Thou Doth Protest Too Much
Ah… Another season in Cleveland, another fan grasping for the spotlight with a half-baked idea to “show” the Browns management that we’re fed up. Like the protests of the past, the freshly recycled idea by self-proclaimed superfan “Dawg Pound Mike” is doomed to fail. Why? Because it’s completely and totally stupid.
After years of lackluster play, Browns fans called on owner Randy Lerner to clean house last fall. He did. Fans screamed for Bill Cowher, but Lerner’s pleas were rebuffed. So, the owner picked what he believed was the next best thing – a head coach with previous experience (which fans also wanted) and a blank slate to change the culture and produce a winning team.
And seven games into Magnini’s first season, some fans have seen enough. And two of them are willing to lead us to the promised land.
Yes, “Dawg Pound Mike” – who is such a better fan than the rest of us, that he wears something brown or orange every day of the year – is calling on you to skip the kickoff of Monday Night Football Game against the Ravens (or at least hide in the restroom, the concourse, or outside the gates).
I say, bulls@#*!
I’m a Browns fan. So are you. And real fans know one thing.
Real fans don’t miss kickoff.
Be there early and cheer for the Browns. This team isn’t very good right now, but what the hell did you expect? Isn’t this what we all screamed for last winter? A disciplinarian as coach who would clean house and turn this organization around? Didn’t we scream for a consistent front office that focused on building the team from the inside out for the long term success of the organization? Give Lerner, Mangini and company a two-year grace period to rebuild and fine tune and, in the mean time, let’s enjoy the chance to watch NFL football (no matter how bad it is) live and up close.
And to all the self-absorbed superfans who think Sunday (or Monday) is about them, spare us. We’re fans too. And we bleed orange and brown. Watching this team hurts, but while we’re rebuilding, let’s suffer together and cheer for our team. In our seats.
At kickoff.
(please feel free to leave comments above – below the headline)
I’m going to do something far more radical during Monday Night’s game, something less than 1% of the rest of the stadium will think to do. I’M GOING TO WATCH THE ENTIRE GAME UNTIL THE END. Granted I will be the only one in my section by the start of the 4th quarter, but I’m doing it nonetheless.
Look straight across the field. See that guy with the orange hat? Me.
You are an asshole. If these guys want to protest, more power to them. Idiots like you follow these incompetent coaches likes lemmings. Ral Fans have the balls to protest
Deuche Bag Mike is NOT the voice of Browns fans. that tool bag cuddled Chad Johnson in the endzone and patted him on the back when he jumped into the dawgpound. He’s not a Browns fan in the least.
I’m sickened by this. This charade is nothing more than two people wanting to be bigger than the team. I am a Browns fan. Notice the dot after “fan”? That’s a period. Do these self-absorbed idiots really think that Randy doesn’t realize the fans are unhappy? Who are they to speak for real fans?
Whether they coddle Chad Johnson or walk out of the stadium in disgust is their decision. To try to convince real fans to turn their back on OUR team is a disgrace and a clear sign they, even less than Lerner, understand football in Cleveland..
I’ll bet these are the same guys that booed Kosar. Pitiful. The fun part is I guarantee they’ll read this because as self centered and “me before the team” as they are they certainly wouldn’t miss the opportunity to read more about themselves.
Worse than bad fans, they’re a bad example for kids everywhere. Whether you call it whining when they don’t get their way or quitting, neither is a message I’d want to send to anyone.
Please boneheads, go be Steelers fans, you’ll fit in much better there..
Fuck you Browns, fuck you pussy fans that blindly follow these losers…I AM DONE
I sit in section 343. I hope Mike and his boyfriend try to stop me from going to my seat.
If it’s Lerner that you’re trying to get to, hiding in the concourse for 10 minutes will do nothing. To get his attention, hit him the only place he feels pain, the wallet. Don’t buy food or drink. Your tickets are already paid for you ignorant bastadrs. I’m with the OP. I will be in my seat at kickoff. Like I am every game, and have been for 10 years. Because I’m not a Steelers fan and I root for my team even when they don’t win. It’s called loyalty and it used to mean something.
Dawg Pound Mike and his flunkie are just two pathetic people searching for the limelight. They do not and should not represent Browns fans. The thing that baffles me most out of all of Lerner’s decisions is why he is even giving these two clowns 1 second of his time.
Dawg Puke Mike as he should be known is not a true Browns fan. He has shown this over and over. He is simply a lifelong loser that is willing to do anything for his 15 minutes in the sun. And sadly our owner has given it to him
10 years, $2000 a year for season tickets….. and 1 playoff game. What a joke, I havent gone to a game yet this season and dont plan to, the only reason I even bought my tickets this year was so that I didnt lose my PSL’s for when the Browns get a real coach and not a ball boy, and start to actually win some games.
I’ll admit that this is a stupid protest, but it is nice that someone is voicing their frustration and obviously Randy Lerner is paying attention as he is meeting with them, but if Mr. Lerner wants to really show that he is paying attention to us he should go out and get talent both in the front office and on the field.
I’m not sure any of you really get it. You are ALL Browns fans and you ALL bleed brown and orange every weekend just like I do. And you are ALL unhappy with what is going on right now with the team (and, if you’re not, you might really actually need to become Steelers fans).
If you want to be in your seats at kickoff, be there. If you want to make a statement and stage a protest, go ahead and do that. Remember that whatever you choose to do, you are doing it because you love this team and you love this city….that’s why we are BROWNS TOWN. So, after kickoff, buy one another a beer, make a lot of noise, and hope that this team can give us a win against the “old browns.” I think we can all agree that to see this Browns team beat the ravens would at least give this season some joy. GO BROWNS!
This is foolish. How does this make the team better? Lerner listens to us fans too much the way it is….. It is his team to do as he pleases… If you have a billion dollars you too can buy a team and do what you want. The guy is willing to spend tens of millions paying off old coaches trying to get it right… if you keep switching coaches and gm’s it will never get better.
What if the Browns are returning opening kickoff? I am not missing the only offense we have. I’ll be in my seat cheering for Cribbs to take it to the house
True, Jeff. Sad, but true. I’m not missing Cribbs whether he’s returning kicks or covering them. Plus, it’s MONDAY NIGHT! Seems like we were dying to have MNF for the first 6 years they were back. This might be the last MNF home game for a couple of years. Let’s make it count.
This team, this town, and these loyal fans are ridiculous…I left cleveland 6 yrs ago and my life has never been better.wake up and finally realize that the city of cleveland is cursed!!! All the sports franchises are complete jokes, they r nothin but farm teams. Smart people and smart player leave crappy cities like cleveland and go somewhere else and become champions. How do I begin to name all the people and pro players who have left cleveland and are now living better lives? I will always be a true cleveland fan but I finally understand that cleveland is cursed so I no longer bleed orange and brown or red and blue, or even wine and gold….I now live in a city where the owners of the sport franchises really care about the fans and really care about winning, the economy is ten times better than the economy in cleveland…life is great here!!! I have no sympathy for cleveland fans who foolishly stay loyal and spend money on a town with 3 under achieving teams…it is my hope and wish that lebron james leaves the cavs and go somewhere else and enjoy the perks of living in a real city, with real aspirations of winnig a championship. The city of cleveland is horrible and everybody knows it- except for the people who live there….
Yeah right, this guy lives in his parents’ basement and he is years from moving out of there, let alone out of the city. I love when people “leave” this terrible city and gloat about it, but then 5 years later, they move back and 5 years behind on the growing up and maturity scale. So 5 years of good weather and trying to live like you have money to spare, leaves you returning home in your late 20s scrounging for a job and a place to stay. Many people that I graduated with all went through their little “anti Cleveland” phase. And for those people, I say you are weak. If family, friends, and solid values is not enough to keep you here, then you must not have much to stay for. I want to be near my family, and until they all pick up and move to The Bahamas, we will be here dying hard for the Brown and Orange, the Wine and Gold, and for The featherheads!
Alll of these protests are attempts to get a few “celebrity” fans some facetime. Douchebag Mike is a tool and he should NOT represent the rest of us.
Me and my friends have our little Mafia gimmick we do for fun. And other fans enjoy it in the Muni Lot, but it stops there. We don’t go around chasing publicity like Mike and his sidekick do. There are a ton of great fans with and without gimmicks or costumes that should be representing Browns fans, but not this publicity whore.
Maybe me, Capo, Fat Daddie, Mikey Mushroom, Robby Litesauce and the fellas should make sure these two sleep with da fishes….
I agree with Kris—I pay 5,600 a year for my two seats, and I have a right to be ticked off with a team that I support financially. Why not try something and show up late to the game. It is better then sitting in your seats and ordering yet another beer to numb yourself with as you watch a team that is 1-7 soon to be 1-15. I am sick of hearing about “rebuilding”. This team has been rebuilding for 10 years. Learner can’t seem to get it right. He makes rash decisions and then stays away from the team until his soccer season is done and then shows up for a token visit. This isn’t an owner – this is a man with too much money and he doesn’t know what else to do with it. Look around fans – everyone is laughing at us and everyone else knows how to get this team back on course, so why can’t the owner!! I love my team, and I feel sorry for the players. They have been thrown into a new system with a coach that has absolutely no idea how to run a team, win with a team, and build pride back into a team.
Johnny Sausage, I think you’ve hit it spot on. It’s all about having fun and supporting the team. When guys like Dawg Pound Mike and others go out of their way to make it about them, they become worse than Braylon and all the solo acts we’ve ever had on the field. What you and your friends do in the Muni Lot and at the games is all for fun. I doubt you’re calling national media outlets looking for face time. Keep it up! Let’s try to connect on Monday night in the Muni Lot. I’ll be the idiot with the blue “short bus” that says “Reclaiming Hope” across the top. (We haven’t had time to paint it yet, but will in the off season).
I am so sick of these so-called “Superfans”. Dawgpoung Mike is nothing more than an attention starved whore who can’t seem to get enough camera time to satisfy his oversized ego. While I agree that something needs to be done about the current state of our Browns, I will not take part in anything that this idiot tries to organize. He should move to Kentucky and cheer for the Bengals! Lord knows he already has a bunch of close friends on that roster anyways!!! We usually are late leaving the muni-lot on gamedays (because it is the best part of the experience and it takes awhile to pack up the RV), but we will be in our seats early just to voice our extreme dislike for this tool!!!
Lerner should have never met with these clowns…. now they think they have power over the team… they probably think the changes (again!) are due to them
Listening to them on KNR right now. They really do believe they are saviors of the franchise. Unreal.
I love all the hate for these two guys trying to make a change and yet you are doing the same thing. You’re all pissed that they are getting attention so what do you do? Create a website to get more attention. You’re all f-ing ridiculous. What these two are doing is to try and make the media shine a bright light in the face of this piss poor coach, a team that has in many ways quit and an owner that has to use his GPS to find Browns Stadium. Will it matter? Probably not, but if it makes some front office people uncomfortable and take a few moments to ponder the possibility that MAYBE they have f-ed up, then it’s worth it. Whether you show up for kick off or not, does not make or break your “fandom”. You accuse them of protesting too much and trying to hog the spotlight when it appears to me that this site and most of these comments are filled with bitterness that the spotlight isn’t shining at them. Wanna talk about tough? Try being a Browns fan living in Baltimore working for a company owned by Bisciotti. If the term Superfan applies to anyone, I think that’s it.
Does not anyone see that the biggest problem with this protest is the Cleveland Browns organization??? If some fan wants to stage a protest by showing up late to the game…let him. If he wants to make his intentions known on the internet…let him. If he wants to encourage his friend and family to do the same…LET HIM! This protest did not gain attention until THE BROWNS CHOSE TO REACT TO IT! Now it is being discussed on a national level.
Had the team chosen to grant this protest no merit, how many people do you think these ‘Superfans’ would have recruited? 100? 500? 1,000? All small potatoes and very few would have taken notice.
The inept decision by Browns upper management is the primary fuel to this fire, which leads me to ask myself how many other poor management decisions are made on a daily basis that we will never hear about?
The root of all failures and successes in any organization starts and ends with ownership. Unless Randy Lerner sells the Browns, I fear that more and more fiascos loom on the horizon.
This team is in a sad state of affairs right now and to sit back and say “what did you expect” and that we need to give this regime a “two year grace period” is totally absurd. This team is dysfunctional right now. Every decision Mangini has made from the draft to the QB situation to continually playing Cribbs at WR to miserable trades with the Jets (shall I go on?) has failed. This guy may be a disciplinarian but he can’t run a functional organization because he wants to have all the say and all the power. The rumblings of Kokinis being p’ed off before the preseason because of his lack of power/decision making seem to be pretty valid, and now he’s shown the door even though he probably had little to do with what is happening right now.
No team should be as bad as we are right now. Look at Oakland, they are another dysfunctional organization and are in the same boat as us….it’s pathetic. This is a pro football team and they are getting bounced around like a bunch of pansies every week. How can an offense be this bad?? Do something different, try a trick play. I’m so sick of seeing Cribbs come around in motion on a fake reverse and hand off to Jamal up the middle. It’s terrible.
There is no one on this team worth watching except Cribbs. Heck, I’d argue the most exciting moments besides kickoff returns are when Zastudil comes out to punt!! Yet, fans still come out to see the games, still watch the games, still support the team.
So many things that have happened this season just sicken me. The draft was pathetic. Taking Robiskie where they took him was the worst pick in the draft, there were so many impact players we could’ve had besides him. He’s a 3rd WR at best.
I don’t see what the problem is with missing the kickoff as a way to voice your opinion on the team. Real fans care about their team and want to be heard…would you rather people stop showing up??
AMEN! In the words of David Putty, “you’ve got to support the team!” Dog pound Mike go cheer for the Steelers if you only cheer for a team when they are winning.
“two year grace period” ? This team is on pace to score less touchdowns than the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Every game next year will be a blackout if they bring Mangini back. There are 6 coaches with Super Bowl rings available (Gruden, Shanahan, Holmgren, Dungy, Cowher and Billick). Overpay and get one. I’m sick of this re-building from the special teams out. If I hear Mangini say someone is not playing their actual position because he can’t play special teams one more time, I will jerk the wheel into a bridge enbunkment. Mangini has proven he is not a good judge of talent and cannot be trusted with 11 picks and a potential uncapped free agent market.
Glad I found this website to agree with everything said here in this public forum. Dawg Pound Mike is just stupid. I visited his website and was totally turned off by him and his idea. What his real intentions are, are to make Cleveland the laughing stock of the NFL, to all those who watch Monday Night Football?
Seriously? I sure hope that stadium is rocking after the theme song is finished. I hope there are dog bones waving everywhere. And I hope the Browns can pull out a miracle against the evil Ravens (who live 2 hours North of me).
Go Browns! Screw you Mike!
People, people, long time Browns fans have to come to grips that the new era of football is just that, a new era. Back in the 70’s, you were in your seat @ the beginning of the game. You stayed the whole game. Now, people are too busy buying some “specialty” sandwiches with garden greens and a glass of wine. The stands are NEVER full at the beginning of the game, especially the “club” seats. “It’s too cold, let’s stay up here in the bar and watch the game”. If you wore a Steelers jersey to the old Municipal Stadium, you were just asking for it. It is so different now and will never be the same. It is what it is… GO BROWNS!
Their demands are stupid!!!!!!!! They want banners of our titles from the 50’s hung, they want retired jerseys hung in the stadium…. they ran to KNR today after their meeting, and they will be on Drennan’s show too
I just want to win!!!!!!!!!! I am sick of hearing about football from when my dad was a kid!
Who wrote this? Does anyone else think this is a PR campaign developed by someone in the Browns organization, along with some of these comments. It seems like a bunch of people are just trying to change the opinions of Browns fans. I have been a huge Browns fan my whole life, but anyone that is talking out against this must be joking. You don’t have to participate, but for someone to come out and say that people shouldn’t do it, must be working for the Browns. This is all pretty stupid, the Browns are awful. Will this change anything probably not, but I certainly support the right of fans to voice their displeasure with their team any way they want to. This is what Randy gets for making decisions against the wishes of everyone else in the organization.
As a long time season ticket holder, I have been in my seat prior to the beginning of every game for years. From my seat I can see people still walking down West 3rd street long after the kick off for almost every game. I have formed my own protest, I won’t buy their over-priced light beer.
I am a season ticket holder of 6 years, ONLY because I could not afford them the years before that… Now that I am able to be there every game you better believe I am NOT missing any kick-off! Not now, not ever god permitting me being able to afford my seats each new season.
Anyone out there knows that DP Mike hasn’t always been DP Mike… A few years ago he was a “Charlies Frye”… Ummmm… For those of you that missed this, I’m not sure you guys where there for every kick-off! He and his “partner” were there first people to drop the costume and cheer for Derek Anderson the minute Charlie didn’t fill the shoes he was assigned to fill!
So not only is he a follower, but a FAKE as well!! Someone should revoke his front row Dawg Pound tickets and give them to a much deserving fan that hasn’t themed themself to a player.. A fan that just goes to each and every game because they love their team good, bad, worse, or even worse!! The fact that his face is always televised or on the front page of something is just plain BS!!!! There are PLENTY of Browns fans faces out there that more than deserve the spotlight and to be able to speak out… How he got the opportunity to just isn’t right!
I feel bad for Randy Lerner having to look at him for as long as he did during the duration of their meeting today… An even bigger waste of Randy’s money if you ask me! Instead of working to better his football team RL sat face to face with a non deserving Chad Ocho Cinco hugging wanna be “super fan” that has zero point except for to take what’s left of Cleveland and these die hard fans that do suport this team down with his reckless BS of a plan to walk out! How the hell do you consider yourself a so-called “super fan” if you don’t plan to be in your seat at kick-off?!?!?!
HE IS A LOSER, A FAKE, AND A PHONY FROM START TO FINISH!!!
I hope more people choose to be there and support our team at kick-off on November 9th, than not!
Thos of you like myself that will be there on time much love to all and regardless of our NFL ranking GO BROWNS!!!!!
-Die Hard Fan Till The Day I Die-
GrrlDawg7
you are all fucking dumb…real fans don’t waste their time and money on a pathetic bullshit example of what was once a proud francise….its people like you fuckin idiots that the browns fuckin suck….and im the farthest thing from a fair weather fan, im just not stupid….st. fucking ignatious could beat the browns right now…so im not about to go waste money on sunday by going to a browns game…when the indians sucked, what did we do? we didnt go…what happened? they got better…when the cavaliers sucked… same thing nobody went..again, they got better….but with the browns, why should lerner even give a fuck? he knows he’s gonna sell out the 8 home games cuz of morons like you…so until all you dumb asses stop goin down to the muni lot every sunday and filling up that stadium nothings gonna change…
Thanx chris…my point is proven….what idiots will continue to spend their hard-earned money during a recession to go support a crappy ass team like the cleveland clowns? There is no incentive for lerner to make any drastic changes when these idiotic fans give him all their money while the team is the worse in the league…business men don’t make changes when it doesn’t effect the way they been rakin in all the dough…
Its absolutely hilarious to read some of the comments from these “insanely loyal fans”… how can you expect change when the consumer doesn’t demand it??? While I am not a fan of dawg pound mike? I must congratulate him on having both the brains and the balls to speak for the fans who are fed up with this crappy organizations performance…cleveland is the laughing stock of the nfl and you dumb ass loyal fans contribute to cleveland being the most pitiful major city in the country…keep up the good work dummies!!!
All we see (fans) is our 1st superbowl ring,all Lerner sees is $$$$$$$.’Nuff said
All you browns fans are a bunch of fucking retards. The browns will always suck dick just like you. You guys are acting like a bunch of high school girls and playing like them too. But I have to admit I do like watching you fags suffer. GO STEELERS!!!