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REWIND: Fun Facts About Pittsburgh Sports (Volume 1) · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

0:00
SPEAKER_01: Hey everybody, Tim here.
0:01
SPEAKER_01: This week we're re-releasing our first episode we did on fun facts.
0:05
SPEAKER_01: And this episode's full of hopefully all kinds of um things that you find fascinating about Pittsburgh sports that maybe you didn't know before.
0:13
SPEAKER_01: I just wanted to make a note that uh because we recorded this a while back, there's a there's a couple of these fun facts that have changed since the time we recorded this.
0:23
SPEAKER_01: And I'm a little bit of a stickler for accuracy on this show, so I put those in the show notes just so you're uh aware of what those are.
0:32
SPEAKER_01: But uh otherwise, uh enjoy this episode we did on Pittsburgh Sports Fun Facts.
0:53
SPEAKER_01: Hi, everybody.
0:54
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to another episode of the Pittsburgh Sports Memories Podcast.
0:58
SPEAKER_01: And in this episode, we are going to throw 58 fun facts at you about Pittsburgh Sports.
1:06
SPEAKER_01: Everybody, my co-host is Steve Wirt.
1:08
SPEAKER_01: And Steve, the way we're going to do this is we're gonna break this up by teams.
1:11
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna go Steelers, Penguins, Pirates, and College Sports.
1:16
SPEAKER_02: Is this like Pittsburgh Sports Memories Jeopardy?
1:19
SPEAKER_02: Do I have to phrase everything in the question in the form of a question?
1:25
SPEAKER_02: Is Aaron Rodgers going to host?
1:29
SPEAKER_01: No, but um but but kudos again.
1:32
SPEAKER_01: If if you guys if the folks listening know some of these, then congrats because you know some of these you might know, some of these you might not know.
1:39
SPEAKER_01: And I think I think some of these are just interesting, and you can kind of go home and wow your friends and family with some of the things you'll hopefully learn on this episode.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: So let's start with the Steelers.
1:51
SPEAKER_01: The Steelers have the most wins of any NFL team since the merger.
1:56
SPEAKER_01: So they're the most successful football team of the last 50 plus years, and they're the only NFL team with over 500 wins during that time.
2:05
SPEAKER_01: That's not surprising.
2:06
SPEAKER_01: They haven't had a losing season since 2003.
2:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh, so definitely a lot of success in that merger era for the Steelers.
2:16
SPEAKER_01: Here's something we'll talk about for all of the pro teams.
2:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh, the retired numbers.
2:21
SPEAKER_01: The Steelers have retired two numbers, Steve.
2:23
SPEAKER_01: Do you know what those two numbers are?
2:25
SPEAKER_01: That would be Mean Joe Green and Ernie Stotner.
2:29
SPEAKER_01: That's correct.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: Those are number 75 and number 70.
2:33
SPEAKER_01: And that's something that I think a lot of folks don't realize.
2:36
SPEAKER_01: So, like Terry Bradshaw's number 12, or Franco's 32, or Jerome Bettis's 36.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: Those numbers aren't traditionally worn, and I don't think have been worn since those guys wore them.
2:47
SPEAKER_01: But they're not officially retired.
2:49
SPEAKER_01: And you you do have some numbers that get worn kind of over and over again, like Mel Blunt's 47 got has gotten worn since him, and I think Jack Hampshire was awesome.
3:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Scott Shields is awesome as and it's funny because whenever those numbers get worn and the guy doesn't measure up, people tend to get very angry, and Scott Shields was a great example of that.
3:10
SPEAKER_01: He was a safety back in the 90s that wore 47, and to Steve's point, he wasn't a very good safety, and just people were like, What's he doing wearing 47?
3:19
SPEAKER_01: Like if he were 48, I think some of the ire would have been lessened at Scott Shields, but because he was wearing Mel Blunt's number.
3:27
SPEAKER_01: But that's the Steelers.
3:28
SPEAKER_01: They don't retire numbers traditionally.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: And Joe Green's number, they only retired a few years ago.
3:33
SPEAKER_01: So I'm kind of interesting.
3:34
SPEAKER_01: They've only retired those two numbers.
3:37
SPEAKER_02: Didn't somebody just wear 88 not too long?
3:40
SPEAKER_02: Was that Darius Hayward Bay?
3:41
SPEAKER_02: I think I know I remember Courtney Hawkins wearing number 88.
3:45
SPEAKER_01: The kid from Penn State that they drafted this year, uh Fryermouth.
3:48
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's right.
3:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Fryermouth wears wearing Lynn Swan's number.
3:51
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
3:52
SPEAKER_02: And uh who somebody's been wearing 82.
3:54
SPEAKER_02: I've that was Randall L.
3:55
SPEAKER_02: I remember Antoine Randle, and that was of course John Stalworth's number.
3:59
SPEAKER_01: Right.
3:59
SPEAKER_02: And Yancy Pigpen.
4:01
SPEAKER_01: I mean, by gosh, boy, there's three really good players right there.
4:04
SPEAKER_01: Well, even 26 was Rod Woodson and then Le'Veon Bell, you know, had a lot of good seasons.
4:09
SPEAKER_01: And Dechey.
4:10
SPEAKER_01: And Deshay Towns.
4:11
SPEAKER_01: What about Dechay Towns?
4:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Dechay Towns.
4:13
SPEAKER_01: Right.
4:13
SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
4:14
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
4:15
SPEAKER_01: It's just an interesting, you know, a lot of you could say it's kind of cool because they're only really reserving that for the best of the best.
4:22
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, you just had the the Atlanta Falcons just retired Hank Aaron's number.
4:27
SPEAKER_01: You know, if you think that sounds odd, it's because you know Hank Aaron was a baseball player.
4:31
SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, so there's some teams that kind of you know, the Seahawks retired number 12 because it's their fans.
4:37
SPEAKER_01: It's the 12th man.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: So I mean, some football teams just retire like anything and everything.
4:42
SPEAKER_01: And the Steelers kind of, you know, they they just only do that for these very, very unique situations.
4:48
SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, you know, to your point, Steve, you see guys kind of wearing these revered numbers kind of weird.
4:56
SPEAKER_01: Uh some more Steeler fun facts.
4:58
SPEAKER_01: Two of the longest receptions in Steeler history were by a quarterback and a safety.
5:05
SPEAKER_01: So there's only a handful of plays in Sealer history that went for 80 yards over 90.
5:09
SPEAKER_02: I know the quarterback.
5:10
SPEAKER_01: Who was it?
5:11
SPEAKER_02: I know the quarterback.
5:12
SPEAKER_01: Mark Malone.
5:13
SPEAKER_01: So the Mark Malone caught a 90-yard touchdown pass from Terry Bradshaw against the Seahawks in 1981.
5:21
SPEAKER_01: Malone was a backup quarterback at the time, but he was he was pretty athletic and they were playing him at receiver in some of these packages.
5:29
SPEAKER_01: Oh, wait up.
5:29
SPEAKER_02: I think I know the safety too.
5:31
SPEAKER_01: I think I know the safety too.
5:33
SPEAKER_02: Chris Hope.
5:35
SPEAKER_01: Wow, good one.
5:36
SPEAKER_01: Oh, two, two.
5:37
SPEAKER_01: So, yes, and Chris Hope had an 81-yard touchdown reception in 2003.
5:42
SPEAKER_01: Steve, who threw him that pass?
5:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh, that would have been one Josh Miller.
5:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was a fake punt against the Ravens in 2003.
5:51
SPEAKER_01: Josh Miller to Chris Hope, one of the longest plays in Steel War history, 81 yards.
5:55
SPEAKER_01: So I think that's kind of interesting.
5:56
SPEAKER_01: That, you know, again, only a handful of plays that went that long, and uh the receptions were by a quarterback and a safety.
6:04
SPEAKER_01: So speaking of Steel War records, the oldest record in the Steel War record book is for longest punt.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: It was by a guy named Joe Jerry.
6:13
SPEAKER_01: He had an 82-yard punt versus the Packers in 1949.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I remember that.
6:20
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
6:20
SPEAKER_01: Heck of a game.
6:21
SPEAKER_02: I I just got home from the war.
6:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
6:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
6:25
SPEAKER_01: Turn on your radio and heard that one.
6:28
SPEAKER_02: Like, oh, yeah, got around the foco there.
6:31
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
6:32
SPEAKER_01: Well, some more fun facts about that particular game.
6:35
SPEAKER_01: Joe Jerry also threw two touchdown passes and kicked four extra points in that same game because not only he was he the steel repunter, he was also the quarterback and placekicker because, you know, 1949.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: Uh that game was also played at the Wisconsin State Fair Park in Milwaukee.
6:53
SPEAKER_01: The Packers, this would be a Packers fun fact, but the Packers for years always played one or two games a year in Milwaukee.
6:59
SPEAKER_01: I think they kept doing that all right up into the mid-90s.
7:03
SPEAKER_01: And and that was played in Wisconsin State Fair Park.
7:08
SPEAKER_01: So there's some fun facts about that game.
7:10
SPEAKER_02: They did that till the uh till the Brewers moved to uh Miller Park, because I don't I don't think you can play football in Miller Park.
7:17
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you could play a football field in there.
7:19
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
7:20
SPEAKER_01: So they they used to play at the Brewer's old Milwaukee County State.
7:23
SPEAKER_02: I think so, yeah.
7:24
SPEAKER_02: I'm pretty yeah, I'm pretty sure.
7:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
7:26
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
7:27
SPEAKER_01: Well, 1949 would have predated the Milwaukee Brewers, so that must have been why it was at the State Fair Park.
7:33
SPEAKER_02: Well, when got like a corndog or whatever they had at the State Fair that year.
7:38
SPEAKER_02: Hey, there's my prize winning cow.
7:42
SPEAKER_01: And then walked over and watched Joe Jerry pun it for 82 yards.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh speaking of stadiums, uh Three River Stadium was around for uh 31 years, I believe, or 30 two seasons actually.
7:56
SPEAKER_01: And during that time there were six NFL franchises who never won a game at that stadium.
8:02
SPEAKER_02: Oh Browns?
8:04
SPEAKER_02: No, no, Browns won.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: No, the Browns won their, although although it was years.
8:08
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the Browns lost, I want to say the first 16 or 17 years, but they eventually won.
8:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
8:14
SPEAKER_01: The Colts are actually the ones that were the least successful.
8:17
SPEAKER_01: They went 0 and 11.
8:19
SPEAKER_01: And that included three playoff losses, including that night.
8:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the AFC Championship game.
8:27
SPEAKER_02: But there are teams.
8:29
SPEAKER_01: Uh the Atlanta Falcon.
8:30
SPEAKER_02: Let me see if I guess them.
8:31
SPEAKER_02: Okay, Falcons.
8:32
SPEAKER_02: That makes sense.
8:33
SPEAKER_02: Just guess bad teams during that time.
8:35
SPEAKER_02: Guess bad teams.
8:36
SPEAKER_02: I mean you can bad teams of the 1970s to 2000s for 100, Alex.
8:41
SPEAKER_02: Uh ooh.
8:42
SPEAKER_02: Bad NFL teams, let's think.
8:44
SPEAKER_02: No, it can't be the only so it can't be a divisional rival, so it probably has to be like an NFC team, right?
8:50
SPEAKER_02: Uh I don't know.
8:52
SPEAKER_02: The Saints, maybe?
8:53
SPEAKER_01: That's a good guess.
8:55
SPEAKER_01: Not the Saints, but uh you got the New York Guets, Detroit Lions, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Carolina Panthers.
9:03
SPEAKER_02: Now, to be fair, I was on the right track with the Saints.
9:06
SPEAKER_02: I was on the right track with the You were absolutely on the right track.
9:09
SPEAKER_01: To be fair, the Panthers played one game in the River Stadium.
9:12
SPEAKER_01: It was it was in the snow.
9:14
SPEAKER_02: Oh, was that the oh was that the uh return, Travis Davis return returned uh nine.
9:20
SPEAKER_02: Man, that's a good memory.
9:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so so in that game, it was a season where the Steelers were really bad.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: It was the day after Christmas, it was snow covering the field.
9:29
SPEAKER_01: And Travis Davis, I think that's still the longest fumble return in Steelers history, is 101 yards because Fred Lane, who passed away shortly after that, he coughed up the ball into the end zone and Davis scooped it up and ran 101 yards the other way in the snow.
9:45
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, so so yes, the Panthers never won there, but I mean they had one chance.
9:50
SPEAKER_01: So that was the Steelers had some pretty good success against teams in their home stadium.
9:56
SPEAKER_01: One team that they have not had success on uh much on the road is the Rams.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: They have never once beaten the Rams in Los Angeles.
10:05
SPEAKER_01: The Rams played in Los Angeles ever.
10:08
SPEAKER_02: Wait, wait, no, but where was Super Bowl 10?
10:10
SPEAKER_02: Wasn't Super Bowl 10 in uh it was in Pasadena.
10:13
SPEAKER_01: It was in Pasadena.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: It was Super Bowl 14, but yes, it was in Pasadena.
10:18
SPEAKER_02: Oh, come on.
10:19
SPEAKER_02: That's almost LA, isn't it?
10:21
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
10:22
SPEAKER_01: It was not a Rams home game, sorry.
10:24
SPEAKER_01: Does not count.
10:26
SPEAKER_01: So the Rams played in Los Angeles between 1946 and 1994.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: They moved to St.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: Louis for about 20 years, and then in 2016 they moved back to Los Angeles.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: The Steelers Was Warren Beatty the quarterback?
10:39
SPEAKER_01: No.
10:39
SPEAKER_01: That was a movie.
10:40
SPEAKER_02: That was a movie.
10:41
SPEAKER_01: Uh the Steelers, it actually took the Steelers 70 years to beat the Rams on the road.
10:46
SPEAKER_01: They finally did that in 2007 when the Rams were in St.
10:49
SPEAKER_01: Louis, but they've still never beaten them in Los Angeles.
10:52
SPEAKER_01: So Rams are undefeated all time in Los Angeles against the Steelers.
10:57
SPEAKER_02: Well, that's gotta be happening in the next four years or next eight years.
11:01
SPEAKER_02: The Steelers got to play one game in LA.
11:04
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
11:04
SPEAKER_01: So hopefully they will have the chance to get that.
11:06
SPEAKER_01: The Steelers have beaten the Chargers and Raiders in Los Angeles, but never the Rams.
11:11
SPEAKER_02: Oh wow.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: Well, that is a fun.
11:13
SPEAKER_01: It is.
11:14
SPEAKER_01: It is.
11:16
SPEAKER_01: The 1945 Steelers hold the NFL record for fewest touchdown passes in a single season.
11:21
SPEAKER_01: Steve, you want to guess the number there?
11:24
SPEAKER_01: Was it fewest touchdown passes?
11:27
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
11:28
SPEAKER_01: Given up or no, completed.
11:32
SPEAKER_02: For the completed, I don't know, five.
11:35
SPEAKER_01: It's lower.
11:36
SPEAKER_01: It's zero.
11:38
SPEAKER_01: Zero touchdown passes.
11:40
SPEAKER_02: Zip.
11:40
SPEAKER_02: Well, you can't break that record.
11:43
SPEAKER_02: No, you can't.
11:45
SPEAKER_01: You definitely cannot.
11:46
SPEAKER_02: But you say there's a record that can never be broken.
11:50
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
11:50
SPEAKER_01: All I can do is tie it.
11:53
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm here's here's kind of an overall NFL fun fact.
11:58
SPEAKER_01: Eight Super Bowls have been won by quarterbacks who started the year as a backup on opening day.
12:04
SPEAKER_01: And the Steelers are one of those teams.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: The 1974 Steelers, the opening day starter was Joe Gillam, and they won the Super Bowl with backup quarterback Terry Bradshaw.
12:14
SPEAKER_01: Now that was kind of odd because Bradshaw had been the starter before that, but by this time he had lost his job, and you know, but then he eventually came back.
12:23
SPEAKER_01: If you're interested in the other times that happened, uh the 1971 Cowboys, Roger Staubach.
12:29
SPEAKER_01: Dolphins?
12:30
SPEAKER_02: Dolphins?
12:30
SPEAKER_02: Dolphins?
12:31
SPEAKER_02: Has to be Dolphins.
12:32
SPEAKER_02: 72 Dolphins, right?
12:33
SPEAKER_01: No.
12:34
unknown: No.
12:34
SPEAKER_01: No, cool.
12:37
SPEAKER_02: Greasy, I think.
12:39
SPEAKER_01: Greasy was hurt, and Earl Morrill played most of that season, but Greasy was the starter.
12:44
SPEAKER_01: And Greasy was back to the Super Bowl.
12:47
SPEAKER_01: He was okay.
12:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: That was a good guess, though, because you're right.
12:52
SPEAKER_01: Earl Morrill.
12:52
SPEAKER_01: Most people don't remember that undefeated team.
12:55
SPEAKER_01: Earl Morrill was the quarterback for most of that season.
12:58
SPEAKER_01: So it's Staubach in 71, Jim Plunkett in 1980 for the Raiders, Doug Williams in 87 for the Redskins, Jeff Hofstettler in 1990 for the Giants, Trent Dilfer in 2000 for the Ravens, Tom Brady.
13:11
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
13:11
SPEAKER_01: Tony Banks.
13:12
SPEAKER_02: Tony Banks was the starting quarterback for that game.
13:14
SPEAKER_02: I remember that.
13:16
SPEAKER_01: For the Ravens, yeah.
13:17
SPEAKER_01: Because they their opening day was in Pittsburgh and they shot out the Steelers.
13:20
SPEAKER_01: But Trent Dilfer was not the starter.
13:22
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
13:23
SPEAKER_02: Even later in the year, if you remember, the Steelers beat them 9-7 in a in a game and they won all the way to Super.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
13:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the Ravens did not have a good offense that year, but they had a very historic defense.
13:39
SPEAKER_01: And Trent Dilfer was just kind of good enough to, you know, to not throw it all away, and that's Tony Banks was not.
13:47
SPEAKER_01: And then the last one was Nick Foles in 2017 replacing Carson Wentz.
13:52
SPEAKER_01: So those are your eight times that a Super Bowl have been won by a backup.
13:56
SPEAKER_01: I didn't include Kurt Warner on that list because he was technically the opening day starter that year, because uh what's his Trent Green had gone down in preseason.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, but you could throw him on that list, you know, if you really wanted to also.
14:12
SPEAKER_01: But yes, most people don't remember um that Terry Bradshaw was not the starter when they won that first Super Bowl, when the season started.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: Speaking of Terry Bradshaw, we've told this story on on the show before, but a fun fact is uh he had surgery in 1983 on his elbow.
14:29
SPEAKER_01: He didn't want a lot of people to know uh that he was having it.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: It was in Louisiana.
14:34
SPEAKER_01: Um he was apparently wasn't where the Steelers wanted him to have it, so there was some disagreement there.
14:41
SPEAKER_01: And you know, he he registered at the hospital, but he wanted to register under an assumed name, and the assumed name he he used was Tom Brady, which is just a really uh odd and crazy coincidence.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: Tom Brady was like a six-year-old kid in California at the time.
14:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh but you know, that he would use that name when the two of them were would end up being two of the the most well-known quarterbacks ever.
15:08
SPEAKER_01: The NFL twice radically overhauled the overtime roles.
15:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh in 1974, they added regular season overtime.
15:17
SPEAKER_01: Before that, a game would just end in a tie.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: You wouldn't play overtime.
15:21
SPEAKER_01: So that was a huge change.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: And then in in the 2000s, they radically overhauled it again.
15:28
SPEAKER_01: For years it was sudden death.
15:29
SPEAKER_01: Whoever scored first won, and then they changed the rules to say, well, if you kick a field goal, the other team still gets the ball back, and they have a chance to score also.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: So those were the two times in the last, well, really ever, that the NFL really radically overhauled their overtime roles.
15:46
SPEAKER_01: And both times, the Steelers and the Denver Broncos played in the first overtime game under the new roles.
15:53
SPEAKER_01: So they played in 74 a regular season game.
15:57
SPEAKER_01: Do you have to mention the next one?
15:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I do.
16:00
SPEAKER_01: So this and the second time was 2011, a playoff game where they played under those new roles.
16:06
SPEAKER_01: And it Denver didn't kick a field goal, so the roles were kind of moot.
16:10
SPEAKER_01: No.
16:11
SPEAKER_01: Um but we won't talk about that.
16:13
SPEAKER_02: No, no.
16:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, that was kind of well, you can't beat touchdown Jesus, that's for sure.
16:18
unknown: No.
16:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh speaking of overtime, there are uh 10 overtime games that ended with the Steelers scoring a touchdown in their history.
16:28
SPEAKER_01: And oddly enough, three of them are against the Cincinnati Bengals.
16:32
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's I think that's interesting.
16:35
SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
16:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, you don't overtime games typically end with a field goal, right?
16:40
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's the majority of overtime games end with field goals.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: Um, you might see touchdowns a little bit more now that with those new roles I mentioned, because a field goal kind of gives the other team a chance.
16:51
SPEAKER_01: But I mean, that's how most overtime games end.
16:54
SPEAKER_01: So the the ten people that scored touchdowns in overtime for the Steelers, Benny Cunningham against the Browns in 78, Lynn Swan against the Patriots in 81, Stalworth against the Bengals in 82, Walter Abercrombie against the Houston Oilers in 86.
17:08
SPEAKER_01: Legend.
17:10
SPEAKER_01: Legend.
17:11
SPEAKER_01: Eric Green against the Bengals in 91, Throne Bettis twice in the 97 season against the Jaguars and Cardinals, uh, Antonio Holmes in 2006 against the Bengals, Rashard Mendenhall against the Falcons in 2010 on opening day, and then of course the immortal Kobe Hamilton against Cleveland in 2016.
17:32
SPEAKER_01: So those are your 10 Steelers who've scored overtime touchdowns.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: Conversely, the Steelers have only had an overtime touchdown scored against them four times.
17:40
SPEAKER_01: That was Webster Slaughter against uh for Cleveland in 86, Rasheen Mathis on a pick six for Jacksonville in 2005.
17:48
SPEAKER_02: Oh man.
17:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
17:50
SPEAKER_01: You remember that because Tommy Maddox.
17:52
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
17:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, excuse me.
17:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh Demarius Thomas.
17:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there, yeah.
17:56
SPEAKER_02: The Tebow game.
17:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Demarius Thomas in the 2011 playoffs, and then Jordan Howard for the Bears in 2017.
18:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh the ties.
18:05
SPEAKER_01: We were talking the ties.
18:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, all very bad memories.
18:09
SPEAKER_01: We talked about Rasheen Mathis having a pick six and overtime against the Steelers.
18:13
SPEAKER_01: The Steeler with the most pick sixes all time, it's a tie.
18:18
SPEAKER_01: And one of those guys is Rod Woodson, who's a Hall of Famer and arguably the greatest defensive back the Steelers have ever had.
18:26
SPEAKER_01: The other guy, it's William Gay.
18:29
SPEAKER_01: And both those guys have five interception returns for touchdowns.
18:34
SPEAKER_01: And and William Gay, I mean, he was a decent player.
18:36
SPEAKER_01: He played here for you know a decent amount of time.
18:41
SPEAKER_01: But it just it was odd, Steve.
18:43
SPEAKER_01: Like it's like anytime he got an interception, he's he returned it for a touchdown.
18:48
SPEAKER_01: Big play, Willie Gay.
18:50
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
18:51
SPEAKER_02: Uh didn't him and I remember him and Joey Porter like had this weird like they crawled on the ground celebration after one of his pick six.
19:01
SPEAKER_01: He he had a really goofy, he had a really goofy dance, yeah.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: And he got to do it a lot because, again, he he holds a record for most pick sixes in steeler history.
19:10
SPEAKER_01: So just not the guy you would think shares that record with Rod Woodson.
19:14
SPEAKER_01: You know, you'd think it'd be Mel Blunt or Carnell Lake or Troy Palomalo or right, somebody, but nope, it's it's William Gay.
19:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh the longest tenured steeler ever, it's Ben Rothisberger with 18 seasons and counting.
19:30
SPEAKER_01: Mike Webster second with 15 seasons.
19:32
SPEAKER_01: Oh, no, wow.
19:34
SPEAKER_02: So Ben is going to be the longest.
19:35
SPEAKER_02: Wow, that's that's one that unless I mean, unless Chris Boswell plays forever.
19:41
SPEAKER_02: That's the only guy I could see like currently having a chance, you know.
19:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: I I think, you know, had had Gary Anderson's contract situation been different, I think he would have been a stealer for probably more than 20 years, because he's got played forever.
19:56
SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, but yeah, Mike Webster, I think Heinz Ward's high on that list, John Staller's high on that list, uh, Gary Anderson's high on that list.
20:04
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, Ben Ben has three more seasons than Mike Webster, the second place guy.
20:09
SPEAKER_02: So that's crazy.
20:10
SPEAKER_01: How many I'm trying to look out how many Chris Boswell's even been in the Oh, it's maybe been six or seven at the most.
20:18
SPEAKER_01: And he's got to play for a lot longer than that.
20:22
SPEAKER_01: He's got a ways to go.
20:24
SPEAKER_01: Uh here's one of my favorite Steelware trivia questions ever.
20:28
SPEAKER_01: Super Bowl 43.
20:29
SPEAKER_01: That's that's a season and a game we have really have not covered in depth on the show.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: We we certainly will at some point.
20:36
SPEAKER_01: We'll save that for the Super Bowl season, like in February, maybe.
20:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, maybe.
20:41
SPEAKER_01: But that is a game where the Steelers played the Cardinals.
20:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's you know one one of the greatest Super Bowls ever.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: And during that game, the Steelers scored three touchdowns.
20:52
SPEAKER_01: Two of them were arguably the greatest touchdowns in the history of the franchise.
20:56
SPEAKER_01: The James Harrison 100-yard interception return, and of course, the Santonio Holmes last second miracle catch on the sidelines.
21:04
SPEAKER_01: But do you know who scored the other touchdown in that game for the Steelers?
21:09
SPEAKER_01: Was that Marion Barber III?
21:11
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
21:12
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
21:13
SPEAKER_02: It was uh it was some no-name running back, I think.
21:16
SPEAKER_02: Or was it Ben?
21:16
SPEAKER_02: Because no, Ben was called down at like the one, wasn't he?
21:21
SPEAKER_02: Uh I'm not sure.
21:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Ben, I think Ben had a touchdown taken away on a replay.
21:27
SPEAKER_02: It was like some scrub running back from Wisconsin.
21:30
SPEAKER_01: You are correct.
21:31
SPEAKER_01: It was, I don't know if he went to Wisconsin, but it was Gary Russell.
21:35
SPEAKER_02: So that's it, yeah.
21:37
SPEAKER_02: Or Minnesota.
21:38
SPEAKER_02: It was either Minnesota or Wisconsin.
21:40
SPEAKER_02: One of those big ten schools in the north.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: The main running back that year was Willie Parker.
21:48
SPEAKER_01: They had Gary Russell was kind of their short yardage back, and uh they were at the one yard line, they put in Gary Russell, and he plowed in for the first touchdown of the game.
21:58
SPEAKER_01: Gary Russell finishes Super Bowl.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: 43, Steve, with negative three yards resting.
22:03
SPEAKER_02: So one touchdown.
22:05
SPEAKER_02: And one touchdown.
22:06
SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
22:06
SPEAKER_01: But I I always love that.
22:08
SPEAKER_01: I always think that's a great trivia question because again, they scored three touchdowns in that game, and literally two of them are the most famous ever.
22:14
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, well, who scored the third?
22:16
SPEAKER_01: And you have to be a real diehard Steeler fan to know that it was Gary Russell, or even remember who Gary Russell was.
22:23
SPEAKER_01: So I always love that one.
22:26
SPEAKER_01: One final fun fact for the Steelers, you know, you always think of the Roonies as owning the Steelers.
22:34
SPEAKER_01: Who owns the Steelers?
22:34
SPEAKER_01: Oh, the Rooney family.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: And they do.
22:37
SPEAKER_01: They do own the Steelers, but they're actually part now of a larger group of investors, which included a lot of people.
22:44
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of people in that group do have the last name of Rooney.
22:47
SPEAKER_01: And then there's a lot of people that are like hedge fund managers or private equity investors.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: But there's also some other names on that list that you may not know about, and just a couple of interesting names on that list.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: Thomas Tall is part owner of the Steelers.
23:02
SPEAKER_01: He's the founder of Legendary Entertainment.
23:04
SPEAKER_01: That's a huge film company which uh made the Christian Bale Batman films, amongst others.
23:10
SPEAKER_01: That was one of the reasons that one of those Batman films filmed in Pittsburgh because of the connection there with Thomas Tall.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: Joshua Harris and David Blitzer, they're the owners of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils.
23:22
SPEAKER_01: And they're also part owners of the Steelers.
23:25
SPEAKER_01: So here's a fun fact.
23:27
SPEAKER_01: And then John Stallworth.
23:29
SPEAKER_01: John Stallworth, Hall of Fame receiver, who played for the Steelers for 14 seasons.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: He owns part of the Steelers.
23:38
SPEAKER_01: He only owns the uh wide receivers.
23:43
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, Mario Lemieux, not the only former player to own a Pittsburgh team.
23:47
SPEAKER_01: John Stalworth actually does own part of the Steelers.
23:49
SPEAKER_01: Now they don't.
23:50
SPEAKER_02: You'd think as an owner, he could speak up and like owners meeting, like, hey, can I get my number retired?
23:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
23:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he should really work on that.
24:02
SPEAKER_02: Well, give us another couple mil and we'll think about it.
24:06
SPEAKER_01: You only own, you know, 4% or whatever, so doesn't count.
24:11
SPEAKER_01: So those are our Steeler fun facts.
24:13
SPEAKER_01: Moving on to our beloved hockey team, the Penguins.
24:17
SPEAKER_01: Uh the Penguins have won five championships.
24:20
SPEAKER_01: Three of the Penguins' five championships were won with interim head coaches.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: Fun times.
24:27
SPEAKER_01: So if you ever want to have success and win a Stanley Cup for the Penguins, make sure you get a substitute head coach somewhere during the season.
24:36
SPEAKER_02: What would be more fun is to name the coaches that were fired for the interim.
24:41
SPEAKER_02: What's the ultimate trivia question?
24:44
SPEAKER_02: I know one's Michelle Terrian, and the other's uh, I don't know.
24:49
SPEAKER_02: That guy that was that we talked about him for like briefly, I remember one podcast.
24:53
SPEAKER_01: I I want to say his name was Mike Johnston.
24:56
SPEAKER_02: That sounds right, yeah.
24:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he was fired in 2016 and Mike Sullivan took over and won the Stanley Cup.
25:02
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that guy was the most generic looking, he was like a minor league coach his whole career.
25:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we talked about that in a previous episode.
25:10
SPEAKER_01: Michelle Terrien.
25:11
SPEAKER_01: And then 92, uh, you know, when Scottie Bowman took over, it wasn't because somebody was fired, it's just because Bob Johnson tragically uh became ill and passed away.
25:21
SPEAKER_02: I don't know that Scotty Bowman's like, you know, oh yeah, let me go get my Hall of Fame Stanley Cup winning coach off the bench.
25:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:30
SPEAKER_02: That's like that's like literally having like Bill Belichick as an assistant coach.
25:34
SPEAKER_02: It's like, oh, I'll just bring this guy in.
25:38
SPEAKER_01: A little different of a scenario there.
25:39
SPEAKER_01: You didn't exactly like promote the minor league guy like you did with Bausma and Solee.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: Um playoff overtime, you know, the to me, playoff overtime is the most exciting thing in sports, playoff overtime in hockey.
25:53
SPEAKER_01: Some some playoff overtime facts for the Penguins.
25:56
SPEAKER_01: Mario Lemieux never in his great career did so many things, never scored a playoff overtime goal.
26:04
SPEAKER_01: Brooks Orpick and Darius Casparitas scored as many playoff overtime goals as Sid and Tino.
26:11
SPEAKER_01: All those guys scored once in playoff overtime.
26:14
SPEAKER_02: Eliminate the best part is both those are, I think, eliminating like series clinching goals, aren't they?
26:22
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, you're right.
26:23
SPEAKER_01: You're right, because Orpick just knocked the Islanders out of the playoffs, and then Casper was against the Sabres, as we talked about in one of those previous.
26:31
SPEAKER_01: It's a good point, Steve.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: I forgot about that.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: Those were both series clinchers.
26:35
SPEAKER_01: Since 2013, the Penguins have played in 23 overtime playoff games, and they have won six of those.
26:43
SPEAKER_01: So recent years have not been kind to the Penguins in playoff overtime, but they've managed to win two Stanley Cups during that period, so you got that going for them.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: The Penguins have also lost at the time of this recording three consecutive playoff openers in overtime.
27:02
SPEAKER_01: So the Islanders, Canadians, and then Islanders again last year.
27:06
SPEAKER_01: The first game of the playoffs, game one of the opening series, the Penguins dropped all three of those in overtime.
27:13
SPEAKER_01: So not a good recent track record of overtime for the Penguins.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: Uh the Penguins all-time leader in penalty minutes, Steve.
27:20
SPEAKER_01: You want to guess at that one?
27:23
SPEAKER_01: I think I've looked this up before.
27:25
SPEAKER_01: I'll give you a hint.
27:26
SPEAKER_01: It's not who you would think it is.
27:27
SPEAKER_02: It's not like Darius Casparitas or Rolf Stevenson.
27:30
SPEAKER_02: It's not like a bruiser.
27:32
SPEAKER_02: I was thinking like Battleship Kelly or somebody like that.
27:36
SPEAKER_01: That's a good guess, too.
27:38
SPEAKER_01: It's semi.
27:38
SPEAKER_01: It's a more recent player.
27:39
SPEAKER_01: It's a player from the 90s.
27:41
SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's a more recent Rick Talkett?
27:43
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
27:44
SPEAKER_01: That's a good guess.
27:45
SPEAKER_01: It's Kevin Stevens.
27:46
SPEAKER_02: Ah, man, I was close.
27:48
SPEAKER_02: I was close.
27:48
SPEAKER_01: You were close.
27:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Kevin Stevens, the all-time leader in penalty minutes.
27:51
SPEAKER_01: And part of that record is, you know, you have to play for the team for quite a while.
27:56
SPEAKER_01: And Stevens did.
27:58
SPEAKER_01: Malkin is closing in on that record and probably will eclipse.
28:02
SPEAKER_02: I can't believe Malkin has that many penalty minutes.
28:05
SPEAKER_02: Well Malkin takes every penalty.
28:06
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he just does.
28:07
SPEAKER_01: He's not he's not like a dirty player, but he does take a lot of penalties.
28:11
SPEAKER_01: Some of them are very bad.
28:13
SPEAKER_01: Um, so he will probably eclipse Stevens before it's all said and done.
28:17
SPEAKER_02: There is the patented, let's take a offensive zone penalty.
28:21
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
28:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, we're really pressing.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: We're about to score a goal, whistle, arm in the air, 71 to the cross check.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
28:32
SPEAKER_01: Like it's like a hundred feet from your own neck.
28:35
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing?
28:37
SPEAKER_01: Like, really.
28:39
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
28:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh here's a good one.
28:42
SPEAKER_01: The Penguins had the last ever unmasked goaltender.
28:46
SPEAKER_01: That was fearless Andy Brown in 1974, or you know, maybe as he should have been called stupid Andy Brown for you know trying to stop pucking.
28:55
SPEAKER_02: Did you say 1974?
28:58
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
28:59
SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
29:00
SPEAKER_02: Wow, I can't believe they let a hockey a goalie play without a mask in 1974.
29:05
SPEAKER_01: I I I know with I know with the helmets.
29:08
SPEAKER_01: I I know with the helmets you were grandfathered in.
29:10
SPEAKER_01: If they made a role at some point you had to wear a helmet.
29:13
SPEAKER_01: But if you didn't, if you played the sort of thing.
29:15
SPEAKER_01: I remember that.
29:16
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I remember.
29:18
SPEAKER_01: Because there was a guy that played for the Capitals.
29:21
SPEAKER_01: I can't remember that was the shar there was a guy who played for the Sharks that didn't, yeah.
29:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, and he played for like years and he just never wore a helmet, just so it could be the answer to a trivia question.
29:31
SPEAKER_01: But the helmet thing, at least, I don't know, not very smart either, but puck's flying at you and you're not wearing a mask.
29:38
SPEAKER_02: I just Well, people are literally shooting the puck, and your job is to stop it.
29:42
SPEAKER_02: Like if you're a forward or defenseman, that necessarily isn't your job.
29:47
SPEAKER_02: But like as a goalie, that's kind of your whole job.
29:50
SPEAKER_02: So I would think I would wear a mask.
29:54
SPEAKER_02: That's just me, but hey, each their own.
29:56
SPEAKER_02: I I can't believe like and too, like, I think back in like the old days they didn't curve the sticks as much, so you couldn't shoot the puck as hard.
30:04
SPEAKER_02: But like definitely by the 70s, people were curving the sticks pretty good there.
30:08
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that that really makes the shots go a lot faster.
30:12
SPEAKER_01: So fearless Andy Brown.
30:14
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't careful.
30:17
SPEAKER_02: Didn't probably have any teeth and broke his nose a lot, but uh hey, good for him.
30:21
SPEAKER_01: But he's fearless.
30:23
unknown: Yeah.
30:24
SPEAKER_01: The Penguins, uh, this is another fun fact.
30:26
SPEAKER_01: The Penguins have never won a Stan on home ice.
30:29
SPEAKER_01: The only team that has won a Stan Cup on Pittsburgh soil is the Detroit Red Wings in 2008.
30:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh the Penguins have been around since 1967, but Pittsburgh actually had an NHL team back in the 1920s.
30:44
SPEAKER_01: They were called, this is pretty original, the Pittsburgh Pirates.
30:48
SPEAKER_01: They existed in the NHL between 1925 and 1930, and kind of their contribution to Pittsburgh history is they were the first team in the city to wear black and gold uniforms.
31:01
SPEAKER_02: I don't think I covered them in the defunct team thing, did I?
31:05
SPEAKER_02: No, I didn't.
31:06
SPEAKER_01: We'll have to go back and do a follow-up then, Steve.
31:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
31:09
SPEAKER_02: An addendum to that.
31:11
SPEAKER_02: Add it in.
31:12
SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry, I forgot about the Pittsburgh Pirates.
31:14
SPEAKER_02: The Hornets were much more successful anyway, but uh they weren't a Stanley Cup team, though.
31:21
SPEAKER_02: They weren't an NHL team, they were whatever that other league, the minor league was.
31:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and this was again the 1920s, I mean how how popular was hockey at that point.
31:33
SPEAKER_01: But but here's another contribution they kind of made later.
31:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh in 1980, the Penguins wanted to change their colors.
31:40
SPEAKER_01: The Penguins had always worn like this kind of light blue and white sweater.
31:44
SPEAKER_01: And in 1980, this was after the Pirates and the and the Steelers had both won championships the year before, they wanted to change the black and gold to match the Steelers and the Pirates and the Soul City of Champions theme.
31:56
SPEAKER_01: Well, the Bruin the Boston Bruins objected, and they went to the NHL and they said, no, those are our colors.
32:03
SPEAKER_01: You keep the Penguins aren't allowed to do that.
32:05
SPEAKER_01: But the NHL allowed it because the Penguins said, Hold up a second, these this team in the 20s, the Pittsburgh Pirates, they wore black and gold before Boston did.
32:16
SPEAKER_01: So we actually invented black and gold Boston.
32:19
SPEAKER_01: So the NHL actually, because the Penguins made that argument that we actually had black and gold, you know, 50, 60 years before that, that they were allowed to do that, and the NHL agreed and told Boston to stick it.
32:33
SPEAKER_01: So that was I thought that was kind of a fun, fun fact there.
32:37
SPEAKER_01: Uh Wayne Gretzky, of course, you know, widely recognized as one of the greatest player ever, although a lot of us in Pittsburgh wouldn't agree with that.
32:46
SPEAKER_01: His final game ever was against the Penguins in 1999.
32:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh that was at Madison Square Garden, and his final moment in the NHL was sitting on the bench watching Yarmir Jager score the overtime goal to end his career.
32:59
SPEAKER_01: So haha.
33:01
SPEAKER_01: Um Craig Patrick, Steve, you know, Craig Patrick, of course, the general manager for the Penguins for years.
33:07
SPEAKER_01: He's the one that made the the famous, you know, Ron Francis, all famous in trade in '91, and uh drafted Sidney Crosby years later.
33:16
SPEAKER_01: So Craig Patrick, obviously a well-known figure in Penguins history.
33:20
SPEAKER_01: Did you know that Craig Patrick is currently employed by the Pittsburgh Penguins as a scout?
33:27
SPEAKER_01: Really?
33:28
SPEAKER_01: I didn't know that.
33:29
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
33:30
SPEAKER_01: He actually works for the Penguins as of this recording.
33:33
SPEAKER_01: So again.
33:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I did not know that.
33:36
SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of interesting.
33:40
SPEAKER_02: Uh Jim Leland's a scout.
33:43
SPEAKER_02: He's like probably like that.
33:44
SPEAKER_02: It's just like a honorary title.
33:48
SPEAKER_01: Uh do you think they actually pay him money?
33:50
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
33:50
SPEAKER_01: That's a great question.
33:51
SPEAKER_01: I I would think if you're on the on the employed by the team that you would get some kind of a financial compensation.
34:02
SPEAKER_02: But who knows?
34:04
SPEAKER_02: He just gets to go he gets to go go get to go to games for free.
34:08
SPEAKER_02: Get free coffee from Dunkin' Donuts theory.
34:12
SPEAKER_02: Maybe.
34:14
SPEAKER_02: Maybe if he shows up with his 1980 gold gold medal, they they like really like give him an extra cream or something at the fucking donut side.
34:24
SPEAKER_01: So Craig Patrick obviously.
34:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Craig Patrick obviously is.
34:29
SPEAKER_02: He's the son of uh isn't his grandfather, he's he's a relation to the guy who the Patrick, isn't there the isn't there a trap trophy in hockey name there, the Patrick?
34:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think he's related to somebody famous.
34:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think you're right about that.
34:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh so Craig Patrick obviously made um a lot of trades in his time as Penguins General Manager because I mean hockey, I probably Steve, hockey's a sport where you see more trades in the world.
34:56
SPEAKER_02: He's the grandson of Lester Patrick, who I've heard of before.
35:00
SPEAKER_01: Lester Patrick, okay.
35:02
SPEAKER_01: So the Penguins uh again, lots of trades over the years.
35:07
SPEAKER_01: The team who the Penguins have not traded with for the longest, the New York Rangers, the last Pittsburgh trade with the Rangers, it was February 10th, 2003.
35:16
SPEAKER_01: And that was the trade where the Penguins sent Alexei Kovalev back to the Rangers for like a bag of pucks, basically.
35:24
SPEAKER_02: Uh and I guess the trade was so bad the Rangers like, ah, we can't do it no more.
35:29
SPEAKER_01: Well, it was it was probably much worse for the Penguins.
35:31
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, it it they have not traded with the Rangers for almost 20 years.
35:36
SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of odd.
35:38
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if that's just you know, that the two teams have just never found common ground or if there's more to it, but I just thought that was interesting.
35:47
SPEAKER_01: The Penguins have only had four captains since 1987.
35:52
SPEAKER_01: Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis, Yarmir Yager, and Sidney Crosby.
35:56
SPEAKER_01: The captain before Lemieux took over.
35:58
SPEAKER_01: You'll never nope, you'll never guess it.
36:01
SPEAKER_01: Never guess it.
36:02
SPEAKER_01: No, and again, you folks listening out.
36:05
SPEAKER_01: John John Cullen?
36:07
SPEAKER_01: Nope, it's Dan Frawley.
36:10
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, I wouldn't have gone.
36:11
SPEAKER_01: And again, if you if you remember Dan Fullen.
36:13
SPEAKER_01: He's no Davy Hannon, that's for sure.
36:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if you remember Dan Frawley, congrats on being the most diehard Pence fan ever.
36:20
SPEAKER_01: Because Dan Frawley played in 37 NHL games and spent most of his career in the minors.
36:27
SPEAKER_01: Even after he was the captain of the Penguins, he got sent down to the minors and and only appeared in 37 games in the pros.
36:34
SPEAKER_01: So why he was captain, I I have no clue.
36:37
SPEAKER_01: I the only thing I could find was that he was kind of an older player, and and I guess in the locker room and stuff, he was people saw him as kind of a leader.
36:47
SPEAKER_01: But I mean he was a no-name player that barely ever played in the NHL.
36:51
SPEAKER_01: But he he has the distinction of being the captain of the Penguins before Mario.
36:57
SPEAKER_01: So good on him.
36:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh just like the Steelers, the Penguins have only retired two numbers.
37:03
SPEAKER_01: Those two numbers are number 21.
37:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh Michel Briere, who uh was a young superstar for them.
37:09
SPEAKER_01: In the 70s, he tragically died in a car accident.
37:12
SPEAKER_01: And then the other number is 66.
37:14
SPEAKER_01: And if you don't know whose number that is, then probably not a diehard Penguins fan.
37:19
SPEAKER_02: Who is that?
37:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
37:25
SPEAKER_01: Go go Google it.
37:28
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
37:29
SPEAKER_01: Uh the the team the team that the penguins have the best winning percentage against all time is uh I was gonna say the Winnipeg Jets.
37:39
SPEAKER_02: Oh well.
37:41
SPEAKER_01: Sorry, I said pause.
37:43
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
37:43
SPEAKER_01: It it is the Winnipeg Jets, yes.
37:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh that franchise for a while.
37:48
SPEAKER_01: They didn't exist for a couple of years.
37:49
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
37:50
SPEAKER_01: Well, they used to be the Atlanta Thrashers, so that's that's the same franchise.
37:54
SPEAKER_01: There was a Winnipeg Jets that moved to Phoenix and became the Coyotes, and then the Atlanta Thrashers became the new Winnipeg Jets.
38:02
SPEAKER_01: So so that franchise, the one that you doing like the Atlanta Thrashers?
38:06
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
38:06
SPEAKER_01: It was not a Cleveland Browns thing where they took over the history.
38:09
SPEAKER_02: So the the So technically the Arizona Coyotes are still the Winnipeg Jets?
38:15
SPEAKER_02: Correct.
38:16
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
38:17
SPEAKER_02: So T.
38:17
SPEAKER_02: Moussolani, or I can't think of another Winnipeg Jet.
38:21
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
38:23
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
38:23
SPEAKER_01: That that's a different franchise.
38:25
SPEAKER_01: Um, but the Penguins have a 77 uh win percentage against that franchise.
38:32
SPEAKER_01: Of the NHL's 31 other teams, the Penguins only have a losing record against seven of them.
38:38
SPEAKER_01: The seven teams that the Penguins have a losing record against are the Sharks, Kings, Blues, Flyers, unfortunately.
38:46
SPEAKER_02: Islanders and Canadians.
38:47
SPEAKER_01: Uh Canadians and the United States.
38:49
SPEAKER_01: Islanders and Canadians.
38:50
SPEAKER_01: Canadians, not Islanders.
38:52
SPEAKER_01: Not the Islanders?
38:53
SPEAKER_01: Well, because we're counting, you know, regular season, not playoffs.
38:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh and then Bruins and Bruins and Blackhawks are the other two.
39:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
39:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because I mean the Penguins stunk for a long time.
39:05
SPEAKER_01: So that makes sense that some of those old school teams.
39:08
SPEAKER_01: I mean, all those teams that I just listed except for the Sharks, you know, have been around for a while.
39:13
SPEAKER_01: Um, the Penguins are exactly 500 against the Las Vegas Golden Knights.
39:18
SPEAKER_01: And as of this recording, have yet to play against the Seattle Kraken.
39:23
SPEAKER_01: The most common playoff opponent, Steve, you know this one.
39:26
SPEAKER_01: The most common playoff opponent.
39:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the team that they've played the most in the playoffs.
39:32
SPEAKER_02: Uh Capitals, maybe?
39:34
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
39:34
SPEAKER_01: The Washington Capitals.
39:35
SPEAKER_01: The Penguins.
39:37
SPEAKER_02: It is the Capitals.
39:37
SPEAKER_01: So it's they've played each other in 11 playoff series.
39:41
SPEAKER_01: Penguins have won nine of those eleven.
39:45
SPEAKER_01: Four Capitals.
39:46
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
39:47
SPEAKER_02: Sorry.
39:49
SPEAKER_02: But you know what?
39:51
SPEAKER_02: Do you got the record for the Penguins against the Islanders?
39:53
SPEAKER_02: Because it's not good.
39:55
SPEAKER_02: It's like one.
39:56
SPEAKER_02: What they've beaten them once in the playoffs.
39:58
SPEAKER_02: I think it's the Brooks Orpick.
39:59
SPEAKER_02: I think that's it.
40:00
SPEAKER_02: That's the list.
40:01
SPEAKER_02: That's the list.
40:02
SPEAKER_02: An Americal Brooks Orpick goal.
40:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, in game seven in overtime.
40:07
SPEAKER_02: That's it.
40:07
SPEAKER_02: That's the only time.
40:10
SPEAKER_01: But Steve, these are fun facts, not dreary, depressing facts.
40:14
SPEAKER_01: We left that one off.
40:18
SPEAKER_01: Mario Lemieux holds a ton of records, obviously, for the Penguins.
40:22
SPEAKER_01: One of the most impressive records that Lemieux holds, it's an NHL record.
40:26
SPEAKER_01: Lemieux once scored 13 short-handed goals in a season.
40:30
SPEAKER_01: That was in the 88-89s.
40:32
SPEAKER_01: Could you imagine like I don't even know if a team can score 13 short-handed goals in a season, and Mario did that by himself in one year?
40:40
SPEAKER_01: That was the year that Wayne Gretzky got 30 more votes for the MVP because, you know, hockey.
40:47
SPEAKER_01: He deserved it.
40:48
SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
40:51
SPEAKER_01: Penguins' record for most penalties in a single game was on October 30th, 1988, that same season at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers, where the Penguins incurred 32 penalties.
41:04
SPEAKER_02: Oh, this is as a team, not as one person.
41:06
SPEAKER_02: How did that Islanders game with like ghillies and all of them not have more?
41:11
SPEAKER_02: I was surprised.
41:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
41:13
SPEAKER_01: I would have thought that would have been the record, but it's not.
41:15
SPEAKER_01: It's an 88 game.
41:16
SPEAKER_02: I mean, even the goalie, even the goalies got enough.
41:20
SPEAKER_02: They did.
41:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and maybe it was just because like the rest of that game didn't have a bunch of penalties, you know.
41:25
SPEAKER_01: I I don't know.
41:27
SPEAKER_01: The most penalty minutes, you you were kind of alluding to this, most penalty minutes uh incurred in a game by one player was Russ Anderson against the Edmonton Oilers in 1980.
41:37
SPEAKER_01: Russ had 51 penalty minutes in a 60-minute game.
41:42
unknown: How do you even do that?
41:44
SPEAKER_02: Like, like, I mean, like what's considered like a high like ice time, like 40 minutes, 30.
41:50
SPEAKER_02: Like, what's Chris Latang?
41:52
SPEAKER_02: 28.
41:52
SPEAKER_02: Even in ice.
41:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's like, you know, you don't even get that much ice time.
41:57
SPEAKER_02: Never mind.
41:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, good gravy.
41:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so kudos to Russia.
42:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh the fact that I don't even know how you do that.
42:09
SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, you could get like the 10-minute major, you know, uh, but then like how do you do that without getting like a game misconduct?
42:17
SPEAKER_02: I guess back in the 70s.
42:19
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
42:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I don't know.
42:22
SPEAKER_01: But yes, that's that's the record that will probably not be broken.
42:25
SPEAKER_01: So kudos to Russ who'll be in the Penguin Record book for a long time.
42:31
SPEAKER_01: The Penguins have held the number one overall draft pick three times in their history, and all three times they struck gold.
42:36
SPEAKER_01: Mario Lemieux, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Sidney Crosby.
42:40
SPEAKER_01: They've had the number two overall draft pick five times.
42:43
SPEAKER_01: Those have been a little more mixed.
42:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh those picks, Jordan Stahl, Yufkinny Malkin, Craig Simpson, all three of those guys, had pretty good careers.
42:52
SPEAKER_01: Blair Chapman, not so much.
42:54
SPEAKER_01: And then Steve Rex, who was actually the first ever draft pick of the Penguins when they were an expansion team.
42:59
SPEAKER_01: And Steve Rex actually chooses to join the Canadian national hockey team rather than play for the Penguins because, you know, God save the Queen or whatever.
43:10
SPEAKER_02: Well, like back then, too, you gotta remember, like, remember the draft was different.
43:15
SPEAKER_02: Like, you weren't allowed to draft players from like Quebec or something, or like Canada.
43:20
SPEAKER_02: It's like literally, like, could you imagine 1967 not being able to draft players from Canada?
43:26
SPEAKER_02: That's insane.
43:28
SPEAKER_02: Like, you're literally like it'd be like the NFL having a draft and be like, okay, you can't draft players from the United States.
43:37
SPEAKER_02: Uh right.
43:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that would be a good thing.
43:39
SPEAKER_02: How's that gonna work out for you?
43:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
43:43
SPEAKER_01: It's like uh we talked about the Penguins' recent um track record with playoff overtime, but their recent track record for playoffs is pretty good.
43:54
SPEAKER_01: They made it to the playoffs 15 consecutive years and counting.
43:58
SPEAKER_01: That is not only the I the longest active streak in the NHL, but the longest active streak in North American pro sports in general.
44:06
SPEAKER_01: So you have the Penguins with 15, you have the Minnesota Lynx and the WNBA with 10, you have the Dodgers in baseball with eight, the Houston Rockets with eight, and the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL have six consecutive playoff appearances.
44:19
SPEAKER_01: So the Penguins right now have the longest streak going for making the playoffs.
44:26
SPEAKER_01: Speaking of the playoffs, the Penguins have never lost a game seven on the road.
44:31
SPEAKER_01: They've played six game sevens on the road all time, and they've won all six of them.
44:37
SPEAKER_01: That's pretty impressive.
44:38
SPEAKER_02: That is the weirdest.
44:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's the weirdest stat ever.
44:41
SPEAKER_02: That really is odd.
44:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they've never lost a game seven on the road.
44:47
SPEAKER_02: No, you're not including like game fives or anything like that, like when they had the shorter series.
44:52
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
44:53
SPEAKER_01: These are game sevens.
44:54
SPEAKER_01: No, that's a good point.
44:55
SPEAKER_01: That's a fair point because when they had the five-game first round series, I they definitely lost at least one of those to the islanders.
45:03
SPEAKER_02: Did they and they lost didn't they lose they lost didn't they lose to St.
45:11
SPEAKER_02: Louis or St.
45:12
SPEAKER_02: Louis way back when in overtime or probably.
45:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
45:18
SPEAKER_01: I mean, again, I I however far back that goes, I but you know, still pretty impressive.
45:24
SPEAKER_01: Game seven's a very high pressure situation.
45:29
SPEAKER_01: Now conversely, they do at home.
45:32
SPEAKER_01: Penguins are four and seven.
45:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
45:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
45:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, four and seven in home game seven.
45:37
SPEAKER_01: So if you're gonna go seven games in a series, you want the penguins to be playing that game seven, not in Pittsburgh.
45:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh speaking of road game sevens, when the Penguins beat the Red Wings in 2009 to win the Stanley Cup in a road game seven, it meant that all three Pittsburgh's pro sports teams had won a championship in the city of Detroit.
46:00
SPEAKER_01: The Pirates in 1909, the Steelers in 2005, and the Penguins in 2009.
46:07
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
46:07
SPEAKER_01: So maybe we should play more championships in Detroit.
46:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
46:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so it's been good to the city of Pittsburgh.
46:15
SPEAKER_02: Uh oddly enough.
46:17
SPEAKER_02: Pitt did win the little Caesars Pizza Bowl there, too.
46:20
SPEAKER_02: So well, yeah, you gotta throw that in.
46:22
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that was big.
46:23
SPEAKER_02: I mean Stanley Cup, little Caesars Pizza Bowl.
46:26
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's right there.
46:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh those three franchises, only one of them has won a title in Pittsburgh.
46:33
SPEAKER_01: That's the Pirates.
46:34
SPEAKER_01: Uh so, you know, but Detroit, Detroit is a good place for Pittsburgh franchises.
46:40
SPEAKER_01: Nice.
46:41
SPEAKER_01: So those are our penguin fun facts.
46:43
SPEAKER_01: On to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
46:46
SPEAKER_01: The first boy.
46:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, these are ugly.
46:48
SPEAKER_01: This can get ugly in a hurley.
46:50
SPEAKER_01: It could.
46:51
SPEAKER_01: It could.
46:52
SPEAKER_01: Uh the first ever manager for the Pirates was a Civil War hero.
46:57
SPEAKER_01: That's how long the Pirates have been around.
46:59
SPEAKER_01: It's a guy named Al Pratt.
47:01
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
47:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he fought in the Civil War.
47:03
SPEAKER_01: Uh when he died in the world.
47:04
SPEAKER_01: Any famous battles?
47:06
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
47:07
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
47:07
SPEAKER_01: Was he at Gettysburg?
47:10
SPEAKER_02: That's a good question.
47:11
SPEAKER_02: We can probably look that up.
47:14
SPEAKER_02: Is it Petersburg?
47:16
SPEAKER_02: He was there at Appomattox.
47:18
SPEAKER_02: He's like, I think I'll go play some baseball while General Lee surrenders.
47:22
SPEAKER_02: I'm assuming he general for the North.
47:25
SPEAKER_01: I'm hoping he was a general for the North.
47:27
SPEAKER_01: He was.
47:28
SPEAKER_01: He was actually, when he died in 1937, he had requested to be buried in his Grand Army of the Republic uniform.
47:37
SPEAKER_01: The Pirates are one of 12 major league baseball teams to use the third base dugout as their home dugout.
47:44
SPEAKER_01: Most of the time the first base dugout is supposed to be the home dugout, but the Pirates use the third base one.
47:49
SPEAKER_01: And the the stated reason for that is to provide the players a view of the Pittsburgh skyline, presumably to take their minds off of, you know, the game, which usually is they're losing.
48:02
SPEAKER_01: We talked about we talked before about winning championships on Pittsburgh soil.
48:07
SPEAKER_01: The last team to do that was the 1960 Pirates.
48:10
SPEAKER_01: And did you know that as again as of the time of this recording, eleven players from that 1960 team are still with us?
48:18
SPEAKER_01: Which is kind of hard to believe because yeah, that was 60.
48:22
SPEAKER_02: I get to get two off the top of my head.
48:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Bill Masterowski and Dick Groat, right?
48:26
SPEAKER_02: Dick Groat's still alive.
48:27
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
48:28
SPEAKER_01: Those two, uh Benny Daniels, Roy Faith, Fur-in-Law, Bob Otis, Ducky Schofield, Joe Christopher, Bob Skinner, Bill Verden, and Roman Mayhaus.
48:38
SPEAKER_01: So something was Bill Verden still alive?
48:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
48:41
SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
48:43
SPEAKER_02: Bill Verdon was old when I met him.
48:45
SPEAKER_02: And like when I was in like third grade, I met him one time, and I can't.
48:49
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
48:50
SPEAKER_02: I can't believe that.
48:51
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
48:51
SPEAKER_02: Oh, good.
48:52
SPEAKER_02: Good for him.
48:53
SPEAKER_02: He outlives Steinbrenner, so he got the outlast laugh on getting fired there.
48:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he's Steinbrenner.
48:59
SPEAKER_01: He's 90 years old.
49:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so something in the water that those 1960 pirates were drinking, obviously, because it's just hard to believe that 11 guys from that team are still alive.
49:10
SPEAKER_01: There's only one pirate ever that hit more than 50 home runs in a season.
49:15
SPEAKER_01: Wasn't Barry Bonds.
49:17
SPEAKER_01: I don't not Stargeel either, huh?
49:20
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't Willie Stargil.
49:21
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't even like Brian Dows or Kutch or whatever.
49:25
SPEAKER_01: Ralph Kiner, maybe?
49:26
SPEAKER_01: You got it.
49:27
SPEAKER_01: It was Ralph Kiner.
49:28
SPEAKER_01: He did it twice.
49:30
SPEAKER_01: Well, I heard we can I heard we can finish in last without him.
49:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so what what's you so Kyner did that twice in 47 and 48, and what Steve's referring to there is Branch Rickey was the general manager of the Pirates in the early 50s, and there was a contract dispute, and Ricky famously said, Hey, I can we can finish in last place without you.
49:49
SPEAKER_01: So he traded Kiner to the Cubs, I think.
49:52
SPEAKER_01: So that was the end of Ralph Kiner's time at Pittsburgh.
49:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, Branch Rickey, I mean he was a good baseball guy, so I think he knew what he was doing.
50:05
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna say that.
50:06
SPEAKER_02: I mean, he had all them great years with the Dodgers.
50:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean he immigrated baseball.
50:11
SPEAKER_02: And then the Pirates.
50:13
SPEAKER_02: I mean, the Pirates, like, because what, the 40s, well, the Dodgers were better in the 50s than the 40s, so I don't know if that was a team that he had built, you know.
50:22
SPEAKER_02: But I I think the say I don't know.
50:24
SPEAKER_02: I wonder if the 60 team, I'd like to I'd have to look into that, see how much in a hand, if any, like branch Ricky had in building that team.
50:32
SPEAKER_02: But that's a great interesting question.
50:33
SPEAKER_01: That's a great question.
50:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we we we have to delve into that 60 team at some point on a future episode because there's a lot of people.
50:40
SPEAKER_02: It's just so before my time.
50:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's just so before my time, I think, is why I've never really although I have gone.
50:47
SPEAKER_02: I did one year I went to the Mazarowski wall and sat outside and listened to the radio broadcast of that that game seven.
50:55
SPEAKER_02: That's that's cool.
50:56
SPEAKER_02: That is a cool thing to do, and like I was really it was really neat to listen to that.
51:00
SPEAKER_02: And if you you ever get a chance to do that, I I mean I toys recommend it.
51:04
SPEAKER_02: It's a fun thing to do.
51:05
SPEAKER_02: And it's October, so normally the weather's pretty nice.
51:08
SPEAKER_02: So that's actually yeah, coming up, coming up soon.
51:14
SPEAKER_02: October.
51:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh the Pirates don't have any 300 game winners.
51:20
SPEAKER_01: Pirates have had some you know, some good pitchers over the years, but zero 300 game winners.
51:24
SPEAKER_01: And they only have one 200 game winner, and that was Wilbur Cooper, who played in from 1912 to 1924.
51:31
SPEAKER_02: Pirates have never had pitching.
51:33
SPEAKER_02: I think that's the one thing, and maybe that kind of alludes to their like classic success, is they've never had like great pitching.
51:42
SPEAKER_02: But I mean, they've had a Yeah, I mean you're right, Steve.
51:45
SPEAKER_01: Like if you if somebody said who is the greatest pitcher in pirate history, I mean, what's what's your answer?
51:50
SPEAKER_02: Steve Blass?
51:52
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
51:53
SPEAKER_02: I mean Vernon Law, I I guess.
51:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
51:56
SPEAKER_02: I mean Doug Draybick, maybe?
51:59
SPEAKER_02: Uh I don't I don't know.
52:01
SPEAKER_01: It's it's it's a bunch of guys with kind of short-term success.
52:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
52:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, and and you know, like Vern Law and Steve Blass, and you know, their short-term success won championships, so you don't want to, you know, I short-term success isn't totally fair.
52:17
SPEAKER_02: Um Bert Bilevin, they had Burt Bilevin, but he only played for them for like one year.
52:22
SPEAKER_02: Like you say, like he didn't really have a long career with them.
52:25
SPEAKER_01: So Bob Friend was another one that was, you know, he was key for a long time.
52:30
SPEAKER_01: But again, yeah, you don't it's it's hard to name the list, right?
52:34
SPEAKER_01: So uh it's not surprising that they don't have any 300 game winners and that the only 200 game winner is a guy that is not well known.
52:42
SPEAKER_02: Talk about hitters, though.
52:44
SPEAKER_02: Hitter, I mean the pirates have had a ton of a lot of great hitters.
52:47
SPEAKER_02: That's up in their MO.
52:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
52:50
SPEAKER_01: For sure.
52:52
SPEAKER_01: Um here's a fun fact.
52:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh in 1987, uh RBI baseball became the first ever video game to be licensed by the Major League Baseball Players Association and thus include real baseball players.
53:05
SPEAKER_01: That game had eight Major League Baseball teams and two All-Star teams.
53:08
SPEAKER_01: The Pirates were not one of those eight teams because you know they sucked at the time and they only wanted to have good teams.
53:14
SPEAKER_01: But on the National League All-Star team, there was a pirate.
53:18
SPEAKER_01: Steve, do you know who the only pirate was in RBI baseball?
53:22
SPEAKER_01: The first ever baseball game was.
53:25
SPEAKER_01: What year was this again?
53:26
SPEAKER_01: 87.
53:28
SPEAKER_02: 87.
53:29
SPEAKER_02: Only pirate in 1987.
53:32
SPEAKER_00: Hmm.
53:32
SPEAKER_02: Jason Thompson, no, he was too late.
53:35
SPEAKER_02: Mike Diaz, I don't know.
53:37
SPEAKER_02: He was never an all-star.
53:39
SPEAKER_02: Uh boy, that's tough.
53:41
SPEAKER_02: Dale Vera, I don't think he was ever an all-star.
53:44
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
53:44
SPEAKER_02: Uh I don't know.
53:45
SPEAKER_02: Rod Scully.
53:46
SPEAKER_02: Let's go with the let's go with Rod Scully.
53:49
SPEAKER_02: Why not?
53:50
SPEAKER_01: It was the immortal Al Pedrique.
53:53
SPEAKER_02: Oh, Al Pedrique.
53:55
SPEAKER_02: Oh, man.
53:56
SPEAKER_02: He was a shortstop, wasn't he?
53:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he was a shortstop.
53:59
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if he actually made it to like an actual all-star game.
54:04
SPEAKER_01: I I you know, I don't know if he just was an all-star.
54:07
SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, on the in that game, he was like the number eight hitter for the National League.
54:11
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't very good in that game.
54:13
SPEAKER_01: And I think they were just kind of picking the way they did it in that game, and and this is one of these, like Tim remembers because he played RBA baseball for hours and hours in his cowardhood.
54:23
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but the way they did it was, you know, like the St.
54:25
SPEAKER_01: Louis Cardinals were in the game.
54:27
SPEAKER_01: So you couldn't have Vince Coleman or Willie McGee or Jack Clark or whoever on the All-Star team because you already had the Cardinals.
54:34
SPEAKER_01: And you couldn't have Kirby Puckett or whoever, you know, because he already had the twins in the game.
54:40
SPEAKER_01: So the All-Star players were all guys that weren't on other teams that were already in the game.
54:45
SPEAKER_01: So you had guys like Tim Raines because you didn't have the expos.
54:48
SPEAKER_01: You know, so so they were kind of, I don't know if they're really going for like actual All-Stars or just, you know, decent players on other teams.
54:55
SPEAKER_01: I I don't know how Al Pedriki made it in there because he was a shortstop that didn't play for the Pirates for very long.
55:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh he later became a he's the base coach.
55:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's a manager.
55:06
SPEAKER_01: He was a manager for the Diamondbacks years later.
55:09
SPEAKER_01: Um anyway, I just always thought that was a fun fact.
55:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh since here's a fun fact that's gonna shock you.
55:19
SPEAKER_01: Since 2004, the Pirates have never ranked higher than 20th in Major League Baseball salary.
55:25
SPEAKER_01: Uh an unrelated fun fact is that the Pirates have been owned during that time by a very, very cheap man who swindles the customers year after year.
55:35
SPEAKER_02: I I I I think that might be a little more opinion than well the salary thing is a fact.
55:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
55:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
55:42
SPEAKER_02: Well, you take your facts where you can find them.
55:46
SPEAKER_01: Here's a good one, Steve.
55:47
SPEAKER_01: Uh I want to have you guess at this one.
55:49
SPEAKER_01: The Pirates' most common opponent.
55:51
SPEAKER_01: They've played this team over 2,500 times.
55:56
SPEAKER_02: It has to be the Phillies.
55:58
SPEAKER_02: It has to be the Phillies.
55:59
SPEAKER_01: It's not.
56:02
SPEAKER_01: Giants?
56:03
SPEAKER_01: Nope.
56:05
SPEAKER_02: Not the Giants.
56:07
SPEAKER_02: Well I don't know then.
56:07
SPEAKER_02: That's the case.
56:08
SPEAKER_01: It's the Chicago Cubs.
56:10
SPEAKER_02: Oh man, the Cubs really.
56:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
56:13
SPEAKER_01: I I that's what I'm saying.
56:14
SPEAKER_02: Well, they've been playing the Giants.
56:16
SPEAKER_02: Well, like I remember all watching a game and they they said besides the last year when they didn't play the Giants, they've been playing the Giants since like 1890 or something.
56:26
SPEAKER_02: Like Wow.
56:28
SPEAKER_01: I would have I would have guessed the Reds too, because I think the Reds have been around that long.
56:31
SPEAKER_01: The um the Phillies, like you said, I would have probably guessed the Phillies first.
56:35
SPEAKER_01: But it's the Cubs.
56:37
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
56:38
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
56:39
SPEAKER_02: And that's just stupid.
56:40
SPEAKER_02: Like they should really like that's enough.
56:42
SPEAKER_02: Like they shouldn't they need to be back in that division with the Mets, Phillies, you know, all that silliness.
56:48
SPEAKER_02: You know, do something with the Marlins.
56:50
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what you do with the Marlins, but the Pirates should be there and the Marlins should be, I don't know, playing in Cuba.
56:56
SPEAKER_02: I I don't know.
56:57
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's a good point.
56:58
SPEAKER_01: That's you're right.
56:59
SPEAKER_01: See, that's probably why it's not the Phillies or the Giants, because for the last 20 plus years, the Pirates have not been in a division with them, but they have been in a division with the Cubs.
57:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's that's probably why.
57:12
SPEAKER_02: Because like I said, like I don't know how long how long have the Cubs the Cubs have been around a long time, too, though.
57:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
57:18
SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
57:18
SPEAKER_02: And that's why it isn't the Cardinals or the Reds, because remember the Cardinals and Reds were in the West division.
57:24
SPEAKER_02: Uh yes.
57:25
SPEAKER_02: Good call.
57:26
SPEAKER_02: Way back when it was the M East and L West.
57:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
57:29
SPEAKER_02: Remember the Braves were in the NL West for no apparent reason.
57:32
SPEAKER_02: It's like, uh, whatever.
57:34
SPEAKER_02: Hey, you I mean, I didn't realize Atlanta was so close to LA on the West Coast.
57:39
SPEAKER_02: I mean, they're like right beside each other.
57:43
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah.
57:43
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that was that was just kind of expansion.
57:46
SPEAKER_02: Um Well, if they can do that crap, then Florida can go play LA.
57:50
SPEAKER_02: You know, we can play.
57:51
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I it just like, dude, we should be playing the Mets and the Phillies and you know, the Cubs, and you know, if we ever play the Brewers ever again, who cares?
58:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh some more fun facts.
58:06
SPEAKER_01: The Pirates played in the first ever World Series in 1903, which they lost to Boston.
58:12
SPEAKER_02: Uh in five, in in seven games?
58:14
SPEAKER_02: Is is seven or eight games?
58:16
SPEAKER_02: Because it was a nine-game series.
58:17
SPEAKER_01: It was a nine-game series.
58:18
SPEAKER_01: I I yeah, I think it might have went seven, but it wasn't a game seven, because like you said, it was a nine-game series.
58:24
SPEAKER_01: They've been playing the first one.
58:27
SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
58:29
SPEAKER_02: That's a fun fact.
58:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there's a fun fact, yeah.
58:31
SPEAKER_01: Uh so as we said, they've been playing the World Series since 1903, and uh in the history of the World Series, there's only been eleven times where the World Series did not end with an out.
58:44
SPEAKER_01: So that means that somebody's scored a run.
58:48
SPEAKER_01: And the Pirates and the Yankees were involved in two of those 11 times.
58:53
SPEAKER_01: One was, of course, the the Mazarowski home run, which we referenced earlier.
58:57
SPEAKER_01: The other time was 27.
58:59
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
59:00
SPEAKER_01: That's what I thought, yeah.
59:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, when the World Series ended on a wild pitch by the Pirates.
59:04
SPEAKER_01: They got swept.
59:05
SPEAKER_01: It got swept.
59:07
SPEAKER_02: But that but that's how that series ended.
59:09
SPEAKER_01: Was a wild pitch.
59:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we were gonna beat yeah.
59:11
SPEAKER_02: What is it?
59:12
SPEAKER_01: Ruth Singer, yeah, right?
59:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
59:16
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we we really had a chance against murderers row there.
59:19
SPEAKER_01: No, no.
59:20
SPEAKER_01: But that's how that series ended was with a wild pitch.
59:23
SPEAKER_01: So both times those two teams played each other.
59:25
SPEAKER_02: It ended with uh maybe the pirate pitcher just went wanted to go home.
59:30
SPEAKER_02: I want to go home.
59:30
SPEAKER_02: I'm throwing the ball in the sands.
59:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
59:33
SPEAKER_01: Speaking of that era, the first ever radio broadcast of a baseball game was the Pirates versus the Phillies in August of 1921.
59:41
SPEAKER_01: That was broadcast by a Westinghouse slash KDK employee named Harold Arlen.
59:47
SPEAKER_01: And KDK actually distributed radios to employees, friends, and families simply to create a potential audience.
59:55
SPEAKER_01: They weren't sure anybody was actually going to listen.
59:57
SPEAKER_01: So they they gave people radios and said, give them to your friends and have them tune into this baseball game.
1:00:04
SPEAKER_01: What are these radios of what you speak?
1:00:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you used to turn them on, you could listen to, you know, stuff.
1:00:12
SPEAKER_01: Music and news, and in 1921, you could listen to baseball games.
1:00:17
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
1:00:18
SPEAKER_01: Were they on the internet?
1:00:23
SPEAKER_01: The sporting news were not big fans of that idea to do baseball games on the radio.
1:00:27
SPEAKER_01: Here's what they wrote after that first game.
1:00:30
SPEAKER_01: Quote, broadcasting stories of games as the games go along is the equivalent of succotash party with neither core nor beans.
1:00:39
SPEAKER_01: So sporting news and wait when that happens.
1:00:42
SPEAKER_01: When I don't have, yeah.
1:00:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, when I don't have corns or beans with my succotash, I'm just really disappointed.
1:00:48
SPEAKER_02: I feel like I'm listening to a baseball game on the radio.
1:00:52
SPEAKER_01: Did people actually have a succotash party?
1:00:55
SPEAKER_01: Was that like a thing in 1921?
1:00:57
SPEAKER_02: I know there was a lot of suffering with succotash.
1:01:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:01:01
SPEAKER_02: Sylvester the cat thoughts.
1:01:04
SPEAKER_01: Hey, Tuesday night, guys, we're having a succotash party.
1:01:06
SPEAKER_01: 8 o'clock.
1:01:07
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss it.
1:01:09
SPEAKER_01: Sorry, there won't be any beans.
1:01:13
SPEAKER_02: It's really gonna suffer.
1:01:15
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
1:01:16
SPEAKER_02: I don't know, man.
1:01:18
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
1:01:19
SPEAKER_02: 1921.
1:01:20
SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, it was a hundred years ago, so I mean, I'm sure they were making fun of people in 1821.
1:01:26
SPEAKER_02: It's like, oh wow.
1:01:29
SPEAKER_01: Uh the Pirates once had a minor league team in Hollywood.
1:01:33
SPEAKER_01: That was one of their farm teams.
1:01:35
SPEAKER_01: It was called the Hollywood Stars.
1:01:38
SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of a fun fact there.
1:01:40
SPEAKER_01: Not Hollywood, Florida, huh?
1:01:42
SPEAKER_01: Hollywood, California.
1:01:43
SPEAKER_01: No, this is this is Hollywood, Hollywood, yep.
1:01:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh and speaking of Hollywood, uh Bing Crosby, co-owned the Pirates for over 30 years.
1:01:52
SPEAKER_01: I think we we talked about that in one of our previous episodes, and Steve, he was he's the reason we have footage.
1:01:59
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
1:02:00
SPEAKER_01: And why was that he he was in Paris or something, right?
1:02:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, what what happened was back then was the uh the NBC, I think it was NBC, whoever was televising the game would just re-record over stuff.
1:02:12
SPEAKER_02: And I mean, I guess back in 1960, they didn't think anybody would ever who would want to watch a baseball game that already happened.
1:02:18
SPEAKER_02: But since Ben Crosby was out of the country, he had them record it.
1:02:23
SPEAKER_02: Now, obviously, there was no electronic recording, there wasn't even VHS or beta.
1:02:27
SPEAKER_02: They actually had to run a film camera to record it on a TV that they're projecting or something, or like on a mirror, like they to reverse it, because you had to like reverse the image because I guess then the camera would reverse it back to normal or something.
1:02:44
SPEAKER_02: Like it was a there was a whole explanation, like they did a like a MLB network Bob Costas thing down at the Benedem with like Mazarowski, and I think I think a couple of the Yankees were there too to uh celebrate like one of the anniversaries of Mazarowski's home run.
1:03:01
SPEAKER_01: So it's pretty cool.
1:03:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's that's definitely a fun fact there.
1:03:06
SPEAKER_01: Um retired numbers.
1:03:08
SPEAKER_01: We talked about this for the Stewart's and Penguins.
1:03:10
SPEAKER_01: The Pirates have actually retired nine numbers.
1:03:13
SPEAKER_01: Those numbers are number 40, Danny Murtaugh, 33, Hannes Wagner, 21, Roberto Clemeny, 20, Pie Trainer, 11, Paul Wayner, 9, Bill Mazarowski, 8, Willie Stargil, 4, Ralph Kiner, and number 1, Billy Meyer.
1:03:30
SPEAKER_01: Uh you probably recognize all the names on that list until we got to Billy Meyer.
1:03:35
SPEAKER_01: Uh Billy Meyer was the manager for the Pirates for several seasons at a 412 winning percentage.
1:03:41
SPEAKER_01: I have no idea why his numbers were tired.
1:03:45
SPEAKER_02: He's no Fred Clark.
1:03:47
SPEAKER_02: He was the all-time winningest pirate manager.
1:03:50
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
1:03:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:03:51
SPEAKER_02: I think he won the 25 series Fred Clark did, but I don't know what Billy Meyer did.
1:03:56
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean this was in he was like friend with Brawny Barney Dreyfus or something or whatever on the team back then.
1:04:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:04:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:04:03
SPEAKER_01: This was like this is in like the 40s or 50s.
1:04:07
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I just I don't know.
1:04:08
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why that number was retired when he had a 412 winning percentage, but whatever.
1:04:14
SPEAKER_01: Let's go Bucks.
1:04:16
SPEAKER_01: Um and then and then the final pirate fun fact that we have is pirates owner Bob Nutting really enjoys fly fishing, presumably because it's a cheap hobby.
1:04:28
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
1:04:29
SPEAKER_02: I don't think it's all that cheap.
1:04:30
SPEAKER_02: I it's expensive to go to Montana or Wyoming or wherever you fly fish.
1:04:36
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you fly fish at Seven Springs.
1:04:38
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
1:04:38
SPEAKER_02: Sets up a pond at Seven Springs, yeah.
1:04:43
SPEAKER_01: So those are our those are our pirates fun facts.
1:04:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh we're gonna wrap this up with some college sports fun facts.
1:04:49
SPEAKER_01: I kind of just lumped them all together.
1:04:51
SPEAKER_01: These are mostly pit football, but I have a couple basketball ones in here too.
1:04:55
SPEAKER_01: So uh the first one, Harold Arlen, you heard his name before because he's the guy that did the first ever baseball broadcast.
1:05:02
SPEAKER_01: He also does the first ever college football game on the radio that same uh year, 1921.
1:05:09
SPEAKER_01: That is Pitt versus West Virginia at Forbes Field, a game that Pit 120 does.
1:05:14
SPEAKER_01: Backyard brawl, baby.
1:05:15
SPEAKER_00: Woo!
1:05:16
SPEAKER_01: It was the backyard brawl at Forbes Field.
1:05:18
SPEAKER_01: Pitt Stadium actually didn't even exist yet at 1921.
1:05:22
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
1:05:22
SPEAKER_01: Are you sure?
1:05:24
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
1:05:25
SPEAKER_02: I thought Pitt Stadium was around earlier than that, huh?
1:05:27
SPEAKER_01: No.
1:05:28
SPEAKER_01: That's why the game was at Forbes Field.
1:05:31
SPEAKER_01: Here's a fun fact that uh if you listen to our previous episode, Steve actually covered this in our previous episode.
1:05:36
SPEAKER_01: The highest attendance ever for any sporting event held in Pittsburgh in the history of Pittsburgh Sports was the twenty sixteen Pitt Penn State game in Hinesfield.
1:05:47
SPEAKER_01: That game was attended by sixty nine thousand nine hundred and eighty three people.
1:05:53
SPEAKER_02: Well, we can't have that because it's not popular or something.
1:05:58
SPEAKER_02: It's actually I I just saw a team.
1:06:00
SPEAKER_02: Ratings.
1:06:00
SPEAKER_02: I think that's still like the second or third highest pit rated like pit game on TV in like the last 20 or 30 years.
1:06:09
SPEAKER_02: So wow.
1:06:10
SPEAKER_02: Another reason why you can't play that game.
1:06:12
SPEAKER_02: Because you wouldn't make any money off that.
1:06:14
SPEAKER_02: No, no.
1:06:15
SPEAKER_02: Big TV ratings and a big sellout crowd.
1:06:18
SPEAKER_02: Nah, don't have that.
1:06:19
SPEAKER_02: Let's not have that at all.
1:06:21
SPEAKER_01: Nope.
1:06:23
SPEAKER_02: Make much more money playing like a team and not have anybody in the stands or on TV at all.
1:06:29
SPEAKER_02: Makes sense.
1:06:31
SPEAKER_01: We were just talking about Pit Stadium.
1:06:33
SPEAKER_01: The first ever night game at Pit Stadium was in 1985.
1:06:38
SPEAKER_01: It was a season opener that year against Purdue.
1:06:41
SPEAKER_01: And for that game, they actually had to use temporary lights because at the 1985 there were no lights.
1:06:48
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
1:06:49
SPEAKER_01: Makes sense.
1:06:50
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
1:06:51
SPEAKER_01: And that 85 game against Purdue, it's actually a really good game.
1:06:54
SPEAKER_01: You can actually find it on YouTube.
1:06:55
SPEAKER_01: We'll post a link.
1:06:56
SPEAKER_01: There's a couple of future NFL stars, including Rod Woodson, that played in that game.
1:07:01
SPEAKER_01: It actually features a pretty wild finish.
1:07:03
SPEAKER_01: So it's a that's a kind of a one of those forgotten pit classics, but that was the first evernight game that they played at Pitt Stadium.
1:07:13
SPEAKER_01: Pitt has had a lot of good players over the years.
1:07:16
SPEAKER_01: They're actually tied for fifth, with most players who went on to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
1:07:22
SPEAKER_01: They have nine players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
1:07:25
SPEAKER_01: The only schools that have more are Ohio State, Michigan, USC, and Notre Dame.
1:07:31
SPEAKER_01: So those nine guys, Steve, do you want to list?
1:07:36
SPEAKER_02: What of Pit players?
1:07:37
SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
1:07:38
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I I probably know them.
1:07:39
SPEAKER_02: I know Joe Schmidt, uh Tony Dorsett, Dan Marino, Curtis Martin, uh Mike Ditka.
1:07:49
SPEAKER_02: Uh how many I'm up to here?
1:07:51
SPEAKER_02: Uh that's five.
1:07:52
SPEAKER_02: Five.
1:07:53
SPEAKER_02: Four more.
1:07:56
SPEAKER_02: Jimbo, uh the guy from the Bears.
1:07:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Jimbo Covert, yeah.
1:08:00
SPEAKER_02: Covert.
1:08:01
SPEAKER_02: Did I name all the running backs?
1:08:02
SPEAKER_02: Dorset and Mark.
1:08:03
SPEAKER_02: You did.
1:08:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:08:05
SPEAKER_02: Uh no wide receivers.
1:08:07
SPEAKER_02: Marino's the only quarterback.
1:08:09
SPEAKER_02: Defensive players.
1:08:11
SPEAKER_02: Uh I think there's another defensive player I'm missing.
1:08:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:08:15
SPEAKER_01: So there's all three of these guys kind of played in the 80s and maybe a little bit into the 90s.
1:08:21
SPEAKER_01: Is Chris Dolman in the Chris Dolman who played for the Vikings?
1:08:26
SPEAKER_01: He's in the Hall of Fame.
1:08:27
SPEAKER_01: Two more.
1:08:29
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna you're gonna kick yourself from one of these because I'm probably missing the easy one.
1:08:33
SPEAKER_02: I'm missing somebody easy.
1:08:34
SPEAKER_02: Playing the 80s.
1:08:35
SPEAKER_02: So playing the 80s on defense.
1:08:37
SPEAKER_02: Probably one guy's defense, one guy's offense.
1:08:41
SPEAKER_02: Uh playing the Ruben Brown definitely ain't in the Hall of Fame.
1:08:45
SPEAKER_02: That's for darn sure.
1:08:46
SPEAKER_02: Uh I don't know.
1:08:48
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
1:08:49
SPEAKER_01: I'm blanking.
1:08:50
SPEAKER_02: Seven out of nine isn't bad.
1:08:52
SPEAKER_01: That's pretty good.
1:08:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the defensive guy is Ricky Jackson, who played, I think, most of the time.
1:08:56
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's right.
1:08:57
SPEAKER_01: For the Saints.
1:08:58
SPEAKER_01: Saints.
1:08:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:08:59
SPEAKER_01: And then the offensive guy is the one you're going to kick yourself on because he almost became the Steelers head coach.
1:09:04
SPEAKER_01: It's Russ Grimm.
1:09:05
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, that's right.
1:09:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:09:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, when the Steelers, when Bill Cower retired, Russ Grimm allegedly had the job offered to him, but then it was taken away, or who knows what the real story was there.
1:09:16
SPEAKER_01: But he's in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
1:09:18
SPEAKER_01: So nine players in the Hall of Fame, and they will, I think they'll definitely get to 12 because I think that they're all Revis, Larry Fitzgerald, and Aaron Donald are all locks when they're eligible.
1:09:27
SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't know if they'll get beyond 12 anytime soon, but I think they'll get to 12.
1:09:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:09:35
SPEAKER_02: Crazy.
1:09:36
SPEAKER_02: It's crazy they've never even competed.
1:09:39
SPEAKER_02: They've only been in like one major bowl game in 2004 and all this time and had that kind of insane talent come through.
1:09:47
SPEAKER_02: I know.
1:09:48
SPEAKER_01: What are you gonna do?
1:09:49
SPEAKER_02: What are you gonna do?
1:09:50
SPEAKER_01: That's Pitt.
1:09:52
SPEAKER_01: Um Pitt Pitt played in the speaking of major bowl games, Pitt played in the 1956 Sugar Bowl, and the reason that was significant is because Pitt had I know.
1:10:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
1:10:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Bobby Greer.
1:10:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, good, good.
1:10:04
SPEAKER_02: Bobby Greer, first African-American player in playing the Sugar Bowl, I do believe.
1:10:08
SPEAKER_01: You got it.
1:10:09
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
1:10:10
SPEAKER_01: Good, good, good one.
1:10:11
SPEAKER_01: You knew that one.
1:10:13
SPEAKER_01: Uh that was a big deal.
1:10:15
SPEAKER_01: Uh, the governor of Georgia opposed Greer's particip uh participation in the game.
1:10:21
SPEAKER_01: They were playing Georgia Tech.
1:10:22
SPEAKER_01: And the governor of Georgia came out and said that Georgia Tech would elect to forfeit the game if Pitt didn't bench Greer.
1:10:31
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but Pitt said, no, we're not going to do that.
1:10:34
SPEAKER_01: And honestly, um Georgia Tech, to their credit, wasn't in favor of that either.
1:10:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh their students and their staff, and even their football players, um, you know, they they they didn't feel that way.
1:10:47
SPEAKER_01: And the president of Georgia Tech said, quote, either we're going to the sugar bowl or you can find yourself another damn president of Georgia Tech.
1:10:54
SPEAKER_01: So not clear.
1:10:55
SPEAKER_01: Nice.
1:10:56
SPEAKER_01: Not clear if he was, you know, opposed to the governor because um he was for civil rights or because he was like, you know, who are you to to say what, you know, to dictate what we're gonna do as a football program.
1:11:09
SPEAKER_01: But either way, um, he plays, Pitt does lose the game seven and nothing.
1:11:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh and and part of that loss was a disputed pass interference call against Greer that was actually a bad call if you look at the footage.
1:11:25
SPEAKER_01: Uh but they the the referee that made the call is actually from Pittsburgh and said he just made a mistake.
1:11:31
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't you know a racist or anything like that.
1:11:33
SPEAKER_01: So uh Bobby Greer is still alive.
1:11:36
SPEAKER_01: He actually just recently conducted an interview with Heather Lake, who is the uh Pit Athletic Director, if you don't know.
1:11:42
SPEAKER_01: Um and we'll post a link to that.
1:11:44
SPEAKER_01: That's on YouTube.
1:11:45
SPEAKER_01: So that's a that's a pretty cool story.
1:11:49
SPEAKER_01: Moving on to college basketball.
1:11:51
SPEAKER_01: Um I I have a list here of college basketball players who played for Pittsburgh Schools that played that went on to play professionally.
1:11:59
SPEAKER_01: It's not a big list.
1:12:01
SPEAKER_01: I'm just gonna give numbers, not names.
1:12:03
SPEAKER_01: So Pitt Pitt had 22 players uh go on to play in the NBA and three um players go on to play in the WNBA.
1:12:13
SPEAKER_01: Duquesne also has had 22 players go on to play in the NBA and two in the WNBA.
1:12:19
SPEAKER_01: Duquesne also has a Hall of Famer.
1:12:23
SPEAKER_01: Chuck Cooper has to be Chuck Cooper, right?
1:12:25
SPEAKER_01: You're right.
1:12:25
SPEAKER_01: It's Chuck Cooper, yep.
1:12:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh Washington and Jefferson, three players that went on to play in the NBA, and one in the Hall of Fame, buddy Jeanette.
1:12:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh now, you know, to be fair, all the guys that played in the NBA from WJ were from the 1940s, so you know, take take that with a grain of salt.
1:12:46
SPEAKER_01: Um Robert Morris.
1:12:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:12:49
SPEAKER_01: Robert Morris had one guy to play in the NBA was Earl Kurt Curtin, who actually had a pretty long career in the 80s and 90s.
1:12:57
SPEAKER_01: Um that was the one Bobby Moe player in the NBA.
1:13:00
SPEAKER_01: Cal Yu had one guy make it to the NBA.
1:13:04
SPEAKER_01: Guy that uh named Del Dell Bishop, who played for the Bulls and the Bucks in the late 70s, and then Slippery Rock University also had one player go on to the NBA.
1:13:15
SPEAKER_01: It was a guy named Myron Brown who played four games for the Minnesota Timberwolves in 1991.
1:13:21
SPEAKER_01: Wow, that's not a long NBA career.
1:13:24
SPEAKER_01: It is not, but hey, he made it, right?
1:13:26
SPEAKER_01: He made it.
1:13:27
SPEAKER_01: So there's that.
1:13:28
SPEAKER_01: Um I don't know that, again, other than guys that played many years before we were born, that any of those schools have really had, you know, hugely successful players.
1:13:39
SPEAKER_01: I know um Mike James, who went to who played for Duquesne when I went there and who actually lived in the dorm next to me.
1:13:46
SPEAKER_01: He played in the NBA for a long time.
1:13:48
SPEAKER_01: He was never never a star, but he you know had a pretty long career in the NBA.
1:13:53
SPEAKER_01: And then Pitt, I mean, it's been a little bit of a mixed bag.
1:13:56
SPEAKER_01: Pitt's definitely had some good players and even some high draft picks, but I don't know that you could say that any of them were real stars in the NBA, Steve.
1:14:05
SPEAKER_01: No.
1:14:06
SPEAKER_01: No.
1:14:06
SPEAKER_01: I mean Charles Charles Smith.
1:14:08
SPEAKER_02: I mean, yeah.
1:14:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Charles Smith was pretty good for a while.
1:14:11
SPEAKER_01: Played for the Knicks when the Knicks said, you know, Patrick Ewing and and uh in that that era.
1:14:18
SPEAKER_01: So he was he was yeah, he was decent.
1:14:21
SPEAKER_02: Don Duan Blair was okay.
1:14:23
SPEAKER_02: I mean, not like not like a great yeah.
1:14:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:14:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I don't know.
1:14:29
SPEAKER_02: That's about it.
1:14:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, definitely not.
1:14:32
SPEAKER_02: Well, Andrew and Tegal was really good for the uh what's it called, the Harlem Globe Trotters.
1:14:36
SPEAKER_02: Right.
1:14:38
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:14:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:14:40
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, not not not as rich of a of a college basketball history here in Pittsburgh, but yeah, we had some guys have some success.
1:14:49
SPEAKER_01: That's that's the end of our list.
1:14:51
SPEAKER_01: I hope everybody you know learned some fun facts and uh learned some things that maybe you didn't know before.
1:14:57
SPEAKER_01: Steve, any final thoughts before we sign off?
1:15:00
SPEAKER_02: Did I did I win a version of the home game?
1:15:04
SPEAKER_01: You did.
1:15:04
SPEAKER_02: We have lovely parting gifts for you.
1:15:06
SPEAKER_02: Oh, thank you.
1:15:07
SPEAKER_02: Good job.
1:15:08
SPEAKER_02: Rice or Riceroni and Turtle Wax.
1:15:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:15:13
SPEAKER_01: All right, folks.
1:15:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, please go check us out on our website or on social media.
1:15:17
SPEAKER_01: All those links are in the show description.
1:15:19
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1:15:24
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1:15:26
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1:15:31
SPEAKER_01: Thanks everybody, and we'll see you next time.