Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - 5 On It & Adam Amin talks World Baseball Classic (Hour 3)

Episode Date: March 10, 2026

In the third hour, Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris discussed a variety of sports topics in the 5 On It segment. After that, Fox Sports and Chicago Sports Network play-by-play announcer Adam Amin joined the show to discuss his recent hectic schedule that has involved calling the World Baseball Classic and Bulls games. Later, Rahimi and Harris discussed the awesome atmosphere in Houston for Team USA's 5-3 win against Mexico on Monday in the World Baseball Classic.

I got five. It's time for five on it. Rahini Harrison Rooney. Bring you five topics on their minds today. On 104, three, the score. Number one. What letter grade would you give the bears

for what we've seen from the team so far in free agency? B plus. I, yeah, they didn't have a lot of room to work with. They had spots they needed to fill. They're filling the spots. Yep. I like the Kobe Bryant pickup. He had four and or seven.

last regular season. He was on an excellent defense. I feel like he's going to help with slot coverage, which is something they needed. I feel like Neville Gallimore is a guy who can help with a run defense, which is again something they needed. And they replaced linebacker, which is again, something they needed. So Devin Bush, great. They signed Debarco Jackson. Daniel Hardy's back. Brackson Jones is back. With what they were able to work with, cap-wise, I feel like this is good. Seems like a step in the right direction, right? I'm assuming by letter grade,

the letter I is not available to me in this exercise. No, Marshall, we're going with grades, grades, real grades from the report card. Because I've gotten an eye on my report card, let me tell you. I mean, to be fair, you're supposed to grade based on what they've done so far, which yesterday was a complete day. I guess I'm giving them a B-minus. It's either that or a C-plus.

I'm not overwhelmed. I'm not underwhelmed. I guess I'm just whelmed. That is actually a word. And so that's where I'm at with this Bears team. They did address some needs in a way that make me say, okay, that's not bad, but they didn't make anything to say, oh, that's amazing that they did that.

Maybe we set the bar too high and that's why I'm like, well, okay, B, you know. Well, that's what I said. It's either C plus or B minus for me. There's nothing detrimental that they've done. That's why it's above average. But is it that far above average? There's still more to come, obviously. So I know the question's based on so far what they've done.

I can't knock anything that they've done. Number two. Yesterday the NFL announced the 2026 compensatory picks handing out 33 picks to 15 clubs. to 15 clubs, and the Bears were not one of them. The Bears believed they should receive draft compensation after the Falcons hired Ian Cunningham as general manager last month and disputed the matter with the NFL, but to no avail.

So here's the question. On a scale of 1 to 10 on the newly created injustice meter, where would you rate this development in the Bears' compensatory pick saga? Now, we're going to get into this more at 1 o'clock because it deserves some time. 11 on the newly created injustice meter. Because what the hell are you doing? And I feel like some people got their hopes up thinking that they could somehow get one out of the two or that there would be some sort of consideration. But all indications said this is what was going to happen.

Because Matt Ryan, who wasn't as qualified for his job as Ian Cunningham is, is the highest level football officer in how the falcons structure their organization. Except Matt Ryan said over and over again that Ian Cunningham is the general manager. So because of that, I think that this is an injustice. Ian Cunningham didn't leave because he felt like moving to Atlanta

for the Lemon Pepper Wings. Ian Cunningham moved because it was a promotion. Although that'd be a cool reason to move to Atlanta. OG stats for sure. But point being, we've said this before and we'll say it again. Nobody pays for these picks. These are compensatory picks.

They are given by the NFL. Nobody has to take picks from their own and give them to the bears for this. It is a reward for doing the right thing and creating opportunities and trying to create avenues for minority candidates

who have not had the same fairness applied to them in this league. to be able to do this. And instead, they just decided, we're not going to enforce our own law. And in doing so, and I'll get into this at 1 o'clock, I think also just horribly illustrates racism in a way and discrimination in a way that they did not intend.

So yeah, 11 for me. Oh, 11 on a scale of 10. I like that. I don't think I've ever gotten 11 out of you on a 0 to 10 scale. But I am here for it. And I don't disagree with your sentiment specifically because no matter how you chalk this up, and I understand that in the NFL's eyes, at least this is what they've said, they view Matt Ryan as the number one football man in Atlanta.

But when you hear Matt Ryan actually talk about it, that doesn't make any sense from an NFL standpoint because Matt Ryan told me. you who's in charge? Ian's in charge. Ian's in charge of that space. I'm looking forward to to learning about, you know, this. Like I said it the other day, and Ian's Presser, like, I've never sat in a draft meeting. And so Monday is going to be the first time I'm sitting in a draft meeting, and I've got a lot to learn. So sitting, observing, being a fly on the wall, if there's something that Ian has a question about or something I can help with, I'm all ears, and I'm happy to share my opinion. But Ian is driving this boat, and he is the one that's

leading us moving forward. I don't know that you could say it any plainer than he said it in that moment. He basically said, I don't know what's going on. I'm ready for Ian to teach me how to run a football team. That's what I heard. Did you hear anything different, Lila? So you mean to tell me that the executive officer and the position he's in doesn't have the qualifications of the person who's in the role that's underneath him?

We have all had managers who didn't really understand. the nitty gritty of what we did, but understood, like, the job's got to get done. And they're like, I'm tasking you with this. Get this done. I go back to my time when I was in Sacramento. We were creating all these sports shows, and it was from scratch. So the guy was like, yeah, you do this stuff. So I'm going to let you do this and just let me know if I can help you.

Very much the same vibe that Matt Ryan's giving off there in his executive role. And to illustrate my point, I was explaining, hey, we need to be at this game because the beard's going to be there. He's like, the beard, who's that? It's like, you know, James Hardin? He's like, who's James Harden? And that's what told me, okay, my manager really doesn't know anything about sports, but I'm going to still do my job to the best of my ability and teach him about who these people are that he probably should know at at least a cursory level. So yeah, it's my number is going to be a 12 just because I want to outdo Lela because it's ridiculous. Injustice. And we need to add a trade marked to that, by the way, the injustice meter.

It has been trademarked, the injustice meter. If only it were acknowledged in life. Number three. This is five on and a 104.3, the score with Laila Rahimi and Marshall Harris. Here's question number three. What will happen first? The bears acquire a left tackle. The bears find a pass rusher, or the bears confirm the site of their new stadium.

Now, Ray, you know that wasn't the official original wording of this question. Winners submitted a couple days ago. We had to laugh about it because the original, from our friend Jeff, friend of the show, was even funnier because some of the things have already happened. Will the bears get a pass rusher or a stadium first? Then we decided, is it acquire a center, left tackle, sign a safety, find a pass rusher, sign stadium deal.

So they have found their left tackle, who is already on the team. acquired a center via trade, signed a safety, and I don't know how you qualify when you know a lot of the teams on the field already when it comes to defensive line. Not exactly a pass rusher, but they got the job done, at least adding depth in Neville Gallimore. So I would say all of those things happened before they found a stadium, even though they bought land for a stadium, told us it was for a stadium.

Yeah, I don't think it's about what's first. I think it's about what's last. I think we all know what's going to be last. That stadium thing is going to be last. Let's just, the shovels are not in the ground yet, and I promise you, the Bears will add even another pass rusher before there are shovels in the ground.

They may add two more pass rushes by the time shovels are in the ground through the draft. They have a tackle. They'll probably add another offensive lineman before the shovels are in the ground on that stadium. So I can tell you what's last, and it's going to be a minute before we have broken ground on a new stadium,

whether that's Arlington Heights, whether it's Indiana, whether that's your backyard, Layla. Wherever they decide to put a stadium, that's going to be last on the list. I don't have a backyard. Oh. So that would be tough.

Okay. Then not your backyard. Not in my backyard. I don't have one. Ha ha! Number four. Do Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis and Bears backup quarterback Tyson Baygent

both fall under the umbrella of the best 32 quarterbacks in the NFL and for full context it was Ben Johnson that said Tyson Bajent was one of the best 32 in the league. He said one of the 32, right? Did he say best? Was best part of it? I guess we could play it in a minute here for full. And I'm not trying to parse your words.

I'm just wondering out loud while I think about this. But that is the question, right? because we all knew Malik Willis had a good year with Green Bay as the backup. He was more than serviceable. He's also somebody who I think got a lot of attention when he initially was in the draft at his position. And because of that, and even coming over to Green Bay, he was somebody who I think a lot of people considered starting quarterback in the league caliber. But that begs the question. Now that Malik is in Miami, now that it looks like he is one of the 32,

And we see guys like Tuatunga Viloa not there anymore. We see guys like Kyler Murray, not in the same respected position right now anyway. Does that mean Tyson Bayesian is one of the 32? And so I think a couple things can be true here. What we know about Malik Willis, more of a resume, more outright talent than Tyson Tyson Bagin, more arm strength, better at the position. But Tyson Bayesian has a lot of upside. So, and people love his game knowledge and his dedication, and Ben Johnson absolutely loves him.

So how do you quantify it? I think he could be, but the issue is in the NFL, there's never just 32. That's why we're talking about this the way we are. By the, that'd be more than 32. Is he one of the 34, 35? Oh, okay. Well, we can listen, by the way, if we want to get very specific about what Ben Johnson said, just to be specific about this. Go ahead, Tyler.

think there's a lot of merit to having a strong number two quarterback, which he certainly fits that bill on I'm of the mind that he's probably one of the best 32 in the NFL. His preseason tape over the last few years has probably confirmed that in my opinion. I love Tyson. There it is. Best 32. Ray, you were correct and I had forgotten. He's not one of the best 32.

He could be. He's one of the best, like, 35. maybe. I say one of the best 45. So like to you he's playing in NFL Europe? Is he better than Mitchell Trubisky? Is he better than Davis Mills? There's a long list of

guys. I'm going to say he's more accurate than Mitchell Trubisky. I don't think that's going out on a limb. You don't know that time like I do. You didn't have to watch it the same.

Throwing past it to Alan Robinson that looked like they were going to four other people first. So the beautiful... Runner's ball? Ring a bell? To anybody? Do you want to talk about runners' ball? Wait, Layla, didn't Alan Robinson said Chibisky, they gave up on him

too soon? Alan Robinson believes in people. So does Ben Johnson. Hens, he said he's one of the best 32 Tyson Pageant, quarterbacks in the NFL. He hasn't done enough. This is one of those questions it's like Michael Jordan said arguing about the goat like there's you don't

you don't have enough evidence he hasn't done enough what did Michael Jordan say about argue about the goat because that's him so why is this well he says he doesn't argue about these players who played in different errors who never played against each other in their prime I haven't seen this guy in his prime Tyson Beijin he hasn't he's given me that that nice little what was it a four game sample where he went two and two over a stretch

when Justin Fields was hurt that's all I got right. That's all I really have. I'm sorry. I can't put as much into the preseason film as Ben Johnson does. And Ben Johnson is highly biased. Can we agree on that at least? Yeah, Ben Johnson loves Tyson Asia. I mean, that's painfully obvious. It gets into programming.

You see his influence all over the place. Have you ever heard a parent talk about their kid? Like, their kid's the greatest thing ever and you're looking to the kid like, I mean, your kid's cool, but let's not get carried away. let's not get carried away and he was undrafted cool but okay but for example people are like

oh we'll name the 32 quarterbacks okay well Joe Flacco was the backup in Cincinnati Joe Flacco ends up playing because Joe Burroughs injured well you know that Joe Burroughs a better quarterback so some of these you can eliminate just because of the injury concern now the better question

is is he better than Michael Pennix you know that that's where it starts to come into play and the accuracy really is I think, at the deepest level here. Is he better than Spencer Rattler, who was one of the 32 at the time? He's not better than Tyler, right? Tyler.

Shaw? Like, like that, when the Saints came on late. They really liked Tyler Shock in New Orleans, but I don't know that they are ready to make a determination. So then he fits into that group. I know that they wanted him to, they want him to be that guy. They drafted him to be.

But then you also know that some guys, like, for example, Daniel Jones was not originally supposed to be the guy in Indianapolis. Better than Anthony Richardson. But Anthony Richardson was a high draft pick. 815. Ben Johnson said he's one of the best 32 number two quarterbacks. See, I'm with that. He's one of the best 32 number two quarterbacks.

I know that's not what Ben Johnson said. He said one of the best, 32. 7.08 says, did at Layla Rahimi, we can't get ads on the text line. We just read them. It's not that technologically sound. And it breaks up a lot of your text, so we can't tell what they say. And we can't get most of the emojis. Did Layla Rahimi forget about Bayesian's murder balls that he throws over the middle? No, but like, there are so many quarterbacks who do that.

Like, how many do you want me to list that do that? That's not indicative of just him. Hmm. We'll just leave it there. He's not. You say he is. I say he's one of like 35. I cannot pin it down to 32.

Okay. And here's 312. Malik Willis is just fortunate to be from the Packers' back of quarterback tree. I don't think so. What? Malik Willis was highly touted coming out of college. I don't. The hello Matt Flynn.

I don't. Did you really trust the Titans to develop a quarterback? Fair. Number five. Shane Smith has been named the White Sox opening day starter. he is a Rule 5 selection. Does that make this, does this make Shane Smith

this year's Gage Tater Workman? I am offended by this question on so many different levels. Why? Because I wrote it. Yes. Because it feels very targeted. Because you know about my love for for Gage Tater. But they're both Rule 5 guys.

One of them is an all-star. Okay. Can we stop? I put that in the question. I know, but like, so I feel like you're just mocking me with the question because you know. You're not gauge? Is that your Tyson-Beged to Ben Johnson? It might be.

It might be. And I'm not out here saying he's one of the best. I don't know. You can just pick a number. You just pick a number and fill in the blank. First of all, your opening day starter should be your All-Star if it's a pitcher in this respect. So the fact that Shane Smith was the All-Star and he's the opening day starter, that makes sense. I know Sean Burke earned it last year.

I know. But he has a Rule 5 guy. And people fall in love with Rule 5 guys during spring training. I always fall in love with the Rule 5 guy. So based on that criteria... He's an all-star, Layla? This is like a square and a rectangle, but a rectangle... Square is a rectangle, but a rectangle isn't a square.

Yes, all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares. Correct. Listen, I... He's an all-star. and he's an opening day starter. But by rule of the Rule 5 selection that you love in the spring training, who's improved and shown himself,

we don't really have a Gage Tater Workman this year. This is the closest I could come up with. I'm with it, because not only did he survive a whole year as a Rule 5 guy, but he's on year two. See, now people are getting into the questions here in our text line. Now you're doing the thing. You have to evaluate Tyson Baygent versus who you know was starting.

Who doesn't have exactly the strongest ground starting? Well, I like this. 224. All caps. Layless, that means they're saying it with their chest. Beijan is going to Pittsburgh. Being West Virginia guy, wouldn't that be close to home? That would be appropriate.

That's his home like market. Yes. That would be neat. But see, see, there's enough of them to where you could ask. And I think it's a fair question. So now we should all be rooting for Aaron Rogers to retire so that the Pittsburgh Steelers want to get Tyson-Begie. The idea that you know what quarterback you were getting in Malik Willis

after two years with the Titans, stop it. Bad situation. Stop it. You knew more about Malik Willis in college to know that that wasn't entirely going to be the case. Stop it. 317. We don't know how good Beijing can be because he only plays in the preseason. But I do know he doesn't have an NFL arm.

Drops microphone if it wasn't attached to this stanchure. I mean, the arm strength was always going to be the issue. Yeah. But the accuracy is, where you can make up for it a bit. But how many NFL quarterbacks do you know who their arm strength is also not their strength?

See? See? See what you do there? Yep. Coming up next year on Rahimi Harrison Grotie. I don't know that this is the debate for Adam Amin. But I know he's ready to talk about just about anything. Announcer for the Bulls, announcer for the World Baseball Classic, announcer for both Major League Baseball and NFL at Fox. He's been everywhere.

So we'll talk to Adam Amin next. As we get set here in Pool B for the second game, Adam Amin, a couple of World Series champions and A.J. Prisinski and Adam Wainwright, Ken Rosenthal is with us as well. Judge Swings launches it deep left field. It's 2-0. United States.

It feels like most nights. He's got a quiet 20. He does not have a quiet day. That's a 25-point night working on 6 of 8 from downtown. Hit me with it, States. We haven't heard it in a long time. I've almost forgot. I've been said it in a month.

Drive home safely, she's got a go beep, beep. Where to remind me. It's been a while since I've been able to say it. Oh, I feel so good. I'm back, Elizabeth. Oh, Lord. We lost you for a bit there, pal.

You lost you for a bit there. I totally forgot about that, man. My bad. For Stacy, Casey, our great crew, I'm Adam. With Rahimi Harrison Grody on 1043, the score. It is always a great day when we get to talk to Adam Amin on our hotline. He joins us from where. Let's start with that. Adam and me, the Bulls announcer, Major League Baseball on Fox, World Baseball Classic on Fox, NFL as well.

Adam, thanks for joining us. Are you on the West Coast? Where are you? We're West Coast in it. We've got Bulls and Warriors tonight. I wasn't sure if you were on the call or not, because let's go through the interactive map that you posed on your Instagram. 10 days, 8 games, 7 cities, 4 time zones, and 2 sports. even for you, that's pretty extreme. You know, though, I've always said it's like, there's no, I ask for no pity. We're not, we're not like making a deal out of this because it's like, oh, wo is us. We have to travel around the world.

It's just fun. It's a fun thing to be able to do. It's a fun thing to go from city to city and cover these cool events and cover things I've never covered before. I've never done a WBC until this past weekend. and we'll finish off the rest of this Bulls West Coast road trip this week. They're playing in San Francisco tonight. They'll play in Los Angeles on Thursday and Friday.

I'm taking a red-eye flight on Friday night from L.A. to Miami, so going cross-country. And we're going to see Team Japan play in the quarter of finals against either the Dominican Republic or Venezuela in Miami for a spot in the semifinals. That's going to be an electric atmosphere. year. In Miami, the two Latin American countries have incredible fan bases. The Dominicans and the Venezuelans, their fan bases are electric. The Japanese fans, they travel well. I know they were in the Tokyo Dome for the WBC, but there's going to be a lot of Japanese fans there in Miami, too, next week, or at the end of the week. So I just think it's such a cool event and to get to bounce around and hop in and call a few of these games.

It's really cool. The atmosphere watching in Houston last night, I was sitting in my hotel room in San Francisco watching it. And it was probably more favored towards Mexico, understandable in Houston. But it was such a great atmosphere to watch on TV. And this event is, I knew there was a lot of buzz going into this particular WBC. I was excited to call it. I didn't realize how much of a jolt that you feel while calling some of these games. Adam, pop quiz.

One, what day of the week is it? Two, what is your hotel room number? Do you know the answers to these two questions? It's Tuesday and 12. I had to think about it because there have been a bunch of those. There have been a bunch of those this week. I legitimately had to make sure I didn't screw it up. Oh, I've definitely done that.

We have all been there. I thought I was staying in the room number for the previous stop. Yeah. Yeah, it's happened. The day of the week thing just starts to lose sight, but you do have a very specific program that you're on. The other question I'm going to ask is, what is your favorite of the cities that you are visiting in this time away from Chicago?

I mean, I always love going to Los Angeles, but that's usually just because there's friends out there. There's a lot of people out there that they usually get to run into. I mean, they're all great. I'm in San Francisco. I know a lot of people probably made their way out here for the Super Bowl, and I didn't realize a lot of people were making the way out here for the very first time. I had never a lot of folks I had I talked to that we're going out here for the Super Bowl

I never been here before and and raved about it afterwards and I always love coming out here but it's always nice to get a trip to Los Angeles and and feel like you get to be you know kind of kind of walking around California a little bit proper I think that'll be fun this weekend we are talking to Adam Amin broadcaster for the Bulls for world baseball classic on Fox NFL also of course NBA with the Bulls tonight on CHSN is where you can catch that game. And Adam, I did want to ask about the World Baseball Classic. You mentioned, of course, your work with baseball and Fox, and you do a great job there, but I feel like there's no atmosphere quite like it. And when you get to experience it for yourself in person, how do you describe the

crowd and what they bring and just the pride that the players have playing in it as well? I mean, being around Mark DeRosa, the manager this past weekend, talking with Terrick Scouble, which has been one of the interesting, if you want to call it a controversy, I guess you can, but one of the interesting discussions around Scoobel has taken place over the course of the week and how much she was impacted

by going to the world baseball classic and standing in line up the first base line in front of the dugout and hearing the national anthem and, you know, lined up with a bunch of other guys with the same jersey and kind of the superstar power of Team USA and kind of preparing for these. games, it hits you differently.

And I'm not, you know, I'm not one to be jingoistic about this and like, you know, overly patriotic. It's, I find it fascinating. I find it, I appreciate it more than anything else because all these players that take time away from their spring training run up to join this team, I look around at other countries and other players from other countries and seeing, you know, guys who have, you know, British backgrounds and their, you know, their parents were born in the UK, like Harry Ford is the catcher for the nationals, to see players in Brazil who are construction workers in their

off time and have like regular jobs and still play for the Brazilian national team, a baseball team that doesn't have a tremendous history. It's only been to the WBC a couple of times, but they have this appreciation for wanting to represent their country. There's a great story about an electrician for Chequio who struck out Shohei Otani, and the Japanese fans gave him a standing ovation. They brought him out to the field at the Tokyo Dome, and the Japanese fans gave him a standing ovation. This guy's going to go back to Chekia and go back to his job as an electrician.

These are, you know, I know some of these stories can sound like their tongue-in-cheek, but these are real opportunities for a lot of people around the world, not just the superstars in Major League Baseball. that we've come to know representing their country. It does mean a lot to them. And like I don't like necessarily making this about more than it is, but I do think there is a certain pride that a lot of people take and the identity that comes with playing for your country.

I think that's more what it's about. I don't necessarily like connecting it to other peripheral things, but I do think the pride in country and the kind of unification of team to represent a country with an identity, I think is really, really cool. You get that a lot from the non-American players and their fan bases especially, but it was interesting. I'm sure you've seen or heard Bryce Harper's comments about not having the Olympics be a baseball thing in 2028, even though the games are in Los Angeles. Did you take that as more of a dig at the world stage as far as the World Baseball Classic was,

or is this just a guy wishing he could win Olympic gold? No, I took it as a guy who wants to fall on a global stage. I think this is a big deal for Bryce Harper. And I think he knows that the Olympics are still the Olympics, the impact that we felt during those two weeks in Milan for the Winter Olympics. And you know how much I've always felt, I don't know if you guys do too, but I always felt that the summer games had a little bit more accessibility for a lot of fans around the world, just because they're probably a little bit more familiar

with the sports and they're more comfortable with them. And I think the U.S., you know, you look at the Olympics, and it's not, the competition is greater here at the WBC. You know, it's like the World Cup in soccer relative to playing for the Olympic gold in soccer. I still feel like the World Cup has greater buzz. It has greater participation. There's different meaning to it. But, you know, there's a lot of reasons for it. And I'm sure you can make arguments for and against one or the other because of, you know, whether it's government involvement or whether it's, you know, country pride, whatever. There's a million different things that you could dissect to try to talk about why one means more than the other.

And the WBC kind of means a little bit more in baseball. There's more countries participating. There's 20 countries participating in this, whereas the Olympics, it's a smaller field. But I think wanting to program for Team USA to allow Major League players to participate hockey, I think that also had a lot of impact on these guys because they saw what happened with both the men and the women winning gold in hockey. you know, a half a century, I think have a lot to do with why some of these guys, and Harper included, they want the years. And I understood what you were saying. It wasn't a knock on the WBC. It was a, hey, we should also be part of the Olympics, too.

We're talking to Adam Amin, broadcasting the World Baseball Classic, NFL and Major League Baseball and Fox, and also the Bulls. And you are in town for the Warriors games. And I think you and Stacey, you've done a fantastic job on Bulls basketball all year. And that said, just knowing this iteration of the team, what do you want to see you get accomplished in this last stretch of games before they close out the season? I mean, it's such a weird dynamic right now, right? Because I do see the big picture. The big picture is you probably want to lose games. You probably want to increase your lottery odds as much as possible. I also think the Bulls have a little bit more cushion to win a few here and there because I don't know how much better your odds are going to be. You're not going to

catch up to, you know, the worst five or six teams, you're probably not going to catch up up to the worst six teams in the NBA in terms of worst winning percentage to get the best lottery odds. I just don't think it's going to happen. The Bulls kind of committed to this, you know, methodology. And if you want to call it soft-anking, I think that's the first phrase to come to mind. I don't necessarily call it that on the air. I don't know if that's necessarily the right thing to do. It's not respectful to what the players are actually trying to do. because the players are not trying to lose games, and that has been made very apparent by watching these games

when Colin Sexton is going off for 58 points in two games, and these guys are playing hard down the stretch against Phoenix to try to win a game. It's a weird dynamic, and I at the end of it all, you know, would love to be able to say, oh, the Bulls ended up with the best possible lottery odds that they can get. Maybe they have the, you know, seventh worst, eighth worst, winning percentage in the NBA. It improved their opportunity to get one of these

superstar, potential superstar players coming out of the NBA draft. And that's all well and good, but it's not fun to sit there for 48 minutes of basketball, two and a half hours a night with all of you, and call it every time that they turn the ball over, do you really want us to cheer, so to speak, like when they turned the ball over for the 14th time that night?

Like, that's not a fun way to go about this job. Like, when these guys are on the floor and they've made it fairly clear that Billy Donovan's trying to win games and the players on the floor are not trying to lose because they're, as we've talked about ad nauseum, a lot of them are fighting for jobs, a lot of them are fighting for contracts, a lot of them are fighting to get experience. They're not going to try to lose games purposefully. So it's an interesting dynamic to sit there. And by the way, it's easier, I would say, as a fan, because if you do want this team to lose games, all you have to do is not watch. You don't have to watch them try to lose or try to win. I've always made the joke, like the difference between the only difference between fans and us,

you know, Stacey and I, is that you guys can shut it off if you want to. You guys don't have to watch. You guys can say, all right, well, let's hope they lose this one and turn off the game and come back in the fourth quarter and look at the score or check on Twitter or check on Insta or check on, you know, your box score the next day. You guys can kind of turn it away and look back and hope that the results that you want are there. For us, it's a little bit different. want to sit there and watch, at least I don't, I don't want to sit there and call a game

as if I'm happy that the Bulls are going to lose a game. I don't want to call it that way. It's just not fun. It's not in my nature. It's not in my blood to do that. But I think the best thing that we can do is try to contextualize what a loss does mean or what a win does mean. I always talk to our production crew. I'm, you know, we're in constant communication with our crew, and we always say, hey, let's have these graphics ready. The winning percentage is this. That means the lottery odds. are this. So if they do lose the game, which is not a fun thing to necessarily call from the tip to the final buzzer, at least we can contextualize what that means. All right, well,

bulls fall short in this one, but here's where they are in the lottery odds. Here's still what the opportunity is. Here's the silver lining that comes with guys struggling on the floor. Maybe they lose a game. Here's a silver lining that comes with that. And again, my last thing would be they're going to win some games. You can't lose them all. I think these guys work too hard, the players work too hard. And whether you disagree or agree with that philosophy, I do not have any argument against you for it. If you agree with it, fine. If you hate it, I can appreciate that. But I think our job is to at least frame it the way that they want to frame it. If Billy Donovan and come out and said, we are trying to lose every game and they come out and win a game, then we can

probably discuss that in a different fashion and say, well, it's not what the goal was here. but the fact is they've talked about wanting to win games. So my framework in calling it is to be excited when good things happen, quote, unquote, for the Bulls. And then we'll put it into context as best as we possibly can't. Now, Adam, it's a great answer. And I know we're up against a commercial break. But I do want to say this. I think there are times when we have to look at a team and there are times where we have to look at individuals.

And similar to the guys who got opportunities when the NBA went through a bad COVID pandemic. and seeing that people actually got caught on to teams and they actually created opportunities for themselves, I think about them at times like this as well. How many people get to make money in opportunities like this or get to provide more for their families or get career satisfaction? And that often comes to my mind too.

Rahimi Harrison Grody That sounds so crazy. 104.3, the score. Wow, I like that. Middays 10 to 2 on 1043, the score. Strokes from the other way, back towards the law. There, and her and judge, strikes first for TUSA. That is courtesy of Fox Sports.

This is Rahimi Harrison Rodi on 1043 The Score. And it was a fun game last night watching the World Baseball Classic. There were seven games in total. And that primetime game, USA versus Mexico and Houston at what is now Dakin Park. And it was a fantastic game to watch. enjoyed it, watched the entire thing, and the atmosphere was absolutely electric. Team USA won five to three. They are now undefeated, three and O, Mexico falls to two and one. And Aaron Judge making a lot of things look easy. It wasn't just that home run that looked like it went straight up and then straight down.

He also was able to throw runners out, makes it all look so easy because of so tall he is. And that outfield is small. And there's something about that ballpark that just, always plays well for him, and we saw that last night. It was a very fun atmosphere, and a lot of guys doing things that I think you're used to seeing. With the judge thing, he makes the, well, he made the field last night anyway, looked like it was almost like a low league field. I'm not saying like it was that out of proportion, but when he threw the runner out at third, I was like, wait, that looks like a, you know, a first baseman throwing the third base.

He made it look so easy. He really does. and you can say that at any time. But Aaron Judge, with the home run as well, just made that look so easy. To have all of them together on Team USA, especially the play of Bobby Witt Jr., what he was doing at short,

knowing that he is going to be in the AL Central for a very long time. He has a decent fielding ability. I'll say that about him. Yes, I'm being sarcastic. He's amazing. You have to acknowledge, there are players better in the division than some of the whites.

It's not hard for me to do that. I do that on an annual basis. Here's where I get hung up. I can't cheer for Bryce Terrang. Nope. Can't do it. I know he's on Team USA. I know.

But he was a thorn in my side the entire season last year. You can't put differences aside? And I know, I'm like, yeah, I see why he's on the team. And frankly, the better second baseman is in. Mesa right now and not at the World Baseball Classic Nico Horner. But Team USA did have a fielding error. Bryce Terrang did not play a flawless second base. But that's not even it.

I'm not even mad about that. What are you mad about? He's on the Brewers and he was a thorn in my side the entire year last year. So he's at the plate and I'm like, I know you're on Team USA. I know. And I cheer for Team USA. you also cheer for the players you like. I grew up watching Benji Gill.

But then here I am watching this. I'm like, ah. Here's my question. Bryce terrain, Brewers. This is an honest question, Lila. What are you doing there? If football had the... Price terrain, batting dice, just like he did.

If football had the equivalent of a world football classic, right? And Team USA had Michael Parsons on it. You wouldn't be mad if Michael Parsons was wrecking up sacks, right? Well, no, but that's different for me. Bryce Terrang was a notable thorn in the side. He himself of the Cubs. And like even Andrew Vaugh, at least he was a white socks. There's no, there's no getting around the Bryce Terang factor.

So Bryce Terrang will forever be on Layla's no-go list. No, I'm saying right now, watching the World Baseball Classic, I find it frustrating to cheer for Bryce Turing. My thing is he's going to be right back on the brewers. Like, I have no problem in sharing for Kyle Schwerver. Cal Raleigh, how did you not love his chase for the home run record last year? What did you think about the non-handshake with his teammate? Junior Cominero, and they faced off, and he tried to shake his hand at home plate.

I mean, is that business? Isn't that little too businessy? Perhaps. I enjoyed watching Alejandro Kirk run the bases like I would with about the same speed. I love that he and Rowdy Tellez were the 4-5 combo. I can't do the terrain thing, man. I can't get into it.

I know, I know. He's on Team USA. What happened to the patriotism and all of that? I'm not cheering for a hit by pitch. I don't think that that is nice. But can he just like sit there or something? He did just sit, well... Yeah, a little too much at second base yesterday.

Yeah, that's what I was saying. I think you're, grieving in some way, but... No, I just can't cheer for Bryce to ring right now. Team USA minus Bryce Terang. And it's not because it was playing in the field yesterday. It's because it was play for the brewers. How many times was he a thorn in the side, Ray?

How many? Too many times. Doesn't he get the PITA award? The Paid and the Butt Award, if you will? Yes, 100%. I just can't switch gears that quickly and be like, Oh, okay. You've had a whole off-season.

I feel the same way. Do you think I cared about Bryce Terrang during that off-season? I don't know. I'm questioning it now. No. Why would I have paid attention? Once the Milwaukee Brewers got swept out of the playoffs. That's my point.

They got swept out of the playoffs. The Dodgers don't count in this. They're in a completely different league. They're on the Neptune baseball league. You just said you stopped caring when they got swept out of the playoffs by said Dodgers. Right, because I stopped having to think about that. them. And then Bryce Turing is back. And I'm like, I can't cheer for this dude. You just don't know you're grieving yet. Yeah. No, grieving. Grieving is like not watching baseball for months after

the 2011 World Series. This isn't that. No, I'm not saying you're grieving season. This is just me being annoyed because he's on a team I would typically cheer for. You're going to be annoyed when he's playing for the Brewers being a P-I-T-A again. That's the point, which is why I'm not cheering for him now. Okay. I just can't do it. Can't do it. Coming up next here on Rahimi Harris and Grotie, we brought up the injustice meter.

But it's really the, once again, the NFL has no consistency meter. Because they can't make it make sense. So we're going to talk about the lack of compensatory picks for Ian cutting his promotion next.