Latest / Pittsburgh Sports Memories / The B Team

Transcript

The B Team · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Hi everyone, welcome to Pittsburgh Sports Memories.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Tim Hannon.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm Steve Wert.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_02: And this is the podcast where we look back at some of the fun moments in the history of Pittsburgh Sports.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_02: This episode we've entitled the B Team.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: And what we're going to do this episode, you know, uh Pittsburgh Sports, like a lot of other towns sports histories, is full of the all-time greats.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_02: You have your Joe Greens and Sidney Crosby's and Roberto Clemente's.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_02: But then, you know, a lot of the success that a lot of our teams have had been due to maybe some lesser lesser known players, but well-liked players.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: So in this episode, we're going to try to go through a list, and we didn't rank them.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: We're just kind of going to go and pick some of our favorites.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: But some of our favorite kind of lesser-known guys, hopefully some of your favorite lesser-known guys, too.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, guys that that really left left a mark on Pittsburgh sports history.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: We try to come up with a criteria for this, like oh they they couldn't have ever been elected to an all-star game or something to that effect, but that was that was a little too difficult.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: So this is a little subjective.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: So you might disagree with some of these things guys.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: You might say, oh, he was he was better than a than a B than a B team guy.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: But um, you know, this this is our list, so you know, let us know at the uh on our website, uh Pittsburgh Sports Memories.weebly dot com who we left off and uh who you disagree with.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um but anyway, with that intro, um let's get into some of our guys and and I'll kick us off.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: You know, my first my first uh lesser known guy uh is Robert Lang.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: Robert Lang was a a winger for the Penguins in the late 90s and early 2000s, and and early in his penguins career, he was a guy that was super frustrating to watch.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um they they had played him on a line with Yarmir Jager, and he was literally afraid to shoot the puck.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: He played with Jager, and he would just try to force past to Jager all the time, and it was it was infuriating.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: And um when when Mario Lemieux returned, um they they the penguins had this second line.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: It had um Alexei Kovalov, Martin Straka, and and they put Robert Lange on that line.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_02: And Robert Lang really flourished on that line, really kind of hit his stride, um, became a pretty pretty productive player for the penguins.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um not not still not, you know, still not a superstar, but but pretty productive.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: And one story I always remember about Robert Lang was um I was in a Dick's Sporting Goods, and there was a guy sitting at a table to sign autographs, and he was just sitting by himself at this table, and it was Robert Lang, and I just always felt bad.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: Or Robert Lang was just sitting there by himself, hoping that somebody would come up and want his autograph.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you know, again, productive player.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: I remember he couldn't hit like the net at all.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's why I didn't shoot.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like I just remember one time I went to a game and like he's like shooting at the net, and the puck literally went into the far corner.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, how do you even do that?
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it didn't deflect off anything, it just like literally went into the it's like I've seen street hockey players with better shots than that.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: It was pretty ugly.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: His shot was pretty ugly.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Probably why he didn't shoot.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess we're on to the next person.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, would be uh my choice, which would be Ernie Mills.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Is uh I remember people used to have a nickname Ernie Know Skills Mills, but I always liked Ernie Mills, and that was the you know one of the early Steelers I really liked because like the Steelers had this other guy, Jeff Graham, who would be open but would drop every pass every time he couldn't catch anything.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then you had Ernie Mills, who seemed like he was covered and he would catch everything.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: So it was like he was the anti-Joff Graham, and I could live with that.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'd rather you catch the ball and not be open than be wide open, and you're just useless at that point.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: But um, he did like a good point.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: He he made a big catch in the AFC championship game.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: He did end up getting hurt in Super Bowl 30, and then he left and he had a pretty decent year in Carolina, I think Dallas eventually.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: But I would call him definitely a solid B teamer because he was never, you know, who was the big receivers on that team?
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Think pen or Hastings, you know, even Cordell.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: But he was definitely one of those guys that um he ended up being like a really solid NFL player.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he's not going to the Hall of Fame, probably not gonna make the Pro Bowl.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: But um without him, uh he he definitely um we don't go to the Super Bowl that year.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he he breaks up a pass in the championship game that was gonna be the game clinching interception, and then he catches the pass in the championship game.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: That was in 1995.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: We we did an episode about that.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: Go back and listen if you haven't.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you're right, we don't we don't make the Super Bowl that year if not for Ernie Mills.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the next guy on our list is Gary Jones.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_02: Gary Jones was a defensive back for the Steelers uh in in the early 90s, wasn't real great at coverage, uh, never really was a starter, kind of one of those dime and nickel players.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: But the thing everybody always remembers about Gary Jones is he was just maybe the hardest hitter in the history of the team.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um there's a famous hit on Don Beebe, who was a wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills on a Monday night game, it where he just destroyed Don Beebe.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um and there was lots of Gary Jones highlights like that.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: He just, if you came over the middle against Gary Jones, he was gonna destroy you.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that endeared him to a lot of Pittsburgh fans, you know, who like the blue-collar steel curtain toughness kind of defense.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Gary Jones was never never a real significant contributor, but man, could he hit.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And they uh probably uh ended up changing some rules there eventually because of because of Gary Jones and uh hitting people like that.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Don Beebe still might not remember who he is.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Gary Jones, all I mean, I don't know how good of a coverage, but uh boy, he could hit.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: He could certainly hit.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know that it was mainly that Monday night game.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: I don't remember too many other hits though.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it was just kind of that one he was at a flash.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: He just he destroyed Andre Reed one time.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: That was a different Buffalo game.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, there was a couple of just big hits he had.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but man, he just yeah, he was just like you said, yeah, I don't think he could play today.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: You don't think you want to do that anymore?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the next up is uh, I don't know if anybody remembers this outside of me, but this is more like a childhood hero.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, after Willie Starge retired, who was like my favorite pirate growing up, there's this guy, Mike Diaz, and he was a power hitting first basemanslash catcher from 86 to 88.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: His nickname at the time because he kind of looked like Rambo.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: And um, he would just like hit home runs and like kind of look like Rambo.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like in third grade and thought Rambo was cool.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, Mike the Pirates have this guy Rambo, and he's gonna, you know, draw first blood against the pitcher or something.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: He he messed up his thumb, I remember, and like he was never quite the same hitter.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember like he he it got like they traded him or cut him, and he went to the White Sox and got picked off like multiple times in one game, and it was like careers his career was over.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: But I was doing some research for this, and apparently he played in Japan for like four more years.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: So good for Mike Diaz.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: He was I definitely a B-team guy.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: He was on some really it's too bad he left before the Pirates got good.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: He was kind of like, you know, that post-drug era pirates when they weren't really good at all.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you do you remember Mike Diaz, Tim.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_02: Very vaguely, yeah.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, like you said, that that was not an era that you remember a lot of pirates.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: That was when they were just starting to start to come out of the fog.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but man, that's a pretty cool nickname.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Rainbow.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh next guy on the list is Ron Tugnutt.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: Ron Tugnutt was an NHL goaltender who the Penguins traded for late in the 2000 season.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_02: At this point in his career, he was a journeyman goaltender.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_02: He played for five different teams, and and the Penguins picked him up at the very end of the season.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, he only played in seven regular season games, so they kind of picked him up as a veteran backup going into the playoffs, but he ends up being their starter in the playoffs, and he gets really hot.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: He he the first round they play the Washington Capitals, and in the first two games of that series, Tugnut only gives up one goal in the first two games combined.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and then in the second round, they play the Flyers, and he does the exact same thing.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: In the first two games, he only gives up one goal.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, for a while, Ron Tugnut, there's there's a lot of instances in in NHL history where a team is is decent, but a goaltender kind of gets them over the hump and into the Stanley Cup finals.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: And in for a while, you thought maybe that was going to be the 2000 Penguins.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: Unfortunately, in that Flyer series, they lose game three in overtime, and then in game four, uh Tugnut makes 70 saves in Game Four, but they lose the game in the fifth overtime.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: Keith Primo finally beat him in the fifth overtime at like 2.30 in the morning.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the Flyers go on to win that series, and that kind of is the end of Tugnut's time in Pittsburgh.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you know, memorable that he had that hot streak and that he was the goalie that made 70 saves in a game that that went into five overtimes.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, his nickname was Ron Ron Toughluck, because he always seemed to have like bad things go against him.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: So poor Ron Tugnut, I guess he was more unlucky than good.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: And especially in like overtime in the playoffs, like just the I mean, Keith Primu, really.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that guy's, you know, it's just uh it's always somebody weird scores, and it's never the superstars, it seems.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and after five over, I mean that's that's literally your what your eighth period of hockey at that point.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: You've played a whole nother game.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're you're on your third, you're in the middle of your third consecutive game at that point.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was just somebody was just destined to put one by one of the two goaltenders, and it just happened to be pre-mowing.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: It's like not unfortunately, like you said, tough luck.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's yeah, I guess he earned his nickname that day.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, next up on the list is a uh Pitt running back kick returner Larod Stevens Howling.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: He was a very small running back, he was you know listed at 5'7, but um, having seen him in person, if he was an inch above five three, that was probably being generous.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: When he first came to Pitt, he was just a guy with a bunch of speed that could like return kicks.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: But as he went through, he's one of those guys that like really developed into like a complete player.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: He was a better at the end there, he was a better all-out all-around running back than LaShawn McCoy because he could play third downs.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: And even at his small size, he could put he knew how to pick up a blitz or when to go out in the pass pattern.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: And boy, that really served him well.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: He went on to the NFL for a four-year career.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, I think he really maximized.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: You see, guys that sometimes waste their opportunity who have all the talent of the world.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think this guy got every last thing out of his talent and physical ability that he could get.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, that's always it, it's it's easy to root for a uh Lerod Stevens Howling.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: He did play the Steelers one preseason before he tore his ACL, and then that was kind of the end of him.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_02: But um yeah, yeah, versatile guy, play could could return kicks, just you know, pay played above his pay grade, which I think um a lot of the guys on this list, I think that's what endeared them to the Pittsburgh fans, was just them kind of playing above their pay grade.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he fit in well in Arizona.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's when like Arizona would like take anybody from Pittsburgh, it was like Pittsburgh.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, next guy on the list is Justin Strelzick.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh his nickname was Juggs.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: He was a big uh utility man on the offensive line for the Steelers.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: Actually played here for 10 seasons and they kind of moved him around.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_02: They used him in different positions.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um and you know, he was just a guy, he had he had this big, huge um beard.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_02: He always looked like a guy that you would see in a biker bar.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um Myron Cope used to if you ever listen to the Myron Cope postgame back then, he he would always say he he was trying to bum cigarettes off of Justin Stralzik before he came on the air in the in the postgame in the locker room.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_02: So that was just kind of Justin Stralzick's demeanor, biker guy that smokes cigarettes.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um sadly, um if you ever seen the the Will Smith movie, Justin Strausick's one of the people portrayed in that movie, the concussion movie.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_02: And um Stralzik suffered from CTE uh after his career and started engaging in some bizarre behavior, ended up um leading the police on a on a wild police chase, and ended up crashing his car and being killed in 2004.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_02: So um very sad end to his life and and career, um, but was kind of a memorable player when he was here.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, just uh, you know, one of those offensive linemen guys that kind of like he's just a guy, but he's a he's a solid player and one you won't win without.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I do remember that from the that was the concussion movie where that's one of the like they show the footage from the accident.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it is kind of sad that uh he he uh had such a tragic end to his life.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: But boy, can you imagine somebody like bummed cigarettes off somebody now?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like it'll be all over Twitter.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, probably not a lot of smoking going on in NFL locker rooms today.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: Not a guess.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: And definitely not like media members like bumming cigarettes off right.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: A different world.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like as I like getting old, it's a different world that we grew up in.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh next up was uh Rob Scuderi.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he was a penguins defenseman.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: He was most known for making a save in game six of the Stanley Cup final to force a game seven.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they called him Key Peace, jokingly given by these teammates.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think he already had a nickname Scuds.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: He was also known as the piece.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that was that was because they were interviewing him, and he said, you know, he said he meant to say, yeah, the the interviewer was asking him like what his significance that year, and he said, Yeah, I think I'm a um he meant to say, I think I'm a piece of the the puzzle.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: And instead of a piece, he said the piece.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: And he just misspoke.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: He didn't really mean that.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_02: He wasn't trying to be arrogant, and his teammates just would never let him forget that.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, oh, here comes the piece.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: We can't win without the piece.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_02: You know, meanwhile, he's like the sixth defenseman.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you know, that was kind of all in good fun.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: And and uh, you know, you said about Ernie Mills, we don't make it to the Super Bowl that year without Ernie Mills.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you probably don't win the Stanley Cup in 2009 without Rob Scuderi.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: He did play a little goalie there at the end of that one uh game six.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you don't really that was like a kick save.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like he couldn't like too, it's like you can't put your hand over the puck.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: So and he was on his knees, he had to like kind of like he played goalie without using his hands.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was odd.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: If he would have put his hand over the puck, it would have been a penalty shot.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: Which was like four seconds left, which probably would have sent the game in overtime.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_02: So stopping the puck and not using his hand to do it was was so it was one of those significant moments that maybe gets lost in Pittsburgh history, but that was pretty significant.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: Good old the piece.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: So he was the key piece, and he knew it all along.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_02: He was right.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, next guy on our list is Zane Smith.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_02: Zayn Smith was a pitcher, a major league pitcher.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_02: And um in the 1990 season, the the Pirates were making this pennant run and they were battling it out with the New York Mets, and they really needed another quality starting pitcher, badly needed another starting pitcher.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_02: And so they make a trade deadline deal with the Montreal Expos to get Zayn Smith, who was a veteran.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and uh they gave up a pretty big halt to get Zane Smith.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_02: They gave up uh a guy named Moises Zalou, who ended up becoming a six-time All-Star.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: So, like that was pretty hefty to give up Moises-Allu.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: It was a huge prospect at the time.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: But they got Zane Smith.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, they ended up winning the division.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and Zayn Smith um really helped them do that that season.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, his his best performance was he had a one-hit complete game shut out of the Mets and the first game of a doubleheader sweep that really um gave the Pirates an insurmountable lead.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, and then the next year he he actually won 16 games for the Pirates.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_02: So those early 90s teams, you know, you always remember Barry Bonds and Doug Drabeck and Andy Van Slake.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Zane Smith was was pretty important to those teams as well, and just a guy that um you know was a pretty significant contributor.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: He had like kind of a weird smile, I remember.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: And uh speaking of Moises alu, there's a guy you wouldn't want to shake his hand, uh or did he uh urinates on his hand to improve his ability to catch the ball.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: So if you ever meet Moises aloo in person, uh just kind of maybe wave at him.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: After this whole COVID virus, I'm not sure anybody's gonna be shaking hands with anybody anymore.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: But uh yeah, Zayn Smith, I mean, it's one of those go-for it trades, and it it I guess it worked out for them for two years.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, who knows how much Moises Alu would have come, maybe they you know would have been better off keeping him, or maybe they just wouldn't even made it that year without Zane Smith.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: So hindsight's always 2020, you never know how it's gonna work out.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: But Zayn Smith, I mean, it's a guy people forget about because he just because the pirates never wanna, you know, won anything with him.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, I guess, you know, who were their bigger pitchers back then too?
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, Draybick and well Draybick, and then the next year John John Smiley won 20 games the next year.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, you know, so so yeah, Zayn Smith was definitely not the the ace of the staff at any point.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: But like you said, maybe they don't maybe they don't get as far as they did without him.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_02: And that's really what that's really what we're we're trying to go for in this episode.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_02: You know, a lot of these guys, um, you know, you you can't sometimes you can't win without the big stars, um, but then sometimes you can't win without some of these some of these role players.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_02: And and so maybe Zayn Smith is one of those guys that that that you they wouldn't have made it as far as they did without him.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, another guy that kind of fits in on the B team is uh one Max Starks.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: And Max Starks is the second biggest person I've met in my life.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: He is a humongous human being.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like I met him at a charity event one time, and there was literally like a crowd of people because it's like, oh my gosh, he's a stealer.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: And he was literally everybody came up to maybe his shoulder, and you could like see from his shoulder to his, like he was that much taller than everybody else.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: But um is on the field, he was a great tackle for uh for uh those teams for years.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember uh Ben wanted him to come back one time and Tomlin asked him if he was on you know gonna make weight, you know.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess Max had a little bit of trouble making weight, but um, when he was in his prime, he was definitely a solid tackle and uh helped the Steelers win a couple Super Bowls and um generally a nice guy, you know, and you know, all around decent person from the you know five minutes I interacted with him.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: So, Steve, I gotta ask, who is the biggest person you ever met?
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: If he's he's later, he's later in the list.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: Actually on the list, yes.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's a good teaser.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that's saying something.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: He is bigger than Max Starks.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's not even close, really.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: Well, next on the list is another guy, maybe not as big as Starks, but a pretty big guy for the Steelers um in size-wise.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_02: It was Kemo von Olhoffen.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Kimo von Olhoffen had played for the Cincinnati Bengals early in his career, and most people didn't know who he was, but Dermonty Dawson did.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: DerMonty Dawson was the Steelers Hall of Fame center, and he actually told um the coaches and the front office people that Kemo von Olhoffen was one of the toughest players that he ever had to block against.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_02: He played against him twice a year, and he said, this guy's really hard to block.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so the Steelers brought him in in free agency in 2000.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it was sort of one of those signings that was way off the radar, nobody thought it was significant.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, he he very quietly uh became a starter in the middle of the defensive line and uh you know and and became a pretty pretty significant player.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know, he he'll always be remembered for uh hurting Carson Palmer, breaking Carson Palmer's leg in the 2005 playoff game, which was was.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously not intentional, despite what Cincinnati fans might tell you.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it was just a freak accident.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you know, that shouldn't overshadow the fact that he actually had a pretty, pretty solid career with the Steelers.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, another class act guy, I remember him saying, like, he was kind of like, you know, we talk about that tight-knit 2004-2005 team, and he was probably part of like one of the key like glue guys, like I would say, like a farrier, although farrier was a better player.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, von Olhoffen was a great run stopper, and he could give you some pass rush too.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: But um, you know, it's unfortunate that you know he accidentally got pushed into Carson Palmer.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's not, I don't think that was Von Olhoffen's intent.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: All you know, it just was a freak accident, but you know, Cincinnati's gonna be Cincinnati.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: So, but I mean he's he's a likable guy.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I just remember him saying, you know, one time about the Steelers is they don't normally sign, you know, idiots to the or they don't last very long in a locker room.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe the uh Steelers should uh go back to that policy because they definitely strayed away from it in the last couple years.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: But uh another real likable guy, quiet guy.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: Haven't heard, don't hear much, you know, doesn't really, you know, I don't know where he lives or what he got.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: I guess just quietly retired somewhere, living off his you know, NFL money, hopefully.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, next up is uh another guy from my childhood, uh guy who I liked.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: And this guy was here during the drug years of the pirates.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: He was Jason Thompson.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: And uh in typical pirates fashion, they tried to trade him to the Yankees.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: He was supposed to he played for Detroit, where he had the nickname Upper Deck because he would a rooftop or something like that, because he would hit it over the roof in Tiger State, in old Tiger Stadium.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: So like they tried like some three-way trade, and I guess the commissioner of baseball, like a commissioner in a fantasy league, that it was too lopsided.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: So the Pirates ended up stuck with Jason Thompson, who actually ended up being like a solid player.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: He would hit a I remember him hitting home runs and like yeah, I just remember going there and he like they were really bad, like that 84-85 season.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: That was the drug years, like you know, road trip to Pittsburgh was like, Yay, let's get drugs, you know.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: But uh Jason Thompson wasn't involved with that.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: That was more Dale Berra and Parker.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: But uh he had a he had a decent career and just kind of had one a mediocre career, didn't you know, see much success for a World Series because unfortunately he got traded to the pirates at the time they stunk.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's it's one of those things where you know had he come up, had he come along, you know, five years earlier or five years later, a lot more people would probably know who he is.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_02: Uh next guy on the list is Mark Eaton.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_02: Mark Eaton was a big lumbering defenseman for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um he was signed as a free agent in 2006 and didn't really do much in his first couple of seasons, um, but but then became a really um solid player on the 2009 team that won the cup.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um he he had had a lot of injuries the previous seasons, but he was finally healthy in 09.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: And and when you look at the stats from that year um and the and the stats for defensemen, Sergei Gonker and Chris Letang led the team in in points during that Stanley Cup run in the playoffs, which makes sense.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_02: Gonker and Latang were the two best defensemen on the team, clearly.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_02: But but right behind them, the third guy on the list was actually Mark Eaton.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um had a pretty good playoff run and really contributed to that cup team.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, fun fact about Mark Eaton, he's the only NHL player to come from the state of Delaware.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: I remember Penn's blog had like, you know, they would have write-ups of the game and they were always fun to read.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it was uh Delaware's got your back, you know, and remember Mark Eaton would make a play.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: So it was always fun to read, like another great B-team guy, like just that glue guy that you need behind your top pair of defensemen to uh take on uh the other teams thing.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, probably like someone that's controversial, and this is just one of my favorite players.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: He I love I love this guy at Pitt.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: He was a very good defensive back and a kick returner.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: And the Steelers drafted him.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: So it was like my favorite NFL team drafted, probably my favorite, one of my favorite college players at the time, and that was Hank Petit.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: Hank Petit was pretty like as a defensive back, he did not have a good run with the Steelers, but he was still a pretty good kick returner and he had good good punt returns and kick returns, but he just he never quite developed as a defensive back.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now he did end up having a 10-year career in the NFL.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: He won a Super Bowl in 2004 with the Patriots, actually made some plays in that 2004 championship games when he with this with the Patriots as a backup defensive back and special teams player.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, it wasn't all maybe just took him a little while to find his niche, but um definitely a B-team guy and somebody probably people remember more negatively than positively, although I think that might be a little unfair.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe he just hadn't quite hit his stride as he did, obviously.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the NFL just doesn't keep people around just for fun, you know.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: He definitely had uh definitely later success with the uh Patriots and Jets.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, Steve, I'm with you.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_02: I I was so excited when the Steelers drafted him because, like you, I he was one of my favorite pit players, and he was he was a pretty good defensive back on some pretty bad pit teams.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_02: And um yeah, he just he just wasn't that good as a defensive back for the Steelers.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_02: His his big moment for the Steelers, he returned a punt for a touchdown in the final game ever at Three River Stadium.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_02: So at least he had that sort of on his resume.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, something you could remember Hank Petit's Steeler time by.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, next guy on the list is Tony Dungey.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_02: Now, everybody knows who Tony Dungey is, obviously, you know, all-time great coach, won the Super Bowl as a coach of the Colts, um became the first African-American coach ever to win the Super Bowls.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, is on on TV all the time.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_02: So we all know who Tony Dungey is.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um but he's on this list for for his time as a player.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, he he played, he actually played on the Steelers in the late 70s.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: So he was on those those great, some of those great 1970s teams.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um he he was mostly a backup.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_02: He he never was a a huge contributor, um, but another guy that kind of played above his pay grade.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um the 78 team, which uh, you know, which is widely considered one of the best teams in NFL history, the 78 Steelers, um, he led that team with six interceptions.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that's saying something.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_02: That defense, think about that defense and who was on that defense, and he led that defense and interceptions.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_02: He's also the only Steeler ever to make an interception and throw an interception in the same game.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I he was pressed into service as like an emergency quarterback.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so he threw and made an interception in the same game.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_02: So Tony Dungey um, you know, definitely, definitely uh didn't have a huge impact as a player.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you know, obviously learned a thing or two playing for those great Steelers teams and applied that later in his life as a coach.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm not I'm not a huge Tony Dungey fan, but um he definitely has uh a short impact, but um definitely a good B-team guy, like one of those guys that made some plays that you definitely uh needed.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: He's not he's not gonna carry you, but you gotta have guys like that, like you said, these role players to uh take the heat off the uh the big time big names.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um Chris Hoke, who is uh nose tackle for the Steelers, he's guys kind of went in the media, so maybe he's more well known than some of the other players.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: His uh best season was 2004.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: He filled in for Casey Hampton and uh he helped the defensive rotation through the years and ended up being a really solid nose tackle, which in the 3-4 doesn't get like you know, a ton of you know credit or you know bally who, but um uh definitely a guy that you know made some plays and uh even credited with the tackle in Super Bowl 40.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: And he was on both Super Bowl teams of 40 and 43.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, another guy you could always count on.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_02: You know, Casey Hampton was the guy that that really played that position for most of that era.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but Hampton got hurt sometimes, and and Hooke was just one of those guys you could count on to just be able to plug in there.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_02: Hampton also, you know, sometimes couldn't play.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_02: Let's just say sometimes he got winded.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_02: You know, so so Chris Hoke, yeah, he just he ended up playing a lot, and you're right, there's just times you'd see him make a big play.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_02: Next guy on the list is Orlando Antigua, who was a basketball player at Pitt in the early 90s, had the misfortune of playing for the early 90s, Paul Evans coached pit basketball teams that weren't very good.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um I shouldn't say that.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_02: Some of those teams were okay.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: They they they made a couple tournament appearances, um, but certainly not anywhere near what what the Pitt Basketball program later became under Ben Hallen and Jamie Dixon.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um his his big thing was he was a he was a really good three-point shooter.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_02: And college basketball had in that era had just recently added the three-point line.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_02: College basketball didn't have a three-point line for a long time.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_02: And and I want to say it was like 1987, 88, around that time, that they finally added a three-point line.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_02: And Orlando Antigua was a little bit of a pioneer because he was one of the first guys to really use that as a skill.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you see a lot of college and pro players obviously doing that today, um, using the three-point line as a weapon.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but he was one of the first guys that did that and was really good at it.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, he also uh went on to uh be a college head coach.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_02: And also before he became a college head coach, he played for the Harlem Globe Trotters um for several years.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_02: So kind of had an interesting post-pit career, but pretty good player at Pitt that a lot of people probably don't remember as a player, but um pretty solid and and one of the first guys to figure out hey, this three-point line, I could use this to my advantage.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: He was definitely uh a different type of player, and uh, he's had good success coaching too.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was just looking at that, like you know, Kentucky and uh South Florida and Illinois as an assistant.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's uh kind of followed, I guess he's a Caliperi guy.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: So he definitely um has had probably a little bit more success, I would say, coaching than he did in his playing career.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but uh definitely a solid role player.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: And um, oh moving on, uh another another good uh B-team guy is a guy named Matt Galumbos.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: He was a pretty uh mediocre pit linebacker, but his big play was in uh 2000.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: He made another, he made another play that he did make a tackle against Georgia Tech.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: We'll cover that later.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: I covered another guy, but 2016 upset at Clemson.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: Clemson had a fourth and one, and if they get the fourth down, the play, the game's over, and Pitt doesn't get a chance to kick their game-winning field goal.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: He made a nice tackle on fourth and one on uh Wayne Gallman, who was the running back for Clemson, and they came up short.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: And uh Pitt was able to drive down and uh Chris Blewick kicked the uh now famous field goal.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: But Columbus always seemed to step slow.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: He seemed like he was just like a big Ofi linebacker.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: But uh they used to uh Narduzzi always called him, I guess, the uh human computer because he was pretty smart and he maybe used up to his uh ability to diagnose a play and where it was going before he would uh, you know, that would help him maybe make up for some of his limits, his uh speed, not being maybe the fastest linebacker in the world.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and that that that stop on fourth and one, I mean that that might have been the the biggest pit victory of the last, I don't know, five, ten years, beating Clemson in Clemson.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_02: So that was a pretty significant play.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh next guy on the list is Willie Williams.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um we we did an episode called Three More Yards where we talked about the the season the 95 stealers and the run to Super Bowl 30.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_02: And we talked a lot about Willie Williams in that episode.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_02: Willie Williams was a cornerback who was short and slow, which are normally two characteristics that are not real good if you're an NFL cornerback.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um but man, he was an overachiever, and he was pressing in the starting lineup that season, and like Ernie Mills, who we talked about earlier, you could certainly make the argument um that we don't make the Super Bowl without Willie Williams.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_02: He makes a tackle in the AFC title game that is legendary.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_02: And um and and again, the Steelers don't make the Super Bowl without that play.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_02: So just a guy that was you know an overachiever, played pretty well when he was here and uh you know fondly remembered, I think, by the folks that that watched him play.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um next up, another corner for the Steelers who probably overachieved was Deshea Townsend.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: At first, the only reason you knew him was because, hey, wait a minute, he's wearing Rod Woodson's number, 26.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: But um, he definitely kind of uh transformed himself into a uh special teams player and then a very reliable starter at corner.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, he was a starter at corner, and then they drafted McFadden, and he kind of became this other um this third corner, and they ended up with three pretty good corners on their defense after that.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: So uh Deshea Townsend, um, definitely a that guy.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: I people probably remember him more, you know, you know, for those Super Bowl runs.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: He was definitely a key thing figure on those teams.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think he used to have his own radio show, so maybe uh a little bit that more memorable, but um definitely uh a definitely a nice role player and the guy who contributed mightily to the Super Bowl 40 win.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, he was on both those Super Bowl teams.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_02: And he in that 2008 season, he's the one that makes the interception against Tony Romo in the Dallas game in the in the final seconds of that game to to break a tie.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder if Tony predicted that before he took the snap.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, I'm throwing right the 26th.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, Dechay was he was part of that 98 class too.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_02: That was the year they drafted Fannica and Heinz Ward.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I think Dechay was the fourth round pick.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_02: I think Fannica was in the first round, Ward was in the third, and Dechay was in the fourth.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_02: And all three of those guys played for the Steelers for a long time.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_02: Dechay was here for I think 12 seasons.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's a long time.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_02: So definitely a big contributor.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh next guy on the list is Ian Moran.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_02: Ian Moran played for the Penguins.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_02: So we just said DeShe Townsend was here for a long time.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_02: Ian Moran played nine seasons for the Penguins.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_02: And the the big thing about Ian Moran, he was very, very serviceable and versatile.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, he played almost every position on the ice other than goaltender.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, they had they kept moving him between forward and defenseman.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um and you know, just just ended up being one of those guys you could always count on.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um he he what probably the most famous play he made, uh Mario Lemieux scored a very dramatic um goal in his final home game in the Civic Arena against the Flyers.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_02: This was before he retired the first time.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_02: And um it was on a breakaway.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_02: Moran's the one that sprung him on that breakaway.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_02: And again, no one would ever remember who made the pass, just remember that Mario scored the goal.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um but he was just that guy, very quiet, very versatile, serviceable.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, fun thing about him, the the Penguins ended up, after nine seasons, trading him to the Boston Bruins in 2003.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_02: And there's a story where Moran found out about the trade while he was playing hopscotch in his driveway with his daughter, and uh he ended up having to write the phone number of the Bruins general manager in in driveway chalk because he didn't have a piece of paper or anything.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_02: So that's kind of a kind of funny that he's he's sitting there writing the number and chalk on his driveway so he could call the Bruins general manager and find out, you know, what what's gonna happen next.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_00: Good, good thing, good times for Ian Brand, yeah.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely a B team guy.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh another guy, maybe this is starting some controversy.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: He might be more than a B-team guy was uh Antoine Randall L.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: He was a wide receiver kick returner for the Steelers.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, definitely the most accomplished player on this list.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: And uh he had a great kick return, punt return against the Cleveland in that playoff game where they had a big comeback.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: He also threw a touchdown pass to Clinch Super Bowl 40.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: He really was a great college quarterback for Indiana, but unlike uh maybe Tim Tebow, he was smart enough to figure out that uh quarterback wasn't gonna make it for him in the NFL.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: So he turned to wide receiver and ended up having like a really decent career and probably made a lot of money after he went to Washington.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: But um definitely a I I would not I mean it was always kind of Plexico, Heinz, and then Randall.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then I guess the year after Plexico had left, and I I guess he kind of filled he took a more prominent role, and that would have been the Super Bowl 40 run.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: But still, I I don't think he was quite like I don't know if he made any Pro Bowls.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't look that up, but no, he I I think he belongs on this list.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_02: See, the thing the thing with Randall L is you remember him throwing the touchdown pass in the Super Bowl.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_02: He even he even came back to the Steelers later in his career, and I think he he he was responsible for like a two-point conversion against the Packers in that Super Bowl when we were starting to come back at the end.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_02: You just remember that he always made these like gadget plays and or special teams plays that were important.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_02: But but if you had no idea who Anton Randall was and you just looked at his stat sheet, he he's a you know forgettable, mediocre wide receiver.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think I think people remember him because he made some of those big plays and they were always like trick plays, but I still think he belongs on the list because he he certainly never had any kind of like stardom, real stardom.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like after the water.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, definitely took Danny Snyder's money, that's for sure.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_02: Did not end up doing a whole lot for the Redskins when they signed him.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_02: That's why he ended up coming back to the Steelers eventually.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, another guy that again, you win the Super Bowl that year without Antoine Randall, you could make the argument that you don't.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um sticking with the Steelers, next guy on our list is big play Willie Gay.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_02: Uh spent 10 seasons with the Steelers.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um and this is this is just one of those stats you would never realize until you you went and looked it up.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_02: But the the he's tied with Rod Woodson.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_02: Rod Woodson, the Hall of Famer, all-time great stealer, for the most defensive touchdowns in team history.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_02: Willie Gay had seven uh seven touchdowns.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_02: And this is a guy that you know was not always a starter, was kind of one of those like like third down defensive backs.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_02: But man, when he when he got the ball, and uh, you know, he just always always seemed to find the end zone, whether it was an interception or a fumble return or what have you.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, another thing about William Gay, uh, he had a he had a really tragic backstory.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_02: His mother, when he was a kid, his mother was murdered by her boyfriend.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_02: He was eight years old, and um it was a it was a domestic, you know, violence situation, and he always he always spoke out and became an advocate for domestic violence.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_02: And if anybody remembers the whole thing that happened with Ray Rice, the the running back for the Baltimore Ravens, um was caught on video uh punching his girlfriend and basically got blackballed from the NFL for for that act.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um William Gay, you know, instead of standing up and saying, Oh yeah, what a terrible guy, and I'm glad they threw him out of the league, you know, he was one of the guys that said, you know, he wanted to reach out to to Ray Rice and um, you know, share his experience.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_02: And I I just always thought that showed a lot of character.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like here's a guy that was his his life was his mother was was killed due to domestic violence, and yet he wanted to reach out to Ray Rice.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_02: So that's always thought that's kind of shows what kind of person William Gay was.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought he was, you know, 10 seasons with the Steelers is nothing to sneeze at, and seven defensive touchdowns.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, so he he definitely left his mark.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: He was definitely, I think, a favorite of Tomlins.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes like a coach likes a guy.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's the same thing with Hank Petit.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think Eric Miangini really liked Hank Petit.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why he kind of followed Miangini around because that was Miangini was with the Patriots and then those other teams.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, I just remember one time William Gay scored a defensive touchdown, I think in Cincinnati.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_00: And him and like, I think Joey Porter was a coach at the time.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like they had the most ridiculous touchdown celebration, like they were on their knees and it looked like they were playing the claw from like liar liar.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: It just it was just the silliest thing I think I've ever seen.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: But big play, Willie Gay, man.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_00: He made a huge interception against there was a game.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Where Ben threw that kind of controversial touchdown to Holmes in Baltimore.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then Baltimore threw a last, you know, desperation pass.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: He made an interception there.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: So they, I mean, he definitely had some big plays in Steeler history and definitely somebody easy to overlook.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_00: And good to hear that he was as good off the field as he was, you know, on the field.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: Going back to definitely somebody who I'm sure people have forgot about was a gentleman named Siobon Troutman.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: And he was a power forward for Pitt for the early 2000s.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_00: He was more of like a defensive rebounder, but he was like not the great.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like he didn't, he wasn't, and he wasn't going to shoot threes.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't really even have a mid-range jumper, but he could play really good defense.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that was back in like the Big East when they would like let you like put your hands on people and like you know wrestle a little bit more under the basket.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_00: And he would he had a strong inside game.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: But he just never really had much of an outside shot.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I remember him seeing in interviews, and maybe just doesn't do well in interviews, but he came off as like maybe not the um, I don't know, sharpest tool in the shed.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_00: He maybe maybe maybe wasn't, but um as of this broadcast out of this podcast, he's still playing overseas basketball.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: So he's had himself a um nice little career after uh Pitt, even though he didn't make it to the NBA, he was good enough to play all those years in um overseas.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_00: So uh good for him.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, Chevy Trottman was definitely one of those guys that um yeah, just just an important component to those to those teams that that you know almost kind of broke through.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh next guy on our list is Jay Bell.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Jay Bell was a shortstop for the Pirates.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um and and the Pirates, you know, we we talked about how the 80s were not kind to the Pirates.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_02: And they were building under Jim Leland, they were building this pretty good team.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_02: And the the big gap was a shortstop.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_02: In the late 80s, they kept uh rotating.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_02: They had these guys, they had Raphael Belliard and Felix Fermin and Al Pedriguy.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_02: They just kept they had this like rotating list of shortstops that couldn't do anything.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_02: And they they picked up Jay Bell um from I think from Cleveland, and he ended up becoming the starter shortstop for the next eight seasons.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um and and was really really solidified that infield and allowed them to make the the division championship runs that they made in the early 90s.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, he was definitely a a part of uh definitely I think a key piece of that, you know, nowhere near a Barry Bonds or or Bobby Bonier or those guys, but but you know, that was a position they needed to shore up, and he did that.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um in 1993, he won the National League Gold Glove Award at shortstop.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_02: And that was significant because for the previous 13 seasons, that had been won by Ozzie Smith, the the all-time great shortstop for the Cardinals.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_02: And and Jay Bell broke that string in 1993.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_02: So that so that shows you how good he was defensively, also.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um he later went on to play for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and in the 2001 World Series, um, they they won that World Series on a dramatic Game 7 walk-off hit, and Jay Bell's the guy that scored the winning run.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_02: So um that's kind of he's probably even more well remembered in Arizona than he is here.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I always thought a very significant contributor to those early 90s pirate teams.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_00: Do you remember?
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_00: You're speaking of the uh guys that came before him.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_00: Do you remember uh Sammy Khalifa?
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, I forgot Sammy Khalifa.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the George, I remember the paper had a big article, the shortstop of the future.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, in Felix Bermeen, too.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_00: I remember like Vince Lasay when Felix would play the Felix the Cat song from the cartoon.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_00: But uh the uh Jay Bell, I remember I remember one other thing about Jay Bell, like he had that weird bunt when he was about to bunt.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, most guys kind of like sneak it in there, like like he would literally like be in his bunting stance as he would walk up to the batter's box.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_00: It was like you knew when Jay Bell was gonna bunt, there is no mystery about it.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_00: It was like this is a bunt.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, like you said, an all-around, really solid and good player.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_00: Glad to see you won a World Series.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_00: And like you said, probably more fondly remembered if this was a Diamondbacks podcast, uh, get a little bit more love than uh we gave him, although he was definitely a key part to those early 90s pirates teams.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, another guy that was a key part that I think still falls under the radar.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_00: Some people might disagree with me.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't really hear people talk about him, and that's uh Aaron Smith.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_00: He was a defensive end for the Steelers.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_00: And he was in defensive end on a 3-4 is kind of like you know, nose tackle, at least some people seem to notice that, but defensive ends for some reason don't get noticed because they are taking on blocks or you know, freeing up stuff for the linebackers is kind of their job.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, he was pretty anonymous, except for some guy named uh Bill Belichick, who called him the best of defensive player in the NFL in 2004.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_00: That was, you know, a high compliment from Jack um Bill Belichick.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_00: And um, one time I remember went to a Colts game, I think the year we won Super Bowl 43.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_00: And um normally in the NFL, like you'll see a guy and he'll make a play here and there, but he literally dominated so much against like first the Colts tried to like single team him, and he makes like a play, makes blows up the play.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_00: Then they try double team, then they try like running backs and tight ends, and he's just blowing through these guys like the whole first half.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_00: It got so bad that like in the second half, they're like, okay, we're just gonna roll Peyton Manning out.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like he literally like eliminated half the field from the Colts' offense just single-handedly.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, the Steelers, I think, ended up losing that game.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_00: Those Ike Taylor tipped the ball to Marvin Harrison and they couldn't score on the one-yard line.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_00: But Aaron Smith is just he's a low-key guy.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't get a lot of press.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_00: He seems like, you know, people and reporters have written about him and stuff, but he just he just doesn't get a lot of publicity like some of the other, maybe more known, like Troy Palomalo's or you know, Joey Porters or James Harrison's on those teams.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I uh what I remember about Aaron Smith is like late in his career, one maybe his last season or second last season, he got hurt early in the season, and they said, Oh, Aaron Smith's done for the season.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_02: And and people lamented it like as if Ben Rothesberger or Troy Powamalo had been hurt for the season.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and outside of Pittsburgh, you probably wouldn't have thought much about oh, defensive lineman, Aaron Smith out for the season, but it was a big loss, and and not only fans but teammates, you know, really lamented, oh my gosh, what are we going to do without Aaron Smith?
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_02: So he was he was definitely a very significant part of those teams.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_02: Next guy on the list is John Terman.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_02: John Terman was a quarterback at Pitt, and you know, one of my favorite Pitt seasons will always be the 2000 season.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_02: It was the year in between when they tore down Pitt Stadium and they built Heinz Field.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_02: So they played that year at Three River Stadium, and um it wasn't a real good team, but man, was the offense fun to watch that year?
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_02: It was just like we're throwing deep, we're throwing deep.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_02: Every play, we're throwing deep.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_02: And they had a receiver named Antonio Bryant who was really, really good, and another wide receiver named Latif Grimm, who was also pretty good.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_02: And um, yeah, but they needed somebody to get them the ball, and that was John Terman was good at that.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_02: He was good at throwing deep.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_02: He was good at getting those guys, good, getting those guys the ball.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_02: And um, again, like I said, wasn't a great team, but it was, man, it was a really fun team to watch.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Bryant that year averaged almost 20 yards per reception.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_02: So if that gives you a little bit of an idea of you know what kind of offense they ran that year, their their their best receiver averaged 20 yards per catch, and the guy getting them the that guy getting them the ball that year was John Thurman.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_02: So I I always have good memories of John Thurman of that season.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_02: I know Steve, you and I went to a couple games that year at Three Rivers together.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_02: It was just a just a I just remember that being a fun season.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_02: And Thurman was was was not a great quarterback, but could throw could throw the ball deep and was fun to watch.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_00: Another part of that offense was they had Barlow, a running back.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I remember they they it was like any way you want to do it.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because like they ended up beating West Virginia at the end of the year, and I think West Virginia decided, well, we'll just keep everybody back.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think Barlow ended up having like 200 yards rushing.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_00: So you they really could like score any way.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember I think that was the year also they lost to North Carolina at home.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_00: It was Willie Parker, Ronald Curry, and Jeff Reed were yeah.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know what is frustrating is nobody knew Turman was like diabetic apparently, or they hadn't figured it out.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_00: And they had like three shots at the end zone late in that game to like pull out the win and hear like Turman hadn't checked his blood sugar, so he got all loopy, and like I just remember him like badly overthrowing overthrowing Bryant three times in the end zone.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_00: So poor poor John Terman, and he just never panned out like any after that year.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_00: He kind of had one year, and that was kind of it for him.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of a product, I guess, of Antonio Bryant and Barlow and Laheef Graham, you know, having some really good players.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, uh moving back to hockey, uh, a guy named Ruslan Fedetenko.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_00: He was more he was a decent left wing.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_00: He paid benefit from playing with a Malkin Crosby and stall.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_00: But mainly I just it was a great inside joke with my son.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_00: I guess I just like the name Ruslan, because when my son would play hockey, I'd call him Ruslan and it would just annoy him.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I just call him a little Ruslan just for fun.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_00: But uh decent player.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's the only reason I really remember him was just he had a funky name and it, you know, it was fun to fun to harass people with it.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he he was on that 09 team that won the cup.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think any any Pittsburgh player that played on a championship team always has kind of like their own special place in everybody's hearts.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I I do remember in the way his career in Pittsburgh ended, um in the in the 2010 playoffs, uh they were playing Ottawa, and and we had played Ottawa a bunch of times in the playoffs back then.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_02: I believe that was the third time in in four years that we were playing Ottawa in the playoffs.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_02: And and we were playing in an elimination game.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_02: We were up three games to one in series, and um the game goes into triple overtime.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_02: So if the penguins can just score the next goal, the series is over.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_02: And uh Ottawa was famous back then.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_02: They had these guys, they had these really good skill players that just like would give up in the playoffs, like Jason Speza, guys like that.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_02: You just once you had them on their backs, they just were like, Yeah, I don't really want to play hockey anymore.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_02: And and in this triple overtime game, their whole team is is selling out.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_02: There, there are seasons on the line, you know, even guys like Spezza and Alfredson, they're they're diving on the ice to block pucks.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_02: And Matt Cartner for the Senators, he he gets the puck in triple overtime, and and Ruzlan Fedetenko standing right in front of him, and he just stands there and lets Matt Cartner shoot it, and the puck goes into the net.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of Penguins fans that left a bad taste in their mouth.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_02: Like everybody's selling out, everybody's diving on the ice, even their quitters were diving on the ice, and you just kind of like stood there and watched the puck go right past you.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, and that was kind of the end of Fedetenko's time in Pittsburgh.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know how many people still remember that, but I remember at the time, man, people were not not rezon to Fedetenko fans after he, you know, he didn't sell out in triple overtime.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_02: No, the uh homestead Charlie.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so so Charlie Beth, yep, was a homestead native um who spent amazingly 11 years as a Steelers backup quarterback.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um that's a long time to be a backup, especially in this day and age, right?
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_02: That might not have been a long time back in the pre-free agency days of the NFL, but but in this era, that's a long time to be on one team as a backup.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_02: And and Charlie was always dependable.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, always could count on him.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_02: When Ben Ben sometimes got hurt, Ben had that style where he, you know, where he held onto the ball a long time, took a lot of hits, offensive line wasn't very good in that era.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_02: So Batch was pressed into service more than once, and you always felt comfortable.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_02: If Ben was was hurt short short term, you always felt like Charlie Batch could come out and win you a few games.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um probably his big his big signature win was in his his final season.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um he he started a game in Baltimore and let a last second come from behind victory over the Ravens, who won a Super Bowl that year in 2012.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um so that was kind of his big moment.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_02: And there's a great uh great image of him just collapsing into Ben's arm and tear Ben's arms on the sidelines in tears after um after winning that game.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um so Charlie Batch, one of those guys from here, played for the Steelers, well liked.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, just a guy that just a good, dependable, well-liked Pittsburgh guy.
• 57:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh he he you know does stuff in the community and seems the you know, I don't know if he's done radio.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think he does a radio show or did a radio show.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_00: So he's kept his name kind of in the media and um generally all around good person.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_00: He has charities in the area.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think he does a Christmas toy drive and you know, just all around good guy and a decent, like not like a great player.
• 58:01
  SPEAKER_00: I remember they always called him Check Down Charlie.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_00: But I remember I went to a game, I think the first game against the Dolphins one year after they, I think it was a year after they won the Super Bowl.
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think it did maybe it was after Ben had his motorcycle accident or something.
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_00: But like Charlie Batch ended up playing that game and he ended up winning.
• 58:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, he definitely if you needed somebody just to kind of come in and uh write the ship and you know, at least give you a stable quarterback play, he was your guy.
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the the game you're talking about, Steve.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you and I were both at that game.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I still have a picture of us standing at that game.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_02: It was the it was the opening game of the 2006 season.
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_02: And it was the the Thursday night, like, because we had won the Super Bowl the year before.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_02: And Nick Sabin was coaching the Dolphins that year.
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_02: He was the new coach of the Dolphins.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_02: So that was like, oh, the the defending champions against Nick Saban.
• 58:53
  SPEAKER_02: And uh and Charlie Batts had to start because uh, as you mentioned, Ben had had the motorcycle accident, and and in that game, he threw an 85-yard touchdown pass to Heath Miller in the final minute of the game, and that's what won the game.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_02: So uh to your point, always uh always dependable.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I remember Wes Welker was for the Dolphins, and Dante Culpeper was pretty bad on at quarterback for the Dolphins.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like he he everything he threw was either in the dirt or over people's heads, but yeah, we still needed a last second Charlie Batch for Roigs to uh put the Dolphins to bed there.
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um sticking with local guys, um, this is a guy that probably not a lot of people remember or know, but I I kind of I met him in just after college and personal life, and he's a decent person, and I do remember him playing, and I always liked him.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_00: He was a solid college player, had no illusions of going pro.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_00: You knew he wasn't going pro, but he was still a good player, and that's Mark Ponco.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_00: And he played strong safety at Pitt from 98 to 2001.
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, he wasn't he was he's like your stereotypical college player, he's like a good player who's like just gonna get his degree and move on with his life like he did.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_00: I think he sells insurance somewhere in Plum.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, you know, just a decent person and a good guy.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_00: And uh he's told me some Walt Harris stories.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_00: I guess he's not a big Walt Harris fan.
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_00: I guess Walt Harris was uh rubbed people the wrong way even back then.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_00: So but like I said, uh he was uh the Pitt teams had some some later success in the 2000s and 2001.
• 1:00:28
  SPEAKER_00: They finally made some bowl games and probably good experience and kind of reward for his uh college career there at the end.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_02: Also had a great Pittsburgh name, Mark Ponko.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_00: Ponko's going to the exception.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_02: Uh next guy on our list uh is Johnny Ray.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_02: Johnny Ray was a second baseman for the Pirates during the the 1980s.
• 1:00:51
  SPEAKER_02: So um, you know, Steve, you had you mentioned some of your favorite guys from those those awful, forgettable um Pittsburgh drug trial era pirates.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um Johnny Ray was the second baseman.
• 1:01:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um he was one of my favorite players from those teams.
• 1:01:07
  SPEAKER_02: He he was a really, really consistent hitter.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_02: He's actually a career 290 hitter, um, which is pretty good.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_02: And he never really got any recognition because, again, the Pirates were were not only an awful team, but you know, they were at the epicenter of those drug trials.
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, that was also at the time that the Galbraiths were trying to sell the team and potentially move them out of town.
• 1:01:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so you know, the what was going on in the field was just almost secondary at that point.
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_02: But Johnny Ray was a pretty solid second baseman and a good hitter.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_00: I remember, I remember going to now this had to be the old Buell Planetarium or maybe the Children's Museum.
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_00: They had this like game, like where you would like simulate, it was Johnny Ray, and he had like a swing simulator, like and you would like piece together like this electronic buttons.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_00: And if you hit the certain buttons, depending on like, you know, the pitch would be random, either like fastball, curveball, whatever, and you would have to pick the right swing to hit it.
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_00: And like, and then Lanny Fiteri would like narrate it, like what happened.
• 1:02:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it'd be like, oh, Johnny Ray strikes out, or Johnny Ray hits a two-run home run, or yeah, I just remember that more for Johnny Ray playing that game at like it was either the children's museum or the Buell Planetarium.
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm showing my age since neither of those places exist.
• 1:02:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean children's museum, but I doubt they have the old Johnny Ray swing simulators laying around somewhere.
• 1:02:34
  SPEAKER_02: That's one of those things.
• 1:02:36
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that's one of those things, like that you you, you know, whatever that whatever you're referring to there, it it the only people that remember it would be kids like us that played it or maybe the people that worked there at the time, but I doubt anybody has a picture of it or a video of it, you know, because back then you did just didn't you didn't have your camera or your cell phone, you know, to do all that stuff with.
• 1:02:57
  SPEAKER_02: So that's it.
• 1:02:58
  SPEAKER_00: It was pretty pretty advanced for like 19, what was it, 1984, 85?
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, to have that kind of like somebody really spent some time programming that.
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, I can only imagine, you know.
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_00: And like it was cool because Laney Fateri, like they actually had like like Laney Fateri would, you know, whatever the outcome was.
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, it was like if you pick this swing with like a slider, you're gonna either get a hit or straight, you know.
• 1:03:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess uh I'm assuming that's how it worked.
• 1:03:22
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, another uh pit basketball guy on the list was, and then this is just another guy that I liked.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_00: He maybe wasn't the greatest pit basketball player of all time, was Ontario Lett, but he was a great like offensive power.
• 1:03:37
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't really play defense that well.
• 1:03:39
  SPEAKER_00: He was kind of like like when I played basketball, somebody was coming down the line lane, he's probably just gonna foul him.
• 1:03:45
  SPEAKER_00: So Ontario, but he but he was pretty big and he could he had a decent like jump shot and he could like he was big enough to where he could like muscle people out of the way in the old big east and get easy points.
• 1:03:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um played in the heydays of pit basketball with uh Brandon Knight.
• 1:04:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so he, you know, he could get open and Brandon Knight would hit him with a nice pass.
• 1:04:07
  SPEAKER_00: So um, and he he returned to coach Pitt uh recently.
• 1:04:11
  SPEAKER_00: So um good for him.
• 1:04:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um nice little career.
• 1:04:14
  SPEAKER_00: He although it was short, he only had two years of pit because he was a transfer.
• 1:04:19
  SPEAKER_00: But um nice guy and guy that I just always liked.
• 1:04:22
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't know, maybe because he fouled a lot.
• 1:04:24
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 1:04:25
  SPEAKER_00: Reminded me of myself.
• 1:04:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he was yeah, he was uh he was a pretty good he was a pretty good basketball player, you know, like you said, big guy, powerful guy, you know, one of those guys that that probably didn't stick out as much as some of the other players on those teams, but was definitely um definitely a uh pretty good player.
• 1:04:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh next on the list, Matt Collin.
• 1:04:48
  SPEAKER_02: So so Matt Collin, his nickname was Dad.
• 1:04:51
  SPEAKER_02: And he came to the Penguins when he was in his forties.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um so he was already, you know, had a pretty long career at that point.
• 1:04:59
  SPEAKER_02: But he helped them win two Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017.
• 1:05:03
  SPEAKER_02: He was a very gritty bottom line center, and uh, you know, well liked by his teammates, well liked by the fans.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I I always thought his best performance was the the clincher against Nashville in 2017, game six, where they won the Stanley Cup.
• 1:05:21
  SPEAKER_02: That game was zero zero until about the I think it was about 90 seconds left when Hornquist scored the goal to break the tie and win the cup for the Penguins.
• 1:05:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um that game, he was he just was all over the ice that night.
• 1:05:35
  SPEAKER_02: It was such a tight game, you know, zero zero.
• 1:05:37
  SPEAKER_02: Any any game that's zero zero for most of the game is is going to be tightly played.
• 1:05:42
  SPEAKER_02: And he was just all over the ice, usually matched up against Nashville's top guys.
• 1:05:47
  SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, he'll never show up on a stat sheet anywhere for that game.
• 1:05:51
  SPEAKER_02: But if you go back and watch it again, he just seems like he's everywhere.
• 1:05:56
  SPEAKER_02: So Matt Collins, a guy that uh again, do you win Do you win two Stanley Cups without him?
• 1:06:01
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe you do, maybe you don't.
• 1:06:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um I I thought he he contributed heavily to both those teams.
• 1:06:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is one of those guys where you're just squeezing the last little bit out of his skill set, you know, because he was definitely at the end of his career.
• 1:06:17
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes if a player plays smart and kind of plays within themselves physically, you know, they're veteran enough, they can kind of they know how to play the game because they've done it so well, they can kind of make up for a lack of you know, physical, you know, ability that's kind of left them.
• 1:06:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that was kind of the Matt Kellen.
• 1:06:34
  SPEAKER_00: He kind of falls into like the Shea Townsend, I think at the end of his career was kind of the same type of person, you know, where they just could know where to position themselves in that sport to where they wouldn't get totally embarrassed.
• 1:06:47
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I mean, and they definitely got, you know, whatever little bit Matt Cullen had at the end.
• 1:06:52
  SPEAKER_00: And he was a good locker room, guys.
• 1:06:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's a veteran in hockey.
• 1:06:56
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely um goes there.
• 1:06:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, going from Matt Cullen, the dad, to the timid ass earlier, who is the biggest person I have ever seen in real life, and that would be one Kyrique Jarrett.
• 1:07:10
  SPEAKER_00: He is a was a defensive lineman at Pitt for three or four years.
• 1:07:15
  SPEAKER_00: He is literally the biggest person I have met in person.
• 1:07:19
  SPEAKER_00: He is listed at 6'3, 24, 340.
• 1:07:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'd say he's closer to 375.
• 1:07:25
  SPEAKER_00: He's probably not a biscuit under 400.
• 1:07:27
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this guy is absolutely, he's not just like like he's not just like a fat guy either.
• 1:07:33
  SPEAKER_00: He's tall.
• 1:07:34
  SPEAKER_00: He is just a big wall of a human being.
• 1:07:37
  SPEAKER_00: I remember one time, I think Pitt was playing Virginia, and one of the one of the announcers on TV there trying to run the ball, and they said, Yeah, you got to move the Death Star out of there.
• 1:07:46
  SPEAKER_00: They literally called him the Death Star.
• 1:07:48
  SPEAKER_00: He was still a very good player.
• 1:07:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's a game against Georgia Tech where the game was tied late in the game, and uh Paul Johnson on fourth and one from his own 29, from the Georgia Tech 29, decided to go for it.
• 1:08:01
  SPEAKER_00: And they literally, like Tyreek Jarrett just was literally a wall.
• 1:08:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like him and then I think Columbos and somebody else cleaned up, but they just like totally stuffed.
• 1:08:11
  SPEAKER_00: And when he hit, like I could hear the running back hit him from my seats, and it was just like my dad literally looked at me and said, That guy just got stuffed.
• 1:08:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like they literally wasn't even close.
• 1:08:21
  SPEAKER_00: They still measured, but that guy didn't gain an inch.
• 1:08:24
  SPEAKER_00: But um, fun, fun player to watch.
• 1:08:27
  SPEAKER_00: Shame he never he never got much of a chance in the pros.
• 1:08:30
  SPEAKER_00: Probably maybe they're just weight issues, just too big for that.
• 1:08:33
  SPEAKER_00: But um uh one of my one of my like underrated pit guys that I always always like.
• 1:08:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and he he had the misfortune of you know being on that line sort of after Aaron Donald.
• 1:08:46
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, he just he wasn't Aaron Donald, right?
• 1:08:48
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, nobody was, yeah, but he very good player in his own right.
• 1:08:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, next guy on the list, Chris Fuamatu Ma'afala, who had the you know, one of the hardest to pronounce names in Steeler history, big running back, played for the Steelers for five seasons, um, never really put up a bunch of good stats.
• 1:09:08
  SPEAKER_02: His best season was 2001.
• 1:09:10
  SPEAKER_02: He played in all 16 games that year, mostly as a backup to Jerome Bettis, but did post uh 453 yards rushing.
• 1:09:18
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, his signature moment came in the 2002 comeback win against the Browns in the playoffs.
• 1:09:25
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we did an episode about that.
• 1:09:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, he scored the last second touchdown to beat Cleveland.
• 1:09:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, and and not a guy that was ever really that good, but you know, a fun player to watch.
• 1:09:37
  SPEAKER_02: Every time that he got the ball, fans would yell foo.
• 1:09:40
  SPEAKER_02: So just a fun guy um to have on the team.
• 1:09:44
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I think uh probably a running back that a lot of fans would remember, even though he never really you know made a huge impact.
• 1:09:52
  SPEAKER_00: He seemed like he was hurt a lot at the end.
• 1:09:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember one time he was on the injured reserve list and then he went on like Monday Night Raw or something.
• 1:10:00
  SPEAKER_00: People were like, What do you like?
• 1:10:01
  SPEAKER_00: He was like running around on Monday Night Raw.
• 1:10:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, what are you doing, dude?
• 1:10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but still fun name and scored a big touchdown in Steelers history.
• 1:10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um he was like more of a third down back, I always thought, even though he was big, bigger, but um good, good, good choice for a B teamer guy.
• 1:10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh another guy that's probably controversial.
• 1:10:24
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 1:10:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think he's a B teamer because he only really made one big play.
• 1:10:28
  SPEAKER_00: He's kind of the Antoine Randuel category, and that would be uh Frank Peterangelo.
• 1:10:33
  SPEAKER_00: And he was a goalie from the Penguins from 88 to 92.
• 1:10:36
  SPEAKER_00: He was pretty mediocre, but he made a big save against the Devils in game six in their first Stanley Cup run.
• 1:10:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it's that's considered the save that propelled them on their way to you know their the winning the Stanley Cup that same year.
• 1:10:53
  SPEAKER_00: But beyond that, Brasso was definitely the uh starter and more of the star than uh Peter Angelo was.
• 1:10:59
  SPEAKER_00: But much like a lot of other guys on this list, he had his one moment, and uh without that moment, maybe the Penguins don't you know make the make the Stanley Cup run that year.
• 1:11:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the the they call it the save.
• 1:11:12
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, so that's that tells you what what you know what how it's known in Penguins history, and that was against Peter Stats and the other Devils.
• 1:11:19
  SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, you watched the replay of that years later, it's still amazing that he made that save.
• 1:11:25
  SPEAKER_02: So he'll always have he'll always have that moment in Pittsburgh sports history.
• 1:11:31
  SPEAKER_02: Next guy on the list is Pete Gonzalez, who was a quarterback for Pitt in the 90s.
• 1:11:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh really inconsistent quarterback, um, but in the 1997 season, finally found his rhythm, led Pitt on a pretty amazing run to the Liberty Bowl that year.
• 1:11:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um Pitt had failed to put together more than three wins in the previous four seasons.
• 1:11:54
  SPEAKER_02: They were, I mean, they were they were just a miserably awful team back then.
• 1:11:59
  SPEAKER_02: And um Pete Gonzalez uh led them to a bowl game, and on the way, he beat uh West Virginia in a memorable game in Morgantown, where the game was in overtime, and Pete Gonzalez converted a fourth and 17 in triple overtime uh to um to ultimately win the game for Pitt.
• 1:12:19
  SPEAKER_02: So um, you know, beating West Virginia in Morgantown, that's that'll always get you.
• 1:12:25
  SPEAKER_02: Uh good memories from Pitt fans.
• 1:12:26
  SPEAKER_02: He actually later played for the Steelers.
• 1:12:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, not sure if he ever made it into like a regular season game.
• 1:12:32
  SPEAKER_02: He was always like third stringer.
• 1:12:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but he he did uh he did later play for the Steelers.
• 1:12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he was always like that third string guy people were calling to see, like when the Steelers would be really bad and people would know.
• 1:12:45
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 1:12:46
  SPEAKER_00: He I he he was like his big thing to claim to fame too, he beat Miami, I think that same year.
• 1:12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was the homecoming game at Pitt Stadium.
• 1:12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Which would be the last time they beat Miami at home till they were ranked second a couple years ago.
• 1:13:02
  SPEAKER_00: I was at the second game, not the first.
• 1:13:04
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean he he was definitely like a solid like college quarterback, not the not the greatest quarterback in pit history, but I would definitely um he definitely has notched his thing.
• 1:13:15
  SPEAKER_00: And uh he's definitely turned it into a nice little career.
• 1:13:18
  SPEAKER_00: You see him on the news media every so often, you know, covering Steeler games or such.
• 1:13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, sticking with uh football players, um, that brings us to a person that's currently still playing for the Steelers, and that's Alejandro Villanueva.
• 1:13:33
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't get a ton of credit, but maybe just more because he is a decorated war veteran and an army ranger.
• 1:13:40
  SPEAKER_00: But he definitely took a, you know, definitely was one of those guys that worked themselves into the NFL because, you know, he was a the a tight end and not really a tackle when he played for Army.
• 1:13:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so he had to gain some weight and he bounced between the Eagles and the Steelers, kind of like pulled a James Harrison.
• 1:14:00
  SPEAKER_00: And um he he definitely developed into one of the better tackles.
• 1:14:04
  SPEAKER_00: He I don't know if he's made a Pro Bowl or anything, but I always thought he always seems like he's pretty good and solid.
• 1:14:09
  SPEAKER_00: You don't see him getting burned a ton.
• 1:14:11
  SPEAKER_00: And uh another fun fact, he's caught a touchdown pass and he does have two Pro Bowls experience, two bowls, two Pro Bowls experience appearances, and he's one of the tallest players to play in the NFL.
• 1:14:23
  SPEAKER_00: But definitely I think from where he came from, he would be a B team guy because he he definitely was not draft.
• 1:14:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think he was even drafted.
• 1:14:30
  SPEAKER_00: He was a you know load of you know unrestricted free agent pick.
• 1:14:34
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, another guy that's well liked by his teammates, well liked by the fans, you know, um, service to our country, all that stuff.
• 1:14:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and and definitely an overachiever.
• 1:14:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh next guy on the list is Jimmy Pack.
• 1:14:49
  SPEAKER_02: No, um Jimmy Pack was a defenseman for the Penguins.
• 1:14:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um won two Stanley Cups with the team in the early 90s, um, scored a goal in the clincher against the Minnesota North Stars that first year.
• 1:15:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you know, serviceable guy, never never was a star.
• 1:15:07
  SPEAKER_02: I think a lot of people remember Jim Pack locally because um the DVE morning show, which is a one of the big morning shows here in Pittsburgh, um they always they always do a bit where where the um they pretend that they have Mario Lemieux on the phone, and Mario Lemie, the DVE Mario, is always saying, like, oh yeah, Jim Pack picked up my my uh you know my dry cleaning today or whatever.
• 1:15:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um but uh you know his his Jim Pack also his his notable achievement, he's the first Korean-born hockey player to play in the NHL, and then by extension, also the first Korean-born hockey player to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup.
• 1:15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's quite the accomplishment for Mr.
• 1:15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Jim Pack there.
• 1:15:51
  SPEAKER_00: I I wonder if he still lives locally.
• 1:15:53
  SPEAKER_00: He probably does, one of those guys do, but uh you knew we were gonna win the cup when Jim Peck scored.
• 1:15:58
  SPEAKER_00: You you knew that game was pretty much over when uh he put one in the net there on uh who was Eddie Belfort or what's uh John Casey.
• 1:16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it was John Casey?
• 1:16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah.
• 1:16:10
  SPEAKER_00: So um, and not the psychic John Casey, the goaltender, John Casey.
• 1:16:15
  SPEAKER_00: The other guy might have seen it coming, I guess.
• 1:16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Moving back to uh Pitt Football, there's a uh pretty another mediocre linebacker who just had one big moment with Pitt.
• 1:16:26
  SPEAKER_00: That was Shane Murray.
• 1:16:27
  SPEAKER_00: He was a Central Catholic grad.
• 1:16:29
  SPEAKER_00: But in the uh WVU 13-9 game, uh he was like the up back on a punt.
• 1:16:35
  SPEAKER_00: And uh Dave Wanstack called a fake punt where he snuck under center and uh snuck the ball and got a big first down for Pitt to extend a drive.
• 1:16:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think they ended up scoring on that later on that drive.
• 1:16:46
  SPEAKER_00: So Shane Murray, not a well-sung name in Pitt Annals, but I'm sure like hardcore Pitt fans will definitely remember him.
• 1:16:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we we talked about him when we did the episode uh about that 13-9 game, which is still, you know, maybe the most shocking outcome in the history of Pittsburgh Sports.
• 1:17:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so you know, like you said, it came up big when it counted.
• 1:17:12
  SPEAKER_02: Next guy on the list is Larry Anderson.
• 1:17:15
  SPEAKER_02: Larry Anderson uh was a kick returner for the Steelers in the late 70s and early 80s.
• 1:17:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um he played on both the 78 and 79 Super Bowl winning Steeler teams.
• 1:17:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um and his kick return ability was pretty key in in both of the Super Bowl wins, uh especially the 79 Super Bowl where they played the Los Angeles Rams.
• 1:17:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh he he did not return a kick for a touchdown in that game, so you'll never see him on any of the highlight reels or any of the Super Bowl memories things, but he had 162 yards in return, 162 return yards in that game on five returns.
• 1:17:55
  SPEAKER_02: So that's that's a lot of return yardage.
• 1:17:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and and so he, you know, he set up the offense a lot of times in that game with short fields, and probably something that just gets forgotten.
• 1:18:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um and and so again, you know, the the question we've asked about some of these other guys, do you do you win a championship without that guy um making you know making those plays that that maybe people don't remember because they they didn't result in touchdowns?
• 1:18:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um so that was Larry Anderson.
• 1:18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, probably too, like you know, with the offense, you know, needed a little spark there.
• 1:18:30
  SPEAKER_00: That definitely helped.
• 1:18:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's uh, you know, coaches always talk about hidden yardage, you know, 162 yards, especially back in the 70s where offense wasn't as you know prevalent.
• 1:18:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's a lot of yards to give up on special teams.
• 1:18:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um another uh great B-team guy that people will definitely remember is um the Penguin defenseman Hal Gill.
• 1:18:53
  SPEAKER_00: He was really the last of the big defensemen.
• 1:18:55
  SPEAKER_00: He was listed at 250 pounds, 6'7.
• 1:18:58
  SPEAKER_00: And the Penn's Blog uh who gave him a great nickname.
• 1:19:01
  SPEAKER_00: They call him the USS Hal Gill.
• 1:19:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because he was just huge.
• 1:19:06
  SPEAKER_00: And um he was, even though he was big and oafish, he was still effective in a time when the league was changing from physical to uh speed.
• 1:19:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I think too, like the penguins had great pairs, they would pair him up with like Gonchar or Letang or some like another guy that was more of a skater.
• 1:19:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that way, you know, when teams would try, like the Red Wings would try that, or I don't know about the Flyers, but like teams would try and park in front of Flurry or yeah, how Gill was pretty good at moving those guys out.
• 1:19:33
  SPEAKER_00: And he that was kind of his role.
• 1:19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Him and Brooks Orpick, you know, kind of like the they were the physical defensemen where the other guys were the finesse defensemen.
• 1:19:43
  SPEAKER_00: So night nice piece to uh one of the penguins.
• 1:19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think he was here for the one Stanley Cup.
• 1:19:49
  SPEAKER_00: He was, yeah.
• 1:19:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:19:50
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, and and he left after that season.
• 1:19:54
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember thinking, that's not a big deal.
• 1:19:57
  SPEAKER_02: He's just a big lumbering defenseman.
• 1:19:59
  SPEAKER_02: We can go out and get somebody else that can be a big lumbering defenseman.
• 1:20:03
  SPEAKER_02: And and I felt like I remember the next year in the playoffs, I really felt like he was missed.
• 1:20:08
  SPEAKER_02: Like we just did not have the same um ability to stop the other teams we had the previous two years.
• 1:20:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I I think losing him was a big part of that.
• 1:20:19
  SPEAKER_00: It definitely can be argued that Hal Gill was one of the one of those B, like B B team guys, a B team legend.
• 1:20:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:20:28
  SPEAKER_02: Uh my last guy is a little bit of a reach.
• 1:20:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's Lee Mays.
• 1:20:32
  SPEAKER_02: Lee Mays was a steel or wide receiver from 2002 to 2006.
• 1:20:37
  SPEAKER_02: Did not play a whole lot, caught 11 passes in his entire time in Pittsburgh and played largely on special teams.
• 1:20:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the reason the reason Lee Mays is on our list is because um for me personally, I I the fantasy football league that I'm in was in back then and still I'm in today.
• 1:20:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um when we were drafting, this is before before you would draft on Yahoo, you had to do everything manually.
• 1:21:04
  SPEAKER_02: And we had a little egg timer, right?
• 1:21:06
  SPEAKER_02: And um, and so if you didn't make your pick in time, the role was that you had to auto-draft Lee Mays as your pick, as your punishment for not making the pick on time.
• 1:21:16
  SPEAKER_02: And it became kind of a running gag.
• 1:21:18
  SPEAKER_02: And we even our trophy for the um for the for the league championship had engraved on it.
• 1:21:24
  SPEAKER_02: It was the Lee Mays Memorial Trophy.
• 1:21:26
  SPEAKER_02: So Lee Mays is like one of those guys that, you know, again, no one else would ever remember except the people in our fantasy football league.
• 1:21:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I wanted to put him on there because I'm sure there's probably other other guys like that out there that that you pe that you folks listening may remember.
• 1:21:41
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe you you maybe you met that person once, or maybe you had some kind of inside joke thing about that, about that player.
• 1:21:47
  SPEAKER_02: But one of those guys that, you know, again, hardly anybody else would remember, but but you know, he was he was the guy that we named our fantasy football trophy after.
• 1:21:56
  SPEAKER_02: So I always remember good good old Lee Mays.
• 1:22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Lee Mays, I think he had a catch in one of the 2004 games that was big.
• 1:22:05
  SPEAKER_00: He had like against Jacksonville, I think he had a big catch or maybe the Jets.
• 1:22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's footage.
• 1:22:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I again I only remember this because I found it back then when we were we were you know always talking about Lee Mays, but there's a clip of after that Jacksonville game of I think Cower in the locker room giving him like the game ball because he made it he made a big game and he's like he has the game ball, he's like, Where's Lee Mays?
• 1:22:28
  SPEAKER_02: And he hands him the game ball.
• 1:22:30
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, he he had you know one or two little moments here, but you know, catching 11 passes in uh in five seasons, probably probably that might have been the only one.
• 1:22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and uh sticking with like guys who are probably on this list just because of a funny instance, you know, that's Miroslav Satan.
• 1:22:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's really Satan, and he's never played for the New Jersey Devils, and he was a pretty mediocre right wing, but it was just always fun to say how can you know how can you lose when you have Satan on your team?
• 1:22:59
  SPEAKER_00: So good old Miroslav couldn't you know help the fact that his name's really Satan, but and he was part of that 09 team, so the the name Satan is is engraved on the Stanley Cup.
• 1:23:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so there's always that.
• 1:23:12
  SPEAKER_00: He's got that going for him.
• 1:23:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that was a pretty fun list there, Kim.
• 1:23:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh anything else, I mean Chris Oldham.
• 1:23:20
  SPEAKER_00: I I remember Chris Oldham, he had a couple interceptions once, but uh yeah, yeah.
• 1:23:25
  SPEAKER_02: I mean uh there's a couple other guys.
• 1:23:28
  SPEAKER_02: There's a couple other guys we could have probably put on this list.
• 1:23:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I'm sure there's guys we forgot, and I'm sure there's guys that that people used to love to root for or just kind of remember for some maybe key moments that they contributed um to to one of our teams.
• 1:23:45
  SPEAKER_02: So um yeah, but that's our list.
• 1:23:48
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks everybody for listening.
• 1:23:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, please check out our website, it's Pittsburgh Sports Memories.weebly dot com.
• 1:23:55
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we're also on Twitter and Facebook.
• 1:23:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um please leave us a review and uh tune in next time.
• 1:24:02
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks everybody.