Latest / Pittsburgh Sports Memories / Fans Gone Wild!

Transcript

Fans Gone Wild! · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

0:00
SPEAKER_09: Hi, everybody.
0:00
SPEAKER_09: Welcome to the Pittsburgh Sports Memories Podcast.
0:03
SPEAKER_09: My name is Tim Hannon.
0:04
SPEAKER_09: I'm joined by a co-host, Steve Wirt.
0:08
SPEAKER_09: And on this episode, we're going to talk about Fans Gone Wild.
0:12
SPEAKER_09: Two VHS cassette tapes.
0:15
SPEAKER_09: 1999.
0:16
SPEAKER_10: Didn't that guy like didn't that guy go to jail for like recording underage people or something like that?
0:21
SPEAKER_09: I think he did.
0:22
SPEAKER_09: He probably probably deserved it.
0:24
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
0:24
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
0:24
SPEAKER_10: Like, could you imagine like being like a parent and seeing like your child doing that?
0:29
SPEAKER_10: Like, wow, really raised them right, didn't I?
0:32
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, that that yeah, that was that was sleazy.
0:35
SPEAKER_09: But you know, we're all class here.
0:52
SPEAKER_09: So, Steve, as you always say, sports fans are by definition by definition fanatics.
0:58
SPEAKER_09: That's what fans is short for.
1:01
SPEAKER_09: And, you know, hey, we love our teams, right?
1:03
SPEAKER_09: Especially here in Pittsburgh.
1:05
SPEAKER_09: We're passionate about them, which is great, but sometimes passion can go a bit south.
1:10
SPEAKER_09: And in this episode, we're going to talk about some instances where that happened, both with Pittsburgh fans and with opposing fans.
1:18
SPEAKER_09: So let me kick this off, Steve, by asking you what's like the dumbest thing you think you've ever done in your like heat of the moment as a fan.
1:28
SPEAKER_10: Oh, there's been plenty of them.
1:30
SPEAKER_10: I mean, you know.
1:31
SPEAKER_10: Yelling for Kievan Henry to run faster is always a classic moment in my life.
1:36
SPEAKER_10: Um one time I yelled at like a Boston College fan.
1:40
SPEAKER_10: That was like when they were leaving the Big East, and I was like, ah, and I was like talking trash on them.
1:46
SPEAKER_10: But I didn't say anything like swearing.
1:48
SPEAKER_10: I just chanted ACC at him.
1:50
SPEAKER_10: And then I remember one time I was chanting that that, you know, like Pit fans will like mockingly chant like go home mountaineers.
1:57
SPEAKER_10: I was doing that, and like a West Virginia fan took exception to that.
2:01
SPEAKER_09: So nice.
2:02
SPEAKER_10: As they are want to do.
2:04
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
2:05
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
2:06
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
2:07
SPEAKER_09: I um I one of my dumbest moments was I I was at a steeler game many years ago, and it was like a critical point in the game.
2:14
SPEAKER_09: And a woman was coming through my row to get back to her seat, and she knocked my drink over and spelled it.
2:19
SPEAKER_09: And it was totally an accident, but I super overreacted.
2:22
SPEAKER_09: It started screaming at her like a moron.
2:25
SPEAKER_09: And what I didn't realize.
2:27
SPEAKER_10: She deserved it.
2:28
SPEAKER_09: Well, what I didn't realize was that her boyfriend was right behind her, and this dude was huge.
2:33
SPEAKER_09: And I'm 6'2, and this guy towered over me.
2:37
SPEAKER_10: What did what did he think of that that uh events?
2:41
SPEAKER_09: Well, he so he he gets like right in my face, like right like nose to nose.
2:46
SPEAKER_09: Didn't say anything.
2:47
SPEAKER_10: Like an umpire and a manager, yeah.
2:49
SPEAKER_09: Except like no no talking.
2:51
SPEAKER_09: And in my head, I'm like, oh no, this guy's gonna pummel me in front of everybody.
2:55
SPEAKER_09: And I totally started the whole thing.
2:57
SPEAKER_10: And he gives you like five bucks here.
3:00
SPEAKER_09: That's exactly what he did.
3:01
SPEAKER_09: He reaches into his pocket and hands me a like a ten dollar bill.
3:05
SPEAKER_09: To make up for the spilled drink, and I'm just like, uh, you know, thank you, sir, no worries.
3:12
SPEAKER_09: Just a diet cook, easily replaceable.
3:14
SPEAKER_09: Have a good rest of the game.
3:17
SPEAKER_09: Your girlfriend's very beautiful.
3:18
SPEAKER_09: Hope it works out for you guys.
3:22
SPEAKER_09: Totally shrunk.
3:23
SPEAKER_09: I was like, oh man.
3:24
SPEAKER_10: Wow, he paid for the drink.
3:26
SPEAKER_10: I'll give him I'll give him that.
3:27
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, I mean, and that was just me just being like, I was, you know, like I said, it was like, I think I forget what point in the game it was.
3:34
SPEAKER_09: I don't even remember what game it was, but it was like I just had all that adrenaline going, and I realized as soon as I yelled at her that it was like way out of line.
3:43
SPEAKER_10: You know, without hitting you, he kind of made you look like a jerk, huh?
3:47
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, that's the he he had the perfect response.
3:50
SPEAKER_09: Like, okay, you're gonna be an idiot, but I'm gonna do the right thing.
3:54
SPEAKER_09: Right?
3:54
SPEAKER_09: So, yeah, you're right, that's a good point.
3:57
SPEAKER_09: So, so that's what we're gonna talk about in this episode.
4:00
SPEAKER_09: And there's a long history of fans causing disturbances.
4:04
SPEAKER_09: And I think, Steve, like in more recent years, because everyone has a a video camera in their pocket now, I think it looks like fan behavior has gotten worse.
4:13
SPEAKER_09: But honestly, this stuff is nothing new.
4:15
SPEAKER_09: In fact, the American League was founded by Ben Johnson way back in 1901.
4:20
SPEAKER_09: Do you remember why?
4:22
SPEAKER_10: He didn't like the National League?
4:24
unknown: I don't know.
4:25
SPEAKER_09: And that's because the National League games routinely featured like drunk out of control fans.
4:30
SPEAKER_09: And and they wanted to make baseball something that was family friendly, which it wasn't at that point.
4:36
SPEAKER_09: So, so like I said, this is this is nothing new.
4:39
SPEAKER_09: Well, we'll dive into some of those stories featuring, as we said, not only Pittsburgh fans, but also opposing fans.
4:44
SPEAKER_09: And we'll actually start with one of the most infamous stories on the opposing fan side.
4:49
SPEAKER_09: It happens during the 2005 Steelers Browns game in Cleveland.
4:55
SPEAKER_09: That game takes place on Christmas Eve, and the Steelers are wiping the floor with yet another bad Browns team.
5:02
SPEAKER_09: So a very inebriated Cleveland fan named Nathan Mallet is so sick of the Browns getting trounced that he tells his buddies, if Cleveland can't tackle anybody, then I will go out there and I'll do it myself.
5:16
SPEAKER_10: Well.
5:17
SPEAKER_09: And he does.
5:18
SPEAKER_09: He runs out onto the field, and you know.
5:22
SPEAKER_10: Well, he gets tackled.
5:24
SPEAKER_09: Well, yeah, and so so usually when somebody runs out into the field, what happens?
5:27
SPEAKER_09: Everybody just kind of stops, puts their hands on their hips, wait for waits for the security to catch the guy.
5:33
SPEAKER_09: Stewards linebacker James Harrison is having none of that.
5:37
SPEAKER_10: Well, I think he was yelling.
5:38
SPEAKER_10: Wasn't he yelling at the Steelers or something?
5:40
SPEAKER_09: He he was, yeah.
5:41
SPEAKER_09: I mean, but but usually, again, like I said, normally in that case, you just kind of stand there and wait for security.
5:47
SPEAKER_09: James Harrison's like, no, I'm gonna handle this myself.
5:49
SPEAKER_09: He picks up the guy, body slams him to the ground, they haul the guy off to jail.
5:54
SPEAKER_09: That clip goes very much like 2005 viral.
5:58
SPEAKER_10: Yeah, because I remember the ref was like, no, no.
6:03
SPEAKER_10: Like, please, no, no, stop.
6:07
SPEAKER_09: And I and I feel like everyone saw that clip, right?
6:10
SPEAKER_10: I mean, because like who's dumb enough to like why would you mess with like like it's not even the kicker?
6:16
SPEAKER_10: It's like an NFL linebacker.
6:18
SPEAKER_10: You're gonna get your butt kicked, like even by like the third string guy.
6:22
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
6:23
SPEAKER_10: Uh never mind like a future Hall of Famer.
6:27
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
6:28
SPEAKER_09: When you have the adrenaline of uh alcohol and the excitement of a football game, it it stuff happens.
6:35
SPEAKER_09: Uh so they haul the guy off to jail.
6:38
SPEAKER_09: It does have a happy ending, though, this story, because this incident causes Mallet to admit he has a drinking problem.
6:44
SPEAKER_10: Doesn't he get bound?
6:45
SPEAKER_10: He gets banned from Browns games for life, doesn't he?
6:49
SPEAKER_09: Uh I believe he does.
6:50
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
6:51
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
6:51
SPEAKER_09: Uh but he cleans up his life.
6:54
SPEAKER_09: He gets himself sober.
6:55
SPEAKER_09: He's now married and has a nine-year-old son.
6:57
SPEAKER_09: He is still a Browns fan, unfortunately.
7:00
SPEAKER_09: I guess there's no amount of rehab that can cure that illness.
7:04
SPEAKER_09: Uh here is Nathan Mallet and James Harrison talking about that incident 20 years later.
7:12
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember what you said to me?
7:14
SPEAKER_01: I don't.
7:14
SPEAKER_01: I don't at all.
7:16
SPEAKER_01: So I picked you up at Not Clemens, right?
7:19
SPEAKER_01: At last clam, you kind of didn't know what the hell was going on.
7:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
7:23
SPEAKER_01: And then you like you like looked around and then you looked up at me.
7:27
SPEAKER_01: He was like, oh yeah, I got your ass now.
7:33
SPEAKER_05: Oh, that's great.
7:37
SPEAKER_05: Oh, it was so funny.
7:39
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that worked out right.
7:44
SPEAKER_09: So that's pretty cool.
7:46
SPEAKER_09: We can we, you know, that again, like I said, happy ending to that story.
7:50
SPEAKER_09: That's one we can all laugh about years later.
7:55
SPEAKER_09: Here's one that no one was laughing about.
7:57
SPEAKER_09: It's the time two guys shot each other at a Pittsburgh sporting event.
8:01
SPEAKER_09: And you're probably thinking this is going to be like one of these old timey stories.
8:05
SPEAKER_09: What if I told you this happened at a Steelers game at Three River Stadium in the 1980s, Steve?
8:11
SPEAKER_10: I think I remember this story.
8:13
SPEAKER_09: So this takes place at a Monday night game between the Steelers and Bengals in 1984.
8:18
SPEAKER_09: Allegheny County detective Regis Kelly is at the game with a buddy, and he notices two men and a women and a woman having a pretty heated argument in a concession area.
8:29
SPEAKER_09: So he goes over to intervene, and one of the men, Willard Clark, punches Kelly in the face.
8:34
SPEAKER_09: So at that point, the detective pulls out his badge and says, Okay, you guys are coming with me.
8:39
SPEAKER_09: Well, the other man, a guy named Isaac Gilbert, pulls out a 38 caliber revolver.
8:45
SPEAKER_09: The detective, who's off duty, also has his gun on him.
8:49
SPEAKER_09: So now these two guys are literally standing there in the middle of the hot dog standing at each other.
8:54
SPEAKER_09: Their guns drawn on each other.
8:57
SPEAKER_09: Uh Gilbert starts making his way towards the exit, but Kelly, the detective, is following him the entire time, warning him to put the gun down.
9:06
SPEAKER_09: While all of this is happening, and and this is this is such a good example of like the more things change, the more they stay the same.
9:13
SPEAKER_09: So while all this is happening, a bunch of fans are following them.
9:18
SPEAKER_10: Like, why?
9:20
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
9:20
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
9:20
SPEAKER_09: Just like today where you'd have a bunch of people standing there recording it with their cell phones.
9:24
SPEAKER_09: Like you have two guys like with guns drawn on each other, you'd think you'd be fleeing, you'd be getting down to the ground.
9:29
SPEAKER_09: Listen to some of these quotes from bewildered eyewitnesses.
9:33
SPEAKER_09: Uh quote, everybody was following them like they were going to the circus or something.
9:38
SPEAKER_09: Quote, I was amazed at how stupid these people were.
9:40
SPEAKER_09: People stood around like dolts and looked at these two men with their guns.
9:44
SPEAKER_09: There could have been bodies all over the floor.
9:47
SPEAKER_09: When the two men reach the exit of gate A, Gilbert turns around and fires a shot that hits the detective Kelly in the head.
9:55
SPEAKER_09: Kelly then returns fire, striking Gilbert several times.
9:59
SPEAKER_09: Both men are taken to the hospital and both survive.
10:03
SPEAKER_09: Gilbert, of course, faces some very serious charges.
10:06
SPEAKER_09: He's later found guilty of aggravated assault and sentenced to six to twelve years in state prison.
10:12
SPEAKER_09: Meanwhile, no one stops the game or warns the crowd that there's an active shooter in the building.
10:18
SPEAKER_09: Steelers win 38 to 17.
10:20
SPEAKER_10: Yeah, that's the most important part of that story.
10:26
SPEAKER_10: Well, it wasn't an active, active shooter.
10:30
SPEAKER_09: I mean, it was for a while.
10:32
SPEAKER_10: It wasn't like he was just killing people at random.
10:35
SPEAKER_10: He just wanted to kill the police officer.
10:37
SPEAKER_10: That makes it totally better.
10:39
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, sure, exactly.
10:41
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, good discernment there by the by the stadium.
10:45
SPEAKER_09: The the uh the chairman of the stadium authority says that they will consider tougher security measures.
10:51
SPEAKER_09: And if you went to a bunch of Steeler games in the 1980s as I did, you will know that that was just a bunch of horse manure he said to a piece of media.
10:59
SPEAKER_10: Well let only the police in with firearms.
11:03
SPEAKER_09: Well, I mean, you went to you went to a bunch of sporting events at Three River Stadium, Steve.
11:07
SPEAKER_09: I mean, you could have brought pretty much anything into that stadium.
11:10
SPEAKER_10: Pretty much, yeah.
11:11
SPEAKER_09: Could have brought a rocket launcher.
11:14
SPEAKER_10: Well, you might have drawn the line at handheld, you know, missiles.
11:21
SPEAKER_10: Maybe.
11:24
SPEAKER_09: Well, that's okay though, because after Three Rivers is demolished, fans carry their bad behavior into the new stadium.
11:31
SPEAKER_10: No, never.
11:33
SPEAKER_09: In 2018, the Steelers are playing the Chargers at Heinz Field.
11:37
SPEAKER_09: It's a Sunday night game, and I can tell you again from going to lots of Steelers games over the years, that night games are the worst.
11:45
SPEAKER_10: Yes.
11:48
SPEAKER_09: I I think.
11:48
SPEAKER_09: Number one is you have like an inordinate amount of the other team's fans there, because a lot of people sell those tickets, which is understandable.
11:58
SPEAKER_09: You don't want to like uh have to get up for work the next day when it the game ends after midnight.
12:03
SPEAKER_09: And then number two, there's an inordinate amount of pregame drinking because now instead of a few hours to get hammered, you've caught all day.
12:11
SPEAKER_09: And I've lit I've witnessed lots of incidents over the years where these two things have collided.
12:17
SPEAKER_10: Me too.
12:18
SPEAKER_10: I I have a I did at a Pitt West Virginia game one time in this where they they were like like my dad insisted on getting an hour there an hour before the game, and we're there, and like there was these two West Virginia fans, and I would say there was this lady who was probably 20 to 30 years younger than I'm assuming it was her boyfriend, who like literally looked like he was from West Virginia and about 60 years old because he had a long beard and like gray hair, and like he looked like he just came out of like a mountain somewhere, and like he was very inebriated, drunk.
12:58
SPEAKER_10: So like he falls down, and and like there's like these two young pit fans, they couldn't have been like 20 years old, and they like start laughing at him and go, you fell down, old man, and then and she just like she took offense to that, like she was not sober either, and she's like, He's not on, and starts slapping the crap out of this young kid, and like the kids like stand there, he didn't know what to do, and like this went on for like a minute or two, like it felt like forever, until finally, because it was like it was so early before the game, like safety really like the security people really weren't like ready for that.
13:36
SPEAKER_10: So, like finally they break it up and they get kicked out, and that was that was quite a moment in Petfo.
13:44
SPEAKER_10: And once again, that was a night game, and they like rivalry and people had definitely been drinking way too much before the game.
13:52
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, and you had opposing fans and alcohol and night games.
13:56
SPEAKER_09: You're right, it's just a bad mix.
13:58
SPEAKER_09: So, so for this 2018 game, there's lots of fans there from California.
14:02
SPEAKER_09: One of them is a woman named Donna Bryan.
14:05
SPEAKER_09: She's there with her husband cheering for Los Angeles.
14:08
SPEAKER_09: When the Chargers kick a last second field goal to win the game, actually, they kick like eight last second field goals because of Steelers keep coming outside.
14:15
SPEAKER_09: So I don't know if you remember that game.
14:17
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
14:17
SPEAKER_09: That's another story.
14:19
SPEAKER_10: Yeah, I you know, and I'm just impressed that they have a fan base in Los Angeles.
14:24
SPEAKER_10: Like, I thought they had like they must have been like two of the three people that are fans of this team in Los Angeles.
14:29
SPEAKER_09: Well, this was like right after they moved from San Diego, so they could have been like San Diego Chargers fans.
14:34
SPEAKER_09: I don't know if they were.
14:35
SPEAKER_10: Yeah, they flew all the way to Pittsburgh this season.
14:38
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
14:39
SPEAKER_09: I don't know.
14:39
SPEAKER_09: Hey, who knows?
14:41
SPEAKER_09: But they're we know they're Chargers fans, either way.
14:44
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
14:44
SPEAKER_09: Um, so so after the Chargers kicked out last second field goal, one Steelers fan decides he's gonna take out his frustration on the nearest Chargers fans, and he puts his hand around her throat and allegedly chokes her.
14:57
SPEAKER_09: And oh, by the way, Donna Bryan is 26 weeks pregnant.
15:02
SPEAKER_09: After the game, there's a photo published, and it's it's pretty shocking if you look at the photo.
15:06
SPEAKER_09: The Steelers fan like has the entire palm of his hand around the woman's neck.
15:10
SPEAKER_09: She looks totally helpless, she looks totally terrified.
15:14
SPEAKER_09: The husband says he's planning on filing criminal charges.
15:18
SPEAKER_09: He says he feared for their safety.
15:20
SPEAKER_09: He also says that Heinz Feld Security did jack squat, they wouldn't even take his statement or attend to his pregnant wife who had just been attacked.
15:27
SPEAKER_09: It's terrible.
15:28
SPEAKER_09: It's all over the news.
15:29
SPEAKER_09: People are horrified.
15:30
SPEAKER_09: The Steelers have to do all kinds of damage control.
15:34
SPEAKER_09: They vow that this guy will never be allowed at a game ever again.
15:37
SPEAKER_09: Just awful.
15:38
SPEAKER_09: These poor Chargers fans just wanted to cheer for their team.
15:41
SPEAKER_09: They didn't deserve to get assaulted.
15:43
SPEAKER_10: I mean, the team moves out of San Diego and they get assaulted by a Steeler fan.
15:48
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
15:48
SPEAKER_09: Double whammies for those poor Charger fans.
15:50
SPEAKER_10: And they have to deal with the Spanos as owners.
15:55
SPEAKER_09: So there's, you know, there's a saying that there's always two sides to every story, right?
16:00
SPEAKER_09: And this is one of those cases.
16:01
SPEAKER_09: So here's the flip side of that story.
16:03
SPEAKER_09: I witnessed statements from fans in that section say that the husband is standing up during plays, blocking everyone's view, which is already a big no-no to begin with, but this guy's literally in the front row and he's really tall.
16:17
SPEAKER_09: People ask him to please sit down.
16:19
SPEAKER_09: He won't do it.
16:20
SPEAKER_09: He keeps antagonizing everyone.
16:22
SPEAKER_09: Also, there's video from multiple angles of the scuffle that takes place at the end of the game with the Steelers fan.
16:29
SPEAKER_09: And if you watch that video, it's really not much of a fight.
16:33
SPEAKER_09: Lots of pushing and shoving, not really anything you would classify as even punches being thrown.
16:38
SPEAKER_09: The pregnant woman, who you would think would be pretty concerned about her unborn child, is right in the middle of it, too.
16:44
SPEAKER_09: At one point you can see her grabbing the Steelers fan, and then he kind of like shoves her off of him.
16:50
SPEAKER_09: And this is maybe when the picture was taken, so the still image is potentially deceiving.
16:55
SPEAKER_09: I it's hard to say what really happened.
16:57
SPEAKER_09: Um Steve, I know I I asked you to look at this beforehand.
17:00
SPEAKER_09: You know, what were your thoughts?
17:03
SPEAKER_10: Um it's just the fight.
17:05
SPEAKER_10: I mean, it's like a scuffle.
17:07
SPEAKER_10: There weren't any repo.
17:08
SPEAKER_10: Like as much as anybody got injured, like physically, it was like hurt feelings more than like actual physical injury.
17:17
SPEAKER_10: And it was just a bunch of drunk people being drunk.
17:21
SPEAKER_10: Yeah, I mean, I can't I'm just shocked that there's Chargers fans in Los Angeles.
17:25
SPEAKER_10: I mean, but like I I too, this goes back to a pit game.
17:29
SPEAKER_10: I remember the Pitt Cincinnati game.
17:30
SPEAKER_10: There was a big game in like 2008, the one Pitt lost on the extra point, the missed extra point.
17:37
SPEAKER_10: Um like I remember there were people in front of us that just kept standing up.
17:41
SPEAKER_10: My dad like had has bad knees and he kept sit down and he went and actually asked the usher, like, hey, can you make these guys sit down?
17:48
SPEAKER_10: They're like, no, we can't.
17:50
SPEAKER_10: So like you can stand up the whole game, and there's nothing that anybody can do about it.
17:55
SPEAKER_10: Now it doesn't make you a jerk, yes.
17:58
SPEAKER_10: I mean it is what it is.
18:00
SPEAKER_10: And the guy was dressed like an idiot, too.
18:02
SPEAKER_10: Like, I don't, I don't under like I get people like to wear the jerseys and stuff, but he was wearing like one of those, like, look like a sport coat with but it was like chargers color, and it wasn't like tasteful, it was like obnoxious, like it was the biggest, wasn't that a Sunday night?
18:18
SPEAKER_10: That was a Sunday night game.
18:19
SPEAKER_10: It was the biggest, he's in the front row, he's wearing this ridiculous outfit.
18:22
SPEAKER_10: Oh, look, I'm gonna get on TV crap.
18:25
SPEAKER_10: That that's that's exact that that all started with like the Saints fans wearing bags on their heads and stuff, so and it's just I don't I don't know what to say.
18:35
SPEAKER_10: It's just it was a scuffle, like you said.
18:38
SPEAKER_10: Nobody did anybody even get charged after this?
18:41
SPEAKER_10: No.
18:42
SPEAKER_10: The one guy's not allowed back at Steeler games, I guess.
18:46
SPEAKER_10: There's not really any follow-up to this.
18:48
SPEAKER_10: It's just like it's like a week of because I remember this being a big talk show fodder, like, oh Steeler fans are out of control, what's wrong with them?
18:55
SPEAKER_10: Blah, blah, blah.
18:56
SPEAKER_10: And then there's like way more videos like from all around the country, like a people, especially like Raiders games.
19:03
SPEAKER_10: Well, when they used to be in Oakland, or even like in baseball, like Giants, Dodgers stuff.
19:08
SPEAKER_10: Like, wasn't it there's a guy that got like did he get killed, or like he got like seriously injured in the parking lot for wearing like Giants gear?
19:16
SPEAKER_09: So yeah, it it that that it was all all the rage was over that picture.
19:23
SPEAKER_09: Because in that picture, it looks like he's literally like squeezing her throat, and like the look on her face is like, I'm going to die.
19:31
SPEAKER_09: And she was pregnant, and that's that's all you heard.
19:34
SPEAKER_09: And it it looked horrifying.
19:35
SPEAKER_09: And then when you watch the video of it, like, where did that even happen?
19:38
SPEAKER_09: Because it has to happen somewhere in that video, and you it's hard to see.
19:42
SPEAKER_10: But they're just pushing, like he's pushing him.
19:45
SPEAKER_10: Like, it you can't really even tell who starts it.
19:47
SPEAKER_10: Like, him and the the Steeler and the Charger fan just start pushing and shoving, and they're just like wrestling, and like I think at one point the Steeler fan gets knocked down, and it's just I don't know.
19:58
SPEAKER_09: I I think the truth is somewhere in the middle.
20:01
SPEAKER_10: I think this is this the situation where you just you ban them all from ever coming back to a game and give them misdemeanor, like whatever you get.
20:09
SPEAKER_10: Like, isn't there like a drunken disorderly conduct like charge?
20:12
SPEAKER_10: You give them that, yeah.
20:14
SPEAKER_10: Move on with your life.
20:15
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, it's fair.
20:18
SPEAKER_09: Uh so Pittsburgh fans have a long history of really turning on people who they don't like anymore.
20:24
SPEAKER_09: Even if that player did some really good things for our team, think of guys like Yarmir Yager or Barry Bonds or Cordell Stewart or Mike Tomlin.
20:32
SPEAKER_09: And most of the time that comes out is booing and yelling.
20:35
SPEAKER_09: But there was a time in the 1980s when it also involved throwing objects at people.
20:41
SPEAKER_09: And we have two kind of infamous instances of that.
20:44
SPEAKER_09: The first takes place at the River Stadium on July 20th, 1980.
20:49
SPEAKER_09: The Pirates are playing a doubleheader against the Dodgers, and it's Willie Stargell Day.
20:54
SPEAKER_09: The Pirates are celebrating their World Series hero from the previous year.
20:58
SPEAKER_09: Pirates right fielder Dave Parker is having a somewhat subpar season.
21:02
SPEAKER_09: His knees are really shot, and that's limiting him pretty severely.
21:06
SPEAKER_09: Parker has also recently signed a contract that makes him the first ever million dollar baseball player.
21:14
SPEAKER_10: Well, he should be hitting hitting a million dollars worth of home runs, Tim.
21:20
SPEAKER_10: Or doing a million million dollars worth of drugs more accurately, probably.
21:25
SPEAKER_09: Also fair.
21:26
SPEAKER_09: But at that point, you know, nobody knew about that.
21:29
SPEAKER_09: I I I at that point, a lot of blue-collar vocals, I think, just didn't like the fact that one one person would be making that much money to play a sport, much less of a black player.
21:42
SPEAKER_10: Yes, that was definitely a factor.
21:44
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
21:46
SPEAKER_09: So Parker's deluged with all kinds of hate mail and booze.
21:49
SPEAKER_09: He has a steel valve and a five pound sack of nuts and bolts thrown at him at one point.
21:54
SPEAKER_09: In that double header against the Dodgers, someone throws a nine volt battery that just misses.
22:00
SPEAKER_09: His head.
22:01
SPEAKER_09: He has to remove himself from the game for his own safety, and Chuck Tanner also has to sit him for the second game of that doubleheader.
22:07
SPEAKER_09: So good job there, numb that fan that threw the battery to hurt your own team.
22:12
SPEAKER_09: The Pirates issue this stern warning after the game quote, should there be a next time for this needless and childish activity, the entire Pirates team will be removed from the field even at the expense of forfeiting the game?
22:26
SPEAKER_09: Pirates management is sick and tired of these acts.
22:30
SPEAKER_10: Nice.
22:31
SPEAKER_10: Good for them.
22:32
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, that's that's a pretty bold statement.
22:36
SPEAKER_09: Wouldn't see that today.
22:38
SPEAKER_10: I I don't know.
22:39
SPEAKER_10: Hey, you know, they're willing to lose a lot of money.
22:42
SPEAKER_10: But I mean, come on, what if somebody got hit in the head or the eye or even the arm?
22:46
SPEAKER_10: Like, you could get hurt.
22:47
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
22:48
SPEAKER_09: Bob Nunning would be like, please don't harass the employees.
22:51
SPEAKER_09: They need to be able to operate the ski lift.
22:56
SPEAKER_09: No, no, Mr.
22:57
SPEAKER_09: Nunning.
22:58
SPEAKER_09: This is the baseball team.
22:58
SPEAKER_09: Also, you sold Seven Springs like eight years ago.
23:01
SPEAKER_09: I can't hear you.
23:02
SPEAKER_09: Sorry, I'm lying in a bed of money.
23:08
SPEAKER_10: Maybe be like, I don't know, throw cheaper batteries or something.
23:12
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, there you go.
23:15
SPEAKER_09: Um, Parker wrote this in his book.
23:17
SPEAKER_09: Quote, a fan tried to hurt me on the day they all celebrated a black man.
23:20
SPEAKER_09: That wasn't objective racism, that was personal.
23:24
SPEAKER_09: Wow.
23:25
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
23:26
SPEAKER_10: I can't see why Dave Parker didn't like Pittsburgh very much.
23:30
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, yeah.
23:30
SPEAKER_09: You think he might have had some hard feelings there.
23:33
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
23:34
SPEAKER_09: Well, fast forward four years, and Pittsburgh fans evolve and prove that they're equally hateful of all races.
23:41
SPEAKER_09: Cliff Stout is a backup quarterback for Terry Bradshaw for six seasons before he finally gets his chance to shine when Bradshaw's injured for pretty much the entire 1983 season.
23:50
SPEAKER_09: The Steelers actually win their division that year, but Stout doesn't play real great.
23:54
SPEAKER_09: He throws 21 interceptions to only 12 touchdowns.
23:58
SPEAKER_09: And after the season, he bolts for the newly formed USFL.
24:03
SPEAKER_09: In March of 1984, the Pittsburgh USFL team, the Maulers, have their home opener against the Birmingham Stallions.
24:10
SPEAKER_09: And guess who plays quarterback for Birmingham?
24:12
SPEAKER_09: It's Cliff Stout.
24:15
SPEAKER_10: This should go well.
24:16
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, also it's snowing that day.
24:19
SPEAKER_09: And fans infamously pout Stout with snowballs.
24:23
SPEAKER_09: Unfortunately, he still beats the Maulers after the game, he admits it feels pretty good coming back to Pittsburgh and shutting up all the fans who so badly wanted him to fail.
24:31
SPEAKER_03: This one felt pretty good.
24:33
SPEAKER_03: Uh probably as good as any of them.
24:35
SPEAKER_03: Beating Cleveland was always nice.
24:38
SPEAKER_03: But uh this one feels better just because hell I never went anywhere where anybody wanted my team to lose so bad.
24:45
SPEAKER_03: You know, I got treated bad here, but everybody still wants us to win.
24:48
SPEAKER_03: But uh this one feels good.
24:51
SPEAKER_10: At least it was only snowballs this time.
24:54
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
24:55
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, maybe that's better than nine volt batteries and nuts and bolts.
25:00
SPEAKER_10: Although if you throw like a piece of ice, that could really hurt somebody.
25:04
SPEAKER_10: That happened in that giant San Diego game a long time ago.
25:08
SPEAKER_10: They hit a guy.
25:09
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, one of their assistants I think one of the chargers' assistants.
25:11
SPEAKER_10: Yeah, got hurt.
25:12
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, pretty bad, yeah.
25:15
SPEAKER_09: So Cliff Stealth got snowballs thrown at him, but he's just one guy in a long line of Steel War quarterbacks over the years who have been abused by the fans.
25:24
SPEAKER_09: And there there's lots of stories about this phenomenon uh that we could t tell.
25:29
SPEAKER_09: So rather than go through all of that, I will I'm just gonna focus on one specific aspect, which is I think a pretty big black eye for Steelers fans.
25:38
SPEAKER_09: It's cheering when the quarterback gets hurt.
25:41
SPEAKER_02: Woo-hoo!
25:43
SPEAKER_09: The the earliest recorded instance of this happens in 1962 when Bobby Lane throws a screen pass and gets nailed by a defender in a game at Pitt Stadium.
25:52
SPEAKER_09: They have to carry him out on a stretcher, and fans heckle him the entire time.
25:57
SPEAKER_09: Stewart's tackle Charlie Bradshaw is shocked and says, quote, this has to be the toughest group of fans in the country.
26:04
SPEAKER_10: Jeez.
26:06
SPEAKER_10: Bobby then Bobby Lane had a drink right after that one, huh?
26:11
SPEAKER_09: Probably gave him a beer on the stretcher.
26:14
SPEAKER_10: This will fix you.
26:17
SPEAKER_09: Uh Terry Bradshaw fares even worse despite winning the team four Super Bowls.
26:21
SPEAKER_09: People cheer when he gets injured.
26:23
SPEAKER_09: There are actually multiple instances of this happening, and of course, that leads to a lot of bitterness from Terry towards the fans.
26:31
SPEAKER_09: Here's some interesting audio, Steve, courtesy of our friend Dan Joseph, who runs that Myron Cope YouTube channel.
26:37
SPEAKER_09: Which, if you haven't subscribed to that, please go do that.
26:41
SPEAKER_09: It's such a good channel.
26:42
SPEAKER_09: This is Myron talking to Howard Cosell after one of these incidents in 1973.
26:49
SPEAKER_04: Well, I put the blast on it, and uh no question about it.
26:52
SPEAKER_04: It's very disappointing to see people act that way.
26:55
SPEAKER_04: And some guy even called me up and he said, Listen, if uh if a ball game's good, you're going to see people hurt.
27:01
SPEAKER_04: And the more people you see hurt, the more I get for my money.
27:04
SPEAKER_04: And then he proceeded to say that Steve Davis is his favorite stealer running back.
27:09
SPEAKER_04: So Howard, I said to the guy, you would get a lot for your money if Davis plays a good bit this week, right?
27:15
SPEAKER_04: And he said, right.
27:16
SPEAKER_04: And I said, you'd get even more for your money if Davis broke his arm.
27:19
SPEAKER_04: And he said, right.
27:20
SPEAKER_04: And I said, well, if Noel decides not to play him, maybe we can trot Davis out at halftime and have four guys over him with Cops.
27:27
SPEAKER_04: So that's how I felt about it.
27:33
SPEAKER_10: That actually was kind of a good response.
27:36
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, Myron was very um quick and witty.
27:41
SPEAKER_09: Like he he yeah.
27:46
SPEAKER_09: So so this kind of continues into the next generation of quarterbacks.
27:50
SPEAKER_09: Fans cheer when Mark Malone and Bubby Brister get hurt.
27:53
SPEAKER_09: After the home opener in 1991, in which two San Diego Chargers defenders knocked Brister out of the game as fans cheer, Bubby says, quote, Terry Bradshaw hates everyone in Pittsburgh.
28:06
SPEAKER_09: I never understood why he felt so bitter about things.
28:09
SPEAKER_09: But you know what?
28:10
SPEAKER_09: Now I can see it.
28:13
SPEAKER_10: Bubby.
28:14
SPEAKER_10: Bubby, yeah.
28:15
SPEAKER_10: I mean he actually kind of like came back and well he never really haunted the Steelers too much, did he?
28:21
SPEAKER_09: No, no, but he was pretty upset about everybody caring when he was when he was hurt, which is understandable.
28:29
SPEAKER_09: And and then, you know, when Cordell Stewart was here, I don't know if anyone ever cheered him getting hurt.
28:34
SPEAKER_09: I don't actually remember him getting hurt like ever.
28:38
SPEAKER_09: Uh but honestly, I think Cordell would have probably created that for some of the other stuff that fans did to him.
28:43
SPEAKER_10: What about Mason Rudolph when he got knocked out?
28:46
SPEAKER_10: I don't think anybody really I think he got like a respectful clap because they some people like clap, like, oh, you're okay.
28:52
SPEAKER_10: Like there's like two different like kind of things.
28:55
SPEAKER_10: Like you see that sometimes, like people just like the sportsmanship.
28:59
SPEAKER_10: Hey, you're okay.
29:00
SPEAKER_10: You know?
29:01
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, yeah.
29:02
SPEAKER_09: I I I think that that's I think that that whole phenomenon went away in the Ben Rothesburger era.
29:10
SPEAKER_09: I I I don't I can't think of anything.
29:12
SPEAKER_10: I I I haven't seen anybody get cheered when they get hurt in a long time.
29:15
SPEAKER_09: No, I haven't either.
29:17
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
29:17
SPEAKER_09: So hopefully we've progressed as fans.
29:20
SPEAKER_10: Like I said, people kind of do the respectful give them a little hand.
29:23
SPEAKER_09: Well, yeah, that's that's different.
29:24
SPEAKER_09: That's not, you know, there's a difference, right?
29:27
SPEAKER_10: You can tell the difference.
29:28
SPEAKER_09: Yes, yes, for sure.
29:31
SPEAKER_09: Well, Steve, no episode about fan bad fan behavior would be complete without Philadelphia fans.
29:39
SPEAKER_09: Well, gotta have a Philadelphia story in here.
29:42
SPEAKER_10: Well, they do kind of invent the bad behavior.
29:46
SPEAKER_10: They are the poster children for it.
29:48
SPEAKER_09: So they sure are.
29:50
SPEAKER_09: In 2018, the Flyers are busy not winning the Stanley Cup, as they have done every season now for more than 50 years.
29:58
SPEAKER_02: Hey!
30:00
SPEAKER_09: That year they're facing the Penguins in the first round of the playoffs.
30:03
SPEAKER_09: It's game six, it Philly.
30:06
SPEAKER_09: Flyers are facing elimination, but they're about to go into the third period with a four to three lead.
30:11
SPEAKER_09: So they're hoping they can force to hold that lead and force a game seven.
30:16
SPEAKER_09: Well, that doesn't happen.
30:17
SPEAKER_09: Jake Gensel scores four goals in 13 minutes, and just like that, the Flyer season is over.
30:24
SPEAKER_09: Philly fans not real happy about that.
30:28
SPEAKER_08: Somebody just threw something on the ice.
30:30
SPEAKER_08: Not hard at all.
30:31
SPEAKER_08: No, we got stuff flying all over.
30:33
SPEAKER_08: Not flyer fans.
30:34
SPEAKER_08: Can't happen.
30:34
SPEAKER_08: Rust scores.
30:36
SPEAKER_08: Brian Rust.
30:37
SPEAKER_08: Now people get hurt.
30:38
SPEAKER_08: Both York players and the visitors here.
30:42
SPEAKER_08: Throw them right out of the rink.
30:44
SPEAKER_08: Just watch it.
30:45
SPEAKER_08: There's heavy artillery flying all over down there.
30:50
SPEAKER_10: Oh, what were they throwing?
30:52
SPEAKER_09: So Flyers fans are throwing beer cans, many of them still full of beer.
30:59
SPEAKER_10: Well, that's a waste of money.
31:01
SPEAKER_09: Well, funny that you say that because Sydney Crosby says this Sydney Crosby actually says it's a waste of perfectly good beer.
31:11
SPEAKER_10: Wow.
31:12
SPEAKER_10: Why are they selling cans of beer?
31:13
SPEAKER_10: Uh yeah, sorry, they still did they still sell cans of beer?
31:16
SPEAKER_09: They still sell cans of beer, yeah.
31:18
SPEAKER_10: Oh, okay.
31:19
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
31:19
SPEAKER_10: So you buy like spend like$20 on a can of beer now, which is probably how much you're paying, and you throw it on the ice.
31:26
SPEAKER_10: Wow.
31:26
SPEAKER_10: You must be independently wealthy.
31:28
SPEAKER_09: Well, well, here's here's what Penguin's general manager Jim Rutherford had to say about that, Steve.
31:33
SPEAKER_09: Uh he says, I guess they have more money than brains.
31:37
SPEAKER_10: Well, can't argue with that logic.
31:41
SPEAKER_09: I thought that was a good quote.
31:43
SPEAKER_09: More money than brains.
31:44
SPEAKER_09: Because they're because it's like you had to pay for the bill beer that you just threw and didn't drink.
31:51
SPEAKER_10: That's crazy.
31:52
SPEAKER_10: Like and like the fact that it must have been pretty bad.
31:55
SPEAKER_10: Like it made it on TV, too.
31:57
SPEAKER_10: I mean, it was in like the last 10 seconds of a blowout game.
32:00
SPEAKER_09: So well, and and like I said, they had a lead going into the third period, and Jay Gensel scores four goals.
32:05
SPEAKER_09: I mean, it was like it wasn't like that it was a close game and they lost on a last second thing.
32:10
SPEAKER_09: It was just like they they gave up this flurry of goals to one player and that was their season.
32:15
SPEAKER_09: And they hate losing to Pittsburgh because the Penguins had just won two Stanley Cups, and they don't ever win Stanley Cups, and they're jealous and they hate Crosby.
32:26
SPEAKER_10: Well, they've won two Stanley Cups just a long time ago.
32:29
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
32:30
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, just like Cleveland won the NFL championship in 1950, whatever.
32:36
SPEAKER_10: 1964, too.
32:38
SPEAKER_10: Oh, okay, whatever.
32:40
SPEAKER_09: So Philly fans may be notorious for bad behavior, but Cincinnati fans say, hold my beer, or in this case, actually, give me my beer back so I can throw it at Pittsburgh players.
32:51
SPEAKER_10: At least it was in a plastic cup.
32:54
SPEAKER_09: Well, yeah.
32:55
SPEAKER_09: So in the 2015 AFC playoffs, the Stewards are beating the Bengals when a human piece of garbage, Vontaz Berfect, drives Ben Rothesberger's shoulder into the ground, knocking him out of the game.
33:05
SPEAKER_09: They have to cart Ben off the field, and as they do, Bengals fans shower him with beer.
33:11
SPEAKER_09: Of course, we all know how that game ended, with the Bengals suffering arguably the most spectacular meltdown in the history of professional sports.
33:18
SPEAKER_09: Steve, if you ever question the concept of justice and you watch the news, and it looks like there's all these people in the world that can just do whatever they want without ever getting their comeuppance, just watch a tape of that 2015 Steelers Bengals playoff game.
33:31
SPEAKER_09: It will absolutely restore your faith in the notion that people really do get exactly what's coming to them.
33:40
SPEAKER_09: True, true that.
33:42
SPEAKER_09: And that was embarrassing.
33:43
SPEAKER_09: Like Ben was on a cart.
33:45
SPEAKER_10: Yeah, and they're like, I remember that too.
33:47
SPEAKER_10: And I remember some people like, yeah, he deserved it, he's rapist.
33:50
SPEAKER_10: Like, I remember people are like, uh there was no defending that.
33:54
SPEAKER_09: I'm sorry.
33:54
SPEAKER_09: That was that was and I and you know, Cincinnati fans aren't I would not put them in the same class as Philly fans or Morgantown.
34:02
SPEAKER_09: You know, like they're they're not terrible fans.
34:04
SPEAKER_09: They're they care about their team, they're passionate, but that was embarrassing.
34:10
SPEAKER_09: Okay, like we said at the beginning of this episode, crazy fan behavior goes way back.
34:14
SPEAKER_09: So let's do an old timey story.
34:17
SPEAKER_09: In the early 20th century, there's a young pitcher named Marty O'Toll who's tearing it up in an independent league.
34:25
SPEAKER_09: He's winning games at a record pace, and he has double-digit strikeouts in almost every start.
34:31
SPEAKER_09: Naturally, a bunch of MLB teams take notice.
34:34
SPEAKER_09: Remember, there's no draft back then, and there's a bidding war, and the pirates win that bidding war.
34:39
SPEAKER_09: There's a phrase you'll never hear again.
34:44
SPEAKER_09: And they sign Martio Toll for the unheard of amount, Steve, of$22,000 per year.
34:51
SPEAKER_10: Woo! Wow, that's like the price of a used Honda Accord.
34:58
SPEAKER_09: I I I did look up the conversion.
35:00
SPEAKER_09: I think it's it's something around$800,000 today.
35:03
SPEAKER_10: Oh, that's a tiny little sum.
35:06
SPEAKER_09: I mean, that's a that's a decent amount of obviously that's still like peanuts for a baseball player, but I mean, back then a baseball player making the equivalent of$800,000 a year must have been.
35:17
SPEAKER_09: Just floored people.
35:18
SPEAKER_09: In fact, Steve, the check that Barney Dreyfus Dreyfus made out 40 toll, you can go look at that today in the baseball hall of fame.
35:26
SPEAKER_09: That's how monumental that sounded.
35:28
SPEAKER_10: Nice.
35:28
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
35:30
SPEAKER_10: Like no one would have will pay more than this.
35:32
SPEAKER_09: Right.
35:33
SPEAKER_09: We better save the check and frame it.
35:37
SPEAKER_09: In 1912, there's a lot of excitement for this young phenom coming to town, and the Pittsburgh media reports that Bachelor Marty is looking for a wife.
35:47
SPEAKER_10: Oh boy.
35:48
SPEAKER_09: This is actually not true.
35:50
SPEAKER_09: O'Toole says he's not looking to settle down.
35:53
SPEAKER_09: He has no idea where the story came from, but by this point, it's too late, as the female Pirates fans are now in full swoon over sexy flamethrower Marty O'Toll and his piles and piles of baseball money.
36:06
SPEAKER_10: Maybe they dislike baseball.
36:07
SPEAKER_10: They quality baseball.
36:09
SPEAKER_10: Maybe he's a quality person, Tim.
36:11
SPEAKER_10: Did you ever think of that?
36:13
SPEAKER_09: Well, here's what happens.
36:15
SPEAKER_09: He gets all kinds of crazy, crazy letters from women he's never met who want to marry him.
36:21
SPEAKER_09: And they're describing themselves physically.
36:23
SPEAKER_09: They're laying out their case for how they would be responsible with his money.
36:34
SPEAKER_09: Oh God.
36:37
SPEAKER_09: Some are sending photos.
36:38
SPEAKER_09: No word from the 1912 newspaper on how risky these photos are.
36:42
SPEAKER_10: They were showing an ankle and a knee.
36:48
SPEAKER_10: Do you think they were doing any twerking?
36:52
SPEAKER_09: Possibly.
36:54
SPEAKER_09: It was 1912, you never know.
36:55
SPEAKER_10: They're doing the Charleston.
36:57
SPEAKER_10: That was a real sick.
36:59
SPEAKER_09: So so we actually have um one of these letters from a young Pirates fan in Ohio.
37:05
SPEAKER_09: Oh God.
37:06
SPEAKER_09: And I can't do this justice reading it myself.
37:08
SPEAKER_09: So once again, we got good friend of the show AI to read it for us.
37:12
SPEAKER_09: Here's a real letter to Marty O'Toll from a female Pirates fan.
37:17
SPEAKER_00: My dear Mr.
37:18
SPEAKER_00: O'Toole, seeing in the paper that you are in search of a wife, I thought I would write you.
37:24
SPEAKER_00: I am just 17 years old and live in a small town in eastern Ohio.
37:30
SPEAKER_00: I just love ball players, especially pitchers.
37:35
SPEAKER_00: I have no picture of myself just now, but I would like for you to send me one of yours.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: Oh.
37:42
SPEAKER_00: When you write, send the letter in care of the general delivery.
37:47
SPEAKER_00: My mother would raise Ned if she knew I was writing to you.
37:54
SPEAKER_10: Elijah Hunt Rhodes.
38:00
SPEAKER_10: Really, did we need the Ken Burns to more?
38:03
SPEAKER_08: Heck yeah.
38:08
SPEAKER_10: Oh my god.
38:09
SPEAKER_10: Like, don't don't let mom know.
38:12
SPEAKER_10: I mean, 17, that's practically an old maid.
38:15
SPEAKER_10: And what is this?
38:16
SPEAKER_10: 19, what is this?
38:17
SPEAKER_10: 12.
38:18
SPEAKER_10: 1912.
38:19
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, yeah, that's true.
38:21
SPEAKER_10: And raise Ned.
38:22
SPEAKER_10: Wow.
38:23
SPEAKER_10: I hope that expression comes back.
38:25
SPEAKER_10: Tim, let's go raise some Ned tonight.
38:28
SPEAKER_10: What does that even mean?
38:30
SPEAKER_10: And I thought Gen Z had weird expressions.
38:38
SPEAKER_09: I just I love that she's giving him like instructions, like send me your picture, and then also like, you know, send it in care of the general delivery so my mom doesn't know.
38:46
SPEAKER_10: I didn't know you could even could you even do that?
38:50
SPEAKER_09: Apparently you could.
38:51
SPEAKER_09: I have no idea.
38:53
SPEAKER_10: But but apparently like your mom's not kind of suspicious, your mom like, oh general delivery, better give it to little whatever her name is here.
39:01
SPEAKER_09: No, no clue.
39:03
SPEAKER_09: I mean he obviously did he ever write back?
39:05
SPEAKER_10: That's the question.
39:06
SPEAKER_10: Like he probably like sent her like a signed on a guy, like, oh, thanks for being a fan.
39:12
SPEAKER_09: Maybe.
39:12
SPEAKER_09: I mean, he was getting a bunch of these letters.
39:15
SPEAKER_09: And and the newspaper says, quote, Marty characterizes all of these letters as rubbish, and he expresses amazement that young women are silly enough to propose marriage to a man they have never seen.
39:28
SPEAKER_10: Marty, there will be no room for your common sense, sir.
39:33
SPEAKER_10: Actually sounds like a pretty level-headed guy.
39:37
SPEAKER_09: He does.
39:38
SPEAKER_09: However, bad news, Steve.
39:40
SPEAKER_09: That rejection is a blessing in disguise for these young ladies because when Marty eventually does get married, he ends up abandoning his wife and four kids.
39:48
SPEAKER_10: Wow, what a jerk.
39:51
SPEAKER_10: What's wrong with him?
39:53
SPEAKER_10: So he gets married, has four kids.
39:56
SPEAKER_10: till a person he does know.
40:01
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
40:01
SPEAKER_09: I I don't know the obviously the the context behind any of that, but
40:05
SPEAKER_10: Marty, Marty, too.
40:07
SPEAKER_10: I think I think he was heard that he went to San Francisco where he prospered in dry goods.
40:13
SPEAKER_10: His mother-in-law couldn't figure out why his uh why her daughter would marry such a man known for throwing baseballs.
40:25
SPEAKER_09: Nice, nice, nice unforgiving reference.
40:28
SPEAKER_09: People that don't know that one.
40:30
SPEAKER_09: Um, I I before we leave this one, I do want to say something about the context of all this, because like for a modern ear, it sounds like this is just a bunch of like incredibly greedy gold diggers.
40:42
SPEAKER_09: But you do have to remember that in 1912, women basically had zero agency whatsoever.
40:46
SPEAKER_09: They couldn't really earn money or have access to education.
40:50
SPEAKER_09: Or vote.
40:51
SPEAKER_09: Or yeah, or even vote at this point.
40:53
SPEAKER_09: And so much of their lot in life was very much dependent on the man they married.
40:58
SPEAKER_09: So that's right.
40:59
SPEAKER_09: That's how it should be.
41:04
SPEAKER_09: So so yeah.
41:04
SPEAKER_09: So while it may sound ridiculous, like that they're just throwing themselves at a wealthy guy they never met, I I kind of get it.
41:10
SPEAKER_10: They should be lucky to have us, Tim.
41:13
SPEAKER_09: I mean, they're they're still lucky to have us, for sure.
41:17
SPEAKER_10: But you know, just settle down.
41:18
SPEAKER_09: You don't have to propose marriage to just random strangers.
41:23
SPEAKER_10: I mean, I don't think there I think there was like like it wasn't the marriage laws weren't like they are now where you get half of everything, right?
41:30
SPEAKER_10: I I don't think so.
41:31
SPEAKER_09: No, I don't think so at all.
41:33
SPEAKER_10: Yeah, so yeah.
41:34
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, so so that's what I mean.
41:35
SPEAKER_10: It's like let's put a pin in that balloon there, yeah.
41:38
SPEAKER_09: Well, well, and you were you were set up again, like what if you didn't marry you like like I said, your earnings potential and your ability to make a life for yourself is pretty limited.
41:48
SPEAKER_09: And then who you did marry, you were gonna become, you know, uh uh pretty pretty much a mom pretty soon after that.
41:56
SPEAKER_09: So again, I I kind of get it.
42:00
SPEAKER_09: All right, we talked about Stewards fans being angry at the quarterbacks in 1987.
42:05
SPEAKER_09: A lot of fans are not happy with current starting quarterback Mark Malone.
42:09
SPEAKER_09: One of those fans is a guy who lives in Ohio named Tony Morelli.
42:14
SPEAKER_09: And he decides, you know what, it's time to take some action.
42:17
SPEAKER_09: So he drives his Plymouth Reliant station wagon.
42:20
SPEAKER_09: Man, if that doesn't say 1980, Steve, I don't know what does.
42:24
SPEAKER_09: He drives his Plymouth Reliant from Wintersville, Ohio, all the way to Fleaver Stadium.
42:29
SPEAKER_09: And this is on a Thursday, so it's not game day.
42:33
SPEAKER_10: So he's just going to park outside, right?
42:36
SPEAKER_10: And like say something mean to the ticket office, right?
42:40
SPEAKER_09: Well, well, I I'm not sure what he's thinking when he drives there, but when he gets there, he does see uh that there's an entrance to the stadium that's used for deliveries, like one of those big wide entrances that you can fit a truck through.
42:53
SPEAKER_09: And it's like kind of wide open and nobody's really there.
42:57
SPEAKER_09: So he decides to drive a station wagon into Three River Stadium and not onto the field.
43:03
SPEAKER_09: He's actually driving this thing up the concourse ramps.
43:06
SPEAKER_10: I I remember this, yeah.
43:08
SPEAKER_09: And and like, see, I don't remember this.
43:10
SPEAKER_10: And I remember yeah.
43:12
SPEAKER_09: And and and like, do you remember those ramps being wide enough to drive a station wagon up?
43:17
SPEAKER_10: Yeah, they were pretty big.
43:18
SPEAKER_10: Okay, pretty big.
43:20
SPEAKER_10: But that's not the story.
43:22
SPEAKER_10: That that's that's not the funny part of the story.
43:24
SPEAKER_09: Well, so so yeah, so he's driving up these ramps.
43:26
SPEAKER_09: Along the way, he nearly misses hitting several stadium workers.
43:30
SPEAKER_09: And even more tragically, he knocks over six vats of Nacho Cheese.
43:35
SPEAKER_10: But hold on, can we have a moment of silence when we lost Nacho Cheese?
43:40
SPEAKER_09: Three River Stadium Nacho Cheese, if you didn't have it.
43:43
SPEAKER_09: It was that was that was prime.
43:46
SPEAKER_09: I mean, there's like Roos Chris Steakhouse, but then there's like three stadium nacho cheese.
43:51
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
43:52
SPEAKER_09: Finally, the car crashes into a wall behind the press box.
43:55
SPEAKER_09: So he made it pretty high up if he's at the press box.
43:58
SPEAKER_10: Yeah, I don't know if I guess he somehow made that turn, like 'cause it they had like, you know, they went down the outside, like there are ramps that that's what I mean.
44:06
SPEAKER_09: Like I can see like the the wide part, like the the main Yeah, like that corner.
44:10
SPEAKER_10: I don't know how he negotiated like a nineteen eighty Plymouth Reliant.
44:15
SPEAKER_09: Yes, that's what I mean.
44:16
SPEAKER_10: It's like is it like an MG or some sports car?
44:19
SPEAKER_10: No, yeah.
44:21
SPEAKER_09: So so once he hits the press box, Morelli then gets out of his car and runs down to the field to kick imaginary field goals.
44:28
SPEAKER_10: Oh wow, this guy's a little drunk.
44:30
SPEAKER_09: That's where police finally catch up to him.
44:32
SPEAKER_09: They ask him why he did this, and he says it's because he really doesn't like Mark Malone.
44:39
SPEAKER_10: Poor Mark Malone.
44:41
SPEAKER_09: He's taken, he's taken for psychiatric evaluation, but they determine he's fine because 1987.
44:50
SPEAKER_09: And also because it's like, well, I mean, Mark Malone's pretty bad.
44:54
SPEAKER_10: He has a point.
44:56
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
44:56
SPEAKER_10: He's not totally delusional.
45:03
SPEAKER_09: Uh um eventually charges are dropped when Morelli agrees to pay for all the damages, including the$600 of nacho cheese that he destroyed.
45:13
SPEAKER_09: He later says it was just a stunt.
45:15
SPEAKER_09: He says kids don't try this at home.
45:17
SPEAKER_09: Also, he hopes everyone had a good laugh.
45:21
SPEAKER_09: Not sure the poor stadium guys who almost got run over and who had to mop up all that nacho cheese were laughing, but sure.
45:28
SPEAKER_09: Uh Steelers fans, though, Steve, they're loving it.
45:31
SPEAKER_09: This guy's a hero.
45:32
SPEAKER_09: For the game that week, some fans hang a banner in honor of Morelli.
45:36
SPEAKER_09: The banner says, quote, Morelli's maniacs.
45:38
SPEAKER_09: Malone, you drive us crazy.
45:41
SPEAKER_10: Well, that's pretty innocent, I think.
45:44
SPEAKER_09: I mean at the end of the day, I mean, nobody got hurt.
45:47
SPEAKER_09: It just it could have been worse.
45:49
SPEAKER_09: Also, Steve, Mark Malone is traded to the Chargers several months later, so maybe it worked out.
45:55
SPEAKER_10: Did he take any nacho cheese with him?
45:58
SPEAKER_10: That's the that's the question.
45:59
SPEAKER_09: Message sent and received.
46:02
SPEAKER_10: Too bad some nacho cheese had to die in the process.
46:06
SPEAKER_10: I remember that.
46:07
SPEAKER_10: I remember my dad reading that story out loud and laughing the whole time.
46:13
SPEAKER_09: There's a there's a picture in the paper that I'll I'll post on our Facebook page.
46:19
SPEAKER_09: Steve, I put it in the outline notes of the guys actually mopping up the nacho cheese.
46:25
SPEAKER_09: It was really everywhere, everywhere.
46:27
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
46:28
SPEAKER_10: That sucks.
46:29
SPEAKER_10: They're using like a shovel, like a snow shovel.
46:32
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
46:34
SPEAKER_10: What a mess.
46:37
SPEAKER_10: I bet it smelled delicious down there for the rest of the time.
46:41
SPEAKER_10: Three river stadium was in business.
46:44
SPEAKER_09: They should have just made it part of the floor.
46:47
SPEAKER_09: Just like you could have branded it.
46:49
SPEAKER_10: Like here's the you know the nacho cheese covering.
46:53
SPEAKER_09: Right, right.
46:54
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
46:56
SPEAKER_09: So Steelers fans do not have fond memories of Mark Malone.
47:00
SPEAKER_09: You know what else we don't have good memories of?
47:02
SPEAKER_09: The Jesse James catch.
47:04
SPEAKER_09: Or in case of the Yasinai National Football League, the Jesse James no catch.
47:08
SPEAKER_09: And if you're somehow not familiar with this story, the Steelers score a last second touchdown to defeat the Patriots in 2017.
47:16
SPEAKER_09: But the NF NFL says it actually doesn't count because the rule book is really just more of a set of guidelines.
47:23
SPEAKER_10: More of a suggestion.
47:25
SPEAKER_09: Suggestion.
47:25
SPEAKER_09: And the league's free to make up whatever the hell they want depending on the moment.
47:30
SPEAKER_09: Anyway, after the game, a bunch of fans are riding home on the T.
47:35
SPEAKER_09: That's Pittsburgh's light rail transportation system that serves those of us who live in the South Hills.
47:41
SPEAKER_09: And walking up and down the aisle of the T, there's a Patriots fan named Sean Sullivan Fulham.
47:47
SPEAKER_09: And because he's a Boston sports fan, he's walking up and down the aisle telling Steelers fans, hey, nice game.
47:53
SPEAKER_09: Tough call there at the end.
47:55
SPEAKER_09: I I personally think you guys got robbed.
47:57
SPEAKER_09: Um, you know, just hard fought game.
48:00
SPEAKER_09: Because Steve, as we all know, Boston fans are nothing but class, right?
48:04
SPEAKER_10: Well, they're right, they're right up there with I don't know if they've reached Philadelphia levels or even West Virginia levels, but they're pretty close.
48:12
SPEAKER_10: They they get the bronze medal, maybe.
48:15
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
48:15
SPEAKER_09: So so so, yeah, Sean Sullivan Fulham, he's just so classy and so nice, right?
48:21
SPEAKER_10: Yes, absolutely.
48:22
SPEAKER_09: Okay.
48:23
SPEAKER_09: Here's what actually's what actually happened.
48:26
SPEAKER_07: He started going up and down on the sea and um haunting again and like swinging from the bars in there and just saying all kinds of um things to everybody else.
48:39
SPEAKER_06: Sullivan Fulham was reportedly drunk when he spit in a man's face who was trying to get him to sit down and down with the books.
48:47
SPEAKER_07: All of a sudden, we started hearing rocks all thrown against the windows, and that's when Michael French was one of the ones that fought.
48:54
SPEAKER_07: And just scared everybody in the fleet.
48:58
SPEAKER_06: Port Authority police say it was pretty obvious he'd been drinking.
49:02
SPEAKER_06: After Sean Sullivan Fulham was arrested by Fort Authority Police, he was taken back to the station where they say he vomited.
49:09
SPEAKER_06: He was then taken here to the Allegheny County Jail.
49:14
SPEAKER_10: I did we really need that part of the Fort Report, Christine Danny and Tano.
49:19
SPEAKER_10: But the immortal Christine D Antonio.
49:24
SPEAKER_10: That was some great reporting there.
49:25
SPEAKER_10: Rocks.
49:26
SPEAKER_10: So what there were rocks inside the T, or they were throwing rocks at the T?
49:30
SPEAKER_09: I think this was after he got off.
49:33
SPEAKER_09: The way he was.
49:34
SPEAKER_10: And did one of the rocks go through the window or through the door?
49:37
SPEAKER_09: Or I didn't understand that either.
49:41
SPEAKER_10: I I because it's like I I guess maybe somebody was standing like where the doors open.
49:46
SPEAKER_10: Like because you can stand there if it's full, and he threw a rock in and it and one of them missed the window and went in an open door and hit somebody, probably.
49:56
SPEAKER_09: That makes the most sense, yeah.
49:58
SPEAKER_09: So he's later ordered to stand trial.
50:00
SPEAKER_09: He ultimately negotiates a guilty plea.
50:03
SPEAKER_09: Not sure what the penalty ended up being.
50:05
SPEAKER_10: He had to be a, I don't know, something.
50:08
SPEAKER_10: He had to go live in Boston.
50:09
SPEAKER_10: That's punishable enough.
50:12
SPEAKER_10: He had to go drive around Boston.
50:14
SPEAKER_10: I heard that's horrible.
50:15
SPEAKER_09: There you go.
50:16
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, that I've driven in Boston.
50:17
SPEAKER_09: It's not fun.
50:19
SPEAKER_09: Ask me about the time I had to cross the Ted Williams Bridge like three times because and pay the toll each time because I kept getting lost.
50:26
SPEAKER_10: Well, that's how they balance the budget there.
50:29
SPEAKER_09: This was before GPS.
50:32
SPEAKER_09: Um, okay, let's talk about the final ever home opener at Forbes Field.
50:37
SPEAKER_09: This takes place on April 7th, 1970.
50:41
SPEAKER_09: Steve Blass pitching for the Pirates.
50:43
SPEAKER_09: Tom Seaver is pitching for the defending world champion Mets.
50:47
SPEAKER_09: And it's a huge crowd, 34,000 people, which is the largest opening day crowd since the 1940s.
50:53
SPEAKER_09: Remember, this is 1970.
50:55
SPEAKER_09: It's a chilly day, 48 degrees, and fans are pretty restless, specifically the people seated in the right field bleachers.
51:03
SPEAKER_09: People keep running onto the field from those seats and have to be hauled off.
51:07
SPEAKER_09: In the top of the 11th inning, the Mets take a two-run lead, and that's when things really start to fall apart.
51:13
SPEAKER_09: A bunch of people start throwing beer bottles, I guess they had bottles back then instead of cans.
51:18
SPEAKER_09: At Mets right fielder Ron Swon Swoboda.
51:22
SPEAKER_09: Also, even more people run onto the field.
51:25
SPEAKER_09: So at this point, the umpires order that three police officers be positioned on the warning track for the final half inning.
51:33
SPEAKER_10: Can they catch a fall ball?
51:35
SPEAKER_10: Fly ball, I mean.
51:36
SPEAKER_09: Well, and and they're actually so they're actually in the field of play.
51:40
SPEAKER_09: And to your to your point, Steve, Mets manager Gil Hodges freaks out uh because of that.
51:46
SPEAKER_09: But the umpires assure him that literally, if there's a fly ball anywhere near the outfield, they're just gonna automatically call an out because at this point they're fed up with the crowd.
51:57
SPEAKER_09: The Pirates never get the ball out of the infield.
51:59
SPEAKER_09: The game ends.
52:00
SPEAKER_09: Just for good measure, a bunch of fans climb.
52:03
SPEAKER_09: Remember they had that remember how they had that batting cage in center field?
52:06
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
52:07
SPEAKER_09: A bunch of fans climb that after the game and it collapses.
52:10
SPEAKER_10: Isn't this opening day?
52:12
SPEAKER_09: This is opening day, the final opening day at Forbes Field in 1970.
52:15
SPEAKER_10: So this isn't even the last game at Forbes Field.
52:19
SPEAKER_10: Right.
52:20
SPEAKER_09: So lots of negative PR for the pirates after this one.
52:24
SPEAKER_09: Umpire Chris Pelicutis says this is the worst thing he's ever seen and complains that, quote, they have no control here.
52:32
SPEAKER_09: Multiple season ticket holders say they're disgusted.
52:35
SPEAKER_09: They can't understand why the pirates don't do more to police the crowd.
52:38
SPEAKER_09: Roberto Clemente says that he's never seen anything like this in his entire life, and also says that the pirates need to provide more security to avoid turning into Philadelphia.
52:48
SPEAKER_10: Woo-hoo! Well, Philly, yeah.
52:52
SPEAKER_10: Way back in 1970, they had a wrap.
52:55
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
52:56
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, and Clemente uses it as a reason to take a shot at Philly.
52:59
SPEAKER_09: I love that.
53:01
SPEAKER_09: 1970 media puts the blame squarely on teenagers as the main culprits for all the trouble with their long hair and their rock and roll music.
53:12
SPEAKER_10: They're just listening to that music and it makes them go crazy, Tim.
53:16
SPEAKER_09: Kimi Hendricks fills their mind with thoughts to run onto the field.
53:21
SPEAKER_09: To be fair, it was mostly young people running onto the field, so it wasn't like that.
53:25
SPEAKER_09: Was way out of bounds.
53:27
SPEAKER_09: The the Postgazette also assigns blame to a specific fan for getting everyone riled up.
53:33
SPEAKER_09: And this is a direct quote, Steve, from the Post Gazette, one of America's great newspapers.
53:38
SPEAKER_09: Quote, a good-looking kick wearing a mini skirt and white boots and sporting a big bosom caused a stir along the third base side of the stands.
53:51
SPEAKER_10: Is that it?
53:52
SPEAKER_09: Is it that's the quote, yeah.
53:54
SPEAKER_10: Oh my god.
53:56
SPEAKER_10: Wow.
53:57
SPEAKER_10: Yep.
53:57
SPEAKER_10: Wow.
53:58
SPEAKER_10: Somebody um somebody had a somebody just wanted to put that in the paper.
54:03
SPEAKER_10: There is no way this person did anything.
54:05
SPEAKER_10: And I'm assuming it's a lady.
54:07
SPEAKER_10: There's no way this lady did anything.
54:08
SPEAKER_10: It's just like, hey, I'm gonna put the hot chick that's in the stands today.
54:13
SPEAKER_09: Yes.
54:14
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
54:15
SPEAKER_09: Uh so there you go.
54:19
SPEAKER_09: All right.
54:20
SPEAKER_09: Last but not least for this episode is the curious case of Ryan Kennedy, the blue-haired Detroit Lions fan, who ends up getting Stewart's wide receiver DK Metcalf suspended.
54:31
SPEAKER_09: So in 2025, the Steelers are playing in Detroit, and during a stoppage in play, DK Metcalf is captured on camera, walking over to the seats and grabbing Lions fan Ryan Kennedy by the hair on his blue wig, and then kind of shoving him back towards the seats.
54:47
SPEAKER_09: People say it's a punch, it's a little bit more of a shove.
54:51
SPEAKER_09: You can interpret that however you want, the tape's out there.
54:54
SPEAKER_09: It's still a bit unclear as to what exactly set off Metcalf.
54:58
SPEAKER_09: The fan says it's because he was heckling him about his full legal name, which is DeKalen Zicarius.
55:04
SPEAKER_09: But there's probably a lot more to that story that we'll never know.
55:07
SPEAKER_09: The result is that Metcalf gets suspended for two games at a very critical juncture of the season.
55:12
SPEAKER_09: The Steelers win the division without him, but just barely.
55:16
SPEAKER_09: Kennedy files a$100 million lawsuit for getting shoved.
55:20
SPEAKER_09: What a country we live in.
55:22
SPEAKER_10: What a time to be alive, huh, Tim?
55:25
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
55:25
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
55:26
SPEAKER_10: What is the status?
55:27
SPEAKER_10: Is there I guess it's still making its way through the legal system?
55:31
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, I I bet that'll be one of those things it's not resolved for like years.
55:34
SPEAKER_09: And then when it is resolved, you probably won't hear a whole lot about it.
55:37
SPEAKER_10: It'll be like he got a dollar.
55:39
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, or he got something just as a settlement, just to make it go away.
55:44
SPEAKER_09: I I I think one of the I mean, to be somewhat fair to him, I think one of the things that he was suing over was that um, I can't remember who it was, Chad Johnson.
55:56
SPEAKER_09: Some somebody like in a podcast.
55:58
SPEAKER_10: Yeah, said he said a racial thing and he didn't.
56:01
SPEAKER_09: R right.
56:02
SPEAKER_09: And and so uh you could see that being a, you know, okay, now my my reputation, but then at the same time, you're also acting like an idiot the game.
56:11
SPEAKER_09: So I I whatever.
56:13
SPEAKER_09: Who knows?
56:14
SPEAKER_09: Again, if you're not there, it's hard to really judge what really happened.
56:18
SPEAKER_09: So that's our episode.
56:20
SPEAKER_09: Lots of stories that I left out.
56:22
SPEAKER_09: So this one will probably get a sequel at some point.
56:24
SPEAKER_09: Uh in the meantime, let's all behave ourselves as fans, please.
56:29
SPEAKER_10: I refuse.
56:31
SPEAKER_09: Don't don't yell at the lady that knocks over your coke.
56:36
SPEAKER_02: Fair enough.
56:38
SPEAKER_09: All right, everybody.
56:39
SPEAKER_09: Thank you so much for listening.
56:41
SPEAKER_09: Uh, do us a favor, give us a five-star rating on whatever podcast service you're listening to us on.
56:46
SPEAKER_09: Also, please check out our Facebook and Instagram feeds.
56:50
SPEAKER_09: We post lots of really fun Pittsburgh sports history stuff on there daily, usually twice a day.
56:56
SPEAKER_09: Thanks again, and we'll catch you next time.