For those of you who remember Jerome..

[GoLong]

Don't post much on the EMB ( place makes my head hurt ).  Ran across this article in the Hbg. paper this weekend and thought I'd pass it on.   Rather than have 45 morons tell me the 411 would be the wrong forum, I guess I'll post it here.

http://www.pennlive.com/patriotnews/stories/index.ssf?/base/columnists/1182046226180130.xml&coll=1

Philadelphia Eagles fans, like Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys fans, are everywhere.   Scattered in bars and restaurants throughout the country. Then filling opposing stadiums on NFL weekends.   These days, one very important Eagles fan spends a lot of his time in the Harrisburg Senators' clubhouse.

But Dee Brown isn't just an Eagles fan, he's royalty.
The Senators' newest left fielder, promoted to the Washington Nationals' Double-A Eastern League affiliate last week, is the son of the late Eagles Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jerome Brown.   A 24-year-old from Brooksville, Fla., Brown was selected by the Nationals in the 10th round of the 2005 amateur draft out of the University of Central Florida. (He's not the same Dee Brown who played for the Senators in 2005.)

In large part because of his explosive bat, the 5-11, 235-pound rock has quickly climbed the Nationals' farm system ladder. He homered in his first at-bat for the Senators Tuesday night in Bowie.

"He's a line-drive gap hitter, strong enough to hit mistakes for home runs," said Dana Brown, Nationals' director of scouting, who's in town this weekend for a look at the Sens. "He projects as an average left fielder. If he makes it, it'll be because he hits his way to the big leagues."   If you're wondering why Dee Brown, whose rugged build portrays an NFL fullback or safety, took up baseball instead of football, you don't know Dee.

Or Jerome.

Like his high-spirited father, Dee Brown is an upbeat, easy-going guy. He enjoys fishing and cop shows. He's one semester shy of earning a criminal justice degree at UCF. He's Jerome Brown's son, but he's his own man.  Now his priorities are major league.
"Baseball is more my game," said Brown, who starred at both in high school and college before settling on the diamond after his junior year at UCF.

"Football, I could do it, but I didn't really have the love for that game. You have to really love football, and I enjoyed it, but you really need to love it."
Being Jerome Brown's kid, he'd never escape football anyway, even if he tried. Especially now that he's so close to the city where his father became a legend.

It was with the Eagles in the late 1980s and early '90s that Jerome Brown, Reggie White, Clyde Simmons, Seth Joyner and many others teamed under the tutelage of head coach Buddy Ryan to form one of the NFL's most notoriously wicked defenses.

Then, on June 25, 1992 -- 15 years ago next week, when Dee was just 9 years old -- Jerome Brown and his 12-year-old nephew were killed in a single-car crash in Brooksville.
Jerome Brown was just 27 years old. It was a dark day for Philly fans. That doesn't compare to what it meant to Dee.   "Losing anybody is sad," Brown said from the Senators' dugout yesterday, "but it was just kind of unbelievable.

It took awhile for it to set in. It was tough."
Still, he doesn't mind chatting about his father. Not at all, in fact. "It's a good thing," he said. "It's hard to believe it's been 15 years, but it's a good thing people still talk about it, especially around these parts."

Brown, because he was so young when his father blossomed to stardom, still loves hearing stories about Jerome.

One of his favorites is very familiar to Penn State football fans. It's about the 1987 Fiesta Bowl, where Brown's favored Miami Hurricanes met the Nittany Lions. Miami, also starring quarterback Vinny Testaverde, made headlines with its cocky behavior leading up to the championship game.   Five days before the game, at a promotional dinner with Penn State players, Brown led a Miami walkout. His reason: "Did the Japanese go sit down and have dinner with Pearl Harbor before they bombed them?"  The Hurricanes also showed up to the game in military fatigues, but Penn State ultimately prevailed 14-10.

"We still laugh about that now," Brown said of his friends and family, which includes D.L. and his mother, LaSonya Stewart, Jerome's high school sweetheart.

Dee and Jerome share a lot more than a sense of humor. To look at the Senators' new left fielder is to fondly remember the great No. 99, whose charities and work with kids still define his hometown.   While utilizing the best qualities of his father, Dee Brown hopes to carve a niche for himself in this different game.

"If he can consistently hit with a plan at the plate," Dana Brown said, "he's got a chance."

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

RIP.


I hate how they use the Miami/PSU game as an illustration of Jerome... when they ended up choking on it a bit.  I mean, as a PSU fan, I am glad they choked on it... but still.

[rjs246]

Wrong forum.

[MDS]

Andy Harmon?

[Rome]

Never heard of him.

[SunMo]

Jerome Brown is dead?

romey's screen name makes so much sense now.

[Rome]

Thank God we still have guys like Reggie White & Andre Waters on defense.

[Diomedes]

You mean the Jerome Brown who killed himself and his child nephew because he was driving like an icehole? 

F him and people who lionize him.  If anyone else did that, you fargs would be pissing on his memory, but since it was a star player on your favorite football team, you cream your pants hero worship..

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

lionize

Bonus points for the SAT vocabulary.  Toats awsum.

[ice grillin you]

F him and people who lionize him.  If anyone else did that, you fargs would be pissing on his memory, but since it was a star player on your favorite football team, you cream your pants hero worship..

so it hard being perfect?

[Mad-Lad]

so it hard being perfect?

i don't find it particularly difficult.

[PhillyPhreak54]

I won a bet with myself that Dio would be in here saying what he said. Yay me!

[Father Demon]

I bet you missed "lionize"

[MDS]

Where is Rhett Hall these days?

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

I bet you missed "lionize"

...even after I went to great pains to point it out?