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25. The Dream Game Turns into a Shocker
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B y Labor Day 1950, anticipation for the upcoming Dream Game between the Cleveland Browns and the Philadelphia Eagles had reached sizzling proportions. Coach Greasy Neale’s Eagles were coming off back-to-back NFL championships. The Browns had won all four AAFC titles but were still smarting from the remark made by Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall, who insulted their former league by saying, “The worst team in our league could beat the best team in theirs.” Realizing the incredible demand for tickets, Bert Bell moved the contest from the smaller Shibe Park to the 100,000-capacity Municipal Stadium and changed the kickoff from Sunday afternoon to Saturday night, September 16. It was a smart move. The Eagles drew 71,237 fans, the largest crowd in their history, for the contest. The commissioner made another decision before the game, a decision that went unnoticed in some circles but one that set the stage for many significant developments in the future. He granted permission to the littleknown DuMont television network to carry the game as far as the coaxial cable reached. Thus, thousands of fans as far west as Omaha, Nebraska, got their first taste of professional football. DuMont had been established in 1949 as the nation’s “fourth network,” with most of its popularity riding on the success of young, upcoming comedians Jackie Gleason and Art Carney. Before the charged-up Browns took the field that night, Paul Brown called a meeting in Cleveland’s locker room. Facing the squad with his steely, piercing eyes, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the coach quietly said, “Today you boys will have a chance to touch the great Steve Van Buren.” They never got the chance. Van Buren and Philadelphia’s other top running back, Bosh Pritchard, were sidelined with injuries. But with Bell and the Eagles’ fans sitting in shocked disbelief, the Browns thoroughly 25. The Dream Game Turns into a Shocker The Dream Game Turns into a Shocker • 171 dismantled the defending NFL champs, 35–10. After the game, the visibly subdued commissioner congratulated Brown and called Cleveland the most intense and best-prepared team he had ever seen. “We had whetted our appetites to play that game for about three years,” Brown told the Plain Dealer. “When we played the Eagles in that first game,” Browns quarterback Otto Graham later explained to Lonnie Wheeler of Ohio Magazine, “I would say that there was never another team in the history of sports, anywhere in the world, that was as prepared, physically and emotionally, to play a ball game. We would have played the Eagles for a keg of beer or a milkshake.” After the Browns edged the Los Angeles Rams, 30–28, for the NFL championship on December 24, Bell was once again his ecstatic self. “It’s the greatest football game I’ve ever seen,” he said. “In Los Angeles , we probably have the finest personnel any club ever boasted. But in the Cleveland Browns, we probably have the most intensively coached club in history. The Browns overlook no detail in coaching or preparation for a game. They are ready for anything and they have that extra something of which champions are made.” There was another reason for Bell’s elation. The hatchet finally appeared buried with his longtime adversary, Paul Brown. “I just don’t feel like trying to lord it over the National League,” Brown told Edward Prell of the Chicago Tribune after the game.“Bert Bell is a smart and fine guy. He’s a wonderful commissioner. He knows all the heartaches that go with this sport. He calls the shots as he sees them. Before the game when he talked to me about the officials, I said I would leave it up to him. I’ve learned to have confidence in Bert. During all our years of difficulties with the National League, he always was a gentleman.” The night before the game, relaxing in a cotton sweatshirt in his hotel suite, Bell had explained to sportswriters his feelings about Brown and his team. “I don’t know of a finer organization in football than the Browns,” Bert said.“The players bring their lunch to practice and that’s a fact. Their owner, Mickey McBride, is unlike most millionaires who go into sports. Mickey stays in the background and lets his team take the bows. I wish we had more like him in the league.” The commissioner also announced that radio and television...