The Dawg Pound is the name of the bleacher section behind the east end zone in Cleveland Browns Stadium, the home field of the Cleveland Browns, a National Football League (NFL) franchise based in Cleveland, Ohio.
Formation
According to Hanford Dixon, then a cornerback with the Browns, Dixon himself gave his defensive teammates the name "Dawgs" to inspire them before the 1985 season. The Dawg Pound started during the 1985 training camp at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland. Dixon and fellow cornerback Frank Minnifield started the idea of the pound by using the dog-versus-cat relationship between the quarterback and the defense. "We had the idea of the quarterback being the cat, and the defensive line being the dog," Dixon said. "Whenever the defense would get a regular sack or a coverage sack the defensive linemen and linebackers would bark." This attitude carried into the stands at the training camp, where fans started barking along with the players. Dixon and Minnifield then put up the first "Dawg Pound" banner in front of the bleachers before the first preseason game at old Cleveland Stadium. The bleacher section had the cheapest seats in the stadium, and its fans were already known as the most vocal. They adopted their new identity whole-heartedly, wearing dog noses, dog masks, bone-shaped hats and other outlandish costumes.
Notoriety
Dawg Pound fans quickly developed a reputation for misbehavior as well as vociferousness. Team officials banned the carrying of dog food into the stadium, as bleacher fans would shower the visiting team with Milk-Bones, along with eggs, batteries, and other objects. Dawg Pound fans also consumed hefty amounts of alcohol, even sneaking a keg into the stadium inside a doghouse. Their reputation was such that other teams' rowdy fans would often be compared to them - in 1989, when a Cincinnati Bengals game was halted by the throwing of debris at the visiting Seattle Seahawks, Bengals coach Sam Wyche addressed the crowd, angrily reminding them that, "You don't live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinnati!"
On at least one occasion, Dawg Pound rowdiness affected the outcome of a game. In the fourth quarter of a 1989 game against the hated Denver Broncos, the rain of batteries, rocks, eggs, and other debris coming down from the bleachers was endangering the safety of the players. To move the action away from the east end, referee Tom Dooley had the teams switch sides. That put the wind at the Browns' back. The Browns won on a Matt Bahr field goal that barely cleared the crossbar.
At the final game at Cleveland Stadium in December 1995, fans, including members of the Dawg Pound, ripped the bleachers and seats from the stands, many having brought wrenches, crowbars, and other tools to dislodge the seats. Some fans threw the seats onto the field, while others took them home as souvenirs.
"Here We Go Brownies Here We Go! - Woof! Woof!" is the most common chant heard in the Pound, especially on drives (either offensive or defensive) going towards that end of the field.
The new pound
When Cleveland Browns Stadium was completed in 1999, team officials named the sections in the stadium's east end the Dawg Pound. The new Pound differs from the original in having two decks, but like the Dawg Pound of Cleveland Municipal Stadium, the new stadium's Dawg Pound seats are all bleachers. The Dawg Pound personal seat license was one of the most expensive in the new Stadium.
The new Pound also has official recognition from the team. The team trademarked a Dawg Pound logo, which it uses on select fan memorabilia. This logo was created by NFL Properties and is the only such logo developed for an NFL fan base by the league. It is featured on officially licensed Browns merchandise such as T-shirts, pennants, bumper stickers, etc.
The establishment nature of the new Pound, as well as the more-sterile atmosphere of the new stadium, turned off some veteran fans, especially the old "blue-collar" fan base. This has resulted from what was originally a player and fan movement - the Dawg Pound - having been made "corporate," by the Browns organization, including trademarks, copyrights and an official "Dawg Pound" logo. Also, the more sterile, corporate atmosphere at the new FirstEnergy Stadium (as opposed to the near anarchy at the old stadium in the 1960s-1990s) has been viewed by more traditionalist Browns fans and Dawg Pound season ticket holders as tarnishing the history and traditional passion of the fanbase.
"Bottlegate"