On Thursday night, the Cleveland Browns defeated the New York Jets and in turn, officially clinched a spot in the NFL playoffs. Ken Carman, who has been off throughout the week, called into his morning radio program on 92.3 The Fan to express his thoughts on the monumental victory and the team’s ability to overcome adversity.
While recapping the game, Carman noted that he was nervous going into the matchup pertaining to what the team would do. Jonathan Peterlin, who was filling in for Carman as the host of the program, felt a similar sentiment based on his interactions with and observations from Browns fans.
“Maybe not the callers as much, but the people that were tweeting into me yesterday – they were on edge, Ken; I’m telling you they were on edge,” Peterlin said to Carman. “People were worried about that game yesterday. They just wanted to have it done – it’s just really nice to have it done – and now we can talk about maybe winning the AFC North.”
Cleveland currently sits one game behind the rival Baltimore Ravens for the division lead, a franchise that also happens to lead the conference with its best win-loss record. The Browns play their final regular-season matchup of the season against the Cincinnati Bengals next Sunday, Jan. 7 before advancing to a playoffs to face an opponent to be determined. As an employee of the team’s flagship radio station – 92.3 The Fan – Carman considers himself fortunate and honored to be associated with the organization.
“Radio show hosts – they come and they go,” Ken Carman said. “We’re based in entertainment, and we’re lucky that [the listeners] get to call in and vent their frustrations and their happiness with us and they spend their time with us, and I mean that. It’s just so nice to see them have their moment where, yeah, you could have made the playoffs this weekend with things breaking their way, and they probably would have.”
Although Carman did not host the full edition of his program, he sought to convey his thoughts on the situation in the opening segment with Peterlin. In fact, the show began to run past the allotted time for its first segment, something he was aware of during his final remarks. Before he signed off for the day though, Carman had a message for people who sought to engage with the program on Friday morning.
“Anybody [who] has anything to say – anything about the Browns that’s negative, they can blow it right out their ass. Go after them today,” Ken Carman implored Peterlin. “Be proud to be a Browns fan; be proud to be in Cleveland [and] be proud to be in northeast Ohio; and if you were at that game yesterday, I hope you savored every single moment of it, and I hope that the hangover isn’t as bad as it could have been today because the Browns are going to the playoffs baby. A fantastic moment for everybody.”
