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Forgotten Sports Years: 1994 · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_04: Hi everybody, welcome to the Pittsburgh Sports Memories Podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_04: I am your co-host, Tim Hannon.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_04: I have another co-host.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_05: Uh that's me, Steve Wirt.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_04: How's it going, Steve?
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, you know, it's uh a very nineties feel, I get the feeling.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_05: Then we're gonna party like it's our junior year of high school.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_04: That's right, because in this episode we're talking all about the year nineteen ninety-four.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_04: We're calling this a forgotten year because nineteen ninety four was not a year where any of our sports teams won championships, But the year did have a lot of significant events that we think are worth remembering.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_04: So, so just to kick things off, there is a lot happening in the world in 1994.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_04: You've got the Tanya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan mess.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_04: Nice.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_04: The debut of the TV show Friends.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, wow.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_04: The death of Kurt Cobain.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_04: And the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman by I guess we'll just never know who did that.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_05: I wonder, yeah, are they ever gonna figure that out?
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_05: Wow, what an unsolved mystery.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:27
  unknown: Yeah.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe maybe they should put that on the TV show Unsolved Mystery, which I'm sure was airing at this time.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_04: So uh that's what's happening in the world.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_04: What's happening in Pittsburgh in 1994?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_04: January 19th, 1994, is the coldest day in the history of Pittsburgh, minus 22 degrees.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_04: September 8th, US Air Flight 427 crashes in Hopewell Township, killing all 132 people aboard.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_05: I re I remember that.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_05: I remember that.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_05: That was what the a problem with the rudder or something.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_05: It was like ended up being like a recall at a plane park or something.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it was it was horribly tragic.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_04: And and then the Rolling Stones play Three River Stadium.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I bet that'll be the last tour, Tim.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, they're pretty old.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, time to hang it up after that, maybe.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, we we did one of these episodes before for the year 2007.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_04: We did a Forgotten Sports Year 2007, so check that out after you listen to this one.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_04: But unlike that episode where we went through the year in order from January to December, I thought it would be better to do this one by categories instead of chronologically.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_08: Oh, exactly.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm gonna split this up into four categories.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_04: The four categories are seasons, events, controversies, and then the last category I'm just gonna call 15 minutes because it's kind of about a couple of guys who had big time years in 1994 and not really so much after that.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_04: So our first category is seasons.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_04: Let's start with the Steelers season.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_04: The Steelers kind of at a crossroads here in Bill Cower's third year.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_04: They win the division in 92, they make the playoffs in 93, but they fail to win a playoff game in either season.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_04: So it's kind of like, hey, you know, when's this team that's young and up and coming?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_04: When are they going to finally take that next step?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_04: And the Steelers answer that with force in 1994.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_04: After after a average two and two start, they win 10 out of their next 11 games, and they do it with just a ferocious defense that's led by an all-star coaching cast.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_04: Steve, here's the Steelers defensive coaches in 1994.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_05: Uh oh, I Marvin Lewis in um uh who's what's his name?
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_05: Um, the guy who coached the Panthers, him too.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so so Don Capers is the guy you're thinking of, who, like you said, later becomes an NFL head coach.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_05: Marvin Lewis coach, yeah, Dick Lebeau.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, Dick LeBeau, who we know you know, leads the multiple defenses from the Steelers to Super Bowls, Marvin Lewis, who coaches the Bengals for 93 years, and then John Mitchell, who serves as Mike Tomlin's longtime assistant head coach years later, he's also a defensive coach.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_04: The defense is nicknamed Blitzburg, and it's the number one defense in the league.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_04: The offense is solid but not spectacular.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_04: It's a very run-first unit, so it's really the defense that's carrying Pittsburgh.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_04: And what really defines that 1994 season is the rivalry with Cleveland.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_04: So a little history here.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_04: Once upon a time, Steelers and Browns were incredibly fierce rivals.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_04: Like everybody in Pittsburgh hated Cleveland and vice versa.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_04: And just to give you a brief glimpse of that, here's John Banizak, who grew up in Cleveland, relaying the story of when he signed with the Steelers as a free agent back in 1975.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: That night I called my dad up and I said, Dad, I've got great news for you.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: I've just signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: And he hung up on me.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: I heard the click on the phone.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: I called him right back and I said, Dad, I know that it had to be a bad connection that you didn't hang up on me.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then my dad started.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: He said, How am I gonna tell your mother?
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: How am I gonna tell your six brothers and your sister that you signed with the hated Pittsburgh Steelers?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_05: That's hilarious.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_04: So that and that's the way it was back then.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_04: Like it was Pittsburgh and Cleveland were, you know, it's it's just I wanted to set that context, Steve, because you you don't really have that today because it just the Browns have been so bad for so long.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_04: And the Ravens have kind of stepped in as that hated team, even the Bengals to some degree, uh, in Cleveland just as sort of an afterthought.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_04: But but back then, I mean, it was real hatred.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_05: I remember, yeah, like dreading the thought of losing to Cleveland.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_04: And and the rivalry had had faded a bit in the 80s because the Browns were good and the Steelers were bad.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_04: But then when we got into the 90s, you know, the that flipped a little bit.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_04: The Steelers were good and the Browns were bad.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_04: But here in 94, they were both teams.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, both teams are really good.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_04: Cleveland's head coach is a guy named Bill Belichick.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_05: He'll never do anything.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and they have they we said the Steelers have the number one defense in the league.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_04: The Browns have the number two defense in the league.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_04: And these two teams, of course, play each other twice.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_04: The game at Cleveland early in the season comes down to the final minute.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_04: The Steelers are ahead, but the Browns are driving, and then this happens.
• 6:58
  unknown: For the end zone and carrier for the touchdown.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: Penalty markers all over the field, and the touchdown could be wiped out.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: Hold against the Browns.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: Art Modell in agony as the touchdown is wiped out.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe because he has to live in Cleveland.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_04: Well, only for another year.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, uh quarterback Vinny Testaverdi throws what appears to be the game tying touchdown, but offensive lineman Gene Williams is flagged for holding and the Browns lose.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_04: Cleveland's really upset about that.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_04: They feel like it's a phantom holding call.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_04: Williams literally throws his helmet and then kicks it across the field.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_04: But hey, that's that's that's you know, sometimes calls go against you.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_04: Uh the game at Pittsburgh happens in week 16.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_05: I remember this game, yeah.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and it's literally for the division because both teams have double-digit wins at this point.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_04: At the time, it's the largest crowd ever to see a football game at Three River Stadium.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_04: And once again, the defense rises up as the Stewarters win 17-7.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_04: After that game, I mean at this point, we're really back to uh, you know, that John Banizak era of real actual hatred between these two cities.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_04: Steve, Myron Cope's annual Christmas Carol that year?
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_05: Uh has to be about beating the Browns, probably.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: The old whip models, meatballs.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_05: Uh oh Myron.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_04: So the Steelers win the division, but everybody kind of figures that's probably not the end of this thing.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_04: Sure enough, three weeks later, these two teams meet for a third time at the River Stadium in the divisional playoffs.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_04: And once again, the Steelers are victorious.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_04: This time it's 29-9.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_04: It's not really much of a game.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_05: Do you remember who the Browns beat to meet the Steelers?
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_05: The Patriots.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_05: Drew Bloodsoe, Yeah, and Parcells.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, because Parcell was obviously Belvichek's mentor.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, not only does Bill Cower get his first playoff victory, but the Steelers beat the hated Browns and Doe Belichick three times and end their season.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_04: It's one of the most satisfying moments in Steelers' history until the following week when, as we all know, the Steelers are massively upset in the AFC Championship game against the Chargers.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_05: I still fun, fun, fun moment about that Browns game.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_05: I I was dating a young lady that lived in Youngstown, and she called me.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_05: And I was like, I'm sorry, I'll talk to you at halftime.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_05: The Steelers are killing the Browns right now.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_05: True, true story.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_05: It's called being 17 and an idiot.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_04: All right, so that's that was the Steelers season.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_04: Let's shift to hockey.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_04: Let's talk about where the Penguins are in 1994.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_04: So they win the Cup in 91, they win the Cup again in 92, and then of course, as we detailed in our three lost rings episode, they are upset by the New York freaking Islanders in 1993.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_04: So those were the three seasons leading up.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_04: What's the outlook for 94?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_04: They still have a really talented team.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_04: They just won the president's trophy for best record in the league.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_04: Could they bounce back, redeem that terrible loss to the Islanders?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_04: Uh well, there's a lot of change for the Penguins in '94.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_04: First off, Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman, he's out as Penn's head coach.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_04: And that was a whole mess.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_04: What apparently happened was Bowman was on these one-year contracts.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_04: Because remember, he had he had left coaching, he was their director of player personnel, and he had only come back to coach after Badger Bob got sick.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_04: So the Penguins make an offer and Bowman turns it down because he wants more time to decide if he still wants to coach, and and if he still wants to coach in Pittsburgh, and then the Penguins rescind the offer because they're like, well, you know, who do you think you are, Aaron Rodgers?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_04: You don't get to just take your time, you know, and Bowman goes to Detroit instead.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_05: Boy, I wonder how that's gonna turn out in Detroit, Tim.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_04: I mean uh that's the thing.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_04: Like, it maybe if the Pens would have given him more time, maybe maybe he still goes to the Red Wings, maybe they offered him more money, or he just thought it was a better situation.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_05: Well, the ownership at that point was probably a little better in Detroit.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_05: Uh did they have the little Caesars guy?
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_05: I think they had the little Caesars guy.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, probably more stability.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_05: Than Howard Baldwin.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_04: So uh so now the Penguins need a head coach, and the Penguins do their standard Penguins thing when it comes to hiring a head coach back then, which is this strategy.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a good idea to give that freak his job back.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: He seems to know students' names.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_04: They make Eddie Johnson the coach for like the 47th different time.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_04: Well, that's uh that's I mean, and don't get me wrong, like Eddie Johnson is a great guy who if you listen to our episode about how the penguins tanked to get Mario, the the franchise literally wouldn't even still exist in 1994 without EJ.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_04: But is he really the right guy to coach this very elite team?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_04: Like, shouldn't you have at least done like a nationwide search and tried to find, you know, the right the right coach for this team?
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_04: They just are like, well, you know, he's he's he's around, he already works for the organization, he seems to know the players' names.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_04: So we'll make him the coach.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_04: The other big change that year is that the NHL creates these new divisions and they put the penguins in this new Northeast division, which is basically the old Adams division.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and that really sucked because for years the Penguins have been in division with the Flyers and the Rangers, Devils, and Capitals, and now they're in a division with Montreal, Hartford, and Ottawa.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_05: What a joke.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_05: It's like they literally just threw them in a division.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_05: It's like, what do we do with Pittsburgh?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know, throw them in there.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_05: That doesn't even make any sense for Montreal.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_05: Like, shouldn't Montreal be in with Boston and Chicago and Toronto?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_04: I mean Yeah, it'd be like if you took the Steelers out of the AFC North and you put them in a division with like the Falcons and Saints.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, the AFC South, yeah, just for no reason.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_04: It just was not a good fit.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_04: Uh meanwhile, Mario Lemieux, he's having major back issues again.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_04: He misses almost the entire regular season.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_04: He only plays in 22 games.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_04: But his teammates pick up the slack.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_04: Ron Francis becomes the team leader in Mario's absence.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_04: Yarmir Jager leads the team in points, and Kevin Stevens scores 41 goals.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_04: And it all adds up to a pretty stellar season.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_04: In fact, they not only win the Northeast division, but they post the second best record in franchise history.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_04: More good news, uh, Mario is back healthy again for the playoffs.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_04: So Stanley Cup, here we come, right?
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_04: Well, the first round opponent is any guesses, Steve?
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_05: I don't remember who they lost to.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, just take a guess of a team that we might play in the playoffs.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_05: Oh no.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_05: You can't hope it's not the Islanders.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_04: No, no, it's a team that we play often in the playoffs.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_05: The Capitals?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_05: If it's the Capitals.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, well, that's a win.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_05: That's an easy one.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, because the the Capitals always play the Pens and the Pens always win.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_04: Sure enough, here in 1994, the Penguins lose in 1960.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_05: To the Capitals.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_04: To the Capitals.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_04: Um it's an ugly series.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_04: They just like they cannot score goals.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_04: In fact, they even get shut out in Game 3, which is the first time that had happened since the 70s.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_04: And I remember being so disgusted by that series.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_04: At the time, I was really into this AE show called Civil War Journal, because I was a big dork.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_04: And I remember when the Caps took an early lead in game six, I literally just turned it off and watched Civil War Journal instead.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_05: Nice.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_05: I don't remember that at all.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_05: I I I don't know.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_04: It was pretty forgettable.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_04: And it's it's it's sad because they actually have to.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe I was watching Civil War Journal also.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_04: I don't Yeah, it it was a really good season.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and and they thought, okay, you know, time to avenge that that playoff loss from last year, and then they just went out in six games in the first round.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so sad ending to the season.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_04: A lot of people think Mario's gonna retire after that season.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_04: In fact, he does miss the entire 95 season, but he does come back, wins the league MVP award in 1996 because, you know, Mario.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_04: So so that is the seasons category.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_04: We'll actually touch on some of the local college seasons later.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_04: We also didn't talk about the pirate season because they're coming in this next category, which we're gonna call events.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_04: And the first big event we're gonna talk about is the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_05: That's the wow.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_05: That was a good one, too.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_04: It's it's and and the funny thing about that game, it's being played amidst some massive turmoil.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, that's right, because this is the strike year, isn't it?
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_04: Baseball, baseball.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_04: There's an impending player strike that threatens to destroy the entire season.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_04: It does.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and and then locally, the pirates aren't doing so well either.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_04: They actually need a loan from the city just to stay afloat for another season.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_04: So uh and by this point, you know, their glory days of the early nineties are long gone.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_04: They had lost pretty much all their name players by this point.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_05: They don't have an owner at this point, right?
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_05: It's like still like that of like companies that own the correct.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_04: But but at least for one weekend in July, everyone can just forget about all that and celebrate baseball in Pittsburgh via the All-Star Festivities.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_04: And and there were lots of good things on the agenda for that weekend.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_04: And and Steve, me being the big baseball junkie at the time, I went to like everyone that I could.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_04: So, so first there was a ceremony to unveil the new Roberto Clemente statue at the Rearer Stadium.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_04: It was sculpted by a woman named Susan Wagner, and the$200,000 cost for the statue was 100% funded by donations made by Pirates fans.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_05: Wow, they really, yeah, people really loved them.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, people really love Clemente.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_04: Um, that statue, of course, still sits at the foot of the Roberta Clemente Bridge outside of PNC Park.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_05: In left field, yeah.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yep, shedding tears every day at the sorry state of the current team.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_04: Another big event that weekend was the world's largest movie premiere.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_04: They actually made the Guinness Book of World Records.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, was this Angels in the Outfield?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_04: It's Disney's Angels in the Outfield.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_04: Debut before a crowd of 35,000 people, including myself.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_05: Danny Glover, Christopher Lloyd, uh yeah.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_04: And Tony Danza.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_04: And Tony Danza was there, Steve.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_07: Oh, wow.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_07: Wow.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_04: So not a very good movie.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_07: No, it was a cool event.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_04: It was it was kind of cool to watch a baseball game at a stadium with 35,000 people and and have you know Tony Danza there.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, you not very often you get to see Tony Danza in person, right?
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_05: I guess not.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_05: Uh he was a high school teacher.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_05: Remember that he retired a couple years back and became a high school teacher?
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_05: Did he really?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so that was kind of cool.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_04: But for me, definitely the biggest highlight of that weekend was the home run derby.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and that was big.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_04: Ken Griffey Jr.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_04: outduls Frank Thomas as both launched absolute bombs into the upper deck of Three River Stadium.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_04: And and two things you have to remember about that time.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_04: You know, number one, like we talked about in our Willie Stardo episode, balls rarely ever went into the upper deck of Three River Stadium.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_04: So to see that like over and over again was really cool.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_04: And then secondly, this was still the era where the two leagues didn't play each other.
• 20:00
  unknown: Right.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_04: So you never got to see Ken Griffey Jr.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_04: or Frank Thomas if you lived in Pittsburgh.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, to see those two Hall of Fame legends and their absolute primes just launching balls into the upper deck.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_04: I honestly it's one of the one of the big highlights of my life as a sports fan.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_04: I thought that was just an an awesome event.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_05: So you wanted to see him hit some dingers.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_05: You didn't, yeah.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_05: I did want to see him hit some dingers.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_05: And they did.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_05: Oh no, who were the was Tom Selleck there?
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_05: Because he used to hit he used to be in those.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_05: I remember he was always in those.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_04: He might have been there.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_04: I think Danny Glevern and Tony Danza were in it.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_04: Dan Marino was in it.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_05: I bet but I bet Marino hit a home run because he was apparently in high school, he was a decent baseball player.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_04: I can't remember who I can't remember who won or who hit home runs.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_04: I I also remember the other guy that was there, which was an odd fitting, was Ken Burns.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_05: He like explained a home run or something.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_05: He liked play like an old footage of a home run.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_05: Voiced by Sam Waters.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_05: Narrated by Sam.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_05: My own story will be narrated by Sam Watterson.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_04: So those were all the cool all-star events.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_04: We should also mention that the actual game itself, which I did not have the privilege of attending, uh, that's a classic as well.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_04: It goes into extra innings.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_05: Did they run out of pitchers and end in a tie?
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_05: That had not happened yet.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_04: No, this one this one ends when former pirate Moise Salu hits a walkoff double in the bottom of the tenth, and Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn beats the throat of the plate as the National League is victorious.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_05: Yay! Home field oh no.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_05: It doesn't mean anything.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_05: It just means yay, National League.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_04: And and you know, we mentioned that Stewart Brown's set a football attendance record at three reverse.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_04: This game sets the baseball attendance record.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_05: That's hard to believe how popular baseball was back then.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_04: It really was.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_04: And a month later, the season is canceled because of the strike.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_05: They didn't have a World Series.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_05: It's the w I mean one of the few years without a World Series champion.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_05: I can't think of another year since 19 when when was the first World Series?
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_05: 1903?
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, they didn't the first World Series in 1903.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_04: They did not play one in 1904.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_04: I think because John McRae just didn't like refuse to do it.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_04: But I think I think 1904 and 1994 were the only years where they didn't have a World Series.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_04: It's every 90 years, we just say that a hell yeah.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_04: Pretty much.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_04: But that All-Star game was definitely a highlight of that season and a big event in Pittsburgh.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_04: Another big national event happens in June of 1994.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_04: The U.S.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_04: Open is held at in Pittsburgh at the Ogmont Country Club.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_05: Hey, wow, talk about cyprocal, cyclical things, huh?
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_05: I forget who oh man, who wins this?
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_05: Ugh.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_05: Fuzzy Zeller?
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know who wins this.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_04: Good guess.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_05: But uh Rocco Media?
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_05: No.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_05: No, he's way too young.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_04: So there's actually a three-way tie for first place at the end of this thing between Ernie Ells, Lauren Roberts, and Colin Montgomery.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, I remember Colin Montgomery in Ernie Ells.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_04: And so they have to do an 18-hole playoff.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_05: 18 holes?
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_05: What did they do?
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_05: What was the US Open doing?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so so the tournament ends on a Sunday, but now it's extended to a Monday.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and even after the 18 holes, Ells and Roberts are still tied, so now they have to go to a sudden death.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_04: And after two sudden death holes, Ernie Ells is triumphant.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_05: So on Monday they played like a bunch of a bunch more golf.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_05: Like over like 20 holes probably of golf.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my god.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_04: And and that's interesting.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_04: They don't do that anymore.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_04: The US Open makes a change in 2018.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_05: They just go to sudden death or something.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_04: If there's a tie at the end of the day on Sunday, they'll do it's it's a two-hole aggregate playoff uh for the 17th and 18th holes, but then but then it's sudden death.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's that's fair.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, well, and and I think the logistics of of trying to come back uh uh you know on Monday when you weren't supposed to be there on Monday.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_04: It just isn't isn't realistic.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_04: So they do change that.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_04: But in 1994, it's a super exciting tournament, but probably what it's most remembered for is that it's the last ever U.S.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_04: Open for local legend Arnold Palmer.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_04: That's right, yeah.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_04: Here's some audio of Palmer talking about the massive ovation he gets walking up the 18th fairway.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_03: No, it's been 40 years.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_03: And uh when you walk up the 18th end, uh you get an ovation like that.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_03: I guess that uh says it all.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, what a touching moment.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_05: Did he have an iced tea after?
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, but that's pretty cool.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_05: You got the D.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_05: No, that is.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I remember I remember that.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_05: Because I remember thinking, oh, maybe a win.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_05: I saw him like tee off.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_05: I was like, no, we won't.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_05: No, yeah.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_05: He's really old.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean, he's he's way past the point of being competitive, but class act, though.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_04: For sure.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_04: Also in 1994, three three new sports franchises debut in Pittsburgh, Steve.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_04: Three.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_05: Wow, I don't remember that at all.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_05: Uh probably was one like that stupid like roller hockey team or something.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, let's let's start with them because in the summer, as Steve said, a roller hockey team called the Pittsburgh Phantoms.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_04: Begin play at the Civic Arena.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_04: And they actually even opened the roof of the arena for some of those games because it's in the summertime.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, I guess they hadn't had the Howard Baldwin seats yet.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_04: No, they had not.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_04: The the team's roster has some familiar players, notably Hall of Famer Brian Trottier.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_05: He's playing roller hockey.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_05: Nice.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_04: And and Alan Lemieux, who's Mario's brother.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_04: They also have a female goaltender by the name of Aaron Witten.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_05: Wow, how edgy.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_04: So that's the Phantoms.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_04: The Pittsburgh Stingers also debut.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_04: They're an indoor soccer team in a league called the CISL.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_04: Both the Stingers and the Phantoms are owned by the aforementioned Howard Baldwin.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_04: In the fall, the Pittsburgh Piranhas.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, uh basketball?
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_04: Debut and the Continental Basketball Association.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_04: They're actually not a new team.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_04: They had relocated from Wisconsin.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_04: And they play their home games at the AJ Palumbo Center up on the campus of Duquesne.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_04: The Piranhas actually have a great season.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_04: In fact, they make it all the way to the CBA finals.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_05: That's right.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but they bow out to the Yakima Sun Kings.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_05: Can't beat Yakima, man.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_04: No, Yakima was such a force in that game.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_05: Where is Yakima?
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_05: Is that I don't even know.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_05: Washington?
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_05: I guess.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_04: I think it's in Washington.
• 27:28
  unknown: Okay.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_05: If you say so.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_04: Anyway, the Phantoms and the Piranhas both fold after that season.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_04: The Stingers make it to 1995, but they end as well.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_04: So not a lot, not a lot of uh mileage out of all three of those teams.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_05: But well, there were so many more iterations of remember, they kept trying to like get a minor league basketball team here, like especially when Pitt Basketball was so successful.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_05: I think they tried to capitalize and it just never went anywhere.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, what wasn't there a team called the Explosion that started with an S.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_04: And they had like a Julius Page, I think, played for them.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_05: I think they had Pittsnogle on it and stuff like that.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_04: Alright.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_04: Well, the last event we'll talk about is the Backyard Brawl.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_05: It's a brawl.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, 94.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, do we have to talk about this?
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my god, you're gonna make me talk about this.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_05: So I just a cruel, cruel, heartless man, Tim Hannon.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_04: Hey, if we're talking about 1994, we gotta talk about everything that happened in 1994.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_04: Well, so pit football is real, real bad.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, they are.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_04: This is the middle of the second Johnny Majors era, which means Pitt can beat Temple and Records and nobody else.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_04: It's pretty much every season.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_04: They also have some bad luck that season because they have a star running back named Curtis Martin, but he gets injured.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_04: Second game.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_04: Second game of the season, yep, and he's out for the year.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_04: That really kills whatever slim chances Pitt had of doing it.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_05: I can't remember if that's the year they played Texas the first one.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_05: They went for I think they went for no, they didn't go for too late.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_05: I can't remember.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_04: Well, they they they they they played Texas, they they had a lead on them, and I think Texas came back.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_05: But but Curtis Moore did like 250 yards rushing.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_05: It was unrighteous.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_04: And they and you thought, okay, well, this guy's so good that you know Pitt's not going to be necessarily a contender, but they could they could maybe compete for like a 5'6 win season, like a poll season.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_04: But then when Martin got hurt, it was like that was it, game over.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_04: But but even though the season has lost, they still have one big game left.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_04: It's the backyard brawl at Pitt Stadium against the aided rival West Virginia.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_04: And like we've seen in other lousy pit seasons, if you can beat WVU, then it's all worthwhile.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_04: And sure enough, things go according to plan at first.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_04: WVU jumps out to a 31-6 lead, but then it turns into arguably the single craziest game in the history of the backyard brawl.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_05: I yeah, I yeah, I lived it.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_05: I lived it.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_04: There are three blocked field goals, two of which are returned for touchdowns, one for each team.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_04: There's a blocked punt, a pick six, a fumble return for a touchdown, a 100-yard interception return of a two-point conversion.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_05: That was in the first quarter.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_05: Pitt was down 31 to it was 29 to 6 or something, and that's the pit quarterback through an interception because you find, well, they got to go for two.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_05: They're down by so many.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_05: And he returns, and it's like, oh my gosh.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_05: They tied the game.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_05: Pitt tied the game on the blocked field on their block field goal that was returned for a touchdown.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's it's a combined 1,000 yards of total offense is generated.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_04: We could also mention uh Pitt's star guard, Ruben Brown, who goes on to become a nine-time pro board.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, punches a dude for West Virginia.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_05: It's like Johnny Majors in the interview after you say, Well, I sat him down for a series.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_04: He learned his lesson.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_05: It's like we really needed him.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_04: So at the end, Pitt comes all the way back.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_04: Quarterback John Ryan heroically leads Pitt all the way down the field.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_05: No, no, the John Ryan could do one thing.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_05: He was a one-trick pony.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_05: He couldn't throw the short pass, he couldn't throw the medium pass.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_05: He could probably hand the ball off.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_05: He could do two things.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_05: He could throw the deep pass.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_05: And for some reason, the pit wide receiver, Billy Davis, had um, oh, the West Virginia quarterback, he played for the Jaguars for like eight years.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron, um, I can't remember.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Glenn, not Aaron Glenn.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_05: I can't remember his name.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Beasley.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_05: They scored three touchdowns just by literally, okay, just chuck it deep.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_05: They they literally, the guy, Aaron Beasley could not cover Billy Davis that day.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_05: And Billy West, then they Billy West, who was the running back, had a great game too.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_05: It was it was an unbelievable game, but uh now we come they they go for two at the with like a minute left, and they have a lead.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so so 30 seconds left.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Ryan throws a touchdown pass to that that is gonna presumably tie the score.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_04: But yeah, Johnny Major says, nope, we're gonna forget overtime.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_04: We're going for the win.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_05: And he runs it in.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_05: Like John just like runs it in and somehow wills his way into the end zone.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_05: And you're like, they're going to win this game.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_05: You're like, they're going to pull off the most improbable win.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_04: Like Pitts done it.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_04: They've come all the way back, they tie the game, they score the touchdown, they get the two-point conversion.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_04: What a game.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_04: What a win.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_04: Right, Steve?
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_04: You were at this game.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_04: Did I leave anything out?
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_05: So, yeah, so at 30 seconds, I do believe it was a third down play, and it was a third and long.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_05: And the quarterback for West Virginia, like, they can kind of get in blitz, but not much.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_05: He just like I saw his I I was watching the Norris Mosley.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_05: He was I I remember the corner.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_05: I this is bad that I remember all the names of the players from this game.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_05: Is covering, I can't even remember the West Virginia wide receiver game.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_05: And he goes to the sideline, and for some reason, Mosley like stumbles or something, and he breaks to the middle of the field and he is wide open by like 10 yards.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_05: And I'm like, uh-oh, because I see the future before it happens.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_05: And I'm like, I hope the quarterback doesn't see him.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_05: And when I look at the quarterback, he already has his arm cocked.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_05: And I'm like, uh-oh, the ball's in the air.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_05: And I'm thinking, drop it, drop it.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_05: Nope.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_05: Catch, bang, touchdown.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_05: What a absolutely crapastic.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_05: And I had season tickets that year.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_05: I sat to a lot of crappy football.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_05: I would say that's the worst loss in like my sports fan year.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_05: That that's the worst loss.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_05: That's my 13-9 right there.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_05: I'd say that's worse than the Cincinnati game by far.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_05: The most devastated I've ever been at a sporting event.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_05: Even more than Sid Slid or any that I would just Wow.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_05: Because I had seasoned tickets.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_05: Me and my dad had seen we had suffered through so much bad.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_05: This is gonna be the payoff.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_04: And it's just like and they came all the way back.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_04: And then like like to go for two, that was so gutsy.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_04: You know, to go for the two-point conversion to begin with.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_04: And and then they got it.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_04: And yeah, it was it was gonna be this huge, it was just gonna make the whole season worthwhile.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_05: You know, it was a terrible season, but it's like it would have been like the Dave once at 13.9 ending.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_05: And and did did you uh they were you gonna mention what happened to the announcer after the game?
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_04: What happened to the announcer?
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_05: That's well, so so during the game, they would always have announcements like there's no smoking in Pitt Stadium, blah, blah, blah.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_05: And they did this every game.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_05: So at one point, they're like, There's no smoking in the stadium.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_05: This includes cigars and corncob pipes.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_07: Oh, yeah.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_05: And then at another point, they're like, oh, we gotta we we have a tractor in the in the parking lot that left its lights on the West Virginia plates, E I E I O.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_04: Did he get fired in?
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_05: I I I don't I don't I think he either got the for some reason the the university the next day in the paper offer issued an apology.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_05: Oh boy.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_05: I oh man, it was just it was great, and the West Virginia fans weren't bad.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_05: Like, I don't remember any fights or anything.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_05: I just remember like, you know, they they are like, oh, they because like when we scored the touchdown, I remember the lady was on, she was like, Well, you know, a tie.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_05: We can live with a tie, right?
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_05: Tie's not bad.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_05: And we're me and my dad, like, no, go for two.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_05: And then he went for two, and we got it, and then oh yeah.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_05: What a disaster.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_05: I remember just my dad who never left Games early after the touchdown.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_05: My dad was like, We're done, we're out of here.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_05: We we didn't even watch the last because I think there was like Pick got two more desperation heaves, and even Aaron Beasley could cover that, you know.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that was that was a brutal.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_04: That was a brutal loss.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my god.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_05: And I remember all that.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_05: I I still remember all the players, all the names.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_04: The worst thing about that game, Steve, was when it was 31 to 6, if it just would have ended up.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it would have been I wouldn't have probably remembered it.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_05: You wouldn't even remember it.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_04: It was just because it turned into such a wild game.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_04: They came all the way back, and then yeah, and then it's like they had a one.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_05: I had I saw the future before it happened.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_05: Like I literally had like a pre it wasn't even a premonition.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_05: I just I I was watching the player that the player I wasn't, you know, sometimes you're the game, maybe you have a favorite player, you just want to watch that player during a play.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_05: And I was watching him during that play, and when I saw him get burned, I thought, uh oh.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_05: That was literally my because I was in the end zone.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_05: We always sat in the end zone, and I was in the end zone where the West Virginia player scored.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_05: And uh, what a nightmare, Tim.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_05: What a nightmare.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_05: I'm sorry for you know stepping all over your segment there, but no, no, no, no.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_04: I I I I knew you would have a lot to say about that one.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_05: So I think it was I think it was therapeutic.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe not.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you gotta, you know, you gotta process the trauma.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_05: That pit football is and was and is.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_04: So Steve mentioned the controversy with the uh Pit PA announcer.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_04: That that dovetails nicely into our second section, or third section, I should say, which is called controversies.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_04: So uh let's start with this one.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_04: In August, there's a bizarre situation in Steelers training camp.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_04: The team's starting right guard is a guy named Carlton Haserrig.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_04: And Haserig is actually a Pro Bowl offensive lineman, but he starts having substance abuse issues, and he misses a big chunk of the previous season because of it.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_04: And here in training camp in 1994, Carlton Haserig literally disappears.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_04: No one knows where he is, and his wife files a missing persons report.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_04: Haselrig turns up at a motel out by the airport three weeks later and not in good shape.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_04: The Steelers release him, and then later that fall he vanishes again.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_04: And this time he shows up driving his Jeep up the steps of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_04: He's charged with DUI and malicious malicious mischief, but fails to show up for preliminary hearing, then fights with police when they attempt to bring him in.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_04: Um just just a sad end to a once promising career.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_04: I I want to do a more of a deep dive on Haslerig at some point, because it's a much more complex story of a guy who was very deeply troubled.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_04: He passed away, by the way, in 2020.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_05: What a potential.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_05: He he was uh was he a basketball player or a wrestler?
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_05: I think he was a wrestler.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_05: He was a wrestler.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, he didn't play college football.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_05: Well, yeah.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_04: And I mean it it's a really great story, um, or was going to be a really great story, and then it just turned into a really tragic story.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_04: All right, let's let's talk next about a guy named Don Carey.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_04: Steve, do you know who Don Carey is?
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_05: Don Cherry is a Canadian hockey.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_05: He was a hockey coach for a couple years, and he's a hockey commentator, so I don't I I don't know how I've watched sometimes I guess maybe one of the when it used to be versus they would pick up the CBC feed of like Saturday night hockey games.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_05: So in the first period break, they would have what's called Coach's Corner, and it'd be Don Cherry, and I forget the other guy.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_05: There was like a you know guy who would just ask him questions and be like, What do you think about Mary Lemieux?
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_05: And he would say, He's a floater, he doesn't play any defense, just wants to score goals.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_05: And he literally did say that.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_05: Or what got him in trouble, he finally did get fired.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_05: He said some stuff about um I guess people that immigrated to Canada not appreciating Canadian culture or Canadians in general, and that was too much for the liberals of Canada.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_05: So he got he got canned.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_04: And that was only a few years ago.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I I would say may less than 10 years.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_05: That was less than 10 years, but he had a segment for and he would always say controversial stuff.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, yeah, very, very controversial.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_05: I never I never found him offensive if you took him like this, he's from Canada.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_05: Like, if you're like, you know, why would you expect a person that's it's like talking to a Penn State or a West Virginia fan, like, why wouldn't you expect them to have those opinions or be like I I don't find that offensive that somebody's like pro-Canadian.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_05: I don't have a problem with that.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and that's where that was the biggest thing was like he was he was very blatantly, you know, what people thought was xenophobic.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_04: And if you weren't Canadian, you were trash.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_04: He he often characterized European European players as cowards.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, because they didn't fight like the Russian players, he never liked the Russian players.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_04: Never liked the Russian players.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_04: He he said that Yarmir Yagger was, quote, everything that's wrong with the NHL.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_04: He gets hit, he goes down, and he stays there.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know where he see now I would disagree with him factually on that, because Yagger did not do that.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_05: Like maybe some of the other like players would do that, but Jagger was not a diver at all at any point in his career.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_04: I think, I think, I think he was Kerry was kind of a shock jock, and I think it's just easier to just carry to sort of like lump everybody into the same pot.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_04: So he he often went after, and Jagger was an easy target because he was one of the best European players.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_04: Uh he he made fun of Jagger for even for having long hair and said he looks like Mario Lemie's daughter.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, so that's just that's just funny.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_04: Well, so anyway, what's what's the controversy related to Pittsburgh?
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_04: On January 29th, 1994, KBL, which is the local network that televises the penguin games at the time, they decide they're gonna have Cherry on in between periods of the Penguins' Maple Leaf.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_05: That's right.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_05: I remember this.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_05: I remember this, and I remember like I remember Stan Savern after you said, Well, that's Don Cherry, I remember this.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, yeah, I remember this.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so they have Don Cherry on, and then KBL announces that viewers will get the opportunity to vote on whether or not to keep bringing him back for future broadcasts.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_04: So if you like all the crazy stuff he says, then you can vote yes.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_04: And if you're not a big fan of, you know, bigotry, then you can vote no.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_05: See, I don't know why.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_05: Is he?
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_05: I don't think it's big I don't know.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_05: I just think I just think he's very pro-Canadian, and I don't have a problem with that.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_05: I never thought I never thought he was like, oh, the United States, they need to be, you know, thrown into like the sea or anything like that.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_04: I think there's a difference between being pro-Canadian and just like taking cheap shots at anybody that's not Canadian, you know what I mean?
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_05: Oh I uh fair enough.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_05: Fair enough.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_04: So um, but Steve, guess how you can vote?
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_04: By calling a paid 900 number.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_05: So you have to pay to vote.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and and granted, KBL and the Penguins do claim that the proceeds will go to the May Mario Lou Mew Foundation, but come on.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_04: Uh they they KBL and the and the team, they both catch a bunch of flack for this little publicity stunt.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_04: And um the vote Apparently ends up being a overwhelming no anyway.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_05: But you had to pay.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_05: People actually paid the vote no.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_05: That's the most insane part.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_04: Well, and and that was really the controversy wasn't so much that he came on or what he said.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_04: It was the controversy ends up being that, you know, the penguins and KBL like g you know, well, if you if you really hate this guy and you don't like that he rips on our best player all the time, then you have to pay to, you know, keep him away from doing it some more.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_05: That's dumb.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know, whatever.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_05: I like I said, people people get too fired up about Don Jerry, I think.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know why.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_04: I I think you have to guys like him or Mark Madden or sometimes there's a shtick or like a character they're playing that they're hamming up.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_04: You know, once it becomes controversial, then they they sort of ham it up because now people will watch just to get angry.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_04: So so you have to take that at face value too and not maybe get as upset about things that are said because that's the point.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_04: The point is to try to row you up.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_04: All right.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_04: Well, back to the Steelers again for our next controversy.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Steve, did you ever watch a show called Inside the NFL?
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_05: Not not a lot.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_05: Was that on CBS at the time?
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_05: It was on HBO.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_05: HBO.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_04: Like it didn't move around a lot at the Yeah, I think it's still on today somewhere.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_05: Show it used to be on Showtime last time I used CBS or well, CBS owned Showtime.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_05: I who knows everything's so messed up with the streaming anymore.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_04: Well, at the time, uh it was on HBO, and they did the NFL films highlights of the previous week's game, which was really cool because you got to see like all these, you know, guys mic'd up and that kind of stuff.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_04: They also had feature stories, all this great content.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_04: And like this wouldn't be a big deal today because you have 20,000 shows every week, every hour of the day covering the NFL.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_04: But back then, this was kind of like the big non-Sunday NFL show.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_04: So in December of 1994, with the Steelers doing really well, like we talked about earlier.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_04: Inside the NFL decides they're gonna shoot that week's episode on location in Pittsburgh.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah! How cool is that?
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_04: So naturally, they're gonna do interviews, feature interviews with Steelworth players.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_04: And in one segment, Chris Collinsworth is interviewing Barry Foster and Eric Green at Three River Stadium.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_05: This couldn't go wrong at all.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_05: Three people that could muck this up, it could be those three.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_04: So, so first, Collinsworth asks if Foster who had been banged up, Foster had been injured.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_04: Collinsworth asks, is he gonna play that week against the Eagles?
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_04: And Foster says, Yeah, probably not.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_05: Well, easy time for the Eagles to prepare.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_05: I'm sure Bill Power really liked that.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean, that's you know, we all know how hard coaches work to hide info from the opponent.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_04: And here's Foster just kind of letting the cat out of the bag.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_04: So that's not great, but that's kind of just the beginning.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_04: Um, at this point in the season, Mike Tomzak had started a couple of games at quarterback because Neil O'Donnell was injured, but now O'Donnell is back.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_04: So Collinsworth then asks Eric Green about a comment that Green had made weeks earlier that Tomzak should be the starting quarterback instead of O'Donnell.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_04: And Green does a pretty good job deflecting.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_04: He says that comment was taken out of context.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we have two very capable quarterbacks on this roster, no matter who plays, blah, blah, blah.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_04: So Eric Green definitely graduated from the school of how not to get suckered into saying something done by Chris Collinsworth.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_04: Barry Foster, not so much.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, geez.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_04: So Collinsworth then asks Foster this question about the offense.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_01: Let me ask you guys about this offense.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, everyone talks about the defensive side of the ball, but I suppose the big question is if you guys fall behind by a touchdown or two, do you think there's enough offense here with the passing game, with O'Donnell at quarterback and these wide receivers that you guys can make those kind of big comebacks, well, I think um it's going to be definitely hard for us since we are a running team and we focus so much on the running game.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_02: But I think Mike Tomzak has showed in the previous games that he played that he's capable of having a 300-yard game.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I guess they should start Mike Tomzak if they fall behind.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean, there's there's a like let's let's dissect that a little bit.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_04: First of all, hey, if you guys get behind in the game, do you think you can come back?
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, mail it in.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_05: Go.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's pretty much over.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_05: I'm sure the NFL loves that answer.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_05: Just turn it off.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_04: Not to mention all his teammates.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_04: Well, and then and then he identifies Tom Zack, who again, he's remembered O'Donnell's back.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_04: Tom Zack's the backup.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_04: He tomzak is the you know, yeah, we we we can't come back, but Tom Zack probably could bring us back.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_04: There's one guy who could do it, it's it's not it's the backup quarterback.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_04: So that's bad.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_04: All right.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_04: So now Collinsworth asks Barry Foster this question.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_01: About next season with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, Bam Morris now is coming on, has been playing very well.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_01: You're making two million dollars plus next year, he's uh minimum wage.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think there's a possibility you'll be out of Pittsburgh?
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think it is a good possibility.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think it's very simple when you look at that fact that I'm making the million-dollar contract where he isn't.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_02: So I really don't expect to be back in Pittsburgh next year.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_02: Really.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_02: Ray, thanks for being so honest with us there.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_05: I I whatever.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_05: At least at least he's honest.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but they're in the they're literally in the thick of a playoff race at this point.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_05: Like he, you know, the better answer would be like, hey, I'm gonna wait till the off-season, how's it played out?
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_05: You know, if I can find a fair deal, I'll come back.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_05: If not, but I'm not gonna, yeah, I'll just wait till this season.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_04: I'm gonna worry about that after the season.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_04: Right now, we're focused on football, we're focused on the Eagles this week.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_04: You know, that's the way you're supposed to answer that question.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_05: Uh you know, well, he wasn't playing against the Eagles anyway, so you can't think about it.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_07: Right.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_05: Look at Eric Eric nobody on the podcast can see this, but yeah, Eric Green looks so sad.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_05: Eric Green just is like, what did you just do?
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_05: We are both in so much trouble.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and and after this interview, they cut back to the studio, and Jimmy Johnson, who had been the Cowboys head coach and was part of the show that year, he's in the studio for inside the NFL, and he just starts tearing into Foster for not being a team first guy.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_04: And he says, you know, if this guy wants to go to another team, I certainly wouldn't sign him.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_04: Let somebody else take him.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Foster does, in fact, not come back to Pittsburgh after that season and actually never even never plays again.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_05: I think he was done.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_05: I I remember Cincinnati offered him like eight million dollars.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_05: It's like, nope, I'm good.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_05: So I mean, fair enough.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_05: Fair enough.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_05: The guy was a paycheck player and you know, he was done with football.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_05: He made enough money and which is fine.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_04: And again, all that's even him thinking he's not going to come back next year, like you said, that's fine.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_04: Just that's not smart.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_04: You don't create distractions in the middle of a playoff race about, you know, well, I don't expect to be back next year.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_04: It's like, well, worry about that after the season.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_04: Or even if you know that now, why would you why would you give Chris Collinsworth?
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_04: Like I said, Chris Collinsworth is just trying to get, you know, good fodder for inside the NFL and and Foster just plays into it.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_05: That he did.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_05: He did.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_04: All right.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_04: This last controversy is is technically only like tangentially connected to Pittsburgh, but I had to put it on here anyway.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_04: It involves a guy named John Caliperi.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_04: Uh John Caliperi is from Moon, yeah.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, specifically in Moon Township.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_04: He graduates from Clarion and eventually becomes an assistant coach at Pitt under Paul Evans.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_04: Uh UMass, which in the late 1980s is not a school with any kind of real basketball predigree, they decide to hire Caliperi away from Pitt and make him their head coach.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_04: And in a few short years, he turns UMass into a perennial contender.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_05: That that should have been one of our alternative realities, an alternative sports reality right there.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_04: Where Cal becomes the Pitt head coach instead of the UMass head coach.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_04: That would have been an interesting what if.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_04: In 1994, UMass is battling Temple for first place in the Atlantic 10, and they play each other on February 13th in a huge nationally televised game.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_04: UMass wins, and after the game, Caliperi's doing his post-game press conference.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_04: Temple coach John Chaney hears the Caliperi allegedly had some conversation to complain to the refs after the game, and he just totally loses it.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_04: He storms into Caliperi's press conference, and then this happens.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_06: Three class guys, and you pick them out and single them out.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_06: You can't get that private guy.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_06: Shut up, guys.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_06: You remember that when I see you, I'll pick your ass! Pick your ass! Come on, come on.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_06: Come on, come on.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_06: You got a good team, and you don't need that ass.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_06: That's why I was telling my kid to knock your fing kid in the mouth.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_06: Standing there pushing him again.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_02: Some things never cease to amaze me.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_05: He's such a jackass.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_05: That's kind of the effect on God there he has on people.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_05: He's a great recruiter, good coach.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_05: Just total, total nothing He would be like a hockey, he's Matthew Barnaby.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_05: He's a hockey instigator.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_04: That's a good comp.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_04: But that's just a wild scene.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_05: Like the coach of I can't believe I mean John Cheney, I don't remember him ever going like crazy like that ever.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_05: Like he would get like, you know, just like coaches do on the sidelines, but man, to go in another team's wow.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_04: And he and you can't see it, but he has to be like physically held back from attacking the coach of a number of people.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_05: And you can hear like people that are like friends, it's like John, John, it's not worth it.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_05: Just get out.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, like they're all trying to like calm him down.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_04: Uh UMass wins the A10 tournament, eliminating Duquesne along the way, but they're upset in the second round of the NCAA tournament by number 10 seed Maryland.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_04: Temple also bows out in the second round to Indiana that year.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_04: So that's the end of our contract.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_05: Did anything ever happen to John Cheney?
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_05: Was there any fallout?
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_05: Did he I wonder?
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_04: I don't think so.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_04: He was the Temple coach for years after that.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_04: So uh I think it was just a moment.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_04: And and again, back then, like that's one thing.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_05: It wasn't if this happened now, oh my gosh.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_04: But back then, coaches blowing up.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_04: Now, now storming into the like you said, the other the other coaches' press conference is pretty unheard of.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_04: But you had a lot of, you know, this was the you know, Mike Ditka going off after a game, or um, you know, Buddy Ryan or Jim Mora.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_04: Bobby Knight throwing chairs.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_04: There's there's a lot of coach eruptions back then, and everybody just is like, okay, well, it happens.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_04: So all right, our last category, like I said, we're gonna call it 15 minutes.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_04: We have two guys on this list we're gonna highlight who had kind of big one-hit wonder type of years in 1994.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_04: The first is boxer Michael Moore.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_04: Moore is raised in Manesson, so he's a local kid.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_04: He quickly works his way up through the ranks.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and on April 22nd, 1994, he's set to challenge Evander Holyfield for the heavyweight championship, which in those days that was a big deal.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, Holyfield was really good back then, too.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_04: Well, and and and just the heavyweight championship of boxing was like a big thing.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_04: It's not anymore.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_04: But I mean, this is this is at the time the belt.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_05: We're too busy watching YouTube stars fight nobody.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_04: Well, yeah, or or you know, a lot of the UFC stuff is kind of usurped.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_04: Boxing.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_04: But it but at the time, this is the this is the heavyweight, this is the Joe Lewis, Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson heavyweight belt.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and sure enough, Michael Moore defeats Holyfield in a fight that goes the distance.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_04: Moore wins by decision.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_04: He also becomes the first ever southpaw to win the heavyweight title, even though he's right-handed, Steve.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, he he he's right-handed.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_05: But he fights out of a left-handed battle stance.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, he boxed left-handed.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_04: Unfortunately for Moore, he loses the title later that year to 45-year-old George.
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_05: George Foreman.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_05: He was never the same after that Foreman fight.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_05: Like after he got knocked down, he just he he got knocked out a lot after that.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, he never he never quite achieved that level of success again.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Moore is inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2024.
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, good for him.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_05: He was a good boxer.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_05: He really was.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_04: He was.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_05: I think uh they they say once you get knocked out once, it gets easier each consecutive time.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_05: So I I don't know.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_05: Who knew George Foreman at 45 could still throw a nasty I mean that's what they say call a punter's chance, you know?
• 58:01
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, uh yeah, and he really knocked him out.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_04: I remember that they had like the overhead shot of the ring.
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_04: He was yeah, yeah.
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you didn't mess with old man George.
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, so lastly, we're gonna talk about a pit basketball player.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_04: Uh pit basketball, just like pit football, is not very good in 1994, but they do have a stud player.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_04: It's center Eric Mowgli.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_04: He's a 6'11, 235-pound kid from the Bronx.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_04: He's a high school star, highly recruited by Pitt, but the NCAA says, sorry, your grades aren't up to par, so you can't play Division I basketball.
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_04: So he actually plays at a junior college in Maryland.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_04: He does pretty well there.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_04: He also gets his grades up, and then he transfers to Pitt for a sophomore season, where he immediately becomes a key contributor.
• 58:53
  SPEAKER_04: And by his senior season here in 1994, he is a bona fide star.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_04: He leads the team in scoring, leads the team in rebounding, leads the team in blocks.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_04: The highlight of that season is when North Carolina comes to play Pitt at the Civic Arena.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, this is this is this yeah, this is kind of disappointing.
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, but it really I never thought it was really because of him they lost.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_05: It was more Jerry Stackowl smokes us.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_04: Well, yeah, so the reason this was big is because North Carolina at the time is the is the uh I think it were they defending national champion?
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_04: They they were yes, they were the yes, they were the same.
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_05: Because they had they had that they had that big white oaf, Montrost.
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_05: Eric Montrose Montrose, yeah.
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_05: Who I never thought was all that great.
• 59:38
  unknown: Yeah.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_04: But and North Carolina is ranked number two in the nation when they come to the Civic Arena.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_04: And this is before obviously Pitt North Carolina are in the same conference.
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_04: Uh there's a ton of hype around that game.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_04: In fact, it's the largest crowd ever to witness an event at the Civic Arena at the time.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_04: So you had the largest crowd ever for a Steeler game at Three Rivers, you had the largest crowd ever for a baseball game at Three Rivers, and then you had the largest crowd ever for any event at the Civic Arena all in 1994.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_05: A lot going on in 94.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, a lot of lot of big, you know, events.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_04: Mobley uh is going up, as we said, against North Carolina Star Center Eric Montras.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_05: Who was a good he was a good college player, let me say that.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_05: He he wasn't great, but he was good.
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean, they won again, they won a national championship, you know, the year before.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and and Mobley does pretty well.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_04: Montrass even goes out of his way to praise Mobley after the game.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_04: If we really like the post-game quotes, Montras is like, man, this guy's really good.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_05: The guy, uh like I said, the guy who really beat Pitt that day was Stack Stackhouse, I think Stackow was only a freshman or a saw, he wasn't, but he just lit them up from he he he does.
• 1:00:51
  SPEAKER_04: And and and the other thing that happens, Pitt actually has a lead in the in the first half, uh, most of the first half, but what happens is Mobley gets into foul trouble.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_04: He actually fouls out with 11 minutes still remaining in the game.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_05: Well, you gotta remember, well, yeah, it's the North they don't talk about a it's more of a Duke thing, but North Carolina gets every gift call too.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_04: So and that was when Dean Smith was still their coach.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah.
• 1:01:18
  SPEAKER_04: So Mobley fouling out, that definitely dooms Pit.
• 1:01:20
  SPEAKER_04: Stackhouse, like Steve said, you know, also dooms Pit.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_04: But it's still a great national stage for Mobley.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_04: And in June, he is selected in the first round of the NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_05: He does he does uh has this long, successful career of nothing, if I remember correctly.
• 1:01:38
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, he he doesn't have a great NBA career.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_04: He's out of the league by 1997.
• 1:01:42
  SPEAKER_04: He makes his way back to Pittsburgh in 2006, signing with the aforementioned Pittsburgh Explosion of the American Basketball Association.
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_05: As a coach?
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_04: No, as a player.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, oh my.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_04: Well, this is 94.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, he's a senior in college in 94.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_04: 2006 is 12 years later, so we'll see maybe like 30 three.
• 1:02:07
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, he's not, you know, he's capable of playing basketball.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_04: So sadly, uh Eric Mobley dies of cancer in 2021 at the age of 54.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_04: Really?
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_05: I didn't know that.
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my.
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, that that is sad.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_05: One of my favorite play players, big players.
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 1:02:25
  SPEAKER_04: Current pit head coach Jeff Capel says at the time that Mobley is, quote, one of the best players in our program's history.
• 1:02:32
  SPEAKER_05: Fair.
• 1:02:33
  SPEAKER_05: Fair.
• 1:02:34
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, you know.
• 1:02:35
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I wouldn't say he's up there with Brandon Knight or Julius Page or top ten, top ten, top five, maybe.
• 1:02:43
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 1:02:45
  SPEAKER_04: So so again, Michael Moore, Eric Mobley, two guys that were really good, not for a long time, but when they were really at the top of their game, they were at the top of their game.
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_04: So that's that's all the sports of 1994.
• 1:02:58
  SPEAKER_04: There were a few other things that I left out.
• 1:03:01
  SPEAKER_04: Um, a couple of things here.
• 1:03:03
  SPEAKER_04: The the Russian penguins come to Pittsburgh in February of that year.
• 1:03:07
  SPEAKER_05: Were there any cells in the basement?
• 1:03:09
  SPEAKER_05: And uh Yeah, yeah.
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_04: We did a whole episode about that, which we'll link on our website, so go listen to that if you want, because that that story is pretty wild.
• 1:03:16
  SPEAKER_04: So I don't I didn't want to dig too deep into that one.
• 1:03:18
  SPEAKER_04: But that happens in 1994.
• 1:03:21
  SPEAKER_04: Uh another thing that happens, Howard Baldwin actually attempts to buy the Pirates.
• 1:03:27
  SPEAKER_05: Well, couldn't have made things any better or worse or I don't know.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's another that would have been another interesting what if.
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and then the other thing I left out, Duquesne has actually has a pretty good basketball season.
• 1:03:38
  SPEAKER_04: They finished third in the Atlantic 10 standings behind the aforementioned UMass and Temple.
• 1:03:43
  SPEAKER_04: And they make the NIT, which back then is still kind of meant something.
• 1:03:47
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 1:03:48
  SPEAKER_04: In fact, it's the only time between 1982 and 2008 that Duquesne qualifies for any postseason tournament.
• 1:03:54
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 1:03:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so for them that was pretty good.
• 1:03:56
  SPEAKER_04: Their best player is a guy named Derek Alston, who also gets drafted into the NBA that summer by the Philadelphia 76ers.
• 1:04:04
  SPEAKER_04: And just like Mobley, he kind of has a short career too in the NBA.
• 1:04:09
  SPEAKER_04: So that's the forgotten sports year of 1994.
• 1:04:13
  SPEAKER_04: Lots of um again, nobody won championships, but lots of big events, lots of crazy.
• 1:04:21
  SPEAKER_05: We didn't really cover the Chargers.
• 1:04:22
  SPEAKER_05: Was that the Chargers game that year?
• 1:04:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I I that was intentional.
• 1:04:28
  SPEAKER_05: Hey, you made Relive my worst memory.
• 1:04:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:04:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, the Stewart's lost to the Chargers in the championship game.
• 1:04:37
  SPEAKER_04: And we moved on.
• 1:04:38
  SPEAKER_04: We just we very much brushed over that one on purpose.
• 1:04:42
  SPEAKER_04: But yeah, definitely, definitely a year that had a lot more uh interesting moments than probably people would remember.
• 1:04:49
  SPEAKER_04: So uh thanks everybody so much for listening.
• 1:04:52
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• 1:04:56
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• 1:04:59
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• 1:05:01
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• 1:05:03
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• 1:05:06
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• 1:05:08
  SPEAKER_04: We'll see you next time.