An Interview with Cleveland Browns Superfan Paul Brown

Cleveland Browns superfan Paul Brown loves the Browns so much that he flies from London, England to America to watch games.

Cleveland Browns Backers are all over the world, and nowhere is there a better fan than Paul Brown from London, England. Paul loves the Browns so much that he actually flies to America several times to watch games in person.

In addition, he produces the entertaining and very professionally done Paul Brown Podcast and he has several youtube videos about the Browns and their fandom. I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Brown thanks to the miracle of Internet technology and a laptop computer.

The handsome bearded superfan, as you might imagine, got interested in the Cleveland Browns because the first coach of the team had the same name. Also, early on he bought a Jim Brown jersey for the same reason.

“As of about 15 years ago, my main thing was buying Browns gear, before I really knew who they were. I wasn’t sure if they were football, baseball, basketball or hockey. As a kid we would get the highlights of games and not much more. But like 6 years ago in my office we started doing a fantasy league. Because I had the gear, my friends asked me to participate. So then I had to learn. I really studied the rosters, watched games on youtube. I had to learn, what do the tackles do?  Linebackers, Mike, Sam, and Willie? What is the nickel and dime? I studied everything I could”

And so a love affair was born. As he started to learn about American football and watch on the, uh, telly, he became intensely interested in the Cleveland Browns.

Now he hangs out with the British Bulldawgs Browns Backers are a major force in London. They are about 500 strong and meet at the Hippodrome Casino at Leicester Square. Pip pip!

His hobby has allowed him to meet Jamie Gillan and even have him over at his home (“he is really a cool guy). He was also able to meet Jabrill Peppers, Hollywood Higgins, and even Kimberly Brown and her famous dad, the great Jim Brown.

If you have the opportunity to fly across the pond, Brown has some advice. He advises staying awake once you land and on day one going to bed at the appropriate local time, rather than trying to compensate by catching a nap.

Among his favorite Browns are Myles Garrett, Baker Mayfield, Odell Beckham, Jr., and Nick Chubb.

Brown also discussed the change in general managers, with John Dorsey leaving.

“His problem was that he hired Freddie Kitchens.  But if you look at the draft picks before Dorsey came, they were really poor. Look at 2016…Corey Coleman, Emmanuel Ogbah, Carl Nassib, Shon Coleman, Cody Kessler …well, Joe Schobert was good, at least. Ricardo Louis was hurt…where is Derrick Kindred? In 2017, after Garrett there was Peppers, Njoku…but what about the others?”

This year, he says “I’m hoping the Browns can stay under the radar this year, and avoid setting expectations too high.  But I’m hoping that they will be really successful.”