San Francisco 49ers beat reporter Grant Cohn has become a minor celebrity in Australia while covering the team’s Week 1 matchup against the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne. Cohn’s coverage extends beyond football, documenting his experiences with Australian culture and cuisine, attracting attention from local media.
Cohn’s videos showcasing his exploration of Australian food, including Chinese cuisine and pub meals, and his attendance at an Australian rules football (AFL) game have resonated with fans beyond the 49ers fanbase. He compared his experience in Australia to “reporting from the moon – is there air there? Is there oxygen? Wow, there's oxygen in Australia. It's incredible,” as reported by 9News Melbourne’s Trent Kniese. Cohn suggested that Americans may be more interested in Australia itself than the football game.
This foray into cultural reporting is a departure from Cohn’s typical content, which focuses on critical analysis of the 49ers. He has cultivated a reputation as a critical voice, referring to himself facetiously as the team’s “quality control coach” and often contrasting with the more supportive reporting of San Francisco Standard reporter David Lombardi. This approach has led to public disagreements with several 49ers players, including Arik Armstead, Javon Kinlaw, and Kyle Juszczyk.
Cohn has consistently turned these confrontations into content for his YouTube channel. He embraced the attention during a livestream exchange with Kinlaw, using a screenshot of the interaction as his profile picture on X. He also responded with two videos to a post by Juszczyk, stating he does not want to look at “any player’s ass” in the locker room. This approach mirrors that of his father, Lowell Cohn, a former sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, who also engaged in public disputes, including one with former 49ers coach Chip Kelly regarding Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling protest and a comparison of PED users in baseball to murderers.
Read the original coverage
💬 Comments
📜 Comment Policy