The Big K Morning Show
Reaction following The Second Apparent Assassination Attempt
You know what I mean. I really appreciate of the efforts. Just told the guys in there start the season with two road games, V two and O man's pretty good feeling. Obviously we got a lot to work on, but it's good to work on it with with the required W of the week. Required W of the week. Yeah, 13 to six Steelers winners in Denver yesterday. And joining us on the Big K Morning Show, our Odyssey Sports Director, Jeff Hathorn, Jeff. Good morning. Good morning, Larry. It's a victory morning. Two times. Yeah, all the way around. A lot of good stuff happened in sports over the weekend for Pittsburgh fans in general. And Coach Tomlin is correct. It's tough to win on the road in the NFL. I don't care who you are and to get back to back wins to open the season and come home to an O feels pretty good yet. As any coach will tell you and coach Tomlin said it too. A lot to work on. So overall, what was your assessment of the Steelers performance? Yeah, I think that the fact that they just that they got to win. I mean, these are two games. If you're optimistic or think this team's going to be above 500, these are probably two games you thought they would win or that they needed to win. There were not a lot of style points in this one, but they did find a way. The defense continues to impress. They're using different guys. That's I think a good sign. They have some different looks. But offensively, do you thought that they were going to magically have a transformation where they became this high powered Kansas City offense? They got a ways to go. And I think a lot of eyes certainly on Justin Fields for obvious reasons. Russell Wilson still and maybe that will change and we'll find out tomorrow at noon when coach Tomlin has his press conference. But Russell Wilson did not play because of a calf issue. Yet Justin Fields, what did you think of his performance? So at halftime, I would have told you that it's Justin's job. Like Russell may not get this job because I thought Justin played really well in the first half. That throw he made that was called back to 51 yarder. That's one of the best throws I've seen in the last five years. I mean, that was an incredible pass. Obviously it didn't count because of a holding penalty. But I thought he played really well in the first half in the second half. Not as well. And obviously the offense got really conservative. It seemed like the plan was to lose this. Don't turn it over. Our defense is going to win this game and they did win the game. But overall with Fields, I think because of the second half, he kept that door open that when Russ is healthy, he takes over as the number one. Yeah, I thought he made some incredible throws. He's clearly very athletic. You know, he, I saw that stat yesterday where he ran, you know, is the rushing quarterback title when he played in Chicago, ran what? 178 yards. And so, he's right. And Larry, you know, if you're a Bears fan, you probably think this is what we saw for the last three years. Here's a guy who, man, he shows this glimpses and you're like, all right, we've got, we've got our guy. And then he shows some things that make you cringe or that aren't as impressive. And you wonder, okay, is this the person? And consistency has been his entire NFL career. But man, you get, you really get tantalized by some of those plays he makes. So what do they do? Because the defense showed they're strong. They, they really played lights out and shut down the Broncos. Kept them out of the end zone, had turnovers, everything you want. And they did win the game. One touchdown in two games for the Steelers offense. Yeah, they're two and oh, how does that happen? Yeah, I think part of it's the competition. But I mean, the defense is just, they bring pressure most times with just four. So you're allowed to have seven back there. And with a few exceptions, and you're going to have those, you're playing against NFL players. They're going to make, other teams are going to make plays. They had one broken coverage on a fourth down. But other than that, and the defense. And when you look at the money that you've got, and you've got a lot of them on picks that are in that defense as Tom once had after the game, they should be good and they are. We are who we think they are. Is that it? Yeah. All right. And yeah, and it starts, it starts up front. I mean, TJ is playing at an elite level right now. They're getting good play from that, you know, defensive front. And I think Alex Hi Smith is starting to up his game a little bit too. Yeah. I think it's going to be a little bit too. I think it's going to be a little bit too difficult. It seems like every other play there was a penalty on one team or the other. Just really annoying and bogged down the game. And of course, Roderick Jones, three holding penalties cost him his job for the day. Yeah. He came in in the third series for Troy Filetano and really that was kind of the one thing that maybe it might be for Dan Moore, but he comes in for Filetano and he commits those three penalties and six plays and gets pulled during the series. Never to return. He's got some work to do because I mean, he's going to have to earn that position back. He's the first round pick. You think at some point he's going to do that, but man, you can't have those type of penalties and the Steelers are going to be able to get the first round. And he's going to be able to get the first round. Almost any penalty is going to really disrupt the drive. And what do we know about the Chargers coming to Acra Shear Sunday for the home opener? Well, they've got the other Harbaugh. So it's the first Harbaugh meeting of the year. Justin Herbert has light rolled up on towards the end of the game yesterday. He's not able to play for the Chargers. He's not able to play. Now that they've got Harbaugh there, it's like they've simplified what they do and they're almost steal or ask, except they've got a more consistent quarterback. They like to run the football and they play pretty good defense as well. So this could be a whoever gets to 10 first on Sunday. And I know you're upset that the Ravens lost since the natties 0 and 2. The Browns eat down a win, but the Steelers are in first place. I know it's early, but hey, you take what you got. The AFC West has been kind of the Steelers, especially Kansas City with a couple of wins in Vegas yesterday, winning in Baltimore. It's still early. And I would say this about both those teams being 0 and 2. Kansas City is the best team at least in the AFC, if not the NFL. And they played at their place both did and took them down to the last second before losing the game. So I still think those teams are good, but hey, any little advantage you can get as much as it feels at times like a long season. You only play 17 of these. So the fact that the Steelers already have a two game cushion on those guys, that's nice. Do you have a few more minutes? I want to catch up. It was a big game for pit fans and we can go back to the backyard brawl if you got time. Yeah, let's do it. All right. Jeff Hathor and our Odyssey Sports Director on the big game morning show from the P.J. 4th and 10. Here it is. Green back. Green plenty of time. Wait, wait, wait. Brakes contain throws a pass down the field. And it accepted and that's your ball game. Pulling that ball in in front of the receiver was Kyle Lewis. Let's go. What a comeback. Well, it was the same. The Panthers bill Hillgrove along with Pat Bostick and we're with Odyssey Sports Director Jeff Hathor and unlikely finish, Jeff, when you consider that with four 55 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Panthers were 10 points behind the ears. Wow. Yeah, and I didn't really recognize your voice at first with the let's go, but that was well done. That was well done. He was so excited and understandably so because that was a legendary come from behind win and these guys as coach Darnuzzi said last week, Hey, I got the Cardiac kids, but I don't want to do that every week, but they ended up doing it again. Whatever you got to do to win these games. Yeah, it's been two pretty epic comebacks when you think about that 21 pointer on the road and then to be down 10 with under five to play against your rival. And I mean, Eli Holstein is something something special. I mean, they made some plays defensively. They've figured some things out. You know, Brandon George had the scoop and score off the of the block kick. Like they did make some plays in other areas, but this kid, man, he makes mistakes. And what you're seeing right now is you're looking at his floor. It's only going up from here. And he's shown some special things and Larry, let's put it this way. Nick Saban wanted him to be a starting quarterback. So he's got a little something in there. Yeah, he was fun to watch and after it was fun to hear him talk to his teammates about the game. He goes, Hey, we at times would look like we're trying to give it away, but they pulled it together and the up, you know, the season's looking up trending way up. Youngstown comes to Akrasher Saturday and they just were upset by Duquesne. So you think on paper, this should be a game that the Panthers can handle a little easier than what they did last week or in Cincinnati and be 4-0 going into a buy. This might be one of those Pat and our doozy Monday news conferences where he uses the phrase trap game a few times because they've got a buy a week next week, then they go into ACC play and what you don't want to do is overlook Youngstown State, but yeah, I mean, they're likely going to go to play North Carolina being 4-0, which was, I don't know how many pit fans had that as their record and it's, you know, obviously sets the table for them to do some things this year. The ACC is kind of proving through the first couple of weeks that it's, I don't know if there's a dominant team in the ACC. Florida State is struggling. Miami is probably the best talented team. Clemson has some talent as well, but obviously they're not perfect as of now. So, listen, it's going to be an interesting run and if they continue to get this type of difference-making quarterback play, and if they can get even for longer stretches of games, I mean, Pitt's going to be in these games. Well, how about the fact that since then, Addie went and beat Miami at home 27-16, so Pitt beat a good team that beat a really good team, at least on paper. So, that's another good sign for this Panthers team going into what should be an easier week. And Larry, think about this way, the final game of the year, Pitt will be up in Boston College will be Sunday in 70. And, I mean, this could be a huge game for both teams. A lot to be played, a lot of mistakes, kind of like you're saying if you're a Steelers fan, hey, you got the win, but there are things to correct. And now Pitt goes to correct things at 3-0. I saw Kyle Lewis, who intercepted that last pass, and he had it in the locker room in his hand, and on the ball, there's a WVU logo, and he wouldn't give it up. And I joked to him, I said, there's a West Virginia State trooper looking for that ball outside the locker room. He kind of laughed, but it was a great win overall. Now, College Football in general Penn State had a buy they host Kent State 330 at State College in Beaver Stadium on Saturday, and overall who's the best college football teams right now? It's got to be like Ohio State. We always hear that, but there are 12 spots for the playoffs this year, which is brand new. Yeah, I mean, Georgia, I think is always up top, although they had a really tough game with Kentucky. I think, you know, the team that you don't want to sleep on is a team that Pitt fans are familiar with. That's Tennessee. Tennessee's playing in the SEC, and that's a tough conference to run. But if I'm looking at a team where I'm thinking, man, these guys are really good. It's Tennessee. I mean, Texas is off to a good start as well. They went up in Claude, Michigan. Mmm, love that. And so, I think those two teams, the two T's, Texas and Tennessee, so far, obviously over the course of a season will change, but they're going to be really good. I mean, they're playing the teams with nice early wins. Appreciate the time. As always, Jeff, I'll see you on the south side. We'll hear what coach Narduzzi says about people hiding in the mountains trying to watch them practice. Oh, they're playing the penguins this week, so I don't are they going to have to, you know, guard the river? Good question. All right, we're going to talk a little football and it's been a good weekend for Pitt and Steelers fans. This is the big K morning show. Appreciate you joining us a lot going on. Obviously, a big shock yesterday afternoon when we heard there had been an apparent second assassination attempt. It really strikes home here since July 13th. We had at the Butler farm show area, the assassination attempt, where Corey comparator was killed two other men wounded, including former president Donald Trump and kind of shakes everybody's confidence about security. But in this case, no one was injured. Joining us from CBS is legal analyst Thane Rosenbaum. Thank you. Good morning, Larry. I wanted to talk to you initially and we will if you don't mind about the TikTok story because that's a lot of news today. But meanwhile, what was your reaction when you heard this happened again? You know, I'm one of those that's profoundly cynical about this and I'm never surprised. I have to think people realize the level of polarization in this country. You know, people over, you know, Donald Trump or Joe Biden or Kamala Harris, you know, they don't talk to their cousins anymore. You know, if you say one favorable thing about one of the candidates that you don't like, it's over. And so we, you know, everything is doused in lighter fluid. And so, you know, you have the media that, again, no longer really reports the news. They just tell you what, you know, what you want, what they want you to think. So there's really a lot of discussion about what are the facts, but just simply here's what you should be thinking. You see this on college campuses, right? Students are clearly being indoctrinated. Faculty members do not see themselves as who they are to tell facts. They're there to give a political agenda. So in a country that divided and that polarized and where again, you know, protests are violent now, you know, in America, you know, in a country that this is when you see it, this level of acrimony, what generally follows is, you know, people who take it to the next level. And we'll get much more information about this. A suspect 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Ruth of Hawaii Formally of North Carolina spent most of his life there. He's just come out. He spent time in Ukraine. That was one of his touch points, but we'll get the details of who this man is. But again, former President Donald Trump safe. Nobody else injured in this incident yesterday in West Palm Beach at his one of his golf, uh, he owns a number of golf courses, uh, former President Trump. Meanwhile, today, TikTok is challenging a law that would ban the social video sharing platform in the U.S. unless its owner by dance sells it. So this is one of those free speech and liberty contest that a federal judge will hear arguments on today thing. Uh, where do you think this goes? Cause millions and millions of Americans have TikTok. Enjoy TikTok. And many of them don't want it to go away. Well, Larry, you know, the Chinese flew a balloon right across the United States and they didn't do it for kicks. You know, they did it for some reason. And one thing we saw during the Trump administration, even when connection with the executive order for the Muslim ban, uh, when things go to the Supreme Court, when laws are written, that may have some constitutional infirmity. And in this case, it does. Uh, it's a first amendment problem. The government shall not infringe speech, right? Here they are shutting down a TikTok. They're saying either sell yourself to some entity that isn't owned by China or shut down and don't operate within the United States. Uh, the government is actually restricting speech, not just the speech rights of the corporation and its owners and shareholders, uh, you know, who are Americans. But more importantly, Americans themselves, a lot of small businesses, actually do their business on TikTok. This is how they, you know, this is how they reach, you know, communicate with their customers. Um, but national security is one of those things that at least this Supreme Court looks at and says, you know, we make exceptions with an, with extraordinary, in the ordinary course, the Constitution applies. Uh, and when we get to something, look, we saw that in connection with the way we dealt with terrorists in the war on terror, right? They did not receive the kinds of constitutional protections that other defendants did. Now, you could say, well, they were noncombatants, so we could say, well, you know, they were, uh, they were an all-American citizen. You know, Barack Obama assassinated Anwar Awalaki, who was born in Arizona and moved to Yemen. He was the guy who was preaching on YouTube and radicalized people, including Major Hassan, the guy who killed 50 people in Port Hood, right? And so, you know, there were, you know, there was an example that when you, you know, when it comes to the extraordinary, when it comes to national security, uh, we, we, we make an exception. General constitutional protections don't apply in the same way, and the government's position is that TikTok's power, you know, they're, they're, they answer to a communist country and a communist country that does not any more have friendly relationships with the United States, at least politically, and that it presents a tremendous security risk for millions of Americans to be able to be giving up their private data to TikTok and for the Chinese government to possibly have access to that data. Well, an important day, and we'll look forward to your reports. Thane, appreciate the time, as always. Thank you. Anytime, thank you, Larry. Thane Rosenbaum, legal analyst with CBS in our nation's Capitol. McAllister, and also in our next hour, you'll meet one of the young people from the University of Pittsburgh and you'll have more Colin Ferguson, who works with our next take Pittsburgh show overnight. And it's really a revolutionary way to stay in touch with the young minds of the students in college. And Aaron, we have a giveaway and I want to, before we get to that, I want to show you. I just sent you a picture. Did you see the picture? I just opened it. And I'm going to show you the picture. And I'm going to show you the story of the young man, Dorino, to a $52 million deal and they have a very familiar face with a nose and eyeglasses and some bushy eyebrows. That's hilarious. Anyway, yeah, Miami's without their quarterback too. He may call it quits after a fourth concussion. This one he received on his last time. We have, there's a show. Do you ever watch it? It's called Reno 911. No, I have not seen that. Yeah, so one of the stars is Nick Swartzen and he's coming later on this fall to the Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall on November 24th. These very popular standup comedian, he's also a screenwriter and producer. I'm going to show you 4-1-2-9-2-2-10-20. Pick a number, Aaron. Number three. Call her number three. We'll make you a winner. 4-1-2-9-2-2-10-20. And I know right now, Aaron has anxiety because the phone's going to start ringing. Take it easy. Yes, it's okay. Wait a second. All right. Okay. Give me the thumbs. She can't talk. She is that upset. It's funny that way. All right. And we'll continue to bring you the latest the FBI Secret Service investigating what happened in West Palm Beach just outside of former President Trump, one of his golf courses, a second assassination attempt apparently to get the details of that story.