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REWIND: Memorable Pittsburgh Sports Moments · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_03: Hi, everybody.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to Pittsburgh Sports Memories.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_03: I'm Tim Hannon.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm Steve Ward.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_03: And as always, we are going to dive into some Pittsburgh sports history.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Steve, what are we doing on this episode?
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: This episode is titled Memorable Moments in Pittsburgh Sports History.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: And just to uh I guess define the topic a little better, um, this as you know, Pittsburgh Sports History is full of lots of moments that we remember.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and these are probably mostly from our lifetimes.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna like remember the 1903 National League championship of the Pittsburgh Pirates because I don't think anybody who's listening to this was probably alive back then.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Although I'm sure that was a great moment for Honus Wagner or whoever else was on that team, beating whatever team was in the National Leagues that those pre-World Series.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: But uh uh these are other moments.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: These don't have to necessarily, it's not necessarily a game, it might be just a moment from a game, or it might we even have a couple moments that are outside of uh off-the-field stuff that was uh that really people remember and still talk about to this day.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna kind of start from um the bottom here.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: I think the the not the least, but the ones that might be more obscure, and then we'll work our way up to the one that I'm sure everybody's familiar with, the ones that everybody's are more familiar with.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh first up, and I remember watching this with you.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think I watched this game with you, Tim.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: Was uh December 20th, 2007.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Pitt 65, dupe 64.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: This was before Pitt was in the ACC, so Pitt really didn't play dupe like all that often.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if they just this was like one of those weird early season basketball games because basketball actually determines like a for real national champion on the field, doesn't vote on it.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: So they're not like scared to like teams aren't scared to play each other early in the season because it doesn't really kill your season.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um the memorable part was uh Pitt played.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: I think a guy, one of the guys got hurt and hurt his leg.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: I forget the guy's name, but that was pretty dramatic in that game, too.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but LeVance Fields hit a uh step back three in overtime with four seconds to take the lead, and uh Duke missed their last second miracle shot.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: They missed it, and uh Pitt beat Duke 65-64, and that was a big win for the program.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Duke was I don't know what Duke was ranked at that time, but I'm sure they were they're always good.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: And Duke's a name, name you always want to beat, and people always love to beat Duke.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: I don't hate Duke, a lot of people hate Duke.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: Do you hate Duke, Tim?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Are you?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_03: I was actually in the 90s, I was a huge Duke fan.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_03: So a lot of people hated hated that.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_03: I know a lot of people hated Duke, so I always went against the the curve there.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: And so I I thought it was really cool to see Pitt playing Duke because wow, Pitt's playing Duke, and Duke was always my favorite team.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_03: And I coachhewski, I've always thought, you know, it's just I have so much respect for him.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: And so it was neat to see them playing.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, now they play all the time because they're in the same conference, and it was like, oh my gosh, we're not only was Pitt playing Duke, but they beat Duke.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, that was a a pretty cool moment for the program.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it was a Madison Square Garden.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: That was back in the days when Pitt kind of owned the garden.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like the garden was the home away from home for them because so they they would uh recruit New York so well with Barry Rorison and you know Jamie Dixon and Antigua might have been on the stab, but yeah, they had a they they really did well in New York, and um they always loved to play in the garden.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's a shame that's all kind of went away.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe uh maybe Jeff Capel can get him back to uh prominence there.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um 1979, September 1st, the Pirates five, the Giants three.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the thing that's memorable about this game, it's just kind of like a late regular season game that the Pirates did win.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: But um Chuck Tanner had did they did something very unconventional.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: Chuck Tanner was a very unconventional manager for that time.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like the more conventional guys were like um, I'll go, who was the guy from the Orioles?
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: Earl Weaver.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: Earl Weaver, yeah.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like you get your big pitcher that wins 20 games and you sit back and wait for a three-run homer.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: That was kind of like his strategy.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Chuck Tanner liked the steel bases and like uses bullpen and do a lot of crazy like stuff, and this is one of them.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: He had uh wanted uh there was a he didn't want to take to Calvey brought to Calvey in the ninth, and he didn't want him to take him out because in baseball there's not unlimited substitution, and but there was a left-handed, he wanted to bring in a left-handed pitcher, Grant Jackson, to face a left-handed hitter for the Giants.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: So what he did was, and there were two outs, so he put T'Calve in left field, and he put Grant Jackson at pitcher, and figure, okay, if Grant Jackson doesn't get this guy out, I can put DeCalvey back at pitcher.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, T'Calvey isn't like not an outfielder, he's like a pitcher, so there was some risk, but I mean, left field, like what are the odds?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: But unfortunately, the odds were like Grant Jackson.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: I guess uh the guy hit the ball to left field, and thank thankfully it wasn't too hard of a play.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: T'Calvey was able to run up and uh catch it, and uh that's the old baseball saying, you know, if you you can't hide, like if you try and hide somebody, the uh the ball will find them.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: But uh for Chuck Tanner and Kent DeCalvey, it all worked out.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: He was able to make the third out and the pirates won.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that was a pivotal game, too, in their in their run for the pennant that year in 79.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: But uh but a fun, fun one and uh not not too obscure.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: I've heard that one before, but but just a fun, fun memory and moment in that game.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and definitely a risk that could have backfired if D'Calvey like misplays the ball or whatever.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah so um that's that's really interesting that he that he had the the guts to try that.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh moving on to 1996, Pitt 41, WV 38.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the most memorable part of this game was uh Pitt was in overtime, down were they down, I think they were down a touchdown at that point.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: And uh they had a fourth and 17.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: And uh it's very rare that you convert a fourth and 17, but uh Pete Gonzalez uh found Jake Hofort for 20 yards, and Pitt was able to keep the game alive, and they did score on the next play, a touchdown to take the lead and eventually win the game.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: But um the big the big memorable moment, at least for Pitt fans, not West Virginia fans, so much, was Pete Gonzalez uh fourth and 17.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: He only played Pete only played one year, but that was probably his most memorable moment at Pitt even, besides beating Miami at Pitt Stadium in that same year.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, that was that was I think we said 96, I think it was 97.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_03: It was Walt Harris's first year.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, 97.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_03: And I and that got them into the Liberty Bowl, which was unheard of in that time.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_03: The 90s were just such an awful decade for Pitt.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_03: They never really won more than three games a season most of those years.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_03: And so for them to win at Morgantown on a fourth and seventeen play in overtime, um, that was just super dramatic.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_03: And it got again, it got them into a bowl game.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, that was a that was a great moment for Pitt fans, and it wasn't it wasn't, you know, it didn't win them a championship, anything like that, but it just so much like suffering all the years before that, so much just bad football, and finally they won a big game.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_03: So it was it was a big moment at the time.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and they'd beat Miami that year too.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, at Pitt Stadium, yes.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was the last time they beat Pitt Miami and Pittsburgh until they beat them like three years ago.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Kennedy Pickett's first game.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_03: At quarterback, yep.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, sticking with the Pitt theme here for the next couple.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um in 2000, Penn State and Pitt played in Three River Stadium while they were building Hines Field, and Pitt Stadium was being ripped down to make the Peterson Event Center.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but this this was a big game because um Joe Paterno um kind of got angry at Pitt.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it was short-sighted on Pitt, but at the same time, Paterno was petty about it.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I guess when you're Joe Paterno and they let you do whatever they want up there at State College, you can be as petty as you want.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: He wouldn't, he decided he didn't want to play Pitt anymore, so he made like an unreasonable like he wanted Pitt to play two for ones or three for ones.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it really wasn't about the money, it was just about sticking it to Pitt and making a demand that he knew Pitt would never you know go to.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: So this was gonna be the last game.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: This was the last game until 2016.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: So 2016 was this was the last time that Pitt and Penn State played, and it was the last time Joe Paterno coached against Pitt.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: So 12-0 was the final score.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: The most memorable part of this game was Rod Rutherford, the future quarterback.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he was a freshman.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: They put him in a wide receiver and turn and found him, and he went like, I don't know, like 80 yards, 60 yards, something for like a long touchdown, and uh was uh it was 12-0.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: The defense shut Penn State out, and Joe Paterno took 12-0 to your grave, buddy.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: Put it on your put that along with your uh other accomplishments on there, right?
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you should get the Penn State fans like along with their little 498 sticker that they're so proud, proud of a 12-0 sticker for them.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was fun.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_03: It was like you said, we everybody all of us pit fans just couldn't stand Peterno, couldn't stand the arrogance, couldn't stand Penn State.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_03: And it was the last every and you knew it was gonna be the last game for a long time.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_03: You you had no idea it would be almost two decades before they play again.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_03: Um and I went to that game, Steve, and I I remember just I was like, I don't care what happens the rest of the season, because it was like the second game of the season, September.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, uh they could lose every game after this if they just beat Penn State.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_03: And I still have a shirt.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_03: I wish I would have worn it today, but I still have a shirt with the score on it of Pit 12, Penn State nothing.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was that was a big one for Penn State fans.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh sticking with the or Pit Pit fans, I mean, uh sticking with the Pit Pitt theme.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um in 2016, we mentioned this season.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Pitt played Villanova in a tune-up game.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: And that's normally these, you know, these little games because they don't screw, they don't really play preseason, so these are really preseason games, even though they count for a win in your record and a loss if you lose them.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um Pitt 28, Villanova 7.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it was just a very emotional game because it was James Connor's first game back from cancer.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember I was at this game, and I remember when he he literally took that defensive back.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, okay, it's a Division II FCS defensive back, and just took him and said, okay, we're going to the end zone.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, that guy got a free ride for five yards into the end zone.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that was pretty emotional.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody was pretty, you know, it wasn't just like excited, it was just emotional.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: Just nice to see him back.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: Good to see him that like overcome, you know, the adversity of his cancer and stuff, and um standing ovation for a you know, a seven-nothing lead, you know, and um that was that was that was just a great moment.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: And to 2016 was a an interesting season for Pitt.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: We should we should really do a podcast on that one.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_03: We we should.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_03: We should.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: And that that was probably the most pit season ever, I would say.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_03: I I I would agree, I would agree.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_03: And James Connor was so inspiring, and it was I was so excited when the Sewers drafted him and he was gonna keep playing here in the city.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_03: And um just a just a great story.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_03: And Steve, I think you you were at that game, correct?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I was.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: I was in the end zone that he scored in, too.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I because I sat in that end zone at that time.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: But um uh sticking with 2016 Pitt season, the biggest win from that season would be Clemson 42, Pitt 43.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the big moment from this game was Chris Blewitt, and of course all the announcers had to make fun of his name.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh had kicked a 42-yard uh field goal at the end of the game to uh pull out a 43-42 win for Pitt.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um Clemson would go on to win the national championship, and this was in Clemson.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: And the funny, the kind of the funny backstory about this is Clemson ducks us.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like Clemson never wants to play Pitt, and I don't understand it.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like they're the only team I can legitimately say does not fear, like I think they they're afraid to play us, and maybe rightfully so, they hadn't lost a home game to unranked opponent in like six years, like uh, especially under Dabo Sweeney.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like, they they just like for some reason they they really don't like to play Pitt because they were supposed to play Pitt.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Remember the Big East ACC settlement?
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: There was like a wall suit and stuff.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: Instead of playing Pitt that game, they just paid the penalty.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: But this was a conf, I think this was a conference game, and they ended up having to play Pitt in Clemson.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: God forbid Clemson ever come to Pittsburgh, that'll never happen.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, come north in the Mason Dixon line.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: Ooh, scary.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: But um, it was a great win, and uh Chris Blue was the memorable hero of that because he had missed a couple, he missed a field goal at the end of the half badly, kicked it into the line, and then that, you know, of course, the the shot.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: I think he missed an extra point too.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: And and like uh Narduzi like gave him a kiss like halfway through the first half or something, and you know, to see a kid come back and uh make a nice little uh atonement for himself, and uh that was a great moment.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I predicted it.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: It was funny because I predicted that in August.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: I said to I said that guy I worked with, I said, Pitt's gonna win this game.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's the most pit thing they'll do, is they'll go down to Death Valley and win.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: I should have bet money on it.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: I truly should have.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it it is the most pit thing ever, too.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_03: You know, lose to some Mac opponent one week and then beat the number two team in the country at their home stadium the next week.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_03: It's and they go on to win the national championship.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that's the year they had Deshaun Watson.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, they they were they're always a well-oiled machine, but that year they were extra well oiled.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_03: And it wasn't like the Pitt defense really, I mean, they scored 42 points.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_03: But but Pitt still Pitt still kept up, and they there I know you know the one of the big plays was they stopped them on a fourth and one late in the game.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Golem and they they tackled.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: That was Golumbos who I always like kind of ripped on, but he made yeah, it was um uh it was the defensive end turned him back in, and Columbus cleaned up the tackle and actually made a play.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I always never thought much of Columbus, but boy, he really made a play on that fourth and one.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: Because that was fourth and one, too.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: That wasn't like fourth and long.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and that was to if they got the if they converted the game.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_03: The game's over.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I just I remember watching that thinking, like, this is nice, this is nice, like it's cool, they kept up with them, but there's no way they're gonna actually win it.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_03: And then when that field goal went through, I was like, oh my, oh my lord, they actually are gonna beat Clemson and Clemson.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_03: Like that was that was hard to believe.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um but you know, again, that's that's how Pitt rolls.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_03: You never want to play Pitt when you're the number two team in the country because they have a whole history of beating the city.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because they beat Miami like the next year.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_03: They beat Miami when they were number two, they beat West Virginia when they were number two, they beat Notre Dame when they were number two.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_03: It's just a whole uh history of you you can't you don't want to play Pitt if you're number two.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, number three because Pitt Pitts Pitt's like I think 017 and one against one-ranked teams.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: They've only tied Army.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: They've never beaten a number one ranked team in football.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so make sure you get your ranking up or down by one if you're gonna play fit.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh moving on to 2009 Game 7, the Penguins 6, Capitals 2.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: The big moment in this game really, and it set the tone to the game, and I think kind of put the Capitals like in their place was there's a breakaway by Ovechkain early in the game, and Flurry just absolutely stones them.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I think at that point the Capitals realized that they were the Capitals, and the Penguins are the Penguins, and no matter who you are, except for one time ever, you are they're just some teams in different sports that always beat other teams.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: The Islanders always beat the Penguins, the Steelers always lose to like the Packers or Bears.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: And for some reason, the Penguins beat the Capitals.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: I don't they have their number, they just always do.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter what the Capitals do, it's just they're always going to beat the Capitals.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: And sorry, Capitals.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: But that they end up scoring six goals, and that that was uh that was like kind of the early like Ovechkin Crosby rivalry era.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yep, and that was that was so satisfying.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_03: That the penguins were down two games to nothing at one point in that series, and they came back in one and seven.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and that game seven was at Washington too, so that made it even sweeter.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't, it's that doesn't even matter because it's all Penguins fans anyway.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you go on the internet, like it's like half the half the what is that, the Verizon Center is uh Penguins fans anyway.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, yeah, but it was it was a big moment.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_03: We we did an episode.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um if you haven't heard it, go back and listen.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_03: But we did a whole episode about that cup run.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um in that series was so um really that was the big obviously the Red Wing series, but but that one was the big series to get there, so yeah.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um moving to 1995, um, Colt Steelers AFC Championship game.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um the Steelers survived the Hail Mary at the end of the game.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of the memorable moment.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was three more yards, but I think more of the moment I remember is like the Hail Mary falling, hitting the ground at the end of the game, more than I mean I mean, Bam Morris' touchdown was like what, a one-yard run.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean I think more, and especially like that Phil Sims was yelling and screaming, you know, wearing his Jim Harbaugh jersey and you know, really rooting.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: And that's another one of those teams that always beat other teams.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like the Steelers always beat the Colts.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like it doesn't and the Jets.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like the Colts and the Jets that I don't care.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they both those teams could be undefeated and fielding the best team they've ever had.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: The Steelers are probably gonna beat them.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that was dramatic.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it's another one we did an episode, a whole episode about that 95 team, and and to get to the Super Bowl that way was super dramatic and um made your heart drop a little bit when that Hail Mary started.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: It was Randy, Randy Fuller were number 29 who knocked the ball out.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't see any i irony there because Barry Foster had been the guy before that had dropped the pass.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so anything to that.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh moving forward to 2013, the Reds Pirates Wild game.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: This is the Cueto game.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, the most memorable moment from this game is Johnny Cueto getting rattled by the fans.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I've never seen a professional athlete fall apart like that before, but um, that happened to poor Johnny Cueto, and he's actually a pretty good pitcher, and just wasn't his day, I guess, as you would say.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, nor normally that's the Reds normally beat the Pirates, and that goes back to the 70s.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like the Pirates normally don't beat the Reds, but um on that night in 2013, um, the Reds walked into a buzzsaw of fans that had had 20 years of pent-up frustration, and Johnny Cueto became the the uh what would I say, the uh the target of that frustration, unfortunately for him and the Reds.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we another one we did a whole episode on, and and like you said, Steve, very similar to the what we said about the 97 Pitt team that beat West Virginia, it was kind of like all the all that frustration kind of culminated in the one game, finally one big win after years and years of you know, bad bad memories.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_03: So that was a very cool moment.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um 1982 Sugar Bowl, pit 24, Georgia 20.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: The most memorable part of this is there was a last-minute touchdown pass to tight end John Brown.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was on fourth down.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um Georgia had bull had uh Herschel Walker, but uh Pitt was able to keep him in check.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I guess Georgia fans being Georgia fans were talking a lot of trash before the game.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: We were gonna beat Pitt and all this, and then after losing in Atlanta, which uh where's Atlanta?
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: What state is Atlanta in?
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, Georgia.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's a home game.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: They were nowhere to be found.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: I guess they uh they they found somewhere better to be, and there were no chance of SEC.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: Or uh, you know, I don't know, Pitt wasn't in a conference, so maybe Pitt chanted independent at them, you know.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: But uh but uh no the fun part was is that the uh Merino threw a nice touchdown pass.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: I remember there was a game, I don't I remember when, but it was years ago at like halftime, and they reenacted it.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: They reenacted the play.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know why Pitt did that.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: It was an odd thing to do, but uh they did it and like you know, John Brown was like probably in his fifties, and so was Merino had been retired for 10 years.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: They completed the pass, but uh that was an Odd thing for Pitt to do, but at least we got to celebrate the 82 Sugar Bowl.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_03: And the thing about that game was it was Merino's senior year, which was a disappointing season.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_03: Jackie Sherrill had left and uh Fog Fasio had taken over, and Marino just didn't have a great senior season.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like Pitt had a lot of expectations that year, and it didn't work out as well as everybody had hoped.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_03: But that was a nice way for him to end his career at Pitt was on a last second touchdown pass on fourth down.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_03: I think they were 11-1.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: Were they 11-1?
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they lost to Penn State.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: That was the only Penn State fans like that's like their third that's like their 13-9.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I just know Marino like like performance-wise, just didn't have a great year because I that was one of the reasons he fell on the draft, that and rumors about you know him using drugs and things of that nature.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean we've talked about that too, with yeah, the the fact that you know the Steelers couldn't be bothered to to call across the street.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: But hey, that's why uh, you know, the late uh what's his name?
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the Dolphins, you know, has the win record, has the all-time NFL win record, and um Chuck Noel doesn't.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: I've said that before, I'll say it again.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Drafts have consequences.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: They do that was that was a great win for Pitt and uh probably like capped.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: That was probably the height of Pitt's like run from the 70s to the 80s, and Pitt was never really the same after that.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: After Marino and Hugh Green and them left, Pitt really just like was in decline.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so Pitt's never really reached those heights since, quite honestly.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the closest they came was under one stat.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: True.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um game one, Stanley Cup second round, the Rangers beat the Penguins four to two.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the memorable moment is that Adam Graves slashed Mario Lemieux and knocked them out for the series, and it was a total cheap shot.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: And like that was the whole like I want to say strategy of that Rangers team was well, we don't have enough skill to really compete with the Penguins, so we're gonna goon it up.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: So they decided that yeah, they should have just like changed their name to the Flyers.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: But um, yeah, that was like a really ugly cheap shot, cheap shot.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think Graves did Graves even get suspended for that.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even he may have, but it was like one game, or it wasn't even anything like you could have you could have kicked Graves out of the league.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_03: It would not have been the equivalent of losing Mary Olimieu.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: But the but yeah, well, the best part was was the Penguins go on to win the game, win the series in six games.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: And back then that was what 1991?
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: 92.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: 92, that was the 92 run.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the Rangers hadn't won the Stanley Cup since 1940, and the best thing to do to a Rangers fan is 1940.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I guess we could start 1994 now.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's been like 20 or 30 years, so we can start chanting 1994 at them.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_03: It just doesn't have the same ring to it.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_03: I do.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, but I mean the Civic Arena just let them have it.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean so that's probably part of the memorable moment, is not just the fact that like the Ranger the Rangers are a bunch of dirty bums that year, and but the the fans and the penguins kind of got the last laugh, and the Rangers had to wait a couple more years to win their Stanley Cough.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_03: I I I hated the Rangers so bad back then, and I was so angry because then they they won game three and they were up two games to one, and it was like, oh, now they're just gonna win the series because they took out the best player in the league.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like how how unfair was that?
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_03: I just you know, and everybody, like you said, it was an obvious cheap shot.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_03: I remember they even making I remember Kevin Nealin on Saturday Night Live even doing a joke about it on a weekend update because it was such an obvious intentional cheap shot.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: Well, he wasn't even going for the puck.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not even sure Lemieux had the puck.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: I I he just literally just was like, oh, there's his hands, let me hit him with my stick.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_03: And it was like a baseball bat kind of swing at his wrist.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_03: It was garbage, and it was so satisfying to take them out and have them not win the Stanley Cup again.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_03: I I I will say one thing, you know, the next season this the Penguins played in Madison Square Garden after Mario came back from Kansas and he scored five goals, and the fans there all gave him a standing ovation.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_03: And so I felt I think I was a little more softened towards the Rangers fans after that, because it was such a classy thing to do.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_03: But in 92, boy, I just I hated their team, I hated their fans.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_03: And Adam Graves will live in infamy in this town, I think, forever.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, another great moment, uh, Super Bowl 10, the Steelers won 21-17 over the Cowboys.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think that was their first time beating the Cowboys.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the memorable moment from this game is uh uh Roy Jarella missed a field goal.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if you go back and watch those old Super Bowls, I don't know if you have them on tape or the NFL probably sells them now on DVDs.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: I think the NFL's finally kind of caught on to that.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: That like there are fans that want to watch these old games, and you can buy the old games now.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to like, you know, I got you, I'll trade you, yeah.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like behind the alley, back alley, Super Bowl trading deals, yeah.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: But uh the the funny part was Rogerella missed a lot of field goals because he was like a I think he was like a pendulum kicker.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: He was not a stalker style kicker, so he did miss his fair share of field goals.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: And this was one of them, and it was in the Super Bowl, and Cliff Harris, who is just he's just a class act.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: Isn't he a guy who no, he wasn't the guy that said Bradshaw couldn't spell cat with the C and T.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was Hollywood Henderson.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but he was the one who made excuses in the next Super Bowl that oh god, I was totally I was in position and Bradshaw threw it to the wrong place or something.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think he's the one that whines about that or something like that.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: But before that, Cliff Harris was still being a jerk and uh decided to taunt Roy Jarella, said, good job, good miss, you know.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: So Jack Lambert, who was playing special teams at that point, picked them up by his throat and choke slammed him and said, That'll cool your butt off.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: Only he didn't say butt.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: And uh that that the if you go back and the Steelers talk about that, they said that was like that kind of fired them up and they weren't really intimidated by the Cowboys at that point, and they you know they went on to win that game.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: So big, big pivotal moment that you know, really there was no scoring or anything on, but just the fact that like the Steelers and Jack Labert in particular weren't gonna put up with like the Cowboys trying to talk crap like they always did on everybody.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: He was like, No, we're not gonna put up with your BS from Dallas.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was it was great.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_03: It was another team that everybody loved to hate, and they were America's team and all this nonsense.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, for him to just come up and yeah, good job, good miss, idiot.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_03: And then, you know, for Lambert to stick up and say, no, we're not gonna allow you to do that, it definitely sent a message.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_03: And again, so satisfying.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_03: The most important thing is then you know, you beat them on the scoreboard, which they did twice.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think and the cowboys, those those 70s cowboys still cry about those games.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: They're like almost as bad as the Raiders, maybe not as quite as bad as the Raiders, but I would say they're sad, like they they cry about losing to the Steelers as much as anything.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: And it's funny because when they when the Cowboys finally beat the Steelers in the Super Bowl in Super Bowl 30, like all those 70s Cowboys acted like that was their win, too.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like, well, you guys still didn't beat the teams from the 70s.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: You still lost them Super Bowls.
• 30:08
  unknown: Yep.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um 1991, uh Game 6, the first round of the Devils.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: The Penguins uh win the game on a Frank Peter Angelo save, the save where he reaches, he actually misplayed the puck if you watched.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's actually like he wouldn't have had to make the save if he just would have made like the first save that was kind of normal.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: But uh Peter Stasney, I had a wide open net and apparently decided to show it like Peter Angelo's glove looked really inviting.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: So but it was a great, great moment, good save, and it like propelled the Penguins to the win in that series in their first Stanley Cup run.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I've seen that replay a million times.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_03: I still don't know how Peter Angelo makes a save.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's an automatic goal.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: He literally had the whole net, though.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's like he shot it into his glove.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's amazing.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_03: That series was so frustrating, too, because um the Penguins when the Penguins got into the playoffs that year, there were a lot of high expectations.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_03: They had a really good regular season, and the Devils came out and just frustrated them the first three or four games.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_03: I think they were down 3-1 in that series.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_03: And and it was like, oh my gosh, didn't that Penguins were just gonna lose in the first round?
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_03: Everybody had all these high hopes they were gonna go deep into the playoffs.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_03: And and everybody remembers Frank Peter Angelo for making that save.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_03: What a lot of people don't remember is that Frank Peter Angelo was a guy that everybody loved to hate.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_03: He was kind of like that, like Dwayne Washington or Cad Scott, kind of, you know, that that guy that always got blamed when things went wrong, and if he had to play, oh no, Peter Angelo's in, he stinks.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and no one remembers that.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_03: Everybody just remembers he made the save, and good for him because now he has that moment kind of that's his legacy in Pittsburgh instead of the goaltender that nobody wanted to see play.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: I think he did up and down, like he like like he was very up and down.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like he would make great plays, but he'd let in like a weak goal at times.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously he made a great save when they needed the the most.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: He did.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: But I I think that was game six, and game they had to play game seven after that, but they would have been down two goals, I think.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: Were they ahead?
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: They were down at that point, I think.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_03: I b I believe so.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_03: It was it was just a big like like you said, it could have turned out very differently had he not made that save.
• 32:34
  unknown: Yeah.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um 1971, um, game seven against the Orioles.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I'm just gonna go with Steve Blass here.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_01: Steve Blass pitched a one-run, four-hit complete game, uh complete game.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: It was probably one of the greatest clutch pitching performance in Pirates' history.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, him and Clemeny really carried the team.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: If you've watched that game seven, I've seen a replay.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: It really is like I think they score one other run on somebody, but like him and Clemeny just were like absolutely the like nobody else on the Pirates did much of anything in that game.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: And Blast, that's probably like like I can't think of another pirate pitching performance that was as needed or as clutch as that one.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: And it delivered them a World Series, and they hadn't won the World Series in 11 years at that point, uh, which that seems like a short time now, under how long it's been been now.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_03: But uh and and that's that's so big in sports when you when you have the big, huge clutch moment and you need the somebody to step up, and Steve Blass was up for the task.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, he he obviously then became an announcer for years and years, so Steve Blass is deeply ingrained into Pirates Lore.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he's another another guy like he had like he had like a m what I want to call a meteoric career, like kind of like not a very good long career.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: For some reason, after I was it after that season, he just couldn't throw a strike.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if he lost his confidence or just like they've asked him about it, and he he can't even really explain it.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a shame because he just he he had his moment, and that's how it is in I guess sports and life.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you got your moment and sometimes you just can't sustain it or recapture it.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: But at least you had that moment, him and Frank Peter Angelo.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh Frank Peter Angelo and Max Talbot.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you could go up and down the list of guys that just had their their one moment of coming off clutch when a Pittsburgh team needed them to be clutch.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_03: Even even um, you know, some of the stuff we're gonna talk about later.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_03: Some of these guys, some of them are Hall of Famers, some of them kind of flamed out quickly in Pittsburgh, but they'll always have that moment.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, if that's all they have, that's still pretty good.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, staying with the Pirates theme, uh 1979, World Series Game 7.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: Once again, the Orioles are the victim of the Pirates.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure they don't ever want to see us in a World Series ever again.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Willie Stargil has that that's the really the big moment in that game is Willie Stargil uh in the seventh inning hits a uh home run.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: And that that was really what uh put the Pirates up for good.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't remember, it was off a good pitcher too for the Orioles.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: I don't remember the pitcher's name, but I mean the Orioles always had really good pitching, but the Pirates hitting was able to get to it, and um that's really the big moment in that game is uh Starzil hitting a home run.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: And like you said, Starzil's a Hall of Famer, and he hit a lot of home runs.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_01: And that was probably his most famous home run, I would say.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, good contrast to the previous two um items that you mentioned where it was kind of you know guys that weren't stars coming up big.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_03: This was a guy that was a star coming up big.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and I I remember the that was in Baltimore, and I think the bullpen was like behind the outfield fence and he hit it like right into the Pirates' bullpen because as soon as the ball comes down, you see a bunch of guys jumping up and down behind the fence.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: I remember the guy from the right fielder from Baltimore hanging on the fence, like in desperation, like trying to catch it.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I give a good try, but it was like you weren't catching that ball.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_01: What's a major league line?
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna need a uh need a visa to get that one, yeah.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: But uh Willy Willie uh Pops was clutch, man, and that that was definitely a clutch moment.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean he had a lot of other home runs, and a lot of home runs in the upper deck at Freer Stadium, too.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_01: But um moving to the uh Steelers, uh big moment, and I I think you were there for this one.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: I was 2009 AFC Championship game, Ravens 14, Steelers 23.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: The Ravens were driving late in the game.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the defense was really good that year.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: The offense was kind of like they kind of did enough to get by.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like the offense would score enough points to get by.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: The offense wasn't great.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_01: It was kind of Ben and like a bunch of other guys, and we really didn't have a running back, or I don't even know if Willie Barker was still around then.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_03: It was Willie Parker, but he wasn't he was it.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: He might have been hurt or in the tail end of his career.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they didn't have the same running game that they had when they had won the Super Bowl a few years earlier, and they had Parker and Bettis.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and at the end of the game, like they're driving, and uh they put I remember they put um because they always had like that was one of the few times like they really had two really good pass rushers, and they had Woodley and Harrison on either end, and it was like it would force the team to like, okay, you can't double team both of them.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_01: But then, like, for some reason, like on that drive, LeBeau decided to move Harrison and Woodley to the same side.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_01: And if you watch that replay, like I don't know, it's either Harrison or Woodley gets in there and hits Flacco.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you can see like Flacco definitely panics, and Paul Mo is watching them the whole way, and you know, great players make great plays and big moments, and that's another kind of like Willie Stargell, like he throws it up, and Palomo makes a great interception and returns it for a touchdown.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: And um, besides Willis McGee getting knocked out about five minutes later, there wasn't much else that happened in this game.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that was the end of the game, and the Steelers went on to win the Super Bowl that year.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, but that was really, really a great moment for for Troy Palomolo and uh that team with the uh Steelers.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: Were you at that game?
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_03: So I was, and I've been to a lot of sporting events, and I've never I've never seen a stadium erupt the way it did when he made that play.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_03: We were jumping into the arms of like strangers.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_03: It was it was absolute pandemonium.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_03: And and again, I I've I I've been to a lot of sporting events, I've never seen a reaction like that.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_03: People were just going ballistic, and it was a great play, like you said, by a great player stepping up at the right moment.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um the it was only a two-point lead at the time, so all the Ravens had to do was get into field range.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_03: So it was it was really important, and that was such a hard-fought game, and that's that's one of the great plays in Steeler history.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_03: Certainly, certainly.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um in 1992, game one of the Stanley Cup finals, the Penguins overcame a 4-1 deficit, mostly in the final seconds on the heroics of uh Lemieux and Jager.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think that kind of like after that, the Blackhawks knew they were done.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_01: And the Blackhawks had a good team.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_01: They had uh I think they had Belfort and Hawsack as goalies, and the Penguins absolutely smoked both of them.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's crazy.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think Hausick was quite the Hawseck that he was later in his career.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like sometimes goalies are like kind of like pitchers, it takes a little bit for them to mature and you know really find their stride.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_01: But Belfort was pretty good too, and the penguins, boy, they that was that's one of the most unbelievable like minute last minute of a hockey game.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I just that was the penguins were a really good team that year, and the Blackhawks were too, but it just just sometimes you win in a team that's just a lot better.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_03: But both of those teams had come into that game, I believe not losing since round two.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_03: I think they both swept the res their respective conference finals, so they were both like red hot coming into that game, and you just thought, okay, well, it's a blowout, the the Blackhawks took game one, and then Yager, so they came back, Jagger scores that amazing goal, and then it's it's tied with like 20 seconds left.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_03: Mario draws a penalty, uh, and then they have the face-off in the Blackhawk zone, he gets a rebound and he scores.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_03: And again, pandemonium, I wasn't there for that one, but absolute pandemonium in the civic arena.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I my feeling watching that was just like, wow, I I just Mario's better than everybody.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_03: It's almost not fair.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, seriously.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's just one of those great players make great plays when you need it the most, kind of thing.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, and it really like I said, I don't think the Blackhawks ever recovered from that.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_01: And they just they knew the Penguins were the better team.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: The penguins went on the sweep.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_01: Who knows?
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe that game that that series goes the Blackhawks way or at least goes deeper if they win that game.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: One, because that would have been what that would have uh given the Blackhawks home feel home iced advantage.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a big win.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_03: So demoralizing to lose in that fashion for them.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_03: And and you're right, they never recovered.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and uh, so moving to 2005, the AFC divisional game against, once again, the Port Colts.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they probably don't want to ever see the Steelers in the playoffs.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_01: That's normally bad news for them.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh I guess we'll go with the positive.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like the negative is Jerome Bett has fumbled.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_01: The positive is you rarely recognize a quarterback for making a tackle.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's what we're gonna do here.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_01: Ben literally saved our season.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_01: He somehow Nick Harper decided not to just keep running to the right into the sideline and probably would have scored pretty easily because I don't think Ben would have caught him.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_01: For some reason, like Ben gets him to run toward the like him in the middle of the field, and Ben makes a shoestring tackle.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I think they were at they were on the other side of the 50, but they weren't in field goal range either.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_01: So Ben really, really bailed us out.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, another, you know, we they really uh the refs really stuck it to us because that really we really should have been able to kneel down there instead of having to run the ball.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_01: The only reason we had to run the ball is because the NFL felt bad for Tony Dungey because of some of his personal tribulations that year, and they wanted Peyton Manning to win a Super Bowl, so they decided that Troy Powamalo didn't make an interception that he did make.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_01: But it didn't matter anyway because the Steelers end up hanging on to win.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: The defense stood up, forced them to a long field goal, even though Vanderjack had missed in forever.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_01: Vanderjack missed.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: So what are you gonna do?
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the way things went for Peyton Manning for a while there.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't hate Peyton Manning.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he seems like a nice guy, his commercials are funny, but um yeah, it was nice to overcome the uh good enough to beat the uh Colts and their officials that day.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_01: And it was kind of self inflicted too.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like Bettis never fumbled.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think I think it was Bettis' only fumble that year.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_03: And that would have been Bettis was gonna retire.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_03: That was going to be his last play in the NFL, fumbling away a playoff game that we had iced play before.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I think it would have been worse.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_03: I think it would have been like Joe Fisark.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_03: You know, almost almost that level of it would have been one of the lowest moments in the history of the Sea Orgs, if not the lowest.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_03: It just would have been a disaster.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_03: And you're right, Ben making that tackle was just unbelievable.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_03: And that those last five minutes of that game were just enough to I remember there was a story of there was a guy um down at Chukka's, I think, that actually had a heart attack after that play.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_03: Like literally, there was a story here locally where there was a fan that that literally had a heart attack.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_03: They had to haul him away to the hospital.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_01: I literally, you know, Bennis, you know, and I I like Jerome Bennis, and you know, he's a great stealer, but man, he made he made me cuss in front of my mother.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I literally stringed together a string of exclusives that are, you know, I literally called him every name in the book.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_01: It was like, we have played the in the Steelers who played the most conservative second half.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like I just remember that there was a drive there where they went for it on fourth and one.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't even score.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_01: It was like, like people call that the biggest non-scoring drive.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_01: They were just keep the ball for Payton Manning, keep the ball away, keep our defense fresh.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_01: And the defense played great that game.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_01: Played great.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I knew we had a chance.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_01: We had lost to them in the regular season, but I didn't see anything from the Colts when we lost to them that I thought the Steelers couldn't compete with.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like Ike Taylor got burnt because he bit on a play action.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't like the old Chad Scott Dwayne Washington, oh, I can't keep up with Marvin Harrison.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like I knew I could cover Marvin Harrison.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought we could cover Reggie Wayne, too.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_01: It was Dallas Clark end up kind of burning us.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like Paul Maud missed the late, you know, missed the tackle.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: And that's an insane game.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_01: That could be that's another one that could we could probably do an hour on.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we we definitely need to dive into the details of that one at some point because it it was it was an insane game.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I remember driving home after that.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_01: People were going nuts.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_01: People were in the street.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like I've never seen people celebrate like just a regular, like a playoff win like that before.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um moving on, next memorable moment.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um the the Super Bowl nine, Pittsburgh, it's our first championship uh that the Steelers had ever won in the history since 1933.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that was definitely the most memorable moment.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I mean, the first the first person to score, it's a good trivia question, was Dwight White.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_01: And Stan Savern told a story where he was like actually sitting there asking Dwight White who scored the first points in a Super Bowl for the Steelers.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_01: And Dwight White is like Franco.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, Frenchie, Franco, Rocky Blyer?
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, no, it's you.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: You you sacked Frank Tarkington for a safety.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_01: But probably the more memorable moment was um when they handed the trophy to uh the chief, Art Rooney Sr.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_01: It was like a lifetime achievement award, like hanging in, and the chief was so beloved, and just kind of like one of those great NFL moments to where like yeah, everybody was there was nobody that was upset.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even think Al Davis was upset that the Chief finally won a Super Bowl after being in the league for over 30 years and not even getting a sniff.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and I think we talked about this in in the episode we did about Art Rooney, but the the players even said that was a big motivation that season was to get one to get that championship for Mr.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_03: Rooney.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_03: So definitely a big moment, an emotional moment.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, going back to 2009, um, Super Bowl 43, uh James Harrison had uh at the end of the half, I think the Steelers were up 14 to 7, and Kurt Warner drops back the pass, and um he kind of like like this is like James Harrison just kind of freelancing.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_01: He kind of dropped back into like kind of like a zone, and Kurt Warner threw it right to him.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_01: He kind of baited Kurt Warner to do it, and normally you catch it in your own end zone, there's like eight seconds left.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_01: You probably just like kind of fall down and take the ball to 20.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's not James Harrison's style.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_01: He decides he's gonna try and return it for a touchdown, and it's one of the most unbelievable defensive touchdown runs I've ever seen because like they get out to like the 20, and he's in deep trouble, and like the Shea Townsend is like running beside him, like, hand me the ball, hand me the ball.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_01: And like Harrison's like, no, it's not happening.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so there's like a bunch of blocks, and he runs like 99 yards, get down to like what, the two-yard line, and Larry Fitzgerald, who's like another one of my favorite players, and there's probably another reason, like almost pulls like a Don BB, like almost catches like Harrison from behind, and they they both roll into the end zone, but it does.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_01: Harrison barely gets to the 99 yards at the end of the half.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's a 14-point swing because that could have been, you know, if they give up, that would have been a tie game to 21-7, and that ended up being uh pretty pretty big at the end of the game.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's such a famous play that'll be relifted and reshown forever.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_03: And one of the things that people always forget about that play is that Fitzgerald, it's the he Harrison's running down the Arizona sideline.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_03: And one of the Arizona players, I think it was one of their defensive players.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_03: He's gone his way.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he's standing on the white part of the sideline, which you're not supposed to do.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and Fitzgerald actually had to stop and like go around him.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_03: And he still caught Harrison at the two, but if if that guy doesn't if that guy's standing back and letting hit Fitzgerald just run free, Fitzgerald probably catches him at the 15 yard line or so, and then the half's over.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_03: And it's a memorable play still because they stopped him from scoring, but it it's nowhere near the same level of you know shift in the game.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um and and so the car the that guy standing on the sidelines, you know, prevented Larry Fitzgerald from catching Harrison.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember they interviewed Ken Wizenhunt like right after that.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_01: And Ken Wizenhunt to his credit wasn't like panicked or anything, yeah, it was a big play, but you know, we got a whole half to overcome it.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, guess what else was he supposed to say?
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, oh boo-hoo, we lost the Super Bowl already.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, no, I mean I give him credit for like, you know, keeping his composure because if I was the coach, I definitely would have lost it there.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that that was ridiculous.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_01: I mean that that was such a big play, it was such a pivotal moment in that game.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_01: But to their credit, Arizona, you know, they kept their wits about them and you know ended up making a game of it.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, going back to 2009, boy, 2009 was a big year in Pittsburgh Sports.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um game seven against the Red Wings.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I remember, I mean, you mentioned Max Talbot.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_01: He did score two big goals in this game, but I think the more memorable moment is Flurry at the end of the game, saving, making that big save on uh is it uh Lindstrom?
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_01: Or was it yeah, Nick Lindstrom?
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I mean if Flurry that's like probably and that's probably a bigger like people remember the Peter Angelo save.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's bigger than the Peter Angelo save.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's game seven of the Stanley Cup.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_01: It literally won the Stanley Cup for the Penguins that year.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean it was it's just a great save.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_01: He had to come across as crease and get big, and Flurry made a he just made a tremendous play.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_01: And like I said, Flurry's gonna be a legend in Pittsburgh forever, even though he's left and gone to Vegas.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_01: People love him.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_01: And uh he's a good good player and seems like a decent person, and uh people love Flurry, and this is these this is one of the reasons why that save he'll always be a legend here.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely, another just great moment.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh moving to 1974, uh the draft.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_01: The 1974 NFL draft.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's definitely the most successful draft in Steelers history.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if there's been an NFL draft where another team is can top this, but the in 1974, they drafted the Steelers four Hall of Famers, and that's unheard of.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_01: They drafted Lynn Swan, Mike Webster, Jack Lambert, and John Stalworth, and that basically set them up for their dynasty run from there on out to the end of the 70s, and just to literally draft not like if you draft like one pretty good player that plays for you for five to ten years, you've done pretty well.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_01: But to draft four players that played that, all of them played, you know, probably over five to ten years, and all of them are in the hall of fame, and all of them won four Super Bowls, that's just a tremendous achievement.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if you'll ever see anything like that ever again.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_03: No, no, I don't think you ever will.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_03: And it was people just always point to that draft.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, how do you draft four Hall of Famers in the same draft?
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's unheard of.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um so yeah, it it's just one of those unique, probably once-in-a-lifetime kind of things.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I just I'm sure it's on one of those NFL top tens, you know, where yeah, the NFL network always does top 10 drafts.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_01: I I mean if that isn't number one in your top ten list, I don't know what it is.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um going back to 2009 again, uh the tippy toe catch at the end of that Super Bowl.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the Harrison play, if if this play doesn't happen, the James Harrison's probably MVP of that Super Bowl, right?
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_01: I mean but arguably.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_01: But the uh the like I said, Arizona like kept their wits about them and didn't panic.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_01: It took them a quarter to kind of get going, but in the fourth, in the fourth quarter, like Larry Fitzgerald, who had had a tremendous playoff, him and Kurt Warner just were pretty unstoppable that whole playoffs became unstoppable.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they literally smoked our defense.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I I as much as I knew Ike Taylor could cover Marvin Harrison, is as much as I knew Ike Taylor couldn't cover Larry Fitzgerald, because Ike Ike's like biggest like asset was he's kind of tall and lanky and fast.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_01: But what he's really bad at was kind of he's kind of like the Dwayne Dwayne Washington, where like if it's a jump ball, he always seems to bat the ball to the other guy.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_01: And Larry Fitzgerald, I've seen him play in college, he played pros, is the best wide receiver.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think he's better than Chris Carter, better than Terrell Owens, better than any of those jump ball guys.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_01: He's the best jump ball wide receiver I've ever seen play football.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_01: If you throw a jump ball to Larry Fitzgerald, he's coming down with it, and it doesn't, it doesn't really matter who you put on him.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_01: And that's kind of what happened is the Cardinals scored a lot of points and took a took the lead with like what two minutes?
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_01: Two minutes of some change left.
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_01: So Ben drives him down the field, and it leads to the uh is there a name for this catch?
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, the catch?
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I don't think I don't think so, but there needs to be one at some point.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_03: Tippy toe touchdown.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't know.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_01: That sounds stupid.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_03: It would make a good statue, I can tell you that.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_01: But uh Santonio makes an unbelievable catch on his tippy toes after missing the play before everyone forgets like he kind of missed one.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like Ben threw it a little high, but I think that's where Ben had to throw it.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_01: But he missed that one, but then the next play, he makes a tremendous catch on the sidelines against two defenders for the uh Cardinals, and uh the Steelers win the Super Bowl.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_01: One of the most memorable moments, probably in Steeler history.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, outside of, you know, there's one more left.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's you know, I think everybody kind of knows what that one is coming up.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean, it's just I I don't know.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's surprising it doesn't have its own name.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh the first, it launched the Steelers to the six Super Bowl wins.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_01: They were the first team in the Super Bowl era to have six Super Bowl wins.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I I mean winning the sixth Super Bowl on a last second miracle kind of touchdown pass.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_03: It was just the absolute, I just remember thinking at the time, this is like the absolute height of being a Sears fan.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I just wonder I kind of even thought like we'll it ever get better than this.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that was such a huge thing, so dramatic, and it's something you can relive forever.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_03: And Santonio is another guy, he certainly wasn't a mediocre player, but he, you know, he was a very good player, but it wasn't for a very long period of time.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_01: It kind of reminds like Lamar Woodley, like you think like there should have been more out of him than that.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 57:15
  unknown: Yeah.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_01: You feel like he left something on the table, you know.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_03: He he did.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_03: But that year, um, you know, just even to get to the Super Bowl, we mentioned earlier the Ravens championship game.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_03: Everybody remembers the Polo Molo interception, but Santonio scored an amazing touchdown in that game.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_03: In the San Diego playoff game the week before, he had a punt return for a touchdown.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_03: He was so instrumental in getting the Steelers to the Super Bowl, just as Fitzgerald was getting the Cardinals to where they were.
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_03: And uh to see him do that in the last seconds, it it's it's the Steelers could have a 2-14 season, and you could cue up that play and watch it over and over again and still be happy.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_01: But probably the second biggest play in Steelers history, I would argue.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_01: I would agree.
• 58:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, going all the way back to 1984, uh Reagan was president.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I was in like second grade.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh things weren't going too well for the Penguins.
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_01: They were probably drawing about 5,000 people in the Civic Arena.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_01: And they hadn't, I don't think they had made the playoffs in two years.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and they were a pretty bad hockey franchise with not a lot of stars.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_01: So at the end of 8384, Eddie Johnson decides to tank for the team.
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_01: Because back then, like now they have the lottery system where the top five teams just get a certain percentage chance at getting the top pick to keep teams from doing this.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_01: So, but the penguins, you know, kind of, you know, they knew like that the Mario Lemie, this guy Mario from the what was it, Quebec Junior League or wherever he was playing, or the Montreal League, they knew he was really good and they really needed to get him.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_01: So they tanked at the end of the season so they get the top draft pick.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_01: And um, that's probably been one of the more instrumental things in Pittsburgh sports history, and that's why it's a memorable moment.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's a pivotal moment.
• 59:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like the Penguins probably aren't in Pittsburgh if they don't tank and get him for this team.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_01: Because he literally saved the uh franchise in hockey in Pittsburgh.
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_01: You made hockey like hockey really wasn't that big of a sport back then.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_01: It could have been like, you know, the other Pittsburgh Pipers or you know, any of the other lesser, you know, minor league teams that have come and gone in Pittsburgh.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I would even up that.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_03: I wouldn't even say probably, I would say definitely.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_03: There's no penguins if they don't draft Mario.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_03: And uh tanking's not tanking's not easy to do because you're never gonna have everybody on board with it.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_03: If you're a player, you're not you're not gonna intentionally lose.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_03: You you you need to play somewhere the next season, and you don't want to look bad.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_03: So it you also have to do it in a way that doesn't look like you're tanking, which is also hard to do.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_03: So um it's it's not that easy of a thing to do.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_01: There's there's it'd be an it'd be another one that Steve would be worth a great deep dive because there's so many good stories about how I had to take some like a goaltender was playing good and they sent them down to like the miners.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_01: It was like, oh, you're playing too good, you gotta go to the miners, buddy.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like Eddie Johnson like never admits it, but it's if you look at the transactions, the moves he made, like it's pretty blatantly obvious.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_01: And like he was telling the coach who to play and stuff.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's yeah.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and again, you have to like be very careful because the league's not gonna go for anything that goes against competitive balance.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_03: And again, the players the players have nothing to gain by finishing last.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_01: No, I mean, yeah, because it definitely affect their contracts and stuff.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_03: And what if they what if they want to get picked up by another team the next year?
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, it was it was sort of like the Rachel Phelps um plot from the movie Major League, you know, assemble assemble a bad enough roster and then hope that things go really bad and then make moves during the season, too, to keep that going.
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_03: It would definitely make for an interesting movie.
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_03: And again, um you know, call it what you want, but it it saves hockey in Pittsburgh.
• 1:01:29
  SPEAKER_03: It it has an amazing, amazing ripple effect on the city itself as well, uh, because of all the things Mario has done.
• 1:01:37
  SPEAKER_03: So um, yeah, that's a huge, huge moment.
• 1:01:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, sticking with some off-the-field stuff, um, 1980, 85.
• 1:01:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I remember this because I was still young.
• 1:01:49
  SPEAKER_01: I was once again, I was probably in third grade when this happened, but uh I remember I remember this is um the pirates were for sale.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_01: The Galbrex who had owned the team wanted out.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_01: And this is after the drug trials, and so the pirates were in deep trouble.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_01: They were like that, like Starjoy retired, Parker was gone.
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_01: They were pretty like they were a pretty bad baseball team, and uh the ownership wanted out, I guess.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_01: And um, there was a serious talk of the the pirates moving and leaving Pittsburgh.
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_01: Well, um there the mayor during that time was Mayor Richard Calligerry, and um a lot of background too in the city was um this is the 80s, and after the 70s, like all the steel mills basically closed in the 80s.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like that was the end.
• 1:02:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like I remember driving in the parkway east, and there used to be a big steel mill there down on 2nd Avenue, and that when it just stopped, you know, that and the one in the waterfront, there they were all basically going out of business.
• 1:02:51
  SPEAKER_01: So the city was, yeah, that was kind of like the story of the decade of the 80s, was it was kind of like the finishing up of like all the businesses leaving Pittsburgh from the 70s.
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_01: So and times were really tough in Pittsburgh.
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I mean whether you agree with it or not, it mayor Cavali uh formed a group of public and private partnerships, some some uh corporations that were still left in the city and committed to staying in the city, along with the actual government of the city, invested in the pirates and bought the pirates and got them to stay in Pittsburgh.
• 1:03:27
  SPEAKER_01: And um that that was a that's a big deal.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they hadn't gotten PNC Park, which was funny because the years later, Sophie Maslow, who because Mayor Carl Jerry had gotten sick and died, Sophie proposed a remember Roberto Clementi Park?
• 1:03:43
  SPEAKER_01: Does anybody and ever and she was laughed out of laughed out of town for that, and then you know, five to ten years later they're building PNC Park.
• 1:03:51
  SPEAKER_01: But um that was definitely a pivotal move.
• 1:03:54
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, another team that might not, you know, they they could have, you know, imagine if the the penguins don't draft Mario, and if Mayor Calaghery can't find the the private businesses, you know, you could have lost both the pirates and the penguins in like two to three years, and you would have been just left with the Steelers.
• 1:04:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean it's you know, along with the city that was already already reeling from the loss of the steel industry, that would have been um that would have been pretty tough to overcome.
• 1:04:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a good point.
• 1:04:26
  SPEAKER_03: I mean it really is.
• 1:04:28
  SPEAKER_03: And another one with ripple effect.
• 1:04:30
  SPEAKER_03: Your PNC Park never gets built, you never have that rejuvenation of the North Shore uh in Pittsburgh.
• 1:04:37
  SPEAKER_03: It just would have a ton of uh uh ripple effects had the pirates just been moved out of town.
• 1:04:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um I put this one a little ahead of the pens drafting Mario because it wouldn't have it wouldn't have happened, but I I think I think it's big too.
• 1:04:53
  SPEAKER_01: In 99, Mario finally buys the Penguins with Ron Burkle, and this finally solidified the future of hockey in Pittsburgh.
• 1:05:02
  SPEAKER_01: You knew finally the penguins weren't gonna go anywhere, even though they threatened to go to Kansas City to get the arena built, but I don't think Mario ever was gonna really move them.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean you got to negotiate sometimes with these politicians, but and that's the and it's really a direct from 84 from them drafting him and him having such a successful career.
• 1:05:24
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously, you know, he he grew up and you know, he basically spent his, you know, young adult years in the city and you know, falling in love with the city and the people here.
• 1:05:35
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, it's it's it's just a great story with Mario, you know, basically coming from a whole nother country where he spoke a different language and falling in love with the city and moving here and becoming a part of our community.
• 1:05:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's a it's an amazing thing.
• 1:05:50
  SPEAKER_03: We we talked about this in our episode that we did on the goal that saved the penguins, as a goal that Yager scored that year in the playoffs.
• 1:05:59
  SPEAKER_03: And we talked about What a big risk it was for Mario to to do this and how he risked losing a ton of money.
• 1:06:07
  SPEAKER_03: It would have been so much easier for him to sign a two-year contract with the Rangers and recoup all his money.
• 1:06:15
  SPEAKER_03: And he didn't know Pittsburgh or the certainly the Penguins franchise, which had stiffed him royally.
• 1:06:21
  SPEAKER_03: Didn't know them anything.
• 1:06:22
  SPEAKER_03: But he felt it was his duty to the people of Pittsburgh uh to buy the team and keep them in Pittsburgh.
• 1:06:30
  SPEAKER_03: I think he's one of the great, not all-time Pittsburgh athletes, just one of the great all-time Pittsburghers, period.
• 1:06:36
  SPEAKER_03: And and that that was a huge moment because like the the previous one you mentioned, it's one that we we don't have a franchise probably, if not for that moment.
• 1:06:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:06:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um now we're getting up into the uh the the big the big two moments here.
• 1:06:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh as everybody if you've been following along, you probably can guess which two they are.
• 1:06:58
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I'm gonna go with 1972, obviously, the the divisional playoff game against the Raiders.
• 1:07:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh some guy named Franco catches the ball out of the air and rides in on his white horse and saves the Steelers season eight.
• 1:07:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um the Steelers had been leading this game, I think was it seven six nothing or seven nothing or something?
• 1:07:22
  SPEAKER_03: It was it was six to nothing.
• 1:07:24
  SPEAKER_01: Six to nothing when Stabler like just runs like he pulls off like a scramble for like 30 yards and scores, and they go up seven to six with like I don't know, two minutes left to go or a minute and a half.
• 1:07:38
  SPEAKER_01: And the Steelers really didn't have an offense back then.
• 1:07:41
  SPEAKER_01: It was kind of like Franco to the left, Franco to the right.
• 1:07:44
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, let's mix it up and send Rocky Blyer up the middle.
• 1:07:47
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't really have a very good offense back then, but uh the mayor on fourth and ten, Bradshaw, who's under all kinds of duress, the Raiders almost sack him like twice, just throws up an absolute prayer to French Fouquet, and it definitely bounced off Jack Tatum for sure.
• 1:08:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that hit that ball hit Jack Tatum, no doubt.
• 1:08:09
  SPEAKER_01: And uh Frank Franco runs in and scoops the ball.
• 1:08:13
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason it had to hit Tatum is because there was a rule.
• 1:08:16
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know why this was a rule, but back then there was a rule that two offensive players couldn't touch it in concession.
• 1:08:23
  SPEAKER_01: I guess they didn't want you to like volleyball bat a pass to another player.
• 1:08:28
  SPEAKER_01: I I I don't I was never I never understood that either.
• 1:08:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I that's the only thing I could think of is like you would somehow have like a guy jump up and like just tip the ball to another guy or something.
• 1:08:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but like so what?
• 1:08:40
  SPEAKER_03: And first of all, that'd be really hard to do, and so what if they did?
• 1:08:42
  SPEAKER_03: I I never understood why that was a role back then.
• 1:08:45
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and it's funny because if that play happened today, there'd be very little controversy because no one would care who who touched the ball.
• 1:08:53
  SPEAKER_03: But that was the role at the time.
• 1:08:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then then there's still kind of like you can't really tell if the ball hits the ground or not.
• 1:09:01
  SPEAKER_01: But it doesn't look like it does.
• 1:09:04
  SPEAKER_01: And the Raiders are like kind of up there with the Cowboys, they whine and cry.
• 1:09:08
  SPEAKER_01: Phil Villopiano still whines about it.
• 1:09:11
  SPEAKER_01: He's pretty funny.
• 1:09:12
  SPEAKER_01: He's actually pretty funny to hear talk about.
• 1:09:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I actually kind of like him because it's it's so funny because he gets so he gets so irritated by it.
• 1:09:20
  SPEAKER_03: I I like him too, and he's he's turned it into a nice little like side business for himself, just being the kind of the foil there.
• 1:09:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I think a lot of Pittsburgh fans are just growing to like him because he's just you know, I think he's not it's in good nature.
• 1:09:34
  SPEAKER_03: It seems like it's in good nature.
• 1:09:36
  SPEAKER_03: Well said, yeah.
• 1:09:37
  SPEAKER_03: It's not like a bitter, I hate this, this is so unfair.
• 1:09:40
  SPEAKER_03: It it is good natured.
• 1:09:41
  SPEAKER_03: And Franco, I guess, calls him every year on the anniversary, he calls him on the phone uh on the anniversary of the play.
• 1:09:48
  SPEAKER_03: So those guys have those guys have definitely um you know made that into a long-lasting uh kind of fun thing.
• 1:09:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and the reason another reason it's so big is like the Steelers hadn't won anything ever in the history of the franchise.
• 1:10:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's not even a playoff game.
• 1:10:05
  SPEAKER_01: And that was our first playoff win.
• 1:10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, the next year they played the Dolphins, and the Dolphins won on a fake punt.
• 1:10:14
  SPEAKER_01: So that was kind of disappointing.
• 1:10:16
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't win a Super Bowl that year, and I think that's why I don't make it a top moment, just because it didn't actually directly deliver a championship.
• 1:10:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's the only kind of like strike against it, but it did start the ball rolling on their dynasty, and they would win four Super Bowls later.
• 1:10:30
  SPEAKER_01: And probably without that play, maybe they don't win, maybe they do.
• 1:10:35
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 1:10:36
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's just it's sort of consistently been celebrated.
• 1:10:40
  SPEAKER_03: And I think even recently when the NFL did their hundred greatest moments, I think that was still number one as you know, one of just the greatest moment in NFL history.
• 1:10:49
  SPEAKER_03: And and it's a good point that it did not it won them a playoff game and then they lost the next week.
• 1:10:54
  SPEAKER_03: And I think it's like nobody really seems to remember that for whatever reason.
• 1:10:59
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, there's like a million people that have I was in the stadium, yeah.
• 1:11:03
  SPEAKER_01: There was only 30,000.
• 1:11:04
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't even a sellout, there was only 30,000 people there at the game.
• 1:11:07
  SPEAKER_03: And a lot of people had left early because it looked like it was over.
• 1:11:10
  SPEAKER_03: So and it wasn't on TV, it was blacked out.
• 1:11:13
  SPEAKER_03: Back then you they blacked out games locally so that people would come to the stadium.
• 1:11:18
  SPEAKER_03: And uh it's just it's taken on a life of its own.
• 1:11:22
  SPEAKER_03: That place has taken on a life of its own and will always be remembered.
• 1:11:26
  SPEAKER_01: Well, didn't your didn't your dad's friend leave early?
• 1:11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:11:30
  SPEAKER_01: And he went in the scorehole tunnels when the play happened.
• 1:11:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, my my dad was I couldn't imagine coming out of the score tunnel.
• 1:11:37
  SPEAKER_01: What?
• 1:11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Huh?
• 1:11:37
  SPEAKER_03: What yeah, my dad was at the game.
• 1:11:39
  SPEAKER_01: What just happened?
• 1:11:40
  SPEAKER_03: He was at the game and the guy he went with was one of the people that left early.
• 1:11:43
  SPEAKER_03: He my dad stuck around and uh was one of the few eyewitnesses to that play.
• 1:11:49
  SPEAKER_03: So it's yeah, it's just a uh it's it's a memorable moment.
• 1:11:53
  SPEAKER_03: It's coming up uh on the 50th anniversary here in a couple years, and I'm sure there'll be a lot of to do about that when it hits the 50th anniversary.
• 1:12:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they did uh ESPN did those Peyton's places with Peyton Manning, and that was one of them, and that was a fun.
• 1:12:07
  SPEAKER_01: I watched that episode, and that was that was a fun episode because like once again he had he had you know Frenchie Fouqua, Terry Bradshaw, Franco, and Vil Vil Real or whatever his name is from the Raiders, and it was just it was fun.
• 1:12:23
  SPEAKER_01: And they tried to recreate it with like play like people, and you know, they nobody could do it, not even Peyton Manning could do it.
• 1:12:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it was it was it was just all in good fun, and you know, it's a fun play, and it's it's a great moment in Pittsburgh sports history, even though I wasn't alive to see it before my before my time, but uh it's so ingrained in Pittsburgh lore, much like the next play, the the top moment.
• 1:12:48
  SPEAKER_01: I would put this as the top moment in Pittsburgh sports history.
• 1:12:52
  SPEAKER_01: I can't think of another moment that would be bigger, and um, it's way before either of our time, but you talk to people that lived through it, and um and so in obviously in 1960 in game seven, the pirates were what was the final score that it was like 10-9 or something.
• 1:13:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was high scoring for a baseball game.
• 1:13:13
  SPEAKER_01: Insane.
• 1:13:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then if you watched the replay of that game, which do you know how they found the uh replay?
• 1:13:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there was no tape of this game for like 30 years.
• 1:13:23
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know how the other story behind that?
• 1:13:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Ben Crosby, who was one of the pirates, yeah.
• 1:13:28
  SPEAKER_03: Co-owners of the pirates.
• 1:13:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, he he and and so yeah, so like Steve said, people didn't have there was no VCR back then or D VR or whatever.
• 1:13:39
  SPEAKER_03: And and so if you wanted to record something, you set up a camera and you filmed like the TV set, I guess.
• 1:13:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I think you had to film it in a mirror because it was backwards or something like that.
• 1:13:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, something weird technically.
• 1:13:52
  SPEAKER_03: It was a whole process, I think it was called, I want to say Kinescope process or something like that.
• 1:13:57
  SPEAKER_03: And so Bing Crosby was in Europe or something, and he had somebody film the game for him because he couldn't watch it.
• 1:14:04
  SPEAKER_01: And he was a huge Pirates fan.
• 1:14:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Bing Crosby was a huge Pirates fan.
• 1:14:07
  SPEAKER_03: Well, he was part of it, one of the owners, so yeah, I guess he would have something invested in him.
• 1:14:11
  SPEAKER_03: And that's and they found that film years later, uh, and you actually got to watch the broadcast of the game.
• 1:14:17
  SPEAKER_03: That was really neat to be able to see that because before all they had was sort of like grainy film footage, and it was neat to see the actual broadcast.
• 1:14:24
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a lot of like weird plays, like in the eighth inning, they they tag a guy.
• 1:14:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think the pirates tag a guy at first, but they call him Save.
• 1:14:31
  SPEAKER_01: And the guy, if you watch the it looks like he's out.
• 1:14:34
  SPEAKER_01: And like if you listen to the radio broadcast, Bob Prince even said that that he thought he was out.
• 1:14:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there was when there's um the guy gets who's the shortstop gets hit in the throat.
• 1:14:44
  SPEAKER_01: Tony Kubek.
• 1:14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, gets hit in the throat.
• 1:14:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 1:14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think did they score a run?
• 1:14:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think they scored a run on that.
• 1:14:50
  SPEAKER_01: I think so.
• 1:14:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it would have been an out otherwise.
• 1:14:53
  SPEAKER_03: So there was there were some breaks to just to even get them to that point.
• 1:14:56
  SPEAKER_01: But it happens early.
• 1:14:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like uh, what's his name?
• 1:14:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Bill Mazarowski's the first batter, and it's like the second pitch in.
• 1:15:05
  SPEAKER_01: The guy throws a ball, Ralph Terry throws a ball, and next one he just decides, well, I better throw a strike.
• 1:15:09
  SPEAKER_01: So he throws a meatball, and like he literally like crushes it in the hit a hit a home run in Forbesfield, you you really had to hit a home run.
• 1:15:18
  SPEAKER_01: It was a big field.
• 1:15:20
  SPEAKER_01: It was so big they used to leave the batting cage out in center field.
• 1:15:25
  SPEAKER_01: But uh the wall, if you go to Oakland, um the wall still stands, the part of the wall there.
• 1:15:31
  SPEAKER_01: And a couple years ago, um, I actually went and um I hung out with the uh guys, they play the radio broadcast of game seven on that day.
• 1:15:38
  SPEAKER_01: I I forget what day in October it is, but they replay the game.
• 1:15:43
  SPEAKER_01: And that's always something fun to do if you're bored in October and it's a nice day out.
• 1:15:48
  SPEAKER_01: You get and you stand by the wall and they have like people selling popcorn and stuff, and people hang out and listen to the uh rebroadcast of the game.
• 1:15:56
  SPEAKER_01: But um it won the Pirates a championship.
• 1:15:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's it was the last Pirates World Series for 11 years.
• 1:16:03
  SPEAKER_01: It was their first year World Series since 1925.
• 1:16:07
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was only their first appearance since 1927.
• 1:16:11
  SPEAKER_01: They'd been really bad in the 50s.
• 1:16:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they had Rolf Kiner, that was about it.
• 1:16:16
  SPEAKER_01: That was the infamous branch Ricky quote, we can lose with or without with or without you.
• 1:16:22
  SPEAKER_01: But um yeah, it's uh it's 1960 World Series, the Maz's home run.
• 1:16:27
  SPEAKER_01: He's probably in the hall, he's in the Hall of Fame probably because of that.
• 1:16:30
  SPEAKER_01: If he doesn't hit that home run, he's probably not in the Hall of Fame.
• 1:16:33
  SPEAKER_01: Agreed.
• 1:16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but uh Maz is the was always so nice and humble about it.
• 1:16:38
  SPEAKER_01: And he's he's a legend, much like Franco or Marc-Andre Fleury or Mary LeBiew.
• 1:16:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's yeah, that's that's kind of your Mount Rushmore of Pittsburgh Sports.
• 1:16:48
  SPEAKER_01: There used to be a mural downtown, remember that?
• 1:16:50
  SPEAKER_01: On the one building of Maz running the uh running the bases, but um there's a statue now on the north side of him in the sand.
• 1:17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 1:17:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well that's it, that's the top moments.
• 1:17:04
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you agreed with them or didn't.
• 1:17:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 1:17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh if we missed any, uh let us know.
• 1:17:09
  SPEAKER_03: Check out our website, it's uh Pittsburgh Sports Memories.weavely.com.
• 1:17:14
  SPEAKER_03: You can hit us up there, you can hit us up on Facebook or Twitter, and yeah, let us know if you agree, disagree.
• 1:17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thanks for tuning in.
• 1:17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh just of course one remote about all these great memories, and uh