Baseball caps are wonderful things, even when they are football caps. One of my brothers was visiting from Cleveland recently, and he surprised me by bringing two new Browns caps, one (above) for me and another destined for a friend, another Ohio native who lives elsewhere in New Jersey.
As the NFL season begins in earnest today (on Sunday afternoon, as God intended), the Browns cap is stirring old feelings for the original franchise that helped get all of us Clevelanders through the long gray autumns and into early winter along the southern shore of Lake Erie.
Unlike the Indians, whose limitations inevitably led to dashed pennant hopes by the time football teams were in training camp, the Browns brought us legitimate expectations for a competitive season, if not a shot at greater glory, most years in the 60s and 70s.
I first tuned into the Browns as a kid with the championship team of 1964 and rode along with them happily — and sometimes heartbreakingly (ref. Byner, Ernest, 1987) — through my teens and early adulthood. But freaking Art Modell moved the team to Baltimore.
As I moved around the country, I transferred my primary football allegiance to the Seahawks, 49ers, Giants and the Eagles, not to mention a fling with the Raiders while selling beer and hot dogs at a booth in Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum when Al Davis brought the team home to Oakland from Los Angeles.
I was excited for my hometown when the “new” Browns started up in 1999. I didn’t bond with the expansion Browns for many years, but I’ve always checked their scores and have not-so-secretly rooted for them while wearing my Eagles cap the last several years.
I’ve been wearing my new Browns cap the past several days, and nostalgia vibes are tugging at my heart. I wish the Browns well this season, and every season.
Should they ever reach the Super Bowl, my rooting interest will be for them, even more so for the long-suffering fans of Cleveland, the Factory of Sadness.
However, I can’t deny that as I get ready for this afternoon’s Philly game at New England, my cry is simply and loudly, “Go, Birds!”
The Ball Caps Blog 
As a kid growing up in the Milwaukee suburbs, I took a liking to the Browns probably because I had a Browns winter knit cap. I have no idea how I got it, maybe as a gift but that would be strange since I lived in Packer territory. Whatever the reason, it got me into the Browns and Brian Sipe and Ozzie Newsome. I’m ashamed to say that I don’t remember any Browns lineman, such an underrated position.
That must have been great selling beer and hot dogs at a booth in Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. I assume you got to see the ends of games? Enjoy the season! I see that the Browns beat the Bengals today. What a great first game draw to play a state rival.