Fan of the Game learns a lesson and brings home a win
By Roger Cohen
Janet and Roger pre-game introductions
Who knew all it would take to cure that post-New York Jets game “our season is doomed” paranoia and earn Johnny Manziel‘s first NFL victory was getting me onto the field as the featured Cleveland Browns “Fan of the Game”?
Not that correlation means causation, but Sunday’s 28-14 victory over the Tennessee Titans identified one helluva’ data point.
Considering that we’ve owned Browns season tickets continuously since my late father, Sol Cohen, returned from World War II, you’d think the Browns might have stumbled onto this scheme sooner. And it is not as if the Browns haven’t tried crazier moves to break the jinx since the 1964 championship season: trading Paul Warfield, drafting Mike Junkin, signing Andre Rison, hiring Pat Shurmur.
There is only one “Fan of the Game” selected for each home game, which earned me and my wife, Janet:
- an on-field invitation during the pregame (on what was a sunny and hot for Cleveland day);
- a swag bag with a Joe Thomas autographed mini-helmet (that might hold one, maybe two of his fingers); and,
- a chance to stand for the national anthem on the Titans’ sideline, where Janet warned me that the Titans looked so much bigger than the Browns. As usual, she was proven right when 6-foot-5 Dorial Green-Beckham snared a touchdown pass over 5-foot-11 Joe Haden.
Paradigm CEO Bill Manby and his crew
If you’re reading this, you might find it thrilling to stand steps away from Andrew Hawkins while be zones out to headphones and stretches in gym clothes 90 minutes before kickoff. Janet and I, on the other hand, would have preferred sharing pre-game time with the many other Browns fans who made the home opener pilgrimage to the Muni Lot.
There are Browns Backer all around the world, from Bangkok to the Holy Biblical Browns Backers in Avot, Israel. Our sales rep has 3,500 accounts, including a fan living in Paris (yes, France) and another from Mexico who makes it to every home game – and I’ll bet not even that Trump Wall can keep him out of the Dawg Pound.
Kansas City BBQ and Green Bay’s beer brats may beat the fare in the Muni Lot, but no NFL fans tailgate in style better than Bill Manby’s crew from Akron, whose custom RV, stem to stern, seamlessly chronicles Browns history.
Janet and Roger Cohen in front of Bill Manby’s RV prior to the game.
Seniors who remember Jim Brown’s 1957 rookie year, boomers coming of age with Sam and Sipe’s Kardiac Kids, Martyball Millenials, Factory of Sadness Gen-Xers, wide-eyed pre-schoolers – all races, religions, politics and persuasions – are all stitched together on one orange and brown quilt, hoping for a title, maybe a .500 season, or just a win, like Sunday’s.
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After all those trudges up the West 3rd Street ramp, loss after loss, season after season, generation after generation, what keeps Browns’ fans coming back? A well-known Northeast Ohioan figured it out, Mike Polk created an ode to our commonality. Frustrated always. Resilient consistently. Loyal forever.
Finally, special thanks to my account rep Maddie Hansel, her sales colleague Brandon Schwartz and the whole Browns organization for the day.
Yes, it was really cool to be selected the Browns “Fan of the Game,” but the greatest honor was sharing that passion with each and every one of you.