Dave Adolph, who passed away last Sunday at 79, came from the long-ago days when football coaches still got along with beat reporters covering the team.

 

One time when he was coaching with the Browns, a blockbuster news story occurred, sucking the writers into its lair and turning what they thought was going to be a short, easy day into a difficult marathon one. Adolph purposely walked into the press room that evening and, with a playful jab, said with a chuckle, “Do you like football today?”

 

The writers laughed along with Adolph.

 

Adolph was coaching with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1994 when they played the Browns at Arrowhead Stadium. Following the game, he made it a point before he departed for home to head up to the press box and hunt up some of those same Cleveland writers.

 

“Do you like football today?” Adolph said with his customary chuckle.

 

And the writers laughed again, just like they had a decade earlier, and just like they continued to do through the years when they were stuck writing stories much longer than what they had anticipated. It never ceased to break up the tension.

 

Covering a team is the same in Cleveland as it is anywhere else in the NFL. It’s a lot of fun, and don’t let anyone tell you anything differently. Actually, it’s a blast. It’s like not working. They are people digging ditches in the hot sun, working outside in freezing temperatures to restore electrical power after a storm and laying concrete and asphalt. Those are all physically demanding jobs. Covering the NFL is not.

 

Oh, yes, it’s still tough in its own way. The hours are long, and you’re working nearly every weekend and on a number of holidays. It is indeed a job. It’s not like sitting at a game with your buddies. There are a lot of tasks to be completed.

 

But the overriding factor is that you are being paid to watch football and then write about it. You are getting to go places than fans would love to go, and talk to people they would love to meet. It is indeed an honor and a privilege to be a art of such a fantasy land.

 

So, yes, Dave Adolph, God rest your soul, the writers do indeed love football – really, truly, deeply love it – today and every day.