I'll never forget the sound of those plastic beer bottles striking the ground. It was a weird, high-pitched sound; something so unique that it'll never sound like anything other than plastic beer bottles striking the ground in Cleveland.
And I'll never forget the huddle between Jaguars and Browns people under the grandstand, where they were being told in a telephone conversation with Commissioner Paul Tagliabue that the two teams had to go back onto the field and finish the game. All I could think was, "You gotta be kidding me. What if somebody gets hurt?"
It was, without a doubt, one of those events in my life that was so striking that it will always seem as though it happened yesterday. Yeah, I was at Kent State on May 4, 1970, and I saw the "Immaculate Reception" on Dec. 23, 1972, and I was standing on the field at Cleveland Browns Stadium on Dec. 16, 2001, when "smack" took on a new meaning.
Now, four years later, as the Jaguars return to Cleveland for the first time since that ugly day, we need to ask ourselves some questions. Did we learn anything from that event? Have we improved our stadium behavior? Are we more able to accept minor setbacks and frustrations on our athletic fields?
I don't have answers for you; only questions. It was a watershed moment in American sports and we shouldn't have dismissed it as having been insignificant or entertaining. It was a warning of what we were becoming. The officials weren't on trial that day. We were.
Here are Vic's 10 things the Jaguars have to do to beat the Browns.
