BEREA, Ohio -- If Eric Barr's story checks out -- and it looks as if it does -- the competition for the most dedicated Browns fan is over.
We have a winner.
It doesn't matter how many December games you've shivered through, how many road trips to Pittsburgh you've made, or how many brown-and-orange tattoos you are sporting. You are not worthy.
Last month, Barr showed up to work at the Kichler Lighting warehouse in East Hartford, Conn., and sat down with his boss.
"He came to me and said, 'Listen, I'm going to live my dream,' " remembers Michael Flanagan, Barr's supervisor. " 'I'm going to move to Cleveland, and I'm going to follow the Browns, and that's it.' "
Flanagan and the other guys around the warehouse had harassed Barr for years because of his devotion to a team in a city more than 500 miles west, a city where Barr had never even lived. They had heard him talk about moving for years.
"I was like, 'OK, Barr, whatever,' " says Flanagan. "We expected him to come back on Tuesday. But he never came back. . . . We were like, 'He's really gone. Holy cow, he actually did it.' "
In East Hartford, the 33-year-old had a job, with full benefits. He had family. He had furniture.
Now sleeping on the floor of his basement apartment in Berea, Barr has none of that: no job, no family, no furniture. His health insurance runs out at the end of the month.
Yes, ladies, he's single.
more:
http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2010/10/eric_barrs_devotion_to_browns.html