Are the Pirates Real Pretenders? + Penguins 2026 Draft Deep Dive

Unknown Speaker (0:00): They are.

Unknown Speaker (0:00): 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. Yes.

Hockey Jesus (0:28): It does. The Sports Porch Black and Gold. Here we are once again on the porch. Me, your TD, all over the world. I've got Hockey Jesus coming to us from the Greenfield porch.

Hockey Jesus (0:42): Mike McCarthy's backyard, actually. You guys, I hear, are best friends.

Unknown Speaker (0:47): Yeah. Right it's right through that window right there.

Hockey Jesus (0:49): There you go. And down below me from the nether regions of Northern Allegheny County.

Unknown Speaker (0:57): He likes to call it Otherwise known as Fox Chapel.

Hockey Jesus (1:01): Exactly. The Grand Grand Schwabini. Welcome back to the porch. Join the conversation. We wanna hear from you.

Hockey Jesus (1:11): You can subscribe on YouTube. If you're watching right now at the Sports Porch podcast, you can email the show, OGSportsPorch@Gmail.com. You can visit our website, theporcheslive.com. The little ticker says for more black and gold coverage because AI suggests that I put it there, but this all applies. It all applies.

Hockey Jesus (1:32): And we were having an interesting conversation right before the show involving some marketing plans for the future.

Unknown Speaker (1:42): Definitely going to change the show.

Hockey Jesus (1:45): Yeah. Not not the least of which is the better. Yes. Not the least of which is that you could see we're remote tonight. We're redoing the studio.

Hockey Jesus (1:55): We're gonna debut it probably the first preseason game, but we're really excited about it. And, you know, that's that's what it's all about. That's what it's all about. So what do we wanna talk about first tonight, guys? Well, we we just wanna go to the World Cup because I I I gotta tell you, my my wife and I went down to DC this past weekend.

Hockey Jesus (2:18): We went we stayed in Pentagon City. Have you guys ever stayed there?

Unknown Speaker (2:21): No. I never never stayed in Pentagon City. No.

Grand Schwabini (2:24): I would imagine it's it's where the Pentagon is.

Hockey Jesus (2:27): Very good. You are an astute geographer. Yes. You are. I'm on

Unknown Speaker (2:31): the other side of the river. I'm next level.

Hockey Jesus (2:34): Yeah. You are next level because even I didn't realize it because as I drove down there, we rounded the corner. I went, oh my god. There's the Pentagon.

Unknown Speaker (2:43): There it is.

Unknown Speaker (2:43): So Right.

Unknown Speaker (2:44): All the secrets are kept.

Hockey Jesus (2:46): Anyway, we we had the opportunity to partake of some of the restaurants down there, and, the World Cup was on. This is what is this is what astonished me. We we went to Hell's Kitchen, Gordon Ramsey's restaurant, one of the Hell's Kitchen restaurants at the Wharf Of The Potomac, the Potomac Wharf or something. It's over in DC or close to DC. Don't I don't remember.

Hockey Jesus (3:06): Don't want to offend anybody, but, anyway, as we were leaving the restaurant, it was a little bit later at night. They had big screens set up along the wharf. The World Cup games were on. There were hundreds of people watching each game. It it really was impressive to me that so many now.

Hockey Jesus (3:24): Of course, the DC area super diverse. People from all nationalities, very transient, so you're going to naturally have bigger crowds when you have this kind of international event, but it it was really impressive to see how these people, how they competed and they cheered and they they enjoyed themselves. It wasn't all that, you know, ruckus that you hear about happening over, you know, over in Europe or in other countries when a team loses and they burn down the stadium. You know, they were they were they were having a good time, and and and my wife and I decided to watch parts of some games. And I'll tell you, it it actually is more exciting than you think.

Hockey Jesus (4:03): If for those of you who are kinda like soccer, think it's more exciting than you think. Have you guys watched anything? Mean, watched who did I text you guys about? Colombia and Portugal. Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (4:16): Colombia and Portugal. They played to a zero zero tie. And then what was Congo and Uzbekistan, Congo made the the the round of 32 for the first time ever, and they were so happy. So I mean, was it was great.

Unknown Speaker (4:34): Yeah. And you know who they get to play in the knockout round? England. So congratulation, Congo. You made it to the knockout round.

Unknown Speaker (4:43): You get to play England.

Unknown Speaker (4:45): Yeah. It's kinda like

Unknown Speaker (4:45): it's kinda like Sugar Ray Leonard going up against Mike Tyson.

Grand Schwabini (4:50): I I gotta be honest with you. I'm still pretty much out on the World Cup.

Unknown Speaker (4:56): I've tried. Watching golf?

Unknown Speaker (4:58): No. I mean, I've tried. I've tried. Well, golf

Unknown Speaker (5:01): golf is hard.

Grand Schwabini (5:03): I watched, I watched the, The USA Turkey A, the changed

Unknown Speaker (5:08): name of Turkey. Yeah.

Grand Schwabini (5:11): I watched the second half of that, and, you know, look. I mean, there's some good chances, but, you know, in the end, I was just kinda like, you know, I think the difference is the difference is with the exception of the teams in Europe who have, you know, all of their football soccer leagues. Right? Right. With the exception of those countries, this is the only thing these countries have to cheer about.

Grand Schwabini (5:37): It it's almost like Yeah. Imagine if the entire United States only cheered for the Steelers, and that was it. No hockey, no baseball, no basketball, no volleyball, nothing. Just steelers, the entire US Of A. That's why it's that exciting to them.

Grand Schwabini (5:57): And the reason why it's not as exciting to us Americanos is because we have a million things to cheer for before that, and that's just the way it is.

Unknown Speaker (6:09): Sorry. There's absolutely some truth there. The other thing too is, like, all the stars over in over in Europe that play in the Premier League mostly, they're on all different teams. It's like if you like if you like a guy who plays for Man City, and I'm not gonna know the names, I'm I'm not that big of a fan, but if you have a star and and he's playing for, like, take Ronaldo for example, you know, I think he plays for Portugal. And, you know, whatever team he plays for, everybody from that team not only is rooting probably for England, but they're also rooting, you know, for Ronaldo to do well, you know, or at least not get hurt.

Unknown Speaker (6:46): So I mean, they it's like a you get you get the root for two different things. So to me, that that's why it's so great because you essentially even if you're not interested in Portugal, for example, you're interested in the player. Like, everybody is interested in more in the player, I think, than you are in the teams. And that's the way it was. That's the way it is in the Olympics for me.

Unknown Speaker (7:05): Like, you know, when I'm watching Sidney Crosby, like, am I rooting for Canada? No. Not really. I'm I'm really rooting for The USA. But I like this watch Sidney Crosby play because clearly he's a superstar and he's on my favorite team, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Unknown Speaker (7:20): So I think that's also a play in this and the fact that they only do it, what, every six years, I think? I don't I'm not exactly sure on that. But it's a long time in between World Cups. So so it's like it doesn't happen very often. Like if if if a player is in the World Cup like three times, it's like an amazing feat.

Unknown Speaker (7:39): So I think there's that too, the rarity of the tournament also plays into it. But I don't know. I think you'll start seeing cities start to burn down now that they're in the knockout game. The knockout game is really the important. When you're doing the play in game, to me the play in games are like, you can still, you can like go one, one, and one and still make it into the knockout round, So now, like for example, Japan was up one nothing on Brazil today.

Unknown Speaker (8:09): Brazil comes back and scores two goals because they're more talented. Japan's out, you know, just like that. They're gone. They're out of the In Canada, you know, they get a lucky goal over South Africa. They're into the they're into the quarterfinals.

Unknown Speaker (8:24): So, you know, they're in that around the 16, I guess. So I don't know. Think it's fun. I think it's gonna be great to to see if USA doesn't choke because they tend to choke. They tend to choke in these games.

Unknown Speaker (8:37): Like, I know the draw that they have is pretty favorable to them. I mean, you know, they they end up having to play against either Spain or Portugal eventually if they end up making it. But, you know, I I just think that, you know, the USA really needs to get out of this round of 32. They play Bosnia Herzegovina in on at 8PM on Wednesday. So I'm sure the whole country will be tuned in for that.

Unknown Speaker (9:04): Kind of wishing it was on Thursday because everybody's got off on Friday. So still gonna be still gonna be great fun. And I agree with you, TD, that when you go to a big city like DC, I saw a little bit of this when I was in Philadelphia, even though the World Cup wasn't on it was the it was the championship game for the Premier League. And same same environment, you have so many different people out there that are so invested in it, and they just get wild ass crazy. So, yeah, I think the World Cup's good for The US, although I and I absolutely agree with you, Mark.

Unknown Speaker (9:39): Most most USA citizens don't give a rip about the World Cup. They just they're just excited about it maybe because we're playing they're playing in North America. Did you one last one last thing before I before I leave this subject. Did you hear that when Iran was playing in The USA, they weren't allowed to stay overnight?

Grand Schwabini (9:58): No. I didn't hear that. Did you did you hear did you hear that that, Iran and and whatever team that they were playing against, they they asked, FIFA if they could, like, change the theme of the venue because apparently, it was, like, a gay pride theme. And Oh, no. Hear that.

Grand Schwabini (10:24): And, of course, you know, being gay is punishable by death over there.

Unknown Speaker (10:28): Right on

Unknown Speaker (10:29): our end.

Grand Schwabini (10:29): And so and so No. They they so they basically said, like, we don't wanna play. And FIFA was just like, well, then you're out. You either play or you don't. And then they played.

Unknown Speaker (10:41): It's just a bunch of wackos. Yeah. I mean but yeah. The bad the bad ones. Sorry.

Grand Schwabini (10:47): The bad ones.

Hockey Jesus (10:47): First, I wanna I wanna welcome Carl here. I'm new to baseball. If the pirates finish third in the division, they can make a wild card. Right? We'll talk about that, Carl.

Hockey Jesus (10:56): We talk about the Pirates. Thanks for being here. If you haven't already, but please hit the subscribe button. Click notifications on YouTube. You'll know we're live every Monday night, 07:30.

Hockey Jesus (11:05): I almost said 07:30PM. 7PM eastern time. Used to be back then. Vegas says so many games are being held in blue cities. Whole other show.

Hockey Jesus (11:15): We would have a lot of fun with you with that. I did put in the

Unknown Speaker (11:18): I mean, all all the all the big cities are blue cities. I mean, name name a name a large city that is not a blue city. I challenge you.

Unknown Speaker (11:27): I don't know. Des Moines, Iowa? Yeah. Sioux. They're they're not

Unknown Speaker (11:32): Sioux Falls, South Dakota?

Unknown Speaker (11:35): Maybe maybe Dallas, but even Dallas is still Listen. One more thing.

Hockey Jesus (11:39): Thanks. Thanks, Carl. He says he's gonna subscribe. Awesome, man. Really appreciate that.

Hockey Jesus (11:43): One more thing. Last chance. The Grand Schwalbeini last week, he said golf is harder than soccer. Do you agree? In the comments, type one, type two, even if you're watching the replay or listening on Spotify, iHeart when I drop the podcast.

Unknown Speaker (11:58): I'm gonna leave that up there for another second or two.

Unknown Speaker (12:02): So maybe Phoenix, Pat off track. Maybe maybe Phoenix.

Hockey Jesus (12:07): I just saw Khabib's old manager at the bank then Shannon Sharpe at UPS all within the last fifteen minutes. Okay. We're now we're moving on to other stuff. So world top. Hey.

Unknown Speaker (12:19): Ask them if they wanna be on the porch next time you see him.

Unknown Speaker (12:22): Yeah. That's a good idea.

Unknown Speaker (12:23): Tell them to DM us on the sports porch podcast. We'll we'll get them on next week. We got an opening.

Unknown Speaker (12:29): There you go. Mike Lawrence is back in the house. Hey, Mike. What's up, man? He says,

Unknown Speaker (12:33): boy. Mike.

Hockey Jesus (12:33): Golf is harder than soccer. How about that?

Unknown Speaker (12:37): Yep. It is. Wow.

Unknown Speaker (12:38): You you got a fan. The grand Schwabini's got a got a golf fan.

Grand Schwabini (12:41): There's only one skill in golf in in hot soccer that's that's harder, and that's the endurance skill. They run around forever. That's hard to do. Yeah. Golfers don't have to run around forever.

Grand Schwabini (12:55): Don't have sprint anywhere. But that's it. I'll take my chances with Scottie Scheffler kicking a round ball. Okay?

Unknown Speaker (13:05): So we'll see who makes it to the round of 16. I'm hoping The USA does. Yeah. You know, if they run into Spain or Portugal, they're definitely gonna they're not gonna make it past then. But

Unknown Speaker (13:15): Click click play in the comments Vegas.

Unknown Speaker (13:18): They would Sorry. They would play Belgium or Senegal if if they end up beating Bosnia Herzegovina. So they really have two kind of games where they should should win and make it to, you know, I guess it's the semifinals. No. I guess that's the quarterfinals because that would be the round of eight.

Unknown Speaker (13:36): They could make it to the round of eight. If they make it to the round the eight eight, this this the country will go crazy. I promise you that.

Grand Schwabini (13:42): You could you could you could you could beat Portugal. Portugal's kinda like one of those teams where it's like they got one guy.

Unknown Speaker (13:51): No. Portugal's probably gonna lose to Spain. Spain's probably gonna beat Portugal.

Hockey Jesus (13:56): Grant Squamidi, I think all the other guys on Portugal's team would be a little upset that you said that.

Grand Schwabini (14:02): I think they would all say He's not wrong, though. I swear. We're we're we're we're just as good as Ronaldo. I swear. Believe me.

Hockey Jesus (14:12): Alright. Alright. It's golf harder than soccer. One for, yep, two for he's crazy. We're getting we're getting votes coming in now, but let's let's get a couple more of those.

Hockey Jesus (14:23): Keep clicking it off. You could play golf into your eighties, says Pat Offtrack. I don't know what this means. I'm a nihilist, you know, what star. Chris knows.

Unknown Speaker (14:33): I don't know. Do oh, Carl. Carl. Is is this my buddy, Carl? No.

Unknown Speaker (14:40): It's not. There's no way it's my buddy, Carl. I don't know what he's

Unknown Speaker (14:42): talking about. He's probably working and watching us. That's that's double duty there.

Unknown Speaker (14:47): What I do know is the comments seem to be getting out of control tonight, and that's a good thing. That's a good thing.

Unknown Speaker (14:53): That that's a good thing. I like the I like this one from Vegas. It's not a sport if you can play, then not change your clothes and go to a nice dinner.

Unknown Speaker (15:01): Wow. Is that is an outstanding observation, to be honest with you.

Unknown Speaker (15:05): Mhmm. Very good, Vegas.

Unknown Speaker (15:07): Yes. Outstanding.

Unknown Speaker (15:10): I bet he voted for soccer.

Hockey Jesus (15:12): Yeah. That's right. The Big Lebowski reference. Yeah. I caught the Carl Fix the Cable one up there.

Hockey Jesus (15:19): One of the greatest movies of all time, the big Lebowski.

Unknown Speaker (15:22): You do love that movie. Yeah. You love that movie.

Unknown Speaker (15:24): Do you not? Do you not?

Grand Schwabini (15:26): You know, I I didn't think it was that I

Unknown Speaker (15:28): I like it, but, I mean, it's it's not an it's not Napoleon Dynamite.

Grand Schwabini (15:32): No. It's it's overblown is what it is.

Hockey Jesus (15:35): Are you are you are you fucking kidding me? Napoleon Dynamite isn't overblown? No.

Grand Schwabini (15:41): It's much better than Kosnowski. Big Lebowski is overblown.

Unknown Speaker (15:45): No. That's what I'm saying.

Grand Schwabini (15:46): Dynamite is pretty widely held as one of the greatest comedies of all time.

Unknown Speaker (15:51): That that that is true. That's bullshit. That's bullshit.

Grand Schwabini (15:54): Start pulling up lists, Cline.

Unknown Speaker (15:56): Oh, dude. Okay. Alright. You guys, finish up the World I'm putting this week. I'm putting up a

Unknown Speaker (16:04): Not this week.

Unknown Speaker (16:05): Putting up a new poll. Okay? Finish up the World Cup, and we'll move on to the pirates.

Grand Schwabini (16:10): CD, keep keep on course with the show, please.

Unknown Speaker (16:14): Go on.

Unknown Speaker (16:16): Okay. So the the final the final the final word on the World Cup is everybody knows Spain's gonna end up beating the United States unless United States gets knocked out by any of the Bosnia, Belgium, Senegal groups. In that upper bracket, it looks like France and Germany are gonna collide probably against Morocco, but maybe the Netherlands. I'm gonna go with I'm gonna go with the Germans in that one. So the Germans are gonna play against Spain.

Unknown Speaker (16:46): I'm gonna go with Spain there. And then the other side of the bracket, boy, you got Brazil who already made it through, Mexico is probably going to end up playing them. No, Mexico is going to play against England, that would be fun. Now in the next round Mexico playing against England would be fun. I think Brazil will play against Norway, so I'll take Brazil.

Unknown Speaker (17:06): I'll take Brazil versus England. I'll take Brazil. And then I got down in the lower half of that bracket, there's really nobody good. Colombia, Switzerland, Austria, Argentina. I'll go with Messi.

Unknown Speaker (17:22): Let's say Argentina makes it. So you got Brazil versus Spain. I'm taking Spain. There you go. I got it.

Unknown Speaker (17:30): I got bank. Take it to Cali right now. Spain World Cup champions 2026.

Grand Schwabini (17:35): I got a surprise out. Brazil will get knocked out in the next round.

Unknown Speaker (17:41): Against Norway or the Ivory Coast? I don't

Grand Schwabini (17:44): know. Doesn't matter. They're just not the same Brazil.

Unknown Speaker (17:47): You're just trolling now. You're just trolling now.

Unknown Speaker (17:53): I'm not playing. That's it

Unknown Speaker (17:54): for the World Cup. Where do wanna go next? You wanna go to Bucko's?

Hockey Jesus (17:58): Heck. Yeah. But I'm gonna leave this up here right now. Napoleon Dynamite, one of the top comedies of all time. Comment one for Yep.

Hockey Jesus (18:05): Comment two for he's crazy, meaning he, meaning the grand Swabini. He's crazy. That is no way, no way that is one of the greatest comedies of all time.

Grand Schwabini (18:16): Just be just because it was over your head, that's okay. Look.

Unknown Speaker (18:21): Just because you watched it fifteen years past.

Unknown Speaker (18:23): You have to have a certain intelligence level, and you don't have that. And that's okay.

Unknown Speaker (18:29): Yeah. Yeah.

Grand Schwabini (18:30): There's all kinds of people in this world.

Hockey Jesus (18:32): I do appreciate this right here. Apparently, years ago, the Simpsons predicted this World Cup final will be Germany two, Brazil nothing. That's great. And it's probably true. It's probably true.

Unknown Speaker (18:43): He it can't it can't be Germany versus Brazil, so they they they can get it

Unknown Speaker (18:48): right still.

Hockey Jesus (18:48): Yeah. Carl, change that to a two in the comments, and our votes will pick it up. Change it to a two. You guys just just leave a one or a two. People are voting, but it's gotta be a one or a two.

Unknown Speaker (18:59): That's the only thing, and then it tallies up. So go ahead and resound You

Grand Schwabini (19:03): just you just but they're voting to say that I'm crazy, not about the movie.

Hockey Jesus (19:08): Yeah. See? There comes there's a two right there.

Unknown Speaker (19:11): But we all know he's crazy, but that has nothing to do with the fact that

Unknown Speaker (19:15): All I all I see is a zero zero dead heat.

Hockey Jesus (19:20): Well, let's see if it let's see if it catches up because the other one, it was it was all good. It was all good. So alright, guys. Listen. I'm gonna give you an update right now.

Hockey Jesus (19:29): We're we're gonna switch over here. We're gonna talk about the buccos. There's awful lot to talk about there, and then at the same time, there's not really a whole lot to talk about if you think about it. But first of all, if you're watching on YouTube for the first time, you like what you're seeing, please hit that subscribe button. Click notifications.

Hockey Jesus (19:45): You'll know when we're live every Monday night, 7PM eastern time. This is the sports sports black and gold. I'm the TD. That's HJ. That down there, well, that's the grand Schwab beanie.

Hockey Jesus (19:57): 35 well, over a hundred years combined watching sports together. We've been lifelong friends. We started this podcast and video series eight freaking years ago, and it's growing and we love it and we love when you come around. And, look, we're not insiders, man. We, you know, we we just use common sense.

Hockey Jesus (20:16): We use common sense. We have a good goddamn time. I'll tell you that much. And I am allowed to say that. I just want you to know that even though Hockey Jesus is in the house.

Unknown Speaker (20:26): I forgive you my son. Will forgive you Hey, my

Hockey Jesus (20:29): update. This is going to make the grand Schwabeni really happy because in the bottom of the first, Trey Turner homer to left, followed by Brandon Marsh, homer in the center. So the Phillies currently have a two to nothing lead. And tonight, I believe who was going for the Pirates? Brash and Ashcraft, who's pitched now.

Hockey Jesus (20:51): And and Turner now has his second second hit of the night. So looks like the Phillies are getting to the Pirates early and often. So that's the update for right now. Grant Schwabini, I'm sure, has a smile on his face. The Phillies, one of the best teams in the Bay in baseball since Donnie Baseball took over.

Hockey Jesus (21:13): I mean, this is not we're not gonna talk about the Phillies, but hey, man. That just shows you in baseball anything can happen. But I just don't think that's the kind of anything that can happen to the Pirates. What about you guys at this point?

Unknown Speaker (21:28): Steven? Well, it's pretty simple.

Unknown Speaker (21:31): HJ. HJ.

Unknown Speaker (21:32): It it it's really pretty simple. They're a 500 team at best. Every time every time they seem to go up two or three games over 500, they always seem to do something like they did this weekend against the reds, drop two out of three against a crappy reds team. Skeens gets the start on Friday and now is o and eight in his last the pirates are o and eight in his last eight starts. He's o and five in those games, three no decisions.

Unknown Speaker (21:59): And his ERA is over four. I don't know what's going on with schemes, but clearly, you know, I've been trying to say, hey, he's he he's he's not doing that poorly. When you have eight games in a row that you start and you get the loss, there's something wrong, not just with the pitcher. I mean, there's always something wrong with the team. We all know that.

Unknown Speaker (22:17): But there might be something going on with skins that's not good. And I don't know if it's mental. I don't know if he's just kinda saving his arm for the New York Yankees or or the Los Angeles Dodgers. I have no idea, but there's clearly something different about him this year. He people, when they come up the bat against him, aren't afraid of him anymore.

Unknown Speaker (22:37): And they're like, they're able to to sit on that fastball and be able to get around on it. And I think that's the big difference with Skenes. As far as the Pirates, I mean, Saturday, they had one more strike to get. They would have won the game. The guy hits a home run and and and the reds win basic they're not in walk off fashion because obviously they did it in the top of the ninth.

Unknown Speaker (22:59): They were playing in Pittsburgh. But that's that's just unacceptable. Their their bullpen has let them down all season. They don't have they don't have a a closer. They can just kind of put somebody in there as in in the closer position because it's it's just terrible that what what's happening to them.

Unknown Speaker (23:16): But no, I'm not surprised. They're 500 team. They're forty two and forty two now. Basically, it's a midway mark. I didn't expect them to win eighty, eighty, 81 or 82 games anyway.

Unknown Speaker (23:28): So I'd look at some point, they probably will maybe put five games together, but then they'll go on a 10 game losing streak, and then they'll sell people off at the deadline. And welcome to Groundhog Day that we know our Pittsburgh Pirates, they become irrelevant. What say you, Mark?

Grand Schwabini (23:45): Well, I mean, I I will say this. It it it is a better team than than last year's team. That that's for sure.

Unknown Speaker (23:54): That is true.

Grand Schwabini (23:54): Even though Ashcraft is not pitching great tonight, he's been a really good starter this year. He potentially could even get into the all star game. Probably not, but it's but he's he's in the conversation. So, you know, they've got, you know, two really good starting pitchers. I agree with you.

Grand Schwabini (24:14): Skeens, for some reason, just appears to be a little bit off. I think you're right. It's the, he's lost a little bit of that fear factor.

Unknown Speaker (24:24): Yeah. And,

Grand Schwabini (24:25): and I'll tell you what. You know, I I think that, there's a little bit of something going on in baseball now, you know, especially with this guy from the brewers who throws like a a 104, a 105 miles per hour. You know, there's a guy on, the Phillies named, Jose Alvarado. And he kinda used to be untouchable because he was throwing, like, 99, a 100 all the time. Right?

Grand Schwabini (24:57): And, you know, he was just basically saying, you know, look. I mean, these guys can hit that now. Like, it's it's like the it's like they've made it's like they've made the adjustments. They're well, whatever they're doing, they're moving the bat a smidge quicker. Right?

Grand Schwabini (25:16): So I I think the way pitching is working now is, you know, you gotta have a little bit more than, you know, 99, 98, 97. You get you gotta really hit one hundred, one zero one. And then if you don't, you really gotta have your off seat off speed stuff Right. Really working and really hitting the corners. You know?

Grand Schwabini (25:39): So it Yeah. It's been a little bit of a different kind of year in terms of how the league is is facing pitching. Now granted, Skenz's numbers are still very good. So I think he will he will figure it out eventually. The hitting's better.

Grand Schwabini (25:57): The hitting's definitely better. You know, especially, like, you know, Ahern and and Lowe have been really good additions. You know, it's a shame that Connor Griffin got hurt, but he came back, did hit a home run-in his first at bat.

Unknown Speaker (26:11): That's true. Yeah.

Grand Schwabini (26:12): They got this they got this new kid. I'll let you talk about him. Valdez is three home runs in three games. I'll let TD talk about him. But look.

Grand Schwabini (26:23): The hitting's better. I I think just what it kinda comes down to is, you know, what we're looking at right now is we're looking at just like, you know, just like, HJ said. It's a 500 team. And the reason why it's a 500 team is because you know, look. There there's a difference between okay.

Grand Schwabini (26:45): Now they have bats. Right? They got five or six guys who can really hit the ball. Problem is none of them are all stars, real all stars. Right?

Grand Schwabini (26:56): You know, like, you know, like, none of them are, you know, Shohei Ohtani or Right. You know, or, you know, Olsen from the braves or, you know, or Schwarber, you know, from the like, none none of them are really able to consistently put up monster numbers or lead the league in a category. And then, in terms of the pitching, like, the pitching's pretty good. Right? It's pretty good, but but, you know, it's only the starting pitching that's pretty good, and the bullpen isn't.

Grand Schwabini (27:29): So that sort of balances itself out. Right? So that that's just what it is. It's just not enough good pieces. More good pieces than last year, hence the better record, but just not enough good pieces.

Grand Schwabini (27:43): They just still need to fill in quite a bit.

Hockey Jesus (27:46): Yeah. And I I I, you know, I I hear Mark Madden in, HJ's explanation here. They're just not good enough. You know, they went out. They spent a little money, but not enough.

Hockey Jesus (28:01): I'm literally almost quoting Madden from the last couple days. You know, they got a little better, but not enough. And that that's why I, you know, I've said, is this another is this another con job by Nutty? And and right now, you know, maybe it is. It's tough.

Hockey Jesus (28:21): And all the comments about Paul Skeens, the debate, you know, and I put this in the in the chat, put this in the chat. Skeens in trouble or not. By trouble, I mean, you know, is there something wrong with him or is he just trying to either save himself or not motivated enough, or he's changing his pitching style? You know? I don't think it's a physical thing.

Hockey Jesus (28:45): Type one for yes. Type two for no. But I also think that. Like we talked about, and I think I brought this up last year, I seem to bring a lot of these things up, to be honest with you. The league has a lot of tape on Paul Schenes, And this is what they do now.

Hockey Jesus (29:09): This isn't the seventies or the eighties when it was a little harder to get access to every single at bat, every single angle, every single pitch. And I think Skeens knows that. And I think that he is trying because he he gets a lot of one and two, oh and two counts, and I think he's trying to kind of paint those corners. And I heard something today on on that Tim Benz Mark Madden show on Facebook. Just I gotta give him credit for this because it's not something I think I would have thought of if I hadn't watched that.

Hockey Jesus (29:43): What I saw, what it would, what they said was, you know, is the ABS may be affecting a pitcher like schemes? Because before, you know they know schemes is going to be around the plate and he could play with that fastball up. He could play with that pitching movement up, and now he's a little bit more nervous because they can challenge it. And so now he's trying to teach himself how to paint the corners, you know, and they go down that road. And I'm thinking, you know, I don't know if it's that.

Hockey Jesus (30:10): I mean, they can only challenge a couple of game. It's not like I mean, and of course it could be a it could be a, you know, a crucial one, but his scans rarely goes beyond five innings. So is there a crucial strike in the fourth inning that's gonna be as crucial as a strike in the eighth inning? You know? I mean so I I don't know, but but I think it has a little bit of credence to it.

Hockey Jesus (30:32): A little bit of credence.

Grand Schwabini (30:33): Yeah. I I've heard that from across the league that there are pitchers who it's playing with their heads a little bit. They feel like they have to be more perfect.

Unknown Speaker (30:42): That makes a lot of sense. That could be why, you know, people, the batters are getting a little bit more of an advantage. I would say still paint the corners. I mean, it doesn't hurt. I mean, you're still making them, you know, make that decision.

Unknown Speaker (30:57): One more thing they have to figure out as far as the batter's concerned. You know, one thing that, you know, we don't we don't discuss, but you're right about the pitch the Pirates hitting. It's amazing to me that they can be a 500 team and have the most hits in Major League Baseball. How many have the most hits in Major League Baseball? They have 13 more hits than the Los Angeles Dodgers right now, and yet they they they can't win games.

Unknown Speaker (31:23): I mean, that just seems crazy. I guess they're You know that called the word.

Grand Schwabini (31:27): I I bet the counter stat to that is probably the pirates bullpen has given up the most hits in all of baseball.

Unknown Speaker (31:34): Let me let me let me take let me take you back there a second.

Unknown Speaker (31:38): Yeah. Guaranteed. Yeah. That's a guarantee.

Unknown Speaker (31:40): Right?

Hockey Jesus (31:40): HJ, let me take you back there a second. I was kinda looking through the comments here. There's a lot of comments going on, you know, keep it up. Keep the discussion going. We love it.

Hockey Jesus (31:48): It gets us out there a little bit further. We want a whole room full of people having a good time talking sports with us all the time. But did you just say that the Pirates have scored 13 more runs than the Dodgers?

Unknown Speaker (32:00): No. The the Pirates have scored third have 13 more hits than the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Hockey Jesus (32:06): Okay. Okay. I I I thought I heard something like that. That's I mean, that's, you know, yes. The bullpen is the problem.

Hockey Jesus (32:16): I mean, that's the bottom line. I mean, the other side of that argument I heard today was that they're just not good enough. Well, I I would wager to say their offense is good enough now. The complaint is that they leave a lot of runners in scoring position.

Unknown Speaker (32:34): And Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (32:34): I get it, but I don't think I think this year I I have no idea if this stat is going to is true or not. I'm I'm kinda making it up, but I'm basing it on the eye test and watching, you know, games and watching the stats. But I'm I'm I'm betting that the difference is really kind of a wash from last year, meaning that they probably left a lot less players on base last year because they they didn't hit. So

Unknown Speaker (33:10): didn't have a lot of players on base.

Hockey Jesus (33:11): But but compared to what they were hitting last year, last year seemed like they left a lot on base because they left everybody on base. But this year, I think it's great. You're leaving a lot of runners on base, but you're also the third or fourth ranked offense in baseball. What that means is if you can turn that around, now maybe you make up for those 17 blown saves that and this is this is interesting. I I I pulled this up.

Hockey Jesus (33:41): I'm I I forgot to download it, but I'm I'm gonna put this I'm gonna put this up on the screen. I I want everybody's comments. I just gotta pull it into our into our system here. Pardon me. Okay.

Hockey Jesus (33:54): So I saw this on Facebook a couple yesterday. It could change tonight, obviously, but thanks to the Pittsburgh Pirates fans Facebook page. It's a Facebook group. If you guys aren't a member, join a lot of guy. A lot of people on there, guys and girls.

Hockey Jesus (34:11): You know they gotta they they pull up a lot of this good stuff. So the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2026 if. If it was a seven inning league would be fifty five and twenty seven. They would have the best record in baseball. Not to me.

Hockey Jesus (34:31): You know, HJ, what do you guys think out there, by the way? What what do you guys think? Look at that.

Grand Schwabini (34:36): Say that again. It's hard to it's hard to see. Say it again.

Hockey Jesus (34:39): I I if the Pittsburgh the if the games in the major leagues were seven innings

Unknown Speaker (34:46): Okay.

Hockey Jesus (34:46): The Pittsburgh Pirates would be fifty five and twenty seven right now. And they would have the best record in baseball. What I'm saying is that after the seventh inning, that is where 100% of their problems are. And I know I know Madden, you know, was saying, no. There's a lot of problems.

Hockey Jesus (35:08): I get it organizationally, but if you look at what's on the field through seven innings of baseball, if the Pirates, if that was a win, the Pirates have have the best record. It's that bullpen. 17 Brown saves.

Unknown Speaker (35:23): So Well, Chris, I have to tell you that statistic reinforces what I always knew about the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are the best little league team out there.

Unknown Speaker (35:33): I I I knew it.

Unknown Speaker (35:35): I knew it. You for backing that up. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (35:38): Thank you for backing that up. I mean, it's six six innings in little league.

Hockey Jesus (35:42): But By the way, Aaron Nola, even though they're up five to one already, Nola lays up a meatball for Reynolds who crushes it. So by the way, by the

Unknown Speaker (35:54): way, that is that is in review. It may be a double.

Hockey Jesus (35:57): Okay. Philosophically, is a bullpen something you can coach up, or do you need to acquire guys? Everyone throws 95 plus now in the majors. It seems a good pitching coach could put a bull good bullpen together. Now it's not it's not the easiest thing to do because you're dealing with, you know, guys that they come in for maybe an inning, then they rest for two days.

Hockey Jesus (36:23): Maybe they come in back to back nights, and and you're dealing with a lot of egos. Some of them want to be starters. Some of them don't. Some of them want to be closers. I mean, I don't know if there really is an answer to that question.

Hockey Jesus (36:36): I think it it it depends on the organization and how they run the bullpen logistically and the coach. And there's been a lot of talk about how bullpen coach, the pitching coach, is no good. So yeah. But that's The players the

Grand Schwabini (36:57): players are no good. Yeah. What does he got to work with? You know? Is he throwing Mariano Rivera out there?

Unknown Speaker (37:06): No. But, you know, it is a little bit ironic. The pirates always have seemed to have a good closer in the past. You know? And now they've got good starting they got good starting pitching.

Unknown Speaker (37:17): It's like they can't find a closer to save their life.

Unknown Speaker (37:20): Right.

Unknown Speaker (37:20): I think I it's just it's just that's the way this this Pirates team goes. They just are always missing at least they're only missing one or two pieces. I mean, three or four years ago, we would be like, this team has no pitching. This team has no hitting. This team has no identity.

Unknown Speaker (37:36): Now they've got hitting and pitching. They just don't have relief pitching, and they got an identity. They hoist the cone. So I mean, you know, they got it all going on except one thing. So hopefully they can fix that thing soon or at least get better for next year because they should still have the same team next year unless for some crazy reason they decide not to pay schemes is whatever 15,000,000 he's gonna get next year and, you know, let him go.

Grand Schwabini (38:05): Are Lowe and O'Hearn on one year deals?

Unknown Speaker (38:09): I believe Lowe is

Unknown Speaker (38:10): on a one year deal. Think Lowe is.

Hockey Jesus (38:11): Yeah. Is on a two year deal.

Unknown Speaker (38:13): Okay. A pretty big re they really need to re sign Lowe. That's big.

Hockey Jesus (38:19): Yeah. I agree with you there. I I I would and and O'Hearn coming back for another year. I mean, look, their their offense is better, and I I I do take issue with I mean, I agree with Mark Madden when he when he says they spent a little more. They spent more, but not enough.

Hockey Jesus (38:36): They got better, but not enough. I agree a 100%. The problem is we know this is what the Pirates do, and we're we're talking about if you wanna boil it down to one thing, you can boil it down to the bullpen because of that seven inning record. And they're they're not gonna there's nothing left. It's all scrap, people.

Grand Schwabini (39:00): By the the way, your your your guy Valdez just homered. It's now five two.

Hockey Jesus (39:04): I gotta tell you something. Let let's talk about this kid Valdez.

Unknown Speaker (39:08): He's a home run phenom.

Hockey Jesus (39:10): Yeah. Let let's talk about this kid Valdez. Now, you know, he's 22. He's played in now 16 games. He's got six home runs now.

Hockey Jesus (39:21): He does have 18 strikeouts in in in 42 at bats before tonight's game. So, you know, I I would say with anybody like him, and I I said it about Cruz. I I I say it about everybody. You gotta wait and see. It's way too early.

Hockey Jesus (39:43): It's way too early. I'm I'm I'm gonna preface it with that because these guys know what's coming next.

Unknown Speaker (39:51): You're not you're not going to, put him in the hall of

Unknown Speaker (39:54): You're not gonna yet? Come on. He's not an HOFR yet?

Unknown Speaker (39:58): Come on, man. He's a crisp line HOF special.

Unknown Speaker (40:01): Yeah. No. Not at all. Not at all. Here's what I have to say about

Unknown Speaker (40:05): him.

Hockey Jesus (40:05): He's he's one for two tonight with a two run homer. So

Unknown Speaker (40:10): Probably no. Strikeout.

Hockey Jesus (40:12): He does have a strikeout. Yes.

Grand Schwabini (40:16): Tell me, did did you like the way Valdez, gets them on the board with a five two home run? And then the next, batter, Andy Rodriguez attempts to bunt for a base hit? No. I think

Unknown Speaker (40:32): that's ridiculous. Why why are you bunting? You know? I mean, that's not exactly what

Unknown Speaker (40:39): speedster. You Right? You know, speedster.

Hockey Jesus (40:41): Why are you bunting in the fourth inning?

Unknown Speaker (40:44): Right.

Hockey Jesus (40:45): When you're one down one run, you're giving up an out.

Unknown Speaker (40:49): When when all errors had

Unknown Speaker (40:51): to be a that had to be a a Rodriguez decision.

Grand Schwabini (40:54): That happened. Yeah. When all Aaron Nolan does is serve up meatballs.

Unknown Speaker (40:58): Yeah. I I I don't get that. I don't get don't get that.

Unknown Speaker (41:02): Sense. Coaching.

Hockey Jesus (41:04): Yeah. Absolutely. It's coaching. It's absolutely. It's coaching.

Unknown Speaker (41:08): Listen. There have been some people on the radio as Mark Madden likes to call them. All all of a sudden, I'm a Mark Madden fan. I don't know why. But he likes to call them Stooges.

Hockey Jesus (41:19): I I kind of agree with him. They're talking. They're trying to talk up this. There was a potential trade for schemes with the Yankees last year, And then this guy who is his name? Schittler on or or Schlitter or Cam Cam Schlitter or whatever on the Yankees.

Unknown Speaker (41:38): Now all of a sudden his stats are as good as skins.

Unknown Speaker (41:40): Right.

Hockey Jesus (41:41): You know, they're they're trying to, you know, push these rumors. To me, I find it difficult to believe that the the Pirates would trade skins this year. But at the same time, I would not be shocked if they got a really super deal and

Unknown Speaker (42:04): I would not

Hockey Jesus (42:05): be surprised if you guys want to know what I think is wrong with Paul schemes. I think if if there's if there's something wrong with him, he knows he's not gonna be here and he's starting to think about whether or not he wants out now because he'll make more money if he gets out now as opposed to going to arbitration for a couple years and not being traded. And now I now he's a prisoner in an organization that is gonna spend a little, but not enough, get a little better, but not enough. Do do you hear what I'm saying? I would not be surprised if behind the scenes, as the season progresses and the pirates remain woefully close to or just under or just over 500, if behind the scenes, Skeens isn't hinting that he wants to get out?

Hockey Jesus (42:55): I don't think he would ever say that to the media. I think that would be completely private. What what do you guys think? And then we'll move on.

Unknown Speaker (43:01): I think you're completely wrong, and here's why. Because I I think Skeens

Unknown Speaker (43:07): wants much.

Unknown Speaker (43:08): I think I think Skeens wants to win. Okay? And the only way he's gonna be considered a winner is if he can put this team on its back when they need him, and that actually will double his salary because teams now will not see him as as a guy with a lot of talent, but also a leader. And that's really that's really important for for other teams. You're telling me.

Unknown Speaker (43:31): I'm telling you, it's it's the truth. Like, if if he's if if he's worried about he's worried about being on a bad team, then he's not a then he's not a phenom pitcher. He's he's a pretender.

Unknown Speaker (43:43): He's not think we're true.

Unknown Speaker (43:45): 100%

Hockey Jesus (43:46): true. Let me respond to that real quick, and then Grant Schwab Beatty give it give us the rest. You're dreaming because Paul Skeens does wanna win. That I agree with. That I agree with.

Unknown Speaker (43:57): But he knows he knows he's

Hockey Jesus (44:00): he knows he's not gonna win on the Pirates. If he goes to the Yankees, the Braves, you know, the the the the the Dodgers, you know, you could throw in the the maybe even the Cubs. You know, if he goes to one of the Phillies, for God's sake, he goes to one of those teams. He knows he's gonna be with a winner.

Unknown Speaker (44:23): Nolan Ryan was he got his pitcher wherever he pitched.

Unknown Speaker (44:27): Right. Never And won a World Series.

Unknown Speaker (44:29): Gonna be a if he's gonna be a great pitcher, he can be a great pitcher for the fucking Pittsburgh Pirates. Okay?

Grand Schwabini (44:36): Yeah. Well you should watch the documentary on Nolan Ryan.

Hockey Jesus (44:39): I did. He won the World Series with the Mets. I was wrong when he was, like, a rookie or second

Unknown Speaker (44:44): year or something like that. Rookie year.

Hockey Jesus (44:46): Yeah. Yeah. So he wasn't good in that.

Grand Schwabini (44:50): I am I am going to agree with, HJ here. I think Paul Skeens believes he is the best pitcher on the planet, and therefore, I think he believes he can win wherever the heck he is. If you look at the standings I mean, look. As mediocre as the Pirates have been, what are they? Three games out of the playoffs?

Grand Schwabini (45:11): So if you're Paul Skeens and you got your buddies, you got your buddy Henry Davis on the team, you wanna win with those guys. Right? I think he still wants to win, and he wants to win for the pirates. He's not sitting there tanking it because he's afraid that he's not gonna be ready for his next stop. He wants to win now.

Hockey Jesus (45:31): Pirates are currently forty two and forty two, before tonight's game. Two and a half games out of a wildcard. Their run differential is still in the positive, and, actually, it's the second highest of all the positive run differentials in all of the playoff eligible clubs, only lower than the Chicago Cubs who currently have the second spot in the playoffs. So this is where this is where I I come to the the offense is good enough. Know, where where where Madden says they, you know, they they leave too many people runs in scoring per se runners in scoring position.

Hockey Jesus (46:09): Okay, they do, but but they're still scoring runs like crazy. You know? It's it's it's it's on the field right now. On the field right now, the bullpen is horrible, and yes, the the managing leaves a bit to be desired. I've said this guy's learning on the job, you know, whatever.

Hockey Jesus (46:27): But as far as the schemes things, guy guys, we'll have to just agree to disagree. Well, I I I think he wants to win, and he knows he's not gonna win here. And I think he does think he's the best pitcher on the planet, but he also knows that there's eight other guys out in the field with him that all also have to knock in runs with him, and none of these guys here are knocking in runs for him. He's o and five in his last eight starts with a four plus ERA. That's not good.

Hockey Jesus (46:52): They're getting to him early. You know, he might also be a little tired. You know? I I I I don't know. But we'll have to see.

Hockey Jesus (47:01): What's your opinion on that? Send us an email. Ogsportsporch@Gmail.com. That's where you can hit us up on the Gmail. On the email, you could visit the show, theporcheslive.com.

Unknown Speaker (47:12): You can catch up with us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your freaking podcasts. Yes, you can. Hey, listen. There was there was a trade today, right? HJ?

Unknown Speaker (47:28): HJ has dialed out. Wasn't there a trade today? Didn't I see

Unknown Speaker (47:34): anything about

Unknown Speaker (47:35): about the penguins?

Unknown Speaker (47:36): Not a big one.

Unknown Speaker (47:37): Not a big

Unknown Speaker (47:39): No. There was no there was no penguins trade today.

Unknown Speaker (47:41): No. There was no what are you talking about?

Unknown Speaker (47:43): I don't know. I thought I saw it online. Listen, man. I'm just trying

Unknown Speaker (47:46): pay attention. Minutes ago forty five minutes ago, the penguins trade Jack St. Ivy. He's a, you know, he's a eighth eighth, if he's lucky, the eighth defenseman in their defense corps. So they I was right.

Hockey Jesus (48:01): So I was right, though. I was right.

Unknown Speaker (48:05): Oh, forty five minutes ago, I think, you know, I'm trying to pay attention to the show while you're trying to surf the Internet for who knows what.

Hockey Jesus (48:13): I'm trying to get, you know, relevant stuff for what we're doing.

Unknown Speaker (48:20): Well, they got they got David Gustafson, which is a nobody. Adept Center was the Winnipeg Jets second round pick in 2018. So there you go. If you wanna call that a big trade, I say you're crazy. It's a trade.

Hockey Jesus (48:35): Okay. Well, I I you know what? I will retract the big part of that and just say they made a trade. What are your thoughts right now on the draft? You know, what the ruck is going on?

Hockey Jesus (48:47): I I heard some takes on that. You know, we were we were going back and forth or you guys were about the nepotism on the Steelers, and now now are they gonna draft, you know, the twin? And they did. And it's a little different in hockey, though, is it's a it's a little different in hockey.

Unknown Speaker (49:07): Well, I mean, if if you wanna talk about the Steelers draft picks, they only got six this year. And next year and the year after that or the year where they have, like, fifteen and sixteen picks. So that's where they're really gonna get some some depth or be able to move up. The problem is there's no problem really. I mean, the guys they picked, you know, you're talking about the rock brothers, right?

Unknown Speaker (49:33): So they're they got picked exactly where they should have gotten picked. And the thing is, like once you take Liam, you have to take Marcus and everybody was staying away from from Marcus for that reason. So I mean, it's it's no big I I like those guys. Sometimes, you know, when you get two guys who know how to play well together, you're actually going to be in much better shape because you don't have to worry about the chemistry between two guys who've been basically living their whole life together minus I think four days. So I like it, but the you got to you got to pump the brakes on, you know, these guys being the next Kindle because they're going to back to medicine hat which is the juniors.

Unknown Speaker (50:17): That's even lower than the AHL. And after they're done with juniors what they're gonna do is they're gonna go to North Dakota and play some college hockey. So they got at least three years. They're on the normal track for a normal pick, which is juniors go play in college and then if you perform there then you end up in the AHL for a year Or if for some reason your development went off the charts, then you end up you end up in the NHL. They both of them ended up scoring over 100 points in the juniors last year and that like doubled their previous year.

Unknown Speaker (50:55): So they attributed that to the coach for Madison hat. They said he's a really just a really great coach and allowed them just to go out there and play. And so they're able to score. I mean, they've got good chemistry. And I like the picks.

Unknown Speaker (51:10): I mean, the other picks, Thomas Galvis, a defenseman, they got in the second round with the fifty fourth pick. Pierce Mum, it's not there's it's it's spelled m b u y I, but it's called Boyi. They the m, I guess, is a silent m. And then they got defenseman in the fourth round, Parker Von Richter. I I think you would like that.

Unknown Speaker (51:31): You like the German guys. So, you know

Unknown Speaker (51:33): You sure it's not Von Richter?

Unknown Speaker (51:36): Von Richter. Is it isn't that what I said?

Unknown Speaker (51:39): You said Richter. Von Richtenhofen?

Unknown Speaker (51:43): Von Richter. The German. And they moved up actually in the fifth round to pick this this goalie from I think he's from Belarus or maybe from from Russia, mother Russia.

Unknown Speaker (51:55): Mother Russia.

Unknown Speaker (51:56): Mitch Konovich. And he's he's just a flyer.

Unknown Speaker (52:00): You've got your Mitch Guff.

Unknown Speaker (52:03): Got her. I we got her. Got our Mitchie.

Unknown Speaker (52:07): Mother Russia.

Unknown Speaker (52:09): But, yeah, I mean, you know, you when you talk about picks, you can only talk about really the top five guys. And Gavin McKenna went first just like everybody thought, then Stenberg went second like everybody thought. I really was kinda high on the defenseman that got picked it right before us, and, you know, I used some expletives for the Philadelphia Flyers trading that pick, and they took the defenseman I wanted. But honestly, taking these two guys instead of a a a defenseman that you probably could have plugged in in a couple years, it's it's it's semantics. You're just picking you're basically picking the best talent.

Unknown Speaker (52:43): That's what that's what Dubis did. The the the two things about the other the other thing that I think is exciting about Pittsburgh Penguins right now is they finally got the new the new owners in the Hoffman Group. They said nothing but spectacular things last Thursday at their press conference. They said they're gonna they're gonna do some renovations at PPG. They're gonna try and bring in more families, they're gonna try, they're gonna they're basically gonna give Dubis as much freedom him and they're gonna give him as much freedom as he wants, which means you can have as much money as you want spend the cap if you feel like it's important.

Unknown Speaker (53:22): And I think that's great. They also said, you know, they already brought in Ron Francis, he got hired as you know, special ops guy. So basically, he's gonna, he's gonna be looking at talent and just evaluating young talent, I think for now. The thing about Francis that I didn't realize is Francis and Dubis actually had a relationship when he was in Carolina. I didn't know Dubis was in Carolina before he went to Toronto.

Unknown Speaker (53:50): And then when he went to Toronto, he was trying to get Francis up there, but then Francis ended up out in Seattle. So in Seattle just canned him. So it's a perfect fit for Ron Francis to come back to Pittsburgh. So that's good news. He's the ownership said, you know, they're gonna bring Mario around.

Unknown Speaker (54:08): I don't know what role he's gonna be, an adviser, or if he's just gonna be there for games. Mario can do whatever he wanted. It sounded like so that role is still to be determined. But I like what the owners are doing. It's you finally have a a face to the ownership and they they're going to be visible.

Unknown Speaker (54:24): They're not gonna be invisible. They're gonna be they're hockey fans first. They actually own a I think it's a junior team. It's the it's the league below the AHL, the wheeling nailers or who they are now, but they're talking about moving the nailers down to Florida, which is their team, the Florida Everblades or something like that. So so they're they they know hockey, which is great.

Unknown Speaker (54:50): They're hockey fans, so they'll be at all the games, which is good. They're young guys, a little bit younger than us, so they're definitely not old like us. So and it's a family. They said, look, this is this is a family investment. They're going to be in this for generations.

Unknown Speaker (55:08): So love what that love what I heard from the the Hoffman Group. I think they're going to be I think that's going to be nothing but positive things for the Penguins in the future, you know, financially. And speaking of financially, this is what I did. That's right. I got tickets.

Unknown Speaker (55:27): 12 of them. That's my seat right there. If you're ever in a Pittsburgh Penguins game, that's where you come find me. So those are my seats for at least 12 games this year. Amy and Andrew hooked me up.

Unknown Speaker (55:40): I went to the open house and Andrew showed me around. He's probably a fan. He's probably listening right now. I told him about the sports porch and he subscribed right away. So Pittsburgh Penguins are on board before you know it.

Unknown Speaker (55:55): We'll have everybody at the Penguins organization listening to the sports porch. That's what we like. We love hockey here. You know, I love hockey here. And let's see, think that's that's it.

Unknown Speaker (56:08): Dubis is probably going to make he's going to definitely try and make some moves on Wednesday. Everybody's talking about Robertson. Basically, if they if they trade for Robertson, it's going to cost them two first rounds in Raquel. I would do it if if he comes with a if he comes with a seven or eight year contract. Because supposedly the Dallas only wants to give him an eight year twelve year, a 12,000,000 a year contract, He went somewhere around 14,000,000.

Unknown Speaker (56:38): So I think if you can trade for him, give up the two first rounds and and get rid of Raquel, then you bring in a nice young winger to play with whoever you wanna play on that second line. I'd put Kendall up there and I'd put him on the second line with Kendall and and Malkin at least for this year. And you've got a proven 100 guy. So I don't know if they'll do that. I don't know if they wanna give up the first round picks.

Unknown Speaker (57:06): I won't be disappointed either way, but that's the big rumor for the big trade that could be coming from the Pittsburgh Penguins. I think they'll probably just make a series of smaller trades. So we'll see. We'll see what happens. It's gonna they'll they'll have to probably trade for Robertson before because he's a restricted free agent.

Unknown Speaker (57:27): So they'll have to trade for him to get his rights and then, you know, have a contract before Wednesday. If he if he makes it to Wednesday, then they're I don't think they're gonna be in the market. Just too much money he'll want in too many terms. Plus you'll have to give up too many too many other things. But I think two first rounds in Raquel, meh, I think it's okay.

Unknown Speaker (57:49): I mean, you're a mortgage in a little bit of your future, but you are getting a a proven superstar in the top six. And let's face it, the penguins need to get younger, and and Robertson would definitely fit that bill 100%. So we'll see what happens, but that's what's going on in the land of hockey. I don't think really much else is going on as far as the NHL is concerned, know, now that the draft's over. Oh, the Penguins are in what they call development camp.

Unknown Speaker (58:16): The Pittsburgh Penguins basically bring all their draft picks in and some other other kids who are in the organization, and they're in development camp this week. Actually Ron Francis is there. I don't think he's actually running it, but he's there kind of evaluating the talent. I may go up there on on Friday. They're they're doing a tournament on Friday and, you know, not working on Friday.

Unknown Speaker (58:35): I may head up to Cranberry and and check out some of those games. I think you can get him for free, so might be fun to see some of the young kids skating around. And who knows? You know, might bump into Mario Lemieux or something like that. So, yeah, so that's what's going on in the land of hockey.

Hockey Jesus (58:52): There it is. HJ breaches after every single Penguins game, every single game during the regular season, drops it into a podcast, does it live right here on the sports forge black and gold. Hit that subscribe button. Click notifications. You'll know when he's live after the Penns game.

Hockey Jesus (59:11): Does a complete NHL review during the playoffs. Most dedicated hockey fan I ever met my whole darn life. I mean, seriously. Number two might be the grand squabbini, But

Unknown Speaker (59:23): Probably not.

Unknown Speaker (59:24): Yeah. No. Probably not. You know a lot. You know a lot.

Unknown Speaker (59:28): Well You know a lot about hockey. You're a hockey fan.

Grand Schwabini (59:31): Well, it's just intelligence level.

Hockey Jesus (59:34): I like it. Very sideways and very, very grand Schwabini. So thanks for being here, everybody. Really appreciate it. Leave your comments.

Hockey Jesus (59:45): Email us whenever the hell you want. Steelers Mini Camp, it's on its way. Give us the dates, HJ. Tell us, you know, what the heck is going on here. We're still in the

Unknown Speaker (59:57): because I know it's it's in the end of July. It's it's a long ways away.

Unknown Speaker (1:00:01): Yep. While I look it up. At now now now why don't we do this? There's still a lot of crap being thrown around about JPJ.

Unknown Speaker (1:00:10): July 23.

Hockey Jesus (1:00:12): July 23. JPJ being a $30,000,000 corner. And I I have to side with the thought process, and I I wanna see your comments on this. Okay? It it's old news, but Nick Herbig got a contract for basically $25,000,000 a year.

Hockey Jesus (1:00:34): He's your backup. He's your backup linebacker. Now he plays a lot of snaps, but, hey. I mean, now you've set the standard. Are you gonna pay your arguably number one corner and a guy who's gonna be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this year?

Hockey Jesus (1:00:54): Are you gonna pay him less? You know, I you know, Debo and Joe, they they they they talked about it on their podcast. He's saying bet on yourself, JPJ. To me, that's the problem with the NFL these days. They don't wanna bet on their team.

Hockey Jesus (1:01:08): They wanna bet on themselves. And if they all bet on themselves right in a year, well, they win the Super Bowl. But that's another discussion. So I say that, and, you know me. I'm still kinda out on the JPJ being in the lead corner.

Hockey Jesus (1:01:25): I I do think he's made a lot of progress. He's learning where to place his hands. You know, I wanna see more interceptions. I I I wanna see more balls batted down. I I I wanna see him in the running game a little more, but, you know, he's really good.

Hockey Jesus (1:01:40): He's he's really good. Is he really worth $30,000,000? I don't know. But now the Steelers have painted themselves into a corner. Any thoughts on that, guys?

Hockey Jesus (1:01:51): I mean, chime in here. Disagree with me. Yell at me. I mean, you know, you do all kinds of stuff to me before the show. Don't let Mark,

Unknown Speaker (1:01:58): have at it, Troy.

Grand Schwabini (1:02:02): Well, I mean, look. I I don't have a tremendous amount of confidence in the Steelers front office right now. I think they have to prove it. I mean, I think that they've shown some strides, but they're also look. I mean, they're learning as they're going.

Grand Schwabini (1:02:19): You know, these are folks that are, you know, just doing it. What's the fourth year now, I think, for, Omar Khan in charge. Yeah. So, you know, I I don't know. I I think sometimes I think they do things a little bit backwards.

Grand Schwabini (1:02:33): Like, I would probably have wrapped up my number one corner before my backup defensive end.

Unknown Speaker (1:02:41): Exactly.

Grand Schwabini (1:02:42): Who's got, like, what, like, 10 total sacks in two years. You know what I mean? Yeah. So, you know, look. But part of it look.

Grand Schwabini (1:02:50): Part of it is it's just how they assess these positions. Maybe they have a much higher level of importance placed on defensive end than they have placed on a corner. I don't know. You know, maybe maybe they are sort of taking an approach of, alright, Porter. You know, you you pretty much proved yourself last year, but show us twice before we give you a big deal.

Grand Schwabini (1:03:17): I mean, maybe that's maybe that's the approach. But, you know, that also that approach also might not work. You know, you might have a unhappy, you know, an unhappy JPJ. So I don't know. I I just think that they don't really have a great I'm not entirely sure that a a definitively good direction plan has been put in place.

Grand Schwabini (1:03:45): So it doesn't surprise me. That's what I'm

Hockey Jesus (1:03:48): saying. You know, I I pulled up her big stats. 2023 is rookie season. He did play in all 17 games. Now he had a total of 27 tackles with three sacks, two forced fumbles.

Hockey Jesus (1:04:02): One of those recovered. Twenty twenty four thirteen games, 22 tackles. So you know, per game a little higher. 5.5 sacks, four forced fumbles of which he recovered two. Last year, 15 games, 30 tackles, seven and a half sacks, three forced fumbles, recovered one.

Hockey Jesus (1:04:26): He did have an interception, none before for 41 yards. I mean, I think what they saw is they saw a guy on the rise because then there are those who have made the argument that he was doing well because TJ was there and Alex Highsmith was there depending upon what side he played on. And the the reality is that last year, he had his best year, and TJ didn't have a good year at all. So, you know, could that be the TJ effect still? Possibly.

Hockey Jesus (1:05:02): But at the same time, is he improving? Are they seeing something? I myself think he's undersized. I the knock on him is that he's not good in the run game. And I I can see why that is.

Hockey Jesus (1:05:17): He's undersized. These big running backs. It's hard. It's hard. So, you know, was he worth a $100,000,000?

Hockey Jesus (1:05:27): I you know, unfortunately, it's done a done deal. That remains to be seen. However, the market is now set, and internally, you can't give JPJ less than Nick Herbic.

Unknown Speaker (1:05:45): Right.

Unknown Speaker (1:05:48): Well, the reality is the Steelers screwed this up from the very beginning. Their priorities are off. I mean, who are you gonna place in for JPJ? You know? Nobody.

Unknown Speaker (1:05:58): You know? Who are gonna place in for Herbig? They already have guys in place. It's just Right. It's just what the Steelers decide to focus in on is just dumb.

Unknown Speaker (1:06:08): And I agree with Mark. I don't I don't have any faith in his ownership to do the right thing. Is he worth 30,000,000? Probably not today, but I bet in two years from now when when when they're certain we're we're starting quarterbacks, star starting quarterbacks are getting $3,540,000,000,000, it'll look like a damn deal. Just get it done.

Unknown Speaker (1:06:30): Mean, it's dumb. They've got the space in the cap to be able to do it. Just, you know, make it so that, you know, may maybe it's not a lot of guaranteed money. Just just get the damn deal done. It's so stupid to not have an upcoming starting cornerback that you know wants to be here forever just to sign him up.

Unknown Speaker (1:06:49): I mean, he's not proven that he's been, you know, all pro caliber. That's true. But he's the best damn quarterback quarterback that they have. And he's he's got it. Maybe they're just saying this year, prove yourself.

Unknown Speaker (1:07:02): Next year, you get the big contract. I'd be okay with that, but you can't mess it up. You you gotta sign this kid. He's worth it. Any team would be happy to have him on this team for $30,000,000.

Hockey Jesus (1:07:15): Yeah. I I and and I don't disagree with you there. And also, you know, this was brought up in the Tomlin days, and my god, the ghost of Mike Tomlin. He's gonna be the ghost of Mike Tomlin's gonna be around this whole year because everything Mike McCarthy does is gonna be compared to Mike Tomlin for at least this year. Then then we'll be able to release that spirit.

Hockey Jesus (1:07:36): But, in the Mike Tomlin days, he would go in and say, just just get it done and and then they would do it. I don't know that Mike McCarthy necessarily has that. I mean, he's got plenty of clout, but that kind of clout yet. But I still think the Steelers are a team that they they they don't say no to anybody and especially a guy like JP Jay. It's also a it's also a public relations issue and that's as entered into sports and we know that for so long.

Hockey Jesus (1:08:04): I mean, what kind of what kind of message would they be sending if they didn't extend JP Jay and and and reward him now they they be saying goodbye because somebody is going to pay that guy 30 to $35,000,000 a year next year unless unless he has a terrible year and and you know has an injury and is not himself, you know?

Unknown Speaker (1:08:23): Yeah, it's not.

Hockey Jesus (1:08:23): Yeah, I agree. I I I say get it done. I say get it done. Got a lot of comments in here, all kinds of stuff. If any of you guys had Skene's signature hot dog, the big glizzy, the answer is no.

Hockey Jesus (1:08:37): I I I I'll tell you what, if anybody knows anybody at Sheets actually, what's funny is I know somebody at Sheets now, but I can't go there. Anyway, we would love to, debut those well, not debut, Debut them on our show. If if if somebody at Skeens brought us a big glizzy, you guys, would you eat it on the show?

Unknown Speaker (1:08:57): I would. I'll go I'll go get one for next Monday.

Unknown Speaker (1:09:00): Alright. Awesome.

Unknown Speaker (1:09:02): Awesome. The commercial was the commercial was pretty week.

Unknown Speaker (1:09:06): Yeah. Come back next week. You'll see a big, blizzy live.

Hockey Jesus (1:09:09): There you go. There you go. There you go. So the answer is no, but we're gonna make it happen. We're gonna make it happen.

Hockey Jesus (1:09:16): Mike Lawrence saw this online. Female soccer team, Pittsburgh Riveters, undefeated season. That is true. That is true. And even though we don't really pay attention to that kind of sport here, we gotta give them a congratulations.

Hockey Jesus (1:09:28): I mean, those those kids, those ladies, they work hard. They work hard. So excellent job.

Unknown Speaker (1:09:34): That's a great name too, by the way. The Riveters?

Unknown Speaker (1:09:37): The Riveting.

Hockey Jesus (1:09:38): It's riveting. It is absolutely I

Unknown Speaker (1:09:43): stepped right into that one.

Hockey Jesus (1:09:45): You did. It's riveting. That was wonderful. Alright, guys. Best part of the show during the dead zone is the part of the show, and I'm gonna do it this time, Swabri.

Unknown Speaker (1:09:55): Okay.

Unknown Speaker (1:09:55): It's part of the show.

Unknown Speaker (1:09:56): See what you got.

Hockey Jesus (1:09:57): Thank you. Where we thank you for being so attentive and joining us every Monday at 7PM eastern time live on YouTube, live on x, even live on Facebook tonight. I said, what the hell? Let's put it up there. And then dropping the podcast into the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcast.

Hockey Jesus (1:10:18): So happy that you spend your time with us. This is how we give some of it back to you for free for free. So there's tons of streaming services. We scour them. We scour them.

Hockey Jesus (1:10:30): We watch the trailers. We decide what we're gonna take a chance on. We watch a whole season. We come back to you. We say two thumbs up or two thumbs down.

Hockey Jesus (1:10:43): Or maybe if you like it because it's a rom com, maybe you'll like it. But if you don't like those, not gonna like it. It could be a movie, be a documentary, could be a series. That's what we do. That's how we give it back to you.

Hockey Jesus (1:10:57): Schwalbert, was that a little windy? Because it was about as long as yours are.

Grand Schwabini (1:11:02): Well, I just I I thought about do I at some point just say, you're taking too long.

Unknown Speaker (1:11:07): Yeah. Okay.

Grand Schwabini (1:11:08): And then I decided to spare you the grief.

Hockey Jesus (1:11:11): I think that every single time you introduce me. Every single time. And that being said, we're gonna start with yours because I can't you know, I I you know I'm on for this one. The grand Schwabini watched

Grand Schwabini (1:11:23): Disclosure Day. Oh, boy. I can't wait for this review. Steven Spielberg film with Emily Blunt as the leading lady.

Unknown Speaker (1:11:33): Love Emily Blunt. Yep.

Grand Schwabini (1:11:36): Yep. Here here's what I'm gonna say. It was very entertaining. You know, I have a little saying. It's called action never fails.

Grand Schwabini (1:11:50): Yeah. Which basically means as long as there's a pretty good plot, you know, and it keeps moving and you're kinda wondering what's gonna happen next to action movies, it's they're hard to mess up. So on that accord, I was entertained throughout the movie. However, I would say I was disappointed. And I was disappointed for a couple reasons.

Grand Schwabini (1:12:11): Number one, you know, I I did see some real positive reviews where it was like Spielberg does it again. You know? And, I felt like he didn't do it again

Unknown Speaker (1:12:24): here. Oh. Oh.

Grand Schwabini (1:12:27): Now and here's here is probably I I I could not have written this review any better myself. Okay? There was one main reason why I didn't really care for the film. Alright? I could have not gone to the movie.

Grand Schwabini (1:12:51): And if I had just listened to everything that Chris Klein had told me about aliens across my across my life, I saw the movie. Yeah. There was there was basically, like I mean, look. They they did a few kinda cool things with, like, you know, how the aliens communicate and stuff like that, and they pick a passenger and blah blah blah. But for the most part, it was, like, nothing new.

Grand Schwabini (1:13:22): It was nothing new. It was just like everything we know. People get abducted. They're real. They're really here.

Unknown Speaker (1:13:30): Blah blah blah. Here they are. Everything you saw was real. You know what I mean? It was just kinda like it was just kinda like, come on, man.

Grand Schwabini (1:13:41): Give me something more. Give me something more.

Hockey Jesus (1:13:46): Let me let me ask you this question. It it was a long movie. Right? Like, three hours?

Unknown Speaker (1:13:51): Two and a half. Two and a half. Okay. Okay.

Unknown Speaker (1:13:54): Yep. And you you do know that none of it was really based in reality. Right?

Grand Schwabini (1:14:00): That's completely false. This whole thing was based in reality.

Unknown Speaker (1:14:04): Okay. Alright.

Grand Schwabini (1:14:05): Yeah. This whole thing was based this is basically, every single show you see about aliens, that was the basis for this film. It's amazingly it was base basically that, like, all these people reported these things, and they were all hushed up. And they were all, like, air force people that saw them, and they were hushed up. And sometimes they would say something, and nobody would believe them.

Grand Schwabini (1:14:29): And everything that, like, you know, had been told to you about Roswell was true. And, you know, it was it was everything you know about aliens was basically the the gist of this movie.

Unknown Speaker (1:14:41): Alright. So I'm gonna watch it, and I'll give you my review. I'm gonna try to watch it before next week.

Unknown Speaker (1:14:46): Two things down from

Unknown Speaker (1:14:48): Grinch Swabini. What we're watching. Let me I'll give

Grand Schwabini (1:14:51): you a a give thumbs up and a thumbs down. It was entertaining. Emily Blunt is a really good actress, and she did a really great job.

Unknown Speaker (1:15:01): I like her.

Grand Schwabini (1:15:02): You know? And there was, you know, the the part of the let me put it this way. The only part of the movie that was make believe was very good.

Unknown Speaker (1:15:13): There you go.

Hockey Jesus (1:15:14): Alright. And what we're watching update, the Phillies are now losing to the Pirates eight to five.

Unknown Speaker (1:15:18): We saw that.

Unknown Speaker (1:15:19): Aaron Nola. It looks like he's headed for retirement.

Unknown Speaker (1:15:23): He's and I'm

Hockey Jesus (1:15:24): sure, like, if you're if you're a if you're a Phillies fan at all, if you like Phillies sports, you just happen to catch us right now. You can also catch the sports sports Philadelphia live on most Tuesday nights at 7PM eastern time because I know you guys have been going week after week, week over week, or whatever because you're just getting too lazy out there in Philly like you Philly bums do. What we're watching. Let's go with HJ watching on Netflix.

Unknown Speaker (1:15:53): I have watched The Burrows on Netflix. And let me tell you, this was some unselfish watching because this was absolutely horrible. It was terrible. Nice. There was nothing good about this.

Unknown Speaker (1:16:08): I watched it because, you know, the, you know, the Duffer Brothers, you know, they were the executive producers of this. And, you know, stranger things I thought was was was very good at first. And then, you know, they kinda went a little too long with it. But still, like, I like I like the series. So I'm like, okay, well, what is this going to be about?

Unknown Speaker (1:16:27): You know? And it's basically if you take stranger things, and you put it to the geriatric crowd. They tried to make Stranger Things applicable to, you know, people of the Geena Davis era, you know, the the Alfred Molina era, these people who are like old fogies, and they're basically at a they're at a retirement place. And then it they people put them in this retirement place that is completely secluded from the rest of the world. So of course, you know, some shenanigans are going to be going on, right?

Unknown Speaker (1:16:58): Well, of course, there are aliens living underneath the burrows, and they gotta figure out how to kill the aliens, and it was just absolutely awful. There was nothing good about this movie at all. It was it was terrible. And I'm glad to say that there will not be a Burroughs two, and do not subject yourself to this crap because it was terrible. There was nothing good about it.

Unknown Speaker (1:17:23): It was it was the acting was bad. Every every plot that they came up with was not only plausible. It was just plain dumb. So I'm happy to say do not watch The Burroughs. If you've started watching stop now.

Unknown Speaker (1:17:40): Stop everything you're doing. Shut off the television, and don't do what I had to do and watch all eight episodes. It was painful. Don't do it. The ending will not make you happy.

Unknown Speaker (1:17:52): It it's terrible.

Unknown Speaker (1:17:53): The ending will not make you happy. Two

Unknown Speaker (1:17:56): thumbs down for the barrel. Do not watch. It's a no watch zone.

Unknown Speaker (1:18:03): I've never

Unknown Speaker (1:18:03): done this before, but it is an absolute must not watch.

Hockey Jesus (1:18:08): And that's and that's the kind of dedication you get here on the porch. It really is.

Unknown Speaker (1:18:12): My wife is saying, why are you still watching this if you hate it? I said, because we have a rule. And the rule is if you don't watch the whole thing, you can't give, you know, your synopsis. So I did that for you. You're welcome.

Hockey Jesus (1:18:27): Thank you so much, HJ. Thank you so much. I watched something on Netflix called I Will Find You starring Sam Worthington, excuse me, and Britt Lauer, who's the redhead, you will recognize as one of the stars on Severance.

Unknown Speaker (1:18:49): Severance, right?

Hockey Jesus (1:18:50): Yeah. So Sam Worthington plays David Burrows and he is wrongly imprisoned for the murder of his son. His son's name is Matthew. So five years into his sentence, you know, in prison for murdering his son, he gets a visit from his ex sister-in-law Rachel, who is played by Britt Lauer the redhead, that his son is still alive. So all of a sudden you go from, you know, your son is found dead.

Hockey Jesus (1:19:20): They pinned the murder on you. You know you didn't do it. You still think your son is dead. They had a funeral for him and everything. You're in jail, you know, unjustly acquitted or unjustly, excuse me, convicted, and you've been there for five years and your wife who's divorced you and moved on, who thinks you murdered your son, her son, her sister shows up to say hello after five years and says, I think Matthew's still alive.

Unknown Speaker (1:19:54): Oh, no.

Hockey Jesus (1:19:55): What are you gonna do? Well, listen. Sam Worthington was a Terminator, and Terminators can do anything. So Sam Worthington is gonna find his son. I will find you.

Hockey Jesus (1:20:11): I will find you. I give it two thumbs up. Oh, okay. It's got some interesting twists. It's got some really great acting.

Hockey Jesus (1:20:23): Madeline Stowe shows up in it. Remember her back in the day? Boy, what we would have given to have a date with Madeleine Stowe back in the day.

Unknown Speaker (1:20:31): Yeah, for sure. Yeah. 100%.

Hockey Jesus (1:20:33): I do. We'll find you on Netflix. Limited series. There's a definite beginning, middle and end. I thought it was great.

Hockey Jesus (1:20:43): I thought it was great. Is it the best show I ever watched? No. But it was great. My wife is mad because I watched it without her.

Hockey Jesus (1:20:51): So I may have to rewatch it with her just to make

Grand Schwabini (1:20:55): it Harlan go Coben is actually one of the few authors I actually enjoyed reading in my lifetime.

Unknown Speaker (1:21:01): Right.

Unknown Speaker (1:21:02): Come on.

Unknown Speaker (1:21:02): Right. Okay.

Grand Schwabini (1:21:03): Yes. My wife page turners.

Unknown Speaker (1:21:06): Yeah. My my my wife, she read all of his books as well, which is why It

Grand Schwabini (1:21:13): seems like a really bad choice on your part.

Unknown Speaker (1:21:15): Yeah. Probably was. But I'm good at making those. I am good at something. I'm good at

Unknown Speaker (1:21:19): making that choice. You're consistent.

Unknown Speaker (1:21:22): That's right. And that's what we love around here.

Unknown Speaker (1:21:24): That is true.

Hockey Jesus (1:21:25): And we wanna thank you for consistently being here on the porch every Monday night at 7PM eastern time. We're on YouTube. We're on X. We're on Facebook. Follow us all over that place.

Hockey Jesus (1:21:35): Please hit the subscribe button. Click notification. You'll know when we're live. And if you don't wanna do that, you can catch up like my therapist does on the podcast every Tuesday morning. You can catch up because I drop it right after the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your frigging podcast.

Hockey Jesus (1:21:53): For HJ over here, for the grand squabini, William Perrin, Fox Chaplin at, actually, Indiana Township. I'm your TV in the Monroeville studio. We are out. We'll see you next week. Joe Blonsk.

Unknown Speaker (1:22:07): I'm