Steelers Rookie Camp, Pens Make moves, Pirates still relevant

TD (0:01): 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 sports black and gold starts now.

Hockey Jesus (0:29): That's right. The Sports Porch Black and Gold is live right now. And as you can see, I am in the TD seat. Where is TD? Look at this.

Hockey Jesus (0:40): Well, TD had an emergency. I guess his mom had was having some chest pains and being the good son that he is.

TD (0:47): Great son.

TD (0:48): He thought it would be more important to go to the hospital than do a show with us. Well, that's probably the right choice.

The Grand Schwabini (0:54): I gotta agree with him there.

TD (0:55): Probably the right choice. He finally got something right once in his life.

The Grand Schwabini (0:58): Yeah, you're right. That's the first time I can remember.

Hockey Jesus (1:02): Hey, thanks for stopping by the sports porch. Tonight, we're going to hit all three of them. We're definitely going to talk about those buccos. We don't know if they're tenders or what they are, but you're going to help us figure that out. We're definitely going to be talking a little Steelers, you know, the rookies were in camp Mark.

TD (1:18): Sure. And about Aaron Rodgers, was

TD (1:20): he in camp?

Hockey Jesus (1:21): Absolutely going to talk about Aaron Rodgers. I mean, I hate to, but we have to just because he's an enigma. He's like his, just like his movie says,

TD (1:30): he's, it's interesting. It's like he's part of the team, but he's not on the team.

Hockey Jesus (1:34): It's like that. Exactly. It's the guy we talk about the most, right? Who doesn't have a contract. Right.

Hockey Jesus (1:40): So yeah, so we're definitely gonna hit that. And of course, the penguins have been making a few moves, you know, nothing terrible, but definitely things we should be talking about and absolutely going to be talking about what Dubis might be saying at his press conference tomorrow. And of course, always at the end, we're looking out for you. So we're going to do a special what we're watching. Stay tuned for that.

TD (2:02): You're going to want to stay tuned for that. That's a little bit of a tease.

The Grand Schwabini (2:05): TD might not be here, but his recommendation might have legs.

Hockey Jesus (2:12): Oh, it will. It definitely will. Amy's asking where's TD? Well, the TD, just like I said, had an emergency and he's with his mom now in the emergency room. Hopefully, everything's okay.

Hockey Jesus (2:24): Say a little prayer for him. And TD is watching from the ER, so I guess everything may be stable there.

The Grand Schwabini (2:31): Yeah. So now once we we just said that TD did something right, he's now immediately done something wrong. TD console your mother, hold her hand.

TD (2:42): You don't need to be watching from the ER.

TD (2:45): Tell her

The Grand Schwabini (2:45): that you love her. Those would be the next things to do.

Hockey Jesus (2:50): The other thing is, is you could see our our our screenshots a little bit different now because I can't show the comments because of the emergency. I don't have a setup for the special comment box for only two people. So that's something I'm going to have to work on. Wasn't expecting that. But I digress.

Hockey Jesus (3:09): Let's hit the Although, wait a minute.

The Grand Schwabini (3:12): It looks like Amy reacting to TD being absent. Oh, no. So the show should be great.

TD (3:20): But we we Well we completely agree with that.

The Grand Schwabini (3:23): Yeah. I mean, it's like I told Chris as he left the studio, I said, look, don't take it personally if the reviews are really strong tonight.

Hockey Jesus (3:33): Yes. And they probably will.

TD (3:35): They probably will.

Hockey Jesus (3:36): Let's move on to this Aaron Rodgers saga.

TD (3:39): Okay.

Hockey Jesus (3:40): What is going on with Aaron Rodgers? You know, there was speculation that he was coming into town. Then there was further speculation that he was going to sign a contract because he was coming in at the Right. Saturday, Sunday comes around and everybody's like, where's Aaron? I haven't seen him.

Hockey Jesus (3:55): Have you seen him, Mark?

The Grand Schwabini (3:57): I have not seen him. Although we probably don't kind of hang out in the same circles.

Hockey Jesus (4:03): Probably not. But, you know, I'm pretty close to the South Side. You know? True. It's just right over the river from Greenfield where the Steelers practice and their facilities are.

Hockey Jesus (4:12): And you know what? I go over to a great ice cream place over there called Pages Dairy. If you're in Pittsburgh Yeah.

TD (4:17): I heard that's really good.

Hockey Jesus (4:18): Absolutely must go. It is a about a forty minute wait sometimes for ice Oh. But it's worth every minute of wait. Wow. The anticipation is worth the wait.

Hockey Jesus (4:29): I promise you. So it's close to there. So we go over there, but, know, we were over there this weekend because it's Mother's Day, you know, gotta go get some ice cream for for the wife.

The Grand Schwabini (4:38): Free for the wife on Mother's Day?

TD (4:40): No. Oh. They're not that good.

TD (4:42): I don't like that.

TD (4:43): We get

The Grand Schwabini (4:43): we get this Emmerling ice cream out in the North Hills. It's free for moms.

Hockey Jesus (4:48): Free for Mother's Day. Good for Emmerling. So good for Emmerlings, but I can tell you Page is better. Okay. So, yeah, not did not see him over there.

TD (4:56): What do what do you think is going on with this? I mean, is it the same is it the same thing we did last year or is this going to be different? Well,

The Grand Schwabini (5:05): you know, every day that goes by that he's not signed leads you to believe, at least leads me to believe that there is more to the story here. Right. Now this is just it's reckless speculation

TD (5:20): Mhmm.

TD (5:20): As I would call it.

TD (5:21): That's what we do here at the court sometimes.

The Grand Schwabini (5:23): But, you know, like my best guess here is that, you know, the the kind the Steelers and Aaron Rodgers both need each other. Mhmm. That's true. You know, Rogers probably knows, you know, not counting an injury that happens in training camp, this is the only place he can start.

TD (5:43): Yeah. I agree.

The Grand Schwabini (5:44): And, you know, and the Steelers pretty much know that if he's not their starter, then it means it's a rebuild year and they probably don't wanna do that.

TD (5:55): Right.

The Grand Schwabini (5:56): So I would have to think that Aaron Rodgers is kind of playing chicken with them in terms of giving them giving him some more money.

Hockey Jesus (6:06): Yeah. And that's what I mean, but, you know, by giving them that that tender offer or whatever it's called, they pretty much say, here's the number we're gonna give you. And now, of course, you can move up from that. Mhmm. Of course.

Hockey Jesus (6:17): And maybe he doesn't like that number, so maybe he is playing this game of chicken to try and get it closer to 20,000,000. Mhmm.

TD (6:23): Right.

TD (6:24): I think the number was close closer to, like, 12 or 15,000,000.

TD (6:27): Right? Right.

Hockey Jesus (6:28): So, but I just don't see the value in this for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I mean, they did use a third round pick on a, well, half talented quarterback. We'll get to Drew Allen in a second. And, you know, they have an unproven sixth round pick from last year, and they still have Mason Rudolph who is a proven starter in

TD (6:47): the league.

Hockey Jesus (6:47): Why do they even bother with this? I mean, is it because they already know he's gonna sign, or is it because they they they like this drama? It it just doesn't make any sense.

The Grand Schwabini (6:59): Well, I would say this. Another reckless reckless speculation

TD (7:05): I love them.

TD (7:06): Keep them coming.

The Grand Schwabini (7:06): Is that I think I think this is another time, you know, very similar to the the first round pick this year that the Steelers brass miscalculated this. You know, I think they you know, like, remember, they started out saying this is gonna get done much sooner than it did last year.

TD (7:26): Right.

The Grand Schwabini (7:26): Right? And it was gonna be before the draft. Right.

TD (7:29): Right? You know? And Right.

The Grand Schwabini (7:30): And and obviously, they miscalculated. Yeah. You know, they they they thought that they had something in the bag and they didn't. And, you know, that's that's an issue that the the front office is not always on the top of their game.

Hockey Jesus (7:47): They're they haven't been on the top of their game since they've taken over as far as I'm concerned.

The Grand Schwabini (7:51): Right. I mean, so, look, I I mean, I I think the the only reason why they want Aaron Rodgers on the team is because they want to be competitive and they want to have a chance at a playoffs playoff spot.

Hockey Jesus (8:06): Right.

The Grand Schwabini (8:07): And look, hey, if everything goes great next year, yeah, if if if things line up right, the the stewards could maybe win a playoff game and kind of get that little monkey off your back for, you know, eight years of not doing it. But at the same time, I think we all agree that they're not gonna go much further than a round in the playoffs. So for all of us, it's kind of like, look, Tomlin's gone, we don't have to worry about the record of consecutive winning seasons anymore. Let's see if one of the young guys got it. If they do, fantastic.

The Grand Schwabini (8:41): If they don't, then we get a better draft pick and we know what we have to draft next year.

Hockey Jesus (8:45): Right. Do you think the Mike McCarthy angle makes it a little bit different? I mean, he knows Aaron Rodgers.

TD (8:51): Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (8:52): And I think Mike would be easy to just pick up Aaron Rodgers if he showed up at at minicamp, let's just say. I think that could be easily doable. Right? Mhmm. But and let's let's jump to the Drew Aller stuff because this weekend, the rookies were in town and Drew Aller was basically the featured rookie.

TD (9:12): Right.

Hockey Jesus (9:13): And it was it was speculated and it was seen that Mike McCarthy was working one on one with Drew Aller. So maybe he's getting ready to move on from Aaron Rodgers or maybe it's just one of those, okay, my plan A is Aaron Rodgers, but my plan B is this Aller project.

TD (9:31): I'll coach the guys that are here. Right?

Hockey Jesus (9:33): Mhmm. I think that's what's going on. Right. But I just don't understand why the drama has to happen. Maybe maybe it was just because it was made up.

Hockey Jesus (9:41): Like, somebody leaked that he was gonna be in and was gonna be signing just to see if the person who leaked it would would spit it out to the media. It did get But it was It did catch like wildfire.

The Grand Schwabini (9:52): But it was like a credible source in Ian Rapaport. Yeah. You know? I mean, that's a credible source.

Hockey Jesus (9:58): Kind of, but he he he took it off of the fan. The fan was the one who broke it. Oh, really? The morning show.

TD (10:03): Oh,

Hockey Jesus (10:04): okay. Dickerson and the other guy that's with him up there. They're the ones who actually broke it, and they were, like, all excited because they were breaking a story

TD (10:11): Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (10:12): About the Steelers and Aaron Rodgers signing. That's a big story to break. Yeah. But it was wrong. Right.

Hockey Jesus (10:19): So, I mean and I think, you know, let's face it. I mean, we would jump on that bandwagon too. If somebody somebody credible, like, you know, the fan is credible, I guess you could say. A lot of people listen to him anyways. And when they say something like that, it can just become like, oh, oh, he's gonna sign now.

Hockey Jesus (10:34): And then when he doesn't, it just looks stupid on every part from the Steelers to the media reporting on it to now everybody's like, like us right now saying what's going on. You know? Mhmm. I'm done with it. I'm I'm done with it.

TD (10:47): Yeah. It's it's just stupid. I think

The Grand Schwabini (10:49): I mean, it's just like you should you should know your direction. You know? I mean, you should know your direction. It's ridiculous. And I mean, even look, I I understand that Aaron Rodgers probably has bought himself some what do you want to call it?

Hockey Jesus (11:09): He's got some cash shake.

TD (11:11): Right? He's got some cash shake.

TD (11:13): He's gonna be a hall of famer.

TD (11:14): Right. Right.

Hockey Jesus (11:15): But I think he's blowing some of it right now.

The Grand Schwabini (11:17): Yeah. I mean, look, the bottom line is it doesn't matter if you're gonna be a hall of famer or not. The bottom line is you gotta be here to help the team. And the first thing you need to do is sign a contract so you can be here.

TD (11:34): Yeah.

TD (11:35): Right? I mean, come on.

Hockey Jesus (11:36): Well, and I I just don't think he wants to practice. I think he's just he's just he's just going that side round that says, well, if I don't have a contract, I don't have to practice. Right. And therefore, don't have to worry about being there. Right.

Hockey Jesus (11:48): And that's And and his ego is big enough to say, I can just run this offense no matter what, especially now that it's a McCarthy offense. Right. It's probably even easier for him to run because he's run it already. Although, I

The Grand Schwabini (12:00): think we we we both would agree that, you know, the reps with new players is important. Mhmm. You know? I mean, look. And and maybe he's maybe he wouldn't have been here this weekend.

TD (12:13): Right.

TD (12:13): You know?

Hockey Jesus (12:13): But mean, it's rookie weekend. Right. Right. Gonna be shaking hands with the rookies. I mean, Sidney Crosby would,

TD (12:19): but Right.

Hockey Jesus (12:19): You don't expect Aaron Rodgers to.

The Grand Schwabini (12:21): Right. But it would be nice if if that's the way he was built. You know? If he was made up that way, it would be nice.

TD (12:26): Yeah. Well, he's

TD (12:27): not. You know?

Hockey Jesus (12:29): Oh, so I'm done with that. Let's talk about the let's talk about the rookies. Mhmm. And particularly, let's talk about Drew Allard because supposedly it was rookie camp. Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (12:38): And the only guy who the only guy that Mike McCarthy said needs to show up is Drew Allard.

The Grand Schwabini (12:44): So let me so let me ask you this. We hear we were talking about this before the show. Yep. Apparently, with Drew Howard, two things were pretty prominent and voiced. Okay.

The Grand Schwabini (12:53): One, he can really zing the ball. Right? He's got a great arm.

TD (12:58): Yep. Heard that.

The Grand Schwabini (12:58): Number two, worst footwork anyone's ever seen. Right. You know what? I I watched, you know, a clip of his footwork. I mean, look, I don't know enough about footwork.

The Grand Schwabini (13:10): Mhmm. It didn't look too unusual to me. Right. But I don't know. What what are your thoughts on those two comments?

Hockey Jesus (13:16): Well, I I was listening to the Madden this afternoon. The guy the guy knows his stuff. Yeah. Whether you like him or not, I I like him personally because he's super entertaining. But what he was saying was there were two ex quarterbacks who used to used to play for McCarthy and and had been through this drill before.

Hockey Jesus (13:33): The people who were speculating on it said, His first step looks awkward and slow. And these guys who've done it said, Yeah, it's supposed to be that way because he's teaching him how to use his footwork differently. So if you just look at it with no context, it looks like he's a fool the way he's doing it. But what he's teaching him is how to move his feet differently so he can be faster. Okay.

Hockey Jesus (13:57): And when you're doing something for the first time, yeah, it's gonna look really dumb, but that's what practice is about. And that's the problem with some of this video getting out

TD (14:08): and doing

Hockey Jesus (14:09): that and not having the right context. So I think here's the way I feel about Drew Auer. I think he has the best set of tools to make the Steelers successful in the future. He's big. He's got a good arm, and he he can hit the he can hit the target when he's back in time.

Hockey Jesus (14:32): Right? Right. When he can get set and he can throw it where he where he lacks is he's not going to be fast. Mhmm. And he needs to be able to go through his progressions.

Hockey Jesus (14:42): Like if the first guy is open and he's open deep, he can hit him every time. Boom. If that guy isn't open, then he's got to go to the second or the third one. By the time he gets to the second or the third one, if he doesn't get deep enough drop, he's going to get sacked or worse yet, you know, get stripped for a fumble or, and bad things happen. Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (15:02): Or rush and throw and make a, make a, make a bad choice. Right. So, and I think those are teachable things. You can't teach a strong-arm. You can't say, okay, throw it further.

Hockey Jesus (15:13): If you got a weak arm, you can only throw it 45 yards in the air on a rope. He can throw it 60 yards in the air. I was watching Kurt Warner do a breakdown of them before the draft. And if this was after the draft that they were showing it again, the guy can you know how we talk about that sideline pass? Like, he's so tired of the sideline pass.

Hockey Jesus (15:34): He just he went like this and he threw it the whole way across the field because, you know, they start on the other hash in college. He just threw it over there like it was, like, no big deal. He he didn't even he didn't even have, like, the lunge into it. He just, like, just picked it up and threw right into him. So I love that about a quarterback.

Hockey Jesus (15:51): I love a quarterback with a strong-arm. Ben had a strong-arm, and that that opened up so many things. Now, Ben's legs also opened up a lot of things too, but if you don't have a strong-arm, you can't you can't you can't teach it. Right? So that's the way I feel that's the way I feel about Drew Allard.

Hockey Jesus (16:08): Do you what's let's talk about Drew Howler versus the other guys.

TD (16:12): Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (16:12): What what do you think about the other guys compared to him? Like, just in the future, thinking about the whole the whole package.

TD (16:20): We talking about Will Howard.

TD (16:24): Will Howard.

The Grand Schwabini (16:25): And and Mason Rudolph.

Hockey Jesus (16:26): Mason Rudolph. Let's just let's assume that Aaron Rodgers is not in this discussion. I don't think he'll be in a discussion past this year anyway.

The Grand Schwabini (16:36): Well, I I mean, I would say this. If Mason Rudolph is on the team and Aaron Rodgers is not on the team, then I think they're gonna have, at least at the start of training camp, Mason Rudolph is gonna be QB one to start.

Hockey Jesus (16:49): I would agree with that. You know? And I don't think that's a bad thing.

The Grand Schwabini (16:52): No. It's not a bad thing. You know, look, I I wouldn't be terribly excited about Mason Rudolph. Now I I actually for a for a long time, I've kind of been a Mason Rudolph supporter and I felt like he could play and maybe didn't really get a chance. But I don't know.

The Grand Schwabini (17:08): I kind of think at this point, if it was gonna happen, it would have happened already.

TD (17:13): I agree.

The Grand Schwabini (17:13): So so, I mean, look, I think he's like a really good backup in this league. You know what I mean?

TD (17:18): And I think he can make spot starts if somebody gets injured, you said, you know?

The Grand Schwabini (17:23): I just, you know what? I, I look, I mean, we'll have to see with Drew Aller, but I just, I like Will Howard. I just, I think that he is a winner. And I just think he makes the right decisions, you know, in football games. Mhmm.

The Grand Schwabini (17:39): Like, he knows when to run for five yards to get a first down. Like, you know

Hockey Jesus (17:43): I gotcha.

The Grand Schwabini (17:43): You know, I feel like he might not have the arm strength that that Aller has, but he probably throws really well with anticipation.

Hockey Jesus (17:53): So you like his intangibles?

The Grand Schwabini (17:55): Yeah. I like his intangibles. I like his, I see him as as a better leader.

Hockey Jesus (18:01): Think of him as a guy who was playing with Ohio State and anybody could have quarterback that team to the national championship. Now, could be wrong about that. I could be wrong about that. And maybe he does have the intangibles. I would just finally like the Steelers to draft players that we can actually see on the field and make decisions about because we're speculating about a sixth round pick who didn't play at all last year as being the quarterback of the future for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

TD (18:31): Yeah. I mean, look. That You what I mean?

TD (18:33): Yeah. That's that's just doesn't sound right

TD (18:35): to me. And that's and that's fair. That's that's definitely fair.

TD (18:38): Yeah.

The Grand Schwabini (18:39): At the same time, though, I I do think that there were folks who did think that Drew Allard would not Drew Allard, that Will Howard would go in the third or the fourth round and he just didn't.

TD (18:52): Yeah.

The Grand Schwabini (18:53): So I think people did have him rated higher, but he just wasn't selected there. So Gotcha. You know? But yeah. I mean, look.

The Grand Schwabini (19:00): But we could also sort of say the same thing about, you know, Allard. Right? Is that he was the third round pick. Right? Right.

The Grand Schwabini (19:08): So, you know, so the but the bottom line is is that there's always gonna be guys in the and and usually more so in the third round than in the sixth round. Right. But there's always gonna be guys that, you know, wind up having a good career, you know, in the third or fourth round.

Hockey Jesus (19:24): It's possible. I I just would like to actually see them on the field before we can speculate anymore. Yeah. And unfortunately, we'll probably have to wait what? Five?

Hockey Jesus (19:34): Four or five months for that.

TD (19:36): Right.

Hockey Jesus (19:37): Right. Well, three or four months anyways because I think, you know, preseason. Think we'll finally get to see some games. Yeah. Which will be nice.

Hockey Jesus (19:44): Yeah. Because we didn't even get to see him in a preseason game last year.

TD (19:47): I know. That was that was disappointing.

Hockey Jesus (19:49): That was very disappointing. Hey. If you're still watching on the porch, thanks for being here. We appreciate you. If you got some comments on Aaron Rodgers, just slap them down there in the comments.

Hockey Jesus (19:58): We love to do this thing live. Love to hear your comments on the Aaron Rodgers saga as it is. And you know what? We're going to move on right now. We're going to move on.

Hockey Jesus (20:09): And this pains me, but I think we're going to be moving on to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Grand Schwabini (20:16): Yes. Now, interestingly, Steve, you know, the team has been off to a decent start this year, and there's probably more hope this year than there's been in a long time. Yet you're still not really that enthused.

TD (20:29): Here's why I can't get enthused about them.

TD (20:33): Okay.

Hockey Jesus (20:34): I just have been broken. Okay. I love skis.

TD (20:38): Okay. Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (20:39): Sure. Think O'Neil Cruz being better this year and he's come down a little bit lately. Yeah. But he started off like a rocket ship. Right.

TD (20:48): Right.

TD (20:48): Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (20:49): And they did spend a little bit of money. Okay. And they did go out and sign Connor Griffin. So there are definitely some things that are out there that are like, okay, maybe maybe this team is going to become a real team.

TD (21:02): I

TD (21:03): just, I feel like it's all a trap. I do. I I feel like it's a trap Right. To get us to that. You know?

Hockey Jesus (21:11): What are they? Like, eight sixteen and eighteen or something? No. No.

The Grand Schwabini (21:14): They're they're twenty two and nineteen.

TD (21:16): Twenty two and nine.

The Grand Schwabini (21:16): So they're three games over 500.

Hockey Jesus (21:18): Okay. So they're having a pretty good West Coast trip.

TD (21:20): Mhmm.

TD (21:21): And they and they lose some games that they're not supposed to, and I know their bullpen is like, meh. Mhmm. But they are hitting the ball. And I mean, they went from the worst home run hitting team last year to middle of the pack. Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (21:33): Which is a damn good jump. I mean, not a lot of teams jump that many spots in one year. Yeah. Now I think that was a little bit low, you know, as far as the the home runs go. So I just I do.

Hockey Jesus (21:45): I totally feel like it's a trap. I feel like they want me to get excited. They want me to go out and buy some tickets and then come the trade deadline. They're gonna be close. They probably need to get somebody.

Hockey Jesus (21:57): They probably trade Keller because, you know, they can get something for him.

The Grand Schwabini (22:02): Well, if they're if they're gonna be a real team, then they can't trade Keller.

Hockey Jesus (22:06): Well, right. That and that's what I that's what I'm that's what I said. That's why I'm worried. Right. I'm just worried that they're gonna just be right on the cusp of a playoff team.

Hockey Jesus (22:15): The everybody's gonna get excited and then they'll make a couple moves where it'll be enough to say, well, they did do something. Mhmm. But they never go for the, they never go for the top. Right.

The Grand Schwabini (22:26): They're just gonna bring in some guy who's like

Hockey Jesus (22:28): They never go get trout. Like trout supposedly is having a down year. They could go get him and eat his easily take on a salary, but they won't do that.

The Grand Schwabini (22:37): Well, actually, he's not having a down year. He's having a down year average wise, I think, but he's got like a bunch of home runs. It's got like over 10

TD (22:43): home runs.

TD (22:44): That's what I'm saying.

TD (22:45): Like Yeah.

TD (22:45): They're never

TD (22:45): gonna go for that.

Hockey Jesus (22:46): The other guy that I heard maybe, you know, might be out there is Chris Carpenter. He's having a terrible year.

TD (22:51): Right.

Hockey Jesus (22:51): So And he's got a contract that goes until, I don't know, 2032 or some crap like that.

The Grand Schwabini (22:56): You know? They're gonna do is they're gonna they're gonna, like, sign some guy who plays, you know, for, like, the twins who's, like, a middle reliever who's, like, not bad.

TD (23:06): Yeah.

TD (23:07): Then that's it.

TD (23:08): But but I You know

TD (23:09): what I mean? But I can get on board with with having Connor Griffin around.

TD (23:12): Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (23:13): I think that that's the right choice. And, you know, O'Hern's a real baseball player. Mhmm. I mean, he's good. Brian Reynolds seems to be being back to the guy that we knew Mhmm.

TD (23:23): Before last year.

TD (23:24): Yep.

Hockey Jesus (23:25): So, I mean, there are definitely spots of this team that I wanna get excited about. And of course, you know, I don't get excited about baseball till the hockey season's over. So I will definitely give it a little bit better of a look after June. 100%.

TD (23:39): Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (23:39): So I say check back with me on June 29. Yeah. I think that's the last potential Stanley Cup play. Right. And I'll have a better feel for whether I want I'm I'm I'm gonna be more in than I am now.

The Grand Schwabini (23:54): Well, it is true. Like, as much as I hate it when people say this, it is reality. It's it's reality that it it's too early. I mean, look, it's like you're three games above 500 and there's still three quarters of the season left.

TD (24:11): Right. You know what I mean?

The Grand Schwabini (24:12): It's like one week, you could be eight games over 500 and then and being serious or you could be, you know, three games under 500. Now it's like, here we go again. Right. You know? So it's it's still it's still too early for me, you know?

The Grand Schwabini (24:28): And and like, part part of what I look at, you know, I call it maybe I should call it the Bailey Falter effect. Okay. You know, remember how I told you the past couple years, like Bailey Falter's gonna pitch half the season with a 2.5 ERA.

TD (24:46): Right.

TD (24:46): And then

The Grand Schwabini (24:47): by the end of the year, it's gonna be 4.5. Right. You know? And most I think the year two years ago, I was right. And then last year, like right around four.

TD (24:56): Right.

TD (24:57): You know

TD (24:57): what I mean?

The Grand Schwabini (24:57): Yep. And and like, for example, like, just because, you know, I I watch a lot of baseball, the closer, Gregory So to.

TD (25:06): Yes.

The Grand Schwabini (25:07): He's been very, very good this year. Okay. I think he's a ballet falter.

TD (25:11): Yeah.

The Grand Schwabini (25:12): I mean, I I saw him I saw him pitch for the Phillies, and essentially he was their closer one year, and he lost the job because he wasn't good enough and he gave up like a bunch of home runs in like three straight games.

TD (25:24): Right.

The Grand Schwabini (25:25): You know, like before you know it, it's like barely like right now, Gregory So to, I think has like a one something ERA or a 2.1 or something. And I just sort of feel like, you know, mid August it's going to be 4.5.

Hockey Jesus (25:39): And that's that's the thing. Like they, I mean, they don't have a closer like they had Bednar. Right? And then they got rid of him, then they could use him right now. You know?

TD (25:48): He's actually he's actually now the closer for the Yankees.

TD (25:50): Yeah. I know.

The Grand Schwabini (25:51): Yeah. He's over over 10, I think.

Hockey Jesus (25:53): Right. Exactly. So and that seems to be what happens to the Pirates. Like, they they get rid of a a resource that they could use Mhmm. Like, now.

TD (26:02): Like, clearly, they could use a catcher. Right?

TD (26:04): Right.

Hockey Jesus (26:04): But they're not gonna go get a catcher. They got the number one draft pick from whatever, 2021. You know? Right. And he seems to be terrible.

The Grand Schwabini (26:13): Right. I mean, here's the thing. Like, apparently, the pitchers love him. So that helps him. Right.

The Grand Schwabini (26:20): And, you know, maybe he can call a good game. I mean, I don't know. But look, I mean, to me, Joey Bart is probably a better player. I mean, look, I think he went four for five the other day. Yeah.

The Grand Schwabini (26:35): Now look, I mean, Joey Bart two years ago had a really strong second half, and then last year he kind of sunk. You know? But the bottom line is he still has the ability to hit two fifty and maybe hit 17 home runs.

Hockey Jesus (26:47): Right. That's where gonna pull you down out of a playoff spot.

The Grand Schwabini (26:50): Right. But, you know, I I think it's pretty clear now that, you know, Hank Davis is like a 200 hitter.

TD (26:56): Yeah.

The Grand Schwabini (26:57): You know, he he's not gonna all of a sudden I mean, best case scenario, two twenty five maybe. Yeah. And that's not

TD (27:03): good enough.

TD (27:03): It's not good enough.

Hockey Jesus (27:04): And he doesn't hit for power. No. So he's in. So yeah, what do you do? You know, the pitchers love him.

Hockey Jesus (27:11): He can't hit, you know, what are you going to do? Let the pitchers hit and he can he can get DH for the catcher?

TD (27:21): So, yeah.

Hockey Jesus (27:23): It's it's it's terrible. I'm I'm looking at the I'm looking at the NL Central standings right now, and the Pirates are it's fourth, but they're tied twenty two and nineteen with the reds for the bottom. But right above them are the cardinals twenty three and seventeen. And the brewers are only twenty two and sixteen. And the cubs are probably the ones with the best record at well, they are twenty seven and fourteen.

Hockey Jesus (27:48): But I mean, all that's there. Everybody's within reach of everybody else. Right. I mean And and I think that's a problem because as I recall last year, nobody in Central was worth a damn. So the Pirates had a worse, much worse record, but they were probably in about the same spot.

The Grand Schwabini (28:06): Yeah. I mean, it's it's actually not a good thing that every team in your division is over 500

TD (28:12): Right.

The Grand Schwabini (28:13): By at least three games. That means they're really competitive teams. Right. So it's gonna be much harder to win that division. Now, I think there's like, maybe, like, if you look at the wild card, you know, I think they're like within like a game and a half of the wild card.

The Grand Schwabini (28:27): Oh, look, I am exactly right. Game and a half out of the wild card. But, you know, St. Louis is in the wild card.

TD (28:35): Right.

The Grand Schwabini (28:36): You know what I mean? Right. Milwaukee is in the wild card. And then of course you have the team that's leading the division is in the division spot.

Hockey Jesus (28:45): Right. So That's interesting that both the Brewers and the Cardinals are in the wildcard spot.

TD (28:50): Mhmm.

TD (28:51): They're a game and a half above the Pirates. Right.

The Grand Schwabini (28:53): Yep. So, you know, we'll we'll see. We'll see. I mean, the one thing I will say is they do they do actually surprise me when sometimes I like pick up my head and I'm like, they scored 10 runs today?

Speaker 3 (29:11): You know what I mean? Like, I'm like, I'm like, what? You know?

The Grand Schwabini (29:16): And and usually, like, I'm I'm I'm trying to think like and usually it's everybody's involved. It's never like one guy does it all. Yeah. You know? So I think they really did improve their hitting.

Hockey Jesus (29:28): No. They absolutely have both for power and for average.

TD (29:32): Yeah. They

Hockey Jesus (29:32): have And I think most a lot of that is O'Neil Cruz. I mean, because he's the guy that that sets the sets the stage for everybody else when he and he still strikes out way too much. Yeah. But his average is is up. His home runs are up.

Hockey Jesus (29:45): Mhmm. I mean, I I just think and I think it's something he can sustain. It seems like he's getting more comfortable in the field.

The Grand Schwabini (29:52): I don't know, though. I mean, the the one thing about him I mean, look, you know, bottom line is he's got 10 home runs now. So if he stays healthy, he's going to hit over 20 for sure. You know, he's got like maybe 13 stolen bases. We know he's going to get, you know, 20 to 30 of those.

The Grand Schwabini (30:12): So look, he does a lot of good things for you. The the problem that that I foresee, and I think he's got to prove it this year, is I remember the first time we were talking about the Pirates this year, like he he got off that hot start of seeing three fifty three.

TD (30:27): Right.

The Grand Schwabini (30:28): I think he's now down to like two fifty two or something like that.

Hockey Jesus (30:31): He lost a 100 points. Right.

The Grand Schwabini (30:32): So and look. And actually, like, if he stays around two fifty, that's a good place for him to be. I'm just afraid that as more and more time goes on, that that might start going more towards like two twenty ish. And then all of a sudden, it's like the home runs and the stolen bases, like, aren't as fulfilling. Yeah.

The Grand Schwabini (30:58): You know what I mean?

TD (30:59): You are right, though. He is batting two fifty five, 10 home runs.

The Grand Schwabini (31:02): Right. So, you know, look, I mean, look, he's he's in a much better spot this year than he was last year. And look, I I do think that I do really like the story about how he hired somebody to pitch to him left handed. Right. I I think that does show like some willingness to work.

The Grand Schwabini (31:21): I did see him also yesterday. I watched a little bit of the game, and I saw that he really busted his ass down the line to not get into a double play and to extend the inning. So I thought that was a a huge sign. Because that was the kind of stuff he wasn't doing Right. In previous years.

The Grand Schwabini (31:39): So I think there's some hope for him. But, you know, I've been down on him for so long. Again, I kinda feel like you, like, I sort of feel like, well, let's see where he is in July.

Hockey Jesus (31:51): Well, maybe me and June and him and July will both cross paths at some at some place. Hey, Pat, off track. Finally made it on board. Good to see you, Pat. Pat's saying, sorry, I'm late.

Hockey Jesus (32:04): Did I miss the Riverhounds review? You did not miss the Riverhounds review because there was not one. Pat's Pat's nephew, I believe, plays for Louisville. Oh. The soccer club.

Hockey Jesus (32:17): A formal grad at that.

TD (32:19): How about that?

Hockey Jesus (32:20): And I guess they were playing the Riverhounds the other day. So I'm sure Pat wants to be our new Riverhounds. Unfortunately, no one cares. Nobody cares.

The Grand Schwabini (32:30): We do have an update from the hospital. Looks like Chris's mom's EKG shining stars. Just enjoying the wonderment that is a hospital ER. Glad that you are enjoying your time there, Chris.

Hockey Jesus (32:45): Well, that's good, Chris. Make sure you don't bring the haunt of virus back with you.

TD (32:48): Right.

TD (32:49): Okay. Leave it at the hospital.

The Grand Schwabini (32:50): And don't do anything that would cause your mother to have chest pains.

Hockey Jesus (32:57): Pat says they are black and gold. I'm assuming he's talking about the river hounds, but maybe it's Louisville.

TD (33:03): My god.

Hockey Jesus (33:04): Pat knows.

The Grand Schwabini (33:05): I bet they are black and gold. They probably went with the whole

TD (33:07): The river hounds have to be black.

TD (33:09): Right. Right.

Hockey Jesus (33:10): Yeah. There's no way they wouldn't be black and gold. Did you hear the, you know, sidetrack here? Thanks for taking us off track, Pat. Did you see they're they're redoing the the soccer stadium over there?

Hockey Jesus (33:20): Did you see?

TD (33:21): No. I didn't.

Hockey Jesus (33:22): Yeah. So, I mean, right now, I don't know how many it seats, maybe like five or 7,000.

TD (33:26): Okay.

Hockey Jesus (33:27): And they're redoing it. So it'll seat like 22,000.

TD (33:30): Okay.

Hockey Jesus (33:30): And it's all going to be undercover. They're like building it up. There's like a train trestle on the other side,

TD (33:37): right?

TD (33:37): Near the river.

TD (33:39): Right.

Hockey Jesus (33:39): And they're going to build it up so that the train trust will be like beneath the field and it's going to be much higher. It's a beautiful view from over there because it shoots way shorter because it's on the Mon side. On the PNC side, you got the Allegheny that shoots into the city. This is on the Monongahela side and it shoots into the city from the other side. So it is beautiful.

The Grand Schwabini (34:00): By way, is that a real a real soccer team? Like, they play in the same division where like, you know, the big star in Miami plays?

Hockey Jesus (34:10): We'll get our announcer Pat off track. Okay. Pat, just just tell us everything about the River Hounds because we know nothing.

TD (34:17): Yeah. Is that

Hockey Jesus (34:17): And we feel like we should because I think they were they were in for the championship like last couple years. They're pretty good team.

The Grand Schwabini (34:24): So I think they have to be second tier then.

Hockey Jesus (34:26): I I don't think it's MLS. I think it's

TD (34:28): Not MLS.

Hockey Jesus (34:29): What the MLS minor league.

TD (34:31): Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. But They're not playing Messi.

TD (34:35): No. Okay.

Hockey Jesus (34:36): No. No. No. He would not play at a place like this. They play at the they play at the big stadiums.

Hockey Jesus (34:41): Right? Right. Right. Miami, they play in, you know, where Miami dolphins play. I don't know what any of those names are.

Hockey Jesus (34:47): Yeah. Lower league. Thanks, Pat. That that's good. So we're we're so we're all caught up on soccer.

TD (34:52): Yep.

Hockey Jesus (34:52): Good to know. Yep. Hey. If you're still here, thanks. Thanks for being here at the porch.

Hockey Jesus (34:57): Just the two of us today. It's the grand Schwab beanie and myself. I got the TD hat on today. Yep. Client's giving us updates on his bomb from the ER.

Hockey Jesus (35:07): Everything seems to be shining. Yep. Our healthcare system at work.

TD (35:11): Yeah. It's it's fantastic.

Hockey Jesus (35:12): You know, thirty five minutes, maybe forty minutes ago, Klein was, you know, TD was here and he was like, I gotta go. My mom's having a heart attack. Well, he didn't say that. He was he was actually pretty calm about it. Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (35:23): But he said, I need to do the right thing and I'm going. Yeah. So and now we know 40 later, everything's fine. Yeah. And she's not she's gonna be okay.

The Grand Schwabini (35:32): And I would I would say, yeah, mean, she is gonna be okay. And the question is, will you have a heart attack when your mom gives you the bill for $35,000?

TD (35:42): Now that you're a power of attorney, you can pay all her bills.

TD (35:46): There you go.

Hockey Jesus (35:47): Congratulations. Just bill it to Medicare. They don't seem to look at who bills them, so just send it that way. There you That sounds like a good idea. Alright.

Hockey Jesus (35:56): So let's see. Check on Aaron Rodgers. Mhmm. Check on the Buccos. Yep.

Hockey Jesus (36:03): That was painful, by the way. It it was really painful for me to talk about the buy the virus.

The Grand Schwabini (36:07): One one negative on the Buccos. I did hear the other day that Bubba Chandler leads the league in walks.

TD (36:13): I did. I heard that too.

The Grand Schwabini (36:14): Yeah. I didn't I don't know. Like, what's what's going on there? He's supposed to

Hockey Jesus (36:17): be Nobody knows when Jared Jones is coming back either. Right. Like, is he ever gonna come back? I don't I don't think so.

The Grand Schwabini (36:24): I don't know. Well, anyway, actually, you know what? Our TD from before the new TD says Boswell highest paid kicker. I believe that's inaccurate, Chris.

TD (36:39): It's partially correct. It's

The Grand Schwabini (36:40): partially correct. They tied with Aubrey from the Cowboys.

Hockey Jesus (36:44): That's right. He got a four year 7,000,000 deal. We should talk about that a little bit before we jump to my favorite subject.

TD (36:51): Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (36:52): Buzz contract four year seven million. Is it worth it?

The Grand Schwabini (36:59): Yeah, I think it's worth it. I mean, I do think it's always important to have a good kicker because so many games are decided by kickers, usually at least three or four a year. So yeah, it's good to have a good kicker, especially one that kicks well in this stadium as they say it is quite windy and difficult to kick in. He seems to have no problem with long range kicks over 50. He doesn't seem to be at all, you know, nervous or gets into, you know, having mental issues.

The Grand Schwabini (37:34): Right. So, yeah. I mean, he's a really good kicker. He's probably top three, four in the league maybe.

Hockey Jesus (37:39): He did win two games for us last year.

The Grand Schwabini (37:42): Yeah. I mean, so yeah. I think Amy May says kickers are very important. Games are It's learned by

Hockey Jesus (37:50): hard to disagree with that. Yeah. The question is is are I guess they're worth 7,000,000 this right now. If a right tackle is worth, what, 25,000,000, 30,000,000? A kicker's gotta be worth 7,000,000.

Hockey Jesus (38:02): One quarter? Yeah. That sounds about right.

The Grand Schwabini (38:04): It's a specialist job. He's getting a special high rate.

Hockey Jesus (38:10): And it it is kind it is a good feeling when, you know, you got your kicker out there and you're expecting him to make a 55 yard field goal. Right. Right. That is pretty rare. Would say there are a lot of lot of teams out there who would love to have a kicker.

Hockey Jesus (38:25): They can just trot out there and say, yeah. He'll nail he'll nail this nail this 55 yarder right down the middle. Windy, no problem. Yeah. And like Snowing Yep.

TD (38:33): Not a big deal.

TD (38:34): Yeah. And like

The Grand Schwabini (38:34): a third of the teams this year will probably go through two or three kickers, and they're just praying that somebody they they discover is good. Yeah. You know?

Hockey Jesus (38:43): Did you I the funny thing about kickers is and they're all over the Internet.

TD (38:48): Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (38:49): I saw a kicker, and this is off a tee. So, you know, you got to take it with a grain of salt, kick an 80 yard field goal.

TD (38:55): Oh, really?

TD (38:55): Yeah. An 80 yard field goal. And like, he did it like four times in a row. Wasn't just like just one off. Now, I don't know if the ball had helium in it, you know?

Hockey Jesus (39:05): I I it was. I believe it was real. Anything could be AI these days.

TD (39:10): Was he somebody in college or? Yeah. Yeah. He was a college kicker. Yeah.

TD (39:14): Okay.

Hockey Jesus (39:15): And actually he might have been. He might no. I don't think he was in high school, but I think he was like a freshman in college. He was one of those one of those phenom legs. Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (39:25): So I think we'll I I think we'll continue to see that record being broke, especially, you know, with the new kicking kicking balls that they

The Grand Schwabini (39:33): have now. There's actually, you know, local story there. I can't remember the kid's name, but there's actually a Fox Chapel kicker who is rated one of the best kickers in the nation, and I think he's gonna kick for Georgia next year. Either Georgia or like Auburn.

TD (39:47): Okay.

The Grand Schwabini (39:48): Yeah. Like one of those two.

TD (39:49): We'll have to keep an eye on the local kid. Yeah. The local kid

TD (39:52): kicker. Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (39:54): Alright. Well, we're just swimming along here. Thanks, TD, for reminding us of the Boz contract.

TD (39:59): Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (40:00): The show wouldn't be complete without your input.

The Grand Schwabini (40:03): How about Drew Aller and McCarthy at minicamp? Chris, I am pleased to announce that you have been a good son because you missed that section.

TD (40:14): That's great.

The Grand Schwabini (40:15): We completely went over it and you can listen to it on your ride home.

Hockey Jesus (40:18): That's right. When you drop the podcast and you will on, you know, iHeartRadio or Spotify or wherever you get your podcast, you can drop it and listen to it at the same time.

The Grand Schwabini (40:30): Yes. Yes. Any other suggestions, Chris?

TD (40:33): We don't need any more suggestions because we're moving on to hockey and we know how how much he knows about hockey.

The Grand Schwabini (40:39): Yes. Very little.

Hockey Jesus (40:40): Very, very, very little. So the Pittsburgh Penguins, off the clock. They're no longer in the hunt for the Stanley Kump. They're trying to make themselves better next year. Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (40:53): Oh, did we talk about did we talk about the the NHL lottery?

The Grand Schwabini (40:58): I didn't watch it this year. Was it as bad as last year?

Hockey Jesus (41:01): It was a little bit better. You know why? Why? Because they actually put the numbers up. If this is the number, then you get the number one pick.

TD (41:09): Okay.

TD (41:10): Okay. That made sense.

TD (41:11): All right. Right? Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (41:12): And if you don't know the NHL law, the NHL has a draft for the lottery, a lottery for the draft, meaning if you win the lottery, then you get the number one pick. Mhmm. But you can only move up so far, and there's some convoluted rules.

TD (41:28): Can't move up more than four spots or something. Yeah.

TD (41:31): But if you're in the top five, you can you can get you can get you can get there. I think if you're in the top 10 or 12, I think you can get to the number one

TD (41:39): can still get there. Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (41:40): That, I it's not possible. Anyway, Toronto was, I think, in, like, the fifth spot. Right. And the there was some weird stuff going on actually involved the flyers. Yeah.

TD (41:50): I know. Yeah. Know about that.

TD (41:51): In the Bruins. Right?

TD (41:52): Yeah. Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (41:53): And if they dropped below the fifth spot, then they would have to give up their first round pick. But if they if they got higher, then they can retain it, which means then there are different terms for the contract. Well, of course, Toronto won the lottery. And I don't know if you, if, if you like conspiracies, there's plenty of it out there. I saw one video where it says, look, this is, I think it was Winnipeg's ball.

Hockey Jesus (42:18): It's going up the chute. And then suddenly Toronto's ball just goes right by it. But it was a trick because it was in front of the tube perfectly. So it looked like it was in the tube, but it was in front of the tube angle was. And the other one went right up because it was in the tube and went just went right by it.

Hockey Jesus (42:37): And the other one just went, it fell right back out. Was actually, I don't, I don't, I don't think it was doctored, but it was really well done. I I'd had to look at it several times before I was like, no, no, no, no. You're not fooling me. And, but it's fun to watch.

Hockey Jesus (42:52): Right? Because I love the conspiracy. Everybody thinks Toronto now is going to get the Gavin McKenna. Actually there are a lot of good prospects. I took some notes.

Hockey Jesus (43:03): But what do you think about Toronto? What do you think about Toronto getting the number one pick overall? You think it was rigged or do you think it was just dumb luck?

The Grand Schwabini (43:11): It's probably just dumb luck. But but it brings up a more interesting question because, you know, the big name that could be moved this offseason is

TD (43:23): Mitch Koff?

TD (43:24): No. Just kidding.

TD (43:27): Their star

TD (43:29): why made you on a blank on his name? Who's the Maple Leaf star?

TD (43:32): Austin Matthews. Austin Matthews. Right. Well, I mean, McDavid couldn't. McDavid could move too.

TD (43:37): I don't think it will.

The Grand Schwabini (43:38): I mean, kind of what I'm thinking though is it's like if you draft McDavid with the number one pick, then you you sort of sell to your fan base that were in a rebuild.

Hockey Jesus (43:48): True.

The Grand Schwabini (43:48): Right? And I think that might makes it more, you know, palatable that you could actually trade Austin Matthews for a big package. Right?

TD (43:58): Yeah.

The Grand Schwabini (43:58): So I I think them winning, I think increases the chances of Austin Matthews getting moved.

Hockey Jesus (44:06): I would agree with that because Austin Matthews is from The United States. Arizona, and Gavin McKenna is from Canada. So they love their Canadians up there. Right. Right.

Hockey Jesus (44:17): Who cares? I mean, that's fine. I say if they want to make a trade, they should first guy they should call is Mr. Dubis. He's familiar with your organization.

Hockey Jesus (44:28): I'm sure he could make a deal with him.

The Grand Schwabini (44:30): I think we'd be happy to give them Connect Me.

Hockey Jesus (44:33): Oh yeah, for sure. Definitely. Kennecne for yeah. No doubt.

The Grand Schwabini (44:38): And that's actually a pretty good return. Like, give them Kennecne in like two first round picks and I some other

Hockey Jesus (44:43): mean, this is this is really this is absolutes, but when we talk about wild speculation

TD (44:49): Yeah. Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (44:49): Well, would would you trade Sydney Crosby for

TD (44:52): Oh, that's, that's a tough one. That's a real tough one.

Hockey Jesus (44:56): I mean, they would do that in a heartbeat.

TD (44:58): They

Hockey Jesus (44:59): would. They would do that in a second. They would. Maybe we could like get their next two years first round picks.

The Grand Schwabini (45:06): They would, you know? Yeah. You know what? I mean, look,

TD (45:09): mean, it gives you your superstar for the future.

TD (45:12): I'll tell you what, if I was the penguins, I would do that.

TD (45:15): I mean, I would, but that's crazy. That's crazy talk, especially for me,

TD (45:20): but I don't think they will.

Hockey Jesus (45:21): How about, Latank?

TD (45:24): I don't think anybody really wants Latank.

Hockey Jesus (45:26): No, I think you're right. How about these sign Malkin and we'll get them all

TD (45:30): in a second,

Hockey Jesus (45:31): sign them and then trade it. Make him sign a no trade clause.

The Grand Schwabini (45:36): I don't know. Don't know, man. I don't know. Oh. I mean, I agree with you on Malkin.

The Grand Schwabini (45:42): I started to think like, hey, if he comes back for $5,000,000

TD (45:45): Yeah.

The Grand Schwabini (45:45): Might as well bring him back. You know, help out the other Russians on the team. Yeah. And he still gives you a look. He gave you a point per game even though it was unlimited games.

The Grand Schwabini (45:54): He still gave you a point per game. So I I you know? But it'll be interesting to see what Dubis has to say tomorrow. My reckless speculation is that he will say GM speak nothing much. What is your thought on that?

TD (46:10): Say that again?

The Grand Schwabini (46:11): My reckless speculation is that Dubis tomorrow at his press conference will give GM speak, won't give you anything.

Hockey Jesus (46:20): Yeah. I think I think at this point, if they were gonna give him a contract, they would have already given it to him because he wants one, you know?

TD (46:28): No. See, I don't

Hockey Jesus (46:28): think so. Now wait. Hold on a second. I'm saying that if they wanted to get the deal done. Don't think they I don't think they wanna get the deal done that quickly.

Hockey Jesus (46:37): I do believe they wanna get the deal done, but I think they got some higher priorities. You know? Yeah. It's like, we know we can get Gino back. Let's see what else we can get, you know?

Hockey Jesus (46:47): And if we can fill it in with better players and we don't end up signing Gino, then it's not a big deal. Here's the biggest deal. And this is, I hate to say this, but it's absolutely true. If you don't sign him, there's no way Crosby and Latang are going to play well next year. They're just not going well.

TD (47:06): Crosby will.

TD (47:07): There's no way. What do you

The Grand Schwabini (47:09): mean? Crosby is going to play well for another three, four years probably.

Hockey Jesus (47:13): You forgot. Did I? When they traded when they traded Genssel away. The team went one in six right before they trade him away and one in six after they traded him away. Away.

Hockey Jesus (47:27): They went like two and twelve and they were in the middle of a hunt for a playoff berth. They didn't care. They were so pissed off that they traded Jake Genssel that they didn't, they didn't, they weren't thinking about hockey. So if they're gonna, if they're gonna get, if they're not going to sign Malkin, they need to come out right now. So the players can be pissed off all summer.

Hockey Jesus (47:49): Oh, right. So they come back in the, in the fall wanting to play. Now maybe they come back in the fall and said says, well, I I I'm gonna play out my contract and that's it.

TD (48:01): You know? Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (48:02): I just I just it doesn't seem like it makes sense to to blow the whole thing up like that.

TD (48:06): Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (48:07): When all you you can sign him for another year and just be done with it after that. I mean, they got Latane Latane signed for two more years. Sid signed for next year. You can let Sydney decide what he wants to do then after Gino's not here, you know, because that's going to be the reality. The Tang's got one more year and he won't, and there'll be forty, forty one, 42 at that point.

Hockey Jesus (48:30): At some point they're going to stop producing. I mean, 40, they're already above. They're probably at the highest level of that curve

TD (48:40): Right.

Hockey Jesus (48:40): For a 40 year olds Mhmm. In the NHL. It's not gonna last. It's not going to last. How

TD (48:45): old's Crosby?

Hockey Jesus (48:47): Well, 87. So you do the math. 39. He'll be 39

TD (48:51): in August. Really? 39?

TD (48:53): Yeah. I thought

The Grand Schwabini (48:53): he was 37.

Hockey Jesus (48:54): No. He'll be 39 in August.

The Grand Schwabini (48:56): That is getting up there.

Hockey Jesus (48:58): Yeah. So next year, next year in his last year of his contract, well, if he signs again, he'll be, you know, he'll be 40. So, I mean, I don't know. I just, at some point you do have to think about that. Oh, there's a lot of, there's a lot of chat going on about about the hockey.

The Grand Schwabini (49:14): Chris Chada. Absolutely love it.

Hockey Jesus (49:16): Yeah. Chris Chada likes to name Lindy Ruff. He ranks as one of the best name in hockey. Oh, there are a lot of really good names

The Grand Schwabini (49:25): in hockey. I can think of many more than that.

Hockey Jesus (49:27): Lindy Ruff. You know, Ruff. Nah. I don't know about that. I I know that that Pat off Pat off track loves Lindy Ruff.

TD (49:35): What about Satan? Oh, yeah. Shatan.

Hockey Jesus (49:38): Shatan. Satan playing for the devils? Come on. That it doesn't get much better than that.

The Grand Schwabini (49:43): I'd be impressed if you remembered this name. One of my favorites, Ilka Cinesalo.

Hockey Jesus (49:49): Cinesalo. Ilka Cinesalo. Rutzalinen's a pretty good one too.

TD (49:54): It is pretty good, isn't it?

Hockey Jesus (49:55): Rutzalinen's a pretty good one. What else do we got going on in the chat? How about this one? Do NHL teams do what other leagues do? After one good year?

Hockey Jesus (50:05): They sign a coach, a huge long contract deal. Could this happen to muse if not more and more money? No, typically not. What usually happens in the NHL, a coach becomes coach of the year and then the next year they're out of hockey.

TD (50:19): Right. Right.

TD (50:20): Right. That happens more than not.

TD (50:22): And sometimes when the first few weeks of the season Yeah. They're out of hockey.

Hockey Jesus (50:26): Yeah. I mean, it's really amazing. Like, if you go back and you know what, maybe we'll do this next week. Oh, see, we'll look at the the coaches who won coach of the year and who's still around. I bet it's a small list.

TD (50:39): Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (50:40): Or they're coaching for somebody else.

The Grand Schwabini (50:41): Yeah. Yeah. Tackett one, he's coaching somebody else. Yeah. You know?

TD (50:45): It happens to all of them.

Hockey Jesus (50:46): Yeah. But I no. I think I think they're they're probably not thinking about signing Muse to an extension at this point. I mean, it's his first year. Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (50:53): But I mean, the fact that he did get nominated for coach of the year, know, means everything. And in the players interview at the end of the year, they were all like, yeah, he absolutely deserves it. And I'm glad that, you know, he's being recognized for it. Mhmm. A great communicator.

Hockey Jesus (51:06): I heard that almost every player said that about Muse. So yeah. Hockey. So what else do we got? Oh, let's talk about the playoffs a little bit.

TD (51:16): Have you been watching any of the playoffs?

The Grand Schwabini (51:18): I have been watching the team that took the Penguins out of the playoffs, and they didn't fare well against the Carolina Hurricanes.

TD (51:28): The Carolina Hurricanes.

The Grand Schwabini (51:29): I I basically knew that they were not gonna fare well, but it would have been nice if they won a game or two.

TD (51:36): At least for the home crowd.

The Grand Schwabini (51:37): Yeah. They took two games to overtime, but it wasn't enough. Know, bottom line is they're just not ready to be the team of that stature.

Hockey Jesus (51:49): Yeah. They they they ran their steam ran out. And I think you're right. I think the Penguins took some of that steam

TD (51:55): definitely

Hockey Jesus (51:56): out of their engines because they, you know, won two of the last three. They only had to win one and they did. And it was by the goalie. You know, Lazar still played very well for them. Think if I'm a flyers fan, I'm looking at the goalie situation.

Hockey Jesus (52:10): I'm saying, okay. At least we kinda got this

TD (52:14): This figure.

Hockey Jesus (52:14): Figured out right now.

TD (52:16): Right. Exactly.

Hockey Jesus (52:16): Well, and plus you don't you have another goalie in the AHL who's pretty good?

The Grand Schwabini (52:20): Yeah. Well, there's there's a guy in Russia who's supposed to be incredible.

TD (52:24): Right.

The Grand Schwabini (52:25): But, you know, they're they're talking about him get getting over here like this this summer or something.

Hockey Jesus (52:30): They can smuggle them out like they did with Gina.

TD (52:32): Pretty much.

Hockey Jesus (52:33): Yeah. Well, once they get here, they're good. They just gotta get here. Right?

TD (52:37): Right. Right.

Hockey Jesus (52:38): Yeah. So, yeah, I'm absolutely and I and I really talked about this a lot on last week's show. I've been watching the hell out of that Montreal Buffalo series.

The Grand Schwabini (52:47): That was a wild one last night.

Hockey Jesus (52:49): Fantastic. I mean, I'm I know I watched I watched on replay the Anaheim Vegas game.

TD (52:54): Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (52:55): It's like there's it's like they're skating in molasses compared to the other two teams.

TD (53:00): Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (53:00): Yeah. I mean, just Buffalo is so fast and they're so talented. In Montreal, the same thing. And they I both goalies just are incredible. I didn't know about about the the goalie situation up in Buffalo being so

TD (53:15): good. Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (53:16): And I I think this is gonna go to seven. I the game tomorrow night's gonna be a big one. Yeah. You know? I think if Montreal can take another one and Montreal can go up three one, that's gonna be a problem for Buffalo.

Hockey Jesus (53:29): Yep. I'm not saying they can't come back from it because I they play with some reckless abandon, and they're not afraid to hit. That Benson is is is a 20 year old phenom. I Mhmm. I could not believe how well he played.

Hockey Jesus (53:43): I remember in the last game they played against him, and he kinda made some some move to the to the goal and kinda knocked over the goalie and was kind of like a pest. Mhmm. He's 10 times that now. He's really he's really embraced that role. But Montreal, their power play, my god, did they move the puck so quickly?

Hockey Jesus (54:02): Mhmm. Left, the right, back and forth, in the middle. Boom. It's in the back of the net. Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (54:07): They don't waste any time. There nobody's playing with the puck. They know exactly where everybody is. Behind the back passes, cross ice passes that can't be stopped. I I just I that's the series that I've been watching a lot of.

Hockey Jesus (54:21): I I every time it's on, like yesterday when it was on, I think it was an 08:00 start and I I was actually watching the pregame and, know, Susan said, what? There's no hockey tonight? I was like, Oh yeah. It just didn't start at seven. It's on at 08:00.

TD (54:38): She was like, I should have known. So who do

The Grand Schwabini (54:40): you think are gonna be the two cup teams this year?

Hockey Jesus (54:43): Boy, I have Carolina and the avalanche in my, in my bracket. That's who I thought was going to make it. Okay. I, I still think it's going to be those two teams.

TD (54:57): Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (54:57): But there's no reason. I think the wild, if they can take another one from, from Colorado, they they can they can turn the screws to them. Mhmm. And and that could be a problem. They went all in when they got Quinn Hughes, you know, and they didn't sign him.

Hockey Jesus (55:13): Mhmm. You know, they gotta they gotta get past if they can get past whoever wins that is definitely gonna go to the finals. 100%.

TD (55:21): Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (55:21): I think I don't think Las Vegas or the ducks, either of those teams can either of those teams. Mhmm. So so for that reason, I think the ads will probably squeak it out. It might go to get it might go to seven games, but probably they end up winning in six.

TD (55:34): I

Hockey Jesus (55:36): don't know. Carolina's gonna be sitting a long time.

TD (55:39): They are. And that's, that's usually not a good thing.

Hockey Jesus (55:42): Usually not a good thing. But most teams that win now they won, they swept twice, which is very rare. Nineteen eighty five Edmonton Oilers last months to do it. Boy, I would love to put,

TD (55:57): I put

Hockey Jesus (55:57): it this way. I'd love to see Buffalo and I would love to see Buffalo and or Montreal play against the Avalanche in the finals. That would be that would be very special. Yeah. I would love to see that, but I I think it's gonna be I think Carolina will find a way, through attrition because I don't know how banged up Montreal or The thing about Buffalo is gonna be.

The Grand Schwabini (56:17): The thing about Carolina that's that's just kind of it kinda confuses you is like they really don't have any stars. It's Like, just like it's like it's just

Hockey Jesus (56:28): like they do now with Stan Coven.

The Grand Schwabini (56:30): Yeah. I guess so. But Yeah. But to be honest, it's almost like they have like Taylor Hall's pretty good. They have like 15 of the same player.

TD (56:37): Yeah. You know what I mean?

Hockey Jesus (56:39): They're they're more talented this year than they've ever been. Yeah. Before you would say Jordan Stahl, but he's not really talented. He's a great two way player, can win the selkie every year.

The Grand Schwabini (56:48): Right. It's insane that he's been in the leech one of years now.

TD (56:50): Well, yeah. He came in

TD (56:52): Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (56:52): With with the penguins in 2008, that team that made a run and then ended up winning it in 2009. He was with that team at the beginning. And that would be something to see him win one after all these years, after winning in 2009, then finally winning one in what, 2026.

TD (57:10): Yeah. That'll be good for him.

Hockey Jesus (57:11): So, I mean, if if I'm rooting for Carolina, it's more like I'm rooting for, hey, Lauren. It's more like a it's more like I'm rooting for more like I'm rooting for Stall than anybody else. But I like the way they play. Anderson's plays plays a really good goalie. So one last thing I do want to talk about before we jump off of hockey is the baby pens.

Hockey Jesus (57:33): Now I know you don't care about the AHL and, and you know, what's going on in the AHL a little bit, but the baby pens are in the Atlantic finals. Are they? Yeah. They they ended up beating their hated rivals to Hershey bears. They're the they're the affiliate team for the capitals.

The Grand Schwabini (57:50): Now did they send anybody down?

Hockey Jesus (57:52): They actually they actually beat the the Phantoms in round one.

The Grand Schwabini (57:56): Did they send anybody down to play?

Hockey Jesus (57:58): So, yeah. So all the guys, all the guys that were up here. Let's see. Brunick, Coyvinen, McGrory, Hayes, Murashoff, They're all, they're, they're all like the guys who were scoring the goals. Murashoff actually, this is interesting.

Hockey Jesus (58:14): The Hershey bears, they never, they have never won a playoff game ever in Hershey. They were low for seven. Okay. And then when they went in the Hershey this time, they won two in a row, including the game the game winner. Murashov played really great.

TD (58:28): Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (58:29): I I I was I was watching I I I can't watch the whole game, but I do catch the highlights of the games. And I'm they they never showed Murashov as, like, a highlight.

TD (58:38): Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (58:38): So that's usually a sign that the goalie's not he's not playing great.

TD (58:42): Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (58:42): But in the last game that they knocked him out, there were a lot there were a lot of highlights of him making saves.

TD (58:48): Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (58:48): So I think he's getting I think he's getting better, but Hershey's goalie was really good. I forget his name. Anderson or no. It wasn't Anderson. It was I don't know his name, but he played better than Murashoff did.

Hockey Jesus (59:02): So there are a lot of good goalies out there.

TD (59:04): Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (59:04): And, I thought they were gonna get goalied by him, but they were able to get one by him in overtime. Mhmm. Which was controversial because you couldn't it was one of those goals where it hit off the back of the post and came right back out. Yeah. And everybody's like, I didn't see it go in.

TD (59:17): Right, right. And it's like, we know how that bar is.

TD (59:19): Right, right, right. You didn't

Hockey Jesus (59:20): even see it go past the bar because it never hit the net. It just bounced. You're like,

TD (59:24): only see it in slow motion. Yeah. You know?

Hockey Jesus (59:26): You could see it from the side angle, but even then, it's so it's it's up so high, you know, where the blue line is. You don't really know where it is. So, yeah, baby pens, I think they play tonight or tomorrow actually. Game one. They play against Springfield, which is the St.

Hockey Jesus (59:43): Louis equivalent. They took out the Boston Bruins team who was the number one ranked team, and they they were they had, like, something like 28 more points Yeah. Than the Springfield team, and then Springfield ended up beating them. There are only five game series.

TD (1:00:00): Okay.

TD (1:00:01): In the age.

TD (1:00:01): Oh, okay.

TD (1:00:02): They don't go to seven games.

The Grand Schwabini (1:00:03): Gotcha.

Hockey Jesus (1:00:03): So it's a little bit different from that standpoint. So shout out to the baby pens. Hopefully, they can make it to the call to cup finals if they beat Springfield, and they're heavy favorites. So so that would be good for the boys down there. They're playing really well.

Hockey Jesus (1:00:17): It's interesting though. It's like sometimes you can play great down there.

TD (1:00:20): Right. And then you're no good in the NHL.

TD (1:00:22): It doesn't make a lick of difference in the NHL.

The Grand Schwabini (1:00:25): Well, it's it's almost like, you know, you think about these guys, it's like like take for example, like a like a Bobby Brink. Right? Yeah. Yeah. You know Bobby Brink.

TD (1:00:35): You think he's pretty good. Yeah. He's okay. Like, you know, he's like a third line winger.

TD (1:00:39): Right.

TD (1:00:39): You know what I mean?

TD (1:00:40): Yeah.

TD (1:00:40): An NHL third line winger.

TD (1:00:42): Yep.

The Grand Schwabini (1:00:43): Who's basically gonna you know, if he has a good year, he might score 20 goals and have 20 assists.

TD (1:00:48): Exactly.

The Grand Schwabini (1:00:49): You know? Yep. But when he was in, you know, the minors, I mean, it was like a 50 goal score.

Speaker 3 (1:00:55): Right. You know what I

The Grand Schwabini (1:00:56): It's like, where does it go? You know? Where does it go? All of a sudden, you get up here, you can't do that? Yeah.

TD (1:01:02): You know?

Hockey Jesus (1:01:02): You can't because there's no space. Right. Everybody's playing at that level. Everybody's faster. Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (1:01:08): And, you know, they're probably playing ten more minutes a night too. Right. So they're on the ice a lot a lot more, but they're and playing all the special teams because that's what's happening Right. With with the baby pens. They're all on the on the first line, you

TD (1:01:20): know, in

TD (1:01:20): the power play.

TD (1:01:21): Right. So,

TD (1:01:22): yeah, good fun.

TD (1:01:23): Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (1:01:23): Hey, thanks. I'd see, you know, we're I love to see all those numbers there watching us. Thanks for sticking with us here on the porch. We're getting to a segment that you've been waiting for. I teased it earlier.

Hockey Jesus (1:01:35): Yes. And now Mark is going to take us there.

The Grand Schwabini (1:01:38): Yes. This is where we give back to you. We thank you so much for all you do for us, for all your loyalty, and we give it right back to you. And when it's this time of year, you know, unfortunately, the pens are not playing anymore, the steelers aren't playing anymore. You know, HJ's watching his other hockey teams, but you know, some of us don't really care about the other hockey teams.

The Grand Schwabini (1:02:04): And if you don't, you gotta find something to watch on TV. Right?

TD (1:02:07): You have to.

The Grand Schwabini (1:02:07): And there's so many choices. I mean, it's Netflix. It's

TD (1:02:13): Apple TV.

The Grand Schwabini (1:02:14): Apple TV. It's Prime. It's I mean, it's the Peacock.

TD (1:02:19): You got HBO Max.

The Grand Schwabini (1:02:20): You got HBO Max. Yeah. Hulu.

TD (1:02:23): Oh, Hulu. Yeah. I know about Hulu.

The Grand Schwabini (1:02:25): It doesn't stop. So to save you the time and the energy of watching trailer after trailer and just starting shows and just being like, oh, this sucks and turning it off, you have to do is listen to the guys on the porch. We're gonna tell you. We're gonna tell you, is it two thumbs up? Then you know it's a lock.

The Grand Schwabini (1:02:47): And just say, hey, guys at the porch said, watch this one. If it's two thumbs down, that means don't watch it. If you do, you're just self harming yourself. And if it's like one thumb up, one thumb down, that kinda means like, hey, you might like it if you're into sci fi, but if you don't like sci fi, you probably won't. You might like it if you're into rom coms, but if you don't like rom coms, you probably won't.

The Grand Schwabini (1:03:14): Yep. So that's what we do for you. And are we gonna who are gonna start out with?

Hockey Jesus (1:03:21): Well, we're gonna start out with Chris Chauda because he left a note. He said he and the wife are watching Windows Bay. What is that? Widow's Bay. Sorry.

Hockey Jesus (1:03:30): Widow's Bay. I think it's on prime. I've I've I've been seeing it, and I think it's Matthew Rice. You know who he is?

TD (1:03:36): Yes. Yeah. I do like him.

Hockey Jesus (1:03:38): I mean, I gotta watch it. I love I love Matthew Rice.

TD (1:03:41): Yeah. He's good. He was good the Americans.

Hockey Jesus (1:03:43): Yeah. So I'm definitely gonna be watching that. Thanks, OC. You love it. So I'm gonna take your advice, and I'm gonna put it on my thing right after I'm done watching the handmaid's tale because I'm in season six.

Hockey Jesus (1:03:56): Are you? I finally made it. I've been wanting to start

TD (1:03:59): this or Chris started and then you you followed a mastery.

Hockey Jesus (1:04:02): Yeah. Chris started TD started it.

TD (1:04:05): Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (1:04:05): And he said, you know, it's pretty good. You know, I I've been wanting to watch it. I can tell you since I've I've done the first four seasons, I can talk a little bit about it. The first three seasons, fantastic.

TD (1:04:18): Mhmm.

Hockey Jesus (1:04:18): Excellent. Fourth season, the fifth season, maybe it's gonna get better. I'm hoping the sixth season's gonna bring it all together for me. I love it though. It is it is excellent.

Hockey Jesus (1:04:31): So, thank you for that, Chris Chauda. I think we should do TD selection. Sure.

The Grand Schwabini (1:04:37): So TD, were he here tonight was going to review Hulk Hogan, real American big surprise documentary. The good news about a documentary is we know what happened. Already know what happened.

TD (1:04:52): We don't have to watch it.

TD (1:04:53): We don't have to watch it, but we can give a review.

Hockey Jesus (1:04:56): I'm gonna start with the review.

The Grand Schwabini (1:04:57): You start with the review, then I will I will join you.

Hockey Jesus (1:05:00): So when Hulk Hogan was little, he wasn't very big guy. You know? No. No. He grew up and he got a lot bigger.

TD (1:05:06): Did he

The Grand Schwabini (1:05:06): get bullied and maybe have to, like, you know, work out to

Hockey Jesus (1:05:09): Yeah. And he started working out and then he realized, like, if you use some things to get bigger Mhmm. You get stronger

TD (1:05:16): Like steroids.

Hockey Jesus (1:05:17): And you get angrier. Oh. You know, there were probably something like that going on. Mhmm. Then he had a massive battle against Andre the Giant, and then he just took off.

Hockey Jesus (1:05:27): Then what happened after that, Mark?

The Grand Schwabini (1:05:29): Well, after that, he became sort of like the go to spokesperson for the WWE.

TD (1:05:37): Rips his shirt off. Rips his

TD (1:05:39): shirt off.

TD (1:05:40): He becomes a heel.

The Grand Schwabini (1:05:42): Yeah. I mean, look, I'm just gonna be straight honest with you. I would never watch this in a million years. I think, you know, wrestling is fake and it's of no interest to me. And I just don't get it.

The Grand Schwabini (1:05:56): I only got it when I was a child and I didn't realize at that time that it was fake. Once I learned that it was fake, I was completely out on wrestling.

Hockey Jesus (1:06:09): Well, I mean, they do the stunts. Mhmm. But all the stunts are choreographed.

TD (1:06:14): Right?

TD (1:06:14): So Yeah.

TD (1:06:15): I mean, look, they're athletic. Yeah. Yeah. They're very athletic. Yeah.

Hockey Jesus (1:06:18): And and the and the ring itself definitely has a spring to it. So, you know, it's not like you're falling on a, on a, on a piece of plywood. So, but I have, I have utmost respect for them because I would never want to do that. I find it entertaining, but yeah, it's fake.

TD (1:06:34): Yeah. It's fake. Is. It is.

Hockey Jesus (1:06:35): They get to decide who wins. Yeah. And that's just the way it is.

TD (1:06:38): Now if now I would

TD (1:06:40): give I would give Hulk Hogan two thumbs up. I think I I would I would like this.

The Grand Schwabini (1:06:43): I'm gonna balance it out with two thumbs down. But I definitely think Chris Klein would say two thumbs up.

TD (1:06:49): Oh, yeah.

The Grand Schwabini (1:06:50): And he's a holster. This is what Chris Klein says with every documentary. You know, it was really interesting. There were some things that I just really didn't know about his background. And it really kind of brought things together.

The Grand Schwabini (1:07:06): And I learned so much more. There's so much more to this that you don't know about. And so I really highly recommend watching it.

TD (1:07:15): Two thumbs up from the TD.

TD (1:07:17): There you go. There you go. There's your review TD.

Hockey Jesus (1:07:20): All right. I do not have one this week because I am watching the Handmaid's Tale and I'm not finished with it yet. So I can't give you a full review. Hopefully that will be coming next week, But Mark, you've been watching The Rip.

The Grand Schwabini (1:07:35): This is a movie out on Netflix. It has Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

TD (1:07:43): Oh.

The Grand Schwabini (1:07:44): Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Now, I'll tell you what, like, you know, sometimes these two guys kind of annoy me at this point.

Hockey Jesus (1:07:51): Yeah. I agree. But They've been doing movies together for too long. Right?

The Grand Schwabini (1:07:56): They have. But, you know, I have a theory that my wife subscribes to. And, know, when you're when you're looking to watch a movie, we had many we had many options. We could have watched like, you know, one that won an award, you know, we could have watched a dumb comedy that probably would have been funny, but then we would have forgot about it an hour later. My theory is action never fails.

TD (1:08:21): I agree.

The Grand Schwabini (1:08:22): You know, usually if there's some good action, it's fun. You know, it's entertaining. Right? You're not looking down at your watch. So we ventured into watching the rip.

The Grand Schwabini (1:08:34): It's basically a story about kind of a task force with the police that they get tips about not that there's drugs at a location, but that there's money at a location. Okay? And so it's kind of a story about a team that gets a really big tip about something going on in a particular neighborhood. And there's a lot of going back and forth with the characters, you know, are they going to take a piece for themselves? Are they not?

The Grand Schwabini (1:09:12): You know, who's the good guy? Who's a bad guy here? Are there dirty cops here? And I have to tell you, it was much much better than I expected.

TD (1:09:22): Oh.

The Grand Schwabini (1:09:23): It was actually really really good. And it was it

Hockey Jesus (1:09:26): was How was the banter between the two? Like was it was it okay or was it like they were just like friends talking to each other? Because you know, I don't know. I find them not believable sometimes.

The Grand Schwabini (1:09:37): Well, they were they were kind of like the way they they had it was that, you know, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were partners. And then Matt Damon got promoted. Oh, okay. So now he's his boss.

TD (1:09:53): So it wasn't always just the two of them together.

TD (1:09:55): Right. So he's his boss. Okay. That's a little

TD (1:09:57): bit of a spin.

The Grand Schwabini (1:09:58): And there's basically a lot of the movie is about Ben Affleck thinks that Matt Damon might be dirty. And and so there's there's that going on. And what I can tell you is you're gonna basically think through this through the story that there's maybe upwards of four or five people that could be dirty. And you and you really don't who you really don't know until the end. So it was it was very entertaining.

TD (1:10:32): All things revealed in the end.

The Grand Schwabini (1:10:33): Yep. It was it was very well done. And I think it's a big two thumbs up. I think you will enjoy it. The Rip.

Hockey Jesus (1:10:43): Grand Swabini gets it two thumbs up. We got to give it the applause to go with that. And once again, thank you for being with us. You made it to the end of another porch. And what can we say except for?

TD (1:10:57): You. Thank you. And I'm calling that old

TD (1:11:02): school music. Numbers. Yeah. Big numbers.

TD (1:11:05): Big numbers. Watching. You You've been listening to the next big pitch podcast. We'll be shopping with right afterward. I won't be old TV, Willy.

TD (1:11:17): And just thank you very much for stopping by. And

TD (1:11:21): By the way, no technical difficulties.

TD (1:11:24): Fine. It was the gear. It wasn't the person. Right? Yeah.

TD (1:11:27): We'll we'll give that one to TV. Yep. A lot of love with TVs, mom. I'm sure everything's well. Thank you for stopping by on the porch.

Hockey Jesus (1:11:34): We'll see you next Monday. Be here at 07:00. Thanks for stopping by. Catch you on the next one.

TD (1:11:43): Brian said he liked the book.