DK’s Double Shot of Steelers: Surprise of a lifetime!

DK’s Double Shot of Steelers: Surprise of a lifetime!

[Music] [Applause] [Music] Hey guys, good Tuesday afternoon. I’m Dan Kvajovich with DK Pittsburgh Sports. This is Double Shot of Steelers and it’s coming to you on the eve of reporting date for training camp. I guess we could debate whether or not training camp opens tomorrow or whether it opens on Thursday because all they do tomorrow is show up. There’s a run test near the end of the day and Mike Tomlin has an availability. But I I I don’t think there’s any like, you know, hard and fast thing that like training camp opens. I don’t know. I’m not I’m actually I’m going to bring that up with Chris. I I I have a I have a tough time with that one, but one way or another, they’re going to be there. We’re going to be there. We’re going to have a ton of stuff for you. Wait till you see the coverage that we’re going to have of this camp. Uh both in multimedia and in in written form uh for our people who follow us at DK Pittsburgh Sports. Chris will be joining us here after the break. Uh tomorrow is the day we’re going to get answers to a whole lot of questions. Maybe, but we’re certainly going to be asking the questions. Want to know where Jaylen Ramsey’s going to play. I’m betting he’s been told. I want to find out what John Smith’s been told about his role in the tight end hierarchy. I want to find out intangible stuff. I want to find out what kind of mood Derek Harmon and or Keanu Benton might be in since they might in a way be going head-to-head if you think about it at least for who’s going to be the guy who stays on the field with Cam Hayward whenever they go with only two down linemen which they do most of the time. That sort of thing. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the process, it’s we stand on a hill, us reporter types, we stand on the top of this grass hill and we wait for players to come and show up in one particular entrance to their dorm area. Uh that applies to everybody. Now, that doesn’t mean that you get all of the biggest names and everything else. Sometimes those players find their own way in and out of these buildings with some help from the team. I don’t remember Ben Rothllessberger for example being there on reporting date. So there’s always or Troy Palamalu for example. There were always a way for those guys you know secret side entrances behind the whatever. But we’re going to get a bunch of guys and we’re going to get a bunch of news out of all this and we’re looking forward to sharing it with you. We’re especially looking forward to sharing it with our members of this channel and you can become one too at dkps.net/ net/join. I can promise you that if you have questioned whether or not a membership is worth it, and it’s only 99 cents a month anyway, you won’t be wondering about that after this week because we’re going to have stuff coming up on this weekend. This weekend that’ll be members only. So, now is the time to do that. We want to get to 3,000 members. We are determined to do this. And in part, we’re doing that so that uh CJ can watch us fly in on a helicopter tomorrow to make our grand entrance. Somebody actually let me know that it’s it’s $600 an hour for one of those helicopters, which actually is a lot cheaper than I thought, you know, and that was that was that’s all AB paid, I guess, was $600 because it couldn’t take more than an hour to get to wherever it is that he’s going. So, whenever we come back, guys, we’re going to get into this. And also, we’re going to have our first ever contribution to this program from, I kid you not, Antarctica. Oh, stay tuned. At DK Pittsburgh Sports, we take pride in coverage that connects our city’s fans to their favorite teams. Now, that connection stronger than ever. Introducing our all-new state-of-the-art app. Find expert inside reporting and original podcasts. Tech live fox scores. Track the latest stats. Cat it up with our community of thousands of fans all in one place. The new app from DK Pittsburgh Sports. Coverage that connects. [Music] Guys, this live episode of Double Shot of Steelers is brought to you by Dazzle Sports, where sports memories come to life. You can get your keepsakes professionally custom framed, whether they’re sports or personal. If you’re looking to browse and buy your next collectible, you can do it from the comfort of your home at dazzled-sports.com. They’ve got so much inventory. Cards, modern releases, vintage finds, even the protective gear like the top loaders and the sleeves for the valuable ones. They have so much inventory. Uh autographed jerseys, photos, game used items, lots more. They support our show, so let’s support them right back. Get 20% off your entire order if you use the code double shot, one word, at checkout at www.dazzleheyports.com. Hi Chris, but Chris is still hidden. The B He did it. I did it. What’s going on? The boss had to step away. We’re having an exceptionally busy day down here at the uh HQ slshopstudio. Um not exactly sure why Tuesdays tend to be a little bit slow, but we’re really we’re really getting it today. Uh Rob Alman, our cartoonist for DK Pittsburgh Sports was in here just a few moments ago. Oh, that’s awesome. Haven’t seen him in a long time. Got some got some news about him coming up later this week. All right. uh for for our subscribers um that might or might not involve the return of cartoon cannon to our website. Really looking forward to that. So anyway, this Antarctica thing. Yeah, that was wonderful. Before we get going, we had somebody in our in our chat because I was just talking about we were talking about the origin of the penguin’s name. Yeah. how silly it was that the penguins are named for, you know, a bird that’s down there because of the igloo, which of course are only in the Arctic, not the Antarctic. And someone came in speaking on behalf of the people of Antarctica. And I was like, what the heck is that? And here he is from the Smith family. I I invited him to come back today. He he let me know on our website uh overnight that he did in fact spend a significant amount of time. Of course, it was a research base. You don’t just buy a condo there, right? But he did spend a significant amount of time down there. And that’s as about as much as anybody ever needs to refer to the people of Antarctica as we. So, he is here if anybody has any questions about Antarctica or what it would be like to live there or how many Steelers fans there might be. And every once in a while, we get those pictures, too. You’ve seen them. Yeah. Holding the towel or whatever, you know, and it’s like, I did it. All seven continents. I did it. Uh, so the Smith the Smith family, he has a first name, too, and I forget. Sorry, I forget it here on on the live show, but he’s here if anybody has any kind of questions or anything like that. Chris, are you all are you all ready to go? Uh, the the final training camp preview is being written. Uh obviously not right this second. The hands are free to do the show, but uh it’ll be up on dkittsports.com uh later this evening and then pretty much ready to go. Going to take the family out to dinner tonight. One last harrah before the because once tomorrow hits for people like me, I’m not stopping until the team pretty pretty stops playing football. So now it’s it’s funny one thing about training camp and and by the way the same applies to uh in in a different way to both the hockey and baseball camps. Yeah. When the games begin, even the preseason games, you feel like you’re off. Like it’s like I I remember especially when I was new on baseball going back quite a while when the Pirates would open their season somewhere whether it was in Pittsburgh or on the road and I was there and I’m sitting there at that stadium I’m going wow this is like a hundred times easier. This is great. Yeah. We just skip the spring training part. Yeah. But it’s it’s a long day. Um and yeah it’s it’s a long day that begins in the morning. Uh there generally speaking, not the reporting date, there’s there’s first there’s an access point um at above the cafeteria level. Yeah. Uh right outside the uh the actual players locker room that we don’t have access to during training camp. And then the the players the the players go and they do their thing and and and then later there’s a practice at 1:55 p.m. And then the practice runs generally two hours depending on uh Mike Tomlin’s mood and and then they’re available. They walk off toward us in in one end zone and then Tomlin usually goes toward the other end zone which is great workout for whichever one of us gets the shortest draw. Yeah. uh in that you have uh and then there’s work to do and that’s going to involve us here as well. Uh we’re going to be doing double shots from Latroe. Yes. Okay. Like they’re going to be a little later. Yeah. I’ll be finding a place to set up somewhere uh most importantly that has decent Wi-Fi. Uh because that that is paramount. doesn’t matter if I can’t connect to the internet. Uh but we’ll be testing all that stuff tomorrow. But one way or another, we’re aiming for a 5:00 pm live show daily uh through training camp so you guys can adjust your lunar or internal clocks or whatever you have here. You’ll be with us ideally, we hope at 5:00 p.m. In the process, we will be collecting video from players, fresh stuff right off the field that we’re going to be including in these shows. We’re going to be sharing with you news. We’re going to be sharing with you observations from right on the field. There’s not going to be another show like this. Okay. At least I hope I hope that it’s one that in your eyes rises above. We’re we’re aiming high here. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, when we have the access that we do, it only makes sense to bring that bring that to you. Bring that straight to you. And uh um standing there and telling you what we think only comes with so much value. You want to hear what they have to say and you want to hear what’s going on and that’s we’re we’re aware of that. Exactly. Um David asks, “Will you interview Pittsburgh dad?” Um he usually does make an appearance every year and he’s a nice guy. I met him a couple years ago, but no, we we interview the players. Aren’t they all like Baltimore people? The whole Pittsburgh dad entourage. I thought that was just a B they’re they they live in Baltimore and stuff. I don’t know where I don’t know where they’re not they’re not from Pittsburgh. I know that. Oh, okay. Oh, he’s he’s a nice guy. I’m not anybody’s balloon. I’m just throwing that out there. It’s like that that Pittsburgh dad is from Baltimore, but I’m pretty sure that’s that’s that’s true here. So, Smith comes in with the Antarctica thing. He says, “I’m likely letting you down, but I was stationed in Antarctica from 1993 to 94 as a winter over weather observer in the US Navy.” He says, ‘I would have followed you back then. I wasn’t I I wasn’t I was just like in college then. Don’t Don’t date me too much like that. Tony Brown says, “What do you think of the Max Starks announcement?” I think there’s another one to follow is what I think. I I I can I can honestly say just for the the news that happened today. I’ve gotten to know Max uh over the past couple of seasons, he is an awesome dude. He’s not just a guy who’s going like who’s already like got his place in Steelers history being a full-time tackle on the right side for Super Bowl 40 and then on the left side for Super Bowl 43. Uh but then he he’s just he’s an awesome guy and I really cannot be be happier for him. It’s it’s truly awesome. The highest praise I can offer to Max Starks and I’ve got a lot of it. Okay. As a first off as a player Yeah. Okay. This was a big time big time tackle. Okay. They used to say you you needed to you needed to get a taxi to to go to make sure that you get all the way around him. Mhm. Um, Max could play. Let’s remember that Max can analyze. Max works his rear end off. Max is in hyper intelligent. And the highest praise I can offer though is that the man whose place he’ll be taking that unfortunately lost Craig Wolfley would have loved the choice. The two of them were were tight. Uh, both of them offensive linemen. You should only ever have offensive linemen in these roles, by the way, because they know everything. And they’re so much smarter than all the rest of us humans, as they would happily tell you. But I’m not going to say anything else about this. I am quiet. I am quiet about the follow-up announcement that might or might not follow. Uh James Galloway asks if there’s a downtown in Antarctica. I don’t even know that there’s like a central point. Like there’s various bases. I I don’t And the United States isn’t the only one that has Yeah. bases there. It is of course um according to the Treaty of Antarctica, there are no there’s no ownership of Antarctica. Every country in the world, to my knowledge, signed that, although who the hell knows what would be happening now. Um is Ethan Smith says, “Is this the most positive hype centered on the Steelers in some time?” Chris, I think we could actually have a whole discussion on this. Yeah, I don’t I don’t get positive. I’m not feeling it. I actually did my morning podcast on this subject. I still get the feeling that everybody’s really apprehensive because of the way the season ended, because of the no playoff wins in multiple years, because the coaching staff, specifically the head coach, didn’t change. I think they could have added seven other superstars, massive names to this mix, and you’d still kind of have that blah vibe right now. Yeah. Am I Am I wrong here? I mean, tell me if I am. Okay. No. No. I I definitely agree that there is. Now, part of that might be the influence of social media and just people on social media are for the most part, not everybody, I don’t want to lump everybody into it, but for the most part, if people on social media are just kind of um what’s the nicest word I can say on here, um unbearable. Um that’s your nicest. That’s my nicest word. So, it’s just But but I I I get it. I like I get the fivegame collapse. It was an epic collapse. I get it. I get the fact that it’s Aaron Rodgers and he’s not the MVP Aaron Rogers anymore. I get it. But man, this was still a team that won 10 games last year and on paper they are better than they were last year. On paper it makes more sense than it did last year, especially on the offensive side of the ball. We just I I I think because you can’t quite put your finger on what things are going to look like. You can’t put your finger on Aaron Rogers and say, “I know exactly what he’s going to be at 41 years old.” You can’t put your finger on Caleb Johnson who has zero snaps at the NFL level and say he’s definitely going to be a thousand yard back in his rookie season. You can’t put your finger on DK Metaf and say on paper, yes, he’s better than George Pickkins, but he will definitely make a bigger impact in this particular offense than George Pickins did. Like, there’s a lot of stuff that is open-ended and because of that, because of the trend of the franchise and having not won playoff games in eight straight seasons that people are just overall more pessimistic until proven otherwise. Joey Decar has some nice things to say here about the chalk talks that you do, Chris. He says, “As someone who likes to understand the game to its fullest while everyone else is watching Love Island, I’m on the chalk talk wave. Should I ask?” I don’t watch TV at all. I just know Love Island is a reality show. That’s all I know. I haven’t watched one second. Joey, we need to get you as a member, my man. I don’t mean to finger wag everybody who comes along. It shows It shows what color through your your your name that shows up on the screen. It’s dkps.net/join. That’s how those shows become possible. We do a lot of shows and it takes a lot of time and a lot of money and all that other stuff. I don’t want to sound like, you know, PBS here or whatever, but it it’s there’s a reason that we’re doing this stuff. It’s all part of the business. Uh, uh, beer is good as a question. He really shouldn’t be asking that. That’s that’s that’s not okay. Don’t ask questions like that. Uhuh. No, that’s not okay. Uh, wow. Oh, totally out of line here. Jeff Rossy says, “If Aaron Rogers doesn’t last the whole season, how do you feel about our odds with Mason Rudolph at the helm?” I I feel like I’ve made my stance on that one pretty clear over the past few weeks or months. Chris, what do you got on if Mason Rudolph has to handle a big chunk of this season in this offense? Well, I I think that Mason’s proved what he can do when he is playing at his highest level. He can provide competent quarterback play, which yes, if the running if if running the football is successful or efficient, however you want to label it, then competent quarterback play is all you need to be able to be a not explosive, but efficient offense. You’re not going to put up 30 points every every week, but you you know, you you’ll hold on to the ball for a decent amount of time. you’ll finish off more drives with points. Um, it just my biggest concern about it is Mason has yet to provide at during his career that he can provide the explosive play. I’m sorry, create the explosive play for himself. That is what separates the Mesa Rudolph types, the Charlie Batch types, and then the franchise quarterback types because the MVP level. Yeah. Yeah. Because, you know, the the guys who like Charlie Batch for example, who are phenomenal career guys in the role that they were, which is primarily as a backup, they can come in, they can run the offense, they can, you know, and the offense can still survive. The difference between those guys and the guys who ends up getting votes for MVP or winning playoff games over the course of their career is they can create for themselves more often than not. And Rogers has proven still at 41 years old that he can, just not nearly as often as he used to. So if the if the ball has to be handed to Mason Rudolph because Aaron Rogers is unavailable to play, I just wonder if the offense can be efficient enough without having to be explosive. because that that would be my biggest concern. I still think they can win some football games, but then if they were to get into the playoffs and have to go up against the likes of the bigger guys, I kind of get concerned. Everybody tends to view those things as quarterback on quarterback matchups. Michael Patrick McCracken comes in with $10. That’s appreciated. He says, “We talk about XYZ wide receivers all the time, and I know the Steelers use a lot of tight ends, but what are the wide receivers called in a four and five set, and how do you see those roles playing out for the Steelers this year?” I the alphabet should just go back to the beginning. They should just become the A and the B uh when they’re out there. Uh there are a there there’s a a lot of different ways to describe a lot of different wide receiver sets here. what you hear generally and especially as it relates to the Arthur Smith offense is XYZ because you’re most often going to have three wide receiver sets. But but we’re saying this in a reality that existed before John Smith joined Pat Fri and Darnell Washington. There’s going to be a lot of three tights, aren’t there, Chris? Yeah, they’re they’re I mean they led the league last year in 13 personnel. Uh I I think they’re going to do that again. I I think the biggest uptick in any personnel is going to be 12 personnel because they were kind of like they were top half of the league, but I don’t think they were even top 10 in 12 personnel usage. I think that’s going to go up because when Arthur Smith is running his true offense, which I think of the the most Arthur Smithiest offense would like that adjective by the way. um that I think of the 2020 Titans and that he used 12 personnel 35% of the time which led the NFL. Um which Johnny Smith was on that offense by the way. Um but when you talk about all these empty sets and who’s the X, who’s the Z, who’s the Y, Y is usually the tight end by the way, the slot. And the thing is that every offense labels their receivers and tight ends differently depending on formation, depending on the who the coordinator is. Some people call their their slot receiver the the F. Some people call their It’s just it it it’s it varies between offenses, but there are going to be a lot of moving parts. There are going to be three receiver sets. There are going to be plenty of two tight end sets and plenty of three tight end sets. I’m curious to see how it plays out. That’s one of the things I’m looking forward to most about training camp. Sebastian Assange is is one of the the few I’m sorry, one of a few people bringing up today how Rogers is going to be received in Latro. It was just fine. I mean, yeah, I’m not sure what anybody would be expecting to even ask that. Uh, was Mason Rudolph the the favored son through the earliest part of the summer? Yeah, I wouldn’t say it was by a broad margin, but he was uh I don’t know that it came with a whole lot of malice related to Rogers as opposed to they just wanted the quarterback who was here and who looked like he was committed and who cared. I I I don’t mean to speak on behalf of fans. I never do that, but I I will say that I I get the impression that people have liked the way he’s carried himself beginning with the signing and into mini camp. everything he said and spoken, conducting his own private session with the wide receivers in Malibu during what should be a dead period and isn’t tends to be a dead period in the NFL. I haven’t heard a negative syllable about him. I’m I just haven’t and and look at who that’s coming from here. No, it just I just haven’t. Uh, so I’m I’m going to like it’s it’s funny because like when Rogers hadn’t been signed yet, it did seem like the fan base at least probably at least split in half was very anti- Rogers. But after was it anti- Rogers or was it pro Rudolph or was it pro here’s the guy? I think it was anti-roders. I think it was anti-roders. And and mainly I think the reason why is because they saw because okay I I I hate to to to put it this way but when the screaming heads on national programs are saying things like oh the Steelers looked at the five and 12 Jets and said I want some of that. They hear that and they’re like yep I don’t want ever want Aaron Rogers anywhere near this football team. But it’s just funny that the moment he signs the contract and he shows up to mini camp and he sound and he’s saying all the right things, he’s doing all the right things and then mini camp’s over, he’s meeting with the receivers. We haven’t It seems like all the vitriol, all the stuff is I’m not saying completely gone because there are still some people who like to pipe up about it. Yeah. But for the most part, it’s kind of dissipated. And I think I think it’s Yeah. You got to understand, too, we’re talking about social media here. And there do you know what the difference is between social media and standing along that rope line in Latroe. Okay. I You’re there. Yeah. You’re watching Aaron Freaking Rogers come down that that aisle there. You’re not going oh behind some anonymous desktop or whatever. This is this is this is a different world. It’s the real world. Oh, I’m sorry. Go ahead, Chris. I’m going to say the first time he’s in Lrobe and a highlight video gets shared from a fan who’s taken a because us in the meter we’re not allowed to. This is over. But the first time there’s a video that goes viral of him rolling out of the pocket and making some sort of Aaron Rogersesque sidearm throw and hitting a dot to DK Metaf in the end zone. It’s over. It’s over. Everybody’s going to start riding. Yeah. Yeah. You’re all that I don’t mean to make fun of you preemptively here, but you’re all going to be protoplasm in his palm the first time he throws a ball that makes it to somebody that you think now there’s a throw that probably 90% of everybody in the NFL can’t make. Yeah. Right now. Right now, regardless of his age. Now, the other factors, the other concerns, they all still apply. The stuff that we brought up, he’s old. He’s more susceptible to being hurt. He was more susceptible to being hurt in New Jersey. Yeah. Okay. Missed all the previous season and was big- time banged up throughout all of last season. Mhm. So, yeah. Daniel Pike says he also he wanted to go to Cam’s golf event. He did Cam’s cookout. Um, I mean, he wasn’t here all summer long. He he has made the most of his time here. We’ll see how things go in training camp. I’m gonna tell you this though. I don’t think he’s going to be used all that much early. Like I think you might see Mike Tomlin because he did this to an extent with Russ remember with Russell Wilson where he just says listen it was partly because of the calf. Okay. But it was also kind of like I mean he we don’t you know let’s see what these other guys have. Let’s get snaps for the other guys. You know what I mean? Yeah. Uh, Lethon asked what my first question is going to be for Rogers when I get the chance to interview him. I never think about questions in advance. Do you, Chris? I guess if there’s a really specific circumstance sometimes. Yeah. I mean, I just I I don’t I don’t script my interviews. And most likely uh most likely it would be something related to something that’s really timely, like something that’s specific to that day or something that we saw on the field or something to that effect. I hate to give you the boring answer, but that’s that’s that’s actually accurate for me. The the and it doesn’t happen almost ever during training camp because it’s not the the proper setting. But for me, like people like I get a lot of great responses about the chalk talk videos. Well, during the season, a lot of the information that I get so that I can properly break down the play is literally from inside the from the player. Yeah. Yeah. So that is so a lot of the time whenever I go into a locker room with a with an actual game plan or planned, it’s like I’m going to a specific player or players to get answers. Now they’re not going to just whip out the playbook and show it to me. Why are there goenders attacking me? What is going on here? What the heck is all this? Can we play talk some hockey? No, we’re not going to talk hockey. It’s a football show. You got to talk hockey. You got match man all day tomorrow. No hockey now. No, we’re not talking We’re not talking hockey on here. Who wants to talk hockey in the middle of July? What’s going on here? Talk hockey. We’re going to talk hockey now. This, for anybody who doesn’t know, is our great friend Willie Pepper’s longtime subscriber to DK Pittsburgh Sports. How are you? How are you? Look at this. We are going talk hockey. Look at this. It’s the legendary Eddie Johnson. talking patriarch of the Pittsburgh Titans. Now, this is what’s known in the business as a goalkeeper. There is a difference between a goalender and a goalkeeper. Look at his mask. This man right here, I’m going to tell you, this man could out goalkeep anybody who played for the Pittsburgh Penguins this past season. No joke. How are you, EJ? It’s great to see here. Hi there. Oh, man. Happy anniversary. Thank you so much. It’s great to have you guys here. I had this made specially for you for your anniversary. Oh, no. Look at that. It’s got us on it. Yep. How are you? I’m good. Thank you. It’s good to see you. Good to see you. Yeah. Are you excited about the the way the team is shaping up? Oh, this summer. I like to see maybe one or two more. One or two more veterans. Guys who can really play. Yeah. And like to see a little toughness on me. Oh, all EJ wants is guys on the blue line who can bash you in front of the net. EJ EJ is that guy who he watches he’s scouting the game. He’s still watching it from his uh what would you be around in your 60s now? I’m joking here. He’s going to be I appreciate that. I appreciate EJ EJ’s heading hard toward 90, but he’s still scouting every game from up in the press box. I’m in my 90th year now. And he is and he will watch the front of the net. And he is the only guy, by the way, in all of Pittsburgh who will tell you that Chris Latang is one tough sob because he watches the front of the net and watches the stuff the Latang does. Yeah, it’s important. It’s uh it’s great to have you guys here. So impressive. Look at this. I want to give the man that made this. This is the boss. I don’t know who this guy is over here. The camera’s over there. I’m showing it to him. That’s uh I don’t know who this guy is. That’s the That’s the boss over there. But look at the Steelers logo. Penguins and Pirates over here on the eve of training camp bringing us here. You’re unbelievable, man. PK logo. I saw that as well. That’s what matters. Let’s mask behind you is actually Can we have that? Can we have that up here? Sure. Those of you who have seen the iconic shot and most of the world has seen it of EJ in the Boston locker room surrounded by multiple open cans of beer. Yes, that’s when we won the cup 72 when the when the Bobby or and the Bruins Well, no, I’m sorry. EJ and the Bruins. Yeah, they had they had an ore and an Espazito on the team, too, but they also had EJs. I finished with a six one. Six wins and one loss. There were there were 25 beers around you after Oh, yeah. Well, I finished them all. Uh E EJ in in addition to everything else is a is a is a tremendous person. Somebody that uh did so has done so much for hockey in our area, including and not limited to the drafting of the greatest athlete our city will ever see, Mario. And uh you you you’ve gotten better at saying his name than you were that day in Montreal, right? Yeah. Well, my friend Premier Schwab Pittsburgh numerosis Mario. He’s gotten a little bit better at it. Oh my god. I can actually still Can you see that, Chris? Can you hear him saying that? Yes, I can. On the floor in Montreal. Unbelievable. This mask, by the way, is only worn by goalkeepers who are tough enough to play all of their team’s games. Yeah. Well, back then it was six of us and and we all were number one and that was our IQ, too, because we didn’t wear a mask. No mask back then. So true. 1963, the year I was born, was the year he played 70 straight games. 70 straight games. Yeah, there was no Did you even have a backup? You have some dude just sitting there? No, no backups. No, I I didn’t remember. What if you were having a bad game? Like, what’s the coach? I broke my nose in New York. I went and got stitched up and I played then Montreal on Saturday. I rebroke it again. And then I got home on after the game and they put me in a hospital and they put leeches on your eyes, take the swelling down. and and and then I played the next night in Chicago. Oh, wow. It really is. You should try to keep up with it. It’s funny how much it’s crazy. The sport the sport has changed so much and we promise we’ll get back to the football in a second here, but the sport has changed so much over the years. I have to ask you, EJ, as a guy who who has seen multiple generations, you’ve played in the league at a high at the highest level. You’ve you’ve coached at the highest level. You’ve been a GM at the highest level. Do you wish that hockey could become more physical again when you watch these guys all skating away from checks the way they do now? Do you wish it is there is there room for it in the game? Well, I I I think what they did when they took the red line out, everybody’s going too fast. Yeah. You open it up a little bit. See, before if you make the pass before the red line, you would get taken out, you were going to get hit. when now with the open ice, you know, a little more speed now. It’s a speed game now. It’s harder to catch him. You can’t hit Conor McDavid if you can’t touch him. He’s They don’t come much faster than him. I don’t know that there’s ever been anybody faster. With all due respect to your former teammate, Mr. Orur. Yeah, he was he was faster. He was. He turned it on. He was faster. Crazy fast. Two things in common with Bobby. What you got? One, I love hockey. Two, I’m his show. square. Now, EJ was kind enough a couple years ago to invite me to sit at a dinner table with him before a game. This was up in Boston. And Robert Gordon or is sitting at that table and I sit down and I I look at him and I’m it takes a lot to get me starruck. I’ve been covering sports my whole life, okay? I’ve covered most of Mariel Lemieux’s career. And Bobby or is sitting there and he reaches out his hand and tries to introduce himself. No man, you’re Bobby I don’t you don’t have to tell me. But he is he is that guy who would say, “Hi, I’m I’m Bobby or like no man, we knew people thought it was a way to introduce him.” Before we get back to football, I do want to say a shout out to my buddy Greg Bray who made that mask. Appreciate that. Appreciate you, Greg. That’s really, really nice. How do you like that shirt you got on? Look at that. Oh, the three ice tournament. You’re still coaching that? No. Okay. We play again this Thursday in in Florida and all the uh all the uh guys that are coaching are all Hall of Fame guys and yeah, Joey Mlin, Mark Rekie still involved and all that stuff. Uh I don’t know if Rex is involved. Rex. Yeah, Joey Mullen. Uh Grant Fork. That’s good stuff. Yeah. One beautiful thing to remember, my friends, there’s only one city on this planet where all the teams wear the same color and have the same first names. That’s right. And uh Mr. Johnston was was the GM and coach at the time whenever the Penguins when they changed the colors. Paul Murphy. Yeah. They changed the colors to make sure that they fit in with the with the Super Bowl with the Super Bowl champion Steelers with the World Series champion Pirates. And of course with the city itself, the black and gold doesn’t come from sports. It’s on the city’s crest. It’s on the city’s flag. Great to see you. Wow, what a surprise. Stick around. Yeah, have a seat. Have a seat. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Wow. All right, Chris. What you got? Nothing that can never top that. Not the guy who drafted Mario Lemieux. Come on. I’m speechless. And coached him and GMD him and and everything else. And still going strong. still in the press box with us every night. Uh up there working and he’s working too. He’s got that pen and paper out uh taking notes that he passes along to Kyle Dubis. Craig Patrick is up there with him as well. Speaking of uh legendary general managers, Craig, he and Craig sit together up there in the press box. Um yeah, I saw Craig at one of the one of the games I covered last season. It’s awesome. Yeah, it’s I’m I’m gonna get a little emotional here right now. I’m not going to lie here. You’re gonna have to bail me out here. Uh Chris, these this that that franchise, the Pittsburgh Penguins, has meant a lot to me in my life, as have uh both of both of the other two in in their own way. Uh and it it’s part of it’s part of covering this stuff for a lifetime. I’m born and raised here, you know. Yeah. And these aren’t just names in the media guide for me. They’re they’re real life people who do things like this. Yeah. Um, and when you know people say, you know, are you fans? Are you are you whatever else, you’re fans of the people. Believe me, you got to do your job. You got to criticize when it’s called for. Um, and actually someone like EJ is actually the first to do that. He sees something he doesn’t like. Chris, it’s no different than when we’re around the Steelers guys that we mentioned Max Starks. Uh, you see and hear and read some of them uh on on social media like uh, you know, Trey Essex and so forth. They take offense because it’s their team. It’s their crest that they were wearing. Do you follow me? Oh, yeah. Yeah. That’s whenever like I even saw earlier today, you know, there’s a a pretty, you know, I’d say good split over the new 1933 throwbacks we were talking about yesterday. And then earlier today, I saw Jerome Bettis quote tweet and he just had the word tradition. And that’s all he said. And it’s just that’s coming straight from Jerome Bettis who’s the, you know, outside of Franco, the greatest running back in franchise history. I mean, he was fifth all time in the NFL in in rushing when he retired. I mean, you you hear that from Jerome Bettis. It’s just it’s different. You know, you can tell that those guys whenever they say something that might be critical of the team or anything like that, whether it’s Jerome Bettis or Troy Essex or Ben Rothosberger, you know, they’re lifetime Steelers. you know that that’s that’s who they are and you know what the franchise does means a lot to them. Yeah. And I I love that about them. I I really do. I I I love that you guys in particular when you watch our channel that you get to see a guy every week who comes on who’s hard and sleeve and Raone Foster and you see how much a good decision or a bad decision or a big win or a tough loss will affect him. Yeah. Will affect him. It’s it’s it’s very very it’s it’s very very different you know um and and it’s not something sometimes fans I think can get the sense that they care more than the people who are involved just because the people who are involved you know they require some composure okay yeah and it is not true it is not true the gentleman the gentleman over my shoulder here has lived multiple lifetimes of massive wins and and and excruciating losses and the franch franchise being in jeopardy and everything else here. And you know, there he is still going at it and he’s got he’s got the rings to show for it. Mhm. You know, that’s uh you know, really really really good stuff here. Uh let’s see if we can get some uh some football stuff here uh for Chris because I’m I’m kind of speechless at the moment. Michael says, “I just want to say I love the show. You guys are much better than the jerk who does daily shot of Steelers.” That’s very funny. Uh CTD says Mike Webster might be the best center who’s ever played football. There’s always going to be varying degrees here. You just heard EJ compare the skating of Conor McDavid to Bobby Y or Okay. And EJ’s in a better position to do that than any of us since he’s he played right behind Bobby right there. He’s watching Bobby Y or go coast to coast from behind his coast. Okay. Yeah. Uh, but he can watch Conor McDavid in real time and say, “Hey, here’s how they compare.” Those are the only people that are qualified to do that CT. I will say that there is a Hall of Fame tracker meter that lists uh centers who are the most qualified of all time. And you will be disappointed to find out that Webster is number three on that list. You won’t be disappointed to find out that Dmani Dawson is number one. He was really awesome. really awesome. Romani did stuff that nobody had ever done before at that position and they they love that stuff. Somebody who’s a pioneer the way Mel Blunt was, the way others Troy Palamalu, they love when somebody comes along who does something that hasn’t been done previously. Yeah, that’s one of the reasons why Bobby or is like when you talk about the Mount Rushmore of hockey or Yeah. Bob Bobby or I mean Yeah. It just changes the game when you have somebody who can create offense the way he did from the defensive position. is just, you know, it it paved the way for the Paul Coffees and all of the other great offensive defenseman that have have followed since then. So, um, yeah, it it changes the game and those are the guys that typically get remembered most because that’s why when you talk about like for for me, I I’m really switching sports here, but when you talk about like Dirk Nitzky for the Mavericks, I mean, he was like the first sevenfooter to truly have his game be out of the mid-range or from the three-point line. And when most sevenfooters at the time were all, you know, by the glass and in the paint and everything like that, he was making a living making fadeaways from mid-range or it changes the way the game is coached. It changes the way teams are defended. Yeah. Um, and you know what, I I’ll say this forever and ever and ever that Mario Lemieux is the greatest hockey player who ever lived in addition to being the city’s greatest athlete. But I will also say that nobody ever changed a single sport the way Bobby or did. Oh yeah. I mean a defenseman who was leading the league in scoring was the most unheard of thing, you know, and he would lead. He wouldn’t follow the attack. He wasn’t the trailer. Yeah. He was he’d be attacking. He was the first one up ice. Like what are you what are you doing, dude? Don’t embarrass us. Slow down a little bit here. Uh and Nunio asked about the Steelers wearing the Bumblebee uniforms. Yes. And they were very very good at them. He’s like, did they ever lose wearing them? I think or did they ever lose wearing them? Yeah, there was one loss. I I was about to say I think they did lose, but they did play very well on those. They’d never have taken them off if they never lost. Seriously, they would have done something to be like, these are permanent jerseys now. That’s good stuff. Chris wants Chris Chris here wants me to end the show so I can go. They’re not going anywhere. They’re they’ll be around here. Uh uh we can wrap up today with uh your final thoughts here, Chris. Really? Hang hang on. Let’s do this. Since uh Robert Whitney, since EJ said he he’d like to see the Penguins still add another player or two entering the season, and they have the cap space, by the way, they can do that. Uh what else do you see the Steelers adding before the start of the season? What else do you see them adding? I I do think they’re going to add another wide receiver. I understand training camp like players report to training camp tomorrow and some people are like well that’s usually the line you can’t add anymore. No, that’s that’s not true. We see players added shoot man there have been players added today. Um and a lot of the training camps are already underway. So I it would not surprise me at all if in a week or two weeks or even after training camp is over if that’s when the Steelers add another wide receiver. I do think they’re going to add another one. You have to see. and and James says, “Gabe Davis, he’s that’s a very very realistic uh option. Uh they’ve already had him in for a visit. They could have just been like, “We’re not comfortable with the medicals at this point. Let’s circle back in a couple months, see where you are, and they might already that might that might be who ends up being the guy.” But um yeah, Jeff says, “I can’t believe EJ’s in your HQ.” That’s that’s it’s really awesome. But yeah, no, I I I do think they’re going to add to that. I also wouldn’t rule out adding another safety. When you look at the four that are currently on the 90man roster, one of them is a true free safety. The other three, including undrafted free are like strong safety, block safety. So, you need another free safety, true free safety. So, I do think they add another one. I don’t know if that’s going to be Justin Simmons, but I I think they’re going to add another one. Michelle Wilson gets our final word for the day and it’s aimed at EJ here. He says, Relle says, “Hearing EJ say Mario’s name instantly teleported me back to that time, that instant in time in 1984 on the floor of the Montreal Forum. I I got I mean, look at my arm right now. You guys are killing him. It’s amazing that that moment and how that changed all of our lives here in the city of Pittsburgh and mine too.” for and his too says EJ. Yeah, Mario changed his life a little bit here. You ask you ask EJ when he knew because EJ had all these offers. Oh yeah. Uh the famous one from the Minnesota Northstars. All their choices. Minnesota Northstars back when the draft was 12 rounds. Offered all 12 of their picks to this man. All 12 of their picks. Quebec Saturday brothers. the Quebec Nordics. What’s the first rounder? All three Stasney brothers. Okay. One of whom Peter is in the Hall of Fame. But Peter, Anton, and Marian, all three of them. And And was Goule in that too? No. First rounder. Oh, and their first rounder, not Michelle Goule. They had some sanity. Montreal told me whatever they offer you. And Montreal said whatever their rival, the Nordics, would offer, the Canadians would exceed it. in Philadelphia. They offered me Kinder, Chuck Lberry, the defenseman at the first round. Oh my god. The Flyers offered their entire franchise. Did you hear those names? Orus Kinderchuck, Russberry. These were real life players at the time. And it takes discipline. It takes incredible discipline. And at the same time, you also saw Mario put up. Oh, yeah. He he grew up only 15 minutes of me in Montreal. So I all this junior stuff I watch, you know. Guys like that come around once in a lifetime. Guys, the first shift, everyone knows about the first shift that Mario had in Boston. 17 seconds. 17 seconds in, he beat the great Raymond Bourke along the near boards, banked the puck to himself ball hockey style, went in alone on Pete Peters, and Peters might as well have been having a sandwich on the bench for what Mario did to him to score that first goal. And yet, I actually was not even going to refer to that. The first time that Mario set foot on the ice. I’ll bet even you haven’t heard this one. At the Mount Lebanon Recreation Center. Now EJ knows what I’m talking about. Just like that. Instantly. First training camp shift. First training camp drill. And he’s out there with no offense because it was your team, but not a very good team. Okay. With he like it was Mike Bullard and a couple of other dudes. I traded for Coffee and I also got Kevin Stevens. DJ trades for Paul Coffee for Kevin Stevens and you have the main pieces in play for the first two championships. Eventually, uh it was Tony Espazito came in and brought Tom Baraso in and you had your goalender and there they went and there they went to the championships in 1991 and 92. Mhm. Um, yeah, Chris, what you got? I’m I’m I’m Yeah, I know. I’m I’m Yep. This is some pretty great stuff here. Yeah. Uh, yeah. Yeah. Chris is really into hockey for those of you guys who don’t know. Huge hockey fan. And this is this is this is See, we see EJ all the time. This is flooring Chris here. Yeah. I’m I’m I’m just I’m ready to hear this hear hear more stories like it’s I’m going to get in my car and head downtown. Yeah. He went by to finish that story at the at the rec center. He went right Mario went right through everybody and scored the most beautiful goal you’ve ever seen. And he did the same thing in Boston against the NHL guys because he just existed on another planet. Yeah. There’s no, by the way, no, no offense to you, those of you who are only football fans or whatever, there is only one greatest athlete ever in this city’s history. And there isn’t even with due respect to Sid uh and Hannis Wagner and whoever else, they’re just not him. Yeah. They’re not him. He he played the game on another level. Yeah. Like like Joe Green would be like the greatest dealer of all time, but you know, it’s it’s not quite Mario. Oh, no. No. Yeah. No. That’s uh that’s good stuff. Uh let’s let’s go through the uh let’s close up for today. Yeah, believe me, we’ll be all football when we get out to LRO. So, we were allowed one more of these, right? Yeah. I I I didn’t I I I don’t I think that the odds of us running into uh EJ in in LRO are probably a little bit slimmer. I would hope it’s pretty hot and miserable out there. Russ came in with five gifts today. Carrie is always with one. Uh Sean uh became a member today. We really appreciate that here. Steve Smith checking in from Antarctica in his own way. U we appreciate all of that knowledge. Earlier in the program, Michael dropped uh 10 bucks on us. John Keelin wants to know what getting a member gets you. A member get being a member gets you gets you EJ. [Music] [Laughter] That’s what uh Big T wants to know if my part of Double Shots will be from the store. That is not the plan. Even Chris doesn’t know this. Oh, okay. Yeah, I am I am expecting to be out there and me and Chris will be both squeezing into this shot that you’re looking at here in Latro. The boss has high goals for this thing. We’ll talk about it after the show, Chris. All right. New member is is R13 here. CJ asked De Marvin Lala make the team. That’ll be a no. Michael Barnett says 10 gifts uh is is going to have to do for the day. Appreciate you, my man. Uh our friend from Antarctica drops a 20 on us here. Connor Lee is a new member. pretty brown skin. I like that. Comes in as a new member. Uh Michael with $10 gift here. Uh Casper is a new member. Mike comes in with 10 gifts. Brent with five and Russ with another 10. Uh we love you guys. I love doing this show. I don’t know that I’ve ever loved doing it more than today. Yeah, that’s really awesome. You guys are the best. You guys are the reason uh that we do it. Um, and uh, on behalf of everybody here, our friend Willie Peppers, Eddie Johnston, uh, the boss over here, uh, myself, and of course Chris out there in our West Morland County Bureau. What’s that? 11 year anniversary. The Woolly Peppers brought us some sausages, too. Look at that. 11th anniversary. In the shape of an 11th anniversary. For anybody who doesn’t know what we’re talking about, by the way, since we didn’t mention it, our our 11th anniversary of our company is is tomorrow. So, we’re celebrating that uh as well. We have lots and lots of really good stuff here. Uh Saratoga Steelers really stoked to see EJ here. People are waving back to him. That’s really really cool. All right, you guys. We will see everybody tomorrow from Latroe for real. All right. Bye bye. [Music] [Applause]

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