The Sports Porch Black and Gold - Najee's Option and More
The Sports Porch Black and Gold - Najee's Option and More
The Steelers - Is Najee going to Ball Out This Year? Pirates - Oh my. It's a mess. Hockey Jesus Preaches on the Reardon Firing Trader Joe's…
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May 7, 2024

The Sports Porch Black and Gold - Najee's Option and More

The Steelers - Is Najee going to Ball Out This Year? Pirates - Oh my. It's a mess. Hockey Jesus Preaches on the Reardon Firing Trader Joe's Product of the Week What We're Watching The Grand Schwalbini Predicts...

The Steelers - Is Najee going to Ball Out This Year? Pirates - Oh my. It's a mess. Hockey Jesus Preaches on the Reardon Firing Trader Joe's Product of the Week What We're Watching The Grand Schwalbini Predicts...

The hosts of the podcast discussed the Steelers' decision on whether to pick up Najee Harris' fifth-year option, sharing their thoughts on the matter. Despite uncertainty about Harris' future with the team, they acknowledged his consistent performance as a reliable running back. Harris has surpassed 1,000 rushing yards in each of his seasons with the Steelers, demonstrating his effectiveness in the backfield.

The hosts also noted that while Harris may not be a game-breaking running back, he has shown consistency in his performance. He has contributed steadily to the team's offense, even in challenging situations like having a rookie quarterback and a struggling offensive line. The discussion emphasized Harris' value in consistently gaining yards and making plays for the team, even if he may not be considered a top-tier running back in the league.

The decision not to exercise Harris' fifth-year option was viewed as a business move by the Steelers, considering financial implications and future plans. While opinions differed on whether the option should be picked up, there was a consensus that Harris has been a reliable presence in the Steelers' backfield and has the potential to continue positively impacting the team's offense. The discussion underscored the importance of having a consistent and dependable running back like Harris, even if he may not be a flashy or high-profile player.

In the podcast episode, the Grand Schwabini predicted that the Pittsburgh Steelers would sign Michael Thomas as their second wide receiver post-draft. Thomas, a 6'3", 212-pound receiver, is known for his short-area route running and strong run-blocking skills. Despite limited playing time due to injuries since 2019, Thomas is recognized for his reliability and strong hands.

The prediction of signing Thomas is based on the belief that he could enhance the Steelers' receiving corps. With the team in need of a reliable second receiver, Thomas' skill set and experience make him a suitable candidate. The prediction suggests that Thomas could elevate the Steelers' passing game, particularly in critical situations like third downs.

While some may have concerns about Thomas' injury history and playing time, the Grand Schwabini sees potential in the veteran receiver. By highlighting Thomas' strengths as a route runner and blocker, the prediction showcases how he could complement the Steelers' offensive strategy.

The prediction of the Steelers signing Michael Thomas adds intrigue to the team's post-draft plans. If it comes to fruition, it could signify a strategic move by the Steelers to strengthen their receiving options and provide quarterback Ben Roethlisberger with a reliable target in the passing game.

The podcast also addressed the Steelers' recent drafting disappointments, noting the team's struggles in acquiring impactful players through the draft. The lack of successful draft picks has underscored the need for improvement in player acquisitions.

The discussion highlighted the challenges faced by the Steelers in recent years, particularly in the drafting process. The team's difficulty in securing top talent through the draft has hindered their roster-building efforts, prompting the organization to explore alternative methods of acquiring key players.

The conversation on the Steelers' drafting woes emphasized the importance of strategic player acquisitions to fortify the team. With the Colbert era drawing to a close, there is a recognition that the team must address their drafting deficiencies and focus on bringing in impactful players through other avenues.

The podcast also touched on the impact of poor drafting decisions on the Steelers' performance, underscoring the need for improvement in player acquisitions. The team's recent draft struggles have highlighted the significance of making wise choices in acquiring talent to strengthen the roster and enhance overall performance.



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Transcript

Chris: Yes, it is Yes, it is it is time for the sports sports black and gold. Thank you for being here We are live right now all over the friggin world Yes on Facebook on LinkedIn on YouTube on X and on Instagram on And we are very, very happy to be here, aren't we? Oh, yes, we are. Absolutely. We're here. It's another show. Welcome to the porch. And I want to remind everybody and thank you for watching. Of course, you can follow us. Our podcast, we drop right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you get your friggin podcast. And of course, you can follow us on YouTube, youtube.com backslash the sports porch podcast and drop a comment, get yourself into the show. That's right. And yes, you can also listen on our sister station as Schwaber likes to call it. Radio PGH. I dropped the comment in all of our socials right now. Radio PGH. Listen live to the sports porch pre and post game. Although I didn't catch you betcha all the pregame, all the pregame.

Steve: Yeah. Oh, we were pregame and you were up by the way.

Marc: Something I didn't tell you before I come bearing gifts today. Oh no. But this, we will do this before the Trader Joe's segment. Okay. All right. Before the trader Joe says it.

Chris: Okay. So what do we do here? This is Pittsburgh's only and best independent sports show. Three lifelong sports fans, one from Pittsburgh, one from nowhere, one from Philadelphia. And we talk about all things truth. It's our feelings. Our feelings are true. Our feelings are true. They're wrong sometimes. But they're true. They're true to us. They're true feelings. That's right. Schwalber, you're the psychologist.

Marc: I feel like you're getting a little off track. Off track. Am I Pat off track right now? Chris off track. All right. Chris off track.

Chris: It happens. So tonight we're going to talk about the Steelers. Of course, we're going to give our thoughts on Najee Harris and they didn't pick up his fifth year option. And what do we see going forward with that? We're going to talk NHL playoffs, the Penguins. We all know the Penguins are out of the playoffs right now. Could there be some big changes? Hockey Jesus will talk about that. And also we will talk about Hockey Jesus' YouTube show on the NHL playoffs. Fantastic, man. I just, I can't, I can't express to you. Do you feel pride? Do you feel like you're proud of our boy here?

Marc: It's like watching your son graduate college.

Steve: I'll be doing that on Thursday. Yeah, that's it.

Chris: I don't know if it's quite like that. I'm not really sure my sons are gonna graduate college.

Steve: Well, not everybody needs to graduate college. That's true. That's another show. The world needs ditch diggers too, Danny.

Chris: And of course, and of course, I know, I know. And for me, you're gonna have to dig a really deep ditch. More than six feet under. That's right. It's going to be more like 36 feet under. What did you say? To keep you down. To keep me down, yeah. And I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Steve: Eh, you know.

Chris: Yeah. Let's get to it. I'll debate that later when I'm taking a dump. Anyway, so.

Steve: That's a good time to debate yourself.

Chris: Yeah, I do that all the time.

Marc: Despicable and disgusting.

Chris: We're obviously going to talk about the pirates because we're going to have a Buccos report because we have to. And I can't wait for that. We have the Trader Joe's product of the week. This is going to be a fun one. I think we're going to enjoy it. We have what we're watching, which is a fan favorite, what we're streaming online. All three of us have different things. And I think sort of relevant things going on right now. I can't wait to get to H.J.'s. It's going to be a lot of fun. And the Grand Schwabini is obviously going to do a prediction. I think we'll do that after the Steelers update. After the Steelers update. Yep, you got it. Okay, so if you want to get into the show and you want to talk about anything that we're talking about here, drop a comment. We try to get everybody in the show. We really enjoy that. And on Instagram, if you're watching, I don't get the comments in the same place, so I have to keep my eyes in two different places at once. No comments, please.

Marc: Try to keep it simple. Maybe if you just stay in one spot, you'll run the show smoothly, TD.

Chris: All right. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to start right now with Hockey Jesus. Okay. We're going to get this out of the way. All right.

Steve: Out of the way.

Chris: How do you say that about hockey?

Marc: Well, the pens aren't in the playoffs. You just praised him. And now you're saying, let's just get that out of the way. You're right.

Chris: Of course, it doesn't make any sense. You can follow Hockey Jesus on YouTube at the Sports Porch Podcast. During the regular season, Hockey Jesus preaches after every single game on the podcast and on YouTube, and he gives you his honest truth. Right now, Hockey Jesus is going to preach about the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Marc: The number one fan, Amy. There she is, the number one wifey.

Chris: Are you going to get her a wifey shirt for Mother's Day?

Marc: No, I like it now, although I will tell you, we I did extend one of our well-known nicknames. Amy has a thing she does where when she goes shopping, she says she's going to like go to Target. That's it. Right. And then hours later and forced later, she comes back in the house like and I'm thinking like I'm concerned. Has she died somewhere or is she in a car accident shopping? But you know what, I finally labeled it as Amy Off Track. There it is, yes. Amy Off Track.

Chris: Yeah, but in her mind, it's Amy On Track.

Marc: Oh yeah. Maybe. She knew exactly what she was doing. I think she understands she's Amy Off Track in this situation.

Chris: Yeah, maybe. But it's not an unusual thing. I mean, when Susan goes to the store, does she often, you know, get off track? I encourage her to get off track.

Steve: There you go. Because I don't want to go. I mean, I'll be honest. If you're going, you can go all day if you like. That's fine with me. Right. It's kind of like, you know, when we go down to the strip, you know, we end up smoking a cigar. Maybe we'll go to, you know, Woolies. Maybe we'll go to Penn Mac. Maybe we'll go get a chicken sandwich. You don't know where we're going to end up. No. And you know what? Our wives don't want to know either.

Chris: If you will, that's definite name. He says, no, she is off track. OK, H.J., your last NHL playoff update was two nights ago. Yeah, it was a few nights ago.

Steve: There were still they were still the there were still two seven game series to finish up. The Boston was finishing up and Dallas was finishing up against Vegas Golden Knights. Boston was playing against Toronto. Now remember, Boston went up 3-1 against Toronto and then Toronto tied it 3-3. I know, they made a series of it. I'll tell you actually these get the game sevens. I watched were very good but in a very different way like I Got I had the feeling like Dallas was just gonna just gonna murder Vegas for some reason, right? I don't know why but I thought they were just gonna like beat him for one now that didn't happen but Dallas did end up winning the game and honestly, it's all about Ottinger if you watch the guy play goal and When he gets focused, you can't you can't get the puck by him. He's one of those goalies now that it's just like you have to either push him over or you have to stand right in front of him so he can't see the puck. Right. And and but he was unstoppable. I mean, Dallas, I they're my they're my Stanley Cup winner. So for them to go to game seven in round one actually isn't surprising against Vegas. Well, they had to beat the champs. Yeah. And you know, Vegas was very confident about beating Dallas too. I think it's really going to be interesting watching Dallas play against Colorado because they have totally different styles. Look, Vegas, I think made a mistake. They went out and got Thomas Hertel and he didn't perform for them well at all. Um, Aiden Hill was actually the star of that game. And the only reason Dallas won was because I don't remember the guys, the guy's name, maybe it was dad and off or somebody literally stood right in front of them while, while Fox, uh, had the wicked backhand and, and it went off the post to go, right? Yeah. I saw that shot.

Marc: It almost kind of looked like I don't think he was really looking or directing it It was just kind of like let's put it on net and hey, it was perfect.

Steve: It was That's what happens and the goalie there's no way the goalie could have done anything about that. So Dallas moves on Boston Boston Boston Toronto, how about that bounce?

Marc: Oh like to right in front of the net.

Steve: I don't even know how that happens. It's like the hockey gods smiling on Boston and frowning upon Toronto in the overtime period. But if you think about it, you know, Dallas scores the first goal in the game seven and they get the win. 75% of the time you win the game when you score the first goal in the game seven. And in the Boston game, Toronto actually scored the first goal with like 10 minutes left. And I'm like, oh man, Toronto might do it. And that would have knocked Boston out for the second time in a row after being up three one because Florida did it last year. And I'm thinking actually Toronto's got this, but. Hold your horses. About two minutes later, Boston scores out of nowhere. It was just, it was a terrible goal to let in. Samsonov really didn't belong in there, but their other goalie, Shilov, I'm saying it wrong, but it's like that. Silov, it's S-I-L-O-V-O-S. Yeah, right. Thank you, Mark. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. And, um, he, he, he couldn't go. He was, he, he, I don't know what happened if he was injured or he had a headache. I, it just, it boggles my mind that I, that a goal is just not ready to go in a game seven. And, uh, Samson off gives up that, that cheap one. And then like Mark said in overtime, you know, some Toronto fans were posting that pass. They were like, look, this is icing, but I'm sorry, Toronto fans. I wanted Toronto to win. I think I actually had them beating Florida, by the way. So I'm I'm really sucking wind by Toronto losing this game. But he anytime you come to the center ice, as long as your stick goes over the center ice, they're they're going to say it's OK. Yeah. And now maybe the puck actually left. You know, right before the sunrise. By the way, this is on an icing call. On an icing call, he has to go past two red lines. The center red line and the back red line. That's an icing call. And what they're saying is, is he shot it and the puck left his stick before the red line. And it doesn't matter. If it looks like it's good enough, they're just going to call it. And that's just, it happens so fast. Like you can slow the game down like that. But the bounce was ridiculous. It bounced right. The passer knock who made it actually made a great play to score the goal. And that hands that put some that put some playing tonight. You can see the game behind me playing Florida. Look, Florida is playing great right now. Bobrovsky is not playing great, but I think Florida as a team really has the best team. There's only been one game in the second round that's been played. New York beat Carolina yesterday after noonish. won nothing, New York's up. By the way, the Rangers are undefeated in the playoffs, and that really pains me to say. Of all the teams that are left, I think I'd even be happy, no, I wouldn't be happy if Boston won, but it would be, I don't want New York to win, I don't want Boston to win, and anybody else can win after that. Even Florida, I think they're playing great. The series I'm definitely watching, that Colorado-Dallas series is gonna be phenomenal. It's gonna be great hockey. Um, I don't, I don't know if, if Colorado can continue scoring three and four goals, they've got a chance of beating Dallas. But I think this is the, this is the series where Ottinger shows up. I think he's probably going to take out the Colorado and it's probably going to take six or seven games Edmonton and Vancouver. They, they're saying Demco might be back in round two. That would be a good sign for Vancouver if they got their number one goalie back. Um, but I like Edmonton there. I really like it.

Chris: All I know is in the bracket, in the NHL bracket, the hockey Jesus, uh, challenge. I picked Edmonton to win the, uh, to win the cup. So I'm still in it.

Steve: I'm still in it because Edmonton actually, I would say of the teams that are playing now, I would say Edmonton probably has the best chance of sweeping Vancouver in this round.

Chris: I haven't looked at the brackets since I selected it.

Steve: I didn't look at the scores.

Marc: Now, actually, let's have a little hockey fun here, because this should be an extremely easy question. Since you took the Edmonton Oilers, who is the best player on the Edmonton Oilers? Wayne Gretzky.

Chris: I know I baited you. I have a habit of doing that. Connor McDavid. There you go. I've learned something. I mean, I know he's the best player. He's the only player. And I'm going to delete this comment right here because I have no idea who it is. If you want to leave a relevant comment, you can do that. And no, I'm not sending you money because my long lost aunt has died in Nigeria and left me $400 million. And all I have to do is send you $10,000. That's really great. Thank you. That's a good deal. It is a good deal. That is a good deal.

Steve: It's not one I'm willing to take a chance on. $400 million.

Marc: I didn't know you had family in Nigeria.

Chris: Yeah, I didn't either.

Steve: So that's what I'm looking for in the second round of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. I like Florida. I like Carolina. somebody's gotta beat the Rangers. I like Dallas and Edmonton. Those will be the Eastern and Western Conference final games.

Chris: The next edition of the Hockey Jesus NHL Playoffs update will be… Oh, it has to be either tonight or tomorrow.

Steve: I'm not gonna do it tonight because I'm here. You're here, yeah. Yeah, so I will absolutely have a new one out tomorrow. I wanted to wait until everybody played the one game, but for some reason, Edmonton and Vancouver do not play until 10 o'clock on Wednesday. It's their first game. By that time, Boston will have played two games, and Carolina and New York will have played two games. I don't get it.

Chris: I don't understand. Now, will you be in Philadelphia at that point, right? Don't matter.

Steve: Yeah, I just, I love that. I won't have the, you know, the, the, uh, the banners behind me. Maybe I'll take a picture and, and there you go. You know, we can do virtual. Okay. All right. I hate the virtual background because if you move too much and I like to talk with my hands, it like makes your hands disappear. Yeah.

Chris: Well, that happens all the time. You're Jesus. So yeah, that's true.

Marc: I guess you make miracles happen.

Chris: Yeah. Maybe that's appropriate. Would it be a miracle if your hands disappear? Um, it would actually be a pretty bad thing for me. Um, okay. You can always catch the hockey Jesus on the sports porch podcast on the I heart radio app, Apple podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your fricking podcasts. And you can also watch him right after most Penguins games during the regular season and hopefully next year during the playoffs.

Steve: Hey, speaking of the Penguins, let's slide this in before we get out of hockey. Hey, you know how much we like sliding things in. Hey, we like to slide it in right at the end.

Chris: Disgusting. Yep, yep. Despicable.

Steve: The Pittsburgh Penguins fired Todd Rearded. Oh yeah, we were supposed to talk about that.

Chris: Does that make a difference? I mean, was he really responsible for how crappy the power play was this year?

Steve: Well, I mean, the players are ultimately responsible. Let's just say it as it is. However, they're going to have to get somebody in there that's going to either listen to the new coach Or their power play's not going to get better. I mean, he was a scapegoat for sure, much like Matt Canada was the scapegoat for the Steelers' offensive woes. He'll probably get picked up by somebody. I mean, he was a head coach in the NHL for a while. I honestly think they probably need to fire more than him. I'm not a big fan of firing Sully at this point. Maybe that's what needs to happen. Look, we'll talk about off-season moves for the Penguins on a future broadcast, so please stop in for that. But my point with any other moves are, if you're going to make moves in the front office, coaching staff, I'm fine with that. I just, I just hope that they can finally get a team that they can keep together and not make too many big changes. This team has been through a lot of changes the past three years. I've said it a lot, and I would just like to see them go into the regular season with the team they have, with the coaching staff that can coach them, and the players that will listen. That's a lot to ask for, by the way.

Chris: Well, you know, as always, Hockey Jesus, your wisdom is second to none, actually. Don't forget Midnight Mass.

Steve: That's on Netflix, right?

Chris: All right, follow Hockey Jesus on YouTube at the Sports Sports Podcast. And catch the Sports Sports Podcast anywhere you get your podcasts. Subscribe, leave a review, follow us on YouTube, the Sports Sports Podcast. Now we're going to move on to something. that really has my get my goat. Get your game. It gets my goat. This is the buckos report and there's not a lot of reporting to do because they don't score runs. This, this is, this is by far, and I'm having a screen issue here, so I can't pull up their stats. It's really kind of aggravating me at this point right now.

Steve: I'll give you their stats. They score one run every game.

Marc: No, I wouldn't. Do you remember at the beginning of the season when everybody was talking about, you know, it's actually a better lineup this year?

Steve: Yes, that that that's now their best player is Connor Joe.

Marc: That that's right.

Chris: I'm going to go. Okay, building stats up here.

Steve: I submit to you.

Chris: I'm having a little issue here. I'm loving that little beast. I have no idea what's going on. I will submit to you that they have the absolute and I don't think there's anybody that's going to disagree with me right now. They have the absolute worst lineup in baseball. They do not feel the Major League Baseball team and I am including Brian, what's his name? Reynolds. That's right. And I'm just going to call him Brian. What's his name from now on? Because, right. I mean, we're supposed to have, you know, this incredible new lineup with a guy named O'Neal Cruz. Who hit two home runs over the weekend. He did. A little better. He did. But the real issue is that, yeah, he if he hit a ball in the well, it bounced into the river. The real issue is.

Steve: Well, then he hit another one. He thought it was a home run. He stood there and he got a single. That's exactly right. This is the kind of players the Pirates get. I mean, I don't understand why you're so surprised by it.

Chris: Let's just go down. Here's what we're going to do. The Pirates are actually, right now, they're actually leading, from what I can see, they're leading the Angels 4-0. So I'm going to go to the box score. I'm going to go to the box score. I think the Pirates have two players sitting over 245.

Marc: I don't know.

Steve: I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

Chris: I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

Steve: I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

Chris: I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Keep Brian Hayes, he's 0 for 2 at 250. Connor Joe, 0 for 3, 282. Olivares is 2 for 2, 224. Bart, who is now catching, 194. O'Neal Cruz, 238. Triolo, 223. Michael Taylor, 232. It actually looks a lot better than it did four days ago, OK? Because at one point it was like six out of nine.

Steve: Right.

Chris: Six out of nine were batting under 200. It's still not. It's it's it's like, look, if this was any other team, if this team, the Phillies, if this was my team, the Orioles, if this was the Chicago Cubs, if it was any other team, the manager would be fired by now. Yeah. Yes.

Steve: Oh, no, you're right. But I mean, this is not a major league baseball team. That's my point. You're talking about the Pirates.

Marc: You really can't fire him because he doesn't have any tools to succeed.

Chris: I mean, yeah, you can make that argument, but he also, I mean, this is like lineup number 37, you know, in less in how many games, you know what I mean? In, in 36 games. So I, it's, it's like, let, let these guys settle in. and give them some players. And it's the fifth year of the Charrington five-year rebuild, and it's 100% obvious that the rebuild is not a rebuild. And I think at the end, go ahead, give me your butt, H.J., just give it to me.

Steve: This is the fourth version of the five-year Fix right, right. So who cares if there's a 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th version, right? We're used to it. So it doesn't really matter. You know, what really matters two things Jared Jones and when are they gonna bring up skeins? That's the only thing that matters to the pirates this season and to the fans Yeah, that's it. That's all that matters. Everybody knows that Kutch is going to retire after this year. I wish he wouldn't complain so much. He should realize that he should be lucky to be able to be on a pseudo MLB team so that he could hit his 300th home run, which he did. So he should just go off into the sunset with his mouth quiet. Yes, because he's not good anymore. That's true. You know, and he should be happy. He's playing on the major league. I say a major league baseball team in quotes because it's the pirates. And you know what? This is the problem with the pirates year in, year out. We can cite statistics, we can cite blah, we can cite blah.

Chris: The reality is- Could you explain to me what blah and blah are?

Steve: Blah is what happens at the beginning of the season when we realize who they are. Blah is what happens by the middle of the season when we know they're no longer relevant.

Chris: And thank God is what happens at the end of the season when it's finally over.

Steve: But that's why we have to look forward to schemes. Oh, by the way, I heard an interview with Jared Jones. You're going to like this. Jared jones actually uh knows paul schemes pretty good. Oh, really? Yeah, I guess they're they know each other and guess what they do together. They play fortnight together. That's right kids. They play fortnight together So, um, I think they're gonna I think they're gonna be a good duo the two of them together The problem is if they don't if they don't if they can't bring o'neill cruz into their trio in this fortnight game It's useless because they got to have a hitter in that, in that trio, right? You got to either have a good lead off hitter and, or a good power hitter. And I don't think Swinsky, although he had a walk-off last a couple nights ago, I don't think he's the guy either.

Chris: It was a walk-off single and the pirates only scored one run. They couldn't say, yeah, they, I mean, they got lucky. Right. They got lucky.

Steve: So, I mean, that's the reality for the pirates. There's no sense getting excited about them. There's no sense getting down on them. We know who they are. I think we should just enjoy their shittiness.

Chris: Yeah, I mean, I have for 20 years. It's it's we're trying. We're trying now.

Steve: Look forward to when you have new talent coming up, like Jared Jones, who seems to be a real major league pitcher, gives you a chance. Look, he's not very good against the good teams, but that's OK for us. We just don't want to be the worst team. Now, now that's where we are right now. We need to get better. We need to beat the bad teams again.

Chris: Now, speaking of Jones, I mean, he is an exciting young pitcher. You know, he's got 52 strikeouts in 41 innings pitched. He started seven games. He is two and three, but that's a lack of run support. Uh, and he's only given up five walks. So yeah, he's got good control. He's got a hell of a fastball, and he's also got a very competitive mentality, and he's going to be great for the Dodgers.

Steve: Yeah, he will. But you know what he said? He said he didn't do anything different this year than he did last year. And last year, he was terrible in AAA. He just says that he's finding he he he's hitting the strike zone more and he doesn't even really know why But he's always been able to throw hard He says but when he's confident in a confident pitcher as long as he can stay in that zone Then he's gonna be a good pitcher for a while. Yeah, I Yeah. Well, I, and it's weird though, that like, he can't say like exactly why this year, like everything's working out, I think it's because he's, he's got no pressure on him. I bet last year in triple a, he was really pushing to get up to the big leagues. And when you push like that, you know, he even says he'll overthrow the ball. I mean, the guy throws in the hundreds all the time. Yeah. Um, so I think this year he's just, he's just calm about it.

Marc: Well, it sounds like their one success story has nothing to do with coaching. That's exactly right. Because if he was coached to do something else, he would have known what he was doing.

Chris: Yeah, that's very true. And Kyle finally gets into the show here. He's been trying so hard. We'll put this comment up, Kyle, because you're right. One, two, three strikes, the Pirates are out. Yeah.

Steve: And, and I, you know, I'm wondering if Kyle watched the roast of Tom Brady.

Chris: I don't, uh, yeah, well he wanted us to hire Tom Brady. Once the pirates to hire Tom Brady made a Taylor Swift fortnight comment.

Steve: He's absolutely right on that fortnight by Taylor Swift comment. Really spot on there. Why is that? Oh my God.

Marc: Is it good or something?

Steve: Is it a good song? It's the first song on the new album.

Chris: We always, it always comes back to Taylor's the dead poets. You know what Taylor Swift is for this show tip? Taylor Swift is the Kevin Bacon of this show. We've got to draw it all the way back to Taylor Swift somehow. Yeah, back to Swift. Here's the one thing I'll say about Jared Jones, and this is so indicative of pirates media, pirates fan, pirates, you know, how we try to, we hope, we wish, we pray. He started seven games in the major leagues. All right. Right. Let's let's kind of pump the brakes. You got it. Pump the brakes. What we've seen so far, first of all, is something that is astronomically better than anyone expected. True. Second, he was horrible in AAA last year. He was. And third, what you said, when a pitcher says, Hey, I'm not really sure how I'm getting it around the strike zone. That worries me.

Steve: He did say he had a tendency to overthrow the ball. And now that he feels like he's got good control, he's not trying, he's not pushing as much, which, which leads me to believe is once he gets into a high pressure game, he's going to, he's going to be terrible.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, look, all credit to Jared Jones. He is so far in the first 30 games of the season, his first seven major league starts, you know, he's throwing like a veteran. Hopefully he has the attitude and the mentality to keep doing that. We all know that, you know, it's a different game between AAA and here. Let's bring it to the Steelers. And they get into your head. Well, I do want to, I do want to mention that Bailey Falter is pitching tonight and got the win so far. Well, not yet. The game's not over yet.

Steve: They're going to win. They scored four runs. Yeah.

Marc: I told you about falters. Good for a half a year. That's what, that's what I'm saying.

Chris: Oh, I'm sorry. I am completely wrong. I thought Bailey fought. It's Mitch Keller's pitching and he's actually pitching a pretty good game. Six innings, a four hits a run, a walk three Ks, but his ERA at, you know, right now is four 70, but before the game it was five 18. What did I talk about? God is big contracts. Doesn't have to play that hard anymore. No, you know, I, I mean, I'm sure he's out there trying. Let's face it. So, as the season goes on, as I promised, if the Buccos get over 500, I will bring back the Buccos report on a more than weekly basis.

Steve: Semi-regular basis.

Marc: Why don't you actually even go further down that hole? Why don't you tell us that you'll give us a Buccos report if they make the wild card?

Chris: Yeah. How about if I do that? Yeah. Hey, if they make the wild card, I'll dress up like a pirate and I'll walk down Walnut street. There you go. There you go. Acting like Johnny Depp. There you go.

Marc: Okay. You heard it.

Chris: You heard it here first. Given the buck goes report live. I'm going to in, in, in the, in the captain Jack Sparrow voice. It's so good.

Marc: It's doing never happening.

Chris: Yeah. All right. We dropped the sports sports podcast right after the show and the I heart radio app, Apple podcast, Spotify. or anywhere you get your freaking podcast. That's it for the Buccos report.

Marc: Go Bucs. Let's bring it back to the Steelers.

Chris: Alrighty. And this is where Kyle says we have to insert Pittsburgh Property Diva ad right here. That's my ad for the night. So now let's move on to the Steelers.

Steve: The Steelers.

Chris: That's right. Najee must ball this year. Who will be the better running back now that they didn't pick up the, well, first of all, do you think they did the right thing not picking up his option? Yeah. Okay. How about you?

Marc: Yes, I do.

Chris: All right, let's move on to the Trader Joe's talk to the week.

Steve: Not that I want to stand between you and food. Yeah, right Najee actually they may on the picking up next year. Anyways, they just they're like why why should we just say we'll give him the fifth year this year? I actually think you'll probably be a better running back because he's playing for a contract. You got it. So why not? Well, it doesn't hurt anything. And if you want to sign him at that same price next year, the price isn't high, you know, it's, it's the running backs don't get anything anymore, you know? So I think it's, I think it's the right business move. I mean, you know, that's just the way I feel. How about you, Mark?

Marc: Uh, yeah. I mean, look, the bottom line is he's okay. He's not bad. I mean, he's like, a sort of good running back, you know, and that's high praise. So, and so the bottom line is, you know, look, uh, go out there and show us something this year with a new offensive coordinator, uh, and you know, better, better quarterback, uh, play, hopefully, um, show us something. If you show us something, you'll be back. And if not, then it's time to see you later. And we'll draft running back next year.

Steve: Yeah. And if he doesn't want to come back and he gets a bigger contract elsewhere, That's fine.

Chris: Good for him. I mean, yeah, I don't know what all the hubbub was about. Should they pick him up? Should they pick it up? Shouldn't they pick it up? I mean, well, it's because he was a first round draft pick. Well, I get it. I get it. But after three years as a first round draft pick, you now know what you're getting with Najee Harris. Um, if he has a better offensive line, I honestly don't think you're going to get much more. I mean, maybe, I think he's a very consistent running back.

Steve: I think he's good for a thousand yards. I think he's good for 20 to 30 catches and you know, a few touchdowns. That's it. I mean, that's who he is. It's not, it's not like he's going to break the bank of other people who want to get them. But I think for that reason, if, if, if he doesn't sign with the Steelers next year, he'll, somebody will give him a contract. Yeah. He's good enough to get another contract.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I, I, I didn't understand why anybody really cared whether or not they picked up his option.

Steve: That, that, that was more of an indictment on the Steelers drafting. Right. Because if you don't pick up that fifth year, basically you're saying your first round pick was a bust. Yeah. Right. That's really what, that's what really people are saying when they're saying, Oh, they're not picking them up. Oh, okay. Well that makes sense. We suck at drafting. Yeah. And I would agree back then.

Chris: I would agree with the idea that he wasn't really given the best chance considering that the last two years he had rookie quarterback, fairly bad offensive line. But at the same time, and we went over this game after game, you know, since he's been drafted, when they did produce holes, it seemed like he couldn't find them.

Steve: So, you know, I mean, but he's, that's why I'm saying he's a good running back. He doesn't make very many mistakes. The guy tries really hard, but he's just not a great talent. I mean, you know, that's, that's it. And you don't get, you don't get guys with great talent very often anyway. So, I don't think that well the pick is a bus.

Marc: Well, they did they did a thing I think I said it to you guys there was you know, what was it? Half of the fifth year options were picked up and half weren't yeah, that's kind of like what the first round is It's a crapshoot now.

Steve: I did see that's with those who got to the fifth, right? Really good ones are getting the getting that fifth year contract in their second third year, right?

Marc: Like Devante Smith got it now. It's his third year

Steve: Yeah, third year.

Chris: They're not going to wait till next year. Didn't Travis at the end, they picked up his fifth year option. And I saw a comparison of statistics and his were remarkably worse than Najee Harris's.

Steve: Yeah, but he's got now he's been injured, but he's got flash too. Yeah, he's got that ability to hit the home run. Yeah, no, he's not gonna do that. Yeah, it's not that's not the kind of running back.

Chris: Yeah. Warren or nausea this year. Now we have a new offensive coordinator. Warren or nausea this year. Who do you think they try to bring to the forefront. Do you think they stick with nausea?

Steve: Yeah, they're gonna stick with nausea. They're gonna run them into the ground. That's what they do with all their running backs.

Marc: Yeah, it's still gonna be a two-back attack.

Steve: It will, but it'll be 65-35.

Chris: CDs in the house, same every year, 50% get fifth year or extended. Yeah, we understand. Thanks for being here, Doc. Mike Lawrence is back in the house. Thanks for being here. I don't have a strong feeling about the Steelers picking up his fifth year. However, hasn't he rushed for more than 1,000 yards each lesson?

Steve: Exactly, Mike.

Chris: Yeah, but it's 17 games now.

Steve: It doesn't matter. I mean, he's just consistent. I think Mike brings up the point that I was trying to make. Thank you for bringing it up, Mike. He's a good running back. I mean, you know, you don't run for a thousand yards three years in a row and not be considered a good running back.

Marc: Right. But I don't I correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think any of them were great. I think they were all like 1017 yards. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: No, it wasn't like 12. hundred. Right. He didn't have a 70 yard right in there. Right. I mean he gets it six yards at a time.

Marc: Right. He gets 60 70 yards a week basically.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. And C.D. makes another point we've been talking about the 0 the 0 line drives the running back success knowledge goes off only if the 0 line is better. And we can't look we can say that they did the right thing this year by really stocking up on the offensive line. But we're not. And these guys have a two of them at least have a very high pedigree. And the third guy is, is probably, you know, he could end up being pretty decent and a starter maybe next year, maybe by the end of the year, but it's really going to depend on what happens in the first couple of games. We'll see if the picks they made are a big improvement over what they had. You don't know until they hit the field. Right. But I think That they will. And one more, you know, the Doc's doing some math. 60 yards per game. That's right. He's not a game breaker. He's not a game breaker.

Steve: 30 minutes in, we can't do math.

Chris: Yeah. We're starting to get hungry here. But before we get hungry, we also are going to bring in our prognosticator. the Grand Schwabini, who is going to make a prediction about the Steelers. Yes. And take it away, Your Highness.

Marc: So the Grand Schwabini has spent some time forecasting the future. And he decided, hmm, who is going to be the Steelers' biggest signing post-draft? Free agent signing. Hmm. We know they are after a wide receiver. They need one. But it doesn't seem like any of the big names are necessarily coming our way. It seems like if that was going to happen, it probably would have happened around the draft. Or? Or what?

Steve: Maybe they are going to get somebody.

Marc: Or maybe they are going to get somebody. But the Grand Schwabini is going to bring it to you. He likes to drag it out. The Grand Schwabini is going to give it to you in truth. I'm not going to sit here and try to predict something crazy for you because I can only tell you what the gods tell me. okay and the gods tell me that your second receiver on the Pittsburgh Steelers is going to be he looks at his notes Former New Orleans St. Michael Thomas.

Steve: No way. Really? Okay. Write that down. It's a hot take. He is 31 years old, 6'3", 2'12".

Marc: Only played seven games since 2019, but a very good short area route runner. That makes sense for us. Very good at run-blocking and has very strong hands. Somebody reliable and somebody who could potentially go back into the bottle and realize some of his past success. There you go. LeBron Schwalbini tells all.

Steve: Okay, Michael Thomas, you heard it here first.

Chris: First of all, who doesn't love a man with strong hands?

Marc: Uh, creeping me out.

Chris: Yep. As usual. Second of all, second of all, when you bring up the, when you bring up a couple things, uh, you know, he, he's strong over the middle, short route runner. Uh, and he hasn't played a whole lot because he's been injured. I think bingo. That's exactly who the Steelers would bring in.

Marc: He's not going to cost a fortune. Right, right. You know, you could bring him in. He's Allen Robinson. He, well, he, he's Allen Robinson, but with way more upside. Yeah, I agree. He's not going to cost as much and he is way more upside. Like if he's on the stewards this year, you could potentially see him, you know, if he stays healthy, you know, getting 800 yards, seven touchdowns.

Steve: That'd be a good pickup. Whoever they get, that would be, that's what you want to get 750 to a thousand yards from that.

Chris: What leads you to believe that Grant Schwabini?

Marc: because he's still sitting out there. And it's the easier solution than all of these receivers where you have to give them a big contract and you have to trade for them and you have to give something up. So it just seems like it's going more in that direction.

Chris: Do you have any knowledge on whether or not they actually have interest? Is that anything you were reading about?

Marc: Sources tell me. Yeah. I do not give away my sources.

Steve: The sources stay in the genie model.

Chris: Yes. Yeah, yeah. Schwaber sticks his head in that little box.

Marc: Sources talk to the Grand Schwabini.

Steve: Only the Grand Schwabini. All right, we gotta get some music for you.

Chris: I like it, I like it. Do you think, well, do you think that would be a good signing?

Steve: I thought you were asking me about the music. I think music is not necessary. I do like the idea of Michael Thomas, but much like I like the idea of the old Russ Wilson. I like the old Michael Thomas. The new Michael Thomas, And to me, to me, it's like if he comes cheap, absolutely great signing. But I probably would rather just get Tyler Boyd, to be honest with you. Yeah, I think he's a little bit more talented. Yeah, but I do like the idea of Michael Thomas as a big body across the middle. Somebody can catch the third. Third down, first down passes. Now that Deontay is not here, that would make sense too. So no, I think it would be a good signing. I would put it up there, not with the Bettis signing, but much further down on the list, but higher than the Allen Robinson sign.

Chris: Okay. What do you think Mike Lawrence means about this comment? I've seen a lot of speculating about the Steelers EE.

Marc: It means he's seen, you know, there's a new receiver that they talk about every day.

Chris: Oh, is that what EE means? Am I missing something? Yes, that's what EE means.

Marc: You don't know what EE means? You're making that up completely. Everybody, everyone. Oh, I had no idea. Okay. No, I just made that up.

Chris: That was a good one. That was excellent. Actually, it was. And I think you just you just did something there. You created something new. Steelers Freak on YouTube is saying, I guess Austin goes on the long Colbert disappointment list.

Steve: Yeah, I think you're right about that Steelers Freak. And remember, he got injured his rookie season. He didn't really get to play. And you know, it's, I guess it's hard to really gel with the team when you're not there in your first year and then in your second year it's your rookie year, but you've been there. So it's gotta be weird.

Marc: But he has one of the all time great sports porch created names, CA3.

Chris: I don't hear anybody using that. No, just us.

Steve: Because he doesn't catch any.

Chris: I was going to say, but you damn well know if he was great, somebody else would coin it. So you should trademark that trademark. Kind of like the four for four.

Marc: I'd go to the trademark guy and they'd be like, you want to trademark CA3? What? Are you delirious? That'll be $3. Yeah, exactly. Don't do anything for money. I'll pay you. How's that? I'll pay you to go away. I'll pay you because I feel so sorry for you.

Steve: I mean, Austin still has a chance to play this year too, but at this point, he's a bitter disappointment.

Chris: Yeah. And we talked about this a little bit. We talk about it a lot. You know, the Colbert era is over. The last few years were a drafting, basically a drafting disaster. And now you see the effect, the Whitehall effect that I'm going to trademark.

Marc: I didn't know that it was Colbert. I thought it was Colbert. I said Colbert, didn't I? No, you said Colbert.

Chris: Oh. Well, I'm very sorry. I'm Kevin Colbert.

Marc: Yeah. I thought maybe it was all the, all the hockey stuff, you know, like no, no, that's late night.

Steve: Isn't Stephen Colbert. Stephen Colbert.

Chris: Isn't Stephen, isn't his name spelled the same Colbert. Yeah. I think it is actually.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. So it's a real name anyway. So who cares?

Chris: So is Stephen Colbert trying to play off of that French nomenclature or I don't even know what I'm saying.

Marc: And yeah, you don't even know what.

Chris: I don't. Pat on track is back. Sorry. I'm Schwab. Any good Philly start jinx. Okay. That's another show, Pat. He's off track. I mean, he gets on the sprint show and he's already off track.

Marc: We're, we're, we're in Pittsburgh right now. Yeah. Thanks a lot.

Chris: Send him a fans. Send him a text, you know, Well, my friend, it's Trader Joe's time. It is Trader Joe's. Oh, this is for Trader Joe's time?

Marc: This is to start our Trader Joe's. You might want to put the Trader Joe's logo up.

Chris: Should I put the Trader Joe's logo up? Yeah.

Steve: We're about to eat.

Chris: Should I do the Trader Joe's music? Should I do that or should I wait?

Marc: After the gift, we'll do the music.

Chris: Okay. So this is a segment of our show. We love the music so much. This is the Trader Joe's product of the week. And for those of you who don't know, and for those of you do know, I have to say this.

Marc: I want to take that down. Thank you.

Chris: I'm sorry. I just, you know, I'm so excited about what I'm holding in my hand. Your big strong hand. Yes. The Trader Joe's product of the week, I work for Trader Joe's and they're not paying us to do this, but they did give us permission to do this. We pick a product, I pick a product.

Marc: A lower level staff person gave you permission. Yeah, I'm not sure she wouldn't appreciate you calling her that. I don't think the corporate folks would. Yeah, I don't know. I'm sorry by the way, you're not a lower level staff person, you're high level.

Chris: There you go. Not me, I'm not high level, I'm just a company.

Marc: No, I meant the person who gave you permission. Okay. That was rude of me.

Chris: You guys are going to get me fired, and we're not going to be able to do this anymore.

Steve: We can still go to Trader Joe's and buy stuff. That's true.

Chris: I don't think they're going to stop you from buying their food and showing it to people, telling them how great it is. Right. So low-level staff person, fire away. Anyway, so I pick a product every week. I bring it in. We sample it. We give our honest opinion. We have a little bit of fun with it. And the real reason that we started this is because these guys are hungry. And every time they come to my house, the grand Schwabini, who is famously hungry all the time, logs many complaints that there's not any food.

Marc: And even today, there was nothing in the fridge. Come on, I gave you pretzel nuggets. You gave me some pretzels, which was nice. And you got a root beer. And I got a root beer. But I mean, let's be honest, there was nothing in the fridge.

Chris: Do you know how many kids out there in this world, in Africa, would kill to have pretzel nuggets in a root beer?

Marc: Actually, that fridge upstairs is like being a kid in Africa.

Chris: All right, all right, all right. I'm opening this now. This is a gift. Yes, it's a gift. It's for you. Oh my God. All right. This is incredible. Oh wow, and you got it from Marshall's, one of the most exclusive stores on the planet.

Steve: I love Marshall's.

Chris: The I Love Trader Joe's cookbook.

Steve: There it is. Very nice.

Chris: So you can know what you're doing. So I can, oh, this is incredible. Wow. Who bought this? Amy. Amy bought it.

Marc: This is a blue light special. Yeah, it was.

Chris: I've made a recipe or two out of there. She did leave the price tag on. So now I know that I am worth twelve dollars to ninety nine cents. Oh, no, you didn't pay. Yeah, I know.

Marc: That's she's a coupon shop. No, no. She paid full price.

Chris: Or is this perhaps a hint that I'm not getting complicated enough with the meals that I serve?

Marc: Oh man, this is 10th anniversary edition, man. That's a collector's edition.

Chris: All right, Trader Joe's. Who's hungry for Trader Joe's? Yeah, I love Trader Joe's cookbook. Thank you. Thank you, Amy. Thank you, Grant Schwabini. You got it.

Marc: You got it.

Chris: That's why we're here. I appreciate it. And now it is, of course, officially time for the song to start.

SPEAKER_02: The Trader Joe's product of the week.

Chris: I really thought I started it.

SPEAKER_02: This is what everybody tunes in for.

Marc: We've got a lot of people on the line.

Chris: Why is the music not playing?

SPEAKER_02: It's playing in your head.

Marc: Well, something was reverberating.

Chris: Oh, wait a minute. No, that's not it.

Marc: You can figure it out, T.D. I'm going to try.

SPEAKER_02: You can do it, buddy.

Chris: This is really weird.

Marc: Taste the biscuit. Oh, Amy says it's playing.

SPEAKER_02: Taste the goodness of the biscuit.

Marc: Taste the honey sauce.

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

Chris: Yeah, I don't know if it's still playing.

SPEAKER_02: Get that honey sauce on me. Okay. All right.

Chris: I'm going to stop it. I'm listening guys. I'm sorry. I can't, I couldn't hear it in my headphones. Why couldn't I not? I can't hear it either. We can't hear it. Yeah. That's really strange. Okay. The trader Joe's product of the week this week is done. I'm all messed up. It is something called Kim bop.

Marc: It's a Korean tofu and vegetable seaweed roll rice roll. That's right.

Chris: That's exactly what it is. It is a Korean tofu and vegetable seaweed rice roll. And why did I pick kimbap? Because this stuff flies off the shelf. It flies off the shelf.

Steve: How did you get yourself a copy of it?

Chris: We got a copy. Well, I got actual kimbap, not copies of kimbap. It wasn't just a picture? You got the real thing? No, I got the real thing. I got it right here. Right here. All right.

Steve: Underneath that little towel over there.

Chris: Yeah, I've got it. I've got it all, you know, gussied up. So this stuff, there's a roll for you. There you go.

Marc: I can't eat a whole roll.

Chris: Don't worry, either I can or Mark can. We're each getting a whole roll. Yes, you're each getting a whole roll.

Steve: You can either do that or you can use the scissors. I did not bring my chopsticks.

Chris: Here, you don't need chopsticks. I don't need scissors. You don't need scissors. I'm a pro at this plastic stuff. All right. You're a pro at the plastic stuff. All right. That's cool. Then you've got the sauce. You can dip it in. I'm going to share.

Steve: Look, look. Oh, look at that. Yeah. Pretty good.

Chris: yeah this stuff flies off the shelves we get two cases of it in the morning two cases and that's it and people come where do they make it a giant eagle they come at 8 a.m and they and they load up on this kimbop and then the rest of the day They actually ask for the kimbap all day and it's empty. Then we get the truck comes in, uh, somewhere in the late afternoon between usually four and six. And there are people lined up at the freezer to get at the, in the freezer section. There you go. Schwab or that's how you do it here. I gave you a napkin.

Steve: I think, Hey, pass that sauce over this way. I'm going to try one with and without the sauce. Ah, way to go.

Chris: Sorry.

Steve: Yeah. You licked it like a, Friggin dog like a dog. I'm a dog like a dog See, I'm gonna dip it in like like a human being that looks pretty good. Yeah, it's pretty it's pretty tasty I mean, I wouldn't I wouldn't think the tofu would be tasty, but it's pretty good.

Chris: Yeah, and and from what I understand I have been told by many of the many of the customers at the store when I asked them about the kimbap and that it, that it is as authentic tasting as like, if you went to the actual, I had a guy, uh, an American who lived in Korea for years and he showed up with like seven of them at the register. And, uh, and he said, yeah, I lived in Korea for, for many years and you get Kimbop there. It's fresh. They make it in the restaurant right in front of your face. He said, I said, so how does this compare? He said exactly the same thing.

Steve: So it's like going to Korea, is that what you're saying?

Chris: We are now in South Korea.

Steve: Honestly, it just tastes like a sushi roll.

Chris: Yeah, that's great. Thanks, Steve. Really appreciate that. We're getting a lot of comments in here. I want to get them into the show. I'm really mad about them still.

Steve: No, they heard it.

Chris: I know, but I messed it up. So, Pat says, my college roommates need to take better care of themselves. Your kids really don't like you. Speak for me, please. Brought to you by Hanson. Great presentation, Chris. Is Kimbop the Eagles rare of Trader Joe's? What's that mean?

Steve: Eagles rare is a very fine, excellent whiskey. Yeah.

Chris: Okay. Got it. Yeah, it is. Uh, like a teak brother. Okay. Thanks, Pat. On track.

Steve: Uh, no, I wouldn't call it the Eagles rare. I would call it more like a sauce. Oh yeah. The sauce is right here. Watch out for the one side. This is the side that Mark licked. You want to stay away? I don't really care. I don't really care. No, I would say it's more like a Elijah Craig, like very good. Excellent. Like you can eat it. It's not too spicy.

Marc: I need a little more sauce there, but, uh, I was saving for you guys.

Steve: Yeah, it's excellent. Yeah, I love it. Yeah, it's very, it's, it's, it's a, it's an upgrade to a regular sushi roll. That's what, that's the way I would say it.

Marc: There you go. Now everybody this way, it's way better than the stuff that they actually do make fresh for you at like get go.

Steve: Yeah, it's got much more flavor. The flavor in the, in the middle is it's lasting. It's good. Yeah, it's very good. All right, but I have to stop eating because I'm fasting as of now. No. Okay. I got to get blood work tomorrow. Oh, so was that frozen?

Chris: Yes. Okay. Oh, frozen. And it's really easy to make. You cut the corner of the package off, throw it in the nuker for two minutes plus.

Steve: You can take that in for lunch. Boom. Throw it in the microwave and you're good to go. So there it is. Your Trader Joe's. Oh, wait. I forgot to look at the nutritional statistics.

Chris: Of the week. Yeah. Go ahead. Look at the nutritional statistics.

Steve: Oh, okay. So the whole container is only 420 calories.

Chris: I can't hear it.

Steve: Sodium is what gets you on these, but everything else is low.

Chris: That's really, that's really annoying. Very low. All right. So there you have it. Trader Joe's 12 grams of fat product of the week. Kimbop. Amazing endorsement, Schwabini. Better than gas station sushi, says CD. Pat off track says, I'd watch a Steve Kusmark show on the Food Network.

Steve: You are right now.

Chris: And Amy says, we can hear the music again. All right, I'll work on that later. So thanks to Trader Joe's for letting us do that. We really appreciate it. And look, the Kimbop, I don't want to quote the price. I want to say it's $3.99. That's $3.99. For a roll? That's a good price. Yeah, yeah.

Steve: No wonder why they fly off the shelf.

Chris: Yeah, they do, and they truly do. I mean, there's like a cult that comes to get the kimbap, and they're so happy and excited when they get it.

Steve: I think I'm going to become part of this cult, I think. Okay, there you go.

Marc: 8 o'clock, 8 a.m., what time do you open up? Is it the same? 8 a.m.

Steve: I could be there 4.30. Yeah.

Marc: Is it the same crew? There's people there. Is it the same crew that shows up early for garage sales?

Chris: Um, no, no. And at this store, they get all the good ones. CP could tell you about that. Okay. Moving on to our next segment. Uh, what we're watching first though, I want to thank everybody for watching. We really enjoy this. We love it. Uh, and encourage you to, you know, listen to the podcast on the sports, the sports, sports, black and gold podcasts on the radio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcast. I got some sauce on my hand. And I spill it on the table because Mark licked the side of it. It was like spilling out. Um, I told you to be aware of that side.

Steve: I know. And you can get to me on what you're watching and you can continue to eat. Yeah.

Chris: And I think, I think you want to, we're going to move over to what we're watching and what that means is what are we streaming? What do we like? What do we recommend? Sometimes it's something that's, you know, in the top 10, sometimes it's not the top 10. Sometimes it's, it's a little old. Sometimes it's Klein. Uh, the first,

Steve: On the other side of the client line.

Chris: The first part of our segment. Look, even with all this crap, we're going to run over an hour tonight, which I love. It just means we're having fun. Tonight's H.J. is going to have the pleasure of going first. Oh, you're going to love this. I did love it. Actually, H.J. is watching.

Steve: Here it is. Bob Ross. Happy accidents, betrayals, and grief.

Marc: Want to hear something really funny? Yeah, go for it. Amy and I were contemplating yesterday watching the movie Paint, where Owen Wilson plays Bob Ross.

Steve: Owen Wilson, yeah. Yeah, but we decided not to. When I was looking for that little snippet to give to Chris, that's all you saw were pictures of Owen Wilson dressed up as like Bob Ross. But no, this was actually out in 2021. It's a Netflix and it's a documentary. And it was so weird because I was like, they were like, we had trouble finding people to interview for this. And I'm like, what are they talking about? Because they're dead. No, because the group that was controlling Bob Ross, the Kowalskis, they basically are sue happy. So I have to watch what I'm seeing now. At least I'm just going to give an analysis of what Netflix said. So if you have a problem with this, you have to go to Netflix for it because that's where I get all my information. Anyway, it's just so much fun to watch Bob Ross again. Oh yeah. I mean, he was the quintessential painter, weirdo, the painter for the ages, right? He taught how many people to paint, like millions of people probably, literally. And like the fact that he was on PBS, like what? Who goes on PBS? And they showed the house that like he was first painting in and it was just a frigging house. The reason they had the backdrop on there was because that was the fireplace of the house. And then they said like at first he would like put up a picture and then he would paint the picture that was But after he did it so many times, he would just go off on his own and be like, I'm going to paint a little tree. And I'm also going to put a happy little bush down.

Chris: Right? That's hilarious. What else should be here? Maybe there's a happy little tree in there. Maybe there's a log.

Steve: Maybe there's a log right here and a little bird. Guess what it's time for? A big tree. You just have to go for it. You have to be very bold when you're painting that big tree. And his brother and his son was basically the person interviewed the most for it and i didn't know that his son was actually on the show a lot and um and as it turns out like. He had, he, I don't even know how to say it, but all he really cared about was painting in animals. He didn't really care about the money behind it. He didn't care about the products. He just wanted that the products that would, would be very excellent products. So that when you were painting something, it really popped. And I guess over time, you know, they were, they were, they were making the products poor and there was some infighting. And then of course, Bob Ross ended up getting, um, Some kind of cancer and he died like like that. He died.

Chris: It's a happy little story.

Steve: He died very quickly and in like That was it. He was over. And it was like that was the end of his empire, except his empire still lives on.

Chris: Yeah, but wasn't there a great big lawsuit?

Marc: There's a big controversy. Who gets his rights? Well, he was being taken advantage of, right?

Steve: Well, right. So they tried to get him to sign something on his deathbed that would give up all of his naming rights and everything to them. And they never got it, but they took it anyways. Yeah, because the way they set up the corporation, it was like him and his wife, and his wife actually got cancer before he did. By the way, I think he got cancer from all the paint thinners that he was using. It's speculation, but the type of cancer that he had, that could be a thing. So yeah. So, um, I, I just, I saw it and I was like, did I, you know how you see those things? And you're like, did I watch that? That was like, you know, three years ago now. And I'm like, if I start watching it and I recognize it, I'm going to stop it. But I didn't, I didn't remember any of that. It was like an hour, hour and 45 minutes. And, uh, just a good nostalgia trip. If you, if you like Bob Ross, definitely watch it. Even if you're not happy with the results of what happened, With, you know, him losing money and his son basically not living in poverty, but not living the good life that he probably should have had millions in royalties from all this. It's still it's still an excellent story.

Chris: What, at any time, uh, when you were thinking, Hmm, have I watched this? Did you think, Hmm, has Chris watched this?

Steve: Oh, I already knew you watch it. I watched it two years ago. 2021. He watched this as soon as it came out.

Chris: I think, I think I actually brought it up on one of our, what are we watching? Or I might have brought it up on our other podcast, Off the Grid. I always wanted to know, I think it would be a great comedy skit if it was like, how would Bob Ross paint a gang fight? And here's a happy little AK-47.

Steve: That does sound like something they would do.

Marc: And you really need to find the right color red for blood.

Chris: Maybe there's a happy on trail list right here coming out of his stomach. Let's paint some happy intestines. Just straying along the street as he crawls to his death. Just to the side there. Okay, what we're watching up next is the Grand Schwabini. What he is watching is… what I have already watched. Excuse me, what you have already watched is?

Marc: Yeah, I don't think I mentioned this one before, Money Heist Berlin. Well, they had a Spanish one, right? Well, they're all Spanish. Okay. Yeah. So, so this is one, this is one that you can't watch because you know, you have the issue with, um, dubbing, dubbing. I hate, you know, I hate it. You just gotta get past it. Okay. You're watching, you're missing a lot of good stuff.

Chris: Money Heist Berlin on Netflix.

Marc: So, Money Heist obviously is the main one, you know, and there's a couple Money Heists, and Berlin is kind of like the second main character of Money Heist. Oh yeah, I remember that. And this is him on his own. And it's a good one. You don't need to see Money Heist to see this one. They're like two completely different stories. I don't think there's any overlapping characters except just Berlin. Right. It's really good, you know, it's their great heist series and essentially… Drugs. No, it's usually not drugs involved.

Chris: No.

Steve: You didn't see the first one? I didn't watch any of them.

Chris: Yeah, the first one involved like the Federal Bank of Spain, right?

Steve: Yeah, I mean… They're just in it for the money.

Marc: I mean, typically what they're doing… Money heist. Typically what they're doing is they're usually trying to go after some like… Give me your kimbap. They're trying to do some like, you know, they're trying to rob a place that's like impossible to rob You know what? I mean? And so they've got to do all these different things and then he creates a team You know with all these different people that have all these different sets of skills and kind of on their own They're like a bunch of like messes, but when you put them all together, they're like the perfect team They got the lasers.

Steve: You got to go underneath them and over home and all

Marc: You know, like, yeah, like they have a tech guy, right? You know, they got they got a guy who, you know, can go underwater. They got to get, you know, they got they got a guy for like everything. So it's like Ocean's Eleven now. And in the in the midst of it, you know, they kind of they kind of wrinkle in a love story into it, too.

Steve: So it's not you. You mean there's sex?

Chris: Ooh, you said it before I could.

Steve: I was too busy working on the hair bottom. I mean, there's no love stories in these things. It's more just about the sex.

Marc: It's very good. You know, it's one of those where, like, I think it's probably, it's either eight or ten episodes, and it's like, you know, if you want to watch it for a week and a half, you know, an episode at a time, maybe you watch two if you're into it. Or if you're Chris, Saturday. Right, right. Or if you're Chris, you know, what you do is you watch one episode, and then you say, yeah, I couldn't get into it. You know, I don't like that dubbing. I just don't like the dabbing.

Chris: I don't like it. All right. The Grand Schwabini Money Heist Berlin on Netflix. See, I thought, cause I watched the first Money Heist. Wasn't it, excuse me, wasn't that like two seasons? Yeah. Yeah.

Marc: Or three. I can't remember. I think it was two. But yeah, the one where they basically like, you know, they kind of like get the whole work, the whole, world like to like back them because like they're, you know, right. You know, kind of like, uh, anarchy against the government. Yeah. They take over the guy.

Chris: Yeah. I couldn't even finish it. I watched like, I did watch the first season, but I got like two into the second season. I was like, I can't take the dubbing anymore. Right. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Marc: So I can't watch any dubbing.

Chris: All right, here's one that I'm watching that is brand new. It is currently one of the top shows on Netflix right now. And I was encouraged to watch it by a friend of our family. And I had heard that it was a little weird and… Friends and family. Reindeer. Off color. Yeah. Gone with it.

Marc: Amy wants me to watch this. Baby reindeer. Listen. Now, question though. Have you followed the rules? Have you finished it? I have finished it.

Chris: Okay. Yes. Okay. Then tell us. Yes. It is supposedly a true story. Okay.

Marc: But it's still a story. Did you do the fact finding afterwards on Google?

Chris: No, because I literally just finished it yesterday and I was too tired to do any fact finding. One of the most disturbing things I've ever watched in my life. Whoa, really disturbing. Yes. Wow. Really? Yes.

Marc: And it, Amy chime in here and it takes a lot for you. Well, Amy, Amy, Amy, Chris is saying that it's disturbing.

Chris: You don't want nightmares, do you? She's going to say something. Mark, Mark, don't listen to.

Steve: Don't worry, Amy, Mark rarely listens to Chris.

Chris: Listen, yeah, right. As I say, listen, to me it was just, okay, let me just say that I liked it a lot. You did? It was really good, yes. um so i'm not saying i'm not saying don't watch it but um the the only thing that i'm going to say without being a spoiler yes is that it is about a stalker oh boy stalker is a woman stalking a man yes and so you can draw all the conclusions you want that But as you start to get into it, and you see, and he starts to reveal, like, the backstory around his life that led him to be vulnerable to this woman who was a stalker, and there's not as much backstory about her life, but enough. It starts to get really twisted.

Marc: Is it going to give Amy nightmares? Has she watched it yet? She got nightmares from The Walking Dead.

Chris: Don't say too much. Hold your ears or you will ruin the story. Has she watched it already? It sounds to me like she watched it already. No, she wants to. Okay, well, listen, like I said, will it give her nightmares? Yes, that's the question. Well, there's no zombies in it, and it's stuff that happened in real life. and it's disturbing.

Marc: If you were scared of a stalker, would you have nightmares?

Chris: Well, considering that she's the woman and the person being stalked is the man.

Marc: But you could flip it around, you know, okay, Amy's now being stalked by a man. Would she have a nightmare? Is Amy being stalked? Only by me.

Chris: That sounds crazy. Well, then she's definitely going to have nightmares. Okay. There you go. All right. Guys, well listen, hey, I got the pork music on. I have no idea if it's playing or not. I have no idea. in the case that you can't hear it and we can't. The technical director has lost his voice. I don't know what's going on. It's not coming through. It's so weird. So listen, thanks for listening. I did plug it in. Thanks for watching the Sports Sports Black and Gold edition and all over the world on Facebook, LinkedIn. Apple whatever wax twitch. Yeah Instagram and of course, I dropped the podcast right after the show in the I heart radio app Apple podcast Spotify or anywhere you get your friggin podcasts and catch us on YouTube at The sports porridge podcast. I am your technical director and I am out