With the news that Chad Johnson was thinking of leaping into the Dawg Pound if he got a TD in Cleveland (he wussed out, by the way), I was wondering how many of those end zone bleacher sections have nicknames and which is the best (or maybe I should say worst). I suppose we can expand it further to any similar seating section, like the Rockpile in Buffalo or the 700 Level in the old Vet.
I’ve always dug the Black Hole.
During the Detroit/Oakland game, they had a cameraman in the Black Hole. I didn’t notice Dominator there. Is he okay?
It’s bad when you know the superfans. When the Barrel Guy disappears from Invesco Field, the apocalypse is nigh.
Chad Johnson didn’t chicken out did he?
He jumped up in there (of course, not all the way), got pounded on, flicked off and a beer poured on him.
Had we been losing or were he not wearing protective gear I think he may have gotten carried out on a stretcher, but that’s just a guess!
Dawg Pounders are pretty brutal. Remember, we’re the ones who threw Milkbones and batteries, and promptly got all glass bottles taken away too. The battery incident even had an impact on the game, as the ref turned the teams around on the field to avoid the Dawg Pound.
Wikipedia article for those who want to marvel at what a ruthless bunch of fans Clevelanders can be 
I get the impression that there were arrangements pre-made for Chad’s little celebration, and that he specifically ran towards attention-whore Big Dawg and friends with the agreement that they wouldn’t beat him. I need a recording to look at that again, but from what I’ve heard on message boards it seemed like they were cheering with him.
Nearby fans, though, dumped beer on him, flicked him off, and perhaps other stuff.
The Dawg Pound has lost some of its bite because of the new family-friendly everyone quietly behave BS they try to push on people at stadiums. Some of the fan base has been alienated - the really hardcore blue collar type guys who created the dawg pound have a hard time affording going to modern games - to be replaced by more casual people.
I’ve sat in the pound for a few games and it’s still a very loud place, but it’s not a place where fans of opposing teams would fear for their safety (worst they’ll get is yelled at and have beer dumped on them perhaps), or the sort of wild place with women flashing, people making opposing fans feel unwelcome emphatically, and people throwing things at opposing players.
It’s hard to tell how much is the result of a shift of demographics, and how much is the result of a security guard with restrictive policies to enforce lined up in every section.
NFL fans as a whole have become less hardcore, it would seem.
The Dawg Pound in its glory days (late 80s) was probably wilder than anything the NFL has ever seen or will ever see again, but I’ll take Cleveland Browns fans, and specifically pounders, over any other fans in the world for any sport when it comes to tenacity in their support.
Yeah they showed a couple clips of CJ talking to the Big Dawg and a few other guys, presumably before the game began. It looked like they were all pretty receptive, except there was one guy who clearly gave the finger and may have been the one who dumped the beer.
The announcer said every Cleveland game has been sold out since the franchise returned in ‘99. Considering the Browns’ record through those years, that’s quite a testament to the dedication of the fans.
Reading this thread on a Browns message board it’s clear that Chad knew at least one of the guys and talked to them before games. I guess when they talked they agreed they’d let Chad jump in there without him getting killed. One of the guys involved (“dawg pound mike”) posts on the thread later trying to defend himself by saying they were just trying to goad Chad into the place so the pound could have their way with him, but people doubt him. In general, people are very angry that these people welcomed Chad into the pound during an act of disrespect, questioning their fanhood, that they’re more concerned with their media whoring and camera time than with their fandom. They’re probably right.
The point is made though that Chad definitely doesn’t look happy when he comes out - something unexpected probably happened. Maybe someone snuck a punch behind the camera, or he didn’t expect the beer (of which there were several, but how could you not expect at least that?), or maybe something else. I hope to see it again so I can get a look.
I guess that partially demonstrates the difference between the Pound of old and the one today. If Chad had tried that stuff 20 years ago, he might’ve left the pound on IR - no exaggeration. People wouldn’t stand for disrespect.
Not only that, but the season ticket waiting list, at least a while back, was several years long. That may have changed, but generally no, there’s no fanbase more passionate about their football team than Cleveland. One of the big financial magazines does a ranking of fanbases every year, based on the attendance vs the size of the city vs available seating, average income, weather (below freezing winter games in an outdoor stadium tend to seperate the hardcore from the fair weather), team success, etc. and Cleveland almost always, if not always, comes out on top. The Browns Backers sports fan organization is the largest in the world for any sport - and has several hundred chapters including ones in random countries you’d never guess have even heard of the team.