The Porch Black And Gold is LIVE

SPEAKER07: All right, everybody, this is the SportsPorts Black and Gold. We are back with another edition. I am here with Hockey Jesus. and the grand swabini you can see that on your screen if you're listening on the podcast you'll just have to accept again that we are who we say we are i am your technical director thanks for being here and we drop the podcast right after the show on the iheart radio app apple podcast spotify or anywhere you get your friggin podcast and you can always always listen to the sports porch on Radio PGH. You can find it at radiopgh.com or you can click that link in the comments. That's our stream. And every Sunday we have an off the grid marathon. We're going to be rebooting the off the grid podcast. Oh yeah. We can talk about that later. Um, listen, It's it's over in a week. It's over. What are we going to do tonight? Of course, we're going to talk about hockey because Hockey Jesus is sitting right across from me. There he is right there. Did you forget your camera again, Hockey Jesus?
SPEAKER06: I did. Yeah, I guess. Well, you know what? I'm still in depression over what happened last week. So, you know, you can't expect me to be have it all together.

SPEAKER_07: You would think the son of hockey God would not forget anything.

SPEAKER_06: Well, you know, I should just be able to manifest it, but I haven't quite mastered that power yet.

SPEAKER_07: We have the Grand Schwabini over here. We have a new segment. The Grand Schwabini predicts we'll be doing that a little bit later in the show. But Hockey Jesus is going to start off at the NHL. Then we're going to go to the Buccos report.

Marc: Pirates got some things to say.

SPEAKER_07: And it's draft season. Football season is officially beginning on Thursday. Go figure. So we're going to have a prediction on who the Steelers are going to draft. And as always, we have the Trader Joe product of the week. We'd like to have a lot of fun with that. So hop up on the porch. We're grateful that you're here. Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube X. We got the Fantasy Alpha crowd. And of course, we have Instagram watching as well right now. All right. Talking Jesus. Hockey Jesus preaches on the podcast after every single Penguins game, but since there are no more Penguins games, he's going to be preaching all throughout the NHL playoffs. All throughout the playoffs. So, Hockey Jesus. Silent night.

SPEAKER_04: I don't know where that comes from. He already knows so many.

SPEAKER_07: Good King Wenceslas looked down on the feast of Eden.

SPEAKER_03: No, no, that's too much for me. Can we get to some hockey? You know that song? Probably.

SPEAKER_06: Can we get to some hockey? All right. All right. All right. All right.

SPEAKER_07: All right. Hockey Jesus preaching on the podcast. Yeah. Season over. And you can subscribe to Hockey Jesus on our YouTube channel, youtube.com backslash at the sports porch podcast. That's right. And that's where you can see the Hockey Jesus. So sum it up, Hockey Jesus.

SPEAKER_06: Here's the deal. The penguin season is officially over. You can tell because remember this thing that was on my face, it was all kind of hairy and that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_07: I was going to say, I really don't like you this way. It's gone. I like him with the beard better.

SPEAKER_06: It's not coming back.

SPEAKER_03: I don't comment on his attractiveness or lack of attractiveness I appreciate that mark sure you got it.

SPEAKER_06: I wish some people would keep their opinions to themselves good and that's just not me Well, so let's get back to the penguins. Okay, so the penguins really did what they needed to do monday night they won and then on tuesday night and monday and the rest of monday night they basically all the other teams won they finally started winning and it basically kicked them out the everybody knows the capitals are in and the islanders were in on monday and then the capitals got in basically same on tuesday Um, so, um, unfortunately for Detroit, they had a really nice run too. And they finished slightly ahead of the penguins. And then the penguins end up in, um, the 10th spot on the East. So where did it go wrong? It went wrong for the penguins, not at the end of the season. I actually really liked their run. I know that they probably should have tanked those 12, 14 games. They probably should have tanked those games. But I really enjoyed the fact that we had a little taste of what this team with that talent could do when, you know, all the marbles were on the line.

SPEAKER_07: Can I interrupt you there real quick and just give you something that I thought was really interesting about your take after the last game? Yeah. You were actually talking opposite of what every other sports station was talking. Yeah, you, you really were because when you, when you listen to, you know, like the fan, other sports commentators and no disrespect, but right. They were focusing on how, um, the team didn't play well together, how Carlson wasn't a good fit, right. How Malcolm season, you know, he's, he's losing it, how they don't, they don't have anybody coming up, how, you know, all of those negative things. Yeah. And I actually, not being, being a disciple now, I actually began thinking to myself before I listened to your last thing, like, yeah, but wouldn't you look at the last, you know, say 10 games of the season and actually be able to say that particular squad, maybe they were starting to, to play well together because you did say at the beginning of the season, it's going to take a while, a lot of changes at the beginning. So that's what I love about the hockey Jesus is that you have a different angle that isn't the, you're not toting like the fan line. And I don't mean the radio station. I just mean, you know, the, the line. So Please continue. I just had that.

SPEAKER_06: I mean, so that's what, and that's what everybody expected to happen earlier in the season. The problem with hockey fans are they're very fickle. They want to see changes when things aren't happening. And sometimes you just have to frigging ride it out. You know what I mean? Like, you just have to say, look, this team has gone through so many changes, maybe they needed to actually learn to play with each other. And I think that's what happened at the end. Unfortunately, I think some of those players that were in there, like Pustanen and maybe Pulyarvi to some extent, I think those guys would benefit from staying on this team. Now, here's the problem. The guys who didn't play on the bottom six, Achari and Niedo, they're signed for the next year. And I think Achari is signed for the next two years. So they're probably going to keep those guys, which means all these young guys who got to play this year are Probably going to be out, which is a problem because I don't think those guys on the bottom or the right mix they in. I did hear this actually a lot more this past week. They gotta bring young guys up. They gotta. They gotta see what talent they have. I think that depends have soured on pulling. I think his time is coming gone. He's actually an unrestricted free agent at the end of this year, so I think that he's probably going to be around, but guys like Sahorna can go. Unfortunately, there are two young defensemen, Shea and St. Ivany. St. Ivany is a restricted free agent, but Shea is actually, could be a free agent at the end. So they're gonna have to make a decision about these guys. Same with P.O.J., by the way. He's an unrestricted free agent at the end of this year. So they've got some choices they have to make. Nothing with like big names. All the big names are signed. The core three, Sid's got another year. That'll be the first thing they do before they sign any of these jabronis. They're definitely going to look at Sid and say how many years you want to play.

SPEAKER_07: Yeah.

SPEAKER_06: I can't imagine them not, you know, and they're going to, they're going to, they're going to re up him first.

SPEAKER_07: I can't imagine him finishing his career anywhere else. I mean, if you think about it, he's won three Stanley cups with him. So it's not like he has to get to the mountaintop. Now he wants to get back.

SPEAKER_06: Yeah, but and I think this run with the guys he had without Gensel has told him like these guys can work out I think this is this is a good group of guys that can get back there now that they've figured out how to play with each other. There are just those guys that I mentioned a chari Neato and really graves graves didn't play at all during this because he had a concussion and And I don't know if he's going to be a good fit or not. I actually I think Carlson's going to work out and they let's face it. Everybody said this and I'm just only going to say it once. They have to fix the power play. And the other thing they have to figure out is what's going on with the goalie position in the offseason.

SPEAKER_07: Yeah, that was my next question. This Bloomquist kid who's who's in the in the what the AHL playoffs right now. Yeah, he's playing in the playoffs. Right. So if he puts together a real nice string there, I mean, what do you do with Jari? I mean, it's obvious he, at this point, he's, he's young for a goalie, but he's not a spring chicken. And it looks to me like Jari is what Jari is. You know what you're going to get with him. You're going to get a string of good, you know, a string of good games, but he's going to blow it when it really matters.

SPEAKER_06: Yeah, at the end of the season, he seems to just lose it, and that's always been the thing on him. I guess the only saving grace, potentially, is that the Penguins haven't made the playoffs in the last two years, so maybe people forgot how terrible he was in the first round of the playoffs when he did play, and somebody wants to take him off our hands. That's good, but Bloomquist is not ready. So you're going to have to go get another goalie. So I mean, why not? Why not? Needle nose, Ned. So here's the problem with Ned. You could see even in the last last few games that he play, he was a sub nine hundred save guy. You got to be over nine, ten, nine, twenty to want to keep a guy like that. He's just another goalie. I hate to say that, but he's just another goalie. There's no reason to keep him and Jari around. They're both similar goalies. Now, if you can keep him for another year at a million or 800,000 or something like that, same contract. Yeah, I'd keep him for sure.

SPEAKER_07: Well, he played well down the stretch in some high-pressure situations. So what do you think about Mike's question here? Steve slash Hockey Jesus, are you okay with the Pens GM handling of the team?

SPEAKER_06: Yeah, so the problem that we don't know about, Mike, is who's in charge of those decisions? Is it Dubis or is FSG basically saying these are the things you can't do? You can't fire Sullivan. You can't get rid of Ward 3, now Ward 4 with Carlson. And if he's, if basically he is handcuffed with those decisions, by the way, I think he likes Sully anyways. I don't know what you get, but I think at some point you have to tell Sully, you have to play these young kids. Look. They they're a work in progress. You just have to start at the beginning of the season with these kids and give them a full season. Look what happened with Drew O'Connor and that sort of thing. I think it's a work in progress. I think Sully and Dubis have a good working relationship. I just hope that that um dubious doesn't have stars in his eyes when he sees sully and doesn't think that he can't manage him the way he needs to he needs to be a little bit tougher on him that would be my biggest concern with dubious i think he's made some okay hockey moves Look, he probably stretched a little with Carlson just because of the money situation. And I think Graves was the wrong move. But other than that, I think he did. I think he turned his team around. But you've got to give this team another year to play together. If they're the same team that they were previous to this 15-game run at the end of the season, you've got to do something. You've got to fire the coach. You have to make a big change. Um, and the only way you can do that, um, unfortunately with the contracts they have would be firing the coach. And I, I just don't know if Dubas has the ability to do that or if FSG is saying you got to keep him.

SPEAKER_07: Yeah. I, I, I think he does have the ability to do that.

SPEAKER_06: I think, I think they would respect it if they said, okay, well we're going to bring in, I don't even know who they would. I mean, that's the whole purpose of the schedule. He got hired by Boston or the Buffalo again. That's the whole purpose of having You could bring in Boudreaux. Boudreaux's been around here a little bit, so you could bring in somebody like that, but you're going to have to bring in a veteran coach. You're not going to bring in a young coach to coach the core four. Yeah, because they're veterans. Because it's just not going to work.

SPEAKER_07: Yeah, and a lot of people at the end of the season were really upset with Sully because it was kind of like he came out of that last game and was making comments about how hard they worked down the stretch, how proud of this team he was.

SPEAKER_06: The only thing I have against Sully, and it's the same thing I have, and I'm sorry to do a football reference here, is with Tomlin. He just doesn't play the young guys enough. Just get them in there. They're going to make mistakes. They're going to learn from their mistakes. If they're good enough, they'll get better. Give them enough time. He loves to put in the Jansen Harkins of the world, the Bemstroms. And Bemstrom's actually not that old of a guy. The Grudens of the world. These guys are journeymen who've been around and are like 28 or 32. We don't need these guys on our team. Get rid of them. Bring up the young guys. Let's see what they got. All right. By the way, one of your young guys. God, I forget the guy's name. Boz, I think, is his name. He he played for Denver and Denver just won the Frozen Four. So that's actually really good. They thought he was he was much further away, like a year or two away. They're talking about maybe he might come up next year for a tryout with the Pens. That would be good because once again, good young guys, talented. That's the kind of that's the kind of players the Penguins need more of.

SPEAKER_07: uh next year not less well chris what is your feeling on the state of the penguins finally mark has been able to pull himself away from the sixers next playoff game i did see um harris scored real quick so maybe he's off to a good start not of interest to pittsburgh sports fans i know what is what is my take on the penguin situation um i I think they need a new coach. I mean, I just I look at it and I say, I don't think Sully was willing to adjust or push the veterans as much as maybe he should have. And there's been a lot of talk. about, well, they're veterans, they know how to run a practice, you know, they know how to play the game. Well, yeah, of course. But as the coach, it's your responsibility. No matter how much money your stars are making or how great they are, you are the leader of the team. And I think you're absolutely right when it comes to bringing up the younger players. One of the thoughts I had when you were talking about that is that it became pretty apparent about halfway through the season. Yeah. That the playoffs, especially in that one in seven run you were talking about, it was over, that the playoffs were going to be very, very hard to achieve. Yep. That's the time when you bring those guys up because you've got enough hockey left that and you've got a small chance they have something to play for. Imagine a miracle run.

SPEAKER_06: Now, look, it's not funny enough. That's when they brought up the two defenseman saying, I'm right. Shea stuff about hockey. Come on. Look what happened. They solidified their, well, their defense actually got worse from a goal against standpoint. But as a team, it flowed much better because now Carlson felt more comfortable going up the ice, didn't have to worry. Somebody was always covering for him, usually Pettersson. And it worked out well in P. O. J. Can play well with, um, with Latang, and that's been proven. And honestly, I think of Carlson and Pedersen play together next year. I think Carlson definitely gets back to 75 points.

SPEAKER_07: Okay, so real quick before we move on to our next segment, what do we have to look forward to as far as… Nobody has any interest in my thoughts on the Penguins.

SPEAKER_03: On the Penguins. Yeah, go ahead. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_07: Why not, Mark? I believe I'm part of the show. You are, you are. I mean, you're just so distracted with the… I've been listening to every word. I know. Okay, let's hear it. And he has thoughts on the stadium. All right, give us your thoughts on the Penguins, Grant Schwabini.

SPEAKER_03: Well, I think it's really an unknown for next year, because they did finish the year very well, but they also played pretty poorly for about three quarters of the season. And there are certain things that would lead me to believe that they could be coming together and ride that momentum of the end of the season into next season, but as you guys were sort of alluding to, I'm not sure that they're going to go with the mix of players that got them there. You know, they're not gonna probably play these young kids as much, you know, because certain guys are on contracts and everybody will be healthy at the beginning of next year. That's the first part of the problem. The second part of the problem, too, to be honest, I do think sometimes a coach's voice is sort of worn thin, and maybe that's the case with the Penguins. Now, did he coach well when they had their backs up against the wall? He did, but I think part of what happens when you don't make the playoffs two years in a row is they weren't really ready to start the season. Now, true, it was a lot of new players that had to learn how to play together, but still, it took way too long for that to materialize. You would think that that would happen maybe midway through the season. And it didn't happen until you had about 15 games left. The other thing that I think I began to see, which is kind of a little concerning to me, is I really saw LeTang take a big step back. In a lot of the games where the Penguins lost, LeTang was just giving away awful giveaways. Just awful giveaways.

SPEAKER_07: Well, maybe he gave up. Do you think maybe part of it was he would.

SPEAKER_03: I mean I don't I say that in the in the light. Well I think he's a competitor. I don't think he gives up. I just I just don't think he's lucky. He's always has that good scoring touch from from a defensive position. But I think his defense has always been pretty good. And I thought this year was pretty bad.

SPEAKER_06: Yeah. He, he, in the past, he has had some streaks where he's been bad. I agree with you that this year I felt like the streaks lasted a little bit longer and I just can't, once again, I can't tell if it's because he's, he's feeling like he has to make up for the Carlson debacles or, or what's going on. But I agree with you. If, if he goes bad, that's that, that'll, that'll be definitely a reason for the penguins as an organization to be worried.

SPEAKER_03: Right. And then I think finally, what Steve said is spot on. They need a goaltender. They really do. I mean, they obviously don't believe in Jari. I think he's completely right that Ned is just a guy. Just a guy. You know, he's a backup.

SPEAKER_07: And he has just a guy's name too.

SPEAKER_03: Right. But, you know, but that's the thing. I mean, like, you know, look, he was playing, I would say, good winning hockey at the end, but they were winning a lot of games, like six, five. Yeah, they had to score a lot, you know.

SPEAKER_06: But you know what? They said that about Hellebuyck, too, in Winnipeg, who might even win the Vezina. So but I mean you need to have a goalie You're confident in and the fact that they didn't play Jari and those those boring that win streak, right? The one time they wanted to play him was in New York and he got sick and I think they're just tired of that Honestly when it comes to Jari, but look they they have them signed. He's the only goalie that signed it's the the parallels with what happened with the Steelers in the offseason are very similar where they are at Oh and It even could be Toronto, who might say, we need a goalie like Jari, somebody who's going to get us past this point. Because their goalies are just awful.

SPEAKER_03: Right. So yeah, I think it's a mixed bag. I mean, I think they've got the potential. to be back next year and earn a playoff spot, but they also have the potential to peter out if they don't approach it the right way. And I think the two most important things are playing the young kids and finding another solution and goal.

SPEAKER_07: So I think we're all in agreement. I think the last point that I'll make about this is that this was Kyle Dubas' first year. uh as a gm with the penguins yes so i i think you got to give a guy two years before you see any sort of plan come to fruition to where you can truly criticize because you know um rutherford leaving when he did and hexall left the mess and he's gotta he's gotta clean it up still he's still cleaning it

SPEAKER_06: up. He cleaned up the hex stall mess, but he had to bring in a lot of new players because of that. And that's why I would like to see, let's not just let, why mess with it? Just leave it the way it is right now. And then roll through the first quarter of the first, the first quarter of next year. And if it's garbage and you got to change the coach, you got to change the coach. I don't care about Sully and I hope Dubas doesn't. And I hope FS FSG isn't saying you got to keep him no matter what, because we'll find out. then you really have no other place to go.

SPEAKER_07: Yeah, we'll find out.

SPEAKER_06: Just real quick on the hockey playoffs. Florida's up 1-0 in their games against Tampa Bay. That one could go 7 very easily. Look, it was a 3-2 score, but Florida was really winning 3-1 before Tampa scored a goal that didn't matter. Boston's playing Toronto again tonight. They dominated Toronto in the first game, 5-1. Um, in Toronto is playing without knee lander, so I don't know where where Toronto is going to find some goal scoring, but they need to get some goals if they're going to beat Boston in Boston in the first two. They may not, but that might not be a problem. Carolina struggled in the first win against the Islanders, but they won. Look, Anderson was good enough, and I just don't think the Islanders are talented enough to beat Carolina. New York dominated the Caps. The caps are done. I think that's going to be a sweep for New York. By the way, it makes me a little bit happy that we're not playing against the Rangers. I hate the way they play their game. I hate Matt Rempe. I hate everything about them. Everybody's like, well, you got to root for the Rangers because Trocheck's from Pittsburgh. Screw Trocheck. He's turning into an asshole. I don't like his game at all. How do you really feel? I think he's turning into one of those players that, you know, just gets soured because he's playing in New York and he thinks he's all that. He isn't. I'm sorry, but I just don't like him. I know I'm in the minority there, so, you know, keep your opinions to yourself. Vancouver came from behind for the two to win last night. The only game I didn't watch so far. Dakota Johnson, nobody knows him. But he's a household name in Vancouver now scored two, three third period goals to do it. And the game of the night, the Winnipeg Jets, seven Colorado Avalanche, six. What a game that was. If you if you didn't watch any hockey game and if you don't want to watch any more hockey game or you want to pick one series, I suggest the Winnipeg Jets in the in the Colorado Avalanche because Honestly, the next game could be 2-1 because Winnipeg doesn't like to play games like that. But I just think that game was so much fun to watch. Colorado will never give up. If they're down by four goals, they'll try and score five on you in the third period. They can do it. But Heilebuck held on for the win, 7-6. By the way, when that game was, I think, 3-3 in the first period, I was texting with my son. I said, I bet this game in 7-5. So I almost exactly nailed it.

SPEAKER_07: Well, you are Hockey Jesus.

SPEAKER_06: I almost did it.

SPEAKER_07: And Hockey Jesus will continue to bring you NHL updates during the playoffs on the Sports Porch podcast.

SPEAKER_06: My first update will be on Tuesday before the game.

SPEAKER_07: Before the games on Tuesday and on YouTube, youtube.com backsplash.

SPEAKER_06: Oh, you'll get to see my new backsplash.

SPEAKER_07: What is it with that frigging word? Backsplash, backslash the sports porch podcast on YouTube. So our next segment is, um, is going to bring out the pirate me, the buckos report. The pirates are back to being the pirates. Yes, they are.

SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately. Yes.

SPEAKER_07: And I got another more to say about that. Let me tell you, let me just tell you something. This is the fifth year for Ben Charrington. Really? Um, yes, this is year five. Wow. Yeah. So our five year plan is, uh, very close to fruition because five years, uh, are almost up and, um, the five year rebuild with him wasn't, well, it's going to turn into maybe another five year rebuild because not even, you know, he has patients for this kind of thing. Um, and I, I just have to, I just have to talk about just a couple of things here. First of all, Jared Jones, 59 pitches into a game against the Mets where he was pitching very well. I'm not even going to talk about his line because frankly, I don't remember it. It was last week. I think they were winning one to nothing, something like that. If anybody who's watching, if you remember, leave a comment. What in all of the name is holy or what in all is holy? How do you say that, Hockey Jesus? What in the name of all is holy possesses you to take any pitcher out who has thrown 59 pitches through five innings and is throwing a gem? I don't care if the guy is a rookie, which Jared Jones is, or the guy is Charlie Huff and he's and he's 52. He's thrown 59 pitches through five innings and you pull him out of the game and then after the game. And of course, you know, radio has talked about this for a week. We're only on once a week, so we're kind of rehashing old news. Yeah, but that combined with the fact that they've lost six straight and they're back to 11 and 11. Look, the pirates are the pirates again. And it really pisses me off. So, you know, it's, it's, it's a ridiculous scenario. Here we are again, hoodwinked. All right. I'm going to say it right now. O'Neill Cruz sucks. Okay. He sucks. He is not the second coming of Roberto Clemente. I'm looking at his stats right now. He has 37 strikeouts in 86 at bats. He's batting 209 with two stolen bases, 28 total bases, six RBIs, and three home runs. He sucks. Okay, let's get over this. He played 80 some games his first year. I think it's a little too soon to say that. He sucks. Okay. I'm telling you when a guy strikes out this. And look, I'll tell you what, just to make my point even more, like, I'm not kind of just trying to say he sucks. I am losing all confidence in Jack Zawinski. And I love that guy. He can hit home runs. He needs a hitting coach. he's got, you know, he's, he's only got two home runs on the year, but he also had, well, he has 14 strikeouts. All right. Cruz has 37. Yeah. All right. A lot. Jack is only batting one 91 because he can't hit anything. That's not right down the middle. right and hit a curveball right and and then you you have guys like brian and reynolds 264 um not bad 19 strikeouts uh he's got a couple dingers uh he's on base is 373 you know this is pathetic and what am i talking what am i really talking about here player development.

SPEAKER_06: Yeah. Player development. They don't have anybody can teach them how to hit the ball. Yeah. Yeah. And why was proven last year when the guy who started hitting the ball had to use the minor league coach, which by the way, I think he got fired.

SPEAKER_03: No, they fired him. By the way, I did look it up. O'Neal Cruz does lead the league in strikeouts.

SPEAKER_06: Thank you very much. He has to with that many. It's ridiculous. I think the Pirates as a team are definitely in the bottom five with strikeouts with your favorite reverse K looking at it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: Right. Exactly. And, and, and, and I, you know, Henry Davis batting one 82, he's got 20 K's Andrew McCutcheon himself. Now, you know, I'll do all, all respect to, to couch, but one 73, 20 strikeouts, 20 Triola, 20 K's Reynolds, 19 K's Taylor, 22 K's. I mean,

SPEAKER_06: Well, I mean, is it possible that once again, I'm, I'm, I'm, I can't believe I'm going to stick up for the pirates here, but they did just come, come against series against the, the, the, uh, Philadelphia team. Who's really good and the Mets who's really good pitchers. I don't know about the Mets, but Boston also has really good pitching. So it's like, those are the two, two, two of the top three or four best pitching in the, in the, in the major

SPEAKER_07: They split two with Philly. They lost three straight to the Mets. Now three straight to the. Red Sox. Uh, they're currently playing right now, Milwaukee. They've got four at home against Milwaukee, and then they travel to the West coast giants ace, uh, and then come home again for Colorado and LA.

SPEAKER_06: So look, so I mean, it could be if, if, um, if I want to just have a slimmer of optimism that they just had some really good pitching, they came up against and the next team won't be as good and they'll go back to scoring three to six runs.

SPEAKER_07: No, they stink. Um, and you made up another word, slimmer, a slimmer of optimism. Isn't it a glimmer of optimism?

SPEAKER_03: I think it's a sliver of optimism.

SPEAKER_06: Or a glimmer. I did sliver. So sliver and glimmer is slimmer.

SPEAKER_03: Slimmer is a word though. It's a word. You're slimmer than him or you're slimmer than her.

SPEAKER_07: Oh, so you're saying like slimmer, like little bit of optimism.

SPEAKER_06: No, I don't know what I'm saying. Okay, well that's normal.

SPEAKER_03: Well, look, I think what it comes down to is the problem with the Pirates is they've got one of those teams where it's like, if this happens, if that happens, if this happens, and if this happens, they might actually be pretty good. And that's the problem.

SPEAKER_06: They need four things to have.

SPEAKER_03: Right. And, you know, maybe one will, but most probably won't. I mean, the reality is you have to have, you know, a number of really good players in the lineup. And I mean, really, you'd be, I mean, you basically have Brian Reynolds is one solid player and you have O'Neill Cruz is not getting it done, not getting it done right now, but at least has potential. Um, and that's really about it. It's really about when it comes to the hitting department.

SPEAKER_06: Unless you're going to have a hitting coach who can teach them how to do this. And clearly they do not.

SPEAKER_07: Yeah. And they have absolutely no plan for developing these pitchers. So you think if I'm Paul Skeens, do I want to come up here? I mean, of course, he wants to pitch to the Major League. Yes, he does.

SPEAKER_06: But the issue is… The sooner he can get up here, the sooner he can get out of this organization.

SPEAKER_07: You're not doing Jared Jones any favors by pulling him out after 59 pitches and then making up some bullshit excuse after the game saying, well, he was on an inning count no matter what. I mean, it makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever that you would do that. And then you end up losing the game. Um, let Mitch Keller is regressing now back to the mean he's, he's basically an average pitcher, you know, which we kind of knew was going to happen. Yeah. So he, he, he balled out last year to, to get his paycheck and he got his paycheck. He did. You know, if I'm Brian Reynolds, man, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm angling for a trade at this point. Cause that guy would be a good addition to a playoff contender because he would be a solid role player off the bench.

SPEAKER_06: Trust me. If a team wants him, they can be gone. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cause he doesn't have a, there's not a, there's not a single person who's ever played for the pirates in the past 30 years. Right. True.

SPEAKER_07: Who isn't for sale. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_06: So I, you know, especially if they make more than, you know, say,

SPEAKER_07: three million dollars and that's why the pirate had decided for the first couple weeks of the season that you know was it time to to jump off on the pirate on the pirate's bandwagon it was always well maybe you know like you gotta go you gotta go a little further and that's why you never got started with the uh

SPEAKER_03: The Buccos report because you just, you couldn't, couldn't go through it again.

SPEAKER_07: Well, that, and also it's, it's a little hard when I, when I work at Trader Joe's till 9pm every night to watch the game and then come home. I mean, I can't watch it at work and then come home and do it. So, but I I'll tell you what, I will make this commitment. If the pirates are over 500 at the all-star break, then I will do more buckos reports and I will watch the games on the weekends whenever I can and there will be a buckos report afterwards.

SPEAKER_06: At least have a breaking one when schemes start.

SPEAKER_07: Perhaps I will do that as well.

SPEAKER_06: How about that? Because that's probably going to be the most exciting thing that happens to the pirates.

Marc: Other than the Star Wars bobblehead night.

SPEAKER_07: Yeah, which do they have a Star Wars bobblehead night coming up?

SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I think so. With the one pitcher that they signed. What's his name? Chapman? No, no, no.

SPEAKER_07: Perez?

SPEAKER_06: No, no. Last year they gave them the contract. Keller? Keller, yeah. Mitch Keller, Star Wars bobblehead.

SPEAKER_07: Wait a minute, so who is he? Luke Skywalker?

SPEAKER_06: He kind of looks like Mitch Keller in one of those brown robes with a tie on it.

SPEAKER_07: What in the hell is the connection between the pirates, Mitch Keller and Star Wars? It's called Obi-Wan Kenobi. Yeah. Use the force. Yes. Yes. Pitch, you will. Yeah. I have no idea. Come to you, I will.

Marc: Very, very good.

SPEAKER_04: That's perfect. Very good. Perfect.

SPEAKER_07: Strikes. I will throw. Yeah. All right. So catch the sports sports podcast. Thanks for watching and listening, guys. We're moving on to our next segments here. The sports sports podcast dropped after every show. We dropped the podcast. Please subscribe. Please leave us a review on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, Spotify. Hover anywhere, yet get your friggin' podcast. Let's see. Is it time for the draft? Yes, Steelers, Steelers, Steelers, Steelers. We're almost back to a great time for Pittsburgh sports. Almost. The draft is Thursday. On a previous show, on our Philadelphia show, I had the Grand Schwabini make a prediction. I'm going to have Steve make a prediction. Who are the Steelers going to draft? Make the prediction. Well, are they 20th, right?

SPEAKER_06: 20th. That's correct. Okay. I believe that with the 20th selection, the 20th selection in the 2024 NFL draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers select. Graham Barton out of Duke, Swiss Army knife on the offensive line, can play anywhere. Steelers love a guy like that. He will probably play center, which he hasn't played in three years.

SPEAKER_07: And that's, that's what they do.

SPEAKER_06: That's what they do.

SPEAKER_07: So that's, that's your prediction is it's going to be Graham Barton. So you don't think they're going to move up or down?

SPEAKER_06: No, they're going to stay where they are. They really can't move up or down. They don't really have that many picks to move up or down. Yeah, they just don't have it. I think they'll stay there. I actually would hope that they would go to the wide receiver position at least by the second round. There are so many great wide receivers in this draft, and I think it shades of 1974 draft when they when they drafted Lin Swan number one. I'd love to see him go number one with. Well, they can. They're not going to get a do say. I don't even know who, they probably have to go with the LSU, the second guy, the bigger guy, I forget the guy's name, but that's who probably they would maybe be lucky to get.

SPEAKER_07: What's happening with the whole Brandon Aiyuk thing? Do you think that's now a dead story?

SPEAKER_06: I don't know. I don't think he's going to leave the 49ers.

SPEAKER_07: I just think… Well, I mean, they would have to trade him. And apparently, you know, what all the rumors have been is that the Steelers aren't willing to pay what the 49ers want.

SPEAKER_03: Right, which would probably be their first round pick there or a second and me still you don't want to give up a second You know, you want to start at a third?

SPEAKER_06: Well because not only that but now you have to sign like right five or thirty million for four years Yeah, right and you really don't know what he can do. No, no, you know what he can do. He's good He's a good he's a number one wide receiver.

SPEAKER_07: I agree with you. But what I mean is he's switching coast He's switching offenses. He's switching quarterback.

SPEAKER_06: I don't think I just don't trust that anymore Well, here's the thing. It's it's they they've got a lot of moving parts. They got two new quarterbacks. That's what I'm saying. You know that you gotta keep some consistency. But I mean, even with the with the new offense, you know, who knows? I mean, here's the thing. Like I was, I went down a little bit of a rabbit hole with Russell Wilson. I want to go down this a little bit further later. He doesn't. He doesn't throw the ball across the middle in that mid range very much. It's either way deep or way short. with him. And that's really interesting because if you're getting a receiver like, you know, um, you know, somebody like Pickens who might want to catch it like 15 yards or 20 yards, he's not, that's not really where he throws the ball. Yeah. So, I don't know. Maybe they'll wait till the second round and get like a speedster or somebody like that. Somebody where he can, he can stretch the offense. I, maybe they'll do that. But once again, I don't know how much you're drafting for Russell Wilson, not knowing if he's going to be with the sealers past this year or maybe next year. So, I mean, you know, you've got that to contend with too. There's a lot of weird things about this draft that I, that leads me to think they're just going to go with meat and potatoes guys. uh, you know, maybe a cornerback and maybe some offensive lineman, maybe a defensive lineman or a linebacker because those skill positions, they have no idea how that's going to work with whatever quarterback they're going to have.

SPEAKER_07: Yeah. And, and Jeff's back in the house, the right thing to do. Jeff's back in the house. He's, he's on the Jackson powers. Johnson, uh, yeah. Power train best center in the draft. You know, I, I hear that a lot, but I'm more of the mind. Uh, I I'm more of the mindset of where you are. Um, They have made a lot of noise, but of course, in the last few years, they've thrown up a lot of frigging smoke screens too. But they've made a lot of noise about not drafting a center, that they're happy with Herbig. And you've also got the Andy Weidel influence here. He's a big line guy. And having like, and I like the Swiss Army Knife comparison. I'm not sure they'll say that on the broadcast.

SPEAKER_03: I think that's still politically correct.

SPEAKER_07: Yeah. No, no, no. I don't mean that. I wasn't saying that. You're allowed to say Swiss Army Knife. I was saying I don't, I don't see them on the, at the podium going, you know, Graham, whatever the hell his name is. Graham Barton. Yeah. Graham Barton, Swiss Army Knife from Duke. Right, right. But, but yeah, I would, it would not surprise me. So there, that's your prediction. That is, that's my prediction. Yeah. And, and we will probably have somebody else who's going to make some predictions on that in a, in a, in a few segments. In a few minutes. Special, special guests coming on board. couple segments left, but, uh, you can always catch the sports sports podcast. If you can't catch us live online at 7 30 PM Eastern time on Facebook, LinkedIn X and YouTube. Um, you can always, uh, catch us on the podcast on the I heart radio app, Apple podcasts, Spotify. or anywhere you get your friggin' podcasts. Now, of course, we have a new segment we're going to get to right now. We have a special guest in the house. This is the Grand Schwabini. The Grand Schwabini predicts. Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_03: I am back with my lamp.

SPEAKER_07: Thank you.

SPEAKER_03: Welcome, Grand Schwabini. The Grand Schwabini knows all, tells all, sees all into the future. And I am here today to tell you about the Pittsburgh Steelers draft.

SPEAKER_07: With he's having some trouble with the with the 20th pick in the 2024 NFL draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers select

SPEAKER_03: Marius Mims, offensive tackle from Georgia.

SPEAKER_06: Gone with Mims. Why do you like Mims, Grand Schwabini?

SPEAKER_03: I like Mims because he's a great athlete, and I think that they want to draft another tackle to put on the opposite side of Broderick. So I think that's going to be the pick.

SPEAKER_06: And they're not going to play him next year. They won't play him this year.

SPEAKER_03: It might be a similar thing with what they did with Broderick Jones this past year, where he doesn't play for the first six weeks, and then somebody gets injured, and then he comes in. But it's the Andy Weidel, Philadelphia Eagles type approach of draft in the trenches, draft from the big name schools, and it just seems like a pick that's lining up. Now, I will say I have a couple other options out there.

SPEAKER_06: Surprise picks? Do you have any cornerbacks?

SPEAKER_03: I do have a surprise pick. Now, if, if, the Steelers were to trade up. And I don't think they will. I think they'll stay at number 20 because that's generally what they do. But if they do trade up, I could see them trading up from maybe like 20 to like 12 to get Terry and Arnold, cornerback Alabama.

SPEAKER_06: I like Arnold a lot. Yes. I would love that

SPEAKER_03: Now, there is some thought that this guy might not be around, but if he is, I could also see them taking Cooper Dejean, cornerback Iowa, at pick number 20.

SPEAKER_06: I like both of those picks, because I think that would solidify their secondary 100%.

SPEAKER_03: Now, if they went wide receiver, I think the only way they go wide receiver is if All the offensive linemen that they love are gone, and they think maybe there's another one in the second round that'll be there. And all the corners that they like are gone. So if they went wide receiver, just as you might have been alluding to before, I have them going with, the first choice would be Brian Thomas out of LSU.

Marc: Yeah, he's the other guy.

SPEAKER_03: And then the other one I have is Adonai Mitchell, wide receiver, Texas. So that is what the Grand Schwabini predicts.

SPEAKER_06: I've seen Mitchell go like around 24.

SPEAKER_03: So I think he will be there. He'll probably be there. Now a couple other people just to kind of keep your eye on. If it's not Emerius Mims, I like J.C. Latham, offensive tackle out of Alabama. He is also a guy you can play at guard, right? I also like Tyler Guyton an offensive tackle out of Oklahoma and I also like Graham Barton Duke and I also like tallies for Wagga offensive tackle out of Oregon State so a lot to take a look at but

SPEAKER_06: It'll be, it would be interesting to know on the Steelers draft board where they're ranking these guys, you know?

SPEAKER_03: Yes, but the pick is Amaris Mims. The Grand Schwabini knows all. The Grand Schwabini tells all. You don't need to watch the draft or the raft. You don't need to watch the draft or the raft because the Grand Schwabini told you what the Steelers are doing.

SPEAKER_07: Okay, Grant Schwabini, thanks for being here. We'll see you next week. Be careful on that carpet.

SPEAKER_06: He does fly out on that carpet really fast.

SPEAKER_07: By the way, I take you off camera so you don't have to do all that gyration when you do that.

SPEAKER_03: Don't say the word gyration.

SPEAKER_07: Okay, I won't say gyration. I'm sorry about that. It's inappropriate. Okay. Are we going to eat something? Yes, absolutely.

Marc: Uh-oh. I need… No way.

SPEAKER_07: That's the best part about that. The best part about that is the chicken wings part. I love that. Okay guys, this is our Trader Joe's product of the week segment. Everybody knows that I work at Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's has not sponsored this. They're not paying us for this. We just we just love Trader Joe's. So what we've decided to do is I'm going to pick a product every week. I'm going to bring it home. We're going to taste it. We're going to look at our faces and see what our reaction is this week. And I have to type it in. This week's Trader Joe's product is actually a drink. It is the… What?

Marc: No food?

SPEAKER_07: Trader Joe's Organic Sparkling Elderberry, plus I'm typing as I speak, pomegranate, apple. cider, vinegar, beverage. I know, but you guys, you know, what am I supposed to say? You're lazy. That's right. You could say that. I am lazy. Amy thinks the song is disturbing and that's the entire reason that we put it on there. That's the idea. So this week's product, Trader Joe's Organic Sparkling Elderberry and Pomegranate Apple Cider Vinegar Beverage. It's basically sparkling water. But here's where it comes from and here's why I picked it. Now there's a picture of it up there if you're watching us live on social media. That is what the can looks like and I suppose I could just show you the can. So I've never been a fan of like the whole drink apple cider for, you know, for health reasons.

SPEAKER_03: I like apple cider.

SPEAKER_07: Do you like apple cider or apple cider vinegar? I do. Apple cider vinegar.

SPEAKER_03: I do, but I don't like, I don't like sparkling water.

SPEAKER_07: Okay. Then you don't have to have any.

SPEAKER_02: I'll try it.

SPEAKER_07: I know you will. I know you will. Um, I could tell you didn't like sparkling water cause I offered you one and you were like, sure, I'll have one. And then you left. and I drank the rest of it and you would add like a half a sip. Yeah, it's not good. Yeah. Okay. So they were demoing this the other day. They were demoing two kinds. And the beauty of this is that it's all organic, organic elderberry and pomegranate juice, organic grape juice.

SPEAKER_03: Why did they go elderberry instead of youth berry? I don't know.

SPEAKER_06: And why apple with elderberry?

SPEAKER_07: It's apple cider because apple cider vinegar is good for you.

SPEAKER_04: Oh yeah, apple cider vinegar. By the way, it's cider, not cider. Cider. It's cider. Cider. What is it? Settle this. Cider. Cider. Cider. Cider.

SPEAKER_03: Cider. You're the one who's off. I say cider. I don't say cider. I say cider. Yeah, you must be a freakazoid from York or something.

SPEAKER_07: There you go. I am a freakazoid from York and uh, there is hold on. Wait. Yep. That's good. Let me tell you, this is really good. And it's only 35 calories, very little sugar and any sugar it has is natural. Absolutely. Let's go for it. Well, they're finishing it. Schwab is going to finish it. It's not good though.

SPEAKER_04: I mean, I would say… I love it. I really do.

SPEAKER_03: I love it. I'd say for a sparkling water, it's good. Yeah. But it's, you know, I'm just not a sparkling water fan. Right. Right. I understand that.

SPEAKER_07: Yeah. And I'm not a sparkling water fan as he finishes the rest.

SPEAKER_06: I mean, I like the fact that it's not too sweet because I don't like a drink that's overpoweringly sweet. Right. When you said pomegranate, I was like, is that going to be too sweet? Yeah. But I think the, uh, apple cider vinegar takes care of that.

SPEAKER_04: Yes.

SPEAKER_06: It doesn't taste vinegary. That's the thing.

SPEAKER_07: I think it's the apple cider. Yeah. It's the cider that, uh, I, I'm not a fan of that. I actually, uh, Um, the vinegar part of it, the apple cider vinegar cider is not, is not what I'm a fan of. My mom used to, my mom, you, Oh, look at, look at Jeff commenting. Yorkers are, you know, shit loud, right? Um, and of course, Mike, it would no doubt be better with vodka.

SPEAKER_06: Mike, you're right on there with some ice. You pour in a little, you know, just a, just a little bit of, just a little bit of vodka and some of that.

SPEAKER_07: You know what it actually reminds me of, you know, it reminds me of sangria. It reminds me of a cranberry vodka. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. There you go. So, I'm not a fan of vinegar at all. My mother used to clean coffee pots with vinegar, you know, back in the day. And that smell, I had to run out of the house. Why did we do that?

SPEAKER_03: You're looking at me when you say clean coffee pots with vinegar? Well, yeah. Why would you look at me for that? I don't know why. I had to learn in college that you use warm water instead of cold water to wash tissues. That is a true story. You're looking at me for validation. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_07: But cleaning the coffee pots with the vinegar, yeah. Yeah, you didn't know about that?

SPEAKER_04: I don't even drink coffee very often.

SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I mean, that's a bad question for Schwoz.

SPEAKER_07: Yeah, I was just surprised. I was just looking at you. So Jeff is… You cannot taste the vinegar. You cannot taste the vinegar. Not at all. That's why it attracted me, because what I was doing at lunch is I was eating a wrap and then drinking a protein shake, or a protein drink, and I was basically having a 900-calorie lunch at work. Yeah, protein shakes got a lot of Yes. So now at work, I'm moving around a lot, so I wasn't worried about it. But they were sampling two of these, and this is the one where I could not taste the apple cider vinegar very much, if at all. And it only has 35 calories. So I bought like 24 of them. with my, with my employee discount, of course, but still I bought like 24 of them. So, um, yeah, Trader Joe's, uh, sparkling elderberry and pomegranate apple cider vinegar beverage side. It's really sparkling water. I think it's really, um, it's a really incredible drink. And if you like it, go down to your moat, your local Trader Joe's and get it. And that is, thank you are true.

SPEAKER_06: And for the biscuit, product of the week.

SPEAKER_00: Taste the biscuit.

SPEAKER_02: Taste the goodness of the biscuit.

SPEAKER_01: Taste the honey sauce.

SPEAKER_02: Taste the goodness of the biscuit with the honey sauce.

SPEAKER_01: Don't get that honey sauce on me. I don't like the way it tastes with my chicken wings.

SPEAKER_07: Jeff had a question, how much sugar it has.

SPEAKER_06: It's got to be less than 10.

SPEAKER_07: Yeah, it's 10 milligrams of sodium. Just just for a fact sake, total carbs, eight grams, seven grams of sugar, only 35 calories. The ingredients are carbonated water and the organic apple cider vinegar and the elderberry pomegranate juice and a little bit of grape juice. So that's what they specialize. There's things without. uh or with only natural ingredients and they pretty much stick to that so pretty impressive moving on here we dropped the sports sports podcast right after the show on the iHeartRadio app apple podcast spotify or anywhere you get your freaking podcasts and um and uh Yeah, Jeff, please try it. Last segment of the evening. What we are watching, something that we love doing here. What is that? Well, it's pretty obvious. It's what we are watching now. Steve threw in a little twist this week. I did.

SPEAKER_06: I had to go a little off script.

SPEAKER_07: I think it's because you shaved your beard and you've lost your marbles.

SPEAKER_06: No, no, this was a very important week for what I'm about to talk about.

SPEAKER_07: I know, and that's why we're going to let you go first, basically, so we can get it over with. Steve is not watching, he is listening to… Go ahead, H.J.

Marc: Are you ready for this? Yeah. Let's see what I did there. Taylor Swift. Are you ready for this? Sure. Are you ready for this?

SPEAKER_07: Yeah, I don't even know what he's doing.

Marc: Taylor Swift is so pathetic.

SPEAKER_04: Go ahead. The Tortured Poets Department.

SPEAKER_06: Yes. The anthology. Now, you have to be specific because everybody knew she was releasing the Tortured Poets Department, right? That was only supposed to be 16 songs, one album. Surprise! It's a double album, so she's calling it the Anthology and she released another 15 songs along to go with the 16 songs. So it's a 31 song double album. Are they new songs? All new songs, that's right.

SPEAKER_07: So she released an album and then she released another album?

SPEAKER_06: Well, what she does is and she does this a lot. There were four different types of albums you could buy, and they had extra so extra bonus songs on them. So you have to buy all four if you want the bonus songs. But instead of having to buy all four albums, she said, no, I'm just going to put all the extra songs on this thing called the Anthology, which is a whole nother album. So so she actually just it's like it's like if Pink Floyd would have released the wall. And only would have released the first album of the wall and then had wall too But she just decided to do it all at once and call it So so where we are now is we're putting taylor swift and pink floyd as a comparison Well only in the double album. I mean, let's face it as far as as far as artists go We all know taylor swift's much much higher rank than pink floyd is It's true.

SPEAKER_03: So say 12 year old girls

SPEAKER_06: I mean, so this I just can't this this album is not for 12 year old girls. Let's just that's just clear.

SPEAKER_03: She's starting to sing like a 30 year old.

SPEAKER_06: There's a lot of like I think on on on the one song down bad. I think she uses the F word like maybe 30 times.

SPEAKER_07: And Steelers freak finally speaks up from YouTube and says Taylor swiftly making more bank.

SPEAKER_06: at the right time like she needs anymore yeah you know she's got to pay for her boyfriend now who's you know unemployed right now right kelsey well i mean he's not doing what is he doing he's still getting a check he's just going to coachella with taylor swift i mean talk about riding riding coattails i just i can't wait i can't wait till this nightmare is over one it's a total There are five songs you have to listen to. Down Bad, So Long London, and L-O-M-L. I'm not even gonna tell you what the initials are, because you don't care. That's on the first album. On the second album, The Black Dog, and I think this is the best song on both albums. It's called The Manuscript. It's the very last song. I know a lot of people don't know it yet, because it's the last song. They get a lot of fatigue listening to 31 songs in a row. Listen to it first.

SPEAKER_03: A father's love for his daughter spirals out of control. Becomes a Taylor Swift fan.

SPEAKER_06: It's good music. It's good music. Really? Well, you wouldn't know because you don't listen.

SPEAKER_03: I like the early country stuff.

SPEAKER_06: yeah yes we've already established at what point you and the other 13 year old girls at what point does at what point do all of her songs sound the same so that's a really good point thank you for bringing it up you're welcome this album actually This actually this album me sounds very similar to her midnight album and her evermore album it's like if they had a child they would have had this album and i think that is that's a valid point with this album it does sound a lot like the last two she needs a new sound.

SPEAKER_03: I agree with Taylor Swift criticism.

SPEAKER_07: We're finally getting somewhere.

SPEAKER_06: You can you can criticize her. Okay, you know, okay I think she's ready for a new sound. I think she's up to it. But the reality is how would you feel if?

SPEAKER_03: Taylor went back and did a country album.

SPEAKER_06: I would love it. I think she should do that.

SPEAKER_07: Yes What if she did like a metal album like a death metal album? I think that wouldn't sell very well wouldn't work Do you think she'll ever be in film? She already is. That's not the kind of film I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_06: Oh yeah, she probably is, but she's not dumb enough to put it on the internet.

SPEAKER_07: And of course, Mike Lawrence says shortly Steve will break into a song with Look What You Made Me Do. Look What You Made Me Do.

SPEAKER_06: I tried to with the entry, but these guys have no idea what Taylor Swift songs are, so they're just not ready for it.

SPEAKER_03: Hey Steve, shake it off, shake it off.

SPEAKER_07: Stealers Freak is telling us the new album is for Karens with more than five cats who live alone.

SPEAKER_06: Stealers Freak's not wrong.

SPEAKER_07: Yeah, what does that make you? Tortured. Oh my god, okay, that's enough to tell. I mean, look, we gotta figure out a way to get him off of Survivor and Taylor Swift. I feel like his entire life revolves around making ladders. There'd be so much more to him. Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_06: I think I should listen to more 80s music.

SPEAKER_07: Much like the Penguins, he is lacking depth. He is lacking depth. Alright, what we're watching or slash this week listening to, Taylor Swift as usual with Steve, the anthology, whatever the hell it's called. Uh, the grand Schwab Beanie is, uh, venturing out into the theaters again. Nice. You know, what's funny is it worked the other day. I heard some, uh, uh, one of the guys there, one of the younger guys in his mid twenties saying, Oh guys, have you seen this movie? I won't name it cause I'll let you name it. It's, it's, it's so much better than John wick. Is it John wickish?

SPEAKER_03: It's actually funny to say that. Um, because it named the movie. I want to know what you guys are talking about. Come on. So I went out and saw monkey man, okay from director and starring in it Deb Patel the trailer looked awesome Jordan peel And it's a story of a guy who? Whatever country they're in Do they ever tell you? Is there weird writing? Actually, I guess it would be, it would probably be India, I guess. Okay. And so his, you know, his family basically gets you know, well, yeah, there's some murder, there's some kicking them out of their land by rich, wealthy people. And then he grows up and, you know, learns how to kick some ass and is ready to avenge his mother's death on a war path. Okay. The reason why it's called monkey man is because part of the way he honed his skills was he became a boxer in this sort of like seedy underground world where, you know, he throws fights, gets his ass beat, but also beats the crap out of other people for money, right? That's how he makes money. And so, yeah, like I was actually going to say, it kind of has a John Wick-ish feel to it. right because you know basically the movie is straight revenge um and uh i'm gonna you know kill as many people as i can along the way okay and it was fun so it's good it was fun yeah it was good yeah i mean you know you can't you can't you can't lose action can't lose

SPEAKER_06: But it's a revenge movie.

SPEAKER_07: It's a revenge movie, yes. Yes. Steelers Freak, you have to watch the Eagles show if you want to get that. Go back and watch the Eagles show if you want to get that comment answered about the Philadelphia Eagles because this is a Pittsburgh show, but we do love you being here. Nonetheless, Monkey Man in theaters is what the Grand Schwabini is watching. I am currently watching a show on Apple TV Plus. It is not a documentary.

SPEAKER_03: Hey, by the way, real quick, though, last last episode, you didn't abide by the rules and you gave us a program that you had started. Have you finished that program?

SPEAKER_07: Sugar. Uh, I have not watched the next episode yet. It just came out. Okay.

SPEAKER_03: So really it's been gripping. Yeah. Oh yeah. I like, I love it. So much so that you've somebody who binge watches didn't binge watch.

SPEAKER_07: Well, you forget I have a full time job now. So binge watching is no longer my full time job. Okay.

SPEAKER_06: Okay.

SPEAKER_04: Wow.

SPEAKER_07: You're going to have to get a job binge watching. Yeah, I had a job binge watching.

Marc: That wasn't paying too well.

SPEAKER_07: I got laid off, yeah.

SPEAKER_06: No, I just don't have as much money. Oh, by the way, speaking of things that I've started, I did start watching The Gentleman, and I'm not going to comment on it until I'm done.

SPEAKER_03: There you go. Did you enjoy the first episode, though?

SPEAKER_07: He said he's not going to comment.

SPEAKER_06: I want, I want to, I'll comment on it since he commented on it. I didn't like the first episode except for the ending. Okay. That's what we were talking about. That's kind of what, yeah. Then the ending definitely got my attention. It totally takes you by surprise. And by the way, I wasn't too surprised because you're right about that guy. There's something about him that's just off. Which guy, which guy? The brother.

SPEAKER_07: Oh, the brother. Yeah, you've seen nothing.

SPEAKER_06: Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_03: Okay, so you're watching something that's not a documentary.

SPEAKER_06: I do like the chick. Interesting, interesting.

SPEAKER_03: What's not to like about her? By the way, fun fact, interesting, I'll probably have this done by next By next week, I am actually watching a documentary. A little rarity for you.

SPEAKER_07: Yeah, I'm watching a documentary right now as well, but it's an old one, and I'm not going to talk about it right now. Okay, this show is called Palm Royale. It is on Apple TV+. It stars Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern. Kirsten Wiig. Kirsten, thank you. Kirsten Wiig, Laura Dern, Ricky Martin. And Carol Burnett, believe it or not.

SPEAKER_06: Look at all the people in there.

SPEAKER_03: What is this about? This is an odd ensemble. It is a very… And I'm actually very surprised that you willingly took to this. Was this a suggestion of the Diva?

SPEAKER_07: Now, it is really interesting that you bring that up. Yes. Because it was not a suggestion of the Diva. What it was is I saw, you know, a coming soon on one of the other Apple TV shows. Right. And the first thing I thought of was, oh, the diva would love this show. So as it turns out, the diva does love this show. Something you could watch together. Something we can watch together. Very nice. Relationship goals. And right.

Marc: I need a lesson.

SPEAKER_07: Yeah. And I'm the wrong guy to give it to you.

SPEAKER_06: Dude, I can't tell you the last time I watched something with Susan together.

SPEAKER_07: Yeah. Well, when we were over and we watched football.

SPEAKER_06: And she was sitting there when I'm yelling at it.

SPEAKER_07: Yeah. I mean, you watch it with her all the time. She just, you know, she just doesn't pay any attention.

Marc: She just goes to bed.

SPEAKER_07: Yeah. So, um, no, this is a show about, it's kind of like a caper type of show. Like, uh, it's about, uh, Palm beach. In the 1960s and we all know the diva loves Palm Beach, right? And it's it's about like the lifestyle of of the uber wealthy in Palm Beach the way you're sort of doing this It kind of gives me the feel of what the show is like you got it. You got it now, so I don't have to do that and it's You know, it's about the shenanigans that go on between these uber wealthy families, all of them made up, by the way. And what the diva loves about it is, first of all, she loves the Palm Beach culture, but it's the fashion. And it's total 1960s, right. You know, high fashion, like every time Kirsten wig, man. Yeah. Yeah. Like mad men. Every time Kirsten wig shows up on it in a different scene, I, I, I just out of the corner of my mouth, we're laying in bed watching and I go, I know you want that dress. And she's like, Oh God, do I want it ever? You know, like, so, but I'll tell you who's surprising me in this. Um, Carol Burnett. No, no, she, I mean, she's 90 something. Yeah. She plays, um, an, a, a very, very old wealthy woman, um, who is on her deathbed. Ricky Martin is basically, he works, you know, cause he's Hispanic and this is Paul white, rich white Palm beach in the 1960s. He works, it at the country club. Oh boy. Right. He works at the country club and he's her pool boy. And, uh, he's also gay, which of course we know he's gay in real life. Oh, is he?

SPEAKER_06: Yeah. You didn't know he was gay.

SPEAKER_07: You're saying you do have a chance. All right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: I know it's.

SPEAKER_06: I mean, I know he can move his hips, but I didn't know he moved that way.

SPEAKER_07: He moves his hips. Yes. So this, see, this is what happens at the end of the show. Every, every week we get past the hour mark. Anything can happen. Uh, what is, what is Steelers Freak saying? Lord Frederick Freddie Horniman is a fictional Robert Durst. Very interesting. So he must be watching. Um, Palm Royale. Anyway, so Carol Burnett is really good. She's like on her deathbed and Ricky Martin is the pool boy like taking care of her. Kirsten Wigg marries her nephew and he's a pilot, kind of a black sheep of the family, and they come back to Palm Beach. You feel like this is too long of a summary.

Marc: Yeah, basically, look, it's a good show. It's a good show.

SPEAKER_07: Ricky Martin surprises me. He's actually, he's actually a pretty damn good actor.

SPEAKER_06: Yeah. Yeah. He surprises me.

SPEAKER_07: Second career for Ricky Martin. Second career for Ricky Martin. Living La Vida Loca. Was that good? That wasn't bad.

SPEAKER_03: You like that?

SPEAKER_06: You guys work better as a duet.

SPEAKER_03: Ricky would be proud. Thank you. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_07: This was a marathon, but it was a great marathon. Thank you for watching. Thank you for watching the Sports Forge Black and Gold on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your friggin' podcasts. And of course, we do drop the podcast right after the show. Jeff says, have a good week, everyone. Amy did say, Chris, don't ruin the show for us. That was a good comment.

SPEAKER_04: And, uh, Lori, we, Sealer's Freak speaks the truth tonight.

SPEAKER_06: Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: Well, anyway, right. War and Peace was shorter. Okay, guys, I think I can take the hand here. That is, I am your technical director and I am

SPEAKER_04: Ow. SHUT THE HELL-