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REWIND: Better Lucky Than Good! · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_06: Hi everybody.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_06: Welcome to the Pittsburgh Sports Memories Podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_06: I'm your co-host Tim Hannon, and with me, as always, is uh Steve Wirt.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_06: And this episode is uh inspired by a quote from Yankees pitcher Lefty Gomez, who famously said, I'd rather be lucky than good.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_06: So we're gonna talk about some times where our Pittsburgh teams benefited from some good luck.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_06: And and it's a it's a great quote from Lefty Gomez there because I mean the implication there is kind of saying that you know, if you win because of a lucky bounce or some mistake by your opponent, and sometimes that trumps all the all that skill, right?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_06: It's it's it's sometimes you just need that luck to get over the hump.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I've always heard that luck is what is it when prep preparation meets opportunity.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_05: That's correct.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_06: That would have been another good title for this episode.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_06: Uh Lefty Gomez, by the way, has a bunch of interesting quotes.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_06: We'll post a link to Lefty Gomez quotes if you're so inclined to go.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_06: Check that out later.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_06: But for now, let's talk about um some of those instances.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_06: We're gonna start with a uh 2004 playoff game for the Steelers.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_06: So in 2004, the Steelers have a dream season.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_06: They go 15-1.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_06: They're the number one seed with home field advantage all the way through the playoffs.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_06: We've we've done an episode about that season previously.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_06: Their first round opponent is the New York Gets, who squeezed into the playoffs.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_06: And it's a team who the Steelers are just beaten about a month earlier, so that could be an easy win, right, Steve?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_05: Uh sure, sure.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_05: If you say so.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_05: I know where this is headed, yeah.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_06: Rookie Ben Rothesberger, he does not have a great game.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_06: He throws a pick six in the second half, and by the time we hit the two-minute warning, the game is tied, and the Jets are lining up for the go-ahead field goal.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_06: So out comes kicker Doug Bryan to attempt a 47-yard field goal for the Jets.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_04: Is it long enough to go and hit the kick?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_04: 46 and 11.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_04: 47 to long.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_06: So Doug Bryan misses, and and to be fair to Doug Bryan, that was a tough kick.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_06: It was 47 yards.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_06: It's January.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_06: It's that terrible 2000s era surface at Heinz Field.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_06: So the Steelers do catch a huge break, right?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_06: Now he misses the field goal.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_06: They have plenty of time to get into field goal range and win the game on their side, but Ben throws another interception, and this time the Jets return it deep into Steelers territory.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_06: Now New York can try another field goal, and this one's even closer.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_06: It's 43 yards instead of 47.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_06: And remember what you heard Dick Enberg say after that first one?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_06: You know, it literally hit the crossbar.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_06: They just they just needed to be one yard closer.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_06: And now they're four yards closer, so they they actually even have time to take a knee so that they can do that whole thing where they they set up the spot on the field where they want to kick it from.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_06: So now everything's lined up uh for the Jets.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_06: This one's also at the buzzer, right?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_06: The other one would have still given the Steelers time to win.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_06: This one's gonna be at the buzzer.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_06: It'll send the Jets to the AFC Championship game, a monumental upset in Pittsburgh.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_03: That'll tell you whether the Jets win.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_03: He missed it.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_03: Well, let's play some overtime.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, he misses again.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_06: The game goes into overtime.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_06: Jeff Reed connects on a 33-yard field goal, and the Steelers go to the AFC game instead of the Jets.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_05: Well, well, I'm I think uh Doug Bryan is not a kicker anywhere anywhere.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_05: He wasn't too long after that.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_05: I remember somebody like a fan put him up on eBay for like two cents or something was like the bid.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, and you know, miss field goals happen in football, but Steve, I don't know that I've ever seen anybody Yeah, missed two in the final two minutes of a playoff game.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that was that that was like, yeah.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_05: If you were praying that he missed one, your prayers were answered, because that that was they were I remember thinking they were lucky to win that, but sometimes you get to break and then you move on and you play a better game and you win you win the Super Bowl.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_05: But um nope, that was more of like how the Steelers were going that season.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe they were just not quite ready for prime time, so yeah, yeah.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_06: But I mean, boy, them getting past the Jets was they took quite the break there just to get past that game.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I and that's often forgotten with but that was another thing, like, oh, this is just our year, you know.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_05: When he missed that second one, I thought, oh, this is just our year, we're not gonna lose, you know.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_05: So and it wasn't our year.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_06: It wasn't the Jets year either, but then again, it's never the Jets year.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_05: So well, they should be doing better with uh Aaron Aaron Rodgers, right?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I'm sure that'll work out.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_05: Why do they keep picking up like old Green Bay quarterbacks?
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_05: Is that just what they do?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_06: Um, the simple answer to your question is that they're the New York Jets.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_05: All right, gotcha.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_06: All right, so speaking of overtime games against teams from New York City, in 1991, the New York Rangers had a 12-game lead in the Patrick Division standings late in the season, but the Penguins battled back, and by the time the two teams meet at the Civic Arena on March 21st, they're neck and neck in the standings.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_06: And you have to remember in 1991, the Penguins had never won a championship of any kind, not even a division championship.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_06: So this this was a big deal.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_06: Um there's only five games left in the season at this point.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_06: This the Penguins actually haven't even clinched the playoff spot, much less one the division.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_06: But here they have a chance to detread in the Rangers.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_06: And and uh if you remember the hype for this, it was really being billed as one of the more important games in team history up to that point.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_06: Um I I honestly don't remember more hype for a regular season game, probably before or since then.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_06: And it ends up living up to that hype.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_06: It's a great back and forth game.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_06: It goes into overtime and the penguins win the opening face off in overtime.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_06: And Penguins winger Kevin Stevens, he has the puck.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_06: He just kind of dumps the puck down towards the Rangers end of the ice.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_06: You know, one of those things where I'll dump it down, maybe uh you know, somebody can win a uh a puck battle, you know, along the boards or something.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_06: Uh so let's listen to what happens.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: There's Stevens, though, down the right wing of the Rangers in.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: Shoots it wide of the goal of Van Beesbrook was played.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: It went in!
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_15: And Beesbrook went off his glove and it went in.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_15: Big ones win the game over the left.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_15: It went off the glove of Van Beesbrook.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_15: The Penguins win five to four.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_15: Oh, she wants to sell my monkey.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_05: I miss Mike Mike Lang.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_05: I do too.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_06: And you want to talk about a team of destiny.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_05: I don't think Van Pietsburg argues, like, no, he didn't go in.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_05: What an absolute garbage goalie he was.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_05: I never thought he was I've heard people say, oh, he was good.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_05: It's like, I never thought that guy was any good.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_06: He had he had his moments, you know, playing for New York and then later Florida, but that was not one of his best moments because the puck the puck just bounced off the boards and it it took this really odd bounce right to the corner of the net, and he tried to put his glove on it, but he kind of bobbled it across the line into the net, and the penguins win the game in overtime, probably one of the most improbable victories ever.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_06: It clinches a playoff spot for the Pens, uh, which is, like we said, a big deal up to that point.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_06: They hadn't ever won anything.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_06: That also propels them to the Patrick Division title, and that spring they go on to win their first ever Stanley Cup.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_06: So let's let's complete the New York trifecta here of uh Pittsburgh teams getting lucky against New York teams.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_06: Let's talk about the 1960 World Series Game 7 at Forbesfield.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_06: Of course, we all know about this game.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_06: Uh Bill Mazarowski hits the famous home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the World Series.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_06: Steve uh did a whole episode about that.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_06: And what a lot of people rarely talk about, and which Steve also covered in detail in that episode, is that the Pirates are actually losing that game seven to four in the bottom of the eighth inning.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_06: And and Bill Verden is up with a guy on first, and he hits the ball right to Yankee shortstop Tony Kubek.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_06: So it's gonna be a double play, which means that when Maz would have come up to the plate in the ninth inning, he probably would have been down by three runs.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_06: And if he hit a leadoff one run, that certainly would have helped get the Pirates back into the game, but it Pirates still probably would have been down by two runs.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_06: So here's what happens uh when Bill Burton uh hits the ground ball too short stuff.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_08: Here's Bill Burton, wide to left, single to right to drive in two runs, and grounded to second.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_08: There's the ground ball, hits it short, not and it hits Kubik in the face, and all hands are safe.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_08: The ball took a hard hump.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_08: A double play ball bounced up and hit him in the face, all hands safe.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_05: How about that?
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_05: Um yeah, that sucks to be Tony Kubuk.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_05: I think I also said that that somebody like talked trash on him later in like there's another World Series.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_05: They went up and said, Rock to him.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_05: Like poor Tony Kubuk.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_05: He just you know couldn't catch a break.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it it it was that was pretty bad.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, it hurt him really bad, too.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_05: He came out of the game, yeah.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_05: He couldn't continue.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_06: So Yeah, he has he has blood coming out of his mouth, and and the doctors who tend to him actually think at first that he might need an emergency tracheotomy.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_06: That's how bad his injury was.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I mean, you know, that bait uh base getting hit with a baseball at speed, probably, you know.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_05: I mean the rock in Forbes Field deserves a mention.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_05: Is it in the in the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum somewhere?
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_05: Here's the rock that was in the infield of Forbes Field 1960.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_05: That would be the most Pittsburgh thing, though.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_06: It would be.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_06: There is some debate about what it hit.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_06: I've heard so a lot of people do think it was a rock.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_06: Some people said it was a hole, like there was a hole in the dirt that it hit.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_06: Oh jeez.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_06: It hit a little bit of a like a not obviously not like a gaping hole, but like a little kind of a divot.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_06: Uh but of course, you know, the everybody being safe, that opens the door for Hugh Inning.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_06: Hal Smith hits that three-run home run.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_06: And that all that is what makes the Mazarovsky moment in the ninth even possible.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_06: None of that happens if not for Kubek getting hit in the throat.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_06: Uh Kubek says years later, quote, it was a terrible infield.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_06: It was like the beach at Normandy.
• 11:25
  unknown: What the heck?
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_06: Half sand, half pebbles, and they never dragged it.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_06: So so I don't know if he's kind of insinuating that they um I don't know that he's insinuating that they did something on purpose because I mean if you didn't drag the infield and it was rocky, it's gonna for the pirates too, yeah.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_05: Not like they're just dragging it when we're up the bat or when we're playing the field.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_06: But I mean it it is the responsibility of the home team to take care of the facilities, and you know, Kubik thought that the pirates failed in that and that you know he suffered a pretty bad injury, and obviously the Yankees lost the World Series because of it.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_06: But hey, we'll take it.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_06: We won't complain.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, not too much.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_05: I sucks to be you.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_05: Enjoy your 26 other World Series titles, I guess.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, really.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_06: Give us a we needed a lucky hawk here in there.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_06: All right, let's let's talk about the Steelers again.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_06: Uh 1997, the Steelers and Patriots are both battling for the AFC's number two seed for the playoffs, which in those days meant a bye week and a home game in the divisional round.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_06: Right?
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_06: If you finished with a one or two seed, you got that that bye-week and home game.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_06: And as luck would have it, no pun intended, uh, they're playing each other at Foxboro in the penultimate game of the regular season.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_06: So whoever wins that game gets that coveted number two seed.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_06: And late in that game, it really looks like that team is going to be the New England Patriots because they have an eight-point lead.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_06: There's only two minutes and seven seconds left in the game.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_06: They have the ball, and the Steelers happen to be out of timeouts.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_06: It's third and seven from around midfield.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_06: So what do you do here if you're Patriots head coach Pete Carroll?
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_06: I I think there's there's two options with two oh seven left.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_06: You can run the ball, which is probably gonna get stuffed, and then you would hit the two-minute warning, which would stop the clock, and then you could punt and pin the stealers deep with no timeouts.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_06: And that would have been a decent strategy.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_06: The Patriots have an eight-point lead, so you'd be forcing the Steelers to drive the length of the field with no timeouts to score the game-tying touchdown.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_06: You can also attempt to go for the first down, which, you know, if you're successful, means you can just take a knee and the game's over.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_06: Uh what you absolutely do not want to do there is to turn the ball over.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_06: So Pete Carroll says, you know what?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_06: We're gonna go for the win.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_06: Let's try a pass.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_06: Quarterback Drew Bledsoe drops back to pass and Third and Seven.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: Bledsoe throws interception! It's Keegan Henry, the defensive end, and what a mistake by Bledsoe!
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, so Bledsoe gets some pressure from the Steelers lineman.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_06: Does a panic throw out to the flat, and the ball is picked off by Keevan Henry, who is a nearly 300-pound defensive lineman.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_06: Not a guy you would normally see making an interception, and he rumbles down the field.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_06: That sets up Cordell Stewart hitting Mark Brunner for a touchdown, then hitting Yancy Thigpen for the two-point conversion, then to overtime.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_05: That was a really good game.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_05: It was a great game.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_06: And then in overtime, Norm Johnson wins the game with a 31-yard field goal.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_06: So now the Steel the Steelers have stolen this game in New England.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_06: The play at the time was dubbed the Immaculate Interception.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_06: I don't think that really stuck, but that's what people were calling it at the time.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_06: And it was it was huge because, as expected, those two teams meet again a couple of weeks later in the divisional round.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, but it's at Three River Stadium, thanks to the Steelers pulling out that victory.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_06: And the Steelers are able to squeak out a seven at six win.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_05: I remember that game.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_06: But but them having the week off and having the homefield advantage.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, really helped them.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_05: I think everybody on the Patriots was hurt too, like all the receivers and stuff.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_05: And yeah.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, well, it would have helped to have a bye week, right?
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_06: And they didn't.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_05: Adam Vinateri, I think, missed a field goal.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_05: Hella.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, so that game ends up being pretty pretty huge, and yeah, Bledsoe just throwing that.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_06: Again, it's like it's third down, and all all you're trying to do there is get a first down, just be very careful with the ball.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_06: Even if it was incomplete, you could still punt.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_06: Um, but it didn't work out that way.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_06: Ironically, Pete Carroll would be in a situation years later where he was faced with a similar decision on whether to run or pass, and this time it was to win a Super Bowl.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_06: And he also chooses pass in that scenario, and the result is also an interception.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_06: Steve, do you remember where you were when you were live?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I was watching it with you, Tim, and yes.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_05: I may have yelled something that wasn't very nice to Kievan Henry, but that should have been a touchdown.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_05: Like they said that what they say it was a forward lateral there at the end.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, we I didn't mention that, but what happens on the play is uh Keevan Henry gets caught from behind because he's a 300 pound defender line.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_05: And he's not running very it's like he's running in slow motion.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_06: So yeah, so he tried to lateral the ball to somebody else, and the other I think it was Orpheus Royal.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_06: And Orpheus Roy takes it into the end zone, but the referees had rolled.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_06: There was no instant replay back then.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_06: So the referees had rolled that that was a forward lateral, which was a borderline call.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_06: And so the Steelers then, you know, they had the ball at like the eight-yard line instead of the touchdown, but it like we said they scored anyway.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_06: Um, and that that mistake by Bledsoe, I mean, it just really I f I feel like that was kind of the end of that Patriots era.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_06: The the Patriots never really got that far again because they had been in the they had been in the Super Bowl the year before.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_06: And um, and I think that was kind of the ceiling for Drew Bledsoe.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_06: And then of course a few years later, Pete Carroll gets fired and Tom Brady comes in and with Bill Belichick, and then they become the New England Patriots that we all know and don't love today.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_05: Know and despise.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I think, yeah, I mean, it's nice to see the Patriots go back to sucking, and it was um I like Pete Carroll.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I liked him at USC, Seattle.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, they they won in Seattle.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, except for that, yeah, that that was unfortunate.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe he should have run Marshawn Lynch, but I never realized that until you just said that, like how in those situations he's elected to pass.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_05: But I mean, I think Russ Russell Wilson is a mite better than Drew Bledsoe, but it's same result, unfortunately, for yeah, Carroll.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_05: Well, that's the genius of Bill Belichick, I guess.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_05: Sure.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_05: Sure.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_05: Sure.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_06: All right.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_06: Let's go back to to the ice and um talk about one of the the Penguins' big rivals.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_06: It's the Washington Capitals.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_06: The Penguins and Capitals have met in the playoffs 11 times.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_06: And the Penguins have won nine of those 11 series.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_06: That's unreal.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_06: It's it really is.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, it's such a one-sided series.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_06: And and I I have to say, it's it's the Penguins have obviously had the better teams, but it's hard.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_06: I don't think you win nine out of eleven without at least a little bit of good luck.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_06: So so with that, we're going to present a uh Washington Capitals trilogy of bad luck.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_06: And we'll start in the 2000 playoffs.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_06: The Penguins and Capitals are playing in the first round in Pittsburgh, and it's an elimination game for Washington.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_06: And it's a tie game in the third period when this happens.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_14: Everybody else is kind of just falling away and just trying to pick all the passing.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: The penguins just scored.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yager will get it.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: It came off the body of Johansson and the game.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_05: How'd that even go in?
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: And only the cry or whine is watched.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_05: How'd that go in?
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_05: I did that who did that go off of.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_06: So Yaramir Yager is is along the boards.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_06: He's just trying to throw a pass across the ice.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_06: And Capitol's defenseman, Kalye Johansson, just kind of turns his body and kind of kicks the puck into the net.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_06: And it's not one of those like usually when when it hits off of a guy and goes into the net, it's because the guy's standing right by the net and it was a shot and it was a lucky bounce.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_06: But it but Yager wasn't even shooting the puck.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_06: He was trying to pass it across the ice, and Colleer Johansson ends up accidentally kicking the puck into his own net.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_06: That ends up being the game-winning and series-winning goal, Steve.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, he what was he the he was standing like 10 feet away from the attack?
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_05: That's unbelievable.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_06: Yep.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_06: Well, the luck doesn't stop there because the next year the Penguins and Capitals are at it again in the first round.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_06: And this time we're in overtime of game six.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_06: The Penguins are making a line change, and another Capitals defenseman, a guy you may have heard of, named Sergei Gontar, he's slowly bringing the puck out of his own out of his zone, but he misplays the puck.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_06: And unfortunately for him, there's a Penguins player standing right in front of him.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_15: Here comes Stracker with a chance against Closing.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_15: He back in the shots and stuff.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_15: Barbie Stracker wins it in overtime for the Penguins.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_15: And ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has just left the building.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_15: Penguins win the series four games to two.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_05: That looked like a good play by Straka more than a bad play by Gonchar.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_06: Well, it's it's a bad play by Gonchar because Stracha never touches them.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_06: I mean Stracha certainly skates up to sort of intimidate him.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_06: Stracha did not take the puck off of him.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_05: He kind of fell over.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_06: Well, he he he he it was definitely an error by Gonchar.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_06: Like bringing bringing the puck out of your zone is the most basic thing, right?
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_06: You just if you you can either take it out yourself or you just pass it to somebody.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_06: But what you can't do there is kind of stumble over your feet and give it right to that that's one-on-one against the goaltender.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_06: And that's what And Strackett did make a great play there.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_06: Don't not take anything away from him because he once he got the puck, he had to beat Olaf Kolzik, who was a Venza winning goaltender.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_05: But yeah, that doesn't seem to matter with the Penguins for some reason.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_05: Very yeah.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_06: But but I mean, um yeah, uh Gontrar fumbling the puck there was not was not good.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_06: And and again, that's the game winning and series winning goal in overtime.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_06: So so two years in a row, a watching the defenseman makes a mistake that literally costs the Capitals the series.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_06: Uh but like we said, this is a trilogy of Capitals bad luck.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_06: So let's fast forward 15 years.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_06: The Capitals and Penguins are again meeting in the playoffs.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_06: This time we're in the second round, and this time we're in game four, and once again, we're in overtime, and once again, it's another Capitals defenseman who makes a fatal error.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_14: Now along for Shiri through one in front.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_10: Shot on goal and never gets to the goal.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_10: Mike Weber stops it.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_10: And it grows right to Patrick Hornquist.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_10: He's trying to get it away from danger.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_10: He thinks he has it out of danger, but he doesn't.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_10: Hornquist threw the wickets on Braden Holfi.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_10: And there's another piece of overtime magic for the Penguins.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_05: He did literally pass the puck to Patrick Hort.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_05: It really wasn't like it wasn't a bad play.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_05: He was just trying to play it to the corner and just quest was standing there.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, none of these plays are are guys making necessarily like bone-headed decisions or anything.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_06: It's just unfortunate bad luck.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_05: Again, that's the whole that's the look there's I think that was that Crosby was hanging out around the net.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_05: It's like, okay, try and get it away from him, and it just Yeah, and that was Mike, Mike Weber, the Capitol's defenseman.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_06: Like like Steve said, just trying to just trying to get Spike out of danger doing his job, but boy, he gives it right to Ornquist, and that's game.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_06: So yeah, the Washington Capitals, nine out of eleven times losing the Penguins.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_06: Definitely uh some luck there for the Pens to help them along.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_06: Alright, for our next one, we're gonna talk about uh we're gonna go to the year 2010, and the Steelers are playing at Buffalo.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_06: And at this point in the 2010 season, the Steelers are seven and three.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_06: They're trying to keep pace with the Ravens for first place in the division that year.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_06: And the Bills, they're pretty bad, but they've recently gotten hot.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_06: Uh they won their past two games thanks to the heroics of quarterback Ryan Fitzmagic.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_06: And uh and then a wide receiver named Stevie Johnson.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_06: Um Stevie Johnson, this receiver, a few weeks before that game, he had eight receptions for 158 yards against Baltimore.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_06: Then two weeks after that, he has 11 catches for 145 yards, and then the week after that, he puts up three touchdowns against the Cincinnati Bengals.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_06: So at this point in time, Stevie Johnson is Gary Rice.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, he really was.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, for three games, I guess.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_06: It was short-lived, but I mean he is just lighting the league on fire.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_06: He and Fitzpatrick have a very special connection.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_06: So when the when the Steelers uh match up against Buffalo that week, I mean, they have to pay a lot of attention to uh Stevie Johnson.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_06: And and again, Buffalo not a good team that year, but they, like we said, they were starting to get hot.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_06: And that's really in the NFL, it doesn't really matter what your record is, it's just really about how you've been playing the last few weeks.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_06: And in fact, uh the Bills take the Steelers all the all the way to overtime in this game.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_06: And in overtime, the Bills have first and ten on the Steelers' 40-yard line.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_06: So that means that they're almost in range to win the game with a field goal.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_06: But Buffalo head coach and Gailey, who you know, as we know from his days here in Pittsburgh, is a pretty smart offensive coach, he sees an opportunity to win the game right here.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_06: He thinks the Steelers are going to be playing for a run or maybe a short pass, right?
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_06: Because it's first and ten and and they've got to get in field goal range.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_06: And he thinks that the Bills can exploit them with a play action pass and a deep ball.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_06: And sure enough, Chan Gailey is 100% correct because Stevie Johnson is wide open behind Steel secondary.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_05: I think I remember this play.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_12: Go into the He's got Judson.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_12: Oh, he dropped the ball.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_12: That would have been the big win.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_09: And we stand at fifth patrick with Fearless.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_09: He takes the shot down the field, working against Taylor with block coming over, and all he has to do is hold on to it, and the Bills are gonna have their third consecutive win.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_05: I think the Steelers did end up winning that game, didn't they?
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_06: They they they do.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, that's that was really the worst part of it because the Bills do not get into field goal range.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_06: And then the Steelers kick the game-winning field goal on the on the ensuing possession.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_06: And if you see, if you watch the clip of that, I mean it is sometimes you you look at a guy that drops a pass, and you're like, well, he was he was trying to jump, or he was re- had to re extend his arms out.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_06: That was right in his chest.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_05: It was a perfect pass, yeah.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_05: And he was he ran a nice route.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_05: He beat Ike Taylor pretty pretty good.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_06: Well, that's what I mean.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_06: I can Gailey, that was a brilliant call.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, Ike Taylor tried to grab him even and he kind of like just swatted him away.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it was a brilliant call, perfect pass, everything set up perfectly, except for Stevie Johnson dropped it.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_06: I I love the quote, um Casey Hampton after the game said that he had put his helmet on.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_06: He he had he was on the sideline for that play, and he put his helmet on and started walking to the locker room, and they people started yelling, wait, he dropped it.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_06: Like he was literally when the ball was in the air, it was such an obvious touchdown that he literally put his helmet on and started walking away.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_06: That's that's how obvious of a play it should have been.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_06: Um after that game, Stevie Johnson goes on Twitter to place the blame squarely on God.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_05: Wow, that's an odd yeah.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_05: I was figured like he was gonna blame Ryan Fitzpatrick or Jack Gelly.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_05: Wow, like the god or not, or like a god.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_05: Like Vishnu or the football gods or Bale.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_06: Here's this quote I praise you 24-7, and this is how you do me.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_06: You expect me to learn from this?
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_06: How?
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_06: I'll never forget this ever.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_06: Thanks, though.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_05: Wow, really?
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_05: Lost that that drop made him lose his faith.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_06: Apparently.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_05: So yeah.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_05: Ouch.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I hope it I hope he found it for his own sake.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_05: I mean I hope so.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_06: Well, I mean, heat of the moment, I'm sure.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_06: But boy, yeah.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_05: And Stevie Johnson never really He never did anything after that, yeah.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_06: No, that was kind of the end of his little run of greatness.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_06: So it was it was kind of sad for him because it was just such a terrible drop.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_06: And again, that was the game.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_06: Like they they were gonna upset the Steelers and it was right in his arms.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_06: But I mean, you want to talk about lucky breaks for a Pittsburgh team.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_06: The ball was right in his hands, and he dropped it, and the Stewart's end up winning.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_06: All right.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_06: Um let's talk uh about the um Pirates and Braves playing in the 1991 National League Championship series.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_06: It's game five in Atlanta.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_06: At this point, the series is tied two to two, so it's that typical, you know, pivotal game five.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_06: Uh it's that series was also a very tight pitcher's duel.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_06: Uh runs are super hard to come by.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_06: In fact, three games in that series would have the final score of one to nothing.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_06: That's that's what kind of series it was, to start a score.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_06: But in game five, Atlanta has a really good opportunity in the fourth inning.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_06: David Justice for the Braves, he's on second base, and Mark Lempke is at the plate against Pirates pitcher Zane Smith.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_11: Lempke drove home on a 23 runs this season.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_11: And that's a hit.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_11: And we've got a play.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_11: Bonds can throw, but he double bumps.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_11: One to nothing, Atlanta.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_11: But I think he missed third base.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_11: He missed the third base.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_11: They step on third.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_11: Out is the call at third base.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_11: No run.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_11: The inning is over.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_05: Wow, about six things went wrong on that.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_05: Barry Bonds not being able to throw out somebody at the plate.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_05: Well, wow, I don't think that'll ever come back to haunt the Pirates in Atlanta.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_06: Bonds made a bad play on that, and Justice should have scored.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, but as you heard Jack Buck say in that clip, you know, he missed third base, and that's if you see the replay, that's literally what happened.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_06: He stumbles coming around third, and his foot misses the bag, and he's out.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_05: Well, you know, David Justice, he'll he'll he'll help season ticket sales in April and May, but come the dog days, you'll be lucky if he hits his weight.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_06: Is that a money ball clip?
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_06: That was a money ball.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_06: I figured.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_06: I figured.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_06: I figured.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_05: You'll be lucky if he steps on third base in the dog days, too.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_05: You know.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that that ends up being big because the Pirates score in the fifth inning on a Jose Lean RBI single, and that's the ballgame.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_06: The Pirates win one to nothing, and they take a three to two series lead with them back to Pittsburgh.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_05: Don't worry, they'll lose.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_06: I was just gonna say, unfortunately, that RBI single by Lean, it's the last run that the Pirates will score in that series.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my gosh.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_06: Because they're shut out at home in both game six and game seven.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_05: So Well, maybe maybe if they had like the guy that had the career all-time home runs, maybe that that would that would have helped.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, if only if only he would have been there, but he didn't he didn't really show up for that series or for the other two that they were in, unfortunately.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_06: To be fair, neither did a lot of other guys on that team.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_05: Neither did Andy Van Slyke or Bobby Bonia or Well, Bobby Bonilla this ser this season at least.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_05: Right, right.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_06: But I mean when Jose Lean's getting your game playing, that's yeah, that's a sign of bad.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_05: Tico's clutch, man.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_05: Except for the ninth inning when he has to make a fielding play, then he's not so clutch.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, at the time that was big because um again you th you were thinking, boy, the pirates are coming back here with a three to two lead, and what a what a break that they won that game because David Justice just missed their and that's not something you see in baseball very often.
• 32:11
  unknown: Yeah.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_06: That's just routine.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_05: Like you're touching the bags as you go past them, but you do have to touch them, and if you do miss it, then if if Bonds just would have made a better throw, he would have been out at home, even like he didn't even make that great of a throw because he stumbled so badly.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, right.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_06: But fortunately he got a reprieve by by Justice, you know, not touching third.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_06: And it was a good, it was actually a very good call by the umpire.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, because they did not have the replay in baseball back then.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_06: But when you slow it down and see the replay, he actually did miss by just just a hair.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_06: All right, let's um let's go to Super Bowl 13 between the Steelers and Cowboys for our next lucky break.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_06: And most people were thinking, oh yeah, you're probably gonna talk about Jackie Smith dropping the ball in the end zone, right?
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_05: He would be the sickest man in America.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_06: He would be.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_06: But that's actually not what I'm gonna talk about for my lucky break here, because that play, in my opinion, is very overrated as a mistake for a bunch of reasons, but I'll save that rant for another episode.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_05: I think you should should rant it now.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_06: I I could actually probably devote an entire episode solely to just how special or distorted, you know, by by the by the kind of the baby boomer media.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_05: I went oh the baby boomer media.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_05: I just figured it was a Dallas from because it was Dallas.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_05: It was like overblown, maybe.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_06: Well, I think I think there's a lot of things from that era, whether it's Jackie Smith or Carlton uh Fisk or Joe Namath.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, there's a lot of things from that era where I feel like they got made into bigger things, more significant things than they deserve to be.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_05: Well, there you go.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_05: Let's save it for another episode.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I again I digress.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_06: I won't I will I will stop on that.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_05: We teased it.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, tune in for that episode.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_06: It should be in for Tim Rance against the generation.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_06: That'll be popular amongst many of our listeners.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_05: Hey, no, we're I think are are we both Gen X, Tim, or are we?
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, we are we are Gen Xers, yeah.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_05: We're later Gen Xers, so and nobody cares about us anyway.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_05: We're like that generation in the 50s that was after the baby boomers, but before Gen X, or before whatever.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_05: Nobody cares about us.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_05: It's all millennials and Gen Z and nobody cares about us.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_06: Nobody on a podcast can blame Gen X Media for inventing false narratives.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_06: Like I can I can blame the baby boomers.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_06: Um no, the lucky break I actually wanted to talk about in Super Bowl 13 happens after the Jackie Smith play.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_06: So in the fourth quarter, Franco Harris, he's just scored to make it 28-17 Steelers.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, there's a great story behind that play, too, but we'll save that for another episode as well.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_06: I think we really need to do an episode at some point on the 78 Steelers.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, I know what you're talking about with that play, too.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_05: That's on the safety, isn't it?
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that guy's a cocky.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's gonna be a good episode.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_05: All right, I'll save that.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_06: So so the Steelers score a touchdown, right?
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_06: So um now they have to kick off back to the Cowboys.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_06: And on that ensuing kickoff, they catch a huge break.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_06: And to hear about what happened, let's go to the let's go to the legendary voice of NFL Films, John Facenda.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_05: Speaking of God, wow, maybe maybe Stevie Johnson should have blamed John Facenda.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: On the ensuing kickoff, Roy Jarrella slipped, and his kick bounced directly to defensive tackle Randy White.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: A cast on White's fractured thumb prevented him from getting a grip on the ball.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it spread it loose before he was hit.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_14: Bumble! Ball loose! Still loose! Still fighting forward at the 21.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_14: It is Pittsburgh! Pittsburgh ball! Holy mackerel!
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_05: Holy mackerel! Okay, I always didn't like that because I if you watch this NFL film's recap of the Super Bowl, they don't give the Steelers any credit, if I remember correctly.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_05: It's all, oh, poor Dallas, Jackie Smith dropped the ball.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, this guy had a broken hand, and he dropped the ball when he got hit.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_05: I'm sorry, John Vicenda, you're wrong.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_05: Don't, you know, who are you gonna believe?
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_05: Your lion eyes are John Vicenda.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_05: I mean uh even Steve Sable apologized for Super Bowl, the Super Bowl three NFL films.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_05: He said it was it focused too much on the Colts.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_05: It should have focused more on the Jets.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_05: But whatever.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_06: What happens there is that um Roy Darello, the Steelers kicker, he he slips and he falls down, and that it basically is like a squib, like a squib kick, but not an intentional squib kick.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and it really should have given the Cowboys good field position.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_05: But but the guy just he uh it a broken hand, but he didn't just drop the ball.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_05: He got hit and dropped the ball.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_05: And I I don't know what the you don't hold it in your broken hand.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_05: I mean you do have two you do have two hands, you know.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_06: That that's a lucky break because Randy White, first of all, Randy White's a defensive tackle, so I mean him running with a football.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe you just would have been smart just to fall down, but you can't be can't blame a guy for trying to get you know get some yards either.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_06: So Yeah, but then but then like you said, having a cast on the hand that you're holding the ball with, also unfortunate.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_06: Again, the the odds he you know the ball wasn't supposed to come to him.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_06: He was he was a guy, he was one of the guys trying to block for the kick returner, and the ball coming to him and he picks it up, and then that happens.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_06: What a what a stroke of luck that was.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_06: Um the Steelers fall on it.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_06: The the next play, Terry Bradshaw hits Lynn Fawn for a touchdown.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_05: Hey, you know, you're allowed to play defense after that, too.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_05: You know, Dallas was allowed, like you know, who Hollywood Henderson could have got a sack since you know Terry Bradshaw can't spell cat.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_05: You know, I mean, come on.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_05: Boo hoo-hoo, America's team launched it's still a lucky break.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, the the the the ball, you know, Gorilla falling down, like you said, Steve, 28 to 17.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_06: What really should have happened there is that the Cowboys get the ball at like the 45-yard line because Gorella slipped.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_06: And now they have a chance to, you know, to potentially win or well to cut the lead significantly.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_06: But when Bradshaw hit Swan on a touchdown, that that ends up being the dagger.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_06: Uh it ends up being the game-winning score, actually, because the Cowboys got it do get a couple more touchdowns in the final minutes.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_06: But because of that Bradshaw to Swan touchdown, they they can't overcome the score.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_06: So that that play actually was pretty significant.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_05: It just annoys me that they made a lot of excuses for Dallas in that NFL films thing, but hey, whatever.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_06: It's it is it I I agree, but it I mean, it's a lucky break.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, sorry, your kicker falling down.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_05: Lori Jarella was a clag, should be in the hall of fame for that.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_05: You know, and then having the guy fumble it, and then having this, you know, and then having Yeah, because they could have there were all kinds of cowboys around, they could have fell on the fumble too.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_06: So Right, right.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_06: So very fortunate.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_06: And and really kind of a uh I mean, talk about the improbability of that, right?
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_06: Your kicker messes up the kickoff, but then the guy returning it fumbles it, and then the Steelers get the game-winning touchdown in the Super Bowl.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, that is so improbable.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_06: Or was it?
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_06: Let's back up a few years to Super Bowl nine between the Steelers and Vikings.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_06: And once again, let's allow John Facenda to tell us what happens.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: Despite their mistakes and the absolute dominance of Pittsburgh in the first half, the Vikings were only two points down and would receive the second half kickoff.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_00: Roy Garellas left and quiver his kick along the ranks of Polyta.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_00: Polyturf.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: But Viking veteran Bill Brown, number 30, Couldn't handle the wet four.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: Pittsburgh had the biggest break of the game.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: The ball in great field position on the Minnesota 30-yard line.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_05: Wow, I didn't realize I forgot about I I wow, I did not realize that happened twice.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_05: Well, that that happens when you play on the polyturf.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_05: So whatever polyturf is.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_06: Whatever that is.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and a couple of plays after that that happens, Frank O'Hara scores what will be the game-winning touchdown of that Super Bowl.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_06: So there you have it, Steve, the Super Steelers dynasty of the 1970s, literally built off the back of our kicker falling down.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_05: It's total luck.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_05: If you listen to John Vicenda, like But that's unbelievable that that happened twice.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_06: Like Corello, Corello, first of all, how many times does a kicker fall down and making a kickoff?
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, it's a kickoff.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_06: I've seen it happen.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_05: I've seen it happen.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_05: Of course, normally it's not like anything positive comes out of it.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_06: And and normally it's not, you know, leading to the game winning score in two different Super Bowls.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_06: It's just unbelievable that that happened twice.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_06: Unbelievable that twice the opposing team couldn't handle the ball, and twice the Steelers got a huge break.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_06: Uh so yeah, Roy Garella, like you said, hero.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_06: Hero for falling down.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_06: Fun fact, by the way, Super Bowl 13 was Jorella's last ever game in the NFL.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_06: And that's probably why the Steelers stopped winning Super Bowl soon thereafter, because you know, Matt Barr and Gary Anderson could stand.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_06: Uh luck doesn't always just happen on the field, though.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_06: Sometimes it can happen off the field.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_06: So let's talk about a couple instances of that.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, in the 1970 NFL draft, the consensus number one pick was a quarterback at a Louisiana Tech, some guy named Terry Bradshaw.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_06: So who had the number one pick that year?
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_06: Well, in 1969, there were two NFL teams who finished tight for the worst record in football.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_06: There's the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_06: They'd each only won one game that season.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_06: Now, the Bears loan victory came against the Steelers, which in today's NFL would be an easy tiebreaker because you know they finished tide, but the Bears won the head-to-head matchup, so the Steelers would get that pick.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_06: But in 1970, the NFL doesn't have that tiebreaker, or really any tiebreaker.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_06: In fact, their methodology for determining who has the number one pick out of these two teams is to simply flip a coin.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_06: So this coin flip is held in a hotel in New Orleans.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_06: And Pete Rosell is the NFL commissioner.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_06: He's the one flipping the coin, and he asks Dan Rooney if he wants to call it.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_06: But Rooney defers to Bears executive Ed McCaskey to make the call.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_06: And apparently what happened there, Steve, you might know the story better than I do, but apparently Art Sr.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_06: had always told Dan that anytime you you do a coin toss, you should always defer the decision to the opponent.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_05: I think I I I don't remember what his logic did.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_05: Does he explain why his logic on that was?
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_06: I couldn't find that.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, it just something about I remember something to that story when I did some chief, when I did the chief podcast, but yeah.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and then of course McCah they lost the coin flip.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_06: Right, right, yeah.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_06: So so McCaskey uh calls heads, and Roselle throws the coin, by the way, is a 1921 silver dollar, in case you were curious.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_06: A little piece of trivia there.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_05: Well, you can't find out why the chief always deferred.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_06: Right, but we know what the coin was.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_06: So um, yeah, it's tails.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_06: And uh there was a there was a Chicago Sun Times writer in the room covering that for the Chicago papers.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_06: His name was Jack Griffin, and he shouts McCaskey, you bum, because he calls called because he called heads and then.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_05: It's like you bum, why didn't you call tails?
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_06: Tails never fail, Steve.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_05: I've heard that, yeah.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my god.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_06: So so more trivia on that coin.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_06: Roselle actually gives Rooney the winning coin.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_06: And that night Rooney and his wife went to dinner with Chuck Noel and his wife.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_06: And Rooney actually gives the coin to Chuck Noel and he says, Here, this is the beginning of good things to come.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, that's nice.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_05: See, now that's that's the chief, though, because he knew how to deal with people.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_05: He's a good dude.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_05: So good for him.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_06: Uh so yeah, I mean, the Steelers get the pick.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_06: They select Terry Brash on, of course, the rest is history.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_06: So fast forward to 2005, and another Pittsburgh team is down on its luck.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_06: The Penguins are coming off of a horrible season, they're coming off of a lockout.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_06: But they, along with 29 other NHL teams, uh are put into a lottery for the consensus number one draft pick that year.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_06: A kid from Coal Harbor by the name of Sidney Crosby.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_06: Uh and this time it's not 50-50 like it was for the Steelers with Bradshaw.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_06: In fact, the Penguins only have a 6.4% chance of winning the lottery.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_06: But sure enough, the ball comes up Pittsburgh and once again the rest is history.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_05: I think they had uh what's his name?
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_05: Craig Patrick.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_05: And they they like they said he was always lucky in those things.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_06: So Yep, he was the good luck charm, and it worked.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_06: So yeah, very two very lucky um, you know, again, a coin flip and a and a lottery ball, really uh leading to two of the most significant athletes in the history of Pittsburgh sports.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_06: So, like we said, good luck not always on the field, sometimes it's off the field as well.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_06: All right, last but not least, uh maybe the greatest stroke of luck in Pittsburgh sports history.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_06: This one really doesn't need any kind of introduction or context.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_06: It's this.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_13: 22 seconds remaining.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_13: And Bradshaw is back and looking again.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_13: Bradshaw running out of the pocket, looking for somebody to throw to, fires it downfield, and there's a collision.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_13: And it's pulling! The ball is pulling the pick on the hammock! Harris is going for a touchdown for Pittsburgh.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_06: So if you're not familiar with that play, it's called the Immaculate Reception.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_05: Never heard of it.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_05: Never heard of it.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it's it's kind of a you know, kind of an obscure little play.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_06: So yeah, I we we did a whole episode about that.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_06: Um very famous Pittsburgh play, like I said, not gonna certainly not gonna go rehash the details of that.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_06: But uh very lucky bounce that that ball took off of Jack Tatum, and it was off of Jack Tatum.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_06: Uh Land in the sorry.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_05: Frenchie me whispered that to you last night.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_06: French Frenchie, if you call, like we said in that other episode, has no idea who hit the ball because he was got his bell dung.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_06: But it it it yeah, very lucky that that ball bounced and very lucky that Franco Harris was where he was and was able to scoop it up and run it in.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_06: So I would say that's probably the the the biggest lucky break in the history of Pittsburgh sports, obviously, spawned the Sears dynasty.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_06: So that's our list of lucky breaks, Steve.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_06: Any that uh you can think of that I forgot?
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I'm sure there are like probably one or two we we don't remember, but I mean it's a good list.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_05: I like that.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_05: I like the one where Yager shot it off a like defenseman ten feet away.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I guess it's hockey, so how many meters was that?
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_05: Was that 15 meters or I don't know?
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_06: Again, I think yeah, I think that you just again in sports you you you have good teams, but sometimes you just need things to bounce your way sometimes, and those are all instances of when that happened.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_06: And of course, we could probably just as easily Steve do an episode on bad luck, yeah, times where the ball or the puck or whatever didn't bounce our way.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_06: So there's good luck and bad luck, but we want to do a teary episode.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_06: So these are our good luck moments.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_06: Nice.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_06: All right, folks.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you so much for listening.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, please check us out on the web, on Facebook, on Twitter, and uh please also tell your friends about our little show here.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_06: That's our probably our best way of getting new listeners, is word of mouth.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_06: So thank you, and we'll see you next time.