Long-suffering Browns fans assemble in a black-gold world
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Browns fan Carrie Doyle, of Allegheny West but originally from Youngstown, Ohio, watches a Steelers scoring drive during the 10th annual indoor tailgate party of the Pittsburgh Browns Backers at Peter's Pub in Oakland yesterday.
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Cleveland residents Sarah Rykalla and Steve Tolodzieski arrived in Oakland yesterday looking for brown and orange in a black-and-gold city.
They decided to come to Pittsburgh to see their beloved Browns take on the Steelers, but didn't want to watch the game in Heinz Field, where they predicted they'd endure a long game of heckling.
So before they made their trip, they searched the Internet for Cleveland fans in Pittsburgh, and found the Pittsburgh Browns Backers, a group founded a decade ago to acknowledge that this is "the toughest place to wear your colors."
Ms. Rykalla and Mr. Tolodzieski called a number listed on the site, and a man invited them to Peter's Pub on Oakland Avenue for the game.
As they made the trip to the pub, Ms. Rykalla said they joked that the whole thing could be a ruse -- that they would find Steelers fans dressed up as Browns fans, ready to pounce on them when they walked in.
They arrived at Peter's around noon yesterday and feared for a few seconds that their joking had come close to the truth. Everyone in the bar was wearing black and gold -- it seemed they'd walked right into Steelers territory. Quickly, the orange-clad couple was directed upstairs, and there, they found a small part of Pittsburgh that was not cheering for the Steelers.
The Pittsburgh Browns Backers have been staking out the second floor of Peter's Pub for four years now. There, people like Ralph Yannayon, now of Cranberry but born in Ohio and a lifelong Browns fan, can wear their Cleveland colors openly.
Mr. Yannayon's wife, a Steelers fan, was watching the game at home with her sister, so he figured he would come to Oakland to commiserate with other Browns fans.
"I just have low expectations, so I guess it's a dull pain," he said.
The matchup between the Browns and the Steelers started at 1 p.m., and right after the first play of the game, the large Pittsburgh Browns Backers sign hanging on the window fell down. Some may have seen this as a bad omen, but not Carrie Doyle.
She explained that the sign wasn't up last week, when the Browns defeated the Buffalo Bills 6-3. Best to keep things the way they were when the Browns won, she said.
No one moved to tape up the sign.
Although Ms. Doyle has lived in Pittsburgh for 17 years, she grew up in Youngstown and remains a Browns fan. She said Cleveland fans are "absolutely" the most loyal of all football fans.
"Considering our record, and that we are still rooting for them, that tells you about our loyalty," she said. "It's either loyalty or stupidity."
The bar buzzed with cheers during the scoreless first quarter. The crowd became more subdued when the Steelers scored 17 points in the second quarter, though the mood was briefly lifted after Joshua Cribbs' touchdown on a 98-yard kickoff return. The outcome yesterday, a 27-14 win by the Steelers, put the Browns' season record at one win and five losses.
But no matter. Next week, and every week the Browns have a game, the Pittsburgh Browns Backers will be back in Peter's Pub to cheer on their team and hope for a win.
Pete Leventis, whose brother George owns the bar, is a Steelers fan but said he is happy to have the Cleveland crowd rent the upper bar each week during the football season.
"They had no place to go," he said. "They were homeless."
First Published October 19, 2009 12:00 am
