May 8, 2026 • 39 mins
Mark talks about the Norris trophy ballot some, is joined by Gene Collier and we Ask Mark Anything!
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
We've been talking about a hockey wise, quinn U's not
among the finalists for the Norris Trophy, presented to the
NHL's best defenseman. I would say it's because he beat
Canada and the Canadian voters ignored him. But Zach Warensky
made the pass that beat Canada and he is one
of the finalists. I just can't believe quinn U's isn't
in the running. It's Daline from Buffalo, the kind of
(00:23):
unexpected guy. Then of course macar and Warensky, who everybody
figured would be there. We've been talking about the pickle,
the Capitals that are in just like the Penguins, maybe
even a worse one. I'm told Ovi wants to come back,
and they don't really want it, but they can't say no,
can't say no. That's why when somebody local said, well,
(00:43):
the Caps would want Gino because him and Ov your buddies.
They don't even want Ov, let alone Ov lights. When
I say light, I mean that figuratively and also literally,
because Ov allegedly weighs over two seventy He is heavier
than me, give or take. Like I said to Ben's us,
(01:04):
fat guys never give our exact weights. We're also talking
about the ratings for the NHL. The playoffs are way up.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Why is that? Is it because of international hockey?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
That's generally not the way it works, and it didn't
for the regular season games right after the Olympics, But
maybe two straight years of very compelling international hockey combined
with an exciting start to these playoffs and some different
teams and different heroes to jack it up.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
I'm watching.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I usually skipped the round after the Penguins get eliminated,
but there's a lot of compelling stories in the series
going on right now. We've also been debating about the Pirates.
Would you trade Jones or Keller for a third baseman
(01:56):
you can hit? Once Jones is back and established that
he his arm's not gonna fall off. He doesn't any
her all of that. Eight three three four one two WXDX.
Here's just a funny, offy topic. Angel Reese from the WNBA,
I think she plays for Chicago. She said she's gonna
(02:19):
take fines, be fined by the league by way of
refusing to speak to the media any media she doesn't
like or trust. If I'm the media, all the media,
I say, okay, Angel, deal don't need to talk to you,
because Angel Rees never says anything remotely interesting. Is not
a very good player. She's only famous for the me
(02:42):
bonds where she misses and gets her own rebounds. And
because there has to be I believe by law, this
is an amendment to the Constitution. I think there has
to be an African American counterpoint to Caitlin Clark and
Angel Rees say half the play or not one core
of the player, not ten percent the player, but she
(03:04):
nonetheless qualifies. Angel Reese ain't really a basketball player. I mean,
she plays basketball, but she's no damn good. Angel Reese
is merely famous for being famous a three three, four
one two wxdx. And before you say, ah huh, he's
a racist, he's a Caitland Clark fan.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
I'm not a fan of her either.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I wouldn't watch the WNBA at gunpoint, no matter who's playing.
I went through my Caitland Clark phase. And maybe maybe
she still gets good ratings on TV. I don't know,
but I went through my phase where I thought, Okay,
she's a phenom, I have to watch this, and then
I watched her just enough.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
To realize I don't care. She's not that much of
a fenom.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
We've also been talking about not only the Rogers debacle,
but the weird notion that Will Howard is someone the
Steelers should give a look to, because nobody can tell
me why he's a six dron pick. The whole league
passed them over at least five times per team. He's
got a week arm, he's never taken one snap in
the NFL, not even the preseason. But you somehow think
(04:11):
he should get a chance, more so than the average
six dron pick should, And you're wrong, and he doesn't
have a shot. He might get a shot, but he
he'll never be a guy who starts Week one in
this league, barring injury to the guy who would otherwise
be the Week one starter. So I've given you so
(04:31):
much to talk about. Oh and I watched the Maridonna
documentary on HBO again. I saw it already. He watched
it again this morning while I was on the treadmill.
If there's a better story in the history of sports
than Diego Maradona, I don't know what that is. And uh,
(04:52):
Real Madrid, their players are beating the crap out of
each other, it practice, putting each other in the hospital.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I hope that continues.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Let's go to even the car Steve Ron with double
m hey.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Mark, got a question for you with somebody like Malcolm
and even though Vechkin, what's their value on the open
market because to the Penguin's lowbo and offered to Malclin,
does he realize that.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
He might not have as much value this?
Speaker 1 (05:16):
This has nothing to do with money. The decision to
keep him or not has nothing to do with money.
He does not want to raise I was told he
wanted a two year deal at one point, but that's
just not going to happen. I think he knows that
this has nothing to do with money or value and
everything to do with with nostalgia. With nostalgia's too strong
(05:38):
a word, but maybe not, but yeah, you get the idea.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
I just didn't know because you know, if he thinks
he's going to go on the open market and get
picked up.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
He He does not think that. He just wants to play.
You know what a big part of this is too.
If you're over here, Malka and do you want to
go home to Russia? I don't, but they but they
have to, they have to. They they can't not go
back after their hockey careers to live in America because
(06:07):
with the with your family there, your parents and whatnot,
you just don't want to do that. I mean, I
don't want to say Putin would put them in a
goolog but but their lives might be uncomfortable, you know,
they might.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
They might you know, have to pay more taxes. I
don't know. But you just they all go back, don't they.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
I guess, so you stay here and you play as
long as you can.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
I guess right.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I think that's part of it. I do.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
I don't think they hate Russia. I think they take
pride in their country. I just think they want to
stay here and not go back there as long as possible.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Uh, let's go to Jake, Jake your own double.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
M Hey, Mark, I was wondering if if you thought
the reasons the NHL Playoff viewing is up is because
possibly of how many subscripts and different things you have
to have to watch a baseball game or you know,
over the winter, you know, watch a football game Amazon,
or you know what, you.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Know what you you might be right, I mean, don't
get along.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
All the hockey games aren't available, but I think there
is easier access to most of the playoff games. That's
a real good point. There was a great line, you know,
Ted Turner just passed away, right right, There was a line.
Ted Turner spent thirty years trying to make sure somebody
in Wyoming could watch the Atlanta Braves. MLB has spent
thirty years trying to make sure some kid in Atlanta can't.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
Exactly, and it seems like like, like I said, the
NFL too, is starting to trend that way with you know,
Thursday night games on starting two.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Oh my god, I was what they're having a Thanksgiving
Eve game. Now there's some other weird day there. Finding
Eventually they'll play every Saturday too. I've told you that. Eventually,
they'll just defecate all over.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
College football, right yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
They just want every minute of your attention and every
dime of your money. Once you give them that, they'll well,
they'll want more. Thank you for the call. Eight three, three,
four to one two WXDX. Our parade of sound continues.
Jason McIntyre nex from Fox, laying into the Steelers for
the Aaron Rodgers debacle. That's my word for it. We'll
(08:03):
see what Gen Collier thinks. At four thirty one five nine,
Right If.
Speaker 6 (08:06):
The Road, Tomic and Dream So be It Baby the
Ex at one oh five nine.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Gene Collier joins me at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
The NHL is releasing their awards finalists sporadically over the
last few days. They just released the MVP finalists. I'm
a bit surprised that maclin Celebrini from San Jose is
not among the three finalists. Then against San Jose did
not make the playoffs, and it's always been kind of
a weird thing with the NHL where guys don't get
it as kids because they don't feel it's yet earned
(08:43):
that is deserved. So the finalists are predictable McKinnon, McDavid
and koucher Off. I'd give it to kucher Off and
the voting's already done. Thank Kevin's for Cooch because he
was off in the playoffs and he has really sat
down a marker as an awful playoff performer. He has
just two playoff goals in his past twenty three games,
(09:03):
and people were saying, oh, you got to trade him.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Okay, he might be the best player in the league.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
He might literally get the MVP, and you need goals
in the regular season.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
Two.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Ray Shiro said that one time the Penguin DM, the
late and Great rage On Flurry, had had a bad
playoff and people were calling for him to be traded,
and Ray said, Okay, who's gonna get me those forty
wins in the regular season because you need those two
I mean, you want guys to play good in the playoffs,
(09:35):
but you got to get to the playoffs, and you
gotta have faith that a guy like Cooch will eventually
come good in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Maybe he won't.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
You know, it's a really similar situation, by the way,
to the Penguins in Malkin and now the Capital's Novechkin
the Lightning let stam Cooast go. A lot of people
down there that room weren't happy about that, but they
brought Genslin.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
And maintained how good their team was.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
If they had traded Market at twenty eighteen, like I said,
they should, they might have Barkoff and Gensel on the
team right now. But you have a number seventy one, Jersey,
and I understand what your concept of important is.
Speaker 6 (10:17):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
People are ripping the Steelers de shrands for this Rogers debacle,
and they should and I'm glad here's this is just
from a little bit ago. Jason McIntyre on Fox Sports
talking about would I have just come to refer to
one word to debacle.
Speaker 6 (10:34):
Folks, I don't get it at all.
Speaker 7 (10:36):
If I'm a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, I'm kind of disappointed
in the franchise. Remember you got rid of Mike Tomlin, right,
Mike Tomlin walks away or the Steelers were just like, hey,
we're gonna move on from you, depending on who.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
You talk to. So maybe it was a new era
in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 7 (10:52):
Maybe we're gonna move away from winning with defense or
trying to win with defense, and.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
We're gonna change things up. Maybe I don't know, not be.
Speaker 7 (11:00):
Good for a year, bottom out, get a franchise quarterback.
Next year's quarterback class is loaded. A lot of guys
besides Archs Manning are gonna be in the mix for
that number one pick. So if you're Pittsburgh, what are
you doing getting me in the Aaron Rodgers business?
Speaker 1 (11:16):
I just rolled my eyes when MacIntyre talked about this
year's quarterback class. The next draft is going to be
loaded because they said that about this year's class, and
it sucked.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Eggs.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Other than that, I.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Agree with just about everything. I don't want the Steelers
to be in the Aaron Rodgers business. I don't get it.
I'm disappointed in the franchise. And yeah, he brought up
something interesting. They let Mike Tomlin go, But keeping Grandpa
game manager, even though you got McCarthy who's a much
better offensive mind and will coach accordingly, it kind of
(11:48):
keeps the page from turning.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
It kind of keeps it from being a new era.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Yeah, I don't get it. You got a new coach,
and it still feels like running it back because you're
bringing Rogers back and not at least.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Begging him fairly begging him to play. That's true, though.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
I talk about how they didn't let Ben come back,
didn't let Troy come back, didn't let Hines come back,
cut Franco, let Woodson walk. They just let Tomlin walk too.
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Speaker 2 (13:42):
Up next, Gene, call your one oh five.
Speaker 6 (13:44):
To nine Dismark Madden.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Damn it, I'll be popular at Pittsburgh Gap. I think
I gotta start with pulled Pork, notcho.
Speaker 6 (13:53):
Fantastic DX at one five nine.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
It's not to be joined now by Pittsburgh's Finest word,
Smith's Sports or otherwise the keeper of the Troy Trophy
from the Post Gazette. Always a pleasure to speak with
Gene Collier. Geene, there's a report you're picking up Aaron
Rodgers at the airport.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Can you confirm I'm there now?
Speaker 8 (14:14):
But you know that the airport's changed a lot since
I was here, so I'm kind of just lost wandering around.
So if this doesn't happen, go ahead and blame me.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Well, I'd like to thank you if it turns out
he doesn't play because you can't find them, because I
just had enough. Gene, you're a wordsmith. What word describes
the Rogers situation? Because the Bacle's the one I've been using.
Speaker 8 (14:40):
Yeah, I heard that you mentioned that before.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
That's good.
Speaker 8 (14:44):
I think it's unseemly maybe that the Sewers seemed perfectly
comfortable in this position where they're starting along not only
last year but again this year, and not a good
look as they say, I hate that phrase too.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Well that well, if there was a tri Trophy next year,
could be that. But well we'll talk about that in
just a bit. But yeah, I agree, Gean. We used
to not put up with crap like this. I know
the Steelers didn't. I find it really ironic that they
cut Franco. But but Aaron Rodgers, who's been here a year,
calls his own shot.
Speaker 8 (15:22):
Yeah, well, I guess it says something about the quarterback situation.
They don't have any confidence in anybody really, so they're
willing to be strung along like this.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
But I mean.
Speaker 8 (15:34):
They're, as I said, they're comfortable in it. But it
may I feel bad for them. I mean, it's just,
you know, it's not attractive.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Are we in a low for Pittsburgh sports? I hear
that a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
With the Penguins having not won a playoff series since
twenty eighteen, Steelers haven't won a playoff game in nine years,
the Pirates seem to be on the op. But but
their slump stretches back quite a bit as well.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Yeah, I know, I don't know.
Speaker 8 (15:58):
I mean, I'd have to actually look at it, but
it feels like, you know, we've had a long stretch
here without any notable successes. I wrote a column a
couple months ago saying that, you know, it's sometimes it's
a little hard to believe, but actually the Penguins are
probably closer to winning a championship than the other two
teams when you know they started this season.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
You know, nobody even thinking that.
Speaker 8 (16:20):
So I mean credit to them, But yeah, it's a
it's a bad spell, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
You know what's funny, Gene. I think the fans of
the problem. I don't think we know how to lose anymore.
We just think that every seasons for us, if we
don't win, it's a failure. I mean, you know, I've
been a lifelong Pittsburgh sports fan. I've seen plenty of failure.
I know it U F two, but you just kind
of accepted a move on. But now, given the miracle
of social media, we just you know, go into a rage.
Speaker 8 (16:48):
Yeah that's that's just a common societal thing. And you
find it in any any discipline, or any any business
or anything. People you know are not tuned anymore.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
If you will to accept failure.
Speaker 8 (17:05):
You know, the only hope here along those lines in
sports mark is baseball.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
Baseball still.
Speaker 8 (17:13):
Has a relationship with everyday life. You know, some days
you're just not gonna win no matter what you do,
and people seem to understand that. But in all of
the other sports, you've got to win every time, every
time or a hundred people.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
Want to know why.
Speaker 8 (17:31):
It's not really built for.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Enjoyment anymore.
Speaker 8 (17:37):
It's built for It's just another aspect of the culture
that is making people crazy.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Is the NFL going way too far with you know,
games on Thursday, Sunday, Monday, the occasional Wednesday, the occasional Saturday.
It will be more than that. They just keep adding games.
They want it all when they already have it all.
Speaker 8 (18:00):
I'll tell you this story, Mark, and I can tell
you this mostly because I've I'm so old, it's incredible
how old I am.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
When the.
Speaker 8 (18:11):
When the Eagles played the Packers in the nineteen sixty
NFL championship game was before the Super Bowl existed. You
sound like you know where this is going, Mark, I don't.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
But you cited a game that that I wasn't alive for,
and I bet you were.
Speaker 6 (18:29):
There.
Speaker 8 (18:29):
You go, No, I was seven, and so that game
Eagles Packers for the NFL Championship was scheduled. It just
I mean that Sunday happened to be Christmas. They the
NFL moved it to Monday because you don't play on Christmas.
Now they're moving games to a Wednesday to play it
(18:52):
on Christmas. That's how far the culture has devolved.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Wasn't Norm van Brock when the Eagles quarterback?
Speaker 4 (19:00):
He was that day?
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yeah, the fact that I know that just it says
too much. Really, what's your take on social media? I bet,
like me, you thought it was a good idea first.
Speaker 8 (19:12):
No, I've always endeavored to avoid it at all costs. Now,
I did go down the Twitter rabbit hole around twenty
ten and stayed for a couple of years. But I
mean I had to use it to help inform my
opinion columns and occasionally my sports columns. That's basically my feed.
(19:34):
But it's just been a complete disaster.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
You know, in.
Speaker 8 (19:41):
The Surgeon General at one point, I forget which surgeon
in General it was, was reflecting on the course of
the Internet, and he said, you know, when when the
Internet first came out, there was a lot of celebration
in academia and in the religious community and everything else
because people thought, well, this will make it impossible to lie.
(20:05):
So yeah, that's how that's gone. That's a good indication
of how we're doing on social media. People are killing
themselves because of social media, and nobody will do a
thing to stop.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
We're talking to Gene Caller, Pittsburgh's finest wordsmith here on
the ex Gene, you're retiring, we're told, But what's that mean?
I just find it hard to believe you won't be
writing somewhere, so please tell me you will be.
Speaker 8 (20:31):
Yeah, I'm anxious to find out what this means as well.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Mark, Yeah, I'm no longer working at the Post.
Speaker 8 (20:38):
Is at exactly what that means?
Speaker 4 (20:40):
I'm not sure. I mean in general terms.
Speaker 8 (20:44):
You know, I've been writing for fifty years, which seems
like enough, and it's not like I haven't had enough.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
I had my say, But I don't know. We'll just
have to see the way it plays out.
Speaker 8 (20:54):
I mean, if that's what it means that I'm retired,
you know, that's that'll have to be fine. But it's
still kind of fresh. So I just feel bad for
all the people at the Post because I had lost
their job and we're in mid career or early career
and you know, lost their job and didn't deserve too.
And I feel bad for Pittsburgh because it's a dark
day for journals in Pittsburgh, just as it is all
(21:15):
across the country.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
How has our industry changed since you started? I'm sure
it's difficult to put in into words that aren't aren't
censored by the FCC. And please try to convince me
that it's not for the worst. And I'm just old.
I want to be optimistic, but I can't find a way.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (21:36):
Well, I mean there are good things about the way
it's evolved. I mean, more people have access to it,
and more people have access to the public square, and generally,
I mean ideally, that's a good thing. The main change
I think you'll agree, Mark, is when I started. And
again this is you know, back in the seventeenth century,
(21:56):
there is something called the news hole, if you will.
The news hole, it was a finite space, the number
of columns in your local paper and two or three
thirty minute newscasts, and that was all the news that
you were gonna get. You could not get it anywhere else.
Something like, for example, the Kardashians could not have existed
when I started, because there was no room to put
(22:18):
them in the news hole. Well, now the news hole
is a back hole and people have to throw crap
into it around the clock just to keep the engine going.
So you know, in journalism school, they used to say
less is more, and by extension mark I'm afraid more
is less.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
I agree with all that, and I see ESPN as
sadly exemplary. It used to be a flagship for sports
and now it's bro talk. They sell dumb to dummies,
and they act like wrestling is legit. They got in
a partnership with w and they actually report on the
results like they're legitimate. Now, as you know, I made
a dollar or two in wrestling, but it's gone too far.
Speaker 8 (22:58):
Well, I mean, I think when into McMahon is the
Secretary of Education, things have gone through far.
Speaker 6 (23:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I hadn't thought of that, but that certainly certainly speaks
for itself. But I mean, I watch ESPN's midday lineup
and I can't believe it's on TV.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
I can't.
Speaker 8 (23:18):
Yeah, well, there's so much on TV. I mean, corn
Hoole's on TV. I mean, my brother used to joke
to me that cat Chasing will be on TV at
some point, and it's just that nobody thought of it
in fact, that it'd be so much better than a
lot of what's on. But I'm just commiserating with you now, Mark,
I'm not shedding Latelan anything, am I Well.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Not not for the first time and hopefully not for
the last time either. Now let's let's get back to
sports a bit. Are the Pirates having a legit renaissance?
And do you trust it?
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Well?
Speaker 8 (23:49):
I think for the first time in a while, it
looks like it could be legit if you go buy
certain you know, universally accepted baseball standards, like you know,
you win most you know, a majority of your games
at home and you lose, and you win maybe half
of them on the road. You know, they've only failed
(24:10):
on that metric once so far this year. They look
like they could be a good team. But that's as
far as I go. Do I trust it?
Speaker 4 (24:18):
I don't. You know, there's a lot of baseball to play,
as they say, Mark, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
But but what I don't trust is I.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Think it's a team right now, it's just a little
bit shy being a playoff team. Will they add in
by extension, spend it the deadline? That's the kind of trust.
I don't trust them to do that. I trusted this
team as assembled is going to stay in it.
Speaker 8 (24:40):
Yeah, No, I don't trust them to add. Although you know,
they've got a lot of criticism for not adding when
they had the chance to win in the past. But
you know that's not entirely correct. They did add. They
just added to the wrong people. But they added people
who didn't help them, and it's not I mean, it's
not like they added, you know, the most expensive free
(25:03):
agent that's never gonna happen. But yeah, I mean I
agree with you. I mean, that's the thing I don't trust.
What will they do if they have a real chance
toward the end?
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Geen, how many times in your career did you see
an athlete where you thought, even for second, this guy
might be the best ever? Because I'm going through for
the second time with Paul Skeens. The first was Mario, who,
if he ain't came pretty close. But I find schemes
just enthralling that he came along when I'm sixty five,
and you know he might be better than a guy
like Bob Gibson, who I grew up with is the
(25:33):
gold standard.
Speaker 8 (25:36):
Yeah, I mean, things is really special, you know, within
the parameters in the modern game. I mean, you know,
he pitches eight innings, people completely lose their minds, you know,
like he pitched fourteen. It's not the same thing. In
nineteen eighty eight, forty percent of the starters in Major
League Baseball reached the forty eight percent of the starters
(25:59):
reached the sending.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
This year, nine percent.
Speaker 8 (26:01):
Are reaching the seventh things. So it's a different kind
of assignment for a starting picture. But yeah, he's incredibly gifted.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
That back to your original question, it occurred to me
that this is the best guy ever.
Speaker 8 (26:16):
It has not occurred to me with him. It did
with Mario and it did with Barry Bonds, but they're
probably the only two.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Now. Is the Trite Trophy retired?
Speaker 4 (26:29):
Now?
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Can we make America triite again?
Speaker 8 (26:34):
Well?
Speaker 4 (26:34):
I suppose if I am it is? I mean it.
Speaker 8 (26:36):
Actually, I actually stopped doing it in twenty twenty five
when I wrote exclusively for the opinion section, so I
wasn't paying as much attention to sports to do the
trite justice, if you will, as a ridiculous comment as
that is. But I just brought it back last week
as a kind of trot trophy postgame show, which you know,
(26:58):
seems to be a requirement no matter what you do,
when you have to have a postgame show. So you know,
that might be it for the trade. I mean there's
aw boards of twelve or thirteen. People look forward to it,
and I'm sorry for that.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Yeah, but they're dying off. You got a figure, you know,
you know where trait's really big. You lifted the trait
from the sports pages, the announcing booth. I'd love to
hear a trite trophy from the locker room, because in
the locker room, even more so than with the media,
gene trite is king.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
Oh absolutely.
Speaker 8 (27:30):
I mean, you know, the trait has been you know,
the the greatest cliche in trade history is it is
what it is, and that's mostly from athletes. Athletes love
to say that. And the literal meeting of it is
what it is is I don't know what to say,
I have nothing to say, so I'll say it is
what it is. You may as well say strawberries or strawberries.
Seinfeld actually wrote a bit on this that I conveniently
(27:54):
I can't remember, but.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
It's exactly that.
Speaker 8 (27:57):
That's it is what it is is like saying nothing
and athletes are great at it, absolutely great at it.
When the piate picture was suspended the other day, that's
what he said.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
It is what it is. Yes, it is. There's no
arguer and that's it.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Well, I appreciate more and more when athletes don't talk.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Frankly, like Angel Reese, the w NBA player, she is
basically daring in the league to find her because he
doesn't want to talk to the media. If I worked
in the w NBA media, which thank Kevins, I do not,
but if I did, I would ask her to put
that in writing.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
Oh yeah, that's good. I mean it is.
Speaker 8 (28:33):
You know, athletes are not compelled to talk with the media.
I mean, there are league rules, but with what players
make now, they can really you know, they can pay
any fine. There's no very few fines they can't pay.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Gene, you touched this a moment ago. The post is
that survived. I guess that's good. But like you said,
a lot of people lost their jobs and the path
was the debacle.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
To use that word.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Again, I'm sorry.
Speaker 8 (29:01):
Well, yeah, I mean it's this train has been coming
down the tracks for thirty five years, as you know, Mark,
you know, first with the advent intelligence of television and
then especially with the advent of the Internet, and which
was accelerated uh you know, fifty times by the uh
the cell phone. I mean when the Internet first came out,
(29:21):
newspapers generally weren't worried about it on the mistaken idea
that you can't you couldn't take your uh your computer
into Denny's.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
And read at over breakfast.
Speaker 8 (29:32):
Well guess what, as you can and you know, and
we're all screwed because of it.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Geane, I appreciate taking a time. I'm sure this won't
be the last time. Uh we talked.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
Bar.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Yeah, call any time, Bar and Lauren time one of
our untimely desks, which you know would surprise nobody in
either case. But no, you're number one. I'm serious when
I say put it this way, You're a much better
writer than me, and my ego is out of control
for me to say that.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
That's got to be something.
Speaker 8 (30:00):
Right.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
It counts, it does, I'll count Geene.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Thanks again. We'll talk soon.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
Yeah, thank you, Mark, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
That's the great gen Collier, best sports writer, best sports voice.
I can't say enough good about Gene Collier, who has
been a tremendous influence on me as well as a
good friend. So can't say enough good about them, working
with them with the Post Gazette and Jordian thoroughly enjoyed
having him on.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Today.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
We got news on the Greta Van Feet front. That
was tough to say, the Greta Van Fleet front, uh,
because they they had a video the other day that
kind of teased they were quitting. We'll update you on that.
I want you to call now and ask Mark anything.
That's what's important. Eight three three four one two wxdx
eight three three four one two w xdx.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
By way of a programming note.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Oh, you can do the microphone iconting at the IHEARTMEDIAPP
as well. Programming note. Since hockey is done, the Penguins
are done. Show starts at three o'clock, not two, beginning
next week, will continue until the Steeler's kicking the gear.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
You know what I should do.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
I should say, I'll start again at two when Aaron
Rodgers shows up and then might never have to Yeah,
in my dreams.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
One oh five to nine.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Time now to send in your questions for ask Mark anything.
Speaker 7 (31:16):
Use the talk back mike on your free iHeartRadio app
and record your question for the super Genius.
Speaker 6 (31:24):
It's The Hooty Show weekday mornings at six oh I
like it. On one oh five nine The X.
Speaker 9 (31:30):
This hour of the Mark Madden Show has brought you
by Michelobaltra, proudly served at the Boozy Barrel in Mount Lebanon.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Stop in the Boozy Barrel and.
Speaker 9 (31:37):
Enjoy three fifty Mikeelobultra sixteen ounce drafts all day, every day. Michelobltra,
official beer sponsor of FIFA World Cup.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Catch all the buckle actions this summer at Jason Aldene's
Kitchen in bar See every pitch.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Just a six minute walk from panc Park for stopping before.
I can't even quote the big O'boski right.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
Goodbye the X at one oh five nine.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I love this Rogers thing, even though I hate it,
and debacle is the right word, is confirmed by Gene Collier.
Just moments ago, Rapaport repeated the report.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
That's a tongue twister.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Rappaport repeated the report from the B team, saying that
Rogers would be in time this weekend. Now it doesn't
look like that's true. Omar Khan, the GM said he
doesn't know where Rogers is they should They should have
had a tracking device implanted in his in his uh
epidermis at the end of last year to keep keep
(32:35):
up with the guy. But now Rappaport has revised his
report to say that finality is coming between the Steelers
and Aaron Rodgers. Well, it would freaking have to because
training camps aren't that far off. Finality is coming. F you,
F you two Rogers, F you Rapaport, F you unnamed source,
(32:57):
f all of this. It's just so e fed up.
That's a lot of f's. Okay, the Grena Van Fleet news,
which I care about. They teased that they were breaking
up with the video thanking everybody for the wild Ride
the other day, and now they posted a video We're
back baby, and they're playing some new music, which sounds
(33:19):
great because they're great, And I tweeted at him, thank god.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
You little bastard's lol. You know it's funny.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
I've had Jake on the show a couple of times,
and Josh name checked me from the stage in Pittsburgh
last year, but I've never met them in person, which
needs to be rectified. Actually, if I didn't think it
would be too creepy, then it would be, so I won't.
But they live in Nashville now, having moved there from Detroit.
If it wouldn't be creepy, I'd look them up because
(33:49):
I'm gonna be down there for the Liverpool Friendly later
in the summer. Maybe I'll quote unquote run into them,
which would be just about as creepy. Time to ask
mark anything brought to us by People's hyphengas dot com
get your calls in now eight three three four one
two wxd X.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Let's go to a talkback.
Speaker 8 (34:10):
A double m What was the best version of the
Four Horsemen?
Speaker 2 (34:16):
That's actually a good question.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
The best version of the Four Horsemen in uh WCW,
then known as the National Wrestling Alliance, Well, the original
was Rick Flair, Tully, Blanchard Arn Anderson and Olie Anderson.
And I tend to think when it comes to gangs
that that first is always best. Certainly, the best incarnation
(34:39):
of the nWo was keV Scott and Hulk, which is
a couple other guys started in. Smaller is better too,
but I liked that when Lex replaced Olie and the
best working group was Rick, Arn Tully and Barry Wyndham
and Boyd saying.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
It out loud.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
I'd go with that, Rick, rn Tully and Barry, mainly
because I was friends with all four of those guys
and couldn't stand only.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Let's go to a talk back.
Speaker 4 (35:12):
Mark.
Speaker 8 (35:13):
When you attended Dukane, was your plan always for broadcasting
or did you have a backup plan?
Speaker 6 (35:20):
Have this not gone your way?
Speaker 1 (35:24):
There's a guy that doesn't really know my work history,
because I didn't start radio until I was thirty five. No,
my plan was always to be a sports writer. That's
what I studied for Duquane, worked for the North Hills
Free Press, word for that, wrote for.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
The student newspaper Ducaine. The Duke.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Got a big break when the Post Gazette started their
suburban editions, and I worked part time for PG North
and South and whatnot for many years. So No, the
plan was always to be a sports writer. And when
I left the Post Gazette because it never used me properly,
not ever, I still feel cheated out of a good
ten years of my career by the Post Gazette, even
though I'm sorry to see what's happened to it now.
(36:05):
But I left the Post Gazette to go to a
publication called Penguins Report in nineteen ninety six, and Tom McMillan,
who I succeeded, who went to work for the Penguins,
and I think he's the bus driver for Gettysburg Tours now.
But yeah, so he had been doing talk radio and
(36:28):
Penguins Report and so twelve fifty am asked me to
take a shot at and I did, and the rest,
I guess is history. Wish I'd have got a ten
year head start on radio. Let's go to another talkback, Mark.
Speaker 9 (36:42):
Will you be attending any of the World Cup soccer matches?
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Yes, I will.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
I will be going to the friendly in Cleveland the
week before the official tournament starts between Egypt and.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Brazil.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
I mean, you can't not see Brazil in Egypt. Need
I add Mo Sala, Mo sala, Mos sala. And then
I'll be attending the official World Cup game tournament game
in Foxborough between Scotland and Morocco, which are two deceptively
(37:18):
good teams, not front runners. Morocco is gonna make the quarterfinals.
Scotland I think might get to the knockouts, but Scotland
captain oh Andy Andy Andy Andy, Andy Andy Robertson. And
then I got to Liverpool friendly in Nashville, so no,
I'm going. Yeah, it's always been a bucketless game of mine,
(37:42):
a bucket list. I won my bucket list to see
a World Cup game, and in ninety four it was
in America and the Post because it didn't send me
to cover it, even though I knew the most about soccer,
because they wanted me, as a knowledgeable soccer editor to
be in the office to make sure everybody else's crappy
work wasn't too crap. And I made up my mind
right then and there to leave as soon as I could.
(38:04):
And I'm sure I didn't leave sooner than that.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
Let's go to Kurt. Kurt, you're only double.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
M hey Mark uh wait.
Speaker 10 (38:13):
I just wanted to get your thoughts on the Saudia's
pulling out a live on golfing and and they're trying
to get back into PGA and are like, wait a minute,
you left the club house for that Saudi money.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Yeah, I don't understand.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
I don't understand why the guys who went to live
shouldn't be allowed back at the PGA. They had a
better job, opportunity to paid more money, and they took it.
Isn't that the American way. Who the freak does the
PGA think they are to ban people for pursuing more money?
What if baseball teams did that? What if base what
if hockey teams did that? That's ridiculous.
Speaker 5 (38:46):
You're absolutely right.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Yeah, golf sucks. You've noticed that, right.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
I mean, it's fun to it's fun to watch for
the big tournaments. There's some intriguing personalities, but golf sucks.
It's like like George Carla once said, if he had
his way, it solved the homeless problem by building cheap
housing on every golf course in America. Yeah, which, which
(39:12):
very much, thank you, Which begs the question.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
Bush Wood a dump. Let's go to John and Virginia Beach. John,
what's up? Mark?
Speaker 4 (39:23):
I saw Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 11 (39:26):
I'm down at the beach front here in beautiful Virginia
Beach and Melitair girl. She looked young. Never mind he
was there. I think at the beach front.
Speaker 4 (39:40):
Beach.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
You thought it would be funny.
Speaker 4 (39:41):
It's not.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Thanks for the call, though, John, good try.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
Oh wait, this just didn't Greta Van Fleet's new drummers
Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
The bands combined age isn't as old as him well.
It is, but not by much nation,
We've been talking about a hockey wise, quinn U's not
among the finalists for the Norris Trophy, presented to the
NHL's best defenseman. I would say it's because he beat
Canada and the Canadian voters ignored him. But Zach Warensky
made the pass that beat Canada and he is one
of the finalists. I just can't believe quinn U's isn't
in the running. It's Daline from Buffalo, the kind of
(00:23):
unexpected guy. Then of course macar and Warensky, who everybody
figured would be there. We've been talking about the pickle,
the Capitals that are in just like the Penguins, maybe
even a worse one. I'm told Ovi wants to come back,
and they don't really want it, but they can't say no,
can't say no. That's why when somebody local said, well,
(00:43):
the Caps would want Gino because him and Ov your buddies.
They don't even want Ov, let alone Ov lights. When
I say light, I mean that figuratively and also literally,
because Ov allegedly weighs over two seventy He is heavier
than me, give or take. Like I said to Ben's us,
(01:04):
fat guys never give our exact weights. We're also talking
about the ratings for the NHL. The playoffs are way up.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Why is that? Is it because of international hockey?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
That's generally not the way it works, and it didn't
for the regular season games right after the Olympics, But
maybe two straight years of very compelling international hockey combined
with an exciting start to these playoffs and some different
teams and different heroes to jack it up.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
I'm watching.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I usually skipped the round after the Penguins get eliminated,
but there's a lot of compelling stories in the series
going on right now. We've also been debating about the Pirates.
Would you trade Jones or Keller for a third baseman
(01:56):
you can hit? Once Jones is back and established that
he his arm's not gonna fall off. He doesn't any
her all of that. Eight three three four one two WXDX.
Here's just a funny, offy topic. Angel Reese from the WNBA,
I think she plays for Chicago. She said she's gonna
(02:19):
take fines, be fined by the league by way of
refusing to speak to the media any media she doesn't
like or trust. If I'm the media, all the media,
I say, okay, Angel, deal don't need to talk to you,
because Angel Rees never says anything remotely interesting. Is not
a very good player. She's only famous for the me
(02:42):
bonds where she misses and gets her own rebounds. And
because there has to be I believe by law, this
is an amendment to the Constitution. I think there has
to be an African American counterpoint to Caitlin Clark and
Angel Rees say half the play or not one core
of the player, not ten percent the player, but she
(03:04):
nonetheless qualifies. Angel Reese ain't really a basketball player. I mean,
she plays basketball, but she's no damn good. Angel Reese
is merely famous for being famous a three three, four
one two wxdx. And before you say, ah huh, he's
a racist, he's a Caitland Clark fan.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
I'm not a fan of her either.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I wouldn't watch the WNBA at gunpoint, no matter who's playing.
I went through my Caitland Clark phase. And maybe maybe
she still gets good ratings on TV. I don't know,
but I went through my phase where I thought, Okay,
she's a phenom, I have to watch this, and then
I watched her just enough.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
To realize I don't care. She's not that much of
a fenom.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
We've also been talking about not only the Rogers debacle,
but the weird notion that Will Howard is someone the
Steelers should give a look to, because nobody can tell
me why he's a six dron pick. The whole league
passed them over at least five times per team. He's
got a week arm, he's never taken one snap in
the NFL, not even the preseason. But you somehow think
(04:11):
he should get a chance, more so than the average
six dron pick should, And you're wrong, and he doesn't
have a shot. He might get a shot, but he
he'll never be a guy who starts Week one in
this league, barring injury to the guy who would otherwise
be the Week one starter. So I've given you so
(04:31):
much to talk about. Oh and I watched the Maridonna
documentary on HBO again. I saw it already. He watched
it again this morning while I was on the treadmill.
If there's a better story in the history of sports
than Diego Maradona, I don't know what that is. And uh,
(04:52):
Real Madrid, their players are beating the crap out of
each other, it practice, putting each other in the hospital.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I hope that continues.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Let's go to even the car Steve Ron with double
m hey.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Mark, got a question for you with somebody like Malcolm
and even though Vechkin, what's their value on the open
market because to the Penguin's lowbo and offered to Malclin,
does he realize that.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
He might not have as much value this?
Speaker 1 (05:16):
This has nothing to do with money. The decision to
keep him or not has nothing to do with money.
He does not want to raise I was told he
wanted a two year deal at one point, but that's
just not going to happen. I think he knows that
this has nothing to do with money or value and
everything to do with with nostalgia. With nostalgia's too strong
(05:38):
a word, but maybe not, but yeah, you get the idea.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
I just didn't know because you know, if he thinks
he's going to go on the open market and get
picked up.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
He He does not think that. He just wants to play.
You know what a big part of this is too.
If you're over here, Malka and do you want to
go home to Russia? I don't, but they but they
have to, they have to. They they can't not go
back after their hockey careers to live in America because
(06:07):
with the with your family there, your parents and whatnot,
you just don't want to do that. I mean, I
don't want to say Putin would put them in a
goolog but but their lives might be uncomfortable, you know,
they might.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
They might you know, have to pay more taxes. I
don't know. But you just they all go back, don't they.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
I guess, so you stay here and you play as
long as you can.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
I guess right.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I think that's part of it. I do.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
I don't think they hate Russia. I think they take
pride in their country. I just think they want to
stay here and not go back there as long as possible.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Uh, let's go to Jake, Jake your own double.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
M Hey, Mark, I was wondering if if you thought
the reasons the NHL Playoff viewing is up is because
possibly of how many subscripts and different things you have
to have to watch a baseball game or you know,
over the winter, you know, watch a football game Amazon,
or you know what, you.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Know what you you might be right, I mean, don't
get along.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
All the hockey games aren't available, but I think there
is easier access to most of the playoff games. That's
a real good point. There was a great line, you know,
Ted Turner just passed away, right right, There was a line.
Ted Turner spent thirty years trying to make sure somebody
in Wyoming could watch the Atlanta Braves. MLB has spent
thirty years trying to make sure some kid in Atlanta can't.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
Exactly, and it seems like like, like I said, the
NFL too, is starting to trend that way with you know,
Thursday night games on starting two.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Oh my god, I was what they're having a Thanksgiving
Eve game. Now there's some other weird day there. Finding
Eventually they'll play every Saturday too. I've told you that. Eventually,
they'll just defecate all over.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
College football, right yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
They just want every minute of your attention and every
dime of your money. Once you give them that, they'll well,
they'll want more. Thank you for the call. Eight three, three,
four to one two WXDX. Our parade of sound continues.
Jason McIntyre nex from Fox, laying into the Steelers for
the Aaron Rodgers debacle. That's my word for it. We'll
(08:03):
see what Gen Collier thinks. At four thirty one five nine,
Right If.
Speaker 6 (08:06):
The Road, Tomic and Dream So be It Baby the
Ex at one oh five nine.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Gene Collier joins me at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
The NHL is releasing their awards finalists sporadically over the
last few days. They just released the MVP finalists. I'm
a bit surprised that maclin Celebrini from San Jose is
not among the three finalists. Then against San Jose did
not make the playoffs, and it's always been kind of
a weird thing with the NHL where guys don't get
it as kids because they don't feel it's yet earned
(08:43):
that is deserved. So the finalists are predictable McKinnon, McDavid
and koucher Off. I'd give it to kucher Off and
the voting's already done. Thank Kevin's for Cooch because he
was off in the playoffs and he has really sat
down a marker as an awful playoff performer. He has
just two playoff goals in his past twenty three games,
(09:03):
and people were saying, oh, you got to trade him.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Okay, he might be the best player in the league.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
He might literally get the MVP, and you need goals
in the regular season.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
Two.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Ray Shiro said that one time the Penguin DM, the
late and Great rage On Flurry, had had a bad
playoff and people were calling for him to be traded,
and Ray said, Okay, who's gonna get me those forty
wins in the regular season because you need those two
I mean, you want guys to play good in the playoffs,
(09:35):
but you got to get to the playoffs, and you
gotta have faith that a guy like Cooch will eventually
come good in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Maybe he won't.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
You know, it's a really similar situation, by the way,
to the Penguins in Malkin and now the Capital's Novechkin
the Lightning let stam Cooast go. A lot of people
down there that room weren't happy about that, but they
brought Genslin.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
And maintained how good their team was.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
If they had traded Market at twenty eighteen, like I said,
they should, they might have Barkoff and Gensel on the
team right now. But you have a number seventy one, Jersey,
and I understand what your concept of important is.
Speaker 6 (10:17):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
People are ripping the Steelers de shrands for this Rogers debacle,
and they should and I'm glad here's this is just
from a little bit ago. Jason McIntyre on Fox Sports
talking about would I have just come to refer to
one word to debacle.
Speaker 6 (10:34):
Folks, I don't get it at all.
Speaker 7 (10:36):
If I'm a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, I'm kind of disappointed
in the franchise. Remember you got rid of Mike Tomlin, right,
Mike Tomlin walks away or the Steelers were just like, hey,
we're gonna move on from you, depending on who.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
You talk to. So maybe it was a new era
in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 7 (10:52):
Maybe we're gonna move away from winning with defense or
trying to win with defense, and.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
We're gonna change things up. Maybe I don't know, not be.
Speaker 7 (11:00):
Good for a year, bottom out, get a franchise quarterback.
Next year's quarterback class is loaded. A lot of guys
besides Archs Manning are gonna be in the mix for
that number one pick. So if you're Pittsburgh, what are
you doing getting me in the Aaron Rodgers business?
Speaker 1 (11:16):
I just rolled my eyes when MacIntyre talked about this
year's quarterback class. The next draft is going to be
loaded because they said that about this year's class, and
it sucked.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Eggs.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Other than that, I.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Agree with just about everything. I don't want the Steelers
to be in the Aaron Rodgers business. I don't get it.
I'm disappointed in the franchise. And yeah, he brought up
something interesting. They let Mike Tomlin go, But keeping Grandpa
game manager, even though you got McCarthy who's a much
better offensive mind and will coach accordingly, it kind of
(11:48):
keeps the page from turning.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
It kind of keeps it from being a new era.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Yeah, I don't get it. You got a new coach,
and it still feels like running it back because you're
bringing Rogers back and not at least.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Begging him fairly begging him to play. That's true, though.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
I talk about how they didn't let Ben come back,
didn't let Troy come back, didn't let Hines come back,
cut Franco, let Woodson walk. They just let Tomlin walk too.
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Speaker 2 (13:42):
Up next, Gene, call your one oh five.
Speaker 6 (13:44):
To nine Dismark Madden.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Damn it, I'll be popular at Pittsburgh Gap. I think
I gotta start with pulled Pork, notcho.
Speaker 6 (13:53):
Fantastic DX at one five nine.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
It's not to be joined now by Pittsburgh's Finest word,
Smith's Sports or otherwise the keeper of the Troy Trophy
from the Post Gazette. Always a pleasure to speak with
Gene Collier. Geene, there's a report you're picking up Aaron
Rodgers at the airport.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Can you confirm I'm there now?
Speaker 8 (14:14):
But you know that the airport's changed a lot since
I was here, so I'm kind of just lost wandering around.
So if this doesn't happen, go ahead and blame me.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Well, I'd like to thank you if it turns out
he doesn't play because you can't find them, because I
just had enough. Gene, you're a wordsmith. What word describes
the Rogers situation? Because the Bacle's the one I've been using.
Speaker 8 (14:40):
Yeah, I heard that you mentioned that before.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
That's good.
Speaker 8 (14:44):
I think it's unseemly maybe that the Sewers seemed perfectly
comfortable in this position where they're starting along not only
last year but again this year, and not a good
look as they say, I hate that phrase too.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Well that well, if there was a tri Trophy next year,
could be that. But well we'll talk about that in
just a bit. But yeah, I agree, Gean. We used
to not put up with crap like this. I know
the Steelers didn't. I find it really ironic that they
cut Franco. But but Aaron Rodgers, who's been here a year,
calls his own shot.
Speaker 8 (15:22):
Yeah, well, I guess it says something about the quarterback situation.
They don't have any confidence in anybody really, so they're
willing to be strung along like this.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
But I mean.
Speaker 8 (15:34):
They're, as I said, they're comfortable in it. But it
may I feel bad for them. I mean, it's just,
you know, it's not attractive.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Are we in a low for Pittsburgh sports? I hear
that a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
With the Penguins having not won a playoff series since
twenty eighteen, Steelers haven't won a playoff game in nine years,
the Pirates seem to be on the op. But but
their slump stretches back quite a bit as well.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Yeah, I know, I don't know.
Speaker 8 (15:58):
I mean, I'd have to actually look at it, but
it feels like, you know, we've had a long stretch
here without any notable successes. I wrote a column a
couple months ago saying that, you know, it's sometimes it's
a little hard to believe, but actually the Penguins are
probably closer to winning a championship than the other two
teams when you know they started this season.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
You know, nobody even thinking that.
Speaker 8 (16:20):
So I mean credit to them, But yeah, it's a
it's a bad spell, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
You know what's funny, Gene. I think the fans of
the problem. I don't think we know how to lose anymore.
We just think that every seasons for us, if we
don't win, it's a failure. I mean, you know, I've
been a lifelong Pittsburgh sports fan. I've seen plenty of failure.
I know it U F two, but you just kind
of accepted a move on. But now, given the miracle
of social media, we just you know, go into a rage.
Speaker 8 (16:48):
Yeah that's that's just a common societal thing. And you
find it in any any discipline, or any any business
or anything. People you know are not tuned anymore.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
If you will to accept failure.
Speaker 8 (17:05):
You know, the only hope here along those lines in
sports mark is baseball.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
Baseball still.
Speaker 8 (17:13):
Has a relationship with everyday life. You know, some days
you're just not gonna win no matter what you do,
and people seem to understand that. But in all of
the other sports, you've got to win every time, every
time or a hundred people.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
Want to know why.
Speaker 8 (17:31):
It's not really built for.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Enjoyment anymore.
Speaker 8 (17:37):
It's built for It's just another aspect of the culture
that is making people crazy.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Is the NFL going way too far with you know,
games on Thursday, Sunday, Monday, the occasional Wednesday, the occasional Saturday.
It will be more than that. They just keep adding games.
They want it all when they already have it all.
Speaker 8 (18:00):
I'll tell you this story, Mark, and I can tell
you this mostly because I've I'm so old, it's incredible
how old I am.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
When the.
Speaker 8 (18:11):
When the Eagles played the Packers in the nineteen sixty
NFL championship game was before the Super Bowl existed. You
sound like you know where this is going, Mark, I don't.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
But you cited a game that that I wasn't alive for,
and I bet you were.
Speaker 6 (18:29):
There.
Speaker 8 (18:29):
You go, No, I was seven, and so that game
Eagles Packers for the NFL Championship was scheduled. It just
I mean that Sunday happened to be Christmas. They the
NFL moved it to Monday because you don't play on Christmas.
Now they're moving games to a Wednesday to play it
(18:52):
on Christmas. That's how far the culture has devolved.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Wasn't Norm van Brock when the Eagles quarterback?
Speaker 4 (19:00):
He was that day?
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yeah, the fact that I know that just it says
too much. Really, what's your take on social media? I bet,
like me, you thought it was a good idea first.
Speaker 8 (19:12):
No, I've always endeavored to avoid it at all costs. Now,
I did go down the Twitter rabbit hole around twenty
ten and stayed for a couple of years. But I
mean I had to use it to help inform my
opinion columns and occasionally my sports columns. That's basically my feed.
(19:34):
But it's just been a complete disaster.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
You know, in.
Speaker 8 (19:41):
The Surgeon General at one point, I forget which surgeon
in General it was, was reflecting on the course of
the Internet, and he said, you know, when when the
Internet first came out, there was a lot of celebration
in academia and in the religious community and everything else
because people thought, well, this will make it impossible to lie.
(20:05):
So yeah, that's how that's gone. That's a good indication
of how we're doing on social media. People are killing
themselves because of social media, and nobody will do a
thing to stop.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
We're talking to Gene Caller, Pittsburgh's finest wordsmith here on
the ex Gene, you're retiring, we're told, But what's that mean?
I just find it hard to believe you won't be
writing somewhere, so please tell me you will be.
Speaker 8 (20:31):
Yeah, I'm anxious to find out what this means as well.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Mark, Yeah, I'm no longer working at the Post.
Speaker 8 (20:38):
Is at exactly what that means?
Speaker 4 (20:40):
I'm not sure. I mean in general terms.
Speaker 8 (20:44):
You know, I've been writing for fifty years, which seems
like enough, and it's not like I haven't had enough.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
I had my say, But I don't know. We'll just
have to see the way it plays out.
Speaker 8 (20:54):
I mean, if that's what it means that I'm retired,
you know, that's that'll have to be fine. But it's
still kind of fresh. So I just feel bad for
all the people at the Post because I had lost
their job and we're in mid career or early career
and you know, lost their job and didn't deserve too.
And I feel bad for Pittsburgh because it's a dark
day for journals in Pittsburgh, just as it is all
(21:15):
across the country.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
How has our industry changed since you started? I'm sure
it's difficult to put in into words that aren't aren't
censored by the FCC. And please try to convince me
that it's not for the worst. And I'm just old.
I want to be optimistic, but I can't find a way.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (21:36):
Well, I mean there are good things about the way
it's evolved. I mean, more people have access to it,
and more people have access to the public square, and generally,
I mean ideally, that's a good thing. The main change
I think you'll agree, Mark, is when I started. And
again this is you know, back in the seventeenth century,
(21:56):
there is something called the news hole, if you will.
The news hole, it was a finite space, the number
of columns in your local paper and two or three
thirty minute newscasts, and that was all the news that
you were gonna get. You could not get it anywhere else.
Something like, for example, the Kardashians could not have existed
when I started, because there was no room to put
(22:18):
them in the news hole. Well, now the news hole
is a back hole and people have to throw crap
into it around the clock just to keep the engine going.
So you know, in journalism school, they used to say
less is more, and by extension mark I'm afraid more
is less.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
I agree with all that, and I see ESPN as
sadly exemplary. It used to be a flagship for sports
and now it's bro talk. They sell dumb to dummies,
and they act like wrestling is legit. They got in
a partnership with w and they actually report on the
results like they're legitimate. Now, as you know, I made
a dollar or two in wrestling, but it's gone too far.
Speaker 8 (22:58):
Well, I mean, I think when into McMahon is the
Secretary of Education, things have gone through far.
Speaker 6 (23:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I hadn't thought of that, but that certainly certainly speaks
for itself. But I mean, I watch ESPN's midday lineup
and I can't believe it's on TV.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
I can't.
Speaker 8 (23:18):
Yeah, well, there's so much on TV. I mean, corn
Hoole's on TV. I mean, my brother used to joke
to me that cat Chasing will be on TV at
some point, and it's just that nobody thought of it
in fact, that it'd be so much better than a
lot of what's on. But I'm just commiserating with you now, Mark,
I'm not shedding Latelan anything, am I Well.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Not not for the first time and hopefully not for
the last time either. Now let's let's get back to
sports a bit. Are the Pirates having a legit renaissance?
And do you trust it?
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Well?
Speaker 8 (23:49):
I think for the first time in a while, it
looks like it could be legit if you go buy
certain you know, universally accepted baseball standards, like you know,
you win most you know, a majority of your games
at home and you lose, and you win maybe half
of them on the road. You know, they've only failed
(24:10):
on that metric once so far this year. They look
like they could be a good team. But that's as
far as I go. Do I trust it?
Speaker 4 (24:18):
I don't. You know, there's a lot of baseball to play,
as they say, Mark, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
But but what I don't trust is I.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Think it's a team right now, it's just a little
bit shy being a playoff team. Will they add in
by extension, spend it the deadline? That's the kind of trust.
I don't trust them to do that. I trusted this
team as assembled is going to stay in it.
Speaker 8 (24:40):
Yeah, No, I don't trust them to add. Although you know,
they've got a lot of criticism for not adding when
they had the chance to win in the past. But
you know that's not entirely correct. They did add. They
just added to the wrong people. But they added people
who didn't help them, and it's not I mean, it's
not like they added, you know, the most expensive free
(25:03):
agent that's never gonna happen. But yeah, I mean I
agree with you. I mean, that's the thing I don't trust.
What will they do if they have a real chance
toward the end?
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Geen, how many times in your career did you see
an athlete where you thought, even for second, this guy
might be the best ever? Because I'm going through for
the second time with Paul Skeens. The first was Mario, who,
if he ain't came pretty close. But I find schemes
just enthralling that he came along when I'm sixty five,
and you know he might be better than a guy
like Bob Gibson, who I grew up with is the
(25:33):
gold standard.
Speaker 8 (25:36):
Yeah, I mean, things is really special, you know, within
the parameters in the modern game. I mean, you know,
he pitches eight innings, people completely lose their minds, you know,
like he pitched fourteen. It's not the same thing. In
nineteen eighty eight, forty percent of the starters in Major
League Baseball reached the forty eight percent of the starters
(25:59):
reached the sending.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
This year, nine percent.
Speaker 8 (26:01):
Are reaching the seventh things. So it's a different kind
of assignment for a starting picture. But yeah, he's incredibly gifted.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
That back to your original question, it occurred to me
that this is the best guy ever.
Speaker 8 (26:16):
It has not occurred to me with him. It did
with Mario and it did with Barry Bonds, but they're
probably the only two.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Now. Is the Trite Trophy retired?
Speaker 4 (26:29):
Now?
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Can we make America triite again?
Speaker 8 (26:34):
Well?
Speaker 4 (26:34):
I suppose if I am it is? I mean it.
Speaker 8 (26:36):
Actually, I actually stopped doing it in twenty twenty five
when I wrote exclusively for the opinion section, so I
wasn't paying as much attention to sports to do the
trite justice, if you will, as a ridiculous comment as
that is. But I just brought it back last week
as a kind of trot trophy postgame show, which you know,
(26:58):
seems to be a requirement no matter what you do,
when you have to have a postgame show. So you know,
that might be it for the trade. I mean there's
aw boards of twelve or thirteen. People look forward to it,
and I'm sorry for that.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Yeah, but they're dying off. You got a figure, you know,
you know where trait's really big. You lifted the trait
from the sports pages, the announcing booth. I'd love to
hear a trite trophy from the locker room, because in
the locker room, even more so than with the media,
gene trite is king.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
Oh absolutely.
Speaker 8 (27:30):
I mean, you know, the trait has been you know,
the the greatest cliche in trade history is it is
what it is, and that's mostly from athletes. Athletes love
to say that. And the literal meeting of it is
what it is is I don't know what to say,
I have nothing to say, so I'll say it is
what it is. You may as well say strawberries or strawberries.
Seinfeld actually wrote a bit on this that I conveniently
(27:54):
I can't remember, but.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
It's exactly that.
Speaker 8 (27:57):
That's it is what it is is like saying nothing
and athletes are great at it, absolutely great at it.
When the piate picture was suspended the other day, that's
what he said.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
It is what it is. Yes, it is. There's no
arguer and that's it.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Well, I appreciate more and more when athletes don't talk.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Frankly, like Angel Reese, the w NBA player, she is
basically daring in the league to find her because he
doesn't want to talk to the media. If I worked
in the w NBA media, which thank Kevins, I do not,
but if I did, I would ask her to put
that in writing.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
Oh yeah, that's good. I mean it is.
Speaker 8 (28:33):
You know, athletes are not compelled to talk with the media.
I mean, there are league rules, but with what players
make now, they can really you know, they can pay
any fine. There's no very few fines they can't pay.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Gene, you touched this a moment ago. The post is
that survived. I guess that's good. But like you said,
a lot of people lost their jobs and the path
was the debacle.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
To use that word.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Again, I'm sorry.
Speaker 8 (29:01):
Well, yeah, I mean it's this train has been coming
down the tracks for thirty five years, as you know, Mark,
you know, first with the advent intelligence of television and
then especially with the advent of the Internet, and which
was accelerated uh you know, fifty times by the uh
the cell phone. I mean when the Internet first came out,
(29:21):
newspapers generally weren't worried about it on the mistaken idea
that you can't you couldn't take your uh your computer
into Denny's.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
And read at over breakfast.
Speaker 8 (29:32):
Well guess what, as you can and you know, and
we're all screwed because of it.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Geane, I appreciate taking a time. I'm sure this won't
be the last time. Uh we talked.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
Bar.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Yeah, call any time, Bar and Lauren time one of
our untimely desks, which you know would surprise nobody in
either case. But no, you're number one. I'm serious when
I say put it this way, You're a much better
writer than me, and my ego is out of control
for me to say that.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
That's got to be something.
Speaker 8 (30:00):
Right.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
It counts, it does, I'll count Geene.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Thanks again. We'll talk soon.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
Yeah, thank you, Mark, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
That's the great gen Collier, best sports writer, best sports voice.
I can't say enough good about Gene Collier, who has
been a tremendous influence on me as well as a
good friend. So can't say enough good about them, working
with them with the Post Gazette and Jordian thoroughly enjoyed
having him on.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Today.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
We got news on the Greta Van Feet front. That
was tough to say, the Greta Van Fleet front, uh,
because they they had a video the other day that
kind of teased they were quitting. We'll update you on that.
I want you to call now and ask Mark anything.
That's what's important. Eight three three four one two wxdx
eight three three four one two w xdx.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
By way of a programming note.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Oh, you can do the microphone iconting at the IHEARTMEDIAPP
as well. Programming note. Since hockey is done, the Penguins
are done. Show starts at three o'clock, not two, beginning
next week, will continue until the Steeler's kicking the gear.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
You know what I should do.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
I should say, I'll start again at two when Aaron
Rodgers shows up and then might never have to Yeah,
in my dreams.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
One oh five to nine.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Time now to send in your questions for ask Mark anything.
Speaker 7 (31:16):
Use the talk back mike on your free iHeartRadio app
and record your question for the super Genius.
Speaker 6 (31:24):
It's The Hooty Show weekday mornings at six oh I
like it. On one oh five nine The X.
Speaker 9 (31:30):
This hour of the Mark Madden Show has brought you
by Michelobaltra, proudly served at the Boozy Barrel in Mount Lebanon.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Stop in the Boozy Barrel and.
Speaker 9 (31:37):
Enjoy three fifty Mikeelobultra sixteen ounce drafts all day, every day. Michelobltra,
official beer sponsor of FIFA World Cup.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Catch all the buckle actions this summer at Jason Aldene's
Kitchen in bar See every pitch.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Just a six minute walk from panc Park for stopping before.
I can't even quote the big O'boski right.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
Goodbye the X at one oh five nine.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I love this Rogers thing, even though I hate it,
and debacle is the right word, is confirmed by Gene Collier.
Just moments ago, Rapaport repeated the report.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
That's a tongue twister.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Rappaport repeated the report from the B team, saying that
Rogers would be in time this weekend. Now it doesn't
look like that's true. Omar Khan, the GM said he
doesn't know where Rogers is they should They should have
had a tracking device implanted in his in his uh
epidermis at the end of last year to keep keep
(32:35):
up with the guy. But now Rappaport has revised his
report to say that finality is coming between the Steelers
and Aaron Rodgers. Well, it would freaking have to because
training camps aren't that far off. Finality is coming. F you,
F you two Rogers, F you Rapaport, F you unnamed source,
(32:57):
f all of this. It's just so e fed up.
That's a lot of f's. Okay, the Grena Van Fleet news,
which I care about. They teased that they were breaking
up with the video thanking everybody for the wild Ride
the other day, and now they posted a video We're
back baby, and they're playing some new music, which sounds
(33:19):
great because they're great, And I tweeted at him, thank god.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
You little bastard's lol. You know it's funny.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
I've had Jake on the show a couple of times,
and Josh name checked me from the stage in Pittsburgh
last year, but I've never met them in person, which
needs to be rectified. Actually, if I didn't think it
would be too creepy, then it would be, so I won't.
But they live in Nashville now, having moved there from Detroit.
If it wouldn't be creepy, I'd look them up because
(33:49):
I'm gonna be down there for the Liverpool Friendly later
in the summer. Maybe I'll quote unquote run into them,
which would be just about as creepy. Time to ask
mark anything brought to us by People's hyphengas dot com
get your calls in now eight three three four one
two wxd X.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Let's go to a talkback.
Speaker 8 (34:10):
A double m What was the best version of the
Four Horsemen?
Speaker 2 (34:16):
That's actually a good question.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
The best version of the Four Horsemen in uh WCW,
then known as the National Wrestling Alliance, Well, the original
was Rick Flair, Tully, Blanchard Arn Anderson and Olie Anderson.
And I tend to think when it comes to gangs
that that first is always best. Certainly, the best incarnation
(34:39):
of the nWo was keV Scott and Hulk, which is
a couple other guys started in. Smaller is better too,
but I liked that when Lex replaced Olie and the
best working group was Rick, Arn Tully and Barry Wyndham
and Boyd saying.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
It out loud.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
I'd go with that, Rick, rn Tully and Barry, mainly
because I was friends with all four of those guys
and couldn't stand only.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Let's go to a talk back.
Speaker 4 (35:12):
Mark.
Speaker 8 (35:13):
When you attended Dukane, was your plan always for broadcasting
or did you have a backup plan?
Speaker 6 (35:20):
Have this not gone your way?
Speaker 1 (35:24):
There's a guy that doesn't really know my work history,
because I didn't start radio until I was thirty five. No,
my plan was always to be a sports writer. That's
what I studied for Duquane, worked for the North Hills
Free Press, word for that, wrote for.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
The student newspaper Ducaine. The Duke.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Got a big break when the Post Gazette started their
suburban editions, and I worked part time for PG North
and South and whatnot for many years. So No, the
plan was always to be a sports writer. And when
I left the Post Gazette because it never used me properly,
not ever, I still feel cheated out of a good
ten years of my career by the Post Gazette, even
though I'm sorry to see what's happened to it now.
(36:05):
But I left the Post Gazette to go to a
publication called Penguins Report in nineteen ninety six, and Tom McMillan,
who I succeeded, who went to work for the Penguins,
and I think he's the bus driver for Gettysburg Tours now.
But yeah, so he had been doing talk radio and
(36:28):
Penguins Report and so twelve fifty am asked me to
take a shot at and I did, and the rest,
I guess is history. Wish I'd have got a ten
year head start on radio. Let's go to another talkback, Mark.
Speaker 9 (36:42):
Will you be attending any of the World Cup soccer matches?
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Yes, I will.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
I will be going to the friendly in Cleveland the
week before the official tournament starts between Egypt and.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Brazil.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
I mean, you can't not see Brazil in Egypt. Need
I add Mo Sala, Mo sala, Mos sala. And then
I'll be attending the official World Cup game tournament game
in Foxborough between Scotland and Morocco, which are two deceptively
(37:18):
good teams, not front runners. Morocco is gonna make the quarterfinals.
Scotland I think might get to the knockouts, but Scotland
captain oh Andy Andy Andy Andy, Andy Andy Robertson. And
then I got to Liverpool friendly in Nashville, so no,
I'm going. Yeah, it's always been a bucketless game of mine,
(37:42):
a bucket list. I won my bucket list to see
a World Cup game, and in ninety four it was
in America and the Post because it didn't send me
to cover it, even though I knew the most about soccer,
because they wanted me, as a knowledgeable soccer editor to
be in the office to make sure everybody else's crappy
work wasn't too crap. And I made up my mind
right then and there to leave as soon as I could.
(38:04):
And I'm sure I didn't leave sooner than that.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
Let's go to Kurt. Kurt, you're only double.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
M hey Mark uh wait.
Speaker 10 (38:13):
I just wanted to get your thoughts on the Saudia's
pulling out a live on golfing and and they're trying
to get back into PGA and are like, wait a minute,
you left the club house for that Saudi money.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Yeah, I don't understand.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
I don't understand why the guys who went to live
shouldn't be allowed back at the PGA. They had a
better job, opportunity to paid more money, and they took it.
Isn't that the American way. Who the freak does the
PGA think they are to ban people for pursuing more money?
What if baseball teams did that? What if base what
if hockey teams did that? That's ridiculous.
Speaker 5 (38:46):
You're absolutely right.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Yeah, golf sucks. You've noticed that, right.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
I mean, it's fun to it's fun to watch for
the big tournaments. There's some intriguing personalities, but golf sucks.
It's like like George Carla once said, if he had
his way, it solved the homeless problem by building cheap
housing on every golf course in America. Yeah, which, which
(39:12):
very much, thank you, Which begs the question.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
Bush Wood a dump. Let's go to John and Virginia Beach. John,
what's up? Mark?
Speaker 4 (39:23):
I saw Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 11 (39:26):
I'm down at the beach front here in beautiful Virginia
Beach and Melitair girl. She looked young. Never mind he
was there. I think at the beach front.
Speaker 4 (39:40):
Beach.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
You thought it would be funny.
Speaker 4 (39:41):
It's not.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Thanks for the call, though, John, good try.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
Oh wait, this just didn't Greta Van Fleet's new drummers
Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
The bands combined age isn't as old as him well.
It is, but not by much nation,
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