Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Adam Hoge: Bears, Illinois officials are rowing in same direction on stadium talks (Hour 2)

Episode Date: October 2, 2026

In the second hour, Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote were joined by CHGO host Adam Hoge to discuss the latest developments in the Bears' stadium search as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is now taking a more active role in the matter. Hoge also detailed how the Bears handled practice Thursday to help hide who will start at quarterback against the Jets on Sunday. After that, Chicago Sports Network analyst Steve Stone joined the show to preview the White Sox-Guardians matchup in the American League Division Series. Later, Rahimi and Grote held the Halftime segment.

Hi, the hour is brought to you by Cars for Kids. Adam Hogg says, Adam Hogue, Bears Insider. What's up, everyone? My name's Adam Hogue. Host of the Hogan John's podcast. If we ever wondered what it would be like if Ben Johnson ever had the chance or the ability

to go out there and play quarterback in his own offense, that's the closest thing to that we'll ever see is what we saw last night. Case Keenham, he calls Ben Johnson a brother. They clearly have this bond. And he's basically the player coach, and he goes out there and leads the Bears to victory. Adam Hogue. Adam Hogi or Hogg?

Excuse me. I don't know how to pronounce the last name. With Rahimi and Grody on 1043 to score. Yes, sir. You are listening to a four-season heating, air conditioning, plumbing, sewer, and electric football Friday presented by your local four dealers and Advent, along with Layla Rahimi. I am Mark Grody. We are Rahimi and Grotie on 104-3, The Score.

And yes, we are always happy to have. Adam Hogue. Join us here on the score. He is, yes, the host of the CHO Bears and Hogue and John's podcast. And Adam is joining us on our video stream to watch Adam. Search the score, Chicago on Twitch and YouTube.

How you doing, Adam? Thanks for coming on, buddy. I'm good guys. Grody, Layla. It's a... I don't know. My mind's kind of on the white socks, though, to be honest with you. Oh, and the best way. We're going to focus and stay football

driven here. Well, I did hear you and Karm talking about the white socks a little bit. I think I heard you say the socks just you're just stressed. You're stressed watching the no that is the one team I like go full meatball on still in my life. There's no denying it and he was making fun of me because I was really mad that in the first inning of that game the other day that they only scored four because at the base is loaded and they didn't get that extra hit and I'm like I'm telling you Karm it's going to be a problem and he was like oh they're going to be fine and then you know what in the end he's He was right.

The Astros only scored three. Yeah. Okay, real quick. I do need to chill out a little bit. Okay, real quick, and then we'll go hardcore football because people are tuning into here, Hogue's football thoughts and stadium thoughts. We're going to get to all of that with Adam Hogue.

Who do you want to see Start for the White Sox tomorrow? It's tomorrow. Holy cow, it's tomorrow. I just hit me. I know. Wow. That snuck up on me, too. Tomorrow at noon.

Davis Martin? Yeah, let's go with this. Just no more openers, even though it worked. I don't like the opener thing. Hagen Smith is out. Okay. Well, he would pitch three innings, I guess. Wait a second.

No, hold on. What? Here's what I do you go, guys. Wait, no, I just saw this announcement. Stand by. Merkin an hour ago said Hagen Smith, the starting game one for the socks. Holy cow. There it is.

Oh. How do you like them, apples? I mean, it did work the other day. Three innings. We're really good. Did anybody check and see. if Sam Antinacci is alive. Like the socks have supposedly arrived on the field in Cleveland.

I just, we need to know. Is he all rashed up, are you saying? Because he's allergic to champagne? No, no. I just think they got a little crazy. Oh, because he was drunk. Yeah, they had a good time in there. Yeah.

Well, we'll try to confirm that. We've confirmed Reagan Smith. No. And you know what, Adam, you've been through enough. You deserve to be distracted by the white socks. At least for a day. What the hell? What are we doing if not?

Even though I did just say I don't love the opener. Hagen Smith has been awesome. And he's exciting. He's a young player. Like the Bears have a lot of these young players. So we can ride with that. I can ride with that and accept that in game one. And I'm weirdly, this is probably a bad thing because I was actually pessimistic

about the Astros series. I'm weirdly optimistic now because I felt like they actually managed to get some rest while also winning two baseball games this week. Because the rest thing with the pitching was what worried me the most. They have a great bullpen, but they're all tired. And now they somehow manage to survive in advance while also nobody pitched more than once all week. That's great. That's really good. No doubt. They're fresh. Obviously, Cleveland is fresh. And maybe they've had too much rest. I love those angles. They've been sitting around too long. They're not going to be ready to play.

We'll have a little more White Sox talk later here on Rahimian Grotie, but we've got to get to the football with our guy, Adam Hogue of CHGO and the Hogan John's podcast. And I'm looking I'm looking at an article that you wrote here. We were just talking about the stadium, Adam, and it says why Roger Goodell and Pat Ryan's involvement could save the Bears in Illinois. Explain further on that. Say more on these heroes,

if you want the Bears in Illinois, on the heroes that could be Roger Goodell and Pat Ryan. Well, you know what? What really stood out to me, guys, and what went into that story is, actually months of reporting that goes back all the way to when they didn't get the legislation they needed at the end of May. In the conversations I had actually in just the days and the weeks that followed, you know,

the latest stadium debacle, which is what that was at the end of May, there was weirdly a lot of optimism coming from the Illinois lawmakers side, despite the fact that publicly the Bears were like, we're going to Indiana. Now all the focus is on Indiana. And the reason for that optimism was the fact that they actually were able to pass legislation in both the House and the Senate. It just wasn't the same legislation and they weren't on the same page. But they all felt like, hey, we can't come together and pass something here.

We just need better direction and communication from the bears themselves. And that was the sentiment. I know Brendan Moore was on the morning show today too and expressed the same thing. and he's, you know, well more connected than even I am with everybody involved in this on the Springfield side. But, you know, he expressed the same thing. It's just they needed better direction, better communication from the Bears,

and Kevin Warren just wasn't that guy. It just, they had to have somebody else represent the Bears. So entered Roger Goodell and Pat Ryan. Now, the first time Roger Goodell's name was mentioned to me was literally, I think, the day, after they didn't get the legislature. It might have been June 1st. Okay.

And like watch. Roger Goodell is going to get more involved here. This is not the NFL's first rodeo with this stuff. And it was pointing out to me that before Roger Goodell was ever commissioner of the NFL, he handled stadium business. He was, this is like, this is what he did. This is his baby, stadiums. And so he,

and this is not the first time and it won't be the last time that the NFL has had to get involved in either relocation, whether that was the Rams going to L.A. or some of these stadium situations. And so it was kind of like hitting that red button and being like, all right, it's time to call Roger, get him involved. And then the Pat Ryan thing became even more interesting, which is the first time I heard that was, I think, back in July. And I just didn't know really if this was leading any progress.

That's why yesterday was significant to me, the fact that they're going to actually release a statement coming from the governor's office, pointing out specifically who is at the meeting because that's been a little bit unclear on all this. Who's actually doing the talking? Who's actually representing the Bears? No, no, no.

This is who's exactly in this in-person meeting and who's not in the meeting as well. And that notably, of course, being George McCasky and Kevin Warren. So will it lead to actual legislation? We'll see. But it certainly seems like the right people are finally in the same room. And as one source put it to me yesterday, rowing the boat in the same direction,

which has not been the case during this entire five-year saga. It finally seems like they're starting to get on the same page there. And I do think that that is significant. So November 17th is the next day to watch, guys, because that's when the veto session begins down in Springfield. Well, and it's funny because we're still getting a lot of comments

on our text line. Oh, you know, J.B. didn't get this done. I don't know how many times I have to say this. And I have no dog in this fight. but Pritzker was very annoyed. The pilot bill didn't pass. He pointed out that in the majority of states in the nation, they have something like that,

a bill that will be a payment in lieu of taxes, and that that bill was supposed to help the state of Illinois. So everybody thinking that this was somehow on Pritzker, that wasn't the case either. He wanted that bill to go through. The city of Chicago had a block. The senators from the city of Chicago had a block. We tried to ask Brendan Johnson,

about it. What was the city's role in the pilot bill failing? And that that wasn't communicated. He didn't answer in that. And when I asked him. So I think it's important to note here that it seems like the governor's office has wanted to get something done on this for a while, but it was the bear's fault that they didn't have anything to present yet. The fact that it's not the McCaskies are worn, that that's a bad sign. If you're looking for adults in the room and those two aren't a part of the adult group. Yeah, look, I, this, The blame game in all of this, we can go on in circles and circles and circles and circles and all of it.

My answer to that has always been that there's been parts on both sides that have been problematic. I mean, when it comes to that pilot bill, I think, you know, you're right. I mean, the governor's been for that and they, and they've wanted to see that passed. On the other hand, if you go into the specifics on what they ultimately agreed on and passed in the house, it was written in a way that there was, there were too many unknowns. and it was kind of opening it up Pandora's box for all these other areas of the state that we admittedly here in this giant city of Chicago sort of forget about. And so it just left a lot of people in the Senate uneasy.

And ultimately, that's why that stalled that last week in May. So, however, then they came up with something that was actually very similar to what's going on in Indiana right now. And then they couldn't get communication from the Bears on if they even wanted that or not, because Kevin Warren wasn't down there. By the way, Karen Murphy did go down there at the urging of some lawmakers that week. So it's not like the Bears weren't represented. I know it's been out there a lot. They were.

But still, we all know Kevin Warren was the guy, right? Or George McCasky. And regardless of who was there and who wasn't, the communication just wasn't good enough. And so that's why it stalled out then on the other side. So, yeah, we could do the blame game forever. I think what's important here now is there is pressure because what the pivot did happen in Indiana, it is there. Are they stalling right now?

Yeah, probably. I think they are. That's pretty much obvious. And now we can see if the right players who can actually communicate. And that's the thing about Pat Ryan. And then we can talk football too. But the Pat Ryan thing here is significant because he knows how to play the game. He knows he has these relationships.

He has these important business and political relationships in this state, which Jerry Rinesdorf does too. I've had his name come up to me a bunch of times and all this and being like, yeah, look, for all Jerry's faults and the fans might not like him, he knows how to get things done when he needs it from a business standpoint for his teams in this state. And that's what Kevin Warren has failed at so far since he's been the team president. And Pat Ryan, I would compare him more to Jerry in terms of knowing the right people

and obviously I don't think the timing, by the way, is a coincidence that this is all kind of coming out. It is the morning of Ryan Field opening in Evanston, actual physical stadium guys. It's real. It was built. And he eats, his name is on it. Yeah, yeah. And we'll get the football here in a second. The last thing I'll say is, like, I agree with you.

Like, we could do a whole three hours if we want with people calling in and blasting Kevin Warren and George McCasky. Get it right. It's like replay review. Just get it right. We're moving forward now. Okay, the right guys are in place. The right faces, the right bodies are in the meetings now. So at least even the bears aren't going to say it.

A concession has been made, and that's good. This segment with Adam Hogue is being brought to you by Advent. Breathe well, Live Better. Visit advent knows.com. Let's get to the football, Hogue. And specifically, I think it was you. I definitely heard talking about this. The practice yesterday, in the name of secrecy, can you describe to our audience how sort of intense they were at making sure the media got the heck out of the practice in a timely fashion yesterday?

Yeah, so typically we'll watch stretching and then there'll be, I actually don't know this specific time off top of my head, but a decent amount of time, maybe 10 minutes. somewhere to sounds about right at least it's somewhere around seven eight minutes after the stretching i would estimate um where they're actually running individual drills and you know it's enough time that you're not rushed they got done with stretching yesterday and made the announcement 90 seconds you got 90 seconds here uh and then you're getting kicked out of the walter patent center because they were inside yesterday with all the rain um and it was literally 90 seconds i mean they were counting it down 30 they're down to 10 seconds left. I don't remember that ever happening in all the years I've been out there for these

short period of time. And I think the reason for that, at least from what I could tell with my own eyes, honestly, guys, I was watching Kyler Gordon. I was like, I was trying to get some video of Kyler, not even the quarterbacks. And I got one outstanding video, maybe even award winning of him punching one ball out. Nice. One rep in this one individual drill. Guys, we got the, we got one rep from Kyler Gordon. But in reality, if you looked over where the quarterbacks were. They were just running through this like ball carrying gauntlet with all the running backs. It was very clear they did not want anyone to see anyone throw a pass. Of course. In this time period. And then we were kicked out of there. So do I even know if that's legal

based on the media rules? I'm not even sure. I also don't really care that much. Right. That was interesting. And a departure I've thought because honestly, since Brent Johnson has gotten here, I have not found him to be an overly paranoid coach. compared to some of the other ones that we've had. But I also understand that there's weeks like this where you want to play the game with your quarterbacks and not let the other team know. And then who knows,

maybe 20 minutes from now he'll actually just announce who the starter is going into Sunday. We'll find out. Yeah, there was a lot of gamesmanship. But as we talked about too, Adam, what concerns me almost more because I know Tyson-Bajun's game and I know Case Kingdom's game

is that the left tackle situation is a problem. Like we saw what happened with Theo Beda came in in in relief of Braxton Jones. That is as concerning to me as anything. Yeah, certainly. On the other hand, I would point out that while they don't have the blue chip player like the quarterback room does in Caleb Williams,

I do think it's similar in that they, it is nice that the bears have probably three reliable options when Ozzie Chappelle is healthy, which he's getting closer to healthy. when I say reliable options, I'm talking about guys that you can trust to start a game and win a football game with. And there's certainly ways to help that weakness. And the Bears have essentially had to do this now for a season plus,

now into the second season with Ben Johnson, where they're pretty strong at, they're really strong at three other spots on the O line. They're strong enough at center. And then, yeah, they have this weakness over on the left side that they've had to manage. But I think that they've, for the most part, successfully manage that.

I don't think they view Theo Benedict as somebody they want to have to start the rest of the season. But I do think that they trust him to spot start. And certainly they've trusted him in these first few games to come in and play the second quarter for Braxton Jones as they try to manage that knee. Now obviously he had a setback in that game and aggravated it further.

And now it sounds like he's going to miss more significant time. So if I had to guess, look, Theo's going to start. this week. The big question I think will be is Ozzy able to dress and basically move into Theo's role for at least a week or so where he's the swing tackle and the backup

if he has to go out there. And then ultimately between those two guys, who do I think that they would trust more to be the quote unquote full time starter? If needed, I think that they would probably ultimately move to Ozzie Tripill. But it is nice to have all of those options. Not to mention

your nuclear option, which is what they had to do in the playoffs. And that's move a Hall of Fame left guard and Joe Tooney over to left tackle, which isn't the worst nuclear option to have at such an important position. Yeah, no, it's not. And Jordan McFadden's name was mentioned because he was part of that as well against

the Rams. Our segment with Adam Hogue is brought to you by four seasons, heating, air conditioning, plumbing, sewer, and electric. For all the right reasons, call 866 four seasons. Adam, you were filming the right person. I would have been doing the same thing if I had been there in the Walter Peyton Center watching Kyler Gordon. What do you

think about the whole situation? Do you think that that man plays at Green Bay a week from the Sunday? Man, that's a good question because I think what's part of this, though, I keep coming back to this, Grotie, the first press conference of training camp before we even knew that Kyler was going to be out for as long as he was and ultimately reached the point where he wasn't even with the team for the first couple weeks of the season, they said on that first first day that Kyler Gordon was going to have to earn his position back and basically compete for the starting nickel job whenever he got back out there. That was back in late July. It is now

October and he just got out there for the first time yesterday and an actual practice and it's just back in the building for the first time this week. So that kind of tells me that we need to slow play this a little bit. Now could he potentially be active? And, you know, could he potentially be active? And be somebody that can still help you. I don't know. I just think there's a lot of, it's more than just the health. I think there's some feelings involved. I think there's a lack of trust involved that he's got to earn back.

Do I think he ultimately can earn all that back? Yes. But I just don't know that we should rush it. On the other hand, the amount of injuries that they continually seem to have could be the one thing that rushes. And I also think when we're talking about good football players who are highly paid and he is highly paid.

It is quick for coaches to forgive a player if they come back and they look pretty good and they stay healthy. But that's ultimately, however this plays out, the staying healthy thing with Kyler is going to be the big thing. So it's probably a long way of me saying, I have no idea. This thing has been so weird.

It's been so weird from the start. I don't know when he's going to come back, but I will say it's obviously a very good sign that he's back in the building because that was weird. for him to actually leave the team for a couple weeks had me pretty concerned. So he's back. We'll see where it goes. But obviously we know he can't play this Sunday against the Jets.

Well, and I think your point about when he is actually healthy, is he even the guy to start with? That's really probably the question that may vex the Bears coaches even more. So, yeah. I agree with that. Well, guys, I wouldn't. Yeah. And Tyreeks got to be healthy too.

Yeah. But I don't think he's done anything to lose his spot yet. and certainly Malik as a rookie who's been yeah he's had some a couple rookie moments I know they referenced some communication errors this past week but he's done more than enough to me for me to stay out there whether that's inside or outside and him having that versatility means that this is almost

to me I almost view this more as a Kyler versus Tyreek conversation even though they play different positions than it is Kyler versus Malik Muhammad because I feel like either way Malik Mohamed can be on the field because he can play a bowl spots. Adam, we have to let you go but the reason we have to let you go is because we're going to talk about the White Sox with Steve

Stone. So I think that that is justified. Thank you, sir. We appreciate you. Yes, I would definitely trust Stoney's opinions on this team more than myself. And ours, yes. I'll just be yelling in the background and enjoying it and joining it as much as I possibly can. But you guys have a great weekend. Thanks, man. That is Adam Hogue. You can follow him on at Adam Hogue, H-O-G-E is the way the last name is spelled, host of C-H-G-O-Bairs, and the Hogue and John's podcast.

And yes, we are talking white socks and guardians next. Hagan Smith is the socks starter in game one tomorrow and noon. We'll talk to Steve Stone all about it here on Rahimi and Grotia on 104-3, the score. Steve Stone. I certainly love black Sabbath. Former MLB Cy Young winner. Steve Stone is the first American. and league pitcher sends Danny McLean to pitch three hitless innings.

Color analysts for CHSN. When Stoney watches a game, he's going to call it like the season. This is a team that adopted the philosophy in spring training. Why not us? When nobody gave them any credit that they could get there, they had less than a 1% chance to make the faux season. Wow. And here it is.

Steve Stone with Rahimi and Grody on 1043 the score. Oh, we're pumped up here on Rahimi and Grotio. I'm 104.3. The score this segment with Steve Stone is being brought to you by Pete's Market. No one does fresh like Pete's as Steve Stone, the White Sox game analyst for CHSN. joins us. He happened to be in the booth for both of the playoff games as well. Stoney, thank you so much for coming back on Rahimi and Grotie.

And what was it like to watch the White Sox dominate two playoff games to really put a punctuation mark on season so far, which obviously is ongoing. Well, it had been a while since I've been involved doing playoff baseball, and it was thrilling. And I will tell you, there's just a little something different about getting a base hit, driving in a run, winning a game in the playoffs as there is during the regular season. I know you have to win to get there into the playoffs. So once you do, just each and every play, each and every situation gives you almost tingling up your spine. It was thrilling.

It worked out exceptionally well, and now they get a chance on a rematch with one of the teams that they've had all kinds of trouble with, and one of the teams that they were battling to win the division didn't be able to get there. However, now that they are there, they get to play them again, which is really great to play the Guardians. I can't wait to get into that matchup. I've got to ask you one more question about doing the broadcast. You look so good, man. You were wearing you had your suit on up there. feel to be putting the suit and the tie on up there as opposed to your comfortable white

socks swag that you're usually wearing? Well, I think that wearing a jacket and tie is something that's really nice if you make it to the postseason. However, I was very fortunate. The two main broadcasters that I've had over, oh, I don't know, the last 30 or some odd years, Harry Carey being one who would never wear a jacket until we either went to New York or Los Angeles where he could go out after the game and really enjoy himself. But the other time it was hawk and it was hairy.

Neither wanted to wear a jacket and tie. So we both wear very casual stuff, and it's made the last set of how many years very comfortable. But there's something about wearing that jacket and tie doing a playoff game and having the team that you are secretly rooting for because you can't show a great deal of partisan joy when the socks are scoring a whole lot of runs early, especially. but that was a thrilling situation, actually. Well, and Stoney, how did it feel to be a part of witnessing of White Sox playoff series win?

And in Houston, no less. I mean, 21 years, that's been my question to a lot of people, is just how it feels to be a part of something like this again. Oh, I think it's something that you think about, you hope for, then you realize back, and a lot of people can't go back and capture what it was like, watching this team in Arizona. You know, Camelback Ranch is a nice place. We share it with the Dodgers.

The Dodgers had a really good idea they were going to go to the postseason when spring training started, only because they always go to the postseason when spring training starts. And so looking at their team knowing they would get there, and knowing it really didn't matter much what they did during the course of the season because they were good enough to eventually wind up in postseason play. It wasn't really the case where the socks were concerned. they had this idea amongst themselves, and it was strictly amongst themselves. There was a feeling, and I mentioned it, and you played it in the opening,

why not us? And that was the feeling that they got in spring training, where nobody gave them a shot. I mean, this was a team that they probably were to lack a bit in starting pitching. They might lack a little bit in defense. After all, we were playing a second baseman in left field. And, you know, don't forget, this is a team that proudly brought to a first baseman and left and a first baseman in right when they played with Vaughn and sheets in left and right field in major league games.

This is the team used to playing teams out of position. And so when you looked at spring training, you're wondering how the defense was going to hold up, would they help the pitching well enough? Could the pitching hold up? And a lot of cases, it didn't really work out that way. A lot of cases, the starting pitching couldn't get it done. And then it was up to what became a really strong bullpen. I think that was the heart and soul of this team, is leaving games early, which are starting

pitchers did ad nauseum. And unfortunately, then, the bullpen had to come in, and this bullpen overachieved from the beginning of the year to the end. I mean, these guys were always there. They were always getting the big outs. They always had to go more innings than you want them to go. I mean, many times that starting pitcher would leave in the fifth inning, and then it was up to the pen to deal with it the rest of the way, and that's what they were able to do. Yep, and you're going to probably, Steve, see a similar scenario and lots of bullpen guys again in game one on Saturday. That would be tomorrow at noon because the announcement has been made that Hagen Smith will be the starter, just like he was in game one against the Astros, Parker Messick, who we're getting very familiar with Cleveland,

is starting for them. What say you about this pitching matchup starting with Hagen Smith getting the knot again? Well, take a look at what he did in Houston, and you realize that those guys, still are mystified with his stuff. I mean, this was the guy when the socks signed this guy, when they allowed, when they, when the guys who were pro-Hagan-Smith, as opposed to the guys who were pro-Caglione, when these guys took over and made that trade ahead of Jack Caglione,

who is going to be a terrific power hit. I mean, this guy's going to hit 35 probably home runs a year. But they saw something in Hagan-Smith they really liked, and that was a left-hander, and guys couldn't pick up the big. baseball. Now, granted, that was two or three miles an hour ago where he was thrown the ball a bit harder. But many times when a guy cannot achieve the velocity that he had just a few years before or the year before, there's a problem. But the thing with Hagen Smith is you can't pick up the baseball. That's the most amazing part of his delivery is guys just cannot pick it up. They don't know

when he's thrown a fastball. They don't know when he's throwing one of those sliders or you can call it whatever you want to. They call it. I don't know, six different names. It's still a slider. But he can do that, and you can't pick up the spin, which means you get a lot of awkward swings. You get a lot of guys. They swing at what they believe is a fastball,

only see it disappear low and away and out of the zone. And I think if you take a look to three that he threw against Houston, you realize there's some pretty good hitters there. Notably, Alvarez is pretty good. Altuve is going to about ready to set the all-time record for most home runs in the postseason. So they have a bunch of guys who can hit the baseball. Cam Smith hit a couple of home runs that he hit seemingly eight miles. And I believe that this team decided they were going to go out somehow and bear down

and do whatever they could against Houston to get on the board early. And the most amazing part of it, we got a chance to talk to both managers before the game. And it was as if they were reading from the same script. We sat down first with Espada, Joe Spada, And I said, what are you looking for? And he said, I want to get on the board early. I want to make sure that our guys are aggressive as they possibly can. I don't really have any pitching plans per se.

I'm going and go with what I have and see how much of a bullpen I have to use that first game. It turned out he used eight pitchers in the first game. That's amazing, eight pitchers in a playoff game. But that's what he did. And it turned out that the socks pitchers, the socks pen was just, a little bit better. Stoney was there in at-bat in particular in this playoffs, where despite the White Sox lead, where you said, okay, this is crucial.

Were you stressed out during any at-bat in particular you would like to highlight? Well, yeah, there's one thing that really came clear, and that was the Sox this year had gotten ahead a lot of times early, and they'd gotten ahead by three, sometimes four runs. only to see slowly but surely the other teams start to peck away at that lead, and eventually they find that they couldn't hold the lead because of something, you know, the bullpen wasn't working as well as they would like, or they make a defensive mistake, which they usually make one or two during the course of a game. But the bat that helped things.

It was 4-0, and it looked like the socks were going to dominate the second game, and everything was going to go really well. and slowly but surely you saw this Houston team, which didn't give up, and I have to give them credit for that. They didn't give up in the first game. They did not give up in the second game. But what tore their heart out was pretty simply the Mide Roth home run. He got to the point where at 3-1, he was sitting there looking,

and it looked to me like he was looking for a breaking ball. It was a 3-0 county. He took a passball down the middle. Everything was fine. And it looked to me like he sold out for a breaking ball. gave up on whatever fastball they could throw and look for something that was going to break away from him. He got it, hit it out of the ballpark. That took it to 7 to 3 and pretty much, as the story will be told, that pretty much ended it.

But that particular home run, giving the socks who had given away that 4-0 lead made it a 4-to-3 lead, and then he came up and hit the ball out of the ballpark on a breaking ball, which was pretty important. I think more than anything else, I think that took the heart out of the Houston team. Yeah, no doubt, man. And Chase Midroth has been just what an amazing season he's had. He's already doing more than I thought he would do, but that is a great at bat to latch on to. Steve, thank you so much for joining us. Enjoy the rest of the playoffs, and we will catch up with you later. Well, it's my pleasure, and going head-to-head with the Guardians is something I think every Sox fan wanted to see happen after they lost out on the division race to them. because they had at one point a four and a half game lead. They watched that kind of disappear,

and it would be really nice to be able to get a little, if not revenge, just a little payback, you would say, against those guardians. And, you know, they played them head-to-head all year. These were really close games. They were probably as close to games as any two teams had. I really look forward to these playoffs. Amen.

Steve, thank you so much, man. Okay, take care and have a good rest of the show. We'll talk to you down the road. Thank you, Stony. Great job this weekend. Well, this week. Thank you. You know who you got to think about, Layla.

We haven't seen a lineup yet, obviously. But Tommy Fam did hit that home run against Parker Messick in that game. Remember that day? He crushes Parker Messick. He owns Parker Messick. Are you ready to accept him in the lineup? Do you have it in you? Can we not do clean-up?

Can we not make him the cleanup batter? I could compromise for you. on that. This, this, do you mess with the line of it all? I don't know. I don't know. Let's talk about that. They only flipped like two people last time.

I have something that I think almost qualifies for breaking news. Do you want to just make this? It's a programming note here. Let's just make this breaking news because to me it is. Breaking News on the score is brought to you by IDOT. At some point in the day, everyone is a pedestrian. Slow down. Give them the space.

Share the road. Folks, it is not a game. So I am looking at a text message here. It says from Ryan Porth. Transition today will be. Transition today? Mike Vassel. Mike Vassel.

You've been asking for him for months. I have. Mike Vassel calling in between 2 and 205 today. So it's going to be transition with Spiegel and Holmes, you and I and Mike Vassel. I'm a wizard. You know, what's going on here? I love that. A four-man weave with Mike Vassel.

That is absolutely. Beautiful. This is tremendous. This has the potential for some hilarity. Open the phone lines. What do you guys think about us having Mike Massel on transition? Three one two. Wizard.

Coming up next, halftime. We'll tell you everything that we have been talking about so far today. And Ben Bradley called this one of the weirdest stories he's ever done. Ben Bradley is reporting for you. Enough said. That's next for halftime on 104. The score. What time, my dude?

It's a half time. It's been a hot one on Rahimi. and Grody so far today. Man, it's a hot one. Oh, it's smoking in here. It's Rob Thomas and Santana. Smooth. I hate my brain.

And Peter Gabriel. I really do. Yeah, I hate my brain. Sledgehammer. It's just, if I'm doing a radio show, somewhere in there, Sledgehammer is one of the return pieces of music. I prefer. It's the rules.

Come talk to me. That's a great song. You want a Peter Gabriel song? That's a great song that you haven't heard. Like, would you go to your workout today? Who did addicted to? love. That's Robert Palmer.

Ah, crap. You might as well face it. That's another guy who I'm like, just, I mean, they got MTV'd way too much. Anyway, we've talked about Bears today a lot. We've talked about Bears quarterback. Of course, Tyson Baygent versus Case Keenum. I don't think we really came to any conclusions because they're not showing their hand out at Hallis Hall.

Well, apparently Case Keatoms had to cut back on his text mix and I feel bad for him. That is true. He did mention that yesterday. You can't live off of Koso. I've tried. It feels like Tyson Bayon's going to start. That's the best we can do. Yeah.

Who knows? Just one of you can't throw the interception. You cannot be the team that breaks a streak. Right. Jets have not thrown an interception since basically the 2024 season. Well, they haven't gotten. They haven't taken one away. They haven't taken it away.

Dennis Allen would not be happy with you without phrasing. The DA. We've talked about the Bears Stadium because there's been more talk because Roger Goodell and J.B. Pritzker talking Pat Ryan. Pat Ryan is in there. There has been no sign recently. of Kevin Warren nor George McCasky in those meetings. That is highly notable.

Pat Ryan is a dealmaker. Yes, he's the one that built the stadium or funded the New Northwestern Stadium, which opens tonight, by the way. You see this building we're next to over here? And bingo. He was, uh, I hire up in that big, beautiful building, which is, isn't that attached to our building? Yeah, it is.

Through the pedway. The pedway. If you can know the pedway, you're good. It's like no one lower wacker. It is a skill set. Cheek code. Adam Hogue was on the program today. Talked a lot about the stadium because he had some really good insights,

and we got into some bears on the field as well. And we just had Steve Stone on the show. Stoney to talk about the White Sox and start to get into the Sox in Cleveland. And it was announced today, too, if you did not hear, that Hagen Smith will be the starting pitcher for the Chicago White Sox. Tomorrow at noon, when they take on Cleveland, game one of the best of five. It's a half time. We are fans of Ben Bradley here at YeeScore.

Yeah, he's good. Good. Homeward Flossmore guy went to school with Lawrence Holmes. He's great on WGN. So I follow him on Twitter. And when Ben Bradley says he's reporting on one of the strangest stories he's ever encountered, I respect that newsman's acumen and his credentials. So without further ado, a dilemma in Lincoln Park that affects everybody in it. Got it. I was walking around the park and I noticed there were dozens of holes around trees. And then I started seeing more and more holes around different trees. I mean, here, there's a dozen holes around this tree here. And then a few months ago, I went for a walk at dusk. And within 15 minutes, I counted 42 rats running around. Yeah, as you can see, I mean, there's a ton of rat burrows here.

David Pike was so stunned by the swarm of rats in Lincoln Park. He took this video. Other neighbors noticed, too. You know, you see some rats in the alley and stuff right near the trash, and that's, again, kind of be expected, but this was different. You can see here, here's a rat trail. It wasn't until recently that they realized how different this all is. When I described as people, this gets into the stranger than fiction aspect of it.

It's like a luxury melange of a really nice nuts. I'm talking Brazil nuts, wall nuts. And I was looking, and I'm no arborist, but these do not come from these trees. These are not acorns. And you can see all the scattered nuts around. You see, those nuts aren't falling from trees. They appear to be imported. And why are there piles of bizarre,

expensive nuts everywhere in our park? No one could crack the nut of an explanation until one morning this year when Caroline Novak was out for a walk. And I actually saw a handful of them, I think it was five, walking early in the morning of the same shoulder bag. And so I just said, hey, what are you guys doing? because they were throwing the nut. She's not the only one who witnessed it.

I noticed someone with a satchel and just thought it was someone out there feeding squirrels. So I walked up and I just said to her, hey, I was just curious what you guys are doing why you're throwing these nuts under these trees. And she said, we're allowed to do this. And I said, oh, yeah, I was just curious why you were doing it.

She said, we're not feeding the rats, unprompted. I didn't even bring up, she said, we're not feeding the rats. I said, oh, okay, well, I think you inadvertently are. They and other neighbors complained to the city, which determined a nearby homeowner was leaving nuts outside their own house, attracting not only squirrels, but their rodent cousins, rats. The neighbors suspected the crew leaving the nuts a few blocks away in the park

are doing so at the direction of the homeowner. We've even dealt with it, but we've never dealt with a situation where it's like feed for higher for better lack of a term where someone's paying several employees to feed the animals in the surrounding area. The alderman said the city contacted the homeowner and even issued multiple violations, which he says have been paid and not contested. Typically when you ticket somebody, it stops their bad behavior. This has not stopped it. If anything, the behavior is increased. The feeding is increased since we've been ticketing them. Last month, the aldermans office, sent this letter warning that more fines could be coming if they don't knock it off with the nuts.

We don't want to throw anyone under the bus. We just want to stop this feeding that's causing problems in a dense neighborhood. Alderman Knutson said he isn't sure how this will end or even why it started. We wanted to know ourselves, so we paid the home a visit and encountered a woman who would not give her name. I'm just trying to better understand like why are all these nuts being gathered up. Why are they being distributed in Lincoln Park? I really have no comment. for you. I'm sorry. Rich people problems. Ben Bradley,

nicely done. Do you know how much Brazil nuts are per pound? Per pound. The fact that this woman... $22 a pound. A woman. The fact that this woman got these tickets, these fines, which I have to imagine,

are not cheap, and just is paying them off without complaint. Oh my gosh. And still feeding the rats and the squirrels. Crazy. Everybody on the text line, y'ar. Yes. But what's going on?

Like, you're a crazy cat lady. You're feeding rats with luxury nuts because you have too much money and you're paying the fines because, what, you feel bad for rats? Well, guess what? They're going to outlive us all, dude. Why are all these nuts being gathered? They're going to outlive us all. And the squirrels are doing okay too.

The crazy cat lady. Meanwhile, you're just throwing money onto the ground to feel better about yourselves. Like, what the hell is this? The crazy cat lady may need to let the cats loose. And by the way, how dare you use that phraseology, the crazy cat lady? She's being a crazy cat lady about nuts. Yeah, but there's no such thing as a crazy cat lady. That gives cats a bad name.

I'm sick of it. I'm putting my foot down. What about the woman from the Simpsons? You had like hundreds and then she was like throwing the cats of people. That's the picture that went into my head. And listen, I love cats too, okay? They could kill the rats. Yeah.

But all of it can be stopped if she just didn't throw hundreds of dollars on the ground. And then pay the fines? bizarre, expensive nuts everywhere in our park. Similar to how you guys react to us on social media and over our text line and such. Sometimes you just know things aren't about you. This is not about the squirrels. This is about some weird issue. They're rodent cousins, rats.

Bring in the cats. They did that a couple of years ago in Chicago? Yeah, remember? I think it was Pilsen neighborhood. Oh, we found the burner. 2-24. God forbid someone feed hungry animals. They're rodents.

They know how to forage. They are creating an infestation. That's why there's a code that they're violating by doing this. I was in... You can see all the scattered nuts around. I was in the Pilsen neighborhood having a nice Italian meal a couple of years ago. And there were like cats all over the place. And it was because of the rats that they had let the cats loose to get the rats.

The cats are our friends. The rats are not. There's coyotes in the city. There are coyotes in the city. are doing the same thing. Like coyotes go after the rats and sadly bunnies. But the point is, there's no need for any of this. And it creates a bigger problem with an infestation of rats than it does anything else.

Rats. Yes. Yeah, hungry animals deserve to be fed. But by people who know how to do it that don't create bigger problems for the rest of us. Do the pigeons deserve to get fed? There are people who do that. You've seen the pigeon people, haven't you? Yeah.

Where they just get a bread. They're not supposed to do that either. Just throw it out. I think those people have good hearts. But it's, yeah. Yeah, that's the thing. They say, please don't feed the animals. Yeah.

This is the biggest line I've heard in a while. 773. This is brilliant. A crime that only entails a fine to a rich person is just a price. It's like a football fine. True. We've got coming up next, we have five on it. YAR.

By the way, which we'll include today. Today is a very special five on it. It will include our predictions for bears. Time and Reefiards. Real estate on this program is dictating that we do our predictions a little bit early. So five on it is next. Rahimian Grotie 104-3, the score. Knock it off with the nuts.