Ken Carman, host on 92.3 the Fan in Cleveland

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Hire high quality certified pros at angie.com. Football season is right around the corner. Will it be your team's year to hoist the Lombardi? The third Super Bowl in five years. We preview all 32 teams right here on the Zach Gelb show.

The Cleveland Browns. Ken Karman is a TV radio superstar, and I don't use that word very often in Cleveland. I love Ken Karman. I consider him a good radio media friend. However, if he answers a question a certain way in this conversation, I may despise him. Maybe my least favorite person in media, depending on the answer to that question. So let's welcome in Ken Karman right now to preview the Browns.

Kenny, how you been? Well, I guess I'll just see you in hell then, won't I? It's a possibility, because I think of you as a perfect representation of the Cleveland Browns fan and also a great American. You are not in favor of a dome stadium for the Cleveland Browns, right?

Oh, hell yes, I'm in favor of a dome stadium for the Browns. Oh my God, Ken. Oh, oh. Do you hate America? Gelb. Gelb, do you hate the dog pound? Wait a minute, did you grow up a Giants fan?

No, I'm a Patriots fan. Oh, Ken, that's right. I forgot about that. Sorry.

You're right. Oh, wait a minute. Hold on. I got a FedEx truck here.

We got backup. I'm pulling into the TV station. Okay, hold on. Let me tell you why I'm in favor of it, all right?

Okay. First off, it's 2024. Second of all, I have been to a lot of terrible, terrible, terrible weather games at Cleveland Browns Stadium. And it's me and about six of my friends. I won a full stadium. And also, Gelb, you know this.

And I'm sorry, I forgot you grew up a Patriots fan. You know this. The price of tickets ain't going down. It's only going up. The people might as well get the most for their money.

If they're going to pay an exorbitant fee to go to section 537 and sit up there, they might as well be able to take their jacket off while they do it. Ken, it's one of your worst takes ever. When I think of the dog pound, I think of great fans, always there, even if the team sucks, rain, sleet, or snow. They're still great fans. Are Browns fans getting soft?

Are you getting soft with old age? No, no. This is professional football. This isn't a Norman Rockwell painting, Zach.

Okay? And second of all, what advantage has the weather given us? We haven't won a title in the division since 1989.

We have the worst weather in the NFL, arguably with the Bills. Well, that's because you guys, up until Stephanie, you can't hire a coach, you know? That's a little different. You are right. Up until then, we could not. Well, Patton was okay.

Jackson was while he was a mess, but I can't say nothing about him because you like him. So, you know, whatever. It's a premium price anymore. You gotta do what's right by your fans. You gotta do what's right by your customers, Zach.

Yeah. You know what it is, Ken? You're now more of a TV guy. If you were only doing radio and not doing TV, you would never advocate for a dome. You know it and I know it.

You know it and I know that's untrue. What do you want? Shrimp cocktail and caviar now getting served to the dog pound during these games? I've never had caviar in my life. Hey, how many Busch lights have you drank in your life, young man? A lot. I'm actually a frequent visitor when I was in college of the Natty Splatty, if you know you know. Oh my Jesus. Okay, first off, I'm the one who's 38 and I stuck with the Busch light after college, so I don't even want to hear it.

Brother, I was born on the bottom shelf, I was raised on the bottom shelf, and I will die on the bottom shelf. Roof or no roof on the stadium? Here's the thing. When you guys sucked as a football team, I think you guys are better fans. Now you guys get a taste of winning and you want to be penthouse fans. I just don't like it.

I mean, I can't help it. I think they would try to, but I'll tell you right now, if they were still 0-16, I think they would still try to get a roof stadium. Why do you think they're doing it? Is it just because they want to get a Super Bowl there eventually, more events throughout the year? Is that why? Yes.

Well, in all honesty, I mean, all jokes aside, right? That state, when the Browns left in 95, now I know this history very, very, very well. When the Browns left in 95, you know, Al Lerner, God rest his soul, he brought football back, but at the same time, he helped football leave. I mean, Art Modell used his plane to leave town, for crying out loud, because Al Lerner wanted the team and Art Modell wouldn't sell it to him. So, Al Lerner, the NFL, everybody, they built the stadium, but they did it in a haste.

They did it in three years. We had to tear down a stadium, an old stadium that was built by the old standard, which means that thing was going to be solid. You had to tear that down. You had to put that out in the lake.

It's a reef now, out in Lake Erie. And then you had to build a stadium on top of it. Well, they had to do that on the quick. It took a year to tear the thing down.

They had to build it in two years. In the old days, it's structurally sound. Don't get me wrong, it's a safe place to be.

But sight lines are rough. It's a decent stadium. It's a football stadium, that's what it is. But it could be so much more, and I think that we've been kind of putting gum on it and taking care of it as best we can, but it's probably time for a new facility.

Alright, well agree to disagree. When you look at the back of my football fan card, I've been to many games in Foxboro, Massachusetts, even when the Patriots had to go make a few trips to Buffalo. And I've sat outside in the freezing cold, and those are some great memories. I mean, yo, why didn't you guys just keep over there in Shaffer Stadium or whatever you would call it, Foxboro? The old fairgrounds there, why didn't you guys just keep playing in the fairgrounds?

It changed. They made a new stadium. They didn't put a roof over the place though. Does it matter if Bob Kraft could have been able to finance a roof for a stadium at the time? Do you think he'd put a roof over it now? You think Jonathan Kraft, when he goes to build a new stadium someday, ain't going to try to put a roof over it? Yeah, and then I'll call for Jonathan Kraft to no longer own the team. That's the way that I'll approach it. That's fine, but you can't have your tug on that one, can you, buddy boy? You know the truth. Ken Carmen with us.

Alrighty, that was nicely done by you, Ken. Let me get to Deshaun Watson. This season is all on him, correct? That's the way that I look at the Browns. It's all on Deshaun Watson. Oh, you better believe it, because last year, the thing, now there will be fans who, you know, if things don't go well this year, there will be fans who try to blame it on the head coach, but I mean, that kind of went out the window last year. You won with four other quarterbacks.

You had to play five. They're dope if they do that. Anyone calling for Stefanski to get fired this year, after what happened last year, it's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Well, exactly. I understand that, but again, things change. I mean, Sirianni's on the hot seat, and he was in the Super Bowl two years ago. So things change very quickly, and I'm a big fan of Kevin, but I think that what last year proved is that, boy, this ain't Kevin, man. If things don't go well, it's going to be on the quarterback here, so there's a lot of pressure on him right now to pay off this contract and to get this team to the playoffs.

Hey, I mean, Zach, I mean, you know this. Josh Allen's a special quarterback. Now, I don't know if they got the roster up there in Buffalo to go make a deep run. Mahomes might be the best to ever do it by the time it's all said and done, and I understand who I'm comparing him to there, and I don't want to get in that fight, but let's say he's just in the top three by the time it's all said and done. If you go down to Mahomes, there's no shame in going down to Mahomes, but, boy, you get passed up again, and you lose to C.J. Stroud, who's a fantastic young quarterback, or you lose to Joe Burrow, who's in the division, or you lose to Lamar Jackson, who's in the division, or, God forbid, you know, the Steelers are a tough team, and they're a tough out.

Say they make the playoffs, and you lose to Russell Wilson, or you lose to Justin Fields, there's going to be hell to pay with a Browns fan. Talking to Ken Karman, what's the latest on the Brandon Iuch front, from your understanding? I think they're out. I think, honestly, I don't think they've ever, well, obviously, what am I going to do, tell you a lie?

I don't know if they were ever really that in. They like Amari Cooper. He's a rare breed. He's about his business, and he wanted a contract, but he doesn't make a big deal about it, and a lot of people here love Amari Cooper. Brandon Iuch's four years younger.

Brandon Iuch's had a tremendous season over the last couple of years, and he looks like one of the young, fun wide receivers in the NFL. But it's going to cost you a ton of money, and remember, you've traded for Amari Cooper already. Then you had to pay him a little bit. You traded for Jerry Jeudy. Then you paid him. You traded for Elijah Moore.

You're probably going to have to let him go for the time this is all said and done. You traded for all these wide receivers, and if you want to go get Iuch, fine. But I don't think that Andrew Berry, I don't think he denied the rumors. I don't think anybody denied the rumors. It's not a move they have to make.

Let's be real. If they don't make this move, even if they make this move, it doesn't change my expectations for the Browns this year. Yeah, it's not like a game breaking decision here that we've kind of been into in the past with Odell and a couple of other guys.

It's not that type of move. I think a lot of Browns fans are like, hey, if we get Brandon Iuch, fine. But if we don't, no big deal. We've got Amari Cooper.

We're good to go, at least this year. Yeah, the more and more this goes on, Ken, I feel like the Niners, throughout the Pats, throughout the Browns, knowing either they not get a deal done with them, or maybe the Browns wouldn't want to give the money that Iuch is looking for. We know New England definitely would have offered him $32 million a year. And it's like the Steelers don't have a proven player that's going to make the 49ers say, okay, we'll do the deal done.

It kind of feels like he's going to wind back up with the 49ers, and maybe they'll find the way to give him like $28, $29 million a year. Shanahan is an NFL lifer. When has he ever learned to let players make the decisions?

It's never happened. So I do think the most likely scenario, and I thought the most likely scenario during this whole thing, was that he probably ended up back in San Francisco. This guy, the players love him. Now, I dealt with him in Cleveland, and to be honest with you, he wasn't a really likable guy. But that said, the players love him, but he's not going to let them dictate terms. He's going to do what's best for the franchise, him and John Lynch. I'll give John Lynch a little bit of credit.

Where did this all come from? If they can get a great deal from Pittsburgh, maybe they'll squeeze the trigger on something like that. But it did reach a point of where I thought it might be at no return, but at the same time, it's like, eh, you know what, let's work something out. But Aiyuk is upset. You've got Trent Williams there that you've got to figure out here over the next few years, and he's probably the best in the league. Then you've got to figure out Brock Purdie at the end of the season, or at least by the end of the season. I can understand Aiyuk's upset. I would be upset too.

I would want to get paid too, but I'm sorry, you're third in line. Take Watson out of it. What's your biggest concern, Ken Carmen, with the Browns this year? Offensive line.

It's a good question. Offensive line. You've got Jed Willis that still has not really participated in practice, coming back from a leg injury. DeJuan Jones is coming back from a leg injury, but he's looking pretty good over a right tackle. You don't have Bill Callahan anymore, where I think people used him as a security blanket. We love offensive lines in Midwest cities, and we certainly love offensive lines in Cleveland. And when you lose Bill Callahan, who is as no-nonsense and old-style as it gets, that speaks to a lot of fans. And Andy Dickerson, he might be, for all we know, he might be the next Bill Callahan. He might be the next Dante Skarnickia, for all we know. But I don't know.

I have no idea yet. So I think that makes us a little bit nervous because over the last couple of years, this has always been, for the last five years, this has really been a top-notch offensive line. But they haven't played together that often. And the year they went to the playoffs in 2020, they only played eight of the 16 games with their original starting five. So they had to plug and play a lot of guys and make a lot of things work and be smart and play smart football.

And they did. Well, now Bill's helping his son down in Tennessee. God bless him. But now we have a new guy, and we'll see how good he is. I got nothing against him, but I'm not sure yet.

So we'll see how it is. But you got Postek at the center position. He was banged up last year and over the last couple of years. You got Wyatt Taylor, who's still good, but also banged up. You got Joel Patonio, who's a year-by-year guy. And if he were playing for a perennial playoff team, we'd be talking about him with one of the all-time greats of the guard position. I know you're a Patriots fan, and we're talking about a guy like John Hannah there, for crying out loud.

Yeah, John Hog Hannah. What about Chubb? What can you expect out of him? Coming off the injury, Ken, I love Nick Chubb. I still think even with how great he has been, he's not as appreciated as he should be in the NFL. But coming off that injury, what can you even expect out of him this year? He's such a fine man that he does not want to speak to media.

It's not adversarial. He just doesn't want to talk to us, and we accept it. We like him for it. I was at a benefit a couple of months ago, and he came up and I said, I'm media. You don't want to talk to me? He goes, you're right, I don't. He walked off. I respect that. He ain't mean about it. He shook my hand and he took off, and I can respect that.

I don't care. There's players I'm friends with. There's players I don't have to be friends with.

I can be friendly with them, but we don't need to talk. But with all that said, I think he's one of Cleveland's favorite players. I think he's this generation's one of our favorite players.

He's already up there with some folks with Joe Thomas, and he's already surpassed some of the other big names that we've had there. He's such a beloved football player for this team. We love running backs here.

We love running the football. It's been how long? It's been Mack and Viner since we've had really outstanding running backs, Joe. That's when I was a baby and before you were born, man. That's a long time ago. You've got a guy, Nick Chubb, who's special. Go ahead. Quite frankly, probably even before I was even a thot, honestly, Ken. Yeah, yeah. He's outstanding.

At first I put Halloween. Now I'm kind of thinking maybe October 1, maybe mid-October, maybe after week 4, I'm hoping. It's looking better and better, but he's got to make his cuts because they're not going to put him out there and he's only going to run half speed. That ain't going to happen. He's going to be able to protect himself and they want him to be able to help them win football games because they love him. They don't want to make him look bad. They don't want to do that.

Last thing I'll ask you. In college football, to me, there's no coach under more pressure this year than Ryan Day. In the NFL, not just quarterback but player, period. I think there's no player under more pressure than Deshaun Watson.

Who do you have more confidence in? Watson to succeed with the Browns or Day to succeed this year with Ohio State? Watson.

Why? Watson's road isn't as tough. And it's weird to say that because Ryan Day can play 11 cupcakes even though they got Oregon on the road. That's not necessarily a cupcake, but you understand.

And you can play 11 cupcakes. You don't win that final game. People are going to be calling for your head.

They're going to be calling for your head. I think Dave Aranda would disagree with you, but you might say the writing's already on the wall for him. Yeah, but what's the expectation for Baylor? Ohio State at least has expectation, you know?

Yeah, that's true. It's a curious case because they don't want to go down John Cooper road again. John Cooper's one of the most successful coaches that never won a national championship. And his name is known for failure here instead of success. And he was a very successful coach here. I mean, they went under some hard times at the end of the late great Earl Bruce, God rest his soul. And he got that thing going. They lost to Indiana his first year and they haven't lost since.

That was 1988. And Ryan Day's done a tremendous job. We haven't had any brain fart games like when we had under urban, like with Purdue and like the tight one with Maryland and the tight one with Indiana and the, and the huge loss out in Iowa, things like that. We haven't had any brain fart games.

We've had tough ones, but nothing like that. But the Michigan thing, when you're punting, when you're trying field goals and Harbaugh's going for it, when you get the ball poured down your throat and the final seven minutes of that football game, and they line up and they punch your teeth out. And you put all that pressure on that quarterback McCord last year. That's a statement in Michigan, whether an Ohio State fan likes it or not, Michigan's made three statements in a row all these last three years that they have outmanned you and they have dominated you physically.

And that don't sit well with a, with a Buckeye fan because, Hey, you can yell all you want at an 88 year old Lou Holtz, but it means something different when it goes to Michigan. So I think there's more pressure. I think there's more pressure on Ryan day. And frankly, I think that terms of the NFL, it's Deshaun Watson lets the game come to him. He doesn't act frustrated. He was good at the Greenbrier down in West Virginia. He's been a little bit frustrated since he got back up here. Things haven't gone as smoothly, but if you let the offense come to him, trust himself a little bit more, the playoffs should take care of itself.

And Hey man, I'm not expecting them to get past my homes and everything else, but they got to take care of that business down at Ohio State because the money they spent on that football team, you better beat Michigan and you better approach a national championship. He is Ken Carmen. Kim, I know we could put aside our differences after the first five minutes. I'm still annoyed at you, but I always appreciate you joining us.

You can be annoyed. I still love you. Love you too. There he is. The great Ken Carmen. Make sure you check him out.

92-3 the fan. Ken Carmen does a phenomenal job with Anthony Lima in the mornings and also does TV each and every day as well. And you can sometimes hear him right here on the Infinity Sports Network.

Christy Pierce-Rampone here, former member of the US Women's National Soccer Team and three-time gold medalist, two-time World Cup champion, and part of the 99 team that won the Women's World Cup, igniting passion for soccer everywhere. And like Amazon Prime, I'm a lot of things beyond what I'm best known for. I'm a girl mom to two teenagers, a dog mom too, an entrepreneur, a TV commentator, and I use my Prime membership pretty much every day for so many things. I am known for being quick and crafty on the soccer field, and I'm definitely crafty at home, especially digging in with the girl school projects. And I rely on Amazon Prime to have what we need and get it to us with the speed I am used to. With every change of season, I love to decorate our home.

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