The Porch Is Live - The Steelers Season is Over?

Chris: I agree.
Steve: I agree. And we will tackle that on the porch.

null: Where's the wingman?

Steve: Where is our wingman?

Steve: come on now oh yeah

Chris: Oh, welcome to the sports porch. Here we are on the porch. It's so good to be back after being in a whole week. You guys, Hey, you took the mantle. You, you, you ran with the show. It looked like a good show until I tried to show up and I screwed up the end of it.

Steve: Yeah, we were holding our own till the technical director took over the technical range.

Chris: Yeah. And destroyed any chance of an Emmy or a telly or a Pulitzer or.

Steve: whatever kind of, whatever kind of, well, you know, I had to fill in for you on, on the other Philadelphia channel and that was absolutely brutal. So I'm glad you're back. I don't ever want to do that again. Well, maybe one more time, but it will only be to taunt Philadelphia flourish fans.

Chris: I can promise you that. Hey, listen, Philadelphia beautiful's in the house, you know, Schwaber's watching sounding good. He says, awesome. And uh, Brad is in the house. Brad, what's up?

Steve: Hey, Philadelphia, beautiful. Don't forget to answer your text.

Chris: Yeah. If this is, uh, if this is your first time with us, welcome, welcome here. Welcome for welcoming for welcome. There you go.

Steve: Welcoming for the welcoming.

Chris: I was prepared. I was prepared. So this is the sports porch, Pittsburgh. Uh, you can find us online right now, all over the world on Facebook, YouTube X. Twitter, uh, which is X, I guess. And, uh, LinkedIn. Yes. LinkedIn. And of course, Twitter on radio, PGH, our internet radio station, radio, PGH.com. We are live. We pregame. Sometimes we post game by accident and there's some real gems you can pick up in that one. Probably some blackmail material as well.

Steve: Oh yeah. Right. That's why you got to be on radio BGH because that's where all the bonus material is.

Chris: That's where the blackmail comes in. And we have a bonus for you. Yeah. Yeah. We have a bonus. And listen guys, listen, this is a podcast. So we dropped the podcast right after the show. We drop it right after the show within like 15, 20 minutes. You can go back, subscribe to the podcast on the I heart radio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcast. I just can't wait till baseball season. DG is in the house. I always feel welcomed on the sports porch. Good evening, gentlemen. Good evening, DG. Hello, David. And Eddie Leeson, Eddie. He wants to get right into it. He's just putting it out there.

Steve: Yeah, he is. So Eddie, we like that kind of blunt.

Chris: Yeah. Why don't, why don't we do that? What I, what I want you to know is that the porch is live.com is our website. The porch is live.com. The porch is live.com. That's right. And if you want to call into the show, Hey, look, you muted your microphone. Very good. I did.

Steve: You're on top of it. I mean, we're not, we're not reverberating or whatever that thing does.

Chris: And we're just vibing. Reverberating is fun. And especially when you got the bonus. And we do have a line open. If you have your thoughts on the Steelers or anything we're going to talk about tonight, please call 412-805-726. Get your calls in early. We do have one line open. One line open. And I'm going to, I'm just going to put this, this first, I'm going to put this first one up here because I commented about this. Now we're going to, you know, Steelers talk, Hockey Jesus is in the house. Uh, we're going to do our nfl picks and we we're going to bring back an oldie, but goodie what we're watching right now What we're streaming just to have a little fun. Um, I I talked about this and it's not on the ticker yet But i'm going to put it up in a second. I talked about this Many weeks ago. Uh-oh and and it was something that you may not even remember, but I know I talked about it And I mentioned it and I was poo-pooed. I was poo-pooed if I could use that phrase I probably poo-pooed you three weeks ago.

Steve: You poo-poo me I was not expecting two losses to two to win. That's right. So Has just thrown bombs everywhere. I love it Eddie.

Chris: Keep them coming has Tomlin lost the locker room now if you remember I made that comment after some George Pickens stuff and some Deontay Johnson stuff and some Chooks stuff. I made that comment. that I thought he lost the locker room and everybody, nah, he's not going to lose the locker room. I'm going to get these comments in from our viewers right now.

Steve: Well, I think that was right after they beat Cincinnati.

Chris: Yeah. So Steelers suck. They need to get rid of Mike and Kenny. Yeah. Eddie, you're reverberating with us. Yeah. And, and Marie, even if by some miracle we make it to the playoffs, it's one and done. Now we're going to, we're going to, we're going to,

Steve: And we'll take a miracle to make it to the playoffs.

Chris: And Philadelphia Beautiful, who, by the way, if you notice, if you're a longtime follower, listener, watcher, whatever you want to call yourself, friend of the show, as we like to say. Philadelphia Beautiful, that's Schwaber. He is sick tonight. He's got to take the night off. But we have some thoughts on that, too. We'll get to that, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Definitely. Of course, before we tear him down, we're going to build him up and we're going to say, He's mark. We wish you good health get better soon. The show's never going to be the same without you It's probably going to be a little better, but it's still never going to be the same. It will not be the same Eddie says steelers won't win saturday. We'll get to that too.

Steve: So i'm loving eddie's i'm, i'm loving eddie's comments Are you i'm loving on every every one of them? Yep so far so

Chris: Has Tomlin lost the locker room? 412-805-7236. Give us a call. And what do you think?

Steve: I think he has. And this is why I say that. Not just Minka is coming out and saying things. You can hear it in the players' voices. When they say, like, not everybody's doing their fair share, not everybody, everybody thinks that it's just going to be given to them. You know they're throwing bombs at other people. You don't know who they're talking about. Right. Because they're not going to name names. Right. But that's that's a big problem in the locker room. And this is I think this is my problem with this Steelers team right now. When things go bad, there's no leader just to step up and say, Boom, this is the way it's going to be. Get in line and let's get it together. There's no one person who can do that. You would think it would be Cam or maybe TJ, but those guys just aren't doing it. And the way Mink is doing it, I think might even be more hurtful. Maybe he is doing it in the locker room. I don't know. I'm not in the locker room. But I do know that he's saying it to social media, and when social media gets a hold of it, it can go any which way you want it to go. So I think that's a big problem for Mike Tomlin. Because if he can't control his so-called leaders on the team, who is he going to rely on? And what he said today in the press conference, like I didn't know TJ Watt, you know, was having issues when the dude put on a visor that would protect his eyes because clearly he was having symptoms. Like I think he's just protecting himself from getting fined from the NFL for, you know, perhaps, you know, not going through the right concussion protocol during that game on Thursday. Yeah. And, and I think that's, that's a bigger problem because now if he, if, if he did it, first of all, if he didn't know, then he's just a dumb head coach. If he did know and didn't consult the doctors, there's got to be some protocol that was not followed because, you know, they have health specialists everywhere doing that now.

Chris: I mean, this this sounds to me like and I think that's I think that's the problem.

Steve: I don't see Tomlin taking control of the situation and saying everything's fine. I know that we lost it to two win teams. and this is how we're going to fix it. He's not saying that he's saying we were, we don't, we don't want to talk about the next game because you know, we're talking about this game and clearly to prepare for the game. They weren't prepared to, to, take on a two win team twice in two weeks at home at home one prime time yeah that's i think that's why people are calling for his head and rightfully so because that's almost inexcusable when instead of being seven and six You could be nine and four and clearly in a great spot. Oh, by the way, you would already have your winning record for the year. Don't get me started with that. But you would definitely be in charge of that first wildcard spot because of look at all the other teams winning and losing behind them. There are seven, seven and six teams that are only going to get three spots.

Chris: Yo, Kerry says freaking embarrassing. He's watching this on YouTube. Super freaking embarrassing there's three this is my favorite phrase for the last i don't know six or seven weeks are so much unpack right now. Let's start with has tom lost the locker room i thought he lost the locker room. quite a few weeks back now. Mark saying, you know, his comment is nothing to do with losing a locker room. It's just the talent isn't good enough. I disagree. I don't, I don't agree with that. I, I, I'm, I'm not saying the talent is world class right now, but clearly it's not. But when you write, when you lose the locker room, It's even harder. It's even harder. Joe Flacco.

Steve: World-class. Oh man. Brown is whatever his name Browning world class. I mean, think about the quarterbacks that are out there now playing. Yeah. Like we had the highest paid backup quarterback and he's not even that good. And that's the problem. Like if you want, if you want to blame Tomlin and I know a lot of people are blaming Tomlin, And I actually would go a step higher. I actually think this is Art Rooney II's problem. He's the guy who has to break with tradition and say, we've had enough of Mike Tomlin. We've tried this experiment for too long. He's been here five years too long, just like with Chuck Noll. And he's got to get rid of him, but he won't do it. I mean, that's the bottom line. Like if in the talk of who would you replace Mike Tomlin with? the answer would be the next guy, right? Because it doesn't seem to matter. Like the Steelers are going to give the next guy, probably a guy. I don't think they're going to hire a woman. Maybe they would. Yeah.

Chris: But let's assume no comments about that.

Steve: Let's assume it's going to be a guy. The next guy will get at least 10 years to get us to a few Superbowls. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Chris: That's the way it works in Pittsburgh. And you're pretty much out on Tomlin ever getting us back there.

Steve: boy, I don't see how it's possible. I mean, the guy has the philosophy, if you run the ball and play good defense, that you can, you can make it, you have a chance at making the playoffs. And first of all, the chance of making the playoffs is much smaller when you're doing it that way. Right. And then the chances of actually winning a playoff games is even smaller. Right. Now, clearly the NFL, the talent in the NFL has come way down since Tom Brady's retired.

Chris: Do you think it's really because Tom Brady retired?

Steve: Well, I think it's because there have been a slew of quarterbacks. I mean, Drew Brees, right. Philip Rivers, right. I mean, there are rivers never won a super bowl. I know. I'm just saying the talent, the talent that you play against is, is, is, is that much higher. Right. And then it's replaced in, you know, I, I thought highly of my homes until last, last night.

Chris: Well, he's come down to earth. I don't doesn't have the weapons he used to have. And you're right about that.

Steve: So so I thought he would be above being childish and petty. Well, yeah, that that's not even not even Mahomes is above that. And he's probably the best quarterback that's out there now. Don't get me started with Purdy, please. Yeah. But if you want to talk about organizations that got it going on, that 49ers organization and even the Eagles still. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. They are they are at the top of we're not going to complain. We're just going to go out there and play hard. And as long as we got our weapons, we can win. Right. I think the 49ers are a victim of the injuries just like the other teams are. Just like the Steelers, but the thing is… Well, that's an easy call. But the thing is, the Steelers, when they lose talent, it's easier to replace. because it's not that great to begin with.

Chris: Remember I said you said that it is laughing. You're like, I don't think so. But apparently you'll carry could hear him. So well, then, you know, there's verification. Schwaber is talking about the T.J. Watt thing. This is what I this is what I mean by that. There's so much to unpack. It's almost hard to stay on one subject. So the first thing Schwaber thought of when he put on a visor, you know, they're putting him out there with a potential concussion because he's their MVP. Thought he could hide behind it because TJ isn't a QB. That'll get you in trouble. It probably will. Yo, Kerry on YouTube again. Pittsburgh is loyalty to a fault.

Steve: There's a lot to unpack right there.

Chris: The doctor says need to hire better coaches. Tomlin good, but better with high function coordinator.

Steve: Look, this goes back. This goes back a long way. This goes back when the Steelers would just keep drafting shiny toys. Remember when we used to say shiny toys? Yes. And it was like Claypool. We got a Claypool. We got a Deontay. We got a Fryermuth.

Chris: And he's not that good.

Steve: And then finally this year we draft some linemen. Yes. And it just is going to take some time for this. There's also what I, and by the way, that's partially Colbert's fault too. You know, Kevin Colbert had a lot to do with, with, you know, with the current team.

Chris: Yeah.

Steve: But let's keep in mind, clearly this is what Tomlin wanted. So I'm sure those two got together and say, let's get some, let's get some, let's get some guys who really can, you know, run the ball nausea, you know, Le'Veon Bell before him, you know, Right. And and let's make the offense fun. But then they lost their coordinator and they're like, oh, well, then since we stink so bad and instead of tanking a season, let's go give our first round pick for Minka. And then they went the defensive route for a while because they hit gold with TJ.

Chris: OK, so let's let's let's. It just goes back so far. Answer the question. Would you rather have Joe Flacco right now? I watched the Cleveland game. We watched the Cleveland. Yeah. I would rather have Joe Flacco. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I would. I'd take him over. Pick it. I'd take him over.

Steve: Um, I'm not even, I just, I just honestly don't know. Like did, did Cleveland decide to say, okay, Joe, just run the offense. Do you know how to run? Or did he know the offense? You know what I mean? Because you have to have the right fit. Like everybody's like, well, Ben could come out of it. First of all, Ben's not coming to me.

Chris: The guy, the guy is absolutely retired. I've got some things to say on that, but go ahead.

Steve: finish Flacco has never retired. He's always like, yeah, I'm sure I'll play another season. Why not?

Chris: You know, he was literally working out a couple of days a week and thrown the ball with his brother. Yeah. In hopes to get a phone call.

Steve: Why not? I mean, dude, look at some of these, look at some of these quarterbacks that are playing in the NFL now. they're not good. Yeah. I mean, they're not named and they're not good.

Chris: Well, the, and the NFL is, is changing, you know, it's it, and it has been changing. Um, but this whole thing about, uh, all I'm hearing all over Pittsburgh media right now is this fantasy dream of firing Tomlin. No, no, no, no. That's been around for a while of what would happen if Ben came back. To me, first of all, it's something to talk about. You're going to get people to listen. I don't really want to talk about it. I know you don't. We're not going to. Thank you. But here's the, it's a symptom of the problem. Okay. And the symptom is this, the Steelers, and I've talked about this in years past years past on this show, the Steelers are going through a transition, right? You just not lost, but your hall of fame quarterback, right? And and a lot of good players that played with him, Pouncey, you know, Hines Ward a few years back. Yep. Right. Le'Veon Bell, who fit the system really well, who ended up being a little bit of a turd. Yeah. A.B., who went crazy, who knows why. C.T. But this is probably this is a transition. And what happens is in a transition, the team falls apart.

Steve: Because now, look, well, a good team would be being rebuilt.

Chris: Well, and like the Packers, when they moved on from Favre to Rodgers, the question, the question is, by the way, sat behind Favre.

Steve: Do you think Tomlin is salvaging a crappy team to be mediocre? That's that's the real question.

Chris: No, I think what's happening is this. I think that Mike Tomlin holds his never losing season record at this point in his career. Yep. Above everything else, even winning the super bowl. because he won a Super Bowl.

Steve: So let me see if I get this right. You're saying that Mike Tomlin says the best way to be in the middle of the pack is to play really good defense and have an offense that doesn't make mistakes and maybe has a chance to win. But we'll also have a chance to lose against two win teams. Yeah. Every week they're out.

Chris: You're backdooring me into the way you see things. But it's true. I agree. What I'm saying is that Tomlin's legacy has now been for the most part. So let's take our Pittsburgh glasses off here. I'll even take my reading glasses off. I'm going to take my Pittsburgh colored glasses off. Tomlin's legacy outside the bubble that is Pittsburgh has been secured in the NFL as a historic legacy. That's true. And he is going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, whether you like it or not, it doesn't matter. He is. And you know what? I actually believe that he does deserve he let's put it this way. I believe he has Hall of Fame credentials. Okay. You just look at the time he coached. Yeah. He wants to look, dude. He wants to see he's been to two super bowls. He won one, right? Uh, he's had a lot of great teams, a lot of great success. He has had some years where the team wasn't performing and his coaching style will them into the playoffs. The last seven, eight years have not been great, but he still does not hold on. Listen, he still does not have a losing record. And I think that for him. That to him seals his legacy in Canton when the time comes. And I think, look, and I know, I do not know Mike Tomlin. I do not speak with Mike Tomlin. I would love to have Mike Tomlin on the show, to be honest with you all. Respect. I'd love to hear what the guy has to say. This is a question he will not answer ever because it would it would he knows it would. I actually don't think there's anything wrong with that, Steve. He's an individual who's looking at it and saying, I have a legacy to protect here and I'm not being provided with all of the best players. Or am I able to really pick They're not drafting well right now. Maybe Broderick Jones will end up being a decent pickup. We're gonna talk about the receivers here in a second. So I think what I'm saying is that I truly believe that Tomlin is working on his legacy. That's what I believe.

Steve: Well, his legacy is intact. I wish he would finally do one of two things. One, retire, or two, realize that they have to hit, he has to let them hit rock bottom, meaning he has to go out of his comfort zone. He has to go out of his comfort zone to hire an offensive coordinator with offensive talent that may not match his strategy for what he wants to do with the defense. Okay. And if he would do that, they may get worse. But I promise you, then they would get better because that's what happens in the NFL. We know that. But he if he if he won't let that happen, he's going to keep Pittsburgh Steelers fans and Steelers Nation hostage for as long as he wants to be. the head coach because Arthur Rooney II will never fire him.

Chris: Now, they did say that about firing a coach midseason, but I agree with you. He is not. Look, it's it's it's not going to matter. He he he wants if they bottom out. But here's the bottom out to rebuild. He loses that legacy. That's my point.

Steve: No, he actually would be seen as a smarter coach because he would have changed the way he thought about himself. And thought more about what's better for the legacy of the Pittsburgh Steelers and not the legacy of Mike Tomlin.

Chris: Are there any former psychologists in the house that maybe can evaluate Mike Tomlin and how he feels about himself? You know who I'm talking about. All right. All right. Somebody from Pittsburgh. Beautiful. Please. We got a ton of Philadelphia. Beautiful. We got it. We got a ton of people making comments in here and I want to get everybody into the show. Yo, Carrie. Always. I love his. He's very colorful. He loves the turd. Yeah. True biscuit old turd biscuit in the pocket throwing picks, but locking up with flags, saving him a CD. Yep. Hard to transition during mediocrity, right? DG says he still blames Tomlin and Ben for not bringing Rudolph up properly. Wow. There's something to be said there. He's got an axe to grind with that. He does. Ben, he's been very consistent with that. And Tomlin didn't help. Tomlin loves picket and doesn't want to consider that Trubisky isn't better than Rudolph. A CD says Tomlin is in the hall of fame. Thanks to Rooney sticking by him. That's absolutely Robert Tomlin is George C for 2.0 won a super bowl with someone else's team, but was still a pretty good coach. That's, that's not necessarily untrue. Yeah. CD is back with longevity in a coaching world of firing too quick in the NFL. DG, once again, if Tomlin was on the show, he'd say absolutely nothing substantial in 45 minutes of garbled nonsense. You know what, DG? We'd get a lot of hits. We would. I have a fairly high opinion of myself, and I can be quite controversial. Do you think the conversation would be fluid enough? Well, let's just put it this way. After about five minutes with me, he'd just cut it off. There would be no fluidity to that. I wouldn't stop. I wouldn't stop and you'll carry having a winning season every year is good, but without a trophy, right? You just need, you're just good. Not great. Bring a trophy with a winning season. You got something cooking then. So, right. Uh, I, so what is your answer? Call in the show. Tell us we, we always have a line open for one, two, eight Oh five, seven, two, six. That happens to be my cell phone. Okay. So I'm just throwing it out there.

Steve: Um, can I just say something about the Thursday night game before we move on? Happen to be at the Thursday night game and let me just tell you right you were let me just tell you about the Steelers defense the Steelers defense is terrible and They're even worse than you think they are Like I know that everybody says, you know, Bailey's happy look like, you know a world beater out there Like he was belonged in the Hall of Fame ease and what the first quarter or the first half dude He had more than two Open guys to throw to every time. Yeah, it didn't take a rocket scientist. It didn't take a Brock Purdy It didn't take a Tom Brady to hit these guys. They were wide open except for whoever JP jr Was on yeah, he was always covered. Yes. So this is the problem. I was juju But juju had a pretty good game well juju had that one long pass at the very beginning on the first drive that they had right and And then, oh yeah, Tomlin, sassafras and chocolate milk.

Chris: I'm still trying to figure out what sassafras is.

Steve: Well, if you don't know what sassafras is by now, you're never going to know.

Chris: Is it green and does it have a pungent odor?

Steve: Look, I can't, you can't explain it. You just have to experience Sassafras. Yes. Right. Well, we all have. Yes, exactly.

Chris: And our own special way here. Steve was in rare form. Everything is going to be all right. I did.

Steve: I did say that because I actually thought at the time, like, even though we were, I have to admit that third touchdown, maybe a little scared a little, but the thing is they could not run the ball. I was petrified. They couldn't run the ball, dude. The only thing they, and they had the shirt field the one time and then that third touchdown was the one. The one that, um, that really kind of broke the back of the Steelers. And the thing is, if they would have managed their timeouts a little bit better, they still would have had a chance to kick a field goal with almost no time left because of the last play that nobody happened to be there for, or if they would have gotten the onside, they were still in that game in the fourth quarter. And that's what drives me crazy about this team. Like they will lull you in. It'll be like you're getting killed and then they'll start coming back and then you'll be like maybe we're gonna do it and then they don't and And that's what that's the way this team is engineered That's the way the team has always been on the games that they've won they've made that fourth quarter drive to to make it happen and they just didn't do it because It just it's just so frustrating but I'm my point about the defense is this they can't cover anybody And the reason they can't cover anybody is because their linebackers can't stop the run. So I don't even know how this, this defense is going to recover, especially if TJ can't play. I don't, I don't know how they're going to tackle anybody in a Indy on a Saturday. It's, it's, it's a problem. Well, the defense is more of a problem now than the offense, to be honest with you.

Chris: I think we might be getting a call here. Let's let's see. Let's Hello caller. Oh, there we go. Welcome to the sports porch. Um, I gotta put you on. I gotta get you on the line here. All right. Well, no, that was a spam call.

Steve: That sounded like Mike Tomlin there a little bit.

Chris: Maybe that was Tomlin calling in. Spamming us. Maybe DG was sending us a fax. What do you think?

Steve: Just the fax. Oh my goodness.

Chris: Okay, so a few more, a few more. Stealers Freak. Minka said what Tomlin should have. Stealers Freak, thanks for being here. That's true. They were still in the game because they were playing a crappy team, right? That's true, David. Stealers Freak says the Steelers have been giving the fans wishful thinking for over a decade. Longer than that, Stealers Freak. And Mark says, Oh T D. Yeah, I know. I got, well, I was, I was waiting.

Steve: I missed some comment about JP jr.

Chris: Mr. JP jr. Miss a critical interception through the hands. Yeah. I mean, that happens every game. So, you know, I don't, but his tackling got better. Yes. Uh, that, and that is true. That, that is very true. But what I think is really interesting about everything you just said about the defense team,

Steve: I'm more worried about the defense now than I am the offense.

Chris: But you were a big defensive guy going into this season. I know.

Steve: What's changed? What's changed is they can't cover the linebacker play.

Chris: The linebacker play is what changed.

Steve: Right. And I know some of that's injuries. That's true. But they, they, without linebackers, like that's a problem with their whole defense right now. They've got a great front four. I think some of the best in the NFL. Right. Now they got a shutdown corner. They still have a weak other corner, which means good teams will exploit the other corner no matter who it is. And mink is back. So that's good. But now mink has got to play linebacker, right? So that makes the deep ball threat that more him in that pulls him right. And when you've got the other corner, that's bad. You're screwed. So really it's all about the linebacker play. They need to go out. And I think I've said this the last two seasons, they need to get a damn linebacker. You know, Devin, Bush was not the guy.

Chris: Never thought I'd ever hear that name again. But right.

Steve: But that was the guy who was supposed to be the guy. And since he hasn't been the guy, they've just been recycling old guys. And they have the one guy they probably should have kept is playing for the Raiders now. Spillane. And, and everybody else got injured.

Chris: Well, I guess Roberts is still Steelers freak has some good stuff here. The middle of the Steelers D has been their soft underbelly that can be exposed because you can, you can beat it with a tight end.

Steve: You can beat it with a run. Once you get in that secondary level, there's nobody to stop them from running into the end zone.

Chris: And that's exactly right. This goes into our picks for this week, but our picks for last week, and we'll get to those in a few minutes here, but I picked the Patriots to win. I picked them to win. Because Bill Belichick, even though he's having a terrible year, once again, it wasn't just Brady. It wasn't just Brady. It was Belichick and Brady together. Belichick helped. Brady had all the tools. He had the pocket presence. He had the mind for the game. He had the timing down. He had the skills and he worked very, very hard. But Belichick had to be there to help develop him. And he did. And Brady and Belichick together created that dynasty. Now, Brady's gone. It doesn't mean Belichick is a horrible coach. What it means is he lost arguably one of the greatest football players of all time. Yeah. And he has to restock. The one thing he is incredible at is identifying another team's strengths and another team's weaknesses. And what did he do with a mediocre run of the mill journeyman quarterback named Bailey Zappi But send tight ends out over the middle on the linebackers. And what did their tight end do? He caught two touchdown passes. That's why I picked the Patriots to beat the Steelers, because Belichick will outcoach you every time.

Steve: Well, he's won the last six against Tomlin, and I think Tomlin's only won three of 12 games against him. So that's all you really need to know about those two coaches.

Chris: Right. And DG says what we've always thought makes you really miss Shazier. Absolutely. Yeah. Shazier was a decade loss. Absolutely. The Bengals at least five or six years. Right. The Bengals didn't blitz, but the Cardinals and Pats did. I expect more of that. Of course. Of course. And DG says, you picked the Patriots because that was the only chance to gain ground and predictions on Mark and Steve who are dusting you. David's right. Yes, he is right about that. But I also picked the Patriots, DG, because of the thing about Belichick. And I'm going to stand on that. How about that? I'm going to stand on that. So

Steve: Well, the one thing about the Steelers defense in Mark's bringing this up in the second half, they definitely make changes that really fix things. The problem is when when your offense can only score 18, 19, 20 points at best, you're screwed. Really, you can't come back. You can't come back far enough from from the defensive changes you make. The one thing that really did kind of confuse me was, how did we get that, I think it was an interception or a fumble, and how did that guy not get into the end zone?

Chris: It was in the third quarter. Right. And I was listening on.

Steve: I was like, I really thought like he was gone. I was like, he's, he's going to get in the end zone. And Zeke came out of nowhere and tackled him at like the 10 yard line. And that's the, that's the series where they went forward on fourth down and didn't get it.

Chris: Your guys take for way ahead. I'm not sure what that means. Other way ahead.

Steve: Way ahead. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. Walker. That was the guy. Thank you. Steelers freak. Yeah. Yeah. He was really slow because I mean, you know, 27, 32 year old Zeke caught him from behind. Right. That's terrible.

Chris: Yeah. That is, that is terrible.

Steve: Maybe they could have did a Kelsey pitch back.

Chris: Phil Wassell says fire red eye Tomlin. Enough is enough. Steelers freak Walker is slow. Gotcha.

Steve: So well Phil you need to go down to Steelers headquarters and talk to Art Rooney the second.

Chris: Yep He's the only guy that can do that Schwaber says Zeke had a good angle on it and didn't quit on the play like a lot of the Steelers and that's that's the the next thing I want to the next thing I want to bring up here. What direction should the team take?

Steve: Let's answer Steelers freak because he seems to be really interested interested in the team should

Chris: OK, OK, let's let's go there. What direction? Well, what should the team take? I'll tell you, Lord, what direction do they have to take?

Steve: I'm going to tell you what direction they're going to take. And you're not going to like it, but this is what they're going to do. They're probably going to go to and to. And they may or may not make the playoffs with a nine win season. Probably not. My guess is bills are coming on pretty strong, although they got a tough schedule. Looks like the Browns have kind of figured it out. Houston could be in trouble unless C.J. Stroud doesn't have a concussion. I'm going to say they go two and two. So that puts them on the bubble for a playoff, even if they don't make the playoffs. Let's say they don't make the playoffs with a nine win season. The Steelers will say to Mike Tomlin, you have to hire an offensive coordinator and we're going to give you a five-year extension.

Chris: Do you really think they're going to give him a five-year extension? Yes, I do.

Steve: A minimum of three. And I know you're not going to like that. And then what Tomlin's going to do is he's going to hire his buddy, Byron Lefwich, and for three to five more years, we're going to have more of the same. And I hate to say that out loud, but I absolutely think that's what Art Rooney II is going to do. What I'd like to see them do is tell Mike Tomlin, we are not giving you an extension. You will hire this offensive coordinator, maybe Josh McDaniels or somebody like that, an offensive minded guy. And you're going to coach using these coaches. That's what I would love to see them do, because they really can't do anything with personnel. They're stuck with Kenny next year. They're stuck with Trubitsky, I think, for another year, although this might be the last year of his contract. And then Boom, that's it. Then they can really start change. Now that means next year, if they do that, by the way, Tomlin's probably not going to coach really great and they might have a six win season and Tomlin's going to blame the Steelers and then it's going to go on and on and on.

Chris: Well, Steelers Freak doesn't like this to the point where he just dropped his black and gold bong. I'm sorry, Steelers Freak.

Steve: I tried to tell you you're not going to like it. I'm telling you. So I hope you at least had a small table that you dropped.

Chris: Right. You better pick that bong up because you're going to need it for the next three years.

Steve: That water can really stink when it hits the floor.

Chris: Not that I know what I'm talking about. I don't remember anything about that. I don't know what you're talking about. about DG says he could see a three year extension. Yo, Kerry says 10 years, 700 million weight wrong sport. Yeah, I don't even that already happened. I don't even want to talk about the Otani thing. I, I think it's, we are way over the top. Look, Otani is just a quick segue. Otani is a generational baseball player. There is no doubt about that. He has a skillset that is pretty damn incredible. I've watched him play, but nobody, Nobody is worth $700 million that puts on his professional sports uniform. And, and, and I don't, I don't care what anybody says.

Steve: That is way too much. It doesn't matter. He's deferring 2 million in contract. He's going to have the new Bobby Bonilla contract.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. The new, you got it. That's true. It will.

Steve: That's true. They'll be paying him until 2080. Dude, we'll be dead for like 25 years and they'll still be paying no time.

Chris: Well, he'll be dead for 25 years and they'll still be paying his little Oton.

Steve: Well, hopefully they put that clause in.

Chris: After you're dead, you get no more money. I don't really care to be honest with you. I hope he gets all the money after he's dead.

Steve: They can put it in his coffin. The Dodgers are only giving him that money because they have it.

Chris: Well, and you know what's going to happen. They're going to suck. That's what's going to happen.

Steve: It doesn't matter. They're going to make it back in marketing. Yeah. Let's bring it back to the Steelers. Back to the Steelers. So that's the future for the Steelers. Steelers freak.

Chris: I'm sorry you lost some bong water over it. Indianapolis. I think he's less concerned with the bong water and more concerned with what you use in the bong. Maybe. Yeah. Which I'm not sure. Is it tobacco? Yeah. That's flavored tobacco. Always what you put in a bong. That's what it was. Okay. Of course. So before we move on here, I want to thank you guys for watching us live all over the world on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, X, Twitter. Nearing that time. And of course, listening on radiopgh.com. Go to radiopgh.com and you can find the podcast right after the show, the SportsPortch podcast on the Apple. uh podcast app thing iHeartRadio app yeah you know all those app things anywhere you get your bringing podcast just go get it i'm actually looking forward to bringing the pirate back this year uh well that's a topic for another day we need to get on with our nfl picks i know let's get on with our picks uh i have marks oh you do have marks okay cool all right so hey guys every week what we do is we pick uh some nfl games uh and as of right now Last week, actually, it was a crazy week because Mark was 0 and 3. Oh, my Chris and Steve were 1 and 2. So right now, Mark is 26 and 13 with a solid lead. Although Steve is creeping back up, he does have a shot. Chris, I am now 16 and 23 or 16 and 230, however you want to look at it. Our picks this week. What is your pick? Tell us in the comments the first game. Thursday night, Chargers at Raiders. Barn burner on this one, but we always pick the Thursday night game, so.

Steve: Mark's got the Raiders. All right. I don't know why I'm doing this, but, oh, do you know if Herbert's out? Yes. He's out for sure? I don't know. I'm going to go with the Raiders just because I think Herbert's going to not play.

Chris: All right, I'm going with the Chargers because I got to make a late run here. Uh, okay. I don't know.

Steve: The writers didn't score any points this week.

Chris: Oh man. That's it. You guys are gone with the Raiders. You don't want to change that pic. Nah, no, I'm sticking with it. I promise not to overthink these against Minnesota. I'm not overthinking against Minnesota. I don't care. And how about all that? Josh Dobbs love Josh Dobbs love. How about that? He got what happened. He got happened. He regressed to the mean, which for him is zero zero. Well, 76 yards. I mean, nothing taken away from the fact that he knows how to use an abacus really well. But still, I mean, you know, OK, Saturn fly the hell out of the space shuttle Sunday. Sunday night's game Ravens at the Jaguars. Now, this has implications for both teams because the Ravens are right now staring at the number one seed and the Jaguars. They've fallen apart. Yeah, I'm really not happy with Travis Etienne Jr.

Steve: Yeah, I mean, too many mistakes.

Chris: I do also have to have a discussion with my general manager about why on earth we would have picked Dallas goddard to start over in joku when it's been obvious that it doesn't matter it doesn't matter you're gonna lose anyways yeah you're probably right all right ravens at the jaguars uh mark has the ravens mark has uh i will be taking

Steve: the Jags. I think, I just think Baltimore is going to lose one of the last remaining games and I don't think it's going to be in to steal it.

Chris: And this is in, um, it is at the Jacksonville. This is in Jacksonville. So I'm going to go with the Jags as well because it's a, the Baltimore is in the playoffs for the most part. Yep. They're pretty much. Yeah. So the Jags, they got to win. They, they, they just lost the Cleveland and Joe Flacco. They got it. They got it. They got to win this game. Okay. So then the Sunday pick them game during the day is this is a good one, man. Cowboys at the bills. It's, it's really a must win for both teams because, um, I think Philly actually dropped from the first seed all the way down to the fifth seat losing. Yeah. They're in the wild cards. Yeah. They're in the wild cards. Sorry, Schwabert, but now they they've got a cake schedule or the rest of the, the rest of the season is just lost to two bad teams.

Steve: They already lost to the jets.

Chris: They're not going to, they're not going to lose to Arizona now. Yeah. So Sunday game Cowboys at the bills. Who does Mark have? He's got the bills. Yeah, this sucks because I'm going with the bills as well. Well, then I'm going to take the Cowboys.

Steve: There you go. There you go. Now, only because I went to Steelers to sneak in the playoffs with nine wins.

Chris: Of course you would love that. You would love that. Uh, now next game, next game. This is our boner game. I mean our bonus bonus Saturday, right? Bone us Saturday game. Broncos at the lions.

Steve: Well, you know who Mark's taken. Uh, he loves the line. He's taking the line. He's a lion. He's a lion's lover. I don't know why lion of a lover. I don't know why these Broncos are so attractive to me.

Chris: It's because Russell Wilson is actually playing like a quarterback now. Yeah. Yeah. I like the Broncos in that game too.

Steve: I think I'm going to go with the lines. I think I like the lines at home better than the Broncos. Okay. I think the Broncos play better at mile high or whatever it's called now.

Chris: Um, yeah, I, I, I have no, I have no way. Uh, yeah. And Travers says a lion's man. Yes.

Steve: I don't feel good about any of those pics. Let's move on. Yeah. Okay.

Chris: Okay, we're gonna move on to something this is the I'm going on for this week. This is the Worshipping part of the show. This is when we start to kind of bring the lights down and we get very reverent and Because if you haven't figured it out yet, hockey Jesus is here and he preaches on the podcast on the sports sports podcast after every single damn penguins game. I don't know how you keep it up. Sometimes you actually broadcast during the penguins games when you're there and we can tell. that the beers are flowing period by period. Third period. It's a little sloppy. Yeah, but it's a good it's a good list. It's a good sloppy. It's a it's a good listen. Let me tell you that hockey Jesus on the sports porch podcast after every single penguins game. So hockey Jesus things are not looking good for the pens right now. Preach. And if you have any thoughts on the pens, we have a line open for one to eight. to five, seven, two, three, six.

Steve: I know y'all want to commiserate about the power play and you should because it's the worst in the league. I think they have, let's see, this is the 14th game in a row that they have not scored. And by the way, they've got seven more to go before they break the NHL record, which was set by a Cleveland team. That's how long ago it happened. Cleveland had a hockey team.

Chris: Yeah. Are you serious?

Steve: Yeah. A long, long, long, long time ago. What were they called? I think like the Barons, the Cleveland Barons.

Chris: Like, like Robber Baron? Yeah. The Barons. Barons. Or kind of like Baron. No, not Baron. Cause it's Baron up there.

Steve: It's just the Barons, the way I say it with my Pittsburgh accent.

Chris: I mean, leave it to Cleveland to come up with these great names. I mean. Well, that's why they're not there anymore.

Steve: Cause nobody wants to go see the fricking Barons. I mean, you know, you know, anyway.

Chris: What do you put on the shirt? Like a guy with money bags? Yeah, that sounds about right.

Steve: Yeah. All right.

Chris: Probably like with an Indian face too. How did we get to the Cleveland Barons? What the hell are we talking about?

Steve: They have the most futile power play in the history of the NHL. Oh. And that's where the Pittsburgh Penguins are headed. So see, we can bring it back to that. Ah, I see. I see. And I actually think they got a really good shot at breaking the record, by the way. They can't score on five on three. They can't score on six on four. They can't score a five on four. I've actually think that they should institute this new rule, which is when they get a penalty against them, just say, no, thank you. We don't want to take it. It's just too embarrassing.

Chris: It's just too embarrassing. You were talking about that on the, uh, on hockey.

Steve: I have to, because it's just embarrassing. Like the power play is embarrassing. They have so many great hall of fame players and they can't score a goal with an extra guy on the ice.

Chris: Yeah, you know what's interesting to me is just that their goalie scores more than their power play. Tristan Jari got his first goal. Yeah, but the thing about it that you say there that really interests me is that they do, they have like their first line is basically all Hall of Famers. All Hall of Famers.

Steve: Now, if you were to take all their guys and put them in the right positions, you would have a Hall of Fame line. Yeah. That's insane. It is insane. And they can't score a power play.

Chris: I know. And you've been talking about this all season.

Steve: Well, it's because one of my keys to them winning games is to get a power play that's clicking at around 20%. Right. And their power play is clicking at about 6% now. Really? That low? I think it's 11% because they actually haven't had a lot of penalties against them because they're not skating very fast or they're not initiating a lot of contact.

Chris: Should maybe they be playing in wheelchairs? Would that help?

Steve: No, nothing will help this power play. Actually, you know what will help this power play? Shooting the puck and getting it on goal. A lot of times, they shoot the puck, it doesn't even hit the net, and that's the problem. Also, when they're shooting the puck, it's never on a one-timer. The advantage of having a guy on a power play is you can have a one-time shot with nobody in front of you, and the goalie can't get over there quickly enough, or you shoot it so hard off of a one-timer, The goalie doesn't even know where it is. He's just trying to stand there, hoping it hits him. Right. But they got to take the shot, though. They got to, one, take the one-time shot, two, get it on net. And they haven't been able, they haven't done the first one, let alone the second one. So this is the problem.

Chris: Now, now DG's comment here, maybe the Penns should try city one of their skaters instead of going one up. I think they'd be better. Uh, you actually, you actually, that's a good idea.

Steve: Like maybe they just like take somebody and put them out in the center ice and just skate four on four. Could they bring in an extra goalie? Um, yeah, you can, you can take one of those guys and just put them over by the goal.

Chris: That's what I'm saying. Like, like for the power play, just bring in the guy.

Steve: So when they come down on a shorthanded attempt, they, Oh, Oh, put, put Magnus in there with Jari.

Chris: I've never seen that happen, but that would be very, is there a rule in the NFL, in the NFL, in the NHL?

Steve: that says you, you probably, there's probably something about equipment standards, right? You can only have one person on the ice that can wear the, you know, the pads like that.

Chris: Schwaber puts up on the comments. If you're, if you're watching, if you're listening, he can't see it. He puts up a little hockey goal. Yeah. Uh, okay.

Steve: So it's, it's not hard. They just need to simplify their power play and they need to do one time shots from either wing. Once they get that goal and they're one's going to go in, it's going to be dumb luck and it has to be on goal, which might take three or four games, but I think they're going to do it.

Chris: So I'm going to ask you this question because I think it's, to me, it's, it's perplexing word. Um, you got a hall of fame line. Yep. First line potential Hall of Famer on the second line.

Steve: Well, I mean they break up some of their Hall of Famers But they put them on two lines first line power play is who Carlson Crosby Carlson Crosby Gino Gino, right and then they have Jake up there also, right? And then the fifth guy changes because sometimes it was Russ now he's injured Russ. Sometimes it was Raquel. He's injured, right? they had I think they had Pustin in up there. He's a new guy that came up. So the, the, the, the fifth guy usually changes. Now they actually did put a car, they did put a Carlson out there with LaTang. So you can put LaTang out there. So you have two guys, two defensemen. Right. And then there you go. That's pretty much your hall of fame.

Chris: Okay. So here, here's my question. All of those players that you just mentioned that are on the power play, power play, five guys have an incredible amount of hockey experience between them. They do. What the hell is going on? Nobody wants to God. I'll tell you. I know nobody wants to shoot. Look, look, I don't want nobody to repeat this. What I'm saying is what's perplexing to me is this. You don't have. you know, two and three year players, rookie players mixed in with some hall of fame. I think that's part of the problem. But my point is they're overthinking it. Yeah. Which means, you know what they're thinking? They're going to make a mistake.

Steve: No, no, no. They're trying to make the perfect play. Right. They're, they're experts at what they do. So they think that they can pass the puck from here between four guys to the other guy over here who can then slam Duncan. Right. And every time they do that, guess what happens? The puck gets intercepted. Right. It can't come through four guys.

Chris: What you're saying is when you have this amount of talent on a power play. Okay. You've got it. It's basically like having an automatic weapon. Hold the trigger down and shoot the puck.

Steve: That just keep shooting the bombs away. Okay. So you don't want to think you want to, you don't even want to stop the puck when it's coming to you. You see the puck, you slap it towards the goal and you get it on goal.

Chris: Deflect it, slap it, whatever.

Steve: Slap it. Yes. Jam it in. Power the pill in that whatever it is, right?

Chris: That's what you need to do it in. Push it in the hole.

Steve: Don't think about it. Just slam it in there.

Chris: You want it in the five hole. You want it the five hole rock, the six hole, the seven hole over the head, the eight hole from behind.

Steve: No, from behind would be a Michigan. But yeah, and I don't think they're going to do that. I don't think you're going to do a Michigan, although they could.

Chris: It would be worth trying at this. I just cannot for the life of me. I get what you're saying.

Steve: They're overthinking. They're overthinking it. And they're highly intelligent. They think they can make the perfect play and make sports centers highlights when that's not how you score.

Chris: So. So what is Mike Sullivan saying to them? Is he saying, you know, bombs away? I have no idea what he's saying as a coach.

Steve: Actually, I actually think, I think he's, I think he's letting the experts run their own power play. And clearly that's not working.

Chris: There's, there's, there's, there's a region. There's a reason for a coach. Uh, so the power play, he's getting a little racy on us. There you go, David. Welcome to that. Welcome to the internet radio. You can say whatever you want. Well, yeah, of course you write the bunghole right in the bunghole.

Steve: I mean, hey, as long as it goes in, I don't care what hole it goes in, just get it into the net. So the Penguins are 0 for 4 in their last four games, including two overtime losses to the dreaded Flyers. They lost in Tampa Bay and they lost in Florida. By the way, I did try something new this past weekend. I watched the game on Saturday morning. That was actually quite fun.

Chris: So that would explain why the hockey Jesus came out that morning. Yes.

Steve: Right. Because I wasn't feeling great because I was at the Steelers game Thursday. I got like three hours of sleep. Right. I came home and I, I kind of took a nap and I'm like, okay, I'll wake up and I'll, I'll watch the hockey game. I was still like dead to the world. I literally went to bed at like eight o'clock. But it was great because no idea what the score was, didn't turn anything on, didn't turn my phone on. I got up, I put on the hockey game, got a cup of coffee, I watched the game. And I actually think I learned more watching that game than any game I've watched this whole year.

Chris: Do you think it was because of the coffee and the good night's sleep?

Steve: Yeah, I think it was. So I think what I'm gonna do, no I'm not.

Chris: If I didn't have a job, let's not write. Yeah. A job. What's that? I have no idea. This is a job.

Steve: This is a job, but this is my favorite job. That's right. For sure. And doing hockey is great. In fact, I don't think I've told you this, What I started doing is, you know, you can share out the hockey Jesus. I started tweeting it out and I started added the Pittsburgh penguins to it. I'm hoping that maybe we can get a little action going on with the penguins.

Chris: Maybe you'll get a, well, and maybe you'll get a coaching job too. Maybe you could turn that power player.

Steve: Dude, I could easily change that power play up and I wouldn't even need to put on the Paris gates.

Chris: And this is a guy who never played hockey.

Steve: Not once, but I can tell you, I could change that power play around in two games. You think so? I could get a clicking at 28%.

Chris: It's like name that name, that power play, name that tune.

Steve: What percentage power play can you make it go to? Me? Yeah. Me?

Chris: Oh God. Easy. Zero.

Steve: you can't do any worse than they're doing now. So there you go. You're hired. So yeah. A game's coming up. Arizona's in town. Um, I think his first name is Logan. Logan Cooley is, um, is a, is a rookie phenom for Arizona. He's actually from West Mifflin in the Pittsburgh area. Interesting.

Chris: So right down the road from the Monroeville

Steve: Right, right down the road. Right. And, uh, so he's going to be in Pittsburgh. I'm sure he's going to have a, a crew in a box somewhere. Uh, good for him. Um, he actually is, is looking like he's probably going to be rookie of the year. He's, he's really a phenomenal talent for Arizona. Um, so, um, they're coming into town and then back to back we play at Montreal. So, um, heading up to Canada for a couple of trips at Montreal on the 13th and then at Toronto on the 16th. They got to start winning some games, boys. I mean, this is really what a coming down. Well, they're not in a playoff spot right now.

Chris: I'm not worried about that. We're two and a half weeks after.

Steve: I'm not worried about it. And here's why. All right. There are so many teams that are bunched up there. I mean, we could be talking about 12 or 14 teams still in the hunt in the next two or three months. And that'll be incredible. But the problem is, is that damn loser point. people keep getting those loser points, then rather than getting two points ahead, you're only getting one point ahead and it's going to be hard to jump people.

Chris: Now, I think that DG's on to something here and we haven't taken advantage of this. You got to go to the game. You got to wear the hockey Jesus.

Steve: Oh, yeah, we talked about that. Yeah, we're going to have to do that. I think maybe, you know, that New York Islanders game on the 31st of December, New Year's Eve.

Chris: Yeah, we're not going to do the radio PGH thing.

Steve: Uh, maybe we'll, I'll be at the game, but I mean, we can talk about that off the game. The game is not going to be over at midnight.

Chris: Yeah, that's, that's true. That's true. Okay. All right. Well, listen guys, again, want to thank everybody for listening on radio PGH at radio PGH.com. If you're in the car, you can always listen to us there. I would recommend that it's not advisable to be watching a Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn or Twitter show while you're driving. And we always drop the podcast right after the show, right after the show. I'm going to drop the podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts. And the pirate will be back. Soon, uh, pitchers and catchers, pitchers and catchers. We got three months for that. It goes all along with the bunghole thing anyways. All right. We're going to bring something back here for the end of the show. Uh, we're going to run a little overtime here. Uh, so much, there was so much to unpack and we, we didn't even unpack all of it. Um, but, um, what is a nice shoe fellas. Thanks. Thank you. Uh, Whatever that we like shoes around here. Yeah, he meant show but he was trying to sound like ed sullivan for you younger people We don't know who very very very good night. Yes. You're welcome to tonight's you anyway, um Listen, I do want to say one thing. I think that we need to do, and DG says thanks for the show. We're not done yet, GG. We're adding one more segment here, and I'll talk about the Steelers thing later. So this is what we call what we're watching. We did this for a long time. We spent a lot of time on these streaming services watching things, and we like to pull out a couple things and talk about them. Tell you what we think and get your get what are you watching?

Steve: Philadelphia? Beautiful.

Chris: Yes. What are you watching? So I'm going to go with Steve's right now. Steve is watching. This is so typical. This is classic hockey. Jesus. So typical. I love this so much. Come on, man. Squid game. Come on, Alan. Squid game. And that's on. Did you watch? Yes. Did you watch squid game?

Steve: Hell no. Oh, did you missed out on life? It's a great competition.

Chris: For nothing still trying to figure out what you missed out on life comment was all about you've been with me for most of my life Well that that makes that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, I mean, come on. I wonder why you've missed out on a lot of things squid Squid game the challenge. I thought the first squid game was a challenge

Steve: Well, it was, but it was more like, it was more like a show. This is more like, um, this is more like a survivor type thing where they get a bunch of contestants and they know they're going to be doing this challenge. Squid game itself was like, what is this? Like, what are we doing here? They didn't realize like it was a competition. Like they actually, they actually, I don't know if they were, they, they interviewed people that they thought would be interesting. Like for example, they like had a mom and a son that were, that were there. They had like a, They had a lot of people who were basically broke and homeless. Everybody's competing for the money, right? $4.56 million. $4.56 million. So this is real. Yeah, it's a real competition. And, um, and you know, their most famous one is where you pick a square and if the square is a good square, you get, you don't fall down. But if it's a bad square, you fall down into basically oblivion.

Chris: Okay. So was the, was the, I thought the first squid game was kind of a fake. Um, show educate, educate me on this.

Steve: Well, the first one was done, I think in like, uh, South Korea. Right. And they basically just pulled people off the streets and said, call this number. And these people had no idea what they were doing. Oh, okay. But this is basically now that everybody, rather than trying to hide it, they're like, hey, this is like Squid Game, like the Netflix show, only it's a competition. And so like some of the events were the same, like they had red light, green light, so like green light, and you only have so much time, so you have to go pretty fast, but if you're moving, When the red light comes, then boom, you're dead and you're out. You're out of the game, right? Right. And they're all childish games like that. Like one was rock, paper, scissors. One was like marbles. And it sounds really dumb, but the way, the way they did the competition and the way they set you up for it, like with the marbles competition, what they did beforehand was they gave you a picnic basket and they say, pick somebody to have a picnic with you. So. Clearly, they all picked their friends, and then underneath the picnic basket was a bag of marbles, and they knew at that point that they were going to have to play the person they were with and that one of those two people would be out. And if it was your best friend, you were basically playing in a competition against your best friend. Somebody would be out and somebody would be in. So it's it really screws with your mind, right? You have to be ahead of what they're thinking about in order to kind of protect yourself from what's going to happen.

Chris: Right. And like like DG says, it's like Survivor. No wonder Steve. No wonder Steve.

Steve: Like it's exactly like Survivor, only it's with like stupid childhood games. And which is even better. Well, no, nothing's better than Survivor.

Chris: And, uh, Mark says, uh, Outlaws on Prime is awesome. Two seasons, six episodes. Oh, Christopher Walken. Christopher Walken. You know what? Klein's already watched it. No, I have not. I'm gonna, I'm gonna release my selfish watching, um, issue and I will watch that. But you love Christopher Walken. Oh my God. He is the, he is the greatest. Okay. What am I watching before we wrap this up? The technical director, I am watching Aliens. Yeah, well, you know me. Monarch. Oh, Monsters. Legacy of Monsters. And? On Apple TV+. Yeah, I saw this. Listen, man, I'll tell you what. I love Godzilla. Yeah. Is it like Godzilla? Yeah, this stars Kurt Russell. I like Kurt Russell. Uh, who, uh, no, but, but who, who, who Schwaber, uh, claims that I look like for some reason. Oh yeah. I remember Kurt Russell. Yeah. I don't know. I'm going to put my face back up here. Anybody think I look like Kurt Russell? How about, how about with the hair, with the hair? No. No. No. No. Yeah. I don't. I don't know. I don't think so. But anyway, anyway, Monarch Legacy of Monsters. Now, let me let me go down this road as far as right. Right. Schwaber says big surprise. Here's here's the thing. Here's the thing. Anybody who watches this show or listens to the podcast knows that I have a thing. Thank you, George. I don't think he looks like him either. I have a thing. I have a thing for aliens, documentaries, conspiracy theories. Absolutely. This is all true. Space shows like The Expanse on Amazon was a very cheeky, stupid space series, but I loved it. I do not, and this is going to come as a surprise, I do not like monster movies. Interesting. I never saw any of the Godzilla movies. Frankenstein. The old ones, new ones. Nope. Can't stand it because in my world, aliens are real. Godzilla is not. Right. That's a fake.

Steve: It's a fake monster. That's right. I got you.

Chris: But for some reason, I decided to throw this baby on and start watching it. And, um, yes, dragons, trolls, dragons, but no trolls and no hobbits. But I threw this baby on because I was curious and it is actually really, really good because it, it, wait, is this one of those ones where they like leak one out every week?

Steve: No.

Chris: Oh, so it's all out there. No, this is cut. No, no, it's not even that. This is, this is about the, there is an event that took place where all of a sudden we realized there were these huge monsters on the planet. And then there was, there's this organization called God, which is kind of like, let me get this out here. Hold on. There's this organization. Um, uh, that called Monarch, right? It's kind of like the CIA, but they're like researching the monsters and trying to prevent things from happening. And there's all this new about them. There's all this suspenseful backstory about how we got to where we are and they're piecing it together. It's, it's one of those classic jump forward, jump back, jump forward, jump back. I like those and you can you have to kind of piece it together in your brain and it also dives into a lot of the relationships and the clandestine ship that's going on behind the scenes and the politics and it just kinda it's much more interesting and then. once in a while you get a glimpse of one of these monsters i see like in a past when they when they go into the past and there's an event but it's so quick that they're building it to like and and now with cgi and the graphics and ai and all that it's really good yeah it's so quick that you're kind of like Oh, man, I can't wait to see this monster rip san francisco to shreds You know, like I i'm into it. It's pretty good. Yeah, right. I I I would I would recommend it if you are open-minded now, here's dg And he's talking about kurt russell. I've seen the resemblance in the past It's in the hair and for that dg I want to thank you and um We're just going to end it on that I am Kurt Russell. The Pirate. I am Kurt Russell.

Steve: I don't think you are.

Chris: All right, guys, listen, I want to thank everybody who tunes in every Monday at 730 Live on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, X, RadioPGH.com. And of course, I'm going to drop the podcast in about 10 minutes. We are nuts, David. I am going to ask you, please subscribe to the podcast, leave us a review, and you can always visit us at theporcheslive.com. ThePorchIsLive.com.

Steve: ThePorchIsLive.com. Come and visit.

Chris: That's it. I am your technical director and I am out. Let's go Bucks!

Steve: Woo! That was a horrible ending. Yeah.