Transcript: The Sports Porch Black & Gold Steelers Preseason Game 2

Chris:
Oh, yes.

Marc: That's right. It's that time again, people. I can feel it down in my blood.

Chris: You are watching the Sports Porch Black and Gold Edition. Thank you for being here. We are live all over the world on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, X, and the Gram. We are live on the Gram. Yes, we are. We're back on the Gram. That's right. We're back on the Gram. What up, Grammy? What up, Gram? And of course, as you can see in the ticker, you can catch the Sports Porch podcast. We drop it after every single show. after every single show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your friggin' podcasts. There you go. This is the sports sports black and gold edition and on our radio station. Yes, you can We have a radio station. It's called radio pgh You can find it at radio pgh.com. It's got some interesting content. I'm spinning up And i'm going to put that comment right there. You can stream it live anytime you want radio pgh pittsburgh's best first only And most wonderful and incredible internet radio station. What do you guys say to that dedicated to pittsburgh?

Steve: There it is.

Marc: What could be better? I said, hell yeah.

Chris: Yeah, that's right. And you said that a lot during the New Year's Eve show too.

Marc: That's an ohm sign. That's an ohm sign.

Chris: So anyway, what do we do here on the porch? Yes. Well, of course, it's the black and gold edition. So as anybody who is a Pittsburgh fan or follower knows, we probably talk about sports and we're going to do that. We're going to talk Steelers preseason. We're going to talk about the state of the Pirates. I don't know if Hockey Jesus over here in front of me has any hockey stuff he wants to talk about.

Steve: Yeah, I got some things I want to talk about regarding the Chris Letang situation.

Chris: Oh, yes, obviously there is some sort of rumor mill flowing there. The Grand Schwabini may have a prediction for us. I may or may not. Find out and see. We're going to stump the answer. We're going to talk about things we're watching. And of course, we do have a Trader Joe's snack time that we're going to get to. So let's dive. My favorite segment. let's dive right in let's talk about the buckos and we were doing a show we do do a show for philadelphia as well if you want to catch that the sports sports philadelphia for any phillies fans out there philly fans or whatever um and the schwaber was doing with his buddy something uh unique i think uh who is currently irreplaceable uh on a philadelphia team so while we were prepping for the show i thought to myself well we know the bucko season is over Right. Yeah. I mean, would you argue that point with me? I would not. All right. I would not argue that. Yeah. Yeah. So their season is over. And, you know, I wanted to do the same thing. But I'm not going to do a top 10.

Marc: But we can't do it right now because we really didn't prepare for it.

Chris: Well, no, I just off the top of your head because look, the team is in shambles. We can have this discussion until the cows come home if that's a thing. And what I want to know from you guys off the top of your head, Are there any era, let's take Paul Skeens off the list. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But he's not been there long enough. You know, he's, he's, you know, he could come up next year and not be the Paul Skeens we saw this year. That happens all the time in, in professional sports. It's unlikely. Right. So, but Who's irreplaceable? Is there anybody on this team other than Paul Skeens that is irreplaceable? That you'd say, we got to go in to next year, we got to have this guy. Because me, I would start from scratch. Go ahead, AJ.

Steve: Well, here's the deal. You have to recognize what you're dealing with. You're dealing with the pirates. So it's not like they can just replace all their players with more players that are better. Because they could replace basically the whole team except for Skeens in that reason. So here's the envelope that I'm working inside. It is it is if you replace them, you have to be realistic on who you can replace them with. Like, for example, I just can't say, well, I want to get Manny Machado and and I'm going to get rid of Cruz. Right. You can't do that. That's not realistic. So of the people that are left, who couldn't who wouldn't you replace? And for me, clearly, since Skeens is already off the table, you have to get with Brian Reynolds. I mean, he's 1B when it comes to hitting. He's the hitter that Paul Skeens is pitching. He's definitely a major league hitter. He's good enough in the field. And I don't think he would be somebody you would want to replace.

Chris: Okay, so Brian Reynolds is irreplaceable.

Steve: Brian Reynolds would be on my list of irreplaceable pirates.

Chris: So since you seem to be in a very confined space right now in your head, what I meant was, let's, let's, let's not think about, well, you would have to, you know, be realistic about who you would replace them with and all that. Just who's irreplaceable. Period. That would be it. Everything is on the table. He would be the only one.

Steve: He would be the only one. Right. If everything was on the table and I could replace them with real major league baseball players. Right. then I would say he would be the only one I would keep.

Chris: Okay. Swapper. Same, same feelings?

Marc: No, I would say Paul Skeens is the only one I would keep. Period.

Chris: Even though we took him off the table. You'd wipe the slate clean.

Marc: Not, not that Brian Reynolds isn't a good player. Right. Um, he's a good player. Right. Certainly beyond the team. Right. But you know, um, would I say I absolutely have to have him? No. Right. Right.

Chris: There you go. I literally, I hate saying this, but I would say it's a toss up between O'Neal Cruz and Joey Bart. and Joey Bart. Joey Bart's in the top 10 in a lot of offensive categories. Let me ask you this.

Marc: Why is it that like you're so quick to say that the phenom Skeens, we don't know what he's going to do next year, but yet like we've had like a half a season of Joey Bart with his only good baseball in his career and you're sold.

Chris: No, no. What I said is we take Skeens off the table. We acknowledge that he is a hundred percent irreplaceable. So after him, who is irreplaceable? And for me, it's a toss-up between O'Neal Cruz and Joey Bart. And I know some people are going to think I'm nuts by saying Joey Bart.

Steve: I thought about O'Neal Cruz, but I wouldn't play him as a shortstop.

Chris: Right. And they're talking about that. So so Chris shot on Instagram says, Cruz is a weird case. He looks horrendous for a game or two. Then you see flashes of something incredible. I don't think they trade him right. CD chimes in and says, I think Pittsburgh has figured out the pirates. It's not about winning. It's about enough interest to make money and owners raking in league cash. Yeah, we we do realize that. Yeah. But The reason I'm saying that I wouldn't make Reynolds irreplaceable is that Reynolds is a serviceable major league player. I mean, he's a little above average sometimes. He's a little below average other times. You hope that he finishes the year slightly above average. Do you disagree with that, Schwaber?

Steve: Every winning team has a Brian Reynolds on their team.

Chris: Well, that's what I'm talking about. So Cruz is why I would keep them. Cruz is the upside and Bart is hitting wise. Yes. And Bart is who they thought they were getting when they drafted Henry Davis and Andy Rodriguez. And, and I think Bart should be the everyday catcher. I think we've seen enough of a sample size for him now and given his pedigree that, that we don't need Henry Davis. I'm sick and tired of hearing about it.

Marc: You know, I do like Bart, but I think you've got a much greater chance of Bart Not being this year's Bart next year.

Steve: Yeah, it's possible I can't disagree with that, but they're not gonna give Henry Davis a chance. So he's probably your best second chance. I

Chris: The doctor chimes in and says he's more interested in the Little League World Series. Well, that's because you live in Hershey. He's pretty close to that. Yeah, he's out closer to him. Either that or maybe he likes little boys.

Marc: That's a bit much. Yeah.

Steve: He's my he's my brother. I know he's my brother. Was he in the Boy Scouts with you.

Marc: I was. No I was actually just thinking the last couple of days just how frickin annoying it is that they had the Little League World Series stuff on like ESPN like championship game. Yeah. Go for it. Like I don't need to see like the round of 16. Yeah.

Steve: Well, actually a lot of people like to watch it and really it's, it is still the dead zone. It's still the dead zone. And until, until the U S open comes on, that's what they're going to play.

Chris: Yeah. That's really a shame. Yeah. I think ESPN is just losing it to be honest with you.

Steve: Well, they're just gearing up for their hockey coverage. Yeah. Right. Okay.

Chris: That's true. I say tongue in cheek. You're looking, you're looking forward to that. I mean, So, what is your idea out there? Who's irreplaceable on the Pirates after Paul Skeens?

Steve: Let us know. I don't think anybody wants in on this because everybody knows how bad they are.

Marc: I think everybody wants to talk Steelers.

Steve: Of course they do. I think we had enough of this baseball talk.

Chris: Let's bring it back to the Steelers. This is what you call peer pressure. Thank you. Okay, let's bring it up now. The Steelers preseason take. So, you guys, I was at work. Saturday night, thankfully. I caught up with some of the highlights. I read all the press. I listened to all the shows. There were highlights? Exactly. It didn't take long. And you guys were watching it. And, you know, good, bad, you know, Wilson, Fields, I mean, what are we really doing here? This is preseason. I've made this argument every year, even last year, even though I was a Kenny Pickett bandwagon guy when they jumped on him in the draft. Even last year when he started out the season, you know, everybody's like, oh, my God, he's incredible. Even last year, I was saying, look, it's preseason, you know? And I think that we're just so starved for football around here, like everybody is, because it's not just Pittsburgh. Every market is doing this.

Marc: There's a lot of overreactions going around.

Steve: Yeah, exactly. In every city right now. That's the thing. Exactly. It's the preseason. Yeah. Pump the brakes, people.

Marc: Apparently, Dan Orlovsky was trying to say that Russell Wilson made a horrible decision when he completed a pass for four yards instead of completing to somebody else for six yards. I know. That's so bad.

Steve: Well, the thing that also drives me crazy is now, you know, because Mason Rudolph took Tennessee to a winning score. Now, suddenly, it's like everybody loves Mason Rudolph. I know, I heard those calls. Like, come on, people. Like, this is, first of all, this is the preseason. We're talking about people who are trying to make the team. These are not, most of these people are not going to be playing in the starting lineup. I get the angst over Russell Wilson.

Chris: As you can see from Mike Lawrence's comment here, he's the most inept pro football games ever. Yeah. You know what, Mike? I love that you watch us. Thanks for being here. But I think we're going to respectfully disagree with that. I mean, yes, it's bad football. Let's just face it. But it is preseason.

Marc: It's also they're going vanilla. They're not showing anybody anything.

Chris: I'm going to let H.J. finish his point. So, yeah, I just wanted to get Mike's comment in there while we were talking about it.

Steve: I mean, my point was already made. There you go. And my point is it's the preseason. Right. It's nothing to get excited about. However, I think that we do need to think about some of the things that Tomlin is talking about. Yeah. And the thing that he talked about in his quote of the week, as I'm calling it, Oh, are we going to, is that a new thing for us now? I'd like this idea. I like it too, because you like it. This is, this is Tomlin's. You weren't even listening. This is Tomlin's quote of the week. The, the Steelers couldn't make a decision about, uh, Russell Wilson because quote unquote, we were not winning possession downs.

Marc: Yeah, that was right.

Steve: Yeah, we were not winning possession downs isn't every down a possession down Well, it is but basically what he's saying is we suck on offense, but he's saying it in his Tomlin way Right, right, and he's saying that on third down we we we were not good and you know what? I went back and looked and he's right. They were with Russell Wilson They were one of six on on third downs, right and why did they not get a third down? Well, the first time was because he was sacked The second time was because he threw it short of the yard. How many times have we seen that with Kenny Pickett and others before, but you know, after Ben, right? He got sacked again on the third one. And then on the fourth one, there was a holding penalty. So they got knocked back the third 19. He did complete a short pass to Warren for 12 yards, but they needed 19. So what the hell? And then on the fifth one, he finally got one. There was a third and two, the Van Jefferson, and he completed the pass for 12 yards. Yay. That was the one that they got. And then what happened is they made it to third and 11, and then he threw it to Van Jefferson again, this time short of the sticks, and they missed a field goal at halftime. Well, no, there wasn't a halftime. It was like in the first quarter. Yeah. Um, so they were one of six on third down. That just reminds me of last year's offense. And I think that's the problem. And it's like, you know, we were given this promise about Arthur Smith and being more creative and there is more movement and it does look a little bit better, but still the results are the same. Yeah. But that's, I think the thing for me that I'm worried about. Okay.

Chris: So that's what you're worried about, but you're still saying, look, it's preseason. We shouldn't read too much into this.

Steve: yet. I agree. We shouldn't read too much into it, but that's, that's something, the way they're trying to get third downs and the way they're going about it is almost the same as last year. Run, get into a third and short situation, and then all you have to do is throw it three or four yards. They don't have a plan for when it's third and 15. They just say, we can't have holding penalties. You're gonna get a holding penalties in this in this league You got to have a way to have a play that will get you 15 or 20 yards when that happens This offense doesn't seem to have it either and that's my concern.

Chris: I don't think we've seen enough of it yet Shada on IG says he's heard talking head saying we can talk about Pittsburgh moving off of Tomlin But he's with you HGA the Rooney's will allow Tomlin to stay as long as he wants I you know, I think we all I don't know it I think Look if the Steelers go 3 and 14 this year, I don't think Tomlin comes back But that's a whole other discussion for when you know for when they're there They could be headed in that direction.

Steve: Well, you know, I wasn't thinking that beforehand But look when I when I see them not throwing the ball 20 yards in its third 19 for me It's like the preseason. Why not try it? If that's in your arsenal of things to try, why not try it now? It just seems like there isn't that arsenal. It doesn't exist. Now, maybe it's because Pickett's not on the field. I'm sorry, Pickett's not on the field. But you still got to throw it to the guy who's out there who's playing the position that Pickett's is in.

Chris: So you're kind of confusing me here.

Steve: I don't think their offense is daring enough to try to win the game. They're just trying to manage the ball again.

Chris: But at the same time, you're also saying this is just preseason. And my viewpoint on this is exactly that. It's just preseason. You've got Russell Wilson, who hasn't started a game since sometime around mid-year last year, close to the end. Then he tweaks a calf. Um, he's in a new team, a new offense, and you've got, you know, Justin Fields, you've got a new OC. Um, you've got a new, basically. pretty close, well, a revamped receiver core. And you're trotting these guys out here and Wilson's first action was Saturday. You got to give it some time. You got to, you got to, you got to wait, you know, the games that matter. Here's a Tomlinism for you. The games that matter are the games that matter. You know what I'm saying? So, so you play are the games that matter. That's right. The games you play are the games that matter. And I am not willing to say anything other than, let's give let's let's wait till game one game to game three and see what the offense looks like now. So I have always in my life ignored preseason I have always watched very few preseason games. Yeah. For that reason only. Because first of all, I don't care who the third stringers are. You know, pulling a diamond out of the rough is rare. And if they do, they do great. I didn't have to watch them play in preseason. Right. And I don't want to get overhyped or too depressed. You know, it's it's just it's one of those things where these games don't matter. The coaches aren't looking at the score. The coaches are looking at how does the offensive line set themselves? How do they call the defenses ahead of time? How do they get off their blocks? How does the quarterback read his progressions? How does the running back block or find his hole? How does the defense get to the quarterback and run and cover the gaps? How do you know they're looking at all the technicalities? They're calling the plays, but they're not calling the place to win.

Marc: I think Tomlin did give us, you know, something to cling on to, though, when he said that the good thing about, you know, Russell Wilson and Justin Fields is that they don't run from the challenge. They run toward the challenge.

Steve: They do run a lot, and that's another concern. They're running away from defensive linemen coming right at them. The one thing I would say… And they both hold onto the ball way too long.

Marc: The one thing I would say, though, I agree that a lot of this is very vanilla football. However, the one thing I think you can gauge a little bit is block on block. And the offensive line didn't have a very good game. Roderick Jones didn't have a very good game. No, he did not. But I also think part of that is stop mixing his position up. I agree. You know, I mean, and, uh, you know, and, and I think the sewers defensive, um, front seven, I thought played pretty well.

Steve: I agree with that. I think the front seven played, played great. I think they, and, and clearly the bills didn't score either. Right. So I, I think that's, but that's the problem. I think the Steelers are going to rely on their defense again, and there's going to be a time when that defense is just going to break. And I have yet to see something from the offense that says, okay, maybe they are going to try and throw it deep a little bit more to open up the run. I think Najee's look good in the preseason. Now, once again, I don't care so much about that, but it just, the holes seem to be there. He seems to be hitting them a little bit faster. And that'll equate to two or three more yards a run. But I think they need to find a way to throw the ball down the field more. And I just haven't seen that yet with his offense. Maybe we'll see it in the next preseason, but I just haven't seen it.

Chris: I think that their biggest weakness, other than quarterback right now, is wide receiver. And I don't think, I don't think I'm going to get any disagreement there. I, I, no, I agree with, you know, I, I think that Russell Wilson is a serviceable NFL quarterback still. Um, this argument is made all the time and it seems like people just ignore it. He didn't have a horrible year in Denver last year. His stats were pretty good and he, and he sat what the last five games. Yeah. So, you know, at 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions, add five games onto that added at his current pace, he'd have been in the thirties, maybe 12 or 14 interceptions. That's a good year by any measure, any measure. And he was on a team that didn't like him. And he had a coach that hated him. Right. So to say that Russell Wilson is washed up is just it's it's ridiculous. It doesn't. Now, does that mean that he's going to come out this year and play great? No, absolutely not. But, you know, most of these Steelers fans out there, they want to say, well, he he's washed up. We want Justin Fields. But at the same time, they get mad because he didn't perform. And it's like, look, you got to give you first of all, you got to give the guy a chance. He's better than anything we had on the field last year. Period. End of story. He can be. Well, he can be. Let's just say that. Let's just match careers. Period. He's better than anything we had on the field.

Steve: I refuse to match careers when he has yet to play a single down for the Pittsburgh Steelers. All I care about is this year. Okay. No offense to Russell Wilson, but he could be just as bad as Kenny Pickett. I doubt that. I highly doubt that. I do too. Because I want to give him a chance. It's a new offense. It's a new offensive scheme. I'm hoping that he can find a way to make it work for him. But I think Mark's right. By moving Broderick Jones around left and right, I think that's not solidifying the right tackle or the left tackle position. And, you know, this injury that Jalen Warren could be a problem too. Mike wants to know about that. And the fact that Russell Wilson is just starting his first preseason game right now is another problem. And I think that leads me back to the point that I wanted to make at the beginning of this, which is their strength and conditioning. It's horrible. It's terrible. I think that they missed out. When Marcel Pastor left the team in January of this year, I think Mike Tomlin had an opportunity to bring in somebody who could make this team work. And what happens? They bring in Russell Wilson, he pushes a sled and he gets injured. He injures his calf. Now you got Jalen Warren hurt. And actually Broderick Jones, one of the reasons they said he wasn't doing so well, because you heard his shoulder or his arm, he had a sling on his arm. What the hell is going on with their strength and conditioning that all of these people are getting injured and they're hardly even hitting each other in practice? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I don't know.

Chris: I think it's a problem. It could be a problem. You could be right about that. I think we're going to see that. It's going to depend on how uh, you know, on how they rebound from this and, and, and Pat, Pat off track. I gotta get Pat in the show. He's dying. Cause he's watching on YouTube. I'm going, I'm going to see Cordell Stewart's ex-girlfriend this weekend. Want me to ask her opinion? Um, no, but see if she'll be on the show. That could be fun.

Steve: Yeah, or see if Cordell wants to be on the show. He'd be a good interview, that's for sure.

Chris: Yeah, he'd draw a crowd here, that's for sure. So Warren's injury, from what I understand, it's a soft tissue injury, which is not a good thing for a hamstring.

Steve: No, because that's the same injury that Justin Jefferson had last year. He missed like four or five weeks. Yeah. So now, and they said, because I'm watching receiver now, I saw that part. Yeah. And they said, typically it's a six to eight week injury. Oh, wow. Well, I mean, until it's fully healed. Right. You can, you can play through it, but it's always going to hurt and you're never going to be at a hundred percent. Gotcha. Gotcha. So that's a problem.

Chris: That could be a problem. That could be a huge problem. Yeah, I, I think there's a lot of question marks. Uh, and I, I refer back to the comments that, you know, when we've talked about this before, the Steelers with Tomlin are now going through a transition at quarterback. And dare I say they fumbled the ball with Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph. And now they're trying to pick up another bouncing ball with Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. And to assume that this year is going to, You know what? So you just last week we were talking about this when I said the guy from Houston, the beat writer from Houston said he thought the Steelers were the worst team in the division and you disagreed with that. Yeah, I still disagree with it. But how can you disagree with that?

Steve: Well, I mean, they have because they play against the Browns.

Chris: Yeah, but the Browns, you know, the Browns had the number one defense in the NFL. Yeah. And what did it get them? Yeah, it got them into a playoff game with Joe Flacco. I mean, look, I'm not advocating for the Browns, but what I'm saying is that on paper and record wise, they were a better team. They were a better team. And I think they're still a better team. I think, I think Baltimore is a better team. I think, um, this feels like a conflict getting ready to just explode, doesn't it? I feel like Baltimore is a better team for sure. Yeah. I feel like Cincinnati is a better team for sure. And I do feel like Cleveland is a better team.

Steve: Who do you think of those three teams has the best defense?

Chris: I think the Browns do. Why? I think the Browns do.

Steve: Because I think they're, who's the Brown starting linebacker? You don't know because there is nobody there that's any good. Who's their best pass rusher? Miles Garrett. Yeah, is he better than T.J. Watts?

Chris: I'm not going player by player.

Steve: Was he better last year than T.J. Watts? No, I think T.J. Watts should have won. Do you think the Steelers improved that linebacker position or got worse? We'll see. What do you know? I'm asking your opinion.

Chris: Yes. They should have improved.

Steve: And what about their defensive backfield with Joey Porter Jr. in his second year? Do you think it's better than I think there's a lot of questions at cornerback?

Chris: I look, you can have a one stud corner, but if you've got nobody else on the other side, which right now I don't think they do.

Steve: And I agree with you. I think until they get Cam Sutton back, they're weak on that end. But other than that, the Steelers have the best defense in the AFC North. They absolutely do. And that's gonna win them those games. I'm just saying, because the offense kid, they know the offensive schemes. And you only have to win your friggin' division. And that's why, that's the only reason I remain optimistic about this team, because it looks like their offense is still gonna suck.

Chris: Yeah, it does. Schwaber, weigh in on this. You've had a lot of time to think. I know there's something rolling around up there.

Marc: Well, to be honest, this is very hard to comment on because in a way I think you're both right. I mean, I think you can look at things on paper and you can say Cleveland Browns statistically had a better defense. You can look at even with the loss of a Patrick Queen, the Ravens seem to have a good defense every year. You know, Cincinnati, you know, I don't know. They lost Joe Mixon. Chase is holding in chases, you know, holding in. I think the defense might actually be getting a little bit worse. I'm not really sold on them. But one of the things the Steelers are pretty good at doing is they're pretty good at. Beating teams that they're a little better than. You know, and they do hang in there, like they are that 9 and 18. Right. That's right.

Chris: That's true.

Marc: That's absolutely true. So like, yeah, like would it, now look, I mean, I would definitely say the Ravens will win the division, but I could certainly see the Steelers being second. You know, do they have maybe as much talent As some of the other teams, probably not.

Steve: No, definitely. They have the worst offensive talent in the division, for sure.

Marc: Yeah, but you could also make an argument probably next to the Ravens, I'm going to say. They have the most defensive talent. And it's not too far off from the Ravens. So, you know, look, I mean, These days when we watch football, it's all about the passing game. It's like a different game than it was years ago. And so we all get mesmerized with the teams that have these great offenses. So it's very easy to look at the Steelers and say, well, their offense isn't going to be that great, so they're not going to be much. But it wouldn't shock me at all if it's a very similar year to last year where, you know, Halfway through the year we're thinking, Hey, this could be eight and nine. This could be nine and eight. This could be, this could be 10 and seven. Hey, if things break, right. It could be 11 and six.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. The whole, the whole nine and eight or yeah, nine and eight, eight and nine thing is it's very, very, uh, torturous to me. Mike, uh, Lawrence chimes in on Facebook and says, cam Sutton will be out for eight games. Will we keep him with his violation of the NFL conduct policy? Well, the answer to that I think is yes. Yeah, because they signed him knowing that this was coming.

Steve: They knew they didn't think it was going to be eight games, Mike. They thought in the most it would be four. They were surprised by the eight games, as were most people, but they're willing to accept it. I think it was because he ran away from the NFL, essentially. Yeah, he said. I know this is coming. I'm going to run away and hide. And he didn't just come out like a man and say, yeah, I did it. I'll take my, you know, I'll take my, uh, yeah, I'll take my medicine and, um, just move on. And he didn't do that. And I think that's why they doubled it. Yeah. And yes, the Seahawks are just going to stick with them.

Marc: And they don't really have a choice.

Steve: No, not really. Well, they do. I mean, the people they picked up, that guy from Houston. Yeah. You know, that's what they got to go with it.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, we have a game in Detroit. Um, if anything, this game worries me because Detroit isn't, you know, they seem to be on a mission and Detroit's not going to play any of their, their stars. Yeah. But there's guys that I guess where I'm coming from is there's guys that want to make that team and they, they might want to make a statement and I'm just, I, I just don't like the injury thing. I think the Steelers are, are definitely the one team in the division where one, one real injury, you know, TJ Watkins, I know he might not play in this game, you know, somebody like T.J. Watt gets injured and look at the record without him. You know, it's kind of like they can't afford to suffer another injury.

Steve: Yeah, they have drafted some guys this year that hopefully help with that, with Herbig and Wilson. So I think that might help, but you're right. You're absolutely right. With T.J. down, that's always been a problem for the Steelers.

Chris: Yeah, yeah. And so I'm kind of hoping he doesn't even play in this game. You know, I mean, I think I don't think you can be afraid of injury. Well, that's true.

Marc: It's who's the first game of the season against the Counts.

Steve: Atlanta. Yeah.

Marc: Yeah. Actually, kind of an interesting team now.

Steve: It is with with cousins down there. And he is he's healthy.

Marc: So he's going to be playing with their two new additions. Yeah. Matthew Judon.

Marc: Yeah. From the Patriots.

Marc: And Simmons. Yeah. Safety from Denver.

Chris: On defense, yeah.

Steve: I'd be more worried about Drake London and Kyle Pitts, to be honest with you. Yeah. About Bijon Robinson. Well, no, not really. I like our front line. I think we can hold him in check.

Chris: Steelers 1-11 without Watts, the doctor chimes in. Yeah, that's right. So we'll be anxiously watching that next game and then we got a week break and then the season starts and then we'll get some real shit going around here.

Steve: Maybe the doctor wants to be our sports science coordinator, you know. the, for the Steelers because they need it. They need, they need some strengthening with their conditioning.

Chris: We should have, you know what, maybe the doctor could come on every week and just give us an update on the injuries and tell us what, what to, what to make a jail and warrant. Yeah. What's really, what's really going on. Yeah. That's a great idea. We could use another defletch on this.

Steve: We'll put this doctor in the waiting room.

Marc: Although I would say that I, I listen, I do, you know, I try. I do listen to some sports radio, and every week they bring a doctor on to talk about injuries, and I always find it to be the most boring part of the show.

Chris: Okay.

Steve: Sorry, CD. Well, my brother has always said that, well, no, I'm not going to tell you what he's, what he said about other doctors being on television. Yeah. Let's not, which he was one during COVID. So I think he was just talking about himself. That's great.

Chris: All right. This is the sports sports black and gold edition. If you're watching us live on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube X and Instagram, thank you for being here. And remember we do drop the show right after the show, uh, as a podcast, by the way, on the I heart radio app, Apple podcast, Spotify,

Marc: or anywhere you get your friggin' podcasts.

Chris: And we are live right now on Radio PGH, that's our radio station. More shows to come on that station coming up. And Pat wants to know if one of our kids has a fantasy football draft list for him. I think he's talking about us being kids. Yes. No, I think you, I don't know. No, maybe. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I don't want Pat anywhere near my kids.

Marc: One of you kids. I think he's definitely off track.

Chris: As usual.

Steve: Hey, Pat, check out the Fantasy Alpha crowd. They'll get you one.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. Once that show gets fired back up, which I think is coming very soon. Or, you know what? You can Google it. Yeah. Why don't you Google it?

Steve: I just know number one is CMC, and that's all that really matters for me, because I have the first pick.

Chris: There you go. So we can start forming our strategy now. So does the Grand Squad Beanie have a prediction for us this week? Sure. You do? Uh-oh. Okay. Well, here we go. The Grand Schwabini is going to predict right now. Absolutely, I do. All right. And he's got the magic. These things just come to you all the time and you have to get them out.

Marc: Well, the good news is, is that I have insight into another universe.

Marc: That is true.

Marc: And as I rub the lamp.

Chris: Rub that lamp. Rub that lamp. Rub it.

Marc: I'm gonna rub it.

Marc: I get the correct information. I get the information that tells all. And what this lamp is telling me is that Najee Harris is going to go over 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns this year, finally, finally proving to Christopher Lance Cline to get off his back. I like that he is being put into the same offense that Derrick Henry ran. I've noticed in these preseason games one thing that we can Actually look at is, you know block on block man on man, and I think he is running with a lot more purpose Allah a Derek Henry Interesting scheme. So I think he's gonna have a big year and especially now with Jalen Warren being probably out for the first couple weeks and I think they're going to rely on him heavily. I see 1,200 yards. I see 10 plus touchdowns. And if you want me to go even a little further, I see him being re-signed. Oh, wow.

Steve: That would be a surprise.

Chris: So the Grand Swabini is predicting 1200 plus yards, 10 touchdowns. I will recant my criticism and they will re-sign Najee. That's like four predictions in one. It doesn't get any better than that.

Steve: And you know what? With this injury, I can, I can see him. I can see that prediction coming true because Jalen Morin could be out for the first four weeks.

Marc: Look, I mean, it has nothing to do with me. It comes in from other space.

Chris: It's just the other world. Does it come into the lamp and then you pull it out of the lamp? Is that how that works?

Marc: It's kind of like a mixture lamp into my temples at the same time.

Chris: All right, now we understand. Now we understand.

Steve: Yeah. That lamp temple thing. Yeah, I get it.

Chris: I don't get it at all. I've seen that before. Yeah, it's quite amusing.

Marc: Good one, Mark. I like that one. Just put on some Pink Floyd and give me a light show. There you go.

Chris: We used to do that.

Steve: LASER shows at the planetarium. We used to do that. Anybody been to the Buell planetarium lately?

Chris: No. I've actually never been to the Buell planetarium. Well, you're not a real Pittsburgh. Is it a sight to behold? Well, you wouldn't know because you haven't been there. I did call somebody a jag at work the other day. It just kind of flowed out by accident. I said, you're such a jag. And then some other dude next to me went, my God, are you a yinzer? Nice. And I was like, You have just bestowed an honor upon me that I've been working 31 years for.

Steve: Because it just flows out sometimes. And you do look like one. Thank you. I appreciate that. Especially with that lousy beard.

Chris: Now, I did promise somebody down at the shop, down at the store, who is listening to our podcast, a guy that works there, his name's Jake, he's a great guy. Jake the Snake. He has listened to, I'm going to embarrass him now because he was like, you can't tell these guys this. He said, I listen to your show. We don't know Jake, so it doesn't matter. Well, Jake just wants to say that, you know, I make the show. He just says, you know, you make the show. I don't know if he was being kind.

Steve: Well, yeah, you do make the show, but he wasn't saying that as a compliment.

Chris: Oh, okay.

Marc: Telling you what you want to hear.

Chris: I was misunderstanding him.

Marc: They don't call him Jake the snake for nothing.

Chris: Yeah, I haven't heard anybody call him Jake the snake, but you're not in that crowd. I'm not in that. You're right. I'm not in that.

Steve: You're not taking that 15 minute break at the top of the hour. Yeah. All right.

Chris: If you were, then you would know. Well, maybe we'll have Jake on and we'll question him. I don't even think you know.

Steve: I think we already know. We don't need to have Jake on the show. We don't need the lamp to flow in the Mark's temple to know.

Chris: And I wasn't going to say anything, but you guys jumped on me.

Marc: So I thought, ah, I'm going to, I think it's, it's really nice though that you have friends that make you feel good.

Chris: Well, I mean, it's, it's, it's important. It's important. It's important to feel good.

Marc: Good to have peace of mind.

Chris: OK, now we're going to do something we call. Oh, actually, I want to ask H.J. a couple of things here. So I have in front of me, of course, we are all in the studio together. For those of you who wonder, the Grand Swabini is to my right. Hockey Jesus is right across from me in the studio and Hockey Jesus is here. And you can listen to Hockey Jesus on the podcast after every single freaking Penguins game. So, when the season starts back up, Hockey Jesus will have his thoughts. He watches every game. He watches almost every minute of every game.

Marc: I have a question for Hockey Jesus.

Chris: Okay, so let's get there. You can follow Hockey Jesus on YouTube at the Sports Sports Podcast.

Marc: I wasn't aware that Jason Spezza was in the organization. Oh, you didn't know that? I did not know that. Yeah, he came over when Dubas came over. And I see that he is now going to be, is this correct, the head coach of the Hershey Bears?

Steve: Well, not the Hershey Bears. The Wilkes-Barre Penguins.

Marc: The Wilkes-Barre Penguins. Okay. The baby pens. Okay. I don't know what the hell I'm saying. But he's going to be the head coach, right?

Steve: Yeah, I heard that.

Marc: Yeah. So, thoughts?

Steve: I think that's a fine move. I, I, I think he was trying to learn the GM job and I think he just wanted to be more into the hockey nuts and bolts of things. And they had an opening because they fired their coach and it makes sense. You know, uh, I think he'll, he'll learn down there. I mean, he's a former hockey player, so people are going to gravitate to him. You know, he was famous mostly in Ottawa. He was a good player. But he was a good player. He torched the pens quite a bit when the Ottawa was good. And I guess that would have been the early 2000s. Yeah. So, yeah, I'm OK with that. I'm good with that. Yeah. All right. But really what I wanted to talk about with hockey, and by the way, I am going through some withdrawal with not having hockey around. Are you really? Yeah. I mean, like literally I'm like thinking, Okay, baseball's done. It's not really ever been around for me, but I make it work in my world. And there's literally, since the draft and since, you know, free agency, there hasn't been anything going on with hockey. So when I saw this stuff about Chris Letang, I'm like, oh, okay, finally something to talk about. Dude, it's just all clickbait. I swear to God, like people don't have anything to talk about because- Didn't they say he wanted to trade or something like that?

Chris: I mean, I didn't click it. I just saw the headline.

Steve: Here's, here's, here's I think what's going on. And this is just my take. I don't have any special insight. I don't have no damn lamp. I just have hockey knowledge from watching it for too many years. Okay. I think everybody's just speculating because that's what they want to do because Sid hasn't signed a contract yet. Right. And because he hasn't signed a contract yet, what happens? Well, first, you got to talk about how Malkin feels about it. And, you know, somebody said something about Malkin, you know, maybe not playing out his last year. OK, that's step number one, which, by the way, doesn't sound like it's true. Right. But it may be true. Somebody he might have said it to somebody just kind of in passing. I think what happened was he said he would like to play a year in the KHL. He would like to play in Russia, Mother Russia, after he's done with the NHL. Mother Russia. And everybody's speculating that he's going to do it while he still has some talent left. Right. He still has talent left? He does. OK. No, he does. I mean, it's just it's just not at the highest level where he had been for decades. Yeah, we get that. Right. So now, because they kind of kick Malkin to the side, they got to bring in Letang. because the three of them are all melded together. Yeah, they're compadres. So it's like, well, where would Chris Letang want to play? Well, Montreal, because that's where he's from. So they create this rumor that says, you know, he has been traded. Now, maybe he did inquire, like, By the way, if Sid doesn't sign, would you look into it? It might be a situation like that where it's that big if word at the beginning, where I'm not looking to be traded, it's just that if that should be a case where you do want to melt this whole thing down and you just want to start from scratch again, that's where I would like to go. And I think maybe that may have happened as an if scenario, but I don't believe for one second that Sidney Crosby is not going to sign with the Penguins. I've already gone on record saying that I think it's going to be four or five years. And I believe that LeTang is going to play out his full contract, and I believe Malkin's going to play out his full contract. And all this other stuff is just stupidness for people to click on their website. When you click on the Hockey Jesus, you will get the truth. You will not get clickbait. Amen.

Chris: A couple weeks ago you said you guaranteed that Sid would be signed by the end of the week and that didn't come true. Yeah. I'm not, I'm not beating on here. I'm just, right. I'm just, that's true. I did say that. He doesn't have a lamp. That's right. I mean, I don't have, is it possible to train him on the lamp or it's just not just a, it's a God given gift. there it is. So I don't have the lamp powers. So then I'm wondering if you made that prediction because I can't remember which show it was. Did you make that in anticipation of the date eight seven, which seems to be really special to penguins fans and to Sid?

Steve: Yeah. I thought, I thought that, First of all, I didn't realize he was such in the Canadian soccer. I don't want to call it Canadian football because they actually have football in Canada. But he was really interested in the Canadian soccer team, so he was spending some time with them. He is preparing to play hockey this year, like he always does with Nate McKinnon. And I can't remember the other guy he skates with, but he's getting ready. He's just not back in Pittsburgh yet. They're going to sign the contract. It's going to happen. I just don't think he wants to make a big deal out of it, but everybody's making a big deal.

Chris: Do you have any concerns at all? Because from everything that I'm reading and listening to, which is more than I normally do, You're welcome. Some of the guys, yes, thank you H.J. Some of the guys that cover the penguins are actually starting to get, I would say a little anxious, not necessarily worried, but kind of like, well, it speaks to maybe, I did hear one of the guys to his credit say exactly what you said, which is, Hey, look, it's the off season. Everybody deserves an off season. And, and, and, and, you know, just because August 7th passed doesn't mean that Sydney's thinking, you know, Sid's thinking this or thinking that he's got other things that he's concerned with. Right. But does it give you pause at all that there doesn't seem to be urgency on either side? Or does the fact that there's no urgency make you think like, look, they probably already have it worked out for the most part. Yeah. And he's going to sign with it.

Steve: It's the latter. Yeah. I totally believe that whatever Sid wants, he'll get. So it doesn't really matter when they do it.

Chris: Yeah. It's not like he had a bad year last year. You know, I mean, it's like, he's been the healthiest in his career. Yeah. And I think, I think what everybody needs to do is take a step back and realize that, um, there is, I don't think any possible scenario in which the penguins would not sign him. exactly you know now on the other side of that the the other scenario is the enticing one which is sid is still playing pretty high at the top of his game right but what does he see in the next three to four years which is probably what he has left at an elite level remaining, maybe less because he is older, but you know, what does he see in the future for the penguins? Because ultimately his goal, his goal isn't to retire in Pittsburgh. His goal is to win another cup.

Steve: No, his goal is to play at the highest level he can play at, which I would argue includes winning another cup. Um, I don't think it necessarily does. And here's why I say that, because he wants to be able to be on the first line. He wants to be a first line center his whole career. Right. Guys like, uh, Iserman and, and guys that, uh, Stamkos will probably be this, uh, in the next few years, they're going to have to drop down a few levels to be able to play with those teams. He doesn't want to be a second-line center on Colorado. He wants to be the first-line center on Colorado. And he can't be that. He can be that in Pittsburgh for the rest of his career, for sure. There's nobody who's ever going to play that first-line center position but Sidney Crosby. And he still plays it at the highest level. And he plays a two-way game. So he's not fast. He's not flashy. He just gets to the puck. and he knows how to make the plays. And honestly, I think his game is geared so that he can do it for a long time. I do agree with you, though, that I do think in his mind he's thinking, does this Pittsburgh Penguins team have enough talent around it to be able to get to a playoff position. Cause I can tell you for a fact that Sidney Crosby playing at that high level and missing playoffs last two years is killing him. It's eating at him. And I think that's why it's taking a little bit of time for him to sign this contract because he wants to be purposeful with his next contract that he signs because he doesn't want to miss the playoffs again. That's absolutely true about Sidney Crosby and everything else around it I think is just horseshit.

Chris: Okay, so there you go. There you have Hockey Jesus. Hockey Jesus preaches on the podcast after every single Penguins game.

Steve: By the way, that felt great. I love talking about hockey again. Hallelujah. Amen.

Chris: Pass the sauce. I can feel your anxiety dropping just a little bit. I can feel the energy in the room starting to laugh. Okay, before we move on to snack time, we're gonna play Stump the Yinzer. So Stump the Yinzer, the question is, who was the only Steeler to be named Super Bowl MVP twice?

Steve: Oh, goodness. I might even just let Mark have this one. So easy.

Chris: Twice. Twice. Now, now the deal is if Mark answers before you do, he gets to be the answer for the week.

Steve: I'm going, I'm going to let him have it this, this, this time. Okay. Because I think he can do it. I think he belongs to be the answer of the week. Terry Bradshaw. There you go.

Chris: Let's go. Terry Bradshaw, Superbowl 13 and 14. There you go. Yeah. There you go. Now, for bonus points, who won MVP in each of the other two Super Bowls? Not the one, the first four. The first four. Yeah. Yeah. Let's let's let the Yinzer answer that for real.

Steve: You don't want to go? You want to give it a shot, Mark? You want me to take a shot at it? Go ahead. Yeah. I think he can give it a shot. I think he can give it a shot.

Marc: We're saying the first of the first four.

Chris: Yeah. The other two. Yeah. So they're your classic Steelers.

Marc: Stallworth? Nope. Okay. Close, though. Uh, Lynn Swan.

Steve: Yeah. Lynn Swan. Yeah.

Marc: Okay. Uh, and how about Franco Harris?

Steve: There you go. There you go. You got it. All right.

Chris: Yeah. All right. Mark. Nice. It is official.

Marc: And I can also give you San Antonio homes.

Steve: Yes. Antonio.

Marc: Yes. Yes. And now the big question. And was it Heinz Ward or Antoine Randall?

Steve: Oh, I know this because I was there. Yeah. He was at the game. Which one are you going to go with?

Marc: Um,

Marc: Fines Ward. He got it. There you go. Yeah. Way to go. Pretty good.

Steve: Maybe you're actually a Steeler fan.

Chris: Closet Steeler fan. You don't know it. Not bad. All right. It's time.

Marc: Taste the biscuit. Taste the goodness of the biscuit. Taste the honey sauce.

Marc: Taste the goodness of the biscuit with the honey sauce.

Chris: Okay, so why do we play that ridiculous song that everybody seems to absolutely love and has turned those people into gazillionaires? That's because it is Trader Joe's snack time. It's time to eat people. What is Trader Joe's snack time? Well, everybody knows that I work at Trader Joe's and they are not paying us for this, but they did give me permission to do it. So what I do is every week I bring a product home and we give it a little taste. We give our honest opinion. I happen to love everything I've ever had from that place. It's a great place to buy your food. It's actually really inexpensive and they got some great stuff. So without further ado, this week's product of the week is Trader Joe's Hatch Mac and Cheese. Hatch. I'm not a mac and cheese guy. I know I've heard you say that. Hatch. What is Hatch? Hatch is a place in New Mexico famous for growing chilies. Oh, so it's got some chili peppers. Spicy. Yeah, it's not that spicy. I thought I might have to do something with the chicken. I'll let you go.

Steve: That's what I was thinking. They put some eggs in there or what? No, there's no eggs in cheese.

Chris: I don't know. I don't know what's in there. Let me get rid of the picture here so we can see our faces. So I did heat this up. I did heat this up before the show. Oh, it's still warm. Um, and I'll just give you guys a spoon, give it a little stir. I have actually had it, but I will reserve, I will reserve my, uh, uh, sampling the product before the time. Very nice. No, I just had, I had it like a year ago. My stepson got it and he left some in there. So he actually left some. Wow. Yeah. Hatch Mac and cheese. You're lucky. Hatch Mac and cheese. And we already know Mark's not. Yeah, but, but, but we got to give him props though because he dives in anyway. He does. He dives in anyway. Not bad. Not bad. I'm going to go. I would consider this a true snack. Six minutes in the microwave, that's all you need.

Marc: I mean, I'm not a mac and cheese guy, but I think for mac and cheese, it's good.

Chris: Yeah, we actually do sell a lot of this too. One of these days, I'll bring home something we don't sell and we'll see what happens.

Steve: You're right. It's not overly spicy, but it's got good flavor.

Marc: It's got a nice bit of spice into it. I might actually have one more bite.

null: There you go.

Steve: Look at that. Yeah, pass that back around. I'm going to have another bite of that for sure. I like that. I like that a lot. I don't know. Yeah, I could eat the whole thing. It's not, it's not, it's not, there's not too much in there. No, not at all. There's not too much in there.

Chris: That's a good snack. That's one serving for the most part. It's a good side dish. And there you have it. Trader Joe's product of the week. You can finish it if you want. I don't care.

Marc: All right. Oh yeah. Thank you to Trader Joe's for that permission. That's good stuff. It is good. That was good. That was better. When did we have last time?

Marc: I don't even remember. It's been a while.

Marc: Uh, last week. What do we have left? I don't think we had one last week. Did we? Yeah. No, we did. We were here. It wasn't good. I don't remember it.

Chris: It was a potato chips. Um, no, no, no potato chips. I could go back and look.

Steve: I don't feel like everything that everything with the bagel stuff was really good.

Chris: You're watching the sports sports black and gold podcast on live on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube X, Instagram all over the world. Thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it. The dead zone is officially almost over. We're getting back into Steelers football. We talked about that earlier. We do drop the podcast right after the show. You can go to, um, mushroom truffle flatbread. That's what we had last week on Instagram. Thanks buddy. I love it. Keep coming back. Spread this out to your friends. Yeah. He could be our new DG cause he's watching every week on Instagram. So that's right. Although nobody could ever replace DG. So, um, rest in peace. And, uh, we dropped the podcast right after the show, Apple podcast, Spotify, uh, I heart radio app, anywhere you get your frigging podcasts and you can listen live on radio PGH, click the link in the comments or go to radio pgh.com. Uh, let's, let's move on here to what we are watching and why do we do this? Well, we do this because There's a lot of shit to watch out there. We like to watch things. It is actually amazing how much shit there is out there. There's almost too much. It's almost like we could come up with our own show and somehow get it on Netflix. Don't you feel like that? No. Easily. Don't you feel like we're kind of working on that?

Marc: I would like to come up with a show called HR. Yeah. We just basically go through all the stuff that we've dealt with at work.

Steve: Oh my God. Dude, the stuff that happens at my work. Yeah. It's the office on Stairway.

Chris: You know where, you know, my last work, you know what would be a fantastic show. I thought about a show called grocery because what, what my, what my job is, is basically I stock grocery shelves, but it's a store with like at any given time, somewhere between, And I could be wrong with these numbers, but like 50 to 70 people running the store. And we all pretty much do the same thing in different departments. And what happens is, after a while, the customers kind of disappear, like they're still there. But we're having conversations during the day, and we're basically moving food products around all the time. And I have four or five different, separate, unique conversations with four or five different people interrupted 20 times during the day. So what I'm doing is I'm picking up and they're weird subjects. Yeah. Of course. Things you never thought of. And I'm like, Hey Chris, what's your take on llamas? Yeah, exactly. It's stuff like that. It's, it's, it's like what the other day I was talking to a buddy of mine and, and he started getting into some ethereal plane stuff. And like, keep in mind, I've got a box of frozen rice and he's got like a box of, of Soho of Coho salmon. Okay. And we're standing there and, and, and he's like, well, you know, Descartes said, blah, blah, blah. And I said, no, what would happen if like everything in my life was a figure of my imagination and all of you were just a part of my imagination. However, my imagination is so incredible and so detailed that I created you and you now believe that I am part of your imagination. And that lasted all day long. Oh yeah. Sounds crazy. It is crazy. But the craziest thing is then I walk through like the lettuce section and I hear two other people going, well that would mean that my imagination is kind of in tune to your imagination. And I'm like, this conversation made it all the way around the store. Anyway.

Marc: A lot of things go wrong when you get down the lettuce section. Yeah.

Steve: You don't want to go to the lettuce.

Chris: All right, so instead of creating shows with what we're watching, what we do is we talk about shows that we're actually watching. And the qualifier is that you have to have finished the season that you are currently in before you can give it a review. Must. Must finish that season. Correct. OK, so we're going to start this week, actually, with The Grand Schwabini. And it can be a movie as well, because The Grand Schwabini did watch a movie.

Marc: M. Night Shyamalan. Shyamalan, my man.

Steve: You're a Shyamalan fan, aren't you? I love his stuff, too.

Marc: I am a big Shyamalan fan, but I have to tell you.

Steve: No, no, don't say it. Not good. Uh-oh.

Marc: It is actually, this could be actually the first M. Night Shyamalan movie that I was just kind of like… Seen it coming? You know, now, here's what was just really weird. Now, You know, I'm very appreciative of many an actor. OK, but the star of this film. Yeah, sure. The star of this film, who was basically playing a serial killer. Right. Was Josh Hartnett. Don't know the guy. And I from Titanic. you know, played like opposite like, Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.

Steve: I know the guy. Yeah, I know.

Chris: Oh, yeah, I know you're talking about.

Marc: I got to tell you, like, I think it was like one of the worst castings of all time. Oh, like, I think that there's some sort of like thing now where they're trying to make Josh Hartnett like a big deal, like he's coming up in like some big movies. But like, I thought he was terrible. I just didn't find him to be believable. And it was just really, really, I mean like, what is he doing in a drama movie? I was entertained. I was entertained by the movie. So it wasn't like, it was like I walked out. I was entertained, but boy, he did not, he did not come off like a scary serial killer at all. And, you know, but the other part of it was he was also playing the serial killer that you would never think was a serial killer, you know, kind of like the nice guy next door. Right. But I felt like he was almost like too creepy even to be that guy.

Chris: Did you know the whole time he was the killer too? Yes. Okay.

Marc: Yes. And it was just, I'm just really disappointed in M Night.

Chris: That was a shocker. Well, you can't hit a home run every time.

Marc: Yeah, but I expect more from M Night.

Chris: Okay, well, we'll send his people a message. We'll get his people on the phone.

Steve: What was the premise of The Trap? What was The Trap?

Marc: The Trap was that Josh Hartnett was a serial killer. Right. And he made a mistake. And the mistake was that he purchased a ticket to a concert of a pop star. And by the way, the girl who was playing the pop star is M. Night Shyamalan's daughter. She was really good. And so basically all these police are brought in because they know that the serial killer is going to be at the concert. They just don't know who he is.

Steve: Oh, I got it. OK. Yeah. So he was. That's a good premise, though, for a movie.

Marc: It was, but it also kind of wasn't. I mean, it seems like so impossible. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like it was a little too much, a little too farfetched. It was a little too crazy. Yeah, it really was.

Chris: So in other words, the whole movie was about the trap they were setting for him?

Marc: No, it was actually more about how can he find his way out of the trap.

Chris: Okay. So would you say don't go see it?

Marc: I would say don't go see it. You know, if you're

Steve: If you're really in grocery HR, yes. Good one. Pat on track there.

Marc: Grocery HR. If it's like a year from now and it's coming on and it's late night and you're like, eh, I got nothing to do. I got my Trader Joe's mac and cheese, throw it on. Yeah, throw it on.

Chris: Waste an hour and a half. Schwabini says don't waste your money on going to see the movie The Trap, but if it ends up being on your streaming service,

Steve: Maybe. If it's free. Click it on if you got your $6 mac and cheese.

Marc: If it's free, go see it.

Chris: There you go. $4.99. Well, that's probably from your discount. I don't know. With your discount. With your discount. I am watching Presumed… Well, I watched Presumed Innocent on Apple TV+. Now,

Marc: Which I watched as well.

Chris: Yeah, which Schwaber's watch.

Steve: I will not watch this because of our previous review. No, because he scorned Taylor Swift.

Marc: He's off my list.

Steve: Really? Yeah. Have you ever heard the song all too well?

Marc: No, I have not.

Steve: No. Well, you should, you should Google it. It's it's Taylor Swift's favorite song. Who hasn't scorned Taylor Swift? Um, well, uh, Travis Kelsey yet.

Chris: Well, right. But I mean, I feel like she's kind of made the rounds. Did they, did they, well, she has, yeah.

Marc: Did they date at one point?

Steve: They did. And they were, they were pretty serious. And then he basically said, you know, you're too young for me and I'm leaving you now. And she left the scarf there and that's, she remembered it all too well.

Chris: Wait, she, she, she left the scarf there. I think we've got a problem here. I think, I think.

Steve: No, this is not a problem, but I will not watch this movie for that specific reason.

Chris: Well, it's a series.

Steve: Taylor Swift is more important than Jake Gyllenhaal. That's all the people need to know.

Marc: Would you agree with my assessment that Jake Gyllenhaal is a poor man's Ryan Gosling?

Steve: He's not even that. He's below that.

Chris: Below that. Okay. All right. All right. So my take on this, as, as people our age will remember, there was a movie called Presumed Innocent with Harrison Ford and Gene Triplehorn. And this is a twist on that movie. It is the same idea. in that there is a, uh, there is a murder, uh, and there is a now Harrison Ford, I believe was a doctor who came home and his wife had been murdered. Uh, the guy with the missing arm, the guy with one arm, which I've always kind of like been like, how does a guy with a prosthetic arm end up killing an able-bodied woman like she's born? I mean, you're kind of down, you know, you're down in digits. So anyway, um, so it's it's you know it's not it's got a similar name and like a quasi similar idea in that, like, why would a doctor kill his wife, blah, blah, blah. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a guy who's actually an assistant DA and a prosecutor. And he ends up, there is a discovery of a young boy who has been murdered, and they give him the case. And then it comes out that all of a sudden the suspect may be his son.

Marc: That you're thinking about defending Jacob. Oh, that's defending Jacob, whom I talked about.

Chris: Did you watch that too? that too. It was good.

Marc: I thought that was better than Presumed Innocent.

Chris: Yeah. I did think it was better than Presumed Innocent. And that wasn't Jake Gyllenhaal though. That was Chris Evans. Yeah. No, Presumed Innocent was… He was given the wrong name. I was, I was. It's based in the future and there's a starship called the Enterprise. So I have to go back. I watched it a few weeks back and it was going to be my show and then I went on vacation. He does play a DA though, right? You want me to help you with it? Yeah, please. Yeah, please. Just refresh my memory and I can take it from there.

Marc: So there is a woman attorney who was murdered. Who was found dead. That's right. In the DA's office.

Chris: I can take it from here. I remember she's found an assistant D.A. who worked with him is found dead in her apartment and they assign him to the case. But what they don't know is that he had an affair with her. And then once they find out he had an affair with her, They remove him from the case. And then all of a sudden he becomes a suspect. And then it just, and then it just kind of goes, it just kind of goes from there. And essentially what that means is that, you know, there's going to be a twist and there is a twist at the end. And, and I, I personally, I don't find Jake Gyllenhaal to be that great an actor, but, but I do, I did find the story to be compelling enough to watch all eight episodes. It was worth it. And the twist at the end was not necessarily expected. So there you go. That's my review. It was worth it. Yeah, it was worth it. Presumed innocent on Apple TV. A couple of comments coming in here. Jake still has her scarf. Chris, that's the fugitive. Thank you, Pat. That's right. That is the fugitive. I don't know, man. I, these guys know I'm really tired today, so I have to apologize there. Um, all right. Steve is watching something that I have yet to watch. Don't worry.

Steve: I'm not going to spoil anything for you.

Chris: That's okay. I just want to know if, uh, Amelia Clark looks as hot in this one as she did in the first one.

Steve: Um, she's not in this one ever. Really? Yeah. Well, because Amelia Clark comes much later. This is the prequel to that.

Marc: Oh, this is House of Dragon.

Chris: Never mind.

Steve: Yeah, never mind. Yeah, I get those. So she's not even born yet.

Chris: This is like hundreds of years before she's even conceived. That's why the blonde in this one looked a little different to me, and I thought, wow, that's a great makeup job.

Marc: Yeah, this is more Dragon. Yeah.

Steve: Yes. Yeah. Yes. Put it up. Steve is watching. I'm watching House of the Dragon. It's on max. Well, it was on max. They finally had the last episode for season two.

Chris: They mainlined it to HBO.

Steve: Yep. So now it's definitely, you know, it's definitely something you can stream. It's out there now. You can watch all eight episodes if you want. I was watching them weekly. And actually, I have to say, um, it moved much too slow for me. Really? You know how some of those star Wars movies that was like too much background. There's like too much dialogue. You're just looking for a dragon to eat somebody in half, burn them alive. Right. You're looking for the mean guy to go out and just take out a fricking village and rape and pillage. Right. There was, there was very little of that in this. How disappointing. Well, because they're, they're, they're built, you can see they're, they're building up the things, right? Right. So it's that whole buildup where, you know, it's basically, um, where, uh, the Targaryens basically are split between Westeros and King's Landing, right? They kind of own the, the whole, the whole world. Right. And, but they're trying to battle for who's going to be the, you know, the emperor, who's going to be the Supreme leader. Right. And it comes down to some of the, some of the daughters want it. And then there's a, there's, uh, some of the brothers are fighting over it and one gets his eye poked out and goes crazy from that. And there's the older brother who's kind of like contemplating how he can do it. And then he gets haunted by all the, all the past ghosts and stuff. There are some pretty cool, uh, dragon scenes where, you know, they're flying through the air and they're, they're like these huge things.

Chris: And they, they actually got real dragons for this.

Steve: Oh, yeah, they they definitely hatched real dragons for this movie. Yeah, no cgi here.

Marc: These are the real the real things Yep, you can't touch the eggs because they're on fire essentially a few trolls and a few gnomes and clines on board, dude I'm already on board.

Chris: No, you know that there are no trolls in them hot blondes and dragons. I'm all over that.

Steve: Yeah, everybody's blonde and they Well, they they take the angle of like they're bastard children, right because these these rulers, you know Humped anything that moved nothing better than bastard children, right? And so like they're trying to get these bastard children to ride these dragons and some of it works and some of it goes pretty bad So I would say that house of dragon season two Not as good as season one. I thought season one was much better Um, but I'm hopeful that the next two seasons, there are two more seasons before house of dragon will be over. I'm hoping that next one's going to be just a lot of action with a lot of battling. You can see that you can see them starting to align, uh, other, uh, other, who's going to get together with who, right. Who called me your Lord, you know, that sort of thing. And, uh, I think there's going to be a huge, there's going to be a big battle scene coming in season three.

Chris: I have heard a little scuttlebutt around the, around the grocery store. These kids are watching it and, and, uh, not, not details, but it's those conversations and passing where I hear like, I wasn't really impressed with, you know, this or that and it's all House of Dragon talk. Yeah. Apparently they're not happy with the lack of raping and pillaging that, that, that is, it just needed more action.

Steve: I need a little bit more action. It doesn't all have to be rape and pillaging, but you know, you have those scenes where it's just murder mayhem because that's the world they live in. Yeah. Yeah. And there wasn't enough of that.

Chris: There you go. Murder or mayhem. Not enough murder, not enough mayhem. Mayhem like me. That's what we like to watch. Right. Thank you for watching the Sports Sports Black and Gold all over the world live on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube X and LinkedIn. That's right. LinkedIn. And of course, we are going to drop the podcast right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts. For me, the technical director, the Grand Schwabini, H.J., we love that you're here. Spread it around. We'll see you next week. I am your technical director and I am mercifully out.