Cleveland Browns Score a (Culinary) Touchdown

As Brandon Weeden and Co. were warming up in Green Bay last night for their second preseason game, I was stretching out my taste buds at Cleveland Browns Stadium. My goal? To taste all of the new gourmet food options on the club level from three of Cleveland's most popular chefs — Michael Symon, Jonathon Sawyer and Rocco Whalen.

While season ticket holders, who were also invited to the event, lined up as B Spot chef Matt Harlan served up Lola fries (sprinkled with rosemary and sea salt) and the Fat Doug (a burger with coleslaw, pastrami, Swiss and mustard) — I headed to the newest concept, Sawyer's Street Frites.

Chef Sawyer, who was on the line, paused to chat with guests while sporting an awesome Browns hat, posed for pictures and even kicked back with a cold one. "This is a dream come true for both me and Rocco," he said. "We've been dreaming about doing this since we could sit upright."

I grabbed one of Danko's Donuts — a sweet and yeasty beast of a dessert topped with a sticky but delicious sauce — and the gravy frites. An avid cheese connoisseur, the cheese curds are what did it for me. The spicy gravy mixed with the creaminess of the cheese somehow kept the fries crisp instead of soggy, which I wasn't expecting. This was the one dish I completely finished and even contemplated getting more of. (Trust me, it tastes better than it looks.)

Rosie and Rocco's had the most options of the evening with a variety of salads, pizzas and meatballs. Rocco also worked the line, dishing out a variety of meatballs that guests could either sample solo or eat in a sandwich. Knowing that these meatballs were inspired by his mother's recipes, I had to try them.

While Momma Rosie's Meatball with veal, pork, beef, parmesan and marinara was tender and juicy, the one that caught my eye was Rocco's Mozzarella Meatball with fresh basil and parmesan. Lucky for me, I was eating alone, so I was easily able to sneak off into a corner and drink some of the tangy sauce. It was that good. 

Regardless of how the Browns do this year or how much it rains and/or snows, I know I will continue to sport my brown and orange and cheer on the home team — especially with dishes like this to comfort me along the way.

Golfing at Browns Stadium Fore Charity

Celebrities Bill Martin, Betsy Kling, Mike Cairns and Tony Zarrella teed it up at Browns Stadium for charity.

Where's Phil Dawson when you need him?

The Browns reliable field goal kicker could have been a good caddie Wednesday afternoon as four local media personalities teed it up from an unusual green: the 20-yard line at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Bill Martin, Tony Zarrella, Betsy Kling and Mike Cairns each had three chances to make a chip shot through the goal posts during the Bridgestone Invitational Media Day. A Dawson-like shot through the uprights earned each celebrity $1,000 for a Northeast Ohio charity. While all four downplayed their golf skills before taking their swings, we couldn't resist handicapping their games (all in the name of charity, of course).

Bill Martin, Fox 8
Playing for the HUGS Foundation 
What kind of golfer are you? Competitive. "The talent is there. I need more time to play."
When did you start golfing? "I really got serious about it about 10 years ago. I played as a kid then stopped for a long time."
Best part of your game? "My driving’s gotten really good — nice baby draw, about 280 yards."
Worst part of your game? "Right around the green — chipping."
His shot: Martin swung for the fences, lofting his first shot high into the air, through the goal posts and into the upper deck of the stadium.

Tony Zarrella, 19 Action News
Playing for The Up Side of Downs of Greater Cleveland 
What kind of golfer are you? Competitive. "I can play and put a 90 on the card. I could get 85 on a good day, but that’s about it."
When did you start golfing? About 20 years ago.
Best part of your game? "I got a great short game. I can get out of trouble, and I think it’s because I’ve done it so much. I’m always in trouble."
Worst part of your game? His tee shots. "I just bought a new driver and the [salesman] tried to talk me out of buying it. He said, 'Really? You want to spend $400 on this driver.' "
His shot: Maybe because of those issues off the tee, Zarella took a careful approach, driving the ball safe and low through the uprights on his first attempt.

Betsy Kling, Channel 3 
Playing for Hattie Larlham  
What kind of golfer are you? Duffer. "Bad. I usually don’t even keep score."
When did you start golfing? In college about 15 or 20 years ago.
Best part of your game? "My cheering ability — cheering on the people I’m golfing with."
Worst part of your game? "Probably my swing, which is probably a bad thing to have as your worst part. But golf is just a great game to get out and enjoy the weather anyway."
Her shot: Kling’s first shot was wide right. On her second attempt, her chip skipped short in the end zone. But with pressure on, she lofted her final shot successfully through the posts.

Mike Cairns, News Channel 5
Playing for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation 
What kind of golfer are you? Competitive. "I can shoot 85 or I can shoot 105, depending on the day."
When did you start golfing? "I started late. My dad was actually a college golfer, and I played a lot of baseball as a kid. I didn’t pick up a club until I was about 16 or 17 years old."
Best part of your game? His pre-swing mechanics. "I can tee the ball up better than anybody. ... That means put the ball on the tee better than anybody, not necessarily hit it. But I drive the ball really well. I can hit the ball far."
Worst part of your game? The mental part of the game. "Sometimes you start making some bad swings and it’s like all over, and it gets in your head."
His shot: Cairns, who was worried he might hook his shot into the owner's suite, split the uprights right down the middle on his first shot.

Thirteen-year-old Evan Steigerwald from First Tee of Cleveland also got a shot at winning money for his organization at the Bridgestone Invitational Media Day. Evan, who says he’s been golfing since he was 3 or 4, put his ball through the posts, earning $1,000 for First Tee of Cleveland, a youth group that builds character and values through the game of golf.

Phil would have been proud.

Obama and Springsteen downtown on Sunday

Barack and Michelle Obama are appearing on the downtown Mall on Sunday. The rally starts at 3:45 p.m., with gates opening at 2 p.m. Bruce Springsteen is opening for Obama with a solo acoustic set.

This could be a huge rally, even bigger than John Kerry's election eve rally at the same place in 2004, especially because, as The Professor points out, Obama's campaign is probably timing this with the Browns game in mind. The game starts at 1, so a stadium full of people will be emptying out around 4:15. Let's hope the tailgaters who stop by the rally aren't too rowdy.

Update: If you're going to the rally, take the Rapid. The Browns crowd and Obama crowd will completely fill downtown. "There won't be parking," the Cleveland police spokesman warns in the Plain Dealer today.

(Photo by Alex Hempton-Smith, from Flickr)

20 Wins? We Told You So ...

Who could have predicted Cliff Lee's amazing 20-win season? Us!

Check out this ditty, which was made before the season started:

Cliff Lee becomes the team’s first 20-game winner since Gaylord Perry in 1974. Bet you thought I’d say C.C. Sabathia here, right? Sure, it’d be just as pretty if it were C.C. who broke the drought, but Lee has a nasty repertoire and none of C.C.’s training issues.

OK, so it was from our April 2006 issue, but that's still before the season started. We were just a little ahead of our time. As for this season's prognostications? We're hoping they'll come true in 2009.

Oh yeah, mark it down, the Browns will go 6-10 this year (which was the prediction I made well before they went 0-4 in the preseason).

Madden 09 messes with downtown geography

What's wrong with this picture? The real question is: what's right? The release of Madden 09 came with a hi-def version of Cleveland that has some seriously screwed up geography. If you really stood in front of the stadium (as the tailgaters in this pic, who are partying in a parking lot that doesn't really exist either) and look out to the west, you would see Lake Erie, not the downtown skyline.

Let's say, for the sake of argument, the perspective is actually from the other side of the stadium: Key Tower and Terminal Tower would be obscured by the stadium, not off to the east.

The verdict: an obvious cut-and-paste job by game designers (stadium - check; highway - check; downtown skyline - check). we're sure the glitches exist in the depictions of the other cityscapes too, as the general set up of each landscape looks remarkably similar save for the iconic buildings plugged in to each one. The game's designers probably thought no one would notice. We did.

P.S. Look where they put the Great Lakes Science Center in this thing, too (that's it, across the water in the distance).