The Big K Morning Show
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As I sit here today, Russ is not scheduled to be a full participant in practice and so we're ready in a plan that features Justin and his readiness will follow Russ throughout the week. And if his participation gets to a level and participation and quality where we should consider him, we'll delve into that at that time. And obviously when that happens is a component of the consideration. But as I sit here today, he is not scheduled to be a full participant tomorrow in practice. And so we're ready in ourselves around Justin and we'll stay in that mindset until something else happens. But that equals is a waste of our time. I love some of coach Tomlin's isms, but I'll tell you, it was funny because he started to get a little feisty with the questions about the quarterback, right? Yeah, typically what he does when he has a subject that he is either some type of controversy or involves multiple people from one position, he likes to throw that out at the beginning of his monologue. So that way when he answers questions about it, he gets a little perturbed because I covered that and after about three or four or five different times, I think he kind of got to that point. And I mean, listen, this is as he tells us often, I've been around this game and he knows that if he kind of indulges in any type of speculation or hypotheticals, then that gets out there and that's never good. And then he said this to the gathered media horde, none of your businesses, respectfully, there's certain things that go on among teams that I don't talk about, whether it gets out or how it gets out, it's unimportant to me and I'm not overly guarded against it. But is this certain things as a leader that I talked to the collective about that I have zero intentions of sharing with the larger public because it's about our collective and how we come together and how we appreciate and support one another. You know, I can't give you all the ingredients to the hot dog. You might not like it. What was he referring to? Well, I guess without, you know, giving away the ingredients to the hot dog, Justin Fields had mentioned after the game that they gave what was called a petty game ball to Russell Wilson and I guess they do that to a few other players. They're not the official game ball, but they're like an auxiliary game ball. And he said he got that game ball because Russ was done dirty in Denver with the way they handled him. So it was kind of a recognition to Russell obviously couldn't play that, hey, we had your backs against the team that, you know, didn't treat you fairly. So it looks like Justin Fields will start his third game, the home opener Sunday against the Chargers one o'clock at Akrasher Stadium. How do you evaluate Justin Fields play to this point? Well, I mean, knocking on wood, he hasn't turned it over. That's the best thing you could say about Justin, not to say he hasn't done some other things. I mean, the way he used his legs in Atlanta and kind of got going in the second half, that didn't count. That throw he made the pickings on the run off his, I think it was off his back foot. It was just a laser for 51 yards. I mean, and he was tightly covered. You couldn't have placed the ball in a better spot than that throw. So we've seen some of those, you know, some of those things the Bears fans saw for three years. He'll make this spectacular plays. It consistency is still lacking a little bit and now that you get a step up in competition on Sunday. Yeah. So let's talk about the Chargers under new leadership. A name we're very familiar with. I'm not familiar. What's the name? No, Harbaugh. Yeah. Jim Harbaugh, whose relationship with the Steelers dates back to almost completing a Hail Mary pass in the end zone, which would have prevented the Steelers from moving on. Yeah. But obviously Michigan and all the controversy that went last year. Yeah. Right. That's why I paused. I was thankful to see there are no guys on the Denver sidelines with a central Michigan jersey, maybe trying to steal signals of the Steelers. Listen, I will say this, Harbaugh has transformed that team into one that looks like it should be in the AFC North. They have gone from kind of the Hollywood throw it deep with some good players to this tough physical want to run the football. And they're doing with JK Dobbins, the former Raven, who has kind of found a second life after dealing with some injuries and he's rushed for nearly 300 yards in two games. So they're a, they're a grind that there are offensive coordinators, the old Ravens offensive coordinators. So it's going to look similar to a John Harbaugh team in Baltimore, but they, and they have two edge rushers that are elite. Well one o'clock Sunday, the home opener with the weather being as nice and the Steelers being two and O coming off the road, the atmosphere should be a lot of fun in the North Shore. When we come back, Jeff, want to talk about Sydney Crosby's new deal and also how about that backyard brawl and what's the, wait, wait, wait, breaks contained throws the 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. That's the voice of the Panthers, Hall of Famer, Bill Hillgrove with Pat Bostic. And we continue our conversation with our Odyssey sports director, Jeff Hathorne. What a backyard brawl. What a football game. Jeff, that was one for the ages Saturday at Akrasher Stadium. Yeah, it was. I mean, that's what makes college football great. That's why you want to play rivalries. I mean, it would have been a great game today was a great game, but it didn't have the emotion because it's West Virginia and know what it means. And Eli Holstein, now he's starting to get some national recognition. He was on some national player of the week award lists and this kid. And I mean, when it when it gets bad, this kid steps up. He's big. He's six, four, round two, 32, 25. And for the third week in a row, he was chosen as the ACC rookie of the week in his first three starts at the collegiate level, plus add in quarterback of the week. And so they head into a weekend where everybody feels like, well, Youngstown State, they just were upset by Duquesne. But I'm sure coach Darnuzzi, if he hasn't said it already, will say this could be a trap game. Yeah, you get that clip, that clip from Star Wars, it's a trap. That would be this game. Listen, Youngstown State's a good team. It was a great win by Duquesne, but this is a playoff team in the FCS and there are a number of players that are helping the pit team right now that played in FCS. So they should understand and be able to say, like, listen, this is going to be, this would make their season if they would be able to do it. And it wasn't that long ago that they were able to do it. So you need to make sure you keep that focus and not just celebrate three, you know, and make sure you get yourself to four. Yeah, I think pit is 21 and one against FCS team. And the only one was against Youngstown State Paul Christ's first game of his first year when he was coaching before Pat Narduzzi. So Youngstown State in pit 330 Saturday at Akrasher Stadium, then they have a buy and then pit will travel to ACC action at North Carolina. Before you go to, I want to talk about Sidney Crosby signing a two year extension. A lot of people were looking at the numbers in terms of what he's paid, $8,700,000 back to back. I think he gets a $9 million signing bonus. However, when you compare that against other players, it's a lot less than he's worth. Why did he take so much less? Yeah, he's 44th in the NHL and average salary, you know, he said he wanted it. He's always believed that he wants to be able to be competitive and he said he knows how this works, meaning when you have a salary cap, if one guy eats up too much of it, that's going to, you know, keep you from signing a player or two and he wanted to be to allow enough room for them to be able to do that. In order for him to sign, he felt like he got assurances from the team that, you know, they're still looking to win now. There's no rebuild that, you know, they're trying to turn this thing right away and you know, he's optimistic as he is every year about this team. How unselfish is this? I mean, Jeff, we don't hear a lot of this at the professional level. Yeah, and I mean, listen, it's not like he's making seven bucks an hour. I mean, he's still getting paid very well, but yeah, that is worth pointing out because he could have, it's not that he could have written a number down and forced the penguins to pay it, but he could have asked for a lot more, but if that's just kind of the mindset that he goes into these things with and it's part of his legacy in Pittsburgh. I really think that, I mean, how many millions of dollars he left on the table to try to make sure this team was a winner, I think is part of the Sydney Crosby story. And the fact is they're getting ready for the season too. He did this on the day delivered season tickets to a home in Mars. I know you were there for that. How cool is that though, for that family to see Sydney Crosby come up in his jersey with their tickets for the season? Yeah. One of the owners Heather Rogers just was like, I can't believe that Sydney Crosby was on our porch and then he was doing a news conference about his new contract on my porch. I saw that. It was really, it was really cool. And you know, before we talk to Sid, he sat and talked with the family for like 10 minutes. It wasn't just a drive by like handshake and let's go. He sat and talked to the kids and I'll relay a real quick story. The youngest boy, they're like, Sid says, would you like me to sign? He had Crosby jersey on. Would you like me to sign it? He's like, no, he didn't want any marks on his jersey and the mom's like, no, no, no. You want him to sign this jersey. So Sid, so Sid ended up doing it. That's good stuff. Jeff, always appreciate your time and excited about the weekend when you have back-to-back football games at Acrashire looking forward to the home opener on Sunday and been in Youngstown State Saturday. Just thinking of Jimmy Sacco and the crew over there at the stadium, they get a quick turnaround after the pit game to set up the stadium for the Steelers. Yeah, Larry, we're going to miss the 70 degree kick-offs. That's going to be nice. All right, Jeff Hathorn, our Odyssey Sports Director and check out Jeff's work on 93-7 the fan as well. I hear the boss, man, he was back in town after eight years for two shows wrapped around Labor Day, got the 10, one of them, the boss still got it. I mean, the boss on the stage. Of course, our boss, Aaron, still has it, right? Just say yes. Yes. Good answer. We welcome Rick Sager, who is with the Secretary of Community Matters and Economic Development of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Main Street Matters. Rick, welcome to KDKA. Great to be here on my hometown radio station, Larry. Thanks for having me. Yeah, where'd you grow up, Rick? I grew up in O'Hara Township in Fox Chapel area and live in Shane's side. Yeah. Well, there you go. I appreciate your time. This is exciting for me because we've spent so much time and with my radio partner and our midday host, Marty Griffin, talking about how to reimagine downtown. I would think there's some good news in the sense that a couple of factors. One is we heard Amazon this week say that they're going to have their employees come back to the office by the first of the year. I would imagine that sets the bar to reinvigorate some downtown areas. But right now, the focus is on trying to reimagine our cities and keep them viable. So tell us a little bit about Main Street Matters and the mission. Yeah. Thanks again for having me on. Work on September 3rd. So just a couple of weeks ago, we opened a brand new program called Main Street Matters. That's part of Governor Shapiro's budget for this year. And it's really about supporting Main Streets. It's about downtown business districts. It's about small businesses and communities all across Pennsylvania. And I want to emphasize this is a program that's important in rural areas, but also suburban and urban areas. So as I've traveled Pennsylvania, I've been in Honesdale in the Northeast. I've been in Fishtown, a neighborhood of Philadelphia. I've been in Ambridge just a couple of weeks ago with Lieutenant Governor Davis. We think that the importance of these cores of our communities, downtowns and Main Streets, wherever they are, are critical to the future of Pennsylvania. And we want to invest there. And I think I personally think that's a tremendous idea because so many of our smaller communities just need a little lift. But it does a body good, I think, when you see the Main Street in your town making some progress and aesthetically looking good too, right? That's right. And that's why we've designed this program at scale. So it's a $20 million per year program statewide, but also with flexibility to kind of meet communities where they are. We want to be able to fund microgrants for small businesses, but also to your point, things that can beautify communities, things like facade grants, things like stormwater management and sort of streetscape improvements that make downtowns sort of sing in a way that I think we all know. This is not just important, though, to sort of make things look good. There's a real economic imperative here, right? Downtowns are economic hubs. There were businesses want to be there where people want to live, tourists want to visit, restaurants, innovate, and we think that's really part of our overall economic plan for the state. So how do these small towns and bigger towns too, how do they tap into this resource? Yeah. Well, look, we opened early September. You can go to our website right now, dced.pa.gov and get an application going. Only certain organizations are eligible, like individuals can apply, but any local government can apply, like a city or a town or a borough. Redevelopment authorities can apply, nonprofits can apply, community development groups can apply. Folks whose mission is really focused on making downtowns or neighborhoods great. And there are lengthy and detailed guidelines on our website, but I'd also encourage folks to reach out to our team. We've seen huge interest from folks all across Pennsylvania in this program, no surprise, and we're ready to have conversations with people about trying to structure the best application possible to serve the goals of the local community. And let me just focus on that for one second. This is not about the state telling Ambridge or downtown Pittsburgh or Brookline what to do. This is about us empowering local leadership to sort of realize their vision for a great downtown or main street. And we'll start seeing this. When will the actual monies? When will some of these things start to be visual? Sure. Well, November 15th, the application period closes. So we want to give folks a lot of time to sort of do the hard work to put together a plan to apply for the dollars. Once that closes, we'll move really quickly to evaluate those applications. And we should award sometime early in the new year. All right, Rick. Appreciate the update. Thank you. Thank you for having me, sir. We've got Rick Sager, who is the secretary of community and economic development commonwealth of Pennsylvania Main Street matters. Download the free Odyssey app, a UDACY. Take us with you wherever you go. And maybe you're going to go see this show. Nick Swartzin of the Carnegie Homestead Music Hall, November 24th. So Nick, if you know his work, he's a stand up comedian. He's an actor screenwriter and producer. He's known for his role as Tony Baradino and Reno 911. He's been in Adam Sandler movies, a very funny guy. And we have parent tickets for you at 412922-1020, 412922-1020. Aaron, pick a number from one to a million. Let's do caller number five. Caller number five. We're going to make you a winner. So pretty. I know. Now, this is where Aaron gets very anxious. She has, she hears the phone ring and she can't wait. Now, wait, don't answer the phone. Just wait another minute. All right, go ahead. I don't want to stress you out. Coming up in our next hour, we're going to talk to Christine Sorenson, KDK TV anchor woman who just received the Bill Burns Award at the Art Rooney Awards last night, the 51st annual, and we'll talk about what's going on this weekend, Kidzburg, and get a chance to get her take on taking Marty out for this big sware last night.