24 hours a day, 365 days a year, we present Cleveland Browns coverage at Dawgs By Nature, where fan interaction and insight on the team are imperative. On this page, you will find out information about how the site was founded, some history on the site, and information about our staff members.
How DBN Was Founded
In 2003, I [Chris Pokorny] founded a general football news/opinion site called "PFCritics," which was short for Pro Football Critics. For those of you who send me email, you may have recognized that I still use pokorny@pfcritics.com. I stopped focusing on the site at the beginning of 2008. Going to the Wayback machine, if you're interested, you can look at the various "layouts" I had for PFCritics over the years:
Layout 1
Layout 2
Layout 3
Layout 4
Layout 5
Layout 6
In late 2005, I caught on to the Cleveland Indians blog on SB Nation, "Let's Go Tribe," as a reader. SB Nation was a very small network at that time, and I noticed they had links on the sidebar that said something like, "interested in writing for SB Nation? Send us an email of interest." At the time, SB Nation only had about four or five NFL blogs. I contacted Tyler (one of the founders) with my "resume" so to speak, which was my writing at PFCritics. After a trial run for a couple of days, I was asked to come up with the name of the site. "Dawgs By Nature" popped into my mind right away, and they set everything up. The site launched on March 2, 2006. I had a co-writer who they assigned me, a female with the username "gennifer6," but she just kind of disappeared eventually.
As I became more invested in writing about the Browns, it became too difficult to juggle PFCritics, hence why I stopped managing it in 2008. Today, it would be a much different process to become a lead blogger at SB Nation since the company has grown so much since then (and, they pretty much have every major team covered already). I got lucky that I got in when I did, but on the same note, I don't think I've done too shabby of a job."
The Evolution of DBN
There have been several different versions of Dawgs By Nature as part of the SB Nation network, as well as the potential logos we could have used for our most recent version as part of SB Nation United.
Original Site (March 2006 ~ April 2008)
SB Nation 2.0 (April 2008 ~ September 2012)
SB Nation United (September 2012 ~ Present)
Picking a New Logo
Back in April 2012, each of the lead bloggers was tasked with filling out a survey on what they would like their new logo to look like. SB Nation hired a designer for this project to revamp all 300+ logos, which was certainly a massive undertaking. Here is a summary of what I told the network about my preference for the logo:
What do you like about your current mark (meaning the old logo):
Chris: "I have always loved DBN's mark, so I guess it would be appropriate to say I like "everything." I like the fact that it incorporated a dog house with the team colors, and then an actual non-cartoonish dog inside. There are so many variations of the Browns' logo, but the current mark is different than all of them while still clearly conveying, 'this is the Cleveland Browns.'"
What are your team colors?
Chris: "Orange and Brown. White is appropriate too -- not as a dominant color, but as necessary (i.e. like how the white stripe is on the dog house on the current site logo)."
List any interesting or important elements (mascots, landmarks, sport/team-specific inside info) to be included.
Chris: "I don't think landmarks would be good, because no landmark really represents the Browns. In terms of being team specific, I thought a unique spin on having a dog in a dog house was good. Our popular mascots are more of the cartoonish dogs, like Chomps or CB. One thing I will say: please don't go overly plain. I know the Browns' helmets are unique in that they are just a color, but I don't think the logo should treat the Browns like some throwback team and make it look old-style/plain. Our team also has an alternate elf logo that they sometimes use. I don't think this is widely known enough by people outside of Cleveland, so I wouldn't prefer it. "
If there was one object that represented your blog, what would it be?
Chris: "A dog. It can't just be a dog, though, either it or the objects around it need to have an orange/brown theme to it."
Here is the old logo for reference:
A few weeks after I provided my feedback, I got my first draft:
The main gripe I had was the grey on the dog. Inside, I also didn't particularly care for the dog, but I didn't know how to describe a potential change. I suggested that the color at least be changed, and it was:
Over the next few months, there must have been some tweaking, and I am thrilled that there was. When bloggers first learned about our new logos (around the time we revealed them to you), I was presented with this much-improved version:
Ahh! The grey is back! No worries, as it was fixed a short while later:
Ta-da! A thing of beauty, isn't it?
Site Staff
Here is a list of our staff members at DBN. If you are ever interested in joining our staff, please send us an email.
Chris Pokorny - Executive Editor / Founder: Chris founded DBN in March 2006 and has run the site's day-to-day operations ever since. He specializes in writing longform pieces related to position previews, game previews and reviews, and networking with other blogs across the SB Nation network. Outside of blogging, Chris is in the field of computer & information sciences.
Jon Stinchcomb - Writer: Formerly known as Simmsinns, Jon has been a member of DBN since May 2009. He officially joined the staff in January 2012, where he initialized a major staple on the site, the "Daily Dawg Chow." He also specializes in discussing players available in the free agent market. Outside of blogging, Jon is pursuing a degree in journalism.
rufio - Analyst: Famously known for his musings in Rufio's Playbook, rufio has been a member of DBN since April 2007 and is arguably the most active and X's and O's savvy member on the site. His breakdowns and explanations on football terminology are unique in their nature and held separate DBN from other Browns sites. He also specializes in discussing draft prospects.
Matt Wood - Opinion / Social Media: Formerly known as Bernie19Kosar, Matt has been a member of DBN since November 2006. He is often controversial with his takes on former owner Art Modell, his disdain for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the handling of the front office of the Browns, and his unique "Devil's Advocate" series. Matt also specializes in discussing draft prospects, and manages the site's Facebook and Twitter accounts on a daily basis.
notthatnoise - Moderator: NTN has been a member of DBN since August 2009. As more of a "regular member" as opposed to a staff writer, he assists in moderating duties to ensure members don't get too carried away and stray from our community guidelines.