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Top 20 In-Game Mistakes (Part 2) · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hi everybody, welcome to the Pittsburgh Sports Memories Podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: I am Tim Hannon, and with me as always, I'm Steve Ward.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: And we're going to do part two of our top 20 in-game mistakes.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Now, just as a reminder from last time, the way we classified this is these have to be mistakes that were made essentially on the field.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: So we're not gonna do a bad draft pick or a bad trade or something like that.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: These would be um things that happened during games.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: We also uh just like last time, you know, we'll delve into some of the human components of these mistakes.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh obviously, we're all human beings, we all make mistakes, and you know, there are people behind these, uh, as painful as they were as fans.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: There are people behind these as well.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: So we we already did our numbers 20 through 11.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Go back and listen to that if you haven't already.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: And in this episode, we're gonna count down from 10 to 1.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Steve, any thoughts before we get rolling?
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_06: What comes after the number 10?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: I believe that would be nine if we're counting down.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: I almost yes.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: All right, here we go with mistake number 10.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Here's a handoff to Tucson.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_03: Ball is on the ground and recovered by Ware.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: So this is from a 2015 AFC divisional playoff game between the Steelers and the Denver Broncos in Denver.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: And that 2015 season, it's it's kind of a strange one for both teams.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: The the Steelers had a very uneven season.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: They they showed flashes of brilliance, but then they they actually needed help on the last week of the season just to get into the playoffs.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then the Broncos were a really good team, uh, but they were having issues at quarterback.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: They actually benched Peyton Manning that year uh because he kind of fell off a cliff.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Manning is back for this game, and he's facing a very banged-up Steelers team.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh really, all the Steelers' best players are hurt for this game.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: Antonio Brown is out.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Ben Rothesberger is playing, but he has a very bad shoulder from the week before against Cincinnati in the wildcard playoff game.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: And the Steelers, the main thing about this game is the Steelers have no healthy running backs.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Le'Veon Bell had gotten injured earlier in that season, and they had D'Angelo Williams as a really capable backup, but he had gotten hurt as well.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: And that leaves a guy named Fitzgerald Tucson as the Steelers' primary running back against, which was that year the number one defense in the league in Denver.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: But the Steelers are up for that challenge, and with 10 minutes left in the game, they're clinging to a one-point lead, and they're in Denver territory.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: They hand the ball off to Tucson.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: He runs for a first down at the Denver 30-yard line.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: So, again, 10 minutes left in the game.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: You're going to have first down at the 30-yard line.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: And this the Steelers really, I don't want to say they had the game one, but they had all the momentum.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: And they could have added to the lead, they could have eaten more clock.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: But at the end of the run, Bradley Roby for the Broncos, he gets off of his block, he hits Tucson, and the ball comes out.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Toussaint didn't do a good job of squaring his shoulders.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: And Denver recovers.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Manning, who who otherwise kind of had a very pedestrian game, he then leads the Broncos down the field for the game-winning touchdown.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: And again, that game it was a weird loss because the Steelers had no business winning that game.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: They eventually won the Super Bowl.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: They had a this great defense.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, the Steelers offense didn't have all their best players.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: But but then like we had that game won, Steve.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was first down at the 30-yard line with the lead in the in less than 10 minutes left.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we we kind of had that one.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_06: Uh it was uh I remember this game.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_06: Did he get did somebody like kick him or something on a block and that's why the ball came out?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_06: Or am I thinking of another fumble?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_06: I might be thinking of another fumble.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: So so the guy that hit him, Bradley Roby, he was he was tangled up with Darius Hayward Bay.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: And he just kind of got off the block at the last minute.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_06: Because I thought maybe his foot had come, it was like something weird like that.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_06: Like it wasn't completely his fault.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_06: Um it Manning sucked that year.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_06: Like didn't they beat Brock Osweiler earlier that year in the Broncos?
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_06: Or am I?
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't even earlier that year.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: It was literally like three weeks before this, at the end of the regular season at high school.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and they beat them convincingly, too, if I remember correctly.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: And they scored they scored something like 34 points or 35 points.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: So as good as the Broncos defense was, with when the Steelers had all their weapons, they they were putting up points against that defense.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: And and now they're going now they go to Denver and they can't put up a lot of points.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_06: But they again you know the reason we lost that game was because you know, we decided we'd rather fake an injury against Cincinnati.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_06: See, Antonio Brown was faking his concussion from the week before in that game against Cincinnati because the Steelers really didn't want to go to the Super Bowl.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_06: This is all according to Dan Patrick now.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_06: This is Dan Pat.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_06: We're inside Dan Patrick logic at this point.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_06: He literally had Adam Pac-Man Jones on his on his radio show during this week before the game and said Antonio Brown is faking his concussion.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_06: So to forward that lie, because they didn't want to get caught in that lie, you know, I'm just taking Dan Patrick's logic here.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_06: Uh Antonio Brown had to be held out so that they didn't get caught faking, you know, their uh concussion, and uh they lost a chance to go to the Super Bowl because you know they just wanted to make sure that they could beat Cincinnati the week before.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_06: So I mean that that that was you know it's just ridiculous.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that's that team was totally hurt.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_06: It was after that game against Cincinnati.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_06: Ben actually that was after on a cheap shot by Vontez Berfick, which he got hurt, his shoulder got hurt.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_06: So I mean, we really weren't gonna after that Cincinnati game, who would we would have to probably pay the Patriots after that?
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_06: So there they weren't gonna beat the Patriots, not with that many people.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: Probably not, probably not, but it it does still hurt to lose in in that fashion.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: If if if Denver wins that game by 30 points, I I I would have been fine with that because it's like, okay, yeah, we we had nobody, but it but to have it won like that, and and you gotta feel bad for Tucson.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, again, going back to the human side of this, um, if you look at his history, he had he grew up in Youngstown.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: He had a really rough upbringing.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh his father was actually arrested for stabbing someone at one of Fitzgerald Tucson's high school games, if that gives you just an idea of the home life he had.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he got in trouble in Michigan when he played there, and he broke his leg.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: He he ends up going undrafted.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: He he you know, he he does that whole journeyman thing of practice squads and and bouncing from one team to the next.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: And now here he is starting a divisional playoff game for the Steelers.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: And and up into that up into that point, Steve, he he was doing pretty good, if I remember, and he actually had the game's only touchdown on either side.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: So he was actually holding his own pretty well there.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: And and had had he not fumbled there, you know, that people might remember Fitz Tucson as the guy that that came in and did a really good job, you know, uh subbing in a in a big playoff upset.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Instead, you know, people only remember the fact that he fumbled.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I think too, I remember D'Angelo Williams telling a story that that like Tomlin apologized to the team after that loss, that he felt that they kind of the coaching staff had kind of let him down.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_06: So I mean and like he really that's why a lot of players really respect Tomlin and stuff, and you know, it would have been easy to blame the injuries and stuff, but for sure.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: All right, number nine.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_04: Kristen rebound Howard Definitely think we may have had a five.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my goodness.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know that I've ever seen a game done like this in the NCAA tournament.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_03: I've been doing this for 16 straight years.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: So you know when you get a comment like that, a pit team has to be involved.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_06: To be involved, yes.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_06: Tim Ferrando is shocked here.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: So Pitts playing in the 2011 NCAA tournament where they are the number one seed in the Southeast region.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: They're playing in the second round, which I guess now is technically called the third round because they have that play-in round.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: I I've never really adapted to that.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: They're playing in basically the second round against number eight seed Butler.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: So it's that number one versus number versus the eight-nine winner.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: And and that should be a fairly easy win for a one-seed.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: However, yeah, Butler was no ordinary number eight seed.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: They they actually had made it to the championship game the year before, where they they almost took out Duke.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: They came within one bounce off the rim of beating Duke in the championship game.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: And and and so it's a tough game, and it comes down to the final seconds.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: Pitt has a 69-68 lead, but Butler hits a shot with 2.2 seconds left to take a one-point lead and presumably win the game.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: So 2.2 seconds left.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Pitt just tries to inbound the ball.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: They throw it to Gilbert Brown, he charges up the court for trying to get off a miracle shot.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: But Shelvin Mack for Butler inexplicably fouls Brown near mid-court with 1.4 seconds left.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: And when I say foul, I mean he literally like body checked him into the bench because they're they're normally not going to call too many ticky-tac things with one second left.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: But but this guy, Shelvin Mack, he he plows Gilbert Brown into the bench, and you have to call it.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so now Pitts going to go to the free throw line with 1.4 seconds left with a chance to win the game.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so really this is going to be on the list of top 20 Butler in-game mistakes, not Pittsburgh in-game mistakes, uh, because it's it's just a terrible, terrible foul.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Brown hits the first free throw, so now we're tied at 70, but unfortunately he misses the second one.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: And that stinks because that was a golden opportunity to win the game right there, and Gilbert Brown kind of blew it.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: But at least he made the first one, so we're heading into overtime.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: But hang on, are we heading into overtime?
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Butler's Matt Howard grabs the rebound, and then he is fouled by Nasir Robinson of Pitt.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just beyond comprehension that Robinson would commit a foul there.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: Because when Howard grabbed the rebound, remember, there's there's 1.4 seconds left.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: He's underneath the pit basket, and as soon as he grabs the rebound, the clock starts ticking.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: So he he he has nowhere to go.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't, he probably doesn't even have time to cock his arm back for like some kind of miracle full court shot.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: And even if he even if he somehow got that off, I mean, the chances of even hitting the backboard are probably one in a million.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: So there was there was just no reason to be aggressive there.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: Just let him grab the rebound and go to overtime.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so now Butler gets to go to the line, and Howard hits his first shot to give Butler the lead, and then he misses his second one on purpose to end the game.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: And Steve, I I just to this day I I can't believe Nissier Robinson fouled him.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_06: Uh yeah, he was like literally on the other side of the court under his own basket.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, there was there was no reason to foul him there.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_06: I just I I think he just wanted to win the game.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_06: He wanted to thought he could fight for a rebound or something.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_06: I I remember that when that happened.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_06: That was they did not have Duan Blair that year, correct?
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think he was gone by then, yeah.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_06: Because that was after Scotty Reynolds hitting that crazy shot the Urban War.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: That was two years before, yeah.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, so if the I I always contended if Pitt would have had um Duan Blair that game, they would have beat Butler handedly.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_06: Because Butler didn't even even with Gilbert Brown, they had no answer for Pitt's like mediocre big big man.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_06: Never mind.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_06: Like he would have been an NBA, you know, for sure traffic and yeah.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_06: That that game kind of really hurts because it just Pitt should have beat them, and it's just like another that was in the second that wasn't even a sweet 16, was it?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_06: Right, it was the second round.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_06: Whatever that sucks.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_06: That doesn't have a snazzy name, it's just the second round.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and and and that was really Pitt's last stand as a college basketball powerhouse.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and and Pitt never really fielded a team of that level again.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: I uh I mean they really didn't.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: That was kind of their last shot.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_06: I always thought more of the Gary McGee on Kemble Walker was kind of the end of Pitt basketball in general, like that in that big East tournament.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: I I guess, but I mean they were in the number one seed that year in 2011.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they were number one seed, so they were they were still and and and granted again Butler Butler ends up going all the way back to the championship game again that year.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: So so Butler was not it was a little bit of a tough draw getting you know the quote unquote number eight seed Butler when when they were in the championship game both those years.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but but again, just like the the previous item on this list, Pitt had them beat.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I mean I mean all they had to do was make the free throws, and then even then, okay, at least it's going in overtime and and to foul the guy under the basket.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's one thing, like I you know, the the foul that the the guy for Butler did whenever um Gilbert Brown was charging up the court, that was a bad foul, but at least you know you're trying to you're trying to guard him so he doesn't get the game-winning shot off.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_06: When you're under the bigger, it was much more plausible.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: I I mean there's just absolutely it makes no sense.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_06: They'll pull the guys off the line, you know, when he makes that makes that game tying I don't you know free throw.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_06: Sometimes they'll just pull, you know, so you don't even have the opportunity to foul.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_06: But only that's if you have a lead, not tie.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_06: Right, you know.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: Because I because the thought was that if you miss, you could get an offensive rebound and tip it back.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: And to your point, and and to your point, that is probably what he was thinking.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: He was trying to be aggressive, trying to get the rebound and put it back in to win the game.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: But but I mean, fine, you can do that, but be very careful.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: And by all means, you know, if you if you don't wrestle for the ball at that point, you either you either got it on on the on the bounce or on the coming down from the rim or you didn't.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, Robinson, you know, one thing to say about him is he really handled all that in a in a very stand-up way.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: He does interviews, he accepts full responsibility for the mistake.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: And his teammates say years later, I I I read some interviews with some of his teammates years after this, you know, that he had all these people on social media coming at him saying, You lost me money or you messed up my bracket.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so for a kid that's you know, a kid that's in college, that's that's just got to be so tough.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and and and that kid was a good player and and a good guy.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: So you do feel bad for him.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he was a junior in college and he just made a mistake, and unfortunately, it was at the worst time.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: All right, number eight on our list.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_02: 228 to Gomez Lane from the red line.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: We'll crank it up, B Fighters way wide.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: off the boards.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_04: Carlisle goes after Sneer Scarlett is tied and they go crazy at the Carlos.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's there's a few words for how much I hate the New York Islanders.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: I I just I don't know, Steve, if there's any other franchise in sports, in any sport, where like literally all their worst moments came against the same team.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_06: Uh is there any other situation like the Washington Capitals?
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_06: We're the Washington Capitals to them.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I guess that's a probably the same.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_06: We we beat them literally one time ever in the playoffs, and that was Brooks Orpik had to score a goal in game seven over time.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, you know, that's the only time.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_06: That's it, that's the list.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_06: I know it I and it's something like I remember even this year they're their their record like in elimination games at that arena is unreal.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_06: It's like seven games, seven times now they've only been eliminated there.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: So so in 1982, the the Penguins are playing the Islanders in the first round of the playoffs.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: And in 1982, the Islanders are two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: They're also the best team in the league in 1982, record-wise.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: And they had run won an NHL record 15 consecutive games that year.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, they're they're a dynasty in every sense of the word.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: They're by far the powerhouse team in the entire league.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: The Penguins, meanwhile, finished in fourth place in the Patrick Division, 43 points behind New York.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, it wasn't even, they weren't even in the same stratosphere.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: But because um back then that there weren't that many teams.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_06: Gotta love the uh NHL like regular season setup, huh?
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and and the it was so weird in the 80s because the NHL for a long time had 21 teams and 16 of them made the playoffs.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: So if you if you look at any other league or any other year, you know, and and you're only taking the five worst teams out, that means you're gonna put a lot of really bad teams in the playoffs.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: And again, the penguins 43 points behind the islanders.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they weren't a bad team, but they weren't they weren't in the same.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_06: And it wasn't geographical, you gotta remember too, the way the divisions were set up, they weren't geographical.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_06: They just because they couldn't beat it, they didn't have enough teams in the West.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_06: So they just kind of threw everybody.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_06: That's why they were there was a Patrick division, the Smythe division, what was it, the Norris division.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_06: That's why they weren't yeah, yeah, there wasn't north, east, west, south, central, yeah.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: And and and back then, the first round of the playoffs, maybe.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_06: It was in your division, just like this year.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_06: It was I like I like I love the way they went.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_06: I hope they put like just Seattle came into the league this year.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_06: Seattle needs to go into the Canadian division and keep all the divisions the same.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_06: I I know like people complain.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_06: I really like I like the setup and I like how it goes back to the old Patrick division where you gotta play your way out of your division.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_06: That's just makes it so much better for rivalries, and yeah, the NHL got it right this time with realignment.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_06: If that's one thing, COVID like you know, one of the few positives was it forced NHL realignment.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_06: And I know people always complain, oh well, the Canadian division sucks.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_06: Like, there isn't gonna be a division in one in one of the other ones, it's just gonna suck.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_06: It's just gonna float around and somebody's not gonna be good every once in a while.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: But everybody said that everybody said that, and yet and and yet Montreal, you know, made it to the final.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_06: So Well, their excuses, well, they only really had to play one good team.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_06: Well, I don't know what to tell you.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, you can only play the teams that you play, you know.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, Vegas should have had an easy you know series then, you know.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: So uh the the the other thing about the first round back then was it was a best of five, not a best of seven.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: And and I don't know if that was just because of the mismatches you traditionally had in those first round series or what, but it was only a best of five, and then the the subsequent rounds were best of sevens.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: So um the Islanders opened that series at Nassau Coliseum with two blowout wins against the penguins.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: So so everybody's like, okay, this is going as planned.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: This is going to be a short series, they'll dispose of Pittsburgh quickly and be on their way to another championship.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: And and Eddie DeBartlow, the owner of the Penguins, even offers refunds to Penguin fans because it was so lopsided, if you can believe that or imagine an owner doing that today.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: He actually said, like, yeah, I'm sorry you guys bought tickets for this.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: This is completely unfair.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to, if you want your money back, you can have it.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: So that's how bad it was.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_06: I I bet I'm sure Bob Nutting's doing that this year.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm sure.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm sure he would do, you know, he would yeah, uh I'm sure.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um the but what happens is the penguins shock everybody by winning game three and then game four at home.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: And then it sends the series back to Long Island for the deciding game five.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: And in game five, the Penguins have a three to two lead with two minutes left in the game.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: So literally two minutes left.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: They're on the precipice of maybe the biggest upset in NHL history up to that point.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it really was because again, New York was the best team in the league, two-time defending champion, record winning streak, and here it is, two minutes left, and the Penguins are going to pull this off.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: Well, New York uh is charging, they're trying to tie the game, and they dumped the puck into the corner of the Penguins' end, and Penguins defenseman Randy Carlisle, who had won the Norris trophy the year before, so he's he's no slouch of a defenseman.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then later, of course, he became kind of a jerk of a head coach.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: But uh he goes to retrieve the puck and it takes kind of a weird bounce because Nassau Coliseum, and it just kind of like hops right over a stick, and John Tonelli is charging at the net, and the puck literally just kind of comes right to him and he puts it in the net.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: That sends the game in overtime, and then in overtime, Tanelli gets the game winner.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: So the Islanders win, and the Penguins do not pull off the upset.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: And and here's a fun fact about that game: the Islanders would go in to win the Stan Cup that year and the year after.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: So they won four Stanley Cups in a row.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: This game, this game was the only time in that four-year stretch of that dynasty that they even faced elimination.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: They literally never got to a game five or a game seven in any of those other series.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: This was the only time someone even took them to an elimination game.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's how dominant they were.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: And the penguins had them beat with two minutes left in the game.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: And Carlisle misplayed the puck and it didn't happen.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: And Carlisle says, you know, 40 years later that people still bring it up and that and then it stings.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_06: Hey, another another fun fact about the Islanders is this is the last team to three-peat.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_06: Nobody's done it.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, nobody's done it since whatever year this was.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_06: Second.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_06: This wasn't the three-peat year yet, so that would have been the next year.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_06: And I didn't realize, I thought they won the cup in 77 when they came back from their 03.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_06: I guess they didn't.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: No, they didn't.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_06: That year they that the penguins blew their.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_06: Well, and that and and when we talk about the history with the Islanders, it that's that's what part of it is they that's a big one, is is like they listed it again when who went down, Montreal went down to Tampa three games to none.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_06: And you know, it's literally what Boston, uh, Philadelphia, is Chicago in there, and then the Penguins in Montreal and Toronto back in the 40s.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_06: That's the list.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and the New York and the New York Yankees against the Boston Red Sox.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's literally in all sports.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's only a handful of seven-game series where someone's talking about.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_06: There's something in Japanese baseball, too.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, there's one in Japanese baseball.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's pretty rare.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's very, very rare.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: And the penguins blew a three game stand-nun lead against them in 75.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: This happened in 82.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then the ironic thing was 11 years later, the exact same scenario was flipped where the penguins were the two-time defending champions, they had the record-winning streak, they were the president's trophy winners, but this time the islanders upset them.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: So it just I can't say enough about just the the tragedy of Penguins versus Islanders and how horrible that's been for this franchise.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_06: Let's talk about the Capitals, the Penguins and the Capitals.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I'd much rather talk about that.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_06: It's much more fun.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_06: It's much more fun on that side of the yeah.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: Couldn't agree more.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: All right, number seven on our list.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_03: Here's the give to Jerome.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_03: He has it to follow the ball is fumbled.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_03: And the Colts pick it up.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_03: Nick Harper has it.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_03: He's running.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_03: And Big Ben can't tackles it.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_03: He tackles it at the 43 yard line.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_03: Jerome Fettis, who rarely fumbles, fumbles at the goal line.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_03: Mick Harper picks it up, and the Colts is still alive with 109 to go.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: So so I think, you know, most most Pittsburgh sports fans will instantly recognize that play.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's the Steelers and the Colts in the two thousand five AFC divisional playoffs.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: Colts are by far by far the best team in football that year.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: They actually almost went undefeated, and they had crushed the Steelers just a few weeks earlier in their stadium.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: Steelers were huge underdogs, uh, but they had a pretty good defense and a second-year quarterback named Ben Rothesberger.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: And sure enough, they they outplay Indianapolis.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: They find themselves in the lead late in the game.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: And a bunch of crazy things happen in the final five minutes of this game, including a very bad call and an interception that should have iced the game, but we won't go into all that.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: We actually did an entire episode just on this game, so by all means go back and listen to that if you haven't already.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: The bottom line is that the Steelers have the ball on the Colts two-yard line.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: They're going to ice the game with a handoff to their dependable Hall of Fame, goal line back, drone Bettis.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: He's hit uh and he fumbles, and the ball's picked up by a guy named Nick Harper, who is miraculously chased down by Ben Rothesberger to save the season for the Steelers.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then, of course, we all know what happens next.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: The idiot kicker misses the game-tying field goal, and the Steelers pull off a great upset, and then three weeks later, they capture the elusive one for the thumb in Detroit in Bettis' final ever game in his hometown.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, there's not a lot more to say about this play or this season.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: Again, we we did a three-part episode on this season.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: So um uh not much else to say.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: I I will add two things.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: First of all, if if Harper scores on that play, if Ben doesn't catch him, that then this play, I don't know if you agree, Steve, this has to be number one on this list, right?
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like this has to be the biggest in-game mistake, not only in Pittsburgh sports history, but maybe sports history in general.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_06: It's up there with Ernest Biner's fumble, that's for sure.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_06: I mean Yeah.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_06: I mean that that that's yeah, or I can't think of like anything else.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_06: Neil Buckner.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, like one of the yeah, yeah.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, that's that's that's a rough one.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_06: Uh and yeah, I I it's great to hear Tunch Jokin too on the call because I I forgot I kind of haven't heard it in a while, and just him going, Oh my gosh.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and then Tunch was Tunch was awesome back back when he was in his prime and healthy and God bless that guy.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_06: He I I I miss I miss he just retired this year.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_06: If you heard him last year, it was a shame that you know he isn't able to do the games anymore.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_06: But yeah.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_06: It was fun to hear him.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it was fun to hear him.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_06: He was such a good uh good uh color announcer and such a great part of Steelers stuff, so that I would like that.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_06: I'm glad you played that.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_06: That was nice to hear Tunch's voice again.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_06: Even though that memory's painful, but the result you know makes it a little less, you know.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: It does.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: It it's it's we can all look at it and kind of breathe a sigh of relief now, even though we were, you know, people were literally having heart attacks at the time.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the the other thing I'll say is uh, and and Steve, you talked about this at length in the episode we did, but Nick Harper cutting to the middle of the field rather than running to the sidelines.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh if if there's an Indianapolis sports podcast out there, that has to be in their that has to be in their top ten, right?
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: Because all he had to do was just cut to the side and he cut to the middle, and that's the only reason Ben caught him.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: So fortunately for us, you know, there was a mistake on the Colt side too.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then, of course, you know, the kicker missing, and he missed badly too.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh was like a Vanderjacked.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he missed by a mile.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, fortunately, the Steelers were saved there.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I this one still is still still in our top ten because it was a huge mistake, but fortunately it did not cost uh the Steelers a win or a Super Bowl title.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: All right, number six on our list was much more costly.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_05: Watching a lot of his records get shattered.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_05: Trouble on the extra point.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_05: Andrew Janoko, the holder, picks it up, but he won't get there.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_05: He just put the ball down and slipped out of his hand.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_05: Perfect snap.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: So these are gonna get rougher now as we get into these, into the closer to number one.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: So 2009, uh pit coach Dave Wansted, he's in his fifth season.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: And by this time, he's he's really built a good program.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: Pitt goes nine and one to start that season.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: They ranked number eight in the country, and the last game of the season is at home against Cincinnati.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: Cincinnati was undefeated that year under Brian Kelly.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and Pitt's only loss came out of conference.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: It was to NC State.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: So if Pitt beat Cincinnati in that finale.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_06: Of course it was.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: Of course it was.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's another one.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_06: Was that the Russell Wilson game?
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was, and nobody would even remember that Russell Wilson played for NC State, but we do because of that game.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_06: I I remember I remember that game.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh because he ended up transferring to Wisconsin.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, anyway, that's that's Pitt NC State's another it's not quite Penguins Islanders, but it's well, you talk about the Islanders and Penguins.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_06: NC State has become like Pitts, like they took the place of Syracuse when Pitts started playing beating Syracuse.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_06: Now Pitt can't beat they can't beat NC State.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_06: They lost them in baseball, basketball, football, women's lacrosse.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_06: You just can't beat NC State in any sport right now.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_06: I don't know what's going on.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: So well they're in they're in the same conference now.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: In 2009, they were not, and so that game really didn't matter.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_01: And the game that mattered was the finale against Cincinnati.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: Whoever won that game is gonna win the Big East and go to the Sugar Bowl, which was pretty big.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and and we covered this before, and and we said it at the time, you know, in terms of what was at stake, we both agreed, Steve, that it it it was the biggest game for Pitt since the Dan Marino era, and still is to this day, in terms of what was at stake.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so the game itself is a shootout.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: Deion Lewis for Pitt, he rushes for 194 yards and three touchdowns on 47 carries.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: And that was a cold day.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_01: I remember that.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was a cold day.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: It was snowing, it was, you know, it was, and he just carried the team on his shoulders.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Tony Pike was a Cincinnati quarterback, he carried his team on his shoulders.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: He he has a great game, 300 plus yards, three touchdowns.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: Pitt jumps out to a 31-10 lead, but Cincinnati comes all the way back to tie it.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then Bill Stahl, the quarterback for Pitt, he leads them down the field on a 67-yard drive.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: And with 96 seconds left in the game, Deion Lewis takes it in for the go-ahead touchdown.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a great moment.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Pitt takes the lead with just over a minute left.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Lewis goes over to the sidelines, Tony Dorsett standing over there, and he hugs Lewis coming off the field.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: So, so now you're you're at this point where, okay, Pitt's got the lead, and maybe Cincinnati can come back and tie it, but but that's the best they can do is tie it.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: But Pitt botches the extra point, and it's not even that the kicker missed it.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: It was a perfect snap, but Andrew Jinoko, who is the holder, he just has the ball slip out of his hands, and they don't even get the kick off.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: So now Pitt's only up by six instead of seven, and sure enough, Cincinnati drives down the field, scores a touchdown in the final 30 seconds, make the extra point on their side, and now they're the Big East champions.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: And it was really a painful loss.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: Pitt would have played against Tim Tebow and Florida in the Sugar Bowl.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I don't know how they would have fared in that game, but that would have been just even being in that game would have been really the greatest accomplishment of the past 40 years of pitch football.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: And and it didn't happen because of an extra point.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_01: And not again, missing an extra point to lose the conference championship would have been heartbreaking.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, extra points, people miss extra points.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: That happens, especially in college.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: But to just drop the ball, the holder just dropped the ball, it came snapped right in his hands, and he just dropped it.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Junoko was crushed.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: He he was a sophomore walk-on.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_01: He had turned on scholarships from other schools to walk on at Pitt because, and Steve, you talked about this when we we covered this game once before.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, his thought process was he wanted to be a coach, and and so he walked on at Pitt because he thought he could learn a lot from Dave Wansett, who had who had coached in the NFL a lot.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: And and sure enough, Junoko today is the quarterback coach for the Minnesota Vikings, and is one of those up-and-coming, you know, could be an offensive coordinator or head coach someday in the NFL.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I I think, you know, I I think he shook off that mistake and and seems to be having a good coaching career now.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: But boy, did that hurt.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and I I don't I mean like you said, Andrew Junoko, he was a big star up in Clearfield, I think.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_06: And uh they they went they I think they won a double A, class double A title, and I think his father is a high school, like a big high school football coach.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_06: Like you said, his goal was to become a football coach, and that's why he came here because he could have gone to a lower level school, but you know thankfully nobody really remembers that or holds it against him because it's Pitt.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_06: Freaking Brian Kelly.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_06: What a and you know, that's another thing is like Cincinnati, like of all the like schools out there, and nothing against like Pitt or like Syracuse or any of these other like kind of like schools that have like had great players way back when.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_06: Cincinnati gets like Cincinnati the University of Cincinnati's done everything in her power to deserve to be a power like in one of the PowerShells conferences.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_06: I don't I guess just because they're in that oh in Ohio and they're not I mean they don't have a huge fan base, so that's maybe why they don't get it.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_06: But I mean why the University of Cincinnati isn't in like the ACC or you know, whatever, you know, they they probably would fit in in the ACC, quite honestly, but they deserve it more than Louisville, that's for sure.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and I who knows?
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: I've never quite understood why some of those teams are in and some of those teams are not, but that's college football for you.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it's a mess.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_06: It's it's a mess.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: All right, number five.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: Let's circle right back to the New York freaking Islanders.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: And again, down to Tristan Jari.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_04: Steal! Josh Bailey stars! Josh Bailey on the turnover! In double overtime! The New York Islanders have won game five!
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so this one's this one's pretty recent.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh 2021, the NHL has a shortened season due to the COVID pandemic, and and no one's really quite sure what to expect out of the Penguins because in recent years they have not fared well in the postseason, and they're kind of in the middle of an overhaul.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Jim Rutherford, who was the general manager, abruptly resigns during the season, and he's replaced by, and I still can't even say this, he's replaced by Ron Hextahl.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: It still has not hit me that Ron Hextahl is our GM.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_01: Anyhow, the the Pens end up having a pretty good season.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: They actually surprise a lot of people.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they win the Stevie talked about those reconfigured divisions.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: They win that that Eastern division.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's their first division title in seven years.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: And sure enough, their first round opponent is the Islanders.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: And everybody knows the history, like we just talked about.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: But boy, the Penguins, the Penguins should be the better team here.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's it's it ends up being a fairly evenly matched series.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_01: The series is tied two games apiece, and the pivotal game five is in Pittsburgh, and that game goes back and forth.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: It goes into overtime, no one scores, and now it goes into a second overtime.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, with the series tied two, two and in double overtime, you're basically at the point there where the next goal could effectively end the series.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's not going to end the series, but but to lose that that deciding game in double overtime, uh, especially if you're the Penguins having to go on the road for game six, that's going to be hard to overcome.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_01: So the next goal is going to be big.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_01: The Penguins goaltender is Tristan Jari.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the Penguins had anointed him to replace Matt Murray.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_01: They had traded Matt Murray over the offseason.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_01: And they believed in him so much that they actually uh assigned him to a three-year contract extension before the season.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: And Jari had not been having a great series up until that point.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_01: He really hadn't.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: But in that game, he was he was holding the Islanders at bay.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: He wasn't playing too bad.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: And in the second overtime, there's a play where the Pens try to set up Ifgeny Malkin at the point, but the pass goes past him and it trickles all the way down the ice to Jari.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever, no big deal.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_01: That happens all the time.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: So Jari has it on a stick, and he should send it up the boards to one of his teammates, or he could even, I mean, he could have even fallen on the puck.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that wouldn't have been a great idea.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: But instead, he does the absolute worst thing possible, and he throws the puck right to the middle of the ice.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: And Josh Bailey from New York is skating right at Jari.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_01: Jari passes it right to him.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_01: Then, to make matters worse, Jari panics and tries to poke the puck away from Bailey instead of staying in his net to try to make a save.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: And Bailey scores.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: He ends the game in double overtime.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_01: Jari then has a horrendous game six, which I think he got pulled out of in the second period.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: And the Penguins are eliminated.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just one of the worst plays and worst mistakes that that you know in in Penguins history.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he just threw the puck right to them at the most critical time of the series.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I think what made people upset, Steve, was you know, when when they did interviews and stuff with Jari after after this, he was he was just kind of aloof.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, like they like they asked him, like, what would you do differently?
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and he's kind of like, uh, I don't know, maybe just maybe just leave the puck where it is.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like, like he didn't, you know, you wanted him to to say something that that made it sound like he understood the gravity of of what happened, uh that made you think maybe okay, I'm gonna bounce back from this in game six because there was still a game six.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: And he just kind of was like, Oh, I guess I messed up.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_06: I I I like is that your Tristan Jari impersonation?
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I'm Tristan Jari.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: I threw the puck to the middle of the ice when there's a guy charging right at me.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because I don't like to win hockey games.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: Oh well.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_06: Well, uh Tristan Jari really wasn't that good, quite honestly.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_06: It I I I'm not I it just when I lost faith in Kristen Jari was when the Penguins had a seven to nothing lead to the Devils and almost blew it in the regular season.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_06: And and uh one of those goals came on just like he did in this game.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_06: He was the Devils had an empty net and he tried to shoot the puck into the empty net to score a goal.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_06: Like uh actually, like his uh boss Ron Hex or yeah, Ron Hextahl has a goal, I'm pretty sure.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_06: So he was trying to be uh all cool and he gave up another goal, and they almost gave up a seven-goal lead.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_06: I think the penguins actually won that game seven to six.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_06: So I was kind of done with Jari there, but the Penguins weren't, so and I bet they wish they had.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_06: Uh I'm not sure if that's one of the reasons that uh Jim Rotherford left was because that was a rumors that he wanted to trade for Fleury and who he wanted to trade for, I guess the Penguins wouldn't go for it.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, yeah, who who knows?
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_01: Charlie's definitely I I agree.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think uh Charrie is the answer long term, and I think Jerry proved that.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: And again, just just that whole you know aloofness or like you said, trying to trying to score a goal instead of protecting the lead.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's I don't know.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe he maybe he matures, maybe he becomes a good goalie eventually, but but boy, it's gonna be hard to overcome what happened in that playoff series.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why it's number five on our list.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_01: On to another kind of aloof Pittsburgh athlete making a huge mistake at a big moment for our number four item on the list.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_04: Pittsburgh with the ball down by four.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_04: Minden hall.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_04: Loss of football.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_04: Picked up by Bishop.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: In twenty ten, the Steelers are in the Super Bowl against the Green Bay Packers and they're looking to win their third championship in six years.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_01: But the first half doesn't go well.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_01: The Packers come back to a huge lead, and the Steelers have no answer for Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who to this day is you know the only the only game of importance where Rodgers actually you know won.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, the Steelers do start a comeback in the second half, but it's true.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_01: What what name one other big game that Aaron Rodgers won in his life?
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_06: Uh the Pro Bowl.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_06: I don't know.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well he he's lost four NFC championships games since then, but it's it's okay.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's all Green Bay's fault.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_01: They they don't put a good team around him.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, because Devontae Adams and Aaron Aaron Jones, those guys suck.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: And and the fact that they had a top ten defense and yards allowed last year, it it's all the organization's fault.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_01: Anyhow, that's I I I do like Aaron Rodgers.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_06: And they turned over.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_06: The best part is is like in the second half of that game, Brady played god awful.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_06: He what threw like what two interceptions in a row?
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_06: And they couldn't take a bunch of it.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I think you're right.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_06: I think it was three.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_06: I I yeah, it like there's no reason like Green Bay should have come back, and that should have that should have been, oh look, Tom Brady blew a game, but oh well.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: I I I actually like Aaron Rodgers.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_01: I I really do, and he's a great player.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_01: I I just I'm so annoyed by the fact that you know, if anybody else had the track record that he does of losing four NFC title games and and not winning, you know, championships.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_01: He he won a championship in 2010 and never won one again.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like that person would be criticized.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_01: And Aaron Rodgers instead, you know, people bash the organization for not helping him, whatever that means.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_01: So uh but anyway.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_06: It's kind of about the Drew Brees is the same way.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_06: He doesn't get, you know.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Drew and Drew Brees, you could make the same argument.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_01: He won a championship and then you know had some really good teams and never did it again.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: Heck, Ben won two championships, and I mean all three of those guys spent the 2010s with good teams and not winning championships.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_01: But I feel like Ben and Breeze get some criticism, and Rogers is just like, oh, well, he should leave Green Bay because they hosed him.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's like what he has a top five running back and a top five receiver on his offense and and a good defense, but yet, you know, it's it's never his fault.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_01: I never understood that.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_01: It was the same thing with Brett Favre when he was there.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what it is about Packers' quarterbacks, just can't do anything wrong.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_01: But but anyway, that's not a Green Bay podcast, so let's get back on topic here.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh in that Super Bowl, Super Bowl 45, the Steelers uh mount a comeback in the second half.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_01: And at the start of the fourth quarter, they they cut the lead to 21 to 17.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_01: And they're actually driving for the go-ahead score.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_01: They hand the ball off to Rashard Mendenhall, who was their leading rusher that year.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_01: He's hit by Clay Matthews, and the ball pops out.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_01: Green Bay recovers, and that's kind of it.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_01: The Steelers never recover from that play, and they go on to lose the Super Bowl.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_01: And the the tough thing with Mendenhall was yeah, he had a lot of natural talent.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_01: He was a first-round pick, after all.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_01: But like he never quite seemed like football was his was his favorite thing in the world.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he really wanted to be a writer, and and I use that word aloof.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he was always kind of aloof, and and you know, he he upset a lot of people with the tweet uh sympathizing with Osama bin Laden after the United States had taken out bin Laden.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_01: He he kind of said like he was very sympathetic to to bin Laden's cause, and that wasn't very smart.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_01: That wasn't the only time he was kind of on the wrong side of a tweet.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_01: He also, a couple years later, you know, uh took Antonio Brown's side in that whole Antonio Brown Ben Rothesburger beef.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so so he just Richard Mendenhall just liked to take the sides of people that were, you know, way in the wrong and were proven to be way in the wrong.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_01: So just not the best judgment on his part.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he also had a fumbling problem earlier in his career.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-Ward once placed a ball in his locker and put a little note on it saying take Mendenhall's ball away and get$100 for from him.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_01: And and so Mendenhall was then required to carry the ball everywhere he went until the team's next game.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_01: So so I mean it was a it was a history with him where he did fumble and then he fumbles in the biggest game of his life.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, Richard Mendenhall, talented running back, fumbleitis.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_06: He definitely had a case of the fumble litus, so I don't know what to uh do with good old Richard there.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_06: I I really liked him.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_06: I liked him in college, and I liked him as a pro, but he just never really worked out.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_06: He did get hit really.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_06: Was that that was a play he got hit by Matthews really hard?
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_01: It was.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_06: It was, but it's so I don't think it was completely I think that's more a claim Matthews making a play than Richard Mendenhall fumbling, but I think I think if it just wasn't him, if that were Bettis or Willie Parker or you know, somebody that that again it was just Mendenhall just kind of like, oh whatever.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like it was just kind of his attitude.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, his last game as a Steeler uh was that game against the Chargers where he didn't show up to the stadium because he didn't feel like showing up to the stadium.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_01: He he just he wasn't he wasn't a team guy, he wasn't a winner, and and I think that play just kind of summarized everything.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's like the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, you're in their territory, you you could potentially take the lead, and then he just can't hang on to the ball.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_06: Well, Ben had a chance too late in that game to drive him down and tie it up just like he had the Super Bowl before, and he threw high to Mike Wallace, if I remember on Twitter down on that.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_01: So he did, but that wouldn't have been necessary, had you know fumbly and not have fumbled the ball.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_01: So it is what it is.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_01: And and again, maybe the Steelers don't win that game, but it just it just hurts for him to fumble.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_01: Again, fumbling in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl is just gonna put you high on the list.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_01: All right, number three on the list.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_01: So so we started this list way back in number 20 with Al Michaels calling a Steeler game in January of 2021.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_01: Here's Al Michaels calling a Pirates game 50 years earlier because Al Michaels is apparently a vampire.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_04: And the one-one pitch to Matt Ray.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_04: In the turn, it's a wild pitch in the postmaster!
• 49:59
  unknown: The Reds win the pennant!
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_04: Ball most was a wild pitch, and the Reds have won the National League penny.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_01: So this is 1972.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_01: The Pirates are playing the Reds in Game 5 of the National League Championship series.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_01: And back then, kind of like we talked about with hockey, back then the NLCS and the ALCS in baseball were five-game series, not seven-game series like they are today.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_01: So game five was the deciding game.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, these were only five years old, right?
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_06: This is 72.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_06: So yeah, 68, they had only started playing these.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_01: Right, they were very new.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_06: Back in 67, yeah, you would just go right to the World Series.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_06: What a novel concept, win the pennant.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_06: And you could literally you could literally have a hundred-win season and be like, all right, thanks for playing, boys.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_06: See you next year.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and and that's I think that you know that was a smart idea.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then baseball eventually in the 90s expanded that to divisional playoff series and wildcards and everything else.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um but back then, yeah, that this was a very new thing, and that was only a five-game series to get to the seven-game World Series.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_01: So, so again, game five, the winner of this game goes to the World Series, and the Pirates have a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning, and they bring in their closer that year, a guy named Dave Justy, uh, to hopefully close out the series and send them to the send them to the World Series.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_01: The first batter up is the uh National League MVP that year and Hall of Famer Johnny Bench.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_01: And he promptly cranks a home run over the right field wall.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_01: So right off the bat, okay, well, we're not good, we're game's not over, the game's tied.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and Justy surrenders another hit, he gets pulled, the Pirates put Bob Moose into the game.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_01: And a few batters later, here's the situation.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_01: Hal McRae is at the plate for the Reds.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_01: There's two outs and a guy on third.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, now it's at the point with two outs, either Hal McRae gets a hit or the he the steal or the uh pirates get him out and we go to extra innings.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_01: So instead of forcing that you know uh scenario, Moose throws a pitch in the dirt, which bounces like 20 miles away from the catcher, and the Reds score the winning run on a wild pitch.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_01: And that that hurt.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the pirates were the defending world champions that year, so they were trying to repeat.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_01: And and to lose the game, you know, Bench had a home run.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_01: Bench was a Hall of Famer, and he had a home run to tie the game because that's what Hall of Fame players and MVPs do.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_01: And if Hal McRae gets a hit there, again, that's clutch, and the Reds, the Reds win.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_01: Hal McCray was pretty good too.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_01: He was, that's what I'm saying.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's okay, that's no shame in losing that.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's that's the the team just being better.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_01: But to to lose on a wild pitch, I mean, they just Moose throws the ball in the dirt and they lose on a wild pitch.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that's why this is number three.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_01: And and there's a lot of tragedy actually associated with this game.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_01: It ends up being Roberto Clemeni's final ever game, because he dies several months later in a plane crash.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_01: And then Bob Moose actually also passes away tragically a few years later in a car accident.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, just just a terrible moment in Pittsburgh sports history all around, and something that should have never happened.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_06: That kind of like thinking like I know that's like one of our podcast ideas is like that December of 1972, like it's probably like one of the worst months in sport Pittsburgh sports history.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_06: So we'll have to cover that at some point because just like Kamenny dies, and you know, obviously after this happens, yeah.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_06: It's there's a lot of like kind of like tragic stuff that happens just on and off the field.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that would be a good good topic for a future episode.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_01: That just 1972 in Pittsburgh Sports, because you also had DMAC at reception.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you also had um one of the items the dolphins.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, the dolphins kind of ruining everything.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and you also had the um the item earlier on this list with Tim Horton for the Penguins.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, we that was our number 11 item on this list.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_01: So that was also 72.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, there'd be a lot to cover in 72 in Pittsburgh sports.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh here's a fun fact for you.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_01: This was not the first time that the Pirates had lost a postseason series on a wild pitch.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_06: I think that would not surprise me.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yep, yep, that's the Pirates for you.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they that's actually how the 1927 World Series ended.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_01: Was on a wild pitch to the Yankees.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so the Pirates lost that series.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_01: Now granted, didn't they swept?
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_06: I thought Yeah, they did.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_01: It was not a game seven.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_01: They just wanted out of there.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, why would you throw the gear and anybody on that line?
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_01: Just throw the ball in the dirt so we can all go home.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I I try to look up if that's if that's ever happened.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if those are the only two times in Major League Baseball history that that's happened.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I could not find the answer to that.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you you now you have so many more postseason series, right?
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_01: You have the the wild card play-ins and you have the divisional series, and so you have a lot more opportunity for for you know first, like the only time a series has ever ended.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_01: But up until that point, I mean, that was, you know, it was it was all pirates throwing wild pitches to end series.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_01: So that's dunk.
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_01: So let's go to the number two item on our list, and let's fast forward 20 years where the Pirates are once again in the bottom of the ninth inning of the deciding game of the National League championship series.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_04: Justice at the plate, Dream on deck.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_05: Rounded to the right.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_05: Booted by Wing.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_05: Pendleton the third on the play.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_05: A man who has made only six errors during the regular season.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_05: Makes his second here tonight.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_05: And it could turn out to be the biggest error of his life.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it did turn out to be that where's McKayre at?
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_01: McCarver, you mean?
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_06: Uh yeah, McDonald's McCarver.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_06: Sorry, I misquoted Dion.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_06: Sorry, you can't call him Dion.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_06: Mr.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_06: Sanders.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_01: So 1992, the Pirates are playing in the NLCS for the third straight year, and this time it looks like they're finally going to make the World Series because they have a two-to-nothing lead in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Atlanta Braves.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_01: Doug Draybick's pitching a masterpiece.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_01: All they have to do is get the final three outs.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_01: Terry Pendlinen leads off the inning with a double, and now David Justice is at the plate for Atlanta.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_01: And he hits a ground ball to second, uh, which is booted by Pirates second baseman Jose Lean.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_01: And it proves to be huge because as we detailed in the episode we did about this game, again, go back and listen if you haven't.
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and about this this era in Pirates baseball.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, the Pirates were able to get two more outs before Francisco Cabrera gets the hit that wins the series.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_01: So if Lean makes that play, the Pirates win the pennant.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_01: And and I have this where I have this number two on the list uh because you know, obviously it was costly.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_01: Well, really two things.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, one was that this was such a critical juncture in Pirates' history.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they they had it was really a culmination of a decade-long journey.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they had they had the the the 1980s were not kind to the pirates.
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_01: They had the jarg trials, they almost lose the franchise altogether, they rebuilt under Jim Leland and Sid Thrift, they lose the NLCS the previous two seasons.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_01: So so it was a culmination of this journey to get to the World Series back for the first time since 1979.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_01: But then also, if you look at the future, and everybody knew it at the time.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_01: It was not like we were just looking back on this years later.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_01: This was their last chance to be competitive because of the economics of baseball.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_01: They they knew they were going to lose Barry Bonds and Drayback and everybody else.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_01: So everything hinged on that inning.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_01: So that's number one reason why it was so high on the list.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_01: But the other reason it's so high on the list is because the immense level of improbability of this happening.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_01: Jose Leand was on this team strictly for his defense.
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_01: He was a 235 hitter that season with no home runs and 468 at bats.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_01: There are pitchers who hit better than that.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he just he he was totally worthless on offense.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_01: But but Leand was a brilliant defensive second baseman, and 1992 was his best season.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_01: The gold glove award, if you know what that is, in every position in baseball, every year they give out a gold glove award for the best defensive player at that position.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_01: And that had gone for nine consecutive years to the second baseman for the Chicago Cubs, a guy named Ryan Sandberg, who's in the Hall of Fame.
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_06: Do they do American League and a National League on that?
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, they do.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_06: That's what I thought.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_01: So the National League.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_06: But you are right, Ryan Sandberg had that like permanently like bolted to his mantle at that point.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_01: He was just the best defensive second baseman in baseball.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_01: That was an automatic award every year in the National League.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_01: It went to Ryan Sandberg.
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well, guess what?
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_01: In 1992, Lean was so good that year with his defense that they had no choice but to break that streak and give it to Jose Lean.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like literally, he's the first guy in a decade to win that award at second base, other than Ryan Sandberg, because that's how good Jose Lean was at playing second base.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_01: And the Pirates, you know, they wasted a spot in the batting order on a team that won three straight division titles, right?
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_01: That were stacked, that had all these great hitters, and they wasted a spot in the batting order for three years in a row just because he was that good on defense.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_01: They were willing to sacrifice the number eight spot in the order because of his defense.
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then when he has to make a play on a routine ground ball that he's fielded a thousand times, and then he makes a play on 999 of those times, and the most important inning of his career, he makes an error.
• 1:00:28
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, Jose leaned.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_06: Uh I liked Jose.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_06: I like Chico, though.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_06: I I'm I'm I don't remember him being that I mean he wasn't the greatest hitter in the world, but boy, you're like I don't know.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_06: Maybe it's just 235 doesn't sound that bad when you look at the current pirates lineup, though.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_01: Well, come on, that's that's that's a little bit of a low bar.
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_06: So uh I mean he's hitting better than Newman is right now.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_01: I Well one again, it just that was that was the price of business.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_01: They were okay with that.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_01: They were okay with him, you know, getting almost never getting on base because it's okay, we'll make up for it in other parts of the lineup.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_01: He's just he can't be what he does on defense can't be replaced at a critical position.
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_01: And it is a critical position because that's where ground balls typically end up, that are shortstop, you know, and and all and again, justice hit the ball.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't an easy play.
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_01: I it wasn't like Bill Buckner rolled through his legs.
• 1:01:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he did have to kind of reach down and field it.
• 1:01:32
  SPEAKER_01: But my goodness, again, 999 times out of a thousand, he makes that play.
• 1:01:37
  SPEAKER_01: And really, most second basemen, not just really good ones, it's it should have been a routine play.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_01: They should have got justice out, and then that it never comes down to Francisco Cabrera.
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_01: The the the game's over when when I think it was Brian Hunter pops up.
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_01: And it it just it hurts.
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_01: It hurts to this day.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Lean's personal life sadly kind of spirals after out of control uh a few years later.
• 1:02:02
  SPEAKER_01: He struggles with cocaine addiction, his wife files a restraining order against him, and he actually spends a year in prison.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_01: I I couldn't find much about where he is today.
• 1:02:13
  SPEAKER_01: There's some sources that say he kind of got his life together and he's living quietly in his home country of Puerto Rico.
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I hope that's true.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um I liked I liked Jose Lean too, Steve.
• 1:02:23
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he was a great player, and I you know, you don't want to define his legacy by one moment, but boy, just all the brilliant plays he made, all the all the great defense, and when they needed him the most, he couldn't make the play, and it just that's sports for you, I guess.
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_06: Puerto Rico's not a bad place to hide out, so good weather, yep.
• 1:02:48
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 1:02:49
  unknown: Yeah.
• 1:02:51
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, so that brings us to our number one moment on the list, and boy, could it be anything else other than this?
• 1:03:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 1:03:06
  SPEAKER_03: Intercepted and Larry Brown has a shot and a touchdown.
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_03: And Brown again, not even near the play.
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_03: The ball turned right to him.
• 1:03:15
  SPEAKER_05: Larry Brown with two interceptions.
• 1:03:17
  SPEAKER_05: He just stood there, both of them throwing right at him.
• 1:03:22
  SPEAKER_01: He just stood there, both of them throwing right at him.
• 1:03:26
  SPEAKER_01: What else is there to even say?
• 1:03:29
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening, everybody.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I mean, yeah, uh so yeah, Neil O'Donnell throwing the the interception in the Super Bowl, the second interception in the Super Bowl.
• 1:03:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's it's the moment that it's just the the standard bearer for all Pittsburgh sports mistakes.
• 1:03:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when Tristan Jari made that turnover a couple months ago, that was that was all the the articles and everything.
• 1:03:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it Neil O'Donnell-esque, you know, where does this rank behind Neil O'Donnell?
• 1:03:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it it just that's that's gotta be number one uh I think because it's just the one that everybody remembers.
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_01: So the background here, Super Bowl 30 in Tempe, Arizona, the Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys.
• 1:04:10
  SPEAKER_01: The Steelers are on the verge of taking the lead in the third quarter when Neil O'Donnell throws just a terrible interception to Cowboys defensive back Larry Brown, who's covering grass.
• 1:04:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and and what happened on that first interception, the Cowboys blitzed, and O'Donnell just threw it to a spot on the field where there was there was no black shirts within miles.
• 1:04:31
  SPEAKER_01: I I mean to this day, I I still don't I I said this in we we did an episode about the 95 Steelers, and I said it then.
• 1:04:39
  SPEAKER_01: I don't understand why Larry Brown was at that spot on the field.
• 1:04:43
  SPEAKER_01: There were people who said, oh, the game was fixed and blah, blah, blah and I never bought that.
• 1:04:47
  SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, it's really hard to explain why Larry Brown was standing uh on a spot in the field where there was nobody within miles.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and and even harder to explain why why O'Donnell threw the ball to that spot.
• 1:05:01
  SPEAKER_01: So Dallas takes they end up scoring off that turnover, they take a 22-7 lead.
• 1:05:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but the Steelers fight back, they get a field goal, they they do a surprise onside kick that they recover, and then Bam Morris scores a touchdown to make it 20 to 17.
• 1:05:16
  SPEAKER_01: And now they have the ball back with four minutes left, down by three.
• 1:05:19
  SPEAKER_01: They have all the momentum.
• 1:05:20
  SPEAKER_01: The Cowboys are going backwards, they literally have no answer for the Steelers at this point.
• 1:05:25
  SPEAKER_01: And it's gonna be this great moment in history for Donald.
• 1:05:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he's gonna win the Super Bowl, he's gonna interrupt the Dallas Cowboys dynasty, and you know, instead, we all know what happens next.
• 1:05:37
  SPEAKER_01: He throws another interception to Brown.
• 1:05:39
  SPEAKER_01: And and that second interception, I mean, there's a little more debate as to whether Neil threw a bad pass or Andre Hastings, the receiver for the Steelers, ran the wrong route.
• 1:05:48
  SPEAKER_01: But I I've always maintained that even if Hastings did run the wrong route, O'Donnell didn't need to throw that pass.
• 1:05:54
  SPEAKER_01: Again, it was a blitz and he just unloaded it quickly, which was not his His you know, his MO.
• 1:06:02
  SPEAKER_01: So the Cowboys win the game.
• 1:06:04
  SPEAKER_01: Brown wins the absolute cheapest Super Bowl MVP award ever.
• 1:06:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then O'Donnell runs away and signs a huge contract with the Jets in the offseason and then never again has very much success as an NFL player.
• 1:06:17
  SPEAKER_01: And and and kind of like Jose Lean, Steve, this one it's ironic because uh, you know, like again, Jose Lean never made errors.
• 1:06:27
  SPEAKER_01: Neil O'Donnell never threw dangerous passes.
• 1:06:30
  SPEAKER_01: O'Donnell would take sacks.
• 1:06:33
  SPEAKER_01: O'Donnell just he wasn't a gunslinger.
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_01: He he was the complete opposite of whatever a gunslinger is.
• 1:06:38
  SPEAKER_01: He only threw the ball when it was safe.
• 1:06:40
  SPEAKER_01: And here he is in the Super Bowl twice, you know, getting blitzed and just being like, uh-uh, boom, and throwing the ball.
• 1:06:47
  SPEAKER_01: And and just to just to do that in the biggest game of his life.
• 1:06:53
  SPEAKER_01: Just just what can you say?
• 1:06:59
  SPEAKER_06: It's Neil.
• 1:07:00
  SPEAKER_06: Neil.
• 1:07:01
  SPEAKER_06: Um I'm not sure, like, like maybe maybe just panics under pressure.
• 1:07:08
  SPEAKER_06: Maybe that's what Neil O'Donnell, you know, he was never like he was never like a great quarterback.
• 1:07:14
  SPEAKER_06: He was kind of like uh Jeff Haustetler or who else, like uh I don't know.
• 1:07:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like a another like Brad Johnson.
• 1:07:22
  SPEAKER_01: Guys, guys that have won the Super Bowl with a good defense and a good running game and and a game manager.
• 1:07:27
  SPEAKER_01: He was he was a very good and he had a good season that year.
• 1:07:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like people forget that.
• 1:07:31
  SPEAKER_01: He had a really because they they didn't they'd kind of gone away from that philosophy of you know running in defense.
• 1:07:38
  SPEAKER_01: Their defense kind of had holes in it because Rod Woodson got hurt.
• 1:07:41
  SPEAKER_01: And Neil actually had a um you know, was they were playing a lot of five wide receiver sets.
• 1:07:46
  SPEAKER_01: He had a good year that year, and and and the Steelers, they just they had that game, they had it, and he threw it away.
• 1:07:56
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I they this one is really like people really are still upset about this one, and that happened what 30 years ago.
• 1:08:04
  SPEAKER_06: So I I guess they're that would have been our one for the thumb.
• 1:08:08
  SPEAKER_01: So and and to beat Dallas, I mean it doesn't they they beat Dallas twice in the 70s, and and everybody hated this that 90s Dallas team.
• 1:08:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Michael Irvin and Deion Sanders, and you know, and and that was after they had run Jimmy Johnson out of town.
• 1:08:26
  SPEAKER_06: Mr.
• 1:08:26
  SPEAKER_06: Sanders, yeah.
• 1:08:27
  SPEAKER_01: Coach, I thought he wanted to be Coach Sanders, yeah.
• 1:08:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and or Coach Prime or whatever you wanted to be called.
• 1:08:33
  SPEAKER_01: But but I mean, just you know, that's whenever um who is that who's the guy that was coaching that team for that?
• 1:08:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Barry Switzer.
• 1:08:42
  SPEAKER_06: Barry Switzer, the guy from Oklahoma.
• 1:08:44
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, we did it, baby.
• 1:08:46
  SPEAKER_01: We did oh, I just wanted to punch that guy in the face.
• 1:08:48
  SPEAKER_01: How about then Calloys?
• 1:08:53
  SPEAKER_01: It just hurts.
• 1:08:56
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, Jerry Jones are in the team, so yeah, there's a lot not to like about Big D there.
• 1:09:02
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and and and they were blowing us out in the first half.
• 1:09:05
  SPEAKER_01: Not blowing us out, they were it was only 10 to 7 at halftime.
• 1:09:08
  SPEAKER_01: They they were definitely outplaying us in the first half, but then we got our we kind of you know calmed down, and and I I don't know.
• 1:09:16
  SPEAKER_01: I uh again, you never know what's gonna happen.
• 1:09:19
  SPEAKER_01: And and but the Sea O's only needed a field goal there.
• 1:09:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm I'm the way the game was slanting, I'm quite certain they would have at least gotten a field goal range.
• 1:09:28
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, it's and if Neil throws one interception, you know, again, you're down, you're trying to come back, and you throw an interception.
• 1:09:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's one thing.
• 1:09:37
  SPEAKER_01: But he threw it to the same guy twice, and both times you heard Dick Enberg and Phil Sims say it in the clip.
• 1:09:43
  SPEAKER_01: There's like there's nobody even on that side of the field.
• 1:09:46
  SPEAKER_01: He just throws it, right?
• 1:09:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like Larry Brown makes one of those plays where he like jumps in front of the receiver, right?
• 1:09:51
  SPEAKER_01: Or he breaks on the ball.
• 1:09:52
  SPEAKER_01: He's just standing there.
• 1:09:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know.
• 1:09:56
  SPEAKER_01: I like what else can you say?
• 1:09:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's just one of the one of the worst that's why it's the number one mistake, because Neil threw a championship on all the time.
• 1:10:04
  SPEAKER_06: Neil two would have like stayed here and like you know, maybe taking the team to another Super Bowl and won a Super Bowl, people would kind of been more forgiving.
• 1:10:12
  SPEAKER_06: So but I guess after like the year before the remember they had that fourth and three sign, and then that he maybe he just felt he would never leave led this down, and the Steelers weren't didn't sign big free agents either.
• 1:10:26
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, and the Jets paid him a ton of money, which was you know typical Jets being stupid, and you know, then they went one and fifteen the next year.
• 1:10:35
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, he was gonna take the big money, and it it rich cote was still the Rich Cote.
• 1:10:44
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:10:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, and and I agree.
• 1:10:46
  SPEAKER_01: If he would have stayed, I don't even think he needed to win a Super Bowl.
• 1:10:48
  SPEAKER_01: I think if he just would have stayed here for four more seasons and gotten to the Steelers to the playoffs, but never got back to the Super Bowl, I think it would have been you're right.
• 1:10:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think people would have been a little more forgiving.
• 1:10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's not what happened.
• 1:11:03
  SPEAKER_01: All right, well, that's our list of the top 20 in-game mistakes.
• 1:11:08
  SPEAKER_01: Please uh connect with the show.
• 1:11:10
  SPEAKER_01: There's some links in the show description for our Facebook page, our Twitter feed, and our website, which is Pittsburgh Sports Memories.weebly.com, and uh let us know what we missed or what we had out of order.
• 1:11:22
  SPEAKER_01: Steve, any parting thoughts?
• 1:11:26
  SPEAKER_06: This is the most perfect list ever.
• 1:11:28
  SPEAKER_06: And if you disagree with it, you're just wrong.
• 1:11:32
  SPEAKER_06: A little bit of hyperbole.
• 1:11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us we're wrong.
• 1:11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us.
• 1:11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:11:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, all right.
• 1:11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, everybody.
• 1:11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to the show.
• 1:11:43
  SPEAKER_01: And if you feel inclined, please leave a review and tell your friends.
• 1:11:47
  SPEAKER_01: Bye, everybody.
• 1:11:48
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.