Kevin Stefanski's Awful Television Experience Was Extremely Enjoyable
By Kyle Koster
Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski was relegated to watching his team's playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers from home due to COVID. It had to be acutely frustrating giving up all that control and just accept whatever images came flashing across his television screen via the NBC broadcast.
And while Adam Schefter did well to set the stage for such absurdity, it turns out he undersold just how unglamorous Stefanski's viewing experience would prove to be.
Browns HC Kevin Stefanski feels great but is out tonight against the Steelers. Like so many Browns' fans in Cleveland, Stefanski will be in the basement of his home tonight, watching the game on a 60-inch HD TV, alone, no family or friends around, with his phone off. This season.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 10, 2021
Because it sounds like he fell victim to the ol' televisions-not-on-the-same-timeline thing that's ruined many a sporting experience.
#Browns Stefanski talks about his reaction to the first play of the game that resulted in a Browns TD. pic.twitter.com/dRR4xl7Al5
— Fred Greetham (@FredGreetham) January 11, 2021
#Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said when he was in basement, he must have hit pause on TV or something b/c it was delayed at start of game, and he heard his kids go crazy upstairs when the snap went over Ben Roethlisberger's head, so he knew something good happened when he heard
— Nate Ulrich (@ByNateUlrich) January 11, 2021
The struggle is so real. I still have visceral flashbacks to the 2005 Final Four where the drunks in the living room were groaning with each North Carolina bucket a solid 10 seconds before the rest of us crowded into the kitchen saw what occurred. Not only did the Spartans get run out of the gym, there was absolutely no fun to be had with the element of surprise eliminated.
That immediacy is essentially the reason live games are the most coveted inventory in all of television right now.
Of course, in Stefanski's case he had the enviable opportunity to continue down that disjointed road out of superstition. If I realized the televisions were off and my team raced out to a 28-0 lead, there wouldn't be enough money in the world for me to mess with that.
All signs point to the coach being on the Arrowhead sidelines next week, so this sill go down as an even more memorable experience than it was built to be prior to kick.