We had the opportunity to purchase them for the Dallas game. I went on line in July as instructed by the Browns ticket office to try to purchase two seats. Unfortunately, I got on line at 9:15 of the day they went on sale to the general public. Yep, you guessed it -- they were already sold out of all general admission tickets at any price for any game!!AAAARRRRGH!!
So I had to go thru Ticketmaster. No luck there. They referred me to their sister company, the "This is really gonna cost you" ticket depot. I had to purchase two tickets (at a greatly inflated price I might add) from some guy in California. What the heck is a guy in California doing with Browns tickets. That should be illegal. Oh well, I now had my two tickets and a date with my favorite gal. While we were there we would also take in the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame. But I didn't see how that would be of any significance after being at a BROWNS game.
We walked over to the stadium, past the numerous tailgate parties going on, only to find the Ohio State Marching Band holding court outside the stadium. I have to admit, they did sound nice, and lots of people continuously did their "OH-IO" thing. In fact, there were lots and lots of people standing around watching them perform and no one seemed to be in any hurry to get in to the game which was slated to start in 30 minutes. That should have been a sign. At kick-off, it looked like there were still 20,000 people trying to get in.I'm going to try to cut to the quick -- we were in the UPPER reaches of the Dog Pound, about 10 rows from the top of the stadium. Sitting all around us were Dallas fans -- drunk, obnoxious, loud, Dallas fans. They didn't mix too well with the drunk, sometimes equally obnoxious Browns fans (although the Browns fans weren't quite so bad after the second quarter started , being down by 24 points already). There were no less than 6 fights in the stands, a few people spilling their beers, and some throwing up. The cops and stadium security guys got a workout running up all those steps. But the day was beautiful, the sky was a bright blue and the lake looked stupendous. A Chamber of Commerce day -- other than the game.
Well, we went back to the hotel (Marriott -- very nice place) which was only a few blocks from the site of the massacre. It was a nice walk. Oh, did I mention that the Dallas team and staff and several charter flights worth of people from Dallas were also staying there. Lots of partying in the hotel bars. There's just something about a whole bar full of people shouting "How 'bout dem Cowboys" that makes you want to go somewhere else to try to get something to eat.
I really thought this was going to be a special trip down memory lane. The last time I saw a live Browns game in Cleveland was when I went with my brother and dad. I was only in grade school at the time, and there could have been all this stuff going on, but I didn't remember it that way. I guess that's one of the good things about memories, they tend to magnify the good things and come back to the surface more easily.
So pardon me if I don't buy any more tickets to one of their games. If all the nonsense in the stands doesn't drive you away, the 40-some time outs in the game will. Yeah, I'll still watch it on TV. Oh, and don't get me wrong, for all their inept play and coaching, I still root for them. What's my alternative -- the Bengals???
Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin. (Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams)
Hooah
p.s. The Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame was great. I'll write about it next.
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