Bob Craig is in his glory this week. It's Browns vs. Bengals week, and Craig is vice president of the Browns Backers, a 260-strong group of Greater Cincinnatians who've never stopped rooting for the Browns.

        Not even after the Cincinnati Bengals began play here in 1968.

        “It's payback time,” said Craig, 59, of Loveland when asked if he thought the Browns would beat the Bengals this Sunday in Cleveland. “We're thinking playoffs, and we owe the Bengals for that defeat they gave us down here earlier this season.”

        Craig, who was born and raised in Loveland and watched the Browns play on TV every Sunday from his boyhood through the present, never found a compelling reason to switch allegiance to the Bengals.

        “Oh, I'll watch and root for the Bengals, of course, when they aren't playing the Browns, but there's no comparison with my feelings for the Browns,” he said. “I've got season tickets for Browns games, and I go to every home game and (some) on the road. At home games, we sit right there in "The Dawg Pound.' Right behind (the ultimate Browns fan) "Big Dawg.' We'll be having a big tailgate party before the game. It's going to be a great weekend. No way will we let the Bengals beat us.”

        Craig said the Greater Cincinnati chapter of the Browns Backers Club meets every Sunday at Big Red's Sports Cafe in Clifton Heights to watch the Browns. .

        “In the last (33 seasons), the Bengals have had their moments, but I've never regretted sticking with the Browns,” Craig said. “It's just never been an issue for me. I'm a Browns fan. This year, it's been great, especially beating the Baltimore Ravens twice.”

Couch the cure for Browns Scott's status still uncertain Some fans here never gave up loving Browns

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