Johnny-on-the-Spot … by John Foster …

I saw an add on Facebook for a Cleveland Brown’s jersey.

In Cleveland’s brown and orange color scheme, it said, “Party Like It’s 1964”.

Being a fan of Prince and his 1982 hit, “1999”, (So to night I’m gonna party like it’s 1999), I got a kick out of that because the significance of “partying like it’s 1964” is not lost on me.

Let me explain,

In 1964, I was a teen growing up in northern Ohio where the Cleveland Browns were part of my genetic make-up.

That year, the Browns had a quarterback (#13) named Frank Ryan, a highly-educated signal caller with a PhD from Rice University.

His running back was #32, the great Jim Brown who rushed for more than 1,400 yards that season.

One of Ryan’s receivers was #42, Paul Warfield, the team’s 1st round pick out of Ohio State.

In 1964, the Browns finished the regular season with 10 wins, 3 losses and 1 tie.

They were coached by Blanton Collier, who looked like a character out of the Andy Griffith Show.

Collier was a WWII Navy vet with hearing problems.

It may be why he called most his male students “George” and the female ones “Martha” while teaching at a high school.

Collier coached at the University of Kentucky and guided the Browns from 1963 to 1970.

But teamed up with Dr. Frank Ryan at quarterback, he lead the team in 1964 to what ESPN described as the 2nd greatest NFL post-season upset when the Browns blanked the Baltimore Colts 27-0 to claim the NFL title.

The only bigger upset was when Joe Namath lead the New York Jets to the Super Bowl III win, also over the Baltimore Colts.

The Colts in 1964 were quarterbacked by #19, black, high-topped shoe-wearing Johnny Unitas with that flattop for the ages, the great running back Lenny Moore and tight end John Mackey plus a defense loaded with all-stars.

The Browns were huge underdogs.

The game was played in Cleveland and I remember watching it on a black and white TV in the basement of Alan Berry’s home.

The screen was about the size of my current computer monitor.

After a scoreless 1st half, the Browns posted 27 second half scores, paced by #86, Maryland receiver Gary Collins’ 3 TD receptions.

Sports columnist Red Smith described the Browns as a team consisting of “a quarterback who understood Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and 10 mates who didn’t know there was one.”

The brainy Frank Ryan actually taught a class in the morning at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and then went to football practice in the afternoon.

But the Browns were the champs of the NFL and they’ve never really come close to winning it all since then.

Probably 2 of the best Brown teams got bumped from the play-offs by the Denver Broncos and smiling John Elway.

The Browns are just 17-22 in the play-offs and as recently as 2016, went 0-16 after winning just once the year before.

I moved my family to Columbus, Indiana in 1996, and it was from then until 1999 that the team didn’t exist when former owner Art Model moved the team to Baltimore.

But the NFL allowed Cleveland to keep the name and the uniforms.

While the Browns weren’t playing, I bought my “Undefeated for 3 Years” Brown’s cap while I started to follow the equally miserable Indianapolis Colts.

I even bought a #99 Tony Siragusa jersey but I couldn’t wait for the Brown’s to resume play.

I remember watching the 1st game and telling my wife, “Geez, I don’t know any of these players!”

The ones I knew were now Baltimore Ravens.

That’s when I parted ways with the Brownies.

And, while the Colts were pretty lousy in those days, at least I knew many of them.

At least I got to enjoy a Colts Super Bowl 41 win and a number of play-off games although it’s been 5 seasons since the last one.

Now should the Browns every get to a Super Bowl, I would pull for them.

But if they beat the Colts to get there, I might have indigestion.

Would I party like 1964?

I doubt it.

My party moves have deteriorated greatly since then.

At least I wouldn’t have to watch it on that tiny black and white TV in Alan Berry’s basement.