Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
He is here live in the flesh. Bob Pompiani sitting across from me. The cardboard cutout is taking a seat on the bench. It's the real article limits, Mr. Pompiani. The real man is here in the flesh, Joe. Hi, Bob. How are you, Bob? Gentlemen. Hi, Ron.
Gentlemen, how are you? Right off the bat, I forget to turn the mic on. I've never been better, Bob. It's early. I saw you walk in, actually. I was trying to get your attention. You were focused. You were on a straight line, really high-paced walk.
I saw it. Yeah, yeah. With my Washington Wizards warm-up jacket. You like this, Bob? Whatever happened to the Washington Wizards? This is gigantic.
There are some teams that will never, ever do anything.
No, they're a forlorn franchise. Bob, I saw you for the first time today about three minutes ago, and yet you've already rejected one of my invitations. I wanted to go hit golf balls at the RMU Dome after the show today, maybe just for a half hour, and you turned it down pretty quickly, I might add. I have things to do. You can do that for sure. You even live near there. I do.
We could hit it on the way home. Okay, now you're tempting me. Why not? If we leave right from here? Yes, small bucket each. Okay. How about that limits, huh? This is the power of Joe's rhetoric again, Bob. We just keep coming back to it. Persuasive powers. Bob, we have a special show planned today. We do. Chris Hoke and Mark Caballi. Not together, although what a roundtable that would be.
We're going to have both those guys for an hour. And also, we're going to play our time capsule, and I just got a preview of it, our predictions from before the season. You will not believe who I said the Steelers' next franchise quarterback would be. That's going to bring the house down. Those are always funny to do.
Oh, my God.
I don't want to listen to it. I have a feeling I'm going to have some bad, bad takes in there. Not worse than mine, and I think that limits, and even Donnie Football weighs in with a frozen take or two, doesn't he? There's a couple, yes. But we don't start there today, Bob. We start with the news that rocked the NFL world, even if it wasn't entirely unexpected.
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Chapter 2: What are the implications of John Harbaugh's firing?
But I actually admire the Ravens for saying, you know, that's it. It's just run its course today. You know, 18 years is a long time, and I heard Kyle Brandt on NFL Network. I thought he characterized it very keenly when he said, it's like a divorce. This may be a wonderful person, and they'll be a wonderful person for somebody else, but they're not right for you anymore.
And I think that the Ravens and Steve Bishotti over there have decided they want something better for themselves. Something more than just the ability to say we're a, quote, stable franchise that values, quote, stability. We're not doing enough. I totally agree with that. That's what he's saying. I want something better for myself. We're good. I want to be great. And we've plateaued here.
We've plateaued with this guy. And it's okay. Harbaugh put out a nice statement. The Ravens put out a nice statement. It's an amicable divorce. Philadelphia moved on from Andy Reid after 14 years. New England moved on from Bill Belichick after 24. Seattle, Pete Carroll after 14. Green Bay, Mike McCarthy after 13 plus. It's all good, but sometimes the time has come.
Now, maybe the Steelers look like the smart ones here. Maybe they do. They seem to have captured some magic. Maybe Tomlin has recaptured some mojo. And maybe they go on a run here, and then this conversation is moot. It is anyway because of what you said. He's going nowhere. But the question is, should he if they don't win this game Monday night?
I would think if they really feel the same way, then they would do that. But I just don't think they feel the same way.
I don't either. I don't either think they feel that.
Because I think there's a perfect argument to be made about wearing out a welcome. I think it happens in all sports. It doesn't matter who you're talking about. Chuck Knoll got to that point here. And finally they had to make a, and it was an amicable thing as well. So it was Bill Cowher. They all, if you're there long enough.
Do you think Cowher's was amicable? I do. I still, you don't? Not really. No, I think he wanted to stay and wanted an extension.
Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know. Talking to him subsequently, to me it came down to where his wife had been going through all the stuff she was going through before she died. And I just think he wanted time away. And I also didn't think... When he first got into television, it would last this long. I don't think he thought that either.
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Chapter 3: How does Mike Tomlin's situation compare to Harbaugh's?
If Tyler Lute makes that kick, we're not talking about this yet.
Yet. I think if the Ravens went out early, we still would have been. Do you think if they won that game and then they win another game... Then it's tough to get rid of him if he's winning basically a de facto playoff game and the division and a playoff game. I think that they mend fences there, whatever's going on with him and Lamar.
But man, like I said, to everybody out there, this goes at 412-928-9370, 928-9370. Two very similar resumes between Tomlin and Harbaugh. I heard the PM guys yesterday saying Tomlin's owned him lately.
Again, that's true in head-to-head, but if you ask me before a season, would I rather beat this coach when I face him or have a better year than him, I'd say I'd rather have a better year and excluding this year, obviously. The Ravens have had all the better seasons lately. They've won playoff games. Mike Tomlin hasn't won a playoff game or come close since 2016, that season.
So again, if you agree with this, that the Ravens have done the right thing, And if the Steelers lose Monday night, I think you're in a bit of an intellectual bind to find the rationale to say, yeah, I think the Ravens did the right thing, but the Steelers should keep Tomlin. I think that's a tough one to rationalize myself.
I didn't think they would fire Harbaugh. I didn't. I thought they were, you know, they're still a team that's a factor every single year. Yes, the playoff success has been small in terms of wins for both sides. But I look at Mike McCarthy's resume and you can say, okay, but he's been fired twice despite similar numbers. Sean Payton, same thing. Sean Payton's another one, right?
There is a case to be made that moving on is good for the person and it's also good for the team. But there's also the other side of that where moving on could lead you into a cycle of all these different coaches. There's the risk. There's the New York Giants example, how many guys they've gone through. That's why they keep continuing to teeter along the way they are.
I think the Steelers just feel that if there was something in the locker room that made I think Art Rooney and the franchise owners and the people in front office unhappy with how things were going. I think that would be a different story.
But I think those players, and I heard Crowley coming in, he made a good point that Pat Fryermuth, who has largely not been used the way I thought he would be used. was one of the more vocal guys in supporting Mike Thomas. So I think internally they all want to play for him. That's great. They need to win a playoff game. I get it. I totally get what you're saying. And I would say the same thing.
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Chapter 4: What factors will influence the Steelers' playoff success?
We moved Hokie from Thursday to Wednesday. Yeah, Hokie Bro 76 has some things going on. It's all Steelers all the time, even if Harrison Brunick has been assigned to the WHL, Bob. Were you saddened to see that?
No, he needs it. I'm just going to be on that topic. I'm just going to be interested to see how they shuffle their lines with Malkin coming back.
They're a fun watch right now. They are. They're a good team. 4-1-2-9-2-8-93-70 limits. Let's have a leadoff batter. Let's have Omar Marino before we go to a brief intermission. Or Frank Tavares. Or Frank, did he lead off-bump? A lot. Not as much as Omar was the number one guy. Seemed like a light hitter, but a pretty good shortstop, I thought. How about Tim Foley? Did you like Tim Foley?
Loved Tim Foley. I did, too. Used to choke up on that bat, hit to the opposite field.
Good bunter, huh?
Keep things alive for Marino. Exactly. Advanced Marino. That's what he did. And then Parker and Stargell and Bill Robinson and John Milner and Lee Lacey and Ed Ott and Steve Nicosia and everybody else would come up.
The combination of Ott and Steve Nicosia was a good one. Yeah, it was. Well, you know what's sad to me? I walk around and I mention those names to people, younger people. Nobody knows what I'm talking about.
Who was the famous pinch runner, Bobby? Remember his name? Vic, no. Used to run. Oh, Gene Clines, no.
Passed home plate backwards. I know who this is, and I can't think of his name now. I'm thinking Choo Choo Clines. It's not him. Matt Alexander. Matt Alexander, number 36. Number 36. I remember the number. I can't remember the name.
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Chapter 5: What are the highlights of the Steelers' recent decisions?
He can come to my house. I'd love for him to come to my house. All right. Thank you, Hokie. See you, Chris.
I appreciate you guys, man. You have a great one. Have a good weekend. What a man he is, huh, Bob? Yeah, he's in good shape, boy, he does. He's in good shape. Lincoln is a very special player, I think. He's going to be good for Pitt.
Yeah, yeah. That's our cue. It's time for Mr. Mark Caballi, the big boy. And, Bob, I might add, as you go back to your seat, I'll tell you a good decision the Steelers made, a great decision, was to let Najee walk and then bring in Kenny Gainwell. Kenny Gainwell had two longer runs than Najee, or was it Warren, in a matter of like eight carries than Najee did his whole career, which was 37 yards.
And that all started with Tomlin watching him playing against him last year where he ran for like 125 yards or something against him marking at the Eagles game.
Hello, big boy. How are you?
Great. How are you guys? Who's behind you now? Hokey had someone behind him.
He has a frozen person behind him too.
Is that you in a younger stage?
I can't believe he has this too. Look at this. That's the infamous fathead on a stick on college game day. Oh, I see.
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Chapter 6: How do the Steelers' chances look for the upcoming game?
How can I put this? A replica.
This guy's a hell of a man, isn't he, Bob?
You know where that picture come from, Bob? It came from the showdown maybe eight or nine years ago. Wow. Somebody just took a screenshot off the internet. I swear to you.
Well, see, that's how popular that show is. Mark comes on and gets all this kind of attention. Does he still come on, Bob? Yeah, he's going to be on this. Unlike you, Joe.
I'm too tired to go on. I don't get invited. I get invited every week. Almost. Right, Bob? I ask you all the time. I don't want to do that to my Sundays. Sunday is the only day I have for family time.
I get it. Listen, time is money. I know.
Why haven't you invited limits on the show?
You have to go through a process.
And I told Bob, I am willing and able to be a part of the process. Put me in front of the processing committee, and I will talk to them. You know what happened when you froze out Ron? He didn't talk to you for three months.
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Chapter 7: What is the impact of the Post-Gazette's closure on local journalism?
What was going on in there?
A lot of loud music. Yeah. They had three of the biggest speakers I've ever saw in my life. And that's not unusual, but the unusual part is they never shut it off while we were trying to do our interviews. I don't think they really cared, I guess, nor should they have. And it reminded me of a bar I used to go to back in the 90s. where you would have to cut through the smoke just to get into it.
That's how many cigars were going on. It was somewhat of a festive attitude, or a festive... place in there with a lot of partying and I'm getting, imagine what was going on later that night. They enjoyed themselves, but I could have did without the cigar smoke, but they didn't ask me.
Well, that normally in my experience going into, and I haven't done it in a while, but a championship locker room or someone, you know, win something significant. The cigar smoke and there's other smells and the combination of the smells is just too much. You got to get out of there. Other smells? What are we talking about, Pop? Well, I mean, just, you know, game uniforms, dirty.
I thought you were talking about something else. No, no, no. I'm just saying overall, I just think it's like, wow, this is a little pungent for me.
Yeah, the sweaty spandex girdles and stuff like that. And they throw them around everywhere.
Nothing smells worse than a hockey locker room. Do we agree on that?
For the same reason. The wet equipment, all that stuff. Horrifying.
Yeah, Willie Colon used to smell so bad. That's ironic, too, isn't it?
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Chapter 8: Who are the key players to watch in the playoffs?
They just went up and down the field. I didn't expect that kind of fourth quarter based on what we saw in the first three quarters.
And that's probably why it's so memorable because it's very unusual for these two teams, the history of these two teams, to be able to put up points. Basically, it will during a, you know, especially this critical part of the game in the fourth quarter, back and forth, big play after big play.
That's why it will go down as one of the all-time most memorable games in the franchise history because of just how it turned out and, Man, once one answered, it just kept coming back. And how many times were you guys watching that and say, well, they're done now? Or, well, they won. They won. It's over. I mean, it had to be a dozen of different times just over a span of five or six minutes.
If you look at the probability chart.
It's entertaining. Probability-wise in that fourth quarter, it was all over the place. It started with the Ravens up high as a probable win. Then they go up, Ravens drop. By the end of it, the Steelers had like a 3% chance when it came down to a 44-yard field goal, and yet they won.
Which is strange because I don't think 44-yard field goals in that high-pressure situation with a rookie kicker is a 97% chance of making it. He had made 100% of them. Still, I mean, it is pressure.
You're right. Do you agree with Bob and I, big boy, that it was a little odd that Lamar went back a full two yards on that previous play? Would you have run another play and then called timeout? You could have made like a five or six yard difference between what they had, a two yard loss or a three yard gain.
Yes. I mean, imagine if that happened the other way around, if that happened here. We'd be roasting Tomlin and Arthur Smith right now if he lost two yards when they had the timeout. And you could have ā I mean, if you wanted it in the middle of the field, just run the ball into the middle of the field, especially with a rookie kicker.
I mean, it's not like we're talking about Boswell here who has been near flawless over the past three years. But we're talking about a rookie, a rookie who's never had an attempt like that in his life on the road before. Yeah, it was a curious call.
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