Dawg Pound
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.
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.
Dawg Pound fans also consumed hefty amounts of alcohol, even sneaking a keg into the stadium inside a doghouse.
[2] 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!"
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.
Also, the more sterile, corporate atmosphere at the new Huntington Bank Field (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.
[7] In a crucial late-season 2001 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Browns were driving toward the east end zone for what would have been the winning score.
NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue then called to override the referee's decision, sending the players back onto the field, where the Jaguars ran out the last seconds under a hail of debris.
The incident then would become known as "Bottlegate",[8] and resulted in the immediate ban of plastic beer bottles from future Browns home games.
[9] In October 2016, a group of Browns fans accidentally swapped two parts of a large three-part banner, causing it to read "This is the GPODAWUND."
Baseball Hall-of-Famer Hank Aaron often attended Browns games at Municipal Stadium and would sit in the Dawg Pound among the fans, albeit incognito.
