Latest / Pittsburgh Sports Memories / The 10 Hall of Famers
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_08: Hello, welcome to another exciting episode of Pittsburgh Sports Memories.
- 0:04SPEAKER_08: We'll be going over the top ten hall of famers from a university that you may know or not know or not like.
- 0:11SPEAKER_08: I don't know.
- 0:12SPEAKER_08: I like them.
- 0:13SPEAKER_08: Do you like them, Tim?
- 0:15SPEAKER_02: Uh I love Pitt.
- 0:16SPEAKER_08: Alright, there you go.
- 0:18SPEAKER_08: I'm just liking them.
- 0:19SPEAKER_08: We're just on a like a like.
- 0:20SPEAKER_08: We don't know if we love each other yet.
- 0:22SPEAKER_08: No, I love them.
- 0:23SPEAKER_08: I've suffered through them for how many years?
- 0:25SPEAKER_08: 30 years, so why not?
- 0:42SPEAKER_08: As you might may or may not know, Pitt, the University of Pittsburgh football team, has an unusual amount of NFL Hall of Fame players from its football program.
- 0:53SPEAKER_08: And it's actually more than some of the other storied programs it would think of, like, I don't know, Penn State.
- 1:00SPEAKER_08: Or I mean even like Florida State or, you know, some of the other schools.
- 1:04SPEAKER_08: Um, so on this episode, we're gonna count down the top ten Hall of Famers from that school that other schools may or may not be jealous of, and that other schools are just not willing to admit that they're really a rival to.
- 1:17SPEAKER_08: So you can figure out who those two schools are, you're ahead of the game.
- 1:24SPEAKER_08: So I I'm gonna start, uh I'm gonna start with the honorable mentions.
- 1:28SPEAKER_08: So as usual, I'm Steve Ward.
- 1:30SPEAKER_08: I'm joined with my co-host I'm Tim Annon.
- 1:34SPEAKER_08: And we're just gonna jump into the honorable mentions here.
- 1:38SPEAKER_08: Um Larry Fitzgerald, huh?
- 1:42SPEAKER_08: That guy's definitely gonna be a Hall of Famer.
- 1:44SPEAKER_08: So these are people that probably that aren't not probably, they aren't Hall of Famers yet, but they may be someday.
- 1:51SPEAKER_08: Well, actually, what do you think, Tim?
- 1:53SPEAKER_08: Larry Fitzgerald's in the Hall of Fame.
- 1:54SPEAKER_08: That's like a lock.
- 1:55SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, he's a he's first ballot lock.
- 1:57SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's no no question there, but he he's not eligible yet, so you gotta put him in this honorable mention section.
- 2:04SPEAKER_08: Yeah, so I I said I think I have two locks and two maybes.
- 2:08SPEAKER_08: So um he played for 17 seasons, uh first team all pro a bunch of times.
- 2:18SPEAKER_08: Uh he's second in career receiving yards, and I think sixth in touchdowns.
- 2:24SPEAKER_08: So he had a great career at Pitt.
- 2:27SPEAKER_08: We'll go over all that some some some year we'll have to do a fit Larry Fitzgerald episode because he deserves his own.
- 2:36SPEAKER_02: He really does.
- 2:37SPEAKER_02: I think that would be a great episode, and I'd love to go through a list of all the quarterbacks he had in Arizona because it's like Kurt Warner, Carson Palmer was okay.
- 2:49SPEAKER_08: And then a lot of Drew Stanton's Yeah.
- 2:52SPEAKER_02: I mean, just a lot of just and he's still second all-time in career receiving yards.
- 2:57SPEAKER_02: I mean, yeah, anyway, like you said, we he needs his whole his own episode.
- 3:02SPEAKER_02: There's just Larry Legend is a legend, so we'll cover that at some point.
- 3:08SPEAKER_08: Another guy that's probably a lock for the Hall of Fame and is still playing, uh, Aaron Donald.
- 3:14SPEAKER_08: He was a he's a defensive tackle now for the Los Angeles Rams, obviously graduated from Pitt.
- 3:19SPEAKER_08: They had that great highlight at Pitt where he tackled the Duke running back and quarterback.
- 3:23SPEAKER_08: I think that was Daniel Jones, too.
- 3:24SPEAKER_08: It was like they were running like an option play.
- 3:26SPEAKER_08: Remember that he like goes in and tackles them both.
- 3:29SPEAKER_08: Just in case you decide to hand the ball off, I'll just tackle you both.
- 3:33SPEAKER_08: Yeah, Donald was pretty good.
- 3:36SPEAKER_08: He kind of came out of nowhere.
- 3:37SPEAKER_08: He just had that senior year that came out of nowhere.
- 3:40SPEAKER_08: It ended up not being a fluke.
- 3:42SPEAKER_08: He ended up really good.
- 3:43SPEAKER_08: He he's still good.
- 3:44SPEAKER_08: I don't think he's he's kind of on the backside right now.
- 3:48SPEAKER_08: He's still a good player, but he's not where he was when they won the Super Bowl, where he literally won a Super Bowl for the Ramps.
- 3:54SPEAKER_08: I mean, Matthew Stafford played a big part, but and I like Matthew Stafford.
- 3:59SPEAKER_08: He's a good quarterback, but Aaron Donald, I've never seen a defensive player single-handedly like literally win a Super Bowl.
- 4:06SPEAKER_08: And that that's pretty much what happened.
- 4:09SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
- 4:10SPEAKER_02: Definitely an all-time great and three-time defensive player of the year.
- 4:14SPEAKER_02: I think that I don't think anyone has won more defensive player of the year awards than he has.
- 4:19SPEAKER_02: I think a couple of guys have also won three, but nobody's won more than three.
- 4:24SPEAKER_02: So, I mean, he's in pretty select company there.
- 4:27SPEAKER_08: And Urban Meyer still doesn't know who he is, so because he didn't graduate from an SEC school, I guess, or a Big Ten school.
- 4:34SPEAKER_08: So um so now we get into the maybes.
- 4:40SPEAKER_08: Uh and I I think me and Tim have debated this guy before.
- 4:44SPEAKER_08: LaShawn McCoy.
- 4:47SPEAKER_08: And uh he ranks he is 11,000 career rushing yards, and he's only 136 yards behind people that haven't murdered people.
- 4:59SPEAKER_08: And that would be OJ Simpson.
- 5:01SPEAKER_08: Or not maybe not murdered people.
- 5:04SPEAKER_08: I don't know.
- 5:05SPEAKER_02: Allegedly.
- 5:06SPEAKER_08: Yeah, allegedly.
- 5:07SPEAKER_08: He he the people let's put it this way.
- 5:08SPEAKER_08: He he's a hundred yards behind people that have driven white white Broncos around.
- 5:13SPEAKER_02: So there you go.
- 5:15SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
- 5:16SPEAKER_08: He was named uh I think he was named player of the decade on the all decade team from the tens.
- 5:22SPEAKER_08: Is that a thing?
- 5:24SPEAKER_08: Like the 2010s.
- 5:25SPEAKER_08: So I don't know, Tim.
- 5:27SPEAKER_08: Do you think he'll he'll make it?
- 5:29SPEAKER_05: Oh boy.
- 5:31SPEAKER_08: Running backs are such a dime a dozen anymore.
- 5:34SPEAKER_08: They're all complaining now on Facebook or whatever, Facebook, whatever they're they're gone now, right?
- 5:41SPEAKER_08: I don't know.
- 5:42SPEAKER_02: One of them social media platforms.
- 5:44SPEAKER_08: I don't know, kids are always on.
- 5:47SPEAKER_02: Running backs definitely have a problem with them.
- 5:50SPEAKER_02: You know, they're they're easily disposable.
- 5:53SPEAKER_02: I think I think McCoy, he play he he was he played a long time, so he's got that going in his favor because most running backs are done after really four years, three years in terms of productivity.
- 6:06SPEAKER_02: And like you said, he's in the top 25 all time in the yards.
- 6:10SPEAKER_02: He's borderline.
- 6:11SPEAKER_02: I I don't know if he'll get in or not.
- 6:14SPEAKER_08: I tried to look up how many, I don't know how does Jerome Bettis do how many career rushing yards Jerome Bettis has?
- 6:20SPEAKER_02: Uh I don't have it in front of me.
- 6:23SPEAKER_02: It's more than McCoy because I think Bettis might still be in the top 10.
- 6:26SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I only have the 13.
- 6:28SPEAKER_08: The 13th person is Edrin James at 12,000 yards.
- 6:32SPEAKER_08: And he's ahead of Marcus Allen and Franco Harris, who are both in.
- 6:36SPEAKER_08: But that once again, both those guys played in like 14-game seasons.
- 6:41SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
- 6:42SPEAKER_08: I don't know.
- 6:42SPEAKER_08: It's hard to compare.
- 6:43SPEAKER_02: It's it's hard to compare.
- 6:45SPEAKER_02: I I you know, I a lot of the guys that are around him are also borderline on the list.
- 6:52SPEAKER_08: Like John Riggins is John Riggins is in, isn't he?
- 6:55SPEAKER_02: John Riggins is in, OJ Simpson is in, Steven Jackson, Corey Dillon, and Ricky Waters are not.
- 7:01SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
- 7:02SPEAKER_02: Right?
- 7:02SPEAKER_02: So Thurman Thomas is in, he's right around that that area too.
- 7:05SPEAKER_08: So again, it's But Thurman Thomas has a lot of receiving yards.
- 7:08SPEAKER_08: I didn't look up, I think McCoy has a fair amount of receiving yards, too.
- 7:13SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it again, it's it's borderline.
- 7:16SPEAKER_02: I I don't know.
- 7:17SPEAKER_02: I don't think he probably gets in.
- 7:18SPEAKER_02: I think he'll be one of those guys.
- 7:19SPEAKER_08: He has 3,000 career receiving yards.
- 7:22SPEAKER_02: So I think he'll be one of those guys that will be eligible as like a senior member, you know, like 15 years from now or something.
- 7:31SPEAKER_08: So that should be an interesting debate.
- 7:33SPEAKER_08: It's a good debate.
- 7:34SPEAKER_08: I I don't know what to do with running backs anymore because, like you said, they seem to be so disposable.
- 7:40SPEAKER_08: And didn't Orlandis Gary have like 1,500 yards rushing for the Broncos one time, and that guy was nothing special.
- 7:48SPEAKER_02: Well, the the the even last year the Falcons had a thousand yard rusher, that Tyler Al Algier, and then they went and drafted Beaton Robinson with like a top ten pick.
- 7:58SPEAKER_02: So it's just it's it's like, thank you.
- 8:00SPEAKER_02: Next, right?
- 8:01SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's it's very they're just disposable, and that's that's just I get why running backs are upset for sure, but I don't know what you can really do about it.
- 8:12SPEAKER_08: Yeah, it's it's like the nature of the beast.
- 8:14SPEAKER_08: Yeah, right.
- 8:16SPEAKER_08: Well, they've said that I've heard that said about punters too.
- 8:18SPEAKER_08: It's like hunters are a dime a dozen, you know?
- 8:22SPEAKER_08: So although I would say running backs are more important than punters, but that's just me.
- 8:28SPEAKER_08: Um last guy on the honorable mentions category, Ruben Brown.
- 8:34SPEAKER_08: Um he played uh tackle for the Bills and the Bears, I do believe.
- 8:41SPEAKER_08: Yes, he was a four-time all-pro, nine-time Pro Bowl selection, eight consecutive Pro Bowls.
- 8:48SPEAKER_08: And uh that was from '96 to 2003.
- 8:51SPEAKER_08: Um he's the older brother of former NFL Black linebacker Cornell Brown.
- 8:56SPEAKER_08: I don't think Ruben Brown makes it.
- 8:58SPEAKER_08: I love Ruben Brown.
- 8:58SPEAKER_08: He was a great player on those early 90s pit teams.
- 9:01SPEAKER_08: They were really garbage.
- 9:02SPEAKER_08: He was also in the Fuji's uh video, Killing Me Softly, which is just good for him.
- 9:08SPEAKER_08: So that's right.
- 9:10SPEAKER_08: If you remember the fight in the movie theater at the end of that video, the really big guy that stands up, yes, that's an NFL tackle.
- 9:16SPEAKER_08: I remember that.
- 9:18SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
- 9:18SPEAKER_08: I forgot about that.
- 9:19SPEAKER_02: I mean, nine-time pro bowler, though, like he should at least garner some consideration.
- 9:24SPEAKER_08: I don't think he makes it.
- 9:26SPEAKER_08: I like offensive line is like almost like running back.
- 9:31SPEAKER_08: They're just the left tackle is very like.
- 9:34SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he's a guard.
- 9:35SPEAKER_02: I I think it's because he's a guard, right?
- 9:37SPEAKER_02: If you're a if you're a tackle, I think there's yeah, you're more celebrated, but guards are typically not.
- 9:43SPEAKER_02: Even Alan Fannica took him a while to get in.
- 9:45SPEAKER_02: What about he's a really good guard?
- 9:47SPEAKER_08: The guy who coaches used to coach for the Steelers, played for Munchak.
- 9:51SPEAKER_08: Yeah, is he in?
- 9:52SPEAKER_08: Yes.
- 9:53SPEAKER_08: Okay.
- 9:54SPEAKER_08: And he was a guard, wasn't he?
- 9:55SPEAKER_08: I'm pretty sure he was.
- 9:56SPEAKER_02: Okay.
- 9:57SPEAKER_08: I'm thinking there's guards in there, obviously.
- 10:00SPEAKER_02: Again, like Alan Fannica, like I said.
- 10:02SPEAKER_02: But but I don't know.
- 10:03SPEAKER_02: I just maybe that's why he he's having a hard time getting in.
- 10:07SPEAKER_02: I it'd be interesting to see if he ever been a finalist or anything like that.
- 10:10SPEAKER_02: But because he's been retired for a while now, obviously.
- 10:14SPEAKER_02: But you're right, all four of those guys.
- 10:15SPEAKER_02: I mean, Pitt could legitimately have 14 Hall of Famers.
- 10:20SPEAKER_08: I think that would tie them with Ohio State or Notre Dame.
- 10:23SPEAKER_08: Like, I think Notre Dame and USC have the most.
- 10:26SPEAKER_08: And Pitt's like fourth or fifth.
- 10:29SPEAKER_02: Well, they'll they'll definitely have 12.
- 10:31SPEAKER_02: Because Donald, Donald and Fitzgerald are, I mean, like you said, they're locks.
- 10:36SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 10:37SPEAKER_02: Maybe maybe they'll have 13 when Kenny Pickett retires.
- 10:40SPEAKER_02: Crossing fingers.
- 10:41SPEAKER_08: There you go.
- 10:42SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
- 10:43SPEAKER_08: Alright.
- 10:44SPEAKER_08: Number uh number 10, Diaz, if you're Spanish speaking.
- 10:49SPEAKER_08: That would be Chris Dolman.
- 10:51SPEAKER_08: I put that, I did put these in order.
- 10:53SPEAKER_08: I rank them.
- 10:54SPEAKER_08: So we'll start with 10.
- 10:55SPEAKER_08: Like, I guess, you know, the worst of the best.
- 11:00SPEAKER_08: But Chris Dolman was really good, so like calling him not good is probably not very nice.
- 11:06SPEAKER_08: I don't know.
- 11:07SPEAKER_08: To be on this list, you know, you've got to be pretty good because hey, Larry Fitzgerald didn't make it, right?
- 11:13SPEAKER_08: So um he was a seventh all-time sack leader in the NFL with 150.
- 11:18SPEAKER_08: Um, he's the eighth all-time sack leader at Pitt with 28, which makes absolutely no sense.
- 11:24SPEAKER_08: Pitt has had a lot of sacks over there, especially over the last four or five years.
- 11:28SPEAKER_08: Pitt has gotten really good at sacking the quarterback.
- 11:32SPEAKER_08: Um he's a, you know, Dolman finished his college career with third.
- 11:37SPEAKER_08: Um he played in the Sugar Bowl, sugar, cotton, and fiesta bowl, helped the Pitt Panthers earned three top 20 finishes, including a number two ranking in 1981.
- 11:48SPEAKER_08: They were the and the number nine finish in 1982.
- 11:53SPEAKER_08: Um he was a team captain at Pitt.
- 11:55SPEAKER_08: Um the late Foge Fasio said um sometimes we'll stop the game film just to point out to the team Chris's desire and hustle to get there.
- 12:06SPEAKER_08: He was he ended up being a fourth overall pick by the 85 Minnesota Vikings.
- 12:12SPEAKER_08: He obviously played 15 seasons in the NFL.
- 12:15SPEAKER_08: And you know, I every every guy like had a uh most of them had a pretty cool quote.
- 12:20SPEAKER_08: You know, some were better than others, but uh so I tried to put a quote in from their enshrined speech.
- 12:27SPEAKER_08: I played for God, family, and teams.
- 12:29SPEAKER_08: My teammates were very important to me, but I always knew that I wanted to honor God, and I never wanted to embarrass my family by playing bad, doing something that would bring shame to them and my teammates.
- 12:40SPEAKER_08: I owed that to them.
- 12:42SPEAKER_08: I owe them uh the best performance that I could give them week in and week out.
- 12:48SPEAKER_08: And uh also um if you go check out our uh website, we'll have all these links will be in there, all the highlights to these guys.
- 12:55SPEAKER_08: Because like me, I really don't remember Chris Dolman playing because I was too young when he played at Pitt, and I don't remember him playing.
- 13:02SPEAKER_08: Like, I don't I didn't watch a terrible amount of Vikings games.
- 13:07SPEAKER_08: So any any thoughts on uh Chris Dolman there, Tim?
- 13:12SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like you said, him playing for the Vikings.
- 13:14SPEAKER_02: I remember he was he was good.
- 13:17SPEAKER_02: I I also remember that if you picked the Vikings in the original Tech Mobile, he was the guy on defense he wanted to be because he was the fastest.
- 13:26SPEAKER_02: So I do remember that about Chris Dolman.
- 13:30SPEAKER_02: He was really good in tech mobile.
- 13:32SPEAKER_02: Um but yeah, good, really good, really good player Pitt, like you said a little bit before our times.
- 13:38SPEAKER_02: Um and and a high draft pick that really panned out, obviously, went all the way to the Hall of Fame.
- 13:44SPEAKER_02: Hey Steve, also just fact-checking your earlier statement about um the the Hall of Fame, the you were correct that if they if Pitt had 14, that would tie them with Notre Dame and USC for the schools with the most Hall of Famers.
- 14:02SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and the only other school with more Hall of Famers than Pitt is Michigan.
- 14:05SPEAKER_02: They have 11.
- 14:07SPEAKER_02: So Pitt's fourth.
- 14:08SPEAKER_08: Like you said, that's pretty amazing given that you know it's yeah, school that size, they're not a state school.
- 14:14SPEAKER_08: I mean, considering some of the other like super football factors, like Alabama, they have more than Alabama.
- 14:20SPEAKER_02: That's Alabama only has eight.
- 14:23SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 14:23SPEAKER_02: So you're right.
- 14:24SPEAKER_08: So Pitt could put it up there by another four, even on Alabama.
- 14:27SPEAKER_08: Like, I mean, who from Alabama that's graduated recently is going to be a Hall of Famer?
- 14:31SPEAKER_08: Maybe Fitzpatrick, maybe.
- 14:34SPEAKER_08: I I don't see Tua being a Hall of Famer.
- 14:37SPEAKER_08: I mean, you never know, but so I it's kind of impressive, uh I to me, more than Texas or Alabama or Oklahoma.
- 14:47SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
- 14:48SPEAKER_08: I mean, those are those are absolute college football staples.
- 14:51SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 14:52SPEAKER_08: So yeah.
- 14:53SPEAKER_08: Thank you for looking that up, Tim.
- 14:55SPEAKER_08: I was remiss in my notes.
- 14:57SPEAKER_02: Well, you were I mean, you were right.
- 14:58SPEAKER_02: You said 14, you were actually spot on.
- 15:01SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
- 15:02SPEAKER_08: And I'm sure, I mean, I don't know who out there from Notre Dame or USC that's gonna get in the NFL Hall of Fame next.
- 15:10SPEAKER_02: Well, that's yeah, that's a good point.
- 15:12SPEAKER_02: I mean, it could get four or more, but then by that point, Notre Dame or USC or whoever else could have more.
- 15:17SPEAKER_08: Well, I mean, you know, Chase Claypool's definitely polishing off the NFL Hall of Fame resume.
- 15:23SPEAKER_08: The Bears.
- 15:25SPEAKER_08: Speaking of the Bears, what a great segue.
- 15:27SPEAKER_08: Look at me, what a great podcast guy I am.
- 15:30SPEAKER_08: Um Jimbo Cobert.
- 15:33SPEAKER_08: I I don't know much about Jimbo Cobert.
- 15:35SPEAKER_08: Once again, didn't really get to see him play in the 80s.
- 15:38SPEAKER_08: Um, he's a 6'4, 277-pound tackle.
- 15:42SPEAKER_08: He played left tackle in 11 playoff games and three NFC Championship games and one Super Bowl.
- 15:48SPEAKER_08: Um, he, of course, was on that legendary 1985 Chicago Bears team that won the 15-1.
- 15:54SPEAKER_08: That wasn't here.
- 15:55SPEAKER_08: They're not here to cause no trouble.
- 15:57SPEAKER_08: They're just here to do the Super Bowl shuffle.
- 15:59SPEAKER_08: Which sadly, which I really wanted Jimbo Covert to be in.
- 16:03SPEAKER_08: He did not make the cut.
- 16:05SPEAKER_08: He was not in the Super Bowl shuffle video.
- 16:08SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I was really sad.
- 16:09SPEAKER_08: I because I really wanted to do a whole thing on the Super Bowl shuffle video, but I guess we couldn't.
- 16:14SPEAKER_02: So the whole team wasn't in that?
- 16:15SPEAKER_02: I guess not.
- 16:16SPEAKER_08: No, no, because the stupid backup quarterback was, like who he mentions in his speech.
- 16:23SPEAKER_08: Like I guess he's a big friend.
- 16:25SPEAKER_08: I I forget the name of that guy, but yeah, the backup quarterback's in it.
- 16:29SPEAKER_08: And I mean Richard Dent's in it.
- 16:31SPEAKER_08: But even like Walter Payton and Jim McMahon weren't in it technically.
- 16:35SPEAKER_08: They were like taped at a later time and like uh not Photoshop, but like edited in, I guess.
- 16:42SPEAKER_08: Yeah, okay.
- 16:43SPEAKER_08: So yeah.
- 16:46SPEAKER_08: But you know, the 85 Bears, obviously one of the great NFL team, L teams of all time.
- 16:52SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure.
- 16:54SPEAKER_08: They are considered really good.
- 16:55SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah.
- 16:56SPEAKER_08: I mean, that team was so dominant, and the the fact that they recorded that song like a month before they won the Super Bowl.
- 17:04SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
- 17:04SPEAKER_02: I mean, if you did that today.
- 17:06SPEAKER_08: Oh, people would go nuts.
- 17:08SPEAKER_02: People would go nuts, and then every team would want to beat you.
- 17:10SPEAKER_02: And then they got into the playoffs, and I don't think any of their playoff games, I don't think anybody came within 30 points of them.
- 17:17SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'd have to look that up, but I'm pretty sure they have Well the New England sure didn't.
- 17:22SPEAKER_08: I mean, yeah.
- 17:23SPEAKER_02: And they beat they beat the Rams in the championship game and they beat, I think it was the Giants in the divisional round.
- 17:27SPEAKER_02: And I think they might have shot off both of those teams, or at least beat them by like 30.
- 17:32SPEAKER_02: I mean, it wasn't so so they didn't even like break a sweat to win the Super Bowl.
- 17:36SPEAKER_02: It was it was amazing.
- 17:38SPEAKER_02: They lost that one game to Miami, uh, or else they you know they would have been undefeated.
- 17:44SPEAKER_08: Um, and yeah, the season call.
- 17:46SPEAKER_08: We'll talk about that game again against Miami later.
- 17:49SPEAKER_08: There's another guy on this list that figures prominently the 85 Chicago Bears.
- 17:54SPEAKER_02: I'll have to I'll have to take a guess at who that is.
- 17:59SPEAKER_08: Uh that should be a fun one.
- 18:00SPEAKER_08: Um Covert paved the way for a thousand-yard rusher in every season of his career but one, which that's pretty impressive.
- 18:07SPEAKER_08: Of course, that person was Walter Payton, but I uh you or B probably could have gotten Walter Payton 500 yards, you know.
- 18:18SPEAKER_08: But you know, you definitely, you know, you don't it's a team sport, and you definitely gotta have some good people in front of you.
- 18:25SPEAKER_08: He was uh he was the Miller Light offensive lineman of the year before beer companies decided to go nuts and offend their customer base.
- 18:34SPEAKER_08: But um he earned consumer consensus first team all pro honors in 1985 and 1986, as well as second team in 1987.
- 18:46SPEAKER_08: He was also an all-NFC selection four times and named to the NFL's all decade team of the 1980s.
- 18:55SPEAKER_08: Uh legendary offensive line coach Joe Moore once described him as Jimbo is so good, it's like watching a clinic film.
- 19:04SPEAKER_08: After a play, I'm never surprised to see Jimbo and his man 10 or 15 yards downfield.
- 19:11SPEAKER_08: Wow.
- 19:12SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
- 19:13SPEAKER_08: Uh Jimbo's the guy we wanted from day one.
- 19:15SPEAKER_08: We put him at left tackle and moved on.
- 19:18SPEAKER_08: That's what uh coach of the Bears, Mike Ditka, said.
- 19:21SPEAKER_08: You don't get too many people that come along and who can make that kind of impact.
- 19:25SPEAKER_08: He had the respect of all his teammates and coaches.
- 19:28SPEAKER_08: Um and they asked him, well, how did uh rookie covert earn the respect?
- 19:33SPEAKER_08: And uh, of course, in classic Mike Ditka, by kicking butt.
- 19:37SPEAKER_08: And I'm sure Mike Ditka said butt, right, Tim.
- 19:42SPEAKER_08: But I mean that and they said that's how he did it.
- 19:45SPEAKER_08: And he's just he just he's a very quiet, he's like that stereotypical like offensive line guy, right?
- 19:52SPEAKER_08: They don't talk a lot, they're kind of quiet, and they just like the the great ones, they they aren't a vocal like team leader, they're just the guy that leads by example, and that's kind of exactly what Jimbo Covert is, and that's who he is and how he conducted himself.
- 20:10SPEAKER_08: So um just an all-around humble guy.
- 20:14SPEAKER_08: Um that quote I picked was uh I don't think I'm proven you're only as good as your last game.
- 20:20SPEAKER_08: I try to think of myself as steady, but there is always room for improvement.
- 20:25SPEAKER_08: If you can't see room for improvement, it's time to get out.
- 20:30SPEAKER_08: So good quote by Jimbo Covert.
- 20:33SPEAKER_08: Any final thoughts on Jimbo Covert there, Tim?
- 20:36SPEAKER_02: No, like you said uh earlier about Reuben Brown, sometimes it's tough to when you're talking about offensive linemen, and and then maybe that's a good example of you know he was a tackle and maybe got a little more heralded because of being a tackle, and and then also being on those great Bears teams, I'm sure that helped as well.
- 20:55SPEAKER_08: Yes.
- 20:57SPEAKER_08: Playing on the 85 Bears probably helped his cause.
- 21:00SPEAKER_08: Um speaking of people that were part of Hall of Fame offensive lines, um one, Russ Grimm.
- 21:07SPEAKER_08: He was a member of the Hogs in Washington, whatever they call in their team this week.
- 21:12SPEAKER_08: Do you see there's a petition to turn their back to their old name?
- 21:16SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and they have a new owner who's kind of hinted at changing the name again.
- 21:20SPEAKER_02: So I I don't know.
- 21:22SPEAKER_08: Maybe they'll just be the Washington football team again.
- 21:25SPEAKER_02: Maybe, maybe they'll just every season they'll have a contest.
- 21:28SPEAKER_02: Like, name a team for this 2024 season.
- 21:33SPEAKER_08: That would be funny.
- 21:37SPEAKER_08: Um, he was a member of Russ Grimm, getting back to Russ Grimm.
- 21:40SPEAKER_08: He was a member of the famed 1977 recruiting class.
- 21:44SPEAKER_08: Um he was Pitts starting center.
- 21:47SPEAKER_08: He was the heart of an impenetrable offensive line that was considered the gold standard for all of college football.
- 21:54SPEAKER_08: Of course, blocking for Tony Dorset kind of helped your case, you know.
- 21:59SPEAKER_08: Um He helped the Panthers to a 22 and 2 record over the 1979 and 1980 season.
- 22:05SPEAKER_08: How did they not win a national championship one of those years?
- 22:10SPEAKER_08: I guess getting though I know the one year they got blown up by Penn State.
- 22:14SPEAKER_08: Right.
- 22:14SPEAKER_02: Right.
- 22:15SPEAKER_02: I think that's what happened.
- 22:16SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's college football, so it's everything's, you know, you're undefeated until the third to last week of the season, then you lose, and then it doesn't matter.
- 22:25SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 22:25SPEAKER_02: Because college football's dumb.
- 22:27SPEAKER_08: Yeah, if you would have applied that to the 85 Bears, they would have second to the polls to the New England Patriots.
- 22:33SPEAKER_02: That's actually very good comparison of why college football's dumb.
- 22:38SPEAKER_08: Anyhow.
- 22:41SPEAKER_08: He's just a great, great player.
- 22:43SPEAKER_08: Um, he ended up being uh he was a third-round draft voice in Washington in '81.
- 22:49SPEAKER_08: He was uh he started 11 seasons at guard.
- 22:52SPEAKER_08: Hey, another guard, Tim.
- 22:53SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
- 22:54SPEAKER_08: There you go.
- 22:55SPEAKER_08: He was part of four Super Bowl berths, including victories in three of those Super Bowls.
- 23:01SPEAKER_08: Um after whatever was that Super Bowl seven, twenty-six, yeah.
- 23:07SPEAKER_08: One eye.
- 23:09SPEAKER_08: Yes, not the one eye, not two.
- 23:11SPEAKER_08: That's why we learned them so we could know what Super Bowl is.
- 23:13SPEAKER_08: That's exactly right.
- 23:17SPEAKER_08: Um announced his retirement.
- 23:20SPEAKER_08: Who was in Super Bowl 26, Tim?
- 23:22SPEAKER_08: Just for fun.
- 23:23SPEAKER_08: Just for Bills.
- 23:24SPEAKER_08: Was that the Bills?
- 23:25SPEAKER_02: Buffalo Bills, yeah.
- 23:26SPEAKER_08: Okay, alright.
- 23:27SPEAKER_08: That was their second Super Bowl loss.
- 23:29SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that was not a very exciting.
- 23:32SPEAKER_02: That was played in Minnesota, too.
- 23:33SPEAKER_02: I remember that.
- 23:34SPEAKER_02: And uh that was the one where Thurman Thomas lost his helmet.
- 23:38SPEAKER_08: I thought that was against Dallas.
- 23:40SPEAKER_08: I thought that was the one against Dallas.
- 23:41SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that was that was that one.
- 23:42SPEAKER_02: And that's about the only thing I remember about.
- 23:44SPEAKER_08: I remember I remember Andre Reid taking a 15-yard penalty for no reason.
- 23:48SPEAKER_08: Yeah, he slammed his helmet down or something.
- 23:50SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I remember that too.
- 23:52SPEAKER_02: Okay.
- 23:52SPEAKER_02: So two things I remember about that game.
- 23:55SPEAKER_08: That and the coach for the Bills like talking trash on the Washington offensive line, too.
- 24:00SPEAKER_08: And Mark Rippin was the MVP, if I remember correctly.
- 24:03SPEAKER_08: Wow, I remember more about Super Bowl 26 than I.
- 24:07SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 24:08SPEAKER_02: Maybe maybe it was a more memorable game than we thought.
- 24:11SPEAKER_08: Probably not.
- 24:12SPEAKER_08: Um he was voted to four Pro Bowls, was named in the 1980s all decade all decade team, and he received his Pro Football Hall of Induction in 2010.
- 24:24SPEAKER_08: He uh had a very good coaching career.
- 24:26SPEAKER_08: He was the Pittsburgh assist Pittsburgh Steelers assistant head coach.
- 24:29SPEAKER_08: You ever heard of the Pittsburgh Steelers team, Tim?
- 24:32SPEAKER_08: Yes.
- 24:33SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
- 24:34SPEAKER_08: And he was uh on the he oversaw the offensive line when they won Super Bowl 40.
- 24:39SPEAKER_08: Um he kind of got caught up in that whole um Steeler head coaching drama in 2009.
- 24:45SPEAKER_08: We went over that in probably a couple different episodes.
- 24:48SPEAKER_08: Go back and listen to that funness when he thought he had the job, but he didn't.
- 24:52SPEAKER_08: So but then he went to Arizona and I think they went to another Super Bowl while he was in Arizona, right?
- 24:58SPEAKER_08: He was on the the Super Bowl 43 team, so wasn't all he was coaching that team, him and Ken Wisenhunt.
- 25:07SPEAKER_08: Right.
- 25:08SPEAKER_08: Good quote from uh Mr.
- 25:10SPEAKER_08: Russ Grimm.
- 25:11SPEAKER_08: I had the desire, that's all I wanted to be, a football player.
- 25:15SPEAKER_08: A lot of guys go to college for a degree.
- 25:17SPEAKER_08: I went to college to play football.
- 25:18SPEAKER_08: I went to college because I had to go to college to get to the pros.
- 25:22SPEAKER_08: To me, football is what I do best.
- 25:24SPEAKER_08: I'm not the type of guy to sit behind a desk.
- 25:27SPEAKER_08: Just like another Jimbo Cobert kind of guy, just uh just an offensive lineman.
- 25:32SPEAKER_08: That's how they're just a different type of breed.
- 25:34SPEAKER_08: They're kind of you know blue-collar, hardworking guys.
- 25:37SPEAKER_02: So he really he really had the look of an offensive lineman.
- 25:40SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah.
- 25:41SPEAKER_08: He looked like a guy that went or that or a phys ed teacher in eighth grade, you know?
- 25:45SPEAKER_08: Right.
- 25:46SPEAKER_02: Right, or a construction worker.
- 25:48SPEAKER_02: Like he just he definitely had that look about him.
- 25:51SPEAKER_02: Yep.
- 25:52SPEAKER_08: Like, all right, we're gonna put up that building today.
- 25:54SPEAKER_08: Okay, okay, Russ.
- 25:56SPEAKER_08: We're doing it.
- 25:58SPEAKER_08: After that, we'll beat the Bills in the Super Bowl.
- 26:01SPEAKER_08: Um so number seven on this list, and and once again, there's gonna be all highlights of Russ Grimm.
- 26:07SPEAKER_08: If you really want to see Russ Grimm like block people as a member of the Washington offensive line, go for it.
- 26:14SPEAKER_08: I'm not going to play all these highlights because you know, offensive line highlights are kind of like you know.
- 26:21SPEAKER_08: Um, Ricky Jackson.
- 26:23SPEAKER_08: Now, another guy who I really don't remember much, but I've heard of him.
- 26:28SPEAKER_08: Um he he collected 290 career tackles, including a team high, 137.
- 26:34SPEAKER_08: He had 137 tackles in a season in 1980.
- 26:37SPEAKER_08: How did this 1980 team not win a blowing my mind?
- 26:43SPEAKER_08: When Pitt boasted the nation's top-ranked defense, except for that one time against Penn State.
- 26:48SPEAKER_08: And who was the quarterback on that Penn State?
- 26:50SPEAKER_08: Was it freaking Blackledge?
- 26:54SPEAKER_02: Probably.
- 26:55SPEAKER_08: Oh my gosh.
- 26:56SPEAKER_08: They gave up 44 points to Todd Blackledge?
- 26:59SPEAKER_08: Why?
- 27:03SPEAKER_02: Todd Blackledge in his defense was a really good college quarterback.
- 27:06SPEAKER_08: Yeah, not so much in the pros.
- 27:08SPEAKER_02: Maybe that's an episode we need to do is the early 80s pit teams.
- 27:12SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
- 27:13SPEAKER_08: Let's see.
- 27:14SPEAKER_08: Upon his retirement, he ranked third all-time in sacks, second in fumble recoveries.
- 27:19SPEAKER_08: He made six trips to the Pro Bowl.
- 27:21SPEAKER_08: He got drafted by the Aints, the Saints.
- 27:26SPEAKER_08: That's a shame because New Orleans, like, I was researching this and I I I knew New Orleans had a good defense, but I didn't realize how good they were.
- 27:34SPEAKER_08: They had four really good linebackers.
- 27:37SPEAKER_08: And I mean, they were called, I think he was a member of the Dome.
- 27:41SPEAKER_08: He was a member of the Dome Patrol defense.
- 27:44SPEAKER_08: That was their nickname.
- 27:45SPEAKER_08: And I think I don't know if there was another, was there another pit player on that New Orleans defense?
- 27:50SPEAKER_08: I I don't think so.
- 27:52SPEAKER_08: I don't remember.
- 27:53SPEAKER_08: But they they had four really good linebackers and their defense was really good.
- 27:56SPEAKER_08: It's just their offense had was that the Wade Wilson offense, or that was like their offense was not very good.
- 28:07SPEAKER_08: But he finished actually, fun fact, in 2023 he went back and finished his degree at Pitt at like 60 years old.
- 28:16SPEAKER_08: I think it's like a degree in like communication or something.
- 28:19SPEAKER_08: Maybe it's a degree in hitting people.
- 28:22SPEAKER_08: I don't know.
- 28:23SPEAKER_08: Um he won a Super Bowl with San Francisco in '94 later in his career.
- 28:28SPEAKER_08: Um there's all kinds of NFL film highlights of Ricky Jackson.
- 28:32SPEAKER_08: Um, they're pretty cool.
- 28:34SPEAKER_08: Football is the reason for everything I've been I've ever been able to have.
- 28:38SPEAKER_08: That's why it's so important to me.
- 28:40SPEAKER_08: It's everything to me.
- 28:43SPEAKER_08: For me.
- 28:44SPEAKER_08: Okay, let's uh let's we will try and do highlights of one Mr.
- 28:48SPEAKER_08: Ricky Jackson here.
- 28:51SPEAKER_00: A picture perfect player.
- 28:53SPEAKER_00: Number 57, Ricky Jackson represents an integral part of the Saints defense.
- 28:59SPEAKER_00: And none were more aware of Jackson's aggressive style of play than the men who carried the ball.
- 29:07SPEAKER_08: All right, there's some pretty cool highlights there.
- 29:09SPEAKER_08: You can go watch them on our website.
- 29:12SPEAKER_08: Moving on to number six, and I don't know if we've talked about him before.
- 29:16SPEAKER_08: He's definitely before me and Tim.
- 29:18SPEAKER_08: I think Tim saw him.
- 29:19SPEAKER_08: Tim was around and saw him way back when.
- 29:22SPEAKER_08: Uh, Joe Schmidt.
- 29:24SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, I love Joe Schmidt.
- 29:26SPEAKER_02: He was he was great back when I was uh negative 20, yeah.
- 29:33SPEAKER_08: Um he was he was a hard nose linebacker from Pitt.
- 29:37SPEAKER_08: You know, he was injured a lot at Pitt, so he didn't play a terrible amount, but he did make first team All-American in his senior year.
- 29:46SPEAKER_08: So um this was when in the 50s uh they were kind of switching, the NFL was switching from straight running all the time to more of a passing league.
- 29:57SPEAKER_08: And so the defense has switched from a five-man front.
- 30:00SPEAKER_08: I remember this in Dan Rooney's book, him talking about this, to the 4-3 became the primary defense in the NFL because it would get um the ability to stop the pass because you needed that extra defensive back, I guess.
- 30:14SPEAKER_08: So, and Joe Schmidt was the guy that kind of developed the inside linebacker role.
- 30:21SPEAKER_08: Before that, there wasn't one because they played five man lines.
- 30:25SPEAKER_08: So fun fact in NFL history.
- 30:30SPEAKER_08: Um he was uh he they actually they he played with Dick Lebeau, and um he was a deadly tackler.
- 30:39SPEAKER_08: He was uh very very good, he was a very smart football player, and uh they beat the Browns in uh was that the 50, 50, it was like the 52 championship when the Lions the Lions won the yeah, can you believe that the Lions and the Browns played in the championship game?
- 30:56SPEAKER_08: Imagine if that was a Super Bowl.
- 30:58SPEAKER_08: Very different era, yeah.
- 31:00SPEAKER_08: And and the Browns were stacked.
- 31:02SPEAKER_08: They had Otto Graham and Jim Brown, and Paul Brown was their coach, and you know, Joe Schmidt and Dick Lebeau, and I I don't know if Night Train Lane was on that team too, but that was but that was Buddy Parker.
- 31:15SPEAKER_02: We talked about him and one of the things.
- 31:16SPEAKER_08: Oh, was that Buddy Parker was the coach of that team?
- 31:18SPEAKER_08: Yeah, they're the Lions were really good then, so before it all kind of fell apart.
- 31:24SPEAKER_08: So but you know, he was just really good.
- 31:30SPEAKER_08: Have we done the Joe Schmidt trio?
- 31:33SPEAKER_08: I think we did.
- 31:35SPEAKER_08: In our music episode, did we do the Joe Schmidt trio?
- 31:37SPEAKER_08: I don't think so.
- 31:38SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure what that is.
- 31:39SPEAKER_08: All right, hey, for your listening pleasure, the Joe Schmidt Trio.
- 31:43SPEAKER_08: He had a band with Dick LeBeau and one other guy.
- 31:46SPEAKER_08: It was really a Lions defense, yes.
- 31:50SPEAKER_01: Was I a girl on my own but now now she's gone and snappy grapes of Rat will equin' on the vine.
- 32:20SPEAKER_01: The grapes of Rat believe you lots of more time.
- 32:26SPEAKER_08: Well, I think we get the the gist of that, huh?
- 32:29SPEAKER_08: Wow, that's I think I I've I don't remember who the third person of the but it's a it's another Detroit Lions football player.
- 32:36SPEAKER_08: That's definitely not a Motown hit.
- 32:41SPEAKER_08: But Nick Lebeau and Joe Schmidt and one other guy singing on the Lions defense.
- 32:48SPEAKER_02: All right.
- 32:49SPEAKER_02: Well, that that's interesting music.
- 32:54SPEAKER_08: It's the 50s.
- 32:57SPEAKER_08: Um so NFL films named him 84 of all time.
- 33:02SPEAKER_08: I guess they did a top 100 of all time, which he was actually presented by um uh what's his name?
- 33:09SPEAKER_08: Um Jerry Glanville.
- 33:10SPEAKER_08: I don't know why Jerry Glanville.
- 33:12SPEAKER_08: I don't know if Jerry Glanville was on uh the 50s Lions or what.
- 33:17SPEAKER_08: But um that was that 50 it was the 1957 NFL championship game, and they was the that was when they switched to the 4-3, and that was Buddy Parker.
- 33:27SPEAKER_08: Was Bobby Lane?
- 33:28SPEAKER_08: I don't know if Bobby Lane was their quarterback.
- 33:30SPEAKER_08: He was okay, awesome.
- 33:33SPEAKER_08: So uh moving on to number five, we're halfway through this.
- 33:37SPEAKER_08: Um my favorite probably pit player and football player, one of my favorites.
- 33:42SPEAKER_08: I don't know.
- 33:44SPEAKER_08: It's tough.
- 33:44SPEAKER_08: This is like picking between my kids here, but definitely like the guy I really liked growing up, um, Mr.
- 33:50SPEAKER_08: Curtis Martin.
- 33:52SPEAKER_08: And uh he's just a great, great player and a better person, apparently.
- 33:56SPEAKER_08: Very good.
- 33:57SPEAKER_08: I I really liked his quote here.
- 33:59SPEAKER_08: His is probably my favorite.
- 34:00SPEAKER_08: I do not have a quote for Joe Schmidt, I'm sorry.
- 34:02SPEAKER_08: His singing was his singing was his quote for him.
- 34:06SPEAKER_08: Um so uh Curtis Martin was uh he played uh his big game was the 251 yards against Texas in the opening game of 94, and then he didn't play the rest of the season, he got hurt.
- 34:24SPEAKER_08: Um but he still was a uh draft pick by the Patriots in the third round, and he ended up having like a really great career.
- 34:31SPEAKER_08: He has 14,000 rushing yards.
- 34:35SPEAKER_08: Um he started his career with NFL career with 10 consecutive 1,000 yards rushing.
- 34:41SPEAKER_08: Um he was an NFL rushing champion with 1,697 yards in 2004.
- 34:48SPEAKER_08: Um he's been a pro bowler five times.
- 34:52SPEAKER_08: Um he's just you know a really good player.
- 34:54SPEAKER_08: Pitt, he was really the only thing they had, once again.
- 34:57SPEAKER_08: Well, I think no, I don't know if they had Reuben Brown and him played at the same time.
- 35:01SPEAKER_08: I think did they?
- 35:02SPEAKER_08: I I think they did.
- 35:03SPEAKER_02: Yeah, early 90s, yeah.
- 35:05SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
- 35:06SPEAKER_08: So he was just very consistent in the NFL.
- 35:09SPEAKER_08: He was a very good player.
- 35:10SPEAKER_08: It's a shame he never got no, he got the one Super Bowl.
- 35:12SPEAKER_08: He played in one Super Bowl with the Patriots and I forget his stats, but he had a good Super Bowl.
- 35:17SPEAKER_08: It's just they didn't they the you know, the game of the Green Bay was just a little better.
- 35:23SPEAKER_08: So he played in New York too for a long time.
- 35:28SPEAKER_08: Um well I have to highlight the whole first half of the 250 yards against the 94 Texas game, and I was actually at that game.
- 35:36SPEAKER_08: I remember that game.
- 35:37SPEAKER_08: His NFL Hall of Fame speech is like considered legendary, and um this is a good quote.
- 35:42SPEAKER_08: I really liked Curtis Martin's quote here.
- 35:45SPEAKER_08: It's not what you achieve in life, but who you become as a person due to those achievements.
- 35:51SPEAKER_08: And I I think that that's a great quote by Curtis Martin.
- 35:54SPEAKER_08: Um the best thing that ever happened to Curtis Martin was Bill Parcells.
- 35:58SPEAKER_08: Um even Johnny Majors uh like tried to reel him in, but he didn't really listen to him.
- 36:03SPEAKER_08: And I think he listened more to he actually wrote a letter to Johnny Majors.
- 36:06SPEAKER_08: Remember that later apologizing for for not playing harder in his college, and then Parcells really, I think, made him into the man he has become.
- 36:16SPEAKER_08: And um good for Curtis Martin.
- 36:20SPEAKER_08: And you know, he's really really ended up like and his his life has been he had a rough life.
- 36:26SPEAKER_08: I think somebody like he was yeah he got held up at gunpoint when he was in his teen years, and like somebody pulled they pulled the trigger and the gun didn't go off, and then like they pointed the gun away and then pulled it and the gun went off.
- 36:39SPEAKER_08: So I mean he definitely he had he grew up in the hill district, which is not the greatest neighborhood in Pittsburgh.
- 36:45SPEAKER_08: And he just had a tough, tough one.
- 36:47SPEAKER_08: He graduated from Alderdice, the city school, and you know just amazing what can happen when somebody really, you know, turns their life around and you know, good good for him, and he really accomplished a lot.
- 37:01SPEAKER_08: You know, it'd be nice.
- 37:02SPEAKER_08: I always thought he'd be a pretty cool like NFL executive or something.
- 37:05SPEAKER_08: I don't know what he's doing now exactly, but he just just seems like a very, very uh good person.
- 37:12SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, I remember at one point he was talking about he wanted to be an owner at some point uh or part of an ownership group.
- 37:20SPEAKER_08: Uh I don't know if he has the money.
- 37:22SPEAKER_08: I think he'd be a great owner.
- 37:24SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think he would be too.
- 37:25SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 37:26SPEAKER_02: The the I'm with you.
- 37:29SPEAKER_02: He's one of my favorite players of all time.
- 37:30SPEAKER_02: Steve and I sat at a lot of games at Pitt Stadium in like 1993, where literally, I mean, if you go look up the scores from that year, I mean there was it was like 72 to 14, 65 to 7, right?
- 37:47SPEAKER_02: It was like literally like those were the scores of these schools just coming in and just blowing away pit.
- 37:53SPEAKER_02: Pitt was so bad.
- 37:54SPEAKER_02: But you would stay, even when, even when it was Pitt was 30 points down, you would stay just to see Curtis Martin rip off a long run.
- 38:02SPEAKER_02: He he was just so fun to watch, so good.
- 38:04SPEAKER_02: I was so happy that his NFL career pan out the way it did because when he was a third-round pick, there was really no guarantee he was really going to get on the field.
- 38:12SPEAKER_02: And and of course he did became very successful, won the rushing title in his tenth season.
- 38:18SPEAKER_02: We were just talking about how running backs are a diamond dozen and they don't last very long.
- 38:22SPEAKER_02: He won the rushing title in his tenth season.
- 38:25SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
- 38:26SPEAKER_08: Yeah, this guy was not, yeah, he's the exception to the rule for sure.
- 38:31SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
- 38:32SPEAKER_08: And I remember Bill Parcells called him a one-game wonder after his first he had 100 yards rushing against Cleveland his first game out as a rookie.
- 38:41SPEAKER_08: And Bill Parcell's like, yeah, one game wonder.
- 38:44SPEAKER_08: But that that's what I think that's what Curtis Martin needed.
- 38:47SPEAKER_08: I I've always thought that.
- 38:48SPEAKER_08: Because like I remember that ticked me off at the time.
- 38:50SPEAKER_08: It's like, one game wonder, like, come on, Parcells.
- 38:52SPEAKER_08: And it was like, but no, I think that that was just how Parcells motivated his players.
- 38:58SPEAKER_08: And um, you know, like I said, it it's probably the the reason you know Curtis Martin's EFL Hall of Fame is probably a big part of that is Bill Parcells because that the person who presented him, I do believe it was Bill Parcells.
- 39:11SPEAKER_08: So yeah, it's very very, very interesting how that works.
- 39:16SPEAKER_08: And uh just yeah, a great player and an even better person.
- 39:19SPEAKER_08: You know, he he's in the he's in the person hall of fame, more probably more important.
- 39:24SPEAKER_08: His his character is much probably more important than anything he's ever done on the NFL on the football field, which is saying a lot because he's done a lot on the football field.
- 39:33SPEAKER_08: So all right, next up, I'm not even gonna introduce this guy.
- 39:37SPEAKER_08: I'm gonna let this guy's highlights introduce this guy.
- 39:41SPEAKER_03: Go to this guy picked up on the black there by Louis.
- 39:45SPEAKER_03: He's giving it up, pick up on the left, turn it down to 20, pick up the 25 minutes, and he's looking at the bottom.
- 39:51SPEAKER_03: No, he's coming up the sideline.
- 39:52SPEAKER_03: Here he comes up 50.
- 39:53SPEAKER_03: And he's going down the field.
- 39:55SPEAKER_03: He's got inside the 25, still on his feet.
- 39:58SPEAKER_03: Inside the 20, still on his feet, and he's in the end zone.
- 40:01SPEAKER_03: No touchdown.
- 40:04SPEAKER_08: Well, if you don't know what that was, that was uh Darrell Reeves's punt return against WVU way back when.
- 40:12SPEAKER_08: And I mean, my goodness, Darrell Reevas.
- 40:16SPEAKER_08: Um just like one of the best players at Pitt started as a freshman, which is rare.
- 40:23SPEAKER_08: I mean, if you name the people who started it as a freshman, there aren't a lot.
- 40:27SPEAKER_08: I mean let's see, Curtis Martin, Larry Fitzgerald, Darrell Reeves.
- 40:35SPEAKER_08: Uh yeah.
- 40:36SPEAKER_08: Three of those guys are in the Hall of Fame.
- 40:40SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
- 40:41SPEAKER_08: So I mean, he was really good.
- 40:43SPEAKER_08: He was really good.
- 40:44SPEAKER_08: Um he returned up with that big punt.
- 40:48SPEAKER_08: The Pitts still lost that game.
- 40:49SPEAKER_08: They still ended up getting blown out.
- 40:50SPEAKER_08: That was in what year was it?
- 40:52SPEAKER_08: Was that 2006?
- 40:54SPEAKER_08: 2006, yeah.
- 40:56SPEAKER_08: So um that's always a fun hunt.
- 41:00SPEAKER_08: And Pat McAfee gets run over in that, so it makes it even more fun.
- 41:05SPEAKER_08: You know, he he had a great, great uh career.
- 41:08SPEAKER_08: He had uh that big tackle in 2004.
- 41:11SPEAKER_08: Um, I think we talked about that.
- 41:13SPEAKER_08: That we did a 2004 season, and he had a big tackle on the Boston College player on a fourth and goal.
- 41:21SPEAKER_08: Um, so and that was his freshman year, so just Darrell Revis, uh Super Bowl player from Aliquippa, another person.
- 41:29SPEAKER_08: We have a couple people from Aliquippa on this list.
- 41:31SPEAKER_08: He's the first of three, I do believe.
- 41:34SPEAKER_08: And uh, you know, um just you know, now is he good be in Revis Island, he got nicknamed.
- 41:40SPEAKER_08: He had a hundred-yard interception against the Dolphins, I guess if you want to go and watch that, yeah, that'll be fun.
- 41:47SPEAKER_08: But um uh best best corner ever to play for Pitt, probably Tim, right?
- 41:53SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, I th I think so.
- 41:56SPEAKER_02: Um he he was a guy.
- 41:58SPEAKER_02: What I always remember about Darrell Revis was you know, if if you one cool thing about if you go to uh a sporting event as opposed to watching it on TV is you can you can kind of watch anything you want, right?
- 42:11SPEAKER_02: When you're watching a football game on TV, you have to watch what they're showing you.
- 42:14SPEAKER_02: And I remember the the opener in 2006, they were playing Virginia.
- 42:21SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I remember it was at Heinsfield, and when Virginia had the ball, I would just watch Revis.
- 42:29SPEAKER_02: I just watched Revis cover somebody, and they avoided him the entire game.
- 42:35SPEAKER_02: I mean, they just could not they would not throw to whatever receiver he was covering.
- 42:40SPEAKER_02: They just were like, nope, not gonna throw over there.
- 42:42SPEAKER_02: And then finally, in like the third quarter, the quarterback's like, you know what, screw it.
- 42:47SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm gonna take a chance.
- 42:48SPEAKER_02: And Revis picked them off.
- 42:50SPEAKER_08: It was just didn't he return it for a touchdown?
- 42:53SPEAKER_02: I I believe so.
- 42:54SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah, because that was in I was on that end zone.
- 42:57SPEAKER_08: That was in the end zone I was sitting in.
- 42:59SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah.
- 42:59SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and and it was just that was how good he was.
- 43:02SPEAKER_02: It was just fun to watch him cover people.
- 43:04SPEAKER_02: I can't say that about any other player that I watched on defense where I'm just like, I'm just gonna watch him the whole time.
- 43:10SPEAKER_02: And that's that's how dominant he was at Pitt.
- 43:13SPEAKER_02: And then of course in the NFL, yeah, he was great too.
- 43:16SPEAKER_02: One of the biggest disappointments ever was that in the in the 2007 draft, the the Steelers kind of needed a cornerback that year, and they had the they had like they were two picks away, and the Jets traded up to the pick in front of them and took Revis.
- 43:34SPEAKER_02: And I don't know if the Steelers were gonna take him or not, but we we never found out because the Jets traded up right in front of us and took him, and I just thought, man, we could have had Darrell Reevas.
- 43:45SPEAKER_02: We were that close.
- 43:48SPEAKER_08: That would have been awesome.
- 43:49SPEAKER_08: It would have been better than whoever we whether that maybe 2006.
- 43:52SPEAKER_02: We got we got Lawrence Timmins, who who was a very, very good player, probably a very underrated stalwart of the defense.
- 44:00SPEAKER_02: But I mean, no offense to Lawrence Timmins, he wasn't Darrell Revis.
- 44:04SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
- 44:04unknown: Yeah.
- 44:05SPEAKER_08: I mean, we'd Ike Taylor and Brian McFadden, so maybe they wouldn't have.
- 44:11SPEAKER_02: Maybe.
- 44:12SPEAKER_02: But again, one of those one of those what is it?
- 44:14SPEAKER_08: Would have been nice to have Ike Taylor and Darrell Reeves.
- 44:18SPEAKER_08: And then you could have put McFadden at at like that slot corner.
- 44:23SPEAKER_02: Well I I, you know, the I think the reason they didn't win that third Super Bowl, if you had to boil it down to one thing, is because they did not have a good uh they were not did not have a good pass defense that year.
- 44:36SPEAKER_02: And Aaron Rodgers carved them up in that Super Bowl, as did Tom Brady and Drew Brees and a bunch of other guys earlier that season.
- 44:44SPEAKER_02: And you just wonder if they would have had Revis for that game.
- 44:48SPEAKER_02: Does that turn out differently?
- 44:49SPEAKER_02: Again, lots of what-ifs, but great, great player for sure.
- 44:54SPEAKER_08: Fun player to watch, like you said.
- 44:55SPEAKER_08: He's made he made so many big plays in Pitt, like over the seasons at Pitt.
- 45:00SPEAKER_08: Like I remember there's an interception return like game against Cincinnati one time, and and just just so many great plays.
- 45:08SPEAKER_08: Just a shame they didn't win more.
- 45:10SPEAKER_08: Pitt didn't win hardly.
- 45:13SPEAKER_08: I mean, he was in that one BCS bowl against Utah and Alex Smith.
- 45:20SPEAKER_08: But you know, one of my favorites, very good, very good player, and you know, good for Darrell Revis.
- 45:26SPEAKER_08: And you know.
- 45:28SPEAKER_08: So the next person, number three on our list, I will let this person, another person out, play their highlight before I introduce them.
- 45:36SPEAKER_08: It should be fun.
- 45:39SPEAKER_02: Especially for this guy.
- 45:40SPEAKER_07: What do you want to know?
- 45:41SPEAKER_07: Come on.
- 45:41SPEAKER_07: Or I'm going to go in now.
- 45:42SPEAKER_07: So what?
- 45:44SPEAKER_07: Doesn't matter which one run.
- 45:46SPEAKER_07: There'll be a quarterback that'll be named next week that'll be the starter.
- 45:49SPEAKER_07: There's three quarterbacks on this football team.
- 45:52SPEAKER_07: Whichever one starts, starts.
- 45:53SPEAKER_07: Whichever ones don't will back him up.
- 45:55SPEAKER_07: Period.
- 45:55SPEAKER_07: Cut and dry.
- 45:56SPEAKER_07: It's nobody's concern but ours.
- 45:58SPEAKER_07: Nobody.
- 45:59SPEAKER_02: Next injuries from the uh game.
- 46:03SPEAKER_07: Talk to the trainer.
- 46:04SPEAKER_07: Next.
- 46:06SPEAKER_07: Mike, why are you in such a bad mood?
- 46:08SPEAKER_07: What do you care?
- 46:10SPEAKER_07: Okay.
- 46:11SPEAKER_07: If you were two and seven, you'd be in a bad mood, too.
- 46:14SPEAKER_07: What next?
- 46:16SPEAKER_02: Mike, is this more like a training game type practice as opposed to a regular CD?
- 46:22SPEAKER_07: Next.
- 46:26SPEAKER_07: Not very much fun, is it?
- 46:30SPEAKER_07: All right.
- 46:31SPEAKER_07: I'll see you guys in.
- 46:34SPEAKER_07: Now that's the way to have a post game friend.
- 46:40SPEAKER_02: I I was just thinking the other day, I I so miss because everybody's so media conscious now.
- 46:46SPEAKER_02: I just miss that era of NFL coaches and and personalities like that.
- 46:52SPEAKER_02: Like you had you had Dika, you had Sam Weich and Terry Glanville and and and Buddy Ryan.
- 46:59SPEAKER_02: And you just had all these big personalities, parcels, guys that would just yell and scream.
- 47:05SPEAKER_02: And Kim Mora, remember from the Saints, that guy.
- 47:08SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
- 47:09SPEAKER_08: He called the Saint fans like bums like one time.
- 47:13SPEAKER_02: He had the playoffs rant.
- 47:15SPEAKER_02: You know, so you just you just don't have that anymore.
- 47:17SPEAKER_08: We didn't do diddly poo.
- 47:20SPEAKER_08: Right.
- 47:21SPEAKER_02: Right.
- 47:21SPEAKER_02: It that's just that's a bygone era because now I don't think you'd I don't think you'd ever hire a guy like that because again, everybody's so media conscious and and everything else and image conscious.
- 47:35SPEAKER_08: So Iron Mike.
- 47:39SPEAKER_08: He was the number one draft pick of the Bears in 1961.
- 47:43SPEAKER_08: And he actually was the first like pass-catching tight end, which is weird because he played defensive end at Pitt.
- 47:51SPEAKER_08: He was a very good defensive end at Pitt.
- 47:54SPEAKER_08: So oh man.
- 47:56SPEAKER_08: I don't even know where to begin with the career of one Mike Ditka.
- 48:02SPEAKER_08: Well, I guess he was the head coach of the Bears and Saints after he finished his career.
- 48:09SPEAKER_08: He actually won a Super Bowl with the Cowboys at tight end.
- 48:13SPEAKER_08: Um stuff Mike Ditka's done for a hundred, Alex.
- 48:17SPEAKER_08: Uh traded his whole draft for Ricky Williams.
- 48:22SPEAKER_08: Uh remember the game we were talking about?
- 48:24SPEAKER_08: He was the coach of the 85 Bears, him and uh Buddy Ryan, who, you know, another character who would never get hired in today's NFL.
- 48:32SPEAKER_08: So uh at halftime, Marino's like carving up the 46 defense because you know, blitzing Marino every play probably isn't a smart thing to do.
- 48:42SPEAKER_08: So I think Ditka wanted Ryan to like change his defense, and Buddy wouldn't, so they got in a fist fight in the shower during the halftime of the uh of that game.
- 48:52SPEAKER_08: And that's a true story.
- 48:54SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
- 48:56SPEAKER_02: That's just amazed.
- 48:57SPEAKER_02: Like again, you just never see that anymore or something like that.
- 49:02SPEAKER_08: Yeah, the the 85 Bears were functional but success, dysfunctional, but successful.
- 49:09SPEAKER_08: Um he he rotated quarterbacks between Mike Tomzak and Doug Flooty.
- 49:14SPEAKER_08: Do you remember the Bears?
- 49:15SPEAKER_08: And after when I think McMahon was hurt, but uh he's been in many movies.
- 49:22SPEAKER_08: He was in Brian's song.
- 49:23SPEAKER_08: I didn't know that, and not so seriously, uh kicking and screaming.
- 49:28SPEAKER_08: Um he actually played at Pitt from 1958 to 1960.
- 49:31SPEAKER_08: He was a three-sport athlete.
- 49:33SPEAKER_08: He played baseball and was on the basketball team.
- 49:35SPEAKER_08: Can you imagine playing Mike Ditka in basketball?
- 49:38SPEAKER_08: I bet he threw his elbows around a lot.
- 49:44SPEAKER_08: Uh Bob Timmons, the coach, both Dick in football and basketball, said he'll hit the first guy he sees, and that was in both sports.
- 49:55SPEAKER_08: He was also an intramural wrestling champion at Pitt.
- 50:00SPEAKER_08: Um he was uh the coach at Pitt, the wrestling coach was convinced Dick could have been an NCAA wrestling champion had he wrestled on had he wrestled on the varsity.
- 50:11SPEAKER_08: Um he was a tenacious, incidiary competitor.
- 50:15SPEAKER_08: He was not diplomatic.
- 50:16SPEAKER_08: Yeah, that's that's no clue.
- 50:20SPEAKER_08: Um during a bowl game, uh he was not a well-mannered like uh somebody did something wrong near the end of the first half during a Michigan State game.
- 50:31SPEAKER_08: And uh this is from uh expert from excerpt from Jim O'Brien and hailed a pit.
- 50:38SPEAKER_08: Some guy named Reinhold did something wrong and allowed Michigan State to uh herbderly uh escaped his grass and go for a touchdown.
- 50:48SPEAKER_08: Um this guy said, Let's get him in the second half, and Ditka cried out, if you hadn't given up that touchdown in the first half, we wouldn't be in the fix we're in.
- 51:00SPEAKER_08: With that, he went for uh this Reinhold guy.
- 51:03SPEAKER_08: It took about six teammates to restrain Ditka.
- 51:07SPEAKER_08: His last game against Penn State uh will always stand out in my mind, said Lou Siccionia, uh running back for Pitt.
- 51:16SPEAKER_08: Um he went in to block a punt and then the play played the whole game with a dislocated shoulder.
- 51:24SPEAKER_08: Jeez.
- 51:25SPEAKER_02: Wow.
- 51:27SPEAKER_08: Uh another great Foge quote.
- 51:29SPEAKER_08: You'd see him in the huddle or on the sidelines wanting to get back on the field, and you knew just by looking at him he was ready.
- 51:35SPEAKER_08: Remembers Foge.
- 51:37SPEAKER_08: He was like he was always ready.
- 51:38SPEAKER_08: He was like a prize fighter in the ring.
- 51:40SPEAKER_08: He couldn't wait for that bell to ring and get back out there.
- 51:44SPEAKER_08: So uh Ditka, very accomplished and deserving.
- 51:47SPEAKER_08: Uh I put him at number three just because he's the other two guys are really good, but probably you know, he had a good playing career, but his coaching career probably put him over the top, and that's why he's in the NFL Hall of Fame.
- 52:02SPEAKER_08: And he like I said, he did kind of revolutionize the tight end position.
- 52:06SPEAKER_08: Although I would think John Mackey for the Colts probably was more responsible for that than Ditko.
- 52:13SPEAKER_08: Any other thoughts on uh good old Iron Mike there?
- 52:16SPEAKER_08: Another guy from Aliquippo, the second of our three people from Aliquipo on this list.
- 52:22SPEAKER_02: No, just again miss him being in the NFL.
- 52:28SPEAKER_08: Not a lot of fun, is it?
- 52:30SPEAKER_02: Not a lot of fun without him.
- 52:34SPEAKER_08: It's just who trains their whole draft for Ricky Williams.
- 52:37SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that was that was pretty crazy.
- 52:39SPEAKER_08: Yeah, don't let him be good, a good coach.
- 52:42SPEAKER_08: Don't just don't let him be.
- 52:43SPEAKER_08: Well, he would never survive.
- 52:44SPEAKER_08: Like with this current generation, they couldn't.
- 52:47SPEAKER_02: That's what I'm saying.
- 52:48SPEAKER_02: It's it's a different era.
- 52:49SPEAKER_08: You just all those guys, they'd all be crying in the shower by the end of the first half.
- 52:58SPEAKER_08: So um number two on our list was Mr.
- 53:02SPEAKER_08: Dan Marino.
- 53:04SPEAKER_08: Probably uh, well, not probably.
- 53:06SPEAKER_08: He the best quote was by a Florida State coach, Bobby Baldon.
- 53:10SPEAKER_08: He said he's a pro quarterback in college, really.
- 53:14SPEAKER_08: And he's the best quarterback to play for Pitt, right?
- 53:16SPEAKER_08: It's probably not even close, right, Tim?
- 53:20SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, I think so.
- 53:22SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, I Kenny Pickett certainly did a lot, especially his senior season, but you'd you'd still put Marino in front of him.
- 53:30SPEAKER_02: And I don't even know who else he would put on there, I guess.
- 53:32SPEAKER_02: Um what's his name?
- 53:35SPEAKER_02: Uh Wansted's offensive coordinator for the guy that was a 76 coordinator.
- 53:41SPEAKER_02: Kavanaugh.
- 53:41SPEAKER_02: Kavanaugh, yeah.
- 53:42SPEAKER_02: God couldn't remember his name.
- 53:43SPEAKER_08: Right Rod Rutherford.
- 53:45SPEAKER_08: Come on, Rod Rutherford doesn't make the list.
- 53:47SPEAKER_02: I mean Kavanaugh, that was more of the guy that you're probably going to put at number one on that team.
- 53:52SPEAKER_02: So um, yeah, I you're right.
- 53:54SPEAKER_02: He's the best.
- 53:56SPEAKER_08: Um, he he actually had a my major league baseball prospect.
- 54:00SPEAKER_08: It was as a pitcher and a shortstop.
- 54:02SPEAKER_08: He was drafted in the fourth round in 79 by the Kansas City Royals.
- 54:06SPEAKER_02: Oh, I didn't know that.
- 54:08SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 54:10SPEAKER_08: Uh he led uh Pitt in all-time passing when he graduated with 8,597 and 79 touchdowns.
- 54:17SPEAKER_08: Um in the NFL, I think I've quoted his I know we did another podcast where I covered some of these guys like Revis and Marino.
- 54:26SPEAKER_08: But he had 13,000, 13, 3,000 yard seasons.
- 54:33SPEAKER_08: That's crazy.
- 54:34SPEAKER_08: 61,000 passing yards, nine pro bowls, four hundred and twenty touchdowns, which how many does Brady have?
- 54:40SPEAKER_08: 500 in some now?
- 54:42SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
- 54:43SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
- 54:45SPEAKER_08: So Merino really didn't, they didn't have a quote from Merino.
- 54:50SPEAKER_08: But um he says, looking back on my career, I've accomplished many things, but what I cherish more than any record that I hold, any fourth quarter comeback, any win that I was involved in, what I cherish more are the relationships that I've made, the people I've worked with, the teammates I've lined up beside, and the opponents that I've competed against, the friends and family, that's what I cherish most.
- 55:13SPEAKER_08: And uh here's a play from Reno's.
- 55:16SPEAKER_08: It's kind of become legendary.
- 55:19SPEAKER_08: This play.
- 55:19SPEAKER_08: It's a fun play.
- 55:21unknown: Second down.
- 55:24SPEAKER_06: And Marino completes inside the 10.
- 55:27SPEAKER_06: Has a first down.
- 55:28SPEAKER_06: In roll again.
- 55:30SPEAKER_06: Stopped by Glenn.
- 55:31SPEAKER_03: He's going to spike it, Tim.
- 55:34SPEAKER_06: He still has one timeout.
- 55:35SPEAKER_06: They'll save that for the field goal.
- 55:38SPEAKER_06: If they have to.
- 55:38SPEAKER_06: We are seeing another spectacular effort by Marino who fires.
- 55:42SPEAKER_06: Touchdown.
- 55:46SPEAKER_06: You know what the Jets were thinking?
- 55:48SPEAKER_06: He's going to take the ball and throw it into the ground.
- 55:50SPEAKER_06: They stopped.
- 55:51SPEAKER_06: They all stopped.
- 55:52SPEAKER_06: If you take a look at it, the offensive lineman, all they did was stand up.
- 55:56SPEAKER_06: And Marino says to Ingram, I mean, that's the communication that they have.
- 55:59SPEAKER_06: You saw fire on the two point conversion, tell Marino from the back of his hand, hey, throw the ball to me.
- 56:03SPEAKER_06: Now here's Ingram for his fourth touchdown.
- 56:06SPEAKER_06: They just, I mean, this is a beautiful play.
- 56:09SPEAKER_08: If you didn't know what that was, That was the fake spike, the infamous fake spike by Marino that's been copied by a lot of I know Ben loved the fake spike play.
- 56:18SPEAKER_08: Um he just kind of caught he caught some of the Jets defense.
- 56:22SPEAKER_08: Uh that corner still tried to cover him.
- 56:24SPEAKER_08: I mean it wasn't like the corner was caught napping, but definitely the rest of their defense was not doing anything on that play.
- 56:32SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they all just stood there.
- 56:34SPEAKER_02: I mean, just yeah, you're right.
- 56:36SPEAKER_02: It it has become a legendary play.
- 56:38SPEAKER_02: I mean, that won them that game, and you know, figures it was the Jets because it's the most Jets thing to do ever is stay in there while Dan Marino wins the game.
- 56:50SPEAKER_08: And you know, I think Marino, like his career against the Jets is like all time too, because he always kind of had a thing because like the Jets were supposed to draft him, they draft Ken O'Brien instead, and he was always kind of mad about that.
- 57:03SPEAKER_08: So he really really took it out on the Jets.
- 57:06SPEAKER_08: So although Ken O'Brien had a decent career, he wasn't exactly Dan Marino.
- 57:11SPEAKER_02: So I feel like Marino really ushered in the modern era of passing, right?
- 57:20SPEAKER_02: Like you had you certainly had guys putting up some some numbers before that, but if it it's like when he started putting up, you know, 50 touchdown seasons and all that kind of stuff, you know, that was really when you you started seeing stuff like that on a regular basis.
- 57:38SPEAKER_02: It wasn't really until him.
- 57:40SPEAKER_02: So his NFL career was pretty remarkable, except of course, you know, that he never won a Super Bowl.
- 57:47SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I mean all-time quarterbacks, where do we put him?
- 57:50SPEAKER_08: I I don't know.
- 57:51SPEAKER_08: Like I don't even know.
- 57:53SPEAKER_08: I don't even know where you put him.
- 57:55SPEAKER_08: Like, if you try to like even if you just said, okay, everybody that's retired, right?
- 58:00SPEAKER_08: Like, let's not include the Patrick Mahomes and everybody else that's in the league right now.
- 58:05SPEAKER_08: Let's just say people that are retired.
- 58:07SPEAKER_08: So Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Montana, Montana, Elway, and Marino.
- 58:15SPEAKER_02: Johnny Unitedis.
- 58:16SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean uh yeah, it's tough.
- 58:19SPEAKER_08: Terry Bradshaw, you're thinking Terry Bradshaw.
- 58:22SPEAKER_02: I know.
- 58:22SPEAKER_02: It you're right.
- 58:24SPEAKER_02: It it's it's a super subjective, super hard thing to do.
- 58:28SPEAKER_02: I I kind of feel like in my brain at least, it's Montana, it's Brady and Montana just because the point of football is to win championships.
- 58:40SPEAKER_08: But Bradshaw won four.
- 58:42SPEAKER_02: I know, I know.
- 58:44SPEAKER_02: Uh fair.
- 58:45SPEAKER_02: I uh you know, so right.
- 58:46SPEAKER_02: Like I said, very hard exercise, but Merino's great.
- 58:50SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's that's an easy thing to say.
- 58:51SPEAKER_02: Marino's great.
- 58:52SPEAKER_02: And if you had, I think it was was it Deion Sanders recently said there could be like the Hall of Fame and then like an upper room of the Hall of Fame.
- 59:00SPEAKER_02: If that existed, Merino would be in the upper room.
- 59:03SPEAKER_08: Yeah, because they've start to like it's become the hall of very good.
- 59:08SPEAKER_08: Yeah, that's the problem, is like when you start just kind of like letting borderline cases in, and you know, especially like it's tough sometimes to look at somebody that's like a decent person and say, well, you quite weren't good enough, you know, but what are you gonna do?
- 59:25SPEAKER_08: Well, moving on to our final and top spot of all time.
- 59:29SPEAKER_08: I don't think any it's any secret who's left.
- 59:32SPEAKER_08: Our last person from Aliquippa, the completing the Aleclippa trifecta, that would be one Tony, is it Dorset or Dorset?
- 59:43SPEAKER_02: Depends what time frame you're talking about.
- 59:46SPEAKER_08: Uh and believe it or not, he's uh Pit Football's only Heisman trophy winner.
- 59:52SPEAKER_02: Oh wow.
- 59:54SPEAKER_08: Don't worry, Jim Brown didn't win one either.
- 59:57SPEAKER_08: So I think that says all you need to know about the Heisman Trophy.
- 1:00:04SPEAKER_08: Jim Brown did not win the Heisman Trophy.
- 1:00:07SPEAKER_08: They gave it to Paul Horning on a 6-6 Notre Dame team.
- 1:00:12SPEAKER_08: What a joke.
- 1:00:13SPEAKER_08: Um, I have no respect for that reward.
- 1:00:16SPEAKER_08: I mean, I'm glad he wore it, but who cares?
- 1:00:19SPEAKER_08: You know, there have been so many other great players that may or may not be on well, be in the honorable mention section of this list that didn't win it.
- 1:00:27SPEAKER_08: So right.
- 1:00:28SPEAKER_02: We've we've talked about that before.
- 1:00:29SPEAKER_02: The Jason White winning over Larry was to me that just invalidated the whole thing.
- 1:00:33SPEAKER_08: Like I didn't I think what invalidated was Jim not Jim Brown not winning it.
- 1:00:38SPEAKER_08: And that's just and you can say, oh, that was the 60s, it was a different time, and you know, there's some other factors going on there, but well then then why do we pay attention to it?
- 1:00:46SPEAKER_08: I'm with Mary Lemieux.
- 1:00:48SPEAKER_08: Anything that's voted on doesn't matter, in my opinion.
- 1:00:50SPEAKER_08: If you have to vote on it, then you know I guess the NFL Hall of Fame is a voted-on process, so I mean, I guess maybe this whole list doesn't matter.
- 1:01:00SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah.
- 1:01:01SPEAKER_08: But you know, what what should we just always just you know have like would that be something if we had like a soccer style relegation and promotion in the in the in the uh like hall of fame?
- 1:01:12SPEAKER_08: Like, okay, you you now we only are gonna let the top five stats guy, you know, because then you just have like a bunch of people that had a bunch of stats, and we just took purely subjective, you know.
- 1:01:25SPEAKER_08: And how do you quantify like like you said, a guard?
- 1:01:28SPEAKER_08: Oh, he really blocked really well.
- 1:01:31SPEAKER_08: He his his running backs had a yards per carry of yeah.
- 1:01:36SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it and then you would get into error problems because like John Stallworth and Wynn Swan would have never made it because their numbers throw the ball, yeah.
- 1:01:44SPEAKER_02: Yeah, their numbers look terrible compared to even like a Heinz Warder or even like a borderline receiver from today, right?
- 1:01:51SPEAKER_02: Yeah would be way better.
- 1:01:52SPEAKER_02: The the I we talked about this once before, the the LPGA, the the uh ladies golf whatever tour association, they their hall of fame is there's a very statistical method to get in.
- 1:02:09SPEAKER_02: They I think they award like points.
- 1:02:11SPEAKER_02: So they have to have had like an LPGA major, um, they had to have had X amount of um tournament wins or whatever, right?
- 1:02:22SPEAKER_02: Um, and then they even get points for Olympic medals, gold medals.
- 1:02:27SPEAKER_02: So that that's that is one way to do it.
- 1:02:30SPEAKER_02: You could do it like that, where you have like a quantifiable statistical thing, but again, there's way too many problems with that.
- 1:02:37SPEAKER_02: And then you'd and then you'd have, like you said, Steve, you'd have people with big stats.
- 1:02:41SPEAKER_02: I mean, remember Jeff George?
- 1:02:43SPEAKER_02: Remember that.
- 1:02:43SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he had 4,000-yard passing seasons when he played for the the Falcons or Colts or Vikings.
- 1:02:51SPEAKER_02: I can't remember all the teams he played for, but he's not a Hall of Fam quarterback, he's not even close.
- 1:02:57SPEAKER_02: But if you were just going based off of stats, right?
- 1:03:00SPEAKER_02: So it it it's there's no good answer, I guess, is what we're saying.
- 1:03:05SPEAKER_08: Oh, I call that too the fantasy football effect.
- 1:03:08SPEAKER_08: Like people like people be like, oh, this guy's really good.
- 1:03:11SPEAKER_08: Then you watch him play, he's like, I don't know.
- 1:03:13SPEAKER_08: He never does like it's like Antonio Brown.
- 1:03:15SPEAKER_08: Like, I would totally eliminate any of those stupid catches he had at the end of the half where he just ran for 40 yards.
- 1:03:21SPEAKER_08: It was 40 meaningless yards.
- 1:03:24SPEAKER_08: You didn't get a point out of it, you weren't even trying to score, you were just patting your stats.
- 1:03:29SPEAKER_08: And he's the classic example, and guys do that all the time.
- 1:03:33SPEAKER_08: Like, just get an extra catch or whatever.
- 1:03:36SPEAKER_08: Now, for him, he wasn't caring about the Hall of Fame.
- 1:03:38SPEAKER_08: He just it was in his contract, and that's how he got paid.
- 1:03:41SPEAKER_08: And I guess good for him.
- 1:03:43SPEAKER_08: Sure.
- 1:03:44SPEAKER_08: Whatever.
- 1:03:46SPEAKER_08: So uh getting back to Tony Dorsett, um, he's uh he was 1973, he was very skinny, but he was very fast, and he had a very good, he could really see and a very good vision.
- 1:03:58SPEAKER_08: So um in his four-year career with the Panthers, he tied 18 collegiate rushing records more than any other player in the history of college football.
- 1:04:08SPEAKER_08: He established the all-time career rushing record with 6,000, and that stood for 22 years until was that was that Ron Dane or Rookie Williams that broke that?
- 1:04:18SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah.
- 1:04:19SPEAKER_02: I was one of those two.
- 1:04:22SPEAKER_08: One of the guys who maybe was the guy who Dika didn't trade all his draft picks for, I don't know.
- 1:04:28SPEAKER_08: Um he was the first major college back to compile four 1,000-yard seasons.
- 1:04:34SPEAKER_08: He became the first freshman consensus all-American since 1944.
- 1:04:38SPEAKER_08: He was the first sophomore ever named to the Playboy All-American team.
- 1:04:42SPEAKER_08: Did he have to do like a spread like naked, like Burt Reynolds?
- 1:04:46SPEAKER_08: That was Playgirl.
- 1:04:47SPEAKER_08: Burt Reynolds.
- 1:04:48SPEAKER_08: You know that Burt Reynolds like a playgirl center.
- 1:04:51SPEAKER_02: I have never uh read that issue, Steve.
- 1:04:54SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry to say.
- 1:04:55SPEAKER_08: I will send you the picture.
- 1:04:56SPEAKER_08: It's hilarious.
- 1:04:58SPEAKER_08: I I will pass.
- 1:05:00SPEAKER_08: You will watch it.
- 1:05:02SPEAKER_08: Um as a junior, he impressed for 1,500 yards, including a memorable 300 yards against Notre Dame.
- 1:05:10SPEAKER_02: My goodness.
- 1:05:11SPEAKER_08: I think that was the infamous game.
- 1:05:12SPEAKER_08: I know we talked about an episode where like Notre Dame tried to grow the grass long and like water it down.
- 1:05:17SPEAKER_08: Like, we're gonna slow him down, and that didn't work.
- 1:05:20SPEAKER_08: So um his quote was uh to be a running back in this league at 183 pounds.
- 1:05:29SPEAKER_08: Sometimes I wonder how I played this long.
- 1:05:31SPEAKER_08: I'm the second leading rusher at that time when he retired.
- 1:05:35SPEAKER_08: And I played 12 seasons when at one point I thought I would only play five.
- 1:05:39SPEAKER_08: When I leave through the pages of my scrapbook someday, I can smile about what I have done.
- 1:05:45SPEAKER_08: Um we'll have some highlights, some John Facenda highlights, and then there's one cool we also have Danny White talking about Tony Dorset, which is just hilarious.
- 1:05:56SPEAKER_08: They hear the former Dallas Cowboys punter slash.
- 1:06:00SPEAKER_08: Correct, exactly correct.
- 1:06:03SPEAKER_08: Only Dallas.
- 1:06:04SPEAKER_08: Goal line defense for the Vikings.
- 1:06:06SPEAKER_04: The handoff Dorset at the middle.
- 1:06:08SPEAKER_04: Here he goes.
- 1:06:09SPEAKER_04: Cuts to his right, going all the way.
- 1:06:12SPEAKER_04: To the 30, to the 40.
- 1:06:16SPEAKER_04: He's got two men to beat.
- 1:06:17SPEAKER_04: To the 40, to the 30, to the 20, to the 10, the five.
- 1:06:24SPEAKER_04: Unbelievable.
- 1:06:25SPEAKER_04: Tony Dorset is in the record books.
- 1:06:29SPEAKER_04: 99 yards.
- 1:06:32SPEAKER_08: Yeah, it's a pretty cool 99-year run by Tony Dorset.
- 1:06:36SPEAKER_08: Tony Dorset, whatever his name is this week.
- 1:06:40SPEAKER_08: Greatest pit player ever, Tim, probably.
- 1:06:43SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you can't argue with that.
- 1:06:44SPEAKER_02: Also been a really great ambassador for the university.
- 1:06:47SPEAKER_08: I didn't have highlights of him yelling at uh James Franklin after Pitt beat them in 2016.
- 1:06:53SPEAKER_08: Remember that?
- 1:06:53SPEAKER_08: Like he was obviously had had a few adult beverages.
- 1:06:56SPEAKER_08: It was just hilarious.
- 1:06:57SPEAKER_08: He wasn't yelling at him, he was just like, hey, out of pit, like right during their press conference.
- 1:07:01SPEAKER_08: So I like that's why, yeah, that's another great reason.
- 1:07:04SPEAKER_08: Like you said, that's you know, that's the most pit thing to do, like harass Penn State during the press conference.
- 1:07:12SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely an all-time great pit player, great NFL career, uh, with it, unfortunately with the Cowboys, but great NFL career anyway.
- 1:07:20SPEAKER_08: Uh pretty good Super Bowl against the Steelers, even.
- 1:07:24SPEAKER_02: Like Well it I keep saying we have to do an episode on the 78 Steelers, and when we do, one of the things I want to get into is Tony Dorsett really believes that they win that game if they keep running the ball.
- 1:07:38SPEAKER_02: They they were really having a lot of success.
- 1:07:41SPEAKER_02: They actually had an early first half lead in that game, and then they they kind of shifted things on offense, and then the Steelers came back.
- 1:07:49SPEAKER_02: So that'd be an interesting theory to delve into.
- 1:07:52SPEAKER_02: But yeah, he was a dominant player, and it was one of those weird things where like, how did the Cowboys get Tony Dorset?
- 1:07:59SPEAKER_02: Because they were like the best team in the 70s, one of the best teams, not the best, obviously, because that was here.
- 1:08:06SPEAKER_02: But you know, how did they get the the best college player?
- 1:08:09SPEAKER_08: They must have had I think they trade made a trade or something.
- 1:08:12SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was one of those, like somebody had traded them their number one pick like two years earlier, and then that team just happened to stink.
- 1:08:19SPEAKER_02: Right.
- 1:08:19SPEAKER_02: It was one of those kinds of like Tony Dorsett just fell into their lap.
- 1:08:23SPEAKER_02: So kind of kind of like what happened with the Eagles this past year where they had like a top five pick even though they were in the Super Bowl, right?
- 1:08:29SPEAKER_02: So sometimes that you just luck out in those kinds of scenarios.
- 1:08:34SPEAKER_08: Well, um if you disagree with my list or anything like that, um send all your complaints to Tim Hannon at you know TimHannon.com.
- 1:08:45SPEAKER_08: He doesn't have his own website, but um, I I I mean you could probably debate like you know who's the best.
- 1:08:51SPEAKER_08: Maybe Ditka's the better because he was a coach longer, but I don't know, those top three, it's pretty tough to pick from Merino or Dorset or you know, Ditka.
- 1:09:03SPEAKER_08: So I hope you enjoyed our uh podcast today, and uh you can always check us out on all our uh streaming services, such as Spotify and you know, all the rest.
- 1:09:14SPEAKER_08: I always mention Spotify because that's the one I use, but there's lots more too.
- 1:09:18SPEAKER_08: And um you can check our website.
- 1:09:20SPEAKER_08: Um all the links to everybody's highlights, there's gonna be way more.
- 1:09:23SPEAKER_08: This this episode is gonna have a lot of notes, a lot of highlights to it.
- 1:09:26SPEAKER_08: So go check those out if you're you know interested in like you know, watching, like I said, Russ Grip, a lot of people.
- 1:09:33SPEAKER_08: Um there's a lot of other good stuff on there.
- 1:09:36SPEAKER_08: There's Jerry Glanville uh talking about um uh what's his name, Joe Schmidt.
- 1:09:41SPEAKER_08: And uh we'll even I'm sure the the if you like really wanted to hear the rest of the Joe Schmidt trio song, what's good for that?
- 1:09:47SPEAKER_08: Alright, well, thank you again.
- 1:09:49SPEAKER_08: Thanks for listening.
- 1:09:49SPEAKER_08: Word of mouth is great.
- 1:09:51SPEAKER_08: Um we just appreciate every listener we get and uh say hi to all the people in Australia that have been listening and Perry today, mate.
- 1:09:58SPEAKER_08: Alright, uh we'll see you next time on another episode of Pittsburgh Sports Pepper.