I miss the old days.
For years and years when the Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers got together, there were enough interesting sidebar stories to fill Lake Erie or the Three Rivers Confluence.
Doug Dieken and Dwight White were barking at one another.
Ron Bolton and Lynn Swann were spitting at one another.
Joe “Turkey” Jones was spiking Terry Bradshaw.
Jack Lambert was hitting Brian Sipe out of bunds and getting tossed from the game – again.
“Mean” Joe Greene was kicking Bob McKay in a very personal area.
Tom DeLeone was running off the sideline and clocking Greene for attacking McKay.
Greg Pruitt was running into the wrong locker room after almost single-handedly winning the game.
Don Cockroft was kicking the game-winning field goal in a cold rain from almost the same spot where he had missed one just a couple minutes earlier.
Webster Slaughter was beating Donnie Shell down the sideline to catch the game-winning touchdown pass in overtime.
Chris Gardocki was standing 10 yards away from Bill Cowher and flipping him off after the coach ordered Joey Porter to cheap-shot him.
Terrelle Smith was getting tossed after getting into a fight in the pre-game warmups.
Yeah, those were the days. The Browns-Steelers series, one of the best in pro football history, was teeming with vim and vigor.
Those guys truly hated each other. They really did. They even traded punches.
The fans also truly hated each other. They really did. They even traded punches.
The games really meant something – to both teams and both cities.
Now, with the Browns having lost so much in the expansion era, the Cleveland-Pittsburgh games don’t move the meter – in either city — anymore.
That will be the case once again on Sunday when the Browns meet the Steelers at Heinz Field in the regular-season finale.
Here’s hoping the Browns start winning again so these games can start meaning something again. We’re all missing out on a heckuva lot of fun.
