The Porch Is Live - Let's talk Indianapolis Indians (Pirates) And STEELERS CAMP

00:00 Chris I don't know. We can only hope we got it. I want to thank you for joining us here on the SportsPorts Pittsburgh. The SportsPorts is live all over the world on the iHeartRadioApple Podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your friggin' podcast. And of course, right now on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and everywhere else. Oh man, if you could have heard, we have George Michael with us tonight. Yes we do.

00:45 Marc The Brant Swabini. One half of the wang. George Michael. I'm never gonna dance again. Guilty feet, I got no rhythm.

00:53 Chris And he could do that with the SportsPorts, you know, tune in the background. You made me do that. I did make you do that. I feel violated. Are you? But you look good doing it. We got a big show tonight. We're having a lot of fun here. We had a George Michael impression earlier, hopefully if you caught that at the beginning of the show. But thanks for being on the SportsPorts Podcast with us. We dropped the actual podcast right after the show. We are currently live on social media and we actually have lines open. You know, I always do this. It's a good time to get in right now. Yeah, it is a good time. It's a good time to get in right now.

01:32 Steve Hey guys, what do you think about my tan? It's great. You didn't comment on it before, so I'm a little concerned that you didn't notice that

01:38 Chris I was working really hard on my tan lines. How do you work on your tan lines? I'm sorry I asked that question.

01:46 Marc I don't have tan lines, Chris. Did you put on any sunscreen?

01:51 Steve Yeah, I have to because my wife won't let me out of the beach house without spraying down. She has this routine where she sprays me with the coldest spray you've ever been sprayed with. Right. And it makes me crazy. And she laughs. But I do like the clear spray. Yeah, the spray is good because the lotion it like sticks on. Right. And when you go in the sand, then you get it. Like the spray, it sucks. It's cold, but then it's done.

02:21 Chris Exactly. But I'm a little confused because you are Polish and Italian. Yes. Right. It's very confusing. So Italians generally, you know, they have darker skin, darker complexion.

02:36 Steve Right. And I didn't get that skin.

02:39 Chris Okay. So you're telling me the Polish side of you is kind of like the Irish side of me. Yes, exactly.

02:45 Marc You've got the Italian man bun.

02:47 Chris That's right. Yeah. And he had to manufacture that. Well, I mean, at least I can manufacture. It's good. You could too, Chris. I know, but my wife won't let me.

02:58 Steve So yeah, I understand that. We all want happy wives.

03:02 Chris There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Yeah. Oh my God. Okay. So this is a sports show about Pittsburgh sports. So, yes.

03:11 Steve Oliver would not know that. But that's okay, Oliver.

03:14 Chris We're going to be talking about sports real quick. Oliver is just saying hello. That's right. So I want to remind you our website, the porcheslive.com and of course, your buckos report after every pirates game on the podcast on I heart Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. And that is what I'm going to lead with tonight.

03:35 Steve Do we really have to lead with the pirates? We have to. Why?

03:39 Marc Can we limit it to like five minutes? Let's get back to the Steelers. Five minutes, Max. Come on.

03:45 Chris You guys are impossible. So here's what I want to know. If you're, if you are watching and you want to drop a comment, please do. Or if you want to call into the show, did the pirates, did the pirates do the pirates this year? Did they do the pirates? What are your thoughts? Call us 412-805-7236.

04:09 Steve Let's get back to the Steelers. We already got Mike ready to talk about the Penn straight. Yeah. And we will. We're going to do that. We're going to just hold on. We're going to get there. We're going to have great in-depth analysis of that Carlson trade.

04:21 Chris It's incredible. Okay. I'm going to lay this down right now. This is all I'm going to say. Okay. We're a Pittsburgh show. I committed to torturing myself to death and I've now done over a hundred buckos reports. So I have achieved the greatness that we thought only hockey Jesus could achieve. You did. Congratulations. So in order to congratulate myself, you're going to let me rant about the pirates. I think you self congratulate yourself all the time. Do a rant and then let's get back to the Steelers. Okay. What I want to know is, and it's an obvious answer guys. It's an obvious answer. Did the pirates do the pirates? What do I mean by that? Okay. Hope, hope. We signed McCutcheon. Hope, hope. Mitch Keller looked pretty good in the beginning of the season. Hope, hope. They got off to a great start. And then they, you know, they dismantle. It's not like they dismantled a good team, but now it's a revolving door. And in the description of the video, if you're watching on social media, I talk about, we're going to talk about the Indianapolis Indians and the Pittsburgh Steelers because that's what it is. It's that's their AAA club. It's up here. That, you know, when they, this is what drives me crazy. And I have a very, very new appreciation for being an actual Pirates fan because in order to do all of this, thank you. You have to get, you have to become a fan and it's getting harder and harder to have too much to say now because how much more are you going to say about here's another guy coming through the turnstile to play a couple of games and see where, what, when and how. I mean, I just, I just think that it's, it's, it's a shame. It's an absolute crying shame. Now they were never going to amount to anything big this year. We knew that, but here's what I think the shame is. And I talked about this on the buck goes report a couple of nights ago. Okay. My tried and true, my first team, Baltimore Orioles grew up watching them, love them to death. They've had fun. The watch this year. They are. They've had, look, they've had their troubles. They haven't won a world series since 1983. They haven't really gotten close since then either. They've had a few little patches where they put together some pretty good teams, Mike Mecena, but other than that, yeah, don't ever say that name again. Brady Anderson. Yeah. I like Brady, but, but Mike Mecena went to the Yankees. He's dead to me. So he was still part of those good years. He was absolutely. He was a great pitcher, but Drebeck pitch for other people too. Yeah, I know. He pitched for the Orioles near the end of his career. So pitch for a lot of players. So Billy Ripken. So going back to, going back to what I'm talking about is the one thing as an Orioles fan that you could always appreciate for lack of a better way of putting it is that as screwed up as ownership was there when Peter Angeles died, their, their, their general demeanor was like, look, we're going to suck this year. We are, we are not in a good place. Our farm system is not good. We have to rebuild it. We're not going to be putting a good product out on the field. Now did they say it in that manner? No, of course not. They didn't say we're going to suck. So don't come to the ballpark. But the terminology and the language they used, it wasn't this continuous hamster wheel rebuild bullshit that we get fed every year. And I, you know what? I don't care. It looked, Charrington has the hardest job in the world. Why? Because he's got a lie. He's not allowed to build a team. That's got to be the most frustrating position you're in. And when they talk, when I heard Carlos Santana got traded, good for him, you know, maybe he makes the playoffs. They followed our advice. Actually, we said that we all said he should go. Yeah. And him and Rich Hill, you know, we did. Absolutely. Yeah. And they did get rid of hedges. Thank God for that. That's true. They threw him in. Thank God. But honestly, now who do we boo when we go down to PNC park? Oh, there are plenty of people to boo. I knew you would say that.

08:30 Steve But but I guess I guess I mean, if you if you wanted to, you could boo the pierogies. This is how that's not a popular.

08:38 Marc I know that's not a popular take, but you could do it. This is how I look at the state of the pirates.

08:43 Chris Chris, you've been trying to tell me that a 208 hitter, Andy Rodriguez, can really hit. Well, no, he's I think he's going to be a decent hitter when I watch his pets. Right. I don't know how I can even justify that. I agree. Look, I agree. Santana being traded to Milwaukee. So I'm listening to sports radio.

09:05 Steve Actually, it made Milwaukee a worse team and we beat three or three or four games from them.

09:11 Chris We split. We split. But it doesn't matter. He had a home run or something. I don't even care. The point I'm making is this is the sad state of this franchise when the media is talking up and hyping the fact that at an interview that they did with Carlos, it's like we got to follow the players we traded and interview them. And Carlos Santana left open the possibility that he wouldn't be against coming back to the pirates next year. And they play that up like that's some kind of frickin story. It's not a story. Who cares? You know, it's not a story. It's going to be 38. We don't care if he ever comes back. God bless you, Carlos. I hope you I hope Milwaukee wins the World Series and you get a ring. You had a fairly average major league career that lasted a long time and you're probably a really, really nice guy. But honest to God, why in the hell would we even entertain the fact that him coming back would be like kind of cool? No, it wouldn't be cool. It would mean they wasted another roster spot so they could trade him again at the end of next year. What the hell? You know, I mean, open up your pocketbook. Give these fans something they deserve. And look, once again, Andrew McCutcheon marketing move. I said it from day one. Everybody knew it. And they did. And we bought into it. And oh, yeah, everybody was happy about it. That's a good marketing move. Absolutely. It was. And now who cares anymore? You blew that way.

10:41 Steve I'll make you I'll make you even more mad. OK, please do. Rumor has it that next year they're going to be cutting payroll, not adding payroll. What the hell?

10:51 Chris I mean, look, you can. You can. Absolutely can. And if somebody will, it will be your Pittsburgh Pirates. Where did you hear that rumor? It's out there. Yeah, it's out there every year, though.

11:05 Steve I mean, yeah, it is. I mean, you know, the people always say like, OK, well, they spend a little bit this year. Maybe they'll spend a little bit more next year. I'm just saying you might want to temper those expectations. Oh, I don't have any expectations for that. The only expectation you should have for next year is they're going to suck again. Let's see what schemes can do. That should be the expectations for next year. Well, you got you got Keller. Who is Keller? Oh, and I think what they're saying by we're going to spend less money, they're basically saying we're not going to go to arbitration with Keller.

11:41 Chris They're just going to let him go. I would not be surprised at all.

11:44 Marc I think that's what they're saying. Which would be a disaster. That would be stupid.

11:47 Steve Right. Because what other picture are you going to get for whatever he's going to get? Fifteen or twenty million. What other picture is going to be as good as the Steelers? Yeah. But to your point, they have to manufacture stories because the Pittsburgh Pirates themselves are not a story. They're not. They're just not. They're a joke. They have been for a while. And I've been trying to beat this drum of let's just be patient and maybe they'll bring up some good young talent this year. I think they got a little bit better in that department, but it took them too long to get there. Next year, they have to embrace it. And I'll give them a little bit. I'll give them just a just this much room because O'Neill Cruz got injured early. Yeah. That's something that doesn't get talked about very often. I think they wanted to make him kind of the feature guy this year. And when he got hurt that early, they had no they had no backup plan. No. And that's the problem with this organization. Their backup plan is just to sell off and make it just like every other year. At least they didn't sell off some of the good talent this year. So that's it. That's all I got to say about the parts because I'm done with the Pirates. We got football and hockey coming up. And that is so much more important.

13:03 Chris It is. Mike Lawrence wants to know if the Pirates will lose 100 games. I'm going to say yes. I'm going to say yes.

13:13 Steve That is so terrible. After the great start they had, they're going to end up losing 100.

13:18 Chris I think they're going to lose 100 games be the third year in a row. And they just extended Shelton. And we had this conversation before the show. Mark and I did. I think before you got here, we were bantering about a little bit. Yeah, it's hard to say. I think Shelton this year, looking at a lot of the decisions he made just on the surface. He does not impress me as a manager at all. And then when you go back and look at his pedigree, this is the only managerial position he's ever had at the major league level. So I think, but at the same time, he was kind of handed a stinky pile of poop. And how do you manage that? Well, I mean, would Tommy Lasorda have done better? Probably a little bit because I think he understands certain things more than Shelton.

14:09 Marc Mark down the Grand Schwalbini for 98 losses. 98?

14:14 Chris And let's bring it back to the Steelers. Okay. So Mark is already bored. I'm ready to move on myself. I do want to thank everybody that listens to the Buccos report on the Sportsports podcast and let you know that we are going to continue to do that. We won't let you down. I will not. I will not let you down. And of course, the Pirates are playing the Braves right now as we speak. And we have a, oh, wow, they're really, they're pouring it on one to nothing Pirates in the bottom of the third. The scoring summary for that. Connor, it's typical. Connor Joe grounded out the shortstop. Pogueros scored. Got to get the ball in play. He did his job. He did his job. Got the RBI. So that being said, we are going to move on to something that is, what do you want to do? Carlson trade first or? Let's get right to the Carlson trade. Mike, stick him with us. Let's do it. All right. So, so hockey Jesus has some preaching to do about the Penguins. First, I want to remind you that the hockey Jesus does preach on the Sportsports podcast after every hockey game, every, not every hockey game, after every pool. Could you imagine that game? Every hockey game. That'd be tough. That'd be tough.

15:28 Steve Wow. If I would do that, I would, I would know. No, I wouldn't. I would, I would need a new title. The hockey God, I think at that point, I would no longer just be Jesus.

15:37 Marc I would be God. You did every hockey game.

15:39 Chris No, no, I every hockey game, every hockey game. Every team.

15:45 Marc We would call you, we would call you hockey for that's what you would be talking about. I have no idea.

15:51 Chris So we got it. We got a couple. Okay. Well, the Pirates lose 100 games. Okay. Brad Trombley says two and oh, what's two and oh, they scored another run. Oh, the Pirates and because you got an RBI, RBI double. He was at the plate. I'm a double scoring Reynolds. Alrighty. So, uh, hockey Jesus on the podcast after every penguins game, and I'm sure we're going to have some, uh, preseason stuff coming up. But look, big move. Carlson is now a penguin and lay it on us.

16:24 Steve Hockey Jesus. This is one of those trades where you just shake your head and say, how can a manager make this trade and the other manager also make this trade? Because basically what the Pirate or what the, what the penguins did was, yeah, I thought we were talking about the penguins. They went back to the penguins. The penguins took all of their garbage and said, Hey, how about if you take all of our garbage, we'll give you Nathan Laguerre, who's, you know, he's a prospect. So you don't know what he's going to be. And we'll also give you a first round pick in 2024, but we'll make it conditional. If we suck so bad, you don't get it. If it's one of the first 10 picks, and we'll also give you our second round pick. And how about you give us a Norris trophy winner? Does that sound like a good trade to you, Mark? Yeah. Yeah. If you're the Pittsburgh penguins, right? Yeah.

17:20 Marc It doesn't matter that you wouldn't make that. You would make that trade.

17:22 Chris It doesn't matter that it can't play defense. No, he doesn't. See, he's got another side to this, which I think, which I think is going to be very interesting.

17:30 Steve We'll get to it. But so here's the trade. The penguins get rid of Petri, Casey DeSmith. They don't need a backup at this point because they got like four goalies in their system now thanks to all the pickups that they had. They traded Nathan Laguerre, who's basically a, he's a prospect and he probably wouldn't have made the team this year, but next year definitely would have made the team. And a 2025 second round pick. Basically they give that to Montreal and the only thing they get back from Montreal is Rem Pitlik, who is a nobody, right? What was that name again? Rem Pitlik. Pitlik. Pitlik. That's a good one. Pitlik. You should be able to remember Pitlik. Yeah. Got it. Yeah. Pitlik. You got the, you got it in your head now. I'm good. Pitlik. I'm good.

18:17 Chris Are you doing it? Is it with your tongue? It's wow. Pitlik. Off the rails.

18:22 Steve I don't know what's going on here. Steve, Steve off track. And then, and then, and then San Jose, they say, how about you take our hot garbage and Michael Grandlin, Yan Ruda, we'll give you a first round pick. That's the conditional one. That's right. Right. You know that. And how about you give us, how about Eric Carlson? That sounds good. And why don't you keep a million? No. Why don't you keep a million and a half of his salary? And we'll also take Dylan Hamilick from you. Who's a nobody? He's, he's a nobody. I think DG agrees with you.

18:52 Chris And a third round pick. Yeah. I think he agrees with you.

18:56 Steve He actually typed in a swear word. It's it's it's reminiscent of when the are Pittsburgh Penguins had to get rid of your army. Yager. Right. People forget that. Like they had to get rid of your army, your Yager, because they couldn't afford him. And he wanted out because they couldn't put anybody around him who was any good. Yeah. And they traded them the Washington for basically the same stink sandwich.

19:20 Marc Well, it's a salary dump. They traded. So they're enough $10 million a year to pay.

19:25 Steve Right. And during it, the penguins not only were able to take his $10 million, but they were also able to free up $3.3 million of more money, which is amazing. They took on a $10 million salary and still were able to save $3.3 million. That's an amazing move for GM.

19:44 Marc It's definitely not a heck stall move. Right.

19:47 Steve No better move, better GMing for sure. And I mean, there was some other things in there. I said that they retained a million and a half. San Jose did. Well, Pittsburgh actually maintained almost $1.6 million of the Petrie salary. So to me, it's like a wash. Right. So they're basically paying the $11.5 million. I think it's just the terms of how long the salaries are a little bit different. So overall, the money favors Pittsburgh a little bit, but not much. Here's what it does for the penguins. It immediately makes them more. How do I say this? They're going to be great fun to watch, but they're going to lose a lot of games like seven, two, seven, four, six, five. Because Carlson does not play defense. He's not a defenseman. He plays defense by taking the puck and saying, go ahead and try and take it off of me.

20:44 Chris And when they do take it off of them, there's nobody behind it. So that's the thing. But the question I have about that, being the hockey novice that I am, is then why isn't he playing as like a winger? How is he a defenseman?

21:04 Steve I get it. He quarterbacks the power play. It's a lot of passing. So you can bring the puck up the ice by either passing it to somebody, making a really sweet pass, or you can just skate through people. I know I can actually do both, which is right, which is what you want from a defenseman because then they're not the defensemen are not looking for the pass. They have to defend his speed.

21:28 Chris So it's a tool. But if his defense, if the actual part of his game that is defense, okay, is not good. I saw he's got a minus 103 for his career. I struggle. I'm being serious. I get you. I struggle with how this is. This is like addition by subtraction. It's like, aren't they going to end up in the same place? They'll just score a lot more goals, but a lot more goals will get scored. I mean, I know I'm like oversimplifying.

22:01 Steve No, you're right. That's true. But the way that the Penguins want to play is with speed and controlling the puck.

22:08 Chris Right. It doesn't sound like a guy that controls the puck.

22:11 Steve Oh, you know, he can control the puck. The issue is, is when he doesn't have the puck, he's not going to like knock a guy off of a puck to grab it back. He's going to have to, you know, steal it from somebody. So somebody else steals it and passes it to him and he gets it. It's still it's still a positional game when you're in your own zone, but he's you're not

22:31 Chris going to see him out there killing penalties. So this is a he's he. Okay.

22:35 Steve So he's definitely not on the physical side of a defense. Absolutely not. And so so but that's where they were with Petri and Ruta. Right.

22:44 Chris And you can see where that got them. Well, yeah, I guess anything is better. You know, and he happens to have a pedigree.

22:50 Steve And honestly, the game has changed so much in the last five to 10 years. That defenseman who's a state, quote unquote, stay at home defenseman, a guy who just stays in the crease and keeps people out doesn't really exist anymore. Okay. I mean, that type of player, nobody wants to get beat up in the crease anymore. So that type of player is too slow to be able to get up the ice again. So they're a detriment in the offensive zone. OK. And the game's built more on speed and skill and getting the puck into the zone and owning the puck more than defending against somebody who has understood. Understood. So so for that reason, it fits the it fits what Sullivan wants to do, which makes a lot of sense that they went and got him. It's actually probably the best get they could get from somebody who wasn't really available, only available because he went out. And that's what's exciting. And it'll put more once again, like we were talking about with Kutch, it's definitely going to put more fans in the seat because he's going to be so much fun to watch. People are going to want to go to the arena to watch and skate. Right. He's he's like Paul Coffey. Exactly what it's like in his heyday. We got Paul Coffey past his time. This is like Paul Coffey when he was Paul Coffey playing with Gretzky and Messier, like that that good. Right. I'm excited to see him play. But I am I'm with Mark a little bit in this camp where it's like, who cares if you win, you lose seven to six, you still lost. So I think it actually puts the onus on Jari a lot to because Jari is now going to be OK to give up two or three goals, but he's not going to be able to give up four or five goals. Right. So he's going to have to be better at those timely saves, which he hasn't proven in his career that he's pretty good. And that's what I'm talking about, Mike, the goalie situation. I think I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Jari, see Jari not be like the the guy. Like I think to to goalie system, I think that's I think that's where you're going to see it. See it happen because Dubas, remember when he went out and he got Matt Murray last year for the Toronto team, he barely even played. Yeah. You know, the other thing that the other thing about Carlson is and you can you can never know when somebody is going to get injured. But last year was his first year where he played all the games in quite a while, like six or seven years. So he does tend to get injured, but he usually plays like 60 some games. What I think is really going to be fun is the power play like Mark was talking about. You're going to have you're going to have him out there probably with Latang, which is kind of rare to have two defensemen. But those guys can move the puck. I don't know if they're going to do that. I think they might separate them. That's what I would love to see. I agree with you, Mark. But I think they're going to keep him out there originally, especially with Jake's injury. And we'll talk about that in a second. I think it's more of like an ego thing, though, because they don't want Latang to think that he's it's absolutely it's absolutely an ego thing because that's why Malkin and Sydney are out there. And they'll probably put Raquel out there until Jake gets Jake gets healed up. But it's stupid because they have got plenty enough guys now they could feel feel two power plays. You could put you could put Rusty out there now on the second power play. And he would be just as good out there with with Malkin potentially. And then you have a Latang maybe on your second and Carlson on your first power power play. I mean, that would be incredible. It would be killer. I think it would. I would be surprised if they don't eventually try that. But I'm telling you, superstars are stubborn, son of a bitches. Right. And if they're not out there on the first power play, they'll think of it as a demotion when they should think of it as a promotion, because almost every power play gets two chances. Right. Right. So I would love to see that. But I don't think that's what's going to happen. There is also speculation. This is probably just my speculation where you could put Carlson and Latang on the same the same defensive pairing. That would be crazy. That would be crazy. I think you only see that in the three on three. Right. So when you go three on three, I think you'll see those two guys out there with Sid. That would be a sick three on three. I would not want to play against that pairing. I'll tell you that. Although Sid would have to win the draws. So maybe they get somebody in to win the draws and then bring out those guys. But it just makes the penguins a much different team. And the best part about it is they got rid of all their garbage in one trade, which is just incredible.

27:39 Marc Well, it seems like the thing that I think is good about it is they have life now. You know, like they should be a playoff team next year because of this acquisition. Doesn't mean that they're not going to lose a lot of games, too. I mean, I don't think it moves them up to like a top three seed. I think it places them more in the like, you know, four to eight seed range.

28:02 Steve I think it makes it more fun. I agree with you. I think that it makes it more fun to watch for the regular season. But I don't think it changes what they'll be in the playoffs, which is a team that's going to have to score four or five goals to win a series. And it's proven that team doesn't make it very far. I mean, the oilers, the oilers two years ago made it to the Western Conference Finals and they didn't make it back again this year. And they were probably more talented this year than they were the past year. The year before. So, I mean, it's a it's a hard way to get to win it, to win it, to win a Stanley Cup with having the most talented team on the ice because they usually end up getting held or stick or injured.

28:45 Marc And you can never recover from that. I actually think it's a good move also to just because of the injury factor. I mean, the chances that Sid Malkin and LaTown are going to play 82 games again. Yeah, pretty low. And so here's another guy. One of those guys goes down. You have another superstar to fill in the space. So I think that's that's important. And also the other thing, too, is realize these look Carlson and LaTown can both play defense if they want to. Right. They just don't unless it's like the playoffs. Right. You know what I mean?

29:26 Steve No, you're right. And maybe that's what will happen. Maybe they'll be able to change their mode. And LaTown has done that in Stanley Cup years, by the way, where he is he is he's changed the way he's played. Let's talk a little bit about the Jake Gensel surgery. Yes. A mystery surgery came out of nowhere. Right. Yeah. Why didn't you hear about it, Mark? I just didn't. I didn't hear about it either. It's like it's like, oh, we traded for Carlson and Jake Gensel got surgery and we'll be out for 12 weeks. Yes. Wait, they just trade just trade for Carlson to to to mask the fact that

30:04 Marc right. Jake's going to be out there. They were they were hoping they made that trade so they could they could dump it right afterwards. Right.

30:11 Steve It's like, let's just put this out right now.

30:13 Chris I just I know everybody's going to hate this, but the pirates have jumped out to a six to nothing lead over the Atlanta Braves. Let's bring it back to the penguins.

30:23 Marc There we go. Hey, we're just helping on our cross-stakes. Radler. Yeah. Well, of course, isn't it funny, though, the way that always happens, like the good teams always lose to the bad team. I know. I know.

30:35 Steve I mean, yeah, think about it. And look at what we did against some of the great teams out West.

30:39 Chris Yeah. Yeah. That's why. Yeah. That's why I don't. That's why I try not to watch the Orioles when they're playing bad.

30:45 Steve Anyway, so so Jake Jake had surgery last Wednesday. Oh, like a week ago, five days ago. Yeah. And it was kind of like just set on the down low, like he'll be out for 12 weeks and then we'll reevaluate in 12 weeks. Well, this week, Dubas came out and he said, oh, he's only going to miss five games. And if you do the math, like that doesn't work out. Like 12 weeks does mean he'll only miss five games, but that means he'll be ready to play in 12 weeks. And that's not what the press release says. The press release said they'll reevaluate 12 weeks. Right. Right. And I guess the injury in his ankle is a little bit of a mystery because they knew that he was playing on a bum ankle last year, but he seemed to be doing OK with it. And then he went to this what they call the Beauty League, which I have no idea what that is. The Beauty League. Yeah, the Beauty League. Well, I think it's basically it's a it's a no hit place where a lot of NHLers go to kind of get in shape.

31:45 Chris And they play and they play wham music.

31:48 Steve I was thinking Rock said, but before you go, go with a disco ball in the middle, maybe. Yeah, I like that. Shorts and I like that. That we should we should televised one of those those beauty league games. That would be good. Oh, it would take the mystery out of it.

32:07 Chris Right. Guilty feet.

32:08 Marc I've got no I don't want your freedom. I don't want to.

32:15 Steve Oh, my God. So so while wham music was playing in the background, I guess, you know, Jake tweaked his ankle. And and I think it was just part of his rehab. I think they just they just do this as part of their routine. And and he said it wasn't getting any better. Like he was expecting it not to hurt as much. Right. It was still hurting. And he talked to some doctors in Minnesota and they said, you know, we can do the surgery. It's it's minimal impact. You know, you definitely you won't be out for a year. But I guess it must have been fairly serious because 12 weeks is seems like a long time. But your ankle is probably one of the most important parts of your body. Well, skating. Yeah. Yeah. And you're blocking pucks. Yes. You know, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a pretty important part.

33:00 Chris So it's kind of like your tongue when you're eating.

33:03 Steve Yeah. Right. Sure. Yeah. You wouldn't want to just like. I don't know. Your eyes when you're seeing. I feel like the devil is speaking. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. So he's going to be out for a while. Here's what I'd like to see happen. I don't think this will happen, by the way. I love to see them bring up Nylander. He's he plays on on the left wing where Jake plays. I think it would be fun to see how that he's not really rookie, but he's not a proven commodity, but he can skate. He could definitely skate with Sid and Raquel. And I just love to see him see if he could finish some pucks that they would give him right in front of the net. I think that would be fun to watch. It's hard to know if I don't think that Jake will be back until November personally. So I think that's bad news for you, Brad, because I think you got tickets in October. But hey, at least you get to see Carlson skate around for a couple of games. Yeah. But it could be that he could be back for those games, too. So hard to know. But that's that's not good. Actually, I would expect in we'll have this in the preseason spectacular. Can't wait. Can't wait. But in the I actually expect this to make the Penguins like come out of the gate looking really terrible. I think they're going to come out of the gate. Not not well, because the Jake injury means you got to plug somebody on the first line. You got to learn how to play with the superstar unless the superstar Carlson just takes over and is just so good. He makes everybody better, which I don't think will happen. I think some of these players will have to figure them out. And let's face it, their bottom six are brand new. So they got to figure out how to play the system. Like, so I think they're going to struggle. I think they're going to struggle out of the gate. The first 20 games could be not good for the Penguins.

34:52 Chris You heard it here first. You heard it here in hockey. Jesus preaches on the podcast on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or anywhere you get your podcast.

35:01 Steve By the way, when when the Penguins did go out and get dubious, I did say that they first needed to get rid of all get rid of the garbage. The only garbage that's left to be taken out. And I don't think it's garbage you can get rid of is Carter. And I think he's here to stay. But Carter's probably not going to play the center position because they went out and they got Lars Eller. I think you'll see you'll see Carter either move to the third or fourth line and he'll be a wing on those lines. He didn't prioritize goalie. He did. He did get a fill in for Zucker with Riley Smith check. He did get a third line center, Lars Eller, which already said, I said he needs a draft. Well, but who the hell knows what what draft you're doing this year is going to be good. We won't know that for a couple of years. So the only thing he didn't prioritize was getting a goalie. And for some reason, he thinks Tristan Jarre is the guy. So if not, maybe that's the tread line trade deadline deal. Maybe. And they did just free up three million dollars of cap space. By the way, there's still seventy seventy thousand dollars over the cap. Well, they're just going to have to they're just going to have to lay off the hockey Jesus. Well, you know what? I'll just loan them the 70K.

36:11 Marc Yeah. Why not? Yeah. I'll tell them I'll take the 70K off.

36:15 Chris Hey, if they give me tickets, I'm sure I could buy seven. Yeah. Worth the ticket. Well, the problem is they're paying somebody else the 70K. If they pay you, then they're still over the cap.

36:24 Steve No, no, you have to pay them. So fans, let's you know, let's show our dollar bills.

36:30 Chris Yeah. Our dollar bills and get some 70K of them down there in the arena. Get them 70,000 of them dollars and then maybe go down for some irons.

36:42 Steve No, they'll find a way to get that 70K out. But they're talking about potentially only starting the season with 22.

36:47 Chris I mean, two guys instead of 23, because 70K is what it costs to take a family of four down to one of the games now. I mean, you know, it's only 70K.

36:56 Marc Come on. Disney World. Geez. All right. All right.

37:00 Chris Enough of that. Enough of that. OK. All right. That's it for the hockey hockey. Hockey's back in a jail. I heart radio. I bring your podcast. We're going to bring it back to the Steelers. But I want to thank you for watching the sports porch on social media. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube. And of course, we dropped the podcast right after the show. Right after. So you can't. So you so you can. You can subscribe on the I Heart Radio app. Apple podcast. One of these days, I'm going to stop laughing when you pull anywhere.

37:30 Marc You get your podcast. That's exactly right. Shut your mouth. Yeah. There is. You really think about that all day. Slap me, silly. That's what I'm saying. I like that kind of party. Why don't you shut your mouth? That's the one.

37:48 Chris There is our technical director. OK, listen, Steelers training camp has started. And of course, you know, it's constant. And can you I just want to know, can you tell that we're just kind of like Jones and it's like, you know, it's like we don't even know what to say. It's like we go to the Pirates. You know, when does the hockey season start? When's the first game? October, something. No, it's not for like 63 days. I know. But it's like October or something. Right. Yeah. October. OK.

38:18 Steve Just go 63 days from today. You'll be there. OK. Yeah.

38:21 Chris So so we got training camp coming up. First preseason game, is it Friday or Saturday?

38:28 Steve I can't remember the Steelers. Yeah, the Steelers play Friday. Tampa, baby. That's right.

38:33 Chris The Bucks with Al Brady. Take them down. They're going down the Tampa Bay. Right. I believe that is correct. OK. All right. So training camp battles, a lot going on here. Steve is frustrated. Why frustrated?

38:46 Steve Way Steve Jones debacle. Thank you. That's exactly what it is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mark, why don't you tell me why you think it's a debacle? And then I'll tell you why I think it's a debacle. That'll be good. Yeah.

38:58 Marc Because when you draft somebody high in round one, they're supposed to be a projected starter. So just start them. There you go.

39:07 Steve Don't keep a journeyman there. All right. That's the show. Good night. I think he nailed it perfectly. And to add to that, there's only one other offensive player who got drafted in the first round who is not projected starter. One who's that Dalton Kinkade? You know who he is? Is he the tight end tight end for Buffalo? And why aren't they starting him? Because they have Dawson Knox, who's a great tight end.

39:33 Marc Right. So that makes sense. And probably if they go too tight end set, he plays. He's going to play. That's exactly right.

39:41 Steve Yeah. Yeah. But somehow, some way, some shape or form, they can't get Dan Moore Jr. out of the left tackle position. Well, they did say he came into camp in like prime shape and ready to go. Dude, of all the first round picks, there are only two, four, six first rounders who aren't number one projected starters. And all the other ones are on defense. Miles Murphy, he's behind Sam Hubbard in Cincinnati. Brian Breezy. And these are all picks that are like way past the Steelers. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Brian Breezy, who can't get past Nathan Shepard in New Orleans. Nolan Smith, who can't get past Hassan Reddick in Philadelphia. Hello. You're not going to get past Hassan Reddick. But their other first round pick.

40:26 Marc Well, he's he's number one. He's going to play a lot. And he's still going to play a lot. They really like him. He's going to play a lot.

40:32 Steve So he like Uzoma can't get past Mike Dana in Kansas City. But, you know, you're talking the 30th pick at that point. At that point, you might as well be talking Joey Porter Jr. Who's the next pick right after. So why do you think that is? Because the Steelers can't get out of their system. They can't get out of their thought process, which is the veteran needs to be in there because we've we're playing against really tough defensive ends coming up.

40:58 Chris Mason Crosby and Joey Bosa, you know, Max Crosby. Max said the same thing last week. A kicker. Max Crosby.

41:07 Marc The point is, is that you drafted this guy. You drafted him. Those guys.

41:12 Steve Look, and I'm going to I'm going to equate this to to Joe Thomas. Right. Got in the Hall of Fame, right. For Cincinnati or for Cleveland, right. Played on a crap team, but they put him in there the first snap. And he never missed a damn snap. And he's a Hall of Famer. Why? Because they put him in there because he learned it. Do you think he was Joe Thomas, the Hall of Famer on that first play? Absolutely not. I think he was. But he was in there. And that's my point. They need to put this guy in there. Dan Moore Jr. needs to get the hell out of there. If I got to go down there with a bat and break his knee, I'll do it. Oh, we got to wear. I don't know.

41:54 Chris Maybe we did. I will. I will fly down to Florida and do it.

41:58 Steve I'll go Tanya Harding on it.

42:00 Marc I will do it. The sports force does not condone violence.

42:04 Steve Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I'm ready to do it because it just makes no sense. Take my every other team in the NHL. You mean the NFL? Oh, my God. The NFL. You're that worked out about it.

42:19 Marc You go in NFL NHL.

42:21 Chris I'm just I'm just so the penguins, the pirates. I'm crazed about it. It's driving me crazy. You're about to commit a violent act, which we do not endorse, by the way.

42:30 Steve And I would never do. But I if somebody else did it, I would not. I would not. Let's not do that. Let's not. I would not like that. Yeah, no, we wouldn't. But it just doesn't make any sense to me that the Steelers have to be so in their own heads about they know better that this guy is more veteran. So he needs to start and the other guy needs to learn. He'll learn by being in there.

42:52 Chris No threats, Steve. No threats. Yeah, I know. This is how you get kicked off of the fricking

42:57 Steve because the Internet is not full of threats.

42:59 Marc Yeah, the sports force believes in the rule of law. That's right.

43:03 Steve But we don't believe in dumb coaching.

43:06 Chris And this is just dumb coaching. You know what? I am. I am right there with you 100 percent. I have nothing to say to that other than other than one thing. And it's it's not a disagreement, but it's not in disagreement with you. It is that I understand the thought process when it comes to a guy like Dan Moore.

43:32 Steve Forget whether he's good or bad. He has I think that's part of the equation. No, I think if he's obviously look at the comment,

43:42 Chris look at the comment from Jeff, he disagrees with you. Moore only got better as the season went on and he's the veteran who it was his job. So I get I get what you're saying. And I think you're absolutely right. This is the guy you brought in to solve that problem. Right. And maybe what maybe what needs to happen is he needs to get more reps with the first team. But does he does he necessarily earn that starting job right away? Now, your argument is yes, because you drafted him for that. I'm not saying I'm not. I don't really see anything too terribly wrong with how they're handling it right now. I think that, you know, the first the first game, if if he goes in the first game, I keep forgetting to change the background. If he goes in the first game, more does.

44:37 Marc And next thing you know. So we should wait until Kenny Pickett gets flattened and hurt. Well, we bring in Broderick Jones.

44:46 Chris Yes. Yes. No, I don't think that. But I think that if he if he does not perform remarkably well in game one, you bring him down. But then again, then you have the whole argument about, you know, you need to have chemistry in the line and all that kind of stuff.

45:02 Steve So, well, the thing is, like, I'm on the this only this this only gets worse because let's say Dan Moore Jr. gives up no sacks to these Hall of Fame, future Hall of Fame defense events. Does that mean suddenly you're going to put in Broderick Jones? No, no, it means you're not going to play him at all. So what if you don't get Broderick Jones the chance to play against these guys? What if he what if he then is the guy who stops those guys from sacking? Can he pick it? But that would be a good thing, right? It would. So why not just try it? Why not just try it? I guess. Why not just do it? Because the other way, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy of not playing Broderick Jones. Well, that's why you get him a chance. Then it's like you wasted. That's right. And so what are you going to say? Great job, Dan Moore Jr. But now you need to step aside so this guy can play against lesser talent.

45:52 Marc It seems it makes no sense. It seems to me like you're you're kind of playing afraid, you know, like, like, like it's like you're afraid to believe that your number one pick is going to be that good. And so therefore, you don't want to risk putting him out there against really good talent.

46:14 Chris So you're just going to wait. And I think in football, you need to be aggressive. So what about this question about Jeff on the opposite side of that, that Jeff poses here?

46:27 Marc So what if the opposite, Jones starts and has a terrible game? That's great, because then by the time he gets good, all those terrible games are behind him. OK, wish I had to come back to that. But you don't because I'm the grand swell bean. This is true. This is true. But really, that's that, you know, that's the bottom line. I mean, here's the other part of it. So, OK, so let's say you go with more. Right. And, you know, the idea is we'll eventually get Broderick in there. But, you know, it's going to have to do with, OK, maybe we're maybe we're not winning as many games as we should. You know, maybe Dan Moore lets up a couple of sacks, but maybe he holds off Bosa, you know, that kind of thing. So, OK, so we get Broderick Jones in week seven. OK, well, then, you know, Broderick Jones maybe gets into his groove and starts playing like a first round draft pick week 12. Right. It's like it's almost like you've wasted a year. Yeah. You know, just get him in now. So usually with a first round pick, if you get him in week one, you know, year one, you know, by week one, year two, they take it to another level or they don't. And you're just postponing that.

47:46 Steve Here's exactly what I would do. I would start Broderick Jones. And then if he looked like he was struggling, I would bring him to the sidelines and I would show him what he's doing wrong. And I would have an adequate backup in Dan Moore Jr. that fill in while he's learning on the field. He can't learn on the field if he's not trying to do things. So I would just do the opposite of what they're doing now, which is, hey, watch Dan Moore Jr. do this. This is what we want you to do. I would say, go out there and do this. And then when he does it, you pull him out. You put the the backup in and you say, now watch what he does. Maybe he'll do it better. Or do you see that? The way his left foot went back, it wasn't far enough. And Bosa just pushed him over. He wasn't balanced. You need to be balanced. So when he does that, you can take that forearm shiver and you can brace against it. That's the kind of that's the kind of coaching that you do on the field. And that's what good coaches do. But unfortunately, these coaches don't want to do that. And I don't know why. And it just is so frustrating that they don't want to coach great talent. I think this kid's got great talent, but you'll never see it

48:57 Chris if they never get a chance to put it on the field. Hey, truer words have not been spoken. And and and I agree. I actually agree with you. I I was very thrilled when they drafted him, you know, all along. Offensive line. Let's draft the tackle. Let's protect Kenny Pickett's blindside. Let's let's give him an opportunity to show us if he can, you know, throw the ball and perform. They did it. Yep. And now right now, at least it looks like they're not prepping him to be the starter. Do you think that'll change or do you think we're going into the season

49:34 Steve with Dan Moore as a starter? I don't know. They seem pretty happy with Dan Moore Jr. there right now. They're they're they're not saying like Brother Jones is having a great camp. He's out there just bowling people over. Well, they're not giving him the opportunity. You would be hearing that if that was the case. Yeah, you're just not hearing it. So I have to think that they're they're just they're going to go with Dan Moore Jr.

49:57 Chris Do you think given the fact that they've had it's been such a such a story that the Steelers are never like a bad team, you know, Tomlin's never had the below five hundred record that they like tippy toe around a lot of this stuff, because, like you said, they're playing scared and they just don't want to lose.

50:17 Steve Definitely. That's how the Steelers organization is now and has been for like 15 years. Yeah. If you haven't figured it out. Yeah. Like they're just they're they think they're good enough to be good. All they have to do is make the playoffs and then suddenly they'll win the Super Bowl. Yeah. And that hasn't happened in too long. Yeah. And they're just they're just not going for it anymore. They're not just sticking in young players and saying, get out there and make mistakes. We'll show you what you're doing wrong. Just get out there and give us 110 percent. And that's not who they are anymore. They're like, we're going to play the best player no matter who they are. And it's always the veteran because the veteran always is going to know the playbook better, is always going to know the blocking schemes better. They're always going to have a leg up on somebody unless you're a phenom. That is just such a great talent. Forget about it. Right. You know, and that just doesn't happen. You were going to say something, Schwab. That's why they got Patrick Peterson, even though they drafted Joey Porter Jr.

51:15 Marc Right. Right. Understood. Yeah. I just think that the Steelers have to embrace youth. I mean, you know, all the teams in the league are doing it. You know, you the younger you are, it's almost the better you are. You know, and, you know, that's what Amy Mays. Excellent point. The Philadelphia Eagles take risks, which makes them good. Steelers just play safe and are mediocre. Yeah, because because here's the thing, right? You know, look, what was Broderick Jones pick, like number 13? Yeah. Number 13. So and the Eagles took Jalen Carter, you know, defensive line in number nine. Right. Just that. Right. So the same spot. Mm hmm. Jalen Carter is a starter. He has been from day one. And that's because the Eagles believe he is going to be a difference maker. He's going to be a potential pro bowl player. Oh, OK. OK. Now, yeah, that's what the Steelers should be thinking about Broderick Jones. I will tell you this, Dan Moore, he may be a serviceable, mediocre player, but he will never be a great player. Right. And so therefore, he shouldn't be on the field. He's the guy that you bring in. If Broderick Jones goes down and needs to miss two weeks and he fills in admirably. Right. That's who he is.

52:39 Chris Well, that's how you have to approach the season. You take a team like the commanders who drafted Chase Young. OK, now he was what the number two overall pick. Yeah. Hey, from day one, he was a starter. Now he's had injury issues and, you know, this is they didn't pick up his option. And we'll see if he can live up to it. You know, blah, blah, blah. But the point is, they drafted him day one. He was a starter. And that's the way it works. Right. So, you know, and I think it happens everywhere. Jeff's got one more one more try at this. It's Moore's job to lose Carter is who the Steelers should have tried to get instead of Jones, in my opinion.

53:19 Steve A lot going on in that comment, Steve. Yeah. Well, the real issue is even if they would have gotten Jalen Carter, they would have played somebody else out there. Alex Alex Highsmith would be in there instead of him. I mean, they went and got Nick Herbig. He's not even he's not even close to taking over for Alex Highsmith. And he was their fourth round pick. Right. You know, it's just what the Steelers do. And it's just the reason why. And Amy said it perfectly. That's why they're mediocre now. They're they don't have losing seasons. And people tout that as something like that. Oh, not another losing season for Tom. Great year for the Steelers. I said bullshit. Yeah. We want to get goddamn Super Bowl here. Yeah. I'm tired of not being in the Super Bowl. This year will mark Tomlin as the highest coach with the most amount of years between Super Bowl appearances for a Pittsburgh Steeler coach. He will pass Chuck Noll, who had actually retired after his last season. He probably would have not had any more seasons in the Super Bowl, but he was smart enough to retire the know he it was passed. It was over. It was over.

54:25 Chris But he did win four. So, you know, big deal. Yeah, he kind of won four. So, you know, kind of. Yeah.

54:31 Steve So he had probably a little bit better start than Tomlin's one for one. Yeah. Right. Right. So, I mean, you know, he got a little bit more leeway, but yet we give Tomlin all this space and time. And he's had enough space and time and he had has has had good teams. But he can't get to the promised land. And that's what I as a Pittsburgh Steelers fan want. I will take an absolutely I'll take a three and 14 season this year. If you can tell me in the next two years, we're going to the Super Bowl. I absolutely will love that. And I bet you a thousand dollars that most dealer fans would agree with me. If I put up a poll and said that, I guarantee you people would take the three and 14 season over this bullshit of continuing winning seasons. It's enough. Let's get great. Let's not be good anymore.

55:22 Chris Yeah, it does seem like it does. It definitely does seem like that Tomlin's focus is on having a non-losing season. Right. It does. Which you could turn around and say, having a winning season, but really, it's not about a winning season. And then when you have somebody like Rooney say,

55:47 Steve you know, well, it's just about making the play making the playoffs. It's always just about making.

55:53 Chris Yeah, I don't think I don't think Dan Rooney would have said that. I don't think Art Rooney would have said that ever. I think it would have been like it's about winning Super Bowl.

56:00 Marc It's also very rare to like make it as a six seed and win the Super Bowl. I think it's only happened like twice. Right.

56:07 Chris Well, the Steelers, I was going to say the one. Yeah, I watched them do it. Yeah. And the Steelers. Yeah.

56:13 Marc But that's it. Right. It was the Steelers and the Giants. Yeah.

56:16 Steve Yeah. You're right. It's rare. It's rare that you can do that.

56:20 Marc So what? We're up to 57. So two times out of 57. Right. Yeah.

56:25 Steve Yeah. No, it's not. It's not a good record. It's not the way you want to go into the playoffs. But the Steelers think that if they can get into the playoffs, they can win it all. And the only other thing I'd like to say about the depth chart is it's pretty much filling out how we thought. Joey Porter Jr., by the way, I'm sure everybody saw the video of the pickings. Yeah. Over and over and over again. That was pretty incredible, actually. That that whole that whole play was pretty incredible. They're like pushing each other and they're pushing off the whole time. I love that about football, by the way. That was the first day they had the pads on and they did that. I think that's what that's the competition I'd love seeing. And I don't care who thinks they won that. Both guys won that battle because they're both going for it. Pickens made an incredible catch. By the way, I'd rather see Pickens catch the ball and run into the end zone. Having the dive and grab catches like that. But they are fun to watch the words right out of my mouth. But they're fun to watch. Calvin Austin, the third is behind three. C.A. three is behind a two in the third wide receiver battle. But don't matter. Those both those guys are going to play. But C.A. three will be the new gunner, Olsowski. He is your return guy. Oh, yeah. So that should be fun. So that should be fun. And there's this guy named Chandon Chandon Sullivan.

57:45 Marc Does anybody play hockey? He used to play for the Eagles and then he went to Green Bay. He's actually a pretty competent cornerback.

57:52 Steve Yeah. Well, I guess he's there starting Nickelback. So I don't really know what that means other than I think that means he plays a lot

57:59 Marc when there's a past. It's about to happen. Yeah, he's he's decent. Actually, you could do much worse at your fourth, fifth corner.

58:06 Steve No, I mean, they still they still have Patrick Peterson. You still got Levi Wallace on the other side. And Joey Porter Jr. is definitely going to see the field a lot this year. Yeah. The defense actually looks pretty exciting. I'll be honest with you. They haven't heard much talk about the linebackers. That's I think a good thing. That means they're figuring it out. They're they're figuring out the schemes. That's what I'll be watching when the Steelers play on Friday to see if any of the first team defensive linebackers are in there for how long, just to see how they look. You know, are they shooting gaps? Do they look like they're getting blocked? Do they look like they're in the play? That sort of thing. That's all I'm really going to look for. I mean, those games are mostly about the sixth and seventh. Yeah. Draft picks, you know, are they going to make the team? You know, you're not going to see Kenny Pickett throwing the pick ins. Now, probably maybe one series.

58:59 Chris Maybe I think they even say he's going to is he he's going to play. Is he going to play in the first game?

59:03 Marc Probably. They usually don't. I was going to say they usually don't. Who is your surprise cut, if any?

59:12 Steve That is a really good question.

59:14 Chris Who is yours for the Eagles? I can't remember. Surprise.

59:17 Steve I actually think. Oh, that's right. This this may come as a surprise. I think it might be like Trey Norwood, their free safety. Really? Yeah, I think he might be a surprise. I think he might go or. I don't think there's anybody on offense that would be a surprise. I think they'll probably keep McFarland and Warren, even though they probably shouldn't. If anybody is going to cut, I think McFarland probably gets cut.

59:44 Marc It could. That sounds to me like a cut shows up on the practice squad up to the active roster with an injury week six.

59:54 Chris Hey, it's so detailed with your predictions. Yeah. Well, I'm the great. Hey, you are a great show. What do you think?

01:00:00 Steve You are a great show. I'll be any. What do you think about Kendrick Green playing fullback or tight end? He's there starting right guard. Was there starting right guard? He's back up now.

01:00:11 Marc I think it's interesting. Yeah, I think that's interesting. Yeah. What do what have they been saying about it? They will running pack.

01:00:17 Steve They've been running packages where he's been a fullback and he's been a tight end. Yeah, I can tell you they're not going to get rid of Connor Haywood. Yeah, I was going to say.

01:00:27 Marc And did you show Zach Gentry? Yeah. Connor Haywood showed something. You know what? That could be that would be maybe my guess is a surprise cut. Zach Gentry. Zach Gentry.

01:00:39 Steve No, I'm going to happen. No, I don't think so. That would be a surprise. That would absolutely work.

01:00:44 Chris They were talking about him. And you know how they talk about Darnell Washington being a large human.

01:00:49 Steve It could be Connor Hayward, by the way. They they could he could be the cut, but I don't think they'll do.

01:00:54 Marc They like they like him. He showed some stuff last year at the end.

01:00:57 Chris I just don't think they do that to camp. They were they were talking about. And he's their only fullback on the roster. Yeah. And Jeff, Jeff has taken off. Got to run. Have a good week. Good to see you, Jeff. All right. Here. I think that and they were talking they were talking about Zach Gentry in relation to the size of Darnell Washington. And they actually said Zach Zach Gentry is almost as big as he is.

01:01:26 Steve He's like six, four, two fifty. No, I think they like Gentry. They like him last year. Yeah, I think he signed a one year deal with them.

01:01:33 Chris Yeah. Yeah. They're saying to look out for him. But who really knows this whole Kendrick Green thing? I think it's a smokescreen, to be honest with you. Yeah, I don't think I mean, seriously. First of all, think about it this way. OK, this is going to be my first Matt Canada of the year.

01:01:47 Steve Wait, wait, wait. Go one more thing. One more thing. OK, they could bring in him for a jet sweep. There you go. See, that's that's where I was going.

01:01:55 Chris See, here's the thing. We were talking about this before the before the show. We had a lot of a lot of talk with Kendrick Green. No, it wouldn't. That's the thing. That's how dumb this guy is.

01:02:06 Marc I already saw the line first game of the season. Jet sweep over under over under jet sweep five.

01:02:13 Steve OK, five. I wouldn't take that.

01:02:16 Chris Did you actually did you actually see a line or did you make it? I made it. You made that up. Yeah, it's a good line. Yeah, it's a good line. No, this whole thing is is really the problem, the problem the Steelers have once again without even getting into the season is Matt Canada. OK, if you're if you're running, I thought we were putting a ban on Canada bashing. Well, wait, it's a really nice country. Yeah. What? It is a nice country, but it's a horrible offensive. They're a very bad offensive country. If you think about it, they've never really held their own. But this is something we already know.

01:02:55 Steve You know, I'm serious. We already know they're just not going to do the right thing.

01:03:00 Chris Now, what I'm saying is that Canada is going to it's any any potential any potential greatness from any of these players. OK, so we talked about George Pickens earlier, and that's one of the things that I've been saying for a long time. It's it's it's really cool that this guy can catch a ball with one finger. OK, it's it's really cool. But if you got to make every throw like that, you're not going to score any points. And guess what? They didn't score any points last year. I mean, really, they George Pickens has to catch the ball like a receiver. And then, you know, once every other game, if he needs to make an acrobatic catch to keep a drive going and they win the game, that's great. But he's got it. He's got to do that. Right. And the only way he's going to be able to do that is if the if is if the dumbass that's an offense that the offensive, the offensive coordinator calls plays that makes that happen, where you've got crossing routes, where you mix them up, you you screw up the hit them on the run. And next thing you know, he's on the run. He shouldn't be calling plays where Kenny Pickett throws it 12 feet in the air. And he's got to go up and, you know, jump off a trampoline to try to catch it. That would be cool. It would be cool, but it wouldn't serve a purpose.

01:04:16 Steve I think they should put trampolines on the field. I think you're on this. We're going down a whole lot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

01:04:23 Marc Did you see that basketball league where they do it on trampoline? Yeah.

01:04:26 Steve I don't think that is fun.

01:04:29 Chris That could be a whole new set up trampolines on the five yard line. And then like a boom. And then you drive it. So I love it. I think we should I think we should do for them. That is the reason that I am I am less excited. I'm very excited about football starting. Very exciting. I am less excited about the Steelers season this year than I should be, because I think they've got a lot of a lot of really cool players to watch between the draft picks and the second year guys in the quarterback and defense. A lot of great stuff. But Matt Canada is going to destroy it. I'm just telling you, it's going to destroy it in unless you always got to leave the door open for the whole. I read the playbook, blah, blah, blah. But these guys, they have an ego. It's their system. It's going to work. And now, like I'm telling you, if they get halfway through this year and it's the same old shit, they're going to. I never thought I would ever think this or say it. But they're going to lose a lot of fans for a while. Steelers fans will never go away. Right. But they're going to lose a lot of people for a while. If they start that game, I'm telling you, where is the first game is at home? Is the first game is home? And Francis? That's right. That's right. San Francisco at home.

01:05:46 Marc You know what? They're going to win that game because the 49ers have no idea who the quarterback is. Yeah. Catching the 49ers early.

01:05:52 Chris Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They've got a Hall of Famer starting a quarterback. Oh, my God. His name is Brock Birdie. But right behind Pickens, the 40 winers. I'm telling you right now, if that game starts off within the first two series and there's a jet sweep, it's going to be a problem. There's going to be a huge problem.

01:06:12 Steve I'm going to put my camera on you. Yeah, please do. I can't wait to see the reaction. You should videotape yourself watching the first series. You're going to you're going to you're going to you're going to explore.

01:06:22 Chris Your head just might come right off your butt on the camera.

01:06:25 Steve Just like what was that? Scanners or spanners?

01:06:28 Chris Yeah. My my eyeballs will just be right on the right. It looks like Amy's with you.

01:06:35 Steve She's already banning the banning the Steelers if there are jets. We thank you, Amy. I sounds like you guys are going to have a long season ahead of you. I think well, and I do think I see Eagle fans in your future.

01:06:48 Chris And I'll leave you guys with this on the Steelers stuff before we got one more thing I want to just bring up here. But but I don't even remember what I was. Oh, I think it's very interesting, at least on the in the local media that I've been listening to. Not a whole lot of talk about Canada. Now I know the focus is on we got training camp and all these battles going on. But it's kind of like when is somebody going to start talking about? Are we going to see any changes? And I think it's because nobody thinks we're going to probably first preseason game. Yeah, true. But you know what?

01:07:19 Marc They look terrible, even if it's the backups. Yeah. Maybe. I don't know. I don't know how much you can believe that week one.

01:07:29 Chris OK, so I just before we go here, I want to thank everybody for watching and listening. But before the show, I don't even remember how we got on this subject, but we all know who that guy is.

01:07:38 Steve Oh, Bob Barker. There he is.

01:07:41 Chris What we were saying, dead or alive legend. He is alive. Wait, now that was a life.

01:07:46 Steve What that is him. Yeah. Ninety nine. Now he looks like that guy on scanners. I got to look that guy up. Scanners. I got it. What was that movie?

01:07:56 Chris Worse for nine. Bob Barker. Where is Bob Barker nowadays? He is now 99 years old. He is a Sagittarius. He was born in Washington, D.C. So he must be a commander's fan. Current residence, Los Angeles, California. And I got this is Bob Barker still alive. Where is the retired television game host today?

01:08:22 Marc Yeah. Favorite prices, right? Game. Yep. Blink. Go really. I always liked the Yodeler.

01:08:30 Steve That's a good one. You don't want to go over.

01:08:37 Chris Never go over the price. Oh, man, if you want to know, hey, I find a site where you can find anything you want to know about Bob Mark Bob, Bob Barker, full name, Robert William Barker, Nickname Bob Barker, gender male, date of birth, 12th of December, 23, 99 years old, Sagittarius, Washington, D.C. He is he is American white Christian who is straight.

01:09:01 Marc That's somehow. What is this? No wonder why he's almost Mary needs a quarter. Mary needs a quarter. Here it comes. Oh, Mary's only got a nickel.

01:09:14 Chris I'm sorry, Mary. Thanks for playing. There it is. There it is. All right. Oh, my God. Wow. OK.

01:09:23 Steve We have done it. We have done it. And it's been a minute. Oh, my. That show was exhausting. It was exhausting.

01:09:33 Chris All right. Thank you for watching the sports porch on social media on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter. And of course, we dropped the podcast right after the show. The sports porch podcast on the I Heart Radio podcast, Spotify. And where you get your friggin podcast. It's the banana song. You can also you can always hear us on the porches live dot com.

01:09:57 Steve The porches live dot com. The porches live dot com.

01:10:02 Chris I want your freedom. And there you go. You're welcome, DG. And thank you for being here. I finally got your comment in there. I'm your technical director and I am out. Whammy. That timing.