Back again in Browns Town!

I hope to catch up soon with recaps and more,but for now I want to concentrate on my trip to Cleveland for the Browns loss to the visiting Atlanta Falcons.


This isn't the game recap, just some thoughts and tales from the Browns experience.
I hope to do the recap sometime tomorrow and add some thoughts on the Devils and the Buckeyes as well in the next day or two.

Cleveland Browns Stadium is pretty much your average NFL stadium.
Nice enough with loads of the fashionable amenities,but lacks the tradition and history of the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium,which only comes with time and great moments that take place there.I attended my first Browns game ever this weekend,although not my first game in the stadium as Ryan and I were there for a Wisconsin-Bowling Green game a few years back.
My Aunt Becky (one of our loyal readers),Uncle Terry and Becky's friend Gayle were my cohorts on this afternoon and the company was excellent.

We drove to the outside of the city and rode the RTA into the city.A pretty neat ride and for just five bucks a person for all day riding,one cannot argue about the value.The RTA takes you literally into the basement of the Cleveland landmark-the Terminal Tower.
It was the first time for me visiting the Tower and was surprised to see the many tiers of shopping inside the skyscraper.I enjoyed it enough that I think that I will be seeing more of the Tower City on my next visit to the city.
I am considering a visit to Cleveland for a Cavaliers game and the Tower has an entrance/exit right to the inside of the Quicken Arena.
One train,no switching and you are there sounds really easy to me...

However,to reach Cleveland Browns Stadium,you do need to switch,so after that switch we arrived at the stadium an hour before game time.
Two odd things that I noticed about entering CBS,one is that you get into lines by male/female.
That was a new one for me and the other was a patdown/shakedown of the males,but not the females.
Not a big deal and the lines were kept moving,but I found that unusual.
What a beautiful day for a game as the unseasonably warm weather was in the low 80's which was about 25 degrees warmer than I figured that the mercury would reach.Becky and Gayle wore shorts,but I wasn't quite that certain that shorts were in order,but it could have went either way.In any event,one could not ask for a better day weather wise.

We sat in the upper deck 500 level and trust me on this day,I didn't need my normal bicycle workout,I got plenty on the concrete hike to our seats!Quite a hike that left me more than tired upon arrival.
I stayed in place for the most part and the hyped less than family environment that is supposedly common place wasn't that bad.
There was profanity and it seemed like 4 out 5 people had a beer around,but I didn't see anything out of control and not nearly as bad as I expected.
Still,not quite sure that I would recommend anyone younger than say 16 or so if you are bothered by any of those issues.

One highlight of the day was when team mascot Chomps was near our area and Becky ran after Chomps in order to get a picture of her sitting on his (?) lap and then the people that she had to pass in order to return to her seat asked her to do the same in which she graciously agreed to do.
Another came when a fellow seemed pretty excited about Jake Delhomme entering the game and then was reminded by another fan for the rest of the afternoon about how crummy Jake Delhomme was thereafter.It was kinda of rough on the fellow,but he did have it coming,I suppose.

The exodus of fans from the stadium was large,but reasonably orderly and the worst part was the 30 minute wait to catch the "red line" train back to the Terminal Tower,but once you reached there things went much smoother and faster.
Upon returning to Ashland,I was treated to my favorite pizza at Donna D's before kicking back for the night and watching more sports.
I was alone for some of the evening as my cousin Missy had her third child that night making it a long and hectic day for both Terry and Becky.

I would like to thank Terry and Becky for their hospitality and picking up almost everything for the weekend for me.
It was very nice of them and I had a blast.
Hopefully,I can do it again next season.
Also a quick thanks to Gayle for being so cool and nice to me in meeting for the first time.

I hope to be back later with more of the catching up posts!!

Photo Credits-
Becky Heimberger
Some other guy