Well, the best thing that happened
is that we did not go to the game. We had traveled to Nashville on Friday to
see the Vanderbilt/Kentucky game Saturday afternoon, and our plans were to get
up early Sunday and get to Cincinnati in enough time to buy some tickets on the
street and see the Browns/Bengals game. We did leave Nashville early on Sunday
morning, but we hit terrible wind and rain and it took longer than we thought
to get to Cinci. Also, none of the three of us had brought enough rain gear to
comfortably survive the storm, so we quickly decided instead to watch the game
with the Greater Cincinnati Browns Backers in a place called Slatt’s in Blue
Ash, fifteen miles north of downtown. The weather remained terrible and the
Browns played worse, so it ended up being a good decision.
The first notes I wrote down about
the game were that Jason Campbell looked shakey, and the defense looked good. I
think that pretty much sums up the game, although I don’t blame Campbell as
much as others. It is quite obvious that the Browns don’t have a solid running
game, and as long as defensive coordinators know this the Browns are going to
have trouble on offense. And Campbell is not going to look good.
The Cincinnati Browns Backers were
an older crowd compared to the Charlotte Browns Backers who we did a game with
earlier in the season. Charlotte’s Browns Backers were mostly young
professionals in the twenties and early thirties who grew up in Northern Ohio.
Cincinnati’s Browns Backers were old school, many of them coming from families
who were Browns fans back in the day when there weren’t even Bengals.
I was surprised to see so many of
them at the sports bar considering the Browns were playing in town. However, I
heard the same thing over and over again, that Paul Brown Stadium was an
expensive and not very friendly place to see a game. Seats that go for $45-$50
in our end zones in Cleveland go for $85 in Paul Browns Stadium. And most of them never really
understood all that “Who Day?” stuff that goes on at the games. I know I’ve
been there for three Browns/Bengals games over the years and it does get old
fast.
The sports radio shows on the way
home covered the obvious. The Browns should have gotten touchdowns instead of
field goals early in the game, and very easily could have been leading 21-0 at
the end of the quarter.
And, of course, the second quarter
brought disaster. Fumbles, interceptions, two blocked punts, and 31 unanswered
points on the board. It really took the life out of the crowd at Slatts, who
were enjoying the game until then.
But what hasn’t been mentioned in
the media, was the times in the second half were the Browns could have gotten
back in the game. The Browns got down to the Bengals 34 yard line on the first
drive of the second half and were stopped. The second drive Josh Gordon makes a
great catch and the game is suddenly 31-20. The hold the Bengals and make them punt, but on the next
drive Campbell throws a pick on the third play. The Browns hold them again, but
go three and out themselves. The Bengals then get another touchdown to make it
38-20 and put the Browns away going into the fourth quarter.
The Browns had three chances to
make it a one score game after Gordon’s touchdown at the beginning of the
second half and couldn’t do anything. As bad as the second quarter was, they
still had a chance until the Bengals scored a six at the very end of the
quarter.
Next week we are back at home
against the Steelers. The Browns know what mistakes they have to eliminate from
their game, but the Steelers will know that the Browns are weak at the run and
will be sending all sorts of stunts and blitzes at Jason Campbell.
When I look back on my football
weekend in Nashville and Cincinnati, I think of something that happened late
Saturday afternoon after the Vanderbilt/Kentucky game. We were hanging out in
the live music bars on Broadway in downtown Nashville and were inundated with
Chicago Blackhawk fans, because the Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks were
playing the Predators that night up the street in the Bridgestone Center. There
had to be, and I am not exaggerating, thousands of Blackhawk fans in the bars
and on the street. Everywhere you looked you saw Blackhawk uniforms. The
Nashville paper the next day estimated there were over 5,000 Blackhawk fans at
the game, over 25% of capacity of the arena. That many fans traveled over seven
hundred miles to see their team play. I then I said to my self, that is what
happens when you win championships.
Greg Cielec (cielec@hotmail.com)
Section 120, Row B, Seats ¾
Photos by Dave Hostetler
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