The Sports Porch Black & Gold

TD: and runnin' and runnin' and runnin' and runnin'.
SPEAKER_00: Let's get started.

TD: Okay, is everybody muted? Is everybody muted?

SPEAKER_05: Oh, yeah.

Grand Schwalbini: Everyone is muted and ready. Ready to welcome our guest. I'm gonna do something about the difference of the real piece of CRH.

TD: All right, here we are. Welcome to, I'm looking for my camera and I can't find it. There it is. Welcome to the SportsPorts Black and Gold Edition. We are live all over the world on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, X, and Instagram. Thank you for being here. Thank y'alls. Man, what a big week this was for Pittsburgh Sports because of course we were served our first helping of crack. for the NFL, which is the draft. The draft is fun.

Grand Schwalbini: The draft is fun. And Steve, did you attend that Steeler party?

Steve: I was there at the Steeler party on Saturday.

Grand Schwalbini: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let me get a couple of things in here and then, then we got to, we got to talk about this. Okay.

Grand Schwalbini: Yeah.

TD: Let's keep the people waiting. We are also going to drop the Sportsports Black and Gold podcast right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere. you get your friggin podcasts and that should be down there. So you can read it if you're watching live and There was something else I was going to say and I can't remember. We are live right now on Radio PGH. Radio PGH is our live, uh, our internet radio station. Sister station. Um, and I'm going to put that in the comments. If you can't watch us, you can always stream the show live. Sure can. Just bookmark this stream in the comments. Live on Radio PGH, Pittsburgh's first and only internet radio station that is 100% independent because it's us. That's right. We are independent people. Independent. It's us. It's us. So did you bring your cards? Yeah, I did. Oh, good. Show me one. We made cards. We made cards. Yes. Steve went to the- What? The cards, you know, cards. Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_00: Yes.

TD: Not the invitation to the party. Yes. The cards. Yeah. Can I have a card, please? Oh, look at that.

Steve: You can call me whenever you want. I am a host. That's nice. Of a show.

TD: I mean, it's pretty nice. I'll tell you what. I like, I like the back. Yeah. I like the back, but I like the front better. I'm telling you.

Steve: I like the front.

TD: Yeah.

Steve: I think the front, you like that better right there. I like them both. It's nice The only thing I don't like is because you know, it's black you get the edges and they get a little roughed up Yeah, you get that white.

TD: Yeah through but how would you rate this as a card a t9 t1? Oh, what is that? How do they rape?

Steve: Oh, yeah It's definitely not gem mint. Yeah, it's not Jim. No, it's not Jim mint I would give it probably a seven on it as far as the quality But I think the look of it is it's definitely a nine

Grand Schwalbini: The key question, were any of the cards handed out?

Steve: That would be a naked tour.

Grand Schwalbini: No, you didn't get any FaceTime.

TD: Whatever this guy does to me, he's like, hey, I'm going to a draft party. Can you get me some cards by tomorrow?

Steve: And I'm like, can we just talk about the draft?

TD: Yeah, I guess we can.

Steve: I actually thought it was going to be a smaller party, and it turned out to be a much bigger party.

TD: It was huge. The kind of party that you can't. OK, so Marvin Hamilton. on Facebook is already grading the draft as an A+. You go, Marvin.

Steve: I will say- Marvin first gave it an A, then he gave it an A+.

Grand Schwalbini: I will say just- Maybe he meant to give it an A+. Amongst all of the reporters and publications, you're gonna pretty frequently find the Steelers in the top five, if not number one, two, or three in many of the You know outtakes there.

Steve: So yeah, they've been highly rated well and I think the reason they are highly rated was one because they got the pics that they Had highly rated in both the first and second rounds, which is pretty rare I think and actually their their third round pick too They really they really did want that Roman Wilson, which we'll talk about a little bit more detail. So Yeah. But I think, you know, personally, it's so easy to get overhyped when you pick players that you're supposed to pick and they're the players that you want. But the reality is, I mean, the experts say they're all good, but do we really know?

Grand Schwalbini: We don't. Like I was just saying, you know. You know, there's the top 10 teams, let's say, get an A in the draft, then half of those players are garbage. You know what I mean?

Steve: Right. But I mean, I think you can rank, you know, who they picked and why they picked them. Yeah. And I think that's why the Steelers get an A or an A plus ranking.

TD: Yeah. And we're going to go right to that right now. Cindy Joseph says, definitely going to be a great year.

Steve: Well, Cindy, you might want to look at the schedule before you say that.

TD: Yeah, it is true. The quarterbacks that are coming in here. Yeah. I mean, there's some serious ballers coming in here to play.

Steve: Yeah. Some people think we have the toughest schedule in the NFL.

TD: We might actually, we might actually. Kyle is in the house, the porch. Kyle, how you doing? Kyle. What I want to do here is I'm going to put up, we're actually going to go over the first five draft picks. Let's do it. Let's do that. So I love this pick. Um, I, I absolutely love this pick. Uh, Troy Fahutanu, Fahutanu, uh, round one pick 20. Um, they, they talked about this guy all, you know, for a month, but they didn't talk about him the way they talked about Mims, you know, and he was kinda, it was kinda one of those sneaky picks, uh, offensive tackle from Washington. Um, and, uh, you know, I, I love the pick. The reason I love the pick is, first of all, I think he's a good player.

Grand Schwalbini: And I think he's… That's incredible analysis. I know, I know.

TD: I'm trying to do 18 things.

Steve: Why don't I take this over?

TD: Yeah, let's look what I love about him. I'll make it really quick Yeah, he's a lifelong Steelers fan and it was like watching him come here It was like it was like the biggest dream that could have ever been granted for this kid And if he's anything like the player they say he is yeah, you know, you've got his heart

Grand Schwalbini: Almost like a wish from the Grand Schwabini. There you go.

TD: So go for it, H.J. Tell us, how do you feel?

Steve: Look, I think with this pick you can't go wrong because there are two reasons for it. One, You can't have too many offensive linemen. They just drafted Broderick Jones last year, so their offensive line's going to be young. And two, he played for Washington. You know, I don't really know. I mean, Washington wasn't a great team this year. I know they were kind of in it for a while, so I can't speak for the team. But look, This guy moved to the office. He basically wasn't really too much of a football player. Then he found the offensive line and he was like, oh, I love this. Why does he love it? He loves the physical nature of the position, which is must if you're going to play the offensive line. Two, he loves the Pittsburgh Steelers. And three, he idolizes Troy Polamalu. Right. So that means for me, that means he's got a really good work ethic. Right. That means he's got really good character. Look, when he came to the draft, Who did he bring? He brought his mom.

TD: Well, and like 500 other people, too. Which is, yeah, I mean, he's Polynesian.

Steve: He brought his family with him. Right. I mean, so that just goes to show you, like, he's a family guy. Like, he knows what really matters in life, and he's got a strong base there. So I think the character of this guy is strong. I mean, I just hope, honestly, for me, it comes down to, I hope he plays. because you know how they are with Dan Moore Jr. Now they've got two tackles. They could put Troy on the right and they could put Broderick Jones on the left. And Dan Moore Jr. is a backup now. And I wouldn't, by the way, I wouldn't cut him. I would keep him because you don't know injuries and everything.

Grand Schwalbini: They could also play him at guard and then kick him out the tackle later.

Steve: Yeah. But why would you do that? You got Daniels, um, uh, you got Daniels there. Uh, there's no reason to, to, to put him at garb and then kick him, kick him out the tackle. I know you can, but to me it's like you're, if you're going to let a guy sink and swim or swim, can't sink and swim at the same time.

TD: Well, you can, if you're a really bad swimmer.

Steve: So if he's a bad offensive guard, he might sink. He might be a really good offensive tackle, and therefore he'd be swimming.

Grand Schwalbini: I'd rather have him swim. Very few good swimmers sink, but sometimes there's a riptide.

TD: Okay, so Mike Lawrence is back. Thanks for being here, Mike. And we got to get to this. I can't remember the prediction. Did the Grand Schwabini's first round pick come true?

Grand Schwalbini: No, but it was pretty close. It was Amarius Mimms, and I believe he went one or two picks before.

Steve: Yeah, Mimms was gone, so he couldn't have gone.

TD: Yeah, it was pretty quick. Yeah, but we thank you for remembering that because we have to hold the Grand Schwabini 2 account.

Grand Schwalbini: Well, the Grand Schwabini was in the right stratosphere. It was offensive line. That is right.

Steve: Yeah, for sure. So I think for that reason it's a good pick. What do you think, Mark?

Grand Schwalbini: I think it's a great pick. I am 100% sure. if he wasn't gone that the Eagles were going to pick him at number 22. He was a guy that they were really high on and that actually was going to be their plan was going to be to start him at guard and then when Lane Johnson retires kick him out to tackle. Yeah.

Steve: He's that type of guy you couldn't do that with. I just don't prefer to do that with offensive linemen. It's like just put him out on the tackle. Well you know the Steelers will somehow find a way to mess it up.

Grand Schwalbini: Although in your scenario, I mean, it makes more sense. I mean, you don't have Lane Johnson out there, you got Dan Moore. All I have to say is, I think it's a great pick. It's a really good pick, solid pick. They need to bolster the lines. They need to get younger on the lines for, ultimately, when they can really challenge, let's say, for a Super Bowl, you need guys in the prime of their career. All I have to say is, I think it's a great pick.

Steve: What is going on? What?

TD: Yeah, I have a little interference from Instagram. I apologize.

Grand Schwalbini: Technical director.

TD: I apologize.

Steve: I'm sorry, people from Instagram. You must not interfere.

Grand Schwalbini: It is. Let's get let's give the technical director a little break. No, it is hard to do this. He's also working a full time job now, so he doesn't have time to dedicate to his technical skills. I'm back. I'm back.

TD: Sorry about that. Yeah, I'm back.

Steve: I thought maybe he was watching us on Instagram

TD: while we were doing it. I was. I was looking for comments and then I was trying. It doesn't matter what I was doing. Let's let's go to the second round. Yeah, I and I had already said I like the pick. OK, so Troy Foutanu. I think he's going to be a big contributor to this team. Next pick. Now, was this this the third round? Third round?

SPEAKER_01: No, it was round second. Second round.

TD: This was the second round pick and they had two third round picks. Right. Zach Frazier, man. I'll tell you what. I love this pick round two. They need a center. They got what is, you know, considered one or two center in the draft. Um, this whole her big thing, we've talked about this smoke screen, you know, they knew that if he was available, you know, I think they got lucky and, and he was available, but it was kind of one of those things where they had, cause they could have taken him first, But, you know, they didn't. They took Fautanu and then they took they got lucky and Fraser was there. And if they didn't pull the trigger on that, that would have been ridiculous. So, you know, I think that. I think it's great.

Steve: Yeah, I think I think they had a little bit of luck that he did fall to them. But the reality is nobody else really needed a center and he's a true center, right? So you can't move him anywhere else like he was going to play center no matter what. So that that was a little bit lucky because I think the Steelers probably would have moved up to take him if they had to because they really like it. And let's face it, they need a center. So the fact that he's from West Virginia, they could bus him in. All his parents are Steelers fans. He grew up a Steelers fan.

Grand Schwalbini: Knows a thing or two about moonshine. Yeah, I'm sure he knows about that.

Steve: That's a good thing.

TD: That's a good thing in Pittsburgh.

Steve: You want to know what I think the best thing about him is? Do you want to know? He's nasty. Well, I mean, you know, they talked about his wrestling skills. I don't know about all that. You know, I don't know how much wrestling plays into being able to wrassle somebody in the trenches. Maybe, maybe it's true. I think there is something about leverage for sure.

TD: That's what it's all about.

Steve: Yeah. So I think that is absolutely true, but I like the fact that he wears 54. You know why? You know, who wore 52 Mike Webster, you know, who wore 53. Mark, he's bouncy. Yeah. So you know who's going to wear 54? Zach Fraser. The next guy is going to bring us a Super Bowl.

TD: I can't believe I got all that right. I'm a real Steelers fan now. Yes, you are. I am. I'm a real Steelers fan.

Steve: By the way, we need to have a party. It has to end there because I don't think they're ever going to give out John Kolb's number. That's 55. Oh yeah, well.

TD: All right. Now, Rob Hemingway, we'll get to this. He's watching on Facebook. His comment is, I really think this offseason pickups, these offseason pickups and the draft got us a little excited. Do you think they need another receiver? And we'll address that in a little bit. Of course they do.

Steve: Well, I mean, we're going to talk about the guy they drafted first before we talk about.

TD: Yeah. So, Zach Fraser, what are your what are your thoughts, Schwaber?

Grand Schwalbini: I think it's a real good pick. I think that It wouldn't shock me if Tomlin kind of goes outside the norm and actually starts him this year.

Steve: I think him. I think you're right.

Grand Schwalbini: I think he's got a chance to start. I think he's got a chance to start and I think he's got a chance to be very good.

Steve: Yeah. I don't think they like her big that much. No, I think you're right. It's not.

TD: That was a total smoke screen. There was no way they were rolling with him. Let's move on to the next. Okay. Yeah. Steve wants to, Steve wants to turn on the hockey Jesus.

Steve: I can see it in the glare.

TD: Oh, all right. And Kyle, it continues to try to bait me and say the thing they need to do is call the Pittsburgh property to get the house. True. Yeah. Well, excellent point. Maybe we'll get her picture in later, but I don't want to I don't want to overdo it. We're on the draft right now. And that is important. Don't worry, there's time for the diva. Okay, Roman Wilson, wide receiver from Michigan, round three. My thoughts on this were, I like him. I mean, they needed a… You don't get this anywhere, just here on the porch.

SPEAKER_01: No, it's

TD: It's straight up, it's straight up commentary. It's like off the cuff, it's exactly how I felt. In full honesty, I was at Trader Joe's. It was authentic. I was at Trader Joe's during the draft for both days.

Steve: Well, you're not going to know anything about these guys right away, but if I may save you from yourself.

TD: Yes, thank you. Yes.

Steve: Here's the thing about Roman Wilson. I'm going to I'm going to wrap being at the draft around this, the draft party around this, because Roman Wilson was there. Peyton Wilson was there. And I think Zach Frazier was there too. Yeah, he was. And Roman Wilson is really small. He's a midget. Yeah. Like he is five 11. He, no, he looks like he's five eight.

TD: No, seriously. He, he looks really about your height is what you're saying. He looked that small.

Steve: I mean, I didn't like walk up to him and like shake his hand and say, here's a sports sports cards, call us. Oh, which I should have brought.

TD: That's exactly what you should have done.

Steve: That's why I had to rush to buy cards. There were bodyguards there.

TD: Can you buy me cards? Go ahead, go ahead.

Grand Schwalbini: Are you done? Yes. I feel like you shied away from the moment.

Steve: It's like you don't want to grow the business. I mean, the business is right here, so let's go. All right, do it. Hey, so Roman Wilson, the only thing I like about him too is he plays the slot position. We need a slot receiver. I think that's great. And let's face it, looking at Russell Wilson, he doesn't throw it deep. He's going to throw it short. The more guys you can throw too short, I think it's a good pickup. Do I think he's going to start? It all depends on what happens if they go out and get another wide receiver. But he'll definitely be in there on some packages. He'll definitely be running that that jet jet sweep. That'll be his play for sure. He's fast. He's really fast. Yeah, that's what I like about him. Supposedly really good route runner. And that's all I got on him. I mean, he played for a championship team, so he knows what it takes to win. Let's go.

TD: And Amy chimes in, hand out those new cards at CMU and Pitt and get a new technical director.

Steve: You know, it is graduation time over there.

TD: Mark, you got to do something about Chris. He's just not very good.

Grand Schwalbini: My wife doesn't like it when you imitate her voice. I know. I know.

TD: That's why I'm doing it. That's why he's doing it. Of course, she's like, hey, could you get us some English peas the other day? I thought that was fantastic. Well, and you couldn't do that either. I love the text from him. He's like, thanks for making yourself. the rest of the day about that. That's why I sent you the picture of the empty MSPs. Okay, Roman Wilson.

Steve: Mark, I have a feeling you don't like this pick.

Grand Schwalbini: Yeah. Well, what I'm going to do is I am going to defer. After we go over the top five draft picks, I'm going to reveal the Grand Schwab Beanie's bust and sleeper of the Steelers.

Steve: Roman Wilson is one of them.

Grand Schwalbini: Roman Wilson is one of the two. Is he the bust? Is he the sleeper? Interesting. Okay, we'll see. Hold on. Amy says, where are my peas? I'm hungry.

TD: Okay, stay tuned. Um, let's get Roman Wilson. Let's go. This is the one that I think, and I listened to Peyton Wilson, round three linebacker out of NC state, the man without an ACL. Um, and, um, I don't, you know, a lot of, there were a few guys that didn't have ACLs. The way I see it is if you don't have an ACL, you can't tear an ACL. But I listened to an interview with his coach. Yep. I heard the same one. And now, of course, it's always one of those things where you got to kind of think like the coach is also looking at his future and his program. Right. But the way the guy talked about him, where he said this guy, he said, if I was an NFL linebackers coach and I was given the chance to pick any linebacker in the entire draft, This is my guy. And I really think this guy could be the steel that the, you know, that the Steelers have been looking for. Maybe the answer at linebacker now. Of course, as somebody commented earlier, we're getting a little excited. Yeah, for sure. But I think this for the value that he brings top top tackler in, you know, in college football the last couple of years, a motor that doesn't stop. He's big, he's tall, he's fast. I think it's a great pick.

Steve: Well, the reason he had so many tackles was because that team sucked. So, I mean, he had to stop a lot of people.

TD: That's what you get here on the porch. Honest commentary. I love it. I love it.

Steve: Let's just throw that out there. What I do like about him, what he brings that the Steelers don't have is a different package where you can leave the linebacker out there on third down and somebody who can actually cover the tight end.

TD: Let's face it.

Steve: You know, the tight ends a pretty big position now that the students have had problems covering for years and years and years. This could potentially solve that. And I was surprised to hear his coach say what a great tackler. He said he gets guys on the ground. And a guy that has that kind of speed that can all that it likes to hit, he called him a unicorn. And I'm like, whoa, that surprised me. I didn't I wasn't expecting to hear that because I figured, OK, a linebacker who can cover is kind of a unicorn in itself in the NFL, because you have so many dime packages you just bring in. bring in other players. But if you can leave a guy out there and you know, you can send people after the quarterback and you have a linebacker who can cover, that's a that's a big deal for the Steelers. That's the that's the thing I like most about this pick. Look, he's he's not going to start. He'll probably be out there at different packages, but it gives him a different look that maybe other teams aren't going to recognize right away. And being a rookie, that's something that at least for the first eight games could be unique for the Steelers. That's what I like about this pick Schwaber.

Grand Schwalbini: This is a tough one. So he is not a bust or a sleeper. But this is a tough one for me because I've heard so many good things about him. I heard one guy say he's like the next Luke Keighley. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, he's got a ton of talent and he can cover tight ends, which I think is really big for the Steelers. My only my only question is, you know, the being injury prone. You know, that's that's that's the tough part of it. You know, it's like I've I've seen teams You know pick a guy that was a first-round talent, you know in the second third fourth fifth round Due to injury and it's like it just doesn't work out. Yeah, so, you know look I This is one of those guys where I hope that he stays healthy and has a great career for the Steelers, but it wouldn't shock me. if he turns out to be really good and like his second year, he gets injured.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah. Yeah.

Grand Schwalbini: You know, I mean, it's just, it's just the way some, some folks are injury plagued. I mean, it was, I think it was what, it was two ACLs and then a shoulder.

TD: I was going to piggyback on that. He was healthy and wildly productive the past two years though.

Grand Schwalbini: Two years. Yeah.

TD: Four interceptions, a pick six and 221 total tackles. He's actually had two ACL tears, so the only other ACL, and a shoulder injury that kept him out of all but two games in 2021. So yeah, you're kind of flipping a coin with that one. Another interesting thing the Steelers love to do, and this is something I didn't know until I read this.

Grand Schwalbini: But I do also think it's a good pick where they got him, for sure. I agree 100%.

SPEAKER_05: That's where I expected to see somebody else go.

Grand Schwalbini: The place that he was selected, 75% of those guys are going to be busts. That's right. It's a good gamble.

TD: His older brother, Bryce Wilson, pitched for the Pirates in 2021 and 2022 and used to live in the Strip District. So, he's actually familiar with Pittsburgh. You know, the Steelers do this kind of stuff all the time. I'm sure other teams do. I'm just not sure they do it to the extent.

Grand Schwalbini: I don't think they really cared that his brother played for the Pirates. If he played for the Steelers, they might have cared. Well, no, I'm just saying it's an interesting fact.

TD: It's color. It's called color competition.

Grand Schwalbini: Yeah, sure. I mean, when you can't come up with any analysis that matters. You know, that's exactly right. I got it.

SPEAKER_05: It's good analysis. I got to do something.

TD: All right. Let's go on to the last pick. We're going to talk about today is in the fourth round. Mason McCormick, a guard from South Dakota State at pick 119. I will defer to the bust or sleeper pick. Um, I, uh, I, I like this pick because this is what I see this stuff as. I see this as full blown, the widal effect, full blown. Like, what are we doing? We are retooling that offensive line. It may take a couple years, but we're turning it over to guys that can play and are young and ready to go. So I like that pick for that.

Grand Schwalbini: I will say this, um, for those of you who don't know, You know, probably to people in Pittsburgh, they think it's unfortunate that I grew up in a place called Philadelphia.

Steve: Yeah, we do. It is unfortunate.

Grand Schwalbini: And even more unfortunate that I root for the Philadelphia Eagles. Yeah, we don't care. Not really. Although I do have the Steelers as my second favorite. Yeah, I was going to say, you can root for the Eagles. However, I will tell you that when I watched this draft, I felt like I was watching an Eagles draft. It's because of Andy Weidold. He's bringing sort of what he grew up with as a member of the Eagles personnel department. So I think it's good. I mean, look, it's good. I mean, the Eagles got high marks, the Steelers got high marks. These are two teams now, I think you can now say the Steelers, once again, it seems like they know what they're doing.

TD: Yes, I agree with you there. I do want to get this comment in before I get your thoughts on it. Joel says, great, none of these guys have played in NFL Minute yet. You know what the grade was on one site for the Steelers draft after the 2019 after 2019 where Devin Bush was picked in round one Steelers graded as a minus right now. All this April chatter is BS and Joel you could not be more right. Joe is right. Yeah, absolutely. It is. You know, nobody, nobody knows. None of these guys, none of these guys could work out.

Steve: We have no idea, but the point is at the time, the Steelers got Devin Bush, they really needed a linebacker and they stretch because that not only did they get him, they, they traded up to get him. I know.

Grand Schwalbini: And he was a total, but you know, but he was good his first year and he got injured.

TD: Yeah, right. Yeah.

Steve: Well, he wasn't a superstar.

TD: Look, and, and how, how can you, how can you not, you know, look at this draft and try to grade it and have a good time with it? Of course you are.

Steve: You know, I like, I like Mike's comment better.

TD: Uh, how can you not root for a guy who played for the Jack rabbits? All right, so Mason McCormick, how do you feel about it?

Steve: I I don't know this guy from McCormick and Schmidt Okay, nice Maybe he likes fish But but it doesn't matter because you know, they got this guy called Pat Meyer. He's the offensive line coach now he seems to be able to turn guys into really good offensive linemen and I think that's gonna be that's gonna be his pet project and uh this in in in the in when they get to camp that's what they're gonna do i think they're gonna try and turn them into something they don't need him this year so it's a nice luxury pick right uh they got it i think uh james daniel signed through next year and uh i think herbig might be up after this year my guess is they're looking to replace herbig uh for sure and hopefully this guy can do it if he can't you know that's it's okay it's it's a luxury pick And I like the fact that they're doing that in in that position, because once again, if you're going to run the ball, you got to be able to open holes and you need to have offensive linemen as backup because somebody is going to get hurt when you run the ball that much.

TD: Yeah. Yeah. Schwaber, same thing. How do you feel? I am deferring. Oh, OK. The thing about this pick that I think is interesting is this is finally you've got a guy. This is this is a depth pick. Yeah, which they had none on the offensive line.

Grand Schwalbini: So now, you know, the other part of it too is it's picking. Assumingly so, the best player on your board. Yeah. Instead of just trying to find another flashy receiver. Yeah.

TD: Right. I agree with you. I agree with you. And again, Weidl. Andy Weidl. This is the Weidl effect, which if you know anything about the Eagles and their line in the last few years.

Grand Schwalbini: Yeah, why don't you trademark that?

TD: Are we just going to skip over the Weidl effect? Do you think I should?

Grand Schwalbini: You like saying it so much.

Steve: Yeah, why don't you're just gonna skip over the last two picks aren't well There's something you want to say.

TD: Well, all I'm gonna do is I'm gonna I'm gonna name them because we're talking about pick so round six Logan Lee defensive lineman from Iowa there is you know a little depth there because Hayward's getting a little old Larry Ogun Jogi And then they did get a cornerback from Texas in round six Ryan Watts You know That's still going to be an issue this year. JBJ JPJ, you know, it looks like he's got his potential is there. It looks like he had a good year as a rookie. They'll go out.

Steve: They'll, they'll sign cam Sutton or something like that. They'll pick somebody talking to cam. Yeah. That's what they'll do. They'll end up picking him back up.

TD: Is that what the rumor was today that I heard on, on, on the radio?

Steve: There was, and there was somebody, he was in for a visit. There's still, there's still talk of them getting a wide receiver.

TD: Yeah, I know. We'll see if that's significant. We'll see if that happens to be anybody. OK, listen, we want to remind you that we drop the sports, sports, black and gold podcast right after this show. So if you can't watch it live when we're on at seven thirty on Monday nights, Eastern Time, you can always catch up on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you get your friggin podcasts. And of course, you can always grab us on YouTube. and subscribe, and I'm being prompted now that we have the Grand Schwabini. The Grand Schwabini is now in the house, and we are going to get his takes on, you know, booms, busts, whatever the hell he wants to, you know.

Grand Schwalbini: Well, look, the Grand Schwabini does not wish bad on anyone.

SPEAKER_05: But you can see the future.

Grand Schwalbini: But I can see the future. And unfortunately, the future looks very bright for one young man and not so bright for another. What do you want to know first, the good or the bad?

SPEAKER_05: I say let's go with the good. Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it.

TD: Let's start with a smile and end with a tear.

Grand Schwalbini: The good is Mason McCormick. Really? Now, what I can tell you is this. Yeah, I'm surprised. If you watch enough NFL films, you might know who Ray Dittinger is. Yes. Ray Dittinger is The new Mel Kuyper? No, no, no. He's like in the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame. I think he's in the National Football Hall of Fame as well.

TD: I didn't see his bust there. Mel Kuyper is not.

Grand Schwalbini: He's a sports reporter. Okay. Okay. And he's also like multi-talented. He's, you know, plays together about football and stuff.

TD: Is there any coincidence that he's from Philadelphia?

Grand Schwalbini: Well, he's a very bright guy. And when you live in Philadelphia, he actually just retired last year. But but um, you know when ray talks you listen and i'll tell you what he's Almost never been wrong about anything football wise. Okay, and and what he is is he's a total um draft geek And he gets out his old legal pad of paper, you know the yellow pad And he grades everybody and every year Amy says ray is awesome. I know and every it's insane Every year he gives his five sleepers. And one of his five sleepers was Mason McCormick. And he just said that he just bullies people. that he's just really good, that he's, he had like a second, third round grade, and he said he's probably gonna go in the fifth round just because he went to a small school, South Dakota State. Right, Jack Rabbits. But, you know, he said, this guy can really play, and this guy's gonna be an NFL lineman for 10, 15 years. All right. So, the Grants well-being, he sees as Ray does, and sees Mason McCormick, maybe sliding into an offensive line spot, maybe due to injury, maybe this year, maybe next year, and he never loses that spot.

Steve: Very interesting. Bookmark this. Now make us cry. Make us cry.

SPEAKER_05: The Steelers don't know how to pick.

Grand Schwalbini: I'm not stoked about the Roman Wilson pick. Mainly just because I feel like he's very small. And when somebody is very small, look, I mean, there's an advantage to being small in that he's very quick, you know, very quick. But the disadvantage is, you know, is he going to get bullied at the line of scrimmage by bigger cornerbacks? And some of the stuff that I've seen with Roman Wilson, watching some highlights of him, he goes up and he makes these contested catches. But I wonder if you're going to be able to do that at this height against the best cornerbacks in the NFL. I don't know. I mean, look, I'm not saying he's going to be an absolute bust, but this kind of strikes me as the kind of guy who like, you know, is rookie year, maybe catches like, you know, 15 balls for like 100 yards. That's a bust. You know, and you know, like, you know, runs that jet sweep, doesn't get very far. Maybe doesn't end around, maybe gets you 10, but he doesn't get you that 25, 30 yard scamper you're hoping for. And then the next year you feel like, oh, there's going to be a big leap in year two. And you know, maybe he gets 400 yards and 32 catches.

Steve: I just don't see him as- Maybe he's the next Calvin Austin.

Grand Schwalbini: Yeah, exactly. I think, like, at best he's going to be Calvin Austin III.

Steve: And that would be bad.

TD: Yeah, that's not a very high bar to set.

SPEAKER_05: No, I mean, you know, also, he got injured, too.

Steve: So let's hope that that doesn't happen.

Grand Schwalbini: I mean, you know, also, too, like, you know, look, he played for the team that won the national championship. And, you know, it's not like this guy was, like, dominating. Now, granted, Michigan runs the ball all the time, and sometimes J.J. McCarthy doesn't throw the ball much at all, but I… Well, the guy did say that he loves the block. And that's a positive. But still, it's even if you love the block, I mean, like, you know, you know, who else loves the block? Devontae Smith loves the block and he is not good in the NFL blocking. Yeah, right. Because he just gives you the midget. Right. You know what I mean?

Steve: Like, you might get in front of a defensive back, but there's no way you're going to line up against a linebacker and say, I can block it.

Grand Schwalbini: Right. Like I think for him, like for him to be good, he's got to be really special. You know, like he's got to be like one of those few guys like that. Wes Welker. Right. You know, somebody like that. And I just think it's a lot to expect of this guy to be like the next Wes Welker. I agree.

Steve: Yeah, I don't think anybody's expecting that from him, but it would be nice.

TD: Yeah. Well, this leads me to believe- I tried to bring you truth, though. Yes. Well, thank you, Grand Schwabini, for your truth and your prediction. You're welcome. I will shed my tear now. We're going to come, yeah, we're going to get a little jingle for him to start this segment.

Grand Schwalbini: It'll work. It'll play out, though. Could you rub the lamp for us, just so we have a little bit of- Hopefully, the Grand Schwabini is wrong and the Wisdom from the atmosphere is misguided.

TD: Excellent. Excellent. Yes. I'm starting to feel the energy in the room. The atmosphere comes down and be very, very calm. I think that the Steelers are still, they're still in need of a wide receiver and all the rumors around, you know, them trying to pull off a trade, you know, that leads me to believe that there's somebody in a back room somewhere still negotiating.

Steve: Yeah, I think they're still negotiating with Tyler Boyd, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think they're just trying.

Steve: I don't think I think. Yeah, I think they're just trying to get the contract.

Grand Schwalbini: I saw that. I saw something about that today. Yeah, I think that's what there's life to the Tyler.

Steve: Yeah, I think so. I think they just want to get the price down a little bit. And the reality is with the plus 30 million on the on the salary cap, they could probably afford to keep him. But my deal would be with him no more than three years for him. Yeah. And no more than 8 million a year. That's it.

TD: That's going to be 3 million. That's tough to get. That's the right price. That's the right price.

Steve: But I think what he wants is he wants 10 million for five years.

TD: Of course. What do you think about the rumors of the continuation of Brandon Ayuk versus Debo Samuel and the Niners want too much? See, I feel like that's one of the… No, I think the Niners want to keep him actually.

Steve: I don't think they want to sign him this year, and that's the problem. They don't want that headache. Do you get rid of him before then, or not?

Grand Schwalbini: I guess what the plan is, is that after this year, you've got to pay Purdy. So, you know, if that's the thinking, then, you know, maybe one of them is going to go. You know, now the Eagles were able to sign A.J. Brown and Devante Smith the same year, but they also don't have dollars invested in other places. Like, you know, they just gave a boatload of money to Javon Hargrave, you know. So, you know, who knows?

TD: Well, there was a tweet out today by, I think, Bryant McFadden, who said that the Steelers are talking about They're in negotiations and they're getting close to either trading for or signing a significant playmaker.

Steve: That's because he talks to Tomlin.

TD: Tomlin's on his podcast all the time. Right. The only guys that are on that list are guys that I wouldn't necessarily consider significant playmakers. We'll see. Then yeah, I mean, I would do that. So if we yeah, if it happens, we'll be talking about it. All right.

Grand Schwalbini: Now it's something I want to talk about very near and dear to my heart.

SPEAKER_01: We're still talking about them. No, they're not relevant. We are going to talk weird.

TD: The pirate is here and the pirate is very, very confused. And obviously the pirates are now still back to being the pirates. So the Buccos are 14 and 15, fourth in the NL Central. They just lost two out of three to the Giants. That's kind of where they belong. Their offense is horrible. um and this is going back to last week when i went off last week and i said o'neill cruz sucks remember that he got worse uh no actually well the next day he got three hits and i thought man you know just my luck the guy's gonna end up being great which i would love Um, but since then, yeah, not, not, not the greatest. They can't score runs to save their life. Um, they're starting with a three game set in Oakland tonight. We'll see where that goes. They got to win two out of three in Oakland. Uh, Cruz now has 42 strikeouts. So I think Kyle Schwarber, how many does he have? 44. Yeah, I think he's leading. All right. So at least Cruz is number two in the league in strikeouts now.

Grand Schwalbini: He improved. Um, he doesn't have,

Steve: Seven runs of the no yes three can i ask a question go right ahead please if the if the pirates win in oakland and nobody's there do they still count.

TD: That's kinda like if a if a tree falls in the woods. Yeah, it does. Yeah, they still count. Well, because they were there. There was more than one person there. They were there.

Steve: I saw some statistics on, you know, just major league baseball and fan bases and percentage of, you know, the sellouts. Yep. And there's everybody, there's, there's a few teams at the top, like the Braves, the Phillies and the good teams. There's mostly everybody else in the middle, like Detroit and Pittsburgh and the Orioles kind of in the middle. And then at the very, very bottom at 10% were the Oakland A's. 10% 10% that's crazy. So they get like what, like 4,500 people to show up in an empty stadium. Yeah.

TD: Wow. Yeah. When you got a big stadium that, that seems like five people are there. Right. Well, even, even the pirates are 9,000 on a weekend.

Steve: They might feel more at home when they get home and they're like 10 or 12,000 at, at a PNC.

TD: Is it still, they're getting nine. Yeah. It's still PNC park. Where the hell are you?

Steve: No, because the naming rights are up, but nobody else has bought them.

TD: So I don't know if we're… Because I don't think anybody else wants to be associated with them to be honest. Hey, this could be our chance. Sports porch. We'll give you 500 bucks. You should've spent that money on a big banner.

Steve: 500 bucks. We could put it up over the piano.

TD: That's what we got to start doing. We got to start, we got to go to a Pirates game with a banner and stand up in the rotunda. Sports porch. Why have we not been doing that? Probably because we haven't been to a game and also because there's only nine thousand people there to go to the Pirates is depressing Yeah, yeah, okay Okay, Pat on track is back in the house, and I'm so I'm so glad you're here Pat I was worried about you as always what's going on with him. I don't know he just disappeared. I think he found a geriatric girlfriend

SPEAKER_01: City Furniture. There it is. Sports Porch Park. Actually, that's pretty good.

TD: Yeah. So Pat says Dave Parker's not walking through that door. Willie Stardew is not. Well, you get it. That's Pat on track. And yes, Sports Porch Park would be awesome. Yes, it would be. I'm telling you right now, I think 500 bucks might get it. And Amy, actually agrees with me for once.

Grand Schwalbini: Yeah, how about that? You know what, Amy? Are you going to stop making fun of her voice?

TD: Amy, I'm going to go to Trader Joe's for Mark.

Grand Schwalbini: You're being a bastard.

TD: I'm bringing those English peas home for you, Amy. I'm just telling you right now.

Grand Schwalbini: Here come your peas. Thank you so much. Amy, I'm going to hold him down in the chair and let you smack the crap out of him.

TD: Okay, so last thing on the pirates, right? now is that their, their starting pitching is actually pretty good. Yeah. You know, the only starter with an ERA higher than like the mid threes is Mitch Keller. Um, cause he signed the contract. I know. I happen to think that Jared Jones is making a case now, more every time he pitches, that he's the real deal. And by the real deal, what I mean is a solid, legitimate starting pitcher in the major leagues.

SPEAKER_00: Now, he's only five starts in.

TD: be the next, you know, Garrett Cole. I don't know. He's in AAA right now. Yeah. Yeah. So that that's right. And so that that I hear a lot of I hear a lot of people on the radio saying, why are they not bringing him up? Why are they not bringing him up? Well, listen, the pirates, you know, we don't want them to play the game, the service your game, you know, and all that stuff. And it's like, look, that's the game they play. That's the game. That's the game. Every major league team plays.

Steve: Do you want him to be gone next year? Right. Like, why would you want to waste that year of being able to see him? That's like 30 more games you get to see him.

TD: We got to be able to keep him here. That's exactly right. It makes perfect sense. So, you know, pump the brakes and just realize. Besides, they're not doing it.

Steve: Pump the brakes. They're a 500 team. Maybe if he comes up and they're still a 500 team, they can get to 600. Yeah, to 600. Dude, that's probably good enough to get a wild card. I know.

TD: No, I hear you, but I think it's funny the way you said it. So, you know, do I think that Paul Skeens will be up here? Yeah, I definitely think he'll be up here. Yeah, because he has been pretty filthy down there, down there at AAA.

Grand Schwalbini: Give people a reason to come to the ballpark in the summer. That's exactly right. He'll build some hope. And then they'll, you know, sell some more tickets at the beginning of next year.

Steve: The only problem is he only pitches like every fifth game, right?

TD: Right. Yeah.

Steve: Yeah. So we sell out those games.

TD: But I'll tell you, if if Jared Jones continues to pitch, not even as well as he's pitching now, if he just continues to pitch, you know, 80 to 90 percent as well as he's pitching now and Paul Skeens comes up and is as advertised up here, you've got a one to punch that You know, if they're in baseball, once again, baseball is a game of streaks, OK? And right now, the Pirates, they they're every unfortunately, basically every single hitter except he Brian Hayes is is on a bad streak right now. And even key, Brian Hayes, he's got a decent average, but he's not hitting the home runs. And when you're playing the hot corner, you got to be a guy that hits the ball over the fence. You got to hit at least 15 or 20 home. Right. So, you know, And I've given up at this point on Paul Sawinski, the guy, you know, and I, when I say hitting coach, the pirates don't have their hitting coaches, terrible. So, you know, they don't have the kind of lineup that is going to sustain these, these, they have. in skeins and jones again as advertised if they come up with a bullpen the potential in the bullpen that they have they have the potential there to keep them in games what they don't have is a lineup that is able to overcome those, those low scoring games. I mean, they can't score any runs now, you know, a week from now they, they pull off three against the A's. They, they sweep those guys and now their bats get hot. You got to hope the pitching stays hot. We could be talking about something different. And as I said last week, if they're around 500 at the all-star break, I'll bring back the buckos report.

Grand Schwalbini: Mmm, how about them apples great? Well, it sounds horrible

TD: Do you mean I sound horrible, or do you mean it sounds horrible?

Grand Schwalbini: No, no. I mean, you do a great job with that report. And for those of you who are diehard Pirates fans, it is a fun report to listen to. So if you do bring it back, we will be tuning in.

TD: For those of you at home, Pat says, Chris's dad was drafted twice by Major League Baseball. He looked for honest work. No, Pat. My dad was not drafted. They approached my dad about being drafted back in the 50s. And his parents told him that they would not support that because he could make no money as a major league baseball player. So. He became, you know, a math teacher, and Amy says, I am not the one with the goofy voice. That's right. Yeah. But I got to try really hard to make this goofy voice. So. Anyway, OK, listen, thanks for listening to the sports sports. We got more segments coming. We got our Trader Joe's product of the week. We got what we're watching. But I think Hockey Jesus is about to jump out of his chair. I have a question for Hockey Jesus. Yeah, well, let me do this. Let me do this read real quick first and just remind everybody that we dropped the Sports Porch podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere. You get your friggin podcast.

Grand Schwalbini: Let's pause for a minute while we identify our sponsors.

TD: And actually, this is for Kyle. We have to thank our primary sponsor, of course, the Pittsburgh property diva, Lauren Klein, my wife. I love you, sweetheart. Thank you for your support.

Steve: Thank you, Lauren.

TD: Very, very instrumental in keeping me sane.

SPEAKER_01: Well, uh, okay. All right.

TD: All right. All right. Here we go. Hockey Jesus preaches on the podcast on the sports boards, black and gold. And also you can catch him on YouTube. Our YouTube handle is at the sports porch podcast. Uh, after every penguins game during the regular season, without fail, He, uh, gives you his analysis and his commentary and it's man, he shoots from the hip man. He tells you how he feels because he is hockey Jesus. Um, and right now he's in the middle of the NHL playoffs. And look, if there's anybody. If there's anybody more dedicated to hockey that you know, is it him?

Grand Schwalbini: Yes, but I've got a question for the hockey genius, which I think is going to really challenge him. I'm ready for the challenge. Let's do it. What are your insights? on the Philadelphia Phantoms taking the baby penguins out of the playoffs?

Steve: Well, you can tell what happened with that series.

Grand Schwalbini: That's some deep hockey. I'm asking the hockey Jesus. I do not know what happened.

Steve: It's clear what happened. The coaching all got fired at the end of that season.

TD: They did. They did. You mean the baby pens fired all their coaches?

Steve: They just said, everybody, you're not coming back next year. You're all fired. So that's what happened. I really, I think they felt like they were, they weren't talented enough to play with them, but they just got, they just got their asses beat and, and they blame the coaches literally. They fired them. Dubas went down there and just said, you're fired. You're fired. You're fired. Get out.

TD: Is that exactly how it happened? Do you have a, do you, was it on tick tock? Well, you're fired.

Grand Schwalbini: Did not disappoint. He had a comment ready. Oh yeah.

Steve: I never disappoint. And you know what? This is the best time of the year for hockey. My God. There are only two games on tonight, which is actually ridiculous. Normally there are like four or more games on. Actually, I don't think they play more than four games, but like yesterday there were four games on. I watched the fifth game because I didn't stay up to watch the Dallas game. So I actually watched five games on Sunday. Good God. It was awesome.

TD: It was awesome. That's a ton of hockey.

Steve: Oh, by the way, did you know that Tampa Bay had a goal that they, they took the goal away and then since Denver Hagee scored and it's won nothing for it.

TD: All right.

Steve: So insight on the playoffs as of right now, I'm very surprised that there are, there's only one game that has a chance to go to two, two tied in the series. All the games will, for example, and I knew this, I think everybody who watched any hockey towards the end of the season knew the Rangers were going to sweep the capitals. That series, Ridiculous there was no hockey being played it was just a bunch of goons out there beat each other up and Somehow the puck gets in the back of the net two or three times by one team and not the other Ovi looked by the way. I actually think oh, she might be done. I don't think he's gonna play next year. He looked terrible Ovechkin Ovi.

TD: No, she Oh, she Yeah. You're seeing the comment from Mike Lawrence here. The caps got swept. The great Ovi never broke a sweat. Hardly scored any points. He didn't score any points. All he does is camp out in the face off circle waiting to shoot the puck. Is that because he's old?

Grand Schwalbini: Are we trying to say that a Vetchkin is not good? Seriously?

Steve: No. In fairness, in fairness to Ovi, he did say like, you can put the blame on my back. for this because I didn't, I wasn't there, I wasn't playing at a high level and he really wasn't. But the reality is they were totally overmatched by the Rangers. The Rangers play a physical game and that's what Capitals like to play and they just don't have the right personnel. So that one's over, 4-0. Look, Boston and Toronto to me is a big surprise. I thought Toronto would give Boston a little bit of a push. Toronto's a bunch of Garbage, I just can't believe that you can have like you can have Austin Matthews Mitch Marner and Nylander and not score any goals.

Grand Schwalbini: I don't even think those guys are even in the top top 10 for scoring is Crazy, I mean they score a hundred points year in year out now and they can't win a round on the playoff And that was Dubas's former team.

TD: I

Steve: Yeah. Well, so, you know, they're talking about the coach, probably Sheldon Keefe, probably getting, getting fired in, you know, might be a good idea to stash him down at the baby pens in case Sully. So, so I still have from Mark Madden, he, he had the idea and I think that's actually a really good idea.

TD: Yeah. So is a St. Toronto is garbage. Are they worse than Calvin's garbage playlist? No.

Steve: No, nothing's that gardener.

SPEAKER_01: That's really bad.

Steve: But I think it's good. But the Washington Rangers series was complete garbage. But as far as Toronto, I don't see any way to come back from a three one deficit against Boston at this point. It just makes no sense. Well, Carolina is up three one. They had a chance to beat the Islanders the other night. The Islanders snuck one out and double overtime. Well, I think that was just a token win. Honestly, I think Carolina takes care of them tomorrow. I'm not so worried about that. Uh, in the east, you got Florida playing tonight. If they win, they beat Tampa. That's a bit of a surprise, but I tell you what, Florida is a better team than I gave than I thought they were. I thought they were good, but they're much better than I thought.

Grand Schwalbini: They are good. Another one of those teams though, that where the mascot makes no sense. There's not a bunch of Panthers around around Florida.

Steve: Uh, there were at one time.

Grand Schwalbini: Yeah. Way back. Like before,

SPEAKER_05: It's like buffaloes for nothing before nothing.

TD: You know what?

Grand Schwalbini: You're out thinking yourself while being, well, I had a thought, but I thought it would be inappropriate.

TD: Since when has that stopped you?

Steve: So, I like Florida, I like Florida to probably hold on and win tonight. As far as the West goes, I think this is where all your good hockey is being played. If you didn't watch that Dallas-Vegas game, which I didn't by the way, but I did record it and I only had seven minutes left in the overtime period when Dallas scored to go to be relevant, essentially, because Vegas has won the first two games in Dallas, which when you do that, you pretty much are guaranteed to win. But by Dallas winning in overtime in Vegas, they got a chance if they can win tonight to tie this up. That's going to be a really good game tonight. I would suggest to watch that game tonight. 930 start. I think that's been some of the best hockey that I've seen so far. Colorado and Winnipeg. Colorado is up three, one Winnipeg won the first game of that series, by the way. And Colorado is just ripped off three games. I think Colorado is, is really kind of a team to be reckoned with. They have no goalies and it doesn't, it doesn't even really seem the matter. They don't have a goal. I think they'll run into a problem when, when a goalie, like for example, Vegas, they have, I don't understand Vegas. How can they find a guy? Where is he? Um, like, uh, Logan Thompson he out of nowhere and he's got a 2.14 goals against like that's where they find these goalies that they can just play in the playoffs and they They're like gold.

TD: They find them at the craps table.

Steve: They must they must have something.

Grand Schwalbini: Oh, they have a really good defense, too Limit shots.

Steve: But you know what? I think New York Rangers defense is much better. And I think that's really masking Shesterkin. I don't think Shesterkin's actually that great. I think he's going to be in big trouble when they have to play against probably Carolina. And Vancouver, Nashville, look, the comeback from behind when the Vancouver did on Sunday just was absolutely incredible. They were down 3-1. And somehow, someway, in the last 2 minutes and 35 seconds, they got two empty net goals.

Grand Schwalbini: That's Canucks hockey.

Steve: Unbelievable. If you if you watch the game, like it literally came out of nowhere. They got that six person on the ice and it was like they they were masterful in the way they would pass the ball and just bam right in both times. And they they ended up winning overtime, like like two minutes into the first overtime.

TD: So unbelievable. So I just, you know, Pat of course lives in Florida. So Pat on track says, yes, there are as far as, uh, Panthers, lots of wildlife here. Many cougars.

Grand Schwalbini: One of the first things that Pat said that I've really laughed at. Yeah.

Steve: And understood.

TD: Amy wants to know how many Penguins fans watch all of these other hockey playoff games. This is a real question. Just wondering, are Penguins fans just Penguins fans or hockey fans?

Steve: Well, there's a guy at work who watches hockey, and I can tell you he doesn't watch all the NHL playoffs, but he's following.

TD: That's the way I feel. So there's two of you?

Steve: Two of us out of 150, so maybe about 45 in Pittsburgh.

TD: I actually feel like that if you are a rabid Penguins fan or a rabid Flyers fan or a rabid whatever fan, maybe a rabid Panthers fan.

Grand Schwalbini: Why has everything got to be rabid? It sounds like, you know, they're grappling at the mouth like with rabies.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's kind of what that word means.

TD: I do get that way sometimes. Yeah, Steve Spittel comes out and yeah. Okay, so the rabid fans continue. I feel like if you're a hockey fan, if you're a dedicated hockey fan of a certain team, that you do watch more hockey. You know, I think it's a different

Steve: I think this type of hockey is like, for example, Edmonton, uh, LA Kings, LA won the first one. And everybody's like, Oh, Edmonton, poor Edmonton. They can't win. Then just like Colorado, they poured it on. And in fact, last night, Edmonton won one, nothing like for that team to be that talented and say, Hey, we're going to have to pack it in tonight. We're going to have to play really tight. We're not gonna loosen it up in the third period. We're just gonna win this game 1-0. That's something the Penguins couldn't do and actually needed to do at times. If Edmonton could do that with Stewart Skinner in goal, I think they're gonna be a force to be reckoned with. I don't know who's gonna come out of either the East or the West. Right now if you were to ask me, I really like I I think Carolina's playing great. I think Florida Probably is playing the best right now I'd say Florida is gonna come out of these right now and I would say out of the West boy I don't know. I don't know who's who's gonna win, but it's gonna be down the Colorado and Edmonton

TD: And who picked Edmonton in the bracket to win it all?

Steve: Yeah.

Grand Schwalbini: Edmonton's got a real chance. Cause you have such great analysis.

TD: Nope. It was monkey darts at the board at a monkey throwing darts at a board. I don't know, man. You have a pet monkey? Yes.

SPEAKER_05: He pets his monkey all the time. You know that.

TD: I am a pet monkey, honestly.

Steve: So that's the hockey analysis. Good stuff. Here's Pat on tracks. Stay up late, watch your hockey, tune in to the Hockey Jesus if you don't.

TD: Yeah, here's Pat on tracks. Irrelevant comment of the night. Buffalo always leads in NHL playoff ratings and we haven't made the postseason in 12 years. So thank you for that. All the real hockey fans. It's because it's freezing cold and nothing's open. Maybe you should stay away from the Scotch, Pat. You won't see so many Cougars down in Florida.

Steve: So maybe you'll see more.

TD: Sorry about that. We love you, Pat. All right. You can catch the Hockey Jesus and his analysis on the podcast and you drop it in the podcast, too. Yeah. Right. Yeah. On the podcast and on YouTube at the Sports Porch podcast on YouTube. And when's the next one? When are we going to do this?

Steve: I was going to do one tonight, but I think I'll wait till Wednesday.

TD: Yeah, I would wait. We got the show tonight and it's a big one. So, you know what I mean?

Steve: I guess this is going to be Wednesday or Thursday.

TD: Okay, cool. So be sure to subscribe. Be sure to leave us a review. We really appreciate that. I'm getting hungry. Are you getting hungry?

Steve: I got my fork.

TD: I'm so hungry. I'm hangry. Schwaber is getting hungry.

SPEAKER_01: Got a fork for tonight on us. Here we go.

SPEAKER_00: Taste the biscuit. Taste the goodness of the biscuit. 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.

Steve: No chicken. I got to hurry up.

TD: I got to hurry up. Turn the song off. All right. Listen, this is our segment where we do the Trader Joe's product of the week. It's one of the favorite segments out there. One of my favorite segments, as everybody knows or doesn't know. I work for Trader Joe's in East Liberty here in Pittsburgh. It's a great place to work. I love the job, but I do have to say that Trader Joe's is not a sponsor. They're not paying us to do this. We're doing this on our own. I got permission from some people there. Permission sounds like sponsorship. It's not.

Steve: Give them my card.

TD: But what do we do every week? We sample a Trader Joe's product and we give our honest opinion on it. And I'm just looking to get what is the Trader Joe's product of the week this week. What is it? The Trader Joe's product of the week this week is, I'm not even sure exactly how to say this, bulgogi beef fried rice with kimchi. OK, so here's what I'm going to do. We're having a meal. Yeah, I'm going to. This would have been better with a spoon. I understand that. So here you get. Yeah, put some in there. And if you want, here's your bowl. Here's your bowl, Steve. OK, grab a bowl. I got them. I have to tell you, this looks fantastic. Yeah, it smells good, too. I have not had it.

Steve: Okay, we may lose mark for the rest of the show.

TD: I'm gonna give you the, I'll give you a picture of it. It's a frozen food. What do you think there, people? It's frozen. There's what it looks like at Trader Joe's. Bulgogi beef with fried rice. That smells really good. Bulgogi beef fried rice with kimchi with vegetables, grilled beef. and kimchi. You can microwave it. You can heat it in a nonstick frying pan. You guys want some soy sauce or anything with it? No way. I'm eating it plain. You're eating it plain? Okay. I just thought if you wanted to. Bulgogi. Yeah. Bulgogi or bulgogi. I don't know.

Steve: What kind of rice is this? Regular rice. Plain old white rice?

TD: Yeah. It's probably white rice. Yeah, I'm hearing Schwaber and his reaction is telling me that it's good. Really good. Yeah. Now I'll tell you what I was going to do with it. I don't taste the kimchi. Yeah, that's the interesting thing. I think it's not your traditional kimchi. I think it's, what is, what is kimchi? Kimchi is cabbage that has been fermented. Yeah.

Steve: It's really spicy. It should be really spicy. Knock your, knock your teeth out.

TD: Actually I can taste a little kimchi, but it's not, it's not spicy.

Steve: It's nice cause it's not spicy. I agree. I like it because it's not too spicy.

TD: It's basically you take the whole pack and you nuke it. the microwave for three minutes and stir it in another two minutes.

Steve: I can have this for lunch.

TD: Is that all you did? Absolutely. That's good, man. Amy says it looks like dinner for tomorrow night. It's good stuff. I love it. I love it. Yeah.

Steve: How about you? Oh, yeah, I give it an I give it a nine out of 10.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah.

Steve: The only thing that's keeping me away from giving it a 10 out of 10 is I didn't get any kimchi.

Grand Schwalbini: Yeah. Pass that around again.

Steve: I told you guys to come hungry, go for it. And you need to eat it with a spoon for sure.

Grand Schwalbini: Oh, do you want some water? No, I got a drink with me. I knew this was happening. Okay.

Steve: Mmm. Yeah, definitely not a fan. Sorry we're chewing in your ears. Excellent.

TD: Yeah, I have not tried it either and I've been watching it. Now, here's one thing I was going to… The beef in it is really good.

Steve: It is. Yeah.

TD: Here's one thing I was going to do and I didn't have time to do it. This was suggested by a guy that I work with, Brenton. He said to take the Thai scallion pancakes, okay? Yeah. And then you make what he calls an Asian taco. You take the pancakes and put the bulgogi in the pancake. Yeah. So we might try that again. Uh, what we might do is we might try the Thai scallion pancakes next week and, um. Barkoff just scored. Doing that. Um, I'm not putting this comment up Pat on track. I'm just not doing it. I'm just not doing it. I'm sorry. You're off the reservation there. Okay. So, uh, we got, we got three thumbs up on the trader Joe's product of the week. Definitely two thumbs up on that one for sure. Yeah. Well, yeah. Well three, I mean my, I I'm giving it a thumbs up. Yeah. Oh, you mean two total for you? I have two thumbs. Okay. Well, I mean, I was counting one thumb for each of us. Bulgogi beef, fried rice, three thumbs with Kim Chi and a Schwab. You think you could take this out? while you're eating. All right. Thanks a lot. Schwaber. Um, okay. Let's see. Uh, yeah. Pat's yeah. He's right. Okay. Last segment of the night. Thanks for watching and listening to the sports porch black and gold edition on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube X, and Instagram all over the world and dropping the podcast on the I heart radio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts, uh, right after the show subscribe, leave a review. So, excuse me. Our last segment of the night is what we're watching. Pretty simple. What are we streaming? What are we watching? What are we liking? What are we not liking? And that's how we do things. Uh, this, uh, this week I'm going to start, uh, it's whoever the picture is first, of course, with Mark. All right. He is watching. I was thinking about watching. Guess what?

Grand Schwalbini: I watched a documentary.

Steve: I wanted to watch this. I'm glad I didn't now.

Grand Schwalbini: I watched a documentary. Now, the difference between me and you though is When I watch a documentary, it's not about something I already know the outcome of.

TD: Oh my god, I can't wait till we get to mine.

Grand Schwalbini: Right? So for those of you who don't know, this is basically an experiment in a prison where I think they call him the sheriff or whatever, but he's basically the warden. And what he's doing is, at this facility, these guys are in a 23-in-1 setup, which basically means you're locked behind bars for 23 hours and you have one hour while you're out in the open. It's pretty bad.

TD: Now, how did they get these people, these volunteers?

Grand Schwalbini: No volunteers, it's just a unit in a jail. Oh, for real? Yeah, in a serious jail.

Steve: Do you know where the jail is? They didn't say, right?

Grand Schwalbini: I can't remember. I think it's like Midwest or something, but it's very violent criminals. There are some people that will leave there, but there are people who are also awaiting trial for murder and they're going to go away for life. Gotcha. It's not the kind of crowd you want to hang around. Really? Really. OK. So the idea here is essentially like a Louisiana, Amy said. There you go. Thank you. So the idea is, you know, are they really best serving these people by locking them up 23 hours a day? Now, there's different points of view. Some people feel like, yeah, they committed these crimes. They deserve it. Some people feel like, yeah, but for the ones who are going back out into the public, is this what's best for them, right?

Steve: No rehab.

Grand Schwalbini: Right. No rehab. Um, so the idea is, so the idea is they're gonna, they're gonna lock the stores. Uh, they're gonna, I'm sorry, they're gonna, they're gonna unlock the doors and they're going to see if they can do this.

TD: Um, so kind of like a gen pop thing. Yeah. General general population.

Grand Schwalbini: It seemed like you just wanted to like name drop that you knew what gen pop is. Maybe I did maybe I didn't but uh, yeah, so I mean look he's been there. I thought it was pretty good I mean it was it was interesting I'm pretty good.

Steve: It's not a ringing endorsement mark.

Grand Schwalbini: Well, let me put you this. Well, first of all, I Really really enjoyed the beginning. I think it's eight episodes Probably the first four or five episodes. I really enjoyed. Yeah, the last few I kind of thought were okay a little too much. Drug on a little too much. But it is really interesting. But the only reason why I say it wasn't really good, which it was, I mean, I would definitely say watch it. It's worth watching. But you know, I don't know, there's also just sort of sides of me that sort of feel like, why are we glorifying these horrible people? You know what I mean? Like, you know, like, for example, like they're in jail.

SPEAKER_05: They're bad people.

Grand Schwalbini: Right. Like there's some guy who's basically in there because he went into somebody's work office and shot and killed somebody, you know, something you know about. Right. Right. And so he's facing life in prison. Right. I can just imagine if that was my brother that got shot and killed, I'd be like, you see him on this Netflix show getting all this attention and everything, I'd just be really angry about it.

Steve: I can see that.

TD: You know what I mean? Yeah. Well, you got to wonder if a lot of these documentaries, they have legal teams. I'm sure they do. You got to wonder if they didn't reach out to some of the affected families and say, hey, this is what we're doing.

Grand Schwalbini: They might have, or maybe they paid them to do it.

Steve: That's also a possibility.

TD: Yeah, so Amy says you need to watch it. She thinks it's pretty good. Pat on track says Skinner box experiments, smart people thinking they can figure it out. I have a problem with the phrase Skinner box, Skinner box.

Steve: You know what a Skinner box looks like.

Grand Schwalbini: Oh yeah. You got a PhD in psychology. I just don't expect anything intelligent coming.

Steve: No, it's all intelligent. You just can't understand it.

TD: Hey, and for those of you wondering whether or not we speak the truth when we try our Trader Joe's product, neither Steve nor Mark have been able to stop eating it ever since. It got more spicy. Yeah, there you go. See, there was kimchi.

Steve: It was lacking a little in the beef. Either that or Mark took all the beef.

TD: Now, here you go. You want to talk about taking advantage of people. The prisoners weren't paid to do the documentary. They each got $75 at the commissary. That's probably like a million dollars. Not in today's. I don't know. I have no idea.

Steve: Maybe you want to go back and find out.

TD: All right. The Grand Schwab Beanie.

Grand Schwalbini: One thing I can tell you though, have you ever heard the term hooch? Well, yeah, it's like, it's like, uh, alcohol. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Man, these prisoners, they make like hooch out of like the craziest stuff, man. It looks fricking disgusting.

TD: Yeah. But it gets you screwed. It gets you screwed up.

Grand Schwalbini: But I'm telling you, man, it looks gross. Yeah.

TD: Mark, do they make it out of anything? Do they make it? Yeah. You can. Did they make, how about, do they make it out of poop?

SPEAKER_01: No, that's, that's, that's you just being disgusting. That's my segment.

TD: All right. All right. Let's move on. It's OK. Hockey Jesus is watching something. I watched it. Watched hack your health. hack your health, the secrets of the secrets of your gut. This could be, or did you watch this so you could give me some advice?

Steve: No, no, I watch it because I'm really interesting. You know, there's this theory that like you, that your brain takes signals from your gut and your guts more important than your brain in some cases, right? Have you heard this theory? I haven't.

TD: I watch it in action all the time. Have you seen him at a restaurant?

SPEAKER_01: Hey, I'm losing weight, buddy. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Steve: He is. So there you go. Suck it. There you go. He must be listening to his microbiome and that's what this was about. Yeah. Probiotics microbiome, your microbiome. There are so many bacteria in your stomach and the more diverse your bacteria is in your stomach, supposedly like the better it is for you to be able to digest things.

TD: Oh, so this is a D E I thing.

Steve: No, not really. It's more, no, it's literally about, it's literally about bacteria in your, in your belly, in your stomach, essentially. Get in my belly. Get in my belly. Yeah. And, uh, it's really wild. Like they, like they actually have Kobayashi on here. Oh yeah. I'm like, what?

TD: That's, that's Star Trek, the Kobayashi Maru.

Steve: No, the hot dog, the hot dog eater. Yeah. And like, I guess, I guess, by the way, he's retired from competitive eating now because of this. Like, oh, really? He's worried about his, his, what damage he did to his stomach.

TD: Yeah. After 48,000 hot dogs, he finally decided to start taking care of himself.

Steve: He did say like, he's, he guarantees he ate more than 10,000 hot dogs.

TD: I believe it.

Steve: Anyway, so they they just have they have they have people like that like and they're they're like some people have these really weird diseases. But the reality what they what they basically tell you is. you need to be more mindful of your eating when you're eating. And actually eating a lot of diverse things like like not eating sugar, not necessarily is a bad thing. Like if you eat everything in like small amounts and you find out what's good for you and what your body can digest because you can digest something differently than me than Mark. Right. And it's all about the bacteria in your stomach. By the way, you can get tested for this. I'm sure there's some kind of connection to, you know, they want people to take the test. Literally, they check your poop for how many of these bacteria are in there.

TD: This show is about poop.

Steve: And, no, this gets a little bit more gross, so if you're eating at home, now's a good time to stop eating. There are people who actually put pills of other people's poop and eat them.

Grand Schwalbini: Yes. You know what? I read about—actually, I swear to God, I read about this on the internet.

SPEAKER_05: They're adopting their microbiome that's good for their system. Actually, you know— And by the way, doctors say don't do that, so don't do that. Listen, on something like— It's not FDA approved.

Grand Schwalbini: I'll try not to. You know how like when you're scrolling around on like TikTok or Instagram or Facebook, you see these people who are like, you know, what it's called like a hack. Like this is a way that you can make money by doing almost absolutely nothing. You can sell your poop. You can sell your poop. And like they're saying, like, you know, if you send like two poops in a day, like over a year, you can make 180 grand or something. I haven't seen that.

TD: But wow, I'd be a millionaire.

SPEAKER_01: but you have to have the right microbiome. Yeah, that's the thing, but of course they don't tell you that. If your microbiome isn't good enough, they're just flushing it.

TD: Yeah, you have to be like a young, healthy athlete, pretty much. Right, so I'd be throwing my poop away.

SPEAKER_01: No, they would say, Chris, we have enough of your poop.

Grand Schwalbini: They'd say, no good, we're done with you. This is just shit.

SPEAKER_05: This isn't poop, this is shit. But it's worth it.

Steve: I would suggest if you're interested in learning more about how your gut works and the connection to the brain and bacteria and how they can be good for you, you should watch this.

TD: All I can think about is where have we come as a society when literally we can shit in a box and send it away and maybe make money? You know, I mean, that's insane. That's great. Shit's valuable. Where's DG when we need him? I miss DG. I'm wondering, maybe this is his comment coming in here right now. Come on, DG. No, this is your best show yet, says Amy. I agree. This ain't no shit, Amy. No, I take a probiotic every day. I went through a whole bunch of probiotics and then I landed on this one that is Um, uh, was it's a more specialized one. It's not over the counter. It's the first one I've taken in years that I have now taken for a couple years that like totally straightened my gut out from a, you know, bathroom time point of view. So, yeah.

Steve: And, and, uh, isn't, did, did, did they say that, um, I say we all get our, our shit tested and see who's got the best microbot.

TD: That would be great. That would be fun. sport, the sports, sports, black and gold shit, shit story, shit story. So, um, did they say anything real quick? Cause we are way over, but, but this is a great show. Um, did they say anything about like kombucha and, um, uh, sauerkraut?

Grand Schwalbini: Cause I've heard sauerkraut scares the shit out of me.

Steve: What essentially they said, like is a generic statement was if you eat 20 to 30 vegetables a week, you're doing fine. Oh, wow. That's what they, that's, that was the blanket statement.

TD: This entire story just to get to eat 20, 30 vegetables. The blanket statement.

Steve: No, no, it gets, it gets much more, mind you, the further down you go. Like you can go down to six or seven rabbit holes in this show.

TD: Gotcha. Pat on track. Bat shit crazy is a real thing. I know I was married to it for many years.

SPEAKER_01: Oh, righty.

TD: What is your what are you guys? You guys are going to crucify.

SPEAKER_05: OK, tell me about the documentary about 30 seconds.

TD: You're going to crucify. I'm ready for it, but I'm having a great time with it. I'm ready.

Grand Schwalbini: Of God. OK, wait a minute. I've got an idea. So there's going to be this guy.

Steve: By the way, people on the podcast, O.J. Made in America.

TD: Filmed in 2016. Yes.

Grand Schwalbini: So I got a feeling. Which I've never watched before. I got a feeling this is going to be about a football player, a fantastic football player. One of the best football players. One of the best ever. Also on commercials like Hertz commercials, really famous guy showing up in movies like Airplane, just a celebrity, a guy's guy. And he's going to marry this beautiful blonde woman.

SPEAKER_05: And they have a great life together, have a great life together.

Grand Schwalbini: And oh, murder, murder. She's dead. And then what happens? Car chase, car chase in the Bronco. I bet they covered that. They probably they probably covered trial. If the glove don't fit, you must quit. They probably covered that. I have a feeling they probably covered Cato Kaelin. when he was just sitting there in the court and just being like, hey, I didn't see anything, man. I didn't see anything. I don't know what's going on. I'm sure they covered Marsha Clark being so venomous and, uh, you know, Shapiro in the beginning. And then all of a sudden, not guilty. Everybody gets up and down. I think you got it.

SPEAKER_05: Was it good? Nailed it. Was it good?

TD: Yeah, it was pretty good. All right, thanks for watching the Sports Forge Black and Gold and listening to the podcast. Oh my. Pat on Track's last comment, hockey Jesus is owned by Big Veggie. I love that. That was actually not a bad comment. I like it. Not a bad comment. All right. We're going to drop the show on the podcast, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your freaking podcasts.

Grand Schwalbini: You see his comment? That guy ran for 11,000 yards from the police. From the 5-0.

TD: All right, guys. I am your technical director and I am out.