Russell Wilson Shines In Steelers Debut

Chris: Absolutely. We are live. This is the sports sports black and gold edition. We are live right now, all over the world on Facebook, on LinkedIn, on YouTube, on X and on the gram. As always, we're also going to drop the podcast right after the show on the I heart radio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcast. That's right. Welcome to the show, boys and girls. We are in the studio in Pittsburgh. To my right is the Grand Schwabini. He looks like he's up there on your screen if you're watching live. Right across from me in the studio is Hockey Jesus. I am your technical director, and boy, do we have a hell of a show for you tonight. The Grand Schwabini uh last week had a visitor his father neil was in town yes that's always a good time it sure is um and i'm sure there's plenty of good stories we haven't heard any yet maybe for another time yeah come on mark he's always here we're fam it's like we're family here come on you give us one neil just one little nugget one neil you mean you think our fans don't want to hear about russell wilson

Marc: Of course they do.

Steve: Well, they will, but you know, they're more interested in your family life.

Chris: But we want to hear about Neil. We want to know what Neil had to say about the food at Monterey Bay.

Marc: I think he found it to be enjoyable. There you go. Monterey Bay, still the best view of the city in the city.

Steve: It is true. Yeah, it absolutely is true.

Chris: Yeah. Anything else?

Marc: No.

Chris: Oh, that means there's some good stories coming after the show. Okay, guys, you all know what we do. If you're watching us on Instagram, thanks for being here. If you're watching us on any of the other platforms, thanks for being here. Please subscribe to the podcast. As I said earlier, I heart radio, anywhere you get your podcasts. And of course you can follow us on YouTube, um, at the sports porch podcast. We're going to start right away with what's on everybody's mind right now. And that is the Pittsburgh Steelers. Here we go. Russell Wilson beats the jets. We do this every week. Good, bad and ugly. I watched the game on tape delay, so I watched it today. So it's fresh. It is fresh. We're going to do, you know, we're going to do good. We're going to do bad. We're going to do ugly. I'm finding it hard to see a whole lot of anything but good here. That's just where I'm starting from. Oh, don't worry. I got bad for you. I know. I know. I know.

Steve: The ugly is going to be the best.

Chris: Now, here's this is a great one. Brilliant realness on Instagram. I can't put this comment up because of the way this software shit works. But I love the fact that you're back. Brilliant. He says, and he's taking a stab at me. Yeah. Still want to get, still want to get rid of Pickens guys. Excellent. Excellent call there. I have been very critical of George Pickens. Absolutely. And we will get to that and I will own up to it. So WAC 79 is already commenting. Russ will be our QB number one for this season and Justin Fields will be for next season on. We're obviously going to talk about that. No, we're not going to talk about next season. Well, we're going to talk about the quarterbacks. Larry Lang says, fun game last night. Bishop is a beast. Now, not really. He's more like a midget. He's a beanie. Anyway, so we're going to get to it. Drop your comments on the gram. Drop your comments on Facebook, on Instagram. We can't see your Twitter comments. Sorry about that. We're working on some news platforms here, but I'm going to start off with the good. The good, the first good to me was the defense. I mean, I think the defense played. fantastically. You had Alex Highsmith back. T.J. Watt's name wasn't called a whole lot, but they didn't need to know. You had this tiny little guy named Beanie Bishop who kind of reminded me. Now, you guys are going to laugh beans just in size wise of Daryl Green. You know, Daryl Green was a really small guy. Oh, yeah, he was really small. What did you say? Oh, please, please. Here's the Washington Red Hall of Fame.

Marc: Yeah.

Chris: No, I don't think Beanie Bishop is going to be in the Hall of Fame at all. And Rob Rubenstein, who's watching us, he's on our Philadelphia show, Pickens Catch of the Year. Yeah, we're going to get to that, Rube. I also want to drop this comment. If you don't want to watch us, but you want to catch us live every Monday night, you can listen on Radio PGH. That's our internet radio station here in Pittsburgh. And I dropped the link to the stream. Save that stream bookmark it you can listen to us anytime. So the good for me was the defense really? Played well, I think I think they played really well. I know Brees Hall. I'd like to see Brees Hall in a Steelers uniform

Steve: Oh man, that guy is unbelievable.

Chris: Yeah. He's exactly what they need. Uh, the defense played great. Russell Wilson after, I wouldn't call it a shaky start, but a little bit of a tentative start. Um, they opened up the offense for him and he showed why he's Russell Wilson. He passed for 264 yards. Um, he didn't have to rush, but he had a pocket presence. So I'm going to keep it simple. The quarterback play, The wide receiver play for those of you who are on me about what I said about George Pickens. Yes, you were right. Schwaber made a great call. We had Pickens on our fantasy team, and I said, you want to go with Jameson Williams this week? He said, look, Pickens is going to have a big game. Jameson Williams had one point. He did have one point. And you were right, Schwaber. Owner needs to stay in the box.

Marc: Let the GM do the work.

Chris: So quarterback play, special teams play. Yeah. Outstanding. Outstanding. And people have been critical of Danny Smith in the past. Um, so for my, for me, um, you know, and Debra's on, she says, I thought they did great. Uh, that, that was the good Schwaber. Good for you.

Marc: Good for you. Well, the good is obvious. And for me, I've been saying it all along that Russell Wilson is your QB one. He's a real quarterback. Yeah. I'm not saying that Justin Field doesn't have some potential. He does. He has potential. But the way he was playing Even though he did a nice job and was pretty much mistake free, he wasn't good enough. He wasn't good enough to win a playoff game. And that's why Tom won made the move and got a lot of criticism for it, but I felt it was the right move. And I think you saw last night why it was the right move. So for me, it was Russell Wilson. was really number one, number two, and number three of the good. Okay? Okay.

Steve: Yeah, I'm jumping on that bandwagon 100% because I'm going to go with the Russell Wilson, George Pickens connection. because I thought that was the difference maker in the game. I recognized that I was wrong about Beanie Bishop not being able to cover, although one of those, the guy was open and just went off his hands into Beanie Bishop's hands. So I'm not really giving him credit for that one, but he did have a really nice return on that second interception and it did spark the offense. The first one was a great interception. Yeah. And I think, but I think that long pass, Russell was was you know, he was struggling. I thought they came out and did well I was surprised that he actually came out and they kicked that field goal early and But the next two series he looked awful and then he hit that long pass the pickings and it was like he just calmed Right now. Yeah, it's like oh I remember how to do this now and And from that point on, there was just no stopping those two. I mean, I think they could have done it all night long, to be honest with you. But I was happy that Russell decided to throw to other receivers too. touchdown. I mean, that's, that's, that's what great quarterbacks do. They make the other receivers better. And I think that's, that's the, the best takeaway for the Steelers is that not only does Russell throw a really tight spiral, he, he really zings that ball, but he also has that touch pass that he can, he can lay it in there on that deep ball. So, um, good for the, good for, good for Tomlin. You know, we're, we're pretty critical of Tomlin here, but good for Tomlin for making the hard choice. He did take a little bit of a hard knocks for it. But we'll get to that in the bad and the ugly.

Chris: So OC on Instagram is back with us. Thanks OC for being here. Did Wilson always throw those lobs? Yes, that was part of his game. I call that touch. And that's one thing that Justin Fields does not have yet. Maybe he'll never have it, but you could see, and I really enjoyed them trying to get Darnell Washington into the game more. The first catch. I was, I was. It just, it got me, it got me going to see him, that big man running down the field with the ball. But the bad, in my bad part, I might get there on that note. Brilliant Realness says, I want to note, first play of the game, Russ started making checks, didn't need to see any more. Right on. There you go. So that's what an experienced quarterback brings.

Steve: It makes it easier to run the offense when you're running a play that's guaranteed to work better than the play that was actually called. Right.

Chris: Right.

Steve: And that's what NFL quarterbacks are supposed to do. Yeah.

Chris: And I think now we have one. I think I think Russ is and I look you guys have been on this bandwagon for a little while. Russell Wilson should be the starter. I was on that bandwagon when they got Russell Wilson. It was just that when they went to Justin Fields because he was injured and they were four and two, I was more inclined to be like, I think you stay with Fields anyway. But hey, look. You were wrong. You'll admit it. I was wrong. Absolutely. I'll admit it because you're going to make me.

Steve: Let's get to the bad. Let's get to the bad. All right. So the bad was the technical director made a bad choice.

Chris: The did, did, uh, this never ends guys. Did, did, uh, do you guys out there watching and listening, do you have anything bad that you want to talk about? Um, as far as I'm concerned, the, the bad was in the beginning was the running game. And once again, nausea, here's the one thing now nausea ended up having a good game. I just had a couple of good weeks. He has, he, he ended up over a hundred yards rushing. He scored a touchdown, a garbage touchdown, but he scored a touchdown. I was actually happy to see him go into the end zone instead of having class and stopping because I was kind of like, just, you know, punch it home when the game. So what I don't like about nausea is running that I still don't like. And I think is going to end up getting him hurt. is why does he always have to jump up in the air especially the one that was like right into the line yeah like what are you trying to accomplish i know okay so your bad is jumping nine well my my bad is that i feel like i feel like the game plan was really well thought out you could see this game plan develop because they have Russell Wilson as a quarterback who understands how to run an offense and how to check at the line of scrimmage. So I thought the game plan was really good. I thought if Najee was a better running back that they would have, he would have gotten more yards in the first half than he did, given the amount of times they ran the ball. That being said, you can't argue with a 37 to 15 victory. It was basically after that first quarter after, well, it was really after about two minute warning and the Steelers turned it around. Yeah. All of a sudden now it's a dominating game. So that a little bit, I honestly other than that. I I can't think of any real bad.

Marc: I think the bad was pretty pretty easy And it kind of goes against what one of your goods is It was the first half defense Now defense was very good in the second half.

Chris: They only gave up 15 points. It wasn't that bad. That's bad.

Marc: If you do that for two quarter, if for a full game, that's 30. Well, true, true. Yeah, that was bad. I mean, they're basically, you know, the Jets were moving the ball at will up and down the field on them and they had a 15 to six lead. And if Rogers didn't get sloppy, They could have potentially went into the half at 15-6, and it might have been a different ballgame. So, you know, I think that fortunately, fortunately in this game, the defense did make a play which sparked the offense. And, you know, complimentary football prevailed for an excellent game from the two-minute warning on throughout the rest of the game. But I felt that their defense was playing pretty poorly in the first half. OK.

Steve: Bad. So the bad, they always get off to a slow start. I just don't understand how this team can come out of the tunnel. get all excited about being on the field and then suddenly forget to play football for the first 15 minutes of the football game. Right. It's like, what the hell, guys? Like, do they do it on purpose? Like, go ahead and just go ahead and do whatever you want to do and then we'll stop it. Like, maybe that's their strategy. I don't really know. But To me, that's the bad, that coupled with, I still think they need to work on their red zone offense. It's just not creative enough. The one play that the Jets ran to get into the end zone, that was a brilliant play. That was a really smart play. And the Steelers just refused to run play action on first and goal at the three. They always run it and they always get stopped. It's like, maybe they're setting something up for later. So I would say those are the two bads, but like you said, it's, it didn't hurt them this time. It's going to hurt them one of these, one of these times against a really good defensive team.

Chris: So, so talking about the defense here, brilliant on Instagram says Patrick Queen is overpaid. I generally try to stay positive, but Landon Roberts is our best inside linebacker. I don't know about that.

Steve: I, I don't, I don't agree that he's the best. I think they both need to play. I agree that Patrick queen has been disappointing, especially, I mean, let's face it. Breeze Hall is a tough guy to tackle in the open field like that. You can't be 15 yards away from him though, because then you got to run real fast to catch him. Yeah. Breeze Hall is going to juke you every time and leave you in the dust. He's definitely talented. And so, I mean, it's hard to, he's right that Patrick queen has been disappointing.

Chris: Um, soul waxes, nausea, always trying the impossible. He's a workhorse. Yes, he's a workhorse and he doesn't quit. I'll give him that. And if our line plays well, uh, you know, another, another positive was that line.

Steve: I mean, we almost went there. I almost went to the offensive line backups.

Marc: They played great. And how about my call before the season that the surprise draft pick that was going to make an impact was Mason McCormick. Yeah. Yeah. Have you heard one bad thing about Mason McCormick?

Steve: Not yet. I've heard nothing but good things.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. Just despite you, I might just say some things bad about him. And then that's not true.

Marc: Your voice doesn't matter. That's true.

Steve: Honestly, it's it's easy. It's it's easier to be surprised when you're like the backup, right? You're supposed to come in and get run over by the defensive tackle. When you don't get run over, then suddenly you're good.

Chris: Yeah, I mean, I think the bigger take out of this is over the last couple years with all of the issues with the offensive line on the Steelers, and then you have a new regime come in with Khan and then Weidel helping in the draft, and he helped to put Philadelphia's legendary lines together. Now they've gone through kind of a cycle of draft picks and kind of mixing and matching, and they've had the typical injuries in the NFL. And what you're seeing is it's not just the guys that are the starters. You have to think of who's backing them up and where they fit and how they fit into that line and how they play. So they've done a fantastic job this past year, especially of bringing some guys in who you knew were going to be backups, but look how quickly they had to step up. And so far they're not playing terribly. They're playing pretty good. uh brilliant realness love the show guys gotta run keep it coming brilliant go to uh iheart radio spotify subscribe to the podcast you can listen to the rest of it um okay so any any ugly yeah any any any ugly ugly for me um my take on george pickens the last two weeks I mean, if I'm going to be honest, I mean, literally I called him a loser. I called him a, you know, I mean, he showed up. You're ugly. That's thank you. That's it. I agree wholeheartedly.

Marc: You weren't wrong though. I know. I mean, Pickens is Jekyll and Hyde. True. Now we're hoping that with a real quarterback, we're going to see consistent good play from him. Right. And I believe that will happen, but you're not wrong. I mean, he does, create unnecessary scenes and is very selfish at times. But we didn't see that this week, and I think part of it was because he was thrilled that he had a real quarterback thrown to him.

Chris: That's true. And I think you're right. And going back to Rube's comment, catch of the year, yes, so far. I mean, that catch, that one-handed catch, it just popped right in there, holding onto that ball. That was a fantastic catch. Now, we do have a friend who's back. Pat off track. Pat. Russell is probably good at cornhole. Once again, Pat's off track.

Marc: Not really sure where that comes in.

Chris: Yeah, he's probably talking about lob and the ball. That's what I'm guessing. Pat off track. Jeff, my buddy from York, he says Jones had a so-so game, gave up at least one sack, should be better at this point. Right guard and center had a good game. Now, Jeff was an offensive lineman and played offensive line in high school football when our football team at York Suburban was like trying to get good, was good. So he's got this idea. He's got that line offensive line. Yeah. He's going to be critiquing them more than anybody else.

Steve: And the counselor would go, would have a good conversation about the offensive line. There you go. There you go. I want to hear Schwab beanies ugly.

Marc: Yeah. Well, I could do one of two for the ugly and I do too then I think, but I don't want to steal one of Europe.

Steve: That's okay.

Marc: I got two. Okay. So one ugly I'm going to say is, I think it's freaking annoying and stupid that what the national TV does is they spend the entire game focused on Justin Fields every single time Russell Wilson does something good or bad.

Chris: True. They show a picture of field day.

Marc: It's like, why do we have to do that? Like, you know, the poor guy, you know, gave his heart and soul to the team, did a good job, and is being a very good soldier about it. I thought what he said was great, which was, you know, you know, if I played better, there wouldn't be a conversation. Yeah.

Chris: And I got something to say about that later.

Marc: And so, you know, we don't need to look at him, you know, feeling sort of miserable when his backup is, you know, shining.

Steve: So, well, the the original starter, right.

Marc: That's that's one. And then number two, I was saying to Steve, you know, prior to the show, You know, Steelers fans are no different than Philadelphia fans. Uh, I think there's going to be some people that take issue with that, but it took like zero time at all. But when Russell Wilson was playing poorly in the first and the second quarter, you already heard the boo birds. True. You already heard people saying, get them out of there. Get Justin Fields back in. you know, give him a fricking half. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, it's ridiculous.

Chris: I agree. He hadn't played since December 23rd of last year. So there's definitely going to be some rust, but you're right. They were out.

Steve: So I got the, I got the grand squad beanies back on this one because I agree that was definitely one of my uglies and I was at the game last night. So I was up in the nosebleeds with all the yinzers monks, my people, I'm not kidding you after they kicked that field goal and Then the you know Jets went down and then it's like, okay. We just want to see a nice long drive here I think they stopped the Jets the first time they had the ball and It was like three and out And then it was like, you can hear the grumblings. And I've been in stadiums where I've heard grumblings and I know what that means. Okay. We're going to let you have that series, but we don't really like what just happened. And then in the next one, where he threw that ball backwards, I'm not kidding you. I heard, I heard chance, chance in the stands. We want Justin. We want Justin. We want Justin. And I'm like, where the hell am I Cleveland? Like you want to get rid of him. And like, I'm, you know, I was with the counselor, Scott and I were there. Yeah. Thanks for the ticket, Scott. We had a blast. And, um, I've got a lot of stories about the game, so I'll, I'll, I'll make this a little bit short, but we just looked at each other and we're like, what is wrong with these people? And then once, once Russ started the going, you should have heard the chance, like, Yeah. Way to go Russ. Yeah. You're great. And it's just like, it's like crazy. Like these fans went from, from literally wanting to pull him out of the game saying how terrible he was in Denver. And we got this quarterback that can't throw the ball now. And he's passed his prime to we're going, he's, he's the next Patrick Mahomes for the Steelers.

Chris: His quarterback rating in Denver last year, over 15 games was over 90. So I mean, so he did not have a bad year last year.

Steve: The Steelers fans were absolutely ugly. 100% ugly. And I hate to say that because I was there, but they were ugly last night. The other ugly was 100%. What the hell is that leveraging call? What the hell was that? Yeah, that was a bad, bad call. Like, how can the referees not get this right? Like, he jumped, like, there was, it's not like he jumped over somebody and it looked like he climbed on somebody. There was the world's biggest hole there he jumped through to block it.

Chris: Well, you weren't watching it on television and they agreed with you on TV. Gene Sterritore said, the essence of the rule is using your hands or anything to kind of propel yourself. And he said, Minka's hand, and you could see it, touched TJ's helmet. But he said, to me, that was, that was just a touch. You're allowed to touch. You're just not allowed to get leverage. Absolutely. It ended up not really affecting the game. Um, and they had a block later on. So, you know, OC says, so all this said no QB controversy, right? I, I agree. There is no quarterback controversy. There never was.

Steve: People tried to create one and just shut up. Yep. That's all I'm gonna say.

Chris: So here's the thing that I want to touch on that drives me nuts, and we do it in this town, it's done in every… professional sports down in the media. But I think, I think in this town, we look even harder for it because our, our general media in this town, in my opinion, is, is starting to wane. Okay. So, so I'm listening to a radio station, a very popular radio station in Pittsburgh that does nothing but sports. Can anybody figure out who that is? Yeah.

Steve: It's that station down the dial.

Chris: Yeah, that's right. So what I, what I hear is, uh, not the morning show guys, the second guy who will go nameless. Cause I just don't, I don't feel like getting into a battle with him, but basically, uh, playing back. the recording of the interview with Justin Fields earlier in the week where they asked him, how do you feel about the possibility that it sounds like Russell is healthy and ready to go and may be the starting quarterback? And Fields gave his answer that we've all heard. And basically what he said is, hey, look, of course I want to be the starting quarterback, but I feel like if I had played better, You know, there wouldn't be a question about this, you know, I, I needed to play better. It's good that we're foreign to, he gave a classy answer, you know, and, and it, it actually sounded not rehearsed. Like somebody had prepped him. It sounded like he was saying, Hey, look, man, this, these guys decided to say that what they heard Justin field saying was, Hey, I'm the starting quarterback. And now I'm losing my job. No, that's basically what they were trying to start their own hot take controversy. And I'm just going to say this for us, for you guys. That's why you come here to listen, watch, comment, and participate because we're fans. We're not trying to start anything. We're just trying to call it like we see it. And if you disagree with us, that's fine. But I would never take a comment that somebody makes like that and, and just so obviously try to insert some sort of divisiveness into it. I listened to it again. I was like, there was nothing in the way he said that that gave the indication that Justin Fields thought he was the number one going into the season and thought that he lost his job and this and that not nothing. He said all the right things. He said, I'm at the right time. And end of story, but no, we got to, we got to fill, we got to fill 24 hours of sports radio, 24, you know, seven days a week. So we're going to start this bullshit, which I, which I just thought was, was horrible. Jeff Paulus wants to know, was the crowd still yelling that in the second half? And he knows they weren't because you already talked about that. Yeah. He says, Jones had a so-so game. Yeah, we talked about that. Yo-Ho Sun is back in the house. What's up, Yo-Ho Sun? When the rules official on TV can see the refs are wrong, New York should chime in and cancel that bad call. Well, that would be a rule change.

Steve: They can't do that. They should be able to, but they can't yet. I agree. I agree. Let me give you one last tidbit from the game before we get on to our picks, because I know we want to get on to our picks. Okay. Yes, we do. I sat next to two Jets fans. They were on my right. And they are some of the saddest fans in the history of fandom. They are. I know. Like I even felt bad for them, honestly. Like the one guy was kind of watching the Mets game, you know, they were, they were also getting their asses beat.

Chris: He couldn't be a Yankees fan. He had to be a Mets fan.

Steve: I think all Jets fans are Mets fans because that's just the way it is. And, you know, I was having a conversation. He was like, man, it's so weird to come to Pittsburgh and to see a Steelers team struggle without a quarterback. And I was thinking, God, we haven't had a quarterback in a while. And then I'm thinking, Oh my God, the Jets haven't had a quarterback since Joe Namath. Yeah, pretty much. That's a while. And I'm thinking to myself, I was like, yeah, we'll get through this. I was like, it's been whatever, five years, six years since we haven't had Ben. We knew Kenny wasn't the guy, but we went through the motions of having a number one draft pick. I was like, you guys know all about going through

Chris: Oh my God.

Steve: I didn't even mean to insult him, but it was just so easy, but they had the impressions. Like they had the impressions, like we're still like a great team. Like they came and like, I feel like the Steelers are not great right now. Right. But they came to Pittsburgh and they really had. This idea that like but you guys always make the playoffs and I was like, yeah, but we haven't won the playoffs But the perception is still that the Steelers are still a great team I find I found that really amazing talking to a fan like Especially somebody from the Jets who haven't been in the playoffs Have had terrible quarterbacks and their ownership is just basically spending money on on shiny new toys Yeah, they have it rough So if you're a Jets fan out there in this, but that's how I'm going to end it. If you're a Jets fan out there, I totally respect what you have to go through. I don't know because I've never been through it in my life, but if you can come to a Steelers game, spend money on a ticket, and enjoy football, then good for you.

Chris: Yeah, God bless you. I mean, you followed them to Pittsburgh and they got their asses beat, you know? I've always said the Jets are a cursed franchise. I'm 100% right. You are. Someday, maybe long after we're gone, the curse will be lifted. But right now, they have been cursed since Joe Namath won the Super Bowl. And it's a shame because they do have a fan base. that like it's it's like it's kind of like being a Cubs fan for all those years. You know, every time we went to a game in Wrigley, frigging field is sold out. They're the worst team in baseball. Right. It's kind of like you got to go now. Yeah. You know, because if they get good, you don't want to miss it. You know. So one last thing on the Steelers, Beanie Bishop, great game. Just just shocked me. What really shocked me is how tiny he is.

Steve: He looks tiny out there.

Chris: Yeah.

Marc: And, and, uh, so, oh, just had a predict. Okay. Let me, it just came. All right.

Chris: We're going to, we're going to get, it just comes in the grand Schwab beanie predicts. All right, here we go. Grand Schwab beanie.

Marc: Beanie Bishop will finish the season with two interceptions.

Steve: I don't know. I don't know if you get to win games. Sometimes that the ball is like a magnet to you. Yeah. Sticks right there.

Chris: Well, it just came to me like he's always said. Yeah, they just they just come right in there. Yep. Beanie Bishop will predict predicts, uh, Beanie Bishop will finish with the interceptions he had in this game. Um, too bad he didn't make it into the end. Oh, that would have been great. Yeah.

Marc: A tiny little guy was a great play by Davante Adams to catch him.

Chris: Yes, it was. Yeah, it was.

Marc: But in the end, how about those Jets fans? They were probably like, Adam's game.

Chris: Yeah, right. I know. I know. Devante Adams. All right. We're going to move on to the next part of our show here. If you're watching live on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn X and YouTube, we want to thank you for being here. And we do drop the podcast, the sports porch, black and gold on the I heart radio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts. And you can follow us on YouTube at the sports porch podcast. So NFL predictions, we want your NFL predictions every week. We predict three games, Thursday night, Sunday night, and a Pickham Sunday game. Last week, well, it was a typical week. Schwaber went two and one. He had Denver, Pittsburgh, and Minnesota. Steve went one and two. He had New Orleans, the Jets, and Detroit. And the technical director, I'm consistent, man. One and two. I had New Orleans. the jets and detroit so as you can see at the bottom of the screen if you're watching for the season the grand swabini mark is 13 and 5 running away with it steve is hanging in there at 10 and 8 and i am 6 and 12 just I'm a bottom feeder. What can I tell you? So this week we want to know what your prediction is and who you think is going to win as well. So drop a comment if you're on Instagram or anywhere else in the world. Thursday night we have the Vikings at the Rams. What a great game yesterday between the Vikings and the Lions with the Lions pulling it out in the last second. And that kicker who was like, you know, six weeks ago I was, uh, I was bricklaying and now I'm winning football games. You know, that was, that was excellent. So Kurt Warner kickers. Yeah, so Thursday night Vikings at Rams. Your winner will go with the Grants while being.

Marc: I'm going to go with the Vikings. It's you know, it's hard to win on the road on a Thursday night, but I just sort of feel like the Vikings. I do think are a real deal team this year. I think they're going to be a team that's in the playoffs and I think that coming off a tough loss, they're going to want to get it out of their system quickly.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I think they are going to want to get it out of their system quickly, but I don't think they will. I think the Rams are going to make a run here. I'm going to take the Rams at home showcasing their talent. Okay.

Chris: I'm not sure I'm convinced that the Vikings are for real because I don't ever recall Sam Darnold having a completely wonderful full season of football. And I think at some point he starts to kind of drop off their defenses seems to be for real. Although, you know, Detroit put up 30 on him this last game. But, um, I'm going to go. I'm going to go with the Rams with Steve on this one. They're going on the road after a loss. Some wind is out of the sails. Detroit's obviously the better team in this.

Marc: It's a classic Grand Schwabini separation. There you go.

Chris: Separation. I got it. I got to catch up somehow. All right. Sunday night. Cowboys at 49 49ers are right now without IU for the season and Debo has pneumonia and is hospitalized So nobody even know I mean, you know, this could last a week or more McCaffrey couldn't might not be back, right? Yeah, they said he's not coming back to week 10 Cowboys at 49ers your winner.

Marc: You could see how the purred turd did without any weapons

Chris: Yeah, three inch three inch. No, I'm sure Peyton Manning had a three intersection game. I think he had like six of them his first year. Anyway, guys still saying Brock Purdy Hall Hall of Fame Hall of Fame Sunday night. Cowboys at 49.

Marc: It's oh boy. I mean, geez, these are two super disappointing teams. Yeah, it's a disappointment ball. The disappointment ball is right. It is who? I guess I got it.

Steve: You got to take somebody.

Marc: I guess I trust, uh, I trust the 49ers to do something at home versus the Cowboys on the road. I'll take the 49ers.

Steve: I actually want to predict a tie, but I'm not going to do that because then I lose, lose. It's a lose when they win. It's a lose.

Marc: Although we could make, we could make a rule.

Steve: I'm not predicting. I'm not predicting a tie and it's a tie.

Marc: You get three points. Yeah.

Chris: I don't want to make my job any harder.

Steve: So just what we need more complicated math. Right. Exactly. I just I'm going to go with the Cowboys. I got nothing other than I'm just the 49ers are decimated right now and they're going to have to make a run that I don't think they're going to make a run till CMC comes back.

Chris: This is the week where we either creep closer or end up further behind because I'm going with the Cowboys as well. I think the Niners are decimated with injuries. I don't think their defense is as good as they thought it would be. I think Purdy is not having a great year. Ayuk is down. Kittle is old and kind of fragile. I hate that I'm saying this, but the Cowboys, they're playing for their lives right now. And this is when they show up or they don't. So I'm going with the Cowboys. All right, sunday bears at commanders. Uh, this is the pick'em game boys pick'em game We are going to assume because all reports right now i've been watching espn in the background And it's consistent that jayden daniels is week to week and they expect him to play next week Does it mean he will play or not? We don't know.

Marc: I got a feeling he's gonna I guess if he plays he's probably gonna play with a flak jack

Chris: Yeah, that would be, yeah, that's what'll happen. So bears at commanders, um, grants while beanie, what you got?

Marc: This is a tough one. It is. Yeah, it is tough. This is a real tough one because the commanders are beaten up on some bad teams, but that's still, there's still quality wins though because we thought they were a bad team. Right. Right. Right. And they're not. Right. Um, Oof. I like the Bears defense. I'm going to take the Bears.

Chris: Wow. The Bears. OK, Schwab takes the Bears.

Steve: Well, this is either going to separate us or bring us together because I'm going with your Washington commanders. There you go. I am too.

Marc: The commandos.

Chris: Yep. Yeah. Yeah. We're either going to pick up three games on mark or we're going to lose three games.

Steve: It's going to be all over after this.

Marc: If you lose them all, it's season's over.

Chris: Yeah. We might as well just give him whatever prize. Yo-Ho Sun says tie. So Redskins whoop the Panthers and we'll keep the heat. And I appreciate the homage to the Redskins. Yo-Ho Sun.

Steve: Um, don't you have to write the Redskins in quotes?

Chris: Yeah, no, not really. No, don't know. If anybody has any brains, they're not upset about that. No comments, please. Of course you are. Uh, you could catch the sports sports podcast. We drop it right after the show and the IR radio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts. Um, we're going to move on to stump the Yenzer right now. Oh, Amy's jumping in. Stump the Yenzer's Amy jumping in with Amy saying she's got her boys back. Mark kicks your butts. Yeah, he does. Yeah, it is true. Amy may. All right, Stump the Yinzer, what is that? Well, we have a resident Yinzer in Hockey Jesus right across from me in the studio. We have a resident non-Yinzer to my right in Mark, originally from Philadelphia. We ask a trivia question every year that is Pittsburgh sports, every week that is Pittsburgh sports related. And if Mark gets the answer, he becomes a ceremonial Yenzer for the week. We still haven't decided. It has happened, but, but, but, but in order to make it more fun, we've got to decide like maybe like the next podcast. He has to say certain words with a yinzer accent. Like he's got to do something.

Steve: See, there you go. Making it more complicated. See, he's on it. He's a yinzer.

Chris: He's got to wear a yinzer shirt. How about he's got to wear like a shirt like that. We got to get him a shirt like that. I mean, come on. What's the point of doing it if there isn't either an award or consequences?

Marc: Why don't we just get to the question?

Chris: Okay, we'll get to the question. You're on a rant for no reason. I am. It's because I'm having fun. At the urging of Myron Cope, the Steelers made this wrestling champ their final pick in the 1989 draft.

Steve: What? Oh, I know who it is. Yeah, I know. I got this.

Marc: I have no idea.

Chris: No idea. I had to pick a good one. It was a good one.

Marc: Is it a well-known player?

Chris: Uh, it's, it's somebody, it's not a famous player and tell me if I'm wrong. It's not a famous player, but he's pretty well known to Steelers fans. Would I know him? I mean, I knew him. You'll probably know the name.

Marc: I'll probably know. What, what offense or defense?

Chris: Uh, defense.

Steve: He was defense, right? Was he? Not the guy I'm thinking of.

Marc: Well, I have to reveal it. I have no idea. Okay. No idea.

Steve: All right. Repeat the question, please.

Chris: At the urging of Myron Cope, the Steelers made this wrestling champ their final pick in the 1989 NFL draft.

Steve: I don't have this one, right?

Chris: Well, give us who you thought it was.

Steve: I was going to say, because I know he wrestled, but it's not going to be him. Carlton Hasselrich.

Chris: Oh, no, you're the answer. It was Carlton Hasselrich. Carlton Hasselrich.

Steve: He played offense, by the way. He was an offensive lineman. There you go.

Marc: Never heard that name.

Chris: Yo-Ho Son says, Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

Steve: Yeah, Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Superfly Snuka was around back then. I love it. He didn't enter the draft that year.

Chris: All right, here's what I want to do now. I want to get to Trader Joe's snack time, then we'll get to HGA, because I know you guys are hungry and we haven't done it in a little while. So what we're going to do right now is… I am hungry. We're going to do something we like all Trader Joe's.

Marc: Taste the biscuit.

SPEAKER_03: Taste the goodness.

Marc: Taste the goodness of the biscuit. Taste that honey sauce. Taste the goodness of the biscuit. Taste that honey sauce. Don't get that honey sauce on me. I don't like the way it tastes with my chicken wings.

Chris: Okay. Welcome to Trader Joe's snack time. And what is that? Well, Trader Joe's, everybody knows I work down there at the store in East Liberty. It's a great place to work. A lot of fun. They have great food and they are not an official sponsor, so they're not paying for this, but they did say that we could do it. So thank you to them for that. What we do is I bring home a Trader Joe's product. We all taste it, try it, give our actual honest opinion because they're not paying us. You know, we can give whatever opinion we want.

Steve: We do it anyways.

Chris: Correct, sir. Hopefully, I won't get snagged. Okay, this week, Trader Joe's Snack Time, vegetable birds' nests.

Steve: Did you say vegetables?

Chris: Vegetable birds' nests. Now, here's the reason I picked these. You can't get the chicken ones. They don't have them. Here's the reason that I picked these. Because I noticed over the last couple weeks that they have started selling a lot. Okay. So people are liking them. I have the box right here. Okay. Um, I'm going to read it real quick. Trader Joe's vegetable birds nests are a tasty combination of onion, carrot, and kale. Each bird's nest is julienned and joined together to form a vegetable nest, fully cooked, just heat and serve. So tempura, they have a little dipping sauce. I'm going to give you guys napkins. A bird's nest with dipping sauce. Yeah, I don't know what the dipping sauce is. This is inexperienced.

Steve: I'm going to take mine right away.

Marc: Okay. What kind of dipping sauce is that?

SPEAKER_03: It looks like soy sauce.

Chris: It's kind of like a soy sauce, hoisin sauce. It's not bad. I like hoisin.

SPEAKER_03: It looks pretty good actually.

Chris: Yeah. Now they're not hot anymore because Julia brought them down a few minutes ago. That's why I wanted to get to them.

Steve: We could have started with it. Then we would have been eating them hot. Yeah, that's true. Hey, pass it over. Let's go. I'll pass it back.

Chris: Did I give you a napkin? Yeah, I got one.

Steve: Yeah, I got one. So let's see the ends are now for those of you who are actually watching. I think it's delicious. Yeah, that's what it looks like. I know you if you're actually listening to this, you can't see it, but it looks like a fritter basically.

Chris: Well, it looks like a little vegetable bird's nest.

Steve: Yeah, it's like a fritter.

Chris: Yeah, here's the box right there.

Marc: Mm hmm. It tastes like a potato pancake.

Chris: We have those too, but yeah, they're pretty good. Pancake. I go with that. The sauce is good.

Marc: Hey, I like these. Yeah. The sauce comes in there. Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: Give me the nutritional stuff.

Marc: How much?

Chris: Two and a half servings per container. 570 milligrams of salt. It's frozen food.

Steve: Yeah.

Chris: I mean, it's 27 grams of carbs. That's just three pieces. Uh, three grams of protein, saturated fat, one and a half grams, no trans fat. So very little fat. Yeah. All right. So these are a winner.

Steve: I give them two thumbs up. Yeah. That sauce is that sauce came with it too, right? Yeah. The sauce has got a little bit of sweetness to it, but not too much. It's like a fritter slash potato pancake.

Chris: So Trader Joe's vegetable birds nest are a hit. That's some good.

Steve: Robert loves them. That is definitely some goodness in the biscuit for there.

Chris: Well, we'll leave it there. Trader Joe's snack time. Phenomenal. Thumbs up for everybody.

Steve: I guess I can take off my napkin. Yep.

SPEAKER_03: You're welcome to finish them if you want. I'll have another. Taste the goodness of the biscuit. I'll just have one more.

null: Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: Taste that honey sauce. Taste the goodness of the biscuit. Of the biscuit and that honey sauce. Now put that honey sauce on me. I don't like the way it tastes with my chicken wings.

Marc: You want one more, Chief?

Steve: Yeah, pass them on over. Why not? I mean, we're going to just be talking about movies, so. Well, we got a little H.J. to go. Oh, yeah. Well, I'll wait to have my my last bird after the H.J.

Chris: segment. Yeah. So once again, if you're watching us live all over the world on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and X, thank you so much for being here. Always drop a comment and you subscribe to the podcast. on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your freaking podcasts. Yoho Sun says put them on a stick and sell them at Blueslide Park.

Steve: Oh yeah, Blueslide Park. They'd go like hotcakes there. Kids love them.

Chris: Women would love them and men would love them. Yep, that's what Yoho Sun said. Okay, so H.J. Let's move on here. Sitting across from me is the immortal H.J. Hockey Jesus, who you can follow on YouTube at the Sports Sports Podcast. And of course, if you subscribe to our podcast on all of those podcast platforms, you can hear H.J. after every single Penguins game now. Seven in a row. Well, we just had a little disclaimer last night. There was a pens game and a Steelers game and H.J. was at the Steelers game. So he did his H.J. this morning. So it wasn't dropped right after the game. But he gets a pass for that because he never misses a game anyway.

Steve: So I never missed the game. It was just the late.

Chris: That's right. So after every single penguins game, hop on the sports sports podcast, uh, on the I heart radio app, listen to H J pontificate and preach on all things. Penguins hockey. Take it away.

Steve: H J the Pittsburgh penguins are now three and four. And that's exactly where I thought they would be. Actually, I, I had them at four and three because I actually did think that they would beat Winnipeg last night or yesterday afternoon, I guess you could say. But the penguins are in this mushy middle. It's really kind of sad. I did look up some of their statistics just so I could talk about the team, not individuals, because right now I think the individuals who are playing really well are Lars Eller and Gino, of course, you know, with 11 points in five games, that's pretty incredible. And he hasn't really scored much since then. Um, it's been fun to watch them reach their milestones. Uh, you know, Crosby getting this 1600 points, Gino to getting the 500 goals in one game. That's just historic. You'll never see that again in the history of the Pittsburgh Penguins. I just can't say it any louder than that. But as far as the team going, it goes, they're scoring a lot of goals. They got 3.43 goals against that's 14th in the league. That's right in the middle. That's about where they belong. Their power play is 23.8%. That's 10th in the league. Their shot percentage is about the same. It's 11%. The average is about nine, nine and a half percent. So they're right around the average. Here's the problem. Their goals against, they're giving up 4.43 goals a game. That's 30th out of 32 teams. That's unacceptable. They actually have the most goals against, and part of that is because they've played seven games. They're only one of like four teams who have played seven games so far, but they have given up 31 goals on the year. That's the highest. Their safe percentage is 26th in the league at 879, and they just can't beat a playoff team. All the teams that they have beat are non-playoff teams. And unfortunately, they're playing tomorrow in Calgary, and Calgary is 4-0-1. And according to the Hockey Jesus, that would be 4-1 with nine points. So we don't like the loser point.

Chris: So I was, pardon me, doing some housekeeping here. Yep. three goals on five shots a couple games ago. Yep. For Jari. Yep. Yoel, as the counselor likes to point out. Yoel. And of course on the sports stations, they still call him Joel. Yoel Bloomquist. Um, where, where do we go from here? Because to me, not, not being a, a fully engaged church going hockey, Jesus disciple, but you're getting there. I'm getting there. You go, you go there door. I listened to every hockey, Jesus, you know, you go to communion. I'm trying, I'm trying to learn. He comes to church, but he doesn't take the key. That's right. That's the problem. Yeah. See, come on, get your facts straight anyway. So, uh, anyway, so crackers. Anyway, the point I'm making is I think you understand. What do we do with Jari? And is there any way that Bloomquist… OK, take it from there. You answer my question.

Steve: Well, what they're doing on this West Coast trip is they're bringing three goalies with them, which is unprecedented. OK, like the Penguins are one of three teams who have already started three, three goalies in the season. And that's not good. That's why their goals against and their save percentage is so low. Right. You need to get a goalie in there is going to ebb and flow with the, with the good and the bad. Their defense is not helping to be honest. Um, but, uh, Jari's just played absolutely horrible and the team, you could see it on, on the team's face when they played against Buffalo and Buffalo came out and scored those goals right away. They just don't want to play for him. And that's the biggest problem when you have a, when you have a goalie that you're just not comfortable with. Like that game that they gave up four, uh, four goals against and, uh, Carolina, Ned, uh, I'm sorry, Bloomquist could have easily, they could have easily scored eight or 10 goals on him, but he played that well. Right. That, so that's part of the problem. And, and that is systematic problem because the other thing I did look up on next gen, uh, statistics, this is, um, No, it's not next gen that they call it the NHL edge, right? Um, the Pittsburgh penguins skate 26% more as a team than any other team in the league. 26% more. Yeah. So it, so in an average game, in an average game, the, the, the whole team will skate like 250 miles of, of back and forth. Wow. 253.9 miles. Exactly. That's the average. The Pittsburgh Penguins skate 320.59 miles. Why? That's just the game.

Chris: Are they taking a lot of back roads?

Steve: Uh, you know, I think they meander around. No, what happened? That's what they do. They, they want to like a lot of teams just let their defenseman just stay at the blue line. Don't ever pinch in. They let all their, all their players just skate wherever they want to skate. Okay. And that's why they end up doing, they, they had, they skate more. So in my opinion, they need to kind of just pick and choose who's going to do the skating and who's going to be stay at home defenseman, who's going to be at the blue line. They just, they're just, and that's never been who they are. Sully will not play that game. So if they want to play that game, they'll have to replace the coach.

Marc: is it looks like the top two lines have the worst plus minuses. So I have to imagine that it's your, well I see LeTang is one, and Pedersen is another.

Steve: Well Pedersen will play either with LeTang or Carlson. He moves up and down.

Marc: They're the two D that have the worst plus minuses. Do they play together or no?

Steve: Uh, sometimes they do, but sometimes they don't. Um, some, I mean, Pedersen prefers to play, uh, Carlson prefers to play with Pedersen, but sometimes Letang is on the ice so much he has to play with, with Pedersen. You know what I mean? Because he's on the ice more than everybody else.

Marc: Who plays with?

Steve: Rust is Ruston Crosby on the yeah, Ruston Crosby is on the same line in that the other the left-wingers sometimes Bolivia and Love the in the last game. It was a drew O'Connor, which I don't like him up on the first line at all I don't think that's a good move. He's a better. He's a better third line guy Or even playing down with Gino on the second lines. I like him better there. I

Marc: So that's I mean, I still think that's actually a little surprising, though. It is that some of the top players are on the ice when the other teams scoring.

Steve: I think I think the problem with the Penguins is it's the opposite of last year's problem. Last year, Crosby got off to a great start this year. Balkans getting off to the great start and Crosby hasn't. And it's because, once again, Crosby is not playing with Gensel. Gensel was his guy, right? Right. So he knew where he was going to be, now he's got to figure out who that person is. And now that person is changing from, you know, after three or four games, it was Bolivier, now it's Drew O'Connor. I personally think, and I've said this on my Hockey Jesus, I believe that Raquel needs to be that guy. He needs to go up there and needs to play with Rust in Sydney for about eight games in a row. I don't give a shit if they play terrible, because they can't play worse than they are playing right now. I think once he finds Raquel, Raquel's got the best shot of anybody on the team, and he'll score 25 goals up there.

Marc: He's also got the second best plus minus on the team. He's plus one.

Steve: Yeah, I think he's more responsible, and I think that would be good for the first line.

Marc: To give you an idea, this is crazy. Malkin has the 11 points, which on the surface looks fantastic. At 11 points, he's minus 5. Minus 5, yeah. That's kind of insane. Yeah, yeah.

Steve: Well, and you know, when you're scoring on the power play, that doesn't, that doesn't count for your plus minus either.

Chris: So. Okay. So the next game. I didn't know that. Okay. The next game, H J and H J episode.

Steve: All the NHL teams are playing tomorrow. Did you know that? I did not know that. Yeah.

Chris: Now this is a West coast game.

Steve: This is a West coast game. And actually I thought it was an eight 45 start. It's a nine 30 start. God.

Marc: I'll tell you what. I mean, there's nothing there's nothing worse than these West Coast games.

Steve: Yeah. But I mean, and actually Philly had the worst because they started on the West Coast. That's just crazy. Yeah. And I think that's contributing to their demise, which I'm happy about.

Chris: Um, okay. So the next day is maybe late tomorrow night or early Wednesday morning.

Steve: That game won't be over till after midnight. Okay.

Chris: And you can always follow the hockey Jesus on the sports porch podcast. After every single penguins game, subscribe to the sports sports podcast on the I heart radio app, apple podcast, uh, Spotify, or anywhere you get your podcasts, or you can follow us on YouTube at the sports porch podcast. All right. What we are watching last thing of the night. So what is this? Well, it's pretty easy. This is what we're watching, what we're streaming. We know there's a lot of streaming options out there, guys. There's, you know, you've got them all. You've got Hulu, you've got Prime, you've got Apple TV plus, you've got Paramount plus, you've got MGM plus, you've got Disney plus. netflix you've got netflix you've got it all you've got youtube you've got it all what are you gonna watch what are you gonna do how are you not gonna waste your time while you're wasting time streaming stuff how is that gonna happen yeah we're here to do that for you and what we do is every week we pick a show that we have at least completed the season doesn't have to be the whole series We've completed the season and we tell you how we feel. Or if it's a movie, even if the movie was horrible, we had to have, if we walked out on the movie, can't give a review, can't give a review. Um, so this week we're going to start with the Grand Schwab Beanie. Grand Schwabini has just finished, this is the first season of this, right? We talked about this earlier.

Marc: There it is. Renewed for a second season. Have you seen it yet, Steve?

Steve: No, it is in my queue.

Marc: Nobody wants this on Netflix. Nobody wants this on Netflix with Adam Brody and Kirsten Bell. I love Kirsten Bell. Who doesn't love Kirsten Bell? She's just such an adorable person. She just absolutely is. Girl next door.

Steve: Is she a murderer in this one? No, she's not. I thought we were setting something up.

Marc: So it's real. It's really simple. It's a lot set up. It's a romantic comedy. Adam Brody plays a assistant rabbi. Oh, so he's kind of religious. It's your people. Yep. Kind of religious assistant rabbi. And he has just broken off an engagement. Oh, and Kristen Bell. is, uh, kind of like a late twenties, early thirties, something single woman, a lot of bad dating experiences with men can't find the right guy. And she does a podcast with her sister about relationships and the two of them, uh, fall for each other. And it is very, very funny. I think you'll, you'll enjoy it. I can watch with my wife. Oh, definitely. Your wife will like it. It's, you know, it's like eight episodes. You'll enjoy them all.

Steve: Well, it's going on the list.

Chris: There you go. The Grand Schwabini.

Steve: Nobody wants this. And there's a second season.

Chris: Second season already booked. Wow. All right. H J decided to go old school on us.

Steve: And he watched, I watched the terminal. Have you seen this movie? I have not. So I haven't either. And it's one of those movies where it's like, it's on, it's on Netflix and it was like, this is leaving. You're never, ever going to be able to see it again.

Chris: So for our listeners, it's, it's a stars, Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta Jones. And it's from what the early two thousands, right? 2004. There you go. Okay.

Steve:

2004. So, you know, it's like 20 years ago. 20 years ago. My God, that's crazy. That's nuts. And it's a Spielberg directed movie, right? I'm like Spielberg directed it. It's got Tom Hanks. I'm like, this has got to be good, right? This was right around the time he did that, uh, what was that movie that he got, uh,

Marc: Yeah. Wilson. No, the Wilson movie. Yeah. All right. Stowaway. Stowaway.

Chris: Castaway.

Steve: Castaway.

Marc: Right. Castaway.

Steve: Wilson! It's kind of like Castaway, but he's stuck in a world that he doesn't belong in. So it's like Castaway meets Elf.

Chris: He's stranded in an airport terminal. Yeah. Which to me would be worse than being stranded on a beautiful Pacific island.

Steve: Right. It's terrible. Right. And on top of that, like he's from a foreign country. He doesn't even speak the language. Right. Right. So he's like got this weird accent. Is he Ukrainian? No, it was a made up. Yeah, they didn't never really. No.

Chris: Right.

Steve: No, because it was a land that they made up that basically, basically was no longer a country because they got taken over by somebody.

Chris: Oh, so he was lost for real.

Steve: Right. So really he was a land. I forgot that the State Department said, sorry, your visa is no good because this country doesn't exist. You're stuck. And Stanley Tucci plays the guy like the toots. Right. Yeah. The toots. And I have to admit, this was a horrible movie.

Chris: After all of that, I thought he was going in the other direction.

Steve: I wanted to so badly. I was like, this is going to get better, right? It never got better. But Catherine Zeta-Jones, 20 years ago? Yeah. Oh my God, she was so hot in this movie. She was, yes. Yeah, she was just smoking hot.

Chris: She is what I would describe as delicious. Michael Douglas.

Marc: Yeah. Yeah, not him, but her. She has Michael Douglas on her menu. Yeah.

Steve: Maybe that's why. I think it's the other way around. I think so. Yeah. But, uh, yeah. So she was, but she's just plays the stewardess. So she's kind of in and out of the movie.

Marc: She's not there all the time. Flight attendant.

Steve: Of course, of course she plays a flight attendant. And you wanted to end like, well, and he, he does, he does get to do what he wants to do in New York city. And it just was stupid. I can't tell you to watch this movie. You haven't watched it. You haven't missed a thing in 20 years.

Chris: I think that, I think, I think the great thing about what we do is that like we actually, because of all these streaming services, having access and paying for different things, you can go back and watch these. There's a lot of people that are watching older movies now because they're, they're basically at your fingertips. So I think that's good. So yeah, you didn't like it. Terrible. It was awful.

Steve: All right guys. And I love Tom Hanks by the way.

Chris: Oh yeah, I like him too, but he has done some bad movies. I mean, there's no question. This was absolutely one of them. You can't win them all, but he, but he still gets paid 10 million bucks or,

Marc: Whatever he's getting two thousand little more money yeah probably i'm just you know he's got another one coming out i saw coming attraction it's like. Him like through the years it's like so tom hanks.

Chris: I'm wondering when tom hanks is gonna make a movie playing tom hanks.

Marc: The thing about Tom Hanks, I mean, I will say he's a good actor, and I do like him, but there's something about him that just, I still, in some way, shape, and form, have never gotten over the fact that he was a comedian first. Right. Yeah. Right. And he was in funny movies first. Bosom Buddies. Bosom Buddies.

Steve: The TV show.

Chris: Sitcom. Big. Yeah. Bachelor Party. Bachelor Party. That was a great flick, though. That was a great flick.

Steve: I could go back and watch all the time.

Chris: big remember big oh yeah you know and then all of a sudden he became like this like serious like award-winning actor yeah exactly yeah he did well he transitioned he did he transitioned yeah you're right transition transition that's a hot word yeah yeah well i'm just saying he transitioned i don't think that he was in world war ii and he got blown up at the end you know right the guy transitions well right okay i went back I did something that I had swore I was gonna do and I finally, finally freaking did it. You finished. I finished The Walking Dead. You finished the whole thing? I finished The Walking Dead.

Marc: Just the main one though. Yes, yes. Just the main one. Okay, so. You can't finish the other ones because the other ones won't die. I have to tell you, I thought that the last episode was phenomenal. of, of, of the regular season walking dead, the very last episode that was like an extra long episode.

Chris: Yeah, it was. Um, I, I actually finished it today after I watched the Steelers game. Nice. I had 30 minutes to go and I was like, I got to get this in. Yeah. All right. So why did I, why did I do that guys? Okay. I was a walking dead fan and I watched the walking dead. I watched it and you guys will remember this. I watched it for the first nine, nine and a half seasons. And it started to kind of lose me. And it was because of a lot of things that I won't go into that are boring. It just kind of started to lose me. And I had also started watching Fear the Walking Dead. And then what happened is other shows other things in life and i just kind of i kind of dropped it one of the reasons it started losing me the only reason i'll give of the many is that negan who i considered to be the the first year he was on in the second year the greatest television villain of all time all time When all of a sudden he decided to have a change of heart because they kept him in prison in the basement of that house for two years and then he was like this happy-go-lucky lovey guy, kind of puppy dog eyes, I'm so sorry. It just kind of wore on me a little bit. It was like, look, I get it. if it's an apocalypse and you've kind of changed your mind, it'd have been like, we've all done bad, you know, the famous quote, we've all done things on the walking dead. And it's like, but where's the edge, man? The edge should never go away.

Marc: The grit. You need it.

Chris: You need that. Yeah. So, I made it all the so I had to go back and start from 177 episodes. Wow. I had to go back and start from episode one because I had it been a few years so I had to get I had to get it all in. Yep. And I dedicated myself to it. And I got all the way up to the point where they showed where Negan, how he became who he was with his wife. I loved that. Then we got to the last season and a half with the Commonwealth and it lost me again. It lost me again only because I found it believable But dude, how many styrofoam jumpsuits are you going to put your soldiers in? You know what I mean? Like those, the soldiers for the Commonwealth wore that armor. I, I, I, I didn't, I didn't like that. Like it's white, it stands out. It's like if you're trying to hide and be stealthy, you know, you're not going, it's not like you're hunting for deer and you don't want somebody else to shoot you.

Marc: Anyway, what I would what I would watch if I were you because it's not really completely over I know unless you watch the ones that live. Yeah.

Chris: Well, here's here's the thing Let me give my review because when I committed to watching The Walking Dead from the beginning because I had to fit I'm like my life will not be complete until I finish The Walking Dead because I did really really like it. Mm-hmm the last episode where they show at the end like everything I they show everything. I thought that episode was good. Not great, but I thought it was good. Now that you know that Michonne and Rick are out there. Right. Absolutely. But I have to go back and watch fear of the walking dead. Then I have to watch, um, uh, there there's like two or three other ones. Yeah.

Marc: There's, well, I will say this there fear of the walking dead is important to watch. Right. Um, then there was one, um, It was like about a bunch of kids.

Chris: Yes. Um, and lists or something called.

Marc: Yeah. Yeah. I was looking it up earlier, but I will tell you this. I did try to watch the Daryl Daryl Dixon and I watched one episode and thought it was terrible. And I tried to watch, um, the Negan and Maggie and watch one episode and thought it was horrible. I didn't, I didn't want either of those two.

Chris: Okay. So yeah, when you go down, when you go down here to, uh, cause I went on Wikipedia, Fear of the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead World Beyond, Tales of the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead Dead City, that's the Maggie and Negan one, Daryl Dixon, and The Walking Dead The Ones Who Live. So here's the thing, here's my pledge to you. I'm going to watch them all no matter what. Are you? Because I feel like it's a universe that we have to explore that I have universe now. So I'm going to watch them all. And when I get done, I think fear the walking dead had seven seasons. So that's next.

Steve: I actually don't think you're going to make it to the end cause I don't think they're ever going to stop making.

Chris: Well, I mean, you could go in so many different directions, but you could go with that. You could go with, uh, the Ezekiel, you know, he's ruling the commonwealth.

Marc: I can tell you is if you watch the ones who live, yeah. Then you feel like it's really, Oh, Okay, cool. Cool. And that's just one year, seven episodes or six. Yeah.

Steve: Hmm. It was designed, it was supposed to now where they're like in Europe or something. That's Daryl Dixon. That's Daryl Dixon.

Marc: The thing that I just didn't buy with that was like, yeah, like it started out, he was like on like a rowboat or something and he's in Paris all of a sudden. Yeah.

Chris: Well, if there was any, if there was any superhuman character in the walking dead, it was Daryl. I mean, how many times did that guy, I mean, he could do anything that guy could live anywhere and do. And what I do find interesting is in the last episode, when him and Carol separate and he, he leaves on the motorbike right after the fact. Now I know that he's going to somehow end up by the ocean on a boat.

Marc: Yeah, going to France. This was my kind of feeling in terms of the other ones. When you watch the ones that live, that's when you kind of look back on The Walking Dead and you're like, wow, like it's a different show with Rick. Yeah, it's a different show with Rick. It was. And when Rick was gone. Yeah. You know, everybody was so concerned about the weirdness of the change in Negan. Yeah. That everybody forgot about. Like, it's really not the same without Rick.

Chris: About to be 14. Nothing. Tampa Bay over Baltimore, guys.

Steve: By the way, I need some more field gold. Tampa Bay.

Chris: Yeah, we need Baltimore to not throw it to Zay Flowers anyway. I think that ends up. Yes, it does. Walking Dead universe. There it is. Walking Dead.

Steve: I have a feeling we'll be hearing more about that in the future.

Chris: Yeah, later on. I got to try to fit a couple other shows in there in between, which I'm working on.

Steve: I've already got one for next week. You guys are going to be very excited about.

Chris: All right, guys, listen, if you've been watching live all over the world, I want to thank you for watching the sports sports black and gold edition. Have a good night. You too, Jeff. Thanks for being here. I want to thank you for watching the sports sports black and gold edition all over the world on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube X and the gram. And I am going to drop the podcast right after this show on the I Heart Radio podcast, Spotify or anywhere you get your friggin podcast anywhere. And you can always subscribe to us on YouTube if you watch us there at the Sports Sports Podcast. For Hockey Jesus, for the Grand Schwabini, I'm your technical director and I am out. Jablonsk, Jablonsk. No Jablonsk.