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REWIND: Top 10 ALMOST Miracle Plays · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

0:01
SPEAKER_08: Hi, everybody.
0:02
SPEAKER_08: Welcome to the Pittsburgh Sports Memories Podcast.
0:06
SPEAKER_08: I am your co-host Tim Hannon, and who's with me today?
0:10
SPEAKER_08: Uh as usual, it's Steve Wirt.
0:12
SPEAKER_03: Hi, Steve.
0:13
SPEAKER_03: Hi.
0:14
SPEAKER_03: You couldn't find a better co-host.
0:16
SPEAKER_03: You're right, I could not find a better co-host.
0:20
SPEAKER_03: Mark Madden is occupied.
0:22
SPEAKER_08: Myron Cope is dead.
0:23
SPEAKER_08: I don't know.
0:25
SPEAKER_08: Those are literally the only the only two options that would be better, for sure.
0:30
SPEAKER_08: Um, so today's episode, we're gonna do a top ten list, and we're gonna talk about the almost great moments in Pittsburgh sports history.
0:53
SPEAKER_08: Pittsburgh sports history, obviously, you know, many, many great moments.
0:57
SPEAKER_08: And we've covered some of those before, and anybody that's a longtime Pittsburgh sports fan could, you know, name, name their favorite moments and the moments where they remember where they were and everything else.
1:08
SPEAKER_08: But there's also uh a bunch of plays in Pittsburgh Sport that were like this close to being in that same category, had things just kind of gone a little bit differently.
1:21
SPEAKER_08: Um these are plays that would have been remembered for all time, um, and instead they're not.
1:26
SPEAKER_08: Uh but we're gonna remember them today.
1:29
SPEAKER_08: And so we're gonna kick off this list with um our number 10.
1:34
SPEAKER_08: We're gonna we're gonna start with Pittsburgh Steelers.
1:40
SPEAKER_05: Play the lateral game here for Pittsburgh.
1:43
SPEAKER_05: Backward pass.
1:45
SPEAKER_05: Lothlessburger now running.
1:48
SPEAKER_05: Shovels out for Brown.
1:50
SPEAKER_05: Brown's got room.
1:51
SPEAKER_05: Brown down the sideline.
1:53
SPEAKER_05: Miami trying to bring him down.
1:55
SPEAKER_06: Antonio Brown.
1:58
SPEAKER_06: Incredible.
1:59
SPEAKER_06: He's out of bounds at the 13 yard line on.
2:08
SPEAKER_08: I like Dan Fouls right now on your parade.
2:11
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I've made my dislike for Dan Feltz known in previous episodes.
2:16
SPEAKER_03: Super Bowls, here's a question.
2:17
SPEAKER_03: How many Super Bowls has Dan Fouts won?
2:19
SPEAKER_03: Um, that would be zero.
2:21
SPEAKER_03: Is that the same number that he's played in?
2:24
SPEAKER_08: That would also be zero.
2:25
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
2:27
SPEAKER_08: Moving on.
2:28
SPEAKER_08: Unfortunately, Dan Feltz was right.
2:30
SPEAKER_08: So so the the background for this game, this is a 2013 um game between the Steelers and the Miami Dolphins.
2:37
SPEAKER_08: That that season 2013 is kind of a down year for Pittsburgh.
2:40
SPEAKER_08: They start the season 0-4.
2:43
SPEAKER_08: Uh it looks like it's gonna be real bad, but they actually string together some wins.
2:47
SPEAKER_08: And on December 8th, they sit at 5-7 with a very outside chance at still making the playoffs.
2:53
SPEAKER_08: But if they're gonna if they're gonna pull that off, they really have to win out their last four games.
2:57
SPEAKER_08: And their opponent that day, uh, like we said, is the Miami Dolphins.
3:01
SPEAKER_08: That's a team at this point who has not won a game in Pittsburgh for 23 years.
3:06
SPEAKER_08: And also it's snowing that day, which should be a really good thing playing a team from Florida.
3:12
SPEAKER_08: It ends up being a real back and forth game, but Miami gets the go-ahead touchdown in the final minutes when Charles Clay from Miami muscles his way through Troy Palomalu and Cortez Allen to score a 12-yard touchdown reception.
3:26
SPEAKER_08: And if you if you watched that play, I mean he just kind of like pushes those guys out of the way and goes into the end zone, and that's just kind of the season that it was for the Steelers that year.
3:37
SPEAKER_08: Just that that play really summarized that season.
3:40
SPEAKER_08: But the Steelers end up with one last desperation chance at the end of the game.
3:45
SPEAKER_08: Um but Ben takes a sack and they end up having one last play from their own 21-yard line.
3:53
SPEAKER_08: So you're on your own 21-yard line.
3:55
SPEAKER_08: You know, that's obviously too long to throw a Hail Mary.
3:59
SPEAKER_08: So the only thing you can do there is the Stanford band play.
4:02
SPEAKER_08: And and if you're not familiar with with with the references there, uh back in 1982, uh University of California beat Stanford in a very famous game, a very famous play, where Cal just kept laddering the ball um uh until a guy broke free, and as he was running into the end zone, the Stanford band had come onto the field and he like um you know knocked over the trombone player or whatever.
4:30
SPEAKER_08: So very famous play.
4:32
SPEAKER_08: And any anytime a team tries to do that, you know, it's it's probably a play with like a 0.01% success probability, but it's really your only option at that point, because again, you can't throw the ball 80 yards.
4:44
SPEAKER_08: So that's exactly what the Steelers do.
4:46
SPEAKER_08: Um then Rothesperger completes the pass to Emmanuel Sanders, he pitches it to Jericho Cotri, who later is it to Le'Veon Bell, he throws it back to the offensive lineman, Marcus Gilbert, who pitches it to Ben.
5:00
SPEAKER_08: And you know, at this point, it's like, okay, this is this is ridiculous, isn't going to do anything.
5:05
SPEAKER_08: But Ben kind of like does this sidearm toss to Antonio Brown, who's along the left sideline, and all of a sudden A B finds a lot of room on that sideline, and he takes off with one man to beat, and it's strong safety, Chris Clemens for Miami, and A B puts a really nice move on him on the outside, and he beats him to the end zone for the apparent game-winning miracle touchdown.
5:28
SPEAKER_08: Um, but again, as Winy Dan Fouts pointed out, um A B's foot did does catch the sideline.
5:36
SPEAKER_08: I mean, and it's just barely too.
5:38
SPEAKER_08: And and it was hard to tell because again, there's snow on the field.
5:42
SPEAKER_08: Um, but they looked at it on the replay, and he A B's foot definitely was out of bounds.
5:46
SPEAKER_08: But I mean, by an inch.
5:48
SPEAKER_08: And that really ends up being impactful to the season, too, because if they pull off this miracle Stanford ban ending, number one, it gets relived for years to come.
5:58
SPEAKER_08: But number two, it actually would have put them in the playoffs because they end up winning their last three games, and they end up only missing the playoffs that year because uh what was the kicker?
6:07
SPEAKER_08: Ryan Suckup was a kicker for Kansas City.
6:10
SPEAKER_08: He misses a field goal against the Chargers.
6:12
SPEAKER_08: And if he had made that field goal, the Steelers actually would have been in the playoffs that year.
6:16
SPEAKER_08: And if A B scores on that touchdown, the Steelers would have been in the playoffs that year.
6:20
SPEAKER_08: So it ends up being impactful to the Steelers season.
6:24
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's uh who who won the Super Bowl that year?
6:27
SPEAKER_03: Was it the Patriots?
6:27
SPEAKER_03: Was that a Patriots Super Bowl year?
6:29
SPEAKER_03: 2013.
6:30
SPEAKER_03: That was Seattle.
6:31
SPEAKER_03: Okay, that was the rear Seattle kind of killed uh Denver and uh I mean the Steelers really didn't have any business being a being a playoff team that year.
6:41
SPEAKER_08: They started 0-4.
6:42
SPEAKER_08: Um, but again, like I don't know, you get in the playoffs and and they had a talented offense, and who knows what would have happened.
6:50
SPEAKER_08: But yeah, that was um, man, if that if that would have happened, even if they don't go far that year, again, that play gets relived forever.
6:59
SPEAKER_08: But that's why we're calling this the almost great plays.
7:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, his toe, his toe step touched the white, and that was it, touched the chalk, that was it, huh?
7:09
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
7:11
SPEAKER_08: All right, number nine.
7:14
SPEAKER_08: Ball number two, second and goal.
7:20
SPEAKER_06: He fumbles the ball, Pitt has it.
7:24
SPEAKER_08: So in November of 2012, Notre Dame football is in the midst of their best season in decades.
7:32
SPEAKER_08: They're undefeated, and they're headed for the national championship game, and all they have to do is avoid a stumble at home against a 4-4 pit team.
7:43
SPEAKER_08: And and as we've seen before, as Pitt fans, this is exactly where Pitt seems to shine.
7:48
SPEAKER_08: They're playing, you know, a great team and have a chance to ruin their championship hopes, and that's that's kind of Pitt's thing that they do.
7:57
SPEAKER_08: And sure enough, they outplay the Irish.
7:59
SPEAKER_08: They actually hold a 20 to 6 lead in the fourth quarter.
8:02
SPEAKER_08: I'd kind of forgotten about that part of this game.
8:05
SPEAKER_08: Um, but you know, uh teams that are undefeated in November in college football, they they're they're usually there because they're they're a higher caliber.
8:15
SPEAKER_08: And Notre Dame's not just gonna let their season die that easily.
8:18
SPEAKER_08: So they do mount a comeback and send the game into overtime.
8:22
SPEAKER_08: And in the second overtime, uh Notre Dame has the ball in the top half of the overtime, and they drive down to the pit two-yard line, and they're gonna, you know, I mean, they're at the two-yard line, so they're gonna score a touchdown, and they're really gonna take control of the game.
8:34
SPEAKER_08: If they score a touchdown there, Pitt has to then score a touchdown themselves, and I don't know, that probably wasn't gonna happen.
8:42
SPEAKER_08: So they hand the ball off to running back Sierra Wood.
8:45
SPEAKER_08: He dives over the line of scrimmage and into the end zone, but literally at the last second, I mean, like right before he hits the the goal line, uh, Wood is hit by Jason Hendricks from Pitt and he fumbles the ball into the end zone, and Pitt falls on it.
9:01
SPEAKER_08: And so now Notre Dame comes out of that top half of the second overtime with zero points.
9:06
SPEAKER_08: And and now Pitt in the bottom half, they can just play for the field goal, and and they're gonna walk away from South Bend, beating the undefeated number two team in the country in a shocking upset.
9:17
SPEAKER_08: So Pitt gets the ball back, they do get the ball inside the 20.
9:21
SPEAKER_08: That sets up a 33-yard attempt for the game-winning field goal for senior kicker Kevin Harper, who is three for three in this game, including two 40-yarders.
9:30
SPEAKER_08: So he'd already hit two that were longer than this.
9:33
SPEAKER_08: But in typical pit fashion, Harper misses wide right.
9:36
SPEAKER_08: Um in Harper's defense, it was a pretty bad snap.
9:39
SPEAKER_08: It was a very high snap, and I'm sure that contributed to him missing.
9:42
SPEAKER_08: And Notre Dame ends up winning the game in the third overtime and playing Alabama for the fake national championship.
9:49
SPEAKER_08: So um almost, I mean, almost a miracle play where they they had they made Sierra Wood fumble at the one-yard line and and walked away with this huge upset, but it was not meant to be.
10:01
SPEAKER_03: Was this Man Tai Teo?
10:03
SPEAKER_03: Was Man Tateo's uh girlfriend at this game?
10:06
SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
10:06
SPEAKER_08: Maybe she was the one that recovered the fumble.
10:10
SPEAKER_08: Maybe she would have made the field goal.
10:12
SPEAKER_08: I don't remember Kevin Harper at all.
10:14
SPEAKER_08: I I really don't really remember.
10:16
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I I don't remember my.
10:18
SPEAKER_08: I mean, I I remember something.
10:19
SPEAKER_03: Was he before Blew It?
10:20
SPEAKER_03: He had to be before it.
10:21
SPEAKER_08: Because this was a this is a Chris team, right?
10:24
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, this is a Chris team.
10:26
SPEAKER_08: He was Connor.
10:27
SPEAKER_03: Connor was on it.
10:29
SPEAKER_03: No, Connor wasn't on this team, was he?
10:31
SPEAKER_03: No.
10:31
SPEAKER_08: I think it was a little too early for Connor.
10:33
SPEAKER_08: Was this pizza bowl year?
10:35
SPEAKER_08: Was this the year they went to the pizza bowl?
10:37
SPEAKER_08: You you're the one that knows all those.
10:39
SPEAKER_08: Like, I I wasn't this when they were going to the the three consecutive um coaches.
10:44
SPEAKER_08: Was this Todd Graham?
10:45
SPEAKER_03: Was this a Graham?
10:46
SPEAKER_03: No, no, no.
10:47
SPEAKER_03: This is this is Chris's first season.
10:49
SPEAKER_03: Well, definitely Chris because they blew a fourth quarter lead, and that's kind of what Paul Chris does.
10:53
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I love Paul Chris.
10:55
SPEAKER_03: I think he's a much better coach than than Narduzzi.
10:58
SPEAKER_03: But like for some reason, he even does it up at Wisconsin.
11:01
SPEAKER_03: He blows like a lot of fourth quarter leads.
11:04
SPEAKER_03: I don't know what that is.
11:05
SPEAKER_03: He's kind of that's kind of his thing.
11:07
SPEAKER_03: It was it was another BBVA, BBVA compass bowl that year.
11:11
SPEAKER_03: Was uh maybe they well one year they beat like Kentucky and one year they lost to Old Miss.
11:16
SPEAKER_03: I remember that.
11:17
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, like like I said, you you I'm I'm I always lean on you for those.
11:21
SPEAKER_08: You always know the what I don't remember.
11:24
SPEAKER_03: I honestly don't remember.
11:25
SPEAKER_03: I I mean, in my in my defense, I don't remember this game.
11:28
SPEAKER_03: I don't know what I was doing.
11:29
SPEAKER_03: I guess I was doing something better than watching them play.
11:31
SPEAKER_08: Well, I remember because again, it was I mean this was in Notre Dame, too.
11:36
SPEAKER_03: So I mean, if it would have been a home game, I might have gone to it.
11:39
SPEAKER_03: 2012, what was I doing?
11:41
SPEAKER_03: And that was the year that that was something else, apparently.
11:44
SPEAKER_08: I mean, Notre Dame, I mean remember, Notre Dame had not been that good since the Lou Holtz era.
11:49
SPEAKER_08: Uh I I you know that was Who was the Notre Dame coach?
11:52
SPEAKER_03: Was that uh that was uh that's still what's his name?
11:54
SPEAKER_03: Uh Brian Kelly.
11:55
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
11:56
SPEAKER_03: Was that a second year there?
11:57
SPEAKER_03: Or his third year.
11:59
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because 2010 he was still in Cincinnati, yeah.
12:03
SPEAKER_08: So so yeah, it was I mean, it just would have been, you know, up there with their other, you know, like when they beat Clemson or when they beat West Virginia, like shocking.
12:12
SPEAKER_03: Because I remember thinking that when Alabama blew them out.
12:15
SPEAKER_03: I was like, boy, Pitt could have saved everybody from this insanity if they just would have won that game.
12:20
SPEAKER_08: I watched, I watched that game, the Alabama Notre Dame fake championship game, and whoever was Brent Musberg or whoever, you know, they were talking about like in between plays, they're like, oh, the closest Notre Dame game to losing was it when they played Pitt and they like went through the whole story, and I'm like, great.
12:37
SPEAKER_08: Or at least a footnote in the fake national championship game.
12:42
SPEAKER_08: So yeah, another another close, not meant to be one.
12:45
SPEAKER_08: Number eight, we're gonna shift to the ice.
12:48
SPEAKER_06: It's a full-fledged 30-2.
12:51
SPEAKER_06: Lang Riyaga for Kobolev.
12:54
SPEAKER_06: Shot hit the post.
12:56
SPEAKER_05: Alex Kobel.
12:57
SPEAKER_06: He's got the first goal of the game and nearly ended the scoring as well.
13:03
SPEAKER_08: So in the second round of the 2000 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Penguins are facing Arch Nemesis, Philadelphia, and they hold a two-to-one series lead heading into game four.
13:14
SPEAKER_08: It's at home at the Civic Arena, and the game goes into overtime, and no one scores.
13:21
SPEAKER_08: And then it goes into a second overtime, and pretty soon we're in the middle of an absolute marathon experience.
13:29
SPEAKER_08: Um, this game's gonna go for a long time.
13:32
SPEAKER_08: And we we we talked about this in our episode that we did um a couple episodes ago uh about the the 01 Penguins.
13:40
SPEAKER_08: If the Penguins can get the next goal in this overtime game, it's it's pretty much gonna be series over.
13:46
SPEAKER_08: And they'll be headed to the Eastern Conference Finals to play New Jersey.
13:50
SPEAKER_08: It wouldn't have it wouldn't have physically won the series, they still would have needed one more win over Philly.
13:55
SPEAKER_08: But to go up 3-1 in a marathon overtime game, the Flyers are effectively done at that point.
14:01
SPEAKER_08: So if the Penguins are going to score, they're they're gonna be pretty much in the conference finals.
14:05
SPEAKER_08: And and things have been really tight all night in this game, hence the multiple overtimes.
14:12
SPEAKER_08: But but you know, who knows why?
14:13
SPEAKER_08: Maybe the Penguins just kind of found a spark, or maybe the Flyers were just exhausted and made a miscue.
14:19
SPEAKER_08: But the Penguins actually find themselves with an odd man break, and it's uh Robert Lang brings the puck up the ice, he feeds it to Jager, who centers it for Alexei Kovalev.
14:29
SPEAKER_08: And Kovalev makes a great play.
14:31
SPEAKER_08: He kind of like steps around the defenseman and he risks a really hard shot towards the net.
14:36
SPEAKER_08: And Brian Boucher, the goaltender for the Flyers, really never even has a chance to react.
14:40
SPEAKER_08: The puck just blows right past him, but it it hits the post.
14:45
SPEAKER_08: And it would have been like this all-time memorable goal that you know would have would have come in multiple overtimes and would have effectively sent the penguins to the conference finals.
14:54
SPEAKER_08: Um, but instead it ends up being a forgotten near miss.
14:57
SPEAKER_08: And what is remembered from that game is Keith Primo scoring in the fifth overtime to end, uh, which is what is still one of the longest games in NHL history for the Flyers.
15:08
SPEAKER_08: And it's them that ends up going to the conference finals where Scott Stevens ends Eric Lindros' Flyers career with a devastating hit in game seven.
15:19
SPEAKER_03: Fun fact, I don't think the Penguins would beat the Flyers in a playoff series for what, another 10 years.
15:26
SPEAKER_03: They they beat them in the conference finals in 2008, and that was so.
15:29
SPEAKER_08: first years.
15:30
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, that was the first time they ever beat them in the play.
15:33
SPEAKER_08: Right.
15:33
unknown: Right.
15:34
SPEAKER_08: And then they beat them again in 09, and they beat them again in 2018.
15:38
unknown: Yeah.
15:39
SPEAKER_08: So they have they have beaten them a few times, but they've lost a bunch of times too.
15:43
SPEAKER_03: And uh Keith Jones, I do believe, was on the ice when they scored Philadelphia.
15:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he was.
15:49
SPEAKER_03: And I I think they ran out, we could we almost do a whole podcast just on this game.
15:53
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it is what five overtimes?
15:56
SPEAKER_03: That's another game and a half.
15:58
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was pretty much.
15:59
SPEAKER_03: They played two and a half games.
16:01
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I think the game I stayed up for the whole thing.
16:03
SPEAKER_08: I think it ended at like 2.30 in the morning.
16:06
SPEAKER_08: They ran out of what they ran out of stuff in the concession stands and yeah.
16:10
SPEAKER_08: Yep.
16:10
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I just sat on my floor like, I can't believe after all that, right?
16:14
SPEAKER_08: After you know, however many seven hours of hockey or whatever that Philadelphia had won.
16:19
SPEAKER_08: So that was a tough one.
16:20
SPEAKER_08: And Alexei Kovlev actually had the best chance to win it there and almost did.
16:25
SPEAKER_08: So almost great play by Kovalev.
16:28
SPEAKER_08: All right, number seven.
16:30
SPEAKER_08: Oh goodness.
16:30
SPEAKER_04: Uh 14, and right.
16:36
SPEAKER_04: It was Shelton who had a shot at.
16:39
SPEAKER_08: So this is going back to 1992, and that's Bill Cower's first season as head coach of the Steelers, and what a season it is.
16:48
SPEAKER_08: Uh they they had this, you're really pretty much a whole decade of struggling.
16:54
SPEAKER_08: And in his first season, they go 11-5, and they're the number one seed in the AFC playoffs.
16:59
SPEAKER_08: So they get a bye week and they're hosting the divisional round.
17:03
SPEAKER_08: It's their first home playoff game in 10 years, and it's against the two-time defending AFC champion Buffalo Bills, uh, which was not an easy out, seeing as how the Bills were the dominant team of this era in the AFC.
17:16
SPEAKER_08: Uh the Steelers get a little bit of a break.
17:18
SPEAKER_08: They're not facing Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly.
17:20
SPEAKER_08: He's hurt for this game.
17:22
SPEAKER_08: So they're facing uh backup quarterback and current Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich.
17:27
SPEAKER_08: Uh, but Reich is no ordinary backup quarterback.
17:30
SPEAKER_08: In fact, the the previous week, he had engineered the single biggest comeback in NFL history against the Houston Oilers.
17:36
SPEAKER_08: So they're actually coming off of that amazing comeback uh and then heading to three of her stadium to play the Steelers.
17:43
SPEAKER_08: And that 92 team, Cowers' first year, that that team is really built around ball control offense and stout defense.
17:49
SPEAKER_08: I mean, a lot of Cower teams were built like that, and we've talked about that.
17:53
SPEAKER_08: But that team, especially, uh, they have the number two ranked defense in the NFL.
17:57
SPEAKER_08: And Barry Foster, the the main running back for the Steelers, he sets the all-time Steelers record for rushing yards in a season with 1,690 yards.
18:05
SPEAKER_08: That's still a record today, actually.
18:07
SPEAKER_08: No one's broken that.
18:09
SPEAKER_08: So the the formula to beat that Bills team, you know, it's gonna be try to get the lead, run the ball, try to contain them on defense.
18:19
SPEAKER_08: And that formula works okay in the first half.
18:22
SPEAKER_08: Uh the Bills are up seven to three, but you know, it's not, you know, the it's manageable for the Steelers.
18:28
SPEAKER_08: Uh the defense is shutting down Thurman Thomas and Andre Reid, kind of the big weapons.
18:33
SPEAKER_08: But in the third quarter, now the Bills are threatening to really blow things wide open.
18:37
SPEAKER_08: They drive inside the Steelers' red zone, and a touchdown here is going to be big trouble for Pittsburgh because Neil O'Donnell is the quarterback.
18:45
SPEAKER_08: It was his first year starting for the Steelers, and he had a nice season.
18:49
SPEAKER_08: But if you look at his stats here, he actually throws for under 200 yards a game.
18:53
SPEAKER_08: So they do not want to be in a position where they're down two scores against this, you know, uh championship caliber Bills team, and have having uh Neil O'Donnell try to lead them back from that.
19:04
SPEAKER_08: They know that's that's not really going to work.
19:07
SPEAKER_08: So um with Buffalo in the red zone, they really need the defense to make a play, as that the defense had done so many other times that season, and it appears to happen.
19:16
SPEAKER_08: Uh Reich attempts a very ill-conceived pass in the flat to Don Beby, and Steelers defensive back, Richard Shelton, steps right in front of it with absolutely nothing between him and the end zone, and it hits him like right in the chest.
19:29
SPEAKER_08: But Shelton can't hang on.
19:30
SPEAKER_08: And instead of a game-turning 84-yard pick six to propel the Steelers into the AFC Championship game, the Bills have a second chance, and right hits James Lawson for a touchdown, and then the Bills just end up running away with it after that and and and route to their third straight Super Bowl appearance.
19:47
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, um, this game should be called the third and Sammy game.
19:53
SPEAKER_03: Because what happened was uh Rod Woodson got hurt.
19:58
SPEAKER_03: He I think he broke his wrist, and they had um Dion Figures, and then they brought in I think it was Sammy Walker.
20:05
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and Sammy Walker was not Rod Woodson, and he might not even been Richard Shelton, who was more of their like extra DB, like the third guy in.
20:17
SPEAKER_03: And like I just remember like Jim Kelly said that like after the like, yeah, every time it got the third down, we were looking for Sammy Walker, and that's kind of when they blew the game wide open.
20:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
20:29
SPEAKER_03: So I don't even know if Richard Shelton steps in ha in front, like if it would have made that much of a difference, like what it would have been like 10-7.
20:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
20:39
SPEAKER_03: I mean that's that's fair.
20:41
SPEAKER_03: Maybe, maybe it changes, but I think the Bills like if Rod Woodson doesn't get hurt, then the Bill then I'll say, well, then you probably got something there.
20:50
SPEAKER_03: But when Rod Woodson got hurt, that's why the next year in the offseason they got Tim McCayre.
20:55
SPEAKER_03: That was the whole point of getting Tim McKayre.
20:58
SPEAKER_03: Was well, we're not gonna have that be stuck with nobody that can at least play.
21:03
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
21:04
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah.
21:04
SPEAKER_08: No, Sammy Walker had a very bad game, but Kelton had that chance to take it back.
21:09
SPEAKER_08: And you're right, I don't know that that makes all the difference, but them being ahead 10-7, the next time they get the ball, if they could hold Buffalo and get the ball back, now they can hand off to Foster.
21:19
SPEAKER_08: They can play that ball control game.
21:21
SPEAKER_08: When they were down 14-3, now they're trying to, you know, operate outside their comfort zone.
21:27
SPEAKER_03: I didn't realize that was in the I didn't realize you that's in that happened in the second half.
21:31
SPEAKER_03: Boy, I thought that was earlier in the game.
21:33
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, it was in the second half.
21:35
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I really thought that game was over a lot earlier than I guess it was.
21:38
SPEAKER_03: I thought that game was over in the first half, but I guess it but I just remember after that it was definitely over.
21:44
SPEAKER_03: Because like you said, the Bills ended up scoring a bunch of points after that.
21:47
SPEAKER_08: Right.
21:48
SPEAKER_08: They just ran away after that.
21:49
SPEAKER_08: And again, the Steelers were totally outside their comfort zone on offense.
21:52
SPEAKER_08: Steve, any uh any personal memories of of that play for you?
21:57
SPEAKER_03: Uh this was not the play that I yelled at Richard Schumann.
22:00
SPEAKER_03: Sheldon's son about.
22:01
SPEAKER_03: We went to school with his son, and that was that was a play in Denver that same year.
22:07
SPEAKER_03: And his to much of his class, his dad tried to tackle a running back from Denver.
22:12
SPEAKER_03: I don't remember the name, but the running back outweighed Richard Sheldon, who was like I said, like a dime back, like by like probably like 70 pounds.
22:20
SPEAKER_03: And the the running back for Denver just totally mauled him.
22:23
SPEAKER_03: And I kind of like like what was your dad?
22:25
SPEAKER_03: Like I kind of did the what was your dad doing on that play?
22:28
SPEAKER_03: And it and like, you know, I I guarantee like that was probably like my first real year watching like professional football.
22:36
SPEAKER_03: Because like I really hadn't watched football before '99, like regularly in 1992.
22:40
SPEAKER_03: He like correctly pointed out, it's like, dude, the guy's like a running back, you know, like like what like you're not you're not gonna defensive back isn't like just gonna like you know tackle somebody that much bigger.
22:50
SPEAKER_03: But yeah, that game they they had already gone home.
22:53
SPEAKER_03: He never he never he they didn't come back to school, I think that after that.
22:57
SPEAKER_03: Okay, okay.
22:58
SPEAKER_03: He just said they just went back to Florida.
22:59
SPEAKER_08: Okay, I thought I thought it was that play because that's the only thing I remember about Richard Shaw dropping that pick six.
23:05
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, no, he did drop that pick six, but I don't think I never decision about that one.
23:12
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, no, it was more idiotic than that.
23:15
SPEAKER_03: I was it was even dumber than you remember to him.
23:19
SPEAKER_03: I was even more of an idiot than he tried to tackle the guy just but no, yeah, I felt bad about that.
23:28
SPEAKER_03: Or maybe we did because I I remember I wasn't that negative about that one to him.
23:32
SPEAKER_03: It was that other play that and they lost to Denver.
23:35
SPEAKER_03: Because they never I in fact then I didn't realize like you never beat Denver in Denver.
23:40
SPEAKER_03: Like I've come to realize that like Denver really doesn't lose at home very much.
23:45
SPEAKER_03: But poor poor Richard Shelton.
23:47
SPEAKER_03: I whatever Richard Shelton and his son, I wonder if his son ever made it to college on a football scholarship or anything.
23:53
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
23:54
SPEAKER_03: He was gone after that season.
23:56
SPEAKER_03: Richard Shelton never came back to the Steelers after that, I do believe.
24:00
SPEAKER_03: But he was kind of older.
24:01
SPEAKER_03: He played in the World Football League, if I remember correctly.
24:05
SPEAKER_03: So he was kind of an older player.
24:07
SPEAKER_03: Like they and they got that Chris Oldham.
24:08
SPEAKER_03: Chris Oldham kind of took his spot as that kind of like I don't know, what would you call it?
24:14
SPEAKER_08: Third down back or whatever.
24:16
SPEAKER_03: Like the Johnny on the spot kind of guy in Dick Lebeau's because that was was that a Lebau defense?
24:21
SPEAKER_03: No, that was um the other guy came in.
24:24
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that was Tabers still.
24:26
SPEAKER_08: So all right, let's move on to number six.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: He is not going.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: and a fly ball into right field.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: Braggs is back near the wall.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: And he has it for the second out.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: How close was that?
24:43
SPEAKER_08: 1990.
24:44
SPEAKER_08: The Pirates are having a stellar season.
24:47
SPEAKER_08: They win the NL East, Barry Bonds is the MVP, Doug Graybick wins the Sign Young Award.
24:52
SPEAKER_08: We we did a whole episode about the Pirates of the early 90s.
24:56
SPEAKER_08: And I in that episode I talked about how that 1990 baseball season is still like one of my favorite childhood memories and how excited I was to see the Pirates in the playoffs.
25:06
SPEAKER_08: And we also talked in that episode about how it was unfortunate that in the National League Championship series they had to go up against Cincinnati Reds, who were a wire-to-wire champion that year.
25:17
SPEAKER_08: Meaning that there was never one day during the entire season where they were not in first place.
25:23
SPEAKER_08: Only five major league teams have ever done that.
25:26
SPEAKER_08: And the 90 Reds were one of those five teams.
25:29
SPEAKER_08: So they were a powerhouse, and you know, the Reds were clearly the better team for most of that series.
25:36
SPEAKER_08: And they have the Pirates down as they're fine-weight bats.
25:39
SPEAKER_08: In game six, the Reds lead three to two in the series and they lead two to one in the ninth inning.
25:45
SPEAKER_08: But Barry Bonds, who had done nothing that whole series, uh, actually draws a walk.
25:51
SPEAKER_08: And now Carmelo Martinez is at the plate, and that was a guy that the Pirates had acquired in a really late season trade with the Phillies that year.
25:58
SPEAKER_08: And he's up against Randy Myers, who was the Reds really dominant closer that year.
26:03
SPEAKER_08: And Martinez catches one of the pitches and drives it really deep into right field.
26:08
SPEAKER_08: And playing in right field is a guy named Glenn Braggs.
26:11
SPEAKER_08: Um Braggs is a veteran, kind of average player.
26:15
SPEAKER_08: In fact, he's not even the regular starting right fielder.
26:18
SPEAKER_08: Uh Paul O'Neill's Paul O'Neill was their right fielder that year, but Braggs had been a defensive substitute, and so that's why he's in right field.
26:26
SPEAKER_08: And he makes just an amazing leaping catch.
26:28
SPEAKER_08: And when you see it in slow motion, his glove is clearly over the wall.
26:32
SPEAKER_08: So that was a home run.
26:34
SPEAKER_08: That was actually a two-run home run that puts the Pirates in the lead if he doesn't make that catch.
26:40
SPEAKER_08: And he was kind of an odd guy to make that catch because I talked in that episode about how I knew like every player back then because of collecting baseball cards and everything.
26:50
SPEAKER_08: And what I remember most about Glenn Braggs is he was like abnormally ripped for a for a baseball player.
26:57
SPEAKER_08: You know, like baseball players don't usually have like these big muscular builds, and Glenn Braggs looked like he was a bodybuilder.
27:04
SPEAKER_03: And so he was just for the I find Bartolo cologne inspiring.
27:08
SPEAKER_03: I mean, he he he he gives hope for the rest of us fat guys that look like we play beer league softball.
27:16
SPEAKER_08: Well, and that's that's that's I mean, obviously he's not the typical body for a baseball player, but you don't usually don't see like especially back then.
27:24
SPEAKER_08: I mean, you just didn't see like these big, hulking, kind of ripped players.
27:28
SPEAKER_08: And Glenn Braggs was one of those guys, and you didn't well like a Bo Jacks athleticism.
27:33
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah.
27:35
SPEAKER_08: Well, and just like Bo Jackson, who who made catches like that also, um, yeah, Braggs is able to make that catch.
27:41
SPEAKER_08: So the I mean the Pirates, if that ball goes over the fence, they could have forced a game seven, and yeah, the Reds were the better team, but in a one-game scenario, I mean, anything can happen, and and the Pirates probably would have had the Cy Young award winner on the mound.
27:56
SPEAKER_08: So, I mean, that series, it's it's largely forgettable, uh, but you know, if Carmelo Martinez hits that home run and and they force a game seven, they could have legitimately won the pennant that year, and then Carmelo Martinez's name would have been long remembered by Pirates fans.
28:15
SPEAKER_08: Uh, and instead it's long stuff forgotten.
28:19
SPEAKER_03: I'm sorry, I thought that 90 Reds, didn't they have uh Rob Dibble on that?
28:24
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
28:24
SPEAKER_03: And they they went with this this guy was I thought Dibble was the closer, not I don't know.
28:29
SPEAKER_03: That team was stacked.
28:30
SPEAKER_03: That like you said about that Reds team, that was an unbelievable baseball team.
28:35
SPEAKER_03: Like I'm surprised more people don't talk about them, like because like you look at how good, like I remember we were doing stuff for I think the other the Pirates 90s podcast and then the Pittsburgh like greatest sports teams bracket.
28:49
SPEAKER_03: Like that Reds team was really, really good.
28:52
SPEAKER_03: Like I mean, because I I I forget their starting pitching was really good too.
28:57
SPEAKER_03: And did they have bury Ed Larkin?
29:01
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Eric Davis, Chris Sabo.
29:03
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I mean they had a they had a tremendous team, and um they end up they ended up sweeping the Oakland Athletics in the World Series, which was pretty shocking because Oakland had been the three straight World Series, and that was the team that had Can Seiko and McGuire and Dave Stewart and Ricky Henderson.
29:21
SPEAKER_08: You know, that Oakland A's team of that era was super stacked, and and Cincinnati's not only beat them, they swept them out of the World Series.
29:28
SPEAKER_08: So yeah, really dominant team, but again, like that ball was over the fence, and that would have been a game seven, and and again, one game.
29:37
SPEAKER_08: Like, yeah, maybe the Reds, you know, you again you play 40 games and the Reds win 38, but that one game anything could have happened.
29:45
SPEAKER_08: So I I think that I think that was.
29:47
SPEAKER_03: But that game seven, that game seven obviously would have been in Cincinnati, too.
29:51
SPEAKER_08: So I think so.
29:52
SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
29:52
SPEAKER_08: Um, but still, like, man.
29:56
SPEAKER_08: So anyway, yeah, close, close, but unfortunately it didn't happen.
30:02
SPEAKER_08: All right, number five.
30:04
SPEAKER_07: If you're gonna beat the number one team in the nation, try to get the ball to number one.
30:08
SPEAKER_07: Miami trying to get to 32 in a row.
30:10
SPEAKER_07: Rapted for throw by the middle! Complained for Ross.
30:17
SPEAKER_07: And the pays survive and keep the championship dream alive.
30:25
SPEAKER_08: So 2002, the Miami Hurricanes football team is in the middle of an unprecedented 31-game winning streak.
30:34
SPEAKER_08: The only post-World War I major college football program to win that many games in a row was the Oklahoma Sooners of the 1950s.
30:43
SPEAKER_08: So Miami was really in elite territory here.
30:47
SPEAKER_08: They were they were turning out NFL players, and to say that they were the dominant college football program of that era, I feel like that's an understatement.
30:55
SPEAKER_08: Because for three years, literally for three years, they were unbeatable.
31:00
SPEAKER_08: And in 2002, um, they're they're playing Pitt.
31:04
SPEAKER_08: Uh Pitt is no slouch that year.
31:06
SPEAKER_08: Pitt Pitt's actually ranked at number 17 in the country.
31:09
SPEAKER_08: And they had just beaten number three Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
31:13
SPEAKER_08: And and for Pitt, this is a late season game.
31:17
SPEAKER_08: And Pitt's only two losses that year were against non-conference opponents.
31:21
SPEAKER_08: They had lost to Texas AM and they lost to Notre Dame.
31:25
SPEAKER_08: So they're facing Miami in the Orange Bowl, not only with a chance to end this amazing streak, but if they if they beat them, they have to have a chance to steal the Big East Conference title away if they can somehow up upset the number one hurricanes.
31:40
SPEAKER_08: And it's a big game, it's a Thursday night nationally televised game on ESPN.
31:45
SPEAKER_08: And Pitt plays really tough in the first half, it's tied at halftime, but Miami starts to pull away in the second half.
31:51
SPEAKER_08: Uh Pitt does mount a late comeback.
31:53
SPEAKER_08: They score a touchdown with about five minutes left to cut the lead to 28-21.
31:57
SPEAKER_08: And then they get the ball back with two minutes left, and quarterback Rod Rutherford drives them deep into Miami territory, and the game comes down to a fourth and five from the Miami 20-yard line in the final seconds.
32:09
SPEAKER_08: And you heard um in the clip there, uh Lee Corso from ESPN, he said if you want to beat the number one team in the country, you have to get the ball to number one.
32:18
SPEAKER_08: Well, number one was a freshman wide receiver by the name of Larry Fitzgerald.
32:23
SPEAKER_08: Whatever happened to that guy.
32:24
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
32:25
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
32:26
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
32:26
SPEAKER_03: I wonder if he ever went on to do anything.
32:31
SPEAKER_03: Finish second in the Heisman voting, maybe.
32:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I don't know.
32:34
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he was yeah.
32:35
SPEAKER_03: He was no Jason White.
32:36
SPEAKER_08: That's what he's doing.
32:37
SPEAKER_08: He went on to not be as good as Jason White.
32:39
SPEAKER_08: That's what he went on to do.
32:40
SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
32:40
SPEAKER_08: Um, so yeah, Larry Fitzgerald is Pitt's best player, Pitt's best all-time receiver, arguably the greatest wide receiver in NFL history.
32:50
SPEAKER_08: I mean, you can't say enough things about you know Larry Fitzgerald.
32:54
SPEAKER_08: And everyone figures fourth and five, this is the last gasp.
32:58
SPEAKER_08: You know, the ball's going to Larry.
33:01
SPEAKER_08: And, you know, he already has seven receptions and a touchdown in this game.
33:04
SPEAKER_08: So again, that's who you're keying on.
33:07
SPEAKER_08: And I think Miami thought that too.
33:10
SPEAKER_08: They had that dominant secondary uh back then, and they're focused on stopping Fitzgerald.
33:15
SPEAKER_08: It actually opens up a seam in the middle of the field for Fitzgerald's roommate, walk-on wide receiver Yogi Roth.
33:23
SPEAKER_08: And Yogi Roth, again, was a walk-on.
33:25
SPEAKER_08: He had only caught two passes all season and maybe like 12 in his entire pit career by the time it was all said and done.
33:32
SPEAKER_08: Uh, but he's open in the middle of the field, and Rutherford throws the ball just a bit too high.
33:39
SPEAKER_08: Uh Roth makes a valiant diving effort for it, but he's not Lin Swan, and the ball just sails really, really just out over his hands, and Miami wins the Big East and keeps their winning streak alive.
33:54
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, as uh I remember this.
33:57
SPEAKER_03: Is uh Pitt was uh oh at the time, I do believe 015 and one against number one ranked teams all time.
34:04
SPEAKER_03: They'll become 016 and one.
34:06
SPEAKER_03: I think they're oh eighteen and one now after losing to Clemson a couple times.
34:10
SPEAKER_03: So they've still never beaten a number one ranked team, they've only ever tied Army in 1945.
34:16
SPEAKER_03: That's still a stat.
34:18
SPEAKER_03: Um, I know Rod Rutherford being like a good quarterback, but his problem was he always threw the ball just a little bit too high, and that was kind of the story of his career.
34:31
SPEAKER_03: And uh fun thing, like Yogi Roth is um, I think he now he works for for the uh for one of the Pac-10 schools or whatever that that that conference is because I I do see him post stuff, and he actually went on to have like a media career.
34:46
SPEAKER_03: So like Yogi Roth is still you know doing stuff out there.
34:49
SPEAKER_03: I haven't seen I haven't seen Rod Rutherford in a while.
34:51
SPEAKER_03: I've ran into him in town and stuff, but I haven't seen I don't know what he's up to lately.
34:57
SPEAKER_03: Um do you remember why Yogi Roth was on the field for that play?
35:00
SPEAKER_03: I mean it wasn't I think it was a three wide receiver set.
35:03
SPEAKER_03: I I think I think they went to an extra.
35:05
SPEAKER_03: I'd have to rewatch the game.
35:06
SPEAKER_03: Maybe somebody got hurt.
35:08
SPEAKER_08: Was he normally the third receiver there?
35:10
SPEAKER_03: I don't remember.
35:11
SPEAKER_03: I know he was kind of like like he was like that also I think it was when they took a t I want to say he's like the third guy on the field, and that's why they didn't cover him.
35:23
SPEAKER_03: But I I do remember it was a little bit of late, I think there was a little bit of pressure.
35:27
SPEAKER_03: Like he just like when Rutherford had like an incredibly strong arm.
35:31
SPEAKER_03: He really could throw the ball through a wall, but it's just like I don't for whatever reason, he just he kind of had like that that fault, like like the ball just always seemed to be a little bit high.
35:39
SPEAKER_03: It's kind of like Kenny Pickett, like has no, I think Kenny Pickett has gotten a little better with his accuracy, but kind of can't Kenny Pickett ever kind of has the same kind of problem sometimes.
35:48
SPEAKER_03: Like they have that strong arm, and maybe they get a little too hyped up, you know, and it just it goes to maybe just saw them are open and you know just get put a little bit too much on it.
35:58
SPEAKER_03: It just it's a shame.
36:00
SPEAKER_03: But that only would have tied the game, too.
36:02
SPEAKER_03: You gotta remember, right?
36:03
SPEAKER_03: They were down, yeah.
36:04
SPEAKER_03: That only would have tied the game.
36:06
SPEAKER_03: I don't see Walt Harris going for two.
36:09
SPEAKER_08: I was gonna say the the if you I was watching that game, they actually before that play, they were they were the announcers were asking that question.
36:15
SPEAKER_08: If they score here, would they go for two?
36:17
SPEAKER_03: Okay, you m you and me both knowing Walt Harris Walt does not go for that.
36:22
SPEAKER_08: Probably not, but but again, if the game goes in overtime, Mr.
36:25
SPEAKER_03: Slide in quick kick does not they're not not happening.
36:31
SPEAKER_08: But but but I mean Yogi Roth, I mean, and and like it wasn't his fault.
36:35
SPEAKER_08: I mean, Fitzgerald wouldn't have been able to make that catch, probably either.
36:38
SPEAKER_08: It was just too high.
36:39
SPEAKER_03: It was it wasn't that high, but it was just like I remember it was like six inches too high.
36:44
SPEAKER_03: It wasn't like such a horrible pass.
36:46
SPEAKER_03: No, but it was just like it was like missed it by that much kind of pass, and that's just the separation between a really good, a really a great team and a good team.
36:56
SPEAKER_03: And I think that's the team that ended up losing on that stupid BS pass interference call, isn't it?
37:02
SPEAKER_03: That Miami team.
37:04
SPEAKER_03: Uh yes, to a higher state.
37:06
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, oh yeah, I'm sorry, their offense is Kellen Winslow, um, what's his name?
37:12
SPEAKER_03: The running back.
37:14
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, McGahee, Ken Dorsey was really good.
37:18
SPEAKER_03: I mean, and then on defense, they were totally stacked.
37:22
SPEAKER_03: I I mean, that's I don't know if Sean Taylor, it might have been too early for Sean Taylor, but there's a bunch of guys on that defense that were really ended up.
37:31
SPEAKER_03: There's a bunch of guys on that defense that played in the NFL in that secondary.
37:34
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
37:35
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
37:36
SPEAKER_08: It's yeah, it's yeah, it was pretty shocking when they lost because again, nobody had beaten them for three years, and it took that penalty to to finally end that streak.
37:45
SPEAKER_03: Oh, well, Craig Krenzel was definitely, you know, I I can I still can't believe they lost to Craig Krenzel at quarterback.
37:52
SPEAKER_03: Well, they almost lost they almost lost to Yogi Roth.
37:56
SPEAKER_03: Well, Rob Rutherford is so much better than Craig Krenzel.
37:59
SPEAKER_03: It's not even funny, it's not even close.
38:02
SPEAKER_08: But I mean that that was I mean, Pitt, again, like we said, Pitts beat Pitts pulled some upsets, Pitts beaten some highly ranked teams, but that team was not just the number one team that year.
38:12
SPEAKER_08: They were one of the great teams of all time.
38:15
SPEAKER_08: And man, they were within inches of Yogi Roth, you know, scoring that touchdown.
38:21
SPEAKER_08: So that was a that was a bummer of a near miss on that one.
38:25
SPEAKER_03: My water heater broke that night.
38:26
SPEAKER_03: I remember coming home, and like after all that, I come home and there's like water all over my basement floor because my water heater broke that night.
38:33
SPEAKER_03: So that that's that's another fun fact about that game.
38:37
SPEAKER_08: And imagine if Pitt wins the Big East Conference after Miami haven't lost a game for three years.
38:42
SPEAKER_08: Like I just that would have been, again, remembered for all time, but unfortunately not.
38:47
SPEAKER_03: I bet Pitt would have had to play like another game later in that season.
38:51
SPEAKER_03: They somehow would have lost like Rutgers or something.
38:53
SPEAKER_03: Stupid.
38:55
SPEAKER_03: That would have been the most thing to do.
38:57
SPEAKER_03: Is beat this and then lose to like, you know, oh no, yeah.
39:00
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, then that then that game would have made our top ten worst pit losses.
39:05
SPEAKER_08: Podcast.
39:06
SPEAKER_08: All right, number four.
39:11
SPEAKER_01: Oh, great left hand, and Lewis is in trouble.
39:14
SPEAKER_01: The left hook did it, and Lewis almost down.
39:16
SPEAKER_01: He's on rubbery legs.
39:18
SPEAKER_08: We're going back to 1941 for this one.
39:21
SPEAKER_08: Uh, Joe Lewis, all-time great boxer.
39:25
SPEAKER_08: I mean, probably one of the top ten sports figures of the 20th century.
39:28
SPEAKER_08: Not just boxers, but sports figures.
39:30
SPEAKER_08: You know, what he was able to do, you know, in breaking barriers, the fight against Max Schnelling in the middle of the whole Nazi era.
39:39
SPEAKER_08: I mean, he he was as big of a celebrity as there was uh in this era.
39:44
SPEAKER_08: And in 1941, he's in his prime.
39:47
SPEAKER_08: He's in the middle of an unprecedented streak of 26 consecutive title defenses, which is still the record in the heavyweight division.
39:55
SPEAKER_08: He's scheduled to fight the Pittsburgh kid, Billy Kahn, at the polo grounds in New York.
40:00
SPEAKER_08: They fought this outside?
40:03
SPEAKER_08: Yes, they did.
40:04
SPEAKER_08: Oh, wow.
40:06
SPEAKER_08: Cool.
40:06
SPEAKER_08: It was 1941.
40:07
SPEAKER_08: Things were, you know.
40:08
SPEAKER_08: Well, though they used to fight even in Vegas.
40:10
SPEAKER_03: Remember when the guy Yeah, the one guy got killed, the guy from Korea, boom boomy and Sini.
40:16
SPEAKER_03: That was outside Caesar's Palace.
40:17
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
40:18
SPEAKER_08: Well, and he and even I was thinking of the I forget who was fighting.
40:20
SPEAKER_08: It was like Holyfield and somebody in the 90s.
40:22
SPEAKER_08: Remember a guy parachuted into the ring?
40:25
SPEAKER_08: Oh, the fan man.
40:26
SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
40:27
SPEAKER_08: Well, he couldn't do that inside a dome.
40:29
SPEAKER_08: So yeah, I mean, it wasn't unprecedented to fight things outside.
40:33
SPEAKER_08: Um Billy Kahn, again, was from Pittsburgh.
40:36
SPEAKER_08: He had been the light heavyweight champion.
40:37
SPEAKER_08: He actually gave up that title so they could start fighting heavyweights.
40:42
SPEAKER_08: The fight's a mismatch because Lewis outweighs Kahn by a solid 30 pounds.
40:47
SPEAKER_08: And and Lewis even wrote in his book years later that he was really concerned that the the press was going to have a field day with, oh, you beat up on a guy that was so much smaller than you.
40:57
SPEAKER_08: Um Lewis actually tried to lose weight before that fight so that it didn't seem as much of a mismatch.
41:03
SPEAKER_08: Um he's Lewis is a three-to-one favorite, but Billy Kahn shocks everybody by basically dominating the fight.
41:10
SPEAKER_08: His speed is too much for Lewis to keep up with.
41:13
SPEAKER_08: And in the 12th round, Kahn really pummels Lewis and is close to knocking him out.
41:19
SPEAKER_08: And after that round, Billy Kahn is ahead on two of the three scorecards, and he's even on the third scorecard.
41:25
SPEAKER_08: What that means, it's a 15-round fight.
41:27
SPEAKER_08: So what that means is he just needs to win one of the three remaining rounds to get the decision and and pull the upset of Joe Lewis.
41:36
SPEAKER_08: And in the 13th round, Kahn decides he's going to go for the kill, very much against the advice of his trainer, famously, who wanted him to just you know play it safe and get the decision.
41:49
SPEAKER_08: But the strategy almost works.
41:51
SPEAKER_08: He lands a combination of punches that really leaves Lewis wobbly, as you heard in the clip there, and about to fall down.
41:59
SPEAKER_08: But Lewis kind of like balances himself and stays on his feet.
42:03
SPEAKER_08: And after that, Billy Kahn gets a little reckless.
42:06
SPEAKER_08: And I I'm not sure why a lot's been said about this fight over the years.
42:11
SPEAKER_08: I i i you know, it could have just been at the time like he was so close to that miracle play of of knocking him out and he just wanted to try to force it.
42:20
SPEAKER_08: Or maybe he was thinking in his head, like, if I went on the decision, people are going to think that's really illegitimate.
42:26
SPEAKER_08: Um, you know, to his credibility, whatever the reason, Khan gets reckless and it it it ends up killing him because Lewis recovers, he lands some really big blows, the last of which knocks Khan out.
42:40
SPEAKER_08: So instead of Billy Kahn pulling off a miracle 13th round knockout, it's the champ Jill Lewis who knocks out Khan and it and the upset does not happen.
42:50
SPEAKER_08: Um they they do have a rematch years later.
42:53
SPEAKER_08: It's not until I think like 1946 because of the war.
42:56
SPEAKER_08: Uh, but by that point, um Khan's not the same fighter, and Lewis ends up winning that one pretty easily.
43:02
SPEAKER_03: Did he get knocked out in that same round in the 13th?
43:06
SPEAKER_03: Or did they get so he almost gets knocked out?
43:10
SPEAKER_03: Wow, Joe Lewis is a legend.
43:12
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so he comes back.
43:13
SPEAKER_03: I'm cause I'm thinking, well, maybe the next round, like he took a round to gather himself, but no, he literally almost gets knocked out.
43:19
SPEAKER_03: I was like, okay, I'm done with this.
43:21
SPEAKER_03: See you later, Billy.
43:22
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
43:23
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
43:24
SPEAKER_03: And like you said, he was like, 'cause I've heard that too.
43:26
SPEAKER_03: Like I've heard that story.
43:28
SPEAKER_03: Like I read that when I was when we were I was researching the one Art Rooney, the chief, he had talked about this fight too.
43:35
SPEAKER_03: Like, like he winked at him and said, like, before I'm going for the knockout or something like that.
43:41
SPEAKER_03: And it was just it wasn't a good idea.
43:44
SPEAKER_03: Like, especially like you said, like he's he's get he's already like his strategy is obviously like speed, not power.
43:52
SPEAKER_03: And so he like all of a sudden goes against his own strategy late in the fight.
43:57
SPEAKER_03: Like Yeah, like I said, I I don't know You're opening yourself up like it's still like a professional heavyweight boxer, and like you know, that guy only has to land what it only takes one punch with those guys, you know, with the George Foremans, Joe Lewis's, Mike Tysons of the world.
44:15
SPEAKER_03: You know, they hit you one time with a good shot.
44:17
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I don't care who you are, you're going down, man.
44:20
SPEAKER_08: So and that's that's kind of how that that fight's remembered, is is Billy Conn should have just gone for the decision and um and and didn't and then ends up losing.
44:31
SPEAKER_03: He wins that 13th round.
44:33
SPEAKER_03: If he he made, you know, and I mean, if he even if he just covers up for the rest of that round, I don't know what how much time was left.
44:40
SPEAKER_03: He wins that round right there, you know.
44:42
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, and then and then the fight is his no matter what happens, as long as he doesn't get knocked out in the last two rounds, he it's he already hasn't won.
44:49
SPEAKER_08: I mean, you know, and it's criticized for him going for the kill, but it almost worked.
44:54
SPEAKER_08: I mean, he almost had Lewis down in that in that round.
44:58
SPEAKER_03: And I've heard that like you what you were saying about that reasoning.
45:01
SPEAKER_03: I'm sorry to interrupt, because I've heard that reasoning too, like, oh, you don't beat the champ by a decision, you have to knock him out, you know.
45:10
SPEAKER_08: Right.
45:10
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I mean, think about like when Buster Douglas beat Mike Tyson, that was a knockout.
45:15
SPEAKER_08: I I think if Buster Douglas beats Mike Tyson on a decision, that's not remembered the way it was as the shocking, I can't believe this just happened.
45:23
SPEAKER_08: To see to see Mike Tyson, who who is probably the closest thing to dominance, um, you know, uh other than uh than Muhammad Ali or Joe Lewis, to see him get knocked out was just like floor, you just floored people.
45:38
SPEAKER_08: And and I'm sure it would have been the same thing with Joe Lewis, and I'm sure Billy Kahn's probably thinking that in the back of his head.
45:44
SPEAKER_08: I mean, I I would be.
45:47
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I uh it's a well, it's it's it's a great what if, but uh you know, unfortunately for Billy Kahn, that didn't work out for him.
45:57
SPEAKER_08: Nope.
45:59
SPEAKER_08: All right, number three.
46:01
SPEAKER_06: Here's a fake spike.
46:03
SPEAKER_06: Brown touchdown! Pittsburgh! James of Merino.
46:12
SPEAKER_08: So earlier we heard from Jack Buck, that's his son Joe, calling a Steelers Cowboys game from week 10 of the 2016 NFL season.
46:21
SPEAKER_08: The Steelers are four-and-four that year, and they badly need a win to get back into playoff content.
46:27
SPEAKER_08: They've dropped a couple games in a row, and they've got a really tough matchup at home that week.
46:31
SPEAKER_08: It's the Dallas Cowboys.
46:33
SPEAKER_08: They're on a seven-game winning streak.
46:35
SPEAKER_08: They had lost their first game, and then they won seven in a row.
46:38
SPEAKER_08: And and the Cowboys that year will ultimately go into the playoffs as the NFC's number one seed in 2016.
46:44
SPEAKER_08: And it ends up being a very classic Steelers Cowboys game.
46:47
SPEAKER_08: I mean, these two teams don't play often, but it seems like anytime they do, it's a it's a dramatic game.
46:54
SPEAKER_08: And and in this one, the Steelers have the lead late, but the Cowboys score a touchdown with 155 left in the game to take the lead.
47:02
SPEAKER_08: So now the Steelers have one last chance to mount a drive, and Ben Rothisberger quickly goes to work doing what Ben does best.
47:08
SPEAKER_08: He drives them 60 yards in just four plays.
47:11
SPEAKER_08: The last of those four plays is a 24-yard pass to tight end Jesse James.
47:16
SPEAKER_08: And James is tackled inbounds at the Dallas 15-yard line.
47:19
SPEAKER_08: So it's a long play, 24 yards.
47:21
SPEAKER_08: He's tackled inbounds.
47:22
SPEAKER_08: There's 54 seconds left, and the clock is ticking.
47:26
SPEAKER_08: So the offense runs down the field, tries to get up to the line of scrimmage as fast as they can.
47:31
SPEAKER_08: They do have one timeout left, but they want to save it.
47:34
SPEAKER_08: So they all huddle close.
47:35
SPEAKER_08: Ben's calling like he's waving his hands down, calling for the spike.
47:40
SPEAKER_08: And he gets up close to the center, takes the ball into the shock of everyone, including the Dallas defenders who were just standing still.
47:47
SPEAKER_08: He lobbs a pass into the end zone to Antonio Brown for the game, go-ahead touchdown with just 42 seconds left.
47:54
SPEAKER_08: And you heard Joe Buck say Shades of Marino.
47:57
SPEAKER_08: Um, that's a reference.
47:58
SPEAKER_08: Dan Marino had done the same thing to the New York Jets about 20 years earlier, uh, where it was the last seconds of a game and he faked a spike, and the Jets all just stood there assuming he was going to spike it, and then he he threw a touchdown pass.
48:12
SPEAKER_08: And and so Ben Rothesberger does the same thing, and it's a completion, and Hinesfield just erupts.
48:19
SPEAKER_08: It's gonna go down as one of these all-time great stealer moments, beating Dallas on a fake spike.
48:25
SPEAKER_08: Uh unfortunately, it's not remembered that way because they did not beat Dallas.
48:29
SPEAKER_08: Uh the Cowboys get the ball back, and Ezekiel Elliott, who's a rookie running back that year, he shoots untouched up the middle for the game-winning touchdown with just nine seconds left.
48:40
SPEAKER_08: So that that one was a bummer because I mean for two reasons.
48:44
SPEAKER_08: One, because the Stewards really needed that win.
48:47
SPEAKER_08: And um, you know, it looked like they had pulled off this miracle.
48:51
SPEAKER_08: And then number two, uh, I was at that game and I I've been to a lot of games and a lot of a lot of there's always opposing fans at games, and sometimes they're jerks and sometimes they're nice.
49:06
SPEAKER_08: And this is my experience, okay?
49:08
SPEAKER_08: This is my experience only, so take it for what it's worth.
49:11
SPEAKER_08: But but for me, my personal experience, the the worst opposing fans, the most insufferable opposing fans are Dallas Cowboy fans.
49:19
SPEAKER_08: And man, when they ended up winning that game after all that, they just were just in everybody's faces.
49:25
SPEAKER_08: And I just it was the most I was the most was annoyed I've ever been at a game.
49:30
SPEAKER_03: What was the fan annoying you the most?
49:31
SPEAKER_03: Was he kind of a bigger guy from New Jersey that had so no no earthly reason being a Cowboys fan?
49:38
SPEAKER_08: It could have been.
49:40
SPEAKER_03: I probably blocked it out.
49:42
SPEAKER_03: So Chris Christie might have been.
49:44
SPEAKER_08: He might have been there.
49:46
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
49:47
SPEAKER_03: So that was a bummer.
49:48
SPEAKER_03: I remember I remember this game distinctly because I thought, boy, our defense because I remember our defense was garbage that year, if I remember correctly.
49:56
SPEAKER_03: And this was just like further proof that our defense was garbage.
50:01
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's just like uh did we even make the playoffs that year?
50:05
SPEAKER_08: We actually made it, we actually made it to the AFC championship game that year and lost to New England.
50:09
SPEAKER_08: We and which was further than Dallas made it.
50:11
SPEAKER_08: They they had lost to Green Bay in the divisional round.
50:14
SPEAKER_08: Oh, was this Dallas?
50:16
SPEAKER_03: Oh, was this when we started getting blown out all the time in the playoffs?
50:20
SPEAKER_03: Did we get was that the uh Chris Hogan game?
50:23
SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
50:24
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah.
50:24
SPEAKER_08: But I mean they made it to the championship game that year.
50:27
SPEAKER_03: They they actually recovered that season and they beat Miami and Kansas City in the playoffs, and then uh and then defense has not been the same since this year, I will say that.
50:40
SPEAKER_03: I mean, they were kind of good like that year Ben was hurt, and then last year they were good for half the season.
50:45
SPEAKER_08: But this this was just so close to being like one of those all-time great moments.
50:50
SPEAKER_08: And like and in some of these plays, it it was like an inch away from happening.
50:54
SPEAKER_08: This one actually happens, but then you know it's Dallas wins anyway, so nobody would nobody would care at that point.
51:03
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Dallas via.
51:04
SPEAKER_03: I I don't I don't know who I find.
51:06
SPEAKER_03: I think I think I find uh I don't know, and Dallas hasn't won anything in a long time.
51:11
SPEAKER_03: So Oh, you wouldn't know it from their fans.
51:13
SPEAKER_03: Well, and they're kind of like Miami, like, or like not even the Giants, like I don't even find the Giants that bad, but like like anytime like Miami or Dallas is like eight and eight, they're winning the Super Bowl, Tim.
51:25
SPEAKER_03: They're winning the Super Bowl.
51:26
SPEAKER_03: And maybe that's more of a media thing, but like that's just like that what they re-signed Dak Prescott, right?
51:32
SPEAKER_03: Right.
51:33
SPEAKER_03: And they and they haven't won like nothing against Dak Prescott.
51:36
SPEAKER_03: I'm not saying he's a bad quarterback, but they haven't won anything with him.
51:39
SPEAKER_03: And it's like as soon as they re-signed a guy that like just broke his leg like badly last year, it's like, oh, we're going to the Super Bowl.
51:47
SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, it's like, yeah, maybe maybe slow that train down there.
51:51
SPEAKER_03: Try winning a really bad division and making the playoffs, then you'll talk, yeah.
51:57
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, well, that's that's typical.
51:59
SPEAKER_08: I mean, that's they're like the New York Yankees of football.
52:01
SPEAKER_08: I mean, they're they're America's team, and that that just goes back decades.
52:05
SPEAKER_08: So they're always good.
52:06
SPEAKER_03: I can handle the Yankees have a legitimate reason.
52:09
SPEAKER_03: They have 26 championships.
52:11
SPEAKER_03: The Dallas doesn't even have the most championships and hasn't won a championship since the what 1970 something.
52:18
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
52:19
SPEAKER_03: Well, 1990s, uh the ninety.
52:24
SPEAKER_08: Number 14 on the Steelers might have thrown them the ball to win a championship last time.
52:29
SPEAKER_08: You know, I have blocked that.
52:33
SPEAKER_08: All right.
52:33
SPEAKER_08: But it's been 30 years, though.
52:35
SPEAKER_08: Yes, it's been a long time.
52:37
SPEAKER_08: Number two on the list.
52:40
SPEAKER_06: Gunchar turns it around in a front right back and a little pass to the front back in her side of Scott! And that's it! And it's like Red Wings for the fourth time in 11 years of the Stanley Cup champions.
52:53
unknown: One last mobile play!
52:56
SPEAKER_08: So in 2008, after years of struggle, the Pittsburgh Penguins put together this really amazing young team of stars like Sidney Crosby and Kenny Malkin, and they storm their way through the playoffs and they make it to the Stanley Cup finals, where they take on a veteran Detroit Red Wings team who had already won multiple Stanley Cups.
53:16
SPEAKER_08: And in this series, the Penguins are totally overmatched.
53:20
SPEAKER_08: Uh the Red Wings win three of the first four games, and they have a chance to win the cup on home ice in Game Five.
53:26
SPEAKER_08: But Peter Secora for the Penguins, he saves the season with a goal on triple overtime.
53:32
SPEAKER_08: And the series actually heads back to Pittsburgh for Game Six.
53:36
SPEAKER_08: Um the Penguins still have some life, but in game six, once again, Detroit's in control.
53:41
SPEAKER_08: And um about midway through the third period, Henrik Zetterberg, who ends up being the Con Smythe winner that year and was Detroit's best player, he scores a goal to make it three to one wings.
53:52
SPEAKER_08: And at that point, I mean, it just feels like the series is over.
53:56
SPEAKER_08: Uh with 90 seconds left, the Penguins pull Marc-Andre Fleury out of net, and they have to somehow score two goals in the final 90 seconds to force a winner-take-all game seven for the Stanley Cup.
54:08
SPEAKER_08: Well, with a minute 28 left, they get a goal.
54:11
SPEAKER_08: They get a goal from Marionjosa.
54:13
SPEAKER_08: Marionjosa was a guy who they had traded for at the trade deadline.
54:17
SPEAKER_08: Uh they'd given up a lot to get him, and it really paid off.
54:20
SPEAKER_08: I mean, Marionhosa was really key to this run uh through the playoffs, and he he get he makes it three to two.
54:26
SPEAKER_08: So now they they still have life.
54:28
SPEAKER_08: Uh, they have to keep the goaltender pulled and try to somehow get an impossible second goal in that final minute.
54:35
SPEAKER_08: Uh Detroit kind of buckles down after that.
54:36
SPEAKER_08: The Penguins never really get a good scoring chance on Detroit's goaltender, Chris Osgood.
54:42
SPEAKER_08: Um, but they're able to keep them from scoring on the empty net.
54:46
SPEAKER_08: So now it's down to the final seconds, and the puck's all the way at center red with five seconds left.
54:51
SPEAKER_08: And Sergei Gonter has the puck, he passes it into the red wing zone.
54:55
SPEAKER_08: It eventually ends up with Sidney Crosby.
54:58
SPEAKER_08: He rips a desperation backhander at Osgood, which Osgood blocks, but it kind of gets away from him and it trickles to the side of the net where Hosa's skating straight towards.
55:09
SPEAKER_08: And Josa reaches the stick out and tries to backhand it into the net, but he's really like an inch short and a microsecond wait.
55:17
SPEAKER_08: Um if he had just been like a little bit north of where he was on the ice, then he would have got the puck into the net with like 0.2 seconds left to force overtime.
55:28
SPEAKER_08: And that would have been just an all-time miracle, especially if the Penguins can, you know, get the overtime winner and force a game seven.
55:35
SPEAKER_08: You know, just to score a triple overtime game to save the season, then Marion Hosa's score was 0.2 seconds left or whatever it would have been.
55:43
SPEAKER_08: Um man, but it just it was that close, and you could hear it in the audio there from Doc Emmerich.
55:50
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I remember I remember that clearly.
55:52
SPEAKER_03: I remember somebody like when the Red Wings were trying to clear the puck, like they had possession and and an empty net to shoot at.
55:59
SPEAKER_03: I think I don't know if it was Jordan Stahl or one of the penguins just to absolutely tackled somebody for the Red Wings.
56:05
SPEAKER_03: It like I just remember, like, they didn't call it.
56:08
SPEAKER_03: It was just like it was such a blatant hold.
56:10
SPEAKER_03: It was like, my goodness, they would have called that in football, and then like, yeah, oh, that was I was really mad.
56:17
SPEAKER_03: I I remember being like really frustrated with that because it just seemed like uh they should have I don't know.
56:24
SPEAKER_03: I really I really wish they would have scored there, but and then of course there was that commercial, like remember the whole offseason they had the commercial with Sid, like, oh I'm gonna remember this, I'm gonna use this for motivation.
56:36
SPEAKER_03: That was um that was the second uh was that their back no, that was not their back-to-back, that was their first cup, yeah.
56:41
SPEAKER_08: Right in a while.
56:42
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, so then so of course the post-next year we had to play them, yeah.
56:45
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, we played them again the next year.
56:47
SPEAKER_08: Hosa, that's his last play as a penguin.
56:49
SPEAKER_08: He actually goes and joins the Red Wings.
56:51
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, and we all know how that worked out for him.
56:54
SPEAKER_08: Um, you know, it but you know I talked about it in our episode that we did about the 09 penguins.
57:00
SPEAKER_08: I never I I still like Marion Hosa.
57:02
SPEAKER_08: I think he was a great player, and I never really held that against him.
57:05
SPEAKER_08: Plus, we beat him the next year or so.
57:07
SPEAKER_08: Can't be mad at him.
57:09
SPEAKER_03: Not too much.
57:10
SPEAKER_03: And he ended up winning the cup with uh the um Black Ox.
57:13
SPEAKER_03: Black Ox.
57:13
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
57:14
SPEAKER_03: So, yeah.
57:16
SPEAKER_08: All right.
57:17
SPEAKER_08: Um that brings us to the number one almost miracle play, and it's this one.
57:27
SPEAKER_04: Apparently, not looking to take any chances here.
57:38
SPEAKER_04: Time has expired now.
57:40
SPEAKER_04: What an incredible ending!
57:43
SPEAKER_08: So we've talked before on the show about the 1989 Steelers.
57:48
SPEAKER_08: Talked about how they lost their first two games by a combined score of 92 to 10, uh, how they were shut out three different times that year, and how they were ranked dead last in the NFL in offense.
57:59
SPEAKER_08: And how despite all this, they somehow still qualify for the playoffs.
58:03
SPEAKER_08: And on New Year's Eve, 1989, they're facing rival Houston Oilers at the Astrodome in Houston in the AFC wild card game.
58:12
SPEAKER_08: So that's that's the Steelers that year.
58:14
SPEAKER_08: Let's let's back up and talk about the Houston Oilers of that era.
58:17
SPEAKER_08: They're they're coached by a gentleman by the name of Jerry Glanville.
58:21
SPEAKER_08: Jerry Glanville was a very good thing.
58:22
SPEAKER_03: Remember the last time gentleman and Jerry Glanville in the same season.
58:25
SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
58:27
SPEAKER_08: That's a good point.
58:29
SPEAKER_08: Uh yeah, Jerry Glanville is not well liked, especially within the division.
58:34
SPEAKER_08: Um, his teams usually played dirty, they were brash, people just did not like those Oiler teams that did not like Glanville.
58:41
SPEAKER_08: So this game's uh December 31st, two weeks earlier, the the Oilers are playing a game at Cincinnati, in which the Bengals intentionally run up the score in an effort to humiliate the Oilers in a 61-7 victory.
58:57
SPEAKER_08: And when I say they intentionally ran up the score, they're they like did onside kicks, they did trick plays.
59:02
SPEAKER_08: This is when they're up by 40.
59:04
SPEAKER_08: They even attempted a field goal in the final seconds to make it 61-7 instead of whatever 58-7.
59:12
SPEAKER_08: And the the Bengals coach is Sam Weish, and they interview him after the game.
59:16
SPEAKER_08: And and sometimes, you know, if a if if a coach they ask a coach about running up the score, they always make an excuse, and you know, what are we supposed to do?
59:25
SPEAKER_08: Stop playing.
59:26
SPEAKER_08: And Sam Weiss doesn't like he's very honest.
59:29
SPEAKER_08: Yes, we were trying to run up the score, and he even says he wishes there would have been a fifth quarter, so they could have scored more points and beat them worse.
59:37
SPEAKER_08: Nice.
59:39
SPEAKER_08: I mean Sam Weiss.
59:41
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I mean, and could you imagine that today?
59:44
SPEAKER_08: I mean, like in the in the in the super like 24-7 analysis of football on the Twitter, like clutching a pearls.
59:50
SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
59:50
SPEAKER_08: I mean, Sam Weiss is like, yeah, I hate them, you know, and I wanted to beat them as badly as possible, and I wish we could have played another quarter just to score more points.
59:59
SPEAKER_08: Um he also he also makes this quote.
1:00:02
SPEAKER_08: He says, quote, about the Oilers, quote, they're the dumbest, most undisciplined, stupid football team we've ever played, end quote.
1:00:10
SPEAKER_08: So just keep that Sam Weiss quote in the back of your mind as we talk about this this playoff game.
1:00:15
SPEAKER_08: So in the wildcard game, the Steelers really play an incredible game.
1:00:18
SPEAKER_08: There's multiple lead changes in the fourth quarter, and Bobby Burster and Meryl Haj lead the drive of their lives.
1:00:26
SPEAKER_08: They take the Steelers down the field for the game-tying touchdown with just 46 seconds left in regulation.
1:00:32
SPEAKER_08: So the game's tied.
1:00:34
SPEAKER_08: There's 46 seconds left.
1:00:35
SPEAKER_08: They always get the ball back.
1:00:37
SPEAKER_08: And, you know, that's time to maybe get in the field goal range or playing in a dome, so you don't have to get too far down the field.
1:00:42
SPEAKER_08: But it it really doesn't go well.
1:00:44
SPEAKER_08: I mean, the Steelers do a good job holding them, and the best Houston can do is they get the ball to their own 35-yard line with seven seconds left, and then they take a delay of game penalty.
1:00:54
SPEAKER_08: So now they're back at their own 30-yard line with seven seconds left.
1:00:58
SPEAKER_08: The game's tied, and you know, you're in a spot here where uh it's too far to throw a Hail Mary.
1:01:05
SPEAKER_08: There's only seven seconds left, so you don't have enough time for two plays to get into field goal range.
1:01:09
SPEAKER_08: So it's probably time to just take a knee and play for overtime.
1:01:13
SPEAKER_08: That would be the smart, logical move here.
1:01:16
SPEAKER_08: But not the dumbest, most undisciplined, stupid football team ever.
1:01:21
SPEAKER_08: No.
1:01:22
SPEAKER_08: They call a Hail Mary pass.
1:01:24
SPEAKER_08: That's their play call at their own 30 with seven seconds left.
1:01:28
SPEAKER_08: So Warren Moon's the quarterback.
1:01:30
SPEAKER_08: Warren Moon had a really strong arm, but Warren Moon could not throw a football 70 plus yards into the air.
1:01:37
SPEAKER_08: So that's the play they call.
1:01:39
SPEAKER_08: He he scrambles around, trying to buy his receivers time to run 70 yards down the field so that he he can inexplicably heave a pass that's going to land 25 yards short of the end zone.
1:01:49
SPEAKER_08: And as he's running around, he's hit in the back by linebacker Greg Lloyd, and the ball pops out of his hands, and it's bouncing backwards at the Houston 10-yard line.
1:01:59
SPEAKER_08: At this point, the clock is expired, but the play's still alive.
1:02:03
SPEAKER_08: And a few guys for both teams give chase, and it's actually Lloyd that catches up to the ball first.
1:02:08
SPEAKER_08: He scoops it up and he charges straight towards the end zone.
1:02:11
SPEAKER_08: And there's an offensive lineman for Houston named Don Mags, who makes a very desperation last gasp dive at Greg Lloyd, and he's able to push Lloyd out of bounds literally at the one yard line, saving Houston's season.
1:02:26
SPEAKER_08: And and it it kind of Houston actually kind of had their uh rear end saved on two fronts because even if Mags hadn't made that play, the Steelers actually had 12 men on the field for that play, so it wouldn't have counted anyway.
1:02:38
SPEAKER_08: But could you imagine, Steve, if that game ends with them trying to throw a Hail Mary that had no chance of of working in a tie game, and then they fumble, that would have been that would have been the single biggest NFL plunder ever.
1:02:56
SPEAKER_08: That would have been relived forever.
1:02:59
SPEAKER_08: Right?
1:02:59
SPEAKER_08: I mean right.
1:03:01
SPEAKER_03: I would imagine.
1:03:02
SPEAKER_03: I mean it's it it's kind of like synonymous of the Houston Oilers at that point in their like I I don't like risk reward was definitely high on the risk and low on the reward, at least from Houston's perspective.
1:03:20
SPEAKER_03: I I don't know what they thought was gonna happen.
1:03:23
SPEAKER_03: Like maybe they like, oh well, Warren Morton can throw at 80 yards in practice, you know.
1:03:28
SPEAKER_03: I I don't know.
1:03:29
SPEAKER_03: It's it's an inexplicable thing, and they're lucky, like you're lucky Warren Moon didn't get hurt on the play, even worse, you know.
1:03:36
SPEAKER_03: What if he gets hurt and you know I don't know, was com Commander Cody Carlson available, or I don't know who their backup was on that team, but the Glanville is still the coach that year.
1:03:49
SPEAKER_08: Right.
1:03:49
SPEAKER_08: I mean he's the one that called that play because that was typical Jerry Glanville, that was typical Houston Oilers throwing cost in as a win.
1:03:56
SPEAKER_08: And like I said, like think about whatever the biggest NFL blunder is, Leon Lett, you know, holding the ball out, or you know, Leon Lett diving on the ball in the snow.
1:04:06
SPEAKER_08: Right, right.
1:04:07
SPEAKER_08: Or or or you know, um Matt Hasselback, you know, saying that he was gonna win the game on the coin tile.
1:04:13
SPEAKER_08: I mean, think about whatever the biggest NFL blunder is, multiply that times 50, and that would have been this.
1:04:19
SPEAKER_08: Because they literally would have lost a playoff game.
1:04:22
SPEAKER_08: Uh like this wasn't like an interception in overtime or like a you know a fumbled punt or a missed field goal, right?
1:04:28
SPEAKER_08: This would have been this totally unnecessary, almost like Joe Fazarchek, like miracle in the metal lens-esque in in a playoff game.
1:04:37
SPEAKER_08: In a playoff game.
1:04:38
SPEAKER_08: So it doesn't happen, but man, it was very close to happening.
1:04:42
SPEAKER_08: And and unlike unlike some of the other items on this list where the Pittsburgh team had a chance in a miracle play and then ended up losing, this one has a better outcome.
1:04:52
SPEAKER_08: The Steelers actually do win this game in overtime.
1:04:54
SPEAKER_08: Gary Anderson kicks a 50-yard field goal to beat the Oilers, and then Jerry Glanville is promptly fired, I think, the next day.
1:05:02
SPEAKER_08: And I I don't know if I don't know if it was this play contributed to that or if that was just a long time coming uh from from the ownership, but man, uh hard to believe that almost happened, and you know, probably no one would ever remember because it didn't.
1:05:18
SPEAKER_03: It's funny because Houston still, well, that franchise never won a Super Bowl, still has never won a Super Bowl.
1:05:24
SPEAKER_03: That owner, Bud Adams.
1:05:26
SPEAKER_03: I'm pretty sure he passed away.
1:05:28
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
1:05:29
SPEAKER_03: His daughter owns a team now.
1:05:31
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he never won a Super Bowl.
1:05:33
SPEAKER_03: My favorite Bud Adams, speaking of like, maybe this was the type of team like from the top down, because I remember Bob and Adams got fined, and like this was just like a couple like not more than 10 or 15 years ago.
1:05:46
SPEAKER_03: He flipped off the fans, Buffalo fans, like and he was like 70 years old.
1:05:52
SPEAKER_03: Like who that's like whose grandfather just does that stuff, you know?
1:05:57
SPEAKER_03: Like, you're I mean, maybe, maybe you're that old.
1:06:00
SPEAKER_03: Lived that long, I guess.
1:06:02
SPEAKER_03: Who cares?
1:06:03
SPEAKER_03: But I mean, wow, that's crazy.
1:06:05
SPEAKER_03: I mean, Bud Adams, he was uh he he owned that team in the AFL, didn't he?
1:06:10
SPEAKER_03: Or yeah, yes, yes.
1:06:12
SPEAKER_03: He owned that team forever.
1:06:14
SPEAKER_08: So, and and if you're gonna hire a guy like Landville, um you probably know what you're getting into.
1:06:18
SPEAKER_08: So you're right, it probably was top down.
1:06:21
SPEAKER_08: And I just can't believe they called that play there, and I can't believe the Steelers almost pulled off the miracle of all miracles.
1:06:29
SPEAKER_08: Um but that's why it's our number one, because it's an almost play and it it just barely didn't happen.
1:06:36
SPEAKER_03: It would have been more fun if it ended that way, but definitely would have been like not a lot of people remember that game.
1:06:42
SPEAKER_03: That's kind of up there with that that other we did a whole podcast on that.
1:06:46
SPEAKER_03: Um the game against the uh Chargers in the 80s, which stand with Dan Fouts.
1:06:53
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
1:06:54
SPEAKER_03: Yes, ironically enough.
1:06:56
SPEAKER_08: But I mean I I remember Anderson making the field goal.
1:06:59
SPEAKER_08: Um I barely remember.
1:07:01
SPEAKER_08: I I mean I again I watched that game and I remember being you know heavily invested because the Steelers didn't make the playoffs often back then.
1:07:07
SPEAKER_08: But I barely remember, I sort of remember that happening.
1:07:10
SPEAKER_08: But you know, again, if that would have ended that way, like I said, replayed for decades.
1:07:16
SPEAKER_08: It just would have been replayed for decades.
1:07:18
SPEAKER_08: So you would have worn out the Betamax tape.
1:07:22
SPEAKER_08: For sure.
1:07:22
SPEAKER_08: I wouldn't have had to because it would have been played everywhere.
1:07:26
SPEAKER_08: All right, everybody.
1:07:27
SPEAKER_08: Um, that's our list.
1:07:29
SPEAKER_08: Um, Steve, any final thoughts?
1:07:31
SPEAKER_08: Anything that you can think of that I left off?
1:07:34
SPEAKER_03: Uh of almost calls.
1:07:37
SPEAKER_03: Uh that's I would say there was a Pit Duke game where Connor uh scored like a late touchdown in in one of the overtimes where he ran over like four Duke defenders.
1:07:51
SPEAKER_03: It was in one of the commercials when he was coming back from cancer for UPMC.
1:07:56
SPEAKER_03: And so, like, because it was they were in the lower half, like the second turn on offense, and so they score a touchdown.
1:08:05
SPEAKER_03: Connors run over four people for Duke, and like what does like Paul Chris do?
1:08:12
SPEAKER_03: He kicks the extra point to tie the game again.
1:08:15
SPEAKER_03: It's like literally, I would have called timeout and ran James Connor again, and I would have gone over to David Cut Cutcliffe, the coach of Duke, and said, We're running James Connor to the left.
1:08:28
SPEAKER_03: Have fun with that.
1:08:30
SPEAKER_03: Put all 11 guys over there because you ain't stopping it.
1:08:33
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
1:08:34
SPEAKER_08: Well, and like you said, that like had they done what you just said, that that certainly would have been well, and it would have been well remembered.
1:08:41
SPEAKER_03: And then they ended up losing on the exact same situation.
1:08:44
SPEAKER_03: David Cutcliffe doesn't make a wuss call and like calls the two-point like in his half of the overtime, and they score on like a QB sneak from like the one.
1:08:54
SPEAKER_03: It's like so that that that's probably like the best.
1:08:58
SPEAKER_03: And if I ever get to talk to James Connor, I'm definitely that's gonna be one of my questions.
1:09:04
SPEAKER_03: Like, why could I did they caught why?
1:09:09
SPEAKER_08: Why?
1:09:10
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, that's a that's a good one.
1:09:12
SPEAKER_08: So yeah, I'm I'm sure there's some other other plays in there that we could have thought of too.
1:09:17
SPEAKER_08: Um, you know, let us know.
1:09:19
SPEAKER_08: Um you can communicate with us on Twitter or Facebook, or check us out on the web.
1:09:24
SPEAKER_08: All those links are in the show description.
1:09:27
SPEAKER_08: And uh, we'll catch you next time.
1:09:29
SPEAKER_03: Alright, bye-bye.