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Confessions of a Football Junkie

Image courtesy of John Moore, cartoonist for CBS Sportsline's SPiN on Sports

By Aaron Ziraks
NoLogoNeeded.com staff writer

With the OTA's finished and training camp on the horizon, news about the Browns has been slow. This got me thinking: Why do I take the time to write for a blog — for free — in the first place? I tossed around some ideas in my head and came to an overwhelming truth about myself, “I'm a football junkie.” There, I said it. I'm addicted to football.

Click "Read More" to continue reading Ziraks' "Confessions of a Football Junkie."

Everyone has a journey to how they got where they are today. Mine begins in northeast Ohio as many of our readers may have grown up in the same area.

How many of you took trips to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton when you were young? How many of you went to a Massillon McKinley game with your dad and looked at 17-year old kids like they were celebrities? How many of you went to old Municipal Stadium to watch a game in November and loved every second of it even though your seats were behind a pillar and it was three degrees outside?

I grew up in the 1980's and can honestly say John Elway ruined some of my childhood. Even typing that, it sounds ridiculous, but as a 7- and 8-year old kid I remember being so angry in 1987 and 1988 that I wanted to beat up my neighbor who was a very convenient Broncos fan. I was down for weeks after those losses, but I still wore my Hanford Dixon jersey to show my support.

That was around the time I got my Browns’ Hutch mini-football and played with it everyday. We even played football before school and at recess. Everyday, I had to come home to explain to my mom why it was so important for me to dive for the ball and ruin my pants with grass stains. To me it made perfect sense, to my mom, not so much.

I remember begging my mom to let me play Pee-Wee football. After much coercing, she gave in. I was so excited to get my first pair of cleats and put on a real helmet. I also was lucky enough to play for the Wadsworth Browns. Our helmets looked just like the real NFL helmets. I burned the roof of my mouth on my first mouth guard. I was so excited to put it in, I forgot to let it cool off from the boiling water before biting down on it. And I had to get the Gatorade Gum and lined my mouth guard with it for every game because that is what I thought the NFL players did.

Most of our readers played high school football, some maybe even played in college. There is something special about giving your all in a game that can be determined by inches. Waking up on Saturdays to watch film with the team, nursing your wounds from the night before and reading the paper to see what the writers said about the game. I am not a very emotional guy, but I cried after my last game knowing that my football-playing career was over. It would be the last time I ever put on a helmet and hit someone.

I guess that is why football is such a fantastic game. Unless you are elite, you are done playing when you are 18 years old. Of course, we all try to play pick up games on Thanksgiving or join flag football leagues, but you will never get back to that place where you and your teammates come together and through blood, sweat and tears, you try to outlast your opponent.

I lived in Houston, Texas for four years before I moved back to Ohio last spring. People used to ask me what I missed the most about home. I would always tell them, my friends, family and the smell of football. That's right, for anyone that has not lived in a city that does not have distinct seasons you would never know what I am talking about, but football season has a scent. The cool, fall breeze combined with the leaves on the ground make for a smell I will always look forward to. I was deprived of that smell for four years in Houston. That smell means my Sundays are filled with nothing but football. The outcome of the Browns game determines my tone for the following Monday. It determines if I watch SportsCenter highlights on Monday. It determines if I read the paper on Monday. Lately, Monday's in the fall have been pretty miserable for me.

I don't think my football journey has been unlike many of you who read NoLogoNeeded. When you grow up in northeast Ohio things like two-a-days, getting your ankles taped, and the "smell" of football all mean a little something more to us. Football is something many of us have been a part of since a young age and for those of you that were born in Massillon and had a football placed in your crib it has been a part of your life since birth.

Even with nothing going on the news front, I am still ridiculously excited about the football season. I can't wait for Sundays and the anticipation throughout the week for the next game. I read on message boards and blogs that fans are "never watching the Browns again" or writing them off until they do this or that. The truth is these people are not fans at all. A true fan loves the game and the team, and that love is unconditional.

I want to leave all of you with a video that we posted last year when we started the site and it gives me goose bumps and gets me excited every time I watch it.

NoLogoNeeded.com Browns Highlight Video - The most amazing bloopers are here

July 07, 2009 at 1:00 PM

Comments

Well done Z!

July 07, 2009 at 3:56 PM by Justin

Nice article Northeast Ohio definitely has a football season smell and I can't wait for it. Every year I get pumped for the browns know matter how bad the season is I'll always be a fan!

July 07, 2009 at 9:15 AM by Denver

Great read. That video has me pumped!!! Go Browns!

July 07, 2009 at 8:27 AM by Sean

Wow you said it all except for me in columbus east side we just played every day no team. i ran track, distance, but i was fast enough to play receiver on saturday and recess. Yea it's in my blood so are the Browns and I back em till hell freezes over! i don't say things like Lewis is too old or Edwards sucks (ok maybe once) I back the players period! Go Browns!

July 07, 2009 at 9:05 AM by dan

Outstanding job, Ziraks!! You got the whole "football infatuation" down in words, not an easy thing to do.

July 07, 2009 at 9:05 AM by TheRizzz

BIG Z!!!!!! Awesome article, been trying to find you since you left Houston and a buddy forwarded me your article, CRAZY! To back "Z" up I was in Houston working with him just as long and nothing can ever compare to the smell on the weekends when you can open up the windows to your house and let the smell of Football float in. Go Browns!!!

July 07, 2009 at 9:42 AM by Nick Ross

Orange blood and Brown sweat defines our commitment. There will never be others. Great Expression on why we are Browns.

July 07, 2009 at 10:07 AM by Smiiinjack

Nick! What is going on buddy?
Email me back at the website and we can catch up
nologoneeded@gmail.com

July 07, 2009 at 10:14 AM by Z

Besides a few minor details, you described my childhood to a T. Living in Atlanta now, I do miss those Northeast Fall days. Ahh to be young again. Thanks for the article...really brought back alot of great memories.

July 07, 2009 at 10:44 AM by Bobby

great read. i'm about your age and pretty much grew up the same way. I live in baltimore now and my friends just don't get it...not to mention ravens fans...who think they're a big deal when it comes to fandom PFFFFTTT

my friends mainly get embarrassed when i show up to a bar on sunday (the lone browns fan there) decked out in browns flags, dog bones, face paint, and absolutely go nuts for 3 hours. screw em'

July 07, 2009 at 11:05 AM by ryan97ou

This article gave me chills. The hutch football, the mouth guard, the smell of football season. LOVE IT!

July 07, 2009 at 11:31 AM by Mike

Quinn to Win !!!!
Superbowl here we come !!!!

July 07, 2009 at 11:45 AM by Tom

That, my friend, was an excellent post. I left the Akron area when I was in my early 20's and have lived on the west coast and now in NYC and nothing, NOTHING compares to Friday nights, Saturday and Sunday afternoons in NE Ohio. Well done, i am getting teary in my cubicle . . .

July 07, 2009 at 12:02 PM by Josh

Great post.

I recall getting grounded for a swearing outburst at my grandparents when Jordan made "the shot." Was similarly devasted losing to the Broncos those three times. And yes, the smell of football seems to be something that lots of other parts of the country don't experience.

July 07, 2009 at 12:55 PM by hoipolloi

Awesome video! Clay Matthews was my favorite player growning up!

July 07, 2009 at 1:17 PM by Jason

I've watched the Browns since the early 1960's. I played tackle football in the field were they built the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio waiting for my brother to dress after his HS games @ Canton McKinley at Fawcett Stadium.
I met Marion Motley in Warren, Ohio the home of Paul Warfield Hall of Fame WR of the Browns.
I 've spoken with Coach Sam Rutigliano many times.
I drank beer and hung out with Doug Dieken, Bernie Kosar, Gerald McNeil, Kevin Mack, Herman Fontenot, Frankie Winters, Tim Minoa. I have been raised on Cleveland Browns Football all my life.
This new version since 99 is not Cleveland Browns football. It is a farce. I hope and pray that Kokinos and Mangini can turn them into a real NFL Franchise that can add to it's long & storied history & tradition.
Finally many kids in NE Ohio don't follow the Browns because they haven't seen them win at all. They believe the Browns have always been like this.
The way the Browns are now is how the Steelers were when I grew up. Terrible and inept just like the new Browns have been since 99.
Go Brownies!!!

July 07, 2009 at 1:42 PM by Walter "The Flee" Roberts

Here Here !

July 07, 2009 at 3:04 PM by swfldawg

Video showing Jim Brown sticking it to the Cowboys was priceless.
Go Browns, major woof..

July 07, 2009 at 3:47 PM by # 65 in your program

Nodding my head through the whole thing... I even played in the same youth league I believe, remember the Black River Pirates? Didn't Wadsworth have a field that was part baseball infield?

July 07, 2009 at 5:02 AM by Matt

I grew up in Columbus. Some of my finest memories are visiting Municiple Stadium with my dad to watch my Browns play. I moved to Jacksonville, FL the same year that rat bastard Modell moved the team and broke my heart. My wife said I should just root for the Jaguars since there was no Browns. She just didn't get it. Sunday's just didn't bring that excitement when I didn't have a team to cheer for. I'm not ashamed to say I cried tears of joy when it was announced the Browns were coming back to Cleveland.
Sunday's have been pretty frustrating since then but my love affair with this team continues.
The tattoo on my leg? No buddy that's NOT a freaking Gators helmet.

July 07, 2009 at 8:26 AM by SilentWay

Ahh yes, Black River....I remember I used to think it was SO far away to go play you guys....it's only 20 minutes, but when your 8 it feels like forever. Yeah our field went through a baseball diamond, it toughened us up.

July 07, 2009 at 8:29 AM by Z

@ SilentWay

My fiancee is from Houston and she just doesn't understand either. Props on the Browns tattoo!

July 07, 2009 at 10:54 AM by Z

Good read...it brought back lots of great memories, feelings I had suppressed after all these disappointing seasons of Browns and Ohio State. I will agree that fall in OH has its owns smell but to be honest the smell of fresh cut grass always get me in the mood for some football. I'm so bad the smell of the locker room at Bally's make me want to pad up. Brown's fan til I die!

July 07, 2009 at 3:33 PM by EMPHATIC

Confessions of a Football Junkie

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