The 1985 Chicago Bears offense couldn’t help but be good, having practiced daily against one of the NFL’s all-time great defenses, Mike Ditka said. “If we didn’t defense ourselves, we were going to get killed,” Ditka told Gus Frerotte in the third part of this week’s “Huddle Up with Gus” podcast. “It made us better. […]

http://sportstalk.triblive.com/download/Ryan.mp3 The Pirates selected Quinn Priester with their first round draft choice this week. His coach at Cary-Grove (Il) High School, Ryan Passaglia, joins me to talk about the right hander’s career arc, his arsenal, his two-sport status, and those concerns about a football related arm injury.

http://sportstalk.triblive.com/download/CHEERLEADERSotaplanhappyhr.mp3 Wanna eliminate the debate about the NFL’s “optional” organized team activities? Take closer a look at the calendar.

Future Pro Football Hall of Famer Mike Ditka’s first professional football contract was for … $12,000. “I was the (fifth) player picked in the draft — $12,000 with a $6,000 signing bonus,” Ditka told Gus Frerotte during the second part of this week’s “Huddle Up with Gus” podcast. Ditka recalls playing at Pitt, where he […]

http://sportstalk.triblive.com/download/MAdden604.mp3 Another late post for “Madden Monday.” But when Greta Van Fleet and the “Deadwood” movie are involved, can you blame us? We get to these pressing topics, JuJu Smith-Schuster’s prom activities, the latest on the Phil Kessel trade front, and some Pirates pros and cons.

http://sportstalk.triblive.com/download/CheerleadersNFLplayoff.mp3 I’m not a fan of the idea of more NFL playoff teams….but it makes sense for one reason.

Mike Ditka, the former Pitt All-American and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, grew up wanting to be a dentist. “That didn’t work out, you can tell,” he told Gus Frerotte in the first part of this week’s “Huddle Up with Gus” podcast. Ditka tells the story of trying out for his high […]