The Sports Porch Black And Gold - Brandon Short Interview

Chris:
It's just kind of twirling around there and you know, that's right All right, everybody welcome to the sports porch black and gold edition we are live right now all over the world on Pittsburgh beautiful and

Chris: New York, beautiful. Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube. The Fantasy Alpha crowd is in the house on X. Let's go. And of course you can see the Grand Schwabini is in the house with me. Hockey Jesus is here. I am your technical director and boy, we have a great show for you today, guys. Very exciting. Yeah, very, very excited. We have a special guest today. We're going to go right to that right now. Let's get it. We have with us and I'm going to bring him in here in a second. Former Penn State linebacker. Yep. Former New York Giant Carolina linebacker. Yep. McKeesport High School. Let's go. State championship. MVP of the Citrus Bowl. I'm pretty sure his name is Brandon Short and he's in the house with us. We're going to bring him on right now. There he is. There he is. Hey, Brandon. Thanks for having me, guys. Oh, you're welcome. Thanks so much. We're really excited just to have somebody with a bona fide NFL pedigree. My goodness. Right here from the Pittsburgh area. From the Port, from the Key Sport, yes. You got it. So before we get into all the questions that Steve has and the Grant Schwabini has and I have, there's something important you want to talk about. And that is your foundation. And there's a gala coming up here. the Carly Short Better Tomorrow Foundation. And now it is on June 7th. And we can put a link during the show if anybody's interested in tickets. I checked it out last night as far as ticket availability and stuff. So, Brandon, why don't you tell us a little bit about that, why it means so much to you and what you're trying to do?

Brandon Short: Yep. Thank you so much, Chris. Well, unfortunately, you know, in 2021, you know, my family and I suffered, you know, a great tragedy. One of the worst things imaginable, we lost our daughter Carly and our unborn child to gun violence. And it would be an understatement to say that the pain was deafening. And we're still trying to figure out a way to manage. But as opposed to being negative, or cursing the world, we thought that we would try to turn this tragedy into something positive and that maybe the tragedy that happened to Carly can cause positive change in other people's lives. We formed the Carly Short Better Tomorrow Foundation to support students who've been affected by gun violence. I'm honored to serve as a trustee at Penn State, and I see the importance of education, of how it lifts people up out of poverty, it provides opportunity. But I know that it's really expensive to attend school, and attending school when you're a low-income or first-generation college student, it's extremely challenging. making that transition. And not to mention if you are dealing with the trauma of suffering from dealing with the fallout from gun violence. So the logic was to try to offer scholarships to students who've been affected by gun violence. And when I say affected, I mean, you don't necessarily have to have been shot yourself or even a family member just to Seen it or experienced it or haven't been around you there. There's trauma involved in in that So we formed the College for a Better Tomorrow Foundation, and we've had two annual galas and fundraisers. We raised over $900,000. We've endowed five scholarships at Penn State Greater Allegheny, which is in my hometown of McKeesport. This year, we're expanding to offer scholarships to students at University Park. It It is the the gala and the events around the gala is an amazing time. I mean, we like our first annual gala. We had Curtis Martin, Franco Harris, LeVar Arrington, Spice Adams. Spice Adams is our host and Williams will be in a scene this year where Mayor Ganey will be our keynote speaker. You know, we'll have play a current Penn State players, current NFL players. They all come out to support And it's a star stud at night, and it's a great time for a great cause.

Chris: That's great, Brandon. And of course, I can't express to you the feelings wrapped around a loss of that magnitude. I mean, I can speak for the three of us when I can say, I mean, we've all had instances in our life where somebody was affected by something, but I just can't imagine that. But to come out of it and to decide that instead of going into a shell that you're going to do something better and make something positive out of something that is so just heart-wrenching really is, it's all you can do. We've got to move forward. It's hard. I can't imagine. So our condolences to you and your family and really coming from, you know, a career in the NFL and experiencing that and moving forward with your lives. And we wish you the best there. And we will, of course, throw our support behind that and do everything we can to try to help. So I'm going to put a link in the comments now if anybody wants to get some information on the gala itself. And then is there any anywhere that you can direct them either through social media or online if they would like to give or donate or find out more?

Brandon Short: Yes, there are multiple ways that you can support. You can make a donation. Um, you can buy a ticket to the gala. There's still a few tickets available, or you can participate in our online auction. No, our online auction is quite frankly, amazing. We've got Saquon, Berkeley, Philadelphia, Eagles, Jersey, signed Mark Parsons, um, jerseys. We've got Giants, Eagles, tickets with sideline passes, Steelers, Ravens, tickets with sideline passes, you know, Pat Fowler signed the Ohio State, Penn State tickets with sideline passes. You can get a number of other really awesome auction items. You can go to ksbettertomorrow.org. That's ksbettertomorrow.org. And find out more, bid on the auction item or just learn more about what we're doing. And more importantly, the kids, the young people that we're helping to support the positive effect that we're having on their lives.

Chris: Okay, great. And I put that link in the comments for everybody. Everybody who's watching and everybody who will be listening to the podcast and on radio, pgh, ksbettertomorrow.org. So let's move on here. Let's talk about football. How about that? We think you know a little bit about that and you might know a little more than us. I mean, Steve was, were you as a cornerback number 47, right? In high school?

Steve: Well, you know, I was more like a wide receiver, but you know, much like you Brandon, you know, you play the cornerback position and the wide receiver position. I think you were a center and a linebacker if I have that right.

Brandon Short: I was a guard and a linebacker. But mind you, we had like three division one running backs that could run the ball. They needed somebody to block for them. So I figured we won every game. So I figured it worked out. It was a right call.

Chris: Yeah. And that was the McKees. Was that the first state championship since the 1940s? No. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Steve: But that was the first state championship that Pennsylvania set up that you played in where you played in three rivers, but then you got to move on to the state championships as it went on. And as I recall, you were quite the athlete and made a really great fourth down stop to get you guys to the state finals. Do I have that right?

Brandon Short: Yeah, I was a great athlete, but I had great teammates around me. I mean, there was seven guys that could have won Division One on that team, and we went undefeated. We won in Three Rivers. We beat Upper St. Clair, which was a big rivalry. They beat us the year before, so we came back and beat them. In the semis and in the finals, we beat Downingtown and I think you're referring to the goal line stand. We had a goal line stand to win the state championship. And it's the dream for every linebacker to make a goal line stop and win the state championship. And I was fortunate enough to have that honor.

Marc: Yeah, that's cool. That's cool. So, so you go from a keysport and for a linebacker, I mean, you go to the ultimate linebacker, you had Penn State University. So tell us a little bit about how you ended up choosing Penn State.

Brandon Short: Oh, well, it's an interesting, great story because, you know, I grew up in McKeesport and, um, actually, you know, hated Penn State growing up. You know, see Israel, Alex Van Pelt, Curtis Martin, Ironhead Hayward. I mean, I was a pit fan in my youth and ignorance.

Chris: We got a lot of ignorance around here, Brandon, just not a lot of youth anymore.

Brandon Short: Anyway, go ahead. I grew up a Pitt fan and, you know, recruiting opened up and it is an interesting story because I really wasn't going to look at Penn State, wasn't looking at Penn State, but my grandmother heard about Joe Paterno. and said that he cared about his players' development as a man or men almost as much or more than he cared about them and developed them as athletes. And she was like, you should probably take a look at him. And I remember going up to Penn State on an unofficial visit to a game. And they were playing USC and we got there late. We had no idea about going to a game and like we thought we'd be on time. There was traffic and we got there and it was the beginning of the second quarter. Penn State was up 35 to nothing. I was like, that was their undefeated team where they should have, they did win the national title. They went undefeated that year. And I remember thinking, man, is this a good, there's supposed to be a good team. Like what the heck's going on? And then the, the, the crowd yelled, um, we are Penn State. And they said, we are Penn State at three times. And at the end they said, thank you. And then you're welcome. And my grandmother looked at me like, oh, well, you got to come here. No doubt about it. Yeah. Then we went to Joe Paterno's house. We went to Joe's house and we sat down. And my grandmother went over soon and just sat me down at the table. And he said, if you want glory, you know, you can go to a team that has the names on the back of their jerseys or Buckeye stickers on their helmet. But if you want this, you know, you got to come to Penn State. And even though you don't have the names on the back of your jersey, by the end of the game, I promise you, everybody will know who you are. I was like, like, yeah.

Chris: That's a pretty good pitch. That's a pretty good pitch. So moving on from Penn State, obviously you were the MVP of the Citrus Bowl in 1998.

Marc: Which can't be an easy thing for a linebacker to get the MVP of the Citrus Bowl. So you must have had a heck of a game. Am I right?

Brandon Short: I did alright that game. I mean, when they're running the ball on you, and I think they can run the ball on you, then you can make a lot of plays. Yeah.

Chris: And from there, it's a transition to the NFL and NFL life. So when you were at Penn State, when you were getting ready to make that decision, it's a decision that none of us, you know, the three of us, we're never going to have to make in our lives. Uh, we, we all out here think it's an easy decision, you know, like, uh, you know, obviously NFL teams are reaching out, uh, you know, the process, maybe you have, you're getting the agent now and you're going to be in the draft and you declare, um, how hard of a decision was that for you? Or was it an easy decision to say, you know what, I'm, I'm going to do it. I'm going to play, uh, I'm going to go for it and see where I end up in the draft.

Brandon Short: So, so my, my situation was a little bit different because You know, I had a medical, I played my freshman year, got a medical red shirt, sat four years of eligibility. And when I was at Penn State, we were the number one team in the country for three years of my five years there at some point during the season. And I was a captain. I was a captain my junior year. And we would be the number one ranked team in the country going back, going into my senior year. And I actually decided to come back for my senior year when I graduated because I really didn't feel like I left the legacy at Penn State. And I thought we were the number one ranked team in the country. And I thought we could win a national title. So, and so, and so I came back for, for my senior year and, and actually there, it was, there was a Steeler story around this because I grew up in Pittsburgh and obviously loved the Steelers and, you know, what really wanted to play there. We'd love to have been drafted and. My senior year or my junior year, um, Bill power comes into my hotel room, you know, after the game and I was saying, I'm thinking, I'm telling him, I'm thinking about coming out. You know, for the draft, um, you know, I don't, you know, I'm poor. This is, this is one opportunity. And, and he said, look, we got you, we have you paid. There's like a second to third round draft pick this year. Um, and I was like, yeah. And I was like, look, I want to come back, but I don't want to drop, I don't know what can happen. I can get hurt. And he said, if you're still there in the second round, you know, I'm going to take you. Well, next year I came back, we didn't win a national title, and the second round came and went, and there was no Steelers. Hell have no fury like a linebacker score. Oh man, I was so angry every time I had a chance to play the Steelers or saw them. And my whole family, everybody is still Steelers fans. Carly would come to see me play in New York and when we played the Steelers, she would have like a family section and said, daddy, I want you to have a good game, but I want your team to lose favorite Steelers players growing up.

Marc: I don't think you heard me. Did you have a couple of favorite Steelers players growing up?

Brandon Short: Oh my gosh. Let me count the ways. I mean, all the linebackers, I mean, Greg Lloyd, Yvonne Kirkland, Kevin Green, they were just this rich. I mean, Jack Lambert, my gosh, you know, Jack Hamm, linebacker, you, but Jack Lambert, I think one thing is how, you know, was my definition of a football player. I mean, the guy didn't have any teeth. He would intimidate people. I wanted to be a linebacker because of Jack Lambert.

Chris: Yeah. I mean, it's, um, that's actually a pretty incredible story. Uh, the fact that, that, you know, we, and, and of course we were, we were figuring, okay, guys, the Pittsburgh guy, you know, of course you want to play for the Steelers, you know, but you never know, you know, you have that odd, that odd fan out there here and there's, nah, I wasn't a Steelers fan. I was somebody else, but we're going to have to look up who the Steelers drafted there instead.

Steve: Unless you know, Brandon.

Brandon Short: I don't even want to get into it. I don't want to talk about it. I'm a New York giant, and I'm happily a giant. I've been living in the New York metro area. The Giants have been great. Even through this whole tragedy, they've wrapped around. We've got Eli Manning, New Jersey, anything we want from the Giants. They're a family, and they're supportive. But deep down, it's like a lady that scorns you, and you see her every once in a while. It's like a love-hate. That's how I am with the Steelers.

Chris: Okay, so let's talk real quick about the Super Bowl. You had an opportunity to play in the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, the Giants lost that game.

Marc: Didn't go your way. But I'm sure it was a great season and a great run.

Chris: Yeah, well, and Kerry Collins was the quarterback. Uh, correct. Penn state guy. So, um, how did it feel? I mean that, that was your rookie year, right? So how did it feel? You know, you go from Penn state, you talked about glory versus greatness. I love that. If you want glory, you know, go to where they put your names on the back. If you want greatness, you come play here. That's a great word. I'm going to use that around the studio from now on. So much. But, but, you know, now, now it's your rookie year, you've been drafted, you were drafted, you dropped to the fourth round, you were drafted number 105 by the Giants. Tell us a little bit about your feelings about, you know, going into the NFL that year, and then next thing you know, you're in the playoffs, and you're in the Super Bowl.

Brandon Short: Yeah, well, going into NFL, I mean, it was it was a dream come true. You know, you get there initially, you know, you're you're you're confident because I mean, I played at Penn State. I was all American at a high level. But you get there and there's, you know, you're watching Emmett Smith on tape, you know, and you're going against like Ray Allen and Nate Newton lined up against people that you looked up to and idolized. But then you find your way and you realize that you're you're you're you're meant to be there. And then you start hopefully start to dominate and then find your own way But that's it like some people do it in an instant and some people it takes a little takes a little time But for me like going and going there to the Super Bowl that year. It was like I come from a key sport We're okay. We went when I defeated won the state title even a high school. We were still basketball champions of Whitfield. Like we won all of our high school team, but all our guys, the core guys never lost a game in football or basketball where all of us played in the same game. We lost one to North Hills against LeVar Arrington, but I don't want to talk about that. And we won then went to Penn State. We never won the title, but we were always ranked number one. And I go to the NFL go to the Super Bowl. I just expected to do this every year, you know and Never got back to the Super Bowl. No came close again with the Carolina Panthers in the NFC championship but Playing in the Super Bowl is a dream, like a dream come true. But because I was a rookie, I took it for granted, a rookie that was just used to winning. I didn't really get the, I got the gravity of the moment, but I just said, OK, we didn't get it this time. We'll get it next year and never got another opportunity. And then in my last year, I went to the Carolina Panthers and came back to the Giants and played there in 2006. And in 2007, they get rid of two starters. me and Tiki Barber, and the Giants won the Super Bowl the next year. They got rid of their weight and they got it done the next year, you know?

Chris: So close.

Steve: Yeah.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's all because of all of your hard work, Brandon. You set it up for them.

Chris: So.

Chris: You know, that's a great story. I remember that game. I mean, I don't know if you guys remember that Super Bowl. I mean, I know where I was. We don't have to talk about it. We don't want to bring up past history.

Steve: It's going to cause our guests some trouble.

Marc: Let's move on from that. I can say this right here. None of us like the Ravens. No, we don't. We were hoping for a different outcome as well.

Chris: That's why we need to move on.

Marc: Yeah, yeah. Steve has a question.

Chris: He has one question I think about the Steelers this year.

Steve: So you made the transition after your rookie year and into your second year. We have a cornerback here from Penn State who is about to do that this year, Joey Porter Jr. What do you think he needs to do in order to, um, get the job done this year? Do it a little bit better than he did last year. By the way, I thought he played great last year. I think he's, he's going to be a star in the league, but what do you think he needs to do in his second year to really amp it up and become that all pro?

Brandon Short: Well, I mean, you, you, you generally like make the, you, you just say this to you make the biggest improvement from your first. in the second game in a season in your career, most of the time from your freshman to your sophomore and from your rookie to your second year, because you understand it's a new environment. You know, you're just trying to you're just trying to figure out the pace. You're understanding the playbook. And then now that you now that you've got a chance to sort of mature be in the system You'll you become the player, you know who you're capable of being Joey Porter I thought play lights out last year just to be clear. He was the highest rated rookie corner, you know in in the NFL I believe and he has freakish talent, but when you see him, he's an imposing figure because of his height in his arms His wingspan is just overwhelming, and his aggressive nature, and I'm sure it gets it from his papa. It actually helps him tremendously as well. So I expect to see a large, I think that he's a Pro Bowl caliber player. We thought that when he was at Penn State, that he was the, thought he was the top corner in the country. I don't know how, but the Steelers were lucky to grab him in the position that they did in the first pick and the second round. But he's a pro bowl caliber player. And then from the second year, from his first year to the second year, now you'll see what he's really capable of.

Chris: We're looking forward to that. Absolutely. Before we let you go, Brandon, Steve is an avid Penguins fan and an NHL guru. We call him Hockey Jesus.

Steve: This question has nothing to do with hockey. It actually has to do with you being on the board of trustees. I understand that Penn State has got a lot of money for refurbishing the state, right? And the way I understand it is a lot of that's for renovations so that they can play during cold weather. Do I have that right?

Brandon Short: Yes. There's actually a $200 million backlog of maintenance that needs to be addressed. And there's also a secondary point that because the college football playoffs has expanded, we have to be prepared to play games in December. So in order to do that, the stadium has to be winterized so that we can play games in severe cold weather, which we didn't have. So part of our renovations are for expanding our boxes, making the fan experience, that backlog of investment, and then being prepared in the winter. But I think what we're going to is we're also looking for alternative sources of revenue. That's hopefully we can get a Penguins-Flyers game in there or the Sabres. We got Terry Pagoulas on our board as a board member. So we got contacts with the tough, really good connections with the Sabres. But we'd love to see a hockey match in Beaver Stadium. It would be epic. It would be epic.

Steve: I would be there with the bells on.

Chris: I love how he says this has nothing to do with hockey, but really we know Steve's going to bring it back to hockey.

Steve: I didn't realize that Pagoola was on the board. That's incredible. That's a great connection point for sure. You're going to have a winter classic, Derek. I'm going to predict it. I'm going to be a grand Schwabini right now. I'm going to say in the next five years, there's going to be a winter classic up at Happy Valley, and I can't wait. It's going to be epic.

Chris: All right.

Brandon Short: I'm sure there will be. Talk to the Penguins and the Phillies management. Let's get the deal done today.

Steve: I'm going to invite them to your gala, and we're going to get it done.

Chris: We'll get it done right there. Well, hey, Brandon, thank you so much for taking the time to spend some time with us here on the porch. We really do appreciate it. It's been a pleasure. And obviously, good luck with the gala and continue to do right by, you know, the people that have been affected by gun violence. You know, it is a tragic thing in our country, especially today, especially for the younger generation, I think. I mean, us old guys, we just don't have the energy to get involved in that stuff. And when you were talking about $200 million backlog of repairs in Beaver Stadium, I was thinking, I feel like I have like a $100 million backlog of repairs in my own home. The water feature, the light bulbs, the leak over there. But anyway, listen, Brandon, thank you so very much for your time.

Marc: Yeah, thanks, Brandon. Yeah, we really appreciate it. And appreciate all the good stuff you're doing for, you know, the folks who are going to go to Penn State because of what you're doing.

Chris: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I was a Penn State fan growing up. I can say that. I'm allowed to say that. Okay. Yeah.

Chris: Watch your back. Watch your back, man.

Chris: I waited till the end. I waited till the end. All right.

Marc: Thank you so much. We really appreciate your time. Take care. Thanks a lot, Brandon.

Chris: Thanks a lot. Bye bye. That was great. That was wonderful. And once again, guys, I'll put a comment down in the comments section, but it is the Carly Short Better Tomorrow Foundation. And if you want to get some more information on that, you can go to ksbettertomorrow.org online. Um, the gala is the third annual red carpet gala. It's, it's taking place at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 7th, which is next week, uh, at the Omni William Penn downtown.

Marc: So, um, all sorts of opportunities to great autographs to get, uh, you know, I'm going to check out that auction.

Steve: I know there was some LeVar Arrington stuff that I saw. He didn't mention Joey Porter Jr., but I thought I saw a signed Joey Porter Jr. shirt.

Chris: I think I saw that too when I went to the thing. There's some tickets left. I mean, my wife and I were talking about maybe purchasing a ticket and going down. She likes to get dressed up and go to events like this, and it's a really good policy.

Steve: If you're going to go, shave your damn beard.

Chris: No, you were allowed to wear a beard. You had a beard the whole time.

Steve: I was held hostage by my beard.

Chris: You know that. Right, and now I'm being held hostage by your beard.

Marc: No, you were doing it on purpose. By the way, Brandon just left the green room, but he did catch the beard comment, and he was laughing hysterically.

Chris: Fantastic. All right, guys. Well, listen, our thanks to Brandon Short. And I also, it would be remiss of me not to thank Kerry Ford of kerryfordpr.com for allowing us the opportunity to have that great conversation with Brandon. He's welcome back on the show anytime. Thank you, Kerry, the Carly Short Foundation for Better Tomorrow, or the Carly Short Better Tomorrow Foundation. Okay, guys, we got a show to do here. We got much, much more to do. I know. Can't we just be done? I thought Steve was going to just fall off his chair.

Marc: I'm not exhausted.

Marc: This is a regular day. This is what being in the biz is all about. I'm sorry.

Steve: I was planting corn this weekend. I think I'm still exhausted.

Chris: So much. So many comments to go. Okay. So what do we have to look forward to tonight on the show? Of course, we're going to talk Steelers. We're going to have a buckos report. Uh, the grant Schwabini is going to make a prediction. Oh yeah. We also have trader Joe's product of the week. What we're watching. I mean, this is a, you should just go right to the food. Um, no, I'm not going to judge. I mean, that, that conversation made you hungry.

Steve: I feel like I need more energy. I was amped up at a high level.

Chris: Now I'm coming down. Let's do this. Let's do this right now. The biggest news of this week that, that I think is just fantastic for this city is that the NFL draft is coming to Pittsburgh. in 2026. When I saw that, I mean, did, didn't you not get a little, I mean, I got excited for real.

Steve: I got excited. I was thinking, how much can I put my house on Airbnb for that week? My wife said the same thing.

Marc: She said, yeah, she was like, you're too far though. You think so? Nine miles.

Steve: No, no, no.

Marc: He's not too far. No, you're too far.

Steve: Just say it's in Pittsburgh though.

Marc: Okay. Whatever.

Steve: Who the hell cares?

Chris: you guys. All right. So the draft, listen, I mean, uh, this is, this is, you know, me, I love it.

Marc: I'm the draft guy. You are the draft, you know? So this to me, this is like the Mecca. Yeah.

Steve: Oh yeah. This is, this is going to be epic.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. And I, this is one thing where I look at the, you know, all of us sports fans in general, when we think about ownership, But, you know, in every, in every city, in every town, at some point, you know, you're at odds with ownership. Why don't they do this? They get greedy, they get everything they want. No, you knew they were going to get the draft. We said that. But the point of it, the point I'm trying to make is that, you know, this is one thing where really you have to thank the Steelers organization and the Rooney family. Sure. This brings a lot of business. I mean, you're talking about, I was explaining it to my wife. I said, look, it's not one night. It's three nights. It's three nights in the week or so before. Probably about a week, a good week to get out of it.

Steve: At least a week.

Chris: I bet the hotel rooms are already booked. You know, like at the fairway out downtown, they're all booked up and all that kind of stuff. And Amy says, of course, I want to go to the draft and boo the commissioner. Just don't worry. There'll be plenty doing plenty. You don't need to worry.

Steve: You don't have to worry about that. That's taken care of already. Yeah. So baked into the draft. You know how many people were in Detroit? They said the influx of people into Detroit for the draft board. It was like 700,000 people.

Marc: Every year it gets bigger and bigger. Although the one thing I do think, I'm sure it's going to be fantastic. But I do think it's a little weird, though, the way they're setting it up. Have you heard about this?

Steve: I don't think they have that completed yet. Well, at least what I heard. They're going to have to put things down on the point.

Marc: Well, what I heard is that half of it's going to be at the stadium, on the outside of the stadium, looking upon the point, and the other half is going to be on the point. That is dumb. That is, I think that's dumb unless they build, you're breaking it up too much.

Steve: Yeah, I think they should just have it all down at the point here. Listen to me, Pittsburgh Steelers NFL. If you want to know how to do it right, you come to me. What you do is you put the background of the city in the background. You got the big tent. Everything's at the point. You can have people hanging out in the Hilton and then you have a nice red carpet right to the back of the stage. Boom. They step out and there is the whole crowd and all they see is just the point and the stadiums off to the right. It'll be gorgeous.

Marc: It'll be boats in the water.

Chris: What if it's raining? What if it's like typical Pittsburgh weather?

Steve: It was raining in Detroit. They get these massive tents. It'll be like the biggest tent you've ever seen. It'll basically cover the front half up until where that bridge is on the point. That'll just be mobbed with people.

Chris: So you're, so you're saying, uh, do it all down at the point, split it up. I still think, I mean, that's a mess though with parking. And I think that's a mess. I think there's a lot to figure out. I think they should do it here in my backyard. What do you think? No, no, we want to talk about a mess.

Steve: Yeah. Fifty million just to fix up your back. Right. Right. Right.

Marc: Well, I mean, I know it's very, very exciting. Very exciting. I mean, look, eventually, I think what they're probably going to do is is put one in every decent NFL, you know, city, you know, like they might they might skip Jacksonville. Well, it's Florida though, so. The weather will be nice. They won't have to worry about rain now. True, true. They might skip Buffalo. I don't know.

Steve: They may skip Buffalo in April, yes.

Chris: I think they should skip Buffalo, to be honest with you. Boston, the Patriots. Right, right. They won't skip Boston. No, they won't.

Steve: They'll do it, but April up in Boston never been.

Chris: It's Sketch. Who the hell cares about that? It's coming to Pittsburgh. It's coming to Pittsburgh. Let me tell you.

SPEAKER_00: Exciting.

Chris: Two years.

Marc: Yeah. Can't wait.

Chris: We will definitely be there. It'll look good. I'm sure it will. They'll make it work. We'll have a draft special down there. We'll have our own booth by then.

Marc: Nice.

Chris: I like it. The Schwabini will be our own.

Steve: Oh, in two years, we might sponsor.

Chris: Uh, more, more, uh, yeah, there you are spending money. We don't have already.

Steve: I'll be the new, I'll be breaking people down.

Marc: I'll be like, he's good in a phone booth.

Marc: Do you know that term? No. You don't know that term, do you? Yeah, whatever. I could tell you didn't know it.

Chris: All right, let's move on to something else here. Following the football thing, let's talk about the Steelers here. What is Cam Hayward doing? I mean, seriously. That's a great question.

Steve: Maybe the Grand Schwabini knows.

Marc: He's doing exactly what he should be doing. Number one, he's old, so why practice? He doesn't have to be there. Number two, you know, give a little dangle of retirement, you know, kind of up the ante to get them back. You know, Steelers feel like they could win this year. You got Russell Wilson in, right? You made a lot of changes. You brought Patrick Queen in. We can't win if we don't have Cam Hayward. I mean, seriously. Yeah, we can. He helps. So bottom line is, let's just give him what he needs. Is it one year, $14 million? Fine, you know, let's get him in. And I think that's what he's working his way towards.

Steve: Yeah. And I think he's doing it the wrong way though. And here's why. He's signed this year, right? Yeah. He's too old to sign anything more than maybe a year extension. What he should have said was, I'll sign a year extension and you can take six million of this year's money and put it in the next years without a free yourself up to go get somebody that you want to get like a good wide receiver. that's what he should be doing but instead what do you say i want the same money i'm getting this year for the next three years nobody wants to sign this guy for another three years he doesn't have it in him to be able to play that long well but still prep but that's where you start and then he's gonna come back to the two years Well, so what he did was he went from that to, eh, maybe I'll retire instead. He, there's, I've never heard anybody say anything along the lines of there's this mushy middle where he really should be, which is maybe another year because let's face it, the Steelers want to keep him only because he, you know, won the Walter Payton man of the year award. And they'd love that shit, even though it doesn't really mean anything for being on the field. Right, right. It's not. But he loves it because he's a good community guy. Steelers look at the whole guy and they're like, OK, he's a good guy. Let's keep him. But you can't spend that much money to keep him for another three years. That would just be insane. Yeah.

Marc: And a mistake. Well, I don't I don't think they will. But I think he'll come back on a two year deal and they'll probably give a big signing bonus so that, you know, you know, a lot of it doesn't count against the cap. And, uh, it'll be fine. He'll be back. Yeah. I mean, I think he will play this year.

Steve: I don't honestly don't know if he'll play again next year. I'll be honest with you. I think it's 50 50 at this point for what he tried to do.

Chris: I mean, I don't know all the, I don't know all of the financial hijinks you have to go through and all the legal ease of these contracts with guaranteed money. But when I'm kind of sniffing is he's looking for an extension to get some guaranteed upfront money, that'll be cap friendly. And then he'll retire at the end of next year because he's guaranteed that money.

Steve: Next year they're going to have to spend 20 to 25 million on a quarterback next year. This year is an anomaly.

Chris: Yeah, well that's right.

Steve: They're going to have even less money next year.

Chris: That's exactly right. Can you define hijinks? I think the word defines itself, does it not? Hijinks. When you think of that word, your brain just starts jumping around.

Steve: You know what I think of when you say that? Tom and Jerry.

Chris: There you go. Exactly. They had nothing but hijinks. You know what I think about is those cat videos on Reels on Instagram, you know, where they're like, you know, jumping all over the place.

Marc: My wife is the queen of those. It's my fault for setting this off course.

Marc: Sorry.

Marc: Bring it back to the Steelers.

Chris: We're done with this. All right. Well, listen, thanks for, uh, thanks for watching all over the world. If you're watching us live on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, or X. And of course we dropped the podcast right after the show. Haven't even said this yet in this show on the I heart radio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts.

SPEAKER_07: And that leads us to the next segment of our show, which is of course the buckos report at 25 and 29 are things better or worse than they should be. Tell us. Can you tell me anything? How do you feel?

Steve: Mark, you should take this.

Marc: Well, the Grand Schwabini is… Oh, we're going right into that?

Chris: Sure. Okay.

Marc: The Grand Schwabini predicts. As I rub the lamp, I see the future.

Marc: Okay. It is true. And I'm going to answer directly the question that you said, are we better off or worse off than where we thought we would be? And the answer is we're where we thought we'd be. And the further answer to that is will the Pittsburgh Pirates be buyers or sellers at the deadline? Now, there may be some delusional people out there that actually think that buying, bringing in a good player or two, could do anything to help this club. I'm here to tell you, you're wrong. The club is that bad. They've got some good pitching, the hitting is god-awful. They will be sellers, and that will be that. Grants Walbini, out.

Steve: I can't disagree with the grand Schwab beanie on this one. You know, I'm a Mr. Negative when it comes to the pirates. And yeah, they've proven in the past that that is exactly what they do. By the way, I think they actually have some players they should get rid of. Chapman's probably one of them.

Chris: Well, yeah, and everybody's going bat shit over him right now.

Steve: Just because it looks like you finally hit the wall. I mean, yeah, he was an old guy, right? He was thrown in the hundreds. Now he's just throwing home run balls.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

Steve: So, I mean, people figured him out and, um, he probably needs to go. Although I hate to see him go because that means that's $10 million less than, um, uh, nutting has to pay out anytime that the salary cap, the salary goes down. I'm always against that. So I'm, I'm in the keeping him for the year just because they won't respend that money elsewhere.

Marc: Yeah, he'll end up on the Rangers. Yeah.

Marc: Well, he was there last year, you know, so, you know, they'll need a left handed arm and right. He's got experience.

Steve: Yeah. You know what? He'll probably go back to the Reds.

Chris: Well, who the hell cares?

Marc: I mean, I guess the point is… Yeah, the point is we're talking about where Pirates players will be playing next. That's exactly right.

Chris: And not who's coming in. And, you know, they're 25 and 29. They're six and a half games out of first place. The record isn't terrible. The record isn't terrible, but it's a head fake. You know, it's definitely a head fake.

Marc: It's it's not it. Look, it's not terrible, but it also is. It's fool's gold because you're just you know, you're just a four game losing streak from being like eight under 500. You know what I mean? That's exactly.

Marc: It's fool's gold.

Marc: And, you know, and and some things have kind of been falling their way.

Steve: But did they hold their own against Atlanta? That was a surprise.

Marc: Yeah, but that's exactly something falling their way. Ronald Acuna goes down. He's out for the year right now. You know now the team is down Yeah, now the team's down Strider down Acuna and you know, they're they're reeling at this point So that's like a prime time for the them to lose the pirates and everybody

Chris: means the braves are going to be buying out and everybody says everybody well they definitely will because they're really good at it i mean use that matt olsen is an is uh an example but the pirates you know that everybody yeah they're two games out of the wild card i know we're not even at the all-star break yet i mean give them a chance to collapse here you know that's that's that's the thing is that You know, talking about they have a they have a bevy of young middle infielders who are supposedly talented and and still touted as potential blue chip prospects in the minor leagues. They have more pitching in the minor leagues. And why not put a package together and get get this guy from Oakland or Colorado or Tampa Bay is looking to unload some of their younger players who are better than anybody on the he's getting ready.

Marc: Who do they really have in the minor leagues that other teams want? That's the point.

Steve: Nobody.

Chris: Not really. All their pitching is up here now. Right, right. Nobody else. I mean, you're talking about, you know, it's not something where you can just call the shots. You're not doing that from a position of strength. And when have the Pirates, especially under this administration, ever done that? I mean seriously, what are you trying to do?

Steve: I'm ready to eat. I'm done with the pirates.

Marc: You look like a grandmother with this.

Chris: At least I'm not a grandmother with a beard. I actually think the pirates will be sellers as well. Um, I think their record, uh, is indicative of a team that has good starting pitching that we did not expect.

Marc: Um, to be honest, you know, and here's the thing, to be honest, if I'm the pirates, uh, I don't even think it should be a just sell. I think it should be a massive sell. I think they should get rid of Brian Martinez. You mean Brian Reynolds? Brian Reynolds, yeah. That explains just how good he is, right? Um, Brian Reynolds, he's a home run, but he's the perfect guy to go because he might actually get you a couple prospects back. Some guys who might be better than him in the future. Right.

Steve: About to get angry. Can we move on from this? Okay.

Marc: He's upset. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's a depressing topic.

Chris: Okay, so the pirates are going to be sellers. And that's that. We dropped the sports sports podcast right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere Steve gets his friggin podcasts. And of course you can listen on Radio PGH live anytime we are on the air. I like to watch us on YouTube actually. And yeah, YouTube at the Sports Porch Podcast. Are we doing a little NHL stuff yet? Yeah, let's go for it. It's short and sweet. A hockey Jesus preaches on the podcast and the IR radio app or anywhere you get your podcasts. And of course, uh, you can also catch hockey Jesus on the YouTube channel at the sports porch podcast, hockey Jesus on YouTube. Uh, during the regular season, after every single Penguins game, you get a hockey Jesus update. And during the, uh, NHL Stanley cup playoffs, you get an update after each rounds and, um, you know, lay it on us hockey Jesus. But if you're hungry, You're going to have to know where this is going to be quick.

Steve: We're in the Eastern and Western conference finals. Um, both, uh, uh, Dallas, Dallas is up two to one and, um, The Rangers just went up to the one yesterday The Rangers are resilient. That's all I got to say about them. They win overtime games. They're getting a lot of secondary scoring Unfortunately, that's what Stanley Cup winners do and I pains me to say but I think Florida can still make a run at them I don't think that series is over. It's been a really good. That's been a very good series You know, the last game was 5-4, which I thought was the best game of the series one before that 2-1 was a little bit of and Um, Dallas in Edmonton. Look, Edmonton is great. They for Dallas to be able to keep Edmonton in a low scoring affair is very difficult, but they're doing well right now. But I look for Edmonton the bounce back. I think Edmonton will win tonight. I'm I don't know. I don't know what to say about both series, but they're gonna be very good And I think the NIH output I'll put the narrative out there I think the NHL wants to see the Rangers and Edmonton look they want to see Edmonton in the finals just because now you keep the Canadian audience Interested in the Stanley Cup finals and who doesn't want to see the top four scorers in the Stanley Cup finals. Everybody does

Chris: Right, right. So we have, um, we're going to have another H J, uh, update after, after this series.

Steve: I was going to do one today. It was my night, so I'll just do it tomorrow and I'll just throw in the, the, the fourth game, uh, Dallas and Edmonton play tonight.

Chris: And then we'll look forward to when the, when the finals are happening.

Steve: So the finals would be about probably a week away, probably, um, a week from tonight. You're thinking about every game.

Marc: Will there be any hymns played?

Steve: Yeah. There will be no hymns played. Will you light any candles? Hey, that one will be played. Okay.

Marc: No joy to the world. The Lord has come.

Steve: No, we're going to have to wait a few more months. Pretty good for a Jew. That's good. But I do, so I did announce to the fellows before the show, and I'm now announcing it to the rest of the world, that I will be doing a Hockey Jesus after every Stanley Cup final game. It will be after the game, no matter how late the game is. I am gonna be on, giving you my, just my raw analysis of what just happened.

Marc: So you're gonna be a little sleep deprived. Alert, stay off the manufacturing floor. The manufacturing floor?

SPEAKER_00: Stay off the manufacturing floor.

Chris: Maybe you should not drink that hard lemonade or whatever it is you're drinking.

Steve: I'm the hockey Jesus. I'm not giving you the Stanley Cup finals after every game. I'm a fraud.

Marc: You're not a fraud.

Chris: You're drinking out of the cup. And along those lines, we're going to move right to stump the Yinzer here because this is a hockey related question. The hockey Jesus is also our resident Yinzer. I mean, he was planting corn and building a chicken coop yesterday.

Steve: Today, I was building a chicken coop, just so you know.

Marc: Does the chicken coop have a tin roof? Uh, it's plastic. Okay. The whole coop is plastic? No, the roof is plastic. Even more Yinzer. Is there a gravel road leading up?

Steve: Uh, there's no road leading up. That's better.

Marc: Even more Yinzer.

Steve: No gravel.

Chris: So please help me here. Uh, planting corn so you can ultimately make whiskey. Very Yinzer. Whiskey rebellion. Changing water to whiskey. Right, yes. And then the chicken, what are the chickens for? What do they have to do with whiskey?

Steve: Chickens lay eggs, Chris. I know that. And you can eat eggs. I know Schwaber doesn't like the whole egg. Some of the egg he will eat. But when the chickens are done laying eggs, then you get to eat chicken.

Marc: So what, are you going to make some pies and bring them in?

Chris: No, but I can bring you a whole bunch of eggs. I'm still wondering I'm still wondering like where the corn whiskey and chicken does anybody live at this place?

Steve: Yeah This where is it? So you're just it's property up in Ligonier. Is it a compound? It's in an undisclosed location I'm are you kidding me?

Marc: It's in Ligonier. So you're leaving a bunch of chickens Unsupervised Oh chicken supervisors themselves.

Steve: I mean actually all hell can break loose actually have a very good social structure do that. Yes Wow No, they do. Yeah. Like when they say mother hen, that's where there's a reason for that. There are mother hens in this, in the 16 chickens.

Chris: Yeah. My brother owns.

Steve: He's totally off. And you know what? There's a, there's a pecking order too. And if you're at the bottom of the order there at the bottom of the pecking order, you look like the chicken that I call jackass. So yeah, there you go.

Chris: Oh, we named the chickens.

Steve: I only named the one jackass cause all the other ones, I don't know them.

Marc: Maybe he thinks you're a jackass.

Steve: He probably thinks I'm at the bottom of the pecking order.

Chris: Yeah, he's like, see that guy over there? He's jackass. I named him jackass. Okay, well, thank you, Hockey Jesus. Stump the yinzer. What is this? We try to stump the yinzer with a question. If he can't answer it, the non-yinzer, the Grand Schwabini, tries to answer it.

Steve: Will I have an opportunity tonight? I think so. I'm feeling pretty, like, off.

Chris: Okay, stump the yinzer. How many career regular season goals does Mario Lemieux have? Exactly? No, give me a, you know, within 50.

Steve: Who would know that? Oh, within 50? No. I can do it within 50. I'll tell you what. Okay, I'm going to guess. It's over 600. It's got to be like around… Give me an opportunity. I'm just going to give, I'm just going to go with the number that I like. Hold on, wait.

Marc: I got the number. Are we going to play prices right rules? You can't go over.

Steve: How about I guess, and if he says higher, you get to guess the next number. No, no, no. This is what happens when we don't sort this shit.

Marc: I think we do prices right from the get-go. You can be, you can't go over.

Steve: The number that I was thinking was 613. I'm going to say 705.

Chris: We got a resident Yinzer in the house. It is 613. No way. Right on the number. You knew it?

Steve: I guessed it's a 13. I knew it was just over 600. He scored 600 in his last year.

Chris: And I went with Taylor Swift, 13. Excuse me? Seriously? So essentially, I guess what I kind of

Marc: How this comes out for me is Mario Lemieux is not as good as I thought. Because I said 705.

Steve: Look at his goals per game. I think you'll think he's pretty good.

Chris: I know he's good. I mean, that to me was incredible. It went from, I'm not going to know that within 50. Well, wait a minute. Exactly. Something about.

Steve: I thought you were going to say, I didn't think I was going to nail it right on the head.

Chris: Taylor Swift. Something about Taylor Swift 613. Look at Mike Lawrence.

Steve: Mike Lawrence, you might be right about that.

Marc: Yeah, Fort Ligonier may be overrun with chickens.

Steve: His property is not that far from Fort Ligonier. But I think they have some guns up there they can take care of those chickens by.

Chris: Oh my gosh. All right. Uh, we have a couple more seconds. Uh, you get, you get to keep the title of yinzer, which you already had earned. Like the first day I met you when I didn't even know what a yinzer was. Right. Okay. We're going to drop the podcast right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your friggin' podcasts. Now we're gonna move on to another segment of the show. This is where we get to eat, because Steve is… And Mark gets to sing. Steve is a little hungry.

SPEAKER_01: Taste the biscuit. Taste the goodness of the biscuit.

SPEAKER_00: I don't like the way it tastes with my chicken wings.

Chris: All right, let's get to it. All right. This is the trader Joe's product of the week. Uh, everybody knows if you've watched before and if you haven't, that I do work at trader Joe's, they are not paying us for this. They're not officially sponsoring, but I did get permission to do this. And what we do is we try a trader Joe's product that I bring home from the store and we give our honest opinion on it. Uh, this week's product is. Chicken chow mein. I'm not a fan. I'm not a chow mein guy. I don't know, guys. This is what it's all about right here.

Marc: We're going to turn me into a chow mein guy. At least it says it's low fat.

Chris: This is what it's all about. So what we're going to do is… Too many vegetables. That's a problem. Yeah, you guys can argue amongst yourselves.

Marc: We've had chow mein sitting down here for an hour.

Chris: Chicken chow mein. It's covered. It's covered.

Steve: That's two chicken dishes in a row.

Marc: The goodness of the biscuit.

Chris: The goodness of the chowder. So you just want to serve yourself and hand some to Steve. Serve yourself. Yeah. Serve yourself. I've just got to make sure it's all sauced up here.

Steve: I'm not a big fan of sauce. You can take all the sauce you want.

Chris: That honey sauce on me. I don't like to taste it on my chicken wings. There you go. Okay, Schwaber, there you go. Leave me some noodles. Trader Joe's low-fat chicken chow mein. This is a really easy dish to make. Literally, you put it all in a bowl, you fire it up in the nuker for about five minutes, then you throw the sauce on and fire it up for another couple minutes and it comes out as chicken chow mein. What do you think, Mark? I'd like to have some. I have not tried this.

Steve: too bad. There's none left.

Chris: I know. I know you're hungry. It's good.

Steve: I'm glad I got the bib on today because this is sloppy.

Chris: Yep. Sloppy chow.

Steve: There you go. I left you all the vegetables. All right. Thanks so much. Actually, I'm glad you gave me a fork. Normally I like to eat things with the spoon.

Chris: I was thinking ahead.

Steve: You cannot eat this with the spoon.

Chris: I was thinking ahead. Rob's already done. Look at him.

Steve: Mark, what do you think? Come on. I need some, I need some feedback here before I dig into it. Oh, I think you're liking it. I'm hearing some slobbering. I know.

Chris: He's like, I'm hearing close your mouth when you chew.

Marc: I'd say it's, um, yeah, it's not bad. I mean, I wouldn't buy it, but I can't say it's not good. I mean, for what it is, it's good. But, um, I don't think I'd buy it.

Steve: All right. Well, Steve, I'm not a big fan already. I just had some noodles. Let me get this piece of chicken. Amy says Mark looks like he likes it. This is what we're eating. Yeah, it's got some chicken. Yeah, I took all the vegetables out. I know I should eat more, but too bad.

Chris: Yeah, it's good. Mark, could you possibly chew any loud?

Marc: What I want to know is why is this not just called low mean? Why is this chow mean?

Chris: That's a good question.

Steve: Look, I found the I found a big one. That's some big broccoli. Oh, I like it. Yeah, it's pretty good. Yeah, I give it a weight out of 10, right? Yeah, go ahead. I'm giving it a five. Not great. Really? Yeah. I'll give it a six. You overcooked the noodles. The vegetable, the only good vegetable in there was that piece of broccoli. All the other ones are like just small little pieces.

Chris: You overcooked the noodles. I'm not a chef. I put it in the microwave.

Steve: Well, you should be a chef. We're doing a food segment on a show. Right.

Chris: All right. So you gave it a five. You gave it a six.

Steve: I'm going to give it away. I don't like chow mein anyway. So just take that.

Chris: But why don't you like chow mein? Like what's the I mean, chow mein is basically noodles and vegetables in the sauce.

Steve: Right. There's nothing to it. Okay. If I'm going to have noodles in a sauce, I'm going to have some pad Thai, or at least I'm going to get a little spice and some peanut butter.

Chris: Okay. Well, maybe that'll come. I give it for what it is. See, I'm going to, I'm going to rank it for what it is. Okay. If you're going to make chow mein for real, you're going to make chow mein, you know? Um, I give it a seven because all I had to do was put it in a bowl and nuke it and then add the sauce. It's not bad.

Steve: I mean, I'll give it a seven. It was simple to do. I could even move it up to a 6.5. Oh, thank you.

Marc: That's incredible.

Steve: I'm staying at a five because I'm remembering those spring rolls we had that were even easier to make and much more tasty.

Chris: Okay. So there you have it. That was our Trader Joe's product of the week. Chicken chow mein.

SPEAKER_01: Taste the biscuit, taste the goodness of the biscuit.

SPEAKER_02: Taste the honey sauce, taste the goodness of the biscuit with the honey sauce. Don't get that honey sauce on me, I don't like the way it tastes with my chicken wings.

Chris: Okay, just remember we do drop this podcast right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your freaking podcasts. Last segment of the evening, what we are watching. So what do we do here? Well, no, I added mine in. I added mine in. So what we are watching, there's a million streaming options out here. We're three old guys. We like to sit around and watch nonsense or not nonsense. And we just figured we'd let you into our lives a little bit and tell you what we think of some things that are currently on. And so let's start with, let's start with, let's just get this over with because I'm so tired of seeing this. And I don't even, I don't, I don't even get the, The, uh, you know, here it is. Season 46 of Survivor. Do we really have to get a play out last? What do we, I mean, okay, go ahead. Go ahead.

Steve: Season 46 is now in the books, so I can now give you my analysis of season 46 because we have to wait till everything's over. I would have liked to give you weekly updates, but that's another podcast for another year.

Chris: Yeah, for another whole year, the way you talk about it. All right, go ahead.

Steve: Survivor 46 was actually very entertaining. The most entertaining was this guy named Q, and he was a former athlete, but yet somehow couldn't win anything. Was his last name Anon? No, it was Junk Q. And this guy was such a personality like he would get all you know how they like take you to the side and they like shoot so you know like Confidentials with you he had like by far in a way the most until he got voted out by the way He got voted out with an idol in his pocket as did five other people in a row, which is a new record And in the end it really came down to three players it came down the the to Kelsey, it came down to Charlie, and it came down to Maria. Now, Maria is an older woman. She's in her 40s, and she kind of was running the show, and then Kelsey conspired with Liz to basically team up on a challenge so that Kelsey could win, and they then voted Maria out, which left Charlie. Charlie then thought he had it in the bag, but it's It turns out Maria, when she voted on, when Maria voted on the jury, voted against Charlie and voted for Kelsey and Kelsey got the million dollars. And there you have season 46 of Survivor. By the way, 47 is coming up and that was the one that I really wanted to try out for. And now that it has come and gone and I see 47, by the way, 47 is already done. They have it in the can. They've already done it. What are you gonna try out for one or not? I really wanted to try out for 47 because I thought that you know, that was my number I could I mean could you get off work that long? Yeah, I just I just make up some, you know, fml a thing or you know, some sort of hardship Yeah, but they'll see you on TV eventually. Yeah, but by that time I'll be a millionaire and I say f you

Chris: Okay, the Grand Schwabini is watching.

Marc: Bodkin. What's that? It's good. It's really good. Never saw it. It's a short series, just seven episodes. It's got Will Forte. It's on Netflix. On Netflix. It's got Will Forte. I don't know who that is. That guy on the left. From SNL. Oh, yeah. I watch SNL. And he is, well, he's not on it anymore, but… Because he's moved on to movies, like Hodgkin. It's a real good story. I mean, it's, so basically… Will Forte, his character, he's a podcaster, and he's got this other woman who's just like, I mean, she's like a really difficult person to deal with. She's a journalist, and the journalist gets into a little bit of trouble, and so to kind of get her out of town, they team her up with this podcaster who's going to this town in Ireland where there's a mystery that's like 25 years old about three people who went to their yearly festival and disappeared. And it's pretty cool. I mean, it's interesting because you're trying to basically guess what happened to these people. and who was responsible for it. And did you figure it out? No, it's pretty, it's pretty damn hard to figure out. So, uh, and lots of twists and turns, really good. Seven, one season.

Steve: That's it. There's not going to be a bodkin too. I don't think so.

Chris: Well, I, I saw this on Netflix, uh, on the, uh, just released or, you know, whatever. And I was, I was intrigued by it. So I'll probably add it to the list.

Marc: Um, no, but, but you're branching out. You're still watching, but there are illegal things being sold, which is, which is awesome.

Chris: Right. Right. Okay. So when, when our show started or when we sat down before the show started, I, I, I didn't really have one, but I did have one and I realized that I have to do this anyway because in the spirit of what we're watching, sometimes we watch things we like and sometimes we watch things we don't like. uh, that I am a big documentary fan. Uh, and so I watched, it's a, it's about 90 plus minutes long. It's a movie documentary called power on Netflix. It's essentially about the history of policing, uh, in America. Um,

Steve: Wow. And 90 minutes.

Chris: Yeah. Well, yeah, that's a lot of information. Yeah, of course. Of course. But you would think, right, it's 90 minutes. Right. I get it. It starts off, um, well, I'm just going to say it. I, I absolutely hated it. I thought it was horrible. And here's the reason why I think the subject is great. So it, so I thought, you know what, this is pretty interesting. Let's talk about this. It starts off with, how police forces were created in the mid-1800s in Boston, I think the first. Like to create order. Official police force. Yeah, like so people don't run chaos over. No, it was more about controlling populations that they didn't want to have freedom. Let's just put it that way. Um, I mean, I, I, it, it, it's not a touchy subject. He could say, you know, it's, it, it was about oppression, of course, of course. But for me, the, I'm talking about the documentary itself, great subject, something I definitely am interested in watching, but it was, it, it, it started off, here's the beginning of history with, with policing in America. So it was like, okay, that's interesting, but that didn't just went into this, like, so slow and lackadaisical and no emotion behind like, and the guy narrating it. And, and then they had all these different, uh, you know how the, in a documentary you'll have a professor who has one, you know, this, who's an expert in this. And then somebody who's an expert, too many of them, like couldn't keep track of them, you know? And like after a while, like I forced myself to finish watching it today. And then right after it ended, I immediately fell asleep and took a two hour nap. I was exhausted from trying to keep myself paying attention to it. That's what it was. It was like sometimes it was a labor to pay attention to this. I'm sorry if you're into that kind of thing. I think that Power on Netflix, this documentary, I hope they do another one. Maybe there's, if anybody knows of one, let me know because I've been wanting to watch something about the history of policing in America. This is not the one to watch.

Marc: Hey, by the way, just before we tune out the show this week, Amy actually had a really good response to our guest tonight. Yes, she did, yeah.

Chris: Let's end on that.

Marc: Yeah, go ahead. You want me to do it? You can read it, yeah.

Chris: So Amy chimed in earlier during the Brandon Short interview that she's a proud Penn State PSU grad here. I really admire your choice to build something beautiful out of tragedy. I was a first generation college student and scholarships are so important to students like me. You are doing something wonderful. So that's for Brandon.

Steve: And yes, you are.

Chris: And it is it is unfortunate, obviously, what happened. But if you can make something good out of something horrible, I think that makes you all the better for it. Yeah, absolutely.

Steve: Can't even imagine having to go through that. So good for him to turn something tragic into something positive for the community.

Chris: Absolutely. We really appreciated him being the on the show and we appreciated you watching. And if you're listening on the podcast, thank you very much. Remember, you can catch a sports sports podcast on the I heart radio app, Apple podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcast.

Chris: And of course, you can always catch us on YouTube at the sports podcast. Um, that's it for me guys. Great show. Any final words of wisdom? No, just me and Jake.

Marc: Incredible knowledge, incredible stories. Thank you again, Brandon Short.

Steve: Thank you to Brandon Short. Can't wait for him to bring the Winter Classic to Happy Valley. Yes, that is going to be a glorious day when it happens. And you can say you heard it here on The Porch first, very first time.

Chris: All right. That's it. I am news on The Porch. I am your technical director and I am finally out.

SPEAKER_00: Jablonsk! Jablonsk! Jablonsk!