10-25-2020, 11:59 AM
I ask knowing most of you are much younger. To many of you the big game is Pittsburgh.
Lets go back though to Paul Brown starting The Cleveland Browns and why he named them the Browns. His Super Bowl Championships and Yes, in the 1950's the NFL Championship was the Super Bowl, just as since 1970 season the Super Bowl has been the NFL Championship. You look at Browns winning Championship from Rams who had just moved from Cleveland to Los Angeles. Then the big games with also tough Detroit in the 1950's. Paul Brown had a Super Bowl Dynasty in the 1950's in Cleveland.
Then Paul Brown was fired by a newcomer named Art Modell. Paul Brown thought it was his team and couldn't believe someone had the power to fire him. To say he was shocked is an under statement.
On the sidelines of a 1960's Packers game, Paul Brown was giving advise to Vince Lombardi, and Lombardi told him he needed to get his own team and get back into coaching. The AFL was open to some more teams. Paul Brown decided to start another team in OHIO, in CINCINNATI. In calling them Bengals, not Browns, he wore the same CB cap he always wore in practice. It was not by chance that in 1968 they had the same uniforms of his old team, and same Initials CB.
Then after 2 AFL Years, in 1970 the AFL joined the NFL. It happened in a way that put NFL Championship Games Cleveland in same division with AFL last place expansion Cincinnati. Ohio Browns fans assumed their Browns would destroy these AFL teams, especially Cincinnati. For Paul Brown it was a chance to beat Art Modell who had stole his team from him, and the hatred was intense. So in 1970, in Cincinnati, The Bengals Players went out and beat the mighty Browns of Leroy Kelly, and after the Win carried Paul Brown on their shoulders from the sideline to the locker room. The Players knew what THAT WIN meant to Paul Brown.
So the big game was Paul Browns Bengals against his old team Cleveland. Then to add to it, Forrest Gregg had been NFL Coach of The Year in Cleveland only to be also fired by Art Modell. It only made sense that he would join Paul Brown in the fight against their old teams Cleveland.
Now none of this may mean anything today in 2020 as Cleveland comes to Cincinnati, but there was a time Paul Brown and his players would have hit the field as if this was the Super Bowl or Ohio State vs Michigan. There was a time THIS would have been The Biggest Game Of The Year. It is still the Browns coming to Paul Brown Stadium, Ohio vs Ohio, CB vs CB which also stands for Coach Brown, CB
You would think Mike Brown, Katey Brown Blackburn, Paul Brown Jr and the rest still want to WIN when Browns come to Paul Brown Stadium. Firing up the old Sam Wyche line, " You don't live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinnati ". I think just as coaches at Ohio State or Michigan, Zac Taylor is expected to win some of these Cleveland games, or else. I do think The Brown Family expects Zac to win some of these.
Lets go back though to Paul Brown starting The Cleveland Browns and why he named them the Browns. His Super Bowl Championships and Yes, in the 1950's the NFL Championship was the Super Bowl, just as since 1970 season the Super Bowl has been the NFL Championship. You look at Browns winning Championship from Rams who had just moved from Cleveland to Los Angeles. Then the big games with also tough Detroit in the 1950's. Paul Brown had a Super Bowl Dynasty in the 1950's in Cleveland.
Then Paul Brown was fired by a newcomer named Art Modell. Paul Brown thought it was his team and couldn't believe someone had the power to fire him. To say he was shocked is an under statement.
On the sidelines of a 1960's Packers game, Paul Brown was giving advise to Vince Lombardi, and Lombardi told him he needed to get his own team and get back into coaching. The AFL was open to some more teams. Paul Brown decided to start another team in OHIO, in CINCINNATI. In calling them Bengals, not Browns, he wore the same CB cap he always wore in practice. It was not by chance that in 1968 they had the same uniforms of his old team, and same Initials CB.
Then after 2 AFL Years, in 1970 the AFL joined the NFL. It happened in a way that put NFL Championship Games Cleveland in same division with AFL last place expansion Cincinnati. Ohio Browns fans assumed their Browns would destroy these AFL teams, especially Cincinnati. For Paul Brown it was a chance to beat Art Modell who had stole his team from him, and the hatred was intense. So in 1970, in Cincinnati, The Bengals Players went out and beat the mighty Browns of Leroy Kelly, and after the Win carried Paul Brown on their shoulders from the sideline to the locker room. The Players knew what THAT WIN meant to Paul Brown.
So the big game was Paul Browns Bengals against his old team Cleveland. Then to add to it, Forrest Gregg had been NFL Coach of The Year in Cleveland only to be also fired by Art Modell. It only made sense that he would join Paul Brown in the fight against their old teams Cleveland.
Now none of this may mean anything today in 2020 as Cleveland comes to Cincinnati, but there was a time Paul Brown and his players would have hit the field as if this was the Super Bowl or Ohio State vs Michigan. There was a time THIS would have been The Biggest Game Of The Year. It is still the Browns coming to Paul Brown Stadium, Ohio vs Ohio, CB vs CB which also stands for Coach Brown, CB
You would think Mike Brown, Katey Brown Blackburn, Paul Brown Jr and the rest still want to WIN when Browns come to Paul Brown Stadium. Firing up the old Sam Wyche line, " You don't live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinnati ". I think just as coaches at Ohio State or Michigan, Zac Taylor is expected to win some of these Cleveland games, or else. I do think The Brown Family expects Zac to win some of these.
1968 Bengal Fan
