...and call me in the morning.

    Last weekend was rough on me. For the first time since I have been stationed in Japan, the Browns and Buckeyes were both going to be televised by the Armed Forces Network (AFN) on the same weekend. I was so pumped on Friday after work; knowing that sleep (or lack thereof) wouldn't be an issue because I didn't need to go to work on Monday due to Veterans day. The wife knew this, so while calling me 50 different names for mentally challenged people, she gave me my space and slept soundly while I woke up at 5:30 am on my Sunday night to watch the Buckeyes lay an egg against Illinois, and at 3:00 am on Monday to watch the Browns break my heart against the Urine and Black. A weekend filled to the brim with excitement over finally being able to watch my two favorite teams LIVE was ended on a sour, nauseous, sickening note. I literally felt sick to my stomach while going into work on Tuesday. The only bright surprise that day was that the yinzer that is stationed with me didn't act like normal; instead of gloating like a typical yinzer would after a victory over the Browns, he said his team was lucky to get that win, and he actually has respect for the Browns now. Believe me, if that son of two cousins would have said word one about the game in a gloating way, I would have went off on him.

    So, after that sickening weekend of sports, how does one who roots so fanatically for the scarlet and gray and Orange and brown recover from his or her sickness? What is the prescription? Well, this week tOSU plays in it's most important game of the year (no matter what year it is and what the implications are) and the Browns play in a game against the 2nd most hated NFL team in my household. A sweep of these two games is the only thing that can cure this illness. Just like Christopher Walken playing Bruce Dickinson on SNL said:  "Guess what? I got a fever! And the only prescription...is more cowbell!", the only prescription for my illness after last weekend...is a Buckeye and Browns sweep!

Mondays.  I'm willing to bet that the majority of us depise them.  You're done with your weekend, and you're starting another week of work. Ugh.  Well, you don't have it so bad my friend.  As I wrote in my previous post, the time to watch/listen my beloved Cleveland Browns is usually 2 a.m.  Normally, I blow off the first half or so and wake myself up at a torturous 4 a.m.  Of course, the wife says I'm an #### for doing so, but hey, I'm a Browns fan babe; we do crazy things (not crazy enough for the quite lucky Chad Johnson, if I were in the 'Pound...). 

The last two weeks, my mornings started early. Each time, the game has just entered the 3rd quarter.  Usually I get a feel for how the game has gone from the message boards on theOBR.com.  I fire up my sopcast or streaming radio feed if available, and commence my unique Monday/Sunday football experience. 

The first week of the season; hopes were high.  I made sure I let the yinzer I work with over here in Japan know what I thought of his Steelers all week.  I sent him pictures of mullets and yinzer jokes, mostly taken from some Browns' related anti-yinzer websites.  I was expecting this to be an evenly matched game, based on what I had seen in the preseason (mistake), and also based on the amount of talent I thought we had in Cleveland.  I guess you can say I was sporting the brown and orange shades.  Needless to say, when I tuned in early in the 3rd quarter, the game was already over.  The Browns had laid a major egg.  The Watercooler was "en fuego" in a bad way.  Flamespraying anyone and everyone - coaches, players, fans, pets, and even spouses was rampant.  It was a mess.  My Monday was a mess.  It's amazing how much impact a Browns' loss, especially one that bad,  has on my Moday and even my workweek.  I was in a crappy mood, had some really horrible workouts, and was gloomy all week.  Seeing the trade of Charlie Frye and all of the negative news surrounding the Browns made it even worse.  I was tempted not to even watch the next game vs. the Bungles.

Dateline: Sep. 17, 2007. 0400 Hours, Yokosuka, Japan local time.  I decided to tempt fate and wake up early again to watch/listen to the Browns.  I was expecting them to be losing, most likely by a wide margin.  I mean, after last week, why not?  For all I knew, Derek Anderson was gonna throw 3 picks, the defense was going to get smoked, and we would manage to kick a field goal or two.  So, I fire up the ol' laptop, I open theOBR.com, I go to the Watercooler, and I check out the game thread.  It already has 30+ pages. What the heck? Somethings gotta be up.  Maybe Brady Quinn is in the game.  Maybe one of our stars got injured.  Something must have happened for there to be that much traffic in the third quarter.  So I go into the Fox Sports NFL scoreboard, and what do I see? 27-21 Cleveland? What?  We actually scored points?  Okay, I am excited now.  I close the door to make sure any emotion doesn't wake up the Missus.  I turn up the volume on the laptop and #### up the sopcast feed.  Kinda choppy but the game is on.  AFN decides to tease me with about 20 minutes of the game, enough time to see Jamal Lewis run 66 yards like he was playing for Baltimore and he was running against Cleveland a few years ago, except he was wearing a Browns uniform.  After Braylon Edwards made an amazing diving catch, and they were up 48-38, AFN decided to go to their next-scheduled game, which was the Ravens vs. the Jets, a game I could care less about.  Okay, no worries, back to the sopcast.  Oh great. A drive down into the red zone and we get a field goal. 51-38.  Another drive revolves around Mr. Palmer's strong arm.  Only up by 6.  They get the ball back.  They punt (for only the 2nd time in the game, thank you very much).  Prevent defense.  Ah, ####.  Flashbacks to Elway are coming back to me...and they are approaching midfield...and here we go again...and....picked off by Bodden!!  A game where he gets burned by Chad Johnson for over 200 yards, and he saves the game with an all-pro wide receiver-like catch tapping his left foot before he slides out of bounds.  The Browns win!  The Browns win!  Upset city!  Screw you Vegas!  Screw all of you so called "experts"!  My day, my week, and my life is spun into a positive note.  The national media actually commending the Browns.  The optimistic, upbeat, and positive posts are abound in the 'Cooler, with the only negative ones revolving around the "turncoat" activity of a few Dawg Pound "regulars" who were caught hugging and loving Chad Johnson while the "truer" Dawgs spilled beer and other amber #### liquids on ol' Ocho Stinko.  That took nads, and I doubt he does it again. 

Two different Mondays (Sundays for you all back in the US).  Two different outcomes.  So is the life of a Browns fan, a Browns fan living in Japan.  Bark hard Dawgs.  We go to Oakland next.  See you next time.

  I sit at my desk at 10:00 am on a Monday morning.  I log onto a Cleveland Browns related chat site hosted by Scout.com (thank God for the OBR!).  I watch a game on the TV that has two teams I could really care less about (for example, let's say the Cardnials and the Rams). My commercials are all about military history, military conduct, and a few public service announcement-type jobs. Where am I?

  I am over in Yokosuka, Japan.  We are 13 hours ahead of you (unknowingly) lucky putzes who sit in your own houses or at your favorite local bar at decent times to see your favorite teams.  Needless to say, it isn't the easiest thing to do; to be a sports fan and be stationed in a foreign country.  In order to see - make that hear - most of my Cleveland Browns games' broadcasts, I have to wake up at around 2:00 am on Monday.  If only I was a fan of a west-coast team such as the Niners or the Seahawks. Then I could sleep in until 5:00 am!

  I know, sounds a lot like whining, huh?  Well, it is - and I can't even account for my even less fortunate mates stationed over in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Sometimes they don't even have the ability to watch or listen to a game on TV or radio or computer.  In America, we take too much for granted.  I wrote this little blog entry so that you could pause a moment and thing of how well you have it compared to some of your fellow men and women who are overseas keeping everyone as safe as possible at home. Don't take anything for granted; your TV, your Playstations, your kids, your family.  Say a prayer for the troops overseas in harms' way. 

  Thanks for reading my little whine session. I'll see some of you in the chat rooms on Monday morning. I mean, Monday morning for me, Sunday afternoon for you.

Cheers...

Rich Possert