For Monday, August 18th game against the NY Giants we will be at the SKYBOX Sports Lounge.

We will be able to watch live pre-season games at The Upper Deck/Profile again this year unless otherwise noted.  Email confirmations will be sent out each week of the pre-season so check your email inbox regularly.   The Upper Deck is located at 625 E Whitaker Mill Rd in Raleigh.

If you have not received at least one email from us this summer, please contact us to make sure we have your correct address.  Send an email to gobrowns@triad.rr.com as soon as possible so that we can update our list!

BROWNS BACKER CLUB EVENTS THIS WEEKEND!

Looking for a Browns Backer function to attend this weekend?  Depending on where you live, we may be able to help!  Below are three events occurring this Saturday, May 10 hosted by Browns Backer Clubs:

Brewery District Browns Backers (Columbus, OH)
- “Puppy Bowl” Charity Fundraiser for the Capital Area Humane Society
- Buffalo Wild Wings (515 S. High St.)
- 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
- Special guest:  Don Cockroft
- Contact:  Rick Belknap (614-266-1482)

Browns Backers of Greater Dayton (Dayton, OH)
- 18th Annual Banquet
- Holiday Inn Holidome (31 Prestige Plaza  Miamisburg, OH)
- 6:30 p.m.
- $55 per person
- Special Guests:  Doug Dieken (emcee), Don Cockroft, Shaun Smith and Eric Wright   
- Contact:  Randy Dodson (937-545-8182)

Rochester Browns Backers (Rochester, NY)
- 30th Anniversary Banquet
- Wishing Well Party House  (390 South  to Chili  Ave.  Exit 19)
- 6:00 p.m.
- Special guests:  Sam Rutigliano and Greg Pruitt
- Contact:  Chris Pratt (585-766-9494) 

Browns Backers Weekend:

Browns Backers Weekend 2008 is slated for August 1-3!  This will be 100% confirmed once the Training Camp scheduled is set but be sure to pencil this into your calendars!  More information to come soon…

Patrick Nieder, a Backers club president in Florida, is working on organizing a group ticket purchase for the Browns vs. Jaguars game next season (in
Florida).  The date has not been set, but they will be selling tickets shortly.  Patrick already has a group of about 450 Browns fans from around the country who have expressed interest and he will be working to get all of the tickets in the same sections.    Tickets will be approximately $45-55 each.  The seats are most likely to be in the upper deck, center field. Payment will not be due until sometime in April. If you think you will be interested in attending this game, please let me know (gobrowns@triad.rr.com)  by January 16^th if at all possible so that Patrick can include you in the count.  It sounds as if they are also working on arranging a tailgate party with some Browns alumni for that weekend so it should be fun.

Five first round draft choices make up this year’s nominees for the 2007 Diet Pepsi Rookie of the Year award.

WR Dwayne Bowe of the Kansas City Chiefs, RB Marshawn Lynch of the Buffalo Bills, RB Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings, LT Joe Thomas of the Cleveland Browns and LB Patrick Willis of the San Francisco 49ers were this year’s nominees.

Fans can vote for one of these five players on NFL.com from 9 a.m. EST on January 3 through 6 p.m. EST on January 28 to determine the 2007 Diet Pepsi Rookie of the Year.  To Vote, click here.

In addition, for the third year, NFL fans may cast their votes for the 2007 Diet Pepsi Rookie of the Year using phones with Sprint wireless service — an opportunity available only to Sprint customers. This fast, convenient voting method involves texting the word PEPSI to short code 7777. Sprint customers will then receive an interactive text message that links fans to the ballot with the five finalists. Data and text messaging rates may apply.

The winner will be presented the 2007 Diet Pepsi Rookie of the Year award during a press conference in Arizona, the site of Super Bowl XLII, on Thursday, January 31, 2008.

The five finalists were selected for their outstanding performances throughout the 2007 NFL season. Each week, five nominees were chosen for Diet Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week and NFL fans voted for the winner on NFL.com and via Sprint wireless. Those results were used to help determine the finalists.

This is Pepsi’s sixth year as the official soft drink sponsor of the NFL and the third year that Diet Pepsi will present the NFL Rookie of the Week and NFL Rookie of the Year awards.

This week, Cleveland takes on
Cincinnati at 1:00. 

Next week, Cleveland plays
San Francisco at 1:00.

Those of you who were at the Skybox last week probably noticed the camera crew that unexpectedly showed up!  The segment was shown on NBC17 during the late night sports show.  After a lot of hard work, Jason was able to convert the taped segment to a digital format in order to put it on our web site!  (THANKS JASON!) You can view it here:  http://www.raleighbrownsbackers.com/nbc17.php

I’ve also sent this link to the main Browns Backers office in
Ohio so they can see what a great group of Browns fans we have here in the Triangle!  Those of you who were interviewed did a fantastic job representing our club and Browns fans in general.  GREAT JOB!  

I received an e-mail from the Browns Backers office in
Cleveland.  They want to know how many people from each club will be attending the game on December 30^th.  Since it is the game scheduled between two holidays, and many people head “home” this week, out-of-town Backer attendance is expected to be fairly high.  They would like to recognize clubs with attending members during the game. So if you are planning on attending this game, please send a quick email to me ASAP so I can let them know how many of our folks will be in the stadium!   

Also, if you ARE going to be there, keep an eye/ear out for our club’s recognition during the pre-game “stuff.”  Since we were one of the 3 clubs to win a grant in the Cleveland Browns Foundations’ grant competition, there will be an on-field presentation and taping before the game.

Duane will be doing the End of the Year Drawing this week!  Remember, you must be present to win.  The drawing will take place during half time of the game so listen for the announcement

After talking with some of the women in the club, it occurred to me that it might be fun to plan an outing just for us; something that isn’t in a sports bar (not that there is anything wrong with that!).  Maybe meet for dinner one night?  Brunch?  Some kind of event?  If you are interested and have a suggestion, please let me know.  Or, if you are interested but don’t have a suggestion, just keep an eye out for a future e-mail concerning the outing… hopefully sometime in January or early February.

CURRENT MEMBERS:  Please remember to update your contact information if you move or change e-mail addresses during the off-season.  You can easily do this through our web site by clicking the “update your email” button at the bottom of the navigation menu on the homepage. 

NEW TO THE AREA AND WANT TO BECOME A MEMBER?  Please hit the “Join” button and fill out the information.  We’ll add you to the roster!

Thank you to everyone for making this another fun season!   And a truly heartfelt thank you to Duane Carr, Michael Pallante, Jason Roberts and David Spears for all of their extra help this season!!!  As I mentioned early on in the season, a couple of ongoing projects here in Greensboro made it difficult for me  to get to Raleigh for many games this year (and I’m sure it was only a coincidence that Cleveland lost every game that I was able to watch!  I’m not a jinx.  I’m not!!)   These guys really stepped up to the plate to take care of things on Sundays.   

I don’t think I need to tell anyone how important Sunday’s game is going to be, so I’ll just remind you that it’s at 1:00 … and leave it at that! 

But here is a good article with the breakdown:  http://www.cleveland.com/browns/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/sports/119736567692430.xml&coll=2

You may remember that we applied for a grant through the Cleveland Browns Foundation to support the Carolina Canines for Service organization on our behalf.  I got word last week that our club won one of the 3 awards!  And additional $2,000 will be sent to Carolina Canines to support the organization and its services.  This is in addition to the $500 that was raised during the Browns-Steelers game last month! Check out the official announcement: 

Cleveland Browns Foundation Grant Competition  -          The Browns Backers Worldwide and the Cleveland Browns Foundation are excited to announce the winners of the 2007 Grant Competition.  This year’s winners will receive a $2,000 grant from the Foundation.  They include: 1.      The Browns Backers of Greenville SC and “Upstate Challenger Sports” which plans to develop a Flag Football program for children and young adults with mental, physical and developmental disabilities in the upstate area of South Carolina

2.      Raleigh NC Browns Backers and “Carolina Canines for Service” which helps disabled youth and adults with highly-trained dogs, improving their independence and quality of life

3.      Lady Lake Tri-County Browns Backers (Lady Lake, FL) and the “Haven of Lake & Sumter Counties” which is a certified domestic violence center focusing on serving women and children that have been victims of violence 

-          Thank you to all who applied this year. 
We received a tremendous amount of applications, all which support worthwhile causes. We support and commend you for all that you do within your community.  Keep up the great work!

To those who ordered t-shirts this year:  please remember to pick up your order from Michael ASAP. 

Duane will be doing the end of the year drawings at half-time during the game NEXT week.  Remember, you must be present to win!

Kickoff is at 4:00 PM

They’re here!  Please see Michael Pallante (at the center round table) to pick up your shirt order if you have not done so already.

Remember, this is your club so be sure to let us know if you have any ideas, suggestions, or just a comment or two.  Let us know what’s working and what isn’t.

Let us know if you have any news that you would like to share with everyone!  Just got married?  Published your first book?  Just had a new baby Browns fan?  Just won the lottery and want to celebrate by buying a round for the house next week? ;-)  Let us know!