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Speaker 1: Please. He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson

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Speaker 1: on Home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Drive. I'm Dale Lollly, he is Matt

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Speaker 1: Williamson and uh Well, a somber day today in Pittsburgh

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Speaker 1: Steelers uh Land with the passing of uh Frank o'

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Speaker 1: harris just a couple of days before, the team was

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Speaker 1: set to honor him on the fiftieth anniversary of the

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Speaker 1: Immaculate Reception. Now he was going to have his number

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Speaker 1: retired at halftime of the Steelers game on Saturday night

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Speaker 1: against the Las Vegas Raiders formerly the Oakland Raiders, the

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Speaker 1: team that he caught the Immaculate Reception against. And uh Man,

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Speaker 1: just it's just been a tough day all around. That yeah,

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Speaker 1: big time. I mean woke up, saw the news like wow,

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Speaker 1: you know, and then come downstairs and you know, my

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Speaker 1: my wife has just you know, local TV on and

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Speaker 1: you can see like all the programmings even changed, you know.

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Speaker 1: I mean it's just I mean the regular shows aren't

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Speaker 1: even on. I mean, it's that big a deal. And um,

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Speaker 1: he certainly touched all of our lives. I mean, I

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Speaker 1: was lucky, you know, I don't think he knows who

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Speaker 1: I am, but I was lucky enough to sit down

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Speaker 1: with him a couple of times and interview him. I'm

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Speaker 1: sure you have as well. I mean I always think

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Speaker 1: of you know that if he doesn't have that, if

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Speaker 1: the imaculate reception doesn't happen, I don't know if I

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Speaker 1: do this for a living, To be honest with you,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I'm fifty or I'm forty nine. I was

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Speaker 1: in my mom's womb when it happened. But I mean,

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Speaker 1: you know, you come into that that world of Pittsburgh

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Speaker 1: that he helped create, and it you know, it formed

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Speaker 1: my life. Yeah, for sure, it helped kick start um.

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Speaker 1: You know, the Steelers die this he probably still happens

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Speaker 1: to somebody, you know, without the Immaculate Reception, but they

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Speaker 1: probably would have been pretty good. That was That was

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Speaker 1: the moment that it began. That was the first playoff

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Speaker 1: victory in in franchise history. That was that was the

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Speaker 1: lighting of the fuse that that you know, slow burned

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Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy four. When you when you then go

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Speaker 1: ahead and win your first Super Bowl. Uh, it's kind

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Speaker 1: of announced to the world. Hey, these Steelers, Uh, they

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Speaker 1: might be something. Yeah, and you know, leading up to

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Speaker 1: this obviously, I mean, as you mentioned to start the show,

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Speaker 1: I mean, the timing is remarkable. I mean, Franco has

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Speaker 1: been all over radio news TV all week and you know,

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Speaker 1: leading up to this big moment and retiring the number

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Speaker 1: and all that stuff. And unfortunately it didn't quite work

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Speaker 1: out as planned, of course, but you know, even it's funny.

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Speaker 1: I had gotten three or four of these conversations that

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Speaker 1: look troube this summer about you know, the impact of Franco,

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Speaker 1: and they were unprovoked and people that have been around

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Speaker 1: the team, and I've heard Joe Green even bring this

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Speaker 1: up this week or recently that we weren't the winners

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Speaker 1: we were until Franco arrived, you know. And I never,

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Speaker 1: to be very honest as a player, I never thought

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Speaker 1: of him as potentially the second best dealer that ever lived,

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Speaker 1: or you know, quite in that light. Of course, he's

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Speaker 1: a Hall of famer, he's awesome, But the way those

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Speaker 1: guys talked about the impact he had on the field,

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Speaker 1: I was too young, you know. I mean it just

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Speaker 1: that he was the straw that starred to Drake there

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Speaker 1: on offense for a long time. Yeah, And I think

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Speaker 1: what they're they're talking about in terms of that is

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Speaker 1: just the impact that he made on the field. If

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Speaker 1: you look at uh, you know, a thousand and fifty

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Speaker 1: five yards. He only started ten games as a rookie. Uh,

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Speaker 1: he had I think seventy nine rushing yards in the

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Speaker 1: team's first four games. He wasn't the starter. Wow. So

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Speaker 1: you know in the final ten games he had basically

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Speaker 1: a thousand yards um that he scored ten touchdowns. Uh.

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Speaker 1: You know, their first Super Bowl season in seventy four, Um,

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Speaker 1: you know he's again another thousand yards season, a thousand

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Speaker 1: you know, he had just a string of them there

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Speaker 1: from from seventy four to seventy nine, over a thousand

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Speaker 1: yards in each one of those seasons. A thousand yards

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Speaker 1: really met something in the seventies. Yeah. Yeah, and let's

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Speaker 1: not forget as well, he was sharing the backfield at

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Speaker 1: that point. Uh, they ran the ball a lot. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know, if he's the the only game in town,

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Speaker 1: if he's the only running back for a lot of

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Speaker 1: those years, the only one that gets the football any

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Speaker 1: more yards does he have? Yeah? Right right? The only

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Speaker 1: top three hundred carries twice in his career. Wow. I

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Speaker 1: didn't know all those things. But that's three ineen seventy

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Speaker 1: seven on the nose and then uh three ten in

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight. Um. You know, so if he if

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Speaker 1: he's a three hundred and fifty carry a game you

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Speaker 1: know a year guy, Um, you know it, you know,

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Speaker 1: we wake up a lot more. Yeah, it could could have.

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Speaker 1: You know, he would have probably passed Jim Brown as

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Speaker 1: the all time leading rusher in NFL history. Um. You know,

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Speaker 1: as it was, he was still very good, of course.

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Speaker 1: You know, you're talking about a guy that was the

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Speaker 1: uh the Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year in

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two. Um, he was actually got finished eighth

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Speaker 1: in the in the MBV voting that year. That's how

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Speaker 1: I'm yeah, as a rookie that you know, that's pretty

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Speaker 1: impressive stuff. Um, uh, just so much, you know, a

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Speaker 1: Super Bowl MVP. Everything he meant on the field, and

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Speaker 1: that doesn't even go into what he meant off the field. Uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, he did so much in the community. Was

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Speaker 1: always a big part of uh, you know, everything that

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Speaker 1: the Steelers did off the field, and continued to do

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Speaker 1: that after we retired. Yeah, I mean, very very much

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Speaker 1: in the public eye well passed his playing days and

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Speaker 1: helping charities, and how many people he's touched, and you

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Speaker 1: know even just like looking at my Facebook feed today

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Speaker 1: and all my buddies or have pictures of themselves when

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Speaker 1: they were kids, you know, with Franco and or their

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Speaker 1: dad took him to a game and Franco, who was

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Speaker 1: set a low or whatever. I mean things like that.

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Speaker 1: I wonder does Bradshaw ever did over the hump of

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Speaker 1: all his struggles if it's not for Franco, you know

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Speaker 1: what I mean, like having that guy to lean on,

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Speaker 1: you know, I mean on the field and off, and

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Speaker 1: he was considered a great leader in the locker room.

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Speaker 1: And this just just did so much and amazing the

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Speaker 1: timing that it happens to be this week, you know,

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Speaker 1: I mean, just remarkable. Yeah. I thought Mike Tomlin put

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Speaker 1: it summed it up really well today when he said,

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Speaker 1: you know, he was always gracious and understanding while being Franco.

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Speaker 1: Everybody you know expected imagine for fifty years, for fifty

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Speaker 1: years hearing every day somebody's asked guarantee you he was

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Speaker 1: asked about the immaculate reception every day for the last

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Speaker 1: fifty years, and some days a hundred times, right, depending

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Speaker 1: where you especially recent, right, I mean, you know, so yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's almost like it's almost like being a musician, you know.

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Speaker 1: And you know John Mellencamp hey played Jack and Diane,

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Speaker 1: right right right. You know, after the fifty thousandth time

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Speaker 1: that you've played Jack and Diane, you don't want to

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Speaker 1: play Jack and Diane anymore. There's no new angles on it,

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Speaker 1: there's no new spins. Oh, I forgot this part of

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Speaker 1: the story, you know, like, yeah, that's a great point.

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Speaker 1: And I mean this is embarrassing because I'm an idiot.

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Speaker 1: But how long is that Franco statue been at the airport?

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Speaker 1: I mean pretty much my whole life from it, I remember,

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Speaker 1: and I'll be honest, it was about ten to fifteen

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Speaker 1: years ago that I figured out who the other guy

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Speaker 1: is on the right within the red jacket that happens

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Speaker 1: to be George Washington, because I mean, if I happened

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Speaker 1: to be flying home, we felt like we traveled all

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Speaker 1: the time. Take a picture with Franco. You go look

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Speaker 1: at that one, you go down the left escalator. I didn't.

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Speaker 1: There's some other guy in the right. I'm't be sure

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Speaker 1: who it is. Oh, that was George Washington. Oh cool,

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Speaker 1: he did some stuff too. It's funny. I I asked

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Speaker 1: Franco about that. Um. We talked to him when the

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Speaker 1: Steelers announced that that they were going to retire his

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Speaker 1: number and do everything for the fiftieth anniversary. This is

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Speaker 1: earlier this year, and I said, do you ever get

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Speaker 1: tired of seeing the statue when you go when you

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Speaker 1: any places, like you walking through it. It's gotta be

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Speaker 1: a little humbling to see that statue, you know, the

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Speaker 1: first thing you see when you're when you're walking down

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Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh officially coming into Pittsburgh, and there's the you know,

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Speaker 1: there's the the amountculent reception. Franco Harris. He says, yeah,

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Speaker 1: but the cool thing is is I'm right next to

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Speaker 1: my hero, George Washington because he did so much. It

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Speaker 1: took me a long time to figure that out, about

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Speaker 1: twenty years. Like, here's a guy in all right. There's

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Speaker 1: a great, a great video that the Steelers produced on

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Speaker 1: their website. UM, and it was done by Bill Crawford

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Speaker 1: the w DV Morning Show of George Washington reaction to

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Speaker 1: the Franco being next to the Franco stand us. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's just this whole skit. It's just it's it's funny,

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Speaker 1: but it's poignant. It just goes to show you, though,

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Speaker 1: how much Franco meant to this community. Yeah right, I

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Speaker 1: mean I I often bring it back to being on

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Speaker 1: the field and things. I mean, and if you equate

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Speaker 1: it today, I mean, it would almost be like Stingley,

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Speaker 1: who the Texans just drafted is Joe Green, and then

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Speaker 1: year's first round pick is you know. I mean, it's

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Speaker 1: not not the example I meant to use. I was thinking, like,

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Speaker 1: the worst organization in the league, imagine taking them to

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Speaker 1: four Super Bowls in six years. How many pieces have

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Speaker 1: to fall in place for the Texans to be a dynasty?

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Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Browns on this show, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think at least shown signs of life. But but

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Speaker 1: I mean just imagine the pieces in place, and you know,

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Speaker 1: and he was as key as any of them. Really. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: just a very very sad day here. It's gonna be,

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Speaker 1: um imaginal game day is gonna be like the game

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Speaker 1: day is gonna be last Yeah, just a little crazy.

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Speaker 1: It was already going to be. I mean, there was

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Speaker 1: a lot of stuff going on, and dinners and and

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Speaker 1: and you know the ceremony on Friday. Um, you know

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Speaker 1: over at the marker. You can still go and see

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Speaker 1: the marker, the mark the spot where Franco caught the

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Speaker 1: pass uh in the outside parking lot, you know, on

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Speaker 1: the side walk between Stage A E in the stadium

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Speaker 1: Actor Sire Stadium. So, um, Mazarowski's home run, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I mean right, it's it's a psychonic and you know,

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Speaker 1: maybe we're a little spoiled in here. You know, you

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Speaker 1: mentioned Mazarowski's home run that it's it's, you know, a

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Speaker 1: game winner in this in this game seven of the

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Speaker 1: of the World Series, in the ninth inning, Franco Harris

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Speaker 1: is that that catches is largely the same thing. Now,

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Speaker 1: I didn't win a championship, right right, but started the

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Speaker 1: ball rolling. But it started the ball rolling to win

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Speaker 1: a playoff game like that. People were trying to compare

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Speaker 1: earlier this week what happened in the Raiders Patriots game

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Speaker 1: to the immaculate reception. No, No, that's a regular season game.

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Speaker 1: That's just the bone head play. Yeah, and that that's

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Speaker 1: not a phenomenal play by any particular player or a

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Speaker 1: crazy coincidence where you know, two stars run into each

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Speaker 1: other and the you know the ball pug up, pops up,

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Speaker 1: you know, I mean, like that was just dumbed by

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Speaker 1: the Patriots. That's not the same thing at all. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: And you know there's two teams that are basically going nowhere.

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Speaker 1: This was This was two playoff teams, two of the

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Speaker 1: two of the franchises that if you look at the seventies, Um,

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Speaker 1: we're kind of the of the dominant teams of the

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Speaker 1: the era. Oh, without question. If the Steelers aren't there

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Speaker 1: in the seventies, the Raiders might have won for super

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Speaker 1: Bowls themselves, maybe more maybe what they got one right,

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Speaker 1: you know, right, I mean, there's no doubt in my

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Speaker 1: mind that to me is one of the most Franco

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Speaker 1: aside or he's part of it. I mean again, but

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Speaker 1: even I'm not ignoring his death, but I mean just

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Speaker 1: the the rivalry of the seventies between those two teams

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Speaker 1: might be the best one ever in the history of

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Speaker 1: the league. You know, Like I mentioned, I was born

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Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy three. I was probably four or five

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Speaker 1: when I started to get a clue about football. Not

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Speaker 1: that I was an expert or anything, but I cared,

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Speaker 1: you know, and my family who watched all those of course,

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Speaker 1: like everyone else in this whole town, and ingrained in me.

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Speaker 1: I mean since I could crawl basically that Sure, we

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Speaker 1: don't like the Browns and Bengals and Oilers, but we

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Speaker 1: hate the Raiders, you know, like but we hate the

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Speaker 1: Raiders and things of that nature because of these games,

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Speaker 1: you know, I mean the the hit on Swan where

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Speaker 1: Joe Green has to go out with one arm and

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Speaker 1: throw him over his shoulder, you know, carry him off.

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Speaker 1: And I mean we were joking about the the the

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Speaker 1: only man that Mel Blunt fears as Clifford Brdge. And

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Speaker 1: you know, the Steelers supposedly ice down the sidelines so

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Speaker 1: you couldn't run go routes and all the conspiracy stuff,

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Speaker 1: and al davis Is and Madden are just such huge

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Speaker 1: figures in that rivalry too, and would be so easy

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Speaker 1: to hate as an opponent too. Yeah, hate them, you know,

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Speaker 1: but if that, if not for the Steelers, it might

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Speaker 1: have been the Raiders in that game. Yeah, tip of

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Speaker 1: like that set the whole thing off, that set it

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Speaker 1: all in motion, and it was too great football teams.

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Speaker 1: And yes, the Steelers lost the next week to the

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Speaker 1: to the you know the Miami Dolphins, and they went

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Speaker 1: onto their unbeaten season. Nobody talks about I mean, they

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Speaker 1: still talk about the Dolphins going unbeaten. But if you

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Speaker 1: ask about what what what was seventies football, people see

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Speaker 1: the Steelers. It was the Steelers, the Steelers, you know,

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Speaker 1: And and there are four Super Bowls and six seasons. Again,

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Speaker 1: the Dolphins had a perfect season, the only perfect season

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Speaker 1: in NFL history, and they're kind of a footnote to

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Speaker 1: the seventies because of what the Steelers did. And without question,

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Speaker 1: the biggest obstacle for the Steelers for the Raiders, you know.

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Speaker 1: And yeah, and people often talk about that seventy six season.

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Speaker 1: You know, my dad, uncle's, you know, all the people

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Speaker 1: that really lived and said that was the Steelers best team.

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Speaker 1: But they didn't have Franco Blyer Bradshaw. You know that

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Speaker 1: the defense was unbelievably stout, and that was the slight

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Speaker 1: crack the Raiders needed to get their foot in the door.

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Speaker 1: And you probably haven't seen it. Yes, I know you've

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Speaker 1: had a crazy day. But we get this research packet

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Speaker 1: from the NFL and I started looking at it and

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Speaker 1: they really stressed the you know, the the immaculate reception game,

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Speaker 1: and they list all the Hall of Famers that were

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Speaker 1: in the game. I mean it's no, it's Bradshaw, it's Harris,

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Speaker 1: it's Joe green Ham Blunt because Lamberton Webby and those

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Speaker 1: guys hadn't even gone. Yeah. And the Raiders, it's Madden, Stabler,

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Speaker 1: Blitnic Cough, Branch, Auto Upshaw, Shell, Bob Brown, Willie Brown,

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Speaker 1: George Blanda. Oh, by the way, the Steelers have two

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Speaker 1: owners in the Hall of Fame and the Raiders have

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Speaker 1: an owner in the Hall of Fame. I mean, like,

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Speaker 1: and the Steelers was getting warmed up, you know, I

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Speaker 1: mean like some of the other guys are been there yet.

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Speaker 1: But that was like the that was like the the

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Speaker 1: announcement of oh, by the way, here we are guys,

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Speaker 1: you know, right right right, you know, and this team

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Speaker 1: is legit. I mean, how many times before this weekend

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Speaker 1: even got got to this point, has that played been

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Speaker 1: played act time again? I mean, it's just you know,

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Speaker 1: as you know, as great as the Santonio Holmes catch

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Speaker 1: was in the Super Bowl, as great as the James

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Speaker 1: Harrison touchdown return in the Super Bowl, they're they're not

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Speaker 1: even the best player in Steeler's history. The greatest play

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Speaker 1: in Steeler's history. It's a walk off Grand Slam, you know,

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Speaker 1: in the bottom of the ninth That's that's what that is. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but better, babe, I mean even more unlikely. Yeah, even

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Speaker 1: more unlikely. It's like that's like an inside the park

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Speaker 1: home run to win a World Series game, right right, right? Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: I mean just almost impossible. Like if you if you

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Speaker 1: wrote that story I always used as analogy. I was

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Speaker 1: a creative writing major. If I would have turned that

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Speaker 1: one in, they'd be like, sorry, I can't quite believe that. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: there's no little far fetch Man. Nobody's nobody's gonna believe

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Speaker 1: it that the suspension of belief is not going to

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Speaker 1: uh to work for that one, because it was just, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's unbelievable that that's the to me, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, and having I'm not going to pretend that

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Speaker 1: I knew Franco intimately or anything like you've been around him,

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Speaker 1: but I've been around him. And that's one of the

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Speaker 1: things that that's so cool, um, you know about covering

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Speaker 1: this franchise is that the history of you know, the

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Speaker 1: guys that that are so many Hall of famers, as

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Speaker 1: you mentioned, you know, the first time you meet Joe Green,

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Speaker 1: the first time you meet Franco Harris, the first time

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Speaker 1: you meet Bradshaw, all these guys that you know changed

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Speaker 1: the game. The first time you you see Mel Blunt,

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Speaker 1: You're like, whoa, that guy was a cornerback. Um, we

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Speaker 1: saw me at camp. I mean I turned into an

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Speaker 1: eight year old when Mel Blunt. Yeah, so it just, um,

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Speaker 1: just a sad, sad day. Uh. Just a great ambassador,

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Speaker 1: not just for the for for the Pittsburgh Steelers, which

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Speaker 1: he was, he was a Steeler all the way through

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Speaker 1: his life. Um, but for the city, for Western Pennsylvania,

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Speaker 1: for so many charities. He just did so much. And uh,

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Speaker 1: it's just it's been a tough day. Yeah it has.

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Speaker 1: Employ would been great from the get through the weekend,

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Speaker 1: you know and see all that. But um, depending I

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Speaker 1: guess on your beliefs, I guess you will you know,

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Speaker 1: from above or whatever. But that left that stadium is

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Speaker 1: going to be unbelievably emotional and even more so now

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Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, absolutely, Um, Matt, we're gonna take a break. Uh,

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Speaker 1: we'll be back with more. Maybe we'll actually talk a

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Speaker 1: little bit of football here. Yeah, yeah, let's do that.

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Speaker 1: When you come back. But that kind of took a

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Speaker 1: I don't want to say that jumped into the back

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Speaker 1: seat today. But most certainly the news of Franco Harris

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Speaker 1: is passing at the age of seventy two. Um. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: kind of kind of came to the forefront for everything,

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Speaker 1: you know, everything Steelers did today, you know, even with

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Speaker 1: their practices and things of that nature. Certainly uh um,

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Speaker 1: very unexpected. Uh. You can subscribe to snr's newest podcast,

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Speaker 1: The Godfather of Pittsburgh Sports is talking nothing but Steelers.

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Speaker 1: It's Savereian on Steelers. New episodes drop every Tuesday and Thursday.

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Speaker 1: Subscribe today. They're available on the Steeler's mobile app, the

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Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app, m wherever you get your podcasts.

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Speaker 1: He is Matt Williamson, I am Dale Lelly, and we'll

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Speaker 1: be back with more right after this