Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Caleb Williams goes in depth on his relationship with Ben Johnson (Hour 4)

Episode Date: February 18, 2026

In the final hour, Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris listened and reacted to Bears quarterback Caleb Williams' recent comments about his relationship with head coach Ben Johnson. After that, they examined the work that Cubs center fielder Pete-Crow Armstrong is doing on his swing.

My main message to him was he needs to get out of football for a little bit. He's done a phenomenal job in terms of staying focused all year long. He put a lot of time, a lot of effort. I thought he grew up as a professional. I thought his communication to the coaching staff grew. I thought his communication to his teammates grew. But we will certainly have a number of points of emphasis that he can dive into when he comes back this springtime. That was Ben Johnson.

of season press conference talking about Kayla Williams. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3 The Score. And we've spent a lot of time on a podcast that gave us a lot of time and insight into Caleb Williams. It was his conversation with Max Crosby on The Rush podcast. And we've been continuing to analyze this because there are just a lot of natural follow-ups and natural answers we're getting out of those two talking as two questions we had during the year. Shout out to Max Crosby for not only having Caleb Williams on his podcast, but also being able to get a lot of insight from him that I don't think we have gotten to this point, whether it was him talking about his approach to the season, specific plays, or even his approach to the offseason

and what's up next for him and cheat meals. And I just found it very fascinating to learn more about how Caleb Williams operates, how he sees things. ultimately where he's going from here. Also, does this count as getting away from football as this coach's orders? I feel like it's not, you didn't get away from football for long enough. Caleb Williams is a renaissance man. I need you in another continent doing some stuff. That was another one of the themes, as I mentioned a couple hours ago during the show, earlier in the show.

Like Caleb talking about me versus me, part of the battle of Caleb versus Caleb is like he knows he needs to get away from football. but he's so hungry to do more. But he also, I think, detaches well. Like, Caleb isn't the dude going to, like, his friends has to play Madden to get away from football. He's going to Denmark or something. He's on the cover of GQ. He does cool stuff.

What, what kind of, was that in Denmark, the GQ story in the cover? I'm trying to remember where it was. Some European country you don't necessarily go to often. I remember people being upset that he was even over there, you know, living his best. life. And I was like, it's the off season. You have to be able to. It's like those people who will complain when someone's struggling on a team and then they see them live twitching or just on Instagram live, just having a good time. Like they can't have a release. They hear us,

you know, they hear Ian Hap with us. Well, he's too busy talking to you guys. Well, you're also listening to the show, number one. Number two, do you just do your job? Because if you're listening to us from 10 to 2, there's a tiny chance you don't just do your job. The expectation that someone admittedly spends 14-hour days at the facility in season and still finds a way to get eight hours of sleep. That means you're getting up, you're going to work, you're coming home, you're going to bed. And then when that six-month period is over, they are escaping from that for, I think he said, two months was the, yeah, two months. Give him his two months. Do whatever you need to do in that two months so that guess what,

you're mentally ready for the next season. Head coach told us, right? We've seen other clauses and contracts, Kyler Murray, that would lead you to believe that maybe there's a different type of discussion going on. Did you catch when he said, oh, you know, I like to play other sports right back to the three-point shoot out the celebrities. When he said that, I was like, yeah, you sure. You'd like to play. The post, he had on his story where he held up his basketball shoes and said he was hanging

him up. Hanging him up. He could have tied those shoes together, found the nearest electrical line and just throwing them up and, like, have his shoes up on the line. Because, yeah, two for 15. Jersey beat you, guy. I don't even care. You know, I said this on Fox 32 on Sunday.

night. You know what my accuracy contest is for Caleb Williams? It's fourth and eight to Roma Dunezay with a dude wrapped around your leg. Okay, three point contest, cool. Whatever. I think an excellent point was made that if he

had, I'm trying to remember who made the point, but if he had been fading away with no time left off one foot, he would have made more shots. Rolling out to the left? Yeah. 100%. This is not pertinent to the conversation, but this a basketball point I need you to hear.

Oh. I don't know how I feel about Luca perfecting the Dirk one-legged fade away. He's brought a lot of it to his game recently. And I just, I don't know how I feel about it. Skinny Luca, it's a new thing. But have you noticed, have you noticed how any one-legged fade-away shots he's taking it? I'm like, I know what you're doing, Luca. Do the key, does that?

I know what you're doing. Every time he releases, he says, Nico. He cannot, he cannot replace Dirk for me. He can't. Dirk's got a statue out front. But I just, I know what he's doing. All right, that's my random basketball thought for the day. I know you feel me.

I hear you. I really do. It hits me in an emotional place. This should hit you in an emotional place. Enough about me. Caleb Williams talked about the evolution of his relationship with Ben Johnson to Max Crosby. This is worth your time. Yeah.

It takes you all minutes to get on the same page. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's a, he's a unique cat. He is. From outside in it, you can tell. Love him to death, man. He's a unique cat in the sense of, you know, he's like a mad scientist that doesn't speak, like, what he's thinking. And so you're sitting there like, and from my position, because he's, you know, he's my coach and, you know, whatever.

And we're going to be here and all that. You try and figure him out. And, you know, I've gotten a lot better with it over time now, you know, all the meetings. You know, seeing his family and how he is. and things like that and understanding when are the areas that you can joke

one are the areas that you know is business time one are the areas that you know and figuring out you know his his humor

and figuring out because he's a like he'll yeah like he'll crack jokes but there'll be dead like you think he's dead as serious and so you don't laugh

you don't then he'll like you know he'll say like you know it's a joke like y'all can you all can laugh because he's always so serious

um and and so you know our relationship has been It's been fun to build and grow. And it's going to be fun for these next couple years because he's a toe, atoll, I told Maxis, I was like, yeah, he's like, he's like, he's like, he wants to whoop everybody's ass.

Yes. And he's, and he's like a player in a sense because he, he's like, he's out there. And obviously he knows he's not out there. He knows, he always tells me he's like, you know, players make coaches and, you know, players are everything, you know, more than skiing, more than anything. And so I think, you know, he does a good job with, like, adapt into his players. But he's like a, he is like a player. He wants to whoop everybody's ass.

Cut throw. Every coach. Every, like every defense, every, and for me, I love it because that's, I feel the same way. I'm on the same wavelength. I'm on the same vibe. Like, I want to go out there. I want to, you know, whether it's, you know, we got a good defense, good special team. Like, that doesn't, like, I want that and whatever.

I can't control those things. That doesn't, that's not, that's not me. But when we go out there, I want to put up 50. If it's a shoot-offs, shoot-off. If it's a blowout, it's a blowout, like whatever. That's on all of us as a team to do. But going out there and putting up 50, being the best offense to ever touch the grass is kind of the mindset. I love this because it, you know what it took me back to?

Remember the story about how Ben Johnson wants to embarrass people and you really never got a chance to embarrass anyone? They were just trying to get the offense fully functioning, fully rolling. And I got to a point where it was good. And they were scoring points. Not the most points, but more points than they had been scoring. Enough points. Enough points. But you have heard of me.

Yes, enough points to win the division, enough points to get to the second round of the playoffs, enough points to go to overtime in the game before the NFC championship game, before finally losing. And I think if we're being honest, Ben Johnson was not satisfied, but he understood growth is a process. And Caleb Williams is telling you right there, I'm attaching all of my expectations to Ben Johnson's expectations and we know one thing. He wants to embarrass.

He said 50. He wants to put up 50 burgers on people. He's a unique cat. Which is hilarious because that's how people describe Caleb Williams. Mad scientist. I agree with the mad scientist part. But also, there were signs. There were signs of the bears doing things to at least

rattle the cage of their opponents. I present to you the Cowboys game. For example, tell me how many timeouts Ben Johnson took in the second half. Zero. Who's the defensive coordinator on the other side? I present to you the trick play that they ran against the Cowboys. What a Luther Burdens say that play was called? The White House.

That's crazy. And the fact that they tried to play it off after the fact, like, we don't know that exists. I'm sorry, what's Michael Irvin's new podcast called again? He's got that new podcast, right? Netflix? On Netflix. Isn't it called like the White House? It is the White House.

The fact that they could just openly all joke about this. Your favorite, like your fun uncles who are young are now full-blown uncles, and it's just, we're all just living our lives out here. Also, even the eye formation that they ran at the goal line, that was the first of their many eye formations to run it in for a touchdown. Like, we're going to beat you with the most basicest of formations. and they did. That alone lets you know that there is a trolling element to Ben Johnson's offense.

And so much so that his former team did things like the Stumble Bomb impression to celebrate as a touchdown dance. Like, you know, petty birthed petty on that one. It really sprouts out from the idea when Max Crosby was talking and we played it earlier, if you want to use the Odyssey app and the rewind feature, you can go back and listen to it. when Max Crosby in the first hour of the show was talking about every single thing that he did was set up to design specific purpose. I'm sorry, you can't convince me that everything Ben Johnson does doesn't have some kind of underlying inside joke meaning to it. Oh, 100%. It's a love letter if you start to really read it. It really is. Like, I've thought that many times.

Who's he writing the love letter to? It depends, I guess. Doesn't it? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. But there's, there's, this sounds really cheesy. There's a story that is told in the offensive game plans. Like, for example, did you hear how Max Crosby talked about the jet sweep? That's how you should talk about it. It's not deliberate and you're running the Jetskeep because personnel is your scheme. Dramatic pause.

It's that you folded into something else to make the same things look different and the different things look the same. You're building upon itself. That's why I really wanted to watch just from a, I love to watch offensive. football standpoint, the Sean McVeigh offense meeting, the Ben Johnson offense. The only way that game gets better is if Caleb Williams has more years in the league and the entire offensive unit has more years with Ben Johnson. That was the only way that game could have gotten better from what you saw if you want to build systems. I want to say if the defensive players were healthy on both sides of the ball for that game, it would have been better as well. Maybe not as high scoring.

I mean, from an offensive watching standpoint, no. But don't you want to see them do it against elite defensive players. I also want to ask you this. Ask a way. Did you hear the way Max Crosby was happy listening to the way Caleb Williams talked about Ben Johnson? Oh, the entire podcast, both these dudes, it was love building on love. Or was it Caleb Williams selling something and Max Crosby buying what he was selling? Like, oh, I could have that, but you're playing.

Are you meeting the word recruiting? Is that what you're insinuating? Because that's how I felt about it. You felt like it was a recruiting visit? That's how, specifically that part about Ben Johnson. Or was it an information gathering visit? Well, maybe Max Crosby was gathering data on a team that he could future play for. And maybe Caleb Williams was saying, hey, if you want to come join us over here, not death row, but death row vibes.

that's really what it is. If you don't want your producer dancing in your videos, so to speak, Ray, we want you dancing in our videos. That's not the same. You are not that dude at all. I won't be dancing in the videos just for... The maculatory nature of it. That is our business.

So you can be about our business. Do we have, speaking of this, do we have the Max Crosby mission statement where he's on the Let's Go podcast telling you who he is and what he's about? Because I feel like if you marry that with what he, how he sounds when he listens to Caleb Williams, you start to see a similar cultural thread take place. Is that the one with my man from NBC? Is that the podcast with a...

Jim Gray? Jim Gray, yeah. I'm like, by Tariko, Brian Williams. NBC Sports. Tom Yamas. You talk about what Max Crosby tells. Tim Russer. He tells Jim Gras.

specifically on the let's go podcast that all he wants to do is win win win no matter what is that what you're referring to yeah i have a lot of goals um but i do want to win that's all that's all that matters ultimately but i want to be in a place that we're mentally i'm i'm 100% myself i just want to focus on football that's truly what i want people that know me know i'm about the work and football I just want to play football and be left the fuck alone, period. And if people that don't understand that, don't know me. People can say whatever they want. I truly, and I'm saying this like, well, you had to get on a show and talk about it.

Yeah, that's my obligation. I have to do that. But truly, I don't give a fuck besides playing football and winning football games. I give my whole life to this sport every single day. I'm here every morning. My alarm goes off at 455, and I am driving 35 minutes. across town in an empty dark building doing the same thing every single day trying to help my team trying to help myself people can talk all they want people go on twitter i don't even see half the

i'm like i said half of it is news to me i just care about playing football you love it i don't love football i am obsessed i've given it since i've been playing tackle football since i could walk this is what i do i've done it my whole life i don't know anything else i love my family. I love friends in doing a podcast from time to time. Would this be one of those times? This would be one of the times? And I love seeing you, Jim.

I love playing football. That is my purpose, is my passion. It's to be a light to the world and be the exactly the player in person that I envision myself being as a kid. I'm living that dream right now. So people talk about drama and this and this and that.

I don't want to have it. I don't want to deal with it, but that is the reality in my situation because I've earned it as a player. I've earned it as an all pro and a pro bowler, but that's not why I play the game. I play because I am obsessed with it. I could play the game for zero and I played it for 15, 20 years, not making a dollar. I lived in Ipsilani on a damn mattress and I drove across the country by myself, made it happen. I'm living my dream every single day. So yes, I'm doing incredible and I'm glad you asked that question. I appreciate it, Jim. Come to death row. That's pretty much what that was.

You know who he sounds like? He sounds like a bear. But zooming out, he sounds like Kevin Durant before he got traded to, or before he left for the Warriors. That's what he sounds like. When all he cared about was ball and he just wanted to be on a winner, he wanted to win it all. So he joined the winners and then he became fully grown KD and he's a sensation now.

And, you know, the passion in which they talk about their sport, it's on the same elite tier to me as far as ball lovers. So Rick Barnes said that he realized that when he was coaching Kevin Durant, that even though he was only there for a year at Texas, that like early on in the season he was having to show him tapes of the greats of basketball because that was the level he was seeing the game at and able to execute at. It's the same idea, really. but hearing Max Crosby,

listen to Caleb Williams talk about Ben Johnson. That quote, that mission statement, if you will, it wasn't a memo. It was a mission statement. That was the first thing that came to mind. It doesn't, ultimately it doesn't matter unless there's an actual transaction

that takes place and I know. But it is cool to hear when people speak your same love language. They should have transcribed what he said on the Let's Go podcast, and he should have just taken the transcript and just put it on his LinkedIn and let everybody know this is who I am.

Fernando Mendoza style. Also, it speaks to Mike Floreo saying, well, if I question, you know, back up people's rights in the courts, right? Back up your rights as an employee that I don't love football. Well, Max Crosby's telling you he doesn't love it either.

So what do you call that? Yeah, the fine line, right? He's obsessed, but doesn't love it, right? But that's the point. The emotional attachment, like, That's an argument for weak, weak concepts here. It's a weak argument. Of love is this loyal, beautiful thing. Obsession is scary.

I don't care what you think I love. That's not what I'm here to do. That'll come out organically. Yeah. I'm here to just dominate and do my thing. And if it scares you, that's good because then you understand where I'm coming from. You understand the place from which I draw the energy to take, I don't know, two plays off, two snaps off a game. I am Max Crosby.

My middle name is effort. Let's go. It is. And that's it. The way he said Ipsilani. That's a spot. It's going to stay with me. Mehegan.

It sure sounds like somebody who likes what Ben Johnson is about, doesn't it? Sounds like someone who would be aligned with Ben Johnson's thought process and his desire to embarrass people. I'm assuming Dennis Allen's answer would be yes. I mean, maybe not, you know, I'm just assuming. No, let's see what Dio has when he ever comes back in the middle of the next season. Is that what Dian's alternative is in this equation? Dennis Allen, no, Dennis Allen did like Dio, he told you why. But in this scenario, like, if Dennis Allen heard that, I assume he'd be like, yeah, cool.

I assume. Well, that was a season before the Raiders shut Max Crosby down for two games, and he got mad. He gets mad when he takes off a couple of plays. You want to make him miss the last two games of the season. How'd that go for you? Coming up next year on Rahimi Harrison Grady, this is important and pertinent, frankly, because it's something that I think we hope to see,

dare I say as early as Friday? Peaker Armstrong has made some adjustments. That was the one thing I was wondering was going to happen this off season. Ask and we shall receive. So we'll tell you what. Next. Rahimi Harrison Grody.

I don't want to break time. I want to yell at him. Can we handle more Anthony Herron? Midday's 10 to 2 on 104 3, the score. He's going to try to throw something that's going to be right on the edge of the strike zone if he can. You've got two guys with a lot of adrenaline rushing through them right now, though. There's the pitch. Line drive, base it into right field.

It's going to drive in one. It's going to drive in two. Cubs lead three to one. Pete Crow Armstrong delivers. Fencing to third is he in half. Horner and Tucker both scored. Cubs lead three to one. We're probably not making enough of the fact that you can hear Cubs baseball in FM quality on Friday on this station.

And it's an all Chicago matchup, by the way. It is a crosstown matchup. Sox fixing B1 and O. Marshall's out here making predictions. Baseball is back. That's right. That's Pat Hughes and Ron Coomer. And yes, on 104-3 the score, we will have spring training baseball starting for you on Friday. Walk outside, enjoy this weather, and then know that the vibe will continue this week on the score. It's a good feeling, isn't it? It's a great feeling. I will be listening. All I have to say is, hey, caramba.

And now you can hear that in FM quality like we do? I can't wait. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043, the score. And I know Marshall, you and Russ Dorsey talked about the top storylines for the Cubs leading into this season. And I know that's something you and I will get into. It's something that everybody should do for themselves, actually. Like, what are you interested in? Yes, give yourself some homework. What are questions you have about the Cubs and the White Sox? And then try to see what you can answer while watching spring training.

For me, one of the biggest ones was, how will Pete Crow Armstrong adjust to the league adjusting to him? Well, lo and behold, we have some answers, thanks in part to our friends at the Athletics. Ahana Sharma talked about it and wrote a story that I recommend you read. And yes, indeed, Pete Crowe Armstrong worked with hitting coach John Maley on a swing change, which I think is an excellent way to try to get back to what we saw him do in the first half. I think the first thing you got to understand is as a hitter, you need to be able to identify what's a strike and what's not a strike. That helps.

Once you do that, then you need to understand that just because a pitch is technically a strike doesn't mean it's a pitch that you should give up your bat for. There's a time and place to take a pitch that is a strike. And I'm interested in what John Maley said specifically when it comes to how they're working with Pete Crowe Armstrong to get him to be in the best position to attack the strike zone. Well, and I'm glad you brought up plate discipline and pitch selection in this, because I do think that that's part of it. So then take it a step even further into reassessing your entire mental process, and that's what Maley did. This is reported by Sahada Sharma.

The quote is, from Pekro Armstrong, we just noticed that when the setup was out of whack, I wasn't really getting in the box the same way. That's when the swing went to crap and mechanical stuff started playing a bigger role in the lack of success. That makes sense. And what his assisting hitting coach made a lot of sense. And this is somebody he's worked with since in the minor leagues because he was down there with him when he was in the minor leagues. This quote

really spoke to me. Going further to what you just said that Pete Kerr-Armstrong said, Maley's saying, quote, he got a little stretched out. He was accelerating in his stride covering too much ground, which kind of made him a little long and he was mishitting balls. So he went back to staying short like he was early in the year, small tap,

small separation and really rotating in place as opposed to jumping and crashing forward, kept his head stiller and allowed him to get more balls consistently. So it's not necessarily that he had this horrible strikeout rate. It's just the balls that he was putting in play weren't doing anything. Well, and he did have a horrible strikeout rate. You know, that is part of it. He had a chase rate that was the third highest in baseball. His on-base percentage was the 11th lowest.

And you're right. That doesn't always mean strikeout. but it just meant unproductive at bats. Like, no matter how you slice it, that's what it looked like. And that explains why the timing mechanism was so off. Combine your height, combine your body type with what he's talking about, that length that he discussed. And then when you put that together, that's why you look slow.

It's why you look behind. It's why a ball in the dirt looks like it was beneath the ground and you're still swinging at it. And instead of it being a swing, it looks like a gall. swing. Everything gets exaggerated because the movement is unnecessarily exaggerated. A lot of people were coming at my neck last season when I was like, yes, he is having an excellent first season, but I do question his Vladimir Guerrero style approach to I can hit anything out because he was hitting balls that were at his neck out of the ballpark or down at his toes for doubles. If you're

doing that, it's all well and good until it's not. The goal is to make the strike zone tighter, to make your ability to delineate balls from strikes and what you know you can do with a pitch versus what you can't do with a pitch. And that's the hope is that if he goes back to the production of the first half of the season, it doesn't even necessarily have to look like what it looked like in the first half of the last season.

It's also just who's opposing you. The opposing pitcher is going to throw a different mix of pitches at you now that they know how to beat you. And the things that you could see from a mile away because they didn't quite know how to pitch mix to you are not going to be the same thing anymore. The league made an adjustment to you. How are you making an adjustment to the league?

And the league won in those last two months of the season. His weighted runs creative plus number was only a 45. That is very bad. That is atrocious. And underperforming, given his talent level. And given what he did in the first half of the season. So Russ and I talked about this, Lila. Here's what we decided.

If he gives you a full season, like he gave you a full season, he was out there playing baseball, if he gives you a full season, but it's at around 70% of what he gave you in the first half, but he does it for the whole season. I sign up for that tomorrow. Well, yeah, because that would be consistency, which in baseball is the Golden Goose. You would know what you were getting. The hard part for him is going to be knowing that you can hit the ball. at your toes, knowing that you can hit the ball at your nose, but knowing that if you look for

those two, you're going to miss everything else that comes to you. That's a good pitch to hit. Dang, I was waiting for that rhyme with the toes and nose. That's all I had. I can't finish it. I thought you can hit me with like a those. But if you swing for those, you'll get a rose. That's all you'll get. I don't knows. But you feel me. I do feel you. Except for that last part. It's bad grammar. It made Marshall cringe. No, no, you're fine. You're fine. You're fine. fine. Oh, this is good from our Twitch chat, the dude 1321. Doesn't mean you swing at anything goes.

Oh, that's a bar. It was right there. Go team. See, we need everybody in this. But no, for PCA, his success is such a pivotal deciding factor in how good this team can be. It might be he goes, they go. He goes, they go. It really might be that.

I'm not saying he bats lead off. Let's not go crazy here. Don't want that. But I'm saying it might be as, because of what you know out of Alex Bregman, because of what you know out of Seizu Kyi, because of how important that protection in the lineup is to a guy like Seya, it might be that crucial as to because are you getting the same offense out of your catcher position? This is of no offense to Carson Kelly and Miguel Amaya, just understanding the world.

Where would you put him in the lineup, ideally? Because we talked about the leadoff spot. We think that should be Michael Bush, Nico Horner, variation of that. probably platoon-based. If it's a left-hander, maybe you put Bush a little further down fifth or sixth in the lineup. I like that. But where does Nico Horner go in a world where Kyle Tucker doesn't exist?

Does Alex Breggman hit second? Do you put Peacrow Armstrong in the two-hole? I think Breggman hits second. So then who's hitting third? See how this works? No, but here's my real scare to myself. Like, I don't know if I want to go down this path. So if it's Bush Breggman,

Nico. I like Nico hitting with a duck on the pond. So either first or third. Either he's starting you off or he's hitting third. No more than third. But then you know who I'm hitting cleanup. It's Michael Bush. No, if I have Bush leading off and then. Oh, I see what you're saying. Then it's Peaker Armstrong in that scenario. Is it not? And I don't necessarily know that that's the best use of my time and space here. I'm trying to think of other candidates in a balanced line. In theory, it's SEA. That's what I thought.

That's my mind to say. So back to back righties? I'm okay with it. I don't need it to be the Terry Francona. Switch right left, right, left, right, left. I'll have to think on that. Switch right, right, left, right left really is ideal. But let's, I mean, let's be honest with ourselves.

What's ideal is switch one through nine. That's what's ideal. Stop, stop. We've got a bridge too far. The Max Crosby Bears talk and now all switch hitting lineup. Well, we're going to get struck by some sort of weird. lightning just for bringing the stuff up. They just need to, you know, check

in on Louis-San Hell, see if he's available. Okay, 217 asked the question that I think we should answer. What's more likely for, what's more likely for Peter Armstrong? I think that was a reference to the Ian Hap joke, he calls him Peter. An MVP year or being sent down

to work on stuff. Whoa. Okay. Don't, oh, the other one. Those are extremes. I think that that is a terrifying sports hypothetical. Sent down. I don't like that. I don't think I think he gets sent down, and I don't think he's getting MVP, especially in the National League. We're like Shohei Otani. No, no, no, no, but let's honor 217's question. It's just what's more likely? I think what's more likely, unless Shohei Otani gets hurt. It's probably

being sent down to the work on stuff. But I don't see that happening. I don't see it happening. I'm just, I'm going off the what's more likely. Oh, here's another rhyme from 708. It's being in the nose. And also, 574 with a very important question. Pat Hughes, when did you get in? Who's asking Pat when he got in? Who's doing it? That is an annual spring training tale. I'm sure we will hear.

I'm hoping this weekend, for sure. Who's our soldiers? Who's asking Pat when he got in? When did you get in? That's how I know how to say it. Yeah. I'm trying to phrase it in my head. There's no other way.

Yeah. When'd you get in? We need you. out there. We need you on that wall. Yeah, he's never, I agree, 773. Pete where Armstrong isn't getting sent down. But I don't know, we've been very hypothetical all day today. I've been hypothetical my whole life. In the, he and you get on baseball, stop cleaning a garbage. We reward that bad impression of Lois way too often. Wait. Pete and I need you to get on baseball and stop fleeing a garbage.

Like that, in the spirit of shooter shoot, we reward the shooter shooting more than we reward the actual shot. That was the day we were out at Gallagher Way and we took a call and the guy, the caller went into character mode. He did the little trickery with our call screener on that day, Robbie Triiano, and went into a character and that character was Lewis Griffin. Peter, Stop swinging a garbage Tina, and he got on baseball and stop swinging the garbage

And we didn't understand it at the time So you had to like play it back here It a couple of times Like, oh Credit to Robbie Triano Because when he listened back to it He was like, wait a minute

Robbie was like, I'm sorry guys We didn't understand How would you know, Rob? Like how would you know? None of us understood what that was at first. As a team, we figured it out. Also one of our textors did say I think it's a reference to Pita's

stuff swinging a garbage. It is. It is. How did this become such a part of our lives? Pete and I need to get on baseball. Stop swinging a garbage. When did you get in? Is this the point where you realize

that like every baseball season to an extent is Groundhog Day? But you love it? I definitely love it. But you know. You know deep down. I understand. Who's your next gauge Tater Workman, Marshall Harris?

And a 160. Oh, wow. really had to bring in tater to this, huh? Because there will be one. We'll all fall in love with that person. Oh, Scott Kingery's my guy for the Cubs. But he's got too much experience. Oh, you want to roll...

They didn't have... They don't have a Rule 5 guy this year. They don't. But the socks do. Sox keep a Rule 5 guy or two. They have two, I think. Yeah, I'm saying, if you're the socks, you keep Real 5 guys because...

Roll the dice. Gage ended up going to the White Sox. Yeah, remember he wanted to get revenge on the Cubs. He said it in an interview without saying the word revenge, but that was the sentiment. And then they cut him. Sorry, Tater.

Okay, this isn't a bad line about a 6-3-0. How you got to cut it? They say Bush, Nico Bregman, Suzuki, Biosteros, Hap, PCA, Dansby, Kelly, slash Amaya. Catchers definitely nine. Would you bat PCA behind? Happen Bios? Not necessarily.

You know what? I might put Biosteros in the, in the, three hole. Ooh. Like in a lineup where you start off with Nico up top. Yeah, if Nico's

batting lead off? And then you put Bush second. For the record, you know, I want Byesteros to have, to be that

slugger that he profiles to be, but he hasn't shown anything yet. Guess who just texted in? Mike, the Chicago Sports Clown. Mike, the Chicago Sports Clown. What's up, baby?

Look forward to the preseason baseball starting Good luck this year. Go Cubs. Mike, aka a clown guy. Mike, did you get to go to games at Soldier Field this year? Did you get to be shirtless in any of the really cool games? We have a lot of questions for you, Mike. I just need you to know that. Because you know, Mike is shirtless at Bears games. So like, how is your Bears season? You just, you just abandoned us for Bears and you come back for Cubs. Maybe we deserve it. I like to keep my shirt on. Mike is a, Mike is out there.

It's man, Mike's back. I'm loving this. That makes me happy. Also another texter asked about Mike. We're all on the same page, guys. I don't know what our team's doing, but at least we're a team. In the meantime, there was a comp that was made by people who should know better in basketball. Is that a fair way to put it?

Yes. So then it was held accountable. Next. Rahimi Harris and Grody. That sounds so crazy. 104.3 the score. Wow, I like that. Middays 10 to 2 on 104 3, the score.

Okay. It's inevitable that something random is going to come out of All-Star weekend that has you saying, what? What? How about several somethings? What were the several for you outside of what we're going to get into? So the interview we talked about Monday with Reggie Miller, Barack Obama, How about that?

Exactly. See? I told you several. Just the dunk contest in general. When the more viral dunk is the missedunk rather than the maid dunk. James Richardson out here laid out. Oh my God, poor Jason Richardson. And he emulated his dad for the first one. And I thought that was great. And then obviously Dame Lillard saying F the haters. Yeah. Team Eugene and Lela. It's the Biggs over here.

Oh, my goodness. When he tweeted that, I was like, man, Eugene, I love you for many reasons. But I should have known you and I would be on the same page. And that we love Dame Time even more, more. There's a lot of stuff happen, okay? There was. Yeah, let's be honest. All-Star Weekend is a basketball convention.

That's really what its purpose is. There's some basketball. It's kind of like when you're going to a baseball game to see your friends, Like there's baseball on. Yes. But you're there to hang out with your people and have baseball be the back. Have you ever been to a minor league baseball game with your friends? That's what All-Star weekend is like, except for maybe not as high profile.

Yes, which is why I'm not the one annoyed about whether or not the All-Star game should be fixed or whatever else. It's a basketball convention. When you see it that way, things get a lot easier. But then people say stuff like they do at conventions. So Reggie Miller made a. for Caitlin Clark. This was two weeks ago on basketball night in America. She's a one of ones, but is there like a comparison of somebody that you played with that you guys watching the game right now that reminds you of the young lady to your right?

I like Peyton Pritchard from Boston, the way he's able to handle the basketball. He makes big shots when the shot clock's running down a lot like this young lady right here isn't afraid of the big moment and is the champion like she's soon to be. But? Peyton Pritchard Caitlin Clark averaged a triple double in college. I'm pretty sure she's going to do a similar

type of thing once it's all said and done in the W. I don't think she'll ever average a triple double in the W. But... Because she's never averaged more than I think like five and a half rebounds in the season. Yeah. It's tougher. A lot of the triple doubles came because she was out here

rebounding. And better than everybody else. And has active hands. You know, she can steal on you too. There's real bigs in the WMBA every time you walk out there. There are real bigs. But the point is,

Peyton Pritchard is not my cop, not for an elite three-point shooter and a sister. Not a sister. Assist her. A person who assists. Correct. Okay, because when you said it, you got me.

You're like, a sister. I realized, as I was saying, the accent would not separate it enough for me to be able to say what I was saying. Okay. Sorry. So wait. The point is she gives other people the ball.

Okay, but... What assist her. She has a much higher assist rate than Peyton Richard. Assessor rate. Or, excuse me, Peyton Richards. Peyton Pritchard. Peyton Pritchard is actually a better three-point shooter than Caitlin Clark. So are you leaning Reggie Miller on this?

No, I'm not because the effect of on the game, the gravity of Caitlin Clark is very different than the gravity. The gravity of Caitlin Clark. Clark is more like that of a Steph Curry, a Dame Lillard. They draw help defense to them. You have to understand. Their significance to the sport also makes a little more sense. And I get it. The GameCop was the GameComp.

The popularity, but I just want to let people know. Payton Pritchard is a career. 39% three-point shooter. In a career? Yes. Reggie knows a three-point shooter when he sees one. Caitlin Clark. is a career.

33% three-point shooter. You see the difference there? In a career? I think that number goes up in the W. That number will go up. I mean, she was 34.4% her first year. She was only 27.9%. But you know she was dealing with injuries in year number two.

The entire league was. And that is an indication of the increasing games they had to play, which is a nugget for you all because court hour doesn't end on just this show. You know what? And we don't even know if there's going to be, speaking of work stoppages. cherish it. We don't know if there's going to be WMBA basketball this summer. Correct.

Because we're getting into the closing moments here, and WMBA just came back with another offer back to the league, and it doesn't seem like it's going anywhere right this second. So all of that said, Carmelo Anthony was the voice of reason on this? I can hear it. I'm hearing it loud as shit in my ear. And when he said Peyton Pritchard, It just caught me off.

Caught me off, bro. Okay, I see okay. I see where he's going at. Man, hell, no. Reggie tripping, bro. Did y'all talk about it afterwards, or did y'all know how viral it went in the moment? No, we didn't.

No, we did Regby out. The regs out of the games. The people call the games. Yeah. They don't, they be out. They be the f***er out of there. You see them before the game, production meeting, and that's it.

Reg out. Reg be getting the fuck out. at MSG though. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm gonna say, you might have been extra speedy that year.

He'd be out of it, but he'd be on his toes, but I'd be tipy towing out that bitch. All right, so, what of the fuck out of here? Was Reggie officially tripping with his Peyton Pritcher, Kately Clark comparison?

I see what he was trying. He wasn't completely tripping, but he was tripper. In that moment, I think she was. Yeah. Kayla Clark didn't help at all with the facial expressions, but.

Kaelin Clark got like, she got like little Steph. She got Halliburton. Like to me, she played like Halliburton. Yeah, that would have been. She played like Halliburton. No, I agree on that. You know what I mean? She don't play like that.

Like no damn pay. She played a little about Luca. Like she knows. She nodded. You know what I mean? She manipulates you on offense. Like Luca. Yeah.

I see more. I see more. But Tyree, I mean, Tyree. Halliburton. He, that's it. Because you don't know. When he going to shoot that? He might just come across, act like he coming off a pick and pull.

She's dime in that, motherfucker. He too. Him too. Hey, Bridger not even passing that. That's what I'm saying. Like, hell no, bro. That man don't pass at all. Hell no.

That man is strictly a bucket, bro. No, straight. He'll get to it. They're not the same. Hell no. Everything that they said. Just everything that they said. That was hilarious to hear them think out loud like that.

And to the point about Tyreys Hallibur, who's probably a better comp because he draws the gravity. You don't know when he's going to shoot it. And he averages 8.8 assists for his career. Guess who averaged 8.8 assists last season? Caitlin Clark. So that was on the 7 p.m. in Brooklyn podcast, which is a very real look at how you think out loud about basketball.

That was fantastic. What I love about that podcast is they workshop with you out loud. It's not super prepared. It's just like, well, let me think about that. force and then they start saying names and talking through the concept and you get to understand the thought process behind the final answers. They do a good job of that with KG and Paul Pierce too, but sometimes that goes a little bit off the off the off the rails. Carmelo just letting everybody know it's so good.

Everybody said about the announcers, the production meeting and they leave. Yeah, because think about it. He sees them in that production meeting and then They might do a hit on the pregame show. And then they call the game. So they're working the entire time. Let me tell you something. When it's final, after that sideline reporter does that hit, we out.