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The new voice of the Steelers - Rob King · The Irish Steelers Podcast

0:07
Speaker 1: Everybody, welcome into the Irish Theaters Podcast. We are getting
0:10
Speaker 1: ever closer to the start of the regular season. We're
0:14
Speaker 1: in the second week of preseason. Keel up with Jimmy
0:16
Speaker 1: English McKeith for the Irish Pittsburgh Staters Podcast for Irish fans,
0:23
Speaker 1: cross the Adle of Ireland and beyond of the Pittsburgh Staters. Jimmy,
0:27
Speaker 1: it's good to have another week of Staters football ally
0:29
Speaker 1: in the one.
0:30
Speaker 2: Hi'm all good. Nick, glad to be back on a
0:33
Speaker 2: regular basis doing the Steers podcast for our and for Ireland.
0:38
Speaker 2: Look big, big week ahead, I think in terms of
0:40
Speaker 2: the preseason we saw we got a little flavor last
0:43
Speaker 2: week of what we can expect. I'm excited to see
0:47
Speaker 2: Russell Wilson get out there hopefully this weekend. It's a
0:51
Speaker 2: bit more serious. This is the closer we get to
0:54
Speaker 2: the conclusion of the preseason. Started the regular season training
0:58
Speaker 2: camp well that the same. Vincent's part wrapped up today
1:01
Speaker 2: as well, So we're ever getting ever closer to the
1:05
Speaker 2: start of the regular season. So yeah, let's let's let's
1:07
Speaker 2: do it.
1:08
Speaker 1: We're gonna have a really interesting I guess a different
1:11
Speaker 1: guest this week day of which we'll talk about in
1:14
Speaker 1: a few moments, but it's great to see you as well.
1:16
Speaker 1: I'm you pumped for Week two.
1:18
Speaker 3: I am pumped to MC. I'm absolutely buzzing. You know
1:21
Speaker 3: the fact we get to watch that of course again
1:24
Speaker 3: this weekend. You know, first first year ever shown Steelers
1:28
Speaker 3: games NFL games in Ireland. It's brilliant to be able
1:31
Speaker 3: to get that sort of you know, first first round
1:33
Speaker 3: access if you like. And you know that the season
1:35
Speaker 3: isn't I know it's still preseason, but we have less
1:38
Speaker 3: than a month ago till we actually kick off the
1:40
Speaker 3: regular season. So I'm I'm kind of down to day
1:42
Speaker 3: is at this rate. And you know, as I say,
1:45
Speaker 3: I don't want to look too much into it. You know,
1:46
Speaker 3: the preseason it's it's of course it's important to get
1:48
Speaker 3: the midlets in the tank, but you know the main
1:50
Speaker 3: thing is that's and you know it's important to remember
1:53
Speaker 3: winning and losing business important now is as it is
1:55
Speaker 3: in a couple of weeks times. So yeah, I'm just
1:57
Speaker 3: I'm tambled at the bet to get the week one
1:59
Speaker 3: at this rate, but you know, I'm going to enjoy
2:00
Speaker 3: it while at last.
2:02
Speaker 1: It's going to fly in. It's going to get really
2:04
Speaker 1: really close now a couple of you know, a week
2:07
Speaker 1: or so off after that third preseason game, Jimmy, but
2:09
Speaker 1: coming into the second game, another game in orchestra, a
2:11
Speaker 1: game that people can watch in hour of this weekend
2:13
Speaker 1: Saturday night early Sunday morning midnight. Virgin Media too covered
2:18
Speaker 1: starts just a bit before, and it's great to see
2:20
Speaker 1: the Staters broadcasts and you can interact with them live
2:24
Speaker 1: as well. Jimmy, if you had to just before we
2:27
Speaker 1: got our guests on, if you had to give sort
2:28
Speaker 1: of one key or one thing that you'd like to
2:30
Speaker 1: see this weekend against this Bills team, what would it be.
2:33
Speaker 1: I wasn't not impressed with the Bills last week, so
2:35
Speaker 1: I think it's a really cool opportunity to see what
2:37
Speaker 1: the Staters team can do against them.
2:40
Speaker 2: I think I'd like to see more out of the starters,
2:43
Speaker 2: and you know, I think a lot of we saw
2:45
Speaker 2: a lot of backups on a lot of rookies last week,
2:47
Speaker 2: which is important for them to get the snaps. But
2:49
Speaker 2: I think I want to see more of how the
2:51
Speaker 2: actual team is going to take shape this week. And
2:54
Speaker 2: considering I think the Bills might be again arrival for
2:59
Speaker 2: us to overcome, and they typically had the better of
3:01
Speaker 2: us in years gone by, most recently the wildcard round
3:06
Speaker 2: in January. And so yeah, just I think generally, just
3:11
Speaker 2: you know, there were some solid performances last week from
3:13
Speaker 2: some of the backups and some of the rookies, but
3:15
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, definitely see how how our Steelers are
3:19
Speaker 2: shaping up for the season ahead.
3:22
Speaker 1: I want to see a bit of Justin Field's day
3:24
Speaker 1: of a bit a bit more Justin Fields in the
3:25
Speaker 1: mix to see what he has as well, and a
3:27
Speaker 1: heavy dose, a heavy portion of your guy, your favorite man,
3:32
Speaker 1: Nick Nick Herbig in this game. I just want to
3:34
Speaker 1: see you guys come out of the healthy. I want
3:36
Speaker 1: to have an enjoyable game, like for a preseason game.
3:38
Speaker 1: I'm just sort of you know, in terms of watching
3:41
Speaker 1: it late at night, I was happy it went to
3:42
Speaker 1: sort of the end of the game and it was
3:44
Speaker 1: enjoyable in that sense, albeit the result wasn't but good
3:47
Speaker 1: to get a bit of wraps out there. And I
3:48
Speaker 1: just want to see guys coming off the field day
3:50
Speaker 1: of healthy, happy. Going into the third week. We heard
3:54
Speaker 1: Arthur Smith on he was in Pop McAfee actually earlier
3:57
Speaker 1: today and he was talking about you know, just need
3:59
Speaker 1: just an need to keep building week on weeks. So
4:02
Speaker 1: it's going to be interesting to see what they can
4:03
Speaker 1: do against this Bills team.
4:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, just to to rader him with the point, Jimmy said,
4:08
Speaker 3: you know, they've had the batter of us in the
4:09
Speaker 3: past couple of years, particularly in the in the White
4:12
Speaker 3: Card round. I think we actually we do tend to
4:15
Speaker 3: play the Bills in preseason. I think we played them
4:16
Speaker 3: last year, I mean, came out with a win, put
4:19
Speaker 3: a lot of pressure on Josh Allen the first quarter
4:21
Speaker 3: for a member. But unfortunately they have a team that
4:24
Speaker 3: ended up ending our season last year. But just to
4:28
Speaker 3: reiterate everything, you know, Arthur Smith said as well on
4:31
Speaker 3: pack McAfee, the most important thing is keeping a conservative
4:34
Speaker 3: enough to that we don't sort of suffer any injuries.
4:37
Speaker 3: That's really the main thing coming out of preseason. I mean,
4:39
Speaker 3: the last thing you want just obviously looking back on
4:42
Speaker 3: the Vikings, I mean they have their season and that's already.
4:46
Speaker 3: I mean J J. McCarthy's out for the year, I
4:47
Speaker 3: think was it. Addison recently just been stretched off on
4:51
Speaker 3: the on the fin field as well. So the main
4:53
Speaker 3: thing is we get through these last couple of weeks.
4:55
Speaker 3: No injuries, of course, get the you know, the starters
4:58
Speaker 3: out there, hopefully, you know, for a few snop you know,
5:00
Speaker 3: on both on the offensive defans are side on the
5:02
Speaker 3: ball and obviously coming by wig one. If we're dealing
5:05
Speaker 3: with no major injuries, I'm happy. So what I want
5:07
Speaker 3: to see is, you know, a bit of a bit
5:10
Speaker 3: of pressure on on Josh Allen of course, but we'll
5:14
Speaker 3: see how it comes out on the other end. Well,
5:16
Speaker 3: hopefully obviously a win. It'd be nice to get a win,
5:20
Speaker 3: but it's way down the pack and order or what
5:22
Speaker 3: I want to say this week.
5:24
Speaker 1: Just before we get our guest on Jimmy, could see
5:26
Speaker 1: a shared practice this week between the Staters and the Bills.
5:30
Speaker 1: When when I was talking to Wolfy a few weeks ago,
5:32
Speaker 1: he was really looking forward to that. And look, look, look, look,
5:36
Speaker 1: it's it's a good opportunity to see what other guys
5:38
Speaker 1: in the same conference have to give. It's it's still
5:41
Speaker 1: early days, but it doesn't happen that much with the Staters,
5:44
Speaker 1: so definitely going to keep a close eye on it
5:46
Speaker 1: over the next few days.
5:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, as the old the old saying goes
5:51
Speaker 2: make iron sharpens iron and I think there's a it's
5:53
Speaker 2: a good opportunity for some of the top players in
5:55
Speaker 2: the league to to learn from each other kind of
5:59
Speaker 2: it creates our learning environment for practice as well. You
6:02
Speaker 2: know you're playing against you have new variables in the mix,
6:05
Speaker 2: and you have you know, different things going on there.
6:08
Speaker 2: So it's always beneficial. So it'll be interesting to see
6:12
Speaker 2: how that plays out and interesting to see what happens there.
6:16
Speaker 4: Ye.
6:17
Speaker 1: I love the optimism for you boys. I'm really excited
6:19
Speaker 1: for this game this weekend. The game against the Buffalo
6:22
Speaker 1: Bills is on Virgin Media Television. It's on Virgin Media
6:25
Speaker 1: too this weekend, and the Steelers will have all three
6:27
Speaker 1: games on Virgin Media TV along with the Mike Tomlin
6:30
Speaker 1: Show this year this entire season. The game is also
6:34
Speaker 1: on OTB Sports Radio as well. Looking forward to recapital
6:38
Speaker 1: all of Sunday Monday next week. We've got a really
6:40
Speaker 1: special guests this week. Different. We haven't got a player
6:42
Speaker 1: this week. We have a guy who is the play
6:45
Speaker 1: by play voice for the Pittsburgh Steelers none over, a
6:47
Speaker 1: guy you might actually hear on TV at the moment
6:50
Speaker 1: in Ireland. On Virgin Media. Rob King on the Irish
6:54
Speaker 1: Steers Podcast. Robert Versley Falsha, Welcome. How you doing?
6:59
Speaker 4: Also to you, well, I'm doing great, Thank you, thanks
7:02
Speaker 4: for having me. Delighted to be on. I love your
7:06
Speaker 4: country and we got a chance to know each other
7:07
Speaker 4: a little bit talking before this. I'm gonna enjoy talking
7:11
Speaker 4: to you guys as well. So thanks for having me
7:12
Speaker 4: on and.
7:13
Speaker 1: Obviously a big off season for you and getting the
7:18
Speaker 1: new job for you as the lead player by play announcer.
7:22
Speaker 1: We will talk about your predecessor, Bill in a few moments,
7:25
Speaker 1: but just for you, very very exciting. Obviously, you must
7:30
Speaker 1: have been very excited last week, just last week with
7:32
Speaker 1: the first preseason game to call like geam officially with
7:35
Speaker 1: the Taxans coming to Pittsburgh II, prior to you to
7:38
Speaker 1: have this role on a full time basis.
7:41
Speaker 4: Yeah, I am. That's a great word to use. Humbled
7:45
Speaker 4: is a great word to use, thrilled, excited. You know,
7:49
Speaker 4: the fact that Art Rooney and the Steelers have entrusted
7:54
Speaker 4: me with this position means a lot to me personally
7:56
Speaker 4: and professionally. It's something that I don't take lightly. I
8:00
Speaker 4: know that people in Pittsburgh and around the country and
8:03
Speaker 4: in Ireland and in Mexico and Germany and other places.
8:06
Speaker 4: It shows that great reach are listening and expecting me
8:10
Speaker 4: to do my part to bring the action to the fans.
8:13
Speaker 4: So it's a great responsibility that I take very seriously,
8:16
Speaker 4: and it's a great honor that I take very seriously
8:19
Speaker 4: as well.
8:20
Speaker 2: Honestly, rob is a big, big season ahead with the
8:23
Speaker 2: Steelers this year, with some of the players they brought
8:26
Speaker 2: in and changes they made to the coaching staff, a
8:29
Speaker 2: lot of the expectations and for Mike Thoman and his team.
8:32
Speaker 2: But what are some of the biggest areas of improvement
8:35
Speaker 2: that you're looking at to see specifically?
8:37
Speaker 4: I think there's a number of them. I think that
8:40
Speaker 4: I love the addition to Patrick Queen on defense. First
8:42
Speaker 4: of all, I think he's a great player. You know,
8:44
Speaker 4: they had some pretty good depth at linebacker last year,
8:47
Speaker 4: was decimated by injuries. I think Patrick Queen is an
8:50
Speaker 4: elite talent and that gives them elite talent, you know
8:54
Speaker 4: at the defensive line with Cam Hayward, and you know
8:58
Speaker 4: you're hoping that a young player like bent And is
9:00
Speaker 4: going to step forward. Elite players on the edge with TJ.
9:03
Speaker 4: Watt and high Smith, you had Minka Fitzpatrick and Joey
9:06
Speaker 4: Porter Junior on the back end. Now you get that
9:08
Speaker 4: elite player in the middle of the field. I think
9:10
Speaker 4: that's a huge addition for this team. I think the
9:12
Speaker 4: quarterback position has been upgraded. You know, when you think
9:14
Speaker 4: back to last season, they got solid quarterback play at
9:18
Speaker 4: the end of the year. Whether that was scheme related
9:20
Speaker 4: or quarterback related is a debate I can leave up
9:23
Speaker 4: to other people. But when they got good quarterback play,
9:26
Speaker 4: they won games down the stretch. So now they have
9:28
Speaker 4: a new offensive coordinator, they have a multi time Pro
9:32
Speaker 4: Bowler and Super Bowl winner in Russell Wilson at the
9:35
Speaker 4: helm for them at the quarterback position. So I think
9:38
Speaker 4: that those are the you know, there are other little
9:40
Speaker 4: areas around the team, but overview big picture, those are
9:43
Speaker 4: the ones that I think are the biggest improvement for
9:45
Speaker 4: the Steelers and the ones that are going to see
9:47
Speaker 4: sort of right away from week one.
9:49
Speaker 3: You know, Rob, I read somewhere that you fell in
9:52
Speaker 3: love with the city, you know, the moment you arrived
9:54
Speaker 3: in a stopover back in the year two that is,
9:56
Speaker 3: and can you just talk to some of the emotions
9:59
Speaker 3: you know that give out, you know when you first
10:01
Speaker 3: go ONLD in Pittsburgh, and you know, what was your
10:02
Speaker 3: first impressions of the place.
10:04
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think when you're old enough as
10:07
Speaker 4: I am to have seen Pittsburgh in the seventies and
10:11
Speaker 4: it was sort of the in a lot of ways.
10:13
Speaker 4: I think it was the emblem of some of the
10:15
Speaker 4: financial problems that America was having in those days. And
10:19
Speaker 4: you know, then you come and you see what an
10:21
Speaker 4: absolutely beautiful city it is. It's nothing like what you
10:26
Speaker 4: remember from seeing the pictures in the seventies and the
10:28
Speaker 4: steel workers on strike and the and the smog and
10:32
Speaker 4: all the other things. It's it's it's an incredible place.
10:35
Speaker 4: And the people who have their background in that, in
10:38
Speaker 4: the steel mills, in the hard work. This is a
10:41
Speaker 4: hard working and proud city and the people have that
10:46
Speaker 4: in the right ways. I could go on and on
10:48
Speaker 4: about the people. I think the people here are phenomenal.
10:52
Speaker 4: You know, you go to some places, I'm gonna say this,
10:56
Speaker 4: you go to Ireland, and the Irish are marvelous people.
10:59
Speaker 4: I mean, you love the Irish people. That's the way
11:02
Speaker 4: I felt about Pittsburgh. The people are what make it
11:04
Speaker 4: so great, and they love, absolutely love the Steelers and
11:08
Speaker 4: they love sports. That's where I come from too. I
11:11
Speaker 4: love sports. We were talking about Irish Rulves football. Gah
11:14
Speaker 4: before you guys have got to take me to a
11:16
Speaker 4: match when I get over there, I'm dying to see
11:18
Speaker 4: one in person. So for all those reasons, and I
11:22
Speaker 4: love football, and football here is it's pee wee, it's
11:26
Speaker 4: high school, it's college, it's the pros, it's everything. And
11:33
Speaker 4: that resonates with me as well.
11:35
Speaker 1: Sort of focusing on your play with that lea second.
11:38
Speaker 1: Obviously you're not in this job in a new role,
11:41
Speaker 1: and we wish you'd a very, very beast look of it.
11:43
Speaker 1: Looking on Bill Hilbrough, who announce his retirement OP for
11:48
Speaker 1: thirty years just a few months ago, what impact does
11:52
Speaker 1: he hot on your career in Pittsburgh.
11:53
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, I asked Bill when he retired
11:56
Speaker 4: to leave me his voice, because he's got the greatest
11:58
Speaker 4: voice in broadcasting I've ever heard. Unfortunately, he's still using
12:01
Speaker 4: that voice. He's calling some fit games. Bill. He's a
12:04
Speaker 4: great guy and he's just got that beautiful, rich, wonderful
12:11
Speaker 4: voice that makes you think of Steelers and Sundays. And
12:14
Speaker 4: so when you're stepping into that sort of position. You're
12:20
Speaker 4: following him. You're not replacing him. He's a legend. You're
12:23
Speaker 4: following him. And when you take a position with the Steelers,
12:28
Speaker 4: you know, Bill Hillgrove had to follow Jack Fleming, and
12:30
Speaker 4: so I'm hoping that I can follow Bill Hillgrove and
12:34
Speaker 4: have a shred of the success that he's had, because
12:36
Speaker 4: he's had tremendous success over his thirty years. But you
12:39
Speaker 4: can't think of it in terms of replacing somebody like
12:42
Speaker 4: that who's a legend. You just have to go in
12:44
Speaker 4: and do it the best way that you can do it.
12:46
Speaker 4: And that's what I hope to and what I plan
12:48
Speaker 4: to do.
12:49
Speaker 2: Wellby've honestly, you know, you've been involved in Steeters media
12:52
Speaker 2: for a very very long time now and you're doing
12:57
Speaker 2: great work and this role will take it to kind
12:59
Speaker 2: of new heights there much from all the years you've
13:01
Speaker 2: been involved with Steeters media. What are some of your
13:04
Speaker 2: you know, favorite Steeters memories or are there any games
13:08
Speaker 2: or moments you witnessed that Stanety was being truly special
13:12
Speaker 2: or your kind of your your favorite Staters kind of events.
13:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, you know, for me, it's hard to
13:19
Speaker 4: top being at the Super Bowl in Detroit, and you
13:23
Speaker 4: know they don't they They have so much media there
13:27
Speaker 4: that most of the media sits out in the stands.
13:30
Speaker 4: And Willie Parker on that seventy five yard run ran
13:33
Speaker 4: right at me. It was great, and that was a
13:36
Speaker 4: It's hard to beat winning a Super Bowl. But then
13:39
Speaker 4: when you think about all the great players, when you
13:43
Speaker 4: think about Renegade playing and the towels swirling and a
13:47
Speaker 4: big defensive sack coming, and you think of Jerome Bettis
13:51
Speaker 4: on third and two picking up three yards and powering,
13:55
Speaker 4: and you think of the great plays by Ben Roethlisberger,
13:58
Speaker 4: Troy Polamalo, that hair flowing and coming up and making
14:01
Speaker 4: a great play. I mean, there's just so many I
14:04
Speaker 4: think that the Super Bowl is hard to beat, but
14:06
Speaker 4: there are so many moments. And when you have an
14:09
Speaker 4: organization this rich in history and the great players that
14:13
Speaker 4: you have, and they're singular players. You know, Ben Roethlisberger
14:16
Speaker 4: standing in the pocket and shrugging off tacklers and making
14:21
Speaker 4: a playdown the field. Nobody did that but Ben Roethlisberger.
14:24
Speaker 4: Nobody did anything like Troy Polamalo, Nobody blocked like hinz Ward,
14:30
Speaker 4: nobody brought the fear like all these outside linebackers, TJ. Watt,
14:35
Speaker 4: you know, Joey Porter, James Harrison, all those things. It's
14:40
Speaker 4: hard to pull one piece of thread out of the
14:42
Speaker 4: out of the quilt that's been Steelers football for so
14:45
Speaker 4: many years. So yes, the super Bowl, but all those
14:48
Speaker 4: other moments are embedded in my mind as well.
14:51
Speaker 3: And not to sort of harsey back off of Jimmy's question,
14:54
Speaker 3: but we've had Craig Wolfley on the show a couple
14:56
Speaker 3: of times, and he's provided us for some amazing stories,
14:59
Speaker 3: you know, from his plan days on on screen, as
15:01
Speaker 3: you know, as a staterer's analysis, can you just share
15:04
Speaker 3: of us, Rob, some of the you know, your best
15:06
Speaker 3: moments and experiences you've had behind the scenes, you know,
15:08
Speaker 3: working with other staters ageands. Because Wolfe was a character
15:11
Speaker 3: of course, as you know.
15:13
Speaker 4: Wolfe's the best. So wolf and I did ten years
15:16
Speaker 4: or thereabouts of high school football games together and he
15:19
Speaker 4: was the guy you're seeing that's him. I mean when
15:23
Speaker 4: he everybody, we had a great crew and everybody got
15:26
Speaker 4: along and everybody it was a great friendly atmosphere with
15:30
Speaker 4: which to work. And then Craig Wolfe we would come
15:32
Speaker 4: in and he would just take everything up like four
15:35
Speaker 4: notches with his unbelievable energy and enthusiasm. He is just
15:41
Speaker 4: a wonderful guy. I feel very blessed that I've been
15:45
Speaker 4: able to to work with wolf in the past, and
15:49
Speaker 4: it's going to make it's gonna make it easy. I
15:52
Speaker 4: think moving forward with Craig Wolfe was easier because he's
15:55
Speaker 4: such a wonderful guy and we have a great relationship
15:58
Speaker 4: and a great friendship away from broadcasting. I think that
16:03
Speaker 4: just out of left field. I remember being at a
16:06
Speaker 4: Greek festival, Greek food festival here in Pittsburgh. It's a
16:09
Speaker 4: huge festival and they have thousands and thousands of people,
16:12
Speaker 4: and my sister was in town visiting, and she said, wait,
16:17
Speaker 4: that guy flipping French fries looks an awful lot like
16:22
Speaker 4: Troy pola Malo. And I said, Sue, I'm sure it's
16:26
Speaker 4: not Troy Polamalo. And I turned around and it was
16:29
Speaker 4: Troy Polamalo flipping French fries, making French fries for the
16:32
Speaker 4: thousands of people that were there. He had a guy
16:35
Speaker 4: who wound up being is a very good friend of mine,
16:38
Speaker 4: guy by the name of Greg Morrisy, and he and
16:40
Speaker 4: Troy Polamalu Greg went to the Greek Church, as did Troy,
16:43
Speaker 4: and that was their job they made French fries for
16:46
Speaker 4: And so you know, you see these people and you
16:49
Speaker 4: see him around town. Pittsburgh's a small place, you know,
16:52
Speaker 4: I've you've seen guys at the grocery store or at
16:55
Speaker 4: the corner market, and you know, you let them be
16:58
Speaker 4: and you let them have their their peace there and
17:00
Speaker 4: their place. But Troy Paula making French fries, which is
17:04
Speaker 4: just that's that's Troy paulamal unprepossessing, just a really terrific
17:10
Speaker 4: human being. So that one sticks out for me, but
17:13
Speaker 4: Walt's another one. Just having that relationship with him has
17:16
Speaker 4: been really really great.
17:17
Speaker 1: It's really weird because you've had such a distinguished career
17:21
Speaker 1: in so many different aspects nonyms over the last twenty
17:24
Speaker 1: thirty years, but you graduated from a high school in
17:27
Speaker 1: Cooper's town. For people that are in Ireland especially, listen
17:30
Speaker 1: to that goal. What was he talking about? Well to
17:32
Speaker 1: use what Dev said, I'm going to horse you on
17:35
Speaker 1: that and say that's where the National Baseball Hall of
17:38
Speaker 1: Fame is And that's like you you really have been
17:41
Speaker 1: sort of synonymous with sport, even in your younger days,
17:44
Speaker 1: and it seems to be really connected to your journey,
17:46
Speaker 1: like that's was it always something that sort of was
17:50
Speaker 1: a playing from the early days and something something that
17:53
Speaker 1: you always wanted to get into.
17:54
Speaker 4: Oh well, I mean what really started was a love
17:58
Speaker 4: of sports. I mean I always, uh I played sports.
18:03
Speaker 4: I played small college football, which is you know, way
18:06
Speaker 4: down on the on on a totem pole. Nothing nothing
18:09
Speaker 4: compared to what the Steelers have done. But I've just
18:11
Speaker 4: loved the game. You know, I played pick up basketball
18:15
Speaker 4: for years. About the only sport I play anymore is golf.
18:19
Speaker 4: I take it. I take every sport I've ever played
18:21
Speaker 4: way too seriously, much to the annoyance of probably people
18:25
Speaker 4: that I'm playing with or against. But I've always loved sports,
18:29
Speaker 4: uh And and that's what got me into broadcasting, was
18:33
Speaker 4: how can I continue to be around something that I
18:36
Speaker 4: love so much? It's it's my passion. I mean, I love,
18:39
Speaker 4: like I said, if I'm not if I'm not covering
18:42
Speaker 4: a game, I'm watching it or you know better yet,
18:45
Speaker 4: I'm playing it. And so you know that's it's I've
18:49
Speaker 4: come by it naturally, and that's what's driven me into it.
18:52
Speaker 4: And then, uh, you know, I wasn't. I didn't go
18:54
Speaker 4: to school for that. I majored in English literature, which
18:57
Speaker 4: is a fancy way of saying I sort of majored
18:59
Speaker 4: in reading and UH and and so I just I
19:03
Speaker 4: was lucky enough to fall into UH, a job an
19:07
Speaker 4: occupation that allowed me to continue my lifelong love affair
19:11
Speaker 4: with sports. So yeah, it started at a young age. Cooper,
19:14
Speaker 4: sounds a wonderful place to grow up. I still want
19:17
Speaker 4: to get to UH. I want to get to a
19:19
Speaker 4: hurling game where they run around and play baseball at
19:22
Speaker 4: full speed and then run into each other. I think
19:25
Speaker 4: that's my sort of UH. When I think of hurling,
19:28
Speaker 4: I think there's another sport. You guys you got to
19:30
Speaker 4: take me to. So the football and the hurling over
19:32
Speaker 4: when I come to Ireland, you guys gonna take me out.
19:34
Speaker 1: To these games, Jimmy, I think, yeah, absolutely.
19:39
Speaker 2: You probably saw the madness Rob. The was the the
19:43
Speaker 2: All Ireland Hurling Final there back in back in late July,
19:47
Speaker 2: and it'll go Dan, certainly go. Dan is one of
19:49
Speaker 2: the greatest All Ireland Herling finals of all time. You
19:53
Speaker 2: know we were talking before we came on, Rob about
19:55
Speaker 2: your trips to Ireland and your desire to witness gated games,
19:58
Speaker 2: and you might get your wish sooner than you think,
20:01
Speaker 2: because if you were listening to the or watching the
20:04
Speaker 2: Steters preseason game with the Texans last weekend at Rooney
20:09
Speaker 2: and did a potential game in Ireland, I'd love to
20:12
Speaker 2: get your thoughts on us.
20:13
Speaker 4: I would love to come over and be part of it.
20:15
Speaker 4: It would be fabulous. Yeah, I've been to the I've
20:18
Speaker 4: been to the country on a couple of occasions. Love it,
20:22
Speaker 4: love the people, love everything about it. We were talking
20:25
Speaker 4: about New Grange before been there, have been you know,
20:27
Speaker 4: spent uh a couple of rounds on the golf courses.
20:31
Speaker 4: That's something I have to rectify more golf, I think, Uh,
20:34
Speaker 4: I need to have a sporting vacation where you guys
20:36
Speaker 4: take me to Earling and the and the Gaelic football
20:38
Speaker 4: and some golf courses. But coming over there to to
20:42
Speaker 4: do a football game would be a tremendous thrill. I'm
20:45
Speaker 4: sure the crowd would be into it and waving the
20:48
Speaker 4: terrible towels, but I do hope it happens. I'd love
20:51
Speaker 4: to be over there for it.
20:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, would would be more than welcome, welcome in
20:56
Speaker 3: for your South for all to come over as well,
20:58
Speaker 3: and you know, obviously we've got the Ash opening run
21:00
Speaker 3: kindy down in September as well. You know, a lot
21:02
Speaker 3: of grift got golf getaways and stuff. So yeah, looking
21:05
Speaker 3: forward to that. But just a final question from me,
21:07
Speaker 3: and realistically, you know, heading into this season, you know
21:10
Speaker 3: there's a lot of good teams in the league nowadays.
21:12
Speaker 3: Of course when you look at the top of the
21:15
Speaker 3: AFC particular, you know our division as well as probably
21:17
Speaker 3: the toughest in the entire league. Realistically, what do you
21:20
Speaker 3: think what's your expectations for the twenty twenty four Pats
21:23
Speaker 3: Bricks Tailors. Where do you think this team can go,
21:25
Speaker 3: you know, throughout the season.
21:27
Speaker 4: That's a great question, and I do think it's you know,
21:30
Speaker 4: it's a it's a very very difficult schedule. Many have
21:33
Speaker 4: rated it as the most difficult schedule in the NFL.
21:36
Speaker 4: I think it's going to start with the top game.
21:38
Speaker 4: I think get landa right out of the shoot. That's
21:40
Speaker 4: going to be a tough game. You know, they've added
21:42
Speaker 4: a veteran quarterback, they have a terrific offensive line, they've
21:46
Speaker 4: got some playmakers. They really needed that quarterback and they
21:49
Speaker 4: got one with Kirk Cousins, So right from the beginning,
21:51
Speaker 4: it's going to start a lot of games on the
21:53
Speaker 4: road in September, three out of four, and then the
21:55
Speaker 4: brutal schedule after the bye. But I think the expectations
21:59
Speaker 4: for this two are always to compete for a championship.
22:02
Speaker 4: And yes, the AFC is very, very tough, and yes
22:06
Speaker 4: it is a very difficult division top to bottom. I
22:08
Speaker 4: don't think there's any question that it's the toughest division
22:12
Speaker 4: in the NFL. But I also think this toothers have
22:14
Speaker 4: made improvement. You know, people seem to sort of gloss
22:17
Speaker 4: over the fact that this team made the playoffs and
22:20
Speaker 4: they did it with a very banged up roster that
22:23
Speaker 4: Mike Tomlin guided into the playoffs. You know, a lot
22:26
Speaker 4: of the guys that took the field in Buffalo aren't
22:29
Speaker 4: on this team. Some of them aren't even in the
22:31
Speaker 4: NFL right now. So it was a marvelous job to
22:34
Speaker 4: get them there. And now you've added a quarterback that
22:37
Speaker 4: I think eventually is going to be in the Hall
22:39
Speaker 4: of Fame in Canton, and you've added a new look
22:41
Speaker 4: on offense and the new offensive coordinator. You've added some
22:44
Speaker 4: very good players we mentioned Patrick Queen others. I think
22:47
Speaker 4: they've shored up most of the weaknesses on this team. Yes,
22:51
Speaker 4: the schedule is brutal, but I expect this team to
22:54
Speaker 4: be in contention all year long.
22:56
Speaker 1: That's what I think. That's what a lot of stats
22:57
Speaker 1: fans are going to want to hear, and it's music
23:00
Speaker 1: through ears and look, Rob, we want to just wish
23:03
Speaker 1: you the very very best look over the next few
23:04
Speaker 1: weeks and obviously the whole season. It's great that we're
23:07
Speaker 1: going to have the opportunity to hear your voice on
23:09
Speaker 1: the airway, if not only for the Steelers broadcast, but
23:13
Speaker 1: also here in Ireland over the next few weeks. So
23:15
Speaker 1: we want to thank you for coming on the podcast.
23:18
Speaker 1: With no doubt that we'll see you at some point
23:19
Speaker 1: that will definitely take you to a hurling game or
23:21
Speaker 1: a golf course over here. But for now, thank you
23:24
Speaker 1: very much, Form and Margat and we will chat to
23:26
Speaker 1: you soon.
23:27
Speaker 4: Thanks guys, you really appreciate your having me on.
23:29
Speaker 1: Just a reminder for this weekend, the Steelers game against
23:31
Speaker 1: the Buffalo Bills is on Virgin Media Television and on
23:35
Speaker 1: OTV Sports Radio, where you'll be able to hear Bob
23:36
Speaker 1: as well. Thank you,