Fall Football Memories - Browns, Bengals, Lions
My first real exposure to NFL football came about in the mid-fifties when the Cleveland Browns were a winning team with Hall of Fame running back Jimmy Brown. A number of us neighborhood kids would congregate at the farm home that had the best TV with the tallest antenna to get good reception. We’d play a pick-up game in the yard before the game, during halftime and afterwards till it was time to head home, feed the livestock and milk cows. Fun times! I recall the Browns playing in the championship one year and getting beat badly by the Lions, probably the last time that either team was of championship caliber!
The Bengals weren’t formed until after I had gone off to college in Michigan, so they were never really on my radar screen until 1982 when my in-laws, who had Bengal’s season tickets, provided tickets to the NFL championship game at Riverfront stadium against San Diego. It was the coldest game in NFL history with a -59 wind chill! The Bengals won and went to the Super Bowl against the 49ers at the Pontiac Silverdome. Because we were living in Michigan at the time, my wife and I were given the two allowed tickets, so we attended our one and only Super Bowl, but the Bengals lost 26-21, down 20-0 at one point. Disappointing!
Because of living in Michigan since 1967, I do root for the Lions but not enthusiastically! They’ve had some very disappointing seasons during that time, including the not-so-memorable 0-16 record in 2008. They and the Browns are one of the few NFL teams to have never played in a Super Bowl, a streak that will likely continue another year given the dismal starts by both teams. Meanwhile the Bengals are looking good! Who Dey?
Next week’s blog entry will focus on college football, so stay tuned for some Buckeye/Wolverine/Spartan trash talking!
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