Top 5 Rivalries

[The Gipper]

 

Agree... division alignments set the stage, but playoff clashes cinch rivalries... and to meet there you have to successful.

 

Saints-Falcons is only one I don't see in your "divisional rivals" list. I'd be prone to sub in the 'Boys-Giants... another divisional one. One developing one is the Seahawks-Cards, but the clock on the Cards' side may be ticking on its development.

 

Odd that the Pats don't have a divisional one that springs to mind... too dominant I guess. Only Pats rival that comes to mind is the Colts because of their semi-recent playoff clashes.

The Jets believe that they are a rival of the Pats. Before Brady and BB arrived that was a pretty even up rivalry. But, its like the Browns/Steelers, one side has been overly dominant lately.

[mjp28]

How about the LA/STL/LA RAMS vs ??? SF? SD? OAK? The fickle LA fans?

 

The NFL has sure turned into a multimillionaire and billionaire's plaything and we just get to play along and buy the tickets, parking, souvenirs and concessions.

 

But we do love it!

[Mudfly]

 

Odd that the Pats don't have a divisional one that springs to mind... too dominant I guess. Only Pats rival that comes to mind is the Colts because of their semi-recent playoff clashes.

Right.....and that one was usually played up as a Manning vs Brady rivalry......

[StinkHole]

But, its like the Browns/Steelers, one side has been overly dominant lately.

 

 

 

lol..yeah "lately". ...as in approaching 3 decades.

[StinkHole]

That can change instantaneously. See this Sporting New site. I has the Browns/Steelers and Browns/Bengals as two of the top ten rivalries in the NFL. Also has Steeler/Ravens

 

http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/photos/10-greatest-nfl-rivalries-packers-bengals-browns-steelers-raiders-broncos-redskins-cowboys/19q0u6nxgihf812w9u9smctp0f/slide/442135

 

Yep, can change in an instant...that last Steeler Bengals playoff fiasco proved that.

Vontage Burthdefect and company now at the top many Steeler fans "most hated" list.

 

No doubt Steelers-Browns once one of the greatest rivalries...but that rivalry went with the old browns to Baltimore.

The series is 24-20 and they beat the fuck out of each other. Should be like that here. Modell gave your colors back, but couldn't give back the rivalry. He stole a lot.

 

You are an old fart...do you remember the incident when Jack Lambert paid a visit to the browns locker room after a game in Cleveland?

I think it had something to do with his on field altercation with Brian Sipe. ...his "QB should wear dresses" quote came out of that.

I cant find any story about that on the net. That 70's rivalry was something else.

[Tour2ma]

Vontage Burthdefect...

Not bad... but lay off the "old fart" stuff... junior...

[mjp28]

Yep, can change in an instant...that last Steeler Bengals playoff fiasco proved that.

Vontage Burthdefect and company now at the top many Steeler fans "most hated" list.

 

You are an old fart...do you remember the incident when Jack Lambert paid a visit to the browns locker room after a game in Cleveland?

I think it had something to do with his on field altercation with Brian Sipe. ...his "QB should wear dresses" quote came out of that.

I cant find any story about that on the net. That 70's rivalry was something else.

From the "old far department".....

 

The incident came in 1978, in a game against the Browns when Lambert was called for a late hit on Cleveland quarterback Brian Sipe. It was a 15 yard roughing the passer penalty. Lambert was mobbed by the Browns bench, but he was not ejected. He was, though, called into NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle's office to explain his actions. A week after the incident, Lambert and the Steelers were playing on Monday Night Football and Lambert drew more attention to himself by complaining to a reporter about how quarterbacks get too much protection. His choice of expressing this disapproval, though, was stating, "Quarterbacks should wear dresses."

[mjp28]

Oh BTW the undersized Lambert who was surrounded by 10 other good players on defense had several other run ins with Sipe, ah some good memories all in all back then at the Ol' Muni.

[nickers]

Stools

Ratbirds

Donkeys

Bunghholes

[The Gipper]

 

Yep, can change in an instant...that last Steeler Bengals playoff fiasco proved that.

Vontage Burthdefect and company now at the top many Steeler fans "most hated" list.

 

No doubt Steelers-Browns once one of the greatest rivalries...but that rivalry went with the old browns to Baltimore.

 

No, it didn't asshole. Nothing of the Browns went to Baltimore. The reason that Balt/Pitt has been a good rivalry has been because those teams have been fighting it out for supremacy in the division the last 15 or so years. It has nothing to do with the Browns rivalry. That is competiveness...pure and simple. Not history.

 

The series is 24-20 and they beat the fuck out of each other. Should be like that here. Modell gave your colors back, but couldn't give back the rivalry. He stole a lot.

Modell didn't do shit....but fuck up his team's finances, be forced to sell his team, and die.

The reason the Browns Steelers rivalry hasn't been so good lately is because the Browns have been poorly managed and poorly coached these last 17 years. Pure and simple....the Browns have sucked.

If the Browns, by odd chance were to sweep the Steelers this year (yes, unlikely) you would know that the rivalry is as big as it ever was.

 

You are an old fart...do you remember the incident when Jack Lambert paid a visit to the browns locker room after a game in Cleveland?

I think it had something to do with his on field altercation with Brian Sipe. ...his "QB should wear dresses" quote came out of that.

I cant find any story about that on the net. That 70's rivalry was something else.

I don't think that is the game where Lambert made that statement. Lambert "paying a visit to the Browns locker room, was nothing but him showing off, it accomplished nothing." And I am not sure why he would have been out for Sipe in the locker room. He got in his cheap shots on the field enough times.

[The Gipper]

From the "old far department".....

 

The incident came in 1978, in a game against the Browns when Lambert was called for a late hit on Cleveland quarterback Brian Sipe. It was a 15 yard roughing the passer penalty. Lambert was mobbed by the Browns bench, but he was not ejected. He was, though, called into NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle's office to explain his actions. A week after the incident, Lambert and the Steelers were playing on Monday Night Football and Lambert drew more attention to himself by complaining to a reporter about how quarterbacks get too much protection. His choice of expressing this disapproval, though, was stating, "Quarterbacks should wear dresses."

Well, maybe that was the timing of it. I just know it did not immediately come after that game. Maybe a week or so later. As for Lambert's statement, things have only gone further and further to protect QBs. In this day and age for repeated offenses....like the repeated cheapshots Lambert took on Sipe, he could be suspended for mulitple games.

[The Gipper]

Oh BTW the undersized Lambert who was surrounded by 10 other good players on defense had several other run ins with Sipe, ah some good memories all in all back then at the Ol' Muni.

Yes, Lambert was not the only cheapshot artist. Joe Greene was infamous for dirty play as well. And maybe a couple of others. A lot of those Steelers did not have that rep...Ham, Russell, etc.

James Harrison is simply the successor in interest to Lambert. LB from Akron Area high school, going to Kent St...then to Steelers to become a cheapshot artist. Oh Well.

[mjp28]

Yes, Lambert was not the only cheapshot artist. Joe Greene was infamous for dirty play as well. And maybe a couple of others. A lot of those Steelers did not have that rep...Ham, Russell, etc.

James Harrison is simply the successor...... Oh Well.

Oh yeah but don't go to a Pittsburgh bar and say that, sports myths tend to grow and get more glorious as years go by. Lambert was goofy looking without his false teeth in place but made for great posters.

 

Yes he was a good player on a team with good athletes but it was during the cheap shot era and they were "super" at it. And yes they did have some really decent good players like Jack Ham, Andy Russell, Tony Dungy but they had some thugs remember the DL guy who was picked up for shooting at a police helicopter on the Ohio Turnpike? There's some trivia for you.

[The Gipper]

Oh yeah but don't go to a Pittsburgh bar and say that, sports myths tend to grow and get more glorious as years go by. Lambert was goofy looking without his false teeth in place but made for great posters.

Well, if you win 4 titles in 6 years, your fans are going to forget/forgive something like dirty play.

The thing is, they were good enough to win...and did win, without the dirty play. They just also liked being dirty. I guess they felt they had to keep up with the Joneses that were their biggest threat to AFC predominance: the Raiders. Who were also dirty cheapshot artists.

Sort of a game of one upmanship, perhaps?

 

Yes he was a good player on a team with good athletes but it was during the cheap shot era and they were "super" at it. And yes they did have some really decent good players like Jack Ham, Andy Russell, Tony Dungy

Well, they had a lot of HOF players....Russell and Dungy not among them. (or if by decent, you mean respectful, not cheapshotters...yes those guys fit)

 

but they had some thugs remember the DL guy who was picked up for shooting at a police helicopter on the Ohio Turnpike? There's some trivia for you.

OK, I remember the incident. Can't recall the player. (White guy...Polish name?)

[Tour2ma]

OK, I remember the incident. Can't recall the player. (White guy...Polish name?) - gip

======================================================================

 

Seem to be remember something similar about ex-steeler(s?) hunting... want to say bear hunting... and one took pot shots at traffic either on Pennsy Pike of I-90, but can't recall name...

 

I do remember Ernie Holmes shooting at trucks on the Ohio Turnpike... Found this bit on the incident.

He was convinced the trucks were after him. He pulled a shotgun from the floor and started shooting at the tires of passing trucks. He stuck his shotgun out the window, already blasted open by his own bullets, and kept shooting. The state police were on his tail now, chasing him at ninety miles an hour. He veered off the main road, blew out a tire, and jumped out of his car, running into a nearby forest. He carried his shotgun with him.

A police helicopter swirled overhead and Holmes, surrounded by state police, began shooting at it, hitting an officer in the ankle. Moments later, surrounded and exhausted, he was finally in cuffs. Said one officer afterward: "We could have killed him a dozen times."

http://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=5058107

[The Gipper]

OK, I remember the incident. Can't recall the player. (White guy...Polish name?) - gip

======================================================================

 

Seem to be remember something similar about ex-steeler(s?) hunting... want to say bear hunting... and one took pot shots at traffic either on Pennsy Pike of I-90, but can't recall name...

 

I do remember Ernie Holmes shooting at trucks on the Ohio Turnpike... Found this bit on the incident.

He was convinced the trucks were after him. He pulled a shotgun from the floor and started shooting at the tires of passing trucks. He stuck his shotgun out the window, already blasted open by his own bullets, and kept shooting. The state police were on his tail now, chasing him at ninety miles an hour. He veered off the main road, blew out a tire, and jumped out of his car, running into a nearby forest. He carried his shotgun with him.

A police helicopter swirled overhead and Holmes, surrounded by state police, began shooting at it, hitting an officer in the ankle. Moments later, surrounded and exhausted, he was finally in cuffs. Said one officer afterward: "We could have killed him a dozen times."

http://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=5058107

OK, I am way off. There must have been another incident in the back of my mind.

[mjp28]

OK, I am way off. There must have been another incident in the back of my mind.

Oh yeah Ernie Holmes was that character who BTW didn't really go up the river on the deal, he still started for the Steelers. I don't recommend you or me try that however, we might need a lawyer. ....or another lawyer. ;-)

 

Fun recalling those old sports stories.

[StinkHole]

 

but they had some thugs remember the DL guy who was picked up for shooting at a police helicopter on the Ohio Turnpike? There's some trivia for you.

OK, I remember the incident. Can't recall the player. (White guy...Polish name?)

 

 

Ernie Arrowhead Holmeski....bet you didn't know it was a Polock that started the Mohawk look.

 

[StinkHole]

 

 

Yep, can change in an instant...that last Steeler Bengals playoff fiasco proved that.

Vontage Burthdefect and company now at the top many Steeler fans "most hated" list.

 

No doubt Steelers-Browns once one of the greatest rivalries...but that rivalry went with the old browns to Baltimore.

 

No, it didn't asshole. Nothing of the Browns went to Baltimore. The reason that Balt/Pitt has been a good rivalry has been because those teams have been fighting it out for supremacy in the division the last 15 or so years. It has nothing to do with the Browns rivalry. That is competiveness...pure and simple. Not history.

 

 

Lol...seems I touched a nerve. The fact remains that those browns players went to Baltimore and put on purple. The fact also remains that Ozzie Newsome is still in Baltimore. That Cleveland hate for the Steelers went to Baltimore before they were even good enough to compete for the division, so something that was browns did go to Baltimore.

 

And how do those rivalries that we are talking about come about? Through competitiveness duh.

 

Any two teams in this division are natural rivals because they are in the same division, but the type of rivalry we are talking about between the Steelers and old Browns is dead right now.

[The Gipper]

 

Lol...seems I touched a nerve. The fact remains that those browns players went to Baltimore and put on purple.

A few Browns players went to Baltimore. There contracts were assigned to the new franchise. That means nothing in a league where there is like 50% turnover in players on a team from year to year.

 

The fact also remains that Ozzie Newsome is still in Baltimore.

Ozzie didn't really have a role with the Browns then. He was selling cars in fact, but wanted out of that. Ozzie needed a job. Modell gave him one. And he did well with that job. No one blames Ozzie for getting a job. No one criticizes him for sticking with a job he did well with.

 

That Cleveland hate for the Steelers went to Baltimore before they were even good enough to compete for the division, so something that was browns did go to Baltimore.

Now, THIS is the stupidest thing you have said yet. "Cleveland's hate for the Steelers went to Baltimore". Read what you wrote over again...and realize how assinine that is. First off....how he fuck would you know...you are a Steeler fan.

Also....perhaps Baltimore too learned to hate the Steelers...but that has nothing to do with Cleveland because: A. The Steelers are a naturally hateable team for anyone and B. that "hate" came about purely, as I noted, because these two teams have been good and have been vying for division supremacy for over a decade now. That has nothing to do with Cleveland. If the NFL at the time had decided to put the new Baltimore franchise into the AFC South when that division was created, and say let the Titans stay put in the AFC North....things would have been different. (and there may have been some sense to that, as the Titans are the Oilers, and the Steelers/Browns/Bengals/Oilers were a division for many years...and keeping the Oilers/Tits in the same division may have made sense. It could have been done just as easily to put the Ravens in the AFC South or the AFC East even.

And really, that should have happened. The AFC East would have been Bills, Jets, Pats, Ravens. All teams in the Northeast. And the AFC South would have been Titans/Texans/Jaguars/Dolphins. All teams in the South. The Indy Colts would have made as much sense being in the AFC North as having the Ravens in there.

 

And how do those rivalries that we are talking about come about? Through competitiveness duh.

Not necessarily. When the Browns/Steelers rivalry began in 1950, it was certainly NOT competitive. Browns dominated terribly. That did not mean there was not a rivalry. There was. Now, through competitiveness a couple of other rivalries did exist, like the Giants and Colts....but there certainly was still a big Browns/Steelers rivalry.

 

Any two teams in this division are natural rivals because they are in the same division, but the type of rivalry we are talking about between the Steelers and old Browns is dead right now.

Only for the moment because the Browns have not been able to get their act together. (that happened a bit with OSU/Mich as well)

As I noted elsewhere...if the Browns were to sweep the games in a season at some point.....that rivalry would come roaring back.

Yes, a rivalry is more fun when two teams are good.....and two teams being good made a rivalry.

Browns/Steelers is a natural geographic rivalry.

Steelers/Ravens is a competitive rivalry (but, geographically, the Steelers would have better rivalries with Buffalo and Philly as well as Cleveland over Baltimore)

Browns/Ravens is a rivalry made from hatred of betrayal. I don't think you have a clue about how hateful that one would truly be. It has suffered for the same reasons the Browns/Steelers rivalry has suffered....poor Browns management.

And Browns/Bengals has a bit of all of the reasons going for it: same state...competiveness (at one point the rivalry was for to see who could be worse)....and the fact that the same man was the founder of both teams.

 

[mjp28]

Oh yes the Pittsburgh Steelers (or Steegles for 1 war year) started in 1933 but NEVER played in a single postseason game until the 1970s, they stunk.....as I've reminded some pburg fans with black & gold blinders on.

 

The BROWNS beat the defending NFL champ Philly in game 1 and won it all in year 1, no CLE/PIT rivalry was even on the horizon yet. Takes time and "something" to spur on a true rivalry. (Oh and the "something" isn't always W/L or trophies but normally part of it.)

[StinkHole]

Oh yes the Pittsburgh Steelers (or Steegles for 1 war year) started in 1933 but NEVER played in a single postseason game until the 1970s, they stunk.....as I've reminded some pburg fans with black & gold blinders on.

 

 

If I had a penny for every time I've heard "Steeler fans have to be reminded..." lol...I'm sure Steeler fans are all caught up by now thanks to browns fans impeccable knowledge of history!

 

Maybe Steeler fans should preface any discussion with a browns fan by first acknowledging "yeah we sucked in the olden days" ..just to remove all doubt and get it out of the way LOL

[mjp28]

If I had a penny for every time I've heard "Steeler fans have to be reminded..." lol...I'm sure Steeler fans are all caught up by now thanks to browns fans impeccable knowledge of history!

 

Maybe Steeler fans should preface any discussion with a browns fan by first acknowledging "yeah we sucked in the olden days" ..just to remove all doubt and get it out of the way LOL

 

Well thank you that's a good idea, but most of the time I was talking to pburg fans in the 1970s and 1980s that I worked, drank and bet with down the mill. They were still new to this winnin' thang.

[BaconHound]

Currently the Browns have zero rivals they are the team that gets circled as a win on everyones' schedule and 3 to 4 teams don't get the job done. Over history for me:

1. Steelers

2. Bengals

3. Broncos

4. Ravens

[StinkHole]

Well thank you that's a good idea, but most of the time I was talking to pburg fans in the 1970s and 1980s that I worked, drank and bet with down the mill. They were still new to this winnin' thang.

 

OK, that's a little bit different. But still, Steelers fans in the 70's "forgot" the Steelers were bad for 33 years? No, browns fans "reminding" Steelers fans their team was bad, and "reminding" Steelers fans how awesome the Browns once were was only meant to rain on their parade or curb their enthusiasm because browns fans couldn't stand the fact that the Steelers were the new bad asses on the block..

 

Remember it was Gods gift to football...the Cleveland Browns who were supposed to be winning all those Super Bowls.

[StinkHole]

Currently the Browns have zero rivals they are the team that gets circled as a win on everyones' schedule and 3 to 4 teams don't get the job done. Over history for me:

1. Steelers

2. Bengals

3. Broncos

4. Ravens

 

That's different. Broncos before the Rats? Usually its Steelers Ravens one and two.

[The Gipper]

 

OK, that's a little bit different. But still, Steelers fans in the 70's "forgot" the Steelers were bad for 33 years? No, browns fans "reminding" Steelers fans their team was bad, and "reminding" Steelers fans how awesome the Browns once were was only meant to rain on their parade or curb their enthusiasm because browns fans couldn't stand the fact that the Steelers were the new bad asses on the block..

 

Remember it was Gods gift to football...the Cleveland Browns who were supposed to be winning all those Super Bowls.

We have 13...still most of any city....tied with Green Bay.

[BaconHound]

 

That's different. Broncos before the Rats? Usually its Steelers Ravens one and two.

 

 

The drive and the fumble stick with me more than the team moving

[mjp28]

The drive and the fumble stick with me more than the team moving

The drive (to tie remember) was Super Bowl or bust. The fumble in Denver (again to tie) was also tragic.

 

The move spurred largely for Federal Tax reasons (to pass the team on to his family) and some greed and spite thrown in -but- ended up costing Cleveland fans more dearly than that. We lost NFL football for three long seasons and had to start from below scratch, a real Death Penalty!

 

When JAX and CAR came into the league the NFL didn't want a repeat of Tampa Bay so they got quite liberal with the available pool players and rules, both made the playoffs in near record time (1950 BROWNS have the record! ) Well the owners cut back when it came to the BROWNS coupled with a bad FO and we're still paying for that today....... 20 years after Cleveland lost a team.