Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Bruce Levine talks Cubs' interest in Zac Gallen, Frank Thomas-White Sox drama (Hour 2)

Episode Date: February 3, 2026

In the second hour, Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote discussed the Vikings' dysfunction. After that, Score baseball insider Bruce Levine joined the show to discuss the Cubs' interest in right-hander Zac Gallen and the ongoing drama between White Sox icon Frank Thomas and the organization. Later, Rahimi, Harris and Grote held the Halftime segment.

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You know, I would have loved to get drafted to New York and, you know, have that be my home for 20 years. But it just didn't work out that way. And, you know, same thing in Carolina. And then, you know, in San Francisco, that was a great place for me to learn. And in Minnesota, I feel like I had a great opportunity with really good players and really good coaches to show not people, but show myself what I could do out on a football field. And I think people saw that.

And, again, like Seattle. you know, just from the get, you know, right when I got here, it felt like home. And it feels like home. And, you know, I'm just so thankful for John and Mike believing in me. And, you know, all the players in that locker room for believing in me. And for me to just be able to go out there and do nothing more than my job on every single play. And I think that's a very, very secure feeling as a quarterback. Yeah, all's well that ends well for Sam Darnel is he and the Seahawks are trying to win the Super Bowl

in the rematch of Super Bowl 49. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3, the score. We thank you for joining us on both 104-3 and 670 today. And that set off a firestorm, as we know. Last week, the surprising news that the Vikings were firing general manager, Cuiio Fomenza, who was a candidate whenever the Bears hired Ryan Poles. And while we see what's happened similarly with how, say, for example, The discussion in Detroit is

never let the genius leave your building and that is a big narrative surrounding the reason that the Lions did make the playoffs, they lose Ben Johnson, they try to replace the offensive coordinator in a position that they see fit. There's also the narrative of this is what happens when you can't get the quarterback rate. And when you see when the Vikings fired a Dofo Menza,

when you see that it was in late January, when you see that it was after their former quarterback in Sam Darnold, who helped earn Kevin O'Connell Coach of the Year Awards, that performance, that combination. They decide to go with J.J. McCarthy instead famously. They didn't sign Sam Darnold to any sort of extension. His playoff performance was still in question at that time. And I think that that's been put to bed.

And now you see he's in the Super Bowl. All of this happens, I think, in the discussion surrounding everything that we've heard about a dophomensis since. It all leads up to the same key issue here. And it's one that we know well here. When you don't get the quarterback right, everything else becomes part of the discussion. And I'm not here to say that they can't get it right with J.J. McCarthy.

But the difference is they have to compare it to the guy they let walk. And because of that, that's when all this other stuff comes in. Who's running the team? Whoa, paternity leave that was taken two years ago, three years ago, and all of this. You're not saying any of that stuff if Sam Darnold is still with this team. Coiseido Femezza probably still has a job

as Sam Darnold's still with the team. And then they would have to figure out who out of those two would be the guy they arrived with this particular year, for example. Well, my question is very simple at this point. Does he get fired if the Seahawks don't make the Super Bowl? That's really what it comes down to

because this feels very, very knee-jerkish because the time they hired and fired their front office guy doesn't make any sense whatsoever otherwise unless there was some kind of off-the-field scandal, right? Like, if you're riding with JJ McCarthy going forward

and you're watching other football and you're like, that guy he made the Super Bowl now we're going to get rid of our guy. He could have been our guy, but he's not. And that's the decision you're making based on the fact that Donald's in the Super Bowl,

it seems very just backward and reactionary and owner-driven to a degree. And it's confusing to me, to be honest. Here's what's confusing to me about it.

Like, we're just talking about J.J. McCarthy. And there's a lot of people that like J.J. McCarthy. I remember being at the Combine. And part of all those interviews or interviewed many people,

talked to people on the record, off the record. And J.J. McCarthy was pretty popular among Gene. He just, he was. He absolutely was. There are many scouts in the league who can confirm what you're talking about. Right.

And Caleb Williams was definitely number one of all the people that we spoke to for sure. But it was, oh, what about, oh, but I really like this, JJ McCarthy, though. There's something there because he didn't mess up a lot in college because he was part of a really good offense in Michigan because he didn't have to throw much until he was not exposed in any way, shape, or form. But what I am getting to about this is, you're also saying at this point that, oh, if you're getting rid of them because Sam Darnold is good, you're telling us that your coach of the year, an annual candidate for coach of the year,

Kevin O'Connell can't get this prospect to be good. Wait a minute, I thought Kevin O'Connell was great. I thought he was one of the best young coaches in the league. I thought he was a coach of the year candidate and coach of the year. You're saying after one year, sorry, I can't work with J.J. McCarthy. That's the part that seems odd to me. Well, and listen, Paul Churchian has touched on this. Church is our fantasy football expert, longtime Vikings fan. He's talked about the drafting deficiencies that Addofomenses had. And there was a really compelling interview that Spiegel and Holmes did yesterday with Matthew Collar of Purple Insider talking about the various issues surrounding this. but stop me when you've heard any of this before.

Like how many times have we had to ask the question, who's running the Bears, who's running X team in town, who's doing X, Y, or Z? You know, you talk about the other deficiencies like we mentioned. Well, you've got the coach of the year. Well, you know, there were other drafting concerns. None of that. None of that matters.

If you don't get the quarterback right to you, and this feels so reactionary based on the fact that Sam Darnel makes a Super Bowl, and now, now the decision has been made. Listen to what caller said when it came to, for example, who's running the team? Listen to what was discussed about Brian Flores, a guy who interviewed for other jobs and knew that he could come back to the Minnesota Vikings if he didn't get them. With Brian Flores coming back, it's possible, and this is from Kevin's reporting,

that my takeaway was that Brian Flores did not want Cuezio da Fuenza as the general manager if he was going to come back. That may be putting a little bit of two and two together, but when you look at Brian Flores in Minnesota, it's been such an enormous success for him personally. Everyone's talking about it every year and him potentially getting head coaching jobs, which I don't think would even be a discussion if the performance had not been as good as this, considering that he's suing the league.

They have put a really good team around him and all those things. And the organization is top notch. And, you know, They are there certainly if you saw the report today paying him a lot of money, but I think there was always a question of the distribution of power and how much control everyone has when it comes to the decision making. And Brian Flores is known as a guy that wants to do things his way. At one point, Ryan Fitzpatrick used the word.

I think he said dictator once about Brian Flores. And if you saw what Mike Patton, former assistant for the Viking said, said he didn't see eye to so he moved over to the other side of the football. I mean, this is a guy, I think that has a real, let's just say a vision for the way to do things. And he wants it done that way. And so if the key to getting back, maybe the number one defensive coordinator in the entire NFL in a season where you really have to get everybody back to the playoffs was removing the general manager when there are other issues. They have struggled with drafting. They have handed out bad contracts.

They did get rid of the quarterback who's in the Super Bowl. it probably wasn't that difficult of a choice. So that's what I mean by we're making a lot out of the parent leave. We're making a lot out of different things that we've picked up along the way. And I certainly did that in my 3,000 word article. But, you know, it also may come down to that kind of thing. Like, would we rather have this elite defensive coordinator back who wants to work with somebody else? Or do we want the general manager who kind of wasn't really fitting in that position in the first place?

But here's my issue with all. of this is that again, and Brian Flores is one of the most, if not, now that Vic Fangio, you know, maybe hanging it up, the most respected defensive coordinator in the league. It's him and Vic, right? That's how I see it. It's like one and two. Bears might have one top ten. Yeah, Dennis Allen's a former head coach. But when you think of, when you think of the defenses you don't want to face by head, by coordinator name alone, you know, those are the two that come to my mind. With all due respect to Brian Flores. take his name out of it.

What defensive coordinator has that kind of power? You know the foundation is cracking when you hear this kind of discussion, and we know it all too well here. They're going to pay him, by the way, and this was on pro football talk yesterday, the Vikings were reportedly pay Brian Flores more than $6 million per year. So you talk about a team that has two very powerful coaches. at this point. I think Collar does a great job in explaining that

situation specifically, but I think before you talk about the quarterback and maybe the simplistic way that we tend to look at it because it's what have you done for me lately and JJ McCarthy is what remains after having both Daniel Jones and Sam Darnold in the fold, you have to go back to the fact that Kevin O'Connell

his preferred quarterback was Drake May and, you know, Adolfo Mincea, the guy who's got the abacus out, right? He's like, I'm unwilling to give up this to get as high as number three where Drake May was ultimately selected behind Caleb Williams and Jane Daniels. And I think that starts kind of a rift there with the office. Like, hey, I'm the guy who has to coach these guys.

If Drake May is my preferred guy, go out and get him. It's the most important position in the fields. And as far as Brian Flores is concerned, you look at the totality. We talk a lot about Ryan Paul's drafts, right? You look at the totality of Quesci Adofo Menz's drafts, and they have not been good in comparison to who's taken behind, the trades they made to go down and just guys who are no longer on the roster,

you've got to hit at a certain level and get some guys underneath you who have pro bowl and dare I say, all pro potential. Or you just have to tank hard enough to where you get the guaranteed pick that gets you the guy you want. Like that's part of this. Yes, we criticize Ryan Poles on this show.

Yes, he's not above criticism when it comes to a lot of the draft picks. He's made with the contracts. He's signed people too. But when, how familiar. Does it sound when you ask the questions, well, who's running this team? Oh, now the GM and the coaching staff is out of order. Oh, now the GM coaching staff and quarterback are out of order. And then it goes back to what you were talking about, Mark. The potential was so high with

J.J. McCarthy. Scouts did talk a lot about the fact that he didn't throw the ball because he didn't have to in Michigan. And they trust Jim Harbaugh. So you consider all these other events. All of this is reactive. Then therefore, understanding who J.J. McCarthy is, is reactive because you're hoping to see certain things you hadn't seen on tape. You do that with everybody. Then you're reacting when you decide to fire the GM because the other quarterback made the Super Bowl. After knowing that you wanted the other guy, you know, all of this seems like a position we know well as observers here. It's crazy to be on the other side of this. Kind of nice, isn't it? Yeah, I still think that even if Kevin O'Connell was right, and it looks like he was right,

that Drake May would have been a better option. You never know. how things look in a different franchise, a different uniform, but I believe it probably would have looked pretty good with him in Minnesota. Am I crazy for being the only one? Maybe not the only one, but I strongly feel that because of how J.J. McCarthy performed in his last four games at the end of last year, that J.J. McCarthy is going to be fine. Now, maybe not spectacular, but I think Kevin O'Connell can win with J.J. McCarthy. Well, what I was going to say is that he is still, like, the pressure should not be off Kevin O'Connell considering the talent and the praise that we get.

He should make that quarterback better. And even understanding that Drake May would have been a better option. And in conclusion to all of this, it makes complete sense why they had to fire their GM. If you have two very powerful coaches on head coach and defensive coordinator on a staff that both can give you bullet points as to really big things that went wrong and they're not pleased with a guy, it's an automatic. Their hand, there was no way they could. It was untenable to keep that man as part of the organization.

I mean, here's the thing. You know, you're going to ask the question naturally, who has the most power there, who's the best at their job? And when two of them are so damn good at their job, and it's basically like having two head coaches who are coordinating together, you know, who are coexisting together,

then the odd man out becomes the one where you have to have a referendum. What's hilarious is, we've been very well may have that situation here. Would you consider the former head coach Dennis Allen, Ben Johnson, who is the genius who left Detroit's building, as has been said, and then you have the general manager Ryan Poles. I just don't think the difference is as much as it is with those two in Quasio dofo Mensa. Well, I think the difference is Quisio dofo Mensa believed that he was right,

and he had not been yet humbled. I mean, his team's winning on the field, 13, 14, win seasons. Outstanding season last year. And so it's like it has to all come crashing down. And by then it's too late. Ryan Poles was humbled first and then brought in Ben Johnson and Dennis Allen. And therefore now he is severely acquiescing to those two because guess what? He hadn't done a good job to that point.

Well, there's also the question of who do you think you can win with? Like we talked about Maddie Ruffaloose being on the phone with Roma Dunesay saying just how we drew it up. Right. Like there was a discussion of, well, who do you think? think you can win with. You have to have that discussion. But if there was some sort of conflict and Adofo Mense didn't want to give up what it took to get

Drake May, when the difference is that crucial. Think about, if Drake May were on the Vikings, how would we be talking about Drake May compared to Caleb Williams? That'd be a different discussion. Yeah, I mean, we don't know what it would have looked like in Minnesota. It may not have had the same success,

just circumstances. I know he has a receiver. That's true. A couple of good receivers actually to really good receivers. Never sleep on Jordan Addison. You heard what you heard what Justin Jefferson had to say about Sam Donald and how much he basically misses him. Remember that John Brisker stuff. Remember that old Brisker?

And also, boy, you know how I feel about Justin Jefferson. Like take the NFC North out of it. If you love Ball, you're just sad that he's had this, this circumstantial career. It's been a rough go this past. He was flying high and cried. He cried. C team and then you'll

feel my past. I'm not in that greedy. Just get him out of the division. Imagine that. Making a grown man cry. If I may quote, Jaquan Brisker. Go ahead. Go ahead. And Jaquan Brisker is getting the last laugh now, huh? Great season before he's up for a contract. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie here on 104.

We thank you for joining us. And coming up next, there's been a lot of baseball chatter. We don't get to talk about it much because there's been so much football to discuss. So our Bruce Levine, the Scores Baseball Insider, will join us next. I'm Mark Sondler, producer, and one of the hosts of The Moth podcast. For nearly two decades, the Moth has brought live storytelling to stages around the world and to millions of listeners. These are real people telling true stories from their lives. Stories about a lost family recipe, about working to free a wrongfully convicted man, about realizing you need to leave your

May-December romance. Stories that will move you, surprise you, make you laugh, stories you can't forget. Join us. Follow and listen to the Moth wherever you get your podcasts. Harrison Grody. Could you imagine Lovey Smith doing the whole good, better, best thing, and saying bleep the Packers? Come on, guys, good better best. Never let it rest. I'll see you on Tuesday. Middays 10 to 2 on 1043, the score. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043 the score. It's going to take me a while to remember. Keep me honest. guys. And we now go to our Circa Sports

Hotline. Download the Circa Sports app today. That is where we find Bruce Levine. He is at MLB Bruce Levine on Twitter. He is our baseball insider. He hosts Inside the Clubhouse Saturday mornings 9-211 right here on 1043 The Score. Hey, Bruce, how are you?

Good morning, folks. How many are there of you today? There's three of us and you. Oh, oh. Full house, Bruce. Full house. Mark Grody's there. What's going on, Bruce? sorry, buddy. Stop it already. I have a question for all of you.

Oh, wow. Good. We like this. The question is, with as much starting pitching as the Cubs have and maybe even adding more if they go the way of a Zach Gallen or something of that nature. Are you okay when Steele comes back that they're in a six-man rotation and can manager, of Craig counsel get by with seven bullpen guys. Yeah, I'll, I'll just say this because I feel like every time I've had a six-man rotation conversation, it's temporary and it feels good when we have it. And unfortunately, it doesn't usually extend itself very long.

So if that is the case, if they are that lucky at some point any season to have it, Bruce, I think of it like house money. Like at that point, you're happy you've got it and it's probably not going to last forever and you've just got to ride the wave until it crashes. Bruce, knowing what we know about how pitching works, and especially if you have playoff aspirations, I would argue and be on the front lines of saying, you need to have a six-man rotation,

and that's the best way to operate in modern Major League Baseball, understanding where the most recent World Series participants, World Series champions, 100%. Just go six-man rotation out of the gate and then adjust accordingly. Right. So, and before Mark answers, I'll just say that, That is my look at this. Are the Cubs the mini Dodgers?

In other words, you see so many of the pitchers that dominated in the World Series who didn't pitch more than 12 or 15 games in the regular season. They have that luxury with a $400 million payroll. So from the perspective of copycat like they do in every sport, Mark Grody, would this be a good way to go for the, for the Chicago Cubs. I agree with everything you said and Lela and Marshall. What a luxury would be.

And let me throw you a question. When he does, you ready for this, Bruce? When Justin Steele does return to the rotation, who do you believe at that time will be the Cubs best pitcher? Who will be their ace up until Justin Steele returns to the Cubs to maybe retake the mantle of ace? Oh, that's easy. Zach Allen.

Oh, I love it. that answer. You couldn't have given a better answer than that. Say more. Yeah. Well, I mean, look, talking to the people that usually want this stuff out there, not necessarily always happening for the last seven, eight weeks, you know, Galen and the Cubs have always been connected since early December. And the idea that he is still out there without a contract and a quality starting pitcher who will probably have to take a

three-year deal of some sort with some type of ability to get out of it after the first or second year. This might fall right into the Cubs lap. Now, do they know what to do with it? Would it be an addition where they have another starting pitcher to move? Would this be a way of cutting down on all the

Nico Horner and Matt Shaw conversation? being moved to Boston. Again, pitching depth, as we've pointed out by all of us in agreement, is the key to success during a baseball season. And I think the Cubs are really hammering that home. No, Frank, Frank. Bruce, I think that's... Frank Levine.

You know where my mind is, actually. Bruce, I feel like it is a good question of one that we are still examining. And I also did want to get your opinion on what you know regarding the White Sox post about Black History Month and Frank Thomas obviously offended that he wasn't part of the further recognition among firsts. Like for example, he's the first two-time MVP that the team has had. There are many firsts that Frank Thomas can be a part of. It made sense as to why he was upset.

You know, what's your understanding about what is happening now and how the Sox plan on addressing this? Well, my take on this, you know, I've known Franks since, you know, with 1989 when he, you know, first came up. I mean, he's always been a really, really sensitive guy and a very excellent best hitter in White Sox history. Hard to argue that. I'm certainly the best power hitter in White Sox history by far.

And certainly iconic, you know, during his time. That said, you know, with social media and everything that it can lead to, you know, you know, do you have regret after putting that out there sometimes after you post something like that? In other words, was it that offensive because there's a whole month of Black History Month that the White Sox will be paying tribute to all of their African American players, including Frank, numerous times? Was this a too quick of a reaction? Or, you know, does he really have a case saying, you know, I should be first and foremost all the time when you mentioned

African Americans and the Chicago White Sox. Well, it's just interesting that you phrase it that way, Bruce, because here was my immediate reaction. My immediate reaction is, as an organization, you understand and know Frank Thomas and know how sensitive he is. So you understand how an omission is going to come across. That's how relationships work. You learn the other person you're in a relationship with,

and you do everything in your power not to just outwardly give them a reason to be upset. I mean, anybody who's had friendships, relationships, whatever. Like, you know Frank Thomas is sensitive. He's the first Black American League two-time MVP in Major League Baseball history. Just give him that and keep it moving. Yeah. I would say Marshall, that's right.

Because all the other stuff, you know, you start saying negative things about Frank Thomas. If you're a media person or anybody that talks about the White Sox, you're going nowhere with the White Fox fan base. You can't say anything bad about Frank Thomas. He was iconic. He was everything that people always wanted. We know the flaws like we all have. You know, Frank has had them and emotions are a part of that. But nonetheless, that's probably good advice. Well, I also want to take the time to say, like, having worked on a show with Frank for years hosting White Sox preimposed game, and I don't even know sensitive is the word. And you know this as well, Bruce. Like, think about

think about how hard he worked at a time when the steroid era was dominant. You know, that's part of it too. Like, omission, unfortunately, is something that White Sox fans bear a burden of. And I understand why Frank would feel the same way. It's indicative of the entire discourse. Here's the interesting thing. Ozzie and Joey Cora and Layla, you know this, and you guys probably do as well. But I think it's worth repeating.

Before every game, when they all played together during batting practice, Ozzie and Joey would get on Frank and do everything to make him upset. They would call him names. They would say he was weak. They would say he's bad BP, that he's not hustling. And he would be on fire coming out after BP. And if you ask Ozzy about it, their method was we want to get Frank fired up so that he gets three hits rather than two today. This is our motivation.

They've said it. Yeah, Ozzie has said it. Yeah. And Ozzy, you know, Ozzie, you know, that's why Ozzie's always the most interesting man in baseball. Because he will tell you all these things and all the motivations that he used during his career as a player and as a manager. But with Frank, I think he could accept the sensitivity stuff from his teammates because they were successful together. They were winning.

they had really good teams. He was MVP two years in a row. So everything was functioning well. You know, there have been many times where Frank hasn't been the, you know, happy with the team, happy with teammates, vice versa as well. That's just, you know, it's just the course of somebody's 17 or 18 year career, you know, it's going to happen. Frank has never gone out of his way to be a bad guy. He's never gone after people. That's not him. but like many great players, he was always selfish about his numbers and always wanted to make sure that was first and foremost. And personally, I don't have a problem with that when you're that good. I got to ask this, Bruce, because you brought up the relationship between the White Sox and Frank Thomas. And it got ugly at times.

I don't want to undersell it. I mean, with Kenny Williams, in 2006, Frank Thomas suing two doctors on the White Sox that alleging they had misdiagnosed an injury. I know that they settled that, the diminished skills thing in 2002, all of this to ask you this. And I feel like I got to ask you this because there were opinions that went this way. Was any of this intended or petty on the White Sox part by not putting Frank Thomas in? because clearly Frank sees it that way. You know, I would say just it was a slight misstep by the White Sox, I would say. Because as talking to them right away, and I talked to everybody, you know, that kind of runs the place,

not Jerry, but almost everybody else. And they all said, hey, we're paying a lot of tribute to Frank during this entire month. So, you know, we understand. understand what people are saying right now, why, you know, Frank is upset. We, you know, just give it some room. You know, we love Frank, and we know how important he is to our fans. And that's it. One of them said, hey, last I looked, we have a statue up there at him, don't we?

So they just missed, it wasn't intended error. They weren't being petty. They just, it was an oversight. Okay, I just, I wanted to make sure that was clear, I mean, because there are people who have opinions that the white side, this is Jerry Reinsdorf being petty or saying somehow, that's out there, Bruce, and I want to make sure that that gets cleared up one way or the other. So, Mark, you brought up 2002,

and I remember reporting before a game that Frank wasn't in the lineup, and when he came, when he saw that, he went ballistic with Jerry Manuel, the manager at that time. And the next day, he didn't show up on time for batting practice. And I reported that first. He was upset about it. It was factual. But the reality is, is that the sensitivity and what happened back then, those things were real.

You know, I mean, they happen. It doesn't take anything away from who Frank Thomas was with the White Sox, none at all. It just points out, you know, people are different. and like I said, Frank, very sensitive guy, very prideful guy, rightfully so. When that happens, by the way, when they do come up with that big infographic with all of Frank Thomas's accomplishments, I want at the very top, he's the dude that met with John Mitchell when nobody else would. Yeah. I agree with you, Marshall.

And look, for me, he was a hero during that period of time because him and Paul Canerco, Paul Canerco, right there with him, They were the instigators in really the first drug testing being taken place back in that time with the first drug test at that point in 2002 going to 2003 because of the fact that their numbers, their teammates, everybody in baseball was being impacted by steroids. Frank obviously probably missed at least one MVP award because of steroids. And the others were being impacted. People were being run out of the game because they weren't taking steroids. They weren't strong enough to stay in the game. So, you know, I'll always think him and Canerico were the two forerunners of that. Well, Bruce, this is always great to talk to you.

And we'll keep a look out for any Zach Allen-related info, Bruce. Guys, headed toward Arizona very soon. Looking forward to talking to you from there. Have a great day. Absolutely. That is Bruce Levine. the host of Inside the Clubhouse, which you can hear on Saturday mornings right here on 1043 The Score. And he is our scores baseball insider. And I know you guys touched on this and I know

we're running late to break. But the concept of acknowledgement is what this is supposed to be. Is it not? You would know better than I. But the idea is acknowledge people's accomplishments. Acknowledge their accomplishments. But again, when you have a relationship with somebody, avoid doing stuff that's going to come across the wrong way. But also surrounding the entire discussion, of how much the White Sox and their players are dismissed unnecessarily. This isn't, it's not an outlier to understand the upset. Oh, yeah.

I mean, like, in this, the relationship with Frank, like we were getting into so complicated. And I said this about Frank. Like, let's be honest, he's holding big time resentments. He's just waiting. It felt like, and he was justified, but at the same time, it also felt like he was just waiting for a chance to jump on the White Sox again. He is holding on to things that he needs to do his part as well, is all I'm saying. There's no benefit of a doubt.

That's the problem here. I don't know. I think it's because I work with them every day. Maybe I feel a little differently about it. That's understandable. It really is. But I think the bottom line here is that when people deserve accomplishment, acknowledgement, then it's on us to give it to them.

Absolutely. And if our part is something didn't get acknowledged right, then it's okay to say that and do the right thing afterward. Still waiting to hear from the White Sox publicly on that. There's that as well. Coming up next year on Rahimi Harrison Grady on 104-3, the score, it's time for halftime. And we have our first notable Super Bowl prediction. And it's from someone I'm scared of.

Next. I'm Jenna Fisher. And I'm Angela Kinsey. And together we have the podcast Office Ladies. Just because we finish rewatching the office does not mean we're going anywhere. Every Wednesday, we'll be sharing even more exclusive stories from the office and our friendship with brand new guests. Plus, you can revisit all the Office Ladies rewatch episodes every Monday with new

bonus tidbits before every episode. So follow and listen to Office Ladies on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcast. It's nap time. On 1043 The Score. I like to pause there. I have to pause. I have to think.

We spent our first hour giving out the FM inaugural first annual Bears Awards FM Bears, which we've decided to call the Bearses. And if you miss that, you can check it out on the rewind and feature on the Odyssey app. We then also talked about the Vikings dysfunction and how it oddly sounds strangely familiar to pass Bears dysfunction. And we just had Bruce Levine on to talk about not only the Cubs possibility of a six-man rotation, dear God, but also the discourse surrounding Frank Thomas' omission from the White Sox infographic during Black History Month.

It's half time. It happens every year. Every year we let animals pick the winner of the Super Bowl. Or should I say, big game? Is it a big game animal that's picking the Super Bowl? It's like an elephant picking it? Yeah, usually it's something like that, right? Elephant, penguin.

Hippopotamus. Do you have a favorite animal who has picked the Super Bowl where you're like, oh, that's a really cute idea? I like the cat. Has Dave picked the Super Bowl? No, but I will ask him when I get home today. I like this. So what are we thinking?

He's like, dangle that string in front of me. little bit. Maybe I'll answer the question. Give me a little treat. Maybe I'll answer the question. I smell content here. So here's what you need to do. We know that Dave loves to sit on your papers for work. He does. So Dave doesn't like it when Mark tries to do research. Here's what you're going to do. One of them is going to have a printout of the Patriots logo. And the other paper needs to have a printout of the Seahawks logo. And then you need to see which one Dave sits on. And that will be the Super Bowl winner. Will ye, by the end of the day today, have a printouts of both of those for me from the score? Maybe somebody can do that. I can't guarantee color printing, but I can guarantee you we can get them printed. Up a little food on each and see which one he goes to.

You could even put, no, you don't even need food because it's a square. He's going to sit on it. He's going to be like, is my dad trying to do work? No, he's not. Sit. So we'll find out. Get a video. You have to do a video.

Done. Maybe I'll bring my Wiener's Circle video crew with me. I have a video for now. Did not expect what the word was going to be when he said Circle. Did not know. Yeah. How'd that go, by the way? Aren't they fun up there?

Oh, yeah. And the video is up and running right now. If you'd like to check it on on Instagram, on score Instagram, score Facebook, score Twitter, score X on my Instagram, if you want to check it out. But I had a great experience at Weiner Circle. This is I thought. And honestly, and I express it in the video, I was a little nervous, you know, like cooking those hot dogs and working.

I wanted to do well. I wanted to make them happy. I wanted to do well. He didn't want to drop the ball. I didn't want to drop the ball. He wanted to get feisty because that's what he did. I did a little bit. Improv knows improv.

That's right. You're working with the queens up there. I can't be working with a script, man. I got to improv. By script, he means we just try to put the show in order and you can't fence crowdy in. Basically they said, really the real story is, what do you guys need me to do?

Not really sure. Just come on out here and talk. to the people. You love talking. And I do. And that's what I did. So it was really fun. Thanks for asking, Leila. So Dave and Wiener Circle are your Super Bowl predictors. Do you have an Animal Marshal that you like to predict

the Super Bowl with? Yeah. When I look in the mirror. It's me. You animal, you. I am. That's Mars Hall to you. He goes into his alter ego. That's his FM name, Leila. You didn't hear it. That is his FM name. Mars Hall. So our friends at the Brookfield Doe decided to take it one step

further. Tarram! Tarantula, tarantula predicting the Super Bowl. And you know what? I got to tell you guys, have you ever come face to face with a tarantula, like in the wild or even, I don't know, in the suburbs, in a yard somewhere? Because I have. I would say eye to eye, but they got way more eyes than I do. Yeah. And I, I will admit, I just stopped and I looked at it.

I stared at the tarantula. I just stopped. It was like, wow, you are really interesting in person. Like, not at a zoo. Nice to meet you. Like, I just seriously, like, stood there and looked down at it. And then it started to move. and that sucker was fast.

No kidding. They are fast. They are really fast. Were you scared when he moved and saw how fast he was? I ran away. I was like, ma-ha! And then I ran. Tarangela's probably like, wow, rude.

Lela, like, I just met you. So a tarantula by the name of Charlotte at the Brookfield Zoo. Charlotte's Web. Put that together, did you? So Charlotte has predicted that the Seahawks are going to take it all. Some pig. And according to the press release, she seems to be favoring.

animal-inspired mascots again, though her choice may be instinctual. After all, tarantulas know a thing or two about dodging birds, one of their top predators in the wild. Who's stupid enough to eat a tarantula? Like, how is that going to go down for you?

Literally, right. Hairy and fangy and leggy, lots of legs. And listen, I'll admit, Charlotte is a cute name and she sounds really cool and stuff. But, man, I'm telling you, you encounter those things in the wild, they will run on you. I bet. So, they have they've released video. I'm sure you can find it online. The Brookfield Zoo social media is fantastic.

But I think Charlotte the Tarantula may be the leader in the clubhouse now from new creative Super Bowl predictor. So who did Charlotte predict? Seahawks. Okay. So. But also interesting that she ran to a known predator. Instead of, instead of choosing her friend that she could conquer the Patriots, aka a human. Likes a challenge. Who she could bite and then kill. I have to tell an emotional tarantula story. Can I, do you guys give me 10 seconds to tell it? Sure. My aunt in Tucson, Arizona, came across a tarantula that was up on her porch that was missing a leg. And so that's a dead tarantula.

And she took in the tarantula. The leg grew back, kept in an aquarium because apparently that's what happens. Their legs grow back. It was her pet. They bonded. And then when the leg grew back, she let it, when the leg grew back, she let it go back into the wild and never saw the tarantula again. So she nursed it back. To help.

I was like, it's emotional for me. At least you now know, according to later, that tarantula is fast. Able to leg it out. Absolutely. Like it. Indeed. So what a happy story. Okay.

So apparently there are also jumping spiders and jumping spiders are like cute and nice. I'm out. No, no, no. They look terrifying. But they, uh, but jumping spiders will like learn their name and like they will peacefully live and like they even dream. And it's really kind of disturbing to know that they're so like compassionate and intelligent as animals and do a lot of the things we do.

Spiders are friends. But people talk about a lot of the jumping spiders and how they're pretty cool and they co-exist if you let them. I am out. I'm out on Charlotte. Give me a Wilbur. I can have some bacon in the morning. We're good.

Now listen here. I will say this. Anything that kills things I don't like I'm into. Exactly. So like I don't like mosquitoes. Kill them. Tarrantula. Let the bats and the tarantulas loose.

Go get them. Like I don't need all that. So if you want to kill that stuff for me, then okay, I'll keep you on payroll. What do you need? to be happy. A corner? Would you like a nice corner, per se?

I will give you a nice corner in order to be my pest control. I can't just have you out here running free in my house. Spiders are our friends. That's cool. Let me be our friends outside. I just don't want to step on you.

You know, you've ever met like an outside dog as opposed to an inside dog? Spiders are permanently outside friends. Right. If you don't have a cat that controls all moving things in your place. The cat, Dave is a protector.

Oh, there is, like, I think it's fun when a fly somehow gets into my, I live in a high rise, so it's pretty difficult. When a fly gets in there, I'm happy for Dave, because I know like, oh, game on. That fly is gone within 15 minutes. Sometimes you've got to let the food chain do its job. Exactly.

Dave is out here trying to win Protector of the Year Award. That's right. Dave and Joe Tooney. The battle has been waged. I sure am proud of my boy. Like, yeah, Joe Tooney, you're awesome and a person and all. But have you met Dave? I don't know.

Apparently not. That cat is the extinguisher. All right. Now I like to see how that goes. So we'll get a video of Dave's Super Bowl predictions. Done. And Charlotte has picked the Seahawks. We're going to do five on it next. Hey, guys. This is Matt Norlander, co-host of the Ion College Basketball podcast with Gary Parrish.

We are part of the CBS Sports Podcast Network and college hoops is turning toward what's going to be a phenomenal march. So be sure you are tuned into the show. We're going to be publishing at least four shows every week. Follow and listen to Ion College Basketball free on the Odyssey. or wherever you get your podcast, March is coming.