the nail in the coffin | A Cleveland sports podcast

For the better part of a generation, the Cavs have existed in two states: With LeBron James, an NBA championship contender, or without LeBron, one of the worst teams in the league. Times are changing. The Cavs are fun and more than holding their own this year. The guys discuss the leap of Collin Sexton (and his pairing with Darius Garland), the heist that brought Jarrett Allen to town (and will eventually send Andre Drummond out), and the experience of having a team that's out of the cellar...

The most fun Browns season in decades is over after the team came up one score short of doing the unthinkable and knocking out the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs in Kansas City. The guys dig into the controversial no-call on the hit that caused Rashard Higgins to fumble away a potential score late in the second quarter, the Browns finding new life after being on the verge of getting KO’d early in the second half, Kevin Stefanski’s decision to punt the ball away late in the fourth, and...

Before the Browns head off to Kansas City for a divisional round matchup with the Chiefs, the guys look back on an unforgettable night in Pittsburgh that started with an avalanche—four first-quarter touchdowns!—and ended with the Browns winning their first playoff game since 1994. With coach Kevin Stefanski, cornerback Denzel Ward and others returning from the COVID-19 list, can the Browns keep up the magic in K.C.? Even if they don’t set records again, another fast start will probably be...

The Browns are going to the playoffs! The Buckeyes are playing for a national championship! This is all supposed to be exciting…right? The guys discuss COVID-19 taking the air out of Northeast Ohio football fans’ balloon at the worst possible time, whether the Browns can overcome not having Kevin Stefanski and multiple starters, and the possibility that Monday’s national championship game between Ohio State and Alabama might not end up being on Monday after all. Plus: Justin Fields was...

As of Monday afternoon, subscribers of YouTube TV, Hulu and Sling in Northeast Ohio were blocked out from watching Cavs games on Fox Sports Ohio. Local DIRECTV and AT&T Uverse subscribers are keeping their fingers crossed that they don’t have to watch the Browns’ Sunday Night Football game on a Spanish network because they are currently blocked from receiving WKYC. With disputes between cable providers and network operators on the rise, Awful Announcing owner and editor Ben Koo joins the...

An NFL game between Baltimore and Pittsburgh that was supposed to be played on Thanksgiving night is now scheduled for a Wednesday afternoon in December so as not to conflict with the lighting of a Christmas tree in New York. The Ohio State Buckeyes have played four games and are currently in position to make the College Football Playoff, but are also on the verge of not qualifying for the Big Ten championship game. And yet it’s the NBA, which earned praise for the safety of its bubble over...

After 8 months, finally—FINALLY!—things are happening with the Cavs. The NBA’s trade moratorium is about to be lifted, the draft is on Wednesday night, and free agency isn’t far behind. Justin Rowan, co-host of the Cavs-centric podcast The Chase Down, drops in on The Nail to give us a refresher on the state of Wine & Gold basketball, from the likelihood of a trade involving Andre Drummond, Kevin Love or maybe even Larry Nance to how potential draft picks could fit into the Cavs’ lineup....

Coming off a much-needed bye, the Browns are back this weekend and they will look to returning running back Nick Chubb and guard Wyatt Teller to rejuvenate the running game that carried the team's offense through the early part of the season. With no moves made at last week's trade deadline, meanwhile, the Browns will look within to bolster a defense that has struggled to get off the field. The guys preview the second half of the year and size up the team’s playoff odds. Plus: Memories of...

WFNY co-founder and editor Andrew Schnitkey was at FirstEnergy Stadium on Sunday to watch the Browns move to 4-1, their best start since 1994. He joins The Nail to talk about his experience among the 12,000 fans at the game, the magic that Kevin Stefanski has worked to completely turn around the franchise, Myles Garrett’s dominating start to the season, the ups and downs of Baker Mayfield, and the big test that looms on Sunday at Pittsburgh. Plus: LeBron James clinched his fourth title on...

Fausto Carmona is long gone, but the midges are back. Sandy Alomar won’t be hitting a game-tying home run that sends Paul O’Neill into a tantrum on the warning track, but he will be managing the Tribe. It’s the Indians and the Yankees meeting in the first round of the MLB postseason again, and Waiting For Next Year’s Mitchell Krall joins The Nail to give us a crash course. Topics covered: Presumed Cy Young winner-to-be Shane Bieber and the Indians pitching staff, potential AL MVP Jose...

Two weeks into the NFL season, the Browns have bounced back from a rough (but, given the circumstances, maybe not too surprising) start in Baltimore. The Indians, meanwhile, are officially back in the postseason after a dramatic Jose Ramirez walk-off home run in extra innings against the White Sox on Tuesday night. Joe Gerberry, writer and editor for Waiting For Next Year, joins The Nail to discuss the state of Cleveland’s two active teams. The guys go through the early returns on the Kevin...

High school football—one of Ohio’s great sports traditions—kicks off its 2020 season later this week, but for obvious reasons, this year will be far from normal. John Kampf, longtime prep sports writer for The News-Herald, joins the Nail to talk about how schools around the area are preparing amid the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in protocols being made by the OHSAA to limit risks where possible. … Plus: A coaching change in Mentor, Kirtland eying another state title, and the players to...

Sports are back, and so is The Nail. The guys discuss the early ups and downs of the Indians, the Blue Jackets in the NHL playoffs, and adjusting to sports broadcasts with no fans but lots of ads. … Plus: With the Big Ten and Pac-12 opting out for the fall, what will become of the 2020 college football season? ... Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | TuneIn | Stitcher Catch us on WaitingForNextYear.com Like us on Facebook: Facebook.com/TheNailPodcast Follow us on Twitter:...

Author Alex Harnocz joins the show to discuss his new book, “Perfect Season Project: An Uncommon Arrangement of Cleveland Indians History,” in which he sifts through 120 years of Tribe baseball to find the most interesting and/or historic year for each game on the schedule, from 1 to 162. In his book, Harnocz chronicles the classics—Bob Feller’s opening day no-hitter in 1940, Len Barker’s perfecto (Game 24 in 1981), and the miraculous comeback vs. Seattle (Game 110 in 2001)—as well as some...

Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com and the MLB Network joins the show to discuss the Indians potentially changing their name, how the 60-game schedule and new rules for 2020 affect the Tribe, and whether roster restrictions in place this year could decrease the odds of a midseason trade of Francisco Lindor. Read Castrovince’s column on a potential Indians name change: https://medium.com/@castrovince/the-cleveland-spiders-b2f4aa576eb3 Check out Castrovince’s new book: “A Fan’s Guide to Baseball...

Northeast Ohio native Evan Bush, the veteran goalkeeper for the Montreal Impact, joins The Nail to discuss the upcoming return of MLS, the league’s World Cup-style tournament to restart the season, and being part of contentious CBA negotiations. Plus: Bush explains how he tried to stay sharp at home during the three-month layoff, and he shares his thoughts on the Crew being saved in Columbus. ... Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | TuneIn | Stitcher Catch us on...

With sports still mostly on hold and not much fun happening in the world right now, the guys take a break from current events to reminisce about some lighter moments from years gone by, including Ohio State’s 2002 national championship, a pair of dramatic Indians wins, and some youth sports misadventures. Plus: A last word on ESPN’s “The Last Dance.” ... Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | TuneIn | Stitcher Catch us on WaitingForNextYear.com Like us on Facebook:...

On Sunday night, ESPN premiered its long-awaited documentary on Michael Jordan and the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls, “The Last Dance,” airing the first two episodes in the 10-part series. The guys rejoice at having new sports content to watch for the first time in forever and share memories of the ’90s Bulls, including being in the building for Jordan’s last game in Cleveland as a player for Chicago. (Watch Bulls at Cavs on April 9, 1998) Plus: The disaster potential for the virtual NFL Draft on...

With no March Madness this year, CBS is dusting off some classic NCAA tournament games to fill airtime. Last Saturday afternoon, that included a replay of the Duke vs. Kentucky regional final from 1992, considered by many the greatest game of all time. Tom Withers, now a sportswriter for the Associated Press in Cleveland, was courtside in the Spectrum to cover the game. He joins The Nail to share memories of a crazy Saturday night in Philadelphia, Christian Laettner somehow avoiding an...

A week ago, Bill Bender of the Sporting News was covering college basketball and gearing up for a trip to Cleveland to cover the NCAA tournament. It goes without saying that a lot has changed in the days since. Bender drops by The Nail to talk about sports being put on pause, where things could be headed in the coming months, getting an occasional break from serious news headlines on Facebook thanks to NFL free agency, and the joys of playing classic sports video games with his kids. ......