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REWIND: Pittsburgh's Best Wingmen · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to another edition of Pittsburgh Sports Memories where today we'll be discussing the wingmen.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone needs a good wingman like Batman and Robin or Simon and Garfunkel or Art Garfunkel.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but a good wingman is key to winning.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: They may not be the superstar, the focal point of the team, but without them, the team wouldn't have been successful.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: So on these episodes, we're going to uh give the uh the robins of the world and the art garfunkels.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: It is art garfunkel, Tim, right?
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that's a little bit before my time, Steve.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: But sure, I think so.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: And uh as heard from uh joined by my co-host Tim Hannon.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: How about Hall and Oates?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Who's the one who's the Robin in that one?
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: See, I was gonna go with Hall and Oats, but I think they're both robins.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: I mean I guess I mean Daryl Hall has his own show on VH1 there, live at Daryl's house.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: But I I I was really thinking Hall and Oates, but I couldn't come up with the Batman of Daryl and Hall at Daryl.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I I know that Simon is Paul Simon and Scarfunkel.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't really tell you for sure, so I guess you're right.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: It it makes more sense with Simon and Garfunkel.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean Paul Simon is definitely the Batman and Art.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely the Robin.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's the end of the uh pop culture references of well, there'll be plenty more, trust me, throughout the episode.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's all my that's my repertoire of jokes.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: If you haven't noticed 94 episodes in, then I'm all pop culture references, then especially from the 90s, too.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Anything beyond like 2010, then I'm I'm clueless.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: But moving on, uh the first person we'll talk about today was one of my favorite Steelers of the 90s, uh Levon Kirkland.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh great, like uh Chris Bourbon used to call him what uh he shall be a Levon, or was that a yeah, I think which was a which was its own pop call for cultural reference to a uh Elton John song, I do believe.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: So uh he was like a huge linebacker.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: He made some big plays, but was never on a Super Bowl winning team.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: He was on a Super Bowl appearing team, Tim.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, something like that.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um some big things he did.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: I remember he stuffed Drew Bledsoe on a QB sneak that one time that was like in the picture.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like the picture was on the front of like the Steelers front office for the longest time.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: And um, because you know I'm always hanging out in the Steelers' front office.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, me and me and the scouts and you know, Dan Rooney and now Art Sr.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: Art Jr., whatever.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: No, I just did heard that obviously.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um he picked off, I think, Jim Harbaugh on the AFC Championship game.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Or I think, yeah, because that was the one where he ran step for step with uh Ken Dilger, the tight end.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: You remember that, Tim?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um he was really good.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he sacked Troy Aikman in Super Bowl 30, one of the few sacks the Steelers defense had of Troy Aikman in that game.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um they also I think they held um how many yards did Emmett Smith have in that game?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Not many.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: He did score a couple touchdowns, but he did not have many yards.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, especially in the second half.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: And and I always felt like, and I think we said it when we did that episode about that year in that Super Bowl, that Kirkland could have legitimately been the MVP of that game had Larry Brown not made those interceptions.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: Had Neil O'Donnell not thrown the ball?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: That was that's another episode.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: But uh I I don't know, I it was always one of my favorite players.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: He was he was uh he did get like kind of burned for that one third down play.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um he was drafted from Clemson.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's the infamous story by Bill Cower where like who didn't they get?
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: They were supposed to draft somebody else, and they were just like, oh yeah, we'll take Levon Kirkland, and it worked out for them.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Funny how those things work out sometimes.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, outside of Lambert Hammer Farrier, he's probably the next best linebacker.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Would would you be would it be fair to relate him like right behind James Farrier?
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: In terms of like uh inside linebackers, you're saying?
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: I would say yeah.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, uh Ham, Ham was Ham an out I don't know, it's with the 4-3 and the 3-4.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Ham was outside.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Lambert was the first one.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean he's I mean, if you're just talking Steward linebackers in general, I mean, obviously James Harrison, right?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: TJ is probably up there at this point.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I'd I'd put Kirkland, I don't know, at least in the top ten.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's tough because like he plays for like the Indianapolis Colts, and he's probably like the greatest linebacker ever, or so, you know.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: Or like Jacksonville or something, you know, he he's probably one of their greatest players ever, but he'd the unfortunate, well, not the unfortunate, maybe fortunate for him, playing for uh you know the Steelers.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: He played on that really good 94 defense.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: The defense in 95 was pretty good too, and like you said, he had some big games, and I think even in 98 they were still pretty good.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, any other thoughts on LeVon Kirkland, Tim?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'd I'd like to share a um a story, Steve, if I may.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: And it's from uh the Howard Griffith, who was the fullback for the Denver Broncos in the 90s.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: He was the guy that was kind of like the lead blocker for Darrell Davis when they were winning their Super Bowls.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: And this is him talking about um the going to Pittsburgh for the 1997 AFC Championship game.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_08: But that wasn't what I was happy about, because we got to go to Pittsburgh.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_08: All I could think about Levon Kirkland.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_07: After being run over by Levon Kirkland earlier in the year, Griffith and Terrell Davis teamed to cut the massive linebacker down to ties.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_08: Why you cut?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Hey man, why are you 300 pounds?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: Why why why you gotta like try and end someone's career?
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: I guess that makes sense.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: And a block that would be illegal today.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: And and that was literally not only did he have to cut block him to stop him, but and you can't see it in the um obviously listening to it on the podcast, but if you watch the footage that they're showing there, he and Charles Davis have to both block him.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like it takes two guys to stop him from getting to LA because he's just so mammoth.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: So at the height of his powers, Levon Kirkland was better than anybody, I think, in the league.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: And and you could hear it there.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that their whole game plan was geared, their whole game plan for a championship game was geared around Levon Kirkland.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: And they almost still almost didn't, yeah, had to like pull out like I think that was the Shannon Sharp catch was on him.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't like an easy catch, like Shannon Sharp made a great play on him.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: So no, and he still had a good game.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: He picked off Elway on the second play of the game in that game.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, Kirkland was just a force.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: And well, a guy that big shouldn't be able to run that fast.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: That that was the insane part of Vaughn Kirkland.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: He was he wasn't as big as Gilbert Brown, but my God, he's the biggest I mean he has to be the biggest linebacker I've ever seen.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah, his his career was uh pretty short.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, at least his time as a starter and as a dominant player was pretty short.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's why he's not gonna be able to do that.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: But when you have Howard Griffith diving at your knees, that's probably Yeah, that probably didn't help.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, one of my favorites, always love the ball and curriculum, number 99.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: He was he was pretty awesome.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um moving to baseball, uh, a guy named Brian Gilles, or maybe Brian Giles.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he was an outfit outfielder and star of the late 90s and early 2000s Pirates.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: And remember all those great teams they had then, Tim?
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, what a glorious time of losing games and all that stuff.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was the best.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so uh the big play really was like I hate to boil down Brian Giles like tenure with the Pirates of this, but um he hit a grand slam off Billy Wagner to help the Pirates pull off an improbable comeback against the Astros.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I guess we'll try and we'll try and share this here.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_05: The Pirates have scored three here on the bottom of the night.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_05: The Bucks have the tying run at first base.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_05: And a one-ball pitch.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_05: Giles swings drive to right field.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_05: Buckles win by way of a grand slam.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_05: Brian Giles, a line drive, grand slam into the right field seats.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_05: Count him.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_05: Six, seven, eight.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_05: Giles makes nine.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_05: Bucks win.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_05: Nine, eight.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_05: There was.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_05: No doubt about it.
• 9:19
  unknown: And
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: We even gotta no doubt about it, huh, Tim?
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: I miss Laney.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think Kevin Brown's decent.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: Greg Brown's pretty good too.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: Kevin Brown, yeah, him too.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: Greg Brown, Kevin Brown.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: Whoops.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh anyway, Greg Brown's had to do a lot of crappy baseball.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: Not that Lanny Fitteri didn't, but but anyway, that I I hate to boil down his career to that, but geez, not much else went right for the Brian Giles era in Pittsburgh.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um he emerged as a power hitting uh outfielder.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um he was uh he had a streak of at least 35 home runs for four straight seasons.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know that, Tim.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's pretty good.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: He batted no lower than 298, which is really solid, and uh was named Pirates Player of the Year each year.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: So um he was traded, he brought they brought him in from Cleveland, and they they traded for him, and it actually was one of the few times the Pirates like made a successful trade.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: It was a steal.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: They traded Rencardo Racone, who's a relief pitcher.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, and I think I think though Cleveland had like I forget who the other three outfield, yeah, it was like Kenny Lofton and like two other guys are pretty good.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like Cleveland really didn't need him.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like it wasn't like Cleveland really gave up something.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: It was like, oh my gosh, we're really good at used him.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's like the three other guys they had were really good, you know.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that was that was the year after they had won the American League.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: So they were they were pretty stacked, and I guess they just decided they needed pitching more than they needed another outfielder.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I'm I it wasn't like I don't think it was that big of a steal for from Cleveland.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: I mean it was definitely you know a good deal for the Pirates, but I don't think it was really that bad of a deal for Cleveland either.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: But just my personal opinion.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: But tune back next week when I say the exact opposite.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: A total steal for the Pirates now.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um besides like PNC Park, it's been one of the few things to see in that that Pirates era.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I mean any other Brian Giles memories there, Tim?
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: No, like you said, he's uh a really good player on really, really, really bad teams.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, you know, he's will he be remembered 50 years from now?
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, maybe, maybe not.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: He's almost like um, who am I thinking of?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: Ralph Kiner.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like he's kind of like a Ralph Kiner for the Pirates.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like he was a really good player on these bad teams, and then he I mean, he didn't get traded.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't really I mean, I guess he did get traded, but they didn't get anything for him, I don't think.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: And he just went and kind of went and didn't like he after those four years, he like that was kind of the height of his career, and then you know, just like everybody, you know, just kind of faded out.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: Not a Hall of Famer, I wouldn't say, but definitely a solid.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't look up his career how many home runs he ended up with, but I don't think he had 500 home runs, so he's not gonna make the Hall of Fame.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: But good player, good player.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, if he would have been on like that 2000, like the team that made the playoffs, he probably would have been a you know a key contributor.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, uh skipping to hockey now, we've covered all what baseball, football, hockey.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we covered all three major sports now.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um guy probably people remember pretty well was uh Jordan Stahl.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um he's from the hockey playing family of stalls from I do believe a sod farm in British Columbia.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: So you go grow some grass and then and by grass I mean like the kind you plant in your yard, and then go you know ice skate on the rink and score some goals and play some good defensive center.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: So um he his biggest play, I would say he scored this huge shorthanded goal in the Stanley Cup final in 2009.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I guess we'll we'll try and share that one.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: Here it comes Tim.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Prepare yourself, emotionally prepare yourself for this.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_06: Holmstrom put it off the stick of Flurry.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_06: Eaton reversed it on.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_06: Talbot outlets.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_06: Jordan Stall carries.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_06: Rapolski back with him.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_06: Stall and Frapp!
• 13:38
  unknown: Stall!
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: Now, desert the this was game three.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: Four correct?
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: Four, it was game four.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and the penguins had lost both games to start the series in Detroit, which I think in hockey, once again, this is like one of those series where the Penguins bucked every trend.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I think I've heard like when you get a two games to nothing lead in the Stanley Cup final, it's something like 60 or 70 percent of the time you win.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then they were they had won at home, and then I think the game was tied at this point.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: So uh Detroit was winning two to one, is what I yeah, yeah, and that tied the game.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember thinking that that's the goal that turned that series.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: I I I don't know why, but I just thought my mind, like, because the penguins were on a penalty kill, and Jordan Stahl just, as you hear, takes the puck from his own end and just like you know, scores on Chris Osgood.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: And it just I just always think that that's the goal that kind of I know they had to go to game seven, and there's a lot of other big plays in that series.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: I think we did a we did a podcast on that, didn't we?
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, we did.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: So go back and listen to that.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: There were I mean, was that the one Rob Skideri making us giving game six and flurry with the the Secret Service save and game seven at the buzzer?
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: But I I just think that's the goal that was like, okay, Detroit, you're not just gonna run over us this time like you kind of did last time.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, yeah, you're you're spot on, Steve.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: That I thought the same thing at the and and still think that today, that that that goal turned the series because what had happened was it was the exact same script as the year before.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: The penguins lose the first two games in Detroit, they win game three at home, and the year before they dropped game four at home, and then that was kind of like almost like not the official end of the series, but you know, pretty close to it.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: And this time in 2009, here they are in game four, they're down two to one at home, in danger of losing game four at home again.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: And what it put them on a on a the penalty kill was some really crappy calls.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like I and I I'd have to go back and watch it because I don't remember the details, but something happened where they should have called a penalty on Detroit and they didn't.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: So everybody's booing because somebody got hit in the back or something and they just let it go.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, 10 seconds later they call a penalty on the Penguins.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: So the whole arena is screaming, angry, mad.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's like one of those power plays where you know they're they're Detroit's passing the pike around, everybody's still booing, everybody's so angry.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: And if Detroit scores there, that breaks the crowd, that breaks the spirits of everybody.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: And not only did they kill the penalty, then Stall gets a shorthanded goal.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: That that just flipped everything up on its head.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: It was like, oh, you're gonna you're gonna try to cheat us here.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're not, like you said, we're not gonna take this anymore.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't gonna turn out like last year.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is gonna be different, and that's that's what's the statement that that goal made.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and spin like I know the I I don't know if this website's still around.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: There was a sub website, a blog called Puck Daddy.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if it's around, but they did a study years ago about how like the original six teams get like um way more penalties called for them than against them, and obviously the penguins aren't in that group.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's held true because I've noticed that with anytime they play Chicago, Detroit, New York, you know, Adam Graves like got like what one game suspension for breaking Mary Lemie's wrists, you know, Toronto and Montreal too.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it is what it is.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: But like you said, that kind of like said, nope, we're gonna we're gonna like win our our series here.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, it just really was like when you book back at that series, they like defied every odd.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like game seven, no team in any sport, basketball, baseball, hockey, since 1979 had won a road game seven.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: So the penguins of 2009 were were quite the quite the amazing bunch of uh I guess odds defiers.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was a really, really special team.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, that was that was literally five months after Santonio made the catch in the Super Bowl, and I just remember thinking, I I don't think sports will ever get better for me than it is right now, right?
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: As a sports fan.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: That was just the pinnacle of being a sports fan.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: That was a special time to have both the Stanley Cup and Super Bowl in town.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: And it was a great time, and like we said, the golden age of Pittsburgh sports there, kind of for a minute.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: So what uh what happened?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um under legacy.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: He was I think that's his legacy, scoring that big goal and playing defensive center and being a very good player.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: They kind of they they really didn't get back to the level of that until they got uh the HBK line, quite honestly.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he he I remember there was a series against Montreal.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: Was that the next year where he he got hurt by uh the soup can guy, Suban?
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: Once again, original six team.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like, didn't that guy do something dirty?
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like he like kind of something dirty, Suban?
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he like stepped on his foot and like somehow messed up his foot like with his skate.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how he showed us in that series and we lost in seven games.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, you're absolutely right.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: So the old soup can start strikes again, but um that's I'm recurring to PK Suban.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: But um, he he ended up he bid he traded to Carolina.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: And just think about that.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like, so dad was a hockey player, and then what the two or three brothers, right?
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: So if they put mom in net, they have like uh literally a hockey team going on.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: But uh never mind the hockey playing stalls.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: He seems like a decent person, and you know, the all the stalls seem like great people, and um, you know, wish he would have stayed around Pittsburgh a little longer.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: You know.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, moving back to foosball, the foosball, um, Willie Williams.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, which he's a weird, he has had a weird career in Pittsburgh, which is just it's very odd.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he was drafted out of Western Carolina University.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: Those that and you know, they're they're really a legacy uh football team down there.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: A directional school, you know, you always gotta go with them um by the Steelers in '93.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: And he spent six of his 13 seasons in the NFL with the Steelers.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: He was a key member of the 95 team that played in Super Bowl 30.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: And if you remember, um, do you remember the third down tackle on Lamart, Lamont Warren that set up the late drive by the Steelers?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure you do, Tim.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: They wouldn't have made the Super Bowl that year if he doesn't make that play.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because they they needed to make that stop to get the ball back to set up the drive that eventually won the game in that that year.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: And eventually, I think I forget was a third and three, third, it wasn't a long third down.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: It was third and one.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: And he had a gaping hole.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: He would have run for 40 yards easily.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it was a perfect call.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: It was a good draw call.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: And like I think I remember reading William Willie Williams wasn't even supposed to blitz on the he just did it.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: He was just like, ah, I'm running up here.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: And he like, it wasn't like he made a convincing tackle.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: He like literally grabbed Levant Warren's foot and drug him down.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: So it wasn't the greatest tackle in Steeler history, but um he made it.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I I don't remember him really getting burned in Super Bowl 30.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he had a decent Super Bowl.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they did lose, but it's funny because he came back in 2004.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: He played, he went to um I think Seattle for a while, and then he came back in 2004 and 2005, and he played um played in that Super Bowl win.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Team.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: And he's the only stealer on both the Super Bowl 30 and Super Bowl 40 roster.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: Isn't that weird, Tim?
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I just find that fascinating.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: That is a fun fact.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: Go Cowers two Super Bowl teams.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: He's the only player to be it was on both of them.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, not a kicker.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: You figure, oh, maybe like a kicker or something.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: No, no.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: Norm Johnson wasn't around.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: It was definitely Willie Williams.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't have a big role on that 2005 team.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think he played like special teams and like backup once in a blue moon, but good for him.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: He got a Super Bowl ring, finally some redemption.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: And um just a guy, I don't think a lot of people forgot about him, but um yeah, it was pretty cool.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was 95.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: That was the year Rod Woodson tore his ACL in the opening game, and Dion Figures, the other cornerback, had gotten shot in the offseason, and they had like no cornerbacks.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: And they put they kind of threw him, he was never supposed to be the starter, and they threw him in, and he he had a really good year.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: He had a rocky start, he had a really good year.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: So he was a guy that just played well, was never supposed to be in the position he was in, and and played up to the challenge.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and had a nice ended up having a really nice NFL career.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: So um sticking with uh mid-90s Steelers for 200, Alex.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um Mark Bruner.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Anybody remember Mark Bruner?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he was drafted in the first round of the 27th overall pick in 1995, which would have been the year after they went to the AFC Championship game by the Steelers.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: He ended up playing for the Steelers for nine seasons.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um he did play in Super Bowl 30.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: He had no catches, but I remember he did have a fumble recovery.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how key that was.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: It might have been late in the game or something.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't like anything major.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: And his biggest play, and I remember this is probably his favorite, and probably like you know, one of the biggest plays in his career was in 2000, week 14.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this this was the final year of Three River Stadium, and this really should have been the last game of Three River Stadium.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: They played the the what do we call the team in Washington this week.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, back then they were the Redskins, so Redskins commanders not owned, well, they were owned by Danny Snyder then, but not so much now.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um but they they played the Raiders, which were owned, which were in Oakland and owned by Al Davis at that point.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and John Gruden was a coach.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, people that aren't in the NFL for 500 Alex or allowed in the NFL anymore.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: There's about three people I name that will never be allowed to sniff the NFL again, huh?
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think you and me have a better chance of being an owner or a coach than any of those guys.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Al Davis mainly because he's not alive, but John Gruden and Danny Snyder for other readers.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: This is from that week 10 game.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: And the Steelers ended up winning, but Mark Brunner makes a great catch at the beginning of the game.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_04: Stewart again.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_04: Moves up to the five-yard line.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_04: He throws it to Cooner, who's trapped by Branch.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, he's back again.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_04: It's a stealer touchdown.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_04: Can you believe it?
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he just He catches the ball at like the two-yard line and he just drags the guy into the end zone.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's a pretty amazing play.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, get if you get a chance.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we're gonna have all this stuff linked in the uh comments.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: Go watch that.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great play.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: I just remember watching that live being like one of those like you're just rooting so hard for him to get in the end zone that he gets in.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's like the ultimate like fan playoff play, payoff play.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: I liked it.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: And it beat the Raiders.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: So the fun part about that game was at the end, remember they argued over like it was fourth down, and Rich Gannon and John Gruden tried to argue that it wasn't fourth down.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, oh yeah, it wasn't fourth down.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they thought they had another play left, and the referee told them they didn't, and the game was over and they were freaking out.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, because they never flipped, it was one of those ones where they forgot to flip the the sign on the side, but they keep track on like their fingers, like they're supposed to like move like a little thing on their finger.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: You've ever watched at least that's what they used to do.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if they do that anymore with replay or anything.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: We'll have to we'll have to like go back.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: We could have like a you know uh forgotten great games or something because that's that's a great game.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: And it should have been the last game.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: Should that have not been the last game at the end number one?
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: It was the Raiders.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, how appropriate would that have been to play the Oakland Raiders, the Immaculate Reception, all that, like the thing that kind of burst three River Stadium.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then for it to end that way, because the Raiders for years thought that they got cheated.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: They got cheated by the Immaculate Reception at Three River Stadium, they got cheated in the 75 championship game because of the ice.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, hosing down the sidelines.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then and then Well, that's how you melt ice, Tim.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's just science.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: Don't argue with science.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then sure enough, their last moment at the River Stadium is them getting quote unquote cheated out of a victory.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: So that would have been just such a fitting end for that stadium to end right right on on that, on a fourth down that they thought was third down.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, great game.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: We'll have to go back and review that game.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, that wow, we always come up with like great ideas for somebody should write these down.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: We need like to have like a third person just writing this down.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: But um, yeah, and Myron Cope, I remember described that as the Mark Brunner rodeo.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: Because the guy the guy literally rides him into the end zone.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: He takes the Raider player with him.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: They both score a touchdown.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: Does that defensive back get a credit for scoring a touchdown?
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: But it was awesome.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: Mark Brunner was uh what a what a good teammate.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: He's always a great teammate.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: He's a scout for the Steelers now.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know that.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: And his kid, he has a he has a bunch of kids, and um he's very, very apparently devout Catholic, uh very nice guy.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um his kid, I think, I think he's from Seattle or Washington area.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I think his kid is going to the University of Washington where where uh Mark Bruner went.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: So good for the Bruners, good on them, good for Mark, doing well.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm sure it's and he fits in well.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: So going from a guy that's a really good guy and good teammate to the exact opposite end of the spectrum to a guy that's maybe not such a great character guy, but was a good player.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that would be one, Mr.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: Bam Morris.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: Bam, what a great name, huh?
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: His the fun fact, his real name is Byron.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: Did you know that, Tim?
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: I forgot that.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and do you know how he got his nickname, Bam?
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I hope it didn't have anything to do with cocaine.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: No, it did not.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: It had him when he was like five years old.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: I guess he had a kid in the headlock and he was beating him up, and his uncle said he just was going bam, bam.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: So Bam Morris was a bully.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: So uh yeah, he was brought in to back up Barry Foster.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: He was a big back.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, his big plays, he he scored a go-ahead score in the 1995 championship game.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: You remember like Ernie Mills caught the pass of the one, and then like Bam Morris like jumped.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: He liked to jump for like I don't know why.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: He was like two million pounds.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: He was bigger than Von Kirkland and he liked the jump.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: I I I remember that.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: I remember that.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I think even if I remember Cower kind of getting upset with him for doing that.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because he wouldn't just do that at the goal line, he would do that.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: No, he instead of running people over, you try and like hurdle them all the time.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's like just just just run somebody over.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: You're like way bigger than everybody.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: Your name's Bam, for God's sake.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, live up to that.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um during his career, he had 3,800 yards, 35 touchdowns.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: He also caught 103 passes.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he was the leading rusher in the Steelers who rolled 30 loss.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: He gained 73 yards on 19 carries.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: So that's not great, but it's not horrible.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, then his legacy.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um he got he got in a lot of legal trouble and then got cut and was replaced by um some guys named uh Jerome Vettis.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: So um the Steelers did okay.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um he spent he's he I think I don't know if he's in or out of prison.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: He's been in and out of prison ever since his NFL career.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like he's been caught like bringing drugs into the country, and then he cut a plea deal, and then he got in trouble against this plea deal again.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: So he's definitely had a kind of a checkered post NFL career.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: So hopefully he gets things straightened out, and you know, it'd be nice to see him come back to one of those Steeler reunion games, you know.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: It was pretty shocking at the time that the the leading running back on the Super Bowl team, you know, got caught with uh it was like a van full of cocaine or something.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: And and and got cut.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, literally like two months after the Super Bowl, he's cut.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that was pretty shocking, you know, because if you've been an NFL fan for as many years as we have, there's a lot of forgiveness in the NFL for, you know, really good players.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: But that was just like above and beyond, and the Steelers had to cut ties with him.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, it's unfortunate because he was a really good player, but just for a very, very short amount of time.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a shame.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like he didn't never really reach his complete potential there in the NFL.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: So um, I also have I'm gonna have a YouTube link to a game, a nine 1994 game against um the Giants and the immortal Doug Brown, who was just a great quarterback for the Giants.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: But there's uh Bam Morris, Levon Kirkland, and Carnell Lake, and uh some other guys have some great highlights in that game.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: So uh if you feel like it uh after the podcast, go check that uh link out.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: You'll you'll definitely be entertained with some 90s football.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I think the game ended like 21 to 17 or something.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: It was not the greatest of games, but the highlights are are fun to watch.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh going back to pirate players that played for crappy pirate teams, um, this would be Jason Kendall.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um Jason Kendall was drafted out of high school to the Pirates.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: He made his major league debut in '96.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: I do believe he played on the freak show Pirates, which we covered in a podcast recently.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: He was pretty good.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: He was pretty good on that team.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_01: He was like, I think that was his first or second year.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um he was really good.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he did sign a six-year contract extension worth$60 million.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that was the most expensive contract in Pirates' history, and it made him the second highest paid catcher at the time behind only Mike Piazza.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, really, uh the thing he's probably most remembered for is uh his dislocated ankle.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: He when he broke his ankle running the first base, that was devastating.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: That was in '99.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um he was an all-star in '98 and 2000.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um NL rookie of the year.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um he hit 300 his rookie year.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: He walked a lot.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: But the do you remember the way how he would walk, Tim?
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: Why he got so many walks.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, because he got hit.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: He would lean out over the plate.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's funny because later in his career he got in a big fight when he was, I think he was with the he was in the American League, I want to say, with the A.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_02: Oakland.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and John Lackey got mad because he he would wear that big arm protector, like, what's his name?
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like Barry Bonds.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: And he would lean out over the plate and like get a free base.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_01: So John Lackey took the exception to that and ended up like a bench peering claw brawl.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, he really was one.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_01: Him and Brian Giles were really only like well, maybe Jack Wilson, the only bright light in those 20 years of losing that the Pirates really had.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean uh I I can't remember really anything else that Jason Kendall did or didn't do that was really all that memorable.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_01: He was okay.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean he was a good player.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: He just played on such a bad team.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I think if they would have been a better team, like him and Giles would have been kind of the cornerstones of that franchise for 10 years.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just they just never brought any talent in to support them, especially pitching wise.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, same.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: You're right.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: Same story as Giles.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: Should have been was a very good player and just unfortunate era that he was in.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: Very gritty player.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like he's like he could have been like that glue catcher, like you know, the guy from major league, you know, that like keeps the team together.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: He could have been that guy, but like when you just don't have the the other like starting pitching and another hitter, and just yeah, it just yeah, it didn't work out for them.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: But that's the way the pirates roll.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh moving back to football, um, Eric Pegram, the other half of the thunder and lightning combo that was Bayamor.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he came over to the Atlanta Falcons in 1994, and he was the leading rusher for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1995 with 813 yards.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: It did it wasn't much, but you gotta remember that was like kind of revolutionary, like the whole two-back thing.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like back then it was like, oh, let's rush Emmett Smith for like a million times and get some yards.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: So that was kind of the thing.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um I remember like a terribly big plays by him, but he was like a solid running back.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: And he did play in Super Bowl 30.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: He was a great compliment to Bam Morris.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember him, like I ran into him one time on the South Side just in person, and they the Steelers used to lift him at 5'11, 180.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_01: I am 5'11, Tim.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: He came up to the middle of my chest.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_01: So if he was bigger than 5'4 and 150 pounds, I would be shocked.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_01: But um he was a fun guy to watch, and uh nice compliment to the Steelers.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: They had that thunder and lightning kind of thing going on.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, another guy that was just like one of those guys, I think when he was gone, you missed him.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like when he was gone, it's like, boy, that that was a really good dynamic that we had on the offense with.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because because after after Bam Morris it was Jerome Bettis, and so you always had like the power back, but he was kind of the change of pace guy.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: And they really didn't have a change of pace guy until Willie Parker.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's very true.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, or a guy that could really catch out of the backfield, too.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: That was another thing he did well.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like Richard Huntley was the closest thing they had to like kind of a speed guy.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_01: And he was pretty good at fighting people in the locker room and fumbling, but yeah.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um back to hockey, uh, one John Cullen.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's a forgotten kind of penguin.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: Not maybe not to Penguins fans, to like hardcore Penguins fans, but I bet to the average fan they don't know who John Cullen is.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um he like uh made his uh NHL debut.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_01: He appeared in 79 games with the Penguins.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: That was in the 80s, late 80s.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um he was given a greater role um when Nario missed 21 games.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_01: He had a pretty good season, scored 32 goals and 92 points.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_01: He played on a Team Canada team in the 90 World Championship games.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: What happened to John Cullen was um he was a really good player, but he wasn't Mario Lemieux, and he he was a good second center, but the Penguins needed they needed some help.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm not no offense to John Cullen.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: Ron Francis is like way better.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_01: And they were able to trade him for Ron well him and Zarly Zelapsky, who was an offensive defenseman and was okay, and some guy named Jeff Parker.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, who could have forget Jeff Parker?
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: I was really heartbroken when Jeff Parker left.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: I I remember kind of being a little bit upset like Zarlie Zelopski because I liked, I just I think I liked his name, Zarley.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: But they got they they got Ron Francis and some guy named Al Samuelson and Grant Jennings.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean Grant Jennings was more of an enforcer, but Al Samuelson and Rand Ron Francis were like cornerstones to those cup teams, and Ron Francis, no offense, is like really good.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: There's a reason they call him Ronnie franchise, and the problem is like John Cullen isn't Ron Francis, and that made the Penguins really good.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then they had Yager the next year.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, the Penguins were this just didn't the Penguins got really good in a hurry.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_01: So Phil Bork, who uh is like you know, Tim's favorite penguin, um, was really upset that Cullen didn't get the experience, the a Stan Cup win with them.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_01: So um the Penguins won their first Stanley Cup that season.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_01: Phil Phil Bork later said it broke his heart that Cullen was not able to share in that championship.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um big plays.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, the guy he was traded for Ron Francis, and that kind of helped their Penguins win their first cup.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_01: He scored all those goals while Mario was gone to kept them in the playoff race.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: So that had something.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um he actually got cancer later in his career, but he beat it and made a comeback.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was lymphoma.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_01: That was in 1998 with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_01: So good for John Cullen, seems like a decent guy.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: Just had some bad breaks along the way.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh, I remember I was really upset when they traded him because he he was, I think, our leading scorer at the time because Mary was hurt that whole season.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and he played well.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't like he was a bad player, he just wasn't Ron Francis.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: No, and Craig Patrick, that was smart because he capitalized on Well Hartford was Hartford was falling apart.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: And John Collin was never going to be that good again.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: So he kind of like realized, okay, this is the height of John Collins' powers, and I could probably get, you know, Ron Francis and all Seamus and if I traded him now.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_00: And and so, yeah, good on Craig Patrick.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think we don't win a Stanley Cup if not for that trade.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but I I always loved John Collin.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: I I still have uh the hockey stick that I had when I was a kid that is autographed by John Collin.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_02: Nice.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh because I I met him at they they had like a signing at the old Allegheny Center Mall, you could wait in line and get his autograph, and I waited in line for like two hours and got to meet him and everything.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I was always a big John Collin fan.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_01: And he showed up on time and waited the whole time to sign around everything.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, unlike some other players.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um that may were yes.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: But you mentioned him earlier.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he actually came back to the Penguins in 1995.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: He actually had a second stint with the Penguins, but by that point he was you know, later in his career, and then like you said, the belt with cancer and everything.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um but you're right, really, really good player, a guy that um again, like you said, had if it would have kind of like some of these other guys, like if that were more of an extended period of success, or if he stays on that team and they win the Stanley Cup with him on the team, you know, then then he's much more remembered as a potential Penguins legend.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think they if now Trotnier, they had Trottier, right?
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_01: If they would have had him instead of Trottier as a third center, I don't know.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Trotty was knew his role, and he was probably a little better defensive center, and that's what you need out of your third center, a guy win face-offs and play defense.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_01: Could John Cullen have done that if they could have got Ron Francis without trading him?
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean, I don't think Hartford.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_01: I know Hartford, that organization was going out of business, and they were they're having a lot of trouble, and that's kind of the big reason they traded Ron Francis, they couldn't afford him.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: They should bring back the Hartford Whalers, huh?
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_01: That was just an awesome name, too.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_01: It was somebody would probably get offended.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, whaling.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_01: We don't do it anymore.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, come on, man.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't know.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_01: I love my kerosene lamps as much as the next guy with whale oil in them.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_01: Anywho, uh where did the Hartford whalers end up going up?
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Carolina Hurricanes.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_01: They are the Carolina, that's what I thought.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_01: So And I I tell you what, Carolina, I mean, I don't know.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: They seem to have had done okay.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_01: Although I went to a Carolina Hurricanes game, believe it or not.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_01: I went to a Penguins Carolina game.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like and like it was more Penguins fan than Carolina.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_01: So that was weird enough.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_01: But maybe there's a lot of Pittsburgh people that live in North Carolina.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: Moving back to people probably nobody's gonna remember this guy, except for me and you, Tim.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_01: I know you'll remember him.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um Latif Grimm.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_01: And he's not part of the brothers, Grimm.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't tell any spooky stories for kids, but um he he had uh 2,607 receiving yards in his the sixth month of school history.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um he had some big catches against uh against Penn State in the 1999 game.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_01: I remember the best part of that was uh remember that the tip pass by LeVar Arrington.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_01: He tipped it right to Grim and Grim went for like 80 yards on him.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_01: That was that was just awesome because it was LeVar Arrington.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_01: Although I guess LeVar Arrington kind of had the last lap in that game when he blocked the field goal.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_01: But and then he bullied the punter.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_01: He was like, ooh, okay, tough guy.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's like all right.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_01: It was nice to see that guy have such a mediocre NFL career.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: See, I I I actually always liked LeVar Arrington, surprisingly.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: He was there's like three players in the history of Penn State I liked, and he was one of those.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: So why?
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_00: Why I just thought he was a really good linebreaker.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_01: He was a great high school player, he was a good college player, but he was a local kid too.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's from Penn Hills, wasn't he?
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for North Hills.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_01: It was North Hills.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: North Hills, North Hills, my bad.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_01: Other side of the city.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um he was like the m he was the most mediocre linebacker in in Washington.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well once he was.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: He was all right.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_01: He made me on this list.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_01: If we were doing a red uh whatever guard commanders podcast, Washington podcast, he would probably be on this list.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like a guy who played on like not so great teams, but was pretty good.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but just he had a short career.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he was like the number two overall pick or something.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: So he yeah, he could he probably more was expected of him than what they got out of him.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, back to Latif Grimm, who I think was the original point of this little segue.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he was a good college receiver.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_01: He's and he led the big east in yards and receptions in 1998 and 1999, and touchdowns receiving in 1998.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_01: And then for some reason in 2000, his uh his production really dropped off.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_01: And and do you know why his his res his receptions really dropped off in that that was the season in three of our stadium, Tim?
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_01: Do you remember?
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was because of Antonio Bryan.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then um another guy came along, Larry Fitzgerald, who was really good.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so that kind of like uh it's putting like it's kind of made him a forgotten man in in pit receiving history.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_01: And that's just a shame.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_01: He was really good for a couple seasons there, and uh he I think he's coaching somewhere.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_01: It was tough to find much information on him, quite honestly.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a shame.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_01: I it'd be nice to see them like bring him back for like a pit, you know, game, or maybe they will, maybe they have, maybe I missed it, I don't know.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I mean you could argue you could argue that um Antonio Bryant doesn't have the success he has because it at the time Latif Grimm was the the guy defenses had to focus on, and I think that opened up the field for, especially because Antonio Bryant used to run those deep patterns.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that opened up the field for him just because Grimm was really good.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_00: But like you said, no one he didn't have the numbers or the certainly didn't play on any like really memorable teams that did anything.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_01: So well he played he played on that, he played in the last game at Pitts Stadium, if I remember correctly, and he had some decent catches.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like Brian Cole kind of stole the show, but I think Grimm had a couple catches too.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't like it wasn't bad.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_01: He was just a more of a possession guy, and Bryant was more of the flashy guy, the tall and speed guy.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_01: So and and neither of them had really good quarterbacks, like they had John Terman and David Priestley throwing them the ball, so I mean, I guess take that as what you will, right?
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like you said, prototypical wingman, prototypical Robin.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_00: That was Fletch Grimm.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_01: So moving on to another guy who I misspelled his name as Louisiana Polite, which just it sounds so much better than Lusaka.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_01: Lusaka's a great name, but Louisiana Polite sounds like he should be like a 19th century gambler.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: I lost all my money to but Lusaka Polite um accepted a football scholarship in the University of Pittsburgh.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember the thing I remember him, and I've told this story before was um who is the uh other running back?
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_01: I've I've said his name before, I can't remember.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_01: Dustin Pashodti.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: And remember, remember when they got him from the big football school in Philadelphia, Central Bucks West, and Dustin Pasciadi this, Dustin Pashodti that.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Dustin Pasciotti, even if he wouldn't have gotten his concussions, never would have seen the light of day because they had this guy, and this guy was a very good fullback, and people forget it.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um he he had uh not a lot of carries because he's a fullback, but the one big I big touchdown, they're playing Virginia Tech in 2003, and Virginia Tech was ranked, and I think Larry, yeah, Larry Fitzgerald was on that team, and Bud Foster was a defensive coordinator and still hasn't figured out that you probably should double cover Pitts wide receivers.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but at that point they were like first and goal from like the one, or maybe it was no, it was third and goal from like the one, and they gave the ball to sock and polite, and he just ran over like half the Virginia Tech defense and scored a big touchdown.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_02: We have talked about all night, he is a loaded to stop.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_02: Gives it to the fullback polite, hit him.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_01: I remember being at that game, and I remember thinking when they scored that touchdown, I knew Virginia Tech was done, even though there was like two minutes left.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_01: And you know why I knew that game was over?
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because Marcus Vick was their quarterback.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, thank you.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_01: I knew there was no as long as we didn't because like I think they had a good kickoff return guy.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, as long as once we tackled the kickoff return guy, like I knew, well, this is over, pack it up.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_01: And literally, Marcus Vick did not disappoint.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_01: He literally threw an interception, I think, what, on the second play of that drive.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I was not really too concerned.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_01: It was the exact opposite feeling of I had in the Cincinnati game where I knew the defense was going to give up the touchdown.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_01: It was so weird, like the opposite emotions that you have there.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's like one, we're like, there's no way they, you know, I would have been totally shocked.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas when it happened, and I really wasn't all that shocked because the defense had played so bad against Cincinnati in 2004.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_01: So, or no, that was 2008.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_00: Nine.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_00: So that was such a big play because and such a big win because Virginia Tech, like you said, was ranked.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_00: Pitt was fighting for an Orange Bowl berth.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um the winning that game set them up for if they could beat Miami the next week, they were going to the BCS and going to an orange to the Orange Bowl, it didn't happen, of course.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_00: But but at the time that was huge because that was right after Virginia Tech announced that they were leaving for the ACC.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so not only not only did you want to beat them because it was a big game, but you wanted to just stick it to them because they were bailing on the big east.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I remember when Louis Soccer Polite scored that touchdown, everybody, because I was at that game too, Steve.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody just put it camping.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_00: ACC, ACC.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_00: Ironic since Pitt later did the same thing, but we'll leave that part out.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_01: Or or like got smoked by Miami the next week, which and Larry Fitzgerald had a great game at the end.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't have a but at the end, he had like all these great catches because once again Bud Foster was like, you know what, I'm gonna cover him single coverage.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that was it, I don't can't remember it was Dante Hall or whatever.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like it was somebody that ended up playing in the NFL, but it's like even Miami the next week wasn't stupid enough to cover Larry Fitzgerald one-on-one.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I never understood why Bud Foster got all that hype.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_01: Do you, Tim?
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't know.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_00: I just know that Pitt owned Virginia Tech back then.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_01: Still do.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty much.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_01: Still do.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_01: A great career.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Lusaka Polite had a great career fullback.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he had a solid eight-year career in the NFL.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_01: He was part of that uh Woodland Hills crew that like remember they had like 20 players.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_01: No, I'm exaggerating.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_01: They had like eight or ten players in the NFL at one time from like one high school, which is pretty impressive.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if I know it was like him, Breston, who else?
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh oh my gosh.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_00: Gronk.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_01: Gronk.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_01: See, does that really count?
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_00: He went to Woodland Hills.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, whatever.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_01: After he came from like Buffalo.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_00: He went to Woodland Hills.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, whatever.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_01: And there was like three other guys that all Seante Spencer.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there is a whole crew of them.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_00: You're right.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, who did he play for in the NFL they soccer played?
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: I can't remember.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_01: He played for Miami, Chicago, Miami mainly, Chicago, and um somebody else, but like briefly.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_01: Very uh he he was on the New England team that one of the New England teams that won a Super Bowl, but I I didn't see that he had many carries or anything.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_01: So uh going on back to hockey, and this guy is this is an interesting guy.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_01: As I looked it up, I didn't realize like how interesting.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_01: I remember him playing for the penguins, but um, this is this is an interesting dude.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Alexei Morozov.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_01: Do you remember Alexei Morozov?
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know what his nickname is, Tim?
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_00: I do not.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_01: The Devil Killer.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because he literally made a career out of scoring on Hall of Fame goaler, goalie Martin Brodour.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I that's my favorite thing about all is he just smoked that poser.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, I don't have much respect for Brodour.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_01: I know he's supposedly good, but I don't know.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_01: I I think Patrick Waugh is good, I think Dominic Hosseck's good, I think Eddie Balfour is good.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_01: I don't respect anything Brodour has ever done.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sorry when it's kind of like the same feeling I have for um Hendrik Lundquist in New York.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, when you stack six all five the players in front of you and then you lay on the ice, that isn't really, and you're like, you know, already six feet tall.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm sorry, that just doesn't, you know, being tall doesn't make you a good goaltender.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, that's enough of that.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Alexei Morozov did have his number.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um he he was drafting the 24th overall by the Penguins in 95.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but because it's Russia and that's how they roll, he did not join the Penguins until 1997.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know why.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_01: He just that's just how it happens in in the Russian world.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um he scored like uh Mario he on his first shot on his first shift of the goal.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if that was against the Devils.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it was.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_01: Wasn't Crosby's first goal against the Devils, too, if I remember correctly.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_01: Probably.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um despite he he had uh he had uh 84 goals and 219 points.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_01: He played seven seasons for the Penguins.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um he never really developed into the full potential.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_01: They thought he would be like a superstar.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_01: He just never did, and I think mainly because he played on a team with Mary Lemie, Yammer Yager, Kovalev, Straka, Lang.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_01: I I guess Lang, but he he just never got like maybe the full chance.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um but his big thing was he was the devil killer.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it was funny.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_01: Here's some quotes about by Martin Brodour stated he had nightmares of Morozov each night before his club would pay the Penguins.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_01: Brodour also stated an interview with Dan Patrick.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_01: I would uh Morozov is the player he would not like to see coming in on him on a breakaway, adding the kids got probably over 25% of his career goals on me.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's unbelievable.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you figure it out, if if you figure it out, please tell me when he shoots the puck, I never catch it really clean.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_01: When he's going to make the pass, I think he's shooting.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_01: When he's shooting, I think he's making a pass.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_01: The guy's in my kitchen, he's in my head, I can't get rid of him.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_01: And goodness gracious, if that doesn't make Alexi Morozov a Penguins legend, what does Timothy have?
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's amazing, isn't it?
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, from that guy who nobody else could solve.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I Morozov is it's like if you look back on his stats, 219 points, that's pretty impressive.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_00: I I just at the time he was playing, he came in right after Mario retired the first time, and you just thought he was gonna be like the next great, you know, penguin superstar, and he just wasn't that, but he was a very solid player, and like you said, he owned one of the, you know, whether Steve agrees or not, one of the at least widely widely considered greatest goaltenders of that game.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_01: He probably is.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_01: I just don't like him.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_01: I am in Lundquist.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't know.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know why I just don't think much of those guys.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think much of Chris Osgood either, but I don't know.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_00: So so yeah, I just but that's what I remember about him is like it you wanted him to do more, and maybe that wasn't fair to him.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he no, like we said, he went to the KHL and had a great career in the KHL, which is the Continental Hockey League, which is the Russian Professional Hockey League.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he also won an Olympic silver medal on the 1998 Russian Olympic team.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um he's now actually the uh president of the KHO in Russia.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um fun fact, he has a hat trick.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_01: He had a hat track in seven minutes, and can you guess who he had his hat trick in seven minutes against?
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_01: What team?
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_01: In the KHL?
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_01: No, in the NHL.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, the devils.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, of course.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_01: Who else?
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't the Carolina Panthers, Tim.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_00: I I I have a uh I have a fun fact about Morezov if you want it.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sure.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_00: He's the only he's the only penguin in the history of the franchise to wear number 95.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe he's a big Greg Lloyd fan.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so he's just a great player, fun player to watch.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I don't know how things are I mean, I guess he's working in Russia now, so God bless him.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh good for him.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um Martin Straka, another another penguin.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how forgot I but he's like a wing guy, and he although Morozov was the was a center, this yeah, Martin Stracka really was a wing, if I do believe.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um he was drafted 19th by the Penguins in 92.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_01: He played for several teams, but uh I think I remember mostly with the Penguins.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um he actually like took some time off from the he was after he's drafted, he went to the Senators, came back to the Penguins, and that's when he really had a success in the late 90s.
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um he had 35 goals and 48 assists in one season.
• 57:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um with the return of Mario, he had a career year because playing with Mario is probably really gonna help your career.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_01: He massed 27 goals and 95 points in a season in 2000-2001.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um he was really a speed guy.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_01: He had a season-ending injury in a form of broken leg, and they weren't sure he'd ever recover.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_01: He was actually traded to the Kings for some guy named Sergei and Naskoff and defenseman Martin Straubak.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_01: Those guys never did nothing.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um his big play was I guess we'll try and play this again, Tim.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's a goal against um another team the penguins love to torture.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_01: Can you guess what team the penguins love to torture?
• 58:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's the Capitals.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_00: I know that's cool.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's an overtime of a playoff game.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's uh it's a fun time.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, maybe not for the Capitals.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely not for Sir Jay Gonjar.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_03: I wonder if Alexei Morozov, who's playing a lot tonight, has ever been over twenty minutes of ice time in a game before.
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_03: Probably, but he's close to that again.
• 58:52
  SPEAKER_03: Here's Marty Stracker lose, hits for the net.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_03: He scores.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_01: I think they got rid of the hate.
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_01: But I just for all the people that are on podcast and can't know what happened was Sergei Gonjar decides to bring the puck out of his own end and kind of scrapes up the middle of the ice, and about the middle, oh what did you say, about the blue line, middle rink, he literally like Stracha like checks him kind of like with a hip check and steals the puck and then skates on a breakaway and literally smokes Olaf Koldzig to the top of the net, pops the bottle.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_01: And both of those guys were pretty good players.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_01: Gonchar and Kolsig are both pretty good uh NHL players.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um it just was Martin Stracker was really good.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_01: And that was the game, that was the series clincher.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_01: They won the game and the series, so that ended that ended uh their season.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, correct.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_00: The Penguins have a um an all-time team.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_00: So you have Mario and Francis and Jager and you know all the greats.
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_00: And and then they have so there's an all-time team, and then there's like an honorable mentions second of that all-time team, and Martin Strzok is in the honorable mentions of the all-time team.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_00: So if that's not the quintessential wingman, yeah, a characterization, that's Marty Strzok.
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_01: And he played wing, so yeah, there you go.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he did.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um he's I guess he's the second best Czech player to play.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's unfortunate for him because there's some guy named Yager.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um which is really cool.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually uh in researching this, I I went back and watched some of the I forgot how much I love that Czech team in '98 when they won the goal with Jager, Hosick, I think Lang, Herdina.
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um who else?
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness, there's so many penguins.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I love Dominic Hossik, um, you know, non-penguin goalies that I really like.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_01: And now he's actually uh last I heard uh there was a trib article which we can I have a link for.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um he's coaching for the Czech Republic Olympic team as of 2020.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_00: So good for him.
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_00: You want a fun fact about Marty?
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sure.
• 1:01:11
  SPEAKER_00: Can you guess what it is?
• 1:01:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's very similar to my other fun fact about Morozov.
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he's the only player to wear well he wore well, he wore it backwards in New York, didn't he?
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_01: I can't remember.
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_00: He wore for the penguins he wore eighty two.
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then he wore twenty-eight for the Rangers, didn't he?
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but he is the only penguin ever to wear ED2.
• 1:01:30
  SPEAKER_01: He he's not a big uh John Stalworth fan.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe.
• 1:01:34
  SPEAKER_01: Or Curtis Martin, I don't know, in college.
• 1:01:37
  SPEAKER_01: Or pros.
• 1:01:38
  SPEAKER_01: That was the pros, yeah.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um going back to the Steelers, uh, a guy named Chris Oldham.
• 1:01:45
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if a lot of people remember him.
• 1:01:47
  SPEAKER_01: He was just one of those defensive backs.
• 1:01:49
  SPEAKER_01: He came up with big plays, he was like Johnny on the spot.
• 1:01:53
  SPEAKER_01: He uh forced a fumble against Buffalo in a divisional playoff game in '95.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_01: He had some other key interceptions, just like every time it seemed like we need a big interception.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um definitely forgotten guy for highlights.
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I remember too, like in the 95 championship game, like Harbaugh like driving him down the field, and he actually, the one time he didn't make a big play, he dropped the pass that he should have intercepted.
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, even if you listen to the Colts broadcast, you're like, oh, it's intercepted, like, oh no, he dropped it.
• 1:02:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that would have ended the game before the Hail Mary.
• 1:02:27
  SPEAKER_01: And but besides that, Chris Alden was really Johnny on the spot, just a great player, like definitely kind of a wingman guy in that that backfield.
• 1:02:36
  SPEAKER_01: And uh just uh that's kind of you describe him, right, Tim?
• 1:02:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he was we talked on the show before about William Gay in the in like the 2000s and 2010s.
• 1:02:48
  SPEAKER_00: He was that he was that defensive back that wasn't really you know, a starter wasn't really a star, but always seemed to come up with plays.
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_00: They call him big play Willie Gay.
• 1:02:57
  SPEAKER_00: That Chris Wortham was the Willie Gay of like that era of the 90s.
• 1:03:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and he had a long career too.
• 1:03:03
  SPEAKER_01: He played for a couple other teams, I think Carolina or somebody.
• 1:03:07
  SPEAKER_01: He he played like for years, or Detroit.
• 1:03:09
  SPEAKER_01: He he played for a team that he never they never did much anything, but so um uh so we'll finish up with this guy, and uh he's probably like the ultimate wingman, and uh just somebody who I think people forget about, but deserve we'll give him some love here at the end of our podcast.
• 1:03:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that would be Carnell Lake, and I'll call him the forgotten defensive back.
• 1:03:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um Steeler, you you probably remember Male Blunt, Ike Taylor, Rod Woodson, or the great safeties like Ryan Clark or Troy Palomalo, Donny Shell.
• 1:03:43
  SPEAKER_01: But he was a defensive back, he just seems to have slipped away from people thinking about him from the fans' memories.
• 1:03:50
  SPEAKER_01: And he just really was a true player, seems like a nice enough guy.
• 1:03:54
  SPEAKER_01: You never really hear about him getting any trouble off the field, and just just a great, great player.
• 1:04:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he was so versatile in the NFL.
• 1:04:03
  SPEAKER_01: He played safety and cornerback, part of that 95, like you said, where they they were scrambling, they had to put Willie Williams on the one side, and then they had Alvoid Mays, who was just absolutely terrible.
• 1:04:13
  SPEAKER_01: And they moved Carnell Lake into his spot, and they put Lee Flowers, who could play safety at safety.
• 1:04:20
  SPEAKER_01: And they actually had a serviceable defensive backfield at that point, and that's kind of what carried them all the way to the Super Bowl was that defensive backfield.
• 1:04:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he made many big interceptions and big plays.
• 1:04:33
  SPEAKER_01: He's in that that Giants game.
• 1:04:35
  SPEAKER_01: He makes, I think he makes a turnover.
• 1:04:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just so many, so many things.
• 1:04:40
  SPEAKER_01: And he actually in college, I think he went to UCLA.
• 1:04:43
  SPEAKER_01: He had uh he played linebacker in college, so maybe that's where he kind of started his tackling.
• 1:04:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just underrated players, and he made big plays in the Steels.
• 1:04:52
  SPEAKER_01: I can't remember how many times like a team would be driving and he'd either like come in on a blitz or make an interception or force a fumble, or he was just a really good player, and he was a popular player when he played, but it just you just don't seem to hear much about him or it really like even LeVon Kirkland's come back and done some stuff, like you just don't hear much about Carnell Lake anymore.
• 1:05:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he was an assistant coach for Tomlin for a few years.
• 1:05:19
  SPEAKER_00: So he was he was there for that, but but he in terms of like recognition for what he did on the field, I I agree.
• 1:05:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean you had this you have this thread of steelwork safeties.
• 1:05:29
  SPEAKER_00: You had like Donnie Shell, then Carnell Lake, then Troy, and and then Minka.
• 1:05:35
  SPEAKER_00: And and I think you know, Donny Shell and Troy Palomolo won championships and Carnell Lake didn't, and that's probably the difference, right?
• 1:05:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that's probably why, again, man, so I feel like so much is different in Steelware history if Neil O'Donnell doesn't throw those interceptions and the Steelers pull up that win off.
• 1:05:52
  SPEAKER_00: I just think a lot of players from that era are remembered differently.
• 1:05:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think I just think so much changes, and maybe for Carnell Lake specifically, you know, he's recognized as one of those all-time great players.
• 1:06:05
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's he's in the Steelers Hall of Honor, so he's gotten that recognition.
• 1:06:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's why I was just looking.
• 1:06:09
  SPEAKER_01: There he is.
• 1:06:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he is in the Hall of Honor.
• 1:06:11
  SPEAKER_00: But but I mean, he'll never really be considered for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
• 1:06:15
  SPEAKER_00: And at the time, that that's kind of odd because at the time you would have thought, man, he's he's a potential Hall of Famer, and now it's like no one would ever even consider him, but he was a great, great player.
• 1:06:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, in 97 he was the first defensive back to lead the Steelers and Sacks, and he had three set interceptions and a fumble.
• 1:06:34
  SPEAKER_01: He was voted all pro in '97.
• 1:06:37
  SPEAKER_01: That was probably, you know, just when uh when Lake uh got told by Dick LeBeau that he was moving to corner, he arrived at work at 6 a.m.
• 1:06:49
  SPEAKER_01: Lebeau did, and Lake was already at the stadium waiting for the tutorial to begin.
• 1:06:54
  SPEAKER_01: So just just a good good team guy, team player.
• 1:06:57
  SPEAKER_01: What what dedication.
• 1:06:58
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what a great player.
• 1:07:00
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, nice to see at least the Steelers.
• 1:07:03
  SPEAKER_01: And the Steelers, I think, for the most part, as long as you've not been a jerk to the organization, and even some guys who have, they've they've really you know done well by the former players.
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_01: They give them recognition, they you know, give give them the cheer.
• 1:07:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure at some point they'll have the Super Bowl 30 or something, the 94 team come back and Carnell Lake will be there, him and Cordell.
• 1:07:25
  SPEAKER_01: Have they had that?
• 1:07:26
  SPEAKER_00: You go to more Steeler games than I do, so uh I don't think so, but yeah, you're right.
• 1:07:32
  SPEAKER_00: I they should honor this, you know.
• 1:07:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's you're right.
• 1:07:35
  SPEAKER_00: They don't they don't typically honor teams that didn't win a championship, but you know, no reason why you can't.
• 1:07:41
  SPEAKER_01: Or they'll have just like, oh, here's the greatest Steelers of the 90s, and I'm sure he'll be out there.
• 1:07:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, though maybe they'll do something like that.
• 1:07:50
  SPEAKER_01: So good for him.
• 1:07:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's good to see uh we we're gonna give him his recognition and his props.
• 1:07:55
  SPEAKER_01: Favorite player, you know, good good guy, and just just a fun player to watch.
• 1:07:59
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, that those teams are really good and really stacked with some other great players, but Carnell Lake, you definitely can't um shortchange him.
• 1:08:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, um, thanks for listening.
• 1:08:09
  SPEAKER_01: And um, if there's anybody I forgot to add, please uh let us know in the comments on uh any social media you would like, Twitter, Facebook, you know, are we on Instagram or Instagram?
• 1:08:20
  SPEAKER_01: You can follow us on all the regular podcast service.
• 1:08:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Spotify is always a favorite, and word of mouth is great.
• 1:08:26
  SPEAKER_01: Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your mailman, you know, whatever.
• 1:08:30
  SPEAKER_01: Plumbers, mailmen, you know, all the all the skill traits, the skill trades that we're known for.
• 1:08:36
  SPEAKER_01: But um, thanks for listening, and uh, we'll catch you next time on the Fitzberg 25 podcast.