The voice of the people

Browns fans' meeting with owner example for rooters everywhere

Now hear this, sports fans: You are not irrelevant. Your voices can be heard. You do matter.

That's the gospel according to Mike Randall, also known as ''Dawgpound Mike.'' You might have heard that Randall and his buddy Tony Schaefer, also known as ''Mobile Dawg,'' are organizing a protest to draw attention to the woeful state of the Cleveland Browns. They're asking those with tickets to the ''Monday Night Football'' game Nov. 16 at Cleveland Browns Stadium not to take their seats until after kickoff. Their goal is not to embarrass the Browns, but to underscore the fact that fans have had enough. And guess what? The Browns are paying attention. Owner Randy Lerner actually met with Randall and Schaefer last week. Randall is confident that Lerner listened to what he had to say.

''It got heated at some points,'' Randall said. ''I printed up some of the 2,400 e-mails I had received from other fans -- that number is now up to 7,500 -- and brought them to the meeting. ... And I found out that Mr. Lerner is disgusted with [the Browns' losing ways]. He wants to win, and he wants to win now. He thinks fans deserve better.''

The guys' concerns range from making the famed ''Dawg Pound'' at the Browns' stadium more fan-friendly to making the in-game entertainment more lively.

''A funeral is more fun than our stadium,'' Randall said. ''There's no music. If there is, it's not loud enough to hear it. There is nothing to energize the crowd.''

They also voiced plenty of concerns about the Browns' front office. And speaking of the front office, Randall said he thinks he had something to do with the ouster Monday of general manager George Kokinis.

''I saw [Lerner] at Soldier Field before the [Browns-Bears] game on Sunday,'' he said. ''And I told him how I felt about [Kokinis], and he was let go the next day.''

The meeting between Lerner and the ''Dawg'' guys took place Tuesday and lasted two hours. Randall, 39, a longtime season-ticket holder who also travels to all the Browns' road games, said Lerner promised change. When I cynically asked whether Lerner might be playing him, just hoping to get that protest canceled, Randall bristled momentarily.

''He might be playing me, but I won't be sold,'' he said. ''No, he's a good guy. He said the organization needs to listen to the fans. And not once during the meeting did he ask us to cancel the protest.''

Randall knows the Browns can't turn it around overnight. But after meeting with Lerner, Randall thinks better days are ahead. His message to fans: Take back your team.

''The economy is so tight, and people spend so much money on tickets and parking and drinks and souvenirs,'' he said. ''And most of these teams, they just don't care. And the players can't relate to fans. They don't get it. They're playing a game that others dream of playing. We are paying their salaries. If it wasn't for fans, they would not exist.''

Randall scored a meeting with Lerner, but could that happen in Chicago if fans had major beefs with the Bears, Cubs, Bulls, White Sox or Blackhawks? It's particularly tough to imagine Jerry Reinsdorf taking a meeting with fed up Sox or Bulls fans, isn't it? Or Virginia McCaskey holding court with Bears fans. But you never know.

''This potentially could be precedent-setting,'' said Edward R. Hirt, a psychology professor at Indiana University, whose areas of study include fan behavior. ''It can empower fans to think they can do it, too, that they actually have clout.''

Of course, the ''Dawg'' guys are longtime season-ticket holders who have come to know many people in the Browns' organization. They're not just any fans.

''How can you ignore that kind of longevity and passion?'' Hirt said. ''And the goal was to be constructive rather than destructive.''

In other words, just because a season-ticket holder starts a ''Fire Lou Piniella'' campaign on the Web doesn't mean chairman Tom Ricketts will listen.

''That would be a dangerous precedent,'' Hirt said. ''It needs to be done in a constructive way.''

The fact that Lerner took the time to meet with a couple of fans and hear them out is remarkable. But it shouldn't be.

''The biggest sentiment I hear expressed from fans about pro sports is that it's become so much a business,'' Hirt said. ''Fans have become disillusioned by that whole aspect of it. For [an owner to sit down with fans] tells them their voice is important, that people take them seriously. And it leaves the fans with the feeling that they actually have power.''

For Randall, the meeting with Lerner was proof that someone cares -- about his favorite team and about its fans.

''You know what it did?'' he said. ''It gave me hope.''