NFL football fans are some of the most passionate and prideful sports fans in the world.  An NFL game is filled with excitement mainly because of the fans cheering and screaming in the stadium.  This passion and pride however can also sometimes turn ugly, if the crowd feels cheated or disrespected by its home town team.  And never was this the case more than in Cleveland in 1996.

It was on this day, February 8th, 1966, that a deal was reached to send the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore.  Browns owner Art Modell reached the deal with the NFL that would change Cleveland football forever.  Fans were outraged, as their beloved team would be no more.

The reason for the move was that Art Modell felt that Baltimore would fund a first-class stadium.   Art become one of the most vilified people in the history of sports. The city of Cleveland was given a new NFL football team in 1999, and while new players and ownership managed the team, they were still called the Browns.  This helped the City of Cleveland move on from their disdain for Art Modell, and once again focus on football.