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

I’ve spent the last 30 minutes reading every post, finished them all (Even Fate’s lol, but seriously that was awesome, Fate).

This is a great thread, I’m loving all of your stories and recollections.

I say "I thought all Bengals fans are from Kentucky".

Born, raised and still live in NW Ohio. It's weird, but there aren't a lot of Lions fans compared to Browns fans here, even though we're in the Lions catchment zone. Browns gear is everywhere, even during the down years. Cleveland has been a great road trip for us, to catch Browns games, some Cavs games and concerts. I started going to a lot of Browns games in 1979, never had season tickets but did catch 4-5 games a year until the move. The first few years a liquor salesman we knew got us tickets right on the 50 yd line, row 7 behind the Browns bench. It was awesome seing Sipe, Ozzie and Clay up close and personal. The guy retired and that ticket source was gone for good. After that, we just bought scalp tickets. Those hucksters were just everywhere, and I have no idea how they got hold of all those tickets. The trick was to wait until very close to game time when the scalpers were in panic mode. You could pretty much name your price.... I'm talking like 5-10 bucks. Great times back then.

Dang Lampy, I was there as well. I ran in to a guy here in Chattanooga who had pound season tickets. He didn't go to many games at that point so I bought about 6 games from him. Eight rows up, section 114.

Willians run was away from us, but our 4th and goal stop was run directly at us....very exciting. Talk about going nuts!

That's wild. I love hearing that kind of family history.

Yeah, being hard to put your finger on it here in Cincy is a good way to put it. IMO, economically and security wise (following all the crap that went down 20 years ago...) it's a better option than Cleveland, but it always seems so dang boring by comparison. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of diversity, unless you really like German festivals, whereas the Cleveland burroughs demonstrate a lot more cultural variance.

I also feel like Cincy is a slave to chain restaurants. The freaking Long Horn at VOA always seems to have a 2 hour wait when we drive by. They also do have that weird affinity to Skyline, which I think is just okay, and places like LaRosa's. The food and drink scene by comparison just seems so...blah. Overall, it just strikes me as so much more bland than Cleveland.

That all being said, here I've been for a combined 20 years, haha.

In my office at Wright-Patt it's probably 60/40 Browns to Bengals fans.

I was two rows behind you! My brother had season tickets to the Pound and took me to that game as a Christmas gift. 10 rows back. We had a horrible view of the run, but we were freaking out just the same.

I lived in Maumee when I went to Toledo Law School (maybe we should start a NW Ohio thread ) There were a ton of Browns fans in my apartment complex, and one Lions fan. He was forced to watch the Browns with us, or he watched the Lions by himself.

Born into it. All my family is Browns fans - other than my 1 brother. (I mean ALL - on my dad's side. Uncles, cousins, heck, even my grandma was). So, from the time I knew what football was, I was a Browns fan.

Went to my first game in 1990. Was hooked on going to the games. Split 4 season tickets with a college friend from 91 till the Browns left. In the pound, of course.

When the team returned, I/we didn't renew the season tickets so I and my wife would go to 1-4 games a year.

I even had an old pickup - took the bed off and replaced it with a wood bed. Stained it dark brown. Painted the cab and hood like the Browns helmet, had my brother in law make a brush guard that strongly resembled a face mask. Loved it.

Edit to my first post:
It was Dec. 29, 2002, not the 22nd.

Good stories, this. I was born to it as well. Championship baby, 1954. Dad was Browns fan, my coach, a Massillon Washington Tiger. He played just a couple years after Brown left coaching there, and his prints WERE the program, not just on it. At age six I "won" my first Browns kid's helmet in a local P,P, & K competition held at the high school where dad coached. I lived in it for about a week solid. We watched games together at home almost every Sunday as a family:church, Browns, lunch. He took me to a few games in Muni and I still treasure those memories. He invited players to our fall sports awards where I met some big names like Warfield and Groza and others (we ate in his restaurant before a game up there once). The older teams felt like royalty to me. We talked after almost every game after I left home until Dad passed a few years ago. Still a proud fan today. With a lot of good reasons.

My mothers side was from Cleveland

Mostly the West side, My moms mom and dad moved to Canton off Fulton RD across from Woodys Root Beer stand that was very close to the Football Hall of Fame.

My aunt lived with my GMA and we lived close to them. My Aunt was single so she enjoyed doing things with me like fishing in the park which was a bicycle ride to their house and from their house a 5 minute walk to Stadium Park.

She would take me to Cleveland a lot, she didn't drive so we did the Grey Hound bus to Cleveland. There we would do all kinds of things. See the other family members who stayed in Cleveland and other entertaining activities. I always enjoyed riding the train from Tower City to wherever our destination took us.

I remember my first cotton candy from a circus or fair. I got so sick from eating all that sugar that the bus ride home was miserable.

It was Indian games and Browns games that really got me loving Cleveland. The World series of Rock was so amazing !

So my connection continued to grow as I became a member on the Browns website and ended up meeting some of the best people ever at Dawg Talk Island.

Because of those great people and fans, my heart grew to love going to the Muni and enjoying a day partying and watching a football game.

Days friends and games that are very dear to my heart !

For all of you who I got to meet, Thank you !

Great thread! And a good excuse for myself, a long time lurker on this site, to tell my own story.
Originally from Southampton England, now long time resident in Ireland, I was captivated by the Browns at a time when the NFL coverage burgeoned in the UK in the mid-eighties.
At a time when a sea change to the passing oriented game was emerging for me Byner and Mack cutting up mud on their way to 1000 yds each was a big reason. And Kosar has a place on my sporting Mt Rushmore (along with Mick Channon, Robin Smith and Malcolm Marshall, another story).
Roll on 35 years, and in need of some respite and a post covid bounce, my Irish wife encouraged me on a pilgrimage which resulted in a first visit to Cleveland for the Bengals Halloween game in 22. And subsequently a further trip for the Tennessee game this season (100% win rate I might add!).
Likely now to be an annual pilgrimage now there are direct flight from Dublin, hope you don’t mind but Cleveland has become my adopted US city, I know I’ll always be a ‘blow-in’ but there is no better place for sporting passion, and football especially.

Welcome Stufus!

My wife and I took advantage of that direct flight and went to Ireland and Scotland last year. First time there and can't wait to go back, hoping to do so again this fall!

Don't be a stranger. Let us know when you're "blowin-in" this year and we'll point you in the direction of the tailgates and DawgTalkers who will be there on gameday.

I still remember the home opener in 2007 when I got to meet you, GM, atomic, Peen (who called me Lover). I don't think I'll forget it. It was just a genuinely good bunch of people.

We need to start paying for your flights with that win rate. Let us all know beforehand if you happen to come in again!

Many thanks for the welcomes, awaiting the schedule release with anticipation!

I was born in the Chicago area but we moved back in forth from Ohio until I was six. That’s when we settled down in Eastlake. My first memory of the Browns was in 74 (the year we moved)when I was watching a game by myself. My mother and grandmother were in the kitchen. I remember running in their yelling “We scored a touchdown!” They had no clue who I was talking about. lol. Turns out when I went back to watching the game I found out it was actually an interception by Thom Darden in the end zone against the Bengals. Didn’t really matter because I was hooked on football from that moment.

Unfortunately I have memory issues so I don’t remember much of my younger years but this memory is etched into my heart. My mom became a huge Browns fan sometime soon after. We ended up getting season tickets for a couple of years in the late seventies and early eighties. Again I don’t have many memories but I do remember being at the Red Right 88 playoff game. We moved up and down the field but had all kinds of trouble in the red zone. Cockroft could barely get the frozen ball off the ground.

My mom just passed a couple of weeks ago but I will always have our memories of the Browns to look back on. Her favorite Browns players were Nick Chubb and Baker Mayfield. She was crushed when we let him go. At the funeral home my dad had her Mayfield jersey mounted in a frame.

That's awesome, PDawg. Thanks for sharing. It's so much fun to look back to where others were in life during these Browns moments. It's almost like being there all over again, this time with a room full of fans right by your side.

My mom was born and raised in Maple Hts. My dad born and raised in Bedford. My dad joined the navy when he was nineteen and a few years later I came along in Virgina. We settled in Georgia when I was eight years old, and I ended up going all the way through high school there. Somewhat unusual for a military brat, but a great blessing. I am still close with guys I knew from the second grade. We get together every year.

My dad wasn't into sports but my maternal grandfather was a diehard Cleveland sports fan. My mom was an only child and my parents shipped my sister and I back to Maple Hts every summer to spend with our grandparents until I reached high school. It was the greatest gift I've ever received. Not only did I have a very special relationship with my grandparents, I had a huge extended family of cousins that I got to know and grow up with - my mom's cousins and their kids. We have a text chain open every Sunday for every Browns game to this day. I would have never gotten to know them if we didn't have those summers back in Ohio.

I think my grandfather made it his mission to make sure I was a Browns fan. He would take me to training camp and that's really where I became hooked. When I was 11 or 12 years old Bernie Kosar signed a card for me at training camp. Greatest day of my life up until that point. I became emotionally hooked. I used to get the Browns Digest (I think that's what it was called) every week in Georgia. It was the highlight of my week. Could not wait for that to come in the mail. I would say of all the loves in my life, it goes family, friends, Browns, and I may switch those last two. I feel the Browns are an emotional connection to my family and childhood.

When I got to college, we found a Hooters bar in Gwinnett, GA (bonefish will probably know what i am talking about) that was a Browns backers bar. Went every Sunday with this kid I met who was from Cleveland. While I was in college, Bernie got benched, and the Browns moved. I was so distraught after the Browns moved I quit the NFL for 8 years, including the first few when they came back. It wasn't until I was back in Cleveland for Christmas in 2003 that I found that love again. I was at a cousin's house in Strongsville, and the Browns needed to beat the Falcons to make the playoffs. I had no idea. I watched the game, watched run William run, those orange helmets made my heart skip a beat, and I haven't missed a game since. I found this board shortly after that.

Sorry to hear about your Mom.

Born and raised outside of Pittsburgh PA. Funny how that works. Had relatives in Parma that we often visited. Once, in either 60 or 61, we visited, my uncle took my dad and cousin to a browns game, not sure even who the Browns played that day, I was like 8 years old. But I remember seeing Jim Brown drop about 150 yards on whoever it was and me turning to my dad saying, I think that's how its supposed to be played. Damn he was mad at me after that..,,LOL

REmember, the Steelers weren't anything to cheer for back then.,

Been a browns fan ever since. Moved to Ohio in 1973, met the wife and never left.

Mom and Dad raised in Berea, Ohio- I was born in Lakewood- suburb of Cleveland- grandparents both moved to parts of Cleveland- Mom's side lived on W158 St for 50 plus years- as kid loved the Dairy Queen on corner- 25 cent big dipped cones- heaven. Dad's side lived on Homeway Rd near the airport- had small grocery store at corner in 50s. We lived in Mt Clemens, Mi.- Dad was pilot in Air Force at Selfridge AFB- easy drive to Cleveland with 7 kids- I remember hooting and howling when Browns beat Colts for NFL Championship as over 20 point underdogs--watching Jim Brown, Paul Warfield, Gary Collins making plays...and then LeRoy Kelly--Browns teams as champs or near champs every year.....I feel sorry too many generations of Browns fans have missed that joy/ and beating Steelers regularly.


Been Browns and Indians fan forever, yet never lived in city or cites just visited...except for birth in Lakewood, but Dad joined military to fly and rest is history.....military brat as youngster- spent 26 years in myself as pilot in US Army/helicopters, then USAF pilot- lived all over world as youngster and then as an adult-- settled in Florida- hated shoveling snow as a kid in Michigan--no snow in FL.

Go Browns, go Guardians, go Cavs.

That was a great post, P. Sorry to hear about your Mom.

Was that W 158th in West Park? That's right around the neighborhood I grew up in. I lived a block or two away from Valley View Elementary School. Kelly's Hardware was over there. So was Hobby Castle. Also a pizza place... Dante's??? I miss the era of all those Mom and Pop shops. Gene's Place is still there, thankfully, although the original owner's daughter, who was effectively running the place, passed away unexpectedly. Big shame, too. She was so lively and personable.

Lakewood was always a focal point for us west siders. I always felt like it was the cultural epi-center of the west-side suburbs. My parents met there at Winterhurst ice skating rink, way back when it was an outdoor rink. I learned how to skate there. I had my first drinks in Lakewood. I had a bet with my dad, brother and brother-in-law that I could make it to 21 without drinking, and sure enough I did. Around the Corner and Hairy Buffalo were the first two places I went. My family is of heavy Irish and German descent, and I think there is some element of "high tolerance" genetics when it comes to alcohol metabolism. Despite all the shots and beers my friends were throwing at me that night, I remained relatively functional, outlasting a couple of them even. I have definitely found my achilles heels since then, though. Manhattans for some reason put me under, but I love them.

Good gosh Lover. You went to 21 without drinking? Impressive. I hope you didn't have any similar bets about sexual abstinence. LOL

It was not easy...

Ha, the only commitment I made toward abstinence was getting married.