With a minute and 30 seconds remaining in Sunday’s Browns–Titans game, Gus Angelone answers the phone, still floating in this strange euphoria that has defined the majority of his 2020 football season. He calls it euphoria because, admittedly, he is still unsure how to describe it. At age 44, he only knows bad Cleveland Browns football. There has not been a singular Sunday in his sentient adult life where a game felt in hand, or even remotely winnable at kickoff.
And now, the superfan known as Pumpkinhead is watching as his two sons, ages 12 and 13, launch off the La-Z-Boy onto the ottoman as Cleveland seals its ninth win of the season—this one a 41–35 romp in which the Browns stormed out to a 38–7 halftime lead over a first-place Titans team.