The TV announcers for Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference playoff semifinals between the Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers kept raving about the noise level at Rocket Arena.

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“This place is electric. The noise is deafening,” TNT play-by-play man Spero Dedes said.

Added color analyst Greg Anthony, “It’s the loudest venue in the league.” Dedes agreed.

Ah, yes, no matter what the sport, passionate Cleveland fans give their teams a real home-court and home-field advantage. It’s been that way for decades.

The Cavs’ former home, the Coliseum, was well-known for its crowd noise.

The late, great Nev Chandler, in his role as the sports director at Cleveland’s WEWS (Channel 5), an afilliate of ABC, which had the national telecast of a Cavs home playoff game in the late 1980s, had all kinds of trouble doing a live report from the court an hour BEFORE tip-off.

“It’s so loud down here that I can’t hear myself think,” he said as he tried to cover the earpiece in his headset.

When Phil Cheneir’s shot from the deep right corner bounced off the rim and Ron Brewer secured the rebound as time expired to secure an 87-85 Cavs win over the Washington Bullets in Game 7 of the 1976 Eastern Conference semifinals in that magical “Miracle of Richfield” season, the legendary Joe Tait screamed at the top of his lungs simply, “Cavs win!!!,” on his radio call and still could barely be heard before he kept quiet and let the roar of the fans do the rest of his talking for a while.

No one will ever forget the fans’ reaction when the Indians hit a game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning against the Chicago Cubs in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series at then Jacobs Field.

It was much the same when Lane Thomas hit a grand slam in the fifth inning of Game 5 off the Detroit Tigers’ Cy Young Award winner, Tarik Skubal, to lead the Guardians to a 7-3 win at Progressive Field as they captured the 2024 American League Divison Series.

The Browns’ home crowds have long stood out.

What got lost — and understandably so — in the disappointment of the loss to Denver in the 1986 AFC Championship Game at Cleveland Stadium was that the crowd noise was so deafening that the Broncos offense operated for most of the game, including on The Drive, with a silent snap count.

In Week 3 by of the 1991 season, immediately after Bill Belichick got his first home victory as head coach of the Browns with a 14-13 decision over Cincinnati at Cleveland Stsfoum, he threw off his headset and sprinted to the Dawg Pound to salute the fans there for being so loud that it caused the Bengals offense plenty of communication problems while operating at that end of the field, resulting in false start penalties and having to burn timeouts as the huddle clock was running out.

You get chills up and down your spine when you hear the crowd, and Chandler’s call of the latter —and shorter —of Eric Metcalf’s two punt returns for touchdowns, a 75-yarder late in the fourth quarter to propel the Browns to a come-from-behind 28–23 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1993 at Cleveland Stadium.

The only time in the expansion era when the new stadium was as loud as the old place occurred in the “Run, William, Run” game in the 2002 regular-season finale against the Atlanta Falcons at then Cleveland Browns Stadium when William Green’s 64-yard touchdown burst led the way to a 24-16 victory that helped the Browns to the AFC playoffs. Of all of the radio calls of the iconic Jim
Donovan, this one will stand the test of time as the best, and most memorable.

We’ve recalled all this from Cleveland’s three major pro sports teams because the Browns, with the NFL Draft and free agency behind them, are beginning to get into the meat of their preparation of the 2025 season. Try as they might, they likely won’t make the playoffs for the second straight year — and the fourth time in five seasons — because there are just too many holes. But when they do get back there, they have to make sure that it comes with at least one of the games at home. The Browns have not hosted a playoff game in 30 years, since they hosted the New England Patriots in 1994. That’s way, way, way too long. The fans are chomping at the bit to bring back the old days. They just need an opportunity, like the Cavs fans are enjoying right now.

Steve King

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