Steelers, Browns hold Grudge Luncheon
by Jerry DiPaola Tribune-Review

Four years after their last meeting and four months before their next kickoff, the Steelers and Cleveland Browns exchanged blows Monday at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. No blood was spilled, only a little lemon caper sauce off the chicken breasts.

The occasion was the first of two Grudge Luncheons to trumpet the return of what Steelers vice president Arthur J. Rooney II called "the greatest rivalry in the NFL." The scene shifts to Cleveland next Monday.

Steelers Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Lambert, who was a Browns fan while growing up in Ohio, believes the teams' bitter feelings for each other have survived the four-year absence. "I don't think we need any luncheon, either in Cleveland or Pittsburgh, to revive the rivalry," said Lambert, who made a rare public appearance at the request of Steelers president Dan Rooney. "It is going to pick up right where it left off, absolutely."

The Browns are back in the NFL for the first time since the former Browns left for Baltimore and became the Ravens following the 1995 season. The new Browns' first game will be nationally televised Sunday night, Sept. 12, against the Steelers in new Cleveland Stadium.

Bill Cowher, who played and coached for the Browns before coming to Pittsburgh in 1992, said he can't wait. He remembers his last time in old Cleveland Stadium, standing in the end zone with his back turned defiantly to the Browns fans in the Dawg Pound while he watched his Steelers warm up.

He recalled the jeers from the seats: "Cowher, you weren't any good as a player, and you weren't worth anything as a coach." "It's going to be fun to relive that," Cowher said.

Browns defensive tackle John Jurkovic made sure he ridiculed just about everything about his visit to Pittsburgh, including the light fare at lunch. "We're happy to be coming here and enjoy lunch, if that is what you call it," he said. "It was more like hors-d'oeuvres." Jurkovic knew he was approaching Pittsburgh "when we smelled the pungent aroma on our bus. We were just happy we could keep down what we ate."

Rocky Bleier countered by recalling his first trips to Pittsburgh and Cleveland. When he played for Notre Dame, he came to Pittsburgh for the first time for a game against Pitt. "I walked outside the hotel and I said to myself, `Who would want to live here?' The next year, I travelled to Cleveland with the Steelers, looked around and said to myself, `I really like Pittsburgh.'"

Myron Cope, who is approaching his 30th season as a colour analyst on Steelers broadcasts, has better feelings for Cleveland than Jurkovic has for Pittsburgh. Cope said he always will have a special place in his heart for the Cleveland Browns, who erected - at his request, he said - a portable wash room on the roof of old Cleveland Stadium to expedite his rush to nature's call during halftime. "It is a monument to my career," Cope said. "In Pittsburgh, I didn't even have a street named after me, or a lousy alley on the North Side."

Many past and present Steelers and Browns were in attendance, including kicker Matt Bahr, who played for both teams during his 17-year NFL career. "I'm wearing Steelers colours sitting on the Browns side (of the dais)," said Bahr, who is trying to keep peace on two fronts. "Next week, I will be wearing Browns colors sitting on the Steelers side."