Lifelong Browns fan defects to the Steelers: A Father’s Day story
Deondre Layne’s first grand act as a Steelers fan showed that he’s new to this. Just like his son.
Deondre never expected his paint job would “blow up” when the Steelers drafted cornerback Justin Layne in the third round, but he found himself getting the challenge flag thrown on him when he redid his Browns-themed bathroom in bright yellow. He proudly showed his newly Pittsburgh-ized wall on his Instagram page, but there was a problem.
“Well, I found out that the stars were not the right color in the right place,” Deondre Layne explained.
Indeed, he had the red and blue hypocycloids of the Steelers logo reversed. He got that fixed ASAP, a quick rookie adjustment for a rookie Steelers fan who also happens to be a father bursting with pride.
“Dre” Layne, a 42-year-old lifelong Cleveland Browns fanatic, and his son have always bonded through athletics. In football,
track and Amateur Athletic Union basketball, Justin’s dad was often one of his coaches. They even tried boxing together, when Justin was in eighth grade.
“I had to make sure when he got to high school, just in case, that left hook was good to go,” the elder Layne said with a laugh.
So, with Justin on the verge of becoming an NFL player after a standout career at Benedictine High School in Cleveland, then Michigan State, what could go wrong?
On the second night of the 2019 draft, Justin was wearing his Browns socks, ready to surprise his pops on the off chance — say, 1 in 32 — that their hometown team would take him. Instead, life threw him a slant pass, and it’s time to take it back to the house.
“No way,” the older Layne remembers thinking to himself when Steelers coach Mike Tomlin called with the 83rd pick. “This is not happening.”
One of Deondre Layne’s co-workers at the draft party was a Steelers fan, a big enough one that he wore his own team’s socks that evening. Deondre made a request, and that was the first time the family swapped burnt orange for black and gold — Steelers socks on, Browns socks in the trash.
If it hadn’t sunk in yet then, it has now: Imagine cheering for a moribund football team all your life, and then, just as the horizon looks brighter than ever for the franchise, it’s now your son’s job to play for its biggest rival and keep snatching their souls.
“Yep,” Deondre Layne said, “and he better do it, too.”
According to Justin, his dad doesn’t bother talking about his old favorite team anymore. All the Browns gear in his house is gone. He’s all Steelers everything, putting his mouth and his mind where his bathroom is. He called into a local Cleveland sports talk radio show to discuss his situation — the Browns drafted a different cornerback in the second round, Louisiana State University’s Greedy Williams — and likened it to someone who was cheated on by a longtime partner.
When he returned to his job as a recruiter at Cleveland Clinic a few days after the draft, his office mates had his cubicle decked out with Steelers memorabilia. It’s the same cubicle that used to be covered with Browns paraphernalia, the one he was staring at before the draft, wishing he wouldn’t have to redecorate it once his son’s name was called.
“Everybody else really didn’t care too much,” Justin said of his family. “But my dad, he was the only real die-hard Browns fan, so it meant a lot to him.”
As it turns out, he’s a dieeasy fan when his son’s involved.
A retired Army recruiter who spent 21 years in the service, Deondre Layne calls himself “all in” on the Steelers now. Admittedly, the Browns were at the top of his preferred destinations for Justin, but he says the Steelers weren’t far behind. He knew his son had a good feeling on his pre-draft visit to Pittsburgh, so he found himself warming up to the idea of converting his fandom.
One thing he won’t do is root for his once-beloved Browns — as hyped as any team in the league, now featuring wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. in an offense led by rising star quarterback Baker Mayfield — in the other 14 games of the season.
“Nah, nah, nah,” Deondre insisted. “One thing I’ve noticed: I grew up a Browns fan, and you can’t like the Steelers and the Browns. It just can’t happen. You’re either in or you’re out.”
Throughout rookie camp, organized team activities and minicamp, which ended Thursday, the Laynes spoke to each other about Justin’s experience just about every day. Justin would tell his dad about his new city.
“He talks about how beautiful it is, talks about the bridges, talks about the water,” Deondre said.
And dad would ask his son about, well, some interesting topics …
“He’s got so many questions. My dad asks a hundred questions a day,” Justin said. “I try to give him little details, but he asks me questions like, ‘How’s it smell out there?’ Stuff like that.”
Mr. Layne will cop to that, and more. He prides himself on his well-kept facial hair, so one of the first nuggets he sought from his Steelers connection was this: “Who’s got the better beard, me or Mike Tomlin?”
“He didn’t answer,” Deondre chuckled. “He was like, ‘Why are you asking me all these questions? Can you ask normal questions?’ But these are the things I want to know!”
Both men describe their relationship as an easygoing one. The younger Layne calls his military father “real cool, real chill, not ‘Army’ at all.” They try to go on a “man-cation” together every year, and over time, day trips to Kalahari Resorts in Sandusky, Ohio, have turned into weekend getaways in bustling cities like New Orleans.
“We haven’t planned anything yet,” Justin said Thursday. “I kind of was trying to see how these five weeks off are going to go. We’re definitely going to get it in.”
The destination this year might just be Pittsburgh, where Justin has spent the past month and a half, but a place his father has never visited despite being born and raised just two hours away. Dad is doing his research and chatting with new social media followers about how to be a “true Steelers fan” — what to eat, where to tailgate and proper logo painting.
Someday, the two likely will look back and marvel at how the biggest moment in Justin’s life wiped out 40plus years of his dad’s dedication to the Browns. Blood is thicker than water, and this Father’s Day, the Laynes’ blood is thicker than ever.
“Man, I think we’re pretty close. I mean, he kept me focused, and I hope I kept him focused,” Deondre said. “He just made me want to try to be the best role model I could be. I enjoyed it.”