New year’s day 1995 was spent at Municipal Stadium rooting on the Bill Belichick coached Cleveland Browns over the Bill Parcells coached New England Patriots. But I had a little extra to lose on this game.
While on the air at 102 ZOO earlier that week I had made a bet with the local Marine recruiter on the outcome of the game. I can’t recall his name, but we’ll call him Gus. Gus was from the Massachusetts area and was a big Patriots fan. He was a regular caller and a really good guy.
So, in my typical overconfident way, I made a very public bet with him. If the Patriots won, I would have to do a five mile Marine-style hike in full pack with him. If the Browns won, Gus would have to do a pushup for every offensive yard gained by Cleveland. What made it even more fun is that we were both at the game and I knew where he was sitting.
Not only did the Browns win, but they racked up 379 total yards in offense. Not bad for wet weather game.
So here’s the kicker, no pun intended, but I made Gus do those pushups in Center Court of the Ashtabula Mall. While I did live reports back to the radio station. Of course he made short work of them, but it was all in good fun.
