Tomorrow is a Municipal Stadium Sunday

I remember as a kid, when the Cleveland Browns were the franchise that has made them the storied and historically-rich franchise that they are today; it was common for at least a few times each season for the Browns would get a 4:00 home game. These games were treasured by me. I might have liked them even more than I liked having a Monday Night Football game. Usually reserved for the NFL's premiere match-ups each week and West Coast teams, the 4:00 start signals that your team has arrived on the NFL football map.

The reason these games were so great were for a couple reasons. It was a perfect time to watch your team play. It wasn't as immediate as a 1:00 start where you'd have to hustle back from church or miss the 1st quarter due to family brunch. You got to spend all day waiting and anticipating while you watched your friends' teams get trounced in the 1:00 ballgames. Most of all though; there is nothing like the ambiance created on a late sunday afternoon late in the fall heading towards winter. There's a nip in the air but it's not freezing. As the sun goes down and the light comes on, you now have a quarter and a half of what resembles a night game. It just feels special. Especially when it took place at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

Since the Browns have not been very successful since their return in 1999, these 4:00 starts have been very far and few between. The 4:00 home starts in Cleveland have been even fewer than their sunday and monday night games--there has been 2 sunday night games and 1 monday night game in Cleveland compared to just a single 4:00 sunday afternoon start--which was when New York Jets came to town last season.

Tomorrow's Seattle Seahawks constest will be the second home 4:00 start; and it is that same time of year that the ambiance will be at that special omega point. It should start to get dark sometime in the 3rd quarter. The nip will be in the air and the crowd will be as loud as they are all year. The game won't be on national television due to the Pats/Colts clash; but it does have some sentimental meaning for the Cleveland Browns die-hards that are at the stadium.

If you happen to be one of the few 'unfortunate' people in Seattle or Cleveland that will have the game televised; or like myself at the stadium to see the game live; taking a moment to close your eyes just might provide one with a very special feeling.

I too often hear Browns fans talking about the new Browns 'not being enough like the old Browns'. Tomorrow will be a special opportunity that the gap is bridged to our past and the ghosts and legends of the Lake will be back.

If you imagine just hard enough; you'll see and feel former Browns journeyman Linebacker David Brandon returning an interception the distance of the field as time expires for a walk off win. You'll feel the mighty early 90's Cowboys missing a field goal at the end of the game to give the Browns the unlikeliest of wins. As the sun sets on the game tomorrow in the Northeast of Ohio, if the Browns are leading when the clock reads 00:00, it will feel like you're back at old Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Maybe, just maybe.... the Browns will start to write another chapter talking of success in their history book.