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Pittsburgh Sports Holiday Moments · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: Hello, and welcome to a very festive episode of Pittsburgh Sports Memories Podcast.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: I'm your co-host, Steve Wirt, and as usual, I'm joined by Santa's Jolly Elf.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Tim Hannon.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_03: So on this episode, we figured it out, we're doing a Christmas episode.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we can say Christmas, right, Tim?
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: We're not gonna, well, whatever.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_03: We just offended.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry to all the other people that celebrate all the other holidays.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, we're gonna celebrate like sports moments that happened on you know holidays or near holidays.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_03: And basically, I kind of limited it to Thanksgiving, some games in between Christmas, and then to like December 30th.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_03: Because I didn't want to do New Year's and New Year's Day, because that could probably be its own podcast, quite honestly.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_03: So um, we're gonna celebrate this season with uh some of the games were definitely uh very nice and we get a present.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_03: And uh some games would definitely um get a big old lump of coal.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_03: So we'll rank each game that way, whether they're naughty or nice or lumps of coal.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_03: So there's there's a few lumps of coal on here.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_03: Um so first up, we'll go with the uh the Thanksgiving Eve game.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_03: Do you know who mainly plays on Thanksgiving Eve, Tim?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_03: This is an easy game.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, that's the penguins.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: I've been to several of those games.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's always that's always like a festive, talk about festive atmosphere.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they say they do it every year pretty much.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_03: I I think except for the pandemic is the one of the few times they haven't done them.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_03: And um it's really become, yeah, like you said, a transition traition, and it's been I'm a goodness, 30, 40 years.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I Thanksgiving Eve is like an underrated like party night.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_03: I just remember that from I'm a little old, long in the tooth for that now, but you know, that was a big night to go out and have time.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_03: Like everybody's in town, and a lot of people come home for college for the holiday and stuff, so that was always a good time.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_03: So on um we'll start with November 22nd, which will be 1972.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_03: So neither of us were alive for this, Tim.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it was a 10-4 route of the St.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_03: Louis Blues, who remember back then the Blues and the Penguins were like in the same division and everything.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_03: And um the uh team they set a NHL record um for five fastest goals, and that was during the third period, and they were scored by Brian Hexall, no Gene Pro Pronovost, Al McDonough, Ken Schenkel, and Ron Schock.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um, all in the span of two minutes and seven seconds.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't know if Brian Hexall is related to any of the other Hexalls.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_03: They are from Pix Pittsburgh, so but um obviously the blues, you know, that was and obviously they were wearing the blue uniforms.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, festive night, one of the early you know, games of that.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_03: So um that definitely would rank a nice and we get a present.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_03: You would definitely that was on the nice list, not the naughty list.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_03: So coming more to our our era, Tim, and I don't know if you went to this game or not, um, but November 27th, 2019, um, there was the Canucks were in town and they scored six goals, but the Penguins scored eight.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_03: So it's uh truly a penguin game.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um the Penguins actually were down at some point six to three, and I think that was in the second period, and um they had to rally back to win.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um Malkin had five points, and uh, you know, a very nice eight to six win.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_03: Um, obviously, this is going to be ranked nice, Tim.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: You know, um, do you remember?
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: I don't remember this game at all in 2019.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I was not there for that one.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: I I know that because I would have remembered that.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: I don't remember it very clearly either.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, eight to six, that's like that's a very old school, yeah, almost like an 80s era hockey game scoring that many goals.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: So you don't get to see that very often, so that would have been fun.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, a great tradition for the Penguins.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_03: Uh playing at home on Thanksgiving Eve is just kind of their thing to do.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think they've played a road game in a while either on Thanksgiving Eve.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_03: So um good time, and you know, it's a good thing for the Penguins.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, what's the what's the saying?
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_03: You know, whatever position you're in on at Thanksgiving is normally where you'll finish the season.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't think the Penguins are anywhere near the playoffs.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that doesn't bode well for the current season we're in.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully that doesn't hold.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_03: It's happened here.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_03: Like so the year St.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_03: Louis won the cup, speaking of St.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: Louis, um, they were in last place in like January, February, but it's rare.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_03: And I remember there was one year the Penguins won the cup when they switched from Terry and the Balsma.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_03: I think they were not in the playoffs, but it was like they were like, you know, like the ninth team or something.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: They weren't completely out of it.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, not that making like the NHL playoffs is all that big of a task.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's you know, just got to be pretty mediocre.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: So next up, we'll move up to the next day on our holiday calendar, which would be the Thanksgiving games.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_03: And um, we're not, you know, the Steelers aren't like the Detroit Lions or the Dallas Cowboys where they play a game.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_03: And apparently I heard somewhere that the uh Cardinals, I guess when they were in St.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_03: Louis, used to play on Thanksgiving.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_03: So um NFL, you know, football and Thanksgiving has become a tradition.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not quite sure why or how, but probably just, you know, because the Lions started playing on Thanksgiving.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_03: So um we've been subjected to a lot of bad football for the years.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_03: This this uh this current last couple years of the Lions notwithstanding.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_03: Hey Tim, if the Steelers don't make it to the Super Bowl this year, are you rooting for the Lions?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: I I'd love I I I one thing this is totally uh off on a tangent, but yeah, one thing since I finally got to see the Steelers win a Super Bowl uh back in what 2005, one thing I've I've kind of had a heart for is like all those other fan bases that have suffered for years and years and years.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: And man, Detroit Lions fans, if if if there's anybody that deserves a championship, it's them.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_03: I would say so, yeah.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, as it I think it they haven't won a championship since like Dick LeBeau and Joe Schmidt and Bobby Lane and So we we it was you know when it was, Steve?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was Buddy Parker Buddy Parker.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he he left and then Bobby Lane left the year after, and Bobby Lane supposedly cursed them on the way out when he came to Pittsburgh, and then they haven't won anything since.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: So kind of kind of kind of a a connection there with the Steelers anyway.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so maybe they'll break that curse this year.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_03: I uh them or Buffalo.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, if them and Buffalo played each other in the Super Bowl, I would feel bad.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: But but but at least one of them would be on D to win.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: So that would be good for again.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, both fan bases absolutely deserve that.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_03: So going on back to Steelers stuff that happened on Thanksgiving, um, the Steelers played the Lions in 1983.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_03: And that was that was once again kind of before my time.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_03: Tim, Tim, you were a fan, kind of, right?
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I vaguely remember I was pretty young.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I I do know how this one turns out.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_03: So Cliff Stout, um they're actually having a good season.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_03: I think they were nine and three, eight and three before the game.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_03: And um cliff, so they're going to the game, and I think the Lions were like six and six.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_03: The Lions weren't anything special, but they go up to Detroit, and uh whoever the quarterback for Detroit has a really good day, and uh Cliff Stout has a really bad day.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: He throws four interceptions and completes nine passes.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_03: Now, I watched some of the highlights, I did see some of the highlights, like some about two of the interceptions were kind of bounce off the receiver type.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't know if those were completely Cliff Stout's fault, but there was another two that were definitely his fault.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: So um they get totally blown out.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_03: The Lions win 45 to 3, and that's a pretty bad result, and the Steelers have lost, and you know, they're still, you know, it I guess, you know, it it's bad enough, but at least like Detroit's only an hour away by flight, and you can fly home and you know get some Thanksgiving, maybe catch the end of the Dallas game, right?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_03: Well, no, they go to the airport and the battery in the plane is uh dead.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_03: Oh no.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_03: So the Steelers have to wait another three hours while they fly a battery from Cleveland to the plane so they can go home.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_03: So they literally, I guess they sat around the Detroit for an extra three hours just for like fun.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: Man, I just would have rented a car at that point.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I don't know.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_03: You probab I mean, what is it, four or five hour drive?
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, maybe you would have made it home in time.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_03: But um, yeah, that was a pretty rough loss and a pretty rough.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, at least it's better than the plane like having that malfunction in mid-air, right?
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: So the the the going back to Cliff Stouth, that was that was a weird season because that was a season that the Terry Bradshaw was hurt.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_03: We gotta cover, I I meant to say we gotta cover this seat.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_03: Have we covered this season?
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: No, not really.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we talked about Terry Bradshaw.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_03: There's a lot that's gone in like this is a dramatic season.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_03: Because they have Stout, they have Mark Malone, and they have Terry Bradshaw, and Terry Bradshaw is kind of leading the Steelers on this whole, and this is the year he does play in that game against the Jets at the end of the year.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: Harris's elbow popped and goes, That's it, I'm done.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_03: Because remember, he tried to come back early having his secret surgery because he didn't want to, he because he just figured the Steelers would cut him.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, and maybe they would have, maybe they would have, and maybe he wasn't wrong, but at the same time, he kind of screwed the Steelers over.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_03: But I think back then things were so much different, and they didn't the union didn't have like there was no free agency, the union didn't have quite the strength that it does now on some of the protections.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_03: And like I think the league just viewed players much more disposably than they do now, whereas people are fan, like I think it was more, you know, people were fans of the teams, not the players.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, I I don't know which model works best.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_03: I mean the NBA has obviously gone the other way where they've gone like people are fans of the players, not the teams, but the Steelers uh the NFL seem to con go with the other what we call paradigm where and I think it makes more sense to get people to be fans of a team because you know, well, of course the NFL's kind of broken down as long as your teams don't fold or move, you're probably gonna develop more of a fan base than where players come and go and retire, and you know.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_03: But that's you know, that's enough of that.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's um, and I'd like to thank um Jaguar Gator 9.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_03: He did a whole d a much better recap of this whole situation than I did on YouTube.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_03: So um the worst thing is Clip Stout bashes the media and fans after the game, like saying, Well, the coaches still like me and stuff.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_03: I guess the fans were starting to kind of turn on him.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_03: And so um, he gets everybody such a big fan that in uh I guess is it the next year, 1984, it comes comes back with the Birmingham Stallions to play the Maulers, and people actually throw snowballs at him.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_03: So, and I think we we covered that in the defunct teams episode.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I feel like we've covered bits and pieces of that '83 season.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that was also the year they drafted Gay Rivera.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: That was, I mean, there so there's a lot, but there's a lot to cover in that season.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: I I agree.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: That would be a good episode just going through that whole year.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, with the Terry Bradshaw drama, the Gabe Rivera stuff.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_03: Because the Gay Rivera stuff happened in the middle of the season, didn't it?
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_03: He actually played, yeah, a couple games.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_03: So uh obviously the rank of this was the naughty.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_03: He gets a lump of coal.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, if Cliff Stout was throwing the lump of coal, it would have been intercepted by one of the Detroit Lions.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: So um, next up, and uh I know we both remember I don't think we watched this game together, Tim, but I know we both watch this game, and you know what game I'm talking about, don't you?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: Coin toss.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, by all means, this is not a comprehensive list.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_03: This is just games that I thought were memorable, or you know, we remember.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm sure there's other games I may have forgotten.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_03: Feel free to let us know on Facebook, which I'm sure everybody will.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um in 1998, um, the Steelers planned to play the Lions again.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I didn't write down the date on this one, so sometime in late November of whatever Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday of November.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_03: November 1998.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, whatever date that was.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um so it's a close game, and I think the Steelers had a good uh they had a good record going into this game, right?
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_03: I do believe.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: Let's look up yeah, they were um seven and four, I believe.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_03: So they they were they were seven and four going into that game.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_03: That's crazy due to what happens later in that season after all this.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_03: So and that they were competitive, and Detroit wasn't bad.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_03: This wasn't like the 2000s where Detroit was just really god-awful.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_03: And um, some people you might remember, um Barry Sanders did play in this game, and Charlie Batch played in this game.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_03: And um, I do believe um, oh, who was their big one?
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_03: Was it Herman Moore was their big wide receiver?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if Mel Gray was still around returning kicks, but um, they had a good team.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_03: They had a good team, and they had some good guys on uh defense too.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_03: Was they still a Porsche, maybe?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_03: Or Porsche?
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_03: I but they they had a good team and they played the the Steelers played them tough.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_03: And um late in the game, Norm Johnson kicks a field goal to tie the game at 16.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_03: So the game goes to overtime, and during overtime, and I think we've covered this in the what the refs when the refs screwed Pittsburgh podcast, um Phil Lockett tosses the coin and Jerome Bettis.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_03: It sounds like on tape to me, he says tails.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_03: But Phil Luckett swears he says head tails.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_03: So he said he said heads first, so he went with the first call, which was heads.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_03: And I mean I don't know.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_03: You listen to the audio, I don't do do you ever hear head tails in that, Tim?
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: No, I mean it's that seems like such a stretch.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I I mean you hear like it sounds censored to me.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_03: Like it sounds like there he says nothing.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_03: And why would Jerome Bettis like I don't know if Jerome Bettis has ever met admitted to saying headtails or what, but that's what Phil Lockett went with.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_03: And so the Steelers lost the coin toss, and Detroit gets the coin toss, and this is back in the old school sudden death rules before they, you know, because it wasn't Brett Favre calling headtails, nobody cared.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um so Detroit drives down the field, Charlie Batch and Company drive down the field, they kick a I think a Chris Elliott field goal, or and bang, they run out of there.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe it's Chris Hansen.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_03: One of them.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I don't know.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_03: One of the whoever the field goal kicker for Detroit in the 90s was kicks a field goal, lions win 1916.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was I think it was Jason Hanson.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_03: It's in, yeah, that's it.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: Chris Hansen's the guy that some you don't want to see.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: If you come into somebody's house, yeah, he Chris Hansen would have been like to Phil Luckett.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_03: What are you doing here?
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_03: Jason Hanson, that was it.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_03: That's the name.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_03: That's the Hansen I was looking for.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_03: Jason Hansen just kicked field goals in a generally all-ground decent person, I'm sure.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um and uh fun fact about this game, Barry Sanders.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, do you know this was his last win in the NFL?
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: No, I didn't know.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: Detroit lost every game the rest of the year.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_03: Also, um, you know what happened is the Steelers lost a bunch of games the rest of the year.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_03: I think they finished the record with seven wins, so the Steelers lost the rest of their games.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_03: They ended up seven and nine.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_03: Hard to believe.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_03: They totally fell apart.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Cordell Stewart fell apart and the team fell apart.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_03: Cordell was the quarterback, by the way, for the Steelers for this game.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_03: So it was just a pretty terrible.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_03: It was a turning point game for the Steelers because this kind of I guess ended that little mini 90s run.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: And it would be two or three more seasons before the Steelers were competitive again.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: So Yeah, that's a good point.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: That really does does mark like the line there where things kind of went south for the next three years.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh what I remember about that Thanksgiving, Steve, was um we my my family, my relatives that we always got together with over Thanksgiving.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: It was the first year we didn't have it at somebody's house.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: We decided to do like the go to a restaurant thing.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: Did you ever do that for Thanksgiving?
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I've done it for Christmas, but I don't think I've ever done it for Thanksgiving.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't recommend it.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's very impersonal.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's not you know what I mean, it's not the same thing.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's not the same as sitting around a some a dining room table at the end.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_03: And here like your drunk uncle talk politics or you know, well, that can still happen at your dining room table.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: But there's things or your restaurant, yeah.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Something less personal about it.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: I just remember we all met at the restaurant did you go to?
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_03: Do you remember?
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I don't remember.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: I have no idea.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_03: So it wasn't like an olive garden or buca de pepper.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: No, it was like a place, it was like a place that like a family, yeah.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_03: Like family.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that like had a Thanksgiving dinner.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like you they'd sign people up, like make a reservation, you can come on Thanksgiving.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so we went after that game ended, and I just remember sitting at the restaurant and everybody was just in a sour mood.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_03: You should have flipped a coin on the choice of the restaurant called Pentail.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_03: Do you remember some of the more aftermath was the NFL?
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_03: Remember, you used to call it in the air.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I I I mean, I never really understood why you you couldn't really cheat not calling.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_03: So remember the NFL the next week changed it.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_03: Was it the next week or the next year?
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_03: I think it was that in season.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was that season.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_03: It was an a rare in-season rules change that you had to call it before they flipped the coin, and it's still to that day.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_03: I don't I've understood the point of calling it in the air.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: So the the point of that is uh even though it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, the point of it is less likely to cheat.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_03: Like you can look, oh, I know if they flipped it on tails.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and what if you don't what if it doesn't flip?
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: What if you can manage to just throw it straight up and it comes in the floor?
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_03: But it's the referees flipping it, not I mean, if I was flipping it, I think it's more if I was flipping it, you know what I mean?
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's that's and normally the person that flips it, the person that's not the flipper calls the coin toss, right?
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_03: I I think that's coin toss etiquette, right?
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, yeah.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and I it I i yeah, I don't even think the N it was the NFL really.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was I think that, like you said, it's just coin toss etiquette.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: Because then it doesn't matter who's flipping it.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: If you're calling it in the air, then it doesn't, you know, you can't do it you can't do anything to influence the outcome because you don't know what the outcome's gonna be until the coin's in the air.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that was the point of it.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: But you're right, with the referee doing it, I think they were probably overthinking that.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so yeah.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like the funny thing is they never how many hundreds of games did they have a coin toss for?
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, nothing ever happened.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing ever happened.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: How many games hundreds of games?
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_03: With permanent with commemorative coins, too.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_03: Like these coins don't actually have a like, you know, a picture of George Washington and an eagle on the back or whatever the hell's on the back of a quarter anymore.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_03: When's the last time you used a quarter for anything?
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh to to be fair, I mean, it it was is it was super frustrating at the time, but it's kind of uh I hate to say like I'm glad it happened.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not glad it happened, but but it does give us something to forever remember about that game in that season because the Steelers, yeah, they were seven and four, but that was a that was a rocky season.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: And the fact that they lost the rest of their games wasn't just because of the coin toss, it was because they weren't very good.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_03: It was absolutely the coin toss in Phil Lockett.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_03: And it's funny because I think Phil Lockett did a fairly Was he the one that officiated that Jets game later that year?
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, where Vinny Testaverdi landed at the one yard line and they gave him a touchdown.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he wasn't him who called it.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_03: And that this is basically the season that brought in like it's a replay again.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: There were a bunch of terrible calls that year.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: Although that would have done nothing with the coin costs.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then poor Phil Luckett, they moved him.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_03: The back judge, yeah.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then he crashed into was it like Joe Horde?
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: It was like one.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_03: That happens.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_03: It happens.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's happened to more.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_03: I've seen it happen to more officials than like Phil Lockett.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's happened to other people, but it's it's just it just was it that that guy just yeah.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: Everything just sort of he was always in the center of controversy.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_03: And it was it wasn't necessarily bad officiating either.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_03: It was yeah.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_03: The call at the three wasn't his call.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_03: It's the line judge, it's the guy on the side.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I guess he could overrule if it's blatant, but he wouldn't have a good angle because as the referee, he's standing behind the play.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_03: And if you've ever watched a football game live and in person, if you're not like lined up, that's why they stand right on the sideline, because you can get a really good sight of where the ball is when the guy goes down.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_03: So there's it wouldn't even have been his call unless it's like he can overrule a call, but it has to be like he has to have like a better angle, and like, okay, that guy was in the end zone, and that was yeah, Vinny E scored a touchdown on the two or three or something.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: So it was it was just such a blatantly horrible call.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_03: And it got Dennis Erickson fired.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: It did.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: I mean there were there were a bunch of calls that season.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: There was a um a pass interference on a Hail Mary that that cost Buffalo a game.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: There was a Jerry Rice fumbled in the playoffs, yeah.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that cost I think that was against the Packers.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: Packers, yeah, it was the Packers.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: And that cost the Packers their season.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there were just these terrible, awful calls that replay would have overturned probably all of them, not necessarily the pass interference one, but at least the other two, yeah.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's it and it that happens in the NFL all the time.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's like there's it's a very reactive league.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I think too, with the game, well, now with the gambling, they have to be more cognizant of it because I mean now the gambling's legal, like how long before people like start Tim Donaheeing stuff, you know?
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_03: Once again, I digress.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I'm going to call the next that was uh the end of our Thanksgiving games there, Tim.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_03: Did you enjoy?
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_03: Do you feel like sleepy after all that Thanksgiving?
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of tryptofen in that in that we guess.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I'm calling these games the Hanukkah games.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_03: And uh it's just because they happened in like a weird time.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_03: Like they weren't like you know, they are normally the time between like Christmas Day and December and New Year's Eve Day.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_03: Is that a thing?
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_03: New Year's Eve Day?
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_03: Like this first game, December 30th.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_03: Would that be New Year's Eve Day Eve?
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_03: It's like it's like the 23rd would be Christmas Eve Day Eve, right?
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: Math checks out.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_03: I made that joke for like 20 years and the kids still don't think it's funny at home.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: Shocking.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I know it's the ultimate dad joke.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_03: But um, so Hanukkah Games, uh, December 30th, 1977.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_03: I was maybe a year old.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_03: So we were both alive, but not very cognizant for this game.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_03: We cried a lot at this game because you know, we were probably babies and we cried.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um Clemson, uh uh Pitt played Clemson.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um, Pitt scored 34, Clemson scored three.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_03: It was the Gator Bowl in 1977.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_03: And don't worry, folks, no gators were hurt in the making of this bowl game.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_03: Uh not even Florida Gators.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Jackie Sherrill's uh his first season, his only loss to that season was to Penn State, Notre Dame.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_03: Although he did tied Florida, speaking of Florida Gators, so this is their second trip to Florida that year.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_03: And um the quarterback, I don't think the quarterback was even.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_03: I think Tony Dorset had left.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_03: I think it was Kavanaugh.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_03: I think it was still Kavanaugh.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_03: So they they they won pretty handily over Clemson, kind of had a disappointing season with those two losses in the tie.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_03: And um, hey, and he they they were I think they were in like the high 20s, like you know, they were like that 20 and 25 ranking.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_03: So they were kind of a good team, but not a great team.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_03: So still kind of a hangover from the national championship, which they had won the year before.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, that that that ranking is a big nice, a big ranking of nice.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_03: The Phil Luckett game was by a ranking of big lump of coal delivered to Phil Luckett in the NFL for not knowing how to do a coin toss.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Matt Kavanaugh set a record.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think he almost had almost 400 yards passing in that game, which was at the time a record for that bowl game.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_03: So well, he was previewing for his uh backup career and uh as an NFL.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_03: He's won a couple Super Bowls with the 49ers, uh right?
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_03: So next up is the um December 30th, um, 1989.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_03: It would be the Sun Bowl.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_03: The Bowl from the Sun.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_03: We've had many Sun Sun Bowl memories.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_03: Don't we Tim?
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_03: Uh this one, um it was uh Pit 31, Texas AM 28.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and they actually changed the name of the Sun Bowl for like four years to the John Hancock Bowl because of not because they were big patriots or anything.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_03: I think John Hancock was some sort of bank or financial services company.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um weird thing about this bowl game was Coach Mike Gottfree got fired 11 days before the game because he was arguing with the athletic director of Pitt.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_03: What a shocker back in those days.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_03: Although now it seems it goes the other way.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like the I I I think uh what's his name?
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Coach uh Narduzzi got uh Heather fired there.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_03: Doesn't it seem like that?
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, you think so?
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_03: I I'm kinda suspicious because they were like, oh, she wasn't raising enough money.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_03: And remember they couldn't keep Jordan Addison a couple years ago.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_03: And I wonder if that was just kind of like some of the fallout from um some of that, and now they're worried they're gonna lose Eli, so they gotta make sure they they raise a bunch of money to keep Eli happy.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean I don't I don't know that it was like him specifically, but probably the football program specifically that that definitely did it run.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I mean, like I said, losing Addison and you know just being so cheap and then building that monstrosity they're building for volleyball.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I really volleyball is good, but what, they can't use the Peterson Event Center?
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_03: Why do we build the Peterson Event Center?
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_03: Just for basketball only, Tim.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_03: That's it.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_03: You cannot use it for any other sport.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_03: Anyway, um Kervin Richards, remember him?
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_03: He scored away.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Alex Van Feld, another pick quarterback, had a great day.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_03: He is Venvp.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_03: And um, I would say the ranking for the game is very nice, but the athletic department was very naughty.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_03: So so this is kind of a split ranking there.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_03: You know, the game and the players get a big you know present in the you know, whoever the athletic director back in 1989, and Wesley Pottsvar get a lump of coal.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was uh that was actually a really good game.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: Came down to the last, I want to say the last minute, and Van Pelt throws a touchdown at the very end of the game to win it.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_03: I think I don't think Pitt was ranked at the end of that season.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't look at that.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_03: They might have been.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_03: If they were, it was like I remember that season too because there was a tie against West Virginia that year.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_03: I remember that.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: I remember in Morgantown, I believe.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because I remember that game distinctly.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_03: I remember them kicking a field goal, like it was like as time expired to tie the game.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_03: It was like the most ridiculous thing.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: But well, and and if you if you watch, I think we posted that on our Facebook page at one point, the clip of that West Virginia game, because Pitt goes crazy and West Virginia looks very dejected.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: And it looks like Pitt just won the game.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: But it's a tie.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's a tie.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but that was when West Virginia had Major Harris.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: West Virginia was a much better team than Pitt at the time, so it was actually an upset for Pitt to go down there and and tie.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe they should bring ties back, Tim.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_03: At least in the regular season.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_03: Nah.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_03: I I I kind of like uh then just save it for the playoffs.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_03: Makes it much more interesting.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I'm I'm I'm fine with like the game actually having a winner.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_03: Do you want to talk about the three to nothing Sun Bowl?
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was was that New Year's Eve?
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, here it is.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_03: December 31st.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_03: So it's kind of outside our purview, but it was a terrible game, Tim.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was I I don't know what I don't know what else there is to say about it.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: It was like the most scrolling thing I've ever done through.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_03: I remember watching that with my parents, and like I remember uh who the kicker missing like a 50-yard field goal at the end of the game.
• 31:46
  unknown: Yeah.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_03: So anyway, that's enough said about the that Sun Bowl.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_03: Because that's why maybe we'll talk about that more in depth on if we ever do a New Year's Day game.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_00: He waits, he throws the pass, and it's in his fix!
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_02: Good ball onto it to 40.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_02: 35 30.
• 32:07
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• 32:08
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• 32:11
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• 32:21
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• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: There were legendary plays like Troy Polomalu's Pick Six and The Immaculate Extension, and there were crazy incidents like Joey Porter chasing Ray Lewis into the parking lot, or the Ravens putting a bounty on Heinz Ward.
• 32:39
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• 32:44
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• 32:49
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• 32:53
  SPEAKER_03: And thanks for supporting the podcast.com bowl.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_03: Which uh is a great game.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_03: Larry Fitzgerald makes this amazing highlight catch where you know everybody calls him the reincarnation of Jerry Rice and Ray Berry.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_03: But um, it's a great game.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_03: And Pitt dominates 38-13.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um, Brandon Myrie, remember him?
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_03: A running back for Pitt has a solid game.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_03: And actually, more importantly, is the Oregon State had a pretty good running back, Steven Jackson.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_03: I remember him going to the NFL.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_03: He wasn't terrible in the NFL, wasn't he?
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, he was really good in the NFL for a while for the Rangers.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and Pitt totally shut him down.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, maybe it was just a product of them scoring a lot of points, but I mean, holding them the 13 is no joke.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_03: So good for them.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um I definitely um ranked this one nice.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's a very nice, nice win for Pitt.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_03: And remember the next season on the buses, like when they were trying to sell season tickets, because Pitt, unlike the Steelers, always has to scramble to be selling season tickets.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_03: They had like Larry Fitzgerald like in the air catching that ball, and like he it's like flights leave, you know, reserve your flight now.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_03: It was a cool, it was just a great thing to do.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_03: And Larry Fitzgerald, you know, well uh that's probably would you say that's his biggest highlighted pit?
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um probably his most iconic.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: Either that or the catch he made against Texas AM the year after.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: That was a that was another highlight, real one.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: But but it wasn't in a bowl game.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: And and it was just the the foreshadowing there of them comparing him to Jerry Rice, and then he actually ends up 20 years later finishing his career second in receptions all time to Jerry Rice.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_03: So how long the when did he retire?
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_03: Is he eligible for the Hall of Fame yet?
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think he's quite eligible yet.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe a couple more years.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: Steven Jackson, by the way, has been eligible for the Hall of Fame and has been a final has been a one of the seven finalists.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_01: He's only one of 21 players in NFL history to have at least 11,000 career rushing yards.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, he went over 10,000 rushing yards.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_03: That's a good career.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_03: Like Bettis.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's like almost up there with Bettis.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: He's a he's he's actually a borderline hall of fame.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: I would not have remembered that.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: I just googled it real quick.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: I would not have like I remember him being pretty good, but I didn't remember him being that good.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_03: Well, remember the the Rams kind of like that was after Kurt Warner and all them.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_03: Like I think they had Bulger, maybe still.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and they actually had some good teams, but they didn't But they weren't complete garbage yet.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_03: Like, remember, yeah, then Jeff Fisher took over and they were complete garbage for a couple years.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_03: Till they moved to LA.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_03: That move, you know, was not very nice.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_03: That would definitely get a lump of coal, but I'm I can it made sense to me.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_03: I tell you what is completely naughty is that idiot Spanos moving the team from San Diego to LA.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_03: That's he it totally destroyed his team.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_03: It like LA, he should have just stayed in San Diego and figured out a way to build a stadium.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_03: That was just dumb.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_01: I still hate calling them the Los Angeles Chargers.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: It just doesn't feel like that.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_03: I I think they I I hope in the near future they move back to San Diego.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_03: I I would I I think that might happen eventually.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_03: Although I I don't know.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it wouldn't be that hard.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_03: It's not like that stadium would be empty, it would just be Rams games, and that that makes a lot more sense.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_03: Because like if you ever watch like a Chargers home game, then there's never any Chargers fans.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: The the NFL doesn't care.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, whatever's the most money-making thing, you know.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_03: But they used to sell out that like they they had good attendance, and it's just because San Diego was like, no, we don't need to build you your own stadium.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_03: Like they found private funding for this stadium in LA.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_03: Why couldn't they whatever?
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_03: I digress again.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_03: This has been a lot of stream accompanists today, Tim.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_03: I do apologize.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_03: Um, December 30th, 2022.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_03: I know you know where you were this day, Tim.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_03: It's another Sun Bowl, and I promise it's not three to nothing this time.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um, pit 37, UCLA 35.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_03: We watched this game together, Tim.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_03: We had the we had a blast, it was a great time.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um, Nick Patty.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_03: Boy, career backup seemed to get hurt at the worst inopportune times, like against Tennessee that season, or was he the guy that got hurt against Michigan State in that bowl game?
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_03: We probably should have beat Michigan State handily.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: He was the one that got hurt, and I remember the kid that came in after that.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_01: It was like their third stringer.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_03: String.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_03: And they almost beat Michigan State.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_03: I remember it said, oh, Pitt can never compete in the Big Ten.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_03: Pitt almost beat Michigan State with their third string quarterback.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_03: I think they'll be just fine.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they probably won't beat Ohio State and Michigan on a regular basis, but guess who doesn't beat them either on a regular basis?
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: That other school in Pennsylvania.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_03: But anyway, I digress again.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um Nick Patty really played the game of his life.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um, remember Dorian Thompson Robinson?
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_03: He like, he like, it's like random pit.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_03: I think Chip Kelly was still the coach of UCLA at that point, too.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_03: He like scores a touchdown on a rushing play and like he starts talking trash on the pit players for no reason.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_03: It's like it's not like it's a rivalry game or like like he get and it just totally fires up Pitt.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_03: It seems to fire up the pit defense, and like then he gets hurt, and then he doesn't come back in.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like, and that was when Pitt was coming back.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like if he stays in the game, they probably UCLA probably wins this pretty much like going away.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_03: But because he got hurt, they let Pitt hang around and they come back, and Nick Patty makes this great play.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_03: Like, they get the ball, what, because UCLA scored late to take the lead, and then Pitt gets the ball, and Nick Patty drives the ball, drives them down the field in like what 30 seconds, 40 seconds, something like that.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_03: And like I remember this play distinctly.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_03: The highlight of the game is Nick Patty running for what 15 yards because there was like 10, there was less than 10 seconds left, I think.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_03: And and I remember you going, no, and I'm like, if he makes 10 yards, he's okay because the clock stops when you get a first down.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_03: And he almost like gets tackled like a yard short short, but he gets the first down and it stops the clock, and they spike the clock the ball.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_03: And I think what a Bensall's kick, like a 50-some yard field goal.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was not a chip shot, and that was the ball game.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_03: That was the winner.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_03: And uh man, what a what a great game! Way to fun watching it.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_03: And uh it was fun watching DTR Pout.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_03: And now he's a Cleveland Brown, so I'm sure he fits right in up there in Cleveland.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_03: Any any other thoughts on the Sunball?
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I just I I was I couldn't the the best thing about that was uh seeing him lose.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: He's such a policy.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't, I mean just yeah.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_01: Just just it was so great just seeing him lose.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_03: So you're not not a big DTR fan, huh?
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_03: Well that ranking was definitely nice.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_03: We all got presents.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_03: Nick Patty deserved it.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_03: And then Nick Patty rode off into the sunset.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_03: I maybe you saw because like then he he had one more year of eligibility after that, and he just decided, eh, I'm gonna leave and go home.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_03: So good for him.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um, he'll be a pit legend forever.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so Christmas Eve.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_03: We're going to Christmas Eve games, Tim.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_03: And these are mainly uh gonna be Steeler games because I don't remember.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_03: Pitt might have played on Christmas Eve.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_03: I don't remember them.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't put anything.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_03: Like I said, it's not a comprehensive list.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_03: Um a lot of these games too are at the end of the season for the Steelers, so like they had stuff clinched and it really was kind of meaningless.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_03: So December 24th, 1994, the Chargers, speaking of the San Diego Chargers at the time, um beat the Steelers 37-34.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I remember O'Donnell started the game, but he left early.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_03: Tom Zack played most of the game and actually played pretty well.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I think late in the game he threw what they on a fourth down, they just came up short in the end zone or something like that.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um they almost won the game.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but it was a meaningless game.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_03: I think the Steelers had everything wrapped up that season.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_03: That was their what 12-4 season.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_03: So they had everything wrapped up.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_03: I think they even had home field wrapped up by that point.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_03: So uh the one the one of the on a personal note, this is the um this date is the first and last time I've ever tried chew.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_03: I was working that evening, and I remember I remember like two, and like I got really sick.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_03: It made me violently ill.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_03: And so I was throwing up in my bathroom at listening to the end of the Steeler game, and I was like, oh, incompletion, Tomzak, and I was like, like, yeah, I was just I I threw up a grilled chicken.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_03: I remember that.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_03: It was a grilled chicken from Wendy's because I worked at Wendy's and nice I I distinctly remember that too.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_03: Any any any personal memories from December 24, 1994?
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was um my uh my grandfather, my grandmother had passed away a few years earlier, my grandfather had gotten remarried, and they were hosting Christmas Eve at their house, and my grandfather's wife was doing all the cooking, and my family is Italian, and his wife was not Italian.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_01: Oh no.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_01: And in her family, I guess the way it worked was you you you don't eat until it's dinner time.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_01: And in our Italian family, the way it worked was you had food out or you had cookies out or you had something.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_01: You had food sort of like all day because Yeah, you just kind of snack on it all day.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and you're Italian, you just have to have food out all the time.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_01: So she was like making everybody It's your love language.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so everybody had to wait until dinner time, which was after the game ended.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my god.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I just remember my cousin literally going in to the kitchen and like stealing food like covertly and sneaking it into the to the other room where we were watching the football game.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_03: What are you what are you doing over there?
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_03: Nothing.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_03: Crunchy.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_03: Nothing.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_01: I was watching her groom.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_01: Very very nice, you know, nice, nice lady.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_01: She just had different family traditions than we did.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just it's just kind of funny to see that clash, you know, because it's like in my family we did it this way, and in our family we did it a different way.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: And nothing wrong with either way, just didn't didn't yell very well.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_01: So that's what I always remember about that.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_03: That's uh you know, I think at that point you gotta adjust, you know, you gotta at least put out some snacks, put a bat bowl of chips or something in there.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah oh well.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_03: I guess it was her house and she can do whatever she wants.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_03: So did you ever have Christmas Eve over her house ever again after that?
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I I I don't think we did that too many times after that.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_03: I think that was a good idea.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_03: And if we did, you do like everybody knew, eat something.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, bring a pack of ho-hos with you or something.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_03: That's hilarious.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I'm given the uh the 94 rank of uh ranking a lump of coal and a preview of things to come.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_03: Losing to San Diego apparently was a popular thing to do that year.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_03: So um I think Natron Means had a touchdown.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know why.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_03: Well, no, because San Diego had still had something to play for, didn't they?
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think they had clinched the playoffs yet.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_03: So boy, if they would have won that game, maybe they would have made it to the Super Bowl that year.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe not.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so fast forwarding to December 24th, 1995, and the Steelers play Green Bay, and they lose 24 to 19.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_03: Another it was another meaningless game at the end of the season.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_03: Do you remember that?
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it was just and I think O'Donnell did play the whole game, if I remember correctly, for no apparent reason.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_03: Because I'm at the end of this game, I remember it was it Yancey Thigpen or Andre Hastings, like they they had a clear touchdown and he dropped it.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was Yancey Thigpin, it was the corner of the end zone, and that actually put gave Green Bay the division.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_01: So it mattered a lot to Green Bay.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_03: But it didn't matter anything for us.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_01: No, it didn't.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_03: Because we weren't even the number one seed that year.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_03: We were like the number two seed.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_03: We were locked in as the number two seed, so it didn't matter.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_01: But it but it mattered for Green Bay, and then Green Bay ended up in the uh NFC championship game that year against the Cowboys.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_03: Uh the Brett Favre losing to the Cowboys era, huh?
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_03: Charles Haley, he terrorized Brett Favre.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, this game, I I say a lump of coal.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know, just because they lost, and they could have lost, could have won, and cost Green Bay the division, and I don't know, ruined Brett Favre's day.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_03: But Brett Favre, Brett Favre, Brett Favre.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_03: So um, how about um December 24th, 2006?
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um, the Steelers play Baltimore.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_03: They lose 31-7.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_03: This is the second to last game of Bill Cower's career.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_03: This is really a forgettable season.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_03: This was the Super Bowl hangover year.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_03: The Steelers had kind of turned it around in the second half, but Baltimore was really good that year.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_03: Steve McNair threw three touchdown passes.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_03: He did throw two interceptions, but Steve McNair owned the Steelers.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um, Willie Parker only had 30 yards rushing.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it really wasn't much of a game.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_03: They sacked Ben Rothelsberger a lot.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_03: Um, do you remember anything about this game on Christmas Eve, Tim?
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it was just yet another loss to Steve McNair.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_01: It was a bad that was just that that whole 2006 season went south from the minute Ben got into the motorcycle accident onward.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_03: They won the first game against Miami and Nick Saban, but outside of that.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_01: I mean it was an eight, it was an eight and eight season, so it wasn't like it was terrible, but it was just it, you know, coming off of a Super Bowl win, you were like, okay, can they repeat?
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_01: I wonder if they can repeat, and and then it just about halfway through the season, you're like, yeah, we're not repeating.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_01: We'll be very lucky to make the playoffs, and that's what ended up happening was we didn't make the playoffs.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, this is the the next game was the last game of Bill Cower's career, and they won in overtime against Cincinnati.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um, how about December 24th, 2022?
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_03: I definitely remember this game.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_03: Steelers 13.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_03: The God.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_03: The Vegas Raid.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_03: That doesn't even sound right.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_03: The Raiders 10.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_03: What a what an what an abomination.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um the Steelers win one for Franco.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_03: They beat the Raiders.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_03: I just remember it was freezing.
• 48:52
  unknown: Yeah.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_03: It was like negative two or something.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_03: It was so did you go to this game?
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_03: Did your dad?
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_03: I hope you didn't take your make your dad go to this game.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_01: No, I think I think we actually sold our tickets um months before the game because just because it was Christmas Eve.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_01: And we always Christmas Eve's a big deal in my family.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_01: We always Christmas Eve was always more important than Christmas Day.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so we didn't want to go to a football game on Christmas Eve.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_03: You could have eaten before dinner there.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we could have.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good point.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_03: But uh, I think uh this is a uh Kenny Pickett game, isn't it?
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it is.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he drives them down the field late, they and they kick a field goal, score a touchdown again, I remember.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_03: And they they win at the end.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_03: Kenny Pickett, like I think Kenny Pickett has six fourth quarter comebacks for a guy who supposedly stinks, but hey, whatever.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um I I I rank this game as a nice, it's definitely nice, and it was emotional because Frank, this was supposed to be they were retiring Franco Harris's number for this game.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_03: It was like a big celebration of Franco and the Immaculate Reception, and uh Villy Piano was gonna be there from the Raiders, all the Steeler teammates from the 70s are gonna be there, and then um Franco died that week.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_03: He actually died that week before the game.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_03: It was sad, it was sad, it really was.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_03: But the Steelers come through and pull out a win against I think Derek Carr still played for the Raiders at that point, yeah.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_03: So any other memories of that game, Tim?
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_01: No, like you said, good, good uh memory for for you know Franco.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I I think what I remembered about that game was everybody was kind of like, oh, this Kenny Pickett kid is he's pretty clutch, you know.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe he'll he'll turn out and then we all know what happened after that.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_03: Seriously.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_03: So I rank that nice, of course.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um, another fun, fun game, December 24th, 2005.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_03: The Steelers whoop it up on Cleveland 41 to nothing.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_03: This was in the Super Bowl run season where they had to win every game at the end of the season.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_03: Cleveland stunk.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_03: I think they started Charlie Fry, I want to say, at quarterback.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_03: I think it wasn't it wasn't even a game.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_03: Like I think the first or second play of the game, Willie Parker went for 80 yards and you knew it was gonna be one of those.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um, the highlight of this game was James Harrison, who wasn't even a starter.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know, he was a starter by then, right?
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, he wasn't.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_01: He was like a special teams player at that time.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_03: So he he slammed a Cleveland fan who had the audacity to run on his field.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_03: And uh that fan promptly got banned from games.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know for life, but for a while.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_03: And that guy did turn his life around.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_03: He he doesn't drink anymore and such, but um, I ranked this game nice just because we needed it to go get to the playoffs, and uh, I ranked the Cleveland fan very naughty.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know what I ranked James Harrison.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_03: He just died I don't uh he he's James Harrison, he gets his own category.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um moving to Christmas Day game.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_03: So Merry Christmas, Tim.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_03: Let's watch some football.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_03: I don't like Christmas Day games.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_03: I wish they wouldn't play on Christmas, but hey, that's just me.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_03: But um Steelers 34, Houston 6.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_03: This was December, of course, Christmas Day 2017.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um this is a win to go 12-3.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_03: Houston was playing Tyler Heineke.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh, and TJ Yates at quarterback.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_03: JJ Watt, not TJ, JJ did not play that game.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um, though 2017 was TJ.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_03: I think TJ Watt was on the Steelers by then, yes.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was his rookie year.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um Antonio Brown didn't even play in this game.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um defense totally shut down Houston.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um I ranked this game nice.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_03: It was a blowout win they needed to do, you know, where road blowout win.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_03: But the Steelers were a pretty decent team that year.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_03: And um the aftermath was uh the Steelers lost to Jacksonville because the defense stunk.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_03: The defense still was very soft that year.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_03: They couldn't stop the run.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_03: Because I remember they lost to Jacksonville earlier in the year, and I thought, boy, that really is the formula to beating the Steelers, just lining up and running right at them.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_03: And that's basically what uh Doug Marone and Jacksonville did.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then and then that was the year that we lost Ryan J's ear, and then any any hope of stopping anything was gone.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_01: But I remember about that that Texans game was it wasn't a very good game, and again, like you said, it was a blowout.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_01: But DeAndre Hopkins for the Texans.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, he made that unbelievable catch, yeah.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_03: It was like I was like behind his back, or I don't know.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_03: It was like a crazy catch.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_01: One of the best catches you'll ever see.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, he's like the the steeler defenders laying on the ground because I saw I was researching, and he like taps his toes as he's like you know, grabs the ball and he's on top of a steel or defender, but he still gets his feet in.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_03: It it was a pretty impressive catch.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_03: And Bill O'Brien, not a very good coach, I guess.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe I think he's a good offensive coordinator, but maybe head coach.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, trading, he traded away a lot of stuff for no apparent reason.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um next up on our list was um December 25th, 2016.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_03: Steelers 31, Baltimore 27.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_03: I remember this, Cabe.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_03: This was a big game.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_03: This is for the division, as many Steelers Ravens game come down.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure it's in your book, right, Tim?
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_03: You you probably cover this in your book.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, extensively.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_03: Ben was okay.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_03: He threw some bad interceptions.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and this game actually, um, the Steelers do win 31-27.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_03: And I thought this was kind of that era of they had the you know, Bell, Brown, Ben, and Boswell.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_03: That's hard to believe Boswell's been around that long, but he was.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_03: And they were I thought they were like still, I thought Bell and Brown were paycheck players.
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I thought, well, maybe they'll gut it out and you know become better players, like, you know, actually, and I thought this was the game Antonio Brown really proved that he was more than just a stats guy, the guy that was just looking to get a paycheck.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_03: Because at the end of this game, the Steelers are losing and they need a touchdown, I think, to win.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_03: And they Ben hits him at like the two, and like three Ravens hit him at like the goal line, and he somehow muscles the ball in and reaches out and puts the ball across the goal line before he gets pushed back into the field.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_03: And if he doesn't do that, I think the Steelers lose because I think there was less than 10 seconds left and they had no timeouts.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a pretty dramatic game.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_03: A very good game.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's it's crazy that they because like you said, they they had time for they probably had time for two plays, uh, but when when he hit Brown short of the goal line, that's that's the game if he gets tackled.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_01: And the and the two guys that you talked about the retiring.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_01: It was CJ Mosley and Eric Weddle who were both Pro Bowl defenders.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_01: And and both had a definite size advantage on Antonio Brown.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they should have been able to stop him, but he literally just plowed his way through.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I really thought that game was the they would turn the corner.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_03: I thought, okay, this team's, you know, got a lot of heart and got, and then um that was probably, you know, would you say that was the closest the Steelers had to winning a Super Bowl, that team?
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_01: It it was because they made it all the way to the AFC championship game that year.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_03: But uh, you know, outside it felt like everything and then you know Brown Brown didn't play a great did he get hurt in the championship?
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_03: No, he got hurt the week before.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_01: No, he played he he played he played in that game.
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_01: It was Bell that was.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_03: So got hurt, yeah, and that killed them.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_03: Because I always thought the best way to beat Belichick is to run the ball.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_03: Although I don't know, Baltimore seems to love to play hijinks with Belichick.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_03: Remember that they would have like they had that play where you wouldn't know who was eligible and they just were messing with Belichick the whole time.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_01: No, that was the other way around.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_03: No, I thought that was that's right.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_01: The Ravens because Belichick likes to play loose with the Rolls.
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_03: Like you'd have a tackle, it's like, oh, is he eligible?
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_03: Is he not?
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_03: But I I will say this the Ravens had had much more success against New England than we ever have.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's correct.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_03: Even in the playoffs, they've eliminated them a couple times.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_03: So I mean, I don't know.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_03: The Steelers, like we said, would lose to New England in that AFC championship game.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_03: That's probably in the last since that I don't think the Steelers have come close.
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_03: So though in 2017, I thought they were the number one seed, and they had that they had barely lost to New England on the Jesse James play, right?
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_01: Or yeah, they were the two seed, but they had a by back then you still got a bye week.
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_03: Uh yeah, that's right.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so they were playing at home in the divisional round, unlike 2016, where they had to go on the road to Kansas City in the divisional round.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, they they technically had a better but we did a whole season on that 2017 team.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah that was that was one of those years where the record was maybe better than the team, you know, than what it actually was.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_01: And they had a bunch of drama that year.
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_01: And that's that was kind of like you said about that era.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_01: They fell apart.
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's when it all just kind of came collapsing.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I think that that championship game, like Bell wouldn't play Hurt.
• 58:52
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, dude, it's a championship game.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_03: Even if you're 50%, it's gotta be better than, you know.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_03: And that's the difference between him and Bettis.
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, Bettis, you know, took a shot and would play Hurt.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, I remember that that playoff game, you know, Bettis would play, and it just killed that team.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_03: That they were paycheck players, and that's why they never won a Super Bowl.
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_03: Ben couldn't drag them to another Super Bowl.
• 59:17
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't know, Tim.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_03: I gave that that game a nice, I think, just because that was such a great game.
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_03: And that's, you know, maybe some year the Steelers will get it together and threaten for a Super Bowl.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not too confident about this season, but uh hey, you never know.
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, that's all I got, and um wish everybody uh happy holidays.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um you disagree, you think I should have given out a lump of coals or a nice to another game?
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_03: Let us know in the comments on Facebook.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_03: And um have a great rest of your holidays, and uh thanks for tuning in, and uh, we'll talk to you next time.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_03: God bless.