The Stage Is Set.mp3

INTRO:
This is the Sports Porch Black and Gold with your hosts, the Technical Director, the Grand Schwabini, and Hockey Jesus. Come on, Pittsburgh. Let's show a little Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates love. The Sports Porch Black and Gold starts now.

Chris: There you go. Well done. You like that? Technical director. Well done. Well done. You know it brothers, you know it. Welcome to the sports sports black and gold edition all over the world live 7 30 PM Eastern time. We are live today on Facebook, YouTube X and Instagram. Drop a comment if you're here and of course subscribe to the YouTube channel. Go over there right now. If you're not watching on YouTube, go over to YouTube, subscribe at the sports sports podcast. And of course, We are a podcast and i'm going to drop that podcast right after the show on the iheart radio app apple podcast spotify Or anywhere you get your podcast chris chata is on youtube now. He's the guy that watches on. Oh, yeah instagram Glad you're here. And of course, we do have an internet radio station radio pgh Radio pgh.com. Here is the link in the comments. If you don't watch the show you can listen to it live Right there on that link. So, uh Okay, guys. I mean, the big news in football right now is obviously the Super Bowl. So what are we going to do? We're going to talk a little bit about the Super Bowl. It is, of course, the Eagles and the Chiefs Super Bowl 59. We're going to talk about that. We got Hockey Jesus in the house to my left here. in the studio. I've got the Grand Schwabini across from me. We do have a Trader Joe's snack time I was able to whip up. We also have comments from Art Rooney II. And what we're watching. And what we're watching, and we might get into a little quarterback discussion on the Steelers. We're entering what we call the dead zone. Pittsburgh Hills on Instagram says hello. Hello, Pittsburgh Hills. How are you? Glad you're here. Pittsburgh hills in the place and uh Do you guys want to do do you guys want to do the super bowl rematch first? Yeah, let's let's talk about the super bowl and then we'll get in the how that affects the steeler That's kind of the news of the day now where we'll go with that first our nfl playoff predictions Um, you guys both pick the eagles. I pick the commanders. I'm a homer uh, me and mark pick the bills and steve pick the chiefs that being said last week we were all one and one and And so Mark is eight and four. Chris is seven and five.

Hockey Jesus: Would you like to redo that? No. Why? I think you said we were all one in one.

Chris: Well, yeah, I picked the commanders and you and Mark picked. Oh, wait a minute. Mark was Mark two and one. Mark was two and one.

SPEAKER_04: There were only two games.

Chris: There were two games.

SPEAKER_04: Oh, no. I said we were all.

Grand Schwalbini: Yeah, we're all one on one.

SPEAKER_04: We were all one in one.

Hockey Jesus: Didn't, didn't I take?

Grand Schwalbini: No, you're a two and O. Didn't I take Chiefs and the Eagles? That's not one in one.

Chris: You guys are right. I could never do the goddamn math.

Grand Schwalbini: I keep telling you. Basic elementary math. Two games to cover and he can't get it right.

Chris: You are, what were you before? I had you at five and five. So now you are seven and five, just like me. There you go. Okay. All right. Sorry about that. Um, was I, I, we were going to go into the Super Bowl talking about the Super Bowl rematch Eagles versus chiefs. So, okay. Yeah. Super Bowl rematch Eagles versus chiefs. Like two years ago, two years ago, I, uh, that commander's game did not surprise me last night. I, as soon as Barkley ran that 60 yard touchdown in, in the very beginning of the game, uh, Uh, I knew the game, I knew the game was over. Kim Steelers. Oh yeah, and then the fumble.

Hockey Jesus: I mean, it was, it was bad news from, uh, the commanders from the start.

Chris: Yeah. Kim Steelers on Instagram cannot cheer for the other PA team, so I guess it's Coach Sheaves. Oh, oh man.

Grand Schwalbini: Now is nobody, that's a tough one. That's the first person I've heard who likes the Chiefs. Yeah. It seems like nobody likes them. Over the Eagles, yeah.

Grand Schwalbini: Yeah.

Chris: Nobody likes the Chiefs.

Grand Schwalbini: She must really hate Philly.

Chris: Yeah. Um, I w I was driving my, my boys came over last night to watch the game and I was driving them home and I drove them through town and I don't know if anybody else I'm interested to see if anybody who's listening or watching saw this. I swear, and I could be wrong. UFO? UFO. No, of course you guys are good. A drone? No, no. Let me get it out. Let me get it out. The UPMC building or the steel building, you know, they can change the colors of. Right. Yeah, right. I swear to God they had eagles green up there. Did they? Yeah. And, and, and for a minute I was looking at it and I was like, is that eagles green?

Grand Schwalbini: It was green. You know what? It, it might be because they do some weird stuff and like, like for example, They did it on the Empire State Building in New York, and all the New Yorkers are like, why are we doing this?

Grand Schwalbini: It's like weird.

Grand Schwalbini: I think it's just whoever makes it. And then like after that happened, probably then it went red for the chief.

Chris: I wasn't driving by it then.

Hockey Jesus: Or maybe they're just getting ready for St. Patrick's Day. That is a day off here in Pittsburgh.

Chris: I know, but it's a month and a half away. It's a month and a half away.

Hockey Jesus: Well, I mean, if you can start celebrating Christmas in October, You know, you can start celebrating St. Patrick's Day in basically the beginning of February. You are not wrong, H. Yeah, I know.

Chris: You are not wrong.

Hockey Jesus: I bring the truth to this show.

Chris: So let's talk real quick about both of these championship games. What did you guys think about the Commanders losing to the Eagles? Let's just do some quick takeaways from that. Hj because mark and I just talked in the philly. Yeah.

Hockey Jesus: Yeah, I mean my takeaway is pretty simple Everybody knew that the eagles were going to win because Rookie quarterbacks just don't win championship games. They've never done it. It has never happened. Patty Mahomes couldn't do it, right? And so it's true. That's so I mean nobody's gonna be able to do it. I think it was a great season for the commanders, but There was no way they were going to beat the Eagles. The Eagles were ready. They were primed. They're much better team than they were last year. And even the year before that, I think when they when they made it to the Super Bowl and they were those were two really good teams. So there's just no I didn't. I was not surprised by the results. I guess I was a little surprised they broke the NFC record for scoring in a championship game. That did surprise me a little bit. But with all the turnovers, Yeah, you can see how it happened that way. So that's my takeaway.

Chris: I would submit that Jaden Daniels did not lose that game. It was the turnovers that lost that game. Yeah, for sure. For this team didn't help him out.

Hockey Jesus: No, he wasn't on the field, I think, but maybe two minutes in the second quarter. Yeah, it was crazy. Yeah.

Chris: Well, and in the first, well, at one point in the, in the second quarter, they showed that the, even though the Eagles were leading the, the commanders had like 18 minutes versus their four of ball possession, which is exactly the game plan they wanted. Yeah.

Hockey Jesus: And they already scored like three times.

Chris: Yeah. Right. That was the problem. Yeah. The touchdowns. Well, and this leads us back to something that the Steelers couldn't cash in on this year. When you cause a turnover, you need to score points. I know that's not a genius take. We have a lot. We have a lot of new TikTok followers now that like to call us out and say, well, that's the best take I've ever heard. It's like, Well, no, sometimes the best takes are the obvious ones. And when you look at this, the Eagles did exactly what they should do. And in our Philadelphia show, I basically said the good was their defense, the turnovers, turning them into points that counts. And if the Steelers could have turned some of those turnovers they had this year, into points, there would have been a few different outcomes in a couple of those games. You're not saying that their season would have ended any better, but I mean, it's, it's key. It's not just your day and, and, and keeping this on the Steelers side of things. And Kim Steeler says, I'm wearing my Steelers juju Jersey for game time. There you go. Um, keeping the patches 60 yards, keep it, keeping this on the Steelers side of things, you know, that that's something that they really have to focus on. Uh, is that, that they have to go and take, turn these opportunities and take those shots.

Hockey Jesus: Uh, and we'll go down the, just look at the, look at the fumble that bond call call cause. Yeah. It was, it was near the sidelines and who was it? Cooper Dejean was right there. The jump on it, pick it up. Yeah. I mean, it was a bang, bang play. You have to be ready to, to, to get onto those balls when it happens like that.

Grand Schwalbini: It was a T.J. Watt peanut Tillman punch out. You got it. You got it.

Chris: So Marvin Hamilton's back in the house. Good evening fellows. Good evening Marvin. Mike Lawrence says I agree with H.J. Eagles have great defense and Barkley and Hurts scored three touchdowns each game over Chris Chada on YouTube. Now he said now he's going to bring this to something that we'll talk about in a couple of minutes. We'll bring come Sounds, feels like Russ is gone. I heard today Pete Carroll wants him in Vegas. We're going to address what we think about that. Uh, what do we do here? Well, we, we, we give you our honest opinion. We're not insiders, so we don't have anybody inside the locker room. Um, media lately has tried to talk about the basement podcasts out there. I like to, I like to jump into my ego, the ego side of me and think, well, they must be talking about us. So, We must be making waves because I'll tell you, between the three of us, I'm not kidding. We state the obvious before they do.

Hockey Jesus: Oh, yeah. Well, we get more out in an hour than they do in three. So that's correct. Suck it. Yeah.

Chris: No commercials here. Stop listening to sports radio. It's scary. It's scary when you have a little competition, isn't it? Yeah. And start hanging out with us radio boys. Yeah. You know, and I look, I'm going to take, I'm going to take a couple of these guys to task, you know, and I'm, I'm, I'm diverging, but it's, we're going into the dead zone and we're trying to have, have, uh, have some fun. Um, but you know, guys like Joe Starkey, okay. Weird, weird voice, just a weird dude. Bill's fan. I There are times I enjoy listening to him. There are times he's funny. Guys like the PM team, what's his name, Crowley in the morning, all that kind of stuff. Once in a while, they will get close. to really kind of criticizing. But you can tell when they hit that line and they back up, you know. So now all of a sudden they all want Tomlin gone. There's no backing up here now. Now, all of a sudden, nausea shouldn't be resigned. Now, all of a sudden, let's get rid of George Pickens, who's been saying that for the last two years. This podcast. That's exactly right. I still want to keep picking. That's why, and we can debate that. Then that's what we love, but we're not insiders. We don't claim to have inside knowledge. We're a, we're a couple of fans and we're no, we're not professionals. Listen guys, we do this because we love it. And this studio, we set it up on our own. This is a homegrown place. There's no money behind it whatsoever except my money when I have to buy special software packages and my cohost don't pitch in.

Grand Schwalbini: And we get to hear about that all the time.

Chris: It doesn't really bother me, but the point is, we're happier than hell that you've stuck with us through all these years. And you can do us a favor, not by subscribing and sending us money, not by buying products from our sponsors that don't exist, but by following us on your favorite channel, like YouTube, especially, or TikTok. and telling all of your friends that are black and gold sports fans that this is the place to be. That's how you can help us and we'll continue to help you with entertainment, fun, and witty remarks from Mark Schwab.

Grand Schwalbini: It's a very self-help type show. Just like I said.

Grand Schwalbini: Yeah, we will improve your being, your standing in the world.

Chris: It's true. It's damn true. I'm off my soapbox now, but let's say, hey, what do you think about this? Kenny Pickett has a chance to get a ring. Wow. We're going to talk about that too.

Grand Schwalbini: Kenny Pickett was on the field to take the last step in victory formation in an NFC championship game.

Chris: Unbelievable. Brilliant. Facts. Uh, Marvin Hamlin says, I still like your opinions. Thank you, Marvin. I really do appreciate that. Um, so, okay. Takeaways from the, uh, yeah. John Edberg is back on YouTube. Thanks. Nero Rooney. We're going to get there in just a second.

Hockey Jesus: We're getting there, John.

Chris: So. My takeaway from the, the commander's game, real simple one, the commanders didn't, no matter what happened in that game, let's, let's say for one brief minute, we fantasize that the commanders pulled out a victory. Okay. It's one of those games, last second field goal, Eagles turned the ball over, you know, one time and all of a sudden all hell breaks loose and oh my God, their defense was never going to hold up against Kansas city. That defense was not a Super Bowl defense. Those are the holes they're going to have to fill next year to help Jaden Daniels win more games. They did go 12 and 5, but they've got some things that they need to address. So my takeaway from that game is, regardless of the outcome, that defense didn't belong in a Super Bowl. My takeaway from the Bills and the Chiefs game Is that andy reed, uh and patrick mahomes and i'm taking the refs out of this There's so much shit going around about the refs. It's like, okay, we all get it Andy reed and patrick mahomes are wizards. Are they not? the play calling Honest to god that was my takeaway. I mean this guy's a wizard

Grand Schwalbini: Well, yeah, I mean they have a very good track record of making the right play call at the right time and executing it.

Chris: Yeah, it's amazing the foresight that he has. He's thinking three or four plays ahead and maybe a series ahead. while the game's going on.

Hockey Jesus: Yeah, but I think I think what took them over the edge this year, which wasn't last year, their ability to blitz at the right times and their defense has been a much more active defense than it has been in the past.

Chris: Number nine in the league.

Hockey Jesus: I really thought that in past Super Bowls, when I think about the Chiefs, it was about their offense. It was about Mahomes. And it still is, don't get me wrong. But I think their defense made more big plays in this championship than they ever have in the past. And I think that is a testament to the fact that, honestly, they don't have a lot of weapons on offense. They have to dink and dunk. And what did they have, like an 18-play first drive? It was a lot. It was something like that. It's just so boring to watch, but it is effective. I'll give you that. But they're not a very good entertaining team anymore. And to me, I think that might that that could bite them. But of course, they I know you don't want to go here, but I will. The refs are always going to be on their side. You have to beat the refs on top of beating the Kansas City Chiefs. Unless Ed Hockley is the referee in the Super Bowl, because the Eagles are 7-0 with Ed Hockley. Come on, Ed.

Chris: His son. His son. It's Sean Hockley. No, no. It's the old man. No, it's Sean. It's his son.

Hockey Jesus: Whatever. It's Hockley. You know who I'm talking about. Yeah.

Grand Schwalbini: It's all Hockley nowadays. Well, you know, you could say that the game was decided when one referee marked first down and the other referee marked short of the line again. And that was the guy they went with.

Chris: Look, I'm not, I'm not, I am not in denial at all that the chiefs get favorable calls. And one of our best TikTok videos, 23,000 watches, and the most length, the most percentage time watched was the take we had last week where you said that guaranteed there's a discussion. about how to handle calling plays for the Chiefs. I'm not in denial of that. I think that there's definitely, it's almost like an unwritten rule. I don't think there's real conversations, but what I think it is, is they all know throughout the league meetings as the season progresses, what they would like to see. I don't deny that. But at the same time, we talked on the other show, you know, look, they turn the ball over a couple of times and the Eagles go the other way and score. They're going to win. I mean, there's a certain amount of football you can play where if a call goes the wrong way, it may not affect the game. It's just those calls in the late games.

Grand Schwalbini: I mean, it's kind of like when you're playing against the Chiefs. I mean, it's like you're probably better off Throwing a two-yard pass than trying to get a call on a you know first down on a push push Exactly, you know because you're not gonna get that right?

Chris: Well, and this is the thing about the Chiefs the thing about the Chiefs is it's classic and in the Grand Swabini's gonna know this better than anybody because he's been an Eagles fan his entire life and you watched Andy Reid's entire career there in Philly and he was beloved there and he was really good he just he just didn't have the players to get over the hump and and he got lucky with Mahomes, you know?

Grand Schwalbini: I mean, it's really as simple as that. I mean, great coach. He proved it with the Eagles. Great coach. But reality is, is he has no Super Bowls without Pat Mahomes. That's true. It's just as simple as that. And sometimes that's the way it works out. Yep. I mean, you know, for all… That's usually how… Right. You know, I mean, for all we know, Bill Belichick may have won zero Super Bowls without Tom Brady. We're pretty sure of that. Yeah, you know what I mean? Yeah, that's just the way it goes. Sometimes you get that guy.

Hockey Jesus: Yeah, you get the guy and you know how to run the schemes with you.

Chris: And that dink and dunk offense is what is that's Andy Reed's hallmark. That's the way he ran the Eagles offense for the most part with McNabb. And they were always trying to sign the big receiver. They had T.O. the year they went to the Super Bowl. They were always tight end heavy. They used the tight ends a lot. They always used the running backs, screens, check downs. He really hasn't changed his tune that much, but he has been able to adjust to the talent that he has. And even though it's not exciting, the bottom line is if you're a Kansas City fan, every play is exciting. Sure. So I enjoy watching the Chiefs play. I enjoy how he literally chess games that offense down the field. I actually I don't I don't enjoy watching them play at all.

Hockey Jesus: I don't.

Grand Schwalbini: Yeah, I find it to be boring.

Hockey Jesus: I agree. I think they're just like the Steelers offense only That's a tough one. When it comes to making the play, they make the play. Right. That's pretty much what it is. And that's the difference.

Chris: Yeah.

Hockey Jesus: And that's about the only difference.

Chris: All right. Let me get some comments in here real quick. Marvin Hamilton helped us out. I just shared your podcast to a Steelers group. I'm in. You're welcome. Thank you, Marvin. Thank you, Marvin. We appreciate that. John Edberg on YouTube says Spags calls plays never seen before yesterday. Allen admitted he caught him off guard on the last play. Spaggs is just as important as Reed and Mahomes. I would agree.

Hockey Jesus: And Allen, actually, probably that ball should have been caught.

Chris: Yeah, it should have been. That's what Allen should have been. Kincaid? Yeah, it should have been caught. You're absolutely right.

Hockey Jesus: Well, it doesn't matter because there was a flag down. They were ready to call something against the bill. There was no way that was going to be a caught ball.

Chris: Right, right. John Edberg says the refs protect Mahomes, not the team. He is the league franchise. That's probably a bigger part of the conversation. In my opinion, I think they're more looking out for him. Oh, they're definitely looking out for him. but the chiefs of the beneficiary uh… and uh… marvin hamilton says he could never draft a linebacker who we talking about your mark and i don't maybe and by andy reid yeah yeah he was a very good at that yeah yeah well he was an offensive mind you know which kim steeler says mike tomlin one games with an extremely subpar team he gets the best out of guys who may not even start on other clubs look how many guys have left the steelers and completely underperform So, you know, are we going to, are we going to throw this now to the Mike Tomlin conversation? Is that what we should do?

Hockey Jesus: Well, I would like to actually equate what he said about spags, because I think that's more important in that, that does, that does dovetail into the Tomlin conversation dovetail. It does. Because if you think about it, Tomlin needs somebody, supposedly he's the defensive mastermind of this team. I don't believe that, but I think he one time maybe used to be. So when you do that, normal coaches go out and find the best talent for the other side that they don't know well. What did Kansas City do? They went out and got the best guy out there, Spagnolia. And you can see what he did for their defense. And I bet you all the money that I have in the world that he doesn't say this bags. Hey, I want you to run the defense this way. I bet he just lets him run whatever schemes he wants. And whenever he wants to run them, he has full reign to call it whenever he wants it. Yeah. And that's the difference between what Kansas City is doing and what the Steelers are doing now. Do I think Tomlin does get the most out of his players? I agree with Kim there. I think, I think he does, but the reality is he, he, he's, he can't get them to the next level, which is you can get to the playoffs, but once you get to the playoffs, you have to, you have to take it to the next level. There's no next level with Mike Tomlin. He's always at the same level, which is gets the best out of mediocre talent. Maybe he should learn how to draft better and then he could get great talent. So that's the problem with Mike Tomlin. Mike Tomlin just doesn't have the ability to do that and he doesn't want to give it up. So I don't know how you can get better as a franchise when you have that and then on top of that you have the owner saying what a great coach he is. I think we're stuck here for a while.

Chris: Yeah. Let's go back to that in comparison to the Eagles who have Howie Roseman. Now, there's some continuity there, 24, 25 years. But you just look at this last year's signings and drafts. They signed Saquon Barkley. Okay. Saquon Barkley probably could have signed anywhere he wanted to sign. I don't think there's a team out there that wouldn't have taken him if he had showed interest. So you could say that was an easy signing, but it was important, you know, in the beginning of the year.

Hockey Jesus: They went out to get him.

Chris: That's right. In the beginning of the year, I said they're going to go to the Super Bowl because they have Saquon Barkley and they're there. But let's look at the other signings. Zach Bond, defensive player of the year candidate. Where the hell did he come from?

Hockey Jesus: He came from New Orleans, but, but here's a guy who knew that he needed a fast guy, a smart guy, Fangio. Oh, I'm sorry. Fangio. He, he knew that he needed that type of guy. So he went out and got him. That's the guy I need. He's going to be my inside linebacker. And he knew where he was going to fit. Well, and of course he's got some pretty good defensive tackles in front of him. He's not always the only guy that has to make the tackle.

Chris: Three years ago, Jordan Davis, two years ago, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, right? Kobe Dean a couple of years back. Cooper Dejean last year, Quinion Mitchell last year, bringing in a guy like Darius Slay, back end of his career, but the best part about him is probably the knowledge and the mentorship he gives these other guys, plus the way he plays the game. Not to mention, you know, CJ Gardner Johnson bringing him back from Detroit. I mean, that's how a team needs to be run. They talk to the coaches, right? Sirianni, same thing. Sirianni probably says to his defensive coordinator, to Vic Fangio, it's your defense. What do you need? Talk to Howie. What do you need? They do that. The Steelers don't do that. And Jeffrey Lurie, the owner, seemingly don't do that. Laurie reminds me a lot of jack kent cook from the standpoint of that's how he ran the redskins in the 80s He had a general manager and bobby bethard. He had a head coach and joe gibbs gibbs came out of corielle system You know air corielle. He was great with a passing game, but bethard said we need a big offensive line um, I don't remember richie pettybone was a defensive coordinator and they basically said jack kent cook said To Gibbs, you're the head coach. And to Bethard, you're the GM. You guys put the team together the way you want to put it together. If there needs to be a tiebreaker, if you can't agree, come to me. State your case. I'll break the tie. And if I break the tie and it's the wrong decision, I'll own the decision. That's how. And I would assume that Jeff Lurie, maybe they don't have the same setup like that. But he's the kind of guy that says, here are the resources. If you have some real big issues, come to me and I'll settle them. Other than that, you run the franchise. That's what Rooney needs to do. That's what he's not doing.

Hockey Jesus: Actually, you're right about that.

Grand Schwalbini: Actually, you want to know what?

Hockey Jesus: They used to do it that way, by the way.

Grand Schwalbini: I think one of the things that the Eagles actually do well is admit when they make mistakes and try to come back from it. What you actually described, you are correct. It used to be that way, where Lori would be the tiebreaker. And they made some bad decisions that way. Uh, and so after they made some bad decisions, they decided that, you know, it'll be Howie is the tiebreaker.

Chris: Okay. So Laurie was willing to step back and say, I don't want to make these decisions. Right. Exactly.

Grand Schwalbini: Right. Exactly.

Chris: Yeah. I mean, that's, that's, that's the way you do it. So a couple more, uh, conversations, uh, John Edber, Brett Veach is the number one ranked GM. Who is he? Probably Kansas City. Is he the GM in Kansas City? I don't know. Let us know.

Hockey Jesus: Let us know, John. We're kind of clueless on that one.

Chris: Yeah. Marvin Hamilton on Mike Tomlin. He has a staff, but he's in control of too much. He's calling the defense. He says they draft better. He's probably definitely draft the Eagles. Both Ben and Debo. Who's Debo? Samuel. No, Tommy. Yeah.

Hockey Jesus: Debo. You know who he is. He's the guy that you met, and he's got a bald head.

Chris: Oh, James Harrison. Right, right. Both Ben and Debo said Tomlin controls everything. Marvin says we're speaking facts. So, yeah. Now, I did not listen to all of Art Rooney II's speech. Actually, I'm going to be completely honest. I was setting our show up and doing all this. I heard almost none of it. I heard a couple clips from it. Did you, did you Grant Schwabini? I heard a few clips. Okay. And you probably, you probably listened to the whole thing.

Hockey Jesus: Actually, I didn't hear the whole thing, but between the clips and reading about what he said, I pretty much got the gist of it.

Chris: Okay. So give us the gist and then let's, let's go.

Grand Schwalbini: To me, to me, it, it came across as very uninspiring. Yeah. That's what I heard. It just, it was just like, you know, I mean, the only thing that I could say was a positive, unlike his brother, was that he didn't make excuses.

Hockey Jesus: You know, and to that point, the first thing he said was an excuse. He was like, we got to play the cream of the crop. You know, that three game stretch is what he was talking about. He said when we played against the best teams in the league, and clearly he wasn't including the Steelers in that, that best of the league. we basically got our asses handed to us and he was basically complaining about the schedule and complaining about the fact that they had to play such good talent that many games in a row it's the NFL that's just an excuse in my opinion right the other thing he said was. Basically he said Tomlin doesn't win that many games and isn't a good coach so basically he's looking at Tomlin's past record not his most recent record and making that statement so he's judging Tomlin from 18 years ago. as well as he is the past eight years. I think you need to take those two and kind of separate them because, you know, he also said that actions speak louder than words. Well, you know, having a longest playoff drought since Franco's immaculate reception, that should clue you into to say maybe something's actually not going right here. And he said that running the ball is a route to success. Actually, I agree with that. But you also have to have a passing game. He said in the postseason, the priority number one is a quarterback. Makes sense. We'll talk about that in a second. And then the last thing he said, and this is, I think, his best attempt at doing a Tomlin impression, he said, we need to do what we need to do to take that next step.

Grand Schwalbini: He's learned from the best. Which means what?

Hockey Jesus: I mean, when an owner says that, he basically, and he also said that Tomlin's frustrated also, and you know, he wants to do better. I just get so tired of the platitudes and I get tired of the excuses. And you know what? If Tom one's frustrated, why doesn't he fucking do something about it? Yeah. I'm just so tired of hearing the excuses. We haven't been in the Super Bowls for now. All of the fifties. We haven't been that way since we hadn't made the any of the night, the the twenties. The Steelers were in the single digits. They were in the teens. They weren't in the 20s. They were in the 30s, the 40s, and now they're not going to be in the 50s. It's looking like we're not going to be in the Super Bowls in the 60s.

Grand Schwalbini: What the hell are you talking about?

Hockey Jesus: So the Steelers in every decade have been in the fricking Super Bowl, except for, you know, you're talking about this first decade, second decade of the Super Bowl era. That was the only decade.

Chris: Is that what you're counting as the sixties?

Hockey Jesus: The sixties are coming up because this is the last of the fifties. Super Bowl 59 is the last decade of the Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_02: I don't give a fuck about the Super Bowl.

Chris: about anything else i know but i think we really set him off the edge now that's that that's code that's code i didn't realize you were in super bowl code because i feel the same way i am only in super bowl mode it's clear that rooney is only in self-preservation marvin's leaving us he must have something sorry let me get a couple comments in here and then you can continue you actually you need to simmer down a little bit and then uh Give him his annex. I got plenty of that. Chris shot is back to sounds like Russ is gone. Chris, be patient. We're going to get there. John says, yes, that was Kansas City's GM that we didn't realize about that. Look, I, I'm 100% with you. I am, I am very bored, literally bored with the entire, um, you know, feeling of being a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. I'm bored with it because it's, it's obvious. We talked about this. We've been talking about this for years. you will find out who the real mike tomlin is now we may have known we may have seen signs because ben didn't really win a lot in the last five six years of his you know reign here true but you will find out who the real mike tomlin is as a coach when he loses his hall of fame quarterback Because for almost his entire career as a head coach in Pittsburgh, he never had to enter an offensive meeting and wonder anything about his quarterback, except when Ben was hurt. And then there's your excuse. He's hurt. It's next man up. And when he comes back, he comes back. The moment Ben retired and they drafted Kenny Pickett from that moment on, we've been through five different quarterbacks and none of them have looked now. That was the biggest mistake, right? Right. Of course, Kenny Pickett was a huge mistake. So but you still have to use you. This is how you grade him. And so far he's failing, completely failing because he has the last eight years for sure. Well, right. But what I'm saying is on the quarterback side of things now, you know, he's had three years to figure this out and he can't even make a decision as to who to stick with, let alone who to pick, right, who to pick, let alone who to stick with.

Hockey Jesus: And now now we'll get to I think he has in his mind made up his decision.

Chris: I don't think he has to be honest with you. And the reason I say that is that I think he makes a decision, but he always has a backup decision in his head. Well, for sure. And that's a secondary thing where he's like, I'm not sure it's because he's not sure. So Chris sounds like Russ has gone. Just heard Pete Carroll wants him in Vegas. That would be news to me because I thought that they were in contract talks with him. Um, and you keep saying that, but I don't know where your sources are.

Grand Schwalbini: There, there was, there was a, I heard, I heard somebody interview. I heard it, but then I've also heard that they're not anywhere close.

Grand Schwalbini: Right. Yeah. Which is probably what's real.

Chris: And as soon as, as soon as Pete Carroll took the job in Vegas, my, my first thought was that's where Russ is going to go. Bring back the band, of course, as well. And as do you think, where do you think his wife wants to live?

Hockey Jesus: Pittsburgh or Las Vegas? I don't think she wants to live in either of those places.

Chris: Well, I can guarantee you.

Hockey Jesus: Maybe Miami.

Chris: First of all, Las Vegas is a very quick drive from L.A. You can get there in like three and a half hours. I don't think she drives. I don't care. Well, she gets driven or takes a private jet. You get what I'm saying here. Stop trying to be difficult here. Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_04: I'm just, I'm just telling you that, uh, that Wilson is gone. Give Jesus more red wine.

Chris: Uh, yeah, I could use some John. Yeah, really. If I had some, I would give it to you to be honest with you, but I usually carry some with me, but not tonight. So, so, yeah, I have a feeling that Russell Wilson is gone. This is all over media. Do we go with Justin Fields and see if we can, you know, pull something magical out of him? And John brings up an interesting point. And then I love, I love the whole, he can be our bridge quarterback. What does that mean? You know, I mean, we know what it means.

Hockey Jesus: Well, I mean, you have to get bad if you want to get a good quarterback and clearly Tomlin doesn't want to get bad. I get, you know, that's, I think that's the problem with that situation.

Chris: Brad or John says, but without bringing in an innovative offensive coordinator first before bringing in a rookie quarterback will be a mistake.

Hockey Jesus: You know, the other thing we haven't talked about yet, and we should just briefly touch upon this, is the fact that the Steelers still have the least amount of assistant coaches. I just think that they think they're smarter than everybody else, that they don't have to bring in new talent, they don't have to bring in new ideas, that they've got all the right ideas and they don't need to hire more people. It's just noise to them. And good organizations not only bring in new people, but promote new people. And guess what? They end up thriving, and then they end up moving on. And that's why Coach T doesn't have the coaching tree that most coaches who have coached for 18 years have. Because he just doesn't do that. he just thinks he has all the right answers and I don't understand why Rudy doesn't see that. I understand the tradition behind not firing a head coach because it has worked out for the Steelers. Every Steelers head coach In the past, the three that we've had since the Super Bowl era have all won Super Bowls. And but there comes a time when that coach needs to go. And we've reached that time. And I just can't believe that Art Rooney doesn't see it. We need to get terrible, really terrible, and we can turn this thing around in a couple of years. It's been proven that this can happen. I just hope that somebody in management for the Steelers gets the memo.

Chris: I, uh, that you don't even have to get really terrible. They were six and 10 and then they drafted Ben Roethlisberger.

Grand Schwalbini: That's bad, but it's not. I was like, yeah, I was like the 11th pick.

Grand Schwalbini: Like you can get a good quarterback in that range.

Hockey Jesus: He fell to them and that was a really good quarter. Maybe next year's our year.

Chris: And if anybody's wondering why I have the eagle up over here, uh, still, and not the Steelers emblem is because we do a Philadelphia show, the Philadelphia sports porch. If you're a fan there, it's a podcast and it has a YouTube channel and everything. It's on 6 p.m. Eastern time on Monday nights as well, right before this show, but I'm leaving the Eagles up there because they made the Superbowl. I'm not putting the Steelers up there until we come around till next year. Now, uh, it won't be up there all off season for this, but.

Grand Schwalbini: Don't worry.

Hockey Jesus: I agree. I think the Eagles do deserve a little bit of praise on this show because they are becoming a world class organization. And here's the thing that I think about the Eagles. And I'm going to I'm going to talk about Kansas City too in the same breath. I feel like these Philadelphia Eagles are kind of like the Steelers when they were in Super Bowl 40 through 43, 45. They have a really good core of just players who want to play for each other and are pretty talented, and I think that they can win a couple Super Bowls with this team. That's the way I feel about the Eagles team. And I wasn't around to see the Super Steelers of the 70s play, but I think that's who I think of when I think of the Chiefs.

Chris: Well, you were around, you just don't remember.

Hockey Jesus: Yeah, I mean, I remember maybe, you know, the Super Bowls of 79. Yeah, I can remember those. I think that's the way everybody feels about these two teams. Like what the Steelers were in the 70s, the Chiefs are now. And I think the Steelers of the, you know, in Super Bowl 40 through 45, that's the way I feel about the Eagles. So it's hard for me to know who I'm really going to root for because if I think about it, I really liked the Steelers of the 70s because they were just a juggernaut and they were really good. But do I really want to root for the Kansas City Chiefs? I mean, Oh God, that's just, I don't know. So next week I'll give you my opinion on that, but that's where my head's going. When I think about the Superbowl, I think of, I kind of equated the way the Steelers teams were when they were in the Superbowl. But I did, I did like those teams of the, you know, the Ben Roethlisberg era that, that were came up and didn't have the best talent on the, on the field, but they had the right talent, right spots to win games.

Chris: Yeah. See, I think the Eagles have some of the best talent on the field.

Hockey Jesus: Now, I think they're definitely more talented than the Steelers, although that's Antonio Holmes team was pretty talented. Yeah, I mean, I did the beat Arizona.

Chris: I just think if you look at if you look at the Eagles receivers. I think A.J. Brown is on par with Heinz Ward. I think that Saquon Barkley, he's running on another level right now. The bus was great, but he wasn't Saquon Barkley.

Hockey Jesus: No, he wasn't, but he fits in that role.

Chris: Yeah. Now the question will be, and this will be interesting to look up at some point, who's going to have more rushing yards in their career? I think it's going to end up being Saquon Barkley. Oh yeah, probably.

Grand Schwalbini: He might not right now, but he will. Unless he falls off. Right, right. And he doesn't look for injuries.

Chris: address your, your coaches comment. And I was going to say this and Amy takes the words out of my mouth. Rooney is cheap. I, I don't think it's that they think they're better than everybody, which could be part of it because of the pedigree that they liked. You know, this is a good conversation for maybe another show. Are the Steelers starting to lose that pedigree? because I heard some people on sports radio saying the Steelers are the model franchise. They are the face of the NFL, man. You, you go to any, any city in the world and there's a Steelers bar and you know, all the fables about them and everything. And I think for a long time they were, but are they starting to lose that pedigree? Are teams like the chiefs and the Eagles starting to gain that pedigree for a while? New England had it. And then you had some questionable issues with possible cheating and, People don't really like to throw them into the conversation anymore.

Hockey Jesus: I think you're right. I think New England has had it before the Chiefs.

Chris: Right. But I don't think the Steelers necessarily think they're better than anybody. I actually think Rooney is cheap. I think they're cheap. I don't think they want to spend the money. You bring a coach in, he doesn't do the job. You fire him right away to make that change. You still have to pay his contract. So they don't want to pay that money. They don't want that dead money. It's not in the salary cap, but they don't want that dead money. John on YouTube says, it is tied to Tomlin and the Rooney rule. I don't think he will ever be fired. And that's another thing.

Hockey Jesus: Well, no, he won't be fired because of tradition. It won't be out of the Rooney rule, John. The Steelers have this tradition of not firing the head.

Chris: I know, but I think the point he's making is is something that it's almost like kryptonite. It's kind of like, you know, the Rooney rule is the rule that says, obviously, that they have to they have to interview coaches of color. in order, and they have to have a diverse candidate field. And that the fact that Mike Tomlin is a blackhead coach, they don't want to fire him because it would look bad because they're the ones that instituted it. I think that's the point he's trying to make.

SPEAKER_04: I think there's something behind that.

Hockey Jesus: Honestly, I do. I think there's some pride in Rooney doing what he did when he hired Tomlin for sure. Right. And I don't have a problem with it because Tomlin was a good coach back then. But like all good coaches and John asked the question, how do the Steelers get the pedigree back? They have to relinquish new control of the team. Yeah. Art Rooney, the second has to pass it down to the next generation. Art, the second was the third generation. We need a fourth generation Steeler coach. I mean, owner that picks a new coach and then we get better. But guess what? We have to get worse before we get better. Having Tomlin in there just perpetuates mediocrity. The only way you get better in this league is by going two and fifteen, three and fourteen, maybe even, you know, well, now you could go seven and ten. you know, maybe, I mean, we do have, we do play against the Browns twice. So, I mean, you know, that kind of, that kind of works against us from getting too bad.

Chris: It's, it's, it's a sad state of affairs when you're like, unfortunately, there's going to be two victories. Most likely.

Hockey Jesus: But yeah, I think that's how we get better, John. We got to get new ownership, then we got to get new leadership, and then we got to suck, and then we'll get better. That's the way it's always happened.

SPEAKER_04: You heard it from the genius.

Hockey Jesus: That's true.

Chris: That's the way it's always happened with the Steelers organization. We got to get new leadership, and then we got to suck. That's how we get better.

Hockey Jesus: It's true though. Jeff's right that, that they're never going to buy out his contract. They don't want to buy out his contract. They want him as the head coach, Jeff. They're, they're, they're not even considering buying out his contract. Go, go and listen to that, that Rooney interview. I think it was on the fan. Most of it, you can find it anywhere. You can find it. There's a lot of, there's a lot of writing about it right now. We're just talking about it.

Grand Schwalbini: It's just a lot of nothing.

Grand Schwalbini: Yeah.

Grand Schwalbini: To be honest.

Chris: Yeah. Well, boys, uh, we wasted a lot of time. We did. I don't think it was wasted time. I think it was good conversation. So you can always follow us on YouTube. Go there right now. If you're not on YouTube and follow us at the sports, sports podcasts, and also follow our Twitter feed. We get a lot of listeners and a lot of viewers there. We are live all over the world right now on Facebook, YouTube X and Instagram. Thanks everybody for being there. Kim Steel, Kim Steelers on Instagram says, I live in Tucson. I only get to road games. The amount of Steelers fans on the road is massive and we still have that pride. Now give us number seven. So that's what we're hoping they have something about in the next couple of years. Absolutely. And I'm going to drop the podcast right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, Spotify or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts. Uh, boys, it's been a long time, uh, during the show here. So, uh, I'm thinking maybe you guys, uh, we need to eat. You guys might be a little hungry.

SPEAKER_08: Well, that music means that it's one time and one time only and that is Trader Joe's snack time. What is that? Trader Joe's snack time? Well,

Chris: Trader Joe's, I work down at Trader Joe's in East Liberty, stop on down most days from one to nine. I am there slinging frozen food back into the freezers and you can stop over and say hi. And what I do is I bring home a Trader Joe's product. We try it. We give our honest opinion. Trader Joe's is not paying us for this sponsorship, so it's not a paid sponsorship, but they did give me permission. to do it. I don't know why to be honest with you, but, uh, well, cause you buy their stuff. I do. I, they pay me and then I give them the money right back.

Grand Schwalbini: They figured it's a free, they figured it's a free advertisement. It's like the company store.

Chris: Yeah. It really is. Everybody there works and then they buy food and they go home. Um, we do get a nice discount though. So, um, this week it is Portuguese donuts with a chocolate hazelnut filling. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: It looks like a hamburger.

Chris: When I first saw it, I thought it was a hamburger, honest to God.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it looks like a hamburger.

Chris: Yeah, but it's a dessert.

SPEAKER_04: It's a dessert. Chris, we'll address if the pens are cooked while we're eating.

Chris: Yeah, we will. So I've tried them. I'm not going to tell you what I thought. It looks good. You basically thaw them out.

Hockey Jesus: They have a hazelnut filling. I mean, it looks like a donut hole with fillings in it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: I mean, it looks pretty good. They do sell very well. Delicious. Smells like a donut. Oh yeah. I forgot how good these were.

Grand Schwalbini: It's like a chocolate eclair.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's pretty good. Yeah.

Grand Schwalbini: They're in the frozen section. What's it called again?

Hockey Jesus: These are not frozen. No, they're thawed. It does look like a hamburger, you people at home. They're thawed. I'm not, I'm not lying about this. So these are really big in Portugal.

Chris: I don't know if they are or not. I just know they're Portuguese donuts.

Hockey Jesus: They must be big in Portugal. I mean, they would call them Portuguese donuts if they weren't big in Portugal.

Chris: Let's see the country of origin. Sometimes it tells us where they're from. A product of Portugal.

Hockey Jesus: All right. We're just going to jump into some pens talk here because I can't wait.

Chris: Okay. So while we're eating to my left in the studio, we don't want to take the Trader Joe's takeout song. Now we're just going to jump right in. Okay. Let's do some comments here real quick. Bring me one home, says Amy.

Hockey Jesus: Bring one now. You'll like it, Amy.

Chris: Hj, are the pens cooked? uh plus please elaborate on the proposed pen sale i saw on instagram by the fenway uh group selling the pens that is so to my left in the studio over here is hockey jesus and he preaches on the podcast after every single penguins game you can follow him on the sports sports podcast or on youtube at sports sport at the sports sports podcast. Hockey Jesus pontificates, gives his sermons after every single Penguins game. And I'm just going to let Hockey Jesus take it from here. Go for it, Hockey Jesus.

Hockey Jesus: All right. The Pens are currently in a seven game road trip. And before last week, when we were when we when we were around, they were one in one. They started off one and one, but they headed to the West Coast and they started out with a win at Los Angeles, which is shocking because Los Angeles doesn't give up a lot of goals. Penn scored five goals, looked great in the game. And I was like, OK, this is a good this is a good start to the West Coast. And then they immediately lost Anaheim and Seattle. Right. So, Chris, to answer your question, just flat out, yes, the pens are cooked. Because at this point, they're running out of runway to be able to get points. They got to jump over five or six teams, if not more. They really needed to go six and one on this trip. And by already losing three of the games, it's impossible. Best they can do is go four and three, and that doesn't get them anywhere. They do have four more games before they play in the four nations tournament. But right now you're going to start seeing people being sold off. Pedersen will be probably the first one sold off. I don't know if they're going to get rid of Raquel, but that's the other guy to look for.

Chris: I've heard I've heard that that's he's on the table.

Hockey Jesus: Yeah, not officially. Well, I mean, and so there's there's two other things. This this cell of the Fenway Sports Group. The Fenway Sports Group, this is the first time they bought a franchise that actually has a salary cap instituted in it. All their other teams really don't. The Boston and they have an English team, Liverpool. They own the Celtics? Do they know? No, no, no, they don't. They, they just own a Boston, the Red Sox, the Red Sox, no salary cap in baseball, no salary cap in baseball. And, uh, uh, Liverpool team. I don't know anything about soccer or football in, in Europe, but, uh, from what I understand, there's no salary cap there. So I think they're struggling with, uh, how to handle the salary cap. I don't think they understand it. And I think they thought that they could just go buy all the great players and it would be okay.

Chris: let me interrupt you with a real question if I could.

Hockey Jesus: Yep.

Chris: How much did they pay for the penguins? What was there?

Hockey Jesus: There's, there's, there's no figure that was ever, never devolved.

Chris: What's been bandied about?

Hockey Jesus: Uh, probably 750 million.

Chris: Okay.

Hockey Jesus: So that's a guess, right?

Chris: So you own the Boston Red Sox or your majority owner anyway. Yeah. They're a franchise. It's gotta be worth a billion dollars at least. You own a European soccer team. Right. Probably most of those guys are worth a billion dollars more than that. You're going to buy a hockey team in Pittsburgh. And you're going to spend 700 million dollars, supposedly. and you're not going to research how to manage the salary cap?

Hockey Jesus: Well, they're not the only owners. They're just the majority. I understand.

Grand Schwalbini: By the way, Fenway Sports Group bought the Penguins for $900 million.

Hockey Jesus: Okay, $900 million, so it's more than I thought, but in the neighborhood.

Grand Schwalbini: A billion dollars.

Hockey Jesus: Well, I guess, I guess the point they do, they do outright own the penguins. So that's the, that's the whole enchilada, right?

Chris: So, but, but what you're saying is you're saying you think they're having problems with understanding the salary.

Hockey Jesus: Well, and I think the other thing is they, they, they're, they're, this is a way to get out. They, they said that they don't want somebody to buy the whole team. They just want minority interest in it. So that means they want to, they want somebody to come in who knows hockey to maybe put in $200 million, I'm just making up a number. And then eventually learn it and just continue to buy it back from them. Because they think they want to back out of hockey. I just don't think they understand the model. And they recognize that the franchise they bought is going this way instead of going this way. So maybe they bought in at the wrong time. Speculation on my part. But They're we're in a situation in Pittsburgh now where we're going down and we need to come back up. I think they would have rather bought somebody on the way up and you know, been able to, you know, be champions right off the bat.

Chris: All right. So let me, let me throw this out there.

Hockey Jesus: Well, one more thing.

Chris: Okay.

Hockey Jesus: Uh, Chris Chada, uh, Pickering was demoted. Um, but I think there's something else going on there because, um, Gino got injured. So they had to bring up, uh, Obama, this, this 28 year old was Obama. No, it's not Obama. Isn't he dating Jennifer Aniston now? Uh, keep that to yourself.

Chris: Yeah.

Hockey Jesus: Um, and, uh, he doesn't want to, I will. And, uh, so, so they had to send somebody down. They had, they had to get rid of somebody. They sent him down. And the other thing too, is with this four nations tournament coming up, also Owen Pickering's minutes were coming down. He needs to play 25, 23, 24 minutes a game. He had only been playing like 17 minutes a game. That's not enough for him. He needs to be playing. He needs to be playing big minutes. So they sent him down to the baby pens. And actually, I think at first I was really pissed off because I love Pickering. If you if you listen to my my podcast, if you listen to me on YouTube, you know how much I like going Pickering. I think he was a good guy to keep up here. But if they're not going to play him on the first or second line, they're going to play him with. a P. O. J. I agree. Send him down. Let him play with the guys down there. And from what I understand, the baby pens are actually doing really well. They're challenging Hershey, who's a juggernaut, one back to back Calder cups to for the division title down there. So And with the four nations tournament coming up, they would have sent him down anyways to play down there for two weeks. So they're just sending him down a little bit early. I bet after, I bet you'll see him come back up after they trade Patterson and he'll be the guy who comes back up and either plays with, uh, with, uh, Carl's, uh, with Carlson or with Latang on the first two lines. So it is a demotion, but I understand why they did it. And I think that was, that was, that was actually a good thing for him. He'll be back up. Don't worry. He's, he's definitely one of the guys. He's definitely the future of, of the Pittsburgh Penguins for sure.

Chris: Okay. So I want to unpack this, uh, potential minority sale of the penguins. Yes. And I want to throw out an idea. Oh, the Boston Celtics are owned by their fans. Well, do you know the Boston Celtics are up for sale? Like I said, the Boston Celtics are owned by their fans. The green Bay Packers are owned by their fans. Why don't we start a GoFundMe and see how much money we can get. to buy a minority interest in the, I'm not kidding. I know you're not kidding. I know you're not a grassroots go fund me. guaranteed if we can't get it, you get your money back. You get your money back.

Hockey Jesus: This is not a Bitcoin scheme. No, not at all. Okay, good. I'm just, I'm saying people know.

Chris: Okay. So what are the options? Think about this. Okay. Yeah. A few years back. Now this is, this is hyperbole by me because I don't know all the facts. Sure.

Grand Schwalbini: So stick with me. Don't correct me. You're going hyperbole.

Chris: I'm not going to let you go. I'm going, I'm not going on a monopoly. I'm going hyperbole. Okay. Um, A few years back, metaphor, there was a problem. There was a problem with the penguins, and it was very possible they were going to leave more than a few years. But yes, right, right. Well, a few denotes more than two or four. Whatever. Longer. Okay. So Fenway Sports Group comes in and buys them.

Hockey Jesus: They tank. Well, no, Mario saved them.

Chris: I know.

Hockey Jesus: And then, then Mario sold the Fenway Sports Group.

Chris: Right. Yeah. What I'm saying is fast forward. Like I said, don't correct me. Just let me roll with it. There's some important. Well, there's details, but, but it's not as important as what I'm, what I'm saying. Okay. What I'm saying is Fenway, they tank. Let's, let's say they, let's say they tank for a few years. I think that threat comes back. The possibility of keeping the penguins here would be almost cemented if you had fan ownership. Like the Green Bay Packers are not going anywhere ever because their fans won't sell out. They just won't. There will never be fans of the Green Bay Packers.

Grand Schwalbini: If everybody puts the money in our GoFundMe, does that make the three of us like the stakeholder owners?

Chris: Yeah. Well, those are details. What I'm saying is that, right, maybe we can noodle it out. There's some portion of your donation that becomes, because we're in charge of it, that becomes our ownership percentage. You have to pay the administrators. Right.

SPEAKER_04: Well, here's what I'm going to propose to you.

Hockey Jesus: I know nothing about finance. I know nothing about how to raise $900 million.

Chris: You were willing to bet all of the money in your life on something.

Hockey Jesus: It's significantly less than $900 million.

Grand Schwalbini: But you can design blinds.

Hockey Jesus: I used to be able to design blinds. And ladders. Thank you. I can take you to the next level on a ladder. I can't take it to the next level with $900 million. But if you think this can work, I'm all for it. Because I love the idea of the Pittsburgh community owning the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Chris: Yeah, I say we have discussions about it. Let's get the Aesop forums ready. And Mark, obviously, is an expert on government forms.

Hockey Jesus: So the Pittsburgh Penguins, in summary, are cooked. Chris wants to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins with a GoFundMe account for $900 million. I'm thinking about it. And we got Jeff in for $20 already, so we're off to a flying start.

Chris: Oh, and this would be a better plan for the Pirates as Mike Lawrence, but unfortunately, Nutting is not going to be willing to do that. Now, Jeff does realize that I have these big words I learned at Drexel. Actually, it's not me, Jeff. It's Mark. He learned the words on the monopia.

Grand Schwalbini: Can you spell it? Sure.

Chris: Go ahead. I won't. All right, there you have it. Hockey Jesus on the podcast. You can follow Hockey Jesus on the Penguins. The Penguins play tonight in San Jose. 10.30, I know. Hockey Jesus on YouTube at the Sports Sports Podcast. And if you want to listen to him right after the Penguins game or sometimes the next morning, if it's a West Coast game.

Hockey Jesus: I have been slacking. It's true.

Chris: I would encourage you, of course, to listen to the podcast and subscribe. But I would also got to tell you, if you go to YouTube and you watch, you got to check out the digs that Hockey Jesus has going on. He set up his own studio and it's looking mighty fine.

Hockey Jesus: Yeah, I love the video analysis. Yeah, I totally love that.

Grand Schwalbini: I like the sign. Yeah, behind it. Yeah, there's always a different message with each game.

Hockey Jesus: Yeah, yeah. My last one was Penn's season over. I had a question mark, but we all knew what I meant.

Chris: Chris Chatta, yeah, we addressed that back in the day. Lemieux did swoop in and buy the pens to save them. So, okay, Mark, if you're watching live all over the world on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, or you're listening on RadioPGH at RadioPGH.com, or you're catching us on the podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcasts, We've got something that we love to do. We really enjoy it. I'm going to let Mark explain what it is. The Grand Schwabini is going to tell us what what we're watching really means.

Grand Schwalbini: What it means is… Have you ever been looking for something to watch and you can't come up with something? There's too many channels, too many choices. Netflix, HBO Max, Apple TV Plus, Hulu, Freebee, Tubi. booby, booby and movie. Yeah. Uh, so the last few were made up, but you get the idea. You know, you scroll, you watch trailers and before you know it, 45 minutes goes by and it's time for bed and you wasted your evening. No more, no more. We're here to help. We're here to save you in good and bad ways. We will tell you what is worth watching. We will tell you what you should avoid watching.

Grand Schwalbini: Yeah.

Chris: And here we go. Yeah. We save people in good and bad ways. Yeah. What's the bad way you save somebody? They die anyway.

Grand Schwalbini: No, they keep, they can avoid a horrible watching experience. That's okay.

Chris: There it is. And the only qualifications are that you have to finish, we have to have finished the season that we're in. So the show can have 10 seasons, um, and you can finish season three and then give a review, but you can't be halfway through season four and give a review. Correct. Or you have to finish the entire documentary or movie if it's a one one shot deal. If you walked out of the movie, there's no reason to give a review, but you got to suffer through it if it's bad. So you have to finish what you're watching. So this week we're going to start with H.J. because he didn't have one and I'm just really fucking happy he's not reviewing Survivor. Don't worry, it's coming back soon.

Grand Schwalbini: You don't have anything this week? No, no, he does.

Hockey Jesus: This isn't the one that I was going to do. This is one that I finished instead because it was so good.

Chris: He didn't have one the week before either. He went two weeks. It was a two week drought. So Steve, you are watching, this is on Netflix. Yes, I'm watching The Diplomat. Right.

Hockey Jesus: This is now you want one season or two season two that I want. So you're you're up to date. I am up to date. I'm fully I finished season two. I just finished it tonight before I came here. So I can give the review. For those of you who don't know about this show. This is starring Keri Russell. Felicity. She plays Kate Wyler. She's a diplomat that basically she's in the London branch and there's all kinds of intrigue and national crises that are going on. And at the end of the last one, there was a bomb that blew up. So they kind of had to figure out who survived that and who didn't survive that. There was a lot of fallout from that, but As the season went on, they brought in Allison Janney. You remember her from the West Wing? Yeah, she she plays the vice president. So the vice president comes in and there's some something happened with a ship, a British ship that got blown up ship. And there's all kinds of speculation as to who did it, whether it was the Russians that did it or maybe it was somebody else. So you find out. But how you find out is actually really great. And then in the last episode, you're like, OK, they're finally going to get this person. And then it goes like this room and you're back where you have no idea what just happened at the very end. And at the very end, you're just like, Oh my God, did that just really happen? Yeah. It's one of those. Have you ever had one of those cliffhanger endings where it's just like you have, you're like, Oh my God, they're going to end it like that. Now, clearly there has to be a season three because it ends so ridiculous.

Chris: Oh my God, did that just really happen is the feeling I had when I married my first wife. Throwing that out there. I know how it feels.

Grand Schwalbini: I saw it. I saw it. I like it. I think it's good. I think that the one thing I would say about the diplomat is, you know, it's not like a, um, it's not, it's not a lot of, it's, there's not a lot of violence. Well, to me, It's almost too conversational. Yeah. It's like you really have to pay attention. Yes. You know, it's not an easy watch. You have to be thinking. So that kind of takes it down a notch for me.

Hockey Jesus: I agree. It's not like the Captain Avenger movie where something blows up in your face. It's more like they talk about what happened.

Grand Schwalbini: Right, exactly. Who knows what and who's doing some sort of underling kind of thing.

Hockey Jesus: Yeah, you have to figure out where does that guy work? Does he work for the Britons or does he work for the Americans?

Chris: Right. I watched the first few episodes of the diplomat season one and I'm kind of stuck with it because a I'm I get very distracted by Keri Russell To be honest with you. She's gorgeous Yeah, I know I know there's something else really sexy about her and distract she's special and then the dialogue to me she is special to me is It's tough. It's tough. It is. I'm not saying it's not well written and I'm not saying that I, I do like shows that have complicated dialogue yet.

Hockey Jesus: I think it's out of West wing. I think it's, it's, it's, it's that type of, that's, it's that type of show. Yeah. So I think that's why they're bringing in actors from the West wing and in season three they're bringing in Bradley Whitford also.

Chris: I remember him. So, H.J. is watching The Diplomat. He finished season two. Is there a season three? There is going to be a season three.

Hockey Jesus: They haven't filmed it yet.

Chris: Alright. The Grand Schwabini has switched over to Hulu lately, and he is watching something. I've seen some trailers for this. and I'm kind of interested. Paris Has Fallen, right?

Grand Schwalbini: Yep, on Hulu, yeah. And this is actually, it is a part of that movie series. Okay.

Hockey Jesus: Oh, okay. This is older, isn't it?

Grand Schwalbini: No, this is this year.

Hockey Jesus: Oh, okay.

Grand Schwalbini: Yeah, this is this year.

Hockey Jesus: But Paris Has Fallen isn't that like a movie from, like,

Grand Schwalbini: No, no, I mean, I forget what all the Fallen movies were, but like they Gerard Butler's in them.

Hockey Jesus: Yeah, yeah.

Grand Schwalbini: The White House has fallen or something or, you know, America's fallen. Pelican has fallen or something.

Grand Schwalbini: London.

Chris: Yeah, something like that has fallen. Help, I've fallen and I can't get up.

Grand Schwalbini: But, you know, look, the bottom line is. The bottom line is it's, you know, it involves, it involves terrorism, which I always enjoy watching.

Grand Schwalbini: Oh, yeah. Drugs.

Grand Schwalbini: You know, no, no drugs.

Grand Schwalbini: No drugs in this one.

Grand Schwalbini: But terrorism, you know, being captured, you know, captured, torture, getting back at the government and basically Paris You know, you're in danger. It could be a dirty bomb going off. Yeah. And then there's two in that, you know, screenshot there. They got to save the day. And they do.

Grand Schwalbini: Right.

Grand Schwalbini: Well, I'm not going to let you know.

Grand Schwalbini: I'm not going to I'm not going to spoil it. We shall see. It looked like the Eiffel Tower was on fire.

Grand Schwalbini: This is essentially what it was. I forget if it was eight or ten episodes, just one season.

Hockey Jesus: The Diplomat was only six, by the way.

Grand Schwalbini: Yeah, they did set it up for a second season, and they said indications are that it'll be renewed. It'll be not in Paris, though, in a different place where they kind of set it up for it. The bottom line is, like, eight to ten episodes, pure action, lot of fun, just enjoyable watching. You know, is it the greatest thing in the world? No, but it was clever and it was fun and it was great.

Chris: The only dirty bomb I've ever experienced is the one Mark leaves in the bathroom before he comes into the studio. That was inappropriate and disgusting.

Grand Schwalbini: Yeah, it is. Your bathroom has fallen. Is that going to be next? Bathroom has fallen.

Grand Schwalbini: Powder Room has fallen.

Grand Schwalbini: The basement has fallen. The studio has fallen. All right, that's enough.

Grand Schwalbini: Now, what kind of annoying documentary are you going to bring us today?

Chris: Let's go. Paris has fallen on Hulu. Schwaber gives it a thumbs up. I have watched a documentary, but I'm not bringing that up. I am going to go here. You just said something like, it's a great watch, but it's not the greatest thing I've ever watched kind of thing. I'm going to tell you right now, I watched on Netflix the single greatest show I've ever watched in my life. Squid games? No. now survive I'm I'm have we watched it I don't believe you have if you have I would be I'm surprised. Better than Narcos. And it's going to be because it's coming after the better than Peaky Blinders on on one shot movie check out the six triple eight on Netflix WW two black. I saw that it was good. We're sent to Europe damn huge troop male black Mail back log, lots of racial hate from white military. Oh, I didn't see that. It was, it was really good. I enjoyed it. Okay. Thanks for that, Mike. Appreciate it. Thanks, Mike. Yeah. All right. I watched, here's the thing. I watch it. My wife was out of town from Monday to, uh, or no, I don't, I don't even remember when she got back.

Grand Schwalbini: It's really important when she got back.

Chris: But my point is this, I watched it, I started watching it one day before work, and 24 hours later I had watched all six episodes. It's only six episodes? It's like a city episode.

Grand Schwalbini: So it's a limited series.

Chris: It's a limited series.

Grand Schwalbini: And it's the best thing you've ever watched in your life. I'm telling you, it's the best show I've ever seen. Peaky Blinders, not as good as.

Chris: Better than Peaky Blinders.

Grand Schwalbini: Not as good as Ozark. Better than Ozark. Better than Ozark.

Chris: Better than Breaking Bad. Better than Breaking Bad. Yeah, and part of the reason that it is,

Grand Schwalbini: I'm telling you right now.

Hockey Jesus: I know, you're really hyping this up.

Chris: Part of the reason, I know I'm taking a big risk here. Yes, you are. But part of the reason it's better than all of those is because it's a limited series and there's no, there's no question it's got a beginning, a middle, and an end, and there's no room for anything else. I smell fool's gold. Not at all. American Prime Evil.

Hockey Jesus: Oh, this is on my list. On Netflix. Yes, good. So this is next on my list.

Chris: Stars Taylor Kitsch, who is that guy- I like that guy. I don't know. Yeah, from Friday Night Lights. This show is about, it is a historical drama based on real life historical figures, but what they do is they add in a fake storyline so they can show the whole thing. It is about a woman who is traveling from Philadelphia to a city in some part of Utah through the Rocky mountains to take her young boy to see his father. She has to take wagon trains. It's an 1857 set in Utah. The governor of Utah at the time was Brigham young, right? And at that time, Utah was a territory and Brigham Young was basically at war with the U.S. government because Mormons were being persecuted.

Hockey Jesus: They got kicked out of Iowa.

Chris: That's right. And he wanted to establish a Mormon stronghold. I believe that John Smith, who was the founder of the Latter Day Saints, recently had been assassinated. I don't know how much before 1857 that was. I don't know. But because of that, Brigham Young, who became governor of Utah, was kind of on a tear. He wanted to get rid of the Indians. I'm sorry, the Native Americans. It was horrible. It's not horrible. They were they were Indians. And there's a reason they were called Indians, because Christopher Columbus used a Portuguese word that actually had Indian. Don't bring Portugal into it. Anyway. Yeah. So what it focuses on is the dichotomy of the settlers who had to travel through Utah, the Mormons who were going to Utah, the Native Americans who were fighting the invading U.S. Army, the Mormons who had their own militia who were also fighting the U.S. Army, and all of the backstabbing and stuff, and the story of this woman and why she had to go through Fort Bridger and Utah and Taylor Kitsch and how she meets up with him. Sounds like too much to fit into six episodes. Dude, I'm telling you right now. First of all, they fit it in. They fit it in perfectly. It has twists and turns and surprises that you never, never fucking see coming. Well, cinematography, I've never seen cinematography like this.

Grand Schwalbini: And how would I see anything coming if they're on a wagon? We've never been on a wagon for Christ's sake.

Chris: So it's so or in the 1870s. Listen, guys, look, if you're not a Western person, then you're probably already going to be like, I don't like Westerns. So I like a good Western, good Westerns. Good. I get that. But I it's by Peter Berg, who also did Friday Night Lights. I think it was his brother who wrote the book Friday Night Lights. Peter Berg is in it. He plays a character in it. I won't tell you who it is. He does a bring him young father. No, he doesn't play bring him young. He does, he does an incredible job. Look, top to bottom cinematography, writing, realism. Um, uh, it, it, it was American history. It was truly the greatest show I've, I've watched so far. Just in your life, in my life. I'm not kidding. I will. I, I, after the first episode, I was like, at the end of the first episode, two words came out of my mouth. Holy shit. And then I was like, I'm, I'm watching this till it's over. And I just binged it all the way until I leave for work, go to work, come home, get something to eat, binged it, finished it. And, and thinking to myself, I think this might be all the way up until the very last scene where I was like, yep, definitely never lose.

Grand Schwalbini: I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what though. I'm really proud of you. Thank you. Um, because you know, you're, you're watching has been so Just subpar, you know, you know, documentary after documentary, just continuing to watch what you know over and over and over again. Jerry Springer filth. Yeah. You know, you like Jerry Springer.

Hockey Jesus: I know, but you know what you're getting there. You know what you're getting. You went out on the limb and you scored.

Grand Schwalbini: Yeah. You had an imagination. You went for adventure.

Grand Schwalbini: I commend you. Oh, thank you.

Chris: Congratulations.

Grand Schwalbini: Well done.

Chris: Hopefully you'll watch it and agree with me. I will watch it. Hopefully you'll watch it and agree with me. It's on my list. I'm definitely watching it. I'll put it on the list. Sure. There you go. All right, everybody. Add it to your list. That's it, guys. American Prime Evil on Netflix, the greatest show you will ever watch, I promise you that.

Grand Schwalbini: And that's it for the Sports Sports back and go to Disney.

Chris: Get on out there and follow us at the Sports Sports Podcast on YouTube. For Hockey Jesus, for the Grand Shawbini, I am your technical director, and I am out.

Grand Schwalbini: You're goddamn right, I'm Heisenberg. Jablonsk. Jablonsk.