At first, Jesus Serrano gave his wife a hip fake worthy of Leroy Kelly or Greg Pruitt.
"When we were sweethearts, I asked him, 'Are you into any sports?'" Edna Serrano recalled. "And he was like, 'No, not really.'"
It wasn't until they were married that Edna discovered her husband's idea of heaven was a weekend in Cleveland. He's a Browns fan to the core, a connoisseur of Bernie Kosar, Ozzie Newsome, Frank Minnifield and Hanford Dixon. He still feels the pain of Brian Sipe's playoff interception and Earnest Byner's fumble in the 660s and Art Modell's treachery in the '90s.
None of that would be unusual if Jesus had grown up in Canton or Cuyahoga Falls, but he grew up some 2,300 miles southwest of old Cleveland Municipal Stadium -- in Mexico City. While his friends were playing and talking futbol, Serrano was following American football.
Almost four decades after first adopting the team, Serrano, 45, is more immersed in the Browns and Cleveland than ever. He's in his third year as a season-ticket holder and takes his entire family -- Edna, 12-year-old son Juan Pablo and 8-year-old daughter Valantina -- to multiple games a year at FirstEnergy Stadium. He has been to 35 Browns games in all, including road stops in Pittsburgh, Dallas and New Jersey, and has had the thrill of meeting Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown.
This year, with the Browns even more hapless than usual -- flirting with 0-16 -- the Serranos have continued to keep the faith and flown to five games. They're sad they had to miss this past Sunday's game vs. the Bengals and will miss the Christmas Eve game against the Chargers because of Juan Pablo's test schedule and a long-planned holiday family vacation. But no matter where the Serranos are during the final three contests of the season, they'll be watching. Even Browns exhibition games are must-see TV for the family.
Jesus Serrano admits it isn't easy being a Browns fan. He's still waiting for their first Super Bowl, this is their ninth consecutive losing season and they haven't been in the playoffs since 2002. Their carousel of coaches, quarterbacks and failed No. 1 picks keeps spinning to a circus tune.
"I won't lie to you if I tell you it's been hard," he said. "But I guess whenever you are a fan for a team, you become part of that team, and that's what happened to me."
How it all began
One room of the Serranos' home in León, about 250 miles northwest of Mexico City, is dedicated to the Browns. The walls are covered with autographed jerseys, pennants, photos and Dawg Pound signs. Shelves are filled with footballs and other collectibles, along with items from the Indians and Cavaliers, the family's other adopted Cleveland teams.
The next thing going up will be a jersey autographed by Pruitt, the big-play running back and kick returner who was a four-time Pro Bowler for the Browns in the 1970s. The Serranos met him at their most recent game in Cleveland, Nov. 27 against the Giants.
It was because of Pruitt -- in a roundabout way -- that a 7-year-old kid in Mexico City became a Browns fan.
Serrano's father returned from a business trip with a souvenir for his son: a Pruitt-autographed football. His father wasn't a sports fan and knew nothing about the Browns. But he had seen his boy latch onto the NFL, so he brought him the ball. It was a random gift with a profound impact.
"I was talking to my father, and I was telling him, 'Do you realize all the things you created just with a football?'" Serrano said of a recent conversation. "That's the beautiful and the strange part of everything, right?"
Just like that, the Browns were his team.
By the time he was 10, Serrano got a taste of what was in store. In a divisional playoff game in Cleveland against Oakland in January 61, the Browns trailed 14-12 with less than a minute remaining but had reached the Raiders' 13-yard line. The Browns could have run the ball to set up a game-winning field goal. Instead, Sipe, who was the NFL MVP that season, threw a pass toward Newsome that was intercepted in the end zone. Game over. The Raiders not only won the game, they went on to win the Super Bowl.
"I remember myself crying," Serrano said.
He also recalls the crushing losses to the Denver Broncos in the 1980s ("The Drive" spearheaded by John Elway) and ("The Fumble" by Byner) AFC Championship Games.
Since the Cleveland franchise was reborn in 1999 after Modell took his team to Baltimore to become the Ravens in 1996, the Browns have had fewer of those heart-crushing losses, simply because they've been consistently bad, making the playoffs just once.
Serrano said he gave up on the NFL in the years Cleveland was without a team, and he was joyful when the Browns returned.
It had always been a long-distance romance until eight years ago, when Serrano finally flew to Cleveland for his first game, against the Steelers.
"I was in tears that day," he said.
After that, he tried to get to two to three games a year until he bought season tickets three years ago. (The Browns said he is one of only three season-ticket holders who live outside the U.S. and Canada.) The seats are good: Section 334 in the Club Level, near midfield.
Now, several weekends a year, the family packs up and heads to the airport on Friday, flies to Cleveland -- usually with a layover in Dallas, Houston or Atlanta and a trip through customs -- and spends Friday night and Saturday seeing the sights. They'll go to an Indians or Cavs game, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the zoo or other attractions and find new restaurants and return to favorites. Sunday is game day, with everyone wearing Browns jerseys and hats, and the flight home is Monday.
Serrano has his own accounting firm in Mexico City (he commutes there from León, too, at least once a week), so he can control his schedule.
Yet it's an enormous investment of time and money. He estimates it's an $8,000-$9,000 bill each trip to Cleveland. And for what? This isn't the Patriots; it's the Browns. Is it worth it?
"Yes, it's worth it 100 percent, because this is the thing that has united us as a family," Serrano said.
Added Edna: "It's not only to attend the game, but it's the time to share with family, doing things together, talk. Every time I go there, I like to think we are celebrating life."
Edna, who once was so surprised to have learned she'd married an NFL fan, said she's now a "partner in crime" to her husband's Browns addiction.
The most fervent fan in the family, however, might be Juan Pablo. He admitted it can be frustrating to travel eight or more hours just to see his team lose, but he can't get enough of being at FirstEnergy Stadium. He tries to get autographs and savor the atmosphere before, during and after games.
"It's incredible," Juan Pablo said. "All the people are shouting. It's a great experience."
By now, the Serranos feel at home in Cleveland. They've become friends with fans near their seats and know the people at hotels and restaurants.
"The city has embraced us in a wonderful way," Jesus said.
'I bleed brown and orange'
While soccer is king in Mexico, American football has a growing fan base there. The NFL estimates it has more than 20 million fans in Mexico. Several games per week are televised in the country, and fans such as the Serranos can buy DirecTV's Sunday Ticket package to watch the teams of their choice.
Serrano has many friends who are NFL fans and said about 40 percent of his son's schoolmates follow the league, too.
Like any fan, Serrano questions some of the moves the Browns make, and he suffers as he watches them lose, in person or on TV. But he believes the Browns will one day win a Super Bowl. Even now, with an 0-13 record, he thinks the team is just "one or two players" away from turning things around.
"We have all the patience in the world," he said.
Does he ever wish his dad had brought him a ball signed by a Cowboy, a Steeler or a Packer, just so he could have enjoyed a championship now and then?
"No. I have to tell you that," he said. "I bleed brown and orange."