Exploring the Penguin's Unwavering Sports Fan Base and Atmosphere

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00:00What's your thought on the scene in Pittsburgh with sports?

00:08I went to PPG Saturday night and the Penguins won a shootout.

00:11They're awful, but they won the game against the Sharks.

00:13They blew a lead.

00:15But the one thing I noticed was they're still selling out every game at PPG and the team's

00:19not even worth really, they're not worth watching.

00:23They're a bad team like they were in the 80s, but the fans go to every game.

00:28It's the scene down there and the Steelers atmosphere around that stadium, those tailgates

00:34and the throng of people walking into that stadium is like nothing I've ever seen.

00:39It is an unbelievable fan experience and fan base in Pittsburgh.

00:44Would you agree with all that?

00:46I do.

00:47I think that you throw in the Pirates too for as bad as they've been over the last three

00:50decades and still to get decent crowds at PNC Park, it's a great place to watch a game

00:55for anybody who's ever been there.

00:57It's the perfect place for visiting fans to come for a great weekend, to see their

01:01team in the best ballpark in the majors and enjoy the downtown Pittsburgh life.

01:08And I think that's contributed to the attendance, but a lot, it's mostly Pirates fans and they

01:12still do it.

01:13The one thing I came away from over the last 10 days or so, Scott, regards to the Penguins

01:19situation is this idea that they missed their opportunity to tear it down and build it back

01:24up.

01:25That's all nonsense.

01:26That's all you have to do.

01:27You don't have to look any further than the top of the division in the Capitals.

01:30The Capitals still have all their old guys, Carlson, they still have Ovi, they've got

01:36Tom Wilson, they've even got players that are older that are on injured reserve and

01:42not contributing.

01:44They didn't get younger in Washington.

01:48They just didn't bring in a lot of bad players.

01:50It's really that simple.

01:51You don't have to strip it to the bolts in order to continue rebuilding on the fly.

01:56The Penguins just did a horrible job of it.

01:59And it's not just the previous general manager.

02:01It's the one who's currently in place, who signed Carlson, who extended a failing goaltender.

02:08They've made a lot of mistakes and it's not about the fact that they're paying Sidney

02:13Crosby and Evgeny Malkin below market rates to stay.

02:17It's about what they've done around those guys.

02:20And what they've done around those guys, Scott, is fail.

02:24They have no talent at all, none whatsoever.

02:27They have Carlson, Malkin, Crosby, and Letang, and Letang wasn't playing on Saturday.

02:34And I was watching and I sat there and I said to the people around me, I said, they literally

02:39have no one.

02:40I mean, they have no one with any talent whatsoever on the team.

02:44I mean, I guess I'll give you rust and Connor looks like he has potential to be a player,

02:50but he hasn't been around long enough to get that credit from me.

02:54I just think they look terrible.

02:56They blew a lead, as I mentioned, and they somehow found a way to win, but they don't

03:00win that often.

03:01They're an easy pushover.

03:02In fact, Friday night, I said they would lose by three goals in Columbus.

03:07Sure enough, they lost by four.

03:09I mean, they're just not a good team.

03:11Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

03:13I mean, bringing Carlson, paying him $11.5 million and then seeing the efforts he puts

03:18out there.

03:19Is he skilled?

03:20We know he's skilled.

03:21You don't score as many points in the NHL as he has without being super skilled, but

03:26he gets, he gets, he's a turnstile on defense and it's been, you saw that in multiple games

03:32this season where he just did not put in the appropriate effort defensively and every now

03:38and then he'll contribute offensively, but he's not contributing at the rate he once

03:42did.

03:43You don't make up for the goals that you're giving up if you're contributing offensively

03:50at a much lower rate than you used to.

03:53They've made a series of terrible decisions and it wasn't, the decision to keep LaTang,

03:58Malkin and Crosby was not one of the terrible decisions.

04:01It was everything they did around it.

04:03My wife would say it started with letting Marc-Andre Fleury go.

04:07She loves Marc-Andre.

04:08But I think it's really, it's really escalated probably since, since 2020 or 2021.

04:16Once Rutherford left the GM job, that's been an absolute mess.

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