hiram occasionally to watch TC.

The Browns were historical winners and I tasted that a bit in 1969, 71, 72 & having a very competitive team in 1979. I dont; recall watching a single AFL game as a kid, but did watch SB 3 & 4 and love readign about the AFL.

My brother had a lot to do with my Browns fandom, plus almost all Browns games were on TV. IF not on Dayton channels, they would be on WLIO Lima if I turned the antennae, which my dad hated because it messed up the other channels.

I would say the county I lived in at the time was 70-75% Browns fans.

Anyway, no Cleveland ties here, but my kids still make fun of me for my yelling at the TV during games and having my "superstitious rituals". I rarely sit during a game and when I traveled to Houston 2 months ago for the game, it was tough to stay in my seat.

I loved living in Cincinnati.....Clifton for school and Hyde Park/Oakley neighborhoods when I moved back w/ Mt. Lookout right around the corner.

I will say native Cincinnatians have, in my opinion, some sort of little brother complex for Cleveland, at least when it comes to sports. But I'd argue even more. Coming from Cleveland to Cincy for college, I had barely ever thought of Cincinnati. But, wow, they sure knew about Cleveland and loved to hate on it, and me, simply by association. That has remained true after all these years, not necessarily malicious but a random jab here or there. Clevelanders normally don't think about Cincinnati in that way outside of two games a year when we play the Bengals.

That all said.....listen to your heart and come home.

Sorry....don't want to hijack the spirit of the thread. Keep it to Cleveland.

My experience is very similar to Memphis'. I went to Ohio State for school, however.

I still travel all over the country for work and it was always in my and my wife's plans to move once our kids graduate college (assuming they stay in state). I have re-thought that recently and come to realize I/we are very happy here for many of the reasons Memphis stated, people, culture, diversity, neighborhoods (Ohio City, Tremont, Gordon Square, University Heights, Hingetown) Metroparks, Lake Erie, events at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights, three major sports teams etc...

Cleveland has an incredible dining scene and that is something my wife and I very much enjoy.

Cleveland's Playhouse Square is unlike anything in this country outside of NYC. The Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Symphony at Severance Hall are incredible. Access to world class hospitals.

On the weekends, I thoroughly enjoy going to places like the West Side Market, On the Rise Bakery to pick up french baguettes to make sandwiches, Juneberry Table or Lucky's Cafe with family for brunch etc..

It would be tough to replicate all of this, though I do love the east coast and Boston in particular, however the cost of living is 5x higher when considering a move.

Anymore, the Cleveland winters are near non-existent. Sure it gets cold, but any significant snowfall is few and far between. It's tough to complain about the weather like I used to.

Maybe we still move someday, but the thought is not the definitive plan I once believed it to be. I can hop on a plane and be anywhere I want when we want to get away

Such awesome stories, love reading all of them. Great thread DL05.

I was born in 76. I'm from a small town in the Cambridge area in Southeastern Ohio. I became a Browns/Tribe/Cavs/Ohio State fan because of my Dad. My Grandpa was an Indians fan, but did not care for the other sports. Most of our relatives were from the Cleveland and surrounding areas. I faintly remember going to my first Tribe game with family (and grandpa). It was the Tribe vs. Red Sox, Yaz hit his last hr before he retired. I was a Brett Butler fan, though I thought Brook Jacoby and Cory Snyder were so cool (collecting baseball cards will do that to you as a kid, haha) b/c they would wear that eye black under their eyes.

As for the Browns, I remember the heart break of watching the Browns/Broncos games at home. I faintly remember going to the Browns/Colts game and seeing Eric Dickerson play in grade school.

Once I graduated HS, I joined the Army and was stationed in Fort Hood. It was my first taste of being away from home and looking back was worth it. I did four years, then came back home. I was homesick and wanted to stay in the area. I switched over to the PA National Guard and moved to Pittsburgh for college. It really was a great experience as a young kid in my 20s. Went to college downtown, partied mostly in the Southside and quite often would see sports players (Big Ben, Bettis, Hines Ward, Charles Barkley, MJ, etc) out partying it up too. After I finished college, I moved back home for about a year, switched to the Army Reserve and was hired at the Akron VA clinic. I lived in Green for a few years. I enjoyed my time there; it was nice to be able to get up to a game whenever I had time. That was the closest I lived to Cleveland.

Though I liked my job, I wanted to do more and travel more. So I went back on to Active Duty and worked at Fort Bragg for about a year at the high command. Then I received my orders for DC. I loved it there. DC was a great assignment. History all over the place and sports all in the surrounding areas.

Which brings me to current day Hawaii. I love where I am. I still love playing GI Joe. Though most people might not like it, I love watching Ohio State on Saturdays at 6 am, and the Browns at 7 am on Sundays. Though, there are days when we are losing, I start looking out my window at the ocean/beach and try to talk myself into turning off the game and go enjoy the sun instead...it never happens, I have to watch the game through. Hey, on the positive side, a lot of those this past year we made the comeback.

I was just going to write how much I enjoyed the stories & the thread. It sort of "personalizes" everyone for me.

I can confirm your sentiments on Cincinnati. That was my impression as well. Did you live in Hyde Park/Oakley anytime from 2006-2010? I went to law school in Toledo from 2006 to 2009, but my wife was down in Hyde Park and I drove down every weekend. We lived in Hyde Park, right off of Erie in a condo we rented really close to Hap's Irish pub. After I graduated and worked in downtown Cincy, we lived there until January 2010 when we moved out to the northern burbs.

Thanks to both of you!

2009-2010: I lived in a house just off Hyde Park Square, across the street from The Echo, one of Cincy's best places for goetta.

The team is my only tie. That and I know they have some top notch hospitals that I’ve never seen.

Other than this board and the Browns?

My ties to Cleveland:
I was there once, saw the Browns beat the Falcons on Dec. 22, 2002.
Slept on a floor for two night at Hopkins.

I know a woman who lives in my neck of the woods, she grew up in Cleveland Heights and in the early 1970s she made her way to Nova Scotia to live in a commune, on a farm. I gather she was a hippie, back to the earth type.

She eventually started a home for abused women in the town I live in. Tearmann House exists to this day.
She once told me her father Joe was a cop on the CPD, and their next door neighbour when she was a kid was Rocky Colavito.
I don’t BS, and neither does she.

You have a 100% win rate at Browns games. I vote you have to attend every game this upcoming season.

I grew up in rural NW Ohio. There was no affiliation to any to sports teams. I was raised a Tigers fan and spent quite a few days and nights with my dad at old Tiger’s Stadium from 1984-87. I wasn’t raised in an NFL household. My buddy’s dad was a Browns fan. That’s where I was first exposed, 1981 or so. By the time Elway ruined my childhood I was hooked.

In all honesty I’ve spent far less time in Cleveland than any other city in Ohio. My dad lived in Toledo. I moved to Columbus for art school and spent about 11 years living there. I had a girlfriend in Dayton, and another in Athens. My exwife was from Cinci, so I spent a fair amount of time there. Honestly I’ve probably only been to Cleveland proper about three times. Once for a game at the Muni. Another, the first pre season of the return. Once to see a concert, Widespread Panic, at Nautica in ‘99. That’s really it unless you count a bunch of shows at Blossom, or a trip to SeaWorld as a teen.

I was born in Toledo and lived there 3 or so years, but to make a long story short, ended up in Fairview Park for 4 or so years then Bay Village in 1956ish. Lived on Lake Road between Clague and Columbia, lake side.

Been a Browns fan for a long time. As long as a person really can, that assume you really aren't born a fan. One becomes a fan.

I have lived in many places. Been in Tennessee for over 45 years now, but Bay Village and Cleveland always feels like home.

Going up to Cleveland for games is beginning to be a drag on me. I keep my season tickets because I like going back to the area maybe even more than going to games.

I am a solid Tennessean these days, but I will always be a proud Clevelander. I love telling people I am a Browns season ticket holder. My wife laughs at me over how clever I am at bringing that into conversations. Even the slightest opening brings that in to the conversation. Heck, I might not even need an opening!

"Hello, I am Ballpeen, I am a Browns season ticket holder." I love the sound of that.

Born in Elyria - grew up in Oberlin - Dad and Grandpa used to take me to all the home games at Muni.

Now living in SE AZ, I rarely get back, but I still have family in that area.

Grew up on Moss's, George's Tin Roof and Presti's,

That's awesome. You were at the "Run William Run!" game. I was there, too. Heck of a day.

I pass your BV home quite often. My sister lives in Avon Lake and we always stay at her house when we go up there to visit. She and her husband run the Prayers From Maria Foundation, if anyone has seen their stuff. Huge sunflower field in Avon Lake and another big one by Cedar Point. They also do the wine festival in Rocky River every year that draws a pretty big crowd.

Whenever we drive from her house to anywhere headed east, we always use Lake Road, so I would pass by your house going from Avon Lake. Our typical hangouts are usually in Rocky River or Lakewood.

One of our favorite family hangouts is Rocky River Brewery on Center Ridge. It is a good place for all the boisterous crazies in my family (myself included) to hang out and have a good time.

Unfortunately - and this breaks my heart - they got rid of Rustic in Rocky River. We used to love stopping by there.

Been to the RRB a few times. I like it. The Rustic...a classic that I probably ate there over 100 times. Actually, no probably about it.

As for the home, you drive by the property, not the house. As has happened to many of the large brick homes with slate/tile roofs along the lake, it was bought for the property and torn down and replaced sometime in the late 80's. Maybe early 90's. Inside was all plaster walls and ceilings. It was beautiful, but plaster is expensive to maintain and made it pretty much impossible to install any central heat and air. The heat was all radiators which isn't in favor any longer. For air, you opened windows and used fans. Dad did eventually install some window A/C units in some of the rooms.

The best of memories, but things change.

Been living in the Cleveland Clinic for 9 1/2 years, and make plenty of trips to Painesville.

I lived in Streetsboro for about a year, and Maple Heights for a couple of years. (not consequetively)

Other than that, I lived in Michigan for a couple of years as a kid, then mainly YTown. (with a couple of years in Columbus when I was 18/19 or so)

I don't know if I'd characterize it as a little brother complex, but there is a weird vibe in Cincy that kinda pervades everything. I struggle to characterize it the same way as you given how I feel about the Steelers and Ravens (throwing stones and glass houses and all that).

But there is something weird here that I can't quite put my finger on it. From the weird obsession people (as adults) have about where everyone went to high school, the cult-following for Cincy chili, to people's odd willingness to go to bat for CVG airport in comparison to other Int'l airports.

....The more I describe it out loud the more it sounds like a little brother complex....


Cleveland has its own oddities, for sure. My feelings about the city have more to do with the vast majority of my extended family still residing in Cleveland vs the city itself. I can admit that if the previous generations had decided to settle in another city (probably would've been Toronto... more on that later) then I would feel the same way about that city vs Cleveland. That said, Cleveland punches way above its weight class in terms of what the city has to offer. It would be my family vs the city itself that draws me back, but even ignoring that Cleveland would be an upgrade over Cinci.

Both my parents are Hungarian. My dad was actually very young in the leadup to the Hungarian revolution after WW2. They fled Hungary either right before or right after the revolution was defeated. My mom was born here in the US but her parents fled from the Russians as well. Back then, you had to have a "sponsor" in order to immigrate to the US. I don't know if this was something they were doing with refugees at the time or a "law" that's since gone by the wayside, but regardless it's the reason why there are very large populations of Hungarians in Toronto and Cleveland. That's a lot of words to say that Cleveland possesses a lot of culture that I have a vested interest in. Beyond my blood ties to the culture, Hungarian history is both fascinating and infuriating.

j/c

As a side note to those having to deal with Bungles/Cinci fans. Having lived in the Dayton area for most all of my life I've had a lot of experience with that. Two things I have found effective in dealing with them are these. Call the area they live in as Cintucky. They hate that. Secondly remind them they don't even have an airport. They just use Kentucky's airport.

MY experience living in NW Ohio has seen a growing # of Bengals fans , mostly due to lack of Browns success.

Since moving to Fairborn during the height of the pandemic, I have notice something interesting. When I pass a fellow Browns fan entering/leaving a Kroger, Walmart, Lowes etc, I can fully expect at minimum of a "Go Browns" when the fan sees my hat or t-shirt. Sometimes a conversation breaks out.

It stuns me that I can never recall two Bengal fans doing the same, and there are plenty wearing their gear. I have gotten a few "Browns suck" comments from them, but in 4 years I have not heard 2 Bengals fans act excited. I find that hard to believe considering they have played in a SB and another AFC conference title game in that span. I would be bouncing off the walls if the Browns made a SB.

And the amount of Bengal gear you see depends on how well the team is playing. They have a lot of closet fans who only come out of the closet when they're winning.

I've found that Bengals are largely a pretty fair-weather fanbase (not on the level of the Chargers when they were in San Diego, though).

When I moved to Cincy ~2018, West Carrollton/Dayton was the edge of Bengals territory. Fridays we could wear team gear to work and there was less Bengals gear than Browns or Steelers.