An 11th inning gut punch
September 5, 2014Can the Buckeyes win 26 straight?
September 5, 2014Every time I hear a snarky Pittsburgh fan say that the Browns aren’t the Steelers’ rival my blood starts to boil. Not because I disagree, but because since I was born, I was raised to hate the Steelers and to believe that there was no better rivalry in the NFL than the one shared by the two blue collar cities sitting just 130 miles apart.
To be a rivalry both sides need to be competitive, but they don’t necessarily need to be equal. There are plenty of great rivalries that have the big brother-little brother dynamic, but that only works if little brother will sometimes rear back and clock big brother in the jaw. Sadly, my recollection of Browns-Steelers rivalry only stretches from the years of Tim Couch to the days of our backup quarterback leading the league in jersey sales. In that time, I can count the amount of Browns’ victories over the Steelers on one hand. My fondest memory of the rivalry: Tim Couch high-stepping into the end zone on Sunday Night Football. That’s not a rivalry—Maverick and Iceman was a rivalry.
Despite the lukewarm nature over the last decade and a half, there have been some moments. William Green and Joey Porter going at each other’s throats pre-game at midfield, resulting in ejections for both players in 2004. James Harrison body slamming a drunken Browns’ fan who ran onto the field in 2005. The Cleveland defense sacking Roethlisberger eight times on Thursday Night Football in 2010, bringing an end to the defending Super Bowl champs’ playoff hopes. That game was also the coldest contest on record between the two teams.
What sticks out for me, is going to extreme lengths to watch the Sunday Night contest in Week 2 of 2008. It was one of my first weekends in college and the campus was in the midst of a weekend long power outage as a large portion of Southwest Ohio was without power thanks to Hurricane Ike. After spending some time with thousands of my classmates chanting outside our school president’s house “No Power, No School!” I decided I needed to get my priorities straight. I needed to find a way to watch my Brownies take on Pittsburgh on Sunday Night.
So with no power anywhere in the surrounding county, I made the decision to travel the unfamiliar roads on the opposite side of the state which I had grown up on, and road trip to the University of Dayton where a good friend of mine assured me they’d have the game. Two of my newest friends, natives of Denver and bored of the faux protest going on uptown, joined me as my ’95 Pathfinder set out into the complete darkness of rural Ohio. We hadn’t the slightest idea of where we were going or what to expect. What kept us going were the scribbled down Mapquest directions on the back of a COM 135 syllabus, the love for my Brownies, and the fascination of my Denver buddies at their new Cleveland sports crazed friend.
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Rivalries are at their best when each side is part of the cream of the crop, battling it out not just for bragging rights against each other, but for supremacy over all others they compete against. The Browns and Steelers have met in the playoffs just once since 1999 and after watching a replay of the game on NFL Network a few weeks ago I’m still trying to figure out how the Browns, up 33-21 with under four minutes to play, found a way to lose that game. Still, those are the kinds of games needed to build a great rivalry. Two sides with hate in their hearts competing for high stakes. Cleveland and Pittsburgh have only met two times outside of the 2003 Wild Card game when both squads possessed a winning record1.
A USA TODAY post revealed Mike Pettine is trying to reinstall that belief in the rivalry amongst his players. In a meeting earlier this week, the first-year Browns’ coach showed his players a slide with only one big, bolded word on it which read “RIVALRY”. In one of his press junkets earlier this month, Pettine intimated that the team has essentially been planning for this Week 1 contest since the spring.
It’s refreshing to see your team buy into the same values you hold as a fan—after all, these team is essentially a amalgamation of strangers dressed in laundry provided to them by happenstance. But Brian Hoyer is a Cleveland kid, so one would hope the meaning of this Week 1 match-up goes beyond simply starting the season off on the right foot. He’s saying the things you’d want to hear, telling Scott Petrak of the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram, “We hate them, and they hate us.”
It’ll take much more than a PowerPoint slide or one of fifty-three on the roster being a home town kid to revive things, but it’s a start.
The days of Turkey Jones slamming Bradshaw on his head may be in the past, but walk outside FirstEnergy Stadium before or after any home game and one will surely finds t-shirts reading “F*** Pittsburgh”, “Only Bitches Wave Yellow Towels”, and the image of Calvin urinating on the Steelers’ logo. The hatred is clearly still there from the Cleveland side, but until the Browns start winning consistently they’ll hardly rattle a Pittsburgh fan’s cage.
Mike Polk does a great job summing up a typical Browns’ fans thoughts towards Pittsburgh in his Steelers rant which can be seen below. As much I enjoy the video, I enjoy the comments section even more. An overwhelming majority of comments are angry Pittsburgh fans taking shots at Cleveland. Naturally, this makes me want to stand up tall, puff out my chest and fight back, but knowing they still care enough to hate is a victory in its own right.
On Sunday, the teams will meet with fresh and clean 0-0 records2. The most equally meaningful contest since the Browns’ “Season of Dreams” back in 2007. While a win Sunday for the Browns won’t put them on par with Pittsburgh in terms of recent history, the one thing it will do is put them ahead in Monday morning’s standings.
26 Comments
A long drive for what was a pretty bad game…unfortunately it was the last game I went to with my dad before he passed away.
A COM135 syllabus and the back roads from Oxford to Dayton, not an easy drive if you’ve never done it.
I hate the whole “go 2-14 as long as those two wins are against the Steelers” mentality. BUT – I will forever laud Eric Mangini for the 2009 Chris Jennings/Brady Quinn game that ended up keeping the Steelers out of the playoffs. God, that felt good.
I miss the Mangenius. He fielded some terrible teams, much of which was his own fault, but he could get the most of the least.
Ryan you are entirely to young to be upset over this non-rivalry. I grew up when the Browns hadn’t won in Three Rivers Stadium for something like 16 years.
I never thought I’d type this but I probably miss him too. After Shurmur and what I am afraid will be Pettine, oy vey! I’m hanging onto a glimmer of hope for Pettine but frankly after watching his team this preseason, listening to him speak and then watching other real NFL caliber teams I think this will be yet another long season. I originally started out at 8-8 then fell to 6-10 and I’m now at 5-11.
Speaking of season predictions where are the WFNY season predictions????
LOL I had a similar epiphany watching the Seahawks last night. Talent, strategy, tactics, coaching, well drawn plays… oh yeah, THAT is what a football team looks like! I had forgotten.
Patience young grasshopper. They’ll be coming later this afternoon. No worries!
It really does look as though they are playing a different sport.
Speaking of the game, I don’t see the Packers a lot so I was sort of surprised at how bad Clay Matthews looked. He’s obviously physically gifted and blew up some plays, but for every one of those I saw three or four where he over-pursued or was out of position or just got beat.
It’s a different game Browns look like everything is so painfully slow. Seattle has no WRs heck their OL isn’t even close to the Browns but their offense is scary. Smart QB, beast at RB…I guess those help.
And a coach who draws up inventive, smart, effective plays. All I know is I’m going to the bar to watch the Browns this Sunday cause there’s a very good chance they won’t be playing a more meaningful game the rest of the season.
He always plays 1000 MPH Raji out for the year really hurts. Maybe the Browns could trade them one of their 100 DL.
Ah well have a few for me I think you might need it.
The place I’ll be going has a lot of Steelers fans too. I know some of them and they’re usually good guys, but you know how that goes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uepFO4psgKE
Okay this should get all ya’ll fired up…if this doesn’t nothing won’t…black and gold pierogies!
http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2014/09/04/pittsburgh-steelers-mrs-t-black-gold-pierogies
They have no reason to be mean LoL. Here’s hoping that changes this Sunday but I put the chances of that happening right up there with the Indians signing a FA who can actually contribute!
that’s right! 1986 with Webster Slaughter catching that pump-fake TD from Bernie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRTkCHE1sS4
I know another team with a short, mobile QB with a lot of moxie, and no receivers.
Harvin was a beast but what struck me was all of the ways the Seahawks got him the ball. Oh well no sense beating this dead horse we’ve only been stuck watching caveman offense for nearly 15 years. I knew I’d say this eventually but bring back the Kelly Holcolmb vs the Steelers playoff loss!!
both made a single coverage route sight-adjustment at the line, confirmed with Bernie raising his fist at Webster and Web returning the signal just before the snap. Slaughter was a rookie and the Browns had been whiffing trying to draft decent receivers for years. He showed he was The One. That was one of the happiest sports days of my life.
Yeah he was really feast or famine. But when it works, it’s a thing of beauty. I’d be thrilled to get that sort of work from Mingo, for example.
I am sure I will get blasted by some for this comment because it will sound too “pre-kickoff optimistic” but after watching Seattle have so much success last night, I am excited the Browns can follow the same blueprint to their success.
1. Strong tough running backs who can get positive yards each carry behind a strong offensive line (Tate, Crowell, West)
2. Mobile quarterback who makes efficient throws, uses his legs to buy extra time, runs when needed, enought arm strength to keep the defense honest (Manziel)
3. Dynamic playmaker who needs the ball quickly and on the edge before defense has a chance to react (Benjamin, Gabriel)
4. Defense focused team with strength in the secondary to lock up receivers and let playmakers run free to get the quarterback (Haden, Gilbert, Skrine, Gipson, Whitner)
Then when you add other peices like Cameron, like Mingo, etc….you are really on to something.
This is basically what Seattle uses, and the Browns are in a position to follow the same mold. The only difference I see is that Seattle’s personnel have confidence because they have done it before….in my opinion that is the only thing separating us from them…and winning from losing.
Now this requires that Manziel play sooner than later, and while I am not a Hoyer hater, or a Manziel hater, it is simply that the mold favors Manziel’s skill set over Hoyer’s.
Count me in as being excited for the season to start, and that the Browns follow this model quickly.
“he could get the most of the least [on occasion].”
Unfortunately, that last bit was a problem…
If they can follow the Seahawks game plan then yes but I don’t think it’s the same offense despite the similarities in personnel. Benjamin and Gabriel are not dynamic. They are special teamers. Cameron is dynamic. The Browns have by far the superior OL unfortunately they don’t have a Percy Harvin. Even if they did I question whether they’d find ways to use him like Seattle did. Furthermore it starts with Wilson. I love the kid. I loved the kid before he was ever drafted. He is smart and has intangibles. He showed it and then some by winning a SB in just is second season. Plus lets face it that defense is sick. In a good way.
I hope you are as excited at about 4:30 pm ET on Sunday tho.
I hope you had a good time in The Ghetto.
Browns/Steelers games were the cause of many viewing parties.
Class of ’86