Barking like it means it: Cat's Eye acts as another Dawg Pound for Cleveland fans
I need to preface this with an apology to Dan Morris. He's a wonderful hockey coach and person, though a misguided soul when it comes to his football team.
That said, it's time to discuss a rivalry for the ages. Cat's Eye Saloon (Cleveland Browns) and Lucky's Sports Tavern (P-burgh Squealers) stare each other down across Court Street like adversaries preparing to duel.
For the Cat's Eye, the weapon of choice is Browns Fanaticism.
As I enter, a refreshing sea of brown and orange engulfs me. Upon brick walls, reflecting the blue-collar city on Lake Erie itself, hang pictures of Bernie Kosar and Ozzie Newsome. Cleveland Rocks blares on the jukebox.
The aroma of chili cheese dogs -a game-day delicacy -fills air breathed by those who now have two reasons to dislike Ben Roethl-can't-spell-his-name. A fan wearing a Jamir Miller jersey offers me a beer, just because I like the Browns and look thirsty. I keep reminding myself I'm not actually in the Dawg Pound.
Clearly, this is the official site of Athens Area Browns Backers, part of Browns Backers Worldwide, the largest organized fan club in professional sports. Anything official across the street? Didn't think so.
You see, Cat's Eye is more than pool tables, bowling arcade and 6-by-8 big screen. It's more than $2 16-ounce pounders and $1.75 PBR bottles.
It's about diehards living and dying by a team that hasn't won a championship in 40 years. It's about cursing Bill Cowher and vowing never to visit that hole in the wall across the street. It's about crying after losses, but always returning next Sunday.
So the Brownies play that team again this week? You'll know where to find me.
Lucky's, Steelers similar: Team owns stellar record, bar provides high spirits
How much fun can a bar be if it supports a football team that's trapped in the basement of the AFC North with its pitiful 3-5 record?
I can't say, because on Sunday afternoons you'll find me at Lucky's Sports Tavern, watching the 7-1 Steelers.
As a Pittsburgh native, the thought of being inundated by swarms of Cleveland Browns fans at OU and their beliefs that they might actually participate in a Super Bowl, let alone win one, was the stuff that nightmares were made of.
Enter Lucky's, a home away from home for those who root for two NFL teams: the Steelers and whoever plays the Browns.
With a Steelers bobblehead and Myron Cope's Terrible Towel prominently on display, and ice cold Iron City beer available, it's as though you never left the 'Burgh.
The only thing that reminds me that I am not on the banks of where the Mon meets the Allegheny is the absence of a Primanti Brothers sandwich.
Along with the hometown beer, Steelers Sundays come complete with complimentary hot dogs and chili at Lucky's.
Decked from head to toe in Steelers garb, the amiable fans are what makes Lucky's superior. And they -unlike Browns Fans Anonymous -do not require an official club to be diehards.
Prick the lifeline of Lucky's and you'll find that it, like the patrons inside, bleeds Black and Gold. It's not just the ties to the Steel City that unite them, but rather the love of a good - novel thought, isn't it? -football team.
So this Sunday, say around 1 p.m., when you hear chants of Here we go Steelers! echoing onto the sidewalk, take a look in the Cat's Eye, realize how depressed those poor souls will be in three hours, and stop in Lucky's, where bars are for fun n'at.
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