Latest / Pittsburgh Sports Memories / BONUS EPISODE: Pgh Sports Current Events - February 2026

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BONUS EPISODE: Pgh Sports Current Events - February 2026 · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

0:00
SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to a Pittsburgh Sports Memories Current Events podcast.
0:06
SPEAKER_01: Now that the uh season's over for the Pittsburgh Steelers, we're just kind of going back to our normal schedule.
0:13
SPEAKER_01: We will resume our normally scheduled programming.
0:16
SPEAKER_01: I'm your co-host, Steve Wert, and I'm joined by Hey everybody.
0:20
SPEAKER_02: I'm Tim Hannon.
0:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, so first off, Tim, um, we'll start with hockey.
0:24
SPEAKER_01: Yay, hockey.
0:26
SPEAKER_01: Gotta do that hockey.
0:27
SPEAKER_01: Um, the Penguins, uh, last time we were looking at them, they were out of the playoffs.
0:32
SPEAKER_01: They've gone on a bit of a tear, so now they're back into the playoffs, like second in their division.
0:38
SPEAKER_01: Can you believe it, Tim?
0:39
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
0:40
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, it doesn't take that much in the Eastern Conference because there isn't that much separation.
0:46
SPEAKER_01: So, and like I said, the uh looks like the role players are really coming through.
0:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh Sid and the Ginos don't have to carry the team as much.
0:54
SPEAKER_01: So uh I don't know, Tim.
0:56
SPEAKER_01: It looks like do you think the Penguins are gonna make the playoffs?
0:59
SPEAKER_02: It it does rate.
1:00
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you're hard to say that they won't.
1:02
SPEAKER_01: And and I mean, we're halfway through the winter almost, so they got a good shot, right?
1:09
SPEAKER_02: The they do.
1:10
SPEAKER_02: And it's it's it's tough now because do you if you're the same?
1:15
SPEAKER_01: Well, I think they're they can't tank for they they're beyond tanking now.
1:19
SPEAKER_01: They've played too well.
1:21
SPEAKER_02: R right, right.
1:22
SPEAKER_02: They're beyond tanking, and I but I don't think they're quite to the point of like make a huge you know, draft deadline day trade.
1:32
SPEAKER_02: They're kind of in the middle, so it'll be interesting to see what they decide.
1:36
SPEAKER_02: Like, like um uh Panarin for the Rangers, they're the Rangers are gonna trade him.
1:41
SPEAKER_02: And my first thought was like, oh my gosh, that'd be so cool to like maybe go out and get him, especially after he killed us for so many years.
1:48
SPEAKER_02: But then it's like, no, because then you're gonna be in a bidding war, and that's not the strategy.
1:52
SPEAKER_02: We're trying to get away from that strategy.
1:54
SPEAKER_02: So maybe the penguins just need to go with who they got and see how far they get.
1:58
SPEAKER_02: And if it's a first-round loss, so be it.
2:00
SPEAKER_02: It's still way better than anybody thought that that they would do.
2:04
SPEAKER_01: That sounds like the reasonable solution, but you know, people get impatient and you never know.
2:09
SPEAKER_01: But stick to the plan.
2:11
SPEAKER_01: Stick to the plan.
2:12
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
2:13
SPEAKER_01: Um, next up, um, so I was driving through the south side the other day, and I did drive past the Steelers' practice facility, and I saw the white smoke coming out of the chimney, and that uh signified that the uh Steelers have picked a new head coach, Tim.
2:28
SPEAKER_01: So very, very, very Vatican-like over there.
2:32
SPEAKER_01: Um that person is uh uh identified as uh Mr.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: Mike McCarthy, Pope Benedict, Steelers head coach, the whatever.
2:44
SPEAKER_01: How many is this for them in the history of the team?
2:45
SPEAKER_01: Do we overall?
2:49
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
2:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
2:50
SPEAKER_01: In the la in the fourth one since 1969.
2:52
SPEAKER_01: Yay.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh what the Browns have had probably 17 since just last Tuesday.
3:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh Mike McCarthy, uh, he beat the Steelers in when he coached Green Bay um way back in Super Bowl 45.
3:10
SPEAKER_01: And um he's been kind of bounced around.
3:12
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, he does have a history with Aaron Rodgers.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: Uh he was in Dallas.
3:17
SPEAKER_01: He kind of made uh I guess he helped Dak Prescott, you know, improve.
3:21
SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of why he's been brought in to develop a quarterback somewhere.
3:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm not sure what to say about Mike McCarthy.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: He's from Greenfield.
3:31
SPEAKER_01: He was a coaching assistant at Pitt, if I remember correctly.
3:34
SPEAKER_01: He also took tickets on the Turnpike, worked as a turnpike ticket taker, a job that doesn't exist anymore.
3:40
SPEAKER_01: Boy, robots have replaced us all.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: How long before robots are coaching in the NFL, huh?
3:45
SPEAKER_02: He was also a bouncer at Chauncey's.
3:48
SPEAKER_01: No, really?
3:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: Oh wow, nice.
3:51
SPEAKER_01: There's a blast.
3:52
SPEAKER_01: I don't think Chauncey's around anymore.
3:53
SPEAKER_01: Oh no, Chauncey's is long gone.
3:56
SPEAKER_01: No, none of the kids go out and do any fun stuff like that.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: So maybe they have robot bouncers at Chauncey's.
4:04
SPEAKER_01: There you go.
4:04
SPEAKER_01: Another job that was replaced.
4:06
SPEAKER_02: So so what do you so were you excited about the high receiver?
4:09
SPEAKER_02: Are you angry like everybody else?
4:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh I think it's Max of sheer desperation, like the rest of everything the Steelers have been doing.
4:17
SPEAKER_01: It just seems kind of par for the chorus because like it just seems like everything they're doing is to squeeze out one last championship before Art Rooney the second shuffles off the team's control to is his son's name.
4:33
SPEAKER_01: What is his son's name?
4:35
SPEAKER_01: Dan'll be confusing at all, Tim.
4:39
SPEAKER_01: Can we come up with a name besides Art or Dan, please?
4:44
SPEAKER_01: But I I really think that's what this is.
4:47
SPEAKER_01: I think I think Art's desperate for a championship, and Mike Tomlin kind of was trying to accommodate that at the end of his tenure here.
4:55
SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, Mike Tomlin has retired.
4:57
SPEAKER_01: Mike McCarthy is in, and um much like George Washington said when he left the presidency, I am rightly out and you were rightly in, and we'll see who's the happier, right?
5:10
SPEAKER_02: I I think that uh yeah, I I I mean everybody I I did not like it at first.
5:16
SPEAKER_02: I really wanted like one of the Rams guys, or like so or like a Kyle Shanahan disciple, you know, somebody that was going to move the team into kind of like the 21st century a little bit, and and and just kind of start over with somebody young like they did when they hired Tomlin or Cower or Knoll.
5:33
SPEAKER_02: So it was really shocking to see them hire you know a retread 62-year-old coach.
5:39
SPEAKER_02: And I I don't know, I feel like this could go down two paths, Steve.
5:43
SPEAKER_02: Like if the point of all this is to develop a quarterback, whether it's Will Howard or you know, a draft pick or whoever, which, you know, to be fair, McCarthy is unquestionably very, very good at that, uh, you know, then he could serve as a bridge to get them a franchise quarterback, still keep the team competitive, because that's obviously that the Steelers want.
6:07
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and that would have been a tall order for you know, like a Nate Shielhouse, like the guy that um you know that they were interviewing from the Rams, who never had been a coordinator and was like 34 years old.
6:19
SPEAKER_02: So I s I think that's still conservative, but uh I I could I could see that as a path.
6:26
SPEAKER_02: If the point of all this was to like run it back because Rooney stupidly thinks we're legit contenders with the current rot roster, and they do everything they can to convince Rogers to come back, and then they you know hire retreads at at all the coaching positions to maintain stability.
6:43
SPEAKER_02: That's where I think people are going to be right about this was a terrible move.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: Maybe they'll let McCarthy because like that's been another problem over the last couple of years, is like there really hasn't been any good coaching, young coaching blood come up through the assisting coaches.
6:59
SPEAKER_02: I mean, no, because that's not who the Steelers have hired.
7:03
SPEAKER_02: They haven't they haven't tried to hire those types of coaches.
7:05
SPEAKER_01: But that's that's Mike Tomlin, so maybe Mike McCarthy will do stuff different.
7:10
SPEAKER_02: That's maybe, or maybe he'll just get his old gang back together from Green Bay and Dallas, which is seems like what he's doing so far.
7:15
SPEAKER_02: But but again, that might not be terrible either.
7:18
SPEAKER_01: I I just it'll be different, that's for sure.
7:23
SPEAKER_02: This town, these this the Steelers, the fan base just so desperately wants to move forward.
7:30
SPEAKER_02: We just want to move forward.
7:31
SPEAKER_02: We're done with all the seasons of you know, veteran quarterbacks and and get to the playoffs and lose in the first round.
7:41
SPEAKER_02: We just want to move forward with something new and fresh.
7:44
SPEAKER_02: And Mike McCarthy does not represent that.
7:47
SPEAKER_01: Three wins might be new and fresh.
7:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and that's a problem.
7:51
SPEAKER_02: They won't be Mike McCarthy's not gonna be a three-wing coach.
7:53
SPEAKER_02: He's gonna be uh, you know, potentially like another Tomlin where he'll probably keep the team competitive.
8:00
SPEAKER_02: Again, it the the X factor is quarterback.
8:04
SPEAKER_02: If McCarthy can come in and develop a quarterback for the future, then it's worth it.
8:08
SPEAKER_02: I don't care if they never win a Super Bowl under McCarthy.
8:11
SPEAKER_02: If he gets them a franchise quarterback and he's gone in five years, McCarthy is, then he did his job.
8:16
SPEAKER_02: Right?
8:17
SPEAKER_02: And if you're looking for precedent, Steve, you know, the Denver Broncos tried the same thing whenever uh you know, a few years ago.
8:27
SPEAKER_02: No, three years ago, they hired a retread coach in Sean Payton, who was very similar to Tomlin, right?
8:34
SPEAKER_02: Won a Super Bowl early, could never get the Saints back to a Super Bowl, and they hired him, and look, they were one game away from the Super Bowl this year.
8:44
SPEAKER_02: Andy Reid was a retread coach who same as Tomlin, couldn't couldn't quite get over the hump.
8:51
SPEAKER_02: But both of those guys found franchise quarterbacks.
8:55
SPEAKER_02: So if Mike McCarthy can do the same thing, then I don't know, maybe it works.
9:01
SPEAKER_01: So you believe in McCarthyism.
9:03
SPEAKER_01: There you go.
9:04
SPEAKER_02: I d I don't believe in in I still don't think this is the right hire.
9:08
SPEAKER_02: I I would have rather seen them go after a young guy like they normally do.
9:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
9:12
SPEAKER_02: And just and just start just start fresh.
9:14
SPEAKER_02: I I but again what they said was it made me feel a little better when Rooney came out and basically said the point of all this is to you know develop the the quarterback of the future, which I think makes sense.
9:27
SPEAKER_01: He also said he didn't care if they won the press conference or not, which I I respect that, and he doesn't care about the noise, which is what he should.
9:34
SPEAKER_01: He shouldn't care about what people say.
9:36
SPEAKER_01: You have to run your team and what you think is right for your team.
9:39
SPEAKER_01: So but I just think the motivation th is causing panic, and it just everything he does seems like a panic move to me.
9:47
SPEAKER_01: He's like a very like, uh like oh we gotta win a Super Bowl now.
9:52
SPEAKER_01: And they're just they're just not there instead of being like when you make panic moves, it just never seems to work out rather than having a plan and sticking to it and dealing with the bumps along the way.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: And if a pr situation presents itself and you can get there's three quarterbacks, there's Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, and you know, Ben Rothelsberger.
10:11
SPEAKER_01: You can get one of those guys, then get him.
10:13
SPEAKER_01: You know, but I don't know.
10:15
SPEAKER_01: We'll see how it all plays off.
10:16
SPEAKER_01: That's the one thing about great great about sports, you never know.
10:19
SPEAKER_01: So maybe Matthew Stafford will be a Pittsburgh Steeler by the end of next week.
10:23
SPEAKER_01: Who knows?
10:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I think I think to your point, Steve, that's that's the thing.
10:29
SPEAKER_02: You don't it's hard to gauge is this a panic move or not.
10:33
SPEAKER_02: Because again, I feel like it is.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: In my opinion, I think I think it has been for the last two or three years.
10:39
SPEAKER_01: It's just been, oh my gosh, we need this.
10:40
SPEAKER_01: Oh, let's trade Minka.
10:42
SPEAKER_01: Oh, let's do this, oh let's do that.
10:43
SPEAKER_01: Like we're just trying to get Cam Hayward and TJ Rewatt a a you know a Super Bowl ring or a playoff win or whatever, and it's just it's not been, hey, we just need to be the build the team and keep stocking talent.
10:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I I I I I I think a lot of the moves the last few years have been around that, but I think also during the same time, they've stockpiled, you know, they traded away their best receiver for draft picks.
11:11
SPEAKER_02: They they have a bunch of draft picks heading into next year's draft, and they draft after that.
11:15
SPEAKER_02: They've drafted well in the last few drafts as well.
11:18
SPEAKER_01: Well, they've been trying to get rid of like you know, like the the mistakes of the past, like the guys with the character issues.
11:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
11:25
SPEAKER_02: So so so they're they're kind of they're kind of doing it a little bit like again.
11:30
SPEAKER_02: The Steelers, we talked about this in the the other episode we did.
11:34
SPEAKER_02: Steelers are never gonna be that, you know, suck so bad that we only win two games and have a number one draft pick.
11:39
SPEAKER_02: The Steelers are just never gonna be that team.
11:42
SPEAKER_02: But they've had plenty of success in the past.
11:43
SPEAKER_01: Well, watch and watch and wait.
11:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, see, they won't, though.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
11:49
SPEAKER_01: I I don't I mean, I I think you're right.
11:51
SPEAKER_01: I I gotta agree.
11:52
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they probably won't be that bad.
11:54
SPEAKER_02: No, they won't.
11:55
SPEAKER_02: Again, it all comes down to quarterback because like I said, like like Bill Belichick's a genius, Andy Reid's a genius, but if those guys didn't have Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, actually we've seen what happens when those guys don't have Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes.
12:09
SPEAKER_02: They're not winners.
12:11
SPEAKER_02: But with the quarter with the right quarterback there, Bill Cower.
12:14
SPEAKER_02: Bill Cower without Ben Rothesburger, Mike Toddman without Ben Rothlessburger.
12:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
12:18
SPEAKER_02: So you have to have a quarterback.
12:20
SPEAKER_02: So that's really what it all comes down to as a quarterback.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: Well, moving on the way you're talking about Hall of Fame quarterbacks.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: You want to talk about the Hall of Fame, Tim?
12:31
SPEAKER_01: I think I've come over to like the Mario Lemieux.
12:33
SPEAKER_01: I I don't really like care about anything that's voted on anymore.
12:38
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it just doesn't seem like it matters.
12:41
SPEAKER_01: So what happened?
12:42
SPEAKER_01: Who are the do we know the Hall of Fame nominees?
12:45
SPEAKER_01: Did anybody look them up?
12:47
SPEAKER_02: Well, there's two different classes.
12:49
SPEAKER_02: There's there's the when a coach you're gonna talk about Belichick, right?
12:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
12:54
SPEAKER_02: When a coach gets elected, he's not up against players.
12:58
SPEAKER_02: He's up against like senior committee members, uh GMs, other coaches.
13:03
SPEAKER_02: There's a different class for that.
13:05
SPEAKER_02: So he's so Bill Belichick going up against Larry Fitzgerald.
13:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so they're saying the first year eligible are Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Frank Gore, Jason Witten, and then there's the returning finalist like Eli Manning.
13:20
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Luke Keckley's not gonna make it.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: Adam Venteri might make it.
13:25
SPEAKER_02: Those are those are players.
13:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's Bill Belichick is not in that group because it's a different set of group and a different set of votes.
13:32
SPEAKER_01: Like how many, like I figured how many they have to elect, like six?
13:35
SPEAKER_01: They can elect up to six or something.
13:37
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
13:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
13:39
SPEAKER_02: But the point being they didn't elect Belichick, which is just a joke.
13:44
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, it it doesn't this is a case of it doesn't really do them any good to their credibility.
13:53
SPEAKER_01: They think these are the writers, and it's uh if it's still I haven't looked at it in a while, but it used to be it was a writer from every city that had a NFL team.
14:05
SPEAKER_01: So like Ed Bouchette used to be the guy from Pittsburgh, and they and then there was like five other guys that were respected, like Peter King, whoever was writing for USA Today at the time.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: So like you would have the guy from Boston, the guy from Pittsburgh, the guy from Cleveland, the guy from LA, the guy from Seattle, Miami, blah, blah, blah.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: And you would have a couple other guys that were more national guys, and they would get in the room and they would debate.
14:28
SPEAKER_01: And it's tough to like you lose your credibility when you do stuff like this.
14:34
SPEAKER_01: So you're saying there's two different groups there's the players group, and then there's like the owner slash coaches group, and then they're and contributors like like that's where like Steve Sable got elected out of that group.
14:45
SPEAKER_01: People like that.
14:46
SPEAKER_01: Right.
14:47
SPEAKER_01: Like well, I want to say Burt Bell, but Burt Bell was an owner.
14:50
SPEAKER_01: Or like um, who was the original?
14:52
SPEAKER_01: Commissioners, yeah, right.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: Who was the original P Roselle?
14:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, people like that.
14:56
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
14:57
SPEAKER_02: So it's 40 out of 50 votes.
15:01
SPEAKER_02: Right.
15:01
SPEAKER_02: So there's 50 voters for that, and you need 40 of them to say yes.
15:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because like there's the obviously the 30, was it 32 teams?
15:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
15:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's there's 32 teams and then 18 at large, like just 18 writers.
15:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like you said, like the Peter King type people, yeah.
15:18
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if he's still a voter or not.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: Or I don't know.
15:21
SPEAKER_01: I they might have let Ed Bouchette keep his vote, even though he doesn't write for the Postgazette anymore.
15:26
SPEAKER_01: But I would trust Ed Bouchette.
15:28
SPEAKER_01: But I think what happened was, and I think you know, I was saying this to Tim before we started recording this, is this doesn't bode well for Ben Rothelsberger.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: Is what happened was Bill Belichick didn't make the final cut.
15:40
SPEAKER_01: And like I said, that doesn't help with their credibility.
15:43
SPEAKER_01: It just makes them look petty and small.
15:46
SPEAKER_01: And the reason they did it was because in every press conference, Bell Belichick would just get up there and give half-assed answers, not answer the question, just, I don't know, I don't know, lie, do all that silliness just because he didn't want to give what he thought would be a competitive advantage to the team, or he just didn't want to be bothered with giving an interview.
16:09
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, Bill, it's the same kind of philosophy that Marshawn Lynch had, that Sterling Sharp had.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: And it's very disingenuous when those guys, like remember, Marshawn Lynch went to that one Super Bowl and was like, I'm just here so I don't get fined.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, Marshawn, when you signed your contract for$3 million for that year, it included doing interviews for the Super Bowl.
16:33
SPEAKER_01: So you are getting paid.
16:35
SPEAKER_01: You got paid$3 million to do this interview, actually.
16:38
SPEAKER_01: And I would say the same thing to Bill.
16:40
SPEAKER_01: When you're in those, you know, whatever you made that mill from Robert, Robert Kraft, you got paid to do this.
16:46
SPEAKER_01: This is part of the job.
16:47
SPEAKER_01: This isn't just like, oh, I'm at a charity event and I decided to talk to a reporter.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: If you don't want to give an answer there, fine.
16:54
SPEAKER_01: But this is required.
16:55
SPEAKER_01: You don't like it, talk to Commissioner Goodell and tell them to get rid of it.
16:59
SPEAKER_01: You know, that's who's doing this.
17:01
SPEAKER_01: Not, you know, and and don't blame the writers.
17:04
SPEAKER_01: They're just there to get a story.
17:06
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, sometimes they're sleazy and they make stuff up out of nothing, and I get it.
17:11
SPEAKER_01: But it it doesn't, it they both are wrong.
17:14
SPEAKER_01: Number one, the writers, you know, it you look like an idiot.
17:17
SPEAKER_01: You have no credibility.
17:19
SPEAKER_01: Why would I believe anything you say about football if you don't think Bill Belichick belongs in the Hall of Fame on the first ballot?
17:25
SPEAKER_01: Like, who is more deserving than him?
17:27
SPEAKER_01: Who are you putting in over him?
17:29
SPEAKER_01: That's crazy.
17:31
SPEAKER_01: And that's why I think Ben Rothesberger is not going to get in on his first vote because once again, he's not a very popular player because of all that stuff he did in his past.
17:39
SPEAKER_01: And that's why Ben can't get on the media.
17:41
SPEAKER_01: That's why Ben has to do his own little podcast.
17:43
SPEAKER_01: And I I'm sorry, and I don't respect that's why I said I don't respect Marshawn Lynz.
17:48
SPEAKER_01: I don't respect, I mean, I like Sterling Sharp as a player, and he even liked him in the media, but it was like he never liked to talk to the media.
17:56
SPEAKER_01: It's like I you can't be have it both ways.
18:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
18:01
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you're you're right that that like Belitech deserves blame separately for you know, you know, treating the media like it's you know a frustration and uh and uh I shouldn't have to do this.
18:16
SPEAKER_02: And same with Marshawn Lynch and all the other guys.
18:19
SPEAKER_02: And at the same time, that should have absolutely zero bearing whatsoever on a Hall of Fame vote because the Hall of Fame is about what you did in your career.
18:29
SPEAKER_01: Here's like Steve Carlton hated talking to the media.
18:32
SPEAKER_01: Steve Carlton never did a media show, never talked to anybody.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: Great, I get it.
18:36
SPEAKER_01: Marshawn Lynch just didn't want to talk to that media, he just wanted to do it on his own terms.
18:42
SPEAKER_01: And the same thing with this piece of crap, Bill Belichick.
18:45
SPEAKER_01: And he is.
18:45
SPEAKER_01: He's a sleaze bag.
18:47
SPEAKER_02: You know, that's fine.
18:48
SPEAKER_01: That's that's that's great.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: Be a sleaze bag, you're a good football coach.
18:52
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean you don't deserve to be in the NFL Hall of Fame.
18:54
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
18:54
SPEAKER_01: You're one of the best to ever do it.
18:56
SPEAKER_01: But you're still a sleazy sleazebag that doesn't want to answer any tough questions.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: And I'm almost there with Mike Tomlin, too, on this not given, like Mike Tomlin just wants to hand pick who he goes in front of and who he talks to, and he doesn't want to answer a tough question.
19:12
SPEAKER_01: Same thing with Brady did that too with Jim Gray.
19:15
SPEAKER_01: You remember he used to give his own little interviews with Jim Gray, and Jim Gray would just sit there.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: Oh, Tom, tell me about what size shoe you're wearing today.
19:23
SPEAKER_02: That's a different, like you said, that's a different argument.
19:25
SPEAKER_02: Like if you want to, if you want to say that that guy shouldn't do that and guy should be held to a different standard, again, totally agree.
19:32
SPEAKER_02: It has absolutely positively zero bearing or should have zero bearing on a Hall of Fame is you know, what was his track, what was this guy's track record in the sport that they played or coached in?
19:47
SPEAKER_02: And and that's like to your point about voting for stuff.
19:51
SPEAKER_02: That's what's so bad about voting for stuff.
19:54
SPEAKER_02: You know, it's it's it's like the year that Mario Lemieux outscored Wayne Gretzky by 30 goals and didn't get the MVP because they liked Wayne Gretzky better.
20:03
SPEAKER_02: That's that's like you said, out the window.
20:06
SPEAKER_01: It's your Hall of Fame.
20:07
SPEAKER_01: You can do whatever you want with it.
20:09
SPEAKER_01: You can let whoever you you want in.
20:11
SPEAKER_01: And you remember they didn't let in Terrell Owens for like three years.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: Because they yeah, because they didn't like him.
20:18
SPEAKER_01: Because he worked out in his what showed up Andy Reid in Philadelphia.
20:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he wasn't he wasn't a good teammate.
20:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he was a jerk, he was flamboyant, and he should have been in the Hall of Fame on his first ballot.
20:30
SPEAKER_02: Like both things can be true at the same time.
20:33
SPEAKER_01: Remember, he stuck it to them too.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: He wouldn't go.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: I I I kind of hope, and I don't think Bilichek, I was kind of hoping he gets petty because he can be petty like this.
20:40
SPEAKER_01: I hope he doesn't go like, no, I'm not gonna show up and you can't use my name.
20:44
SPEAKER_01: Can't use my name, can't you can't induct me, can't do anything with it, and I'll sue you if you do.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: You know, but but make it make it a pain in the butt.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: Like, if you do it, I'm gonna bring send a cease and desist letter.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: Make the NFL sue you over it.
20:59
SPEAKER_01: See how serious they are now about it.
21:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
21:02
SPEAKER_02: It it it's ridiculous.
21:04
SPEAKER_02: You shouldn't you again.
21:06
SPEAKER_02: That's a problem when you have people vote.
21:08
SPEAKER_02: The baseball hall of fame is even even dumber.
21:10
SPEAKER_01: Well, like if people like voted, who was the one who didn't get all the votes?
21:14
SPEAKER_02: Uh Ken Griffey Jr.
21:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
21:16
SPEAKER_01: And like, well, I'm standing up for the you know what of the Negro League players that didn't get in.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: What does that have to do with Ken Griffey Jr.?
21:25
SPEAKER_01: I forget people are giving like weird like responses, like that was for you know Pete Rose or Shulus Joe Jackson or something stupid.
21:33
SPEAKER_01: It was like you're voting on you know Ken Griffey Jr., not Pete Rose or Shulus Joe Jackson, who are both now eligible for the major league baseball.
21:41
SPEAKER_02: You should really, it should, it should almost be like you talked about robots before.
21:46
SPEAKER_01: It should be like it should be fed into a computer, not like just that could even be like biased depending how you program it.
21:54
SPEAKER_02: It could be, but my goodness, like I I I trust the computer at this point over people that don't think Bill Bell.
21:59
SPEAKER_02: Belichick's a Hall of Fame coach.
22:01
SPEAKER_02: Sorry, like you said, credibility's completely shot.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: Well, they think he is one, they just want to get him back for Spy Gate.
22:08
SPEAKER_01: Not even for Spy Gate.
22:09
SPEAKER_01: I don't even think they care about Spy Gate.
22:11
SPEAKER_01: I think it's just I asked Bill Belichick a question in a press conference and he blew me off.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: And now's my time.
22:18
SPEAKER_01: Now it's payback time.
22:20
SPEAKER_02: Bill Bel Bill Belichick could have, even without, even before the Patriots, you know, everybody forgets that too.
22:27
SPEAKER_02: Bill Belichick.
22:28
SPEAKER_02: He had two Super Bowls.
22:29
SPEAKER_02: And he that that 1990 season where he beat Joe Montana in the championship game and then beat the the Buffalo Bills, who were the best offense, one of the best offenses in history, in the Super Bowl.
22:41
SPEAKER_02: And they literally have his game plan from that Super Bowl in the Hall of Fame on display.
22:47
SPEAKER_02: And that was even before he coached the Patriots, like to six Super Bowl wins.
22:52
SPEAKER_02: So it's ridiculous.
22:54
SPEAKER_02: It's stupid.
22:55
SPEAKER_02: It's again like I hate this whole uh, like you said, anytime somebody votes on something, it's ridiculous.
23:01
SPEAKER_02: Somebody, if a team wins, you know, people will be like, oh, they didn't play a tough schedule, or they got lucky in this game, or this player got hurt, but whatever, they won.
23:09
SPEAKER_02: You can't really debate that at the end of the day.
23:12
SPEAKER_02: This stuff where we vote for awards or Hall of Fame enshrinements, and and it just it's inevitable that ridiculous stuff like this is going to happen.
23:20
SPEAKER_01: That's why college football had it right for all those years when they voted for a national champion.
23:25
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
23:26
SPEAKER_02: What a great idea that was.
23:29
SPEAKER_02: That worked out very well.
23:30
SPEAKER_02: Never, never had any threat of controversy.
23:33
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, that year Colorado and Georgia Tech were co-national champions.
23:38
SPEAKER_01: Colorado definitely would have beat Georgia Tech that year.
23:42
SPEAKER_01: But I mean, I I just I just really feel strongly about that.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: Maybe just I'm just a fan and I give my own fan perspective.
23:49
SPEAKER_01: It it's you know, definitely have my biases, and I think that's another thing that annoys people is like there's media.
23:56
SPEAKER_01: I remember that one guy used to host Sports Center, like one of it was him and Jamel Hill, and he was like, Well, I'm unbiased because I was from New Orleans and I'm I never even was a Saints fan.
24:08
SPEAKER_01: I was like, but you probably have people that you like interacting and people you don't like interacting with.
24:13
SPEAKER_01: It's just human nature.
24:14
SPEAKER_01: There's people you're gonna get along with, there's people you're not gonna get along with, people you find engaging, people you find boring.
24:21
SPEAKER_01: And it's just I I I don't know what to say about it.
24:25
SPEAKER_01: It's it's impossible.
24:27
SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, if you like Coke over Pepsi, that's a bias against Pepsi, right?
24:32
SPEAKER_01: It's just it is.
24:34
SPEAKER_01: Thank God we don't vote on like an important position to run our country like this, right?
24:40
SPEAKER_02: Feed that into a computer, too.
24:43
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we should just go back to old school kings and dictators.
24:46
SPEAKER_01: That worked well.
24:47
SPEAKER_01: That worked so well.
24:50
SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, I don't know what else to say about it, Tim, except for you know, I think you or me could run a the Hall of Fame as well as anybody else at this point.
24:58
SPEAKER_01: I mean how do we fix this?
25:01
SPEAKER_01: How I uh let's come on, let's let's help you.
25:03
SPEAKER_02: I already gave you an answer to that.
25:04
SPEAKER_02: You're running away.
25:06
SPEAKER_01: Well, how about this?
25:07
SPEAKER_01: How about this?
25:08
SPEAKER_01: How we we keep the voting, but we have like we have um the public nominates the voters and then like the the owners get a partial percentage of the vote, the writers get a percentage of the vote or something like that.
25:25
SPEAKER_01: You know, and then at the end, whoever gets the most votes wins.
25:29
SPEAKER_01: I mean, at least then you would get more like like you would kind of like because like remember that one year like the fans tried to put like somebody into the NHL All-Star game, like Rory Gilmore, or somebody stupid.
25:40
SPEAKER_01: Like, oh, we just want to be funny, ha ha ha.
25:42
SPEAKER_01: Like if you put like the writers and owners as the final bulwark against that, you could eliminate some of that silliness.
25:49
SPEAKER_01: We're like, I'm gonna nominate you know who would be a stupid candidate for the NFL Hall of Fame.
25:54
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
25:55
SPEAKER_02: Jason Rhodes.
25:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, or some yeah, Alonzo Jackson, you know, ever played a doubt of football.
26:02
SPEAKER_02: So so I you you maybe you could have like some kind of audit thing where you know, after they make the selections, you talked about like the presidency.
26:11
SPEAKER_02: Maybe there needs to be like a Supreme Court kind of thing that can overturn it, you know.
26:15
SPEAKER_02: Uh maybe something like that.
26:17
SPEAKER_02: I I I don't know.
26:18
SPEAKER_01: It's but then you're giving too much.
26:20
SPEAKER_01: I just think like if you split it up like equally between like coaches, coaches and owners, reporters, and the public, you would probably get a better consensus of Hall of Fame.
26:34
SPEAKER_02: That's fair.
26:35
SPEAKER_02: That's fair.
26:36
SPEAKER_01: But I mean, who do you want in the Hall of Fame?
26:38
SPEAKER_01: Do you don't you want people to come visit your Hall of Fame?
26:40
SPEAKER_01: I was thinking maybe Belichick could be really petty and just make his own little personal Bill Belichick Hall of Fame.
26:46
SPEAKER_01: Like, doesn't Richard Petty have that NASCAR?
26:48
SPEAKER_01: Isn't there like a Richard Petty, like his own little Hall of Fame or something?
26:52
SPEAKER_01: Like, come to Foxborough, Massachusetts and see the Bill Belichick Hall of Fame.
26:56
SPEAKER_01: Yay! Don't steal any of our prices, though.
27:02
SPEAKER_01: Or I don't know what you could steal from them.
27:04
SPEAKER_02: His girlfriend could be like the tour guide.
27:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there you go.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: Uh, well, that's all the ideas we have, Tim.
27:12
SPEAKER_01: Anything else we want to fix?
27:13
SPEAKER_01: World peace, world hunger?
27:15
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
27:15
SPEAKER_02: We'll save that for next month's episode.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: Uh that's uh yeah, we did enough work today.
27:20
SPEAKER_01: Well, I appreciate that.
27:21
SPEAKER_01: Check us out on Facebook and Instagram and tell us how we could better fix the Hall of Fame so that Bill Belichick, or Bill Morse treated Bill Belichick, who's married to a 24-year-old super bottle and makes millions of dollars a year.
27:36
SPEAKER_01: Boy, that guy's really got it tough, doesn't he, Tim?
27:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he definitely needs us to stick up for him.
27:40
SPEAKER_02: That's the worst thing we're sitting there defending Bill Belichick.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: Oh, we appreciate you guys all checking in, leaving us comments, and uh we'll catch you next time on this place for