Transcript: Sports Porch Black And Gold - Steelers Nation Get Ready

Chris:
You need to mute yourself. You mean like that? Yeah. I don't see you on the screen down here. There he is. It's official. Wow. Yeah. This is good. Yes, it is.

Chris: What is it? This is the sports porch black and gold edition. We are live. Yes, we are live all over the world on Facebook, on LinkedIn, on YouTube, on X. And now we are live on Instagram now that I just clicked the button. And we do drop the podcast right after the show. We drop the podcast right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your friggin podcast.

SPEAKER_05: That's right, ladies. And we're going to have a little discussion about the pirates tonight. What do you guys think?

Marc: A little.

Chris: No, no, no. All right. Maybe not. I keep getting an echo here, and I'm not sure why. Somebody's camera is on. Somebody's something is on. Looks like Steve and I are in good shape. I'm good. Are you okay? Yeah, now we are. Are you good? Steve fixed it.

Steve: Thank you very much. You have to double mute on these things.

Marc: There you go. You gotta double mute. Double mute. All right. You gotta double mute.

Chris: We're just too loud and proud. All right, guys. Thanks for being here. Listen, it is, look, We are going to talk football, so we're going to talk about the Steelers. The season is coming up in essentially two weeks, call it a week and a half, whatever you want. Two weeks, right? When's the first game? Two weeks minus one day. Whatever. And the first game is Schwab's beloved Eagles down in Brazil. Brazil. Yeah. And did you know that when you throw the ball below the equator, it spins in the opposite direction?

Steve: I heard in order to make it spin the right way, Jalen hurts was going to throw it left handed.

Chris: Yeah. Yes. They would probably win a lot more.

Marc: I want to know, is Shakira playing at halftime?

Steve: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely not. You guys weren't getting the green thing. Yeah. What was the green? So the deal is like the, the soccer, the soccer team, the football team that plays in Brazil has a rival team and that rival team is green. So they don't allow them to wear their green jerseys when they're playing in their, their home stadium. And I guess the home stadium for the, where they're playing is called the Corinthians. And I forget the other team's name, whatever their team name is. Anyway, they play green, so they have this unofficial ban on green wear. So even if you're a fan, you can't wear your Green Eagles jersey. You can't wear your green Green Bay jersey. I don't know what colors they're going to wear. And why did the NFL pick two green teams to play? I think there are other colors in the NFL.

Chris: There's an intern out there somewhere going like, I just thought it would be fun to play in Brazil.

Steve: The problem is the NFL isn't culturally, they're misappropriating the color green. There you go. They should have been on top of that with all their DEI that they have.

Chris: I think we should ban green, to be honest with you. I think it's a horrible color.

Steve: It's horrible. I actually like the Kelly green, personally.

Chris: Why do they call it Kelly green? Because it's Irish? That's just the name of the color you have to just get used to it We're gonna talk about football we're gonna talk about the Steelers we we're gonna talk about the Buccos of course we're gonna do that first because I think they've just completely gone off the reservation now and

Steve: And well, they were before they won three out of four from the red.

Chris: Well, who the hell cares? We got we got H.J. in the house across from me in the studio. We got the Grants while being to my right, which means I'm going to flip the switch on this because I like when the screen looks like I'm looking at him because I am looking at him. And then, of course, I'm your technical director. We got what we're watching. We've got the Trader Joe's snack time. A little different this week. And we are going to stump the answer. I have a question for the answer. I'll just I'll give you I'll give you. He's the answer. Oh, yes. Oh, that's right. He won last week. He won. Oh, OK. So we're going to try to sell. I might actually stump this yinzer. Yeah, well, we'll see. Because I picked the question I thought you could answer. Yinzer of the week. You might actually be able to answer this one. Ah. You might. He is yinzer of the week. So let's, and I did just drop a comment. Mike Lawrence is in the house. Thanks, Mike. Speaking of green, how about Georgia Tech beating FSU in Dublin, Ireland? Nobody cares. Yeah.

Steve: No, it is. Don't you find it interesting that now NCAA football is trying to go overseas? Like, it doesn't seem like it makes much sense.

Marc: But it doesn't because it's not like their colleges are going to make a football team. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Steve: I mean, maybe. I don't know. I just think it's the NFL taking over the world.

Chris: Yeah, I do. I do. But FSU wasn't supposed to win that game, were they?

Steve: No, they were. They were like ranked 10. Yeah. Yeah, and they got they lost on the last second field goal.

Chris: Now, this is a this is a this is I believe Don is chiming in here on Facebook. This is a pirates related comment about Sheltie and I like to do it. Don says, funny, how can he stand in front of people and lie to their faces? If I'm correct here, what you're referring to, what he's referring to is the fact that just before the show today, I was driving home, I was coming home from downtown, and I heard that about an hour before, the Pirates had announced that O'Neal Cruz is now going to play center field.

Steve: So well, because I guess they're cutting ties with Michael 18.

Chris: Well, yeah, they did release him. But that's not. So the point that I think Don is making, what he's bringing up is that just about seven or eight days ago, they interviewed the Sheltie was on an interview on a show and they questioned Cruz at shortstop. And and Shelton basically said, well, you know, he's a shortstop. He's played there all his life and blah, blah, blah. Right. He's a shortstop, you know. And now eight days later, he's center field. Now, here's the thing. There was a caller on the fan.

Marc: By the way, O'Neal Cruz is D.H.

Chris: Yeah, he's going to D.H. He's D.H. in for two or three games while he learns how to play center field. Okay, have they gone fucking crazy? Have they gone crazy? I mean honest to god The kid when they when they drafted him, he was 17 years old He has never played any position other than shortstop in the entire organization This guy this guy that called in made a great point when they drafted him. He was like 6-3. Did you hear the comment? Were you listening? No, but I'm really enjoying the angst. Thank you. When they drafted him, he was six three. By the time, you know, he grew like four more inches. He would have been the he was the tallest guy to ever play shortstop. He's never played any other position. He played, I think, one game a couple two years ago in left field and then some other games. I think he played in right like two games or something. It might have been spring training or down in double or triple A, something like that. Right. This is what we, what we get. This is what we get. Oh, he sucks as a shortstop. Now we're going to put him in center field because he's so important. Look, I'm sorry, guys. O'Neal Cruz is not going to be a great baseball player. He's not. He's not a good shortstop. I said this last year.

Steve: He's a good shortstop.

Chris: No, he's not. Yes, he is. He's in the bottom five in statistical categories and errors in the league. He is one of the worst shortstops in the league. He's not a good shortstop. You're just talking fielding.

Steve: Yes, field. Yeah, he's just talking. He's not talking about the full position.

Chris: His base running is horrible. It's horrible. And putting him in center field is not the answer. I am off the O'Neill cruise bandwagon. I was never on it fully to begin with. You guys know that. And to to to make this kind of change right now is ridiculous. It's indicative of the fact that the organization knows it has absolutely nobody coming into this team that is going to matter at all. Joey Bart goes on the aisle. They bring Henry Davis back. Why? Because he's the only other guy they can bring back.

Steve: Yeah, because Sanchez is also hurt. Right. Rodriguez.

Chris: Rodriguez is also hurt. Yeah. It's this is get it is turning into a comedy. It's a comedy to pirates.

Steve: There's one word, a couple words that you said there that were unnecessary. You said turning into a comedy. This has always been a comedy. Well, true. This team has always been about the entertainment value. This team has done this year after year after year. Last year they did it with Henry Davis. They brought him up and where did they play him immediately? Left field, right field, right field. They threw him in the right field. They had an injury. They had an injury, a catcher to N D Rodriguez. They brought him up and he was like, finally, they're going to have to play their number one pick number one overall pick. As a catcher, and they immediately put him in the right field. This is the pirates being the real pirates. Right. That's exactly right. And Don, listen closely. They will lie to you. They will lie to your face. Yes. They will tell you that everything's fine. And then they will immediately begin to implode the team from within. Yes. They don't even have to do it externally. They don't even have to wait for injuries. They just do it themselves. They're like, okay, time to blow this team up so we can shut Skeens down and then save his arm for next year. This is exactly what the pirates do. They do it every year. So you can't be surprised that they're doing it again this year. Oh, and why are they doing it now? Well, because all the kiddos are back in school. So what was the attendance yesterday at the ballpark? Like maybe 10,000. There were probably 5000 Cincinnati fans there. So this is this is the mantra for the pirates. It has been for decades. If you want to get upset now, you're welcome on my bandwagon because I've been here since 1993. Yeah. Um, and I've definitely been here since nutting built the Pittsburgh fans out of billions of dollars for that new stating, which is absolutely fricking gorgeous. But guess what he did to get it? He lied. He lied. He said, we'll spend to the, we'll spend to the cap. We'll be competitive on the field and they have never been that way. So that's why I ran on the Pirates. Welcome to the team. I hope everybody gets angry and nobody attends any more games.

Chris: There you go. Hey, not enough said. Chris, Chris Jada joins us on Instagram. He says, and again, this is kind of no offense to you, official Chris Jada. This is going to be a meaningless question for Steve. Would you say Shelton's career arc in Pittsburgh is similar to Clint Hurdle above average, a few years, ultimately regressing to the point of being fired?

Steve: Actually, hurdle did a much better job. I think he actually tried the coach to team. Yeah. Sheldon, he never tried to coach this team. He thought he was in charge. Now he recognizes he's not in charge. He'll probably be gone. Yeah. Yeah. But they may not want to pay him, you know, two more years of salary, but they cut, they cut hurdle when he had a salary. So they're okay with paying, uh, managers, even though they're not coaching. By the way, Mike Lawrence is asking, will Skeens ask for or demand a trade? Can he? Well, yeah, of course he can. But he probably won't, just because he's been struggling a little bit. So I think he's got to figure out some things, play in a full season next year. I think after next year, he wins 15, 16 games. Then maybe the year after is Mike, in between the next season and I guess it'd be 25, 26. He might be looking for a trade then. Yeah, I don't know. Pirates want to trade him anyways, Mike, because that's how they perpetuate the so-called con.

Chris: Yeah, and you have to wonder, have you ever seen a team hold a fan base hostage better than the Pittsburgh Pirates?

Steve: They're brilliant at it. People get confused and excited about when they get a good player, and then they get confused when they get bad again. I've never been confused about this team. It's always been about the money. It's always been about nutting, getting as many fans in the seats when he can. Yep. Making it sound like they're going to be competitive. And they are, they still are because of that wild card, by the way, the wild card makes a lot of more teams that aren't competitive look competitive. Right. That's exactly what he wants. Yes. Exactly what he wants. Yes.

Chris: He's evil. Yeah, he is. I agree.

Steve: But I mean, let's face it, you have to spend like the Philadelphia Phillies, you know, $400 million on a payroll to buy a team. And then even then you're not afforded the World Series.

Chris: Or you have to take your farm system, rip it out upside down, like the Orioles, who are not going to be able to hold on to all of these players, but they have them under control for a couple years. True. But that takes a lot of effort and also a lot of money.

Steve: Well, and actually baseball people picking good players, right? Which the pirates don't pay them.

Chris: You have to pay them. Yeah. Even at the lower level, you got to pay to get, you get what you pay for.

Steve: And I think the Orioles are probably an interesting study for the pirates if they wanted to be like somebody, because their payroll isn't very high right now.

Chris: It's in the bottom five in the league. And it's still not going to be that high next year. No, but they're going to have some decisions to make. And the proof will be in the pudding when it comes time to resign a couple of these guys and they're going to want mega deals. How much money are the Orioles willing to spend? But this is a pirate show. So, yeah, that's true though.

Steve: But I mean, that's the same thing the pirates will have to do with skeins.

Chris: Yeah, but that's one player and they're not going to do that. You know, they're not, they're going to let him ride. They're going to ride it out. The talk was shutting him down and getting another year of control.

Steve: I mean, they did it with Brian Reynolds, and he seems to be OK.

Chris: Yeah, but Brian Reynolds isn't Bryce Harper. Do you know what I mean? Brian, well, he is for the pirates, but I'm just saying he is. There is nobody out there. Almost has an 800 OPS. Do you let's let Schwab or let's let Schwab or chime in on this. Do you think there are any teams out there near the trade deadline that are inquiring about Brian Reynolds? I mean, that's the point I'm trying to make. I don't think anybody wants Brian Reynolds because there's a hundred Brian Reynolds in the league.

Marc: Well, only because teams know that the Pirates will get rid of players. So I would say, yeah, teams probably worry. Yeah.

Steve: And he's still affordable. I mean, his salary isn't crazy.

Chris: No, no, it's not crazy. But I just don't, you know, they were talking about.

Steve: Trust me, he'll be a guy who will go probably before skiing.

Chris: Oh, yeah. I would put his timing on him going next year. Yeah, I agree with that. Yeah, because then now they're halfway through the contract.

Steve: Yeah. Unless, of course, they're still in it at this time next year.

Chris: Which is always a possibility.

Steve: Right.

Marc: I mean, it is. Because he should have gone this year, like I said.

Steve: Yeah. Right. I think you're right. Yeah. But they didn't. And this is what the pirates do. They trick you. Oh, they didn't make any moves. They didn't dump anybody at the trade deadline. They must be serious. And then what do they do? Take their starting shortstop and make him a center fielder. Four weeks later.

Chris: Look, if you want some really good comedic entertainment, watch Cruz play center field for the first time.

Steve: I mean, I, I still have doubts that they're going to put him in center field. That's what they said. I know, but let's face it. Yeah. When, when you were in little league and there was a kid that could hit, but could not play anywhere, he played one of two positions catcher or right field.

Chris: Right. Yeah. I, well, ultimately maybe they do move him over to right field, but the point I'm making is that,

Marc: That would actually make sense with his arm.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It makes perfect sense. Well, he could be the next Roberto Clemente.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. Sure. He could. Yeah. I mean, he can throw it really fast. I'm just speaking for nothing. I know you are. So there you have it. I mean, once again, You know, Steve's been saying this for years. Yeah.

Steve: And just stick with me, people come back. If you're having problems with thinking the Pirates are a real baseball team, I will give you the truth.

Chris: There you go. There you go. And I'm proud to say that I think both Schwaber and I were there the moment that it was the tipping point and things started to go downhill. When Sid Bream rounded third base, that was the night that Steve decided, I'm not sure this is going to work anymore.

Steve: I mean, I, I held, I held on hope.

Marc: You are, you are discounting. They, they did have like a nice three year run with McCutcheon and Garrett Cole.

Chris: That was, I honestly believe that was luck. Okay. And, and I think that, um, you know, AJ Burnett at that point was actually washed up and he like made a miracle comeback. I think he was injured.

Steve: Well, him and Russell Martin that came to the team together, right. Really brought a culture of, Hey guys, we can win. And people rallied around those two guys. Yeah. Name those guys on this team now. Yeah. Nobody. They don't exist and they're not going to go get them. Yeah. And, and unless they go get a Russell Martin, AJ Burnett, this, this team is going to struggle with trying to find its own identity, especially when a so-called future leader like O'Neill Cruz is now being plucked out of the position he played his entire life and thrown in the outfield to drown. Yeah.

Chris: I don't, um, I don't think, uh, it's going to work out that well. Pat on track is with us. He says that team gave up when they let Andy Vance like go.

Steve: Uh, no, that was Barry Bonds. Right. Right. Let's talk about. They kept Andy Vance like over Bonds.

Chris: Yeah. Let's talk about, uh, let's talk about Barry Bonds for a minute now. Now that, um, here, hold on.

Marc: What is in the Pirates Hall of Fame?

Chris: Yeah, Marvin Hamilton says, do you think the Pirates will ever become a championship team? I mean, it's possible in like 2063. Yeah.

Steve: I mean, if they get new ownership that's willing to pay $250 million, sure. Yeah. That's all it really takes anymore for baseball. Yeah. You just need some good players, a half-decent farm system, and $250 million in payroll.

Chris: Yeah, at least. Yeah. Then you're in. Under current ownership, never. Under current ownership, never. Absolutely not. Never. Absolutely not. So, Barry Bonds, Pirates Hall of Fame. Did you hear any of his speech? Which, by the way, he didn't write anything down. He just, right off the hip. Did you hear any of it?

Marc: I heard he said something like he doesn't even think about getting into the real Hall of Fame anymore.

Chris: Yeah, I didn't hear that part of it. What I, what I heard was him just basically say, you know, I, I, I always talked about wanting to play in San Francisco cause that's where my dad played and that's where my godfather played. And, um, you know, I, it ended up, I couldn't, and he was originally drafted by San Francisco, but then he ended up getting drafted again by the pirates cause, cause what did he, he stayed in college. Yeah. He, he didn't want to come to the majors at that time. He was too young. Right. And so then he basically said, you know, Pittsburgh is where my heart is. And, you know, I, I, I, I played here. They gave me my start. I met a guy, Jim Leland and he just basically really talked up his time here. And then he credited his mom and I thought it was, it was Barry Bonds. It was humble. Um, it, it, it wasn't that like that, attitude that he always had when he was here. But here's the interesting things that I heard about him. And I'm going to talk about Hall of Fame because I am still, this guy belongs in the Hall of Fame.

Steve: No, I'm with you. A hundred percent. You don't have to convince me. It's the guy over there.

Chris: Is it John Wainer? Is it John Wainer or Bob Wainer? I can't remember the guy's first name. John Wainer or Bob Wainer? Uh, the, the third baseman. Yeah. The former guy. He played with Bonds and that was John. John Wainer. I listened to him on the, on the after game show after the Pirates game the other night when I was coming home from work. And they were in and, um, the fan guy was asking him, you know, you played with bonds, tell me about him. And of course he's, he's got nothing good to say about bonds now, but one thing had struck me that he said that I thought, and I think I told you this, that I thought was incredible is he said that in the off season, Barry stayed in Pittsburgh, he didn't leave and he would work out. And that when spring training started and other guys were taking batting practice, he said that he never saw Barry Bonds ever take batting practice. He said the guy didn't even have to play. They didn't even have to practice that well. Okay. Look, yeah, I don't steroids aside. That didn't help him learn to be a hitter. And he also said that bonds wasn't that tiny little, you know, stick figure when he left Pittsburgh, right. That he had been working out and not doing steroids, you know, the entire time. And he was starting to get much bigger. I'm not saying or suggesting that Barry bonds didn't use performance enhancing substances. We all know he did, but so did everybody else. I'm just saying that when I heard Wayner say this guy never took batting practice, that blew my mind. I mean, come on, Trevor. You don't think this guy belongs in the actual Hall of Fame?

Marc: Well, I think you either put everybody in or you put nobody in. Right. That's the point. I think that's the point.

Steve: And I agree. Everybody should be in. Major League Baseball turned the other way when it was happening because they were thrilled with what was going on. It was the height of baseball. They absolutely knew what was going on. They could have either done something about it then Instead, they rode the wave, and now they're throwing these guys on the crashing wave on the beach with broken surfboards, and it's ridiculous what Major League Baseball's doing.

Marc: I think what you do is you let them in, you know, because, I mean, all these guys really were Hall of Famers before the steroid boom. Yeah. You know, so you put them all in, but I do think one thing that you do is, you know, you have some way of expressing that the records, the records really don't count. Like, like nobody, like everybody knows, like Barry Bonds couldn't hit 73 home runs.

Steve: You just make it the era, just like you do with everything else. Like the dead ball era, the steroid era. That's just an era. I don't even, I don't even know what you call this era today.

Chris: I think Bonds could have hit 73 home runs. I mean, he was hitting 30 and 40 home runs before he started doing steroids. Who's to say? He could have easily. You think Aaron Judge isn't doing anything funky? You see how big that guy is?

Marc: Well, we already know. He's just a big dude.

Steve: We already know what Tony has been. Yeah, he's. And they're not. Once again, it's the this will be this will be called the betting era. Yeah. Watch. Yeah. They're going to find out all this stuff is going on. You're absolutely right. And it's just impossible to control it has gone way off.

Chris: Here's Pat. Strangely enough, in college, I referred to Mark as the clear and Chris as the cream. That's what Bonds said he used. He said he didn't know it was steroids. His trainers referred to one substance as clear and the other substance as cream. Yeah. And they would tell him when to apply it to his body.

Steve: Falco. That's who he was with. Falco. Yeah. That was a great documentary, by the way. That was a great documentary. I think it was very clear about what was going on. Yeah. Absolutely.

Chris: All you have to do is watch that. And even that guy wouldn't throw Barry under the bus.

Steve: Yeah. And here's the thing about Barry Bonds. The man was a great baseball player. Best I ever saw. Right. And everybody knows that about him. So the fact that the Pirates are finally acknowledging that good for them, by the way, I think, you know, I'm not a big fan of like Hall of Fames and stuff like that. But I think when a guy's not going to get into the Hall of Fame and you can do it locally, why not? I get it. He was an asshole to a lot of media and that he wasn't the nicest guy when he was here. I don't care. It's your job to interview these people. If they're not nice, too bad. They're baseball players. They're not heroes. They're not military guys. They're just there to play a game. And if you don't like it, you don't have to be a media guy. Somebody will take your space. So get out of the way. It's not about you. It's about the people on the field. So I'm happy to see that he finally did something. I'm glad that he made a speech that everybody liked. I didn't listen to it because, you know, I've got things to do. And hockey season's right around the corner. There you go. That's even more important. But I'm thankful that Barry Bonds was here the years he was here and he made this baseball team great. We need another Barry Bonds on this team.

Chris: Yeah, we don't have one. Pat says, I have to return my Brady Anderson bobblehead. 51 home runs as the leadoff hitter for the Orioles. We all knew something was wrong.

Marc: We all knew something was wrong.

Chris: Yeah. Tons. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got, I got to tell you that when I was, when I was watching that, I remember those days watching it never occurred to me just, you know, cause he, he didn't like bulk up like a lot of those other guys. He, he just, he got big, but I was just like, wow, we have the greatest lead off hitter of all time. 51 home runs. and it still didn't matter. In the steroid era.

Steve: That's all you have to do is just say it like that.

Chris: You are watching the Sports Porch podcast if you're watching it live right now on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, X, and the Gram, Instagram, and right after the show we're going to drop the podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your freaking podcasts. uh the wilson fields experiment isn't it a group oh no that's wilson phillips i love them yeah uh of course you do the wilson fields experiment is official what will the steelers do and why are we still talking about brandon iuk And, and who spelled that name wrong? Did you spend, nevermind, I don't want to go there. So this past, um, this past game against Detroit, you know what I think is funny? Okay. This is what I think is funny. And I talked about this.

Steve: I think you started watching the game at four o'clock in the afternoon. It was a one o'clock game.

Chris: No, I was, I was, I was working the whole one to nine. Anyway. So I texted you guys this, we've been talking about this for a couple of weeks. You know, what does preseason really mean? Zero. Okay. So now why is the fan talking about it?

Steve: As preseason being zero?

Chris: Well, all of a sudden we went off the other, our other show. Then all of a sudden all week long, the fan.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. Well, they're going off about it this week because the Steelers haven't won anything. Yeah. So they got to hide the Steelers suckish. Yeah. That's my word of the day. It's suckish. Yeah. The Steelers suckish in their programming.

Chris: Yeah. Look, I'm telling you right now, I don't care what anybody says and I don't care that we have a tiny show right now. We're going to be huge someday. And I'm telling you right now, people are listening, people are watching and they're taking our content and they're they're reusing it for themselves. And that's flattering. They should. I have nothing against that great content. But I think it's I think I actually think it's great. And we've heard it. We've seen it on a number of occasions, not just one. We've seen it here and there, where we've had somewhat of a discussion that nobody else is having, and then all of a sudden it's, what was the one, the article? What was the article? Remember the article? I said, are the Steelers Penguins.

Steve: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Is Pittsburgh on Trib live? Yeah. There was an article about this is the worst time in Pittsburgh sports right after right after I said it right after we had a discussion.

Chris: I brought up the topic. We all had a discussion. And then, boom, two days after that, there's an entire article in the trip. Maybe, maybe you're reading their minds before they know it. Yeah, maybe I am. Maybe I'm that good. I think it's possible. Yeah.

Marc: OK, so anyway, I'm afraid for my safety. Yeah, you should be. You know what? I know you are.

Steve: Every time you come to mark, just wear tinfoil underneath the hat. You'll be fine. Everything will be protected. Everything will be fine.

Marc: And the tinfoil hats, everything is you guys both think that's true. Yes, we do.

Steve: I've worn them before.

Chris: I know it works. Yeah. I mean, okay. So, uh, all right. So Iuke, um, never going to be, Iuke is never going to be a stealer if he is not going to be a stealer. It is not going to happen.

Steve: According to some people on the internet who must like clickbait. We'll know tomorrow. Yeah. Right. Yeah. We'll know tomorrow. And it's been that way for three weeks. That's why we keep talking about it.

SPEAKER_01: Tomorrow. Tomorrow. I love you. Tomorrow. Stop.

Chris: Stop. Stop. Okay. Anyway, okay.

Steve: Thank you Because we'll know tomorrow because we'll know tomorrow. It's it's the brandon iuk story all over again. I know It's ridiculous. He just needs to make a decision. That's the thing. I think he likes the upplay I don't know. I think with the cd lamb signing. I think he just wants to get in now, you know, everybody get in I don't know what's going to happen with uh chase, by the way Jamar. Yeah. Why? What's going on? I mean, they said he's practicing, but literally the guy is making peanuts right now. Right. And he doesn't want to know. And literally, like if he sat out the 10 games, you know how much money he would lose. Not much like seven hundred thousand dollars. Yeah, that's nothing. That's nothing to him He's gonna sign the 25 million dollar contract. Yeah, if I was him, I would just sit out the first 10 games That's dangerous though. I mean He can get out of the contract and he can get the hell out of Cincinnati where they're never going to make it back to the Super Bowl ever again. I told you that the year after they were in it and now it's all coming true. So just stick with me here. I believe that that's what should happen. But maybe Jamar Chase is more of a football player than I'm giving him credit for.

Chris: I actually think he is. Mike Lawrence, he can't wait for our Trader Joe's segment, Steelers Suckish with Chicken Wings and Honey Sauce. That sounds really good. Back to this IUC thing, I actually don't blame the Steelers for this. I blame the media for this. There's a lot of that. Yeah, if you think about it, IUC has not Look, he's he's he looks like he's pretty good. They he torched the Steelers in the first game of the year.

Marc: I still wonder if he's actually that good. That's where I'm going without being the fourth option.

Steve: Well, I can tell you that I'll be covering this in what we're watching.

Chris: Okay. Awesome. That's pretty good. Yeah. Yep. So I, you know, I, he's not going to be a stealer. I blame the media for this. They're perpetuating something. I think you're right.

Steve: I think that, I think the media is perpetuated something that normally would just be like, look, there are a couple of contracts out there. Let's let the guy make a decision and it'll be done with. He'd be crazy to come here at this point in time.

Chris: Pat starts off on the right track and then he just hops, you know, right. The IU story to Pittsburgh was posted on my fantasy football thread. That guy was lambasted. Now we're worried about him being a catfishing victim. Okay, well, where's Neve? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: All right, whatever.

Chris: I don't know where you go with that. Sometimes Pat gets us off track. Right. Yeah.

Steve: Yeah. I mean, especially when he says catfishing, like my mind just is going in 12 different directions.

Chris: What was he drinking in Florida? What did he have? Like 18 of whiskey and Cokes or gin and tonics or what did he wake up drinking? Beer. I think it was beer. But yeah, put that whiskey down anyway. Put the whiskey down, Pat.

Steve: The Russell Wilson. He's just gearing up for his fantasy football.

Chris: The Russell Wilson, Justin Fields experiment is beginning. And this is something we were talking about. You said before the show, Schwaber, the entire national media, you know what? This whole thing has become a clickbait nightmare for real fans.

Marc: It is. There has never once been a dispute as to who the starter is.

Chris: No, never. Even though Tomlin is coy and says he's still in the pole position and he's also said, we're not going to make a decision until the end of this week.

Marc: It was just kind of stupid, but he's doing that for like competitive advantage, right?

Steve: Yeah. I mean, he's just trying to keep fields engaged because he feels like he needs to have him in case Russell Wilson gets injured or maybe throws three interceptions against Atlanta.

Marc: Right. And he wants Atlanta to prepare for two quarterbacks instead of one.

Steve: Right, right. We get some of that too. I agree with you there. Yeah, but look I said last week that I was worried about the Steelers offense because they were dinkin and dunkin just like they did under Big Ken Yep, I finally saw some things that I liked about the offense and it happened in the first series It was third and 12 and Russell Wilson threw at 16 yards to pickens. That's what I wanted to see I wanted to see more of that and And Wilson did have to kind of wait. Look, both of these quarterbacks wait way too long to throw the damn ball. They do. And I don't mind if they're throwing short right away. That's fine with me. But when they're waiting two or three seconds and they're throwing it still behind the yard of scrimmage or three or four yards down. That's gonna be the problem with this offense in my opinion But when I saw that I like that and I do I do like quarter L Patterson I think Jalen Warren's not gonna play the first four games and I think he's gonna fit in really nice in that second position I think nausea is gonna have a good year. I'm Optimistic that between those two when Warren gets healthy again, they're gonna have they're gonna have a very good dynamic backfield They're gonna need it because they're gonna use them a lot.

Marc: Yeah, I heard enlightening. I

Chris: I like Patterson. Patterson is kind of a, Patterson is like a special weapon. You know, he, he, somehow he never manages to crack. Army knife. That's right. Like a, like a, he never manages. Like the boy scouts use. To crack. Here, here we go again. I want to go down that road.

Marc: All right.

Chris: The hell with it then. So Chris Chada says, what is up with Fields botching snaps? It's crazy how many times it's happened. Look, I got it. He's right about that. He is right. And that's just ridiculous. I got to tell you, my feelings about Justin Fields, um i did not watch him play a lot in chicago but i didn't need to because he was all he was always on national highlight films just because of who he was and how many interceptions and fumbles he had that right ridiculous so i'm gonna tell you stealers nation just shut the hell up about justin fields right now what that kid really needs in my opinion is he needs to sit for a year behind a real quarterback. And like it or not, Russell Wilson is a real quarterback. Stephen A. Smith, screw you. You know, that rant was ridiculous. Another clickbait attempt because we got to get people to watch a video and I have to rant and say that Russell Wilson is horrible and he's not bringing his game. He's playing for his career in the, in, in, in Pittsburgh and, you know, show emotion, shut the hell up. You know, look, he's the starter. He should be the starter. He wasn't that bad last year. His statistics were pretty good. He, he was benched the last five games where it's like fucking groundhog day around here because the coach didn't like him and the team was bad. And now he's on a team that is offensively doesn't have an identity and was terrible the last couple years. So who are you going to play? Are you going to play the kid that for two and a half years in Chicago, or was he three years in Chicago, looked horrible other than when he was running the ball? Or are you going to play Russell Wilson, who knows how to play quarterback? I mean, it's Russell Wilson. If you want Fields to be the quarterback for the future, he should sit a year. He should sit a year and learn how to play the position. You guys, anything? Anything at all?

Steve: Anybody out there? No, I'm listening to you, but I wanted to look up, because I think that Russell Wilson was drafted the same year Kirk Cousins was, right? I'm pretty sure, yeah. And I just wanted to look up, I was looking up their statistics, and honestly, Russell Wilson kills Kirk Cousins in statistics. He's 1-0 in the playoffs, Russell Wilson versus Kirk Cousins, 0-1. um 8 100 he started more games wait a minute he can't he can't be 1-0 in the playoffs russell wilson has played a ton of playoff games well well then stat head is steering me wrong okay yes yeah because he won a super bowl so he's at least 4-0 oh yeah one championship eight pro bowls versus kirk cousins for one all pro Versus Kirk Cousins zero. He these are fantasy points. Oh, here we go You keep looking that hundred and thirty four past touchdowns versus 270 for Kirk Cousins It's not even close right like I get it Most of his stuff has been in the past and in his glory years and he's not like that anymore But nobody thinks Kirk Cousins is washed up Why does everybody think Russell Wilson is washed out? You got it. He's not washed up. He's just not a phenom like, uh, you know, take your quarterback, uh, CJ, he's no longer a CJ Stroud. That's exactly. He's not a Patrick Mahomes anymore now, but he's still, he's still a damn good quarterback. He's much better than big Ken. Do I think there, do I think that means that the Steelers quarterback position is Brock solid? Absolutely not. But, I mean, for paying this guy a million dollars for this year? Can't get any better than that. Come on, people. It really can't. It can't get any better than that. It doesn't make any sense not to see what happens with him this year. And it's an upgrade over last year. And I think that's why I'm more optimistic about the offense. I know the offense has holes. I know the offense is not going to be, you know, great. But will it be good enough with the defense that we have? I think it's going to be better than last year. Uh, and Mike, Mike Lawrence, by the way, that might not be reflected in the win loss column because they're playing much tougher teams this year.

Chris: Mike Lawrence says, amen. Chris, Sean Payton treated Russell Wilson like crap, berated him publicly on the sidelines. Thank you. It's good to hear that.

Steve: Oh, by the way, it was head to head. That's what I thought it was. He beat him in the playoffs. One has taken a shot at you.

Chris: Pat's taking a shot at you. H J says, and I'm off track because you couldn't get the stats right. I finally got it right unlike you Pat. Oh my. All right. Anyway, so yeah, I mean, I, I think it's just time for everybody to just relax and realize that Russell Wilson is the starting quarterback. He should be the starting quarterback. And for those people who call in these shows and those hosts who are like, Russell Wilson was terrible last year. He wasn't, he wasn't, he would, he just wasn't, he was better than all of the quarterbacks on the Steelers roster combined.

Steve: Let's see what happens. I mean, well, it's really going to be very interesting from The very beginning when they play in Atlanta, that's gonna be a bigger game than the Steelers wanted to be, but it needs to be. It needs to be. They have to win that game. I agree, they have to, because Atlanta's looked at a team who might be up and coming, or they might be pretenders.

Chris: I think Kirk Cousins is done. That's my opinion, just because, you know. Well, we'll see if he can move on that angle. Yeah, and Pat says he got his engineering degree too, yeah.

Steve: I'm glad you're using it to do whatever you're doing down there in Florida.

Chris: This is the Sports Sports Black and Gold. We're live right now. If you're watching us live on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, X, and Instagram. And of course, I'm going to drop this show in the podcast right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify. I'm done with the pirate this year, or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts. Bye bye pirate. Does the Grand Schwabini have a prediction this week? It's okay if he doesn't. Sure. All right, here we go. Uh oh. The Grand Schwabini predicts.

Marc: I will predict for you.

Chris: Don't forget to rub it. Yeah, you gotta rub it out or rub the lamp.

SPEAKER_05: Gotta rub it out. Rub it out.

Chris: Look at that. That happens a lot. I hate when the top comes off like that. That's why he doesn't have kids.

Marc: All right, Schwalbini. That would mean that I would have more kids.

Chris: You think so? What were you talking about? I don't know. I don't know what you're talking about. You're horrible.

Marc: Sure. It's gross. Come on, Mark. I have been asked to make a prediction and the Grand Schwalbini will come through with a prediction in chest. The prediction pertains to How many touchdowns will Russell Wilson throw for you?

Chris: Oh, yeah. Good one, Grant. That's how he comes up with these.

Marc: Yep. And the answer is 23. Oh, 23.

Steve: And that's very interesting.

Marc: It just comes in and I just push it out.

Steve: That's what usually happens.

Marc: That's how it happens. You know, I can't, I can't say anything other than spiritual forces.

Steve: Well, all I can say is it'll be, it'll be very nice to see a quarterback throw for two touchdowns or more in a game.

Chris: Yeah. It'll be refreshing to see 23 touchdowns period. Yeah. Given, given the last couple of years, it's been a while.

Marc: I could be really good for this. Yeah.

Chris: Now Pat's saying under 23 touchdowns, but you know, he's also a Bills fan, so he's angry. He's just angry.

Steve: Hey Pat, give me 10 to 1 odds and I'll take the over on that. Yeah, seriously.

Chris: Okay, the Grand Schwab Beanie predicts 23 touchdowns, all passing touchdowns. You're not, you're not including any rushing?

Marc: That's passing. There will be one rushing touch.

Chris: Okay. I'll take the, I'll take the over on that. Two's easy. Okay, Stump the Yinzer. Now, here's how we do this on Stump the Yinzer. Generally, what we do is Steve or H.J. is our resident Yinzer. His DNA is just filled with Pittsburghies, pierogies, and Permanee sandwiches. That's true. And as well as cow tipping.

Steve: How many times do I have to tell you, I've never been cow tipping? Scott told me you guys were cow tipping. No, he's misspoken.

Chris: Okay, fried squirrel?

Steve: Eatin' squirrel? I've had squirrel before, yeah.

Chris: Okay, yeah, fried squirrel. There it is. I've had squirrel before. All right. Does it taste like chicken? Just fry it up and call it a squirrel fritter.

Steve: It's like a combination duck-chicken combination. Like if you could combine the two, that's what squirrel tastes like.

Marc: Duck and chicken? Duck and a chicken. Like a duck and a chicken went for a swim.

Steve: Yeah, and they made a squirrel, and that's what the meat would taste like. Yeah. Wow. That's true.

Chris: I'm gonna have to think about that later. Do you want me to bring you some squirrel?

Steve: No. You hesitated. I know.

Marc: I think you should bring some squirrel jerky.

Steve: Maybe Trader Joe's had some squirrel on the menu. I'd like to try some squirrel jerky. Squirrel jerky? I've never had squirrel jerky. I've just had squirrel meat. Have you ever jerked a squirrel? That would be no also. It's been a long day. You might want to ask Pat about that one.

Chris: Yeah, Pat.

Marc: Oh, Pat definitely has. Pat says he's had fried squirrel sheets. Oh, really? Sheets fried squirrels. I like it.

Steve: Sheets fried squirrels.

Chris: I'm going to go look for that after the show. Why the sheets not? Okay, so… So, what were we doing?

Steve: Oh yeah, stump the answer there.

Chris: You were about to ask Mark the question. Yeah, so we ask our resident Yinzer a question, and we give our resident non-Yinzer a chance to answer. If the Yinzer gets it wrong, and the non-Yinzer gets it right, he becomes the Yinzer. Last week, Mark answered the question. I gifted it to Mark, and he answered correctly. Mark is the Yinzer this week, so Mark, we're gonna try to stump this Yinzer, see if the real Yinzer can take the title back. Um, stump the answer. Who is the pens all time? I know Steve's excited about hockey now. Who is the pens all time leader in minutes played minutes late. If you really think about it, you should know this answer. It's not, it's, it's, you really think about it.

Steve: You have to, here's the problem. What, what, what year are you stopping at?

SPEAKER_01: Uh,

Chris: Whenever this book was, this is an old book.

Steve: I know the answer. Okay.

Chris: This might help. This might help our current resident Yinzer. 2000. 2000.

Steve: So up to the year 2000.

Marc: So it's not Sidney Crosby.

Steve: No.

Chris: It can't be Sidney Crosby. I should have qualified that and said, and the answer is not Sidney Crosby.

Marc: Okay. I am going to say Yarmir Yager.

Steve: Okay. That's a really good guess. I'm, uh, since he said that, I'm just going to say something different. Okay.

Chris: Gee, that's the point. Go ahead.

Steve: I'm going to go with Mario Lemieux.

Chris: We have no Yenzers this week. It's Tom Barrasso.

Steve: Tommy B. Yeah, Tom Barrasso. I was going to go with the goalie, but I went with a 66.

Marc: I was thinking Fleury for a minute.

Steve: Yeah, I was going to go with Fleury, but not before 2000. And then I should have thought Barrasso, but he only really played with the Penguins for like eight years. Yeah, but he played a lot. Well, I mean, yeah, he played, you're right, 40 games.

Marc: I'm surprised Jager didn't play more than Barrasso.

Steve: Well, once again, he left too. And Barrasso would play the whole game.

Marc: But he played several years without Lemieux here, didn't he? He did, yeah, several years.

Chris: Yeah, but their shifts are only, what, three minutes?

Steve: And then they might be, well, they play half the game, but if you play all the, yeah, so you're right. So Brasso, right.

Chris: The goal, unless they pull the goalie, he plays 60 minutes.

Marc: Actually, I wasn't thinking about that at all.

Steve: No, I was thinking about that, but most goalies don't, don't play 60 games. They only play 50 games, but still that's half the game. Yeah, you're right.

Marc: I should have thought about that. Yeah, that's true. That was a kind of a trick question.

Steve: Yeah. Thank you, Buffalo, for trading him to us. Yes.

Chris: Started in Buffalo.

Steve: There you go.

Chris: Thank you very much. That's great. Keep thinking about it. And you guys.

Steve: It's snack time. Yeah. Kind of. Well.

Marc: Honey sauce taste the goodness of the biscuit with that honey sauce I don't like the way it tastes with my chicken wings

Chris: OK, this is Trader Joe's snack time. I don't think we're actually getting a snack. You're not getting an actual snack. You are getting something from Trader Joe's, though. I want to thank Trader Joe's. They do not officially sponsor the show, but I do work there. It's a great place to get your food. Go down to the East Liberty store. See me down there. Say hello. And I did get permission to do this. This week's Trader Joe's snack time. We are having sparkling watermelon juice. I love the reactions I get from Schwab when he's so disappointed.

Steve: He always likes it.

Chris: Yeah. I don't know if he's going to like this or not, but this happens to be one of my favorites. I'm going to take the photo down so we can actually put the product of the week. Sparkling watermelon juice. Here you go. You each have to drink the whole thing.

Steve: Of course, because I'm not drinking after him. No, I'm not. Not after he rubbed his lamp like that.

Chris: That's right. I'm not drinking your spittle. Let's see. This is what we got tonight. Yeah. This is actually just the ingredients. If you read the ingredients, it's watermelon juice, citric acid, and sparkling water. So it's literally watermelon juice,

Steve: Very refreshing. I'm not a big fan of the fizzy unless it has some alcohol in it. Yeah. Well, this is vodka laying around.

Chris: This is good. Not laying around. No, but this is good for drinks. A lot of people buy these for mixed drinks.

Steve: If I knew this was coming, I would have brought some vodka.

Marc: I'd say it's very below average. I mean, like, it's like, it sort of tastes like watermelon. It sort of tastes like water. The bottom line is it doesn't taste good.

Steve: I totally disagree. Okay. I love this. There you go. It's not too sparkly, which I hate to, to, to over carbonation. Right, right. Um, it tastes exactly like watermelon. It's got a little sweetness to it. So, you know, you're not getting too much sweetness in it. If I had a jug of vodka, I'd be in heaven. I'd be in heaven right now.

Marc: There you go. My feeling is if you take two sips, you're done.

Steve: Yet Mark will somehow find a way to drink the whole thing.

Chris: Okay. There you have it. Trader Joe's snack time. Sparkling watermelon juice.

Marc: There's the goodness of the biscuit. You know you do. Here you go, H.J.

Chris: Bourbon and ginger.

SPEAKER_00: There's the goodness of the biscuit with that honey sauce. Indeed. Get that honey sauce on me. I don't like the way it tastes with my chicken wings.

Steve: One of these times we're just going to take off when that happens.

Marc: Just fly away. I almost felt like I almost flew away there. Yeah.

Steve: I think we could get Marta to get us to just fly away. There you go. She probably could. That would be fun. Anyway, I don't want to go down that route. I'm sure our fans would love it if we flew away.

Chris: Yeah, probably right now, especially. What's next here? Oh, HJ, do you have any hockey at all or are we just gearing up for… Oh, well, we have to actually pay homage to the counselor joint, right? We do. Yes. So go ahead.

Steve: So this past week I did my first H.J. It's not even a preseason spectacular. It had to do with Rutger McGrurdy coming over from the Winnipeg Jets for Braden Yeager. It was basically a hockey trade. That's what it comes down to. The Penguins traded their No. 1 prospect, who was a little bit more talented, for a guy who has a little bit more grit. So, I think it was a good hockey trade for two guys who have really never played in the NHL yet. So, I had my buddy Scott, we're going to call him the counselor, he was on, adding some great insight. So, if you haven't listened to it, and you're interested in what's going on with the Breedin' Jaeger, Rutger McGrudie trade. Head over to the HGA, check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Chris: Course that's on the Sports Porch podcast on YouTube or on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your freaking podcast. HGA talks after every single Penguins game. And now that we're getting a little closer to the season, he's starting to, I can see it. He's starting to shake like a junkie, man. He's he's getting ready. We're right around the corner. Yep. And the counselor will be joining him when the counselor is available.

Steve: Yeah, we can't, you know, we can't put too much pressure on him. We just want him to come in whenever he's ready and refreshed. Yeah. Maybe when, you know, the H.J. needs to go down to the water well and, you know, turn some water in the wine.

Marc: Right. Those sorts of things. Does he do anything? Does he have a job?

Steve: Oh, yeah, he does. Yeah. He consults much like you do.

Marc: Yeah. Well, I actually consult like I work. There's a lot of consultants that don't work. Yeah.

Steve: Yeah. He does. He's got, he's got two big clients.

Chris: He's got, he's doing okay. Okay. He's got a law license mark.

Marc: So for him, you know, he's right. Well, who's he consulting for?

Steve: Well, I'm not allowed to say on the radio, but you know, afterwards, maybe if you want to stick around and we'll, we'll get the counselor up and we'll, we'll have them divulge his sources. I think you would be, you would like some of the people he consults with. Really? Yeah. They, you know, they wear the blue.

Marc: Are they communists? It's good to know that at least somebody you know is on the right side of things.

Steve: You know, he tries to bring me over to the dark side every now and then.

Marc: And it works!

Steve: Yeah. Every now and then.

Marc: That's crazy. You need some of that in your life. After all these years.

Chris: I'm surrounded by lefties, what can I say? What are we watching? This is our last segment here on the sports porch tonight. Uh, there's a lot of streaming services out there and there's a lot of things to watch. A lot of things you probably shouldn't watch. We've probably watched most of those things and we're going to talk about it tonight. Now I don't have one. I'm, I honestly, I'm not watching anything new right now. I'm basically coming home doing this stuff and going to sleep. So as soon as my little, uh, sojourn into, whatever it is I'm doing outside of this is over. I'll start watching more TV again. Okay, what we're watching this week, we'll go with H.J. first. I am going to watch this, definitely. You are watching?

Steve: I am watching Receiver on Netflix. Actually, I watched the whole thing already.

Chris: Well, that's the requirement.

Steve: That is the requirement. You have to watch. You have to watch the whole thing. I think it was only like eight episodes. You know, they're all about 45 minutes. Yeah. Um, it's much like quarterback from last year. Only they're doing receivers. Right. Right.

Chris: I enjoyed that last year. Quarterback.

Steve: And I tell you what, if you haven't watched yet, now's the time to go back and watch it. Cause it, it also gives you a good recap on the full season. Right? Like I forgot, like they have a almond rod, St. Brown, by the way, his family is nuts. Yeah. Like, oh, you dad was like Mr. Universe, Mr. Universe. Right. And like he started his boys lifting like as soon as they could walk. It was like, here, put these weights on your ankles and start going like this. You know, they were they were weight bench fiends. I mean, and he's not a big guy. Right. But he could probably bench three twenty five. What his dad or Amon Ra? Amon Ra. And, and, and it was interesting cause this was the first season where he had an injury and it was the first time he had an injury since, um, his sophomore year in high school. Wow. So, so like he, they were shown the struggles and like they both signed big contracts. Him and Justin Jefferson was the other guy. I think you guys know Justin Jefferson. Yeah. Yeah. Once again had another disappointing, he had a disappointing season, but he still like had 1500 yards receiving and he missed like five games. Like ridiculous. It'll be really interesting because he had a lot of rapport with Kirk Cousins. It'll be interesting to see how that works out.

Marc: Now, interesting on the Steelers connection here. I think you told me last week that you felt that it portrayed Brandon Ayuk as kind of a… Agitator, were my words. Not a great guy.

Steve: No, so Debo Samuels and George Kittle were both featured from the 49ers, and they didn't show Ayuk too much, but when they did, and I forgot about this too, was I think week three when they played in Cleveland. I think Cleveland was undefeated at the time. Like, he was just stirring up shit with the other team, like, before the game, like, just running his mouth. And, of course, Debo's gonna come to his defense. Um, so, it, it, it, and he was like that. They said, well, you know, that's what Brandon does, you know, B just runs his mouth and, you know, that's, that's who he is. I'm thinking to myself, like, do I really want him on my team? Like, a guy like that who just likes to cause trouble and run his mouth? Well, the Steelers are kind of used to that. They are. I'm hoping they're trying to get past that, you know, and I'm hoping this doesn't start to come back in into Pittsburgh. Well, whatever. But this show is great because it shows the depth of the families that are involved. Like George Kittle is just really kind of a fun loving guy, but he's kind of a hippie at the same time, like in his family's like that, too. It's it's really interesting. And he's from Iowa. So you don't really get a sense for like you know, who he really is other than he just likes to have fun when he, when he plays football. But they all have these routines. Like, you know, I was thinking about Sidney Crosby and the way he puck handles on the, on the McDonald's sign. And like George, George Kittle has like a similar routine that he does on the field. And you should watch it and see what, see what it's like. It's really kind of interesting how these guys go through their routines, but they all like get beat up. Like you don't even realize how much force is involved with some of these.

Chris: Yeah, they get manhandled. Yeah Yeah, not even not even and you're talking about on almost every play. They're making contact with somebody It's not just catching the football in the two things.

Steve: This is the I'll finish with this the two things that I forgot was How Detroit was kicking the shit out of 49ers in that championship game and lost it Yeah, and in in the frickin Super Bowl like the 49ers had that game won And then the Chiefs came back and tied it and all the while like literally George Kittle couldn't even move his left arm Like he had to go get a shot so he could come in and literally try and move it move his arm to catch the ball Wow, and like you didn't need I don't I don't I don't remember they didn't talk about it. No Oh, why is Kittle going in? It was like the fourth quarter and then he like oh, oh Oh, okay. I can move my arm now. And he was like, ah, fuck it because this is the Superbowl and just shoot it up. I don't care what kind of damage I do to it. Oh man. Yeah. That's crazy. And he was just like, I just wanted to be back out there with, you know, with my buds. So yeah, I forgot about that. How close those, those, those games were in the championship game and in the Superbowl.

Chris: And so HGA watching Receiver on Netflix. Go watch it. Highly recommend it.

Steve: There's no football this week. There's no reason for you not to go and watch it. Wish I could.

Chris: All right. Schwaber, a movie.

Marc: Oppenheimer.

Chris: Nice.

Marc: Is that what he sounds like? Starring Cillian Murphy.

Chris: That was a hybrid of something.

Marc: But go ahead, go ahead. Yeah, it was not as good as I thought it was going to be. I went into it with it being really, I feel, kind of overhyped. It's kind of like one of those movies that I feel like the critic world sort of jumped on as we can make this a special movie. We can make this Cillian Murphy's Oscar winning performance. And they did. And that's exactly what they did. They drove it there. And they got there and they parked that car.

Steve: I'm sensing that you didn't really like the movie, though.

Marc: It was it was it was a weird movie. It was three and a half hours long, and I feel like it was three movies in one. And the first movie was, you know, kind of his, you know, through his studies and his relationships. You know, the second movie was the race to the atomic bomb first. And then the third movie was, there was a member of Congress who was really out to get him and discredited him. Ruin his reputation and that was to me. That was the best part. That was the best part of the movie I really enjoyed that. I thought that was like an a-plus But that you know the first two parts of the movie I just it was confusing as to who was who and and there was just The crazy thing was, is like I'm complaining that the movie was too long, yet at the same time wasn't long enough. Because you couldn't, like characters weren't developed, is what I'm getting at.

Steve: The one thing that I learned from that movie, Mark, and I'd like to get your take on this, was when they were building the bomb, how Oppenheimer really was involved with the whole creation of that town. It wasn't just like Oh show up. He actually helped create that town and that was a special place to him in his childhood Yeah, that was kind of interesting.

Marc: Yeah. Yeah, that was interesting.

Steve: That was a little different Yeah, I didn't I didn't know that about him in that that area why they ended up in your area 51, really? Yeah.

Chris: Yeah Yeah, it's one of my favorite places on the planet area.

Marc: Well, we know that yeah for those of you don't know, you know, obviously they had to Build a place where they were essentially gonna test an atomic bomb and do it in secret Until they actually did it in the middle of nowhere, you know So they created a town for all the people that had to had to work on it

Steve: I thought they did a pretty good job of creating drama around the fact that they weren't sure if it was actually going to go off or not, even though we knew. But I thought they did a pretty good job at trying to make it a little bit more interesting that way.

Marc: The one thing that I sort of didn't understand, though, was they obviously were not dropping an actual atomic bomb. Because they would have all died. No, they did.

Steve: It was just on a very small scale. So the amount of megatons that exploded and the amount of radiation that happened… So it was a smaller one. Yeah, they still had to scale it up, right?

Marc: Yes, it was a smaller one.

Steve: And that's why they only had two more because those ones that they dropped overseas were still not very big by today's standards.

Marc: Right, right, right. So it was a little weird.

Chris: Yeah, yeah, Schwab, they tested a fake atomic bomb to prove that the real atomic bomb worked. That's pretty much what it was.

Marc: But it was real, it just didn't have as much power.

Chris: The megatons were worse off.

Steve: I'm just wondering why you even questioned that. Even that, because it was the first time this explosion was actually going to take place, they didn't know if it would actually stop. They thought it would catch all the oxygen in the air and literally burn the world up. Could you imagine?

Chris: It's like a Bugs Bunny cartoon, you know? Like, poof!

Steve: We just destroyed, well, the war's over. And they're doing it now with the black hole experiments over in France. They're trying to create these small little black holes just to see if they're real, and they're not sure that they create one and it just sucks everything into it.

Chris: That's the equivalent of putting your hand on the hot stove. I love that. Let's try to create a teeny tiny black hole and see what happens. Yeah, they have by the way have they yeah, and we're still here.

Steve: I think I would say that I Would I can't prove it.

Marc: I would say this though. I would imagine that any history buff would like it.

Chris: There you go Yeah, I thought it was pretty good. I've it's it's been on my radar because I like I love Killian Murphy. Yeah He does make it from Peaky Blinders fame. He was great in it. Yeah, and I I also love Christopher Nolan you didn't you didn't you didn't do the Peaky Blinders thing. I thought I was gonna Okay, guys, thank you very much for watching. If you're watching us live, I've been the perfect black and gold all over the world on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube X, and Instagram. And I am going to drop the podcast right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging Peaky Blinders podcasts. For H.J., we'll see you next week. The Grand Schwabini, I am your technical director. And I am out.

Steve: Jablonsk!