July 12, 2022
The Sports Porch - Heinz Field is GONE!
Heinz Field is GONE! We debate the new name and look for some wisdom from our guest, Joe Rovitto, former news director at WTAE Channel 4 here in Pittsburgh. Plus, Pens news, what we're watching and more! Sit down on the Porch with us...
Heinz Field is GONE! We debate the new name and look for some wisdom from our guest, Joe Rovitto, former news director at WTAE Channel 4 here in Pittsburgh. Plus, Pens news, what we're watching and more! Sit down on the Porch with us...
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Transcript
we get here. Gino's in on that. I know. I know. I I you know. I cringe every time I see you guys start the show but you know, that's embarrassing for you. It's not embarrassing for me. So. So, you say. Yeah. So, you say. Maybe people are looking at you and saying, what's with the guys who doesn't dance? It's the technical. Somebody's gotta be the technical director. They they can't dance. And that would be me.
The real talent is dancing. Okay, let's get to the show guys. First, if you are watching the grid right before this and you stuck with us. I want to thank you. Second, welcome to the sports porch on Monday nights. We are proudly coming to you from Pittsburgh, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia. Did I miss a city there? Pittsburgh, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, beautiful, and on American Busker Radio. IHeartRadio. So, thank you Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 PM.
Um and you know, it's kind of funny. We were getting this show ready to go.
and you know, I was I was bringing all the stuff in to the show and as everybody knows, when when they're watching the show with us, I call this the Dead Zone. Dead Dead. And we know why because you know, we're kind of in between everything. We're we're we're getting crazy because we want we want camp to start for football and hockey's over and of course for us in Pittsburgh, the Pens didn't win.
So, you know, they're celebrating in Denver but then they drop a bomb on us. Before the bomb knock. Oh, here we go. Oh, I was ready. I was ready with the banner. I was ready. Shouldn't we be teasing our our special guest that's going to be on shortly? I think we teased him enough before the show started. Well, yeah, we did tease him a lot. Yeah.
He's in the green room now. He's trying to calm down. Yeah. I can see him laughing in the green room too. So, he must. Yeah, raise your hand if you can hear us in the green room, Joe. Can you hear us? Hi, you can hear us, huh? Yeah, he's he's teased enough. I know and I had some things I was going to say but I don't think I'm going to say him now.
So, anyway, we are Very pleased to have a special guest on the show tonight. For sure. Uh Joe Revito who is currently the president of Clemenson and Revito, a television news and marketing consulting company. Um I'll tell you the the bio here is so long and the accomplishment's so great. I I I'll never do it justice and I also I don't have my readers on there around my neck but the reason we have Joe on the show is because he spent 13 years leading WTA TV.
That's Channel four's news department. Channel four. As a news manager. Uh. Action News. Won many many awards. The Edward R Murrow Award which I've actually heard of believe it or not. I'm sure you guys have as well. Great. Uh the national headliners award for outstanding news coverage, A regional RTNDA award for investigative reporting. Any twice named Pennsylvania's best news operation by the AP Broadcasters Association.
And Joe attended Duquesne University. And I shoulda had my he's in Duke. Joe I shirt and like an idiot, I wore my Star Wars shirt, you know. I I always wear my Duquesne. That's that's our technical prediction. How much planning we do? He's too busy, you know, pulling in stuff that we're sending him last week. I know. You are what you say. You know, and you've always heard of the guy, the janitor that became CEO of the company.
Well, Joe, Joe worked his way up from an entry-level position to writer, producer, assignments, editor, executive producer, assistant news director, and news director. May I present to you the next president of the United States, Gerald Reed. I'm Kate. So, but we're going to bring Joe in here in a couple minutes. Actually, probably after we get through this very, very important development. The bombshell. The bomb that dropped. Yeah, I'll let you lay it on us, Steve.
You're a resident Yinzer. Lay it on us. So, I have to put it up there because there will no longer be a Heinz field and if you don't know this already, then, you're probably living in Iraq or probably not watching Arsenal. Maybe in Georgia somewhere. Yeah, I was going to say. You don't have to living in Iraq to not but you know what? You might see. Steelers are big news.
Because I mean let's face it. Acrossure. I mean that is the new name of the are we really sure? I'd say we're Aquashore. I would say the Steelers are Acura sure. I gotta tell you. I I I would I would say the Steelers are accurate sure. By the way for those of you who don't know what AcuraSure is. Yes. It is a top 10 global insurance broker which is grown in revenue to more than three 8 billion.
in just over eight years. And they signed a 15-year deal. Uh so, well, a 15-year deal at $10 million dollars. So, there's 1 50 million reasons why the Steelers are accurate. I think that's why they said yes. I think Aquashore said, hey, we understand nobody knows who we are except people in the global insurance game. Right. Um but Now. What's it going to take to put our name on your building? 150 million.
$150 million dollars. Unfortunately, the fundraising that we tried to get the sports porch up there. Yeah. It was a little short. We were close, guys. Yeah, we were actually, we were actually a hundredand49 million 997, 000 short. That was, that was better than I thought we'd get. Absolutely. Yeah. So, thank you for if you try to get us. And around all those figures.
Yeah, yeah, of course. Let's let's really talk about this here though because. Well, let's do this. I think it's sort of a sad day. I want to get, I want to get a comment in here first at as always. Uh Sure. Uh well, Daniel, Daniel Roman, good evening to you guys. He watches our show all the time. Keep up the great work. Tom is watching from Novi, Michigan.
He might know Ackershore. Uh Michigan. He might. Uh. He probably does. He probably has Zach for sure. And Artie Hill along those lines says it's nuts. That's exactly right. Tim Pomato from Palmetto. It's not exactly right. It it don't pander to the audience. I am pandering to the audience. I know. That's what I do best. Yes. You're very. Tim is back from the Dawgs, Leachburg guy now living in Palmetto.
Nothing wrong with Star Wars and being a Libra. He was watching the previous show. He was watching the previous show. Brad's in the house. What were the other options? We'll get to that. Sports Sports Stadium. We thought of that. We tried. Yeah. And Tim says Tim says save the ketchup bottle. So that's my question Tim. Tim's right where I. So let's get back to the news.
Alright. Alright. We're going to we're going to have your thought and we're going to bring our guest in because I am dying to hear what he thinks. Wait, can I give my reaction to the Go for it. You reacted and already. So, I mean, everybody's going to probably still call it Heinz Field which is dumb because it's not Heinzfield anymore. Well, they have the red zones, Phil.
Uh the, I don't know what they're going to do with those ketchup models. So, that has yet to be revealed to us. Um I might guess is they probably are going to keep them in some way, shape, or form because they're kind of part of the whole thing, you know, like bottles come down, they turn on, you know, all that stuff. They might get an acusure label on there or something maybe.
I don't know.
but here's my point. It's a business, guys. I know you like the fact that you think that Heinz is still made in Pittsburgh. It's not. They don't make any ketchup in Pittsburgh anymore. They haven't for decades. Of course, there's a history of Heinz being in Pittsburgh and if you want to live on that history forever, you can, just like the steel industry. It's still around but it's not really, it's not really Pittsburgh anymore. So, you have to come to the realization that it's a business.
$150 million dollars and now they're going to put it in their pockets and that's okay because the NFL is a big business and it was up. You know how much money Heinz gave? How much? 57 million and they had it for 20 years. Yeah but they also gave free catch up. Oh. Well, I didn't hear about the free cash. Bring me some free cash. I did not hear the free catch for that. Yeah. So, the question is, is are you still going to serve Heinz catch Heinz ketchup? It's going to be all now, man.
Well, listen. Let me tell you something. You should. Now, now, if they serve hunts, now you have a reason to be upset. Yeah. You show up at Heinz Field and they're serving or well, you show up at Acrasure Stadium and they're serving Hunt's ketchup. Everybody's leaving. So, anyway, I'm not upset about this. I say, good for them. They made a good business deal. Hopefully, that makes it more viable. I'm still a little upset about how the whole stadium deal went down but that's another story for another.
What's the nickname going to be? Hey, I'll meet you down at the act.
No. No. I don't know. That doesn't sound right. I don't know. Meet you down at the Yinzer Stadium. I don't. My feeling on this, I, I, I do agree with Steve. It is a business. I mean, I get it. Um at the same time, I I do sort of think we're also transitioning from the older generation of the Rooney's to the younger generation. I feel like the the old man would've, you know, tried to keep it local, not necessarily Heinz, but maybe it would be Alcoa or you know, something else.
Everybody was saying UPMC. They thought UPMC but UPMC was not going to give them $150 to put a big UM UPMC. Well, they might have given him $150. Just not 150 million. We could've we could've outbid UPMC. Your property right. Yeah. With 150 bucks.
Yup. Everybody in the city going to contributed their co-pays. And it probably wouldn't be. And it probably wouldn't give $150 million a year. You got that But anyway. Wow. Wow. But anyway. I think it's a little disappoint that, you know, to me, it just says, I kind of feel like the younger generation of the Rooneys, it's a business to them. I think we need to bring in an expert. I think we, I think we should. Let's bring in an expert. DG is back in the house down in Palm Beach Gardens. He says, with that said, your previous statement is true.
Everyone will still call on Heinz Field. 00%.
Jay says, hi from Quebec City, Canada. We're starting to get a big Canadian crowd. I love our day. Yeah. We love our area. Stick in for some hockey news. And without any further ado, Steve, if you could maybe put up the ticker, here, I'll give this piece of paper so you can spell his name right. How about that? Oh. Let's make sure we do it right.
I have it. It's right there on his name. Did he get it? Yeah. Yeah. He's so famous. Everybody knows who will be here in a second. Uh and without further ado, our four-mentioned guest, we want to welcome Joe Revito to the broadcast. Hi, Joe. Hey, how you doing? How you doing, everybody? Good. Hey, Joe. Welcome. I'm so we. I go ahead. I think the biggest challenge is going to be how to say acrossure.
yeah. Like you got that right. I agree. And and you were in the green room so you were listening to our to our banter about this. Um what what were some of the thoughts you were having while we were talking about this? I could see you laughing. So obviously you know our sense of humor is appealing. And how would you have covered it from a news perspective? Have you having grown up here in Pittsburgh? I can tell you one thing.
People in Pittsburgh do not like change.
That's either. Excellent point. Even if it's even if it makes sense financially they don't like change. So it will be called Heinz Field for quite some time I'm sure.
Um but all the controversy I think will disappear if the Steelers win a Super Bowl. Nobody will care what the name of the stadium is. That's true. That's true. That's true. Yeah. Or if Kenny Pickett even works out. That's my thing. Win the Super Bowl and nobody will care. Yeah. Yeah and and yeah that just the winning solves a lot of problems. I think you're right. Yeah. Um I personally am disappointed like everybody else.
I'm actually surprised Steve that you feel the way you Steve is it a little bit of our background. Steve is our resident Yinzer. He was born and raised in Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County. You know, he's a Steeler all the way. Mark and I are transplants. I've been here 30 years. He's been here probably 25 years or so. Yeah. Um so, we've kind of ingratiated ourselves into the thing. So, I'm really surprised that you have the you have the attitude that you do.
I know. But you know what? I I think Joe will back me up with this. When it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers, people will suddenly realize maybe suddenly is it the wrong word. In a few years, we'll realize it's just the name of the stadium. The product on the field is what's important. And as long as they win, as long as they make playoffs, as long as they can bring a championship back to the city of Pittsburgh, people are going to call the field whatever they want to call it.
Now, that being said, Joe, what do you think about the name AccuSure? You know, how do you think, how do you think they're going to be able to brand it so that it can fit in with football. I mean, Heinz has a has a rich tradition of being in Pittsburgh. How do you think that that Accusure that that the name AccuSure can be branded so that, you know, it can maybe be welcomed by by Yinsers like us.
Uh I don't think it can.
Perfect. It's it's a it's a lost cause.
I mean, I can't think of anything less colorful than partnering with any. Yeah. Then, insurance, right? I mean, this is going to be a, I mean, this is a marketer's challenge. I have to tell you. Yeah. The challenge of a century which is why they gotta win. Yeah. Yeah. I think he just summed it up, Joe. Yeah, it does. Well, in in and Joe, thinking, thinking of winning on the field, you know, some of the challenges that the Steelers have had, you know, centered around some of their younger players and you know the fact that it seems like they want a brand themselves maybe more than the team, you know? So, how do you think, how do you think that's been affecting the team? Like, do you think that that can be used in a positive way? Moving forward because, you know, guys like Chase Claypool and even AB before him and Juju certainly.
They seem like they had a brand that they wanted to, they wanted to bring and it it never was really linked up with the Steelers in some way, shape, or form. What, what, how do you see that? knowing that you've been in the news industry and you know, you're you're big in the branding and and helping, you know, organizations like that. How how can you see that working for the Steelers? Well, this is the modern era.
I mean, we are, what are we on? We're on social media right now, aren't we? So, social media is driving all of this. There was no such thing 20 years ago as a rookie brand, a Juju Schuster brand. There is now, mainly because, you know, all these folks, male, female, athletes professional athletes go on social media and build a reputation.
Now now that in itself I don't think is necessarily a bad thing. It can be a good thing. It depends on the it depends on the person. The type of character that that person is.
That can be on one hand depending on the person. It can be a good thing. On the other hand it can be a bad thing. You might say with a Juju Schuster it's a good thing with an Antonio Brown. Maybe not quite as good. Because you know when you're dealing with social media when you're dealing with social media that it it really then falls into the lap of the person who is actually the brand.
and we see it, we see it with news anchors around the country. Uh a news reporter, some of them have really good judgement and they use social media and it benefits not only them but it benefits benefits the company they work for with television station or the radio station they work for. On the other hand, when they don't use it wisely, it doesn't.
Well, we get fired, right? Yeah.
necessarily get fired because they might be very popular but it might it does make managing those people much more challenging than before the days of social media.
So, let me get a couple quick comments in here going back to Heinzfield and the old days. Uh Vale says I still miss Three Rivers Stadium. I'm in Orlando, Florida and I only buy Heinz ketchup. We are all Steelers, PS 4 L. Does anybody know what that means, BF? Uh I'm not up on. Pittsburgh Steelers for life. Come on, dude. Come on resident answer.
Alright. Jeez. Man. Thank you.
It's it's still a transition with these guys. They they live in they've been living here for almost 20 some years and they still don't get it. Just the yinser with the bottle. That's Steve. Just the yin. Hey, I'm not drinking. Yeah. Yeah. It's Dan Ziggler says I saw Three Rivers imploded from the top of Mount Washington when it was three degrees out in 2001. Yeah. I couldn't care less what they call it. So, there's a there's an opposite side. Thank you, Dan. Thank you. There's an opposite side. Uh Michael Bowling reminds us that Heinz is also popular for cat food and dog food. He must work for Heinz. He must. The pet division I'm thinking. He must. They make a nice relish.
Of course, Swabber, you would like to relish. Come on, everybody.
Yeah. So, I I think I think I think you guys have a point. I mean, first of all, winning is going to that that's going to change things. Um but I think for this year, especially because I don't see really a Super Bowl on the horizon. You know, this year, it it it's going to be tough. There's going to be I'm I'm looking forward to seeing the signs in Hines Field.
Yeah, I think it's going to be really interesting to see if they can turn it around so quickly. I mean, they what? Have three months. Basically, take down all the Heinz Field stuff and put up. Yeah. Acting sure. I'd like to get that contract. Switching all those signs out. How about that? Yeah. Yeah, that'd be a good one. Sure. You go ahead and do that.
I'm going to go bid on it right now. Yup. Yup. You're going to have to put in. I think the Rooney's watch. So, yeah. Dan, if you're listening, my coming in tomorrow. That's right. Don't worry. It'll be less than 100 million I promise. Why would the Rooneys not watch this show? Oh, I can't think of it. Crazy. Everybody watches his show now. Alright. So, the the place where you get the most information.
Yeah. Uh actually. And now we have an expert on things.
If they're not watching. I mean, if you want to go places for useless information, this is the place you get the most.
Okay. Okay. Wow. Alright. Wow. Alright. Zing by our production. There we go. Well, I'm glad I can contribute to the uselessness. Thank you. That's exactly right. Thank you so much, we were running out of useless things to say.
I I am a superstar at being useless. There you go. Wow. I don't know. I might actually have you. No, Chris definitely has you beat. He's got the technical director title.
He cannot be more useless than he is as a technical. Yeah, you wait until I tell them they gotta do this stuff. We actually got a gift for him later because he's such a great technical director but this is truly for us. Just stay tuned. It's really frightening. Okay, Tim Palmato says Renegade Field of course. Great. I don't think they'll get rid of that song.
Hey, Tim. The jig is up. The jigs remember. You got it. So, I think we have a more questions for for Joe. Yeah, Joe. You you were you were talking about newscasters and you know, I'm always thinking about sportscasters and you know, how they get interviews and stuff like that. Have you ever had a time where, you know, a newscaster and a, you know, maybe a sports figure even in Pittsburgh or or where you were in in Milwaukee.
You know, maybe became friends or kind of, you know, had had a situation where, you know, that because they interviewed each other so much, they kind of became friendly or how how does that actually work? Getting those interviews and and you know, how how does it enhance the image of the team or. Yeah. Are you really just thinking about, you know, getting a story, you know? How, how, how does that work? It's honestly a fine line.
Um you know, because there's a difference between being friendly and being a friend. Um, and I would say that friend Lee is good. Friend Lee allows you to establish relationship. It allows you to maybe get somebody, an athlete, who it might happen to be. To to to express themselves a little more honestly because they trust the person who is friendly. But friendship now now you've crossed the line and objectivity then suffers.
So it's you know it's really kind of honestly in the hands of the professional sports caster or newscaster. Not to cross that line. It's also in the hands of a manager like myself when I was a manager to counsel and to coach your people not to cross that line. Gotcha. But I would never say that it's never been crossed. You know that would be ridiculous to say that.
I mean, I I just recently read Jim Gray's book. Did you read Jim Gray's book on No, but he's an he's an excellent. I I really like his stuff. He he's a very, you know, he's a challenging type of interviewer. He. Yeah. Right. He doesn't pull any punches. Right. But he even himself admitted that over the years became friends with people like Tiger Woods. He be not not Tiger Woods.
Tiger Woods is not a good example. I think it was LeBron James if I'm not mistaken that he felt. Okay. He actually became friends with Kobe Bryant. He became friends with. Um that's probably crossing the line. And and it and it did affect his coverage of those of those people. So it's it's a fine line but it but you don't you you can't be standoffish because if you're standoffish if you are unapproachable or if you consider yourself quote a star, you're not going to be able to, you're not going to be able to get the material that you like to get, or that the people really want to see, or read.
And so, kind of along these lines, I also kind of wonder, might, might sometimes the, the, you know, the sportscaster kind of even think to themselves, if I establish somewhat of a friendship with this person, then I'm going to get the interview.
Um, and maybe that gets in the way because maybe if they are more you know, if if they're being a true journalist and maybe they're expressing some judgments at times, maybe then that athlete doesn't want to interview with them again. Like, how do you manage that process? Um you know, the key word here is mark is trust. You have to establish trust not friendship and when when when you establish trust, even the an athlete or a team might know that you're going to call, you're, you're not necessarily always going to be a homer and rooting for them, because that's not what you're supposed to do.
They know they're going to get fair treatment. And when they know they're going to get fair treatment, then your chances of getting the interview, getting the information go way, way up. And I can honestly say to you, like, in my days, when we were, when I was news director of Channel four, we had an incredibly gifted and powerful sports team. You know, we had Bill Hillgrove, we had Stan Savren, we had Myron, we had Myron Cope. Yeah.
Later, we brought in oxen writer, Guy Junker, really powerful. Wow. Name. And in fact, one of our promotion campaigns was called the front four. Uh which mirrored the Steeler front four. Mm hmm. And they were just they were just dynamite and they could get Myron Pope to get stuff that nobody else could get. Really? That's interesting stuff. Yeah, we like to we like to have a whole show about that. We don't have enough time for that today.
But that would, that, we, I would really like to. There's probably some great stories. Yeah. Oh. Follow up with you on that. These guys are really good. These guys are really good. Um, you still are actually. Yeah, a few of them are still around. So, I, my, my comment or my question is actually, a lot less complicated than these guys. Um, I, I feel like they put way too much energy into that. They don't think I just want to know it's almost my bedtime, Chris.
You know what? Mine too, actually. But that's why we drink coffee when we're on the show. Now, now, I may be, I may, that's not coffee. Don't give me that. That's not coffee. Okay. It's a fireball. You know it's a fireball. You're just, just ask the question. Alright. So, my question is a very simple one. I I don't want you to answer it. If you feel like you're going to get in trouble but maybe, maybe not.
I don't know. Bigger ego, Sports personality, sports cast When you say sports personnel. A athlete. athlete. Oh, by all means, oh, there's not, it's not even close athlete. Really? Yeah. Okay. Are there, have you ever come across a a a sports journalist who felt he had that presence and that ego where he was bigger than the athletes that he was covering? I I don't want you to name names but have you ever because in my experience, I look at some of these guys.
Now, I'm not talking about the ones that were are former athletes. Right. Because that kind of, you know. Right. Right. No. I get the difference Uh the answer to your question is, yes, I have but but not not so much on the local level, more on the national level. Right. Okay. Right. Yeah and all those guys start locally. So, it's almost the same trajectory as you get bigger. Right.
The ego gets bigger. It's like it. There there are there are few people. Again, I would I would say very much in the minority but there are a few who at the national level I think their egos are are close to if not bigger than what you fun with some of the athletes. Now, when I, when you talk about athletes, not all athletes are like that, obviously. Right. Sure.
I think when you get to kind of the, the, the Michael Jordan level. Right. A Tiger Woods level, you know, yeah, now you're talking about these guys, it's a big job for them to have to manage their own egos. And, and, and I, and I, and I actually respect the ones who can really do it, and some of them do. They do it very, very well. You know who wouldn't have had a big ego? No.
Chick Yeah. It's an inside joke.
That's an inside joke. He's favorite Pittsburgh Steeler of all. Yeah. We're trying to find a new one for this year. Hopefully, we can't. Yeah. So, one more question before we go. Um so, obviously, you know, being a news manager, you covered a lot of sports event. Which one for you was the most memorable? Uh well, you know, it it's it's not the event itself that that I find memorable. It's what happened at the it what happened at the event and I'm going to take you back to 79 when the Pittsburgh Pirates came back to win the World Series.
They were. I don't want to talk about that. Uh we got an order. I don't want to talk about it. Do it. Come on, Joe. Get it. I'm a Pittsburgh fan but Mike, yes, my heart is in Baltimore with the Orioles, not with the Ravens, but with the Orioles. Oh, let him have it, Joe. Alright, I was going to jump out here. We're going to mute his microphone. Guys, can have your own pirate fest.
This, this, this won't kill you, Chris, because it has nothing to do with the World Series and the has nothing to do with the outcome. Okay. But but I was news director at Channel 4 at the time and brand new actually director of Channel four. And I sent John Steigerwald who was one of our main sports guys at the time. 2two Baltimore to cover it. And for for the World Series and then beyond the World Series I hired another name who may be familiar to those of you who grew up in Pittsburgh. Bob Prince. Hm. One of the most powerful. I think a few people know Bob Brent. Yeah. Yeah. Probably a lot of the people that are watching this online have no idea who I'm talking about.
He was a. He was in Canada. Just goes in Canada, Joe. He was a very colorful broadcaster who had been fired by the Pirates in KDKA and I picked him up and sent him and Steigerwalt to Baltimore to cover the World Series. Well, on game day, you have to know Bob Prince because he was a rather unconventional type of broadcaster to say the least. Um it it was snowing in Baltimore on game day. Gunner. Yeah. But we went to them live and I had no idea.
Nobody was even Steigerwell didn't know what was coming coming up. So, doing the little introduction and brings in Bob Prince and Bob Prince is standing there in the middle of a blizzard in his in his swimming trunks. So old pregnant turns into, well, Prince, is he going to jump in the pool or is it he not going to jump in the pool? He didn't but it was it was colorful, it was fun, and it was funny, and it, I don't know why, but that more than the, more than the World Series itself, six in my, and I guess maybe because I was responsible for the coverage.
It's not a great story but it's a it's a story. No, no, we love it. Yeah. Yeah and then, you got Tim chiming in. I guess that he was called the gunner. DG, the gunner. Yeah. Uh Deborah chimes in and says, I think she's saying these guys are really good and you know, I second that opinion. I think she's talking about the 1979 team. No, that comment was from a while. Oh, oh, oh. That comment was when I got on this show.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Sure. Yeah. So, yeah.
Tom O'Malley says he love the Gunner. So, there's a lot of people that are watching that. We were our demographic is mostly guys and gal our age and and from around the country. So, I had a feeling there would be some people who would chime in. Oh, Richard. They would have to be our age because you know, I mean, Bob Prince has been gone for a long time. But.
Yeah. But powerful, only begins to describe him.
How how do you think Joe, the the sports coverage and that side of the business for you when you're consulting and when you're advising on how to say manage that part of it, how what do one of the biggest changes has been because you know, we grew up watching, you know, the nightly newscast and then you had your sports edition and then, of course, ESPN came on the scene and that was all the rage and now, you can see that ESPN is having trouble keeping up.
What do you think one of the one of the biggest changes that affected the way that sports is covered has been over the last say 20 years? Saturation. There's so much of it. You know, what you to be a big deal 20 years ago. I mean, oh my god, you mean the Yankee game is on? Right, right. I mean, you can find 30 Yankee games in a in a in a month, right? There's just a saturation of all sports.
So, the big challenge for, honestly, for local sportscaster is to keep it hyper local. Hm. To give your audience something that they can't get some place else. And too many sports casters mimic what you see on ESPN. Well, if I want that, I can watch ESPN or I can watch Watch Fox Sports. You know, it has to be personality based. It has to focus on your local teams and it has to focus on those local personalities who play for those teams.
That's what the the storytelling is going to be built around those things or it's going to be a thud.
That's a that's a really interesting perspective because so much of what is put out there in the media today is all about getting as many eyeballs on it as you can. But when it to sports. I think what you said strikes a real chord and it's not really something that I would have thought of. Well, you know, if, if if if you turn on the local sports tonight and and you see highlights from around the league, let's let's use that as as an example.
You know, your your you see the highlights of all the baseball games. Okay, so what have you provided to your audience that's special? They're going to see those same highlights, very well produced by the way on ESPN. They're on quick pitch. You know, it's a very produce program. Quick pitch. Yes. Beautifully produced. MLB tonight is like fabulous.
There's no locals. There's no local sports organization that can match it. But what what what they can't do is they can't do the hyper-local coverage that a local sportscaster can do.
Interesting. Mm hmm. That's a great perspective. That is Joe. Excellent. Well, listen, Joe. I I don't want to take too much more of your time but I do want to get some comments in here that came in. Um while we were talking Uh Pat says, excuse me. I know Bob Prince.
Uh shown your age, Pat.
TG says, I was at CMU when the Pirates won that one. You're dating yourself, DG but we already. Nothing wrong with that about. We already knew you were older than us. Uh Jay up here had a comment about getting together for something special and I just put up Steve's reply to him. I apologize. No problem. Uh and DG says, I agree with Joe here in South Florida. The local news covers more national news than local news.
So, but what I found in as as a parting comment for that is, I found that in Pittsburgh, you know, your KDKEAs, your WTAEs, these local sports guys in in BXI, yeah, they they generally really do focus locally. I mean, high school football is huge here still. I think so. Um they don't they do very very little national sports coverage. No, I agree with that. Very little. Yeah.
Yeah. I agree with that. And that's because there's a such a rich tradition here. You know, with the Steelers, now with the Penguins. Yeah. You know, and in the past with the Pirates. Well, yeah, in the past with the Pirates, right? Right. Yeah. Would you rather talk about the 1979 Pirates than the ones who barely beat the Brewers the other night? Yes, that's right. Yeah and then that's another.
Well, you know, just just to throw in the, you know, the Pirates now versus the, you know, with with all this stadium and ballpark naming stuff. You know, PNC Park is a beautiful park. Probably the nicest baseball park in the country. Yeah. At least that's what I've heard I've been to a number of them and I certainly would match PNC against any of them but it certainly is doesn't generate their team doesn't generate the kind of interest that you would like.
Because they can't win.
Yeah. Right. Yeah. You you must have been listening to our previous shows. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You gotta put a you gotta put a product on the field. If you're if if your biggest draw is fireworks night, you got trouble. Yeah. Don't forget about the bobbleheads and the T-shirts. Yeah. Joe. Yeah. It's not just about the fireworks. And parrot and the pierogies.
All kinds of reasons. By the way, those things are all good things to do. They're fun. They make it more fun and it appeals to younger people which I think is great. You still have to win. Well, the only reason they got 35, 000 the other night was because the Yankees were on town. That's the only reason. Yeah, sure. Of course. Because why? It was a good product and people wanted to go see a good product.
Right. Exactly. You know? Exactly. Yeah. And and I I think the the issue that we have now and this is something that we talk about all the is that especially in baseball, the way the monetary and the marketing structure is set up, the owners like the nuttings, they are not incentivized to put a winning product on the field because it's still not a losing proposition for them. Right. You know, they can bank that money and I think there needs to be and I don't I don't pretend to know anything and and I don't think anything's going to happen unfortunately but they really need to think about restructuring the that luxury tax is applied and the and and the way that they apply that money because when you have a greedy owner, what are you going to do? And there's no way to get rid of the guy either.
I mean, he. Well, you know, you're stuck. Yeah, this is where you need to get the real experts on. I mean, I know enough to get done. I know enough to be dangerous. I don't, noone, I don't know anything about the business of baseball or the revenue sharing and all that other kind of stuff but I do wonder why, how do teams like Saint Louis do it? Is that the small market team? Right and so there are small market teams that do put winning teams on the field but again, I don't I don't say that to be critical to Pirates because they just don't know enough about it.
Well, we we say it to be critical and it really it really evolves around one person and that's the owner, mister Bob Nutting. Yeah. We'll just leave it at that. Yeah. And and Steve travels around Pittsburgh with a bag over his head anytime he gets near PNC Park because I think he's been one of Nutty's biggest critics and. Well, I guess Bob. And we'll continue to be until he puts a good product on the field.
We should all be that way. Because because you can get 30, 000 people in that stadium if you put a good product on the field. They proved it this past week with a with a team that people aren't even passionate about. That's that's very true. But but I I assume Chris that that Bob Nutting is not the next guest on your sports.
But hey we're trying. We would love to have him. But yeah. Joe you broke. You broke it. So we got guests now. So he's he's next on our list. Yeah. We'll see. We'll see if he can do any better.
Actually it would be a it would be great to have him on and that's let him explain you know some of the reasons they make the decisions that they make. We would love that. Yeah. We would understand for example why when you do have a a a a really a great player like a McCutcheon or his Reynolds kid who's playing now or what's that Cruz? You know O'Neill? Yep.
O'Neill Cruz. Yep. Why not? Why not pick one of those players and build your franchise around that person. And and not you can't keep everybody like the Yankees can but you can keep somebody that is kind of a symbol of of of your brand in in the city. Like and even the Yankees did it with Derek Jeter. He played his entire career in a Yankee uniform.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, of course they they had the money and they spent the money and. Right. But. You know and it and it's that that's the shame of it all for for guys like us who are kind of old school baseball fans. I mean, we're perfectly willing to realize it's a business. But at some point, you have to show a little appreciation for the fans that want to come down and see a team that at least has a chance of winning and when you go through the years and like you said, Joe, you know, every time they get a player right now who seems like they could be that guy.
Right. They end up trading him away. The deadline. Yeah. And my my question is, why trade everybody? Can't, can't they build? I mean, I know that. The Pirates, the the Cardinals, the Milwaukee Brewers, I was a news director in Milwaukee too. I know Milwaukee. Milwaukee is a very similar town to Pittsburgh. Um they build winning teams and they can't they can't keep everybody either.
But they build around a Yelich or somebody, you know, yeah. Right, yeah. Mm hmm. They build around some player. And and I don't know why Pittsburgh hasn't been able to do that recently. There was a time when Pittsburgh did. Yeah. Not not recently.
Well, it's because in in I'll say no more about the Pirates. It's because they chose Andy Van Sleke over Barry Bonds. And that's all you need to know about the Pirates since then.
Well, thanks, Thanks, Steve.
That's all down. That's good. Sorry, I, you know, anytime you bring up the history of the Pirates and you go post nineteen seventy-nine, it's going to end in tears. Yeah. Trust me. I've shed them. Yeah. Yeah. Steve went so desperately to be a Pirates fan but he spends so much time saying he's never going to pay attention to him again. You know, I. Joe, I almost wore a pirate shirt tonight. My my son got a Oh, really? Throwback jersey of a Clemente jersey that he wore actually in the nineteen seventy one in that would have been 71 I guess.
World Series. And I almost wore it. And I'm glad I did now because that'll give our fans something to look forward to. Yeah. I'll do it today nutting sells. You said you said Clemente's name and immediately the thing that jumps into my head is with Vince Scully the you know the famous broadcaster. Yep. From Los Angeles said yes. You guys are you guys aware of what he said? Clemente. Clemente could feel the ball in New York and throw a guy out in Pennsylvania.
Yeah.
right. He could. He went on. That's it. That was the front line is always stuck with me. You're right. And it really is. It really is a testament to the, you know, to the tradition in Pittsburgh that Roberto Roberto Clemente today is, he's truly almost as popular as he was when he was a player. Yeah, that's amazing. I mean, we hold onto that. We hold on to people like that around here and what we really like to do is develop the next one, you know. Well, sure. I don't think that's going to happen. But can you imagine can you imagine what Clemente, the name Clemente would have had if he played for the Yankees? I mean, he would be.
Oh, right. Yeah.
bigger. Yeah. Even bigger. Much bigger. Yeah. If you play in New York, I mean, your chances of hitting it big are much much bigger than any other market in the country. Yeah. Oh yeah. That's why we're on New York Beautiful right now, Joe. We're hoping that that we're hoping that that happens. We got the Roberto Clemente of Sport, the Sport Sports over there and Steve. Um I'm not sure what Mark and I are. Maybe we carry his ball bags.
That came out completely wrong.
Hey, you There's always a gap. Always a gap. So anyway let's get a couple more comments in here. Yo, Carey, one of our biggest fan. Did you put that up? I did. Okay. Yeah. You have a **** if you get a bridge named after you. Yeah, that sounds. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, listen, Joe. I can't thank you enough for taking the time. My pleasure. My pleasure. My pleasure, guys. Thank you. Yeah, we've really appreciated your insight and and hopefully we can have you back sometime and once you start watching some Netflix, give us a call.
We'll get you on the next. Oh yeah, you guys have to talk about things I don't know anything about now, right? Yeah Yes. Yes. I'm going to go into our next part of the show but we're going to let you go, Joe. We really appreciate it again and. Thanks, Joe. Good time. Yeah, you stay safe out there. I hope I didn't drag down the quality of the product today. No, absolutely.
You raised it. As a matter of fact, yeah, we're actually going to bring it back. Now, we're going to bring it back down.
You got it so high. We're everybody's going to bail now. No, no, no. Take it where it belongs. Alright, thanks a lot, Joe. We appreciate it. Have a great night. Thanks. Take care.
That was great. Yeah, that was nice. That was really good. Yeah. He had a lot of really good things. Absolutely. Great. It's good to have somebody on that has a perspective like that and we really appreciate Joe being here. So, thank you. Speaking of perspectives, well, first of all, first, I've gotta remind the people of some things. I've gotta remind them that you can hear us on American Busker iHeartRadio and you can watch us on Pittsburgh, New York, Philly, Chicago, beautiful, or the sports porch or Pittsburgh Beautiful on YouTube, Sports in Pittsburgh Beautiful on Twitter and my mouth is really dry but that was a lot of fun.
Um get a couple more comments in here real quick. Uh Yo Carey gives us some black and gold hearts. You gotta love that. DG says great guest appearance. Thanks Joe. So thank you Joe. Thank you Joe. Tim Pomato says great job and the porch. The porch. There you go. You can take that ticker down Steve because we're going to move on to our next segment of the show which is we're actually Steve wants to talk a little hockey.
As you can see. So Obviously, there either is or there isn't some Malkin news. So, let's move on to the Pens. What is it, Steve? What do you think about this guy right here? It's Danny Malkin. It looks like what do you think? It looks like he's struggling. He's. I think I think of of the big big name players who are part of winning Stanley Cups during this group.
Uh he was the worst. What do you think? Oh I mean Crosby. But I mean so of the core you're saying. Yeah he is. Of the big three or four that have been with them since they've been in cups. He is the worst. Yeah like when I think of Falcon I think like if I'm the opposing team I want Malkin on the ice.
Because he's going to try to cherry pick. He's going to let somebody go past him. He's going to you know he's going to get worked up over something and pick up a stupid penalty. Yeah. But that's kind of the way I see him out. Right. I mean incredible skill. Don't get me wrong. But I mean Con Smythe winner. You know. He won the MVP the first you know the first the first Stanley Cup they won in the new era.
Not the old era. Not the Lemieux era. 20 years ago now. It was a long time ago. It was yes two thousand and nine. So we're talking you know you're going back 13 years. Alright so let's so let's get to the point here. What are you trying to say? The point is you know the the Penguins have made an offer to Malkin.
You know he once four years I guess is the number that he's looking for to stay. But I guess he's a little insulted at only getting 6 million for four years. That would insult me. That's I mean six per per year. That's kind of like what LeTang saw. Yeah, but he got 6 years. Okay. You know, so so I mean, so here's my thing.
I love Gino. I think he's a great player but I agree with you. Like, of the of the guys that have to go, he would be a guy that you would say, okay, go. But here's the thing, this Fenway Sports Group, they kind of want to keep the band together. They don't want, you know, they don't want Don Henley to leave. You know, they want to keep him together.
Yeah. So, and I don't think I don't think, I think maybe Gino is more like a Joe Walsh than a Don Henley. So, I think he can replace.
I think he can replace him too and and to be honest, I I like keeping LeTang because I think he's a top-level defenseman that are very hard to find you know, there there's no, there's no point in keeping Malkin. I mean, well, literally, half the time. So, so good point. In in the last 3 years, he's he's missed 25% of the games. Yeah. So, yes, he does get injured and I think that's why he needs to take the discount.
Like, I wouldn't sign him for four years to $6 billion. I think that's at least one, maybe two years too many. Right. Um but if that's what they want to do to keep the band together, I think it's a good offer and and the the problem is, I think, is that he thinks he's worth more and he wants to go to the market to see what the marketplace will pay for him.
Probably. And I think here's the problem. He might be sorely disappointed. One, kind of like what Juju was about a year ago. Right. Hey, I'm great. Everybody's going to want me, right? Yeah, not so much and he came back. Right. I don't know that the Penguins are going to wait around to to sign him again. Like, I think they're going to move on from him. You know, basically, tomorrow, no, it's Wednesday at noon.
Is the that's it. Yeah. You know, he's got until then to to do something. So, and from what we're seeing on all the tickers. He looks like he wants to put his toe into the free agency. Why not? Why not? So we got two conflicting opinions here. DG says he's wondering if he's wanted when healthy still has elite numbers. He will be missed and will be snapped up quickly if he's let go.
Interesting. But Yo Kerry says older guys shouldn't get long contracts. They get hurt, lose speed, and so on. Yeah, I think it does depend on the style. I mean, I get where I I see what DG saying. I mean, you know, I think he played 41 games last year regular season. He scored 40 points. So, I mean, that's still, it's not elite but it's definitely in the upper tier of things but I think the reality is his style of play is not conducive to what they need to play now, which is, he can't play wide open anymore.
He's not this geno that won a con Smythe. He's the old Geno, that is hurt and tries to play like that, and can, on occasion, usually, if you look, most of his points are against the crappy teams. Look at what he scored against the good teams and I can tell you it was less than a half a point. I looked it up. So, so that's the problem.
He doesn't play well against the good teams. He plays great against the crappy teams. You don't need a guy like that on the team. For 6 million in my opinion, here's the thing. If you really like the history of the Penguins and you want to see Gino play a style thousandth game and get his thousand points and you know, have all these great records that he's going to moving up the, you know, the boards on as a penguin, then, you need to sign him.
So, it's more like a nostalgia play. You want the nostalgia of having a great player who was once a great player on your team and watch him ride off into the sunset in three or 4 years and pay him seven and a half million dollars or does he go now? That's really, that's really what it comes down to. I think, I think he's going to sign, I think he's going to, I'm going to go out and say it.
I think he's going to take the money. He's going to sign the four-million-dollar D at 6 million. I don't believe. I think he's just saying that he's going to go into free agency. I think he's going to sign before before the deadline.
I don't know. Um but it wouldn't shock me at all if he signs on like day one with like the Devils or something. Well, just, you know, it it this and this is one of the things that we we we can never get into the mind of a player. It's so easy for us to sit on the outside and say, you know, well, he's just going to go for the money.
Um and and be honest with you, I think that another team probably would pay him more because of the name. Right. So, it's going to come down to, does he want to continue to play with Sid and Letang in a place that he's familiar with and and obviously take that discount, you know, because 25% of of the games of the last three years is damn close to a full season that he's missed.
Mm hmm. Okay? Or true. Does he want to take the money and run? And my guess is given the the environment hockey right now and the name that he has. Uh if he puts his toe in that water. Somebody. I think somebody's going to pay him more. But I don't know that they'll give him four years. I mean he'll be 40 plus when when when he's done with that contract.
Yeah. I mean that's right. They might go 2 years. You know so well right. I think he'll get a I think he'll get a lot of like hey we'll give you a year of contract. We'll give you 8 million for a year. I think you'll see. Yeah. Or maybe two at sixteen. But I don't think that's what he I don't I don't I you're right don't know what he wants.
Yeah. I don't think it's a money play. I just think he thinks he's better than he is. And unfortunately that's shading his judgment and signing with the Penguins. Yeah. DG says, Gino should compromise and sign. He knows what he's got in Pittsburgh rather than the unknown. True. Uh Tim says, don't think he would get more than two years somewhere else. Yeah, I don't think we agree either. So, Steve goes out on a limb right now and he says he thinks Gino's going to sign on that dotted line.
So, we'll have an update next week. Yes, we will.
Yes, we will. We'll be talking about Gino in another uniform. That will be fun either way. Alright. To be honest, that's the right move. Unless it's a fire uniform, then there might be some bad words. These are the flyers. I'm just going to finally jump off a bridge. Yeah. Cuz I don't. Really? I would, that was saltine challenge. We're going to. Did you hear that? sign a new floor in Philly.
Yeah, let's go Flyers.
Alright. Cuz you know exactly what will happen which is what's going to happen if he's with the Penguins. The first 20 games. He's going to play great. Then he's going to be hurt and then he's going to they're going to say oh he's going to be fine for the playoffs and he's going to come back. Is he going to be average? And you know he's going to say he's not hurt because hockey players don't say they're hurt. He's going to play like **** Yeah. That was that was great. Did you take a riddle in before you? I did.
Yeah. I did.
Doesn't matter. I'm over. Alright. Let's get one more comment in here real quick. Yo Carrie of course has to get Steve with the Hurricanes. Let's see what they do in free agency Carrie Zone. It's the dead zone yo Carrie. Alright let's move on because we're pressed for time here. Uh I think what we're going to do is we're going to twist it around. We're going to do what we're watching right now and then follow it up with headlines that means something, right? Okay.
Yes. So, what we are watching what does this mean? Okay, there's a lot of streaming options out there. We're three old guys that have plenty of time to sit around and stream just about anything. Plenty of time. And you can put anything. Some of us have to in there. Right? And I wouldn't say that I'm old.
Okay. Well, I would say other things about you. So, and so, what we've done is we we always have a recommendation or two. I think this week, we each have one recommendation on something that we're watching. We're going to start with Mark. Do you have something you need to say, Steve? I'm good. Go ahead. You're good? Alright. So, starting starting with Mark. Mark, you're what we're watching is Who killed Sarah? Who did? I don't know Maybe we'll find out in season three. Gotta change that. Yeah yeah. Uh but anyway you know I I really liked Who Killed Sarah season one, season two.
I thought we're both very good.
Season three, I watched the first episode.
I I wasn't thrilled with it. Um just seemed kind of like all over the place and didn't help that they didn't have a recap. It's been like a year since I've seen it. Right. Right. So, we'll see. I will report back and let you know if season three is worth watching or if it's going to be one of those shows where it's season 1 and season 2 or basically, you know, all that's good.
Um but I would definitely say, if you haven't seen season one and season two, watch it. It's good. So, I did watch season one and season 2 and I thought it was steadily went downhill. Like, when the end of season two came, I was pretty happy that it was over. Okay. And so I'm really wary about season season three and the fact that you say it started out bad I'm waiting.
I'm waiting. Oh, you didn't even watch the first episode. No, not yet. Oh, okay. No, because once you watched the first, at least when I watched things, if I watched the first episode, I'm committed. I'm going to watch the whole season. Really? Yeah, even if it's terrible. Well, I've already put two Cs. I've already put two Cs in. Oh, okay. So, you know what I mean? So, it's like, I feel like I have to go on and.
Yeah, I'm committed Yeah. But yeah. It might take a while. Yeah. Alright. Moving on. Steve is that was what? Who killed Sarah by Mark? What we're watching, Steve's show this week is Westworld, Westworld. Now, you have it as on Netflix. It's on HBO. Oh, yeah. I do have it as Netflix. Yeah. Maybe you want to change that. So, give us the premise on Westworld because I have I've been thinking about watching that show.
Yeah. And I have not dipped my toes in the water. Why are you thinking of watching it? I'm looking right here and I see an Um. It's not an alien. Not an alien. No. No. So so so this is good introductory for for Westworld. Yeah. Westworld is a made up world of AI figures. Okay. But the AI figures are done so well. Mm hmm. Like you can't you don't know if they're human or if they're AI.
I I I already love this show. Yeah. Yeah. And like like so so like the thing is like In the first couple of seasons, humans were coming into this world, right? Season 1 and you're like, you're not sure it's AI right away but then you kind of get it and then you're just like, okay, well then, who's really AI and who's not? Yeah. Like, you're, you're not sure.
And there are some people who get obsessed with it. Like, really rich people who can afford to come to this fake world. Uh huh. They get obsessed with it. You can see like they've been regulars. They come in here and there are people who are just there that kind of like tourists. They they just kind of come in and they're like, oh, this is fun. Look, I can kill somebody.
Boom. They're dead, you know? Yeah. But they have and it's like a program. So, like, you see things that are the same a lot because it's programmed. These AI people are programmed but eventually, of course, they figure out how to change the programming to make it better for them is the AI as opposed to the guess. Oh. And the people who are controlling them kind of lose control and so, that's like Chris Klein made in heaven movie.
Absolutely. Yeah. So, wait. So here's the thing. Like season three. Are you an AI? I I was just about to say something along those lines. But I don't want to tip my hat. I don't want to tip my hat guys. Uh yeah so I I think so I think this season this is what season three or four. I think it might be season four. Um it starts out like you can't tell if you're in the world or in the real world.
You don't know where you are. Like there's there's not a lot of like sure footing. That's kind of like me every day. It sounds very confus it. Well, it's it's it's gotten that way and I think I think season four, if you've seen the three seasons before, like, if you wanted to go to the that next level, it did. Like, it's you're just like, I have no idea who's who, what's real, and what's not, and I think that's where they're trying to get to, and I think it's going to come back a little bit, like, you're going to see who the good people are and who the bad people are.
Interesting. And you, you're not sure if they're going to be AI good people or real people, good people.
Very interesting. So, I'm I'm in. What happens? what happens? Both. What happens if they're, well, there might be hybrids. Like, so that's a possibility. There you go. Right there. I think, I think you're, I think you're already thinking about.
Season six. Yeah. Yup. Yup. I will not sleep tonight. Yeah. Alright. So, Steve is Westworld. Now, my show is one that actually just started on Apple TV Plus and I I kind of decided I was going to watch it no matter what for some nostalgic reasons. Oh. And also it it seemed like a good story but the show is Blackbird And if her Apple TV Plus, Blackbird.
If you don't know about this show, it is Ray Leota's last. Oh. Acting video. I do love radio. Okay. So, oh, his last one. It's his last gig and it's it's a story of a kid who essentially he was a high school athlete, star athlete in Chicago, and after after school, he he never made it in the NCAA. He never made it to the pros but he was the kid with the million dollar smile and he became a he became a a drug dealer And his father is played by Ray Leota.
Was a former cop. He gets caught by the DEA. He gets put into federal prison for 10 years. He got kind of screwed on the plea deal. And they come to him in prison and they say look there's this guy we like for fourteen for the murders of fourteen young girls. And we we just can't get him confess and tell us where this one body is.
We want you to go in to the prison and we want you to get it out of him and that if you do, we'll commute your sentence. Oh. You get out free. But if you don't, okay. You stay. Okay. And he agrees but they transfer him from a basically you know, I don't know if there's anything like a simple price. You know. But they they transfer him to the the full blown, all out Supermax nuthouse.
Yeah. And then he has to befriend this guy and the guy if if If you look at the picture, has the lamb chops. Oh, yeah, I see him. Okay, and he's got this voice. He's like, oh, you know, I think I'm a sandwich. Like, that's the way he talks. It it's really good. I watched that. Is that is that guy's nickname Blackbird? No.
Yeah. I don't know where the Blackbird comes in. Yeah. But but let me tell you, it's off to a great start. The the the acting is great. It's on the on the edge of your seat stuff and I highly, I highly recommend it. I'm going to try to get a comment in before they they pull this on me.
amen. It says it's gift time. Alright, these guys got a surprise for me. Gift presentation on the sports porch. Yes. Uh Amy and I were doing a little cleaning out of our house. Oh no.
That is not a gift. Yes. I cannot. It's a regain. This is something that I had for many years and I liked it myself.
Um it doesn't fit with our decor. Decor these days. Decor. But I thought it was perfect.
For you.
Okay. Well, let's see. Alright, boys. First of all, I'm going to thank you. You're welcome.
and This is going to be great. I feel like this is a banner moment.
Oh, wait. He's going to look at it and then he's going to share with the group. Very nice. And here I thought it was going to be something special.
Of course it is. Why is that? two, three, four, five, six. Well, it's me and all my kids. It's you and Alien. That is it. That is it everybody. Of aliens. That is it. Beautiful.
Excellent.
Excellent.
Thank you I like it. It does go with our decor. It's actually, it's actually done by a private artist. It's like over 100 bucks. I can tell. Wow. Yeah, it's nice. Slobber. Holy cow. I'm not messing around. I mean, that's more than a. This is a real gift. That's more than a trip to McDonald's now. That's for sure. Of course, it was Amy's idea to give it. Yes. Yeah.
But I figured like, you know, like when you're like looking for the aliens at night, you can kind of look up in the sky with your alien picture. Well, no. Actually, Mark, what's funny is I'm not sure if somebody didn't take a picture of me and that's not like a silhouette of what I do. Yeah. Me and all that, me and my alien friends. Oh yes. Thank you. I appreciate that.
No I'm going to hang that up like probably in my bathroom. You should. So, alright.
He will. You will too. Number two. Anyway, so we're going to move on to the last segment of the show. Let me see if there's a comment here. We can get in here. Yo, Kerry says looks like six Lombardi. Yeah. There you go. Nice. There you go, brother. That's like, just bring it right back around. Uh last part. I feel like it's Stanley Cup to me. Yeah. You know. Yeah, I'm not sure about maybe people worshiping the Stanley Cup in Denver right now.
So, alright. They're not that thin. Last part of the show tonight, we like to search the internet highway. We travel miles and miles and spend milliseconds looking for these things. These are headlines that mean some and should mean something to you and I Steve and I play. We have Ticker Wars every game. We're going to start with Mark's headline. Um we're going to just going to put it right up there because I love this headline. I love this headline.
That's great, Ellen.
Starbucks pulls new chicken sandwich after diarrhea complaints.
A run on coffee. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. It took them putting out a new chicken sandwich to get diets. It was like a maple chicken sandwich and of people reported diarrhea. That I mean a lot of people have to report diarrhea for you to take it down and actually make a statement about it. Yeah. That's true. So yes. Starbucks you know they are kind of the brand to beat in the coffee world but they don't do everything right.
I mean, when it comes to, I don't think people, I don't think people are going to Starbucks for, you know, their chicken sandwiches. Well, and they, my wife, Amy Mae, loves their egg white rack. Yeah, well, they certainly aren't going to Starbucks for diarrhea. Yeah. Well, a lot of people did. I got the cold brew nitro. Well, they got it. They went, they went there not looking, they're looking for some chicken.
Yeah, they're working.
They got some and and they got some diarrhea. All I could say is I've never gotten diarrhea going to Chick fil A. Uh, Todd Ross says, I call it the screaming trot. Oh, yeah. Very nice.
sounds very. Hey yo Carrie says it's not even real food. We agree. Well it's processed chicken. Yeah. You start you start talking diarrhea and they come out of the woodwork. If you want the real chicken you gotta go to Popeyes. You have to go to Chick fil A. They do. You want the processed chicken? You know where to go. Starbucks. Yep. You got it. You got it.
So next up on headlines it means something. Something you should pay attention to is Steve's headline. I'll let Steve read that. So pregnant mother in Texas sparks a legal debate in claiming unborn should allow HOV travel because she was pregnant essentially. So, you know, this is a little controversial but I found it, actually, I found it quite humorous like, think about it. As a state trooper, like, you know, he sees a woman driving in the HOV lane.
blah, blah, blah, blah, you know, any pulling her over and then she pulls this on him. I mean, what is a cop going to do? Like, is he going to give her the citation anyways? Probably. I mean, you're you're going to, right? It's like. Yeah. Uh sorry, I only see one in the car. And I think the idea of the HOV is somebody has to be in the passenger seat and in the driver's seat.
Oh. Not like to people.
Not like two people. You know. You you can you can take this to the nth degree. And we won't do this here on the sports porch. We're simple people. And so so I think the idea of the HOV lane is a person in the driver's seat and a person in the passenger seat. What do you guys think? Um well I think that Joe Carey says if they can't abort because of life then it's two people in the car.
I think I think I first of all I think I heard this. I think I think I heard this somewhere else too. Yeah. But a but a different like not the same person. Somebody else argued this. Yeah yeah. Uh I just see another Supreme Court case coming. Right. I mean that's where it's headed right? It's like now we've gotta take Supreme Court cases because people are getting stopped on HOV lanes.
It's like where does it end? Yeah.
Well, all I can tell you is. Never going to end. It's never going to end. Yeah. That's a good one. Yes. Let's move on to something a little bit lighter. Yes, this is definitely a little lighter. Well, it's a little crazier. Let's do it. And it and it kind of makes me wonder. Alright. Um woman. Ooh. That's a very. Married a ragdoll. And now has a baby.
That's a ragdoll? Wow. Wow. Look at that baby. Isn't that a cute baby? There there's a story behind it. Did she have sex with the rag doll? That's that's a terrible question. And then the baby. What do you think? And then the baby out all ragdoll? Mark. Don't you know how babies are made. It looks like the husband. It's DNA Schwab.
It's DNA. It must be a boy. It looks like a boy. Alright. so here's the story. Wait, does a rag doll have a gender? This brings up all kind of complicated. You guys are going to get us in so much trouble and I'm just trying to get the story out. Okay? I think it's fascinating. Apparently, this this woman's mother was feeling very bad for her because her daughter was complaining that she and she's a Brazilian woman and she's she's actually, you know, she's actually an attractive woman but she could not find a husband or a lover or a boyfriend or anybody who would like her.
So, her mother, sowed this life-size baby for her. The guy in the suit. Yeah. And as it turns out, what she didn't realize was that you can actually fall in love with a rag doll, okay? Uh I guess it's because he's such a good listener, you know? Sure. He goes anywhere she wants to go. Yeah. You probably don't have to pick buy him a ticket.
You saw, you saw the movie, Her. He doesn't overeat. Yeah, not a lot. Right. Not a lot of money. Right. You know. Right. And apparently, she fell in love with them and they had a they had a wedding in which this is the it really gets me. They had a wedding that was attended by 2 and 50 guests. How many were rag dolls? For real? I don't know.
That's what I wanted. I don't know. I gotta know how many were ragdolls. Family was plopped over there. 200 people arrived. 199 were ragged off. This is one of the best ones so far. And as fate would have it I guess wait a minute. Wait a minute. Uh I as fate would have it. I guess you know as it turns out they had a rag doll baby I'm not really sure how that happened.
I can only speculate in the real world that mom felt sorry, that she couldn't consummate the marriage in a traditional way. So, she Ragdoll how it happened? Well, you can speculate it. You can see that mom and baby are doing just fine and we wish them the very best. I'm wondering why why the dad's not in that picture? Uh That's making me.
Well, he's probably at home drinking a bottle of scotch. That's what I would do. Trying to figure out how to put that crib together I don't know. I don't know. But this is going to spark a whole new, you know, really, is it possible for a rag doll to actually have a gender? You know, I don't know. What's the, they don't say it was a baby boy or a baby girl.
I have no idea but that to me, this is the best one ever. Yeah, this is. This is this is so many, so many levels. She looks much better in the wedding dress than when she's in the operating room.
Uh, yeah, I agree. I agree. Yeah, I agree. Everybody looks better in a way. Well, that's probably the you've been through a lot. Yeah. Pregnancy. Well, I was going to say, I don't I don't know how much, I don't know how long the labor was. Um but it's. She got an epidural. It's probably. I mean, it's. I would. If I was giving birth to a ragdoll. I mean, that's kind of. Ragdoll's gotta be a seaside. The complications are going to be through the roof. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I know. Whoo. And so there you there you have it. Now, DG says the baby has the same hair. That is true, DG. Uh going.
Well, yeah. It looks a lot like his father. Going back.
That's why I'm thinking it's maybe a guy but I don't want to speculate on the gender without really. I'm just I'm just telling you just what I think the world has gone crazy enough. It just takes one more step. You know what I mean? What paper was this in? Uh I don't remember. It doesn't matter. It's a recent headline. It's from like last month. Oh my god. Um Yo Carey says Havleen approved.
Ragtop. Rag doll. Rag dad for the win. There you go. Amen to that. The baby has a unibrow. Yeah. Got the baby probably at Walmart. No, the mom who made the baby. Come on, Patty. Yeah. You know better. That's not how babies are made. You can't get babies at Walmart. And we're going to finish it up with yo, Carrie, that damn Starbucks chicken. Pushed her rag baby out. Yeah. Oh, I think Yoga.
Oh, good lord. Listen, guys. Uh first of all, I want to thank our guest Joe Revito for being here. It was nothing, nothing but pure pleasure to have somebody on the show. We can't wait to have more guests for you. I want to thank you for listening to us on American Busker iHeartRadio. You can catch us there, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 PM. Tim Pomato says awesome show tonight. Thanks and good night.
Uh. Good night to Flores. DG says you guys are totally nuts. We already knew that DG. Yeah we knew. And remember Pittsburgh beautiful. New York beautiful. Philadelphia beautiful. Chicago beautiful. Thank you for being in the house. And you know that being said we'll catch you. Actually we got a schedule change. Next Tuesday. Tuesday. At 730. And our previous show off the grid. Catch that. Also at 6 o'clock next Tuesday.
For Steve Mark, I just want to tell you guys I love you all and thanks for being here. We'll catch you next week.
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