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Guys You Forgot Played for Pittsburgh · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Hi everybody, welcome to the Pittsburgh Sports Memories Podcast.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: And in this episode, we're going to talk about some guys that you may have forgotten played for a Pittsburgh team.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Tim Hannon.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: With me as always, I'm Steve Wirt.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: And Steve, I always find it interesting when notable athletes spend uh time as a member of another team, and very few people remember it years later.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: So some famous examples are like Johnny Unitis playing for the Chargers, Wayne Gretzky playing for the Blues, Patrick Ewing playing for the Orlando Magic, Gary Rice with the Broncos, and uh Pete Rose with the Montreal Expos.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, those are all just um, you know, uh guys that didn't really fit with those teams.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I just always think it's interesting that to think that that happened.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Didn't uh Michael Jordan play for the Wizards at some point?
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: He did.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: That would be another good one.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, just kind of looks odd in the uniform even.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but that happens a lot because I mean it's rare that a guy has stays his whole career in one place.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh sometimes it happens towards the end, sometimes it happens at the very beginning or in the middle.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh like Pete Rose with the Expos, that was like in the middle of his career.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to talk about um some guys who spent some time in Pittsburgh and see if the folks listening remember any of these guys playing here or not.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: And for each of these guys, we'll sort of break it down into, you know, first of all, what they're known for in their playing careers, and then we'll talk about their time in Pittsburgh.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: So the first guy on the list that we'll talk about is Jacoby Jones.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: What is he known for?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: He was a wide receiver slash kick returner for the Baltimore Ravens.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: He was instrumental in their 2012 Super Bowl run.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: He caught the mile high miracle pass against Denver in the playoffs that year, and then in the Super Bowl against the 49ers, he returns the second half kickoff 108 yards for a touchdown, which is still a Super Bowl record.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he also used to just kill the Steelers, Steve.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you remember.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: Just you hated to kick to that guy because he just used to kill us.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he's also part of one of the most peculiar moments in the Steelers Ravens rivalry.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Thanksgiving uh day 2013, the Steelers are playing in Baltimore, and Jones is running untouched down the sidelines for a touchdown on a kick return until Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, either intentionally or unintentionally, depending on who you believe, kind of gets in his way on the sidelines, forcing him to get caught from behind.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: And and the NFL uh ends up fining Tomlin$100,000 for that incident.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and then, of course, there's like 600 memes to this day of Tomlin awkwardly sidestepping Jones on the side.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: He like kind of shuffles to the yeah.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he had his back turned to the play, and then he just like he was coming from behind.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was really goofy.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of funny now.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh at the time, though, I mean the the internet just blew up on that one.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so let's talk about Jones' time in Pittsburgh.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh late in the 2015 season, the Steelers claimed Jones off of waivers.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I think what happened at that time was you know, Antonio Brown had been returning kicks for a lot of years for the Steelers, and by 2015, he's an elite player, and I think Tomlin wanted to get him off of kick return duty.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: And Jones being on waivers, it was like, hey, here's the guy that used to kill us, so he could be our kick returner.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but unfortunately, by that point, you know, Jones is at the end of his career, he's not really effective anymore.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he actually has negative return yardage at one point for the Steelers until a game against the Colts where he finally gets positive yardage via like a 10-yard return, and then at the end of that return, he fumbles the ball away.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: So that was just kind of the way it went for Jacoby Jones.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: Uh what would you call it?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh proposal or or like John Leclerc, or like one of the like one of those guys that kills your team and you sign up at the end of the career, end of their career, and you're like, oh, that's why they got cut, because they stink.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the the too little, too late syndrome, where you know, okay, well, they can't kill us anymore, but they can't help us either, unfortunately.
• 4:45
  unknown: Yeah.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the so yeah, he doesn't do much for the Steelers.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: He's only there for a very short time.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: But the good news is that he and Tomlin were able to laugh about the Thanksgiving incident, and Tomlin even put the video uh of that play up that year during the Thanksgiving practice and announced to everybody that it was he he and Jones it was their anniversary.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of funny.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um people may remember the next guy on the list because it's pretty recent, but I have to feel like five years from now nobody's gonna remember that Patrick Marlowe played in Pittsburgh.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: So what Patrick Marlowe is known for, he's the best player in the history of the San Jose Sharks.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: He's their all-time leader in most major offensive categories, and he has the distinction of having played in more NHL games than anyone else in the history of the league.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: He'll be in the Hall of Fame in a few years.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so let's talk about his time in Pittsburgh.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: Marlowe is traded to the Penguins at the 2020 trade deadline.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh at that point, the Sharks are out of the playoff race, and Marlowe could become one of these guys who spent his whole career being a legend for one team, but latches on to a championship contender at the end, a la Ray Bork, what he did with the Avalanche.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh unfortunately for both Marlowe and the Penguins, that doesn't even come close to happening.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he plays eight games for the Penguins, then the pandemic interrupts the season, and then what happens is the season doesn't resume until August, and they have this modified playoff where the Penguins are embarrassed out of the playoffs by the number 24-seeded Montreal Canadians.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: 24-seeded, wow.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_02: Well, what is this, the NCAA tournament?
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, I mean, technically they weren't.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: Colgate uh still not available.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Technically they weren't the 24-seed, but if you look at like the records to get into the playoffs, they they they expanded the field, and the the Canadians had the worst record of any team that was in the playoffs.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: But they still beat the Penguins because the Penguins just did not play a good series.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Patrick Marlowe added nothing.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: He goes back to San Jose after the season.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: So that was the end of his very, very short stint in Pittsburgh.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's almost like they had him like how in soccer they have players on loan.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: It's always like, ah, yeah, Patrick Marlowe's on loan from the Sharks right now.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: Pretty much.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: Pretty much.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: The next guy on the list, uh, what he's known for, it's this.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: We have a big three pitch coming here.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: from Eckersley.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Gibson swings and a fly ball to Debrefield.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: This is gonna be a home run.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Unbelievable! A home run for Gibson.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: And the Dodgers have won the game five to four.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't believe what I just saw.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: I don't believe what I just saw.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: One of the most remarkable finishes to any World Series game.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: A one handed home run by Kurt Gibson.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: So that is the legendary Jack Buck on the call there, calling the one of the 1988 World Series.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: That was Kirk Gibson playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers, uh hitting one of the most famous uh home runs in the history of baseball, one of the most famous moments in the history of sports.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're not familiar with that, the background on that was that uh Gibson was the Dodgers' best player that year.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: He was the National League MVP, but he had he had been injured uh in the play in the championship series, and so he was lost for the entire World Series.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: He was not going to play.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: And in game one, the Dodgers are down uh by one run in the bottom of the ninth.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: They have a guy on second, and they send up Gibson to pinch hit against Dennis Eckersley, who is who is the best closer of that era.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: And he, you know, Gibson can't even walk barely, and he somehow like hits a home run off of Eckersley to win the game and limps around the bases to you know to make it home to home plate.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: It it's again, it's one of those great, great moments.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Kirk Gibson uh you know uh was a great player for the Dodgers.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: He even before that, he had led the Tigers to a World Series title in '84.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: So he definitely had a storied career.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about his time in Pittsburgh.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh in 1992, the Pirates had lost Bobby Bonilla to free agency.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: So they needed a right fielder, and they traded for Gibson, who by this time was was really broken down by injuries and was just a shell of his former self.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Gibson only lasts 16 games for the Pirates that year, and he hits under 200 during that time, and the Pirates just end up releasing him.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they they just say, yeah, sorry, this isn't gonna work out.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and he's he's gone after uh only 16 games into the season.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: He does have one really great bucko highlight.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: He hits a grand slam against the Montreal Expos uh in a pirate uniform, so he's got that going for him at least.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: I I I just can't believe he left Kirk Gibson's uh collegiate football career.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: He played for Michigan State as a wide receiver and actually was in a couple bowl games.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: So oh wow, I I forgot about that.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean Kirk Gibson definitely had a had a heck of a career.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um but boy, I I don't know, Steve.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Do you remember him playing for the Pirates?
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: I I do.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_02: I do remember I remember him and a guy named Glenn Wilson.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: I I I always thought they were kind of like similar.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like I Gibson was way better than Glenn.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: Glenn Wilson was kind of the same, like, I don't know.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_02: They're both like from like a West Coast team.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: And but I I do vaguely remember I I he didn't play for the Pirates for very long, I remember that.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: So right.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: But um and he made that great like chugga-chugga, like when he rounded the bases in that home run in the world series, he was like, Yeah, like he was chugging a train.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, yeah.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's still a great moment.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh not for A's fans, but definitely a definitely a memorable moment for sure.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh next on our list is Mike Vrabel.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: What's Mike Vrabel known for?
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: He won three Super Bowls as a linebacker for the New England Patriots.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: Even catches a touchdown pass in Super Bowl 39 because they used to like to use him on gadget plays on offense.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: And he's currently the head coach of the Tennessee Titans, a team that is an annual contender and who were the number one seed in the playoffs this past season.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so let's talk about his time in Pittsburgh.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: Vrabel was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 1997 NFL draft.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: He plays for the Steelers for four seasons.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: He was mostly a backup.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he did make one huge play in the 1997 divisional playoffs against the Patriots.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, the Steelers are winning that game 7-6.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but New England was driving down the field for the game-winning field goal.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: They had Adam Beneteria, so they were going to make that if they got into any kind of field goal range.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: And Vrabel makes a play where he hits Drew Bledsoe and makes him fumble, and that ices the game for Pittsburgh and sends them to the AFC title game.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: So he did have one big highlight as a stealer.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, he ends up being one of those guys, one of the many guys who Bill Belichick kind of picked up on the cheap and made into a key contributor.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: And now he's a, you know, he's a, I would say, a pretty good coach, Steve.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, he beat Belichick at his own game in that one playoff game where like they took two penalties to run out all the time in the third quarter.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: And it was funny, Belichick sitting there complaining to the refs.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, well, I guess, Bill, you'll have to wait till the offseason and go in your rules committee that just rubber stamps any idea you ever have.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: So that was fun.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, yeah, I mean I I Brabell's one of the few players in that era that you I mean, I don't know.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: Was he that big of a loss for the Steelers?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: Like he like Chad Brown, I thought was the better player.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_02: And he went to Seattle and had a much more like he didn't go to a Super Bowl or anything, but like as far as like day in, day out, I thought Chad Brown had a more impactful career.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_02: Like Remble played well, and he he I mean I I don't know.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: He just seemed more like a um like what would I say, like a like a piece, not a keep like Willie McGuinness was the big linebacker on that on those teams.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's it's it's one of those things where um so so two I'd say two things.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: One, the Stewart's had really good linebackers during that era, so it was it was hard to earn a spot.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that was the era of uh Jason Gildin and Levon Kirkland, and you mentioned Tad Brown and Kendra O'Bell and eventually James Harrison.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was just so it was it was hard, it was not a not an easy time to just you know come in and play linebacker and earn a spot.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it's also one of those things where you know you can look at it and say, okay, he he was pretty good on on the Patriots.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like that could have been a team and and player kind of fit thing, you know what I mean?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: If the Steelers would have signed him to a second contract, does he does he you know have the same kind of success?
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: Probably not.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I think you're you're spot on with that.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: Like he just kind of fit into what they needed in their system.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, it's kind of weird in football.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_02: Like there's just guys that just like fall into place and it just really it works out for well for them and the team.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_02: You see that in college too.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's just like I don't know if it happened like baseball, maybe that happens a little bit too, but like it just seems like in football, it just like I there's just so many guys that just like like you said, if you put them on another team, maybe they're okay, or maybe they're just a special teams player and they're nothing more, you know.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I no, I think I think that's definitely what happened with him.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: Next on our list, Steve mentioned this guy earlier, John LeClair.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: What's he known for?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: He was a left-winger for the Scum of the Earth Philadelphia Flyers, part of the Legion of Doom line with Eric Lindros and Michael Renberg in the 90s and early 2000s.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: While playing on that line, he became the first American-born player to score 50 goals in three consecutive seasons.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Just a big dominating presence who, as we kind of referenced earlier, just always killed the Penguins.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Just stood in front of the net, you couldn't move them, and he would score so many goals doing that uh because you had to pay attention to to Lindros and Renberg.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: And it just it worked really well for them.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: The Flyers had a lot of success with that Legion of Doomline.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: They actually win, uh, let me just check my notes here.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, zero Stanley Cups.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, kudos to them.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um let's talk about LeClaire's time in Pittsburgh.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: After the 2004 lockout ended, so the NHL loses a whole season to a lockout.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, the NHL institutes a salary cap, and some teams are just forced to buy out contracts because they can't get under the cap otherwise.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: So the Flyers have to buy out LeClaire, and the Penguins come in and they scoop him up.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: And and again, just like Jacoby Jones, oh man, this guy used to kill us, and now he's on our side.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, this is gonna be great.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: And just like Jacoby Jones, it it really doesn't work out that way.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, to be fair, I it's funny, Steve.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: I remember LeClaire just being such a huge disappointment, but it when you look at the stats, he actually scored 22 goals on that on that really bad 05-06 Penguins team.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: So that's uh it's not maybe as much of a bust as we remember.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um but it's still kind of a bust because I mean again, he was just he was supposed to bring uh uh that big in front of the net presence, and it just it just didn't work out.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: He was at the end of his career at that point.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_02: I remember going to a penguins game, and I was that cross was that Crosby's first year?
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because it was like Crosby's first year, and like Crosby's like their play in the Rangers, and I think Yawger was on the Rangers, but and the Rangers were going to the playoffs, and the Penguins were totally out of it.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_02: And so Leclerc's on a line with like uh Crosby and like so Leclerc gets in the offensive zone and he kind of sets up like around the dot.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: And like Crosby skates around like the whole Rangers defense, skates around the whole like offensive zone and hits like Leclerc with like a perfect pass.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_02: And you know what John Leclerc does?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_02: He literally falls over off his skates and can't get any, and the Le Puck just like bounces harmlessly into the corner or something.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's like this is it was just like you're such like a waste of space.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_02: It was just like all you had to do was like literally like if you would have been at least standing in front of them, maybe you could have banked it off you and in, but it was yeah, it it it I guess he like you said, he was just at the end of his career, and that was that was pretty much it for John Leclerc.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: I I wouldn't have been surprised if after he fell over and didn't make the play, he like rips off his penguin sweater and it has a flyer jersey on underneath, and then like raises up his arms and goes and keeps off the ice.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: Bobby Clark's waiting for him with like a getaway car.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: Like it would have some Jim Ross comment, like a wrestling.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: yeah.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: He's betrayed the penguins.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: All right, next on our list is a gentleman by the name of Joe Flacco.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: What's that guy known for?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, he was the longtime quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: He led them to a victory in Super Bowl 47 and was the MVP of that game.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, Joe Flacco had many, many huge showdowns with the Steelers over the years uh that he played for Baltimore, including three playoff games and the AFC Championship game.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: So uh Joe Joe Flacco, well known in these parts uh uh as the longtime quarterback of the Ravens.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I think Steve, he's still playing for somebody, the Jets.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's playing for the Jets.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: So he's he's still hanging around in the league, uh, but definitely way past his uh his ear.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: He's earning a paycheck, so good for him.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, good for him.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so let's talk about his time in Pittsburgh.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so the Ravens had drafted Flacco out of the University of Delaware in the first round of the 2008 draft, but before he was at Delaware, he was at Pitt backing up Tyler Palco.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: And as a freshman, he gets into one game.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's a 2004 game against Nebraska at Heinz Field.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: And in the second half of that game, Tyler Palco is playing really badly.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, the fans are just booing him after every series.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: I was at that game, Steve.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: I think you were too.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and you remember that they just the fans were just like the fans wanted Palko's head.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: So uh, you know, Wall Harris does insert Flacco into the game for a series, and Flacco isn't really able to do much, and Palco ends up actually coming back into the game and almost leads Pitt to a victory.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: And after that, I think Joe Flacco realizes he's never going to start at Pitt.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: Tyler Palco still had three years left of eligibility, and so he transfers to Delaware, uh, which ultimately turns him into an NFL first-round pick.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: So going to UD actually was a was a good move for Flacco.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: And and just an interesting footnote about that Nebraska game that was played at Hinesfield on September 18th, 2004.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: The next day in Baltimore, the Steelers are playing the Ravens, and Gary Baxter of the Ravens uh badly injures uh Steelers quarterback Tommy Maddox, and that opens the door for rookie quarterback Ben Rothesberger to take over as the Steelers starter for the next 18 seasons.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: So on the same weekend in 2004, an event in Pittsburgh, which would shape the Ravens franchise for years to come, happens, and an event happens in Baltimore, which would shape the Steelers franchise for years to come.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: So really three Super Bowl titles come out of those two signature events, and they both happen on the same weekend at the opposing rival's field.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: I just think that's I mean, Steve, you know, that it could mean that that point in time inherently contains some sort of cosmic significance, almost as if it were the temporal junction point of the entire space-time continuum.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: On the other hand, it could just be an amazing coincidence.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: All right there, Doc.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, two thousand what is that September of 2004?
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, the nexus of the universe in September.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: If I would have known that, boy, I would have uh picked up a Gray's sports almanac and put some money on the cubbies, but uh to win like what, ten years later or whatever.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_02: But uh Yeah, I it's still one of the great like and Pitt had Larry Fitzgerald, I think.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_02: Or no, Larry Fitzgerald have gradu had left by then, unfortunately.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_02: But if they could have kept Larry Fitzgerald, they would have had a first round draft pick throwing to a first round draft pick.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and we we did an episode uh a while ago where we imagined um like alternate realities, and we we did one where we imagined that Flacco, you know, instead of just coming in for series and not doing anything, he you know, he plays well and he leads Pitt to a victory, and and how that would have shaken out.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um it would have been it would have been interesting to see.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, Joe Flacco never really gets a chance at Pitt.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: And and again, Tyler Palco was the the more harrowed quarterback, so it wasn't like Pitt necessarily made a mistake there.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it worked out well for Flacco.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I I feel like that's one of those everybody benefited.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think once Palco threw those five touchdown passes against Notre Dame, and I think that was that same season, that was that was pretty much it for anybody ever supplanting him as quarterback at Pitt.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know, they weren't, you know what I mean?
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: He wasn't ever gonna play bad enough to where anybody would even consider it.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, I it would have been nice, you know, to have Ian that, but um and Flacco ended up playing in a national championship game for Delaware against Appalachian State.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_02: I think they I think they did lose to Appalachian State, but another little fun fact.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_02: So and that I that might I don't know if that was the same year Appalachian State beat Michigan.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: So Oh yeah, it might have been because if he was drafted, if he was drafted, that was 2007, so yeah.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: That might have been that year.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: So interesting.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, uh we talked about Joe Flacco uh winning the Super Bowl.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and so speaking of Super Bowls, one of the most memorable Super Bowls of all time was Super Bowl 34 between the Rams and the Tennessee Titans.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, they just recently released a Hollywood film that largely centers around that game.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: And as you may remember, that game came down to a very dramatic final play.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: Probably the final play of the game.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: It is caught by Dyson.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_02: Can he get in?
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: No, he cannot.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: Mike Jones made the tackle, and the Rams have won the Super Bowl.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: So the next guy on our list is Mike Jones, the guy who I remember him.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I actually do remember him playing for the Steelers.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: So Mike Jones was an NFL linebacker from 1992 to 2002.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and like many of those players on that 99 Rams team, he was he was a feel-good story.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: He had worked his way up from being an undrafted player to being the starting linebacker on that team.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, in 1999, he makes one of the biggest plays in NFL history, tackling Titans wide receiver Kevin Dyson on the one-yard line to give the Rams uh the Super Bowl title.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: And and you know, uh Steve, I I I didn't see the the Kurt Warner movie yet.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: I I want to.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: I I saw it last uh when I just saw it actually.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: Was it good?
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um like like cinematically, it wasn't the greatest biopic I've ever seen.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_02: They kind of just go chronologically, which I think sometimes can get a little and they focus really more they do focus on the football, but I thought they focused more on his personal life and his relationship with his girlfriend and then wife, Brenda Warner.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_02: But it was good and they don't even show this play.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_02: They don't even show this play.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_02: Oh well.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, they they focus on his first game, which against ironically was against Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_02: And it's just like heavily CGI'd, and the guy like who does play Ray Lewis, like, well, why don't you just get Ray Lewis then?
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: I I don't know, maybe because I guess Ray Lewis would look old and he was supposed to look young back then.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, and it it's like the guy who plays Kurt Warner is the guy I guess he's from Shazam and that that TV show Chuck.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:18
  unknown: Yeah.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: Well that's that's yeah, I I forget who plays Brenda where it's like somebody like somewhat.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_02: But but I enjoyed, I enjoyed the film.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's right.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and she was like, you know, Super Bowls can be digitized, digitized Super Bowls could be sent.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_02: Or yeah, no, she was uh no, she wasn't in the Star Wars movies, was she?
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_02: She she she was in the piano with how Harvey Kaitel.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: That's it.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: She won an Oscar when she was like 10.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: For for the piano?
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: For the piano, yeah.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, we're getting we're getting way off track here.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_02: The career arc of Anna Packlin.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_02: I I just I thought it was.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_02: Have you seen the movie The Piano?
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: I have.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_02: No, I I have not.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_02: I have missed it.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you're missing out.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: You are missing out on a Hollywood classic.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: I I'll put it on my list.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_02: I've seen the Kurt Warner movie too.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: I I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't say it was like the great, a great film, but I like Kurt Warner and it's a it's like it's just a shame because it's such a great story.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: But it it is it is a great story, and I and I think like I don't know that people really remember how unbelievable that that season was because the Rams were literally the worst team of the 90s.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like going into the 99 season, they had the the literal worst record of any NFL team the de uh that decade.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then and then like they make this big splash free agent signing of Trent Green to be their quarterback.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like that was gonna make a difference.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well they finally wised up and got rid of Tony Banks, who was they did do that, but it but it's like okay, we got Trent Green, and it's like, oh, maybe this will and then he gets hurt in preseason.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, okay, well, that's you know, what whatever so now maybe with Trent Green you went you won't be able to do.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_02: Well, here's another fun fact, and it's it and this is great because it gets me to like rip on like one of my favorite players to rip on.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: Do you know who hurt Ted Green on the total cheap shot in a preseason game?
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_02: Was it Rodney Harrison?
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_02: Ding ding ding ding ding.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_02: Give that man a pride.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_02: He's such a jerk in a preseason game.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_02: He hits him like after the whistle and in his in his leg and breaks his leg.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_02: What a what an absolute jerk.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I mean it and like the best thought about the movie is, and I don't know if this is like a little like poetic license, or but they make man Mike Marts looks like such a like he's such a jerk to Kurt Warner, like the whole the whole time.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like like one point, because like Kurt Warner went to Green Bay and got cut after uh it got cut, and he's like, How long did you last in Green Bay, Pop Warner?
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_02: Because he keeps calling him Pop Warner, and then like a minute later you come up two days.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: He's like, Two days, don't unpack your bags, you're not gonna be here that long.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, holy cow, Mike Marts, you're like a real jerk.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you never know.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like sometimes in movies, if you ever saw the Moneyball movie, they made uh the guy from Western Pennsylvania Art Howe.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: Art Howe, yeah, they made him a jerk in that movie, and he really wasn't.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but they they needed like a villain, you know.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: So who who knows?
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, but anyway, this the Rams don't win the Super Bowl that year if Mike Jones doesn't make that tackle.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, they at least go to overtime.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so let's talk about Mike Jones' time in Pittsburgh.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he signed as a free agent by the Steelers in 2001, so a couple years after this.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason that the Steelers signed him is because they had waived an aging LeVon Kirkland that offseason.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: Lavon Kirkland was their their beast of an inside linebacker for years.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_02: One of my favorite Steelers of all times.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he shall be a LeVon.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he he was he was one of the best, but uh he was done at that point.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so they needed somebody to replace him, and that's Mike Jones was the guy to replace him.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: But what happened that year is they also drafted an inside linebacker in the second round, probably thinking like, oh, Jones will Jones will be the veteran to to hold that position for a couple years until this new guy kind of gets wet behind the ears.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but but the guy they drafted was Kendra O'Bell, and he actually takes over as a starter that year very quickly.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: He's named the NFL's defensive rookie of the year.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: And Jones is relegated to being a backup, and he's released after just that one season with the Steelers.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: He he does have a brief second scent with the Steelers.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they signed him late in the 2002 season to replace some guys that were hurt, but Jones never plays in the NFL again after that.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_02: I think he played in that wild card game against Cleveland.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_02: I think.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think you're right.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think Kendro Bell was hurt too.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's why they signed him because Kendro Bell had a hamstring issue that really that whole season.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: One of the reasons the defense was so bad that year.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, he yeah, I mean, Mike Jones always be remembered for making that amazing tackle, and yeah, he played for the Steelers.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh next guy on our list is Connie Mack.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: What's Connie Mack known for?
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: He was the manager of the athletics from 1901 to 1950.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_02: Holy California.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: Literally managed the A's for half of a century.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he won five World Series during that time.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: He holds the Major League Baseball record for most wins with 3,700 plus.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a record that'll never be broken.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: The next guy on the list, the next two guys on the list are John McGraw and Tony LaRussa, who have 2,700 something odd wins.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I know I know Tony LaRussa is still managing, but he's like 94 years old.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_01: He's not going to win another thousand games.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the White Sox, unless he manages like the White Sox for like another 20 years or something.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, Connie Mac's got that record for the rest of time.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you'll you'll just I don't think you'll ever see a coach in pro sports.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: Could you see that again, but in pro sports, I don't think you'd ever see the same coach run the same team for 50 years.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh even back when Connie Mac was playing, he was a pretty innovative guy.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he's one of the first catchers to squat directly behind home plate because before that, catchers used to position themselves in front of the backstop for some reason.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think they wore equipment.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like I don't think they wore like masks and shin guards and you know the whole then why even have a catcher?
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like well somebody's gonna bounce.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_02: Somebody's gotta catch the ball, I guess.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_02: Or like you would go through catchers, like a lot of catchers, I think.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_02: Like yeah.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: I I just I I love baseball history, it's so chockful of like stuff like that.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: He was the first guy to do something obvious.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's like back in 1875, uh old Wellington Jones was the first guy to hit the hit the ball with a bat.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: You before that they just swing their arms at it.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it was the 19th century, I guess.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_02: The Civil War just ended.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_02: They used to swing uh one of the old muskets, Civil War muskets at it.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: Well, General Grant thought it was a great idea to have a catcher right behind the plate.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about Connie Max time in Pittsburgh.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: Before he ran the A's for half of a century, he played for the Pirates.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: And from 1894 to 1896, he also managed the Pirates.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: And by all accounts, he was a pretty decent manager.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: The Pirates are over 500 in all three of the seasons that he managed.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_02: Did he have Hotis Wagner?
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_02: No, that might have been before Hodas Wagner.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: It was, yeah, the the Hannes Wagner thing came about because there was a team in Louisville.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_02: Louisville, yeah, they traded like the whole team to like Pittsburgh or Barney Dreyfus was like, hey, let me trade for your whole team.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_01: They kind of, yeah, they kind of merged.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think they almost merged with the Pirates.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: It was that kind of a thing.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: But but I mean, so yeah, he didn't have the the you know um any real Hall of Fame players, but he three seasons over 500, Steve.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: We'd have a parade if that happened.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: Connie Mac.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but but in typical Pirates Fashion, they fire Connie Mack, and then he goes on to be one of the greatest managers ever.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: I I will say though, in the Pirates defense, I mean, they they after they fired Connie Mack, they did uh go on to become one of the most dominant teams of the National League in that era.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, it's not quite the equivalent of like Cleveland firing Bill Belichick.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they they had Fred Clark and they they they were pretty good uh in the early 1900s.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: So it wasn't quite the big mistake.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: Once again, they had like Honus Wagner and yeah.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they played in a bunch of World Series and stuff.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_02: Actually, they won championships before the World Series and then played in the first World Series.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they won they won they win four pennants in the in the uh the 1900s, whatever you want to call that decade ago.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_02: I don't even know.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_02: Is it a pennant?
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, what is I don't even know what is that.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's a pennant, it's a National League pennant.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_01: They won four National League pennants.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_01: How is that a there's no World Series, so Yeah, so they won the National League pennant four times.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: Two of those times they played in a World Series.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: The other two times there was no such thing as a World Series yet.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think that's a pennant because a pennant is like I don't know.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_02: I always thought a pennant was just like winning your league and then Yes, that's what happened four times.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_02: You just defined it.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_02: But I don't think I don't know.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't make any sense to me.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's the concept is so foreign to me.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, well, you win the National League and then you go play the American League.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, somebody had to invent that too.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_02: It's like some weird college football.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's almost like college football.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, what?
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_02: Huh?
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_02: What if we're supposed to play like another conference for a champion and figure it out that way?
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_02: What?
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_02: Huh?
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_02: At least they didn't madness, madness, you say.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe they should have voted on it.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: I was just gonna say, at least they didn't let them vote on who the best team was.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_02: So Buddy Mac like, I vote for the A's.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: Fred Clark, I vote for the Pirates.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh all right.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: Let's let's shift back to the ice for our next guy.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's Jerome Aginla.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I think most people probably at this point remember that Jerome Aginla played for the Penguins.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but what he's known for, he's an NHL Hall of Famer who spent most of his career as the captain of the Calgary Flames.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: He holds most of that franchise's significant records, like most goals scored and most games played.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: He actually led them to within one game of the Stanley Cup back in 2004.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: And he's also a two-time gold medalist for Team Canada.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: I believe he assisted on the Sydney Crosby goal that beat the United States in 2010.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, which is still one of the uh that that's uh we we did that overtime episode, Steve.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: I I know that's not a Pittsburgh moment, but that was one of those overtime.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_02: I was really hurt.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, uh I was kind of weird rooting for Zach Parisi, though.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_02: That was just that was an odd concept.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_02: I just couldn't quite wrap my head around that one.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, Zach Parisi and Ryan Miller were single tender.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: I I yeah, I I I I never want to feel again what it feels like to have Cindy Crosby, you know, stick a dagger in your heart.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um so Gerard McGinla's his time in Pittsburgh uh is the 2013 season.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_01: After 16 years in Calgary, the Flames got Aginla's permission to trade him at the trade deadline.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: And there were only four teams who Aginla had agreed to be traded to, and the Penguins were one of them.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_01: And that was the season that was shortened by the lockout.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: And the Penguins were one of the hottest teams heading into the playoffs.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_01: So general manager Ray Hero just kind of goes for broke.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_01: He makes a bunch of uh big trades at the deadline for some pieces to to make a run at the cup, and that includes a Guinla.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: And it was really exciting at the time, Steve.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: I remember uh, you know, all these people from Calgary posting on like the Penn's Facebook and Twitter feed, like, hey, you know, Penn's fans, go please go get this guy a cup.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_01: He he deserves it so much.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they were they were so so rooting for him, and and you know, I thought that was very classy and cool and exciting, uh, but it doesn't end well.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Aginla is really misused in Pittsburgh.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: Dan Balsma ends up playing him on the wrong wing and not with Sidney Crosby, which was kind of the whole point of making that trade.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_01: It was one of those like Hero Balsma and Crosby were just not on the same page whenever that trade happened.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_01: The Penguins do make it to the Eastern Conference Finals that year, but they're boat raced by the Boston Bruins in a series where the Penguins score two goals as a team in the entire series.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_01: That series against Boston, they scored two goals.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_01: So that was ugly.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was why did they play like a Guinlaw on the other wing?
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like, was that was like Chris Kuhnitz so important that I I there's I'm sure there's a lot of differing opinions on that.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's when Crosby still had Dupuis and uh and uh Kunitz on his wing, so I I don't know.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if that was Sid, I don't know if that was Balsma.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it just it just it ended up working out very poorly.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh after the season, um Aginla leaves and he actually never does win a Stanley Cup, sadly for him.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: Sucks to be him.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_02: Who did he finish?
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_02: I don't even know who he finished up his career with.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_02: I I I do remember him being here for a minute, but I I couldn't tell you what happened to him after he left the Penguins.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: I I want to say Boston.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: I think he went to Boston after that and played for the Bruins, uh, who had been in who as we just said, who had made it to the finals, and he lost to Chicago that year, but you know, they were a contender too.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_02: But no, he never Was he on the team that beat Vancouver in Vancouver?
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_01: No, because no, because this was 2013, that was 2011, that was before all this.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, you know, he never won a cup.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but a great player.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was cool to have him for a while, but uh the penguins could not get him that.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's the only cup.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: Next guy on the list is somebody that um again I think people will probably remember.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's Michael Vick.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: What Michael Vick is known for, he's arguably one of the most electric electrifying football players of his generation.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: He was a guy that could run, he could throw, uh human highlight reel, cover of Madden, everybody had his jersey.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: I think probably the closest thing to Bo Jackson that that you had, you know, post-Bo Jackson.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_01: And unfortunately for Vic, that brilliant career came crashing down when he made some very poor choices.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he spent almost two years in federal prison for his involvement in a in a dog fighting ring.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about his time in Pittsburgh.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: After being released from prison, Vic spends a couple of seasons with the Eagles and then the Jets.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_01: And then in 2015, the Steelers signed him to back up Ben Rothesberger.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Mike Tomlin and Vic are from the same part of Virginia.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_01: They were friends.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: And Tomlin just thought that Vic would be a better backup than Bruce Gradkowski, who had been doing that job the previous two seasons.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: And oh boy, did that kick off a backlash here in Pittsburgh.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, that that was just a really, really controversial signing, Steve.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_01: Do you remember the hoping over that?
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_02: People were really mad about that.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I I out of all the people that have done crazy things like that, you know, I I don't know.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_02: I I I don't know what this guy was supposed to do.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_02: He went to jail for two years.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_02: What more do you want out of him?
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like I can see you get like getting annoyed with somebody you thought got away with something, but Michael Vick did not get away with anything.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_02: He was duly punished and did his time, and you know, when somebody's gone to jail and done their time, and you know it's time to let them try and pick up the pieces of their life, you know, and move on.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_02: And and he was really good with the Eagles.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I think Andy Reid, was that when Andy Reid was still with the Eagles?
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_02: And Andy Reed really used him well.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like it was kind of like a precursor of like the offense they would eventually run with Patrick Mahomes here.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_02: And it's yeah, they Andy Reed did a great job with Vic.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_02: And Vic was kind of like, I think by the time he got to the Steelers, Vic was kind of like definitely over the hill.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_02: Because I remember that game against San Diego.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_02: Wasn't that the game where they put uh Le'Veon Bell like running back and uh or like that wildcat and ran a would they run a touchdown or a two?
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was a two-point conversion to win.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_01: No, it was it was a touch.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_02: So Vic yeah, they went for it like on fourth and goal or something insane.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so so yeah, Vic ends up starting three games that year.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_01: Rothesberger had gotten injured.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_01: And the so so the three games he loses at home to the Ravens, although that wasn't his fault.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_01: The Steelers had a uh just an awful kicker that year named Josh Scoby, who couldn't make a field goal to save his life and actually didn't save his job after that game.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and then to your to your point, Steve, the game in San Diego, he beats the Chargers on a last second Le'Veon Bell touchdown, like a like a buzzer beater at the gun touchdown.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and then the third game, I think it was against the Cardinals, he gets injured himself in that third game, and Landry Jones has to come in.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_01: And that's actually the end of Michael Vick, Simon Pittsburgh, and his and his NFL career was that that that game where he got injured, so he never he never plays in the NFL again after that.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he they were very conservative with him.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like they didn't let him like really throw a lot or run.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_02: It seemed like they they like really put the handcuffs on.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_02: Like he wasn't the Michael Vick that I remembered.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_02: But I I who was uh well I guess that was uh was that Haley the coordinator?
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I guess I would have been the Haley.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that would have been Todd Haley, yeah.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_02: So that's probably part of the reason.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that and probably his age too.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he you know, he was he just that was at the very end of his career.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_02: Well yeah, when he came back, he really had a couple good years with the Eagles, and that was pretty much it.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, and and uh, you know, all the all the Steeler fans who um who who went online and and vowed to never watch the team again, never buy a ticket again.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I have I have let me check my notes again.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh exactly zero percent of them actually followed through with those threats.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's like everybody that like stopped watching during the like anthem protests.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like I saw that this year that like uh like NFL ratings are up like 20%.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_02: People got mad for like a year and then everybody came back, I guess.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if that's because the protest stopped, or I don't I I haven't seen, I mean, I guess or the media just stopped like you know, advertising or people just moved on to something else to be upset about, I think is more like it.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_01: Probably and and honestly, like I I get it.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_01: I really do get why people are upset.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_01: I love dogs, I have a dog, I've always had dogs my whole life.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_01: So what he did was horrific.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I I get why people are upset, but to your point, Steve, I felt the same way.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he paid his dues and he was remorseful.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like by all accounts, he was very remorseful.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_01: He wanted to try to, you know, rebuild his life and make things right.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know, people deserve forgiveness at some point, and and I don't know.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_01: I just thought that that was, you know, and and it's funny because you and I spent years hating Michael Vick.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we back when he played for Virginia Tech and played against Pitt every year, you know, we just we hated that guy.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_01: And and it was weird like defending him when he, you know, coming to the Steelers.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, and he made a lot of like it wasn't just the dogfight.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_02: He remember the whole Ron Mexico thing, and you know, he he did like a lot of other stupid stuff too.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_02: But I felt like after that, I mean he did two years in federal prison.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like, it wasn't like the dude like didn't do any time and was on probate, like he literally went to prison, was in prison.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I I don't I don't know what else to what else they would want.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_02: I I don't know.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what else he was supposed to do.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: I mean I I I I agree with you.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think people would probably say, but but he shouldn't be given a job where he's paid millions of dollars and worshiped by fans again.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I I don't know.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_02: Well you don't have to why you don't have to worry.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_02: I I don't know.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I uh again, I'm with you.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just trying to see it from the other side.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_01: And again, I devil's advocate.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I love dogs.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_01: I I get where the sensitivity was.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like I I don't I don't want to take that away from people because I I do understand that that side of it.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like he could have sadly he could have killed a person and people wouldn't have been as upset about it.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah you know, because just it's the way it is with dogs.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_01: So all right, next on our list is Tim Horton.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_01: What's Tim Horton known for?
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_01: Well, he's a hockey Hall of Fame hockey player, delicious coffee.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, we're we're gonna don't worry, we'll get to that.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh played played predominantly for the Maple Leafs, uh spent 24 seasons in the National Hockey League.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_01: And as Steve mentioned, he's better known probably as the founder of Tim Horton's uh coffee restaurant.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_01: That place is huge in Canada.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's really like the Dunkin' Donuts of Canada.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_01: But did you know they also have over 600 locations here in the United States?
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_01: I do because I've been to Tim Hortons, it was in Michigan.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they they do not have one in the Greater Pittsburgh area, but they do have one uh in Washington, PA south of of the city, and they have a couple of them north of Pittsburgh in places like Erie and Warren.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_01: So they are around.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 48:14
  unknown: Yeah.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_02: I only ever ran into it when I was in Detroit a while back.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_02: That was years ago, and I was like, hey, look at Tim Hortons, let's go in, check it out.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, definitely, definitely more of a Canadian famous place.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there's a good YouTube video you can find where they had uh Sidney Crosby and Nate McKinnon were working the drive-thru at a Tim Hortons, uh just kind of you know messing with people that didn't know that it was Sidney Crosby and Nate McKinnon.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but that's that that place is very well known, and and Tim Horton was the founder of that.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about his time in Pittsburgh.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_01: Horton spends one season with the Penguins in 1972.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_01: He's 42 years old at that point.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_02: So he's Tom Brady.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, yeah, only he didn't have the probably the nutritional regiment that Tom Brady has.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, so he's he's in the maybe in a doughnut and coffee regiment, but really uh, I mean, maybe that was that was imagine if he would have you know could have played till 50, eating at his restaurant every day.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_01: That would have been a good selling point.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, the the he was on the team for veteran leadership.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_01: The penguins were still a young franchise at that point.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, we we did talk about this once before in our top 20 mistakes episode, because Horton, unfortunately, that season kicks the season-ending goal into his own net against the Blackhawks in overtime of the playoffs that year.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_01: And that was kind of the end of Tim Horton's time with the Penguins.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_01: And tragically, uh two years later, he he dies in an automobile accident.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but Tim Horton did spend a season in Pittsburgh.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_01: So if you ever do go into Tim Hortons, then think of a former player.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_02: They have a picture of him in the the Tim Hortons, I was made a picture of him, but he was in like his maple leafs jersey.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I guess they didn't uh didn't celebrate the penguins part of his career too much there.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_01: Well, maybe if you maybe if you do go to the ones around here, maybe they'll they'll have a penguin's picture.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_01: Who knows?
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_01: There's this one year, 1972.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the one grainy photograph that exists from that year.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_01: So um that that's that's the main part of our list.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_01: I I have um uh a bunch of other guys here that I'm gonna kind of go through a little quicker.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna spend as much time on.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: And Steve, feel free to stop me if you want to comment on any of these guys.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so one the first guy on that list, Zygmunt Palfe.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he he is a four-time all-star for the Los Angeles Kings, who the Penguins also sign in that 05-06 season, the same year that they signed Leclerc.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_01: And just like Leclerc, he did nothing.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that was like Mario and Friends.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_02: It was like, okay, let me get Eddie Olcek to coach the team, my buddy.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_02: Let me get all my yeah, I'm sure if like Jay Caulfield would have been still able to play, he would have been on that team, you know.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, yeah.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_01: Mario's drinking buddies.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, let's go try and win a Stanley Cup.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_02: It didn't work out.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Joey Galloway was a star wide receiver at Ohio State and for the Seattle Seahawks, who was very briefly with the Steelers in 2009.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_01: Don't remember him at all playing with the Steelers.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, me either.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Willie Randolph.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_01: If you're a if you're a um if you were a big baseball fan in the 80s, like I was, I've I've talked about that in previous episodes, how I collected baseball cards when I was a kid and I knew every player.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_01: You you'd remember Willie Randolph.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_01: He was a uh an all-star second baseman for the Yankees, who won six World Series titles as a player and a coach with the Yankees.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_01: He actually started his career with the Pirates and was part of just an awful trade the Pirates made with the Yankees in 1976, where they just got completely hosed in typical pirate fashion.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_02: I was really mad when I was a baby and heard that trail.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, goo, goo, gaga, Willie Randolph's gonna be great.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_02: You threw your pacifier down to the ground in anger.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_02: I was really pissed.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Kenny Lofton, speaking of uh All-Star second baseman, Kenny Lofton was a six-time All-Star for the Cleveland Indians.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_01: He spent part of the 2003 season with the Pirates.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know what it is about the Pirates and All-Star Second Baseman.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_01: He's also part of an awful trade the Pirates make with the Chicago Cubs.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_01: That was the Aramis Ramirez trade.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_02: That was just their like, hey, we gotta save money to make payroll this year.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_02: Let's get rid of Aramis Ramirez.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's their excuse all the time.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, I won't go down that road.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Marion Motley, Hall of Fame fullback for the Cleveland Browns.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_01: He actually spent his final season as a Steeler.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_01: You ever seen like old-timey film of Marion Motley?
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he just he's like five times bigger than everybody.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's like it's like somebody took a left tackle, or like like somebody he he like maybe he's a time traveler because he looks like a player from like today's age, like playing with guys from like the the 50s and 60s.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's like like you said, he's like it was and like he wasn't just like a big lumbering klutz.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_02: The dude could play.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_01: He was like he was huge.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was it was very much when you watch like that old film, it's very much men against boys kind of thing.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Luke Robotai.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_01: I I think people might remember Luke Robotai playing for the Penguins.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_01: He he played alongside Wayne Gretzky in Los Angeles, helped lead them to the Stanley Cup finals in '93.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he actually played, this wasn't like a one you know part of a season or something.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_01: He actually played several seasons for the Penguins.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_01: He was actually pretty productive for them.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he he most famously scored a huge overtime goal to save their season in the 95 playoffs against the Capitals.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_01: They were down three games to one.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_01: They were in overtime, and if the Capitals score a goal, then the season's over, and he scores the goal and they end up coming back and winning that series.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_02: I think there was that, like I was watching a TV show, and like they made I don't know if it was set in Pittsburgh or something.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_02: It was like, oh, you look like Luke Robotai.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_02: It was like, maybe it was a Howard Baldwin.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_01: It was the TV show.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_01: No, it was the John Cogman Damn uh sudden death movie.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it was okay.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_01: I I think Luke Robotai's in that movie, uh playing for the Penguins, so that's what you're thinking of, I think.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, but all nothing like Howard Baldwin.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_01: Selling his own team or whatever.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_01: We'll have to talk about that movie at some point in an episode.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_01: Sudden death.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Sean Casey, the mayor, member of the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame, who uh is actually from Upper St.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_01: Clair, ends up spending one season playing for the Pirates.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Casey is a very entertaining broadcaster today.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um Dean Cady, uh the legendary coach of the Purdue basketball team from 1980 to 2005.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_01: He was named National Coach of the Year five times.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think Steve, I don't think he ever won a national championship, though.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_01: I I know Purdue was like in the tournament almost every year when he was the coach, but I don't think they ever won one.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_01: Am I accurate on that?
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it sounds right.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_02: I I I've heard of Gene Cady, but I don't know much about him.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_02: And wow, I didn't realize all this.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_02: I know he was a good coach.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for a long time.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, and and that was that kind of that era of college basketball coaches where you had like the you know, the guys that were there for 20 plus years, and he was one of those guys.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but it but he was actually drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers as a wide receiver in 1958.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he never made the team because, as we detailed in a recent episode, Buddy Parker was the head coach and he did not like rookies, but you know, it worked out okay for Katie.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_01: He made a good second career for himself.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I guess it worked all right uh out alright for him.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_01: Indeed.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Casey Stengel, Hall of Fame manager for the New York Yankees, played played for the Pirates back in 1918 and 1919.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I had to put this story in here just because it's it's I don't know, it's interesting to me.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_01: So Stengel had played for the the Brooklyn Dodgers, but he got into this big public contract dispute, and the team eventually trades him away to the Pirates.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_01: So when the Pirates come to Brooklyn that year to play, of course, all the fans boo Stengel, just as again, just as a hundred years later today, fans would do to a former player if they left under bad circumstances.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_01: But what happens is when Stengel comes up to bat, he actually he hit a sparrow under his cap.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_01: And when and he tips his cap to the cloud to the crowd and the sparrow flies out.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I guess everyone in Brooklyn goes from booing to like laughing and tearing.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_02: He ended up coaching, was it was it the Dodgers?
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_02: The Yankees.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was the Yankees.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_02: And then he coached the Mets at the very end.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_01: But but could you imagine that today, Steve?
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like imagine like Le'Veon Bell coming back next year as a member of the Buccaneers.
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_01: He like does something that endears.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_01: He like takes off his helmet and like a blue jay flies out, and everybody's like, oh yeah.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_02: It's so funny.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_02: I just thought that was a funny story.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_02: Well, no, he'd do something like on TikTok, and everybody goes oh, that's so funny.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's true.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_03: That's a good point.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, couple other guys.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_01: Earl Morrill was the NFL MVP in 1968 when he led the Colts to Super Bowl III.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh again, we talked about him in a in a recent episode.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_01: He was actually traded by the Steelers for Bobby Lane.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so he had played for the Steelers early on.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Derek Lee, really good power hitting first baseman for the Cubs for the Cubs in the 2000s.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_01: He played his final season as a Pirate.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_01: Connie Hawkins, Hall of Fame basketball player who led the Pittsburgh Pipers to an ABA championship.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we we did talk about that.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_01: Defunct the defunct episode.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we talked about the Pipers in our in our defunct episode.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think we also talked about that in our um Forgotten Sports Stories episode.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, Connie Hawkins had uh had one great championship season in Pittsburgh.
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_01: And then finally, last guy on the list is Hank Greenberg.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_01: Hammer and Hank, one of the greatest players in the history of the Detroit Tigers and a baseball hall of famer.
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_01: He played his final season for the 1947 Pirates.
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_02: Did they have him and no, they couldn't have him and Kiner at the same time.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that was after the Pirates had traded Kiner, but regardless, they stunk.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it didn't really matter either way.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but yeah, Hank Greenberg.
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_01: They finished they finished last with and without him.
• 58:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_01: Without Kiner or with Greenberg, didn't didn't really matter.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the list, Steve.
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_01: Anybody that you can think of that I uh that I forgot about?
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_02: Uh not off the top of my head, yeah.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_02: That's a that's a pretty good list.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_02: I I forgot that uh Tim Horton played for the Penguins for like five seconds.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_02: But uh yeah, I remember Mike Jones.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_02: I do remember some of these guys.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_02: And Ing In Ing again was pretty that was pretty memorable.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_02: But I don't know who else like would be a good candidate for this.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_02: There's probably like a bunch of like just guys that played at the very end of it.
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_02: Who is the Terrence Mathis?
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_02: He played I remember him more playing for Atlanta for years and years, or John L.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_02: John L.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_02: Williams was another guy.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_02: He actually played did he play for two years?
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_02: I think he played for two years for the Steelers.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_02: But he was like a pa it was weird.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_02: He's like a fullback, but he was like a pass catching fullback.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like nowadays he would be like um I'm trying to think of like there was that guy for the Patriots who used to be as more of a receiving running back than like just a straight up running back, but yeah.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_02: There are a couple guys like that, like you know, just I guess if we were in Seattle doing a Seattle podcast, we could say Franco Harris, but yeah.
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_01: No, I you know that's Terrence Mathis was a good one.
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_01: I yeah, you're right.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_01: He he was he was really good on the Falcons uh at one point, and then he he played for the Steelers at the end.
• 1:00:28
  SPEAKER_01: And and John L.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_01: Williams, to your point, he was he was pretty productive.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_01: He was on that Super Bowl team that lost to Dallas.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_01: So um he was he was pretty good even at the end of his career for the Steelers.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_01: So those those are good examples for sure.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um like you said, most of the time these are guys just at the very tail end of their career, uh just kind of like trying to hang on for one more season and the teams trying to get one or two more good, you know, good years out of them.
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_01: It does seem to go that way.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, in normally they're pretty they're like role players.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's just very role player kind of stuff at the end of their career.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure there's a couple other guys if I thought about it I could think of real quick.
• 1:01:12
  SPEAKER_02: I mean I'm trying to think of somebody for the pirates, but I mean the pirates have had like the pirates like always have like guys that haven't made it yet or guys that are over the hill.
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_02: It always seems like that's the two type of players they have.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's like anybody in the prime of their career.
• 1:01:30
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, we have to get rid of them.
• 1:01:32
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, well, the pirates would just be all the guys they got rid of, like like Ramirez and Batista, guys like that, you know, which we we covered that in a previous episode.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um well, folks, you tell us who who is there anybody we left off the list that you can think of?
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you can connect with us on our website or on Facebook or on Twitter.
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_01: Let us know who we forgot.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh please um, you know, give us any feedback you have on the show.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_01: And if you like what you hear, please share it with uh folks you know because that's our best way to get new listeners is word of mouth.
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks everybody for listening, and we will see you next time.