While We’re Waiting…
January 13, 2009There’s Something New In Columbus…
January 13, 2009You arrive home one day to discover that your family is gone. Yes, they even got your dog scraps. All that is left on the kitchen table is a note and a cell phone. You are starting to sweat as the chills form in tiny little bumps that are so severe they appear to be going from the subcutaneous layer of your body all the way out at least two inches away from you. You pick up the note and it says, answer the phone. All of a sudden the phone rings and explodes into the silence like a popping balloon during a church service.
You are talking to the serial killer who has abducted your family and he has a question for you. You must be honest, otherwise he is going to do something incredibly awful to everybody that you love most in the world.
You have to choose. It is such a cruel question. It is a question that nobody should ever have to answer. But now, with so very much on the line, you must step to the plate.
As a Browns fan, who will you root for in next week’s game between the Ravens and the Steelers?
Go.
49 Comments
Ahh! My loved ones are dead! This question is too tragic to answer….
I would not answer, then use the insurance money to bring in Cowher.
It’s tough because the Steeler fans are so annoying and really don’t want them winning another Super Bowl. However, if the Ravens lose, the Browns can get Kokinis in here and working on rebuilding this mess.
Ah, the Browns will suck regardless of when Kokinis starts, so I’ll say I’d rather the Ravens win (that’s how much Steeler fans annoy me).
I think I can much rather deal with a Ravens win. For any smack they talk, we can say they only exist because of us. Hell, the Browns are responsible for two NFL franchises — Cincinnati and Baltimore.
I know too many Steelers fans and can’t imagine dealing with their arrogance if they win another Super Bowl. Go Ravens (gag) and Go NFC!
I hate the Steelers to no end. Go NFC!
I despise the Ravens more than any other team in the league.
The Ravens are an elemental evil, much like Cthulhu. The Steelers are (in comparison) a familiar and knowable adversary, like Mojo Jojo. I root for the lesser evil.
I’d want the Steelers to win, even though it completely kills me to say it. I say this because I can’t stand to watch people give accolades to a man who got away with murdering some people.
Also, living in Maryland, I don’t want to hear about the Ravens anymore.
I really despise both of these teams, but my best friend is a huge Steelers fan and it was miserable dealing with him when they won a couple of years ago. I will grit my teeth and pull for the Ravens. They are a bunch of cocky a-holes, but are much more palatable since Harbaugh took over for Billick, who I couldn’t stand.
Regardless, I will root very hard, yet I fear in vain, for the NFC team on February 2nd.
Hate both teams… but I at least respect the dominance of the Ravens D so I guess if I’m forced to do so it’s going to be the Ravens
and I REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY hate the Steelers
Neither… I’m rooting for the Eagles!!!
There are way too many bandwagon Squeeler fans in NE Ohio that it is sickening. When you call them out on it, they have the same excuse. “I have been a Steeler fan forever, I have family in PA.” WHATEVER!!! These will be the same people with Boston Red Sox and Celtics gear on. Way to stay true to your roots!! It is easy to rout for the Squeelers right now, I understand, but if you were an absolute true fan you would rout for your home town team good times and bad!! With that said I would have to go for the Ratbirds. Not very happy about routing for either one. I agree with everyone above, GO NFC!!!
As bad as I want the Browns to get their GM mess together, I can’t bring myself to root for the Steelers; it’s simply not in me. On the other hand, a Ravens victory hurts the Browns more than a Steelers victory does, so I might be disloyal as a fan for rooting against the team I hate most as a fan! Can I hope for a tie? Do ties happen in the playoffs?
Ravens. And then I throw up.
i would have to pick (begrudgingly) the ravens, mainly because there arent that main bandwagon ravens fans around the country, or at least brooklyn, new york. i can go for days, weeks, hell months maybe even years without ever seeing any ravens gear, yet i see a steelers hat at least once a week.
but yeah, as with everyone else, im just rooting for the NFC here.
Very easy question – Steelers.
In case you haven’t noticed, the Browns – Steelers rivalry is dead. We played ourselves out of it.
The Ravens rivalry will never die simply because of the circumstances surrounding it
yeah i’d rather see the ravens win…. i just hate the fans in NE ohio that follow the steelers and I’d love to see them humiliated more than anything even though I will not be watching the game. May the ravens and steelers absolutely crush each other literally with career ending injuries. Perhaps someone will grab a fistful of polamalu’s hair, perhaps someone will fall into Ray Lewis’ knee tom brady style as well as ed reed. May Ben Roethlisberger get an concussion again. Same goes to Harrison, Foote and Jerome Bettis and everybody else in the past and present of both teams.
Can we cheer for mass amounts of snow to melt, the river to flood over and wash everyone on the field away?
Too much?
Can we cheer for the ground to open up and swallow the stadium whole?
Too drastic?
In all seriousness, I think there’s a fundamental difference between these two teams. To me, the thing that makes long standing rivalries intense is a measure of respect. You can hate a rival, but still respect them…as a St. Ed’s grad, that pretty much sums up the Eds/Ignatius rivalry in a nutshell – you don’t like each other when playing, but the majority of those associated with both schools hold the other in high regard.
I hate the Steelers, but I respect the Steelers. Pittsburgh and Cleveland are too similar of cities for some level of mutual respect not to be there (even through all the trash talking that might ensue). Yes it sucks that they constantly beat us since the Browns have come back, but that happens over a long term in any rivalry – there will be peaks, and there will be valleys. But you can’t deny that the Steelers are an old school franchise that has been run very well for a long time, and in general, a worthy rival for the city of Cleveland. The Browns/Steelers thing is an on-field rivalry, good and bad.
On the other hand, there is nothing that can make me respect the Ravens. I despise the fact that the Ravens even exist. Everything with the hatred of the Ravens is off-field – oh sure there’s some on field hate, but the majority of the hatred is simply because they’re THERE.
I can’t imagine any scenario that would cause me to cheer for Baltimore. With an appropriate amount of NK, I know I can at least get myself to a point where I’m not unhappy if the Steelers won.
Steelers.
I hate both but I at least respect the Steelers.
I can’t think of a team that I would root for the Ravens against. Maybe if they played the Nazis…
It hurts me to say this and it hurt me to make this decision a few weeks ago. I entered a playoff bracket and it’s down to me and two others. I picked a Steelers vs. Eagles Superbowl. I blew it off at first, but now that they’re this far I have the opportunity to make some good cash.
I believe Ed Reed was part of the 7th Floor Crew at Miami, and I find that rap song they had very hilarious/sad… Therefore, I vote for the Ravens. No Ed Reed, No 7th Floor Crew….
I would rather see the Steelers win just for the fact that I can’t stand hearing how great Joe Flacco is (when in reality, he just isn’t that good)
Has to be the Ravens. I hate the Steelers more, and have way less against Flacco and crew than that snake Hines Ward and his cronies.
There cannot be a winner in this Sunday’s game. Only a team who loses less.
I’d say Steelers. But I’d be happy if Ray Lewis stabs most of the starting offense.
Steelers. Which video clip would you rather see: classy Mike Tomlin accepting congrats, or Ray Lewis dancing with Art Modell’s walker?
Any Ravens success will only serve to feed The Randolph’s infatuation with that organization’s front office.
Another superbowl appearance by the Browns’ longtime archrivals would stand in stark contrast to the embarrassing tradition The Randolph has perpetuated in Cleveland. The Steelers are still the most-hated team, and perhaps that being more of an emotional flashpoint would spark something from someone in Berea.
So our beloved Browns go into next year with the two best teams in the AFC residing in our own division, while we install Rob Ryan’s 29th ranked defense and break in another virgin offensive coordinator in Brian Daboll.
Yech. I’m going to take a shower now.
As I stated in the previous article regarding this, I hope the winner is an out-of-control semi that somehow finds its way onto the field and runs over everyone.
Ravens…. At least we’ve beaten them in the past.
Go the BW3 in Medina on a Sunday and make your choice. Enough yinzers there to start a small army. Steelers fans are like a virus that you just can’t shake.
All of my extended family lives in B-More, and my D-bag brother-in-law is a bandwagon Steelers fan. I’d rather my extended family (who I don’t see or talk to that often) get something to to brag about than have to hear my brother-in-law rub it in my face every time I see him.
As much as it kills me to say it, I have to root for the Ravens.
Then I hope the Cards crush them in the big game (Philly just won the World Series, they can’t win two championships in one year, it’s not fair).
I’ve officially adopted the Arizona Cardinals as my go to team in this year’s playoffs. I hope they win the whole f’n thing. I hate, HATE the 2 AFC teams still in it, and lived in south Jersey for 2 years, so I’m well over the Iggles. The Cardinals have been the worst team since forever (besides Detroit) in the NFC, and now look at them. Playing for a trip to the Super Bowl. Am I being to cynical to think it could happen here in Believeland?
I’m with #28…
I’m rooting for the meteor.
AMEN JAY!! YOU WIN!
Steelers. Pittsburgh never stole our team.
If you’ve been rooting for the Browns since Jim Brown tore through defenses and cheered when Turkey Joe Jones spiked Terry Bradshaw head first into the turf, then it’s no contest . . . I HATE the Steelers. Go Ravens . . . and then go NFC!!!
That was always my line about the Yanks and Red Sox when they would be playing in the ALCS or whatever. I would always say that I was rooting for a mid-air collision of the team planes. That seemed too harsh, so I amended it to not rooting for anyone in the series, but always rooting for the away team so that the fans on TV would always be miserable watching their team lose.
That being the case, the Pittsburgh faithful will be shown on TV, so I hope to see them miserable, meaning this week it will have to be about the Ravens beating up the Stillers.
When it comes to the Superbowl and a neutral field, then I will root for the NFC, I guess.
This is like asking which STD you’d rather have, Herpes or HIV. Herpes is annoying as hell, but as uncomfortable as it is you can live with it. HIV can be much more subtle and laid back (I’m using magic Johnson as an example) but you know its going to end up killing you. Living in Columbus I’m forced to be in contact with way too many bandwagon Steelers fan who say they lived or grew up close to Pittsburg, but still somewhere in Ohio, and I honestly can’t stand that more than anything. I don’t ever have to see any Ravens fans here, they simpley don’t exist, so as painful and irritating as it might be, i’ll take the Herpes and live it, because the Steelers will always be the HIV.
1. This game is a fraud. Both of these teams have started the past 9 years with 4 wins. They have the unique advantage of having both the Bengals and Browns in their division. Every year they have 4 wins, their defenses have better numbers because of the division, and their offenses are able to hide their flaws better than teams in other divisions. (End rant)
Ok. I will not watch this game. I will not root for either team. I hope that Ray Lewis aggravates the spinal concussion on Ben, and the Steelers suffer such a humiliating defeat including but not limited to, turnovers, poor clock management, missed FG’s from 10 yards out, and stupid penalties (sounds like the browns’ season) that the entire coaching staff is forced to permanently retire by halftime.
As the humiliation continues the Ravens get so sloppy that the 3rd stringers for pittspuke are able to make it a close game. Steelers lose 95-84. As the remaining Ravens are accepting the AFC trophy the angered fans burn down the stadium taking everyone with it. Hardcore Steelers fans, those Ravens fans who traveled to the game, both teams, all the owners, all the remaining coaches.
Suddenly, the Ohio River reverses course and the smoldering ashes of Heinz Field sinks into a newly formed swamp.
The NFL finally sees the outrageous actions of both these fan bases and permanently prohibits any franchise from occupying either of these cities ever again.
I can never root for either team to win. That being said, I root for the Steelers to lose.
I’m guessing that a third option of plane crashing onto the field during play is not on the table???
I pick Steelers. Send Baltimore home, so we can have a new GM…and get the ball rolling on the new regime.
Plus, don’t you have to like the steelers for what they represent? legitimicy year in and year out…
Unquestionably, it would give me FAR greater satisfaction to see Baltimore lose this game, and lose it in embarrassing fashion. Then I hope the Steelers get stomped to no end in Tampa.
There’s an AFC game, too? Huh.
It’s been said by somebody else here…but I have to say Steelers. At least the Steelers weren’t born out of the betrayal of Art Modell.
I hate but respect the Steelers.
I just hate the Ravens.
What are dog scraps? And do you really care if they are missing?
JD nails it.
It’s the city that stole our team vs the city that wore black armbands and stood up for us while we were being robbed.
Well, I can’t root for either team. There’s a lot I agree with here.
But I’m rooting for the Eagles to win it all.
Here’s why:
If the Inbred win, their fans will reach a level of arrogance and annoyance that will be unrivaled.
If the Ratbirds win, well that’s another Super Bowl for Art Modell (he’s still a part owner in the team)
If the Cardinals win, then we have to be jealous of them. The freaking Cardinals, and Bill Bidwill and a non-existent fan base.
At least if the Eagles win, then a passionate fan base who we don’t have a rivalry with that didn’t steal our team will have a Lombardi. That I can live with, the other scenarios I can’t.
This game should be on Sat night so i can drink and drink and drink…. did i mention drink. I’ll be rooting for the ratbirds because like most have said I HATE THE STEELERS and my hate for this team goes farther back than the ravens… oh why did SD have to let us down?
I’ll rather see the Steelers loose and the Cardinals win the Super Bowl.