Latest / Pittsburgh Sports Memories / BONUS EPISODE: Pgh Sports Current Events - Jan 2025

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BONUS EPISODE: Pgh Sports Current Events - Jan 2025 · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to Pittsburgh Sports Memory Current Events.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Just something new.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Me and Tim are trying.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: We always talk after the show about like what's going on.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: And we never really recorded it or put it on.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: So hey, hopefully this is interested in you.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: So um this will be the events that have happened up to January 18th, 2025.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna go back to like probably middle December.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, we record like once a month, so we'll try and keep it monthly, I guess.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: The biggest happenings from December 17th to January 18th.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: How about that, Tim?
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Does that like a plan?
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, in my best uh Jerry Seinfeld voice.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: What's the deal with Mike Tomlin?
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Why does he keep losing in the playoffs?
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Who are these people that support him?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um seriously, Tomlin has lost again.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: He hasn't won since 2016 when they beat the Chiefs of all people, weirdly enough, with Alex Smith, not Patrick Mahomes.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think James Harrison still played on that team.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: He did.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because then he got a holding on a two-point conversion that people Travis Kelsey was very upset about.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, people call that sketchy, yeah.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: So boo-hoo, Travis.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Go crowd, your girlfriend.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um anyway, I mean I mean, I guess I can is Tomlin done here, Tim.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: I don't I I don't think so.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't see I don't know what how this ends, but unless he just decides he's done.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: But for some reason art is not I I don't know.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: The influence of Dan has definitely waned and gone away, and art is running the team, and I'm not I think at some point you gotta force Mike Tomlin out because and I said that two years ago.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so we can talk about like what will happen and what should happen.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's they're not gonna fire him, they're just not, so everybody needs to get that out of their heads.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's just not a possible thing that's gonna happen.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if should he be gone, uh I I I I get the argument.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: I certainly get the argument.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like the the losing, not only losing playoff games, but like getting boat raced by, you know, uh Buffalo and Kansas City, I get it.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: They're better teams than us, but like getting boat raced by Cleveland and Baltimore, teams that we're familiar with or that we beat those seasons and and we couldn't even come out and make it a game, that's that's that's a problem.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the the the way that the the the coaching definitely was subpar at the end of this last season on on every front.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think the other side of the the the the people need to remember, it's not a good roster.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's not I mean it's a good it's a decent roster.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's nowhere near like a Buffalo or Detroit or Kansas City, it's just not.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: And the the I think the biggest event that changed the course of the franchise was week two of the 2019 season against Seattle where Ben got hurt.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: I think that changed the course of the entire franchise because he's hurt for that year, he comes, he comes back the next year, then they lose to Cleveland, so he's not going to end his career like that in front of an empty stadium in in the COVID years who comes back another year.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, literally for the next three years, the the strategy that the Stewarters have is like, let's build around Ben for one final run.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: And they draft guys like Pat Fryermouth or Najee Harris instead of guys like Creed Humphrey, who could have rebuilt the team.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then even after Ben retires, and Colbert, his last draft, he drafts Kenny Pickett, because well, we have to leave the team with a quarterback.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a bunch of really bad uh roster construction planning.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: The last the last three to four drafts, and you highlighted all the problems.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't draft Lamar Jackson, they draft Mason Rudolph.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: I and I I thought Rudolph would be good, and I thought they got a deal on him in the third round, but it it's just it's not only who they drafted, it's who they missed on.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe they ruined Lamar Jackson.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: This team doesn't seem like you know that's another thing that's going on.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: He kept Canada too long.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like I thought Canada was a good hire, and then after a year or two, you could see this isn't even working out.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it you gotta get rid of him.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then like Arthur Smith, I think is a decent hire, but he doesn't have Derrick Henry.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Derek Henry plays for Baltimore, not Pittsburgh.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: And Najee Harris is like mediocre.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how can Jalen Warren be as good, if not better, than him?
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: And Jalen Warren was Jalen Warren even drafted, or he was a second day pick, wasn't he?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I think my point is just that like people like just fire Tomlin and that'll magically make the team.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: No, it won't.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think it'll I I think though the flaw it needs something like he's just it's too stale over there.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: And once again, signing Will Wilson and that like I said, those are desperate moves for a desperate coach, and it's just I'm surprised it worked as well as it did.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: And that's another problem.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: That's another problem because I I think Noel and Cower both went through this.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll I'll I'll I'll take Cower specifically because I I want to say Coward did have years like this, yes.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like this is almost an exact repeat of the late 90s, right?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: In the late 90s, the Steelers lost their Super Bowl quarterback.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: I know Neil wasn't as good as Ben, but they lost their Super Bowl quarterback.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: They were they kind of were were trying to piece back together, like, okay, who's gonna be the quarterback?
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: And eventually it kind of then they had a bunch of bad draft, a bunch of bad drafts with Donahoe, and then it all fell apart, and they had like three seasons in a row where they didn't make the playoffs, and then Donahoe left, and then Colbert came in and they started slowly rebuilding, right?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: We talked about that in that Colbert draft episode.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't just drafting like Troy and Ben, it was drafting guys like Chris Hope and Brett Keisel and Aaron Smith.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like it was all these like peace guys, and that's hopefully what Omar Khan's doing now, but he's only had two drafts to do it.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like the only guy from the Alex Highsmith draft is Alex Highsmith.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody's gone.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's the and that's what I mean.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was a bunch of really bad drafts, just like we had in the late 90s.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: But in the late 90s, we paid for it with like six and ten seasons, and now somehow we're still making the playoffs every year.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that fools people into thinking that we're better than we are.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: We're closer than we are, and we're not.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: And then people get really mad when we lose in the playoffs to teams that are like Baltimore.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: The last three, the last three playoff runs, Baltimore, Buffalo, and Kansas City are just in a different class than we are.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: We shouldn't have beaten now.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: Should we have made it a better game than we did in all three of those?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like there's no reason we should have gotten blown out in all three of those, but there's no way we're as good as those teams.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: There's no way we should be in the Super Bowl any of those years with uh three different quarterbacks, right?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: With with Ben at the very end of his career, Mason Rudolph and Russell Wilson.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: There's just no way we're gonna make the Super Bowl like that.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: And and just like in the late 90s, we weren't gonna make the Super Bowl with like Mike Tomzak in his last year or Kent Graham or whatever.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_03: Cordell, Cordell, or even Cordell.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: But back then, like we weren't in the playoffs because we weren't a good team.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: We were mediocre, and we're mediocre now.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: So that it's weird because Tomlin gets more out of his team than he should, but then it kind of hurts perception too.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it hurts him because now you're drafting lower, you're in that mushy middle where it it somebody compared it to the Dan Marino effect, and I thought that was a pretty good comparison because Dan Marino in the in his late in his career would be good enough to take these Dolphins teams that probably should have had five wins and get them to the playoffs, but then every year they would get like what was his last game like 62 to 7 against Jacksonville, yeah.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's a great comparison, that's a perfect comparison.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: And and then the Dolphins, you know, they weren't able to really start that rebuilding process until after he left.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: And and and so I feel like the steel, like again, like is Omar Khan now doing what Kevin Colbert did in 2000, 2001, 2002, right?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe the last two drafts I think have been pretty good.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: Those guys have been way better than Colbert's last couple of drafts so far.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: Even like Mason McCormick this year, like he was what, a fifth-round pick or whatever, and he's he was a very capable starter.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe they are doing that.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: They still need to figure out the quarterback position, obviously.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: And they got to get better, he's got to get better coordinators.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: That this this ego thing Baumlin has.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to bring in real coordinators.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you did that on offense, it's time to do that on defense.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Bring in bring in a real people.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you have two real coordinators, you know, Danny Smith and Arts uh and and everybody else seems to be yes men.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's time to get rid of the yes men.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: I I totally agree with that.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: So so so I'm I'm sort of saying roster construction is what's killing the team, and firing Tomlin won't fix that.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: But Tomlin was also part of that roster construction.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: And and the coaching, like I said, when you're losing, when you're getting boat raced out of a Baltimore playoff game, like they basically said, like, why did you scheme like I don't under like basically they were playing nickel against Eric Henry and and um Lamar Jackson when when their best receiver was hurt?
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: They're playing nickel.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: Baltimore's lined up in like these big packages and they're playing nickel.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's and and and you could you so yeah, you have to get rid of Thoreau Austin, I think.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if they'll do it.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then I think you need to replace him, to your point, with like a like a Robert Sela or like a guy, even like I I would even look at um what's his name, Ron Rivera.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know he's being interviewed right now for head coaching, DOS, but somebody somebody that carries that level of weight, right?
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like Arthur Smith, the reason Arthur Smith was a good hire, uh not you know, books go out on that.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: He fits in what he what they want to do.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: They want to run the ball and play defense.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: But he also was a head coach.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: He's not a like an up-and-coming, you know.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: They they need somebody that will have a voice in the room, like you said, isn't just gonna be a Tomlin yes man.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where I think the ownership is lacking.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: Because we talked, like we had that 1989 episode.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, we talked about Dan Rooney made Chuck Noel fire four coaches and Chuck Noah almost quit over it.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: But Dan stepped in, he's like, enough is enough.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: If I'm not gonna fire you, I'm going to force real change elsewhere.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I that's what art needs to do right now, and I don't know that he'll do it.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's enough about the Steelers.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, let's talk about college football and playoffs.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Playoffs.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just worried I'm gonna win another game here.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um what it so college football, after years of holding a Miss America pageant and voting on you know the prettiest and miscongeniality and all of them, um decided actually decided on the field.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: What a novel concept, Tim.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: You teams that play each other that were the best, you know, in that of that season, duke it out to see who's the best.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as of June 18th, the two teams in the playoff are Ohio State and Notre Dame.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think there's a way both teams could lose.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they can all get the flu and somebody else wins the national championship.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: But I guess I'll root for Notre Dame because I just can't bring my and that would be uh although it would be funner, more fun, shouldn't say funner is not a word, more fun if Ohio State wins because it could be the first time a coach wins the national championship and still gets fired.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: So W telling me that Ohio State wouldn't do it.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: They they could.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I love I this playoff has been great, and and it's annoying to me that people like try to knock it down with the uh this is that goofball for me as being that that is a SEC show.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: Well that'll be a next topic, but yeah, but but the people trying to like, you know, well, they should have put Alabama in and all this stuff.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, no, they got the right teams because somebody made a good comparison with the NFL playoffs.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, oh, you know, the sl Denver got blown out in the first playoff game.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: The selecting committee really should have put in Cincinnati, right?
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like that would have been a better and and like, yeah, Cincinnati might have given Buffalo a better game, but Cincinnati didn't earn it in the standings because that's what should decide things, not what the popularity contest is.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I I love it.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's been great for college football.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: The only thing they did, like they'll and I'm sure maybe they'll get better.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: The seating was a little wonky.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Penn State ended up with probably a little beneficial, but that happens in the tournament too.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: And what does it matter?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: As long as you get in, eventually you're gonna have to play somebody, right?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it it it it yes, there there could be things that you can work out, but I I think it was a huge success.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: I can't believe they're actually crowning a real champion for the first time in 150 years of playing college football.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: Literally, there's the first time why I could be crowning a real champion.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's no, I still think you know claw Colorado would have beat Georgia Tech in 91, but yeah, see, that's that's what I mean.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's a bunch of what if scenarios, which is somebody somebody arguing with me that Pitt won a national champion.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody worked arguing.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Pitt won a national championship in 1980.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: No, they got votes for the national championship, but Georgia was the leading vote.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: They got it's they I couldn't get them to wrap their head around the fact that they used to vote on championships.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Which is so dumb.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: Again, like I like you said, at the imagine them doing that in the NFL right now.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, oh, Kansas City got the season's over.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, Kansas City's uh even in the BCS years, it'd be like, okay, we're gonna play Kansas City and Philadelphia because we think those are the two best teams.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they are, maybe they aren't.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we're not gonna put we're gonna leave out Detroit because they got they got too many injuries on DFC.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's exactly that argument.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: Florida State, yeah.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, see that's what I mean.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, now you have automatic seeds, like you have to win your conference, all that stuff.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: It it's it's great.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's great.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: College football is so close to fixing itself.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the bet this kind of leads into the next topic is the best part of this whole system is it proved what a fraud the SEC is.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, just because you paid a billion dollars, the ESPN doesn't make you the best football conference, and you haven't been the best football conference for a long time, Paul Feinbaum.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: This is the truth, this is how it always was.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: You all you all you did was you had a top heavy conference, you had one or two really good teams, and the rest were pretty mediocre, too bad.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so I it's just and I don't want to hear Lane Kiffin and Old Miss cry, then leave and join the Big 12, Big Ten, ACC, whatever conferences are left.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I because I don't think you would have beaten Arizona State.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Arizona State acquitted themselves well, they were literally a fourth and twelve away from beating Texas, the you know, SEC school that really isn't an SEC school, right?
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: So give me a break.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: I well and I said college football is so close to fixing itself.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: The the last step would be creating a super league.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like they've talked about this like all this conference stuff is ridiculous.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, they need relegation and progress.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: With relegation, yes.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: So like you just don't have, well, I'm Alabama, I'm always been good.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you stink you can leave this super league, yeah.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: So speaking of teams that sock and probably should be relegated.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Pit football had a season, and we'll probably do a podcast on this season because it's one of the more insane seasons that only pit football could ever have.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I went to the Cal game, Tim, and I thought this is a team.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: I've I texted you, I said, we got a team, we got an offense, defense, special teams.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: We're doing all right here.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think this team is gonna go on great.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: And they even looked better the next week when they beat Syracuse, who ended up Syracuse had eight wins, I think, in the season.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: So after that, Pitt decided they were not going to win a game for the rest of the season.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: They went 0-6.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Pat Narduzi, um, what's I I already did what's the deal.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Is he done?
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I guess not.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: I well, where do they go from here?
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: I I guess you could say they were ahead of schedule.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: I I you can make an excuse, like you know, the quarterback got cheap shotted because the ACC lets stuff like that happen.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: They they were a tackle away from beating Clemson.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: If they just tackle the quarterback, they probably beat Clemson.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean I I don't know what to say about this.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, four uh what six overtimes against a who cares Toledo team.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't know what to say about this pit season except for thank goodness it's over.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe if it would have ended in November, we would all have been a lot happier.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't know.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're in a weird era here in Pittsburgh Sports because we literally have three sports teams in this town who are like mediocre and who three coaches who are maddening at times, Tomlin, Sullivan, and Narduzzi.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: Narduzzi, especially, because Narduzzi's not only maddening with his coaching decisions, but he's he's so pompous and like just but that's what they need.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's the the the sad part is that's what Pitt needs.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he's not the hero we deserve, he's the hero we need.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: He is that's right.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: And and and to your point about is he done?
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: No, he's not done.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like, they can't fire him because they made this mistake with Wansted.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like you can't just like we're Pitt, we'll get we'll get the best coach out there.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: They'll they'll wander in the wilderness without him.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: So, like you said, they they're kind of stuck.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: And they and I I think the best thing they did was they got rid of the athletic director because she obviously was the key behind losing Addison, and they're I think that kind of woke him up and the athletic department up that they need to start getting in on this NIM.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they fight they fired Heather Lake.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: That was their decision.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: They they they they're not gonna fire Narduzzi, they're gonna fire Heather Lake.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: The the the to be fair, if go going back to this season, they they're 7-0, they lose at SMU.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: That wasn't a very close game, but SMU was really, really good.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I know they got like blown out of the playoff, but they were really good.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: Then the next week they're playing Virginia, and then Holstein got hurt in that game, and that really collapsed everything at that point.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: They were, I think they were winning at the time when he got hurt, then they lose that game, and then the the next week without Holstein, they like you said, they almost beat Clemson, but they they lose in the final seconds.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then the last two games, it was like, well, our quarterback's done.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: We you know, we just lost three games in a row, the season's over.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: I think everybody just had it at that point.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I I if Eli and Eli Holstein is a freshman too.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: Remember that.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: So when you said they're ahead of schedule, I think that's a valid argument as well.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: It'll I think it'll be interesting to see what they come back and do next year.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: I it was a weird season going 7-0 and then losing six in a row, very similar to the way the Steelers ended their season.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: I just it's so funny, Steve.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: In November, you know, wow, Pitt Pitt could actually be in the Pitt was literally on track for the playoffs for the college football game.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: Even if they lost the SMU and beat Clemson, maybe their end and Clemson's not.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if they would have won the other games, they would have been in the championship game, and then yeah, they could have been in the same boat as Clemson.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: So in November, they're on the track for the college football playoffs.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: The Steelers have a shot at the number one seed, and here we are in January talking about the monstrous collapse and should we fire everybody?
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just a weird football season.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, speaking of things collapsing, uh Winter Classic, Tim, who played in the winter classic this year?
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the Kraken and the I have no idea.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: That is a problem, is it not?
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: They actually played it on New Year's Eve because the ratings have been declining.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: The highest rated was the Penguins in Capitals in Heinz Field, the one that got delayed.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: The second highest is still Sidney Crosby in the one, the first one.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: So it's been diminishing returns.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder if the stadium series hasn't kind of killed that.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and they should have never done the stadium series, they should have just stuck to one outdoor game a year.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think people understand the scarcity concept that you know sometimes less is more.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: And uh that's kind of what's happened to the winner classic.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: It was actually Chicago, it was a rematch, Chicago and St.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: Louis, I want to say, in Wrigley Field.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I want to say St.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Louis won five to one.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody won five to one.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: I turned it on for five minutes and it was like, oh, somebody's winning five to one, who cares?
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it's in Wrigley Field again.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, yeah, you're right.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was like a novelty.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: It was like, wow, this is so cool.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: Fenway Park and Wrigley Field, and you know, you're having these games there, and that's that's they're outside and it's snowing, and it's it's just worn off.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then they they I think they had one in Reno, and they've moved to more baseball stadiums, I know, than football stadiums, I guess, because football's still in season.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: So whatever.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: Well, no one ever accused the NHL of knowing how to market themselves.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: So you shouldn't be the least bit surprised that they just were like, ooh, let's keep doing that.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: That should work.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: They they don't know how to market their game.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: They're they're so I've never seen a league.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh no, I've never seen an entity, a company, anything that has a controlling.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: They get out of their own way.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: That is so lucky that people just have this built-in love for it.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: Because otherwise no one would care, no one would watch it, and it would end up like the MISL or something.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think I think that's hurting these leagues, too, is um the fraction.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Of the um markets, like how everything's going to like streaming.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's no like way to watch live sports really, besides like if you don't have the expensive cable package.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: I I can't watch penguin games.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I like I know NBA ratings have been down.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I wonder if that's like you know, that the destruction of cable TV is leading to you know some of these minor sports.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: They although I did see an article, they said the uh playoffs were down in rating.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: Right in the NFL playoffs, yeah, I saw that.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: But but Baltimore, the Baltimore Pittsburgh game was still, I think, either the second highest rating on Amazon ever, behind like I guess a Chiefs game where you know Taylor Swift was there or something like that.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, I I think you know the the the what you said is true, and the the other um consequence of that is that you just there's much more content.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like I remember as a as a teenager, actually heck, even as a young adult, I remember just sitting around on a Saturday afternoon flipping through channels.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: And if the if the you know Logitech bowl game was on or whatever, like You'd watch it.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: You'd just watch it because it was on.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: It was something to watch.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now you can't find it.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: You like I think I watch five minutes of the Duke's Mayo Bowl because I like Duke's Mayo.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't even flip through the channels anymore, Steve.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even do that.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like I I have my streaming service is is one that um Do you still use YouTube?
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: I use YouTube I I use YouTube TV, but I only put it on to watch just like I do with Netflix or whatever.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: I only put it on to watch something, right?
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like, oh, that's on YouTube, right?
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like a Steel R game, it's on YouTube.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't just put it on to flip around.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna put it on to pick something, just like I would any of the other streaming services.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm yeah, the the viewing, the viewing habits have changed.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: And every that's why every show's a serial now.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, used to be in the 80s, it was like, okay, here's growing pains, and then next week on growing pains, who cares what happened?
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: You didn't have to watch the last week's, yeah.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, now it's like because because of streaming and it's let's keep people watching for long periods of time.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: The writing on the shows have changed, and now it's like, oh, I want to find out what happened to you know Joe's murder or whatever.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: So sports, yeah, sports are really dependent on fans being a fan of a team.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like now now more than ever.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: That might be why the NBA, because the NBA is followed a different model, they've always followed the player model, whereas people are LeBron James fans or Larry Bird fans or Magic Johnson fan or Michael Jordan fan.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Not I'm a Lakers fan, I'm a Spurs fan, I'm a Knicks fan, yeah.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, think about us here in Pittsburgh.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I watched I was a huge NBA fan in the Michael Jordan era, and I wasn't necessarily a huge Michael Jordan fan, but I watched, you know, you had, like you said, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, all those guys, you would watch games to see those players, and you would watch games even though Pittsburgh didn't have a team.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I just I I can't remember the I think the last time I watched an NBA game was when Cleveland beat Golden State in the finals.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: That one was that 2016.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's been a year's, yeah.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, I just don't I don't have anything against the NBA.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, good for the NBA.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: I just don't like I said, I don't flip through channels anymore.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: And and back in the day, if I was flipping through the channels and there was a Bulls Pistons game on, I'd probably sit there and watch it because we need the music.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's the difference.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have John Tess anymore.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: Sunday afternoon from the garden.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's Marv Albert.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan take on.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Who is the uh John Starks and Charles?
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and that's why the gambling is so important now to these leagues, because you don't have the flipping through channels anymore, but now you will watch the Bulls Pistons game because you're betting on it, right?
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: I got I got I gotta die riding on the bulls.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's that's that and the fantasy.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's why the NFL does so well too, because it's easier, it's an easier sport to bet on.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's weekly.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: To your point, too, about um like oversaturation.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like the NFL is definitely overly saturated, but it's still a weekly game.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's easier to bet on.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's it's a way, it's the easiest sport to do fantasy on.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, because good my goodness.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's not 80 games yet.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like once again, I know I said less is more somewhere in this podcast.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: Once again, I don't think the NBA and the NHO understand less is more.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, speaking of less is more, we're gonna wrap this up.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope you enjoyed this uh little uh hot take section here.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think we have too many hot takes.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think we have too many people maybe fall five.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for tuning in.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: Check us out.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: This will be posted on our um website for the memories and uh all the Google Spotify.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Give us a like.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm sure Tim will put some highlights of this up on Facebook to uh, check it out, doubt, doubt, doubt,