Latest / Pittsburgh Sports Memories / REWIND: Rants and Meltdowns
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_03: Hi everybody, welcome to the Pittsburgh Sports Memories Podcast.
- 0:04SPEAKER_03: Today we're going to talk rants and meltdowns.
- 0:22SPEAKER_03: I am your co-host Tim Hannon, and with me is my good friend.
- 0:27SPEAKER_04: I'm Steve Wirt, and I'm just really ticked off because this, you know, why are we not doing the podcast all about me?
- 0:35SPEAKER_04: Oh, okay.
- 0:35SPEAKER_04: That was my best rant.
- 0:38SPEAKER_04: I really like chocolate ice cream, and Tim only gave me vanilla.
- 0:43SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that would be that would be worth melting down for.
- 0:46SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 0:47SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and so kind of as Steve is joking, you know, I I think all of us have been there, right?
- 0:52SPEAKER_03: We've all been there where we've had our moments and maybe uh uh you know melted down or went on a rant and kind of felt pretty dumb about it later.
- 1:03SPEAKER_03: Sometimes it might be in front of a spouse or family member, sometimes it might be in front of a group of people.
- 1:08SPEAKER_03: Uh I don't think, Steve, either of us have had the experience of that happening full uh in front of a stadium full of 60,000 people or a television audience of millions.
- 1:18SPEAKER_03: So we are we are fortunate there.
- 1:20SPEAKER_04: Not yet, but it's still early.
- 1:24SPEAKER_03: I think the closest thing I ever came to that was I was at a grocery store in one of those self-checkout lanes, and I couldn't get the thing to like scan my fruit or whatever, and I rang the little bell for help and nobody was coming to help, and I just started like throwing my arms up in the air and like saying very loudly how ridiculous this was and really just making a fool out of myself.
- 1:45SPEAKER_03: But that was only you know 10 or 11 people, not uh not million.
- 1:49SPEAKER_03: So hopefully I will not uh get to that point.
- 1:52SPEAKER_04: Tim, you know what you are?
- 1:54SPEAKER_03: What am I?
- 1:55SPEAKER_04: You're a Karen.
- 1:57SPEAKER_03: I was I was definitely a Karen that day.
- 2:00SPEAKER_04: No, I had I had a I had a little mini meltdown.
- 2:03SPEAKER_04: Like I came home after a long day at work and like there was just like I forget there was like a bunch of family over, and it was like, I don't know, they just they were like, I don't know.
- 2:13SPEAKER_04: It just like sometimes I get like a little too particular about the way I like things in my house.
- 2:18SPEAKER_04: And it's just like so it's like I just needed to go upstairs and take a deep breath and relax after.
- 2:25SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 2:26SPEAKER_04: Bring a little bit of work home with you is never a good thing.
- 2:29SPEAKER_03: So I can uh I can empathize with that one.
- 2:32SPEAKER_03: So so just uh just to say that as we go through these and relive some of the uh the Pittsburgh sports ransom meltdowns, uh, you know, definitely uh no no judgment here.
- 2:43SPEAKER_03: We certainly understand that uh these things can happen, and and certainly there's some of these guys on sure that would want these moments back.
- 2:50SPEAKER_03: But uh that being said, let's relive those moments and let's kick it off uh with this.
- 2:59SPEAKER_08: And now McClendon walks back.
- 3:03SPEAKER_08: He's going to pick up first base, and he's walking away with the first base back.
- 3:08SPEAKER_08: To the delight of this crowd, McClendon marches down the dugout steps with first base and now whips it toward the runway.
- 3:17SPEAKER_08: We can't continue this game without a first base bag, and now a member of the grounds crew will take another bag and jog toward first base, put it back in.
- 3:29SPEAKER_04: I like that stuff.
- 3:30SPEAKER_04: Some member of the grounds crew got booed.
- 3:33SPEAKER_03: Like, leave it empty.
- 3:39SPEAKER_03: That was that was definitely the best part of that clip.
- 3:41SPEAKER_03: Was a poor grounds crew guy at PNC Park getting getting destroyed for doing his job.
- 3:46SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 3:48SPEAKER_03: So uh this this is June 26, 2001.
- 3:53SPEAKER_03: It's the the inaugural season of PNC Park.
- 3:55SPEAKER_03: The pirates are playing the Milwaukee Brewers.
- 3:58SPEAKER_03: Catcher Jason Kendall, he's called out on a very close-played first base.
- 4:02SPEAKER_03: He disagrees with the call, he starts to argue.
- 4:06SPEAKER_03: And as you know, happens very often in baseball, Pirates manager, who at the time is a guy named Lloyd McClendon, comes out to argue as well.
- 4:15SPEAKER_03: Uh umpire Rick Reed tosses McClendon pretty quick.
- 4:19SPEAKER_03: And I'm not sure if I'm not sure if that's what sets off McClendon, you know, just the fact that he got tossed like right off the bat.
- 4:25SPEAKER_03: And that's really up to the umpire's discretion, right?
- 4:28SPEAKER_03: Sometimes they let him argue and kick dirt and then they throw them out.
- 4:31SPEAKER_03: Uh sometimes they throw them out right away.
- 4:33SPEAKER_03: Uh but regardless, McClendon digs out first base and just walks off the field with it uh and throws it, whips it into like the dugout down the dugout steps.
- 4:46SPEAKER_03: So pr pretty pretty memorable reaction there, Steve, to uh to a close call.
- 4:52SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean it's you know, it's the pirates, so they it must have been early in the season because like if this was September, like who would have cared, you know.
- 5:03SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, it was it was June, and it was also that first season at PNC Park, so I think they probably had pretty good attendance despite you know, they I think they lost 100 games that year.
- 5:15SPEAKER_03: You could just say that about like, you know, just say that about any season.
- 5:18SPEAKER_04: You gotta throw a dart, want to go in free change.
- 5:21SPEAKER_04: 50% chance, yeah, yeah.
- 5:24SPEAKER_04: I'm getting it right.
- 5:25SPEAKER_04: I yeah, it's just I mean, it'd nice to see like some passion, but I feel bad that it's so misplaced because it's just you know, you weren't going anywhere that year.
- 5:34SPEAKER_04: I mean like who was not even on that team, Jason Kendall, Brian Giles, uh Lloyd McClendon was the manager.
- 5:43SPEAKER_04: That's that's was Operation Shutdown shut down or he might have not been there yet.
- 5:50SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I think he had already shut down, or maybe he shut down the next year.
- 5:54SPEAKER_03: Regardless, yeah, it was a bad team.
- 5:56SPEAKER_03: And and to his credit, McClendon does later uh admit to regretting doing that.
- 6:01SPEAKER_03: He says, quote, I didn't realize I'd ripped the skin off of all my knuckles trying to get the damn thing out of the ground.
- 6:08SPEAKER_03: Nice.
- 6:08SPEAKER_03: So he actually uh apparently first base is you know, they're pretty stuck in there, obviously, right?
- 6:14SPEAKER_03: They don't want it coming up, so it was not easy to rip it out of the ground.
- 6:19SPEAKER_04: Uh yeah, yeah, a little ground screw there.
- 6:21SPEAKER_04: Yeah, normally they they have like a little hole and it sits in there.
- 6:25SPEAKER_03: Yeah, next time bring a shovel or something out, right?
- 6:27SPEAKER_03: You know, just pry it out, maybe crowbar.
- 6:31SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
- 6:31SPEAKER_03: Bring bring shovel.
- 6:32SPEAKER_04: I wonder, do you know what inning that was in?
- 6:34SPEAKER_04: Because sometimes like if like it's been a long game and it's like the seventh or eighth inning and you start arguing, like that's when you get the quick hook.
- 6:42SPEAKER_04: Like if it's the first or second inning, like it's like I think the umpires sometimes have more patience, you know.
- 6:48SPEAKER_04: But if it's later in the game and you've been kind of chirping at the umpire the whole game, they're not gonna put up with uh too much there.
- 6:54SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I I I don't know what inning I I do know that Major League Baseball has always maintained that that's at the umpire's discretion.
- 7:01SPEAKER_03: And I remember that from when Roger Clemens, when he was pitching for the Red Sox, got thrown out of the I believe it was the first inning of a of a uh ALCS game against the A's.
- 7:12SPEAKER_03: And there was that was a huge controversy.
- 7:13SPEAKER_03: Like you can't throw out Roger Clemens in the first inning, but Major League Baseball said it's the discretion of the umpire.
- 7:20SPEAKER_04: So yeah, you almost have to leave it that way because you know you don't know what he said, or I don't even know the backstory, you know.
- 7:27SPEAKER_04: You don't know what maybe something was being said before the game and the umpire just but sometimes the umpires are just there to prove a point, but in the playoffs, come on, yeah.
- 7:36SPEAKER_04: That's a little much.
- 7:38SPEAKER_04: Regular season, okay, have at it, but that's a little much for the playoffs.
- 7:43SPEAKER_03: Well, at the very least, we got a memorable meltdown out of it.
- 7:47SPEAKER_03: So uh and Lloyd McClendon, not the only Pittsburgh uh coach to lose it every once in a while.
- 7:55SPEAKER_03: Uh another guy that sometimes uh had some emotional reactions was a guy named Bill Cower.
- 8:02SPEAKER_03: Uh in 1995, the Steelers are playing the Minnesota Vikings at Three River Stadium.
- 8:07SPEAKER_03: I remember this.
- 8:08SPEAKER_03: And and yep, and it's a close game.
- 8:11SPEAKER_03: The the Vikings are up 10 to 6 right before halftime.
- 8:15SPEAKER_03: And and they get into field goal range.
- 8:17SPEAKER_03: Kicker Floyd Revais lines up for a long field goal.
- 8:22SPEAKER_03: For Morse Floyd Revaise.
- 8:25SPEAKER_03: Fun fact, Faud Revez is one of only two Colombian-born NFL players.
- 8:29SPEAKER_04: Wow.
- 8:30SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there's your there's your fun fact for the day.
- 8:33SPEAKER_04: He's got that going for him.
- 8:34SPEAKER_03: He does.
- 8:35SPEAKER_03: What he doesn't have going for him is this long field goal attempt right before halftime.
- 8:39SPEAKER_03: He misses the kick.
- 8:40SPEAKER_03: So that's good for the Steelers.
- 8:42SPEAKER_03: Keeps the game 10-6 going into halftime.
- 8:44SPEAKER_03: But hang on, there's a flag on the play.
- 8:47SPEAKER_03: And the penalty is too many men on the field against the Steelers.
- 8:51SPEAKER_03: And what a dumb penalty, right?
- 8:53SPEAKER_03: Pre-snap penalties are the worst.
- 8:54SPEAKER_03: You can't have too many men on the field.
- 8:56SPEAKER_03: You've got to be able to line up correctly.
- 8:58SPEAKER_04: Can anybody count to 11?
- 9:01SPEAKER_03: Yep, and that's the problem because the Steelers actually did line up correctly.
- 9:06SPEAKER_03: The replay shows that there are 11 guys on the field.
- 9:10SPEAKER_03: And if you're doing the math, that is the allowable number of players by NFL role.
- 9:15SPEAKER_03: So the referees literally missed the case.
- 9:17SPEAKER_03: I think you can play with two.
- 9:18SPEAKER_03: I think you could play with 10 if you want.
- 9:20SPEAKER_03: You can.
- 9:21SPEAKER_03: You can play with 10.
- 9:22SPEAKER_03: You just can't play with more than 11.
- 9:24SPEAKER_03: But there were exactly 11.
- 9:26SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately for the Steelers, there's no instant replay in 1995.
- 9:30SPEAKER_03: And honestly, I'm not sure if that would even be a reviewable thing today.
- 9:36SPEAKER_03: Uh it's it's a pretty egregious error, and it's costly because Fod Revais makes the kick with his second try, and now the Vikings are up a touchdown going into halftime.
- 9:45SPEAKER_04: He just needed that extra five yards.
- 9:48SPEAKER_03: I I guess so.
- 9:49SPEAKER_03: Well, Bill Cower is the coach of the Steelers this time.
- 9:52SPEAKER_03: He's understandably livid, and he gets printout of the pre-stap, pre-stap alignment, showing that there's only 11 guys on the field.
- 10:01SPEAKER_03: They used to have these little like black and white.
- 10:04SPEAKER_03: Now it's on the iPads.
- 10:05SPEAKER_03: Yes.
- 10:06SPEAKER_03: Right.
- 10:07SPEAKER_03: But back then they would print out these little black and white photos.
- 10:10SPEAKER_03: Uh and he he gets one of those.
- 10:13SPEAKER_03: He runs up uh to the ref screaming, shoving it in his face.
- 10:17SPEAKER_03: The ref's like, I don't know what you're trying to show me if you're trying to show me some polarity or if you're a family or something, but I don't really want to see it.
- 10:24SPEAKER_03: Uh so he tries to walk away, and Cower stuffs it in the ref's shirt pocket, which I didn't even know the refs had shirt pockets until that incident happened.
- 10:33SPEAKER_04: They can keep their pens and pencils in there.
- 10:35SPEAKER_04: Right.
- 10:35SPEAKER_03: Yeah, or black and white pictures of a call they messed up.
- 10:39SPEAKER_03: That helps yeah, it helps them not count to 11, I guess.
- 10:44SPEAKER_03: Uh the Steelers do end up losing this game by a lot more than three points.
- 10:48SPEAKER_03: It's the final score is 44 to 24, so that play really doesn't have a huge impact.
- 10:53SPEAKER_03: Uh, but you know, pretty memorable moment.
- 10:55SPEAKER_03: The refs totally botched it, and Cower uh did not want them to uh forget about it.
- 11:02SPEAKER_04: I think they he got fined for that a fair amount of money, I do believe.
- 11:06SPEAKER_03: I I'm sure he did.
- 11:08SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 11:09SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 11:10SPEAKER_04: And that's like you figure, like, how many bad calls of like NFL officiating have their bins this then and they just I don't know what the issue is in the NFL, but always like maybe just because it's such a short season and every play is magnified.
- 11:24SPEAKER_04: But it just seems like every year there's just and some of it's the rules.
- 11:27SPEAKER_04: I've said that too before.
- 11:28SPEAKER_04: Some of it's just the rules, but this is just like can you count to eleven, you know?
- 11:34SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I I think you know, pass interference or holding.
- 11:38SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's like all the the the action the the action is so quick, you can you can I understand why that's not an easy job, but this is yeah, like you said, Steve, literally counting the number of guys on the field.
- 11:49SPEAKER_04: I don't remember how they screwed that up even.
- 11:51SPEAKER_04: Like, I can't even remember like like the alignment, like I don't even know how you screw that up.
- 11:56SPEAKER_04: Like normally you can tell, like just like, oh, that's a weird alignment.
- 11:59SPEAKER_04: There, there's an extra safety out here or something, you know.
- 12:03SPEAKER_04: I I don't know.
- 12:04SPEAKER_03: You I yeah, I mean, could you imagine if that would have been like the game-winning field goal or something?
- 12:09SPEAKER_03: That would have been much more magnified, but as it was, like I said, it was a it was a field goal that in the end really didn't impact the game a whole lot.
- 12:17unknown: Yeah.
- 12:18SPEAKER_04: Well, maybe if you had the over, I don't know.
- 12:23SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I still think they probably would have covered it winning 44 to 24.
- 12:28SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 12:28SPEAKER_03: Um, let's let's okay, so those are some Pittsburgh meltdowns.
- 12:32SPEAKER_03: Let's talk about some opponent meltdowns.
- 12:33SPEAKER_03: And uh for that, let's talk about our friends in Boston, because we like to pick on them.
- 12:39SPEAKER_03: So in 1991, the Bruins, the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins are meeting in the Wales Conference Finals.
- 12:46SPEAKER_03: At stake is obviously a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals.
- 12:50SPEAKER_03: The Bruins win the first two games of that series, and they're really physically overwhelming the Penguins.
- 12:56SPEAKER_03: And in game three, there's a play where Cam Neely, who at that point is Boston's best player, he's skating up the ice.
- 13:03SPEAKER_03: Alf Samuelson and the Penguins, he's skating the opposite direction, and those two collide.
- 13:08SPEAKER_03: Samuelson's knee catches Neely's leg, and eventually Neely has to leave the game.
- 13:13SPEAKER_03: The Bruins are just totally incensed.
- 13:15SPEAKER_03: Head coach Mike Milberry literally picks up a stick on the bench and slams it repeatedly against the glass until it breaks in half.
- 13:23SPEAKER_03: Uh so the Bruins thought Alf Samuelson did this on purpose and ran his knee right into Neely's leg.
- 13:30SPEAKER_03: Uh the Penguins claim it was just an accident.
- 13:33SPEAKER_03: You can believe whoever you want on that one.
- 13:35SPEAKER_03: The Penguins do win the game, but the Bruins, I mean, the Penguins win game three.
- 13:39SPEAKER_03: The Bruins are still up in the series, and Neely's able to come back.
- 13:44SPEAKER_03: So maybe like this would be a good time to just say, you know, okay, we're upset about it, let's move on, or maybe let's even use it, you know, for momentum.
- 13:53SPEAKER_03: But instead, Mike Milberry dresses a bunch of goons for game four.
- 13:58SPEAKER_03: He literally just dresses four guys on his team who have a combined seven goals on the season with the sole intention of exacting revenge on Alf Samuelson, and the Bruins lose again.
- 14:09SPEAKER_03: So, like he l yeah, I mean, he literally that's that's Mike Milbury's Did they exact revenge on Alf Samuelson?
- 14:17SPEAKER_04: I'm sure they hit him a few times, and that I guess.
- 14:19SPEAKER_04: Well, that's the whole point of hockey.
- 14:21SPEAKER_04: It's not the score at the end of the game, it's exacting revenge on Alf Samuelson.
- 14:25SPEAKER_04: That'll win you a Stanley Cup.
- 14:26SPEAKER_03: And that's that's such a like thughead Canadian Mike Milbury mentality.
- 14:34SPEAKER_04: I can see dressing one goon and then like, okay, try and match him up.
- 14:39SPEAKER_03: Like Samuelson's a defenseman, so it'd probably be a little easier to you know line him up a little bit here and there, but no, he dresses guys that wouldn't have otherwise played just to try to just to try to push the penguins around.
- 14:53SPEAKER_03: So they waste basically waste a game.
- 14:55SPEAKER_03: Neely also obsessed with Alf.
- 14:58SPEAKER_03: In game five, he's called for multiple penalties to turn into penguin power play goals, and Pittsburgh wins that game.
- 15:05SPEAKER_03: In game six, Nealy actually tries to check Alf Samuelson along the boards, but Alf ducks, and Neely's left thigh sustains most of the collision, which badly hurts him.
- 15:17SPEAKER_03: In fact, he ends up missing most of the next season all because he wanted to try to hit Alf Samuelson.
- 15:23SPEAKER_04: Well, that was definitely Alf Samuelson's fault there, too.
- 15:26SPEAKER_03: And see, that's what everybody forgets.
- 15:28SPEAKER_03: Everybody, all everybody remembers, especially the Boston fans, is that Alf Samuelson took out Cam Neely and ruined his career.
- 15:35SPEAKER_03: But the injury that caused Neely to miss most of the following season was his left thigh, which is not the leg that Samuelson ran into.
- 15:44SPEAKER_03: Samuelson ran into his right leg.
- 15:46SPEAKER_03: It was his left thigh that was the injury, and that he got hurt trying to check and get revenge on Alf Samuelson.
- 15:53SPEAKER_04: Right leg, left thigh.
- 15:56SPEAKER_04: Come on.
- 15:56SPEAKER_04: It's all the it's all the same, right, Tim?
- 15:58SPEAKER_04: Alf Samuelson shouldn't even be there existing, daring to get in the way of another Boston, of a plucky Boston team that just is such an underdog, that never has any money, doesn't have all the money in the world, and have all every call go for them.
- 16:16SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 16:16SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 16:17SPEAKER_04: Can you tell that, yeah, I'm kind of tired of their act?
- 16:20SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 16:21SPEAKER_03: Well, and this was such a good example of that.
- 16:23SPEAKER_04: That's why I don't risk really respect the Boston teams.
- 16:26SPEAKER_04: It's like they I I I get sick of that mentality.
- 16:28SPEAKER_04: Oh, we're just so a poor put upon team.
- 16:31SPEAKER_04: Yeah, right.
- 16:32SPEAKER_04: You guys have like a million championships between the Celtics, Patriots, and uh Bruins.
- 16:38SPEAKER_04: Like, give it up.
- 16:39SPEAKER_04: You know, it's like you're you're you're you're New York light.
- 16:43SPEAKER_04: At least I respect New York.
- 16:44SPEAKER_04: Like, New York doesn't like, yeah, we're New York, we won a million championships, we're gonna win a million more, and you're gonna hear about it.
- 16:50SPEAKER_04: I can live with that.
- 16:51SPEAKER_04: I can't, I can't I just can't stand Boston for the whole, oh, we're so put upon whine somewhere else.
- 16:58SPEAKER_03: Yep.
- 16:58SPEAKER_03: It's always it's always they're always a victim, they're always downtrodden.
- 17:02SPEAKER_03: And like you said, Steve, that that mantra is so old, it you can't do it anymore.
- 17:07SPEAKER_03: But back then, you know, people people ate that up and people because the Red Sox hadn't won in like a hundred years.
- 17:13SPEAKER_04: That's exactly okay.
- 17:14SPEAKER_04: You've run three World Series now in the last couple of times, and you spent um billions of dollars to do it.
- 17:21SPEAKER_04: So yeah, go cry in somewhere else, you know.
- 17:24SPEAKER_04: And how many championships have the Celtics won?
- 17:27SPEAKER_04: I mean, my goodness.
- 17:29SPEAKER_04: I I mean them and the Lakers, they have to be, you know, like one and two there.
- 17:34SPEAKER_04: I mean, come on.
- 17:36SPEAKER_03: I'm with you.
- 17:38SPEAKER_04: I I just don't get it.
- 17:39SPEAKER_04: I that's why I always like the raid.
- 17:41SPEAKER_04: Like, say what you will about the the Oakland, Vegas, LA, wherever they are this week, Raiders.
- 17:48SPEAKER_04: They're just pure unadulterated evil, and they don't they don't they don't pretend that like that's the whole the Patriots thing.
- 17:54SPEAKER_04: Oh, where did no?
- 17:55SPEAKER_04: You're evil, you just pretend not to be.
- 17:57SPEAKER_04: I love I that's why I I totally respect the Raiders.
- 18:00SPEAKER_04: You're just you're cheating, you know you're gonna cheat, you know what they're gonna do, I know what you're up to, I can live with that.
- 18:08SPEAKER_04: I I can't and that's my rant, Tim.
- 18:13SPEAKER_04: Nice way to bring it up.
- 18:15SPEAKER_04: I'm Boston Sports.
- 18:17SPEAKER_03: Take that, Bill Simmons.
- 18:19SPEAKER_03: So so the Bruins lose the conference finals in '91.
- 18:23SPEAKER_03: The Penguins go on to win the Stanley Cup.
- 18:24SPEAKER_03: The two teams meet again the following year in the 1992 Wales Conference Finals, nearly out for that series because, again, you know, had to had to be all bloodthirsty.
- 18:35SPEAKER_03: During game two of that '92 series, Boston's Dave Pouillon is called for tripping.
- 18:40SPEAKER_03: It results in a power play goal by Mario Lemieux.
- 18:43SPEAKER_03: And after the game, Mike Milbury, now Mike Milbury 92, he is no longer the coach.
- 18:48SPEAKER_03: He had moved up to the front office to become the assistant general manager.
- 18:52SPEAKER_03: Uh, but he's still injecting himself into things.
- 18:55SPEAKER_03: After the game, he follows referee Dennis Morrell into the tunnel leading to the referee's locker room in the Civic Arena, and he unleashes this tirade.
- 19:06SPEAKER_06: Just go home, another day at the office, Dennis.
- 19:10SPEAKER_06: Another b day at the office, that's all it is.
- 19:12SPEAKER_06: Just another b day at the office, Dennis.
- 19:15SPEAKER_06: Just take your paycheck and go home.
- 19:18SPEAKER_06: Your phony.
- 19:23SPEAKER_04: Okay, well, that sounds like fair advice.
- 19:25SPEAKER_04: That's what I do.
- 19:26SPEAKER_04: I just collect my paycheck and go home.
- 19:29SPEAKER_03: Just another day at the office, Dennis.
- 19:31SPEAKER_03: God, that guy's the worst.
- 19:34SPEAKER_04: He was an NBC commentator for you.
- 19:37SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he was terrible at that, too.
- 19:38SPEAKER_04: I mean my favorite Mike Milbury highlight was when he went into the stands of Madison Square Garden, beat the heck out of a fan with his own shoe.
- 19:45SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 19:46SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 19:47SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 19:48SPEAKER_03: I mean, you know, whatever.
- 19:50SPEAKER_03: It Boston loses again.
- 19:52SPEAKER_03: Mike Milberry gets fined, and the Penguins win the Stanley Cup again.
- 19:56SPEAKER_03: So early 90s, Bruins never won anything.
- 20:00SPEAKER_04: Yeah, well, that's just another day at the office, at least for the Penguins within Stanley Cups.
- 20:05SPEAKER_03: What's up, Mike Millbury making a fool of himself?
- 20:09SPEAKER_03: All right, let's speak of making a fool of himself, let's talk about a gentleman named Jeff Reed.
- 20:15SPEAKER_03: He was the Steelers place kicker for nine seasons.
- 20:18SPEAKER_03: He has two Super Bowl rings, was a pretty good kicker.
- 20:21SPEAKER_03: Uh also a very uh eccentric fellow.
- 20:25SPEAKER_03: Uh bleached his hair, remember, Steve?
- 20:27SPEAKER_03: Sometimes wore like crazy outfits, things like that.
- 20:31SPEAKER_04: I think I know where this is going.
- 20:33SPEAKER_03: Yeah, not your typical like place kickers always look like they're, you know, in sixth grade, and their mom let them come out to play for the team for a while, right?
- 20:42SPEAKER_04: And Jeffrey was like even, yeah, even Chris Boswell looked like he's on like some sort of vegan diet or something.
- 20:48SPEAKER_04: Right.
- 20:49SPEAKER_04: Right.
- 20:49SPEAKER_04: Like Mother said I cannot eat any gluten today.
- 20:54SPEAKER_03: Well, Jeff Reed, uh uh Jeff Reed marched to the beat of a different drum for sure.
- 20:59SPEAKER_03: Uh one night in 2009, Reed is out, pretty late, he's out around 3 a.m.
- 21:05SPEAKER_03: and not sure what he's doing out deathly.
- 21:06SPEAKER_03: Steve's probably, I don't know, volunteering at like an all-night homeless shelter, maybe.
- 21:11SPEAKER_04: I I think he was just checking the sheets bathroom if I know where it is for for uh quality standards.
- 21:18SPEAKER_04: He worked for sheets in his part-time.
- 21:20SPEAKER_04: That's that's where that's what I'm pretty sure.
- 21:22SPEAKER_03: Well, so yes, he does he does uh stop at a sheets gas station to use the restroom.
- 21:28SPEAKER_03: And he washes his hands, but uh oh, no paper towels.
- 21:32SPEAKER_04: I mean when you're working quality assurance, he takes it really seriously, Jeff.
- 21:38SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and hey, you know, I've we've all been there before, right, Steve?
- 21:42SPEAKER_03: You your hands are wet.
- 21:44SPEAKER_03: Oh, he's got a job to do, and darn it, the the paper towels are out.
- 21:49SPEAKER_03: What are you gonna do?
- 21:50SPEAKER_03: Wipe your hands on your pants?
- 21:51SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's no good.
- 21:52SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 21:53SPEAKER_03: So read we Especially him.
- 21:54SPEAKER_04: He wears fancy pants.
- 21:56SPEAKER_04: Right, yeah, you can't get those wet.
- 21:58SPEAKER_03: So read instead try.
- 22:00SPEAKER_03: The paper towel dispenser.
- 22:02SPEAKER_03: He's charged with criminal mischief for that little charged for criminal mischief for that?
- 22:08SPEAKER_04: That has to be more than just a paper towel dispenser.
- 22:13SPEAKER_04: Well, I mean, you're destroying property, I guess, at that point.
- 22:16SPEAKER_04: I mean, doesn't have to research.
- 22:17SPEAKER_04: Well, I guess if it's under a certain dollar amount, it used to be a certain dollar amount that it would just be like vandalism or something.
- 22:23SPEAKER_04: Like, wow.
- 22:25SPEAKER_04: Wow.
- 22:26SPEAKER_03: Reed, Reed is not done though.
- 22:27SPEAKER_03: In uh 2010, the Steelers are playing at home against here we go again with the Boston teams, against the New England Patriots.
- 22:34SPEAKER_03: And as has usually been the case for the past two get decades, Tom Brady gets the better of the Steelers that evening.
- 22:41SPEAKER_03: Reed does not have a good game.
- 22:42SPEAKER_03: He actually misses a 26-yard field goal, which is, I mean, you can't get a whole lot closer than 26 yards.
- 22:49SPEAKER_03: The game's not really even close.
- 22:51SPEAKER_03: I mean, the Patriots just basically beat down the Steelers.
- 22:54SPEAKER_03: And afterwards, all the Steelers players are taking accountability for the way they played.
- 22:58SPEAKER_03: And we got to be better, we got to block better, we got to pass better, all that kind of stuff.
- 23:04SPEAKER_03: Except for Jeff Reed.
- 23:06SPEAKER_03: He's dressed in a haters hate t-shirt.
- 23:09SPEAKER_03: And he criticizes the field, uh, the the turf at Heinz Field.
- 23:14SPEAKER_03: He even goes after the fans.
- 23:16SPEAKER_03: He says, quote, they buy tickets just to bash me.
- 23:19SPEAKER_03: Uh, which, you know, I I've never bought a ticket just to bash Jeff Reed, but you know, that the the level of pettiness you'd have to have to spend good money on tickets and parking and food just to yell at the kicker.
- 23:33SPEAKER_04: Uh I guess it's a pretty good kicker, too.
- 23:36SPEAKER_04: Like, I don't remember anybody ever having that much hate for Jeff Reed.
- 23:41SPEAKER_04: Sean Swiesum, sure.
- 23:43SPEAKER_04: Uh the other who was the other guy that kicked for the Steelers for like five seconds.
- 23:48SPEAKER_04: Josh Scobie.
- 23:50SPEAKER_03: I remember people hated him.
- 23:51SPEAKER_04: But yeah.
- 23:52SPEAKER_04: There's another there's another guy I remember got kicked, and he was like running with the ball.
- 23:56SPEAKER_04: It looked like ridiculous.
- 23:57SPEAKER_04: That was early on in Heinz Field.
- 23:59SPEAKER_04: He did have a point about the the field did suck back then at Heinzfield.
- 24:03SPEAKER_04: I'll give him that point.
- 24:05SPEAKER_03: It it did, but I mean but he was good on it.
- 24:08SPEAKER_04: Like I always thought that's what made him so good, is like that was an impossible place to kick.
- 24:12SPEAKER_04: And like you said, missing a 26-yarder is bad, but in Heinzfield, that was in the open end with that turf.
- 24:18SPEAKER_04: I kind of give him a little bit of a slack there.
- 24:22SPEAKER_04: You're you're not gonna make everyone down there.
- 24:24SPEAKER_03: Yeah, maybe maybe after a bad loss to the Patriots is not a good time to bring up the condition of the field or how the fans are all jerks.
- 24:33SPEAKER_04: Well, the fan thing, I don't yeah, I don't know what that maybe just emotions boiling over, but yeah, definitely.
- 24:39SPEAKER_03: Well, that little rant marks the end of Jeff Greed, Jeff Reed's career as a Pittsburgh Steel, where he's cut the next day.
- 24:46SPEAKER_04: Really?
- 24:47SPEAKER_04: I didn't know that.
- 24:48SPEAKER_04: Wow.
- 24:49SPEAKER_04: He never really kicked anywhere else much after that.
- 24:52SPEAKER_03: He he played for San Francisco for like two or three games, and then that was the end of his career.
- 24:57SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I I never understood.
- 24:59SPEAKER_04: Like, I thought even after they cut him, he'd have at least another like kickers last forever, but boy, it really went off the cliff quickly for him.
- 25:06SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
- 25:07SPEAKER_04: There had to be some off-the-field stuff, maybe, or something.
- 25:10SPEAKER_03: Well, i again, I think I think with the stewers, there's a there's a history of you know, we'll put up with so much until it gets to the point of either we're not gonna put up with it anymore, or your performance doesn't warrant us putting it up with with it anymore.
- 25:26SPEAKER_03: And if he's missing 26-yard field goals, maybe that's maybe that was the line.
- 25:30SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 25:31SPEAKER_03: So uh this the Stewers did make the Super Bowl that year, and if I remember correctly, uh Suisome, who was the guy that replaced Reedy, missed a pretty key kick in that Super Bowl.
- 25:40SPEAKER_04: So that was a Tomlin, huh?
- 25:44SPEAKER_04: Uh was that Tom?
- 25:46SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 25:47SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 25:47SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so well, that was back when Mike Tomlin would cut players and not think about it too much.
- 25:54SPEAKER_04: I bet the current Mike Tomlin wouldn't do that.
- 25:57SPEAKER_04: If like Boswell did something like that, yeah, I could yeah.
- 26:00SPEAKER_04: Although Boswell's Boswell kind of had his moments this year too, where he missed a couple kicks where you're kind of like, uh I I think I think the the again, we talked about this in a previous episode.
- 26:11SPEAKER_03: To me, it's always even even in the coward days, it usually came down to uh was the guy still performing or wasn't he?
- 26:19SPEAKER_03: You know, like remember Cedric Wilson, the wide receiver?
- 26:23SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, they cut him for a domestic violence incident, but James Harrison had it the exact same thing happen the same offseason.
- 26:29SPEAKER_03: They didn't cut him.
- 26:30SPEAKER_03: You know, so it and that was in the coward days.
- 26:33SPEAKER_03: So I to me it just it's it's you know, they're never gonna take a hard stance of like zero tolerance, period.
- 26:40SPEAKER_03: They're gonna it's gonna depend on, and that's probably every team if we're being honest.
- 26:44SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 26:45SPEAKER_03: All right, let's go back to the ice for our next uh meltdown.
- 26:50SPEAKER_03: And here it is.
- 26:52SPEAKER_06: But it didn't.
- 26:53SPEAKER_06: Oh, Schoenfeld's gone.
- 26:55SPEAKER_06: Jim Schockfeld.
- 26:56SPEAKER_06: Now he's standing in front of the penguin bench.
- 26:58SPEAKER_06: He's taunting with A Johnston right now.
- 27:02SPEAKER_06: Look at this.
- 27:02SPEAKER_06: This is as ultimate incident I as I have seen in some time.
- 27:05SPEAKER_06: Look at this.
- 27:07SPEAKER_06: He's egging on the crowd a little bit more.
- 27:09SPEAKER_06: And that's a mistake, too.
- 27:13SPEAKER_03: So in 1996, the Penguins and the Capitals are meeting in the playoffs as they so often have over the years.
- 27:20SPEAKER_04: Well, and I I can know how this turned out for the Capitals.
- 27:23SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, well, yeah.
- 27:24SPEAKER_03: Usually when that happens, it doesn't go well for Washington.
- 27:27SPEAKER_03: Uh but at the beginning of the series, things are things are different because the Capitals win game one and game two in Pittsburgh.
- 27:36SPEAKER_03: So they have complete control of the series.
- 27:38SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's even better.
- 27:40SPEAKER_03: Yep.
- 27:42SPEAKER_03: And and that was, I mean, the Penguins were uh heavy favorites.
- 27:46SPEAKER_03: The Penguins had a really good year that year.
- 27:48SPEAKER_03: So the Capitals are kind of on the cusp of taking out their big rivals.
- 27:52SPEAKER_03: But the Penguins take game three, and then game four goes into quadruple overtime.
- 27:56SPEAKER_03: It's one of the longest games in NHL history, and it ends when Peter Nedbett of the Penguins scores a goal to even the series.
- 28:04SPEAKER_03: And so now the Capitals are kind of hosed.
- 28:06SPEAKER_03: I mean, you don't lose a seven-hour hockey game and come back from that.
- 28:11SPEAKER_03: So game five goes just as you would expect.
- 28:13SPEAKER_03: The Penguins are all over the Capitals.
- 28:15SPEAKER_03: Washington can't get anything past Penguins goalie Kenny Reggett.
- 28:19SPEAKER_03: The Penguins have a commanding lead in the final minutes of the game.
- 28:23SPEAKER_03: So what do you do, Steve, if you're Capitals coach Jim Schoenfeld?
- 28:26SPEAKER_03: What do you do?
- 28:27SPEAKER_03: You're losing game five, you're gonna lose the series.
- 28:30SPEAKER_04: You go after like a hundred-year-old Eddie Johnston for no apparent reason.
- 28:34SPEAKER_03: Well, the first thing you do is you send Mark Tenortie out to go pick some fights.
- 28:38SPEAKER_03: And if if you don't remember Mark Tenortie, if if I had to like rank my top three hockey, I don't know, tool bags, I'd I'd probably put like Tom Wilson, Scott Hartnell, and Mark Tenortie in the top three.
- 28:50SPEAKER_04: That guy was just a total truba with the elbow.
- 28:55SPEAKER_03: Truba Truba's working his way out there.
- 28:57unknown: Okay.
- 28:58SPEAKER_04: He's an honorable mention.
- 28:59SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he's an honorable mention.
- 29:01SPEAKER_03: So so he sends Mark Tenortie out there, which is obviously just you know a hey, the game's over, I'm just gonna go try to hurt somebody.
- 29:08SPEAKER_03: There's a big melee.
- 29:10SPEAKER_03: And and what Steve alluded to, Sean Feld starts uh starts verbally getting into a fight with the Penguins bench.
- 29:19SPEAKER_03: And he and Penguins assistant coach, Brian Trottier, are right in each other's faces.
- 29:24SPEAKER_03: So Brian Trottier, obviously, had played for the Penguins.
- 29:26SPEAKER_03: At this point, he's an assistant coach, but he's only a few years removed from being on the ice, so he gets pretty hot.
- 29:33SPEAKER_03: Eddie Johnson's the head coach, he's kind of behind Trottier.
- 29:36SPEAKER_03: Uh and uh, you know, Schaofeld, Schoenfeld was a guy that has a very long history of coming unglued.
- 29:44SPEAKER_03: Just Google Jim Schoenfeld and have another donut if you want to know why.
- 29:49SPEAKER_03: Uh, but we'll we'll just stick to this story.
- 29:51SPEAKER_03: Uh the refs come over and they actually toss Jim Schoenfeld from the game, which is not something I don't know, Steve, have you ever seen that in hockey where the kids are?
- 29:58SPEAKER_04: Not in hockey, no.
- 29:59SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that that doesn't happen very often.
- 30:01SPEAKER_04: I don't think Milberry even got thrown out when he was breaking the sticks.
- 30:05SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 30:06SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I think he just got like a bench minor or something, right?
- 30:09SPEAKER_04: I that's normally what happens.
- 30:10SPEAKER_04: You just get like a penalty.
- 30:12SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they actually throw Sean Feld out.
- 30:14SPEAKER_04: And wouldn't it be cool if they made like the coach sit in the penalty box?
- 30:17SPEAKER_04: They should change that role.
- 30:21SPEAKER_04: I would love to see that.
- 30:23SPEAKER_04: Like you see like Mike Sullivan sitting in the penalty box.
- 30:28SPEAKER_04: I like it.
- 30:29SPEAKER_04: I don't know what you do when the penalty's over.
- 30:31SPEAKER_04: Like they have to come out and try and play like in their like street shoes or something.
- 30:35SPEAKER_03: They have to make it back to the bench so that another player can come onto the ice.
- 30:38SPEAKER_04: Yeah, like do like you ever see like when they walk on the ice or slow, you know.
- 30:42SPEAKER_03: Right?
- 30:43SPEAKER_03: They have to like scramble over there as fast as they can, like, dive over the boards in their suit.
- 30:49SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 30:50SPEAKER_03: Anyway, because of where the locker room is at the Civic Arena, Sean Foot actually has to walk across the ice to the tunnel.
- 30:58SPEAKER_03: And he does so just screaming at the Penguins Bench the whole time.
- 31:01SPEAKER_03: So imagine this scene, right?
- 31:03SPEAKER_03: There's this big fight on the ice, and there's this big fight on the bench.
- 31:06SPEAKER_03: Now the refs are like escorting him across the ice.
- 31:10SPEAKER_03: He's screaming back at the Penguins Bench as he's getting escorted off.
- 31:13SPEAKER_03: The fans, of course, this is at the Civic Arena, so the fans are just screaming their heads off, booing this guy.
- 31:19SPEAKER_03: And when Jim Schoenfeld gets to the tunnel, he stops.
- 31:22SPEAKER_03: He just stops, he gazes up at the crowd, and then he makes like a come get some gesture with his hands.
- 31:30SPEAKER_03: Which is, I mean, to his credit, pretty, pretty ballsy.
- 31:33SPEAKER_03: I mean, you're taking on Brian Trocier and 17,000 people.
- 31:37SPEAKER_03: Um, but that was Jim Johnfeld.
- 31:39SPEAKER_03: He was a bit of a sociopath.
- 31:41SPEAKER_04: Well, doing wonderful things with psychotherapy these days.
- 31:47SPEAKER_04: Maybe a little Xanax, a little something, Zach Brexa, some little mood stabilizer, take the edge off there for a friend.
- 31:58SPEAKER_03: Uh Mario Lemieux uh after the game has this quote quote, those are the actions of a desperate hockey team.
- 32:05SPEAKER_03: End quote.
- 32:07SPEAKER_03: Nice.
- 32:08SPEAKER_03: Penguins go on to win the series in six games.
- 32:11SPEAKER_03: Not surprising.
- 32:14SPEAKER_04: It doesn't even go seven seven games.
- 32:17SPEAKER_03: Yep.
- 32:18SPEAKER_03: That's Penguins Capitals in a nutshell for sure.
- 32:23SPEAKER_03: Let's uh let's talk about our next uh rant.
- 32:26SPEAKER_03: Uh this one happened as the Pittsburgh Steelers are playing the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in a 2016 AFC divisional playoff game.
- 32:37SPEAKER_04: Oh, I know.
- 32:37SPEAKER_04: Yeah, oh boy.
- 32:39SPEAKER_03: And that game comes down to a two-point conversion.
- 32:42SPEAKER_03: The the Piefs score, it's 18-16.
- 32:45SPEAKER_03: They need a two-point conversion to send the game into overtime, and they actually converted.
- 32:49SPEAKER_03: So now it looks like the game's going into overtime, but again, hold everything, flag on the play, holding on Kansas City offensive lineman Eric Fisher.
- 32:58SPEAKER_03: And the replay shows that it's I I think totally the right call because Fisher basically clotheslines James Harrison, which happened a lot to James Harrison, and they usually didn't call it.
- 33:10SPEAKER_03: But on this play, it it allowed the team to buy more time to convert it, and the referees say it's too egregious.
- 33:17SPEAKER_03: They call holding.
- 33:18SPEAKER_03: The Chiefs are unable to convert on their second two-point conversion, they lose the game.
- 33:22SPEAKER_03: And afterwards, Kansas City Chiefs tight end, Travis Kelsey, goes on this rant.
- 33:32SPEAKER_01: Um, that hurts.
- 33:34SPEAKER_01: That wasn't a hold of my guy Eric Fisher, and sure enough, I hope 7-2 doesn't go the entire offseason thinking it was his fault.
- 33:40SPEAKER_01: That was uh that was horse.
- 33:43SPEAKER_01: This sucks.
- 33:44SPEAKER_01: Just get our jugulars ripped out because ref felt bad for James Harrison falling on the ground.
- 33:52SPEAKER_01: Um, it's ignorance.
- 33:53SPEAKER_01: The ref number 51 shouldn't even be able to wear a zebra jersey ever again.
- 33:57SPEAKER_01: He shouldn't even be able to work footlocker.
- 34:01SPEAKER_03: Travis Kelsey does not agree with the call.
- 34:05SPEAKER_04: Can't he work at Footlocker?
- 34:06SPEAKER_04: Jeez.
- 34:07SPEAKER_04: Can he work at sport clips though?
- 34:09SPEAKER_04: I I think they wear uniforms there too.
- 34:12SPEAKER_03: I I I get wanting to stick up for your guy.
- 34:14SPEAKER_03: I mean, if it Kelsey, I don't know how he would have even seen that, being that he was, you know, on the field and probably trying to get open in the end zone.
- 34:22SPEAKER_03: Uh and man, what a baby.
- 34:24SPEAKER_03: I mean, I Travis Kelsey is one of the greatest, maybe the greatest tight end of all time.
- 34:29SPEAKER_03: He'll be first out Hall of Famer.
- 34:31SPEAKER_03: He's he's the best, he's amazing.
- 34:33SPEAKER_03: But what a baby.
- 34:35SPEAKER_04: It's amazing what you can do when you don't have to block anybody.
- 34:38SPEAKER_04: And you don't and you can't get hit.
- 34:40SPEAKER_04: Um you can't get hit at all ever.
- 34:44SPEAKER_04: Nobody can sneeze on you or your quarterback.
- 34:47SPEAKER_04: I mean, yeah, sure, that makes it really easy to be a tight end.
- 34:52SPEAKER_04: So there you go, Travis.
- 34:54SPEAKER_04: Why don't you why don't you and Shannon Sharp switch switch time frames there for a minute and we'll see who's the first ballot hall of famer and who's maybe not, you know.
- 35:04SPEAKER_04: Why don't you play some uh Steeler Baltimore games there?
- 35:07SPEAKER_04: I I bet you don't even make it out of the first half.
- 35:11SPEAKER_04: Whoops, did I call him soft?
- 35:13SPEAKER_04: I don't know, whatever.
- 35:16SPEAKER_04: He probably could beat me up.
- 35:17SPEAKER_04: I mean, I'm like, you know, not an athlete and old as dirt.
- 35:20SPEAKER_03: So hopefully he's not listening.
- 35:24SPEAKER_03: Um Kelsey.
- 35:25SPEAKER_04: You are Travis, you're you are a good player.
- 35:29SPEAKER_03: Kelsey is fined$12,000 by the NFL for criticizing the referees and saying that the guy couldn't even work at Foot Locker.
- 35:39SPEAKER_04: You know, in Harrison did like kind of like refine the ability to like fall down, but on that play, it was that was pretty egregious.
- 35:50SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and I'm I'm a big fan of like the the refs letting them play, but at some point you just can't let you know teams blatantly cheat.
- 35:59SPEAKER_03: So Yep.
- 36:02SPEAKER_03: Agreed.
- 36:03SPEAKER_03: All right, let's talk about uh let's go back to a Pittsburgh meltdown.
- 36:07SPEAKER_03: Uh 2015, the Pittsburgh Pirates have a magical season.
- 36:11SPEAKER_03: They win 98 games.
- 36:13SPEAKER_03: The problem is that they still finish behind the St.
- 36:15SPEAKER_03: Louis Cardinals in the division, and they have to play the Cubs in a one-game wildcard elimination.
- 36:20SPEAKER_03: And that year the Cubs have a pitcher named Jake Arietta, and he is statistically having one of the best seasons in the history of baseball.
- 36:28SPEAKER_03: He's starting that wildcard game, and the Pirates have zero answers for Jake Arrietta.
- 36:33SPEAKER_03: They're getting shut out.
- 36:34SPEAKER_03: Their dream season is about to be over.
- 36:37SPEAKER_03: Sean Rodriguez of the Pirates, so he's not going to go down without a fight.
- 36:41SPEAKER_03: But not on the field.
- 36:43SPEAKER_03: Instead, he unleashes a barrage of punches on a Gatorade bucket in the dugout.
- 36:48SPEAKER_03: And it's actually pretty hilarious.
- 36:50SPEAKER_03: I mean, I th we've seen people like knock over Gatorade buckets or even like throw them, right?
- 36:58SPEAKER_03: But Sean Rod like spars with it like he's in a boxing match.
- 37:04SPEAKER_04: He beat the heck out of it.
- 37:05SPEAKER_04: Yeah, he yeah.
- 37:06SPEAKER_03: I mean, it it's pretty impressive.
- 37:08SPEAKER_03: It spawns all kinds of like internet memes and Photoshop jobs.
- 37:12SPEAKER_03: My favorite Steve was somebody, somebody um dubbed the Mike Tyson punch out like sound effects.
- 37:18SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 37:19SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 37:20SPEAKER_03: Into that, into that clip.
- 37:21SPEAKER_03: So Sean Rodriguez, not a not a proud moment there as he punches the the heck out of a Gatorade bucket.
- 37:28SPEAKER_04: You know what was shame was the Pirates had like totally smoked Arietta like every other game that year, except for that one.
- 37:35SPEAKER_04: Like he it what he was good that year, but he wasn't good against the Pirates.
- 37:39SPEAKER_04: And it was like they're kind of taking a chance.
- 37:42SPEAKER_04: And then like weird how Jake Arietta hasn't been any good since then, has he?
- 37:47SPEAKER_04: It's almost like he was taking something or doing something fascinating.
- 37:56SPEAKER_03: So that yeah, so we talked a little bit before about some some coaches losing it, you know, Schallenfeld and and uh Bill Cower and guys like that.
- 38:06SPEAKER_03: I one thing in the NFL, Steve, that I really miss are like the old school coaches and their rants.
- 38:12SPEAKER_03: Like, remember like Mike Dicka and Bill Parcells, and remember Jim Mora Sr.
- 38:17SPEAKER_03: Sam White, I mean but Mike Dicka, like if you got any answers, not very fun, isn't it?
- 38:23SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 38:24SPEAKER_03: Or like trashing Jim Harbaugh when Harbaugh was his quarterback and Jim Mora with the playoff thing, and Parcells, I mean, any given day week he would go off.
- 38:33SPEAKER_03: Sam Wais got a live microphone and yelled at the crowd the one time.
- 38:37SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 38:38SPEAKER_03: You know, you just you had a bunch of coaches who would just lose their minds at any given moment.
- 38:44SPEAKER_03: Uh and and I don't I don't you don't really see that anymore in the NFL.
- 38:48SPEAKER_03: Coaches are mostly like safe and boring now.
- 38:51SPEAKER_03: Uh which I, you know, in the in the in the uh age of 24-7 football coverage and Twitter and all that, like I I can see why, you know, coaches are are more careful.
- 39:02SPEAKER_03: And and certainly one of the most safe and boring coaches in the NFL is a guy named Mike Tomlin.
- 39:09SPEAKER_03: Uh he always gives very measured, like to the point answers to questions in press conferences.
- 39:16SPEAKER_03: He always praises the other team, sometimes to just like a ridiculous degree.
- 39:21SPEAKER_03: I uh like the only interesting things that come out of Mike Tomlin press conferences are like the Tomlinisms.
- 39:27SPEAKER_03: Uh every once in a while, though, Tomlin does go off-brand.
- 39:31SPEAKER_03: And in 2021, there are a bunch of rumors all of a sudden that Tomlin's going to leave the Steelers for a job at the University of Southern California.
- 39:42SPEAKER_03: And these stories, uh, they're they're really unfounded, but because we live in that aforementioned age of 24-7 football coverage, the media's got a, I mean, for lack of a better word, make stuff up.
- 39:55SPEAKER_03: That's really what they do.
- 39:56SPEAKER_03: You just find a source that says that that might happen, and then you can just make it a story.
- 40:01SPEAKER_03: And so Tomlin is asked about this at a press conference.
- 40:05SPEAKER_03: And what would you expect in that case?
- 40:08SPEAKER_03: You'd expect them to do the usual, like, oh, we're just focused on this week's game or whatever, right, brush it off.
- 40:14SPEAKER_03: Instead, Mike Tomlin says this.
- 40:18SPEAKER_09: Guys, I don't have time for that speculation.
- 40:21SPEAKER_09: I mean, that's a joke to me.
- 40:23SPEAKER_09: Um, I got one of the best jobs in in all of professional sport.
- 40:27SPEAKER_09: Why would I have any interest in coaching college football?
- 40:30SPEAKER_09: Um, that'll be the last time that I address it.
- 40:32SPEAKER_09: And not only today, but moving forward.
- 40:35SPEAKER_09: Never say never, but never.
- 40:39SPEAKER_09: Okay.
- 40:40SPEAKER_09: Anyone else got any questions about any college jobs?
- 40:42SPEAKER_09: There's not a booster with a big enough blank check.
- 40:46SPEAKER_05: Anyone else?
- 40:49SPEAKER_05: All right.
- 40:49SPEAKER_09: Thank you.
- 40:50SPEAKER_09: Anyone asking Sean Payton about that?
- 40:52SPEAKER_09: You know?
- 40:53SPEAKER_09: Anyone asking Andy Reid about stuff like that?
- 40:57SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and he then storms off the stage after that.
- 41:00SPEAKER_04: Yeah, he kind of went there.
- 41:02SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I I I remember that.
- 41:03SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 41:05SPEAKER_04: I mean, I guess, whatever.
- 41:08SPEAKER_03: Could have just said no.
- 41:10SPEAKER_03: Well, and like I said, that's a rare time that you see Tomlin react emotionally.
- 41:15SPEAKER_04: I don't know why he was so annoyed by that.
- 41:17SPEAKER_04: I I guess he felt like it was hurting his team or something.
- 41:20SPEAKER_04: I I don't know.
- 41:21SPEAKER_03: I yeah, something something definitely was triggered there, uh, where it really upset him.
- 41:26SPEAKER_03: And and it was an interesting comment he made there at the end about Sean Payton and Reed.
- 41:31SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I remember that.
- 41:32SPEAKER_04: No, yeah.
- 41:32SPEAKER_03: And I don't know if that was I don't know if that was a race-related thing or just yeah, I who knows.
- 41:40SPEAKER_03: But um I I I get it.
- 41:42SPEAKER_03: I mean, again, there was there was zero anything to that story.
- 41:47SPEAKER_03: Again, all you have to do, uh Steve, you and I could do it.
- 41:51SPEAKER_03: Like we could just go on Twitter, like, I have a source that says this, and that's it.
- 41:55SPEAKER_03: You just make stuff up, right?
- 41:57SPEAKER_03: Anyone can do that.
- 41:58SPEAKER_04: And I have a source that says Tim Hannon is the future owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
- 42:04SPEAKER_04: So I think that's my source.
- 42:06SPEAKER_04: Don't ask me who that source is, but uh it's a source.
- 42:11SPEAKER_04: I won't reveal it, but I'll take it.
- 42:14SPEAKER_03: It might be the one I totally made up, but uh so Tom Tomlin pretty uh pretty upset about that.
- 42:21SPEAKER_04: And uh again, I like this Mac I like this Mac team.
- 42:25SPEAKER_04: Uh is that I hope I didn't like steal one of your other ones, like where he said, Oh, we don't pay play like Mac teams or something like that.
- 42:31SPEAKER_04: I forget they were playing somebody that wasn't that good.
- 42:33SPEAKER_04: There's no Mac teams on the schedule.
- 42:37SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there's a there's a few times where like I said, Tomlin has got kind of gone off script.
- 42:41SPEAKER_04: And it was funny, like Robert Splain and like Ben Rothelsberger, and like I think there was a couple other guys, like Deontay Johnson, and like they were all like mad.
- 42:49SPEAKER_04: They're like, hey, we played in the Mac.
- 42:53SPEAKER_04: Which slide did a great photo.
- 42:55SPEAKER_04: They did like Tomlin with those guys and like the runway, like you know, his Mac guys.
- 42:59SPEAKER_04: So that was fun.
- 43:01SPEAKER_04: I think that one was just more more fun.
- 43:04SPEAKER_04: That was definitely angry.
- 43:05SPEAKER_04: That was definitely angry, Mike Tomlin.
- 43:08SPEAKER_03: For sure.
- 43:09SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 43:10SPEAKER_03: Uh let's let's go back to hockey.
- 43:13SPEAKER_03: Uh in 1989, the Penguins are playing the Flyers in the second round of the playoffs.
- 43:19SPEAKER_03: The series is tied two to two, and in game five, Mario Lemieux does what Mario Lemieux often did back then.
- 43:26SPEAKER_03: He has a hat trick seven minutes into the game.
- 43:28SPEAKER_03: Midway through the second period, the Penguins are actually winning eight to three over the hated Flyers.
- 43:34SPEAKER_03: Uh and it's at that point that right winger Rob Brown for the Penguins, he gets a goal past goaltender Ron Hexdall, and starts into his little windmill celebration that he used to do, but doesn't get very far because Ron Hexdahl decides that he's had enough of being burnt by the Penguins that night, and he starts chasing Brown around the ice with his stick.
- 44:00SPEAKER_03: Uh Hexall's thrown out of the game, of course, and uh and actually replaced by future penguin Kenny Reggett, who we mentioned earlier.
- 44:07SPEAKER_03: And Reggett actually uh ends up winning that series for the Flyers.
- 44:11SPEAKER_03: But uh just out of all the meltdowns, Steve, Ron Hexdall like casing, and if he would have caught him, I'm pretty sure he would have killed him.
- 44:20SPEAKER_03: Like, I've I've no doubt that Ron Hexall was on a murder bender there.
- 44:25SPEAKER_03: He just wanted to kill Robbie Brown at that moment for scoring a goal.
- 44:30SPEAKER_04: Well, I think it was more this celebration.
- 44:33SPEAKER_04: He just got sick of I mean, yeah.
- 44:36SPEAKER_04: Yeah, Ron Hexall.
- 44:37SPEAKER_04: Where is that Ron Hexall as GM?
- 44:39SPEAKER_04: We need that guy.
- 44:40SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 44:41SPEAKER_04: I have a little fire, man.
- 44:42SPEAKER_04: Oh.
- 44:43SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Ron Hextahl, of course, now is the general manager of the team, and uh it is what it is.
- 44:52SPEAKER_03: But 1989, right?
- 44:54SPEAKER_03: Ron Hextall.
- 44:55SPEAKER_04: Maybe you need to chase like Sidney Crosby or somebody around the table or something.
- 44:59SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
- 45:01SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I don't know that I've ever seen that anything like that since, like during a game where somebody was that obsessed with hurting somebody, maybe like Vontez Berfeck in that playoff game.
- 45:13SPEAKER_03: But other than that, uh just yeah, that that was that was quite the meltdown.
- 45:21SPEAKER_03: Uh let's go back to uh baseball for our next one.
- 45:24SPEAKER_03: In August of 2022, the Pirates are hosting the Boston Red Sox.
- 45:29SPEAKER_03: There's Boston again, Steve.
- 45:30SPEAKER_04: Well, it's that plucky little team from Boston with its top five payroll.
- 45:37SPEAKER_03: Uh the Red Sox obviously a team that the Pirates don't play very often.
- 45:41SPEAKER_03: In fact, it had been almost a full decade since the Red Sox last came to Pittsburgh.
- 45:47SPEAKER_03: So the Boston announcers, they don't really know a whole ton about the Pirates.
- 45:50SPEAKER_03: Why would they, right?
- 45:52SPEAKER_03: Not like they have to do a lot of research on the Pirates normally.
- 45:55SPEAKER_03: Uh and during the game, Red Sox uh announcer Dennis Eckersley, who you may remember was a really great closer back in the day for the Oakland Athletics, he's pretty shocked and disgusted by what Bob Nunning has put on the field and called a Major League Baseball team.
- 46:13SPEAKER_03: And he proceeds to go on this rant.
- 46:16SPEAKER_02: You talk about a no-name lineup.
- 46:19SPEAKER_02: There's no team like this.
- 46:21SPEAKER_02: You know, just came from Kansas City seeing all those young kids.
- 46:24SPEAKER_02: That's this is different, though.
- 46:26SPEAKER_02: Doesn't it seem different?
- 46:27SPEAKER_02: They have a lot of prospects they're playing over there.
- 46:29SPEAKER_02: This and serious prospects.
- 46:31SPEAKER_02: Yes.
- 46:32SPEAKER_02: The guys who are gonna be in the big leagues.
- 46:34SPEAKER_02: This is a hodgepodge of nothingness.
- 46:38SPEAKER_03: A hodgepodge of nothingness.
- 46:41SPEAKER_04: A great name for a podcast.
- 46:43SPEAKER_04: The Hodge Podge of Nothingness podcast.
- 46:46SPEAKER_03: I I did see people like made t-shirts of that and everything else.
- 46:49SPEAKER_03: I mean, I it it's it's it's he goes on that rant, but it's I I thought it was completely well said and accurate and and said by a guy who knows a thing or two about winning, and Dennis Eckersley.
- 47:02SPEAKER_03: So um good good for good for somebody outside of Pittsburgh calling out the total nonsense that is this team and its ownership and and fielding just garbage year after year after year.
- 47:15SPEAKER_04: I you know what I think it is?
- 47:16SPEAKER_04: I think it's now I mean, you have a sibling or a family member, like you know, that family member may be what they are, right?
- 47:24SPEAKER_04: But if somebody outside the family points out the truth, you get mad at that person more than you know.
- 47:31SPEAKER_04: I I think it's like, yeah, our team might be garbage, but there are garbage kind of going on.
- 47:36SPEAKER_04: And it's hard to it's hard to disagree with anything that was said.
- 47:39SPEAKER_04: I mean, I guess you could say that that shortstop might be good, and you know, they have some guys that might be good, but all the rest of that team was pretty not not so much.
- 47:50SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 47:51SPEAKER_04: Especially the pitching staff.
- 47:53SPEAKER_04: I mean, you know, if he was looking at the pitching staff, he was dead on.
- 47:56SPEAKER_04: It was just it it was just nothing there.
- 47:59SPEAKER_04: There just was nothing there.
- 48:01SPEAKER_03: And it's and it's it's like they kind of alluded to, it's not nothing because, well, we're in a rebuild and we have a lot of young players.
- 48:08SPEAKER_03: It's just like cycle or nothing.
- 48:11SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it was older players too.
- 48:13SPEAKER_04: Like the the one guy like that Bryce what he they already they already got rid of him this last off season.
- 48:19SPEAKER_04: So and he wasn't even that good to begin with, so I don't.
- 48:23SPEAKER_04: I it is what it is.
- 48:25SPEAKER_03: Yeah, good for good for Dennis Eckersley.
- 48:28SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh, it isn't.
- 48:29SPEAKER_03: No, don't make fun of my team.
- 48:31SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
- 48:31SPEAKER_03: Well, I think most pirate fans were in agreement with that.
- 48:34SPEAKER_03: I mean, the the only people I saw really getting upset about it were like the people that were employed by the pirates, like like Greg Brown and and like some of the management, which of course they have to say that, so you can't fault them for that.
- 48:46SPEAKER_03: But I think most pirate fans are like, yeah, you're right.
- 48:51SPEAKER_04: And your point is Yeah, right.
- 48:54SPEAKER_03: Right.
- 48:56SPEAKER_03: Well, sometimes rants and meltdowns don't always occur in front of a camera.
- 49:00SPEAKER_03: Sometimes they can occur over social media.
- 49:03SPEAKER_03: And I would say that one organization, Steve, that's demonstrated time and time again that they probably need some coaching or training on how to properly use social media is the Pittsburgh Steelers.
- 49:15SPEAKER_03: Uh, there's just a long list of things we could point to over the years, whether it's Richard Mendenhall's views on Osama bin Laden or Juju Smith Schusser's logo dancing or Antonio Brown live streaming his own locker room after a playoff win.
- 49:29SPEAKER_03: Uh but then there was also Devin Bush, a guy who isn't exactly Mr.
- 49:33SPEAKER_03: Popular with the fans after the Steelers traded up to get him in the draft and then watched him mostly not live up to expectations.
- 49:41SPEAKER_03: In July of 2021, Bush goes on a pretty bizarre Twitter bender.
- 49:46SPEAKER_03: Uh first he tweets uh, quote, if you're a grown man and you got TikTok on your phone, stay the F away from me.
- 49:54SPEAKER_03: And that's a kind of a peculiar statement to make given that many of his teammates are on TikTok, including teammates Juju Smith Schuster and Chase Claypool.
- 50:03SPEAKER_04: Well, I guess he doesn't want to be around them then.
- 50:05SPEAKER_03: Yeah, who actually like are pretty well-known TikTok personalities and make money off of that and everything.
- 50:11SPEAKER_03: Uh that that tweet draws a yikes response from Claypool.
- 50:15SPEAKER_03: And and KJ Watt, the the future Hall of Fame linebacker, says, You're gonna need to build your own locker room over there, bro.
- 50:24SPEAKER_03: Uh Bush then blames people for misreading what he said and said he I love my teammates and blah, blah, blah.
- 50:30SPEAKER_03: Right.
- 50:31SPEAKER_03: Uh then so that's he's not done.
- 50:34SPEAKER_03: After that, he tweets out a disturbing video of a cat following several stories, presumably to its death.
- 50:40SPEAKER_03: And when people react negatively to that, Bush again blames the people that reacted.
- 50:45SPEAKER_03: And then he tweets, quote, y'all got me in trouble.
- 50:48SPEAKER_03: And then he has another tweet saying he's only allowed now two tweets per day, although he doesn't specify who supposedly placed this limit on him.
- 50:57SPEAKER_03: Mom told him, said you're grounded from I don't know.
- 51:01SPEAKER_03: Devin, you're grounded.
- 51:04SPEAKER_03: The next day he actually sends out nine tweets, and then he says, quote, I went over my limit today.
- 51:09SPEAKER_04: Uh he's gonna be in trouble.
- 51:10SPEAKER_04: He's gonna be in trouble with mom.
- 51:12SPEAKER_03: He says, quote, I went over my limit today, them boys sent me a fine.
- 51:17SPEAKER_04: What does that even mean?
- 51:19SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's the Steelers fined him for sending more than two tweets.
- 51:22SPEAKER_03: I that would be like public lead league information, so no.
- 51:28SPEAKER_03: Again, it's like it's like Devin Bush was obviously in some parallel universe that we didn't know about.
- 51:37SPEAKER_03: I I don't know.
- 51:39SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Devin Bush.
- 51:41SPEAKER_04: Where he was a competent middle linebacker.
- 51:49SPEAKER_04: You know, I I I he was really good his first year, and then he got that ACL injury, and he's just never been the same since.
- 51:55SPEAKER_04: It's like because I remember being really upset when he got hurt because like, oh, this guy's really playing well, and then he got hurt, and I was like, oh, this stinks, and yeah.
- 52:04SPEAKER_04: He's just been absolute not good since.
- 52:07SPEAKER_03: So yeah, he's not gonna be a stealer next year.
- 52:09SPEAKER_04: And I I would I would hope so.
- 52:12SPEAKER_04: I would hope not.
- 52:12SPEAKER_04: I mean, I yeah.
- 52:14SPEAKER_03: What what's your what's the over under on like number of years before he's out of league altogether?
- 52:18SPEAKER_03: I say two.
- 52:19SPEAKER_04: Oh, one at them.
- 52:20SPEAKER_04: I I doubt you think one, yeah.
- 52:22SPEAKER_04: I think he'll be lucky to make a team next year.
- 52:24SPEAKER_03: He'll he'll make some team, somebody will give him a second chance, and then he'll stink for them, and then he'll just be out of the league altogether.
- 52:30SPEAKER_03: Which is a shame.
- 52:32SPEAKER_04: I don't know what happened.
- 52:33SPEAKER_04: I I honestly don't know what happened.
- 52:35SPEAKER_04: It's just another really bad wasted draft pick.
- 52:38SPEAKER_04: And they it's like this year, they like ever since Ryan Shazier got hurt, they really have not replaced that position with anything at the level they needed.
- 52:48SPEAKER_04: And it's a shame because if they had that, they'd probably their defense would be really good.
- 52:52SPEAKER_04: It's like that position, those linebackers have to make all the plays, and they just don't.
- 52:58SPEAKER_04: And nothing against Splain's a special team or fill-in guy at best.
- 53:03SPEAKER_04: You you need a stud there.
- 53:04SPEAKER_04: Like, look at what 90 look what Baltimore did with Patrick Queen and you know Roquan Smith.
- 53:10SPEAKER_04: I mean, that's that's what they need at linebacker.
- 53:13SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but you're absolutely right.
- 53:14SPEAKER_04: Well, we'll see what happens.
- 53:17SPEAKER_03: Uh so we talked we took again, we talked about coaches.
- 53:20SPEAKER_03: I I think probably the most insane group of coaches, Steve, are college basketball coaches.
- 53:26SPEAKER_03: Like, I I don't think you can be a mentally stable person and take the job of college basketball head coach.
- 53:32SPEAKER_03: Would you agree?
- 53:33SPEAKER_03: I mean, if you we talked about like those old school NFL coaches, but man, college basketball.
- 53:38SPEAKER_04: Jeff Cape Bull seems pretty pretty uh I don't know.
- 53:42SPEAKER_04: Shaseski wasn't bad.
- 53:44SPEAKER_04: I mean, I don't know.
- 53:44SPEAKER_04: I mean, you definitely have your outliers.
- 53:46SPEAKER_03: Yeah, well, it's it's it's telling when you have to point out like the exceptions, right?
- 53:53SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
- 53:55SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 53:55SPEAKER_04: Uh Jamie Dixon, I mean, there's your third one.
- 53:58SPEAKER_04: Jamie Dixon was a good person, is a good person.
- 54:01SPEAKER_04: No way, not, yeah.
- 54:02SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and and Keith Dan Brott, the coach of Duquesne, is typically a guy that keeps his cool as well.
- 54:09SPEAKER_03: However, uh that wasn't the case in a 2018 game where Duquesne is playing Penn State.
- 54:15SPEAKER_03: Uh, at the end of that game, it's tied with five seconds left.
- 54:18SPEAKER_03: Penn State has the ball, and they drive for the potential game-winning shot, but they miss.
- 54:23SPEAKER_03: Uh, however, the refs call a blocking foul on Duquesne, and it's definitely a questionable call.
- 54:28SPEAKER_03: Right?
- 54:29SPEAKER_03: There were five seconds left, they missed the shot.
- 54:32SPEAKER_03: Um, and and but they call blocking.
- 54:34SPEAKER_04: Was that in Pittsburgh or was that in state calls?
- 54:36SPEAKER_04: Probably state college.
- 54:38SPEAKER_03: I I I don't have that.
- 54:40SPEAKER_03: I don't remember.
- 54:41SPEAKER_03: Uh, but regardless, um, you know, it's it's it's it's a questionable call.
- 54:46SPEAKER_03: Penn State's gonna shoot two free throws, but the Dukes still have a chance to tie the game or even win it with a three-pointer because there's still five seconds left.
- 54:55SPEAKER_03: Or will they?
- 54:56SPEAKER_03: Uh Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot loses it over the call.
- 55:00SPEAKER_03: He gets whistled for a technical.
- 55:02SPEAKER_04: Ah, geez.
- 55:03SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 55:03SPEAKER_03: Then he really goes off to the point where he literally has to be physically restrained by his own players.
- 55:09SPEAKER_03: He gets called for another technical and ejected from the game.
- 55:12SPEAKER_03: So now instead of two free throws, Penn State gets to shoot six free throws.
- 55:17SPEAKER_03: They make them all, and that's the end of the game.
- 55:21SPEAKER_03: So it it's one of those things where certainly he was probably right to be upset about the call, but then it's like you gotta move on and give your team at least a chance there or two to tie the game, or even like I said, even win it.
- 55:34SPEAKER_03: And when you just lose it and get called for more technicals, then that's not gonna help.
- 55:40SPEAKER_03: So and I like Keith Damrod.
- 55:41SPEAKER_03: I think he's done a good job with Duquesne.
- 55:43SPEAKER_03: Um, but that was one time where he just was not at his best, obviously.
- 55:49SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that'll that'll do you.
- 55:53SPEAKER_03: Uh another guy that was how do we say this, passionate was Jim Leland, the manager of the Pirates.
- 56:01SPEAKER_03: Uh in 1991, the Pirates are at spring training, and Barry Bonds is angry about his contract.
- 56:07SPEAKER_03: Uh Barry Bonds was the reigning NL MVP at that point.
- 56:10SPEAKER_03: He feels like he should be paid more money, and he's probably right, to be fair.
- 56:14SPEAKER_03: But Barry Bonds was never the kind of guy that handled things like that well.
- 56:19SPEAKER_03: Uh he's usually just ticked off at the world in general.
- 56:22SPEAKER_03: And when he has something specific to be angry about, like a contract, he's even more intolerable.
- 56:28SPEAKER_03: And one morning he just takes out his frustration on everyone down there at spring training.
- 56:33SPEAKER_03: He actually screams at a press photographer who's taking pictures.
- 56:37SPEAKER_03: Like you're a pro athlete, literally in the act of playing the sport you get paid for, and you're upset that someone's taking pictures.
- 56:45SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's pretty ridiculous.
- 56:47SPEAKER_03: He also gets into it with Bill Verden, the uh the pirate legend who's the hitting coach in 1991.
- 56:54SPEAKER_03: And Leland's the manager, and Leland's not a guy that tolerates fools, right?
- 57:01SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 57:01SPEAKER_03: And he comes over, he starts screaming at Barry Bonds.
- 57:04SPEAKER_03: He tells him basically, I'm the manager of this team, and if you don't want to be here, sir, then kindly leave.
- 57:10SPEAKER_03: Uh he doesn't quite say it like that.
- 57:14SPEAKER_03: He said it exactly like that.
- 57:16SPEAKER_03: So if you kindly remove yourself from the premises, I'll be happy.
- 57:20SPEAKER_03: You're not going to behave with the decorum that we expect in this baseball club, but I kindly asked you to exit the premises.
- 57:26SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 57:27SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 57:28SPEAKER_04: I think there was a lot of F-bombs sprinkled in there, I'm thinking.
- 57:32SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 57:33SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 57:33SPEAKER_03: I I actually thought about playing that clip, and it's pointless because literally all you hear is like, I'm the beep, beep, beep, beep.
- 57:41SPEAKER_03: I mean, you just every other word is bleeped out.
- 57:43SPEAKER_03: So I will post the link if you want to watch that.
- 57:46SPEAKER_03: But uh the the it's it's all captured on camera.
- 57:49SPEAKER_03: It's actually a TV station from Altoona that was down there to do a story about spring training.
- 57:53SPEAKER_03: They get all that on camera, and the clip really goes viral for whatever viral counted for in 1991.
- 57:59SPEAKER_03: Because it's like it's on all the evening newscasts on Sports Center, all that stuff.
- 58:04SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, and and and to his credit, Barry Bonds does say years later that Leland was right to get on him for doing that.
- 58:12SPEAKER_03: I think Barry Bonds has kind of mellowed out a little bit in recent years.
- 58:17SPEAKER_04: I think Barry, I think Barry Bonds respected him for that.
- 58:19SPEAKER_04: Like sometimes a guy like that, you gotta gotta you know rattle the cage a little bit.
- 58:23SPEAKER_04: Yep, you know.
- 58:24SPEAKER_04: He loves he loves Jim Leland to this day still.
- 58:26SPEAKER_04: So yeah.
- 58:27SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 58:28SPEAKER_03: So I mean, Barry Bonds admitting that he was wrong and another person was right uh is is a pretty big moment for Barry Bonds.
- 58:36SPEAKER_03: So kudos to him for doing that.
- 58:38SPEAKER_04: Personal growth.
- 58:40SPEAKER_04: Look at that.
- 58:40SPEAKER_04: Look at Barry.
- 58:41SPEAKER_03: That's right.
- 58:43SPEAKER_03: Uh how about uh we were talking about you know F-bombs and bleeped out F bombs.
- 58:49SPEAKER_03: How about when you can't bleep them out because they're on live TV?
- 58:51SPEAKER_04: Let's talk about That's my favorite kind of F-bomb.
- 58:55SPEAKER_03: Yeah, let's talk about some uh some Pittsburgh stars dropping some four-letter words on the National Broadcasting Company.
- 59:02SPEAKER_03: Uh in 1995, the Steelers win the AFC Championship game and an absolute thriller over the Indianapolis Colts.
- 59:10SPEAKER_03: We we did an episode on that on that season on that game.
- 59:14SPEAKER_03: Uh certainly, certainly one for the ages.
- 59:17SPEAKER_03: And after the game, Stewart's linebacker Greg Lloyd, he's holding the Lamar Hunt Trophy, which is what they give you if you win the AFC Championship game.
- 59:24SPEAKER_03: And he makes a nice little speech about you know how hard the Stewart's work to get to that point.
- 59:30SPEAKER_03: And uh then he says this as he is about to hand the trophy over to Dan Rooney.
- 59:35SPEAKER_03: He says, This thing belongs to Mr.
- 59:36SPEAKER_03: Rooney, and let's see if we can bring this thing back here next year, along with the effing Super Bowl on live television.
- 59:44SPEAKER_03: And NBC's Jim Gray, who's the one holding the microphone, he's just like, oh, it was a family program until that point.
- 59:52SPEAKER_03: Uh Greg Lloyd never really shy or afraid to offend anybody.
- 59:56SPEAKER_03: So that generates some controversy.
- 59:59SPEAKER_03: Uh, not to be outdone.
- 1:00:00SPEAKER_03: Nine years later, pit quarterback Tyler Palko has a memorable performance in South Bend.
- 1:00:06SPEAKER_03: He throws five touchdown passes.
- 1:00:07SPEAKER_03: He beats Notre Dame on a last-second field goal.
- 1:00:10SPEAKER_03: He's being interviewed by NBC after the game, and he says this.
- 1:00:15SPEAKER_07: I don't really care about stats in the all I care about is we got to win my teammates coming out for me.
- 1:00:21SPEAKER_07: That's a bottom line.
- 1:00:22SPEAKER_07: I don't care about two first three yards.
- 1:00:24SPEAKER_07: We got to win.
- 1:00:25SPEAKER_07: We needed this win.
- 1:00:27SPEAKER_07: Over the three Notre Dame team, I'm so proud of our football team.
- 1:00:31SPEAKER_07: Man, we're we're we're awesome.
- 1:00:33SPEAKER_07: all right.
- 1:00:34SPEAKER_00: We apologize for uh Tyler Palco's language in the heat of the moment.
- 1:00:38SPEAKER_00: Um after the brilliant game he had.
- 1:00:41SPEAKER_00: Too bad it was marred by that moment.
- 1:00:46SPEAKER_03: Too bad it was marred.
- 1:00:47SPEAKER_03: Tyler Palko, folks, I mean, shouldn't have even shouldn't even be alive anymore.
- 1:00:52SPEAKER_03: I mean, he just his whole reputation's down the drain.
- 1:00:56SPEAKER_03: They should just strip him of his eligibility to play college football.
- 1:01:00SPEAKER_03: Oh, the horror.
- 1:01:02SPEAKER_04: Well, it was like that with Jim Gray, too.
- 1:01:04SPEAKER_04: I I I mean, I just I remember everybody didn't like Jim Gray.
- 1:01:08SPEAKER_04: And like Jim Gray is so annoyingly unsufferable.
- 1:01:12SPEAKER_04: He's like Tom Brady's like official mouthpiece in the media.
- 1:01:16SPEAKER_04: And he's the idiot that asked uh what Pete, they're not they're like celebrating Ted Williams.
- 1:01:20SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Pete Rose.
- 1:01:21SPEAKER_04: And like it's like, oh, Pete Rose did you bet on baseball.
- 1:01:24SPEAKER_04: Like, if you want to do a sit-down interview and ask Pete Rose that, go for it, Jim.
- 1:01:28SPEAKER_04: Congratulations.
- 1:01:29SPEAKER_04: Maybe you'll get an answer, maybe you won't.
- 1:01:31SPEAKER_04: But to ask him there, it was like, come on, Jim, that's just stupid.
- 1:01:36SPEAKER_04: It's like this is not the time, nor the place.
- 1:01:38SPEAKER_04: And like, didn't I I remember Greg Lloyd said before that, turn off the cameras or something like that.
- 1:01:44SPEAKER_03: Or I said he planned it.
- 1:01:46SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I think I thought there was something to that where he said, Oh, turn off the cameras, I'm gonna swear, or something like that.
- 1:01:52SPEAKER_04: And yeah, and that that that's just Jim Gray being you know, Jim Gray, I guess.
- 1:01:58SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 1:01:59SPEAKER_04: As for I mean Tom Hannon, you know, it's you know, I I don't know why you're like, oops, you know, it's just he didn't like if he just was like, Oh, Tyler Park in the heat of the moment, I think he just would have been fine.
- 1:02:10SPEAKER_04: It's just like, oh, you know, people say stuff in the heat of the moment, he's excited, but then they're like, Oh, he sullied his moment.
- 1:02:16SPEAKER_04: It's like, come on, and that's a little over the top, but just to say, oh, in the heat of the moment, you know, people get passionate.
- 1:02:22SPEAKER_04: Right.
- 1:02:22SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 1:02:23SPEAKER_04: So I I think if he would have left it at that, I would have been a little it got a little bit too much.
- 1:02:28SPEAKER_04: The clutching of pearls, like oh, he said a bad word.
- 1:02:33SPEAKER_03: Right.
- 1:02:34SPEAKER_03: So yeah, Pittsburgh, uh Pittsburgh players and NBC, not a not necessarily a good mix over the years.
- 1:02:42SPEAKER_03: Uh so that's that's really our list.
- 1:02:44SPEAKER_03: Uh, I had a I had a few other ones that I was gonna put on here, but they were ones that we like really covered in detail on previous episodes.
- 1:02:51SPEAKER_03: So I was gonna I was gonna talk about Buddy Parker trying to cut the entire team.
- 1:02:55SPEAKER_03: I mean Buddy Parker had like 18 meltdowns that we could have talked about, and we did talk about in an episode we did a while back, so go check that out.
- 1:03:04SPEAKER_03: Um I I kind of alluded to the Bengals in Vontez Perfect and Pac-Man Jones and that playoff game.
- 1:03:10SPEAKER_03: Again, we covered that pretty heavily in another episode.
- 1:03:12SPEAKER_04: Gary Porter was heavily involved in that.
- 1:03:14SPEAKER_03: Right, right.
- 1:03:15SPEAKER_03: And then and then we've we've covered it now at least two or three times, so I I couldn't do it again.
- 1:03:19SPEAKER_03: But Michelle Terrion with that, you know, they're soft, and I think their goal is to be the worst defense unit ever.
- 1:03:26SPEAKER_03: Uh just absolutely legendary.
- 1:03:29SPEAKER_03: So again, go go check out those other episodes.
- 1:03:31SPEAKER_03: We'll link to them.
- 1:03:32SPEAKER_03: Uh, if you uh if you want to check those out.
- 1:03:35SPEAKER_03: Steve, any any uh memorable rants or meltdowns that I forgot about that you can think of?
- 1:03:41SPEAKER_04: Not off the top of my head, but all I gotta say is I really love this effing podcast.
- 1:03:47SPEAKER_04: Me and Tim are the best.
- 1:03:48SPEAKER_04: I don't care about stats or downloads.
- 1:03:51SPEAKER_04: We're just out here up against the great Notre Dame team, and you know, I really love this.
- 1:03:58SPEAKER_04: Remember the t-shirts?
- 1:03:59SPEAKER_04: Remember, they had t-shirts like the next week?
- 1:04:01SPEAKER_04: I love this effing team.
- 1:04:03SPEAKER_04: Like, uh I remember that.
- 1:04:05SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 1:04:05SPEAKER_04: I wonder if you could find one.
- 1:04:07SPEAKER_03: And and folks, thanks for listening.
- 1:04:08SPEAKER_03: That was a good podcast.
- 1:04:10SPEAKER_03: It's a shame Steve had to mar it with his uh his awful language there.
- 1:04:15SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 1:04:17SPEAKER_03: All right.
- 1:04:17SPEAKER_03: Well, thanks everybody so much for listening.
- 1:04:19SPEAKER_03: You can always check us out on the web or on Facebook or on Twitter uh or even on YouTube.
- 1:04:26SPEAKER_03: Uh, you can also uh check us out on whatever service you download your podcast from.
- 1:04:31SPEAKER_03: Please give us a rating.
- 1:04:32SPEAKER_03: Or tell your friends, and we'll catch you next time.
- 1:04:35SPEAKER_03: Thanks, everybody.