Cleveland Browns fans have to stop acting like Steelers fans

Cleveland Browns fans have always set the standard for rowdy behavior. But in light of recent violence, have Browns fans become the new Pittsburgh?

Cleveland Browns fans have a strong history of rowdiness. We are the best fans in football. There is not a Sunday in which fans are not dressed up like the Macho Man or wearing pumpkins on their head.

I, personally, have dressed up for Browns games wearing construction gear. It’s good fun.

In fact, Browns fans have gained a strong reputation around the league as rowdy fans. Who could forget the famous speech from former Cincinnati Bengals head coach Sam Wyche? “You don’t live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinnati!” I must admit I smile every time I watch it. We got in his head.

But every good thing has a dark side. Browns fans can sometimes slip from rowdy fun to menacing.

There was the time when fans ripped apart Municipal Stadium after the last home game in 1995 (forgive me for bringing this up). Of course, everyone remembers bottle gate. Not saying these incidents were not deserved. They absolutely deserved to happen. But sometimes we Browns fans take things a little too far.

But even then, Browns fans have not been to the level of Pittsburgh Steelers fans. There’s a consistent stream of videos of Steelers fans fighting each other inside the stadium. There was the time where a woman got in some guy’s face only to get punched.

Who can forget one Pittsburgh fan head butting the other on Monday Night Football? Or the time the Pittsburgh fan lost his pants like Adam Sandler’s The Waterboy while fighting another Steelers fan? It seems the Pittsburgh on Pittsburgh crime is endless. They don’t even seem embarrassed about either. Its like Pittsburgh on Pittsburgh crime is accepted and normalized.

Sadly, the past two weeks Browns fans have done their best Steelers fan imitation. Week 2 against the Houston Texans there was a massive fight in the Muni lot. Seeing this, week three fans said, “hold my beer” while they fought both Chicago Bears fans and the other Browns fans trying to break it up while exiting the stadium.

These were performances that rivaled the stupidity of Steelers fans. Like Steelers fans, these knuckleheads can’t seem to tell the difference between friend and foe. Like Steelers fans, they fight their own fellow Browns fan. Like Steelers fans, these people have no problem asserting violence against other team’s fans. Nothing is as base or low as Browns on Browns hate. We get enough hate from ESPN and Colin Cowherd. Do we really have to do it to each other?

I am not sure what has gotten into some Browns fans. It’s like they watched Jake Paul fight on TV and thought “If that idiot can do stupid sh*t and fight then so can I”. Or maybe it is the excitement of actually watching a good football team getting into their heads and they feel invincible. Regardless of the reason, some Browns fans are lowering themselves to the level of Steelers fans.

So let me throw out some reason and talk some sense to these stupid people. First, you cannot hate on Steelers fans when you act just like them. It takes away the credibility of the entire fan base to laugh at those idiots.

Second, an NFL fan, any NFL fan is better than someone indifferent to the NFL. If someone is wearing Steelers gear, then they at least are a football fan. By virtue of being a NFL fan, they belong to a general brotherhood of fans, even if you don’t like the team they like.

You have a common bond in the game of football. Fighting only gives fuel to non-football fans to see the game as barbaric and its fans as out of control.

Respect the common bond of football fans. Let’s get it together Browns fans. Stop the Browns on Browns hate. Stop the Browns on other fans hate. Stop the hate period.

If not you will be thrown into the same category as Steelers fans. To creatively misquote Sam Wyche, “You don’t live in Pittsburgh, you live in Cleveland!”

Its fun to get rowdy. It’s fun to dress up. It’s fun to see people dressed like the Macho Man and wear pumpkins on their head. It’s fun to see videos of people in England celebrating as Browns fans. Just be smart about it. And if you see a fight happening remember, friend don’t let friends be Steelers fans.