Female football fans met Cleveland Browns staff and players and went on a tour that included the

Female football fans met Cleveland Browns staff and players and went on a tour that included the locker room.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CLEVELAND -- Kris Packard ran through the tunnel at Cleveland Browns Stadium and lay flat out on the grass.
That was moments after the Niles native snapped a photo in the Browns locker room. And just a few minutes after she traipsed through the press box.
"The best part was walking on the field," said Packard, who's been Browns fan "forever."
"Normally, you get arrested for that."
300 attend: Packard, a lawyer who now lives in Lyndhurst, was one of 300 women who attended "Football 101: A Chalk Talk for Women" last week at the stadium.
Female Browns fans gathered for wine, a chat with coaches and players, and a tour of some of the stadium's behind-the-scenes spaces, including the press box, the Browns locker room and the scoreboard tech room (where $3 million in audio, video and graphics equipment operates an $11-million scoreboard).
Lisa Henry of Canfield has been a Browns fan since 1983 when she became a football fan in an effort to talk to the boys in junior high school.
She had her photo snapped in front of one of the wide wooden lockers. But her biggest thrill came on the field, where she alsoran cheering through the tunnel.
"I don't pass very well but I got to throw the ball and I was on the field," she said.
Women dressed in orange and brown, some wearing pom pons, others with jerseys, gathered at the stadium for the event aimed at the women who make up 51 percent of the Browns' fan base. This is the second year the team has hosted such an event.
The women learned a few tips from assistant coaches Pete Garcia and Chuck Pagano and heard from Dr. Robert Dimeff, an assistant team physician from Cleveland Clinic Sports Health.
"As a young boy growing up, I always dreamed of this moment," Pagano said as he looked over the sea of women. "I never thought we'd be talking football though."
Football terms: Pagano went over terms like "blitz," "nickel defense," "victory defense," "red zone" and "bunch route," telling the women: "When your husband or boyfriend thinks he knows everything, you might be able to shut him up."
Garcia caught a few jeers as he showed film of some star quarterbacks, including long-time Browns' nemesis John Elway.
But Garcia heard loud cheers when he offered up tape of Browns' QB Tim Couch.
"We do have the best fans in the world," Garcia said. "Not only that, you are the most educated fans in the world."
The women also joined in a few rounds of "The Wave" when wide receiver JaJuan Dawson took the stage and enticed them to get on their feet.
Dawson told the women about a player's schedule. Wednesday, for instance, is pay day.
Tuesday is a day off. So what does an NFL player do on his day off?
"Sleep is the number one answer," Dawson said, adding a smile. "The number two answer is probably go to the mall.
"So on Tuesdays if you're in Best Buy or in the mall and you see a guy who looks like this ...," Dawson said, tugging at his gray sweat suit.
The two-month off-season is when players "really get away from football," said wide receiver Dennis Northcutt, who opened a barber shop in his hometown of South Central Los Angeles during last year's break.
Do they have a social life?
"What woman just wants Tuesdays?" Dawson said, with another smile. "That's why we're single."
Offensive linemen Brad Bedell and Shaun O'Hara talked about playing their position.
"The real misconception is that offensive linemen are fat and that's not true," said the 6-foot 3-inch, 287-pound O'Hara. "We're just big boned. As Brad's mom would say, he's just husky."
Inside secret: O'Hara revealed another secret: The players have little input on plays but, if they don't like a particular one, they "just screw it up in practice."
Linebacker Brant Boyer, just 30 years old but one of the older players on the team, talked about life as a "veteran."
The former Jacksonville Jaguar said he's noticed a few changes in Cleveland. (First, he said, the women finished off 12 cases of wine.)
During his move in March, he traveled from 80-degree weather in Jacksonville to a northeast Ohio blizzard.
But, he said, "I love the fans here. You guys are great. ... It's something I'm not used to."
He gave insight into a practice day -- 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. with a morning of meetings and film review and an afternoon practice -- and game weekends -- curfew is 5:30 p.m. on Saturday nights.
Boyer understood why the women were most excited about running onto the field.
"I wish you all could experience that just one time," he said. "A lot of times it brings tears to my eyes when you run out there and there are 73 or 74 thousand people just going crazy and the hair just stands on your neck."
Well, maybe Henry and Packard didn't exactly experience just that.
But, for them, their stadium escapade may have been just as special.
"You don't get a chance to do that," Henry said. "Here I am a woman from Youngstown, Ohio, and I was on the field."
viviano@vindy.com