EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the third in a five-part series entitled, “250 for 250, Browns Style.” It includes items Nos. 101 through 150.
By STEVE KING
101) — I find it odd, ironic and disappointing that kicker Phil Dawson, who is one of the great individuals the Browns have ever had, wore the same number, 4, that now belongs to quarterback Deshaun Watson, who has a less-than-sterling past.
102) — Which Browns uniform do you like best? I like the all-white uniforms because they are so traditional.
103) — What is your favorite Browns season? Mine is 1980, the year of the Kardiac Kids. What a ride!!
104) — If the Browns went 8-8 this season, woujd you be satisfied? I would to an extent because it would be such an improvement over the last two seasons, but I also would not be satisfied to an extent because they would still have a long, long way to go to get to where they want to be, and need to be.
105) — In the bicentennial year of 1976, the Browns went 9-5, which was a big improvement from the previous two seasons when they went 7-21. Head coach Forrest Gregg was named the AFC Coach of the Year.
106) — The coldest I ever was at a Browns game was on Nov. 19, 1972 in a 26-24 win over Pittsburgh on a 26-yard field goal by Don Cockcroft with eight seconds left that put the clubs into a tie for first place in the AFC Central with four games remaining. It was a cold rain for about 2-1/2 quarters, and then it got a few degrees colder and turned into a light snow. We got freeze-dried. It was miserable, but it was worth it.
107) — The Browns have to take some strides forward this season, because by the time they get into their new indoor stadium in 2029, they have to be winning and in the hunt for a conference championship and a trip to the Super Bowl. They can’t be stumbling into that building. That would be a hard sell to the fans, and a real disappointment.
108) — Depending on what happens between now and then, the AFC North — all of the teams, from top to bottom — could look a whole lot different than it does at this point. We’ll just have to wait and see.
109) — The Browns should have their franchise quarterback by then. They better! I just wonder who it will be. If it’s not Shadeur Sanders, and I really, truly believe that it will be, then it will no one else on the current roster.
110) — I ran across on the internet recently a couple clips of calls of Browns games on the radio by their late, great play-by-play announcer, Nev Chandler. He was just so good.
111) — Who was better, Nev or Jim Donovan? Well, do you prefer vanilla ice cream, or chocolate? They are both fantastic — the ice cream flavors and those two icons.
112) — Longtime Cleveland TV weatherman Dick Goddard did stats for the radio teams for 44 years, beginning with Gib Shanley and transitioning over to Nev, then to Casey Coleman for two years and finally to Jim. When he was growing up in Greensburg, now Green, in Southeast Summit County, Goddard wanted to be the punter for the Browns. He graduated from Greensburg High School in 1949, in the Browns’ fourth year of existence. Jim said that Dick was right on point with his stats. They never had to question anything
113) — That’s a quite a list of play-by-play men. It might be the best such list in NFL history. It certainly is as good as any. Understanding that, then, I am going to give the current man, Andrew Siciliano, every chance. I think he does a fine job, but there are some who question that because of what, and who, have gone on before him. We can’t look back. We can only look forward, Andrew deserves that.
114) — OK, the Brendan Sorsby situation. is over for the time being. He and the NFL and the NFL Players Association have all reached an agreement whereby he will take the year off and try again in 2027. Character matters, especially at quarterback. The best quarterbacks the Browns have ever had were all men of character. You could trust them in their preparation. Sorsby falls far short of that bar. If it were down to Sorsby or Deshaun Watson for the Browns quarterback job, I think I would go lose myself in the woods somewhere. Yikes!
115) — You can bet that aspects of the World Cup TV coverage that is going on now will be instituted into NFL with all teams, including the Browns.
116) — I have real questions about Mike McCarthy, the first-year head coach for the Browns’ rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers. I think the Steelers have made a big mistake with that hire, and I think it is going to hurt them. But we’ll see. They have done things the right way over there for a long time, so maybe they’ll figure out how to make it work. But I sure wouldn’t have hired him.
117) — As I have mentioned earlier, I wonder if the other three teams in division, the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals, along with the Steelers, will follow Cleveland‘s lead and build an indoor stadium. I sense that out of that trio, Baltimore would be the first to do it, if any of them do it.
120) — I am anxious to see what the Browns defense does this year, as I am sure everyone is. The defense is going to have to play well early to keep the Browns competitive while their offense, which has a lot of different parts to it, comes together. If the defense struggles as well out of the gate, then the fans, a lot of whom wanted Jim Schwartz to get the head coaching job,are not going to be happy.
121) — When the Browns get ready to close their current stadium after the 2028 season, there will not be the type of feeling that there was when Cleveland Stadium closed down at the end of the 1995 campaign. Fans had a warm spot in their heart for that old place, and I just don’t sense that will be the same with Huntington Bank Field.
122) — Late in the 1995 season, when Pittsburgh was making its final trip into the old stadium, Steelers head coach Bill Cowher, who, of course, played and coached for the Browns, gave a really great description of walking through the old tunnel from the locker room to the baseball dugout before the game. It was done very well. Again, nobody is going to talk like that about this current place, not at all.
123) — For that matter, I’m sure the fans over in Pittsburgh don’t like the new place nearly as much as they liked Three Rivers Stadium. The old places had charm. The new places are just shiny pieces of steel with expensive suites.
124) — The manager of the France team in the World Cup looks a little like .Browns owner Jimmy Haslam at first glance. Are you OK with Haslam having a piece of ownership in the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks? Or are you happy that he is not here as much anymore with all of his other responsibilities, which includes ownership of the Columbus Crew soccer team?
125) — Think back to those old owners, like the Browns’ Art Modell, who were involved in nothing except football. It is so much different now.
126) — For years and years and years, the NFL has done everything possible to increase scoring. Every rule change since the 1970s has been made to take something away from the defense and give it to the offense. Because every survey the league has taken of its fans indicates that the more scoring, the better. But in World Cup soccer, scoring is at a premium. You can watch the whole game and maybe not see a goal scored. What is the attraction, and is there anything the NFL can take from soccer and incorporate into its own sport.
127) — Speaking of indoor stadium, the old Astrodome, where the Browns and Houston Oilers used to mert once a year for 35 years, sets next to the current stadium, where the Houston Texans play. When you look at the size of the Astrodome in comparison to the new place, it looks like a toy. It looks so tiny.
128) — Who is the best assistant coach in Browns history? Nick Saban was tremendous, but he was with the team for only four years. Is that long enough of a stint to consider him as best coach? And then Lindy Infante,,who was a tremendous offensive coordinator, stayed only two seasons. Is that long enough to consider him for the honor?
129) — My choice for best assistant coach would be Howard Brinker, who served as defensive coordinator for 20 years, from 1954 through 1973. He put together a lot of tremendous defenses that never got their due because of the great offenses the Browns had during that time.
130) — Linebacker Eddie Johnson was, as mentioned earlier in this series, a fierce hitter. I saw him stonewall New York Jets running Roger Vick when he tried to vault the stack in a goal-line situation l in a game at Cleveland in 1989. Johnson hit him so hard that you could hear the impact up in the stands. In fact, it was uncomfortable evto watch, because I thought Vick had been seriously hurt. Johnson hit him with that much force.
131) — Another hard hitter was Dick Ambrose. He’s now a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Couy judge. During a grizzly murder case over which he was presiding some years ago, a witness took the stand and asked if she could speak to the judge. Ambrose granted her that opportunity. “Do you mind if I call you Judge Bam-Bam?,” she said in reference to his nickname during his playing days .The courtroom broke out into laughter, which was needed, if only for a youmoment because of the seriousness of the case. Ambrose smiled and told her she could.
132) — What is your favorite Browns game? I have too many to mention. I couldn’t cut it down to just one. But one of the games in that group is that Browns-Pittsburgh game from 1972 that had the cold-weather conditions. I went to that game with my dad, and I can still remember the whole day, even now, 54 years later.
133) — also the comeback 28–23 win over the Houston Oilers in the 1988 playoffs, Gunn strike through a touchdown passes to Webster, slaughter was just fantastic as the snow came down.
134) — Eric Metcalf’s two punt returns for touchdowns game in 1993 against Pittsburgh would rank up there as well.
135) — As would the 1973 game against Pittsburgh when Greg Pruitt made that outstanding catch and run to set up the winning touchdown, which he scored.
136) — My worst Browns games? Any that occurred in the
thankfully short two-year
tenure of head coach Eric Manhimo in 2009 and ‘10. That guy sucked the fun out of everything. He had an anger issue and he couldn’t tell the truth to save jis soul. It was a bad time in Browns history. But enough of that, and him.
137) — On a much brighter note, I would love to have watched the early Browns. They were just so good and such a machine. They had so many great players, and they were so well-coached. That was like watching great theater, I’m sure the people who did see have said. But it’s been such a long time ago that those people are slowly passing away, unfortunately.
138) — That great run ended in when Otto Graham retired for good following the 1955 season. Head coach Paul Brown could never find anyone like Graham and as a result, the Browns were good, but other than 1957 and ‘58, they didn’t really seriously challenge for another championship before he was fired following the 1962 season
139) What will happen with the current stadium when the new indoor facility is built? That will be a big discussion.
140) — I hope the Browns will never put anything onto that plain orange helmet, and just leave it as it is. That helmet is one of the greatest representations of a team in all of pro sports because of its simplicity.
141) — It is interesting that the Ohio State Buckeye have the same helmet, except it is scarlet
with a gray and white stripe instead of orange with a brown and white stripe.
142) — Former Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel, the Berea High School and Baldwin-Wallace University product, is a huge Briwns fan. As the story goes, when he was working at his desk on Sunday during the season, he’d have the Browns game on the radio.
143) — Remember the push a while back to see if Tressel would be interested in serving as head coach of the Browns? I wonder how that would’ve worked out.
144) — One bad thing in having Jimmy Haslam out of the office a lot dealing with problems with the Bucks and the Crew and other various things, is that he will not be there to put a check on General Manager Andrew Berry. I don’t trust Berry any farther than I can throw him, and I would like Haslam’s presence there as much as possible to keep the pressure on him to make good decisions.
145) — I saw a great picture a while back of Otto Graham wearing a Indians hat and Bob Feller wearing a Browns helmet. Just think, having Graham and Feller in your city at the same time. That is just incredible.
146) — Who was better at his craft, Graham or Feller? That would be a really interesting thing to look at.
147) — In 1948, the Browns won the championship in the All-America Football Conference, the Indians captured the World Series and the Barons took the American Hockey League title. Cleveland was correctly dubbed “The City of Champions.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that happened again?
148) — The Guardians are doing their part, as are the Cavaliers, but the Browns need to catch up.
149) — There was a day in the early fall of 1948 — Oct. 10, to be exact — when, at Cleveland Stadium, the Indians played a World Series game against the Boston Braves in the afternoon and the Browns beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 31-17 at night.
150) — The Bossard brothers, Emil and Marshall, who were the groundskeepers at the Stadium, showed why they were arguably the best in the business as they turned the baseball field into a football field in a matter of hours. Now, that was a job!
NEXT: Part 4, Nos. 151-200.
Steve King
