00:00:00
Speaker 1: Prior segment brought to us by danny's pizza and hoagies route 88 bethel park family owned and operated since 1960 joining me now he's still with the sporting news kind of retired we love having him on he's mike de courcy uh mike does joey porter jr have any choice but to play despite no.
00:00:18
Speaker 2: Extension he doesn't he well he had he has a choice but it's a terrible choice it's not like that no one has ever done that before, but it gives him no additional leverage. The reality is that the Steelers have all the leverage here, and I'm not saying that I believe that that means they should necessarily apply it all. I still think if you're going to be generous with Keanu Benton, then you can be generous with the best corners.
00:00:45
Speaker 1: And Herbig and Washington, and every time Cam Hayward whined, they gave him a bigger bag. This is the only guy they've chosen to play hardball with since Le'Veon Bell.
00:00:54
Speaker 2: That's not necessarily true because don't forget, we're only a couple of years removed from Hayward going very close to the first snap before it actually happened. And the same with TJ several years before that. So we don't know how hard the ball is yet. We won't really know until probably next Thursday whether they've played super hard or But I do think that this is a player at a position where you have been historically awful.
00:01:26
Speaker 3: I mean, okay, yeah, you had Mel Blunt and Rod Woodson. You got it right twice.
00:01:30
Speaker 2: But then when your third best is Ike Taylor, you got to say to yourself, if that's our standard, then we have a chance to vastly surpass that. Let's stay in the Joey Porter business.
00:01:43
Speaker 1: No, I couldn't agree more. But again, to repeat, he's got to play. You are correct about him having zero leverage, but I got to tell you, if he does play, what was the point of everything he did up till now?
00:01:58
Speaker 2: Well, I think no one really seems to like going through training camp. And there is the element of protecting yourself from injury that is not that much more likely when you're in camp, but it is a little bit more likely.
00:02:13
Speaker 4: So there's that.
00:02:14
Speaker 5: I think that's the.
00:02:15
Speaker 2: Biggest reason why you wouldn't do it. And I think you are making a statement, too, that, yeah, you.
00:02:19
Speaker 3: Want to you want to get a new contract. And let's be honest, you're somewhat following the crowd.
00:02:24
Speaker 2: I mean, that's what TJ did. That's what Cam did. That's what other players and other franchises have done is is basically pass on training camp to show that you feel like you deserve a new deal and you haven't gotten one yet, as opposed to your three teammates.
00:02:39
Speaker 4: How much does no Deshaun Elliott hurt for at least the first four weeks? I feel like he's a glue guy and a tough guy in that secondary.
00:02:47
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that it's.
00:02:48
Speaker 2: Hard to say because we don't know what their replacements are going to be like in actual football games.
00:02:53
Speaker 3: We haven't seen them on the field yet.
00:02:55
Speaker 2: They are rookies or new to the organization and Elliot's an outstanding run defender. He is not a great pass defender, but he's an outstanding run defender.
00:03:05
Speaker 1: But like I said, Mike, he's a glue guy, and that secondary has never been as good since he got here as to when he's been available.
00:03:14
Speaker 3: Oh, I think that's true.
00:03:15
Speaker 2: Because, again, he does something that they don't do well at most positions, and that's stop the run. I mean, the fact that they cut Landon Roberts when Patrick Queen hasn't shown a great affinity for stopping the run in his time here. You're looking at the one player who, when he goes on the field, past the defensive line, who's an exceptional run stopper. And so without him, you're at risk. Now, like I said, I mean, whoever takes his place, and we still don't know who that's going to be, could do an adequate job in that department, We have no idea because we haven't, we've seen them in exhibition games. Those who've gone to training camp have seen them at training camp, but no one's seen him, seen those players really in games against players like Bijan Robinson.
00:04:07
Speaker 1: I got to interrupt Mike. Aaron Rogers is talking to the media. He said, Roman Wilson's had a great camp. He says that Jeremy Bernard's on his way to being a good player. And he also talked about the measles issue. This dumb bastard just can't help himself.
00:04:23
Speaker 5: Oh, my.
00:04:25
Speaker 3: And I suppose he was anti-vaccine.
00:04:27
Speaker 5: For that, too.
00:04:28
Speaker 1: I can't find anything that he said exactly, but that's the last thing he needs.
00:04:34
Speaker 4: To be talking about.
00:04:36
Speaker 1: Getting back to things that aren't insane, the ESPN list of top 100 NFL players came out. The Steelers have only two on it, Hayward at 70 and Watt at 65.
00:04:50
Speaker 4: And I hate to say it, but that sounds about right.
00:04:52
Speaker 1: What's that say about the current state of the Steelers, especially as it pertains to star power?
00:04:59
Speaker 3: Well, I think they are limited in star power at this point.
00:05:02
Speaker 5: There's no doubt about that.
00:05:03
Speaker 3: I thought they were a little harsh with Joey.
00:05:05
Speaker 2: I think it gets hard for me to imagine there's 100 better football players than him. But I don't know that adding one more toward the bottom of the list.
00:05:13
Speaker 4: I think so, too, Mike.
00:05:14
Speaker 1: But I don't think it's good for his optics that there are 10 cornerbacks on the list and he's not one.
00:05:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I don't think that they're going to go in and say, the Steelers are going to go in and say, hey, ESPN said you're no good. I don't think that they're too worried about that.
00:05:31
Speaker 1: No, no, no, but I think it says something about how he's considered, too.
00:05:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I think that's fair, but I don't know who from ESPN did that. There are people at ESPN I respect tremendously, and there are people at ESPN that.
00:05:45
Speaker 5: I wouldn't buy coffee for, so.
00:05:49
Speaker 2: I don't know whether or not the people who were involved in this process.
00:05:54
Speaker 5: Are the people on the floor.
00:05:56
Speaker 3: Oh, no, no.
00:05:56
Speaker 1: I'm just talking broad strokes here, Mike. I mean, when there's only two guys and they're old guys and they're defensive guys, it doesn't say much about your star power or about the dynamic nature, or lack thereof, of your football team.
00:06:10
Speaker 4: But in that vein, do the Steelers have a No. 1 receiver?
00:06:14
Speaker 1: And despite what Rodgers apparently just said, do they really have a No.
00:06:17
Speaker 4: 3 receiver?
00:06:19
Speaker 2: Oh, I think they have good options now.
00:06:21
Speaker 3: It's a better.
00:06:23
Speaker 2: receiver one to four better receiver set one to four by far than they had a year ago last year they had one and then it was like who else is out there and that's why you wound up with players like valdez scantling at the end of the year trying to catch big passes i mean they had no options beyond dk uh i we we didn't get to see pitman much uh in in the training camp and exhibition season but we have to assume that he's an improvement uh bernard hasn't done anything wrong in public When he's played in actual football competition, he's looked really good, made good plays. What he does in games that are better schemed, et cetera, again, we won't know.
00:07:04
Speaker 3: But I think there's promise there.
00:07:06
Speaker 2: Roman Wilson, it's easy to give up on a player when he loses his entire rookie year to injury and then doesn't do much the second year.
00:07:18
Speaker 4: We'll know.
00:07:20
Speaker 2: Probably within two weeks, whether or not this is a dramatically changed football player. You're right that there's not a lot to get excited about in terms of their star level talent, but guys like Derek Harmon, these are, and, and Faltano, these are, and McCormick, these are players that, and, and of course, Zach Frazier, these are players that you expect to become really good.
00:07:40
Speaker 5: And, and they're.
00:07:42
Speaker 3: Either on the verge of it or there's promise there.
00:07:45
Speaker 2: And, I think that, you know, it's funny because there's been a lot of conversation about the Steelers being the oldest team and all that. And I just named four guys that are essentially year one to three and all who could become exceptional players.
00:07:59
Speaker 3: I don't think this is an old team. I think Roger skews.
00:08:01
Speaker 2: That cam skews that it's a team with a lot of young players, some promising young talent, and they're going to.
00:08:09
Speaker 3: Have to prove it on the field.
00:08:11
Speaker 1: What are your realistic expectations for Rodgers at 42? What's your ceiling? He's not going to be all pro. He's not going to be pro bowl, and thank God that game doesn't exist anymore. But what can he realistically be expected to do?
00:08:26
Speaker 2: If he is protected, I think he can realistically be expected to make the kinds of plays that win games more often than not.
00:08:36
Speaker 3: And does that mean like 12-5?
00:08:39
Speaker 2: No. It means more often than not, which means probably they're trying to go somewhere north of 10-7. If they can get north of 10-7, then they've had a tremendous year. And I think he's capable of that. If he's not protected, my expectations are that it could be a really rough year. And that's why I talk about the offensive line.
00:09:01
Speaker 3: I mentioned three guys that have real talent.
00:09:03
Speaker 2: But they changed the position of two of them, and that's not inconsequential. I know a lot of people are upset because Broderick Jones said, you know, that really kind of messed with my game. I think that athletes who are in sports like football, like boxing, maybe hockey to a lesser extent. They need to have excuses when things don't go well. Because if you're going to pay that.
00:09:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I think Roderick Jones had legitimate excuses. They drafted him to be the left tackle, and they kept that bum Dan Moore Jr. there because Dan Moore said he couldn't switch to right tackle. They should have cut him the minute he said that.
00:09:38
Speaker 4: I agree with you.
00:09:40
Speaker 2: I'm just saying that that excuse thing, the excuse thing is something that you need in a highly physical sport. You need that to say, OK, it didn't work this way, but it's going to work.
00:09:52
Speaker 3: I can still make it work. I saw this all the time when I covered boxing.
00:09:55
Speaker 2: I still remember Thomas Hearns after he got beaten by Marvin Hagler. in three rounds that he said he over-trained his legs, and it clicked for me. You need that excuse if you're going to climb back up in there, and Thomas, to his credit, did later on.
00:10:09
Speaker 1: Oh, no, and even if the excuse is BS, you need to believe it yourself. That can serve as a motivator. So I get it, but getting back to the O-line, You're right. If they can't protect Rodgers, it could be not a long season, but a short season for Rodgers if he gets beat up. And I think that line will coalesce, but it hasn't yet. I think the talent is definitely there to not only be a good line, but maybe a great line.
00:10:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, there is ability there, especially on the left side.
00:10:36
Speaker 3: The right side, a lot of it comes down to IMAX.
00:10:40
Speaker 2: If he is what he looks like on tape in college and what he's shown for a large part, I mean, I know he started roughly in the exhibition game, but he really came on after that.
00:10:52
Speaker 3: He shows a lot.
00:10:54
Speaker 5: Then all you need.
00:10:55
Speaker 2: Is that right guard to just be adequate. And I think Spencer Anderson can be adequate.
00:11:00
Speaker 4: I do too.
00:11:02
Speaker 3: It's not a guarantee, but I think he can.
00:11:05
Speaker 2: And if those guys settle in, the thing that's bothered me a little bit is that there doesn't seem to be a lot of belief within the coaching staff that switching around and moving around is consequential.
00:11:17
Speaker 3: I think they feel like you should be able to do it.
00:11:20
Speaker 5: You're a pro.
00:11:21
Speaker 2: And I realize that in the long term you should, but we're not talking about the long term. We're talking about 2026, and it has to happen pretty quickly for a team that's got basically four-fifths of a new offensive line.
00:11:37
Speaker 4: Mike, you'll notice I haven't asked you about the four-quarterback situation.
00:11:40
Speaker 1: There's a reason for that. I think it's utterly inconsequential. But I don't think it matters who the last guy on the roster is. That said, is there any point to keeping Will Howard?
00:11:50
Speaker 3: I don't see it. They could say they see it.
00:11:53
Speaker 2: But in watching him over the course of the exhibition games, watched every snap he took, one of the things that I was excited about with Drew Aller, in addition to that one throw he made down the sideline and a couple that he made that were really sharp that he didn't make when he was in college, the thing that I was excited about was being able to watch him go through progressions.
00:12:14
Speaker 5: You could see it.
00:12:15
Speaker 3: You could see his eyes move. You could see his head move. Okay, that's not there.
00:12:18
Speaker 5: Here, this isn't.
00:12:19
Speaker 3: Okay, that guy over there, he's open. Let's get it there.
00:12:22
Speaker 5: You could see it.
00:12:23
Speaker 2: With Howard, you saw him lock on to receivers and get sacked because he was locked on.
00:12:29
Speaker 3: You saw him throw.
00:12:30
Speaker 2: Three picks and eschew the blame for all three of them. And there's no way anybody's going to convince me that the third of those that you're supposed to, if you're in a read route that you're supposed to read, oh, the safety's there, I'll run at the safety, not over here where it's wide open and there's nobody there and I'd be wide open.
00:12:49
Speaker 3: That doesn't make any sense to me.
00:12:51
Speaker 2: I think Howard threw the ball too quickly because he didn't see Demar Hamlin. And I didn't like as well that he so visibly made it obvious that it was the other guy's fault.
00:13:04
Speaker 3: The other guy's trying to make the team, too, for goodness sakes.
00:13:07
Speaker 4: I agree totally.
00:13:10
Speaker 1: My point is that I think his ceiling is to be Mason Rudolph. I think that's the best he could possibly be, and I think it would take some doing for him to get to that level, and you already have Mason Rudolph. You can always go get another Mason Rudolph, too.
00:13:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't believe his ceiling is Mason Rudolph because Mason has a significant deep arm. He can be sporadic, and he can make bad reads, and we saw it in the Chicago game last year. But when he's been good, he's been very good.
00:13:39
Speaker 1: Oh, he saved their season in 2023. He won those last three games, Mike. I couldn't see Howard doing that.
00:13:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly my point.
00:13:46
Speaker 2: And that's why, to me, I don't see the point of keeping him maybe as competition.
00:13:52
Speaker 3: For Aller or maybe as an example for Aller how to go through the other stuff away from the field, that kind of thing.
00:14:00
Speaker 2: But in terms of actual on-the-field achievement, I don't think that Pittsburgh or anybody else is going to see significance in that department from Will Howard.
00:14:11
Speaker 4: Mike, as always, great stuff. We will talk again next week.
00:14:15
Speaker 3: Thanks very much, Mark.
00:14:16
Speaker 1: That's Mike DeCoursey X of the sporting news. I got to figure out what his intro is now that he's semi retired. But then again, every time I go to the sporting news website, he's on it. Uh, up next, I got a new way to pick the pirate pitching staff for next year based on the movie, the long walk. And, uh, they could rename the movie too many walks. And, uh, We also got some sound from Mike Greenberg about the Tiger Woods situation. He has now gone from pleading not guilty in that car accident to accepting a plea bargain.
00:14:48
Speaker 4: That's up next, and we've got Reb Beach.
00:14:51
Speaker 1: Bottom of the hour, he plays South Park Amphitheater with his local solo band Friday night at 7.30.
00:14:55
Speaker 4: 105.9 The X. It's the Woody.
00:14:59
Speaker 7: Show.
00:15:00
Speaker 5: Weekday mornings at 6 on 105.9 The X.
00:15:04
Speaker 7: From the NJM Insurance Traffic Center.
00:15:06
Speaker 8: This report is sponsored by Allstate.
00:15:09
Speaker 9: It's a 30-minute delay on the Parkway East outbound the Boulevard of the Allies to Edgewood.
00:15:13
Speaker 5: Super genius, Mark Madden.
00:15:15
Speaker 6: Hey, Mark, great show as always.
00:15:17
Speaker 4: When you got a young trophy wife, owes money to... I can't even quote the Big Lebowski right.
00:15:21
Speaker 5: Goodbye.
00:15:22
Speaker 10: The X at 105.9.
00:15:28
Speaker 1: It's double M on the X. I re-watched that movie, The Long Walk. It's a great flick. Cooper Hoffman's the star. It's based on the first ever novel by Stephen King. You got 50 young men have to walk nonstop until there's one left. Hundreds of miles, no sleep. If you slow below a certain speed too many times, you get shot. And it suddenly came to me. That's how the pirates should build their pitching staff. If your ERA goes over five for more than a week, you get shot in the head.
00:16:04
Speaker 4: Talk about your high leverage situations.
00:16:08
Speaker 1: The controversy about NFL players wanting to return to college ball for the NIL money has taken a local twist. None of them want to go to Pitt. Let's listen to some sound, and this is great. It's the Indy Colts GM, Chris Ballard, about the concept of NFL players going back to play college ball.
00:16:31
Speaker 4: No, that's the stupidest I've ever heard.
00:16:37
Speaker 11: Your entire life, I know I'll catch crap for this, but your entire life you fight to get up to the NFL.
00:16:45
Speaker 5: Okay, but now we're going to go back.
00:16:46
Speaker 4: Okay, that makes a lot of freaking sense.
00:16:50
Speaker 1: I love what Ballard said, and he's right, but here's a disclaimer. College football, like I keep saying, has become a competing pro league because of NIL. If you can make more in college ball than you can in the NFL... or if you're not going to make the NFL at all, then it's about a paycheck trumping pride, as paychecks tend to do. And it doesn't disqualify you from going back to the NFL.
00:17:18
Speaker 4: You go to college, you play good, they get a better look at you.
00:17:22
Speaker 1: It could be a stepping stone as well as an NIL paycheck. I might be embarrassed, like Ballard said, to do that, but I'd be embarrassed to be a fourth string quarterback too, and all we talk about is Will Howard. This is about earning, not failing. I'm curious to see what actually happens. If any of these guys actually wind up playing, actually do go from NFL training camp, exhibition games, whatever, back to playing college ball, however briefly and badly they did in the NFL. Tiger Woods is back in court about that accident. Here's Mike Greenberg reporting the news.
00:18:03
Speaker 11: Tiger Woods appearing in a Florida courtroom this morning, entering a plea agreement to a reckless driving charge following a rollover crash earlier this year. He will have his driver's license suspended for five years. He originally pleaded not guilty in the case, but changed his mind in March. Tiger was driving at a high rate of speed in Jupiter, Florida, and clipped a truck with his Land Rover. The deputies found two pain pills in his pocket and.
00:18:34
Speaker 1: Okay, so he went from not guilty to a plea bargain. I mean, come on, he rolled his vehicle and had pain pills in his pocket. He couldn't be more guilty. But people still going to love Tiger Woods. He's America's pillhead sweetheart.
00:18:50
Speaker 4: And by the way, have you seen Tiger lately? He looks bad. He looks like a pillhead. But if Tiger can get it together, I know he could win the Masters again. if they let him use a golf cart and he didn't roll it.
00:19:06
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00:19:31
Speaker 6: 50.
00:19:31
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00:19:42
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00:20:23
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00:20:35
Speaker 1: Big concert Friday night, 730 at the South Park Amphitheater. Joining me next is the official guitar player of the Mark Madden Show. From Winger and Whitesnake, his solo band is headlining at South Park. It's Red Beach, just around the corner on the X.
00:20:51
Speaker 4: The most talked about music festival on the planet is now even bigger.
00:20:56
Speaker 5: Just added to the lineup.
00:20:58
Speaker 4: Smashing Pumpkins.
00:21:04
Speaker 5: See Smashing Pumpkins along with Weezer.
00:21:09
Speaker 1: News and many more All taking the stage next month At T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
00:21:14
Speaker 2: For our iHeartRadio Music Festival Presented by Capital One.
00:21:18
Speaker 1: Never seen before artist collaboration.
00:21:21
Speaker 10: Once in a lifetime moments you'll never see again.
00:21:23
Speaker 4: Streaming live on Disney Plus and Hulu.
00:21:25
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00:22:38
Speaker 1: Big rock show at south park amphitheater friday night free to everybody joining me now is the headliner from winger white snake docking alice cooper and a bunch of other groups that are too frequent uh too many to name it's a pleasure to welcome to the program the official guitar player of the mark madden show he is rev beach um Reb, your solo band, Local Guy, is going to be playing with you at South Park.
00:23:04
Speaker 4: I love that band.
00:23:06
Speaker 1: It's a great playlist, your stuff, and you just pick classic rock for the rest, and it comes out great.
00:23:12
Speaker 4: What are you going to be playing on Friday?
00:23:15
Speaker 10: Well, today, I was just about half an hour ago, I was watching Judge Judy, and in the commercials, I was learning Crazy Train, because I've never.
00:23:25
Speaker 5: Played that song before, and so.
00:23:28
Speaker 10: then I have to go over round and round by rat. And, um, and we're just going to throw a couple of new ones in there. I'm thinking sweet emotion by Aerosmith, uh, and just kind of, you know, the songs that everybody knows, because this is a family thing. I don't want to do, you know, beside stuff. You know, I want to do stuff where the parents are going and listen, son, listen to this. This is a great, great music, you know, just where everyone knows the song and they're singing along.
00:23:58
Speaker 5: It's a picnic kind of a vibe. And that's what I love about it. Also, I've never been to South Park.
00:24:03
Speaker 10: I've never even been on that end of town, like south of Pittsburgh. I don't even know what's there. So those people have probably never seen me before. So I'm looking forward to playing for kind of a new audience.
00:24:18
Speaker 5: Because I know no one I know is going. My whole family was like, That's way too far there, pal.
00:24:23
Speaker 4: Well, I will be there for what it's worth.
00:24:25
Speaker 1: And I thought you've always done a great job picking set lists for this band. And you mentioned some songs. You guys very often play Kiss and ACDC. Now, initially that surprised me because those songs don't exactly shred as you prefer.
00:24:42
Speaker 10: Well, yeah, but when you got John Bellen in the band, like you have to hear him sing ACDC like Bon Scott era ACDC. It sounds exactly like it. So that's why we do it, because no one does it better than him. And also it's other songs that everybody knows and songs that I love from my childhood. And, you know, the fans of 80s rock are all kind of my age. You know, we all love the same stuff.
00:25:07
Speaker 5: So it's perfect.
00:25:08
Speaker 1: Well, John Bellin, also the singer for Gene the Werewolf, you've worked with him for quite a while, and you always put together a great band. I guess it starts with Throck on drums.
00:25:17
Speaker 5: It's got to be Throck.
00:25:18
Speaker 10: The last 20 years I've been playing with Throck, and half the time I just do it just to get the chance to play with him. I put a new band together, a fusion band, and we're taking the world by storm.
00:25:28
Speaker 5: We're going to tour Europe. We just did a bunch of cruises, the Monsters of Rock cruise.
00:25:34
Speaker 10: Even though it was an 80s rock cruise, we played our fusion stuff, like instrumental music, and just tore the roof off and got great reviews.
00:25:43
Speaker 5: It's really, really fun. I'm loving doing that.
00:25:47
Speaker 10: I love to play with Throck because he's a monster, but my bass player pulled out Greg Smith because they added dates to his Happy Together tour, so I needed a bass player who could sing really well. And the first guy I thought of was the bass player in dock and Chris McCarville.
00:26:07
Speaker 5: So I'm flying him out to do the gig.
00:26:11
Speaker 10: And, uh, we're going to rehearse tomorrow and, and stuff music and, um, play all that stuff. And, and I said, look, this, here's the set list. And he said, well, I already know all those songs.
00:26:21
Speaker 6: I said, good.
00:26:24
Speaker 4: Well, I want to.
00:26:25
Speaker 1: Stay with the fusion thing for a bit. Cause I have not yet seen it, but it is getting rave reviews from everybody who has described for the benefit of the audience. And maybe me too, a little bit. What exactly fusion is? What's this project about?
00:26:40
Speaker 10: Well, my fusion is, is different for each artist, but, um, My music is very inside.
00:26:49
Speaker 5: It's very listenable. It's not a bunch of weird changes.
00:26:52
Speaker 10: It just lends itself to guitar.
00:26:54
Speaker 5: It's very melodic.
00:26:56
Speaker 10: So, you know, think George Benson's Breezin', but with, you know, a little heavier, you know, with a rock guitar, you know, something you can whistle. But then with really awesome solo sections, you know. I did a solo album a few years ago. called a view from the inside it did very well um but i spent like 12 years on it and it ended up being way too overproduced and really hard to recreate live you know maybe i do a couple songs from it but um i i did an old fusion demo that everyone loved you know japanese fans and fans from all over the world.
00:27:38
Speaker 14: Said i love fusion demos favorites you know so i said let's try and do that And man, it just goes over really well. It's just, you know, funk music, you know, great bass lines and do a couple of sambas and, you know, just great beats to play a really nice guitar line, too. And then you wail in the middle of it with a really cool ending and call it fusion.
00:28:04
Speaker 1: Now that won't be Friday night though. That'll be the classic rock. You'll have winger white snake in the songs we've talked about previously. And even though you're changing it up a bit, I hope you're still doing the Hendrix stuff. Cause that to me is the highlight of your solo shows locally with you on vocal stuff like red house. Uh, I bet that's your favorite part of the show too.
00:28:24
Speaker 5: I love doing it. And people always tell me that that's their favorite.
00:28:28
Speaker 10: Um, And we just have some serious improvisational jams.
00:28:35
Speaker 5: You never know what it's going to be. It's different every night.
00:28:39
Speaker 10: And we take it out and go different places musically because it's just the three of us.
00:28:43
Speaker 5: It's like a power trio.
00:28:45
Speaker 10: And it's fun to play guitar and not have to worry too much about singing. And then we do Higher Ground, a Stevie Wonder song, and do a great bass solo, drum solo, and just show the prowess. Some of the best musicians in Pittsburgh. Really, really great to play with these guys. I've been playing with them forever.
00:29:09
Speaker 4: Now, I know you've been influenced by Hendrix.
00:29:10
Speaker 1: You've also been influenced by Blackmore and played a lot of his songs when You played with Whitesnake, a lot of the purple stuff on that purple album. You probably saw Blackmore played the one last show, the one last song, Smoke on the Water with Deep Purple.
00:29:24
Speaker 4: Did you see that? And it was just great that he was up there, wasn't it?
00:29:29
Speaker 5: I thought it was great. I thought it was poignant. It was wonderful. It made me happy to see him up there. He's 81 or something, you know?
00:29:40
Speaker 10: And he just played very basically, he doesn't have, you know, the fast chops anymore, but it was still Richie Blackmore and there was nobody like him. You know, uh, we did the last show at the Syria mosque was winger and deep purple. And you never want to open up for Deep Purple with Richie Blackmore as a guitar player.
00:30:01
Speaker 5: Because people had signs that were like, you know, Richie rules, you know.
00:30:05
Speaker 10: And as soon as I got up there, just like, boo, you suck, you know.
00:30:09
Speaker 5: Throwing stuff at me.
00:30:11
Speaker 10: Before I even played, you know. And, you know, he wasn't a real personable guy. Like, he wasn't a people person.
00:30:20
Speaker 4: Oh, no, I've met him. I will confirm.
00:30:23
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah. They instructed us not to look him in the eye.
00:30:27
Speaker 4: But David loves him, Coverdale.
00:30:32
Speaker 5: Well, you know, he did punch him in the face once. I mean, they had.
00:30:38
Speaker 4: Their argument. Yeah, but I mean since then. It got better.
00:30:41
Speaker 1: Now, you just played a couple of shows with Winger out of retirement.
00:30:45
Speaker 4: How did those go?
00:30:47
Speaker 10: You know, we never retired, for one thing. That's just like an inner thing. Kip always said that he was going to do a few shows here and there, but really winding it down.
00:30:58
Speaker 5: And that's what's happened.
00:31:00
Speaker 10: You know, we only have like three more shows left this year, but it went.
00:31:06
Speaker 5: Really well, like sold out shows. Kip is still singing like back in the day. It's unbelievable. It really, really is.
00:31:15
Speaker 10: All the comments are just saying like, wow, Kip has still got it. He works really hard to keep his voice in shape, but it's a big effort for him. And, of course, he'd much rather do classical. But I think he likes hanging out with us. And I think he likes, you know, feeling like a rock star with all the fans. You know, we do meet and greets where 40 fans come and we sign stuff.
00:31:38
Speaker 5: And, you know, he gets all these accolades.
00:31:41
Speaker 10: And I hope that he just continues to do this for a couple of reasons. One's financial reasons. And the other one is just that I love playing with Winger. It's like an old pair of jeans and it's music that I wrote. And, you know, it's a big band and playing with Rod Morgenstein, of course. And it's all original members, which you don't really.
00:32:01
Speaker 5: That's right.
00:32:02
Speaker 4: That's right.
00:32:03
Speaker 1: And like, no, I, I, I think, and I've told you, I think you guys in LA guns are the, the heritage bands is still look and play the part more than anybody. So I hope you continue indefinitely too. And, and the thing with Kip is I'm sure he signed a great, he always does, but he beats himself up.
00:32:19
Speaker 4: He's his own worst critic.
00:32:21
Speaker 1: I remember when you guys played M three, And I saw Kip at breakfast the next day, and he was like, oh, I missed this. But then he talked about how great David Lee Roth was. And I'm like thinking, Kip, you were way better than David Lee Roth. But he's just his own worst critic.
00:32:35
Speaker 4: That's fair to say, right?
00:32:37
Speaker 5: Absolutely. He is. He's a tough one.
00:32:40
Speaker 10: If he just misses a couple of notes in miles away, he has a heart attack after the show and thinks that he sucked. But, you know, he doesn't understand it. And it happens to all of us, really. Like, I'll think I had a bad night, and then I'll go and watch YouTube and say, oh, that actually wasn't that bad.
00:33:02
Speaker 1: Now, before we let you go, Reb, we've talked about the set list for Friday at South Park Amphitheater.
00:33:08
Speaker 4: Show starts at 7.30. Is there any song.
00:33:12
Speaker 4: You would just rather not ever play again, not necessarily of one of your bands, but just one you've played too much and you're tired of it. For example, I love Led Zeppelin. I'm not sure I need to ever hear Stairway again.
00:33:24
Speaker 5: Boy, yeah.
00:33:29
Speaker 14: You know what?
00:33:34
Speaker 10: There's one song I really didn't like playing with Whitesnake, and it's your favorite.
00:33:39
Speaker 5: I know it. My other line is beeping. It's your favorite song.
00:33:42
Speaker 4: Guilty of love.
00:33:44
Speaker 5: That's the one that I really didn't like playing that song.
00:33:48
Speaker 10: Um, but, but you know, now that I haven't played in white snake for four years or whatever, uh, I, I would happily play it, but.
00:33:57
Speaker 5: No, I, you know, all of those winger songs I love playing. I mean, really all of them. There's, especially the hits i never get.
00:34:07
Speaker 2: Sick of that because it's easy well they're your babies too you wrote them.
00:34:11
Speaker 10: I wrote them but when you're on autopilot like that you can just jump around and run around and have fun you don't even have to think about what you're playing um and so yeah i never was that way i was never sick of playing the songs.
00:34:26
Speaker 1: Because i loved them all well guilty of love being the setlist friday Yeah, I'll do it for you if you come.
00:34:32
Speaker 4: No, you won't. I am coming, but no, you won't.
00:34:35
Speaker 5: I didn't know you were coming.
00:34:36
Speaker 4: Absolutely.
00:34:37
Speaker 5: Absolutely. Come on.
00:34:38
Speaker 4: It's not too far for me. Rep, it's always a pleasure talking to you. I will see you Friday night.
00:34:46
Speaker 5: Fantastic. Thanks, Mark.
00:34:47
Speaker 1: That's the great Red Beach, who is always surprised when I show up, but I'm always there.
00:34:52
Speaker 4: Kind of odd.
00:34:53
Speaker 1: Anyway, Reb Beach and his local solo band, Winger, Whitesnake, hits from the 70s and 80s.
00:34:58
Speaker 4: It will be awesome.
00:35:00
Speaker 1: 7.30 Friday night, free admission at South Park Amphitheater. But now it's time to ask Mark anything. 833-412-WXDX. That's 833-412-WXDX. Or you can leave a talkback using the microphone icon at the iHeartMedia app. We've got Sean Casey talking baseball next hour.
00:35:20
Speaker 4: I'm Mark Madden, 105.9.
00:35:21
Speaker 10: Time now to send in your questions for.
00:35:24
Speaker 9: Ask Mark Anything.
00:35:26
Speaker 2: Use the talkback mic on your free iHeartRadio app and record your question for the super genius.
00:35:34
Speaker 5: It's the Woody Show.
00:35:35
Speaker 4: Weekday mornings, 6.
00:35:37
Speaker 5: To 10 on 105.9.
00:35:38
Speaker 13: This hour of the Mark Madden Show is brought to you by.
00:35:41
Speaker 4: My favorite Whitesnake song. And Rev hates it. It's his least favorite. I miss Whitesnake. I miss David. I miss all that.
00:35:51
Speaker 1: Time not to ask Mark anything. 833-412-WXDX. Brought to us by the Steelers Pro Shop.
00:35:58
Speaker 4: Excuse me. That's next segment.
00:35:59
Speaker 1: This segment brought to us by People's Natural Gas.
00:36:03
Speaker 4: Check it out at peoples-gas.com. This show today is all over the place.
00:36:08
Speaker 1: I can't get back in a groove after spending the week in, well, four days anyway in England. My clock's not adjusted yet, but I persevere, and at any rate, I'm 65.
00:36:19
Speaker 4: I can just claim it's dementia. Like I said, time to ask Mark anything. Let's go to Sean. Sean, you're on with Double M.
00:36:29
Speaker 6: Hey, Mark. Good day.
00:36:30
Speaker 4: I said good day.
00:36:32
Speaker 16: Hey, is the strike zone still varied depending on the size of the batter? Because that rectangle looks the same no matter if it's Aaron Judge or Jose Altuve.
00:36:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, it varies. It's what, armpits to the top of the knees, right?
00:36:50
Speaker 16: Yeah, from what I remember, it was knees to letters. But especially on the ABS challenges, it seems like it's all the same.
00:36:58
Speaker 1: I haven't heard anybody say that, but I think there's such little disparity in the height of most players that it probably just looks the same, because it's always, whatever it is, letters to the top of the knees. I would assume if there was the same graphic being applied, no matter the height, we would.
00:37:16
Speaker 4: Hear about that.
00:37:17
Speaker 1: I think it would look disproportionate. I think what you're seeing actually looks proportionate but you think it's the same because the heights are different, if that makes any sense.
00:37:25
Speaker 4: Let's go to Rick. Rick, ask Mark anything.
00:37:29
Speaker 2: Hey, Mark.
00:37:30
Speaker 6: First of all, I did have a question for you, but I wanted to tell you about the indoor fireworks.
00:37:35
Speaker 7: Okay.
00:37:35
Speaker 6: They actually have them. They had them last year at PPG, and it was like, do you remember when we were kids, you had the sparklers you lit up and you'd swirl them around, and that's the only way you got sparks? That's what it looked like. It was really bad.
00:37:47
Speaker 1: I can't believe that I must have missed that because I'm at virtually every Penguin game, but.
00:37:52
Speaker 4: But like I said, hopefully this year.
00:37:53
Speaker 1: That there's something big happens, like Potash's hair gets lit on fire.
00:37:58
Speaker 4: What else you got?
00:37:59
Speaker 6: What else do you have?
00:38:04
Speaker 4: Okay, let's go to Matt Monroeville. Matt, you're on with Double M.
00:38:08
Speaker 15: Hey, Mark, I got a question.
00:38:09
Speaker 16: Which fan base do you think is more delusional at the start of every year, Maple Leafs fans, Pirates fans, or Steelers fans?
00:38:18
Speaker 4: That's a really good question. I would say Pirates fans, wouldn't you?
00:38:23
Speaker 6: I would say it's either them or Maple Leafs fans because they say every year is their year in Toronto.
00:38:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, but the Pirates fans say every year is going to be their year and they never come close. Whereas the Leafs, I mean, they make the playoffs most of the time anyway, although they did finish dead last this past season. I think the most accurate thing to say there is a heaping helping of delusion with all three fan bases.
00:38:47
Speaker 6: Agreed.
00:38:48
Speaker 4: Thank you for the call.
00:38:49
Speaker 1: Let's go to our good friend, the Hebrew Hammer, Hammer Yakshamash.
00:38:54
Speaker 15: Hey, Mark, Yakshamash. I have a two-parter. Who's your favorite WNBA team?
00:39:01
Speaker 4: The Pittsburgh Condors.
00:39:04
Speaker 15: Hey, that's a good pick. Hey, are you going to see Ted Nugent next week?
00:39:08
Speaker 4: He's down near Nemecolin, correct?
00:39:11
Speaker 15: That's called Timber Rock. Yeah, it's next Friday, the 11th.
00:39:14
Speaker 4: How close is it to Nemecolin? How far is it from Pittsburgh?
00:39:18
Speaker 15: Like from Pittsburgh, you'd go on 51 and it's like one hour.
00:39:22
Speaker 6: On the nose.
00:39:23
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:39:24
Speaker 1: Uh, I'm thinking about it and I liked Ted a lot. He's been a guest on the show, as you may recall. Uh, and, his songbook is foolproof.
00:39:31
Speaker 4: I just, I don't know.
00:39:33
Speaker 1: I mean, like I'm going to less concerts and to more sporting events, but, uh, if it's only an hour away, I might try to fit Ted in.
00:39:39
Speaker 4: Are you going?
00:39:40
Speaker 6: Uh, I'm thinking about it. It's a cool venue.
00:39:45
Speaker 15: Um, and he's, you know, he's cool. So, uh, Yeah, if I see you there... What's your favorite Ted song?
00:39:55
Speaker 4: Stranglehold, I guess. That's too cliched. Mine's Wang Dang, Sweet... Well, you know, that's your.
00:40:03
Speaker 5: Cue.
00:40:04
Speaker 4: I think I could say.
00:40:06
Speaker 4: See, that's... I don't know. Is it worth it? Oh, speaking of which.
00:40:11
Speaker 1: I do cameos. And I've done a lot just recently... announcing the draft order for various fantasy football leagues.
00:40:22
Speaker 4: I did one that they liked it so much.
00:40:26
Speaker 1: They gave me a $ 50 tip after the fact, I felt like a stripper who had broken the rules, given manual release 50 bucks.
00:40:33
Speaker 16: Wow.
00:40:34
Speaker 4: Uh, let's go to a talk back.
00:40:39
Speaker 13: You guys were talking about, uh, movies with radio hosts. Um, You forgot about Philip Seymour Hoffman from the movie Pirate Radio, who plays the Count. That's a great movie about the birth of rock and roll on the radio.
00:40:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, I saw Pirate Radio. I didn't think much of it. And I love Philip Seymour Hoffman. I believe my love for you is a love that will last forever.
00:41:08
Speaker 4: What's the second verse?
00:41:10
Speaker 1: I can never forget all the times when I took what you gave me for granted. So I stand accused and I plead guilty to the crime. You can lock me away if you want just as long as your arms are around me. And I won't mind if you just throw away the key.
00:41:28
Speaker 4: I'm guilty of love. Let's go to Alan. Alan, you're on with Double M.
00:41:34
Speaker 6: Yeah, Mark, if you lived in the 14th Congressional District of North Carolina in 2012, who would you have voted for, Cam Brady or Marty Huggins?
00:41:43
Speaker 4: Thank you for the call. It's a crime of passion, guilty of love.
00:41:48
Speaker 1: And there's no doubt about it, no doubt about it.
00:41:53
Speaker 4: Let's go to a talkback.
00:41:55
Speaker 7: Double M, what happened to the days where we try our four-string goaltender, our four-string quarterback to make it through a season to maybe have a higher draft pick the next season?
00:42:08
Speaker 5: I think it needs to happen. I mean, what would EJ do?
00:42:11
Speaker 1: The Steelers and Penguins both desperately need to bottom out. They desperately need to do that to draft their next guy. And they won't because the Penguins feel indebted to the old guys in the dressing room and the Steelers feel indebted to the old guys in the dressing room. In the Penguins' case, I don't like it, but I understand it because those old guys have won.
00:42:35
Speaker 4: But who'd Cam Hayward ever beat? Who'd T.J.
00:42:37
Speaker 1: Watt ever beat? And Aaron Rodgers, he won a Super Bowl. He beat the Steelers to do it.
00:42:44
Speaker 4: We owe you nothing. My heart is beating faster, babe. Beating like a big bass drum. Bam, bam, ba-na-na-na. Bam, bam, ba-na-na-na.
00:42:56
Speaker 1: Rev likes playing that one. Okay, this segment brought to us by who? People's Natural Gas. That's right, we love them. And up next, we'll talk about something. And at the bottom of the hour, great stuff with Sean Casey. Get your calls in, more calls. Don't forget, the show goes back as of next Tuesday.
00:43:17
Speaker 4: To 2 till 6. A lot of room for calls. A lot of room for calls right now to 833-412-WXDX. Back to Lost.
Speaker 1: Prior segment brought to us by danny's pizza and hoagies route 88 bethel park family owned and operated since 1960 joining me now he's still with the sporting news kind of retired we love having him on he's mike de courcy uh mike does joey porter jr have any choice but to play despite no.
00:00:18
Speaker 2: Extension he doesn't he well he had he has a choice but it's a terrible choice it's not like that no one has ever done that before, but it gives him no additional leverage. The reality is that the Steelers have all the leverage here, and I'm not saying that I believe that that means they should necessarily apply it all. I still think if you're going to be generous with Keanu Benton, then you can be generous with the best corners.
00:00:45
Speaker 1: And Herbig and Washington, and every time Cam Hayward whined, they gave him a bigger bag. This is the only guy they've chosen to play hardball with since Le'Veon Bell.
00:00:54
Speaker 2: That's not necessarily true because don't forget, we're only a couple of years removed from Hayward going very close to the first snap before it actually happened. And the same with TJ several years before that. So we don't know how hard the ball is yet. We won't really know until probably next Thursday whether they've played super hard or But I do think that this is a player at a position where you have been historically awful.
00:01:26
Speaker 3: I mean, okay, yeah, you had Mel Blunt and Rod Woodson. You got it right twice.
00:01:30
Speaker 2: But then when your third best is Ike Taylor, you got to say to yourself, if that's our standard, then we have a chance to vastly surpass that. Let's stay in the Joey Porter business.
00:01:43
Speaker 1: No, I couldn't agree more. But again, to repeat, he's got to play. You are correct about him having zero leverage, but I got to tell you, if he does play, what was the point of everything he did up till now?
00:01:58
Speaker 2: Well, I think no one really seems to like going through training camp. And there is the element of protecting yourself from injury that is not that much more likely when you're in camp, but it is a little bit more likely.
00:02:13
Speaker 4: So there's that.
00:02:14
Speaker 5: I think that's the.
00:02:15
Speaker 2: Biggest reason why you wouldn't do it. And I think you are making a statement, too, that, yeah, you.
00:02:19
Speaker 3: Want to you want to get a new contract. And let's be honest, you're somewhat following the crowd.
00:02:24
Speaker 2: I mean, that's what TJ did. That's what Cam did. That's what other players and other franchises have done is is basically pass on training camp to show that you feel like you deserve a new deal and you haven't gotten one yet, as opposed to your three teammates.
00:02:39
Speaker 4: How much does no Deshaun Elliott hurt for at least the first four weeks? I feel like he's a glue guy and a tough guy in that secondary.
00:02:47
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that it's.
00:02:48
Speaker 2: Hard to say because we don't know what their replacements are going to be like in actual football games.
00:02:53
Speaker 3: We haven't seen them on the field yet.
00:02:55
Speaker 2: They are rookies or new to the organization and Elliot's an outstanding run defender. He is not a great pass defender, but he's an outstanding run defender.
00:03:05
Speaker 1: But like I said, Mike, he's a glue guy, and that secondary has never been as good since he got here as to when he's been available.
00:03:14
Speaker 3: Oh, I think that's true.
00:03:15
Speaker 2: Because, again, he does something that they don't do well at most positions, and that's stop the run. I mean, the fact that they cut Landon Roberts when Patrick Queen hasn't shown a great affinity for stopping the run in his time here. You're looking at the one player who, when he goes on the field, past the defensive line, who's an exceptional run stopper. And so without him, you're at risk. Now, like I said, I mean, whoever takes his place, and we still don't know who that's going to be, could do an adequate job in that department, We have no idea because we haven't, we've seen them in exhibition games. Those who've gone to training camp have seen them at training camp, but no one's seen him, seen those players really in games against players like Bijan Robinson.
00:04:07
Speaker 1: I got to interrupt Mike. Aaron Rogers is talking to the media. He said, Roman Wilson's had a great camp. He says that Jeremy Bernard's on his way to being a good player. And he also talked about the measles issue. This dumb bastard just can't help himself.
00:04:23
Speaker 5: Oh, my.
00:04:25
Speaker 3: And I suppose he was anti-vaccine.
00:04:27
Speaker 5: For that, too.
00:04:28
Speaker 1: I can't find anything that he said exactly, but that's the last thing he needs.
00:04:34
Speaker 4: To be talking about.
00:04:36
Speaker 1: Getting back to things that aren't insane, the ESPN list of top 100 NFL players came out. The Steelers have only two on it, Hayward at 70 and Watt at 65.
00:04:50
Speaker 4: And I hate to say it, but that sounds about right.
00:04:52
Speaker 1: What's that say about the current state of the Steelers, especially as it pertains to star power?
00:04:59
Speaker 3: Well, I think they are limited in star power at this point.
00:05:02
Speaker 5: There's no doubt about that.
00:05:03
Speaker 3: I thought they were a little harsh with Joey.
00:05:05
Speaker 2: I think it gets hard for me to imagine there's 100 better football players than him. But I don't know that adding one more toward the bottom of the list.
00:05:13
Speaker 4: I think so, too, Mike.
00:05:14
Speaker 1: But I don't think it's good for his optics that there are 10 cornerbacks on the list and he's not one.
00:05:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I don't think that they're going to go in and say, the Steelers are going to go in and say, hey, ESPN said you're no good. I don't think that they're too worried about that.
00:05:31
Speaker 1: No, no, no, but I think it says something about how he's considered, too.
00:05:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I think that's fair, but I don't know who from ESPN did that. There are people at ESPN I respect tremendously, and there are people at ESPN that.
00:05:45
Speaker 5: I wouldn't buy coffee for, so.
00:05:49
Speaker 2: I don't know whether or not the people who were involved in this process.
00:05:54
Speaker 5: Are the people on the floor.
00:05:56
Speaker 3: Oh, no, no.
00:05:56
Speaker 1: I'm just talking broad strokes here, Mike. I mean, when there's only two guys and they're old guys and they're defensive guys, it doesn't say much about your star power or about the dynamic nature, or lack thereof, of your football team.
00:06:10
Speaker 4: But in that vein, do the Steelers have a No. 1 receiver?
00:06:14
Speaker 1: And despite what Rodgers apparently just said, do they really have a No.
00:06:17
Speaker 4: 3 receiver?
00:06:19
Speaker 2: Oh, I think they have good options now.
00:06:21
Speaker 3: It's a better.
00:06:23
Speaker 2: receiver one to four better receiver set one to four by far than they had a year ago last year they had one and then it was like who else is out there and that's why you wound up with players like valdez scantling at the end of the year trying to catch big passes i mean they had no options beyond dk uh i we we didn't get to see pitman much uh in in the training camp and exhibition season but we have to assume that he's an improvement uh bernard hasn't done anything wrong in public When he's played in actual football competition, he's looked really good, made good plays. What he does in games that are better schemed, et cetera, again, we won't know.
00:07:04
Speaker 3: But I think there's promise there.
00:07:06
Speaker 2: Roman Wilson, it's easy to give up on a player when he loses his entire rookie year to injury and then doesn't do much the second year.
00:07:18
Speaker 4: We'll know.
00:07:20
Speaker 2: Probably within two weeks, whether or not this is a dramatically changed football player. You're right that there's not a lot to get excited about in terms of their star level talent, but guys like Derek Harmon, these are, and, and Faltano, these are, and McCormick, these are players that, and, and of course, Zach Frazier, these are players that you expect to become really good.
00:07:40
Speaker 5: And, and they're.
00:07:42
Speaker 3: Either on the verge of it or there's promise there.
00:07:45
Speaker 2: And, I think that, you know, it's funny because there's been a lot of conversation about the Steelers being the oldest team and all that. And I just named four guys that are essentially year one to three and all who could become exceptional players.
00:07:59
Speaker 3: I don't think this is an old team. I think Roger skews.
00:08:01
Speaker 2: That cam skews that it's a team with a lot of young players, some promising young talent, and they're going to.
00:08:09
Speaker 3: Have to prove it on the field.
00:08:11
Speaker 1: What are your realistic expectations for Rodgers at 42? What's your ceiling? He's not going to be all pro. He's not going to be pro bowl, and thank God that game doesn't exist anymore. But what can he realistically be expected to do?
00:08:26
Speaker 2: If he is protected, I think he can realistically be expected to make the kinds of plays that win games more often than not.
00:08:36
Speaker 3: And does that mean like 12-5?
00:08:39
Speaker 2: No. It means more often than not, which means probably they're trying to go somewhere north of 10-7. If they can get north of 10-7, then they've had a tremendous year. And I think he's capable of that. If he's not protected, my expectations are that it could be a really rough year. And that's why I talk about the offensive line.
00:09:01
Speaker 3: I mentioned three guys that have real talent.
00:09:03
Speaker 2: But they changed the position of two of them, and that's not inconsequential. I know a lot of people are upset because Broderick Jones said, you know, that really kind of messed with my game. I think that athletes who are in sports like football, like boxing, maybe hockey to a lesser extent. They need to have excuses when things don't go well. Because if you're going to pay that.
00:09:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I think Roderick Jones had legitimate excuses. They drafted him to be the left tackle, and they kept that bum Dan Moore Jr. there because Dan Moore said he couldn't switch to right tackle. They should have cut him the minute he said that.
00:09:38
Speaker 4: I agree with you.
00:09:40
Speaker 2: I'm just saying that that excuse thing, the excuse thing is something that you need in a highly physical sport. You need that to say, OK, it didn't work this way, but it's going to work.
00:09:52
Speaker 3: I can still make it work. I saw this all the time when I covered boxing.
00:09:55
Speaker 2: I still remember Thomas Hearns after he got beaten by Marvin Hagler. in three rounds that he said he over-trained his legs, and it clicked for me. You need that excuse if you're going to climb back up in there, and Thomas, to his credit, did later on.
00:10:09
Speaker 1: Oh, no, and even if the excuse is BS, you need to believe it yourself. That can serve as a motivator. So I get it, but getting back to the O-line, You're right. If they can't protect Rodgers, it could be not a long season, but a short season for Rodgers if he gets beat up. And I think that line will coalesce, but it hasn't yet. I think the talent is definitely there to not only be a good line, but maybe a great line.
00:10:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, there is ability there, especially on the left side.
00:10:36
Speaker 3: The right side, a lot of it comes down to IMAX.
00:10:40
Speaker 2: If he is what he looks like on tape in college and what he's shown for a large part, I mean, I know he started roughly in the exhibition game, but he really came on after that.
00:10:52
Speaker 3: He shows a lot.
00:10:54
Speaker 5: Then all you need.
00:10:55
Speaker 2: Is that right guard to just be adequate. And I think Spencer Anderson can be adequate.
00:11:00
Speaker 4: I do too.
00:11:02
Speaker 3: It's not a guarantee, but I think he can.
00:11:05
Speaker 2: And if those guys settle in, the thing that's bothered me a little bit is that there doesn't seem to be a lot of belief within the coaching staff that switching around and moving around is consequential.
00:11:17
Speaker 3: I think they feel like you should be able to do it.
00:11:20
Speaker 5: You're a pro.
00:11:21
Speaker 2: And I realize that in the long term you should, but we're not talking about the long term. We're talking about 2026, and it has to happen pretty quickly for a team that's got basically four-fifths of a new offensive line.
00:11:37
Speaker 4: Mike, you'll notice I haven't asked you about the four-quarterback situation.
00:11:40
Speaker 1: There's a reason for that. I think it's utterly inconsequential. But I don't think it matters who the last guy on the roster is. That said, is there any point to keeping Will Howard?
00:11:50
Speaker 3: I don't see it. They could say they see it.
00:11:53
Speaker 2: But in watching him over the course of the exhibition games, watched every snap he took, one of the things that I was excited about with Drew Aller, in addition to that one throw he made down the sideline and a couple that he made that were really sharp that he didn't make when he was in college, the thing that I was excited about was being able to watch him go through progressions.
00:12:14
Speaker 5: You could see it.
00:12:15
Speaker 3: You could see his eyes move. You could see his head move. Okay, that's not there.
00:12:18
Speaker 5: Here, this isn't.
00:12:19
Speaker 3: Okay, that guy over there, he's open. Let's get it there.
00:12:22
Speaker 5: You could see it.
00:12:23
Speaker 2: With Howard, you saw him lock on to receivers and get sacked because he was locked on.
00:12:29
Speaker 3: You saw him throw.
00:12:30
Speaker 2: Three picks and eschew the blame for all three of them. And there's no way anybody's going to convince me that the third of those that you're supposed to, if you're in a read route that you're supposed to read, oh, the safety's there, I'll run at the safety, not over here where it's wide open and there's nobody there and I'd be wide open.
00:12:49
Speaker 3: That doesn't make any sense to me.
00:12:51
Speaker 2: I think Howard threw the ball too quickly because he didn't see Demar Hamlin. And I didn't like as well that he so visibly made it obvious that it was the other guy's fault.
00:13:04
Speaker 3: The other guy's trying to make the team, too, for goodness sakes.
00:13:07
Speaker 4: I agree totally.
00:13:10
Speaker 1: My point is that I think his ceiling is to be Mason Rudolph. I think that's the best he could possibly be, and I think it would take some doing for him to get to that level, and you already have Mason Rudolph. You can always go get another Mason Rudolph, too.
00:13:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't believe his ceiling is Mason Rudolph because Mason has a significant deep arm. He can be sporadic, and he can make bad reads, and we saw it in the Chicago game last year. But when he's been good, he's been very good.
00:13:39
Speaker 1: Oh, he saved their season in 2023. He won those last three games, Mike. I couldn't see Howard doing that.
00:13:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly my point.
00:13:46
Speaker 2: And that's why, to me, I don't see the point of keeping him maybe as competition.
00:13:52
Speaker 3: For Aller or maybe as an example for Aller how to go through the other stuff away from the field, that kind of thing.
00:14:00
Speaker 2: But in terms of actual on-the-field achievement, I don't think that Pittsburgh or anybody else is going to see significance in that department from Will Howard.
00:14:11
Speaker 4: Mike, as always, great stuff. We will talk again next week.
00:14:15
Speaker 3: Thanks very much, Mark.
00:14:16
Speaker 1: That's Mike DeCoursey X of the sporting news. I got to figure out what his intro is now that he's semi retired. But then again, every time I go to the sporting news website, he's on it. Uh, up next, I got a new way to pick the pirate pitching staff for next year based on the movie, the long walk. And, uh, they could rename the movie too many walks. And, uh, We also got some sound from Mike Greenberg about the Tiger Woods situation. He has now gone from pleading not guilty in that car accident to accepting a plea bargain.
00:14:48
Speaker 4: That's up next, and we've got Reb Beach.
00:14:51
Speaker 1: Bottom of the hour, he plays South Park Amphitheater with his local solo band Friday night at 7.30.
00:14:55
Speaker 4: 105.9 The X. It's the Woody.
00:14:59
Speaker 7: Show.
00:15:00
Speaker 5: Weekday mornings at 6 on 105.9 The X.
00:15:04
Speaker 7: From the NJM Insurance Traffic Center.
00:15:06
Speaker 8: This report is sponsored by Allstate.
00:15:09
Speaker 9: It's a 30-minute delay on the Parkway East outbound the Boulevard of the Allies to Edgewood.
00:15:13
Speaker 5: Super genius, Mark Madden.
00:15:15
Speaker 6: Hey, Mark, great show as always.
00:15:17
Speaker 4: When you got a young trophy wife, owes money to... I can't even quote the Big Lebowski right.
00:15:21
Speaker 5: Goodbye.
00:15:22
Speaker 10: The X at 105.9.
00:15:28
Speaker 1: It's double M on the X. I re-watched that movie, The Long Walk. It's a great flick. Cooper Hoffman's the star. It's based on the first ever novel by Stephen King. You got 50 young men have to walk nonstop until there's one left. Hundreds of miles, no sleep. If you slow below a certain speed too many times, you get shot. And it suddenly came to me. That's how the pirates should build their pitching staff. If your ERA goes over five for more than a week, you get shot in the head.
00:16:04
Speaker 4: Talk about your high leverage situations.
00:16:08
Speaker 1: The controversy about NFL players wanting to return to college ball for the NIL money has taken a local twist. None of them want to go to Pitt. Let's listen to some sound, and this is great. It's the Indy Colts GM, Chris Ballard, about the concept of NFL players going back to play college ball.
00:16:31
Speaker 4: No, that's the stupidest I've ever heard.
00:16:37
Speaker 11: Your entire life, I know I'll catch crap for this, but your entire life you fight to get up to the NFL.
00:16:45
Speaker 5: Okay, but now we're going to go back.
00:16:46
Speaker 4: Okay, that makes a lot of freaking sense.
00:16:50
Speaker 1: I love what Ballard said, and he's right, but here's a disclaimer. College football, like I keep saying, has become a competing pro league because of NIL. If you can make more in college ball than you can in the NFL... or if you're not going to make the NFL at all, then it's about a paycheck trumping pride, as paychecks tend to do. And it doesn't disqualify you from going back to the NFL.
00:17:18
Speaker 4: You go to college, you play good, they get a better look at you.
00:17:22
Speaker 1: It could be a stepping stone as well as an NIL paycheck. I might be embarrassed, like Ballard said, to do that, but I'd be embarrassed to be a fourth string quarterback too, and all we talk about is Will Howard. This is about earning, not failing. I'm curious to see what actually happens. If any of these guys actually wind up playing, actually do go from NFL training camp, exhibition games, whatever, back to playing college ball, however briefly and badly they did in the NFL. Tiger Woods is back in court about that accident. Here's Mike Greenberg reporting the news.
00:18:03
Speaker 11: Tiger Woods appearing in a Florida courtroom this morning, entering a plea agreement to a reckless driving charge following a rollover crash earlier this year. He will have his driver's license suspended for five years. He originally pleaded not guilty in the case, but changed his mind in March. Tiger was driving at a high rate of speed in Jupiter, Florida, and clipped a truck with his Land Rover. The deputies found two pain pills in his pocket and.
00:18:34
Speaker 1: Okay, so he went from not guilty to a plea bargain. I mean, come on, he rolled his vehicle and had pain pills in his pocket. He couldn't be more guilty. But people still going to love Tiger Woods. He's America's pillhead sweetheart.
00:18:50
Speaker 4: And by the way, have you seen Tiger lately? He looks bad. He looks like a pillhead. But if Tiger can get it together, I know he could win the Masters again. if they let him use a golf cart and he didn't roll it.
00:19:06
Speaker 1: Now it's time to talk about bet parks because college football is alive. Week one is upon us, and it's the perfect time to make your futures bets on who's going to win it all in college football. Pitt hosts Miami of Ohio to kick off their season on Saturday. Here are the futures bets odds right now on favorites to win the college football championship. Number four-ranked Notre Dame is the favorite, and a $ 25 bet on Notre Dame to win it all pays $ 137.
00:19:31
Speaker 6: 50.
00:19:31
Speaker 4: A $ 25 wager on number one-ranked Ohio State to win it all pays $ 150, and number 18-ranked Penn State wins you $ 1, 875 on a $ 25 wager. to win it all pays $ 150 and number 18 ranked Penn State.
00:19:42
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00:20:23
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00:20:35
Speaker 1: Big concert Friday night, 730 at the South Park Amphitheater. Joining me next is the official guitar player of the Mark Madden Show. From Winger and Whitesnake, his solo band is headlining at South Park. It's Red Beach, just around the corner on the X.
00:20:51
Speaker 4: The most talked about music festival on the planet is now even bigger.
00:20:56
Speaker 5: Just added to the lineup.
00:20:58
Speaker 4: Smashing Pumpkins.
00:21:04
Speaker 5: See Smashing Pumpkins along with Weezer.
00:21:09
Speaker 1: News and many more All taking the stage next month At T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
00:21:14
Speaker 2: For our iHeartRadio Music Festival Presented by Capital One.
00:21:18
Speaker 1: Never seen before artist collaboration.
00:21:21
Speaker 10: Once in a lifetime moments you'll never see again.
00:21:23
Speaker 4: Streaming live on Disney Plus and Hulu.
00:21:25
Speaker 2: Buy your tickets now at AXS.com And keep listening for the next chance to win your way to see Smashing Pumpkins At our iHeartRadio Music Festival summer is made for road trips and get go cafe and.
00:21:38
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00:21:40
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00:21:50
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00:21:56
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00:22:09
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00:22:24
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00:22:38
Speaker 1: Big rock show at south park amphitheater friday night free to everybody joining me now is the headliner from winger white snake docking alice cooper and a bunch of other groups that are too frequent uh too many to name it's a pleasure to welcome to the program the official guitar player of the mark madden show he is rev beach um Reb, your solo band, Local Guy, is going to be playing with you at South Park.
00:23:04
Speaker 4: I love that band.
00:23:06
Speaker 1: It's a great playlist, your stuff, and you just pick classic rock for the rest, and it comes out great.
00:23:12
Speaker 4: What are you going to be playing on Friday?
00:23:15
Speaker 10: Well, today, I was just about half an hour ago, I was watching Judge Judy, and in the commercials, I was learning Crazy Train, because I've never.
00:23:25
Speaker 5: Played that song before, and so.
00:23:28
Speaker 10: then I have to go over round and round by rat. And, um, and we're just going to throw a couple of new ones in there. I'm thinking sweet emotion by Aerosmith, uh, and just kind of, you know, the songs that everybody knows, because this is a family thing. I don't want to do, you know, beside stuff. You know, I want to do stuff where the parents are going and listen, son, listen to this. This is a great, great music, you know, just where everyone knows the song and they're singing along.
00:23:58
Speaker 5: It's a picnic kind of a vibe. And that's what I love about it. Also, I've never been to South Park.
00:24:03
Speaker 10: I've never even been on that end of town, like south of Pittsburgh. I don't even know what's there. So those people have probably never seen me before. So I'm looking forward to playing for kind of a new audience.
00:24:18
Speaker 5: Because I know no one I know is going. My whole family was like, That's way too far there, pal.
00:24:23
Speaker 4: Well, I will be there for what it's worth.
00:24:25
Speaker 1: And I thought you've always done a great job picking set lists for this band. And you mentioned some songs. You guys very often play Kiss and ACDC. Now, initially that surprised me because those songs don't exactly shred as you prefer.
00:24:42
Speaker 10: Well, yeah, but when you got John Bellen in the band, like you have to hear him sing ACDC like Bon Scott era ACDC. It sounds exactly like it. So that's why we do it, because no one does it better than him. And also it's other songs that everybody knows and songs that I love from my childhood. And, you know, the fans of 80s rock are all kind of my age. You know, we all love the same stuff.
00:25:07
Speaker 5: So it's perfect.
00:25:08
Speaker 1: Well, John Bellin, also the singer for Gene the Werewolf, you've worked with him for quite a while, and you always put together a great band. I guess it starts with Throck on drums.
00:25:17
Speaker 5: It's got to be Throck.
00:25:18
Speaker 10: The last 20 years I've been playing with Throck, and half the time I just do it just to get the chance to play with him. I put a new band together, a fusion band, and we're taking the world by storm.
00:25:28
Speaker 5: We're going to tour Europe. We just did a bunch of cruises, the Monsters of Rock cruise.
00:25:34
Speaker 10: Even though it was an 80s rock cruise, we played our fusion stuff, like instrumental music, and just tore the roof off and got great reviews.
00:25:43
Speaker 5: It's really, really fun. I'm loving doing that.
00:25:47
Speaker 10: I love to play with Throck because he's a monster, but my bass player pulled out Greg Smith because they added dates to his Happy Together tour, so I needed a bass player who could sing really well. And the first guy I thought of was the bass player in dock and Chris McCarville.
00:26:07
Speaker 5: So I'm flying him out to do the gig.
00:26:11
Speaker 10: And, uh, we're going to rehearse tomorrow and, and stuff music and, um, play all that stuff. And, and I said, look, this, here's the set list. And he said, well, I already know all those songs.
00:26:21
Speaker 6: I said, good.
00:26:24
Speaker 4: Well, I want to.
00:26:25
Speaker 1: Stay with the fusion thing for a bit. Cause I have not yet seen it, but it is getting rave reviews from everybody who has described for the benefit of the audience. And maybe me too, a little bit. What exactly fusion is? What's this project about?
00:26:40
Speaker 10: Well, my fusion is, is different for each artist, but, um, My music is very inside.
00:26:49
Speaker 5: It's very listenable. It's not a bunch of weird changes.
00:26:52
Speaker 10: It just lends itself to guitar.
00:26:54
Speaker 5: It's very melodic.
00:26:56
Speaker 10: So, you know, think George Benson's Breezin', but with, you know, a little heavier, you know, with a rock guitar, you know, something you can whistle. But then with really awesome solo sections, you know. I did a solo album a few years ago. called a view from the inside it did very well um but i spent like 12 years on it and it ended up being way too overproduced and really hard to recreate live you know maybe i do a couple songs from it but um i i did an old fusion demo that everyone loved you know japanese fans and fans from all over the world.
00:27:38
Speaker 14: Said i love fusion demos favorites you know so i said let's try and do that And man, it just goes over really well. It's just, you know, funk music, you know, great bass lines and do a couple of sambas and, you know, just great beats to play a really nice guitar line, too. And then you wail in the middle of it with a really cool ending and call it fusion.
00:28:04
Speaker 1: Now that won't be Friday night though. That'll be the classic rock. You'll have winger white snake in the songs we've talked about previously. And even though you're changing it up a bit, I hope you're still doing the Hendrix stuff. Cause that to me is the highlight of your solo shows locally with you on vocal stuff like red house. Uh, I bet that's your favorite part of the show too.
00:28:24
Speaker 5: I love doing it. And people always tell me that that's their favorite.
00:28:28
Speaker 10: Um, And we just have some serious improvisational jams.
00:28:35
Speaker 5: You never know what it's going to be. It's different every night.
00:28:39
Speaker 10: And we take it out and go different places musically because it's just the three of us.
00:28:43
Speaker 5: It's like a power trio.
00:28:45
Speaker 10: And it's fun to play guitar and not have to worry too much about singing. And then we do Higher Ground, a Stevie Wonder song, and do a great bass solo, drum solo, and just show the prowess. Some of the best musicians in Pittsburgh. Really, really great to play with these guys. I've been playing with them forever.
00:29:09
Speaker 4: Now, I know you've been influenced by Hendrix.
00:29:10
Speaker 1: You've also been influenced by Blackmore and played a lot of his songs when You played with Whitesnake, a lot of the purple stuff on that purple album. You probably saw Blackmore played the one last show, the one last song, Smoke on the Water with Deep Purple.
00:29:24
Speaker 4: Did you see that? And it was just great that he was up there, wasn't it?
00:29:29
Speaker 5: I thought it was great. I thought it was poignant. It was wonderful. It made me happy to see him up there. He's 81 or something, you know?
00:29:40
Speaker 10: And he just played very basically, he doesn't have, you know, the fast chops anymore, but it was still Richie Blackmore and there was nobody like him. You know, uh, we did the last show at the Syria mosque was winger and deep purple. And you never want to open up for Deep Purple with Richie Blackmore as a guitar player.
00:30:01
Speaker 5: Because people had signs that were like, you know, Richie rules, you know.
00:30:05
Speaker 10: And as soon as I got up there, just like, boo, you suck, you know.
00:30:09
Speaker 5: Throwing stuff at me.
00:30:11
Speaker 10: Before I even played, you know. And, you know, he wasn't a real personable guy. Like, he wasn't a people person.
00:30:20
Speaker 4: Oh, no, I've met him. I will confirm.
00:30:23
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah. They instructed us not to look him in the eye.
00:30:27
Speaker 4: But David loves him, Coverdale.
00:30:32
Speaker 5: Well, you know, he did punch him in the face once. I mean, they had.
00:30:38
Speaker 4: Their argument. Yeah, but I mean since then. It got better.
00:30:41
Speaker 1: Now, you just played a couple of shows with Winger out of retirement.
00:30:45
Speaker 4: How did those go?
00:30:47
Speaker 10: You know, we never retired, for one thing. That's just like an inner thing. Kip always said that he was going to do a few shows here and there, but really winding it down.
00:30:58
Speaker 5: And that's what's happened.
00:31:00
Speaker 10: You know, we only have like three more shows left this year, but it went.
00:31:06
Speaker 5: Really well, like sold out shows. Kip is still singing like back in the day. It's unbelievable. It really, really is.
00:31:15
Speaker 10: All the comments are just saying like, wow, Kip has still got it. He works really hard to keep his voice in shape, but it's a big effort for him. And, of course, he'd much rather do classical. But I think he likes hanging out with us. And I think he likes, you know, feeling like a rock star with all the fans. You know, we do meet and greets where 40 fans come and we sign stuff.
00:31:38
Speaker 5: And, you know, he gets all these accolades.
00:31:41
Speaker 10: And I hope that he just continues to do this for a couple of reasons. One's financial reasons. And the other one is just that I love playing with Winger. It's like an old pair of jeans and it's music that I wrote. And, you know, it's a big band and playing with Rod Morgenstein, of course. And it's all original members, which you don't really.
00:32:01
Speaker 5: That's right.
00:32:02
Speaker 4: That's right.
00:32:03
Speaker 1: And like, no, I, I, I think, and I've told you, I think you guys in LA guns are the, the heritage bands is still look and play the part more than anybody. So I hope you continue indefinitely too. And, and the thing with Kip is I'm sure he signed a great, he always does, but he beats himself up.
00:32:19
Speaker 4: He's his own worst critic.
00:32:21
Speaker 1: I remember when you guys played M three, And I saw Kip at breakfast the next day, and he was like, oh, I missed this. But then he talked about how great David Lee Roth was. And I'm like thinking, Kip, you were way better than David Lee Roth. But he's just his own worst critic.
00:32:35
Speaker 4: That's fair to say, right?
00:32:37
Speaker 5: Absolutely. He is. He's a tough one.
00:32:40
Speaker 10: If he just misses a couple of notes in miles away, he has a heart attack after the show and thinks that he sucked. But, you know, he doesn't understand it. And it happens to all of us, really. Like, I'll think I had a bad night, and then I'll go and watch YouTube and say, oh, that actually wasn't that bad.
00:33:02
Speaker 1: Now, before we let you go, Reb, we've talked about the set list for Friday at South Park Amphitheater.
00:33:08
Speaker 4: Show starts at 7.30. Is there any song.
00:33:12
Speaker 4: You would just rather not ever play again, not necessarily of one of your bands, but just one you've played too much and you're tired of it. For example, I love Led Zeppelin. I'm not sure I need to ever hear Stairway again.
00:33:24
Speaker 5: Boy, yeah.
00:33:29
Speaker 14: You know what?
00:33:34
Speaker 10: There's one song I really didn't like playing with Whitesnake, and it's your favorite.
00:33:39
Speaker 5: I know it. My other line is beeping. It's your favorite song.
00:33:42
Speaker 4: Guilty of love.
00:33:44
Speaker 5: That's the one that I really didn't like playing that song.
00:33:48
Speaker 10: Um, but, but you know, now that I haven't played in white snake for four years or whatever, uh, I, I would happily play it, but.
00:33:57
Speaker 5: No, I, you know, all of those winger songs I love playing. I mean, really all of them. There's, especially the hits i never get.
00:34:07
Speaker 2: Sick of that because it's easy well they're your babies too you wrote them.
00:34:11
Speaker 10: I wrote them but when you're on autopilot like that you can just jump around and run around and have fun you don't even have to think about what you're playing um and so yeah i never was that way i was never sick of playing the songs.
00:34:26
Speaker 1: Because i loved them all well guilty of love being the setlist friday Yeah, I'll do it for you if you come.
00:34:32
Speaker 4: No, you won't. I am coming, but no, you won't.
00:34:35
Speaker 5: I didn't know you were coming.
00:34:36
Speaker 4: Absolutely.
00:34:37
Speaker 5: Absolutely. Come on.
00:34:38
Speaker 4: It's not too far for me. Rep, it's always a pleasure talking to you. I will see you Friday night.
00:34:46
Speaker 5: Fantastic. Thanks, Mark.
00:34:47
Speaker 1: That's the great Red Beach, who is always surprised when I show up, but I'm always there.
00:34:52
Speaker 4: Kind of odd.
00:34:53
Speaker 1: Anyway, Reb Beach and his local solo band, Winger, Whitesnake, hits from the 70s and 80s.
00:34:58
Speaker 4: It will be awesome.
00:35:00
Speaker 1: 7.30 Friday night, free admission at South Park Amphitheater. But now it's time to ask Mark anything. 833-412-WXDX. That's 833-412-WXDX. Or you can leave a talkback using the microphone icon at the iHeartMedia app. We've got Sean Casey talking baseball next hour.
00:35:20
Speaker 4: I'm Mark Madden, 105.9.
00:35:21
Speaker 10: Time now to send in your questions for.
00:35:24
Speaker 9: Ask Mark Anything.
00:35:26
Speaker 2: Use the talkback mic on your free iHeartRadio app and record your question for the super genius.
00:35:34
Speaker 5: It's the Woody Show.
00:35:35
Speaker 4: Weekday mornings, 6.
00:35:37
Speaker 5: To 10 on 105.9.
00:35:38
Speaker 13: This hour of the Mark Madden Show is brought to you by.
00:35:41
Speaker 4: My favorite Whitesnake song. And Rev hates it. It's his least favorite. I miss Whitesnake. I miss David. I miss all that.
00:35:51
Speaker 1: Time not to ask Mark anything. 833-412-WXDX. Brought to us by the Steelers Pro Shop.
00:35:58
Speaker 4: Excuse me. That's next segment.
00:35:59
Speaker 1: This segment brought to us by People's Natural Gas.
00:36:03
Speaker 4: Check it out at peoples-gas.com. This show today is all over the place.
00:36:08
Speaker 1: I can't get back in a groove after spending the week in, well, four days anyway in England. My clock's not adjusted yet, but I persevere, and at any rate, I'm 65.
00:36:19
Speaker 4: I can just claim it's dementia. Like I said, time to ask Mark anything. Let's go to Sean. Sean, you're on with Double M.
00:36:29
Speaker 6: Hey, Mark. Good day.
00:36:30
Speaker 4: I said good day.
00:36:32
Speaker 16: Hey, is the strike zone still varied depending on the size of the batter? Because that rectangle looks the same no matter if it's Aaron Judge or Jose Altuve.
00:36:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, it varies. It's what, armpits to the top of the knees, right?
00:36:50
Speaker 16: Yeah, from what I remember, it was knees to letters. But especially on the ABS challenges, it seems like it's all the same.
00:36:58
Speaker 1: I haven't heard anybody say that, but I think there's such little disparity in the height of most players that it probably just looks the same, because it's always, whatever it is, letters to the top of the knees. I would assume if there was the same graphic being applied, no matter the height, we would.
00:37:16
Speaker 4: Hear about that.
00:37:17
Speaker 1: I think it would look disproportionate. I think what you're seeing actually looks proportionate but you think it's the same because the heights are different, if that makes any sense.
00:37:25
Speaker 4: Let's go to Rick. Rick, ask Mark anything.
00:37:29
Speaker 2: Hey, Mark.
00:37:30
Speaker 6: First of all, I did have a question for you, but I wanted to tell you about the indoor fireworks.
00:37:35
Speaker 7: Okay.
00:37:35
Speaker 6: They actually have them. They had them last year at PPG, and it was like, do you remember when we were kids, you had the sparklers you lit up and you'd swirl them around, and that's the only way you got sparks? That's what it looked like. It was really bad.
00:37:47
Speaker 1: I can't believe that I must have missed that because I'm at virtually every Penguin game, but.
00:37:52
Speaker 4: But like I said, hopefully this year.
00:37:53
Speaker 1: That there's something big happens, like Potash's hair gets lit on fire.
00:37:58
Speaker 4: What else you got?
00:37:59
Speaker 6: What else do you have?
00:38:04
Speaker 4: Okay, let's go to Matt Monroeville. Matt, you're on with Double M.
00:38:08
Speaker 15: Hey, Mark, I got a question.
00:38:09
Speaker 16: Which fan base do you think is more delusional at the start of every year, Maple Leafs fans, Pirates fans, or Steelers fans?
00:38:18
Speaker 4: That's a really good question. I would say Pirates fans, wouldn't you?
00:38:23
Speaker 6: I would say it's either them or Maple Leafs fans because they say every year is their year in Toronto.
00:38:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, but the Pirates fans say every year is going to be their year and they never come close. Whereas the Leafs, I mean, they make the playoffs most of the time anyway, although they did finish dead last this past season. I think the most accurate thing to say there is a heaping helping of delusion with all three fan bases.
00:38:47
Speaker 6: Agreed.
00:38:48
Speaker 4: Thank you for the call.
00:38:49
Speaker 1: Let's go to our good friend, the Hebrew Hammer, Hammer Yakshamash.
00:38:54
Speaker 15: Hey, Mark, Yakshamash. I have a two-parter. Who's your favorite WNBA team?
00:39:01
Speaker 4: The Pittsburgh Condors.
00:39:04
Speaker 15: Hey, that's a good pick. Hey, are you going to see Ted Nugent next week?
00:39:08
Speaker 4: He's down near Nemecolin, correct?
00:39:11
Speaker 15: That's called Timber Rock. Yeah, it's next Friday, the 11th.
00:39:14
Speaker 4: How close is it to Nemecolin? How far is it from Pittsburgh?
00:39:18
Speaker 15: Like from Pittsburgh, you'd go on 51 and it's like one hour.
00:39:22
Speaker 6: On the nose.
00:39:23
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:39:24
Speaker 1: Uh, I'm thinking about it and I liked Ted a lot. He's been a guest on the show, as you may recall. Uh, and, his songbook is foolproof.
00:39:31
Speaker 4: I just, I don't know.
00:39:33
Speaker 1: I mean, like I'm going to less concerts and to more sporting events, but, uh, if it's only an hour away, I might try to fit Ted in.
00:39:39
Speaker 4: Are you going?
00:39:40
Speaker 6: Uh, I'm thinking about it. It's a cool venue.
00:39:45
Speaker 15: Um, and he's, you know, he's cool. So, uh, Yeah, if I see you there... What's your favorite Ted song?
00:39:55
Speaker 4: Stranglehold, I guess. That's too cliched. Mine's Wang Dang, Sweet... Well, you know, that's your.
00:40:03
Speaker 5: Cue.
00:40:04
Speaker 4: I think I could say.
00:40:06
Speaker 4: See, that's... I don't know. Is it worth it? Oh, speaking of which.
00:40:11
Speaker 1: I do cameos. And I've done a lot just recently... announcing the draft order for various fantasy football leagues.
00:40:22
Speaker 4: I did one that they liked it so much.
00:40:26
Speaker 1: They gave me a $ 50 tip after the fact, I felt like a stripper who had broken the rules, given manual release 50 bucks.
00:40:33
Speaker 16: Wow.
00:40:34
Speaker 4: Uh, let's go to a talk back.
00:40:39
Speaker 13: You guys were talking about, uh, movies with radio hosts. Um, You forgot about Philip Seymour Hoffman from the movie Pirate Radio, who plays the Count. That's a great movie about the birth of rock and roll on the radio.
00:40:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, I saw Pirate Radio. I didn't think much of it. And I love Philip Seymour Hoffman. I believe my love for you is a love that will last forever.
00:41:08
Speaker 4: What's the second verse?
00:41:10
Speaker 1: I can never forget all the times when I took what you gave me for granted. So I stand accused and I plead guilty to the crime. You can lock me away if you want just as long as your arms are around me. And I won't mind if you just throw away the key.
00:41:28
Speaker 4: I'm guilty of love. Let's go to Alan. Alan, you're on with Double M.
00:41:34
Speaker 6: Yeah, Mark, if you lived in the 14th Congressional District of North Carolina in 2012, who would you have voted for, Cam Brady or Marty Huggins?
00:41:43
Speaker 4: Thank you for the call. It's a crime of passion, guilty of love.
00:41:48
Speaker 1: And there's no doubt about it, no doubt about it.
00:41:53
Speaker 4: Let's go to a talkback.
00:41:55
Speaker 7: Double M, what happened to the days where we try our four-string goaltender, our four-string quarterback to make it through a season to maybe have a higher draft pick the next season?
00:42:08
Speaker 5: I think it needs to happen. I mean, what would EJ do?
00:42:11
Speaker 1: The Steelers and Penguins both desperately need to bottom out. They desperately need to do that to draft their next guy. And they won't because the Penguins feel indebted to the old guys in the dressing room and the Steelers feel indebted to the old guys in the dressing room. In the Penguins' case, I don't like it, but I understand it because those old guys have won.
00:42:35
Speaker 4: But who'd Cam Hayward ever beat? Who'd T.J.
00:42:37
Speaker 1: Watt ever beat? And Aaron Rodgers, he won a Super Bowl. He beat the Steelers to do it.
00:42:44
Speaker 4: We owe you nothing. My heart is beating faster, babe. Beating like a big bass drum. Bam, bam, ba-na-na-na. Bam, bam, ba-na-na-na.
00:42:56
Speaker 1: Rev likes playing that one. Okay, this segment brought to us by who? People's Natural Gas. That's right, we love them. And up next, we'll talk about something. And at the bottom of the hour, great stuff with Sean Casey. Get your calls in, more calls. Don't forget, the show goes back as of next Tuesday.
00:43:17
Speaker 4: To 2 till 6. A lot of room for calls. A lot of room for calls right now to 833-412-WXDX. Back to Lost.
