The LeBron James vs. Paul Pierce Rivalry
May 3, 2010NBA Playoffs: Mike Brown Angling Officials in Defense of Shaquille O’Neal
May 3, 2010Heard about this piece while running errands and listening to Colin Cowherd. It’s an interesting perspective at least…
We know that Cleveland has loyal fans. A recent piece at Ask Men.com ranks fans of the Cleveland Browns as the most loyal in all of sports. Except they don’t call us loyal. They call us stubborn-
Sports fans have a unique sense of loyalty, especially when that loyalty is misplaced on an undeserving team. If you’re a fan of one of these teams, you’re stubborn.
Loyalty is important in marriages and mafia. For sports fans, it’s a weakness.
Many enthusiasts are committed to their team come hell or high water, but their teams don’t reciprocate. Instead, fans are left cheering for colors, mascots and memories instead of a successful on-field winning product.
While some front offices are to blame, fans who blindly cheer for their team regardless of their attempts to win a championships or not are simply stubborn.
That is the premise for the piece. The gave the top 10 most stubborn fan bases, and don’t you know who finished first?
When you’re wearing a paper bag over your head, yet still attending home games, you know you are one committed son of a gun.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a more die-hard fan base than the Dawg Pound in Cleveland, who even stayed attached when their franchise was moved to Baltimore.
The new Browns haven’t done anything that resembles winning and, worse yet, they’ve managed to create some stress-inducing pressure points in their fans by simply uttering the words Tim Couch and Brady Quinn.
But their fans still come in droves as they don’t want to risk losing their team again.
Well? What do you think? The idea certainly has merit. Just look at the other teams in town. The Indians are suffering their worst season at the box office. The Cavaliers have enjoyed an incredible run with ticket sales thanks to real star power on the roster, but take away LeBron James and Shaq and see how the attendance shrinks.
Are we doing the Browns a disservice by continuing to pay for games when they bring an inferior product to the field?
47 Comments
So according to these national media types in the past week, we are Loyal, stubborn, angry, and despise our teams.
Can we just all agree that Cleveland fans and their sports teams are one big dysfunctional family. . . ?
Le-Obi bron kenobi, you’re our only hope.
I’ll stick my neck out and state an extremely vigorous maybe.
Historycat, that actually does sound like a fair assessment of Cleveland fans though doesn’t it?
I guess the logic is there considering the Cavs and Indians, but every Cleveland fan knows the Browns are special. There is just something about that team and the sport of football that will ALWAYS be king in Cleveland.
I don’t care if the Cavs won 5 NBA Championships in a row I would trade them all for ONE Browns Super Bowl.
If the Cavs win the championship the city will go crazy… if the Browns win the Super Bowl the fans will burn this city to the ground. It would be an absolutely incredible night and I wouldn’t miss that for the world being on the streets of Cleveland.
Of course it is technically dysfunctional to continue to support a failing business financially. The Browns aren’t just a business though. Not following the Browns because they stink would be like becoming an atheist after living through the Catholic scandals. Most people never lose their religion. Browns fans never lose their team.
Sorry, but once I saw Colin Cowherd, I was already in dismissal mode.
Isn’t there some theory named for a cat that says, roughly, that observation changes the thing being observed? Here, we have the observers being observed, and on and on.
In that light, if I say the right thing here, will the fate of the Browns change dramatically for the better?
I say this: Browns fans like each other and like getting together over a Browns game. Plain as that.
Yea, this poll/whatever-it-be is about right.
Just more proof that Cleveland is a Browns Town.
Easy for the national media to dismiss the importance of the Browns and football to the people of Northeast Ohio by calling us a bunch of stubborn fools. But how do they prove its the latter and not the former?
Football, the NFL, and the Browns are just different here. Comparing Cleveland’s support for the Browns with its support for the Cavs and Indians is like comparing apples and oranges.
“But their fans still come in droves as they don’t want to risk losing their team again”
Thats where the NFL wins…franchises are so valuable, and theres on 32 to go around, and theres plenty of other cities out there that want one. There are only 8 home games each year, so each one is exponentially more valuable than a home NBA or MLB game.
We are now hostages. Almost like people who were in “business” with Paulie in Goodfellas….slow week this week? FU, pay me!…problems with suppliers? FU, pay me! Crappy team again and again? FU pay me!
We all know what happens when you dont pay
Joakim was right….I MEAN WHAT ELSE ARE WE GONNA DO IN CLEVELAND
Better to be loyal/stubborn than to be a front-runner.
/You hear me, Pilgrims?
People who write articles like this have probably never actually played sports or been part of a team at a decent level in any sport.
I don’t support the Indians much – why? Because I don’t really care that much for baseball in the first place AND they stink.
But, I’ve always supported the Browns and the Cavs, even in their darkest days. Why? Because I love the respective games. Yeah, it’s horrible to lose, especially the way we are known for. But, my love for football and basketball would never let me just “turn it off.” I didn’t play either at a high level, but I did play another sport at a decently high level, and I know what it means to (a) love a sport and (b) to be part of the camaraderie/memories that being “part of” the team always brings. Of course, as a fan, my team is more so the other fans than any of the players or coaches, but you get my drift.
If you think about it only in terms of a business, you’re seeing a few trees at the expense of the whole forest.
Also, can we please stop with this notion that owners WANT to lose or aren’t trying to win? I won’t deny that Lerner, Dolan, and yes, even Gilbert make their fair share of mistakes. But, come on. Nobody with a multi-million dollar stake in a venture is trying to do anything but increase the worth of their investment. Please.
Thank God in the NY area we have another sports station and we aren’t stuck with the belligerent ignorami on ESPN.
I follow the Browns every year because there is always something to follow. Look at the recent history. When they came back – hey, they’re new! A few years later – hey, there’s a new regime! Then – hey, they had a great season and are on the rise. And here we are again with a new regime and a solid sounding draft.
Contrast that with the Indians. Forget about trading away a decent present for a bright future. They’ve already traded the future away for the ever-more-distant future, and by all accounts they got ripped off doing even that. What’s gonna happen when they have a chance to draft the next Strasbourg and pay him 10 mil? Will they do it? THAT’S why I follow the Browns and not the Indians.
Le-Obi bron kenobi, you’re our only hope. Hahaha awesome and how true.
I don’t know about you guys but, I enjoy hanging out and doing stuff with my friends / family. Browns games… are just one of those things. Yes I follow the team, yes I love the draft, and yes I do things that every other football fan does. What makes us different than the Lions fans ?
“Le-Obi bron kenobi, you’re our only hope.”
That was good historycat.
I can’t think of a better compliment. Thanks whatever website that was. Bitter and stubborn to the fullest.
Are Browns fans stubborn: Yes
Are browns fans loyal: Yes
Do Browns fans want to lose their team again: No (does anyone?)
What’s wrong with this picture? We should be commended for not falling prey to the major problem in sprots today (i.e. “what have you done for me lately?”). don’t get me wrong, I want a winner as much as the next fan, but this is my team. Win-lose-or-draw, I am a Cleveland Browns fan. It’s sad that some fans skip around as much as the players do these days.
P.S. I take stubborn as a compliment in this scenario.
Craig @ 5… You crystalized the issue. There is indeed a religious aspect to fandom, a passion that sometimes defies logic. It’s more than supporting a business or even just a particular team. Most–certainly not all–Browns fans have Cleveland roots, even though they may live hundreds or even thousands of miles away, and those ties are a huge part of it. You want your home city to succeed…how can you not? A Clevelander through my college years, I moved to Denver long before Elway and long before a decent Bronco team. Nevertheless, locals were fanatic about the team, despite the losing. When asked why I pulled for the Browns and not the Broncos, I always answered by asking, ” If you got job transeferred to another NFL city, would you stop pulling for the Broncos?” Nuff said.
I second Frowns’s point, if I understand it correctly.
This region is the cradle of pro football.
@14: Donald Sterling and Christopher Cohan endorse your post.
The PSLs have us over the barrel. I finally bit the bullet and lost my $550 but at least I don’t have to pay for 2 stupid pretend games every summer – oh, I was stubborn & loyal – but now they can bite me – it cost me almost $10,000 to see a couple dozen victories (maybe) but after I saw them beat the Squeelers – I am soooo done. I am out!
ok, so if you don’t show up when a team loses, you are a fair-weather fan and don’t deserve the success your team has achieved because you didn’t support them in the hard times.
when you support your team in the hard times, you are a stubborn fool that is a reason for the hard times.
ok, got it. thanks.
oh, unless, of course, the team that you cheer for is in a major media market. then,
if you don’t show up when a team loses, you are well-balanced fan who appreciates the finer points of sport (mainly, winning).
when you support your team in the hard times, you are a survivor whose toughness and hardiness can only be measured on the same scale as war heroes.
If I just wanted to be a fan of my team when they were doing well, I would become a Steelers fan.
Cowlin Cowherd = the worst
Colin Coward is an assclown. Its not my fault I have loyalty. I could be like all the other fair-weathers and buy a terrible towel, but that would make me as bad as the coward called Colin.
@Craig in #5…I concur with the sentiments of dddomer in #26…Not following the Browns because they stink would be like being a Steelers fan. Living in Youngstown, it was so refreshing to see the number of idiots around here sporting Steelers paraphernalia disappear when they had their losing streak. Unfortunately, when they broke the streak they all came back. Typical.
Following the Browns when they’re terrible and have incompetent management, and are the laughing stock of the league = loyal, yet Dolan and Indians management deserve all our scorn for not competing in a league stacked against us? Something’s wrong with that picture.
I think what it comes down to it other teams are just jealous. Now I’am in college so for me personally I have been a browns fan since birth. They havent had many good seasons but I still love them. I get annoyed when people say ” O I dont like them any more they lose all the time.” Well then you don’t deserve to be a fan. A fan is a person who stays through the good and the bad. Just dont act like you’ve like the when they start winning or draft a good player( cough cough that means you most cavs fans)
@everyone but #30.
Turk speaks of wisdom, listen to his words.
and I dare anyone to confront a man who admits to riding the Rapid.
Fans should only support a team that’s winning? Isn’t that the definition of bandwagoning? I guess that’s what you should expect from a poll on askmen.com, a fair-weather, casual fan opinion.
I mean i think theres some common ground with being loyal and stubborn. Im still loyal to the Indians even tho the organization traded away 2 Cy young winning pitchers the past 2 years because they are still my favorite team and the only MLB team ill really follow. I am loyal to the browns, yet I am very stubborn cause I will buy just about everything they sell me and I always think they are moving in the right direction. Drinkin Cool Aid seems the same as being a stubborn fan no? I still love it tho!
“[T]ake away LeBron James and Shaq and see how the attendance shrinks.”
Take away LeBron James and see how the number of NBA franchises in the city of Cleveland shrinks. That’s not hyperbole, either–it makes no business sense for Gilbert to hold the team in a post-LBJ era, and it makes less sense for him (/slash/ for whomever he sells to) to keep a franchise in Cleveland.
If drinking kool aid is wrong, I don’t want to be right!!!
Football is the easiest to support because it is the easiest to maintian hope.
Salary cap + high turnover of players + short careers mean your team is always just a year or two away from the superbowl. Now if we could just find a serviceable QB.
Baseball you need lots of money, Basketball you need to get lucky and draft a superstar. Football is always just out of your reach.
So you want everyone to be a fair weather fan!
That would mean at some point I would have to root for the Steelers, Broncos, or Cowboys.
I would rather watch croquet!
So essentially he’s saying you should only root for a winner so you’re not disappointed.
If that were the case we would all be Yankees, Saints and Lakers fans. I’d rather drop a bowling ball in my crotch repeatedly than to root for the Yankees and the Lakers, might as well include the Squealers and Cowgirls too as they are my most hated NFL teams.
A bozo like Cowherd has that New York mentality that we all hate. Anybody who pays attention to him should be dismissed as being mentally infirm.
i lived in cleveland for 22 years and was a season ticket holder going back to the days of “bernie, bernie”, “the drive” and the founding of the “dawg pound”. i now have lived near new orleans for 3+ years and was thrilled to see the saints win it all. i only wish that sense of pride and joy could have been for the browns. they will ALWAYS be my team. am i stubborn? i can live with that. it’s well worth it.
Born in Ohio and moving due to my dad joining the Army, the Brown’s and Buckeye’s have always been something for me to watch and bring back the good times growing up. Even now at 30 yrs old, there’s nothing better than watching the Brown’s or Buckeyes’s. I’m in the USAF and every base I’ve been stationed at has several Brown’s fans. You can leave the state, take the team away, but we still await the second coming of the Cleveland Browns. I love the stories about Cleveland before their was a Super Bowl.
THE BROWNS ARE NOT WINNING GAMES I GUESS I’LL HAVE TO ROOT FOR THE STEELERS SINCE THEY’RE THE NEXT CLOSEST TEAM.
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Haha in retrospect, historycat here must be pretty pissed
I will be a Cleveland Browns fan when they put me in a coffin!!! Loyalty may be for “marriages” and “mafia”, but LOYALTY is REAL!! Not a sign of “weakness” or a crutch. The faith I have in my team will NEVER falter, regardless of the stats. NOW LET’S GET IT IN BROWNS !!!!!
Hall of Fame city here.Browns- 7 World Champions, Character, Great Players Great innovation by coaches. Great American fans. Blood sweat & tears in our beers. This game as life runs in cycles. The Browns are going to be a team to fear.