Browns Dawg House

Waiting for over a week to have the Browns play was a painful experience. It was so odd to have Thursday night, Friday, Saturday, and even Sunday pass by without any games to really care about. It was so hard to watch and hear about the other games – that was nothing compared to the pain of actually watching the game Monday night on ESPN.

My mom was getting back in town from visiting my sister, so I planned on taping the game so we could all watch it together when she got home. I made sure I got off of work early enough to make it home and set up the TiVO and wasted away the early evening doing random things of little consequence, waiting until the 7 PM pre-game coverage started. I suffered through the early NFL coverage about the Favre fiasco – then they reached the Browns.

They talked about all the high hopes and how much work the Browns have done over the off-season…as each minute passed I became more and more excited. I got a call from my mom that her flight had landed early and that they would be home soon (it was going on 8:00…I was getting antsy). I called Emily, and she said that she would be there shortly as well.

Trying to entertain myself past 8 PM, waiting for my parents & Emily to arrive was on par with having to eat cake on your 12th birthday before you are allowed to rip into your gifts. I so desperately wanted to watch my Browns, but I knew I shouldn’t. Emily stepped though the back door; now I just needed my parents to get things started. They walked in about 10 minutes later, and said, “Did you see that field goal…”.

“STOP!” I yelled, and then explained to them that I hadn’t seen anything yet (and welcomed my mom home). After everyone got a plate for food for dinner, we sat down and started the TiVO.

This is when things began to go down hill. From the first kickoff it was obvious that the Browns were out-played, out-muscled, and out-smarted on the field. The Giants were executing like professionals – running tight routes and excellent coverage; they were out to prove that they were defending Super Bowl champs. The Browns, on the other hand, looked sluggish, slow, and beaten; I don’t know what they came out to prove, but all they showed was a lack of heart. We were getting pass interference calls, offsides, and false starts – we just looked ugly. To cap off the mess Anderson took a hard sack that gave him a concussion  – he left the game and didn’t come back. The Giants were acting as though the Browns were their little brother – they let them get close now and then, but ultimately controlled the ‘competition’.

At first I was angry. I was yelling at the screen, saying things that were out of character for me (I will spare everyone the details). I then moved into embarrassment – embarrassed for the players, for the Browns, for the city. This is what hit me the hardest the following day: I should never been embarrassed that I am a Cleveland fan; this is something I should always find pride in.

I think my mom, dad, and Emily put this into perspective best. They simply explained that this was Cleveland reclaiming the underdog status. Cleveland didn’t know how to handle the front runner position and did what they needed to against the Giants to lose it. That is okay, now that things are back to what we are used to: the Browns will be viewed, once again, as the underdogs.

The funny thing is though – it doesn’t matter how people view the Browns & Cleveland.  All that matters is how we see ourselves & I like what I see.

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Signs are interesting things. Some signs tell you when to STOP and when to GO, some give you guidance, some might even show you what lies ahead, and finally – some signs point to hope.

Wednesday, the night before the Browns first preseason game against the NY Jets, Emily and I went to Walmart with one thing in mind: giving a sign to the Browns fans. We found some thick poster board and some bright markers that would do the trick, but it still did not feel like enough. We also bought some face paint; I was excited about this in spite of (or maybe because of…) the fact that we did not have a plan.

What would you want to say if you were a Browns sign? Of course the plain vanilla ideas come out first: “Go Browns!”, “Beat The Jets”, etc. We both knew we needed, the fans needed, the city needed, something more. We eventually came up with “Dawgs fly in Cleveland” and were going to put the wide receiver numbers under the text with little wings to represent them flying across the field.

After sleeping on the idea, one thing was clear: it was too complex. Over lunch we talked about what it should say and what we wanted to get across to everyone else: we arrived at “World Champs 09″. It was simple, powerful, and to the point. It did not concede to the “There is always next year” garbage I that grew up with. I am an admittedly a young Browns fan and am sick of hearing the “woe is me” story.

We made our sign with an extended lunch break and Emily delayed a trip to her lab to finish the coloring. After work & lab, we now had another major problem to tackle: what to put on our faces. For my face it was a simple choice: a Browns helmet. We mixed the few face paint colors we had to make Orange and Brown (we already had white). Don’t ask me what we combined – I got a C in art at Saint Ignatius.

Emily painted my face with grace, speed, and precision – It looked absolutely amazing. It was now my turn to do some painting. I am admittedly horrible at art (remember that time I told you I got a C in art?). Because of my ability (or lack there of) we decided to keep things simple – just painting “BROWNS” across her face. I picked up the brush and it was as though I was a new person. I was making strokes and forming letters as though I had been doing this since I was a child…the paint went on so easily and it looked amazing.

Just kidding. It looked horrible and we both knew it. Luckily, it was water soluble paint and I tried again, and again. Finally we decided just a “BROWNS” on one side of her cheek would be a better idea. I made the letters really small so everything would fit. First the B, then the R, onto the O, then the W, and finally the S. Wait…what? Yeah, that’s right – I forgot the N. How could I do that? I am not sure. It ended up taking me about 5 tries and 45 minutes, but we got Browns on her face and it looked…good enough.

We left for the stadium and managed to get there about an hour before game time. I was holding up our World Champs sign high above my head – I wanted to convey the message to everyone. Once we got in the gate we realized we had a lot of time. I stood by the NW gate (I think) holding the sign high above my head so everyone walking in would see it. Within a couple of minutes a Browns official wearing a tie came over to me…great – there goes my sign, I thought. Nope – he just patted my back and said how much he liked the sign.

I stood in that spot for the next 30 minutes holding that sign above my head. Patricia and Bill from the Browns came over to give us a survey about the team as fans of all ages looked at our poster. The younger guys cheered and encouraged me. The older guys immediately shook their heads and thought how funny the young guy looked – what does he know? Does he know about Jim Brown, Otto Graham, or even Brian Sipe? We did not have time to explain ourselves – Emily would simply shout out: “If no one says it, it will never happen!”. It was the best 30 minutes I have spent at a Browns game so far – expect to see us there every week.

The game started and the Browns’ first team scored on the opening drive with Edwards making an amazing left handed catch in the end zone. Then, it rained, and rained. Not the “oh, it is raining a little out today” type of rain – this was the “Holy Crap! What they heck is going on, lightning” kind of rain.

At first we refused to leave our seats. I used the backside of our sign to shield Emily from the rain. As people were walking up to the concourse they yelled out things like, “Now that is true love”. We stayed out there till the lines went down a little. It was this day that we found out that every fan could fit in the concourses around the stadium…it was very…uhmm…cozy if you were wondering.

If God was trying to test the fans through this rain, I would have to say we passed. After nearly an hour lightning delay everyone piled back into their seats – families with small children included. Our sign was severely damaged, but our message had already been delivered. A new sign can be (and will be) created for the next game.

That night many fans stayed at the stadium till 11:30 watching a game that “did not matter”. Oh, it mattered – thousands of fans, soaked to the bone, shivering in the summer, cheering for the Browns was a sign to the team and to ourselves that this is the year, this is our time.

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