Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Assessing the Bulls & Mike Florio talks NFL headlines (Hour 2)

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

In the second hour, Leila Rahimi was joined by Bulls Radio play-by-play announcer Chuck Swirsky to discuss the state of the team after the initial wave of free agency. After that, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk joined the show to discuss the latest NFL headlines. Later, Rahimi and Swirsky held the Halftime segment.

This is Rahimi Harris and Grotie on 1043, The Score. Thanks again to Dustin Rose for filling in on the baseball talk for this first hour. And now we have another special guest today, which makes me happy. It is Bulls Play-by-Playman, my partner on Chicago Sky Broadcast as well. You may know him as Joey Bag of Donuts and an overnight host extraordinaire, Chuck Sworsky. Chuck, thanks for coming in on this Thursday. It's a pleasure. Lately, how are you?

I'm good. So much. media news that took place and we had a short show yesterday. We really didn't get to get into it a lot. But I think we've got to start with what we now know is is an idea of a starting five with the Bulls with the Nick Clackston news. And then we see Norm Powell who a lot of people think is a very savvy pickup. There's the shooting that we've talked about. And then, you know, they also make the move in re-signing Zach Collins, which was a bit of a surprise to me. So how are you feeling about what you've seen so far out of the Bulls moves? Well, there's a lot to dissect there.

Number one, they also have 9.4 million left. The mid-level exception. Yes. Very important to know when we consider all of this, yeah. So let's start with Zach Collins because when he was healthy, and that's been a situation throughout his career as we know, with Portland, San Antonio the Bulls. But when healthy, he's a very, very good part-time starter, role player,

whatever they ask him to do. And remember, before he got hurt, Billy Donovan was going with Vouch and Zach in the starting lineup. Yeah. And they were producing. Zach had like two or three double doubles in about a week and a half.

I got to tell you, I was very excited about, it may sound silly now. But at the time, at the beginning of last season, I was excited for a healthy Zach Collins because I thought he would have really completed the team. And even the season before that, when he got traded for, I always thought he would make a lot of their defensive needs

make more sense. He was a compliment to Vooch. He's a compliment to Vooch. And also when someone came through the lane for a layup, he was going to probably end up on the floor. Fair enough. But you need guys like Zach Collins. And I've read like online, people are ripping.

I'm thinking, wait a minute. You have to understand that this is the new NBA. People are saying, look at all this money. You're right. It's a lot of money. But it's also the new landscape of the NBA with the cap. I mean, Layla, look at the TV revenue. The NBA is making.

And so money's going up. I mean, we just saw Jalen Brown got traded, and he's eligible for an extension coming up very soon. So right now he's probably making you, probably having in front of you, anywhere between 50 to 60 million each year over the next three years. Yeah, his numbers especially. It's the supermax of all supermaxes, right? Like Cheyieldius Alexander.

Yeah. He's getting paid, and he should. I mean, he hasn't even hit the midpoint of his prime career yet. No, I completely agree. But for the Bulls, I like what they're doing. I'm excited if they run, you've got Getty, you've got Bezellis, you've got Wilson. I mean, this is a really potent from baseline to baseline opportunity for the Bulls. And I love Powell.

You know, the irony of it is, the only who his teammate was at UCLA. Zach Levine. I didn't even think about that. I didn't even think about that. Yep. And Zach barely claims UCLA, I feel like. Isn't he like a USC football fan? There's a reason for that.

I think the reason is Steve Alford. I'm not sure they were on the same page, the one year, Zach. And the reason why is because I think Steve Alford's son was a starter on that ball club. and I just think it probably was not the best situation because Zach Levine is from my hometown actually Seattle, thank you very much. And we are 20 minutes apart from his home in Seattle where I grew up. So he was recruited by everyone. And I'm talking everyone.

He was a five star. And Seattle has a lot of great high school players. And so he went to UCLA. And he turned down a lot of great school. schools because if you have ever been on the campus of UCLA and I don't know if you ever been my brother went there did he it's it's it's a require I can make the joke it's I'm I'm of the heritage I what somebody in our family because I'm Persian and our family lives in Tarongolus as we like to joke somebody had to go to UCLA so of course that was my brother who

is now a doctor because you have three three career options doctor a lawyer or engineer notice how I'm not one of those one brother's a doctor one brother's an engineer so but do they love their job Like you do. They do. They're both very good. But yeah, so my brother went to UCLA. With the big brewing in the center of campus, right? Yeah. I mean, it is a beautiful campus. It is. And Pauli Pavilion's great. I think you're on to something about Alford, though, because remember how he got there, too? He had that massive contract with New Mexico. Was it something like 10 years? It was some wild contract.

And then he's like, uh, never mind, going to UCLA. Bye. But guess what? He has never coached his alma mater. And if you told me 30 years ago, one day Steve Alford is going to be a college basketball coach. And he's going to have three stops along the way, three, five, whatever the case may be. I would have bet 99.9% or even 100% one of those stops would have been in Bloomington and his alma model. And what happens, he goes to Iowa and he coaches against Bob Knight. Yeah. Irony of irony.

Yeah. And, you know, the point being, Steve Alford, you know, who's very close with Bill Winnington, because they were teammates at Dallas. You are now playing six degrees of separation of Chuck Swirsky here on Rahimi Harrison-Grody. That's something. Yep. But that is cool that Dorman Powell was a teammate of Zach Lee. He was.

We forget how good some of those college teams are because of the ones and duns. Yeah, but now, I mean, you've got kids that are going to be in three or four schools during their career because of NIL. and they're getting moved. They're getting... Transfer portal. These young people, men and women, they're being recruited while they're still playing. And you know what?

We really saw that, Chuck, affect the second round of the draft this year. Like, I think there's a couple truths that are being told right now. Number one, we're still trying to figure out with the new post-new CBA NBA NBA is. Yes. Like, I loved the... Oh, it's trade deadline.

Everybody's making deals. You're trading several years into the future. You know, first round picks are... everything. Like, we knew what it was, and I had a lot of fun in that. I don't love this new CBA, but we have to accept it. And then another part of it was July 1st was always free for all. You know, whoa, just got like 95 updates an hour. You're finding out who everybody's signing and where the money is unstoppable. And you're right. This is not the same type of framework. We're seeing that with the second round. You know, the Bulls essentially ended up again trading out of it because the one

player they got. They ended up trading away. Cash considerations is not just a bulls thing. There were a lot of teams who decided to do that. Was it 29 out of 30 picks were traded in the second round? Correct. And then we hear last week on our station, Chuck Brightson Graham say when he was live in our studio that we just didn't like some of the players available. And because of NIL, it's worth it for these guys to stay in school now, which is great too. Get paid for what you're good at. You know, that's a good thing ultimately. So here's another reason. the NBA changing landscape. Yeah.

How many champions have we had over the last eight years? Oh, it's been many, right? Eight. Yeah, it's been a different one every year. We've had a different one every year. That's crazy. That's wild. Now, some people say, well, we need a good cop and a bad cop.

We need a team wearing the black hat, so to speak, like the Wild Wild West, you know? The piston's 4.0 at this point. That's right. You know, we need a villain. And so, but those days, over because you can't keep a team anymore. It used to be, you know, like in my generation, you had, the Oakland Athletics had a run of three straight World Series championships, 72, 73, 74, Yankees had a great run.

You could go in the NBA back in the day with Boston. Yep. And then in hockey, the Montreal Canadiens, the New York Islanders. I mean, you know, even if you would, if you think about it, the Patriots. The Patriots. dynasty. If you think about it, the Blackhawks won three cups in what, seven years? Is that right? Yeah, three and six or three and seven. Yeah. Three and six or three and seven. Yeah. Okay. To me, in today's world of sports, that is a dynasty. It is. Yeah. You win three championships

in a window of five, six, seven years. Okay. No doubt. Especially the third. You know, that's what makes it so challenging. I mean, even how long did we go before we, back-to-back world series again in baseball. It was the Yankees. It was 98, 99, or 99, 2000. It was those Yankees. But, but Layla, make no mistake about it. This front office has a lot of work to do.

I mean, I hope people, and maybe you can call this up, Layla, look at the Bulls roster, the last season of Garin Packs. So that was 2020. Was it 29? 2019, 2020 season. Look at the roster. I can go off of that. my head. And look at the roster of the last two or three seasons, and I invite our listeners to do that,

except if you're driving. Yeah, be safe. Don't do that. Yes, please. But look at the roster of Garden Packs from 19, 18, and 17. And look at the players on that roster. Okay. You had Marketing All-Star. And you had Wendell Carter Jr. You had Daniel Gaffer. You had Zach Levine. You had Zach Levine, you had Chris Dunn. Yeah. I mean, you had some really good players. And so they're gone. So all I'm saying is...

Lou Cornette? Yeah. I mean, you know, but... Part of a finals team? Yes. And, you know, they put them in the corner shooting threes, which I never got. But that's another story. You and me both, my friend.

That, listen, this is not going to happen overnight. And I know Bulls fans wanted to happen overnight. All I'm saying is, I do like... in the short span of what we've seen out of Bryson Graham. Direction. We've seen it a clear direction. Address the bigs. It's transparency.

Amazing. Address the bigs. Yes. Laugh at us for asking where the shooting is. He was pointing his finger at me, Leila. And then, hey, here's her shooting with Norm Powell, who should have been a perennial All-Star. But you know, you're in the Western conference.

Yeah, that's the other part of this. And people are critical of the contract, and I get it. But you needed a rip-protector. You need a rim-protected. because there are two shots right now in the NBA, Layla. It's a three-pointer, more than likely in the corner, from the corner, a three-point shot, and at the rim. Yeah.

Now, if you can't stop at the rim shots and the Bulls had one of the worst opponents' field goal percentage against the Bulls, it was very, very high. If you can't at least intimidate, block, or alter shots, you're in big trouble. Guess who couldn't stop enough at the rim shot? the spurs. Yep, how about that? And it turned out okay for the Knicks on the other side, didn't it? Even with Wembe, when you get going downhill, you see how this benefits you.

When you go downhill and look how many times players dart in the lane, they see Wembe and whether they do, they run right out of it. No, don't think so. I'll just screen or something. Okay, so here's your roster. Do you want it from 2019, 2020, since we're cooking and we're having fun here? special guest Chuck Swirsky in on Rahimi Harrison Brody. Ryan Archie de Akinnow.

Okay. Villanova. We just talked about the Knicks. Windell Carter Jr., Chris Dunn. Chris Felicio. I believe that was Felicio's last year with the Bulls. Yeah, that was not good. But Dunn is a starter, right?

Wendell Carter Jr. is a start. Absolutely. Rookie Daniel Gafford, who was a starting five on a finals team. Yep. And he started for Dallas. That's three. Jack Harrison, who I think had a lot of potential. You know, people talk to.

He's on the cusp, but probably a G-League guy. Yeah, Chandler Hutchison, who also positional size. That was always the top of the comment. I thought he had a chance to make it. Yeah, the positional size comment because he was 6-6. You know, that was always talked about with Chandler Hutchinson. Luke Cornett, as we mentioned. Still in the league?

Zach Levine, who at that point, he had not gotten the max yet, but he was an all-star. So that's four right now, four starters off that club. Larry Morgon. That's five. and an All-Star. Adam McCoka. I forgot about that. Yeah.

You know what? Let me just say this. So, Paxingard did not cut Adam McCogh. That was from the previous administration. They kept Adam McCokka over Max Truce. Yeah, Max Trues listed on the roster. Max Trues. Max Trues.

Who's a free agent, by the way? I'd love to see him here. And you know what? He was so disappointed. I love Max as a person as a player. Lately, he wanted to come back. He didn't want to be cut, number one. had an ACL, and they cut him.

Yes, yeah. And why can't you say to yourself, hey, you know what? This guy is a proven shooter. Let's put him on the shelf for a year. Let's get him healthy. Then let's see what he can do. But they kept McCoka, who has never seen the NBA again. Never panned out.

Otto Porter. Otto Porter Jr. Yeah, you know what? Otto Porter Jr. came in the league and it was a very high pick by Washington, like the third player. Coming out of Georgetown too. Yes. Yeah.

And he got that big contract. He got the contract from the Nets. Washington matched it. And all of a sudden the injuries start coming. Yes, that is what happened for him. Tomash Satteranski, a part of that team as well. Yeah, role player. Denzel Valentine, a lottery pick.

Not a good pick. Kobe White. Kobe, that was their last pick. And Thaddeus Young. Yep. Just a respected veteran. What a team. I forgot. But the Max Drus of it all, that's the hardest part.

Because wouldn't a dream scenario for you and me, like Bulls observers, wouldn't it have been the combination of Max Drus and Peter Patton? How about that? And you know what? I saw Peter. Shakespeare's on the floor. Peter Patton, by the way, was a guard at DePaul. He's from Chicago. I actually, my last year, calling DePaul, he was a freshman. And so that's how old I am and that's Peter Patton. But Peter Patton was... I heard it was three days ago, guys. You know, that's the time frame I heard. It was three days ago for Chuck and Peter Patton. Yeah, well, Peter Patton is a very well-respected shooting coach.

Absolutely. And the players love him. Wherever he's been, the players have loved him. He was fabulous here. Yes. And so he gets a ring with New York. Yeah, no, I was very happy to see that for him. That was quite a, uh, that's a, this is real hoops junkie, and we don't have time for it

because we're coming up to a break here, but that is a really interesting staff when you consider a lot of the names that became part of Mike Brown's staff in New York. Like Gerson Roses, who has been part of many front offices around the league. He was a part of it. You know, you just mentioned Peter Patton.

Well, he had not only the father of, you know... Rick Brunson. Yes. A former Bulls player, as we know, and a former Bulls assistant coach. Jaylin and Stevenson product. I mean, Chris Gent, Brendan O'Connor. I mean, these are really...

good assistance. And people say, well, wait a minute, how can a guy like Peter Patton be a shooting coach? He's never played in the NBA. There are certain people with minds that work that don't need to be a star. In fact, some of the greatest players who have attempted to manage in baseball or coach in the NBA and NHL have not done well because their standards are so high that when players can't match what they've accomplished in their own right, they get to support. appointed as a coach. And, you know, I look at Charlie Lowe, and I'm dating myself again with

the White Sox. Charlie Lau, that's L-A-U, was one of the finest hitting coaches ever in baseball. And yet, if you look at his major league baseball record as a player, it was okay, but it wasn't, you know, like, All-Star. Yeah, the NFL is the clear, I think, calm for this, because there are so many successful coaches in the NFL head coaches who were not the best players, you know, or they were, it's like Kevin O'Connell who, you know, had a brief career as a backup quarterback. Ben Johnson played quarterback in college. You know, that type of thing. That's what I always think about.

If you look at it, Don Shula played in the NFL, but he was, along with Tom Landrieu, who played in the NFL. Sure. But, you know, Bill Belichick, he didn't play in the NFL. Yeah, the Dan Campbell's, who had an excellent career as a tight end for years in the league, and also is now a successful head coach with playoffs on his resume. Those are fewer and far between, I think, the guys who have been good at both. Yes. That's, I feel like that is a good time.

And Jim Harbaugh had a really good NFL career. Outstanding NFL career quarterback. Yeah. So he's the rarity. He's not, he's the exception. He's not the rule. Right. I feel like that speaks to him.

But whether it's Shanahan, Schottenheimer, all these coaches, I mean, it's in their bloodlines because their fathers and whatnot. They grew up in a, yeah. Yeah. But McDonald's with Seattle. I mean, he didn't play in the NFL. And he has a really sharp mind to get things done. I mean, Mike McDonald's, I don't know how you don't look at that Seattle team and say that's the standard now.

You get enough out of Sam Darnold. Kevin O'Connell, of course, helps develop his career. And then that defense just, I think about that game often. I'm so shocked, though, Leila, that Seattle isn't playing the bearous opening night. Oh, we all are. We all thought that that was going to be the game. I get it, the Patriots or whatever. But, you know, I mean, it would have been, it would have been so nice to see Caleb go into Seattle.

come away with a dub. Well, a dub. See, that's why he's here. Chuck Swirsky's here to bring the positivity today. A dub at the University of Washington dub. Ah, see, and that's another layer to this. Let's also shout out Olin Cruz, noted Washington players. My grad school.

Yeah, yeah, I love it. Coming up next year on Rahimi Harrison Grotie with Chuck Swirsky filling in with me, Laila Rahimi. We'll shift gears next and talk some football with Mike Florio. Pro Football Talks, Mike Floreo, is here next. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a man who's got a massive brain. Mike Florio. He used to be a lawyer, then he decided to take his talents to the internet.

NBC Sports. I'm sorry, I'm late. I was talking to Robert Kraft. That is at the time for an airing of grievances. Pro football talk. I got a lot of problems with you, people. No, you're going to hear about it. On Chicago Sports Radio, 1043, the score.

I want to keep talking Legos. Mike Florio, you know him. as the creator and editor-in-chief of pro-football talk. He is a man who knows how to construct a Lego set or two. Ghostbusters, anyone? And he joins us on Twitch, twitch.tv slash the score, Chicago. And he is on our hotline as well. Mike, thanks for coming on on a Thursday day

and a bit of a later time slot. We appreciate the adjustment. Hey, my pleasure, anytime. And I was able to eat my lunch, which makes it even better than usual. Chuck Swirsky is in for. for Marshall Harris on this show and check. What you don't know is that Mike Florio moves his lunch every Wednesday for us because he eats it at the same time every time. So Mike got his lunch in thanks to him adjusting. Wow, that's great. I think that's very considerate of him.

Mike, we have never met on the broadcaster for the Bulls and on Philly didn't. But I have to tell you, and I'm not patronizing you. I'm a big fan of yours. And I love the NFL and I love what you do. and I got two questions, maybe three, if you don't mind, Layla. No. Number one, what do you have for lunch? Well, this is embarrassing to admit, but I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I had some crackers with cheese. How about that?

Okay, so the P&J, did you get them in the box? Like, you pull them out, like in the freezer section and grocery stores, and you let them thaw, and I mean, they got the soft bread, and they got the strawberry jelly, and they got it. The peanut butter, the grape, it's pretty good. I still make my own. You do. It's the one thing I can make.

You know, this is some synergy, some crossed over here. Chuck, the Bulls announcer, and Mike Florio, the football scribe, the longtime football expert. You know that peanut butter and jelly is like one of the official foods of the NBA. I've always heard that the peanut butter and jelly sandwich is crucial in the NBA when it comes to a... It is. And you know what? That's what I have at halftime. No way.

Yes, I do. This is why I want to know you guys. The second question is, did you get an invite for the Kelsey Swift wedding? No, it's funny. I was at the grocery store a couple of weeks ago, and I ran into an old client of mine from when I was practicing law. And she said, hey, you're going to the big wedding? And I'm thinking, is there some big wedding locally that I have not been invited to?

And she said, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey. So, no, I just missed the list. A thousand guests. There has been a thousand and one, Chuck, I'd be there. Okay, you two. Do you actually think that it's going to be at Madison's, Garden or is this all an elaborate ruse for another location?

I think it's going to be there. There's been too many reports. The Associated Press had something recently. It's happening. Garden Party tonight and some sort of a castle theme tomorrow. So it's happening. Yeah, I saw there was a, you know, I love a good internet sleuthing. I myself

will be an internet sleuth from time to time. And there was film of somebody, I guess a grand piano was being wheeled into the garden, supposedly. And that was like, well, wait, if nobody's playing there, then what is this? Or is it just another ruse? That was the big question. Was the piano a bluff? Well, six degrees of separation. Kelsey's mother attended Ohio U when I was there.

She graduated in 74. I graduated in 76. And as you know, the boys played at the University of Cincinnati. Yeah. And they're from Cleveland, of course. And so speaking of Cincinnati, this is what I want to get to with you, Mike. No one's talking about Cincinnati, well, people like you are, but give me reasons why I should believe in this ball club because I've read some things that they've got a shot at going to the Super Bowl. They're the kind of team that if they get to the playoffs, they have a chance to get to the Super Bowl because Joe Burrow morphs into a higher level of superhero

when he gets into the single elimination setting. We've seen it the two times in his career, and it's amazing. happened twice that he's had an opportunity to get to the postseason. In 2021, they went all over to the Super Bowl and almost won it. And in 2022, they were back in Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium, and they had the dragon slayed again, and it felt like they were going to win the game. And then things just went the other way. Chris Jones made a big play. There was a penalty on linebacker Joseph's side on the sideline. Next thing you know, the chiefs are in field goal range. And that was

that for the Bengals. But they haven't been to the playoffs for three straight years. They got to get there this year. Or are you going to see a new head coach in Cincinnati? It's unavoidable. Four straight years with Joe Burrow or Jamar Chase and you don't get to the playoffs once. That's unforgivable. A lot of it comes down to will Burroughs stay healthy all year. He's had significant injuries in recent years. And secondly, what kind of a difference will Dexter Lawrence make defensively?

How much better will the defense be? But when you consider the fact that the other three teams in the division all have new head coaches, Zach Taylor, by default, is the dean of the AFC North coaches. That's just another reason. to expect, not hope, but expect they get to the playoffs. And if they get there, they can make a lot of noise. And if they don't, there's going to be a lot of changes in Cincinnati. And frankly, if they don't make it this year,

next year could be the moment that Joe Burrow makes it clear that he wants to go somewhere else, just like Carlson Palmer did after he had eight NFL seasons. He was ready to leave. I could see Burrow, if they fail again to get to the postseason, coming to the conclusion that he's never going to get to where he wants to go if he stays in Cincinnati. I feel all of that.

And I would like to give Chuck some credit for an incredible segue just now. But guys, I wonder how much of this also had to do with their assistance. Like, there's a lot of people who think that firing Lou Aniruma was not the right move. Well, no, he ended up becoming the scapegoat. And we see that from time to time. When a team doesn't achieve, we got to do something. We got to change something. And the Bengals are one of the teams. The Bengals and the Cowboys are the two that fall into this category. They will not fire a coach who has years left on his contract that are guaranteed. When Marvin Lewis was fired by the Bengals, I was.

stunned because they had a year left on his contract. Then it came out. Oh, that year was at the team's option. So it didn't cost them anything. Jerry Jones kept Mike McCarthy at a time when we thought he was going to be fired. Why did he keep him? He had one more year guaranteed under his contract. So in lieu of firing Zach Taylor and owning him multiple years of a buyout, they moved on from somebody cheaper, somebody who may not have even had a buyout just to shake things up. But you're right, it didn't make the defense any better. And this year, there's just more pressure on everyone, starting at the top and working its way down to every player on the team. By the way, just a little trivia.

Joe Burroughs' father was an assistant coach at Ohio U. So there you go. Unbelievable. Six degrees of Mike Floreo. Hey, Mike, who is the, if you were shopping for a head coach, let's say there's an expansion team and they say, Mike, you're a general manager, pick a guy, we want to lead our team. What one coach, not currently a head coach, what one coach either in college or an assistant right now in the NFL, would you pick up the phone and say, I need you? Mike Tomlin, but I don't think Tomlin's coming back anytime soon.

I think what Tomlin did with the Steelers over the years won't be fully appreciated until they go six and 11 or five and 12 or whatever they may be this year. And I'm not predicting that's what they're going to do. but I think that the Steelers fans, and there's about 30% of them, anytime the Steelers would lose two or three games in a row during Tomlin's tenure, they would get out the torches and pitchforks and they'd want to fire Tomlin. I think Tomlin has covered up a lot of flaws in that organization from a talent standpoint, and he finds a way to will the combination of the players into something more than what they would individually suggest.

And I think we're going to find that out this year. All due respect to Mike McCarthy, who took the pass. Packers to the Super Bowl and coached the Cowboys. I mean, what a resume. Three bedrock franchises, Packers, Cowboys, and Steelers. But I think there's a chance we're going to find out this year what Mike Tomlin meant to that team for the 19 years he was the head coach.

We're talking to Mike Floreo, creator and editor-in-chief of pro football talk on Rahimi Harrison Grotie, Chuck Swarsky, filling in today. And Mike, I feel like there's just been some incredibly upsetting news. In the NFL, just regarding individuals lately, you know, we get the terrible news about the ALS diagnosed for Chris Johnson. And that's awful. And then there was the news that broke yesterday regarding Callais Campbell and just an unspeakable tragedy in his family. You know, what do you make of just some really upsetting stuff for some people? It's a crazy time and a lot of things are happening that are unrelated to football, which is

keeping the slow time from slowing down. You've got the Terry-on-Arnold criminal case, a former Titan Scout named Blaze Taylor was on trial for seven days, allegedly poisoned his pregnant girlfriend by lacing her pink lemonade with a lethal amount of cocaine. He was convicted of killing his girlfriend and the unborn child yesterday in Tennessee. There is a Mark Sanchez trial coming up on July the 13th. That hasn't been continued yet. There's just all sorts of stuff going on. And right, Chris Johnson's diagnosis, Callais Campbell's personal tragedy, there's just a lot of things that are just kind of heavy and sad and they're all clustering together at the same time. Yeah, in the Callais Campbell situation, if you guys aren't familiar, because it broke like

later during our show yesterday, the report saying that his mother was found dead and his brother has been charged with murder in that case. Just incredible. I just feel terrible. I just feel terrible. for him. You know, the Cardinals came out with a statement of support that was, that was very kind to see, but just how anybody is supposed to get it together or even try to within a matter of weeks. I just feel awful for him. Yeah, training camp opens, and he said it's going to be his last year, and it's going to be a very heavy burden for him. And he's one of the true great guys in the NFL, a Walter Patent Man of the Year award winner, and just he's been doing it forever. And it's one thing to play into your 40s as a quarterback or a kicker.

He's in the middle of the fray constantly, banging around his body constantly, and he's still going strong. You know, Michael Strayhan on Good Morning America has taken a lot of heat of the last 24, 48 hours on the profile of Chris Johnson because he failed to delve into the fact that did CTE or did football create a situation where ALS now has come into the forefront of this story? A very sad story it is. And we saw ALS front and center here in Chicago with Steve McMichael. Yes. And it is an insidious disease. But I'm wondering, do you feel that was the time and place to go there?

Or would you have said, you know what, we need to address it? I think it needed to be addressed either during the interview or if they felt that there was some sensitivity and they respected Chris Johnson's wishes. And we know how some of these interviews go. ground rules are set ahead of time. But even if there had been a conversation with Chris Johnson and his wife that they didn't want to point to football at this time, when the interview ends and you come back to the studio and you have the conversation with George Stephanopoulos and Robin Roberts, that's the time to mention it because it goes without saying that there's a connection between ALS and football. I'll give you two reasons. One, the concussion settlement that was reached initially 13 years ago and eventually the NFL agreed to an unlimited fund that would be paid to players. No questions asked.

Anybody who played and retired before July 7 of 2014, if you had a qualifying condition, you got payment. And one of a handful of conditions was ALS. So how can we not say there's a connection between ALS and football? If that's a condition that gets you an automatic payment from this fund, of course there is. And then there was a study done more recently that looked at 19,000 plus players who spent at least one year in the NFL and the incidents of ALS among them was four times higher than the average population. So I think that it's important to point it out because when players say we know what we signed up for, it's one thing to know that you may get a broken bone or suffer a concussion or tear a ligament or lose a spleen like Chris Sims did. you have a very, very small risk of paralysis. But to understand the long-term risks, ALS, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, dementia,

I don't know that we keep that at the forefront as we get more and more waves of kids who play and play well and work their way up the ladder to the NFL. I think everybody needs to know it. And we just assume everybody does. I think people need to be reminded because every year there's a new crop of football players who are taking up the sport. Well said. So, having said that, the NFL, and we see it like 24-7 during the course of a game with their promos, flag football is becoming more and more relevant in our sports society. Girls are playing. Kids are playing. Adults are playing. There's a lot of money invested.

Do you foresee this as the NFL saying, you know, we see something coming and we need to make sure that, flag football is in our mindset. I mean, how do you look at flag football and where this is going? I think the motivation for the expansion of flag football is more about the globalization of the sport. It's so much easier to get people in other countries to play organized flag football when all you need is a ball and the flags. You don't need 11 on 11.

You don't need all the pads. You don't need organized training and education. education, on techniques. It's a safer version of the game. And there's a belief in the commissioner said this recently, especially as it relates to girls. If they play, they're more likely to become fans of the NFL. So I think it's about growth, but it would be foolish not to regard it as the ultimate break glass in event of emergency option for the NFL. If we ever get to the point, and who knows how society is going to change and evolve over the next 50 years, 100 years, 200 years. Who knows? But if we ever get to the point where it's decided that football is just

unsafe and it's not going to continue in the tackle with helmets and pads form, boom, you just pivot to flag football. So I don't know that that's part of the plan, but it's there and it's going to be useful if we ever do. And I think one key will be the ability to diagnose CTE in living patients. Yes. If you have guys who are in the NFL and they're able to get a test to tell them, if they have CTE and what level they have and they have a choice to make then as to whether or not they're going to keep playing. If we ever get to that point, that could be the thing that starts the dominoes falling. And hey, they'll just play flag football instead. Mike Florio, thanks for changing your shift yet again for us.

And thanks for hanging with us on a very expansive conversation today. Great talking to y'all. I appreciate everything. Everybody have a safe force. Stay away from the fireworks. Light fuse and get away. Amen. It's not worth losing a finger.

Jason Pierre Paul. Don't never forget. No to fireworks and yes to PBJs. Yes. That's right. I implore this message. That is Mike Floreo of Pro Football Talk. Coming up next, it is halftime.

And why do I get the feeling that my guest host today, Chuck Swirsky, is going to be very offended by activities that happened in New York yesterday? Activity in New York that happened yesterday. That will offend your sensibilities. Let's go over it next. Okay. What's all I do? It's a laptop.

It is half time here on Rahimi Harrison Grotia on 104 3 to score. We thank you for joining us on this Thursday ahead of a July 4th weekend, number 250 to the United States. And we had Dustin Rose from the morning show, filling for the first hour talking a lot of baseball. Danesby Swanson's tear that he has been on at the plate that comes scoring 23 runs. And then the Guardian series coming up with the socks. And then Chuck Swirsky, kind enough to join us, broke down some of the Bulls moves at the They made recently, Norm Powell, Nick Claxton, re-signing Zach Collins. And we just talked to Mike Floreo.

It's nap time. Okay, so Chuck, I said this was going to offend you. Yes. How do you feel about ballpark proposals? You know what? I'm ambivalent about them. Okay. I, too, am kind of the same way.

They don't really bother me. Like, love is not common. So whatever, like, live your lives. Yes. It's usually during a break between action, so it doesn't really bother me. But I know a lot of people are offended by the ballpark proposal. What about a proposal that involves climbing up the Empire State Building? Yeah, I struggle with that yesterday.

All right. Well, let's listen to what happened in New York, courtesy of ABC. Oh, dear God, Kira. This guy is getting down on a knee, perhaps proposing to this individual. Oh, my gosh. It appears now that one of these protesters has paused at the platform there, beneath the full height of the spire, either to position something or to move something, whether there's going to be an additional unfurling or not. We don't know the intention of these people.

But if these people can get up to where they are, that raises a host of security questions. And they've seemingly done it, Kira, without any carabiner or belay rope. This, oh, dear God, Kira, this guy is getting down on a knee, perhaps proposing to this individual. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Aaron, I think that's exactly what could be happening. I wish WABC would just move a little bit more around so we could see what he's doing down on his knee. That's right.

Get out of the way, cameras. Well, I would imagine if it's a proposal, it's an elaborate one, and I hope she said yes. But it is. I don't know. Aaron, I hope this is not Taylor. I hope this is not Taylor and Travis. But then again, he already proposed. Never mind.

I mean, see, okay, here's the thing. Yes. To climb the Empire State Building. And as he said, without your typical equipment, now the headline from Reuters, Chuck says that they are Russian daredevils. I'd say so if you didn't qualify before. So they climb up the Empire State Building. I'm saying that as if it's something casual that one is to do that day.

And then they unfurled a banner that requested world peace. Yes. And I think, love conquers all. I think if you were just stuck with the world peace and the illegal climb, there are a lot more people would have been on board with your cause. But then you go and make it about yourself with the proposal. Yes. And that's where you lost me.

Well, number one, like, do you have phobias? Like, I'm afraid of heights. I'll be honest. I have had times where I was afraid of heights and I'm not. anymore and I can't tell you why. Well, having grown up in Seattle, we had the Seattle Space Needle. Oh, yes. And the first time it was just a little boy and my parents took my sisters, myself, up the

space needle, 500 plus feet, right? And my dad picked me up and I was so out of my mind. I was scared. I'm holding on. And like, you know, some people like heights. Some people don't. I don't know how they did that yesterday. Your colleague, Ozzy Gian, is not a fan of heights.

Really? Yeah, no. One time my friends were in town from Philly, and we all went to the observation deck over at the Sears Tower. And we took a picture, and Ozzy's like, you could not catch me at that glass observation deck, or it's like a plexiglass, where you could just see straight down. So, yeah, I'm into it.

Well, they call it the lift, right, at the Hancock or something? Yeah, I think I just have to trust engineering at that point. It's kind of like flying. Like, you just have to trust that it happens and you can't have the answers to everything. You know what I mean? You hope you have the answer to that. Well, I just know millions of people do it every day. I mean, Hancock is what, 98, 99 floors?

Yeah, millions of people do it every day. Yes, they do. Everybody hangs out on the upper floors of these high rises. You have to have confidence that the people, the engineers, make sure that they use the WD40 to... That's it. You just, it's constantly. confidence in delegation for me at this point, rather than accepting that I am suspended in air. Right, exactly.

I mean, even where we are, even up just nine floors, that's kind of amazing, isn't it? See, I'm in a high rise. I've lived in a lot of high rises. So now I'm accustomed to it, but it's the first time when you look outside and then you say, oh boy, okay, I'm going back to the desk. But I thought it was weird. How did they get down, by the way? Did they have a crane? that took them down? That's an excellent question. I did not look into this. Also, I'm getting some conflicting reports here on our text line. 224 says, sheesh, no love for love, huh?

I mean, yeah, I'm fine with people being in love. Like I just said, I like ballpark proposals. But like, here you are asking for World Peace Committee and crime, and then you're going to be like, oh, let me propose. No, you get one or the other. You do not get Pope, okay? But they were arrested, right? They had three charges against them.

They were arrested. And then 630 says, he says, said we need love not war. Then he expressed his own love for his woman. Okay, fair. But this isn't a movie. This is real life. Okay? So just making it, I guarantee

you, making it about yourself with the proposal is not going to go over as well in a trial situation. Although they'll probably settle because it's all kind of out there on camera. Now, we're not done yet, Tyler. But the reporter, the reporter did have a good point when he was doing play-by-play. And by

the way, he was very effective with that play-by-play. But there is a security element to this. Because if two people, Russian daredevils, or whoever they are, were able to get on top. And members of Russian daredevils. Yeah. Yeah, they'll go to a store and get those printed up. Hey, we got a golf shirt. Russian daredevils. In jail. In jail. But there is a security issue. because if two people just went up the Empire State Building, what's that to say about their security period as a whole? Yeah, that's an infinitely good point here. I mean, if you worked in that building today, wouldn't you say?

Like, what are you guys doing? Yes. Who's just walking in here? And you guys don't even make sure of something like this? No, you're exactly right. But then again, they probably were on the lookout for climbing equipment that they clearly didn't have. That is the voice of Chuck Swurriss Gamley-Rahimi,

joining you today before this July 4th holiday weekend. Let's do five on it. Five questions for Chuck. Ooh, next.