A giant hug is needed in Cleveland

Let me tell you a story.

I recently drove 34 hours with my dad to help him move to Lima, Ohio and his girlfriend, Cheryl. Dad grew up in neighboring Cridersville and when I was a kid we lived in Wapakaneta (just outside Lima).

While there I discovered that the Cleveland Browns had a Thursday night home game against the Denver Broncos. To top it off, it was QB Brady Quinn’s first professional game. Quinn carries the hopes of all Cleveland fans like me whose fathers did them a great disservice by raising them as Browns fans.

It took some doing but I finally talked my dad into going. He was doing his grumpy old man impression. We were joined by Luke, Cheryl’s son-in-law. It was a three hour jaunt from Lima to Cleveland to make the 8:15 pm game.

Luke was the biggest hardcore fan I have ever seen in any sport. The guy was a stat freak. He named most of the players on the 1985 team during our conversation. He was probably in grade school then. Hell, I can’t even name all the players on this year’s team. The guy was very cool.

During the drive, Luke told me about how crazy Browns fans are. Well, we saw it up close and personal. I was able to get us tickets in section 117, right next to the Dawg Pound.

We arrived and saw that the stadium was beautiful. That’s when it got ugly.

A drunk Browns fan passed out in the row ahead of us. Before the 1st quarter was over.

A Broncos fan in front of us made a smart-ass comment to a Browns fan behind us. That resulted in a fight between them that tumbled into our laps. The Browns fan was pulled out by security and allowed to return 10 minutes later. He chipped away for the rest of the game at the Bronco, threatening bodily harm over and over.

A few minutes later the crowd chanted “asshole” to a couple of other Bronco fans who fought some other Browns fans. I've never seen so many extended middle fingers!

Are you seeing a pattern here?

Two Browns fans fought each other in the Dawg Pound and were ejected by the police. Brown versus Brown violence. How drunk do you have to be for that? A friend of one of the combatants tried to separate his buddy from a cop. He caught a forearm to the throat from the cop. Three times! The cop beat the guy down and the crowd cheered him on.

During the fourth quarter, there were a couple of grumpy fans in the row behind us that tried to tell the guys next to us to sit down. Um, all 67,000 fans were standing. For the entire game! Duh.

By the time the game was over, the Broncos had accumulated over 500 yards and Brady Quinn had a great game. But the Browns blew a big lead and let the Broncos score 21 points in the 4th quarter.

Of course, we missed most of it because of the craziness around us.

Browns fans need therapy. Lots of it.