Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Full Show — August 20, 2026

Episode Date: August 20, 2026

This hour is brought to you by Menards. Save big money at Menards. The views and opinions of Laila Rahimi, Marshall Harris, and Mark Grotty should not be taken too seriously. Especially when they give advice. Do not take Marshall's analogies, literally. Especially when it comes to Russell Dorsey. The sports thoughts of Rahimi Harrison Grotie may change at any time. It's just sports.

Gay thanks. Bye. on 104 3, the score. We wanted to see a rebound from Kevin Gossman, not the guy we saw against the nationals, the league's best offense, but maybe somebody akin to what we saw in the Royals game. But unfortunately, just a concerning moment for him

as you hope this isn't persistent. And it felt like when I watched him pitch that the White Sox were getting good licks off of him and that things came to abrupt when Javier Assad came to the game. So it's almost, I don't say fortuitous, but it worked in the Cubs favor that he got out when he got out. He was in a jam when he was dealing with the hand cramp.

I was so pissed off because we've seen this way too many times. So my emotion was not concerned or worry. It was angry. I was like, what is going on? Why is this pitching staff been cursed this year? There's no such thing as a hex, a curse, or a jinx. It doesn't exist. So I got over that, and then I was like, what is this goo he's slamming?

The ones. The ones who come? It's for the goo. The goo? The goo! It was so weird, man. Get him, the goo. I'm familiar?

I did not know about the goo. It's electrolytes. I've since learned about the goo. Have you ever seen a pitcher slamming goo? Ray's being honest, at least. Got goo? Gagu. He's saying he's never seen that.

I've seen the goo blocks, but I've not seen anybody intake the goo. Like the weirdness of, okay, or take a little bit of this, man. Here, what else we got here? Let me get some of this goo. They should have brought out a bag of potato chips. I don't smoke pot. I smoke pot probably fine time. five times in my life and all it did

make me want to eat potato chips. Anyone who is familiar with running understands exactly what we're going on. Oh, I know, but I'm talking about the weirdness of watching a pitcher consume something on the mound that's not water. Back in the day in 2016, Jason Hamill famously would also

cramp up the next day. I remember I was there. I was in the Cubs Clubhouse. This huge bushel of potato chips. I don't remember the company had arrived and it was this big, hilarious thing going on in the Cubs Clubhouse. You're eating potato chips. Chips don't count.

My doctor said they have zero nutritional value. But I don't know. The whole scene was very alarming. The whole scene was very weird to me. It's okay if you were scared, Mark. Marshall Harris. Mark Grody. Midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on Chicago Sports Radio.

1043, the score. Hello on this Thursday. You've got Rahimi Harris and Grody on 1043, The Score. A happy national radio day to you. before podcasts. I didn't even know it was National Radio Day until Mr. Buterbaugh told us, so in the text group. And I was like, oh, National Radio Day, let's celebrate. How are we celebrating radio? Yeah, I think we're doing that, right? We're celebrating National Radio Day by working on the radio.

And you're celebrating by listening to us. It's an agreement. This is Rahimi Harrison Grady on 104.3 of The Score. We're happy you joined us. And the sixth and final installation of Cross Town this year did not have. have the same whiz-bang that the previous two games had at Wrigley. But my goodness, did Jose Orkidi make Chris Getz look like a genius? Because he just went out there and absolutely shunved. I don't even think you needed Sean Newcomb. I don't know that you needed Grant Taylor. Erkiti was beyond efficient. He absolutely sparkled in his outing. And I think that's a fair word to use. He just mowed him down. He was remarkably good with his at-bats that he did. He

dominated. I think Craig Counsel said something along those lines, but only 68 pitches did Jose Orkite throw, and he made every one of them count. I don't even know what to say. That was, you tip your cap, but at the same time, you would like it if the Cubs didn't have fewer hits than failed double plays in the game yesterday. So those are my two biggest takeaways. Erkini went out there and shoved. Nobody could hit except for Tyrone Taylor. And they failed to turn double plays with groundball pitcher Clay Holmes on the mount. Jose Urquite was not just a revelation as he turned back the hands of time to his Astros, we're going to the World Series days.

It was very Astros Jose Grady, absolutely. It's not just that, though. It's the way it laid out perfectly for a completely depleted pitching staff on the south side. And Sean Newcomb did his job. He went to two innings. He did what Brian Hudson could not do. First off, he were.

entire PCA in his first at bat. He didn't just give up, you know, not a home run. He just sat him down. Yeah. I mean, Sean Newcomb goes two innings. And yes, he did do the thing that no other socks pitcher Wrigley had done before him. But at the same time, after seeing Arcadia, I'm like,

did you even need to use Sean Newcomb there? Oh, yes. Did you even need to use Sean Newcomb for those first two winnings? Couldn't you have saved him too? 68 pitches is very efficient. Understand in a major league game this season, the man hadn't thrown more than 52 pitches. So I think once you go like third time through the order, you are pressing your luck.

He faced one over the minimum. He faced 19 batters. What's his luck when he gave up only two hits and had eight strikeouts? Hey, man. Not just eight strikeouts. He struck out eight of the first ten batters that he faced. Listen, it was dominant. You could say it didn't have the quote unquote, make sure I'm quoting you right,

Whizbang, is that the terminology used? I do use whizbang. Okay, so that's what you called it. But look, nothing was going to have quote unquote, whiz bang the way the first two games did, unless, you know, the Cubs walked it off. So by that definition alone, if the White Sox win, there's less, quote, unquote, whiz bang. I think you have to give credit where credit is due. When a guy goes out against the second highest scoring offense in baseball and strikes out

eight of the first 10 batters he faces, that to me is whizbang because it's like, whoa, all of a sudden this dude is out here looking like Sy Young's ghost? Like, what are we doing? I mean, that was the cop. Ray and I went to the game because it was a beautiful day and life is too short and I can't watch every game inside. And I hadn't, I'd gone to a Cubs rooftop in May. Catch me outside. How about that? And that's exactly it. So I got to a Cubs rooftop in May, but that was it. That's the only baseball game I had attended, which is stupid. So Ray had tickets and

I was like, I'll take the extra tickets. So Ray and I just, you know, saunter on up to our seats. And then Ray, how do we explain? We just sat there and. We just sat there and silence. We didn't even get water. We didn't get Diet Coke. At one point, Ray thought about a cut water, but they were like, I don't know, man. I was hoping that there would be something because I am a Cubs fan, that there would be something to celebrate. And then I would then get my drink, my cut water that I was hoping to have. And I was like, uh, still waiting for that moment. Jose or Kitty killed all vibes successfully. It was amazing. Here's my question, though. It was, it was pretty great. Be honest with me, Ray. Be very honest here. Was the mood dampened once PCA did,

hit a home run to lead off the game. No, I literally said... We also sat in a pocket of socks fans. We did. We absolutely did. But I said to Layla, well, the streak is over. The streak is over. So, no, it didn't dampen the mood.

I mean, you can't have a lead-off home run every day. The streak is over sounded pretty damp to me. Jose or Katie making sure the Cubs only had two hits and it was one dude and it was the number nine batter. That's what dampened in the mood. And listen, I've said this many times before. I love and hate my children equally. But I came there to see him.

It's and run scored and sunshine. And I got some sunshine and a nice cool breeze. Common and Jennifer Hudson were there. I'm sure they thought they were going to get some hints. You guys, but no. They were in the front row and we were in Section 230. But you know what, Ray? All of you disappointed Common and Jennifer Hudson.

That's right. With your lack of offensive production. No. Brayton Montgomery said you can't be disappointed me. Brady threw a whole ass fastball. I'm doing things on offense and defense. Watch this. I'm going to get two hits, one of them to score two runs,

and put the game out of reach of a team that only gets two hits from its nine-hole hitter. But also, I'm going to show you what a canon that I have, while I was out here hitting and pitching in college. Braden Montgomery, first of all, Tyrone Taylor, I put it more on him than I do Brad Montgomery because, like, what are you doing? He leaned towards third, then went back to tag. No, no, no. In that situation, no, no, no the story here.

No what the scouting reported. Situational baseball, yeah, and your scouting report, but not just that. It just wasn't a deep enough ball. Like we saw Braden Montgomery. He was in perfect position. You're way too close to second base, and there was poorly timed defensive judgment all across the diamond yesterday on the Cubs part. But it was just nowhere near deep enough for you to do that.

And you're pressing because you know you can't buy a hit as a team. You're the only one who could. And I think that's why he just thought, like, Pete Carr Armstrong, and you're just send it to the moon. You know, you're just out here living free. And you got gunned down. Lela Ray, Tyler, let's be honest.

That throw from Braid Montgomery was like your favorite album. No skips. Just a straight laser on straight through the air. Like, Miguel Vargas had to bring it down to tag him. Like, it was not like, oh, I hope it takes the right bounce.

What bounce? This ain't bankhead. What bounce? It was one of the more beautiful throws I see. Are you kidding? coming from right field. It was a 70 grade fastball. It was over 90 miles an hour.

Think about that. Tyler. Think about that. Layla. The way that that replay lined it up for you so that you could see the angle of him throwing it to the third basement. There was no replay at Wrigley. Oh.

Oh. Okay. That makes sense. That actually does. That tracks. No, there actually was a replay because I begrudgingly did watch that. Oh, you did? There was.

I just stared at the field dumbfounded at what I just saw. trying to figure out if the third base coach was involved. The thing that's crazy is at that point, it was a 1-0-0 game. So that double meant something. And him being at second base meant something. And it wasn't like, oh, we're at the bottom of the order. No, sir, you are the bottom of the order. Here comes those guys who produce runs after you.

Just stay on the base pass and give your team a chance to do something. PCA had a chance. Say Suzuki and Alex Brighman didn't get a chance. You know what else? It wasn't even just the disgustingness of the lack of hits. it was also the abject lack of walks. There were only three in the game. Sayu Suzuki had one.

Pedro Ramirez had two rather. Pedro Ramirez had one. And most importantly, when you look at Jose Orkid's day, it's not that he got through six innings on 68 pitches. It's that out of those 68 pitches, 51 of them were strikes. He was like, I ain't giving y'all free nothing. If you want to get on base, you hit it. And this is a lesson I believe that White Sox pitchers in mass can learn.

because too many times the reason the White Sox lose games, this series included it, obviously, is because they put too many men on base via the free pass. Well, how about this number? You love Risp. Did you see the Cubs runners in scoring position number? It was lacking. Oh, for two. Is that different from the four for 16?

Oh, for two. How did you guys, how did you like those two times that you had runners in scoring? Wait, runner in scoring position? Yeah, it was not happening. And so, Erkiti, though, to go six innings where you give up just the two hits, but also you walk absolutely no one. That is what made this game for the White Sox. People weren't getting on base. The Cubs, they are the best team at baseball at simply getting on base.

And when you get on base, you create opportunities. Good things happen. Yeah, and as you mentioned, O for two, like, you're not going to win many baseball games where you go O for two with runners in score position. Because at that point, you need the long ball. I mean, it's just hilarious. Like, Major League Baseball, MLB.com always has the summary on the side. And for scoring, there's just two. There's just two plays.

It was the top of the six with the Andrew Benintendi single that brought around Miguel Vargas, who Vargas, as Ozzy likes to say. And then it was the Braden Montgomery double. I don't know if this was the Braden Montgomery game or the Jose Orchiti game, but it was one or the other. I think I lean more toward the Jose or Keetie game. You know what's fine. Braden Montgomery was the game changer in this as well.

We will address that very question in this little known segment that we do at noon every day called 5 on it. That question will be answered by you and by me and maybe we'll get Ray and Tyler involved as well because I think it's a very good question. And your cousin too. Me and you, your mom and your cousins too? Look, look. Ultimately, though, what a fantastic cross town. Series long, three games apiece. two teams fighting for playoff spots and playing like it from game one through game six and both of them come out of it still very much in the position that they were in when they

went into it and that's in playoff position cubs have a nice lengthy lead in the national league wildcard race while still being within striking distance of the brewers for best record in all of baseball and white socks oh the ale is a mess we're happy to be at the top of the slag heap in the AL Central. I don't know that Slag Keep is the right term for the American League, but it's close. I'm just saying

whatever you want to call it, where there's a pile of fecal matter, whatever you want to call it. No, no, stop with the violent terminology. You said, Slag Keep wasn't appropriate, so I was trying to come up with something else that was not that you didn't want to be around. That's too offensive. I think it's got to be something

that's like the middle. It's just, it's like a foundation It's like a bad slab foundation. There's a couple of cracks in it. You can't put a basement underneath. It's just there. Okay. I'll ride with that.

All I know is the White's actually the only team in the AL Central that have a winning record. And they are six games above 500. They are up for, what, four games in the A.L. Central for the twins right now. The point is they needed that game. No matter how you look at it, they especially needed that game.

They needed Jose Orquitie to come through. They needed to make that pitching combination come through. Yeah, they don't get the day off today. They got to face the Braves. Sox absolutely needed that game and they got every bit of it. A pitcher's duel averagely where the wind was blowing in and credit to them. And appropriately, appropriately cross town ends with a three games split on either side. You know it's tied overall, right? 802. Well then. Well then. And so, so yeah, we're right back where we started. And to your point, Leila, they are in this impossible 16 games and 16.

day's stretch. They're five and four, though. They have a winning record over the stretch, despite having their pitching absolutely exhausted every step of the way. Except for Jose, go get him, Jose Rokiti. I think you fired up Grant Taylor, too. We're going to talk a little bit more about this game just because it was so pivotal for both teams. We'll give out the he deserved better award. I think it's worth hearing about Jose Rokitie's masterful performance because it was excellent. And Brayden Montgomery, too, who deserves every bit of his flowers. That guy just looks more and more like a veteran every single day. And that is an accomplishment in and of itself as well. And apparently Ray and I,

when we were observing the game, we're not the only ones who felt the same way about the Cubs defense. So we'll get the expert to also chime in. More on Crosstown. In the meantime, this is Rahimi Harrison Grotty on 104-3, the score as we broadcast live from our score, Hyundai Studios, brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers. When we have breaking news on the score, it is brought to you by IDOT. At some point in the day, everyone is a pedestrian. Slow down and give them space share the road it's not a game our producers are ray diaz tyler beaderbaugh tyler farengull helping us out with cutting audio today as well and then you can call us and text us 312 64 64 67 67 we've gotten lovely uh lovely metaphors for slag heap so thank you for submitting those to our chat and you can join our

twitch mob they're chatting too they're at twitch dot tv slash the score chicago you can watch us there and on YouTube at The Score, Chicago. Our producers are Connor O'Donnell, Jacob Stutz, Max, Curtis, and Cody Westerlin. So let's give out some awards and make some observations about things that need to improve. Next.

I have two words for you. Slag heap. Rahimi Harris and Grody. Of course I follow him on Cody on Twitter. I love you guys, and I'm thrilled to be here. I've been listening to The Score for many, many, many years. Middays 10 to 2 on 1043, The Score. The Sox fans have made the trick.

They start to rise to their feet. Oh, two from Taylor. Strike three called as the White Sox get the finale here at Wrigley. High fives all around. It's a three-nothing win. First shutout win here at Wrigley since 2021. And it snaps an eight-game losing streak here up north. That is John Shreffen, courtesy of.

CHSN. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3 the score. Do you know how many pitches Grant Taylor through? 12. He needed 12 pitches to save the game. And that's with a walk and he still struck out two. I just, yeah, yeah. Eight of them were for strikes. 12 pitches total. I thought it was nine. It felt like four. But apparently according to this, it was 12. And that was just that kind of day for the White Sox, that kind of day for the Cubs in the final installment of Crosstown. I think the best part about having this Braves game jammed into their schedule. Jammed is the right word. Yeah, is that at least you were already, even though you're technically ending a road trip,

you were already home. So you didn't have to like get on a plane to come back to face the Braves. Yeah, Shriff says made the trip, but did you really? Did you have to? You got to get on Lake Short Drive, said the scenery. And once again, there were a ton of socks fans. You could hear them during the seventh inning stretch. Ray and I sat in a pocket of them.

It was just that kind of vibe. Like it was, it was, somebody was happy in the ballpark yesterday. Yeah, they made the White Sox fans let their presence be heard. Yeah, the chance broke out, didn't they? Yeah. Let's go White Sox. All the chance broke out.

Let's go White Sox. At one point MVP, Green Bay Sucks did happen. Yeah, there were a lot of different chance going on. So that was nice to see. In the meantime, I think one of the biggest observations I had, we talked about the trade acquisition that Jose Rakey was and how that really helped the White Sox. There's no doubt about that.

That's probably the overwhelming headline of this game. But there's also the Clay Holmes deserve better award because Ray and I were at the game and we're watching this and we're going, they seriously had fewer hits than failed double plays. The Cubs did. You can see they kept trying to turn stuff. They couldn't. People weren't in the right spots.

There's a ground ball pitcher in Clay Holmes. And I know Ray, you and I were talking about it quite a bit because we. We were like, man, they are really missing Dansby Swanson on a day like that. Yes. Yeah, that's what I was saying is every missed opportunity for a double play. Dansby, we need you, Dansby. Where are you? We need you quickly.

This is, his presence was missed. Well, and even Michael, I think Michael Bush had a rough day at first base. Oh, my goodness, he did. And Marshall, I know you kind of pushed back on that a bit, but I don't feel like he had a good day defensively there. I think on the plays that matter, the two run producing plays. obviously Andrew Ben and Tendi able to flip one into center field for an RBI single. That was, I don't put that obviously on the defense. The defense wasn't as good as it could be for the Cups.

It wasn't as good as it could be. It wasn't good at all compared to what it normally is. As it has been. That's what I was saying. But for the Michael Bush play specifically where Brad Montgomery gets the two-run double, I don't think Michael Bush can be falsed for that because it's tough when you bring your infield in, that's the whole thing. You're playing to get the ground ball that is hit directly to someone.

not, that's what's going to happen. That's all I was saying when we were talking about that. And I feel you because that's the discussion, right? You're trying to observe this with your own eyes and see what you think. But this is a guy who, again, if you're reading your scouting reports and your pitcher hits a spot, you know where to be. And it's one thing that I said it. It's another thing that Ray said it. We talked about it amongst ourselves as we're watching the game. But we weren't the only ones. This was Cliff Floyd's first observation on the postgame show on Marquis Sports Network yesterday. This team usually plays tremendous defense.

But I felt like today they're positioning in the field with a guy like Clay Holmes, and especially in double-play situations. I mean, Pedro Ramirez had to make two throws, you know, jump throws. And I'm saying to myself, well, if you have Clay Holmes, you know, who's a groundball pitcher in some situations where you might get double-play opportunities, you got to turn those double plays. and it's because you was out of position. It wasn't because you made a mishap.

It wasn't like, you know, you miss out with the ball, whatever. However they do the shifting and stuff with these guys, I get it. But I just feel like when you have a guy like Clay Holmes on the mound, he's going to give you opportunities get out of the game, and you would like those dope plays to be turned. That's it. Yeah, this is why partially you got this guy. He fits in with your defense well.

Theoretically, he fits in with a lot of defenses keeping the ball down, especially at Wrigley. and that's what made it so hard to watch. Anytime your ground ball to fly ball ratio is 12 to 1 because he had 12 ground balls. Alex Bregman, how much of a workout did he get at third base? He was the one. He was the one who I, you know, at least Bregman was clear on his putouts

and was doing what he could. So two things I came away from this game in thoughts of Clay Holmes. Obviously, he deserved better. Like you give up one run over five and a third and maybe you stay in the game a little bit longer if your offense is actually out here offencing, but we know they came. up zeros on that end. But look, but look, I'm a little bit concerned because in the same breath

that I say, I think Clay Holmes is their ace right now based on who they have available to them. I am concerned that his 6.6 strikeouts per nine inning is not creating enough swing and miss because that's the lowest strikeouts per nine he's had in his entire career. And since he's joined the Cups, small sample size, I'll give you that, only three starts. He's got a strikeouts per 9 of 2.8. He's got five strikeouts in 16 innings. He's only had one strikeout yesterday. That, to me, is concerning because when you get to the playoffs, look, Danesby Swanson,

you're hoping he's back. There's no guarantee he will be back for the started playoffs, but you've got to have some swing and miss when you throw your number one guy out there against another team's number one guy. I kind of think the opposite. He wasn't brought to the team to be swing and miss. His job is not to be swinging miss. I know the number is a little bit off, but that's not what this dude is supposed to be.

He's supposed to do exactly what he did yesterday. And the defense wasn't there behind him effective enough. And that's the thing this team was built on. I don't think the defense can be effective, though, without Danesby Swanson to the level that you're hoping. Now, it could be better than it was yesterday. If it's not better than it was yesterday, they've got a massive, massive problem. I think there's levels to this. It should have been better than it was yesterday.

I don't need to be somebody he's not. And you want more swing and mess, you need to look toward Kevin Gossman who did not have two good outings. I know, I'm with you on that. But what I'm saying is in his past, he's 33 years old now, right? But in his past, if you go back to last season, 7.0 strikeouts per nine. Two seasons ago, 9.7. And if I keep going backwards, 10.1. Yeah, the 9.7, that's significant.

It's always been in the nines until this season, or until last season, excuse me. and the fact that it, small sample size, is down to 2.8. I just think five strikeouts over 16 innings is not good enough. You need more swing and miss than that. Two hits and three walks is also not good enough. So Craig Counsel talked about what he saw that Jose Orkiti was doing well against his team. They're a great job of changing speeds. That's probably what I'd say the most.

I thought you could see our hitters just, although it's not a big velocity on the fastball. When he threw a fastball, it really surprised our hitters. and he had the off-speed stuff that changed up to the righties. Just the first pitch, breaking balls to get ahead of the righties. He just pitched really well, and he was kind of in control of every bad, essentially. So, you know, we didn't get much going. He pitched very, very well, and he kept us off balance very, very well. In an error which the triple digits is respected above all, the 100-mile-per-hour guy,

this guy was out here pitching, pitching, not throwing, but pitching-pitching like a veteran would. And I think at minimum, he's earned another start or bulk however you want to play it, well, Vitable, the next time through the rotation over a guy who's maybe right now in the minor leagues, because who else you're going to throw with Davis Martin on the injured list? Well, that's it. You just took down a playoff team at their house pretty easily. Impressively. Yeah, when we talk about the number of pitches he threw per inning, when we talk about how he was able to dominate.

Why did I get the feeling, guys, that there was a bit of Craig Counsel. He compliments Jose Orkitti on changing pitches with speed. And then why did I also think, oh, is that a, were you thinking about Edward Cabrero when you said that? Because I know you didn't feel the same way about Edward Cabrera the last time you saw him out. He was a mess. A hot mess.

Yeah, it just wasn't good. And especially since that was his first start since June 23rd when he had come out. Yeah, and these are the finer points, right? These are two different teams with two different objectives. But when you see them head to head, you see exactly what each one is lacking because you're, you're finding it in the other. And the games are so tight.

The White Sox had the lead in all three games held on once. Late lead, late lead, I'm saying. Right. The thing that the socks were concerned about the most, which was pitching availability, is what bit them. And we know they're going to hit. And it wasn't surprising to me yesterday that they were the ones with the timely

hits enough to get it going. Andrew Benintendi again with nicely worked into that lineup. Randall Gritchick nicely worked into that lineup. You know, smart use by Will Venable out of those two. Randall Gritchick just continues to Gritchick. Sam Antonacci in left field. You know, that was a new ring.

Why does you look like a real left filter? That was a heck of a catch. Why did you look like a real left fielder now? The way he timed that, especially with the wind blowing in, that is no easy feat against the Ivy when that's not your home park. That was tremendous. And so you wonder, with the Cubs going away, like the other thought that I had about the Cubs specifically to them is,

look, PCA is a top two player in baseball, probably the National League MVP if you had to vote today. We'll talk a little bit about that later. Yeah, yeah, and the lead maybe lengthens, but like when he goes 0 for four, you feel it. Again, the White Sox won the game where PCA didn't hit the lead off home run in which PCA didn't get a hit. Well, are you kidding? It's, you know what it is? It's when he goes, they go right now. Yeah.

And they are completely dependent on him. Absolutely. That couldn't have been better illustrated yesterday. I also think we have a little bit of time here, so I want to play this before we go away because we deserve to hear from Jose or Katie. What did he have to say about being in a groove yesterday? Yeah, yeah, for sure, yeah.

I feel, I mean, that's my normal villa than I got before my changeup tool and the curve was two. I got everything they got before the surgery. And, yeah. So what I got today is just compete and then trying to strike early. But hit us away and trying to win again, that's my goal. He just, he sounded like he could have been happier with what he did yesterday. He was filthy.

It's insane because, again, he had an ERA over eight the last two seasons combined as he was trying to like work his way back. And to do what he did on that stage against that team, again, the Cups have been red hot since the All-Star break in terms of offense. They have been scoring runs in bunches. We saw it in this series. They can beat you early. They can beat you late. And for him to just say, you're not getting anything today?

No. I want to ask, like, Tyrone Taylor, like, what did you know that the rest of your teammates didn't know? Because you got the only two hits of the entire game. Yeah, that's, that's, well, and perhaps it's, you know, that's also the, the hitter that the socks probably knew the least. You know, so it wasn't a matter of, of data on the other side. as well. But Jose Rikidi talking about Tommy John there, which he had also undergone. He

underwent it in 2024. He had also had it in 2017. And it does make me wonder about how long it takes for a guy who's had two, which is becoming more and more common in baseball, to really come back and be your best version of yourself. Well, it's like a right of passage now. It's like the Tommy. The one is, but the two is, we're still kind of gathering the data. The first Tommy John is like when a star female athlete tears their ACL. Unfortunately. but like not unexpected. No, no, and it's just the physiology, kind of like with Ben Brown. Sometimes your body doesn't agree with the thing you're doing for a living.

Yeah, that's pretty common. The idea. Again, throwing overhand is not a natural motion. I just won't point that out one more time. Except for Chris Hale, who makes it look the least natural and yet somehow the most effortless. He's the one. Everybody else, I don't know. How he's doing what he's doing with his body at his age.

just incredible since we're here. White Sox trade for him. Oh, wait. You already traded once with him, but it was away. Yeah, I just wanted to throw out Chris Sale at that point in time. Because like the most, it's something about him being a lefty too that just adds to the confusion of it all. Like, I'm not hitting anything off Chris Sale.

I'm not hitting anything off of anybody, but especially not Chris Sale. I'm not hitting anything off of anyone at this stage of my existence. So I'm glad to see that everything ended in a split. Nobody gets the edge. Something that White Sox and Cubs fans can agree with.

They're happy that Chris Sale is going tomorrow because otherwise the Braves would probably lose. Well, they might lose, but at least now against Jacob Mizorowski, you have Chris Sale on a Friday. And the White Sox also don't have to deal with Chris Sale on a Thursday. Hey, how about Seattle getting some revenge against the Brewers, by the way, I'm winning. Somebody had to. Does it make up for the 22 to nothing?

No. Not the way that game played out. It does not. Yikes. Coming up next year on Rahimi Harrison Grotty, let's shift gears to football because the all-a-all-a-old. important joined practices, which Mark Grody dubbed the Super Bowl of the pre-seasoned. I can't say it without laughing. They are underway in Cincinnati. And Ben Johnson said something that I think a lot of us

would like to see about his quarterback. So we'll examine that next. Rahimi Harrison Grody. That's a show trying to win a Marconi right there. Middays 10 to 2 on 104. On 104.3, the score. Oh, love a little daft. on a Thursday. I like it. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104.3, the score. It's stronger.

And then, you know, Kanye ticket. Remixed it. Who? Oh, Kanye. I still call him Kanye. I remember the old Kanye. Apparently he's playing at Soldier Field. Did you guys see that?

The billboards? Yeah. Yeah. I won't be going to see him. You know where I'm on my concert. On my concert thing. I support old Kanye. I'm going to go see a comedy show in October.

But what do you? you going to see? Kev on stage. Oh, that ought to be amazing. Yeah, he's good. He's hilarious on Instagram. Yeah, so I'm going to see him. That's going to be my closest thing I can give you to a concert is a comedy show these

days. Look, I ain't got much left in me. I ain't got much left in me. You talk like you're 80 and you're not, you're in your mid-40s. I'm 80 in concert years because of the number of marquee concerts I have been to in my lifetime. Is that fair? What a brag.

No, I'm trying to figure out if I'm going to Casey Muskerace tomorrow at the United States. center. Okay, you called me out. You got me there, Ray. You got me there. Also, Kevin on stage ruled on, somebody asked him the, the hairbrain question of can we retire, can we talk? He was like, the answer is no. Absolutely not. What are you talking about? What? Tavin Campbell? Classic? Remember that from my freaking high school dance? What are we talking about? I was really, yeah, I said, you remember I say you the video? Because somebody asked him this. Somebody. I want to know your name. What do you? What? Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

So apparently there's a lot happening at joint practices today. Love it. Ben Baby, my fellow North Texas, Mean Green, who covers the Bengals for ESPN, tweeted this 15 minutes ago. Not sure what just happened in the low red zone, but Caleb Williams found a wide open Kaleef Raven for a touchdown. I don't hate that. We haven't seen that yet. That's not something that we've been able to see in game action, that's for sure.

So here's my problem, Layla. I'm trying to figure out, can we really measure the Bears' offense by what we know the Bengals defense to be? The answer is no. Can we talk? But at the same time, to quote Kev on stage, I do feel like we can measure the Bears defense because we know what the

Bengals offense is. I think the Bengals also feel the same way. Like they can't measure their offense against the Bears defense. Like we know there may be another 47 to 42 game just as to what's happening. Like Ben Baby else is, Zach Pearson said that too because these two teams are basically the same, L.O.L. Because it's true.

Ben Baby also said this 20 minutes. offense is humming right now in the red zone for both teams. He's just a baby. Who's shocked? Joe Burrow connecting with Jamar Chase. Caleb Williams hitting Colston Loveland. Is anybody shocked by any of this? Did they just get together and was it Ben Jones and or Ben Johnson and Zach Taylor?

And they were just like, hey, you guys really like offense, right? Like, do you want to get together and just have more offense? When you think about... Don't tell the defensive coordinators. we're having joint practices with Cincinnati Seriously, when you think about the Bears and them practicing, like, joint practice against someone, there's no other team that seven on seven

most resembles, yeah, the actual football game and what it would be than Bears versus Bengals. We can go back to last year's tape. We can go back to this year and just what the defenses look like. Remember, the Bengals lost their best defensive player from a year ago or just the best one they had on the roster because he was hurt part of the time. They're a pass rush guy.

Yeah. Not guys. Guy. The Bears don't have their supposed super nickel or just Clark Kent Nickel. However you want to call them these days, you know? Because he lost his way to the phone booth a long time ago. So yeah, we may, do you know what happened? Two offensive junkies may have just decided to get together and have a convention.

Defense is be damned. But in the midst of all of this, I tell you about the success of Caleb Williams and some of these joint practices. That is a good thing. So this morning over in Cincinnati, Patrick Finley from the Chicago Sun Times asked Ben Johnson about Caleb Williams wanting to start faster. Caleb is talked about wanting to get off to a faster start. Is that something that you can watch in a joint practice and sit there and go, okay, this may apply to games? Yeah, I mean, I think at any time, anytime you hit the grass, that's whatever you emphasize, you want to see show up. And so, yeah, we start off, I think, today with the seven on seven in the red zone. You'd like to see.

him start off hot there. And we talked about it this morning in the team period. We'll work some base downs there when we come together as a unit. And I'd like to see us get off to a fast start also. You know, last game, that was kind of the part that leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Even though you win, you know, 34 to 10, well, you're down 10 to nothing at the end of the first quarter. And you have a couple three-in-outs on offense. And so each week you try to pick out a couple things.

of room to grow and improve. And that'll be our theme here this week is can we start faster, not only in practice, but also in the game on Saturday. Okay, reasonable. Reasonable. But how much can you really see that if we don't know when your quarterback's playing? I hate to go back to the Trump card of, I trust Ben Johnson in all things, offense specifically,

but I think that's where I am on this. And I'm trying to find him saying something that makes me be like, oh, that's a bridge too far. This isn't it. Nothing he said this off-season training camp has led me to believe that I should take a little bit of my faith away. Does that make sense? Yeah, and don't forget that Ben Johnson also said early in the season last year,

it was regular season time, but that his team wasn't practicing to the level of a championship caliber team. So when people talk to him about how physical the practices are, you know, there's a lot of injuries that we've talked about as to whether or not they need to dial it back, I also don't think that that's necessarily the case. I'm more concerned about when the bears say somebody's ready and they're not as opposed to people suffering injuries in training camp. I think we've all been traumatized by the setback that happens of the last minute that costs what you perceive to be valuable minutes and preparation time out the window in a game. Like if you're in pregame warmups and all of a sudden you can't go, but they were expecting you to be able to go.

Look, this happens to other teams all the time. It just usually doesn't happen with a guy who's just going. coming back from injury. Right. Right. And that's the flip side of this. But I don't think there's a person out there watching the bears, including Caleb Williams, who doesn't want to start faster given how these games all ended last year.

It was incredible. But they talked about it during the season last year, how they wanted to have a bigger lead earlier so they could feel better, so they could relax. Also, you're smoking that bad stuff if you believe Caleb Williams doesn't know the knock on him going into year three. The knock on him is, oh, great finisher doesn't do enough at the beginning of games. He understands that. Exactly.

But it's still nice to hear how the head coach views it, you know, how Ben Johnson sees that playing out. And you would think that in some of these, what's not like very competitive practices and very offensively productive, that you would get some of that. By the way, Ben Baby also reporting that Joe Flacco got intercepted. So now we're seeing Joe get some time over a QB in some of the practices as well. Let me go Google this because I did. It says Ben, he tweeted Anthony Johnson Jr. takes advantage of a Joe Flacco pass that sales a touch and gets an I&T.

41 year old Joe Flacco, that guy? Yeah, when Joe Flacco tonight goes to have dinner by himself, his nice quiet dinner by himself. Thursday, classy. Will he be dwelling on the interception or will he just let it go while he has his solo dinner. I like to imagine that he lets it go when he's at the bar by himself and being inconspicuously, you know, enjoying a drink, a glass. I picture him with a glass of red. Does that, does that sound about right? Yeah, yeah. Because you don't want to do the hard stuff during, in season.

Hard liquor. Yeah, so you just straight up a glass of wine. I don't, yeah, I don't know. I don't know, though. Bloss, if you will. I don't know, though, because it's, I don't know what, I don't know how that works for people's training programs. That's really what it comes down to. in terms of the alcohol consumption? I have no clue. If LeBron at age 85, because that's what I imagine, he will actually retire and give up his, at that point, what, Big Three League? Adventure his side quest to own Big Three.

You know LeBron's going to be out here? Like the picture that we got to sit yesterday at Von Miller. Yes. Yes, that's what I pictured LeBron being. Although he's got better hair care. He can regenerate a little bit better. He's got the best hair techs in the game, as they say. We have some listeners who do some funny things.

with the Photoshop. There's no doubt about that. No, I love it all. Look, but seriously, Joe Flacco, more power to you. You are carrying the mantle for everyone over the age of 40 that believes the prime is not over. Yeah, man, still got it. I love it. I love to see it. Yeah, and in the meantime, Joe Burroughs just out here. Like, that's the other part. Like, oh yeah, Joe Burrow. Remember that time the Bears didn't see him? He's now on the schedule this year. I double-checked. Just to make sure. It's a good double check. There will be no Jamar Chase in the regular season doing things, bad things to the Bears.

Why do I get the feeling? Jamar Chase can jaw now. You know, there is some, Jalen Johnson probably, I can't see him trash talking Jamar Chase. But then again, I don't know. I would like to tease something that will happen in our show that we didn't talk about yet, but it's going to be towards the end of our show. But speaking of trash talking, there's a certain Chicago Bull that did. not learn a lesson about trash talking from last season.

Just throwing it out there. No, I know what you're talking about. You can't be messing with the Don. You can't be doing it. Can I give you one more tweet because I think it'll put us, well, I don't know if it put a smile on your face, but maybe like something positive about someone we don't talk positively enough about? Yeah, I'd like to mix it up.

All right. So this comes from Kelsey Conway, who's the Bengals beat reporter for the Cincinnati Inquirer. I'm watching the Bengals. offense. So far, the big winner of the day is T. Higgins, who's caught six passes in a TD. I know you're thinking this is not positive, Marshall, why are you reading me this? Also, kind of how the game played out last year

but he had a great game. It did. Burrow was briefly touched by Dio Odingbo of the Bears and pushed back, and a small scuffle ensued with the Bingo's O line stepping in, was broken up quick. But Dio, hey, this is flag football, as

I wanted to be. Maybe you get a flagpole there, a sack on a flagpole. Motivated. Motivated. Indeed, he sounded motivated. He did indeed. Coming up next here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie, it is time to talk. NFL, not just bears, not just bangles, all things with Mike Florio, the creator, editor-in-chief of pro football talk.

He wasn't on yesterday. We had a short show. We had to go to crosstown, and then we had to watch that crosstown game where Jose Erkitti was all-world. So he's on today. Thanks, Jose Orkidi. Mike Florio is next. This hour is brought to you by Jule Osco.

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. We talk to Mike Floreo every week on Rahimi Harrison Grotie. He is the creator and editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk. He is at Pro Football Talk on X, joining us on our hotline and on Twitch, Twitch.tv slash The Score Chicago.

Mike, thanks for pushing your visit back. One day we had crossed town yesterday between the Cubs and the White Sox. How are you today? I'm doing great. How are you? I get like a little shaky when my routine gets disrupted. but it's okay. It was exactly 24 hours, so I can tell myself it's Wednesday. Okay, we appreciate that. Marshall also thought it was Wednesday today, so everybody's kind of in the same place.

I do want to ask you, it is funny. You're the one who brought this up originally, and I just realized it as you were coming on. You know, we joked and had the whole idea of Bears, too, which was your idea of Cincinnati coming up and combining resources with the Bears whenever they couldn't get their stadium renovations initially off the ground. Well, guess who's at joint practices today? If it isn't the two, the Bears and the Bengals tangling it up right now. And hey, you know, the Bengals have solved their issue. The bears are the ones who are still looking. And I continue to believe that under the right circumstances,

there could be two teams in one stadium in Chicago. New York has it. L.A. has. And I think Chicago is big enough. We know it's big enough for two baseball teams. And it becomes a lot cheaper to pay for a stadium if you've got 20 games there by NFL teams instead of 10. And so my pipe dream is not over.

It's just not the Bengals. Maybe the Buccaneers, if they can't get the deal they're looking for in Tampa Bay. The Chicago Buccaneers has a certain ring to it. I don't know. I feel like we did such good work with Bears, too, being the Bengals. It was, and now, as we pointed out earlier, Mike, this might just be the meeting of two offensive junkies between Zach Taylor and Ben Johnson. And then his brother Press also getting in the mix, too.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that may have just been what this was about, was guys trying to work on their offenses together. Well, and hey, these joint practices have value. And as the season gets bigger and bigger and the preseason gets smaller and smaller, we're going to see a greater focus on the joint practices. It's a more controlled setting, except for the fights. Other than the fights, it's a more controlled setting for your players. It's not full speed, full contact game conditions, as long as you don't have the fights.

It's interesting, Mike, that you mentioned the Buccaneers as a candidate to join. the Bears because the Bears, they wish they could have maybe a guy like, I don't know, Vita Vaya, who signs a one year $30 million deal to end that kind of a hold in, holdout situation with the team. What do you make a Vita Vaya agreeing to just stay put as opposed to demanding a trade, beating the drum loudly for the last few weeks? Oh, it always comes down to money, and he's now said he never wanted to leave.

There's certain pressure points that get applied. Remember when Dibo Samuel was never going to play for the 49ers again, and then he signs his long-term contract. It's all part of the negotiation. Sometimes elements become public. And at the end of the day, he gets a $6 million raise this year, $24 million next year, guarantees beyond this year. And he's content.

At the end of the day, signs a deal that he's happy with. And now they've got to make up for lost time and get him ready for week one. Mike, I know you touched on the Bears Stadium. And I know you've talked about it with our morning show, Mully and Ha. But there's no better example of terrible messaging surrounding this. and just once again, reflective of poor strategy, then them coming out last week, George McCasky, Kevin Warren,

I'm glad they did. Like, credit to them for doing that. I know it's part of what they do every preseason. But they say that Hammon, Indiana, is their sole focus. And yet we find out that the NFL and Roger Goodell himself is helping the Bears also talk to the state of Illinois. Well, that's not soul by any means. As a lawyer, I think you know that would get torn up in any court.

But how do you describe what you've been observing out of not just the messaging, but the whole process and the latest development that Goodell might be involved to this extent. Every additional fact that comes out as this unfolds reinforces my belief that someone decided that the bears needed leverage to get a deal done in Illinois, and the light bulb went off over someone's head, possibly after the chiefs reached a deal to cross the border from Missouri to Kansas. Hey, we've got a border. We can go to Indiana. We can do a deal with Indiana. We can act like we're going to do a deal with Indiana. And we can see if that's enough to rattle the cage with the Illinois lawmakers to get them to do a deal that will keep us in Illinois. Because there's nothing stopping them from going to Indiana. Nothing. They have a deal with Indiana. They're not using the lingering possibility of Illinois coming to the table as some sort of mechanism to get a better deal for. Indiana. They're not trying to leverage Indiana. Indiana is the leverage and it's obvious and the

problem is it's too obvious. So at some point, if your leverage play doesn't work, your leverage play possibly becomes your only outcome. So they may have entered into this Indiana thing with no intention of moving to Indiana, but if it doesn't work, you may have to go to Indiana. Mike Florio, the creator and editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk, joining us as he does each and every week, this time on a Thursday here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie. Mike, Dan Campbell says the window is not closed on the lions, much to the dismay of course of, I don't know, the Bears team that got swept by him and embarrassed early in last season.

I wonder, though, is the window starting to close? Is it halfway close? How would you look at where the lions are right now and how hot is the seat that Dan Campbell sits on this year in Detroit? Right now it's not hot. but if they miss the playoffs again this year, I think come next year, year seven, and there's never been a coach of the Lions who lasted more than nine years. Wayne Fonce is the record holder in franchise history at nine seasons.

If they fail to make it this year, then next year there are going to be real questions. Now, last year the problem was they lost eight coaches, including both coordinators, and John Morton was not a suitable replacement for Ben Johnson. They're now excited about Drew Pedson, and if you look at his resume, this isn't Bill Walsh, So, hey, maybe he'll get it done. They have the talent. Talent helps a coach look a lot better than he might be. But I look at the schedule that they stumbled into by finishing fourth.

Of the 17 games on your schedule, 14 of them come from a formula that applies to all four teams in the division. Only three games are different. But when you look at those three games, the Lions have a much more favorable three games than the Bears or the Packers who finished first and second. And those three games, in a division that was separated by two games from top to bottom, those three games could be the thing that makes the difference for the Lions to win the division this year. Well, that's it, Mike, is I feel like everybody has a different answer when it comes to who the regression

candidate is in the NFC North, you know, was obviously the Lions last year. They were the regression team or who they think is going to win the division or how the division shakes out. And the fact of the matter is when the Bears had a losing record in that NFC North and still won the division, I think that kind of factors into the parody that we're going to see. It might be the most wide open division in football this year. Well, the NFC South is pretty wide open. I think any of those teams could finish first and any of them could finish last. You can make the same argument for the north. And really, the schedule used to have more flexibility that was based on strength of your finish the year before to indefinitely.

induce parity into the next season. It's down to three games. It used to only be two games until they added the 17th game. That's still enough. Three games is enough to potentially make a dramatic difference because the margins at the end of the day are very small. And the way the lion's schedule is set up this year out of the gates, their first five games, they should at least be four and one. But you know what? They were four and one last year, too. And then the wheels came off. So they need to deliver this year. They had that 20, 23, season where they were up 17 points in the second half of the NFC championship and blew it. They had the one seed, two home games and you're in the Super Bowl for the first time ever.

They got blown out by the commanders. Last year they don't make the playoffs. So if the windows open this year, it potentially can start to really close if they don't take advantage of the fact they still have a lot of great players. And each passing year, everything changes. But the expectations have become high for the Lions now. and this arguably is a year that they need to deliver. Bike, I know you said the NOC South.

I think that's fair, but I always make the joke that nobody actually wants to win that division. So I just wanted to point that out. In the meantime, I want to get into, I think, a news story that looked like a very big headline when it came out a few days ago, but really needs some backup from a professional like you and some perspective. The document provided by Corn Ferry that you called the Smoking Gun document and how it can shake up the Brian Flores case, which we now is going to see the light of day. Can you explain why this document is so crucial to what we may see play out with the NFL? Well, I don't know

specifically why it would be crucial because it's currently under seal. And this is a common tactic in civil litigation. The two sides work out the agreed terms of a protective order. And then you just flag willy-nilly whatever documents you believe are confidential and fall within it. And then they fight over which ones should or shouldn't be available to the public. There's a fight over whether or not this specific document from Corn Ferry, a search firm should be made available to the public. But it's believed based upon the people who received the document, you look at it and it could be potentially impactful in a big way for the Flores case. It arose from one of the many Raiders coaching searches. And I don't know which one. And there's been like seven of them over the last 10 years.

But Corn Ferry was involved in helping the Raiders, a document created in that process, ended up being one of the documents produced by Corn Ferry under subpoena to Flores lawyers. And that's what can turn an entire case. When I used to practice law, and part of the challenge is you'll get a stack of documents literally three feet high. And you've got to sit down and you've got to have the discipline to look at every single. one of them. Top to bottom, everything on there, stray marks, maybe a word written in the margin. One case that I worked on 30 years ago, there was a word written in the margin that made all the difference in the case. You got to look at every one of those documents and you have to be vigilant and conscious and alert and all it takes is one. And it sounds like Flores lawyers

found out one document that they think is going to make a huge difference. And we'll see because, you know, this is how litigation goes and it's how our political reality has become. Everyone's got an answer for everything. They're going to come up with the best possible spin in response to anything that would be problematic. So I'm sure the NFL will have an explanation. The question is whether a judge or a jury will buy it. Mike Florio, the creator and editor-in-chief of pro football talk, joining us here on Rahimi Harris and Grotie. Lela Rahimi, Marshall Harris, uh, with you until two o'clock. Hey, Mike, I, you're bringing up some of the off-the-field drama that makes football and all of sports extra salacious. Do you have a guilty

pleasure of a team that you're following right now in terms of, oh, I'm kind of interested in what happens in this current situation. For me, it's always going to be the Cleveland Browns because Deshaun Watson added with Shador Sanders. It just makes for interesting talk, chat, if you will. Do you have something that you follow and you're like, people really need to be paying attention to this? Oh, it's the team that's 90 miles up the road from me in Pittsburgh with 19 years of Mike Tomlin, who never had a losing record and who I think always managed to take whatever talent they had and put together a team that outperformed what the various pieces would suggest. Now the transition from him to Mike McCarthy, who of the three teams to coach for your

career, good Lord, the Packers, the Cowboys, and the Steelers, how could you pull a better hand than that? But he's coming in with a new approach and there's buzz about what he's doing with the young quarterbacks. Mason Rudolph recently said he's jealous of the kind of tutelage that the young quarterbacks are getting. That could be viewed as a backhanded slap at the development he does. didn't get when Mike Tomlin was there and there have been chronic issues with the offense in

Pittsburgh ever since they ran off Bruce Ariens. So it's going to be an interesting case study. What can Mike McCarthy do with the players he's inheriting from Mike Tomlin? Will he make them better? Will he make them worse? And will that 30% of the Steelers fan base that was always quick to argue that Tomlin should be fired if they'd lose two or three games in a row? How will they be feeling when the dust settles on this season. That to me is going to be very fascinating, especially if the wheels come off, there's going to be a lot of stress on that, that full circle relationship between Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rogers. And I think it has the potential to get very entertaining if it's time for people to start pointing fingers. Mike, I know this is not football related,

but it just seems like a story you would be interested in. The Lakers get sold. We're seeing how Jeannie Buss is trying to put up a fight. It's appropriate, I think, when it comes to her trying to assert what power she has on that board. But really, the story then became, what is going on with Mark Walter? And now the Dodgers are being discussed as possibly their finances being looked into. It feels like this is all coming to a head very quickly. Are you familiar at all with what's happening? And what are your observations, if so, just having your law background?

I know just enough about those situations to know that I'm glad. glad that it's not an NFL story because it would require a ton of time and effort and explanation at a time when we're thick into the preseason with the regular season coming and there's only so much bandwidth that can go around. But I look at these scandals in other sports and I just wonder, when if how something similar could happen in the NFL? And typically I've been looking at gambling scandals from that perspective. But when you start looking at financial, irregularities and potential ownership battles and you look at how the values of teams are going up and you wonder what's really behind the curtain we only know as to the packers what the books

look like but if this stuff is happening with other teams in other sports can't help but wonder whether or not there's an NFL franchise that if you scratch hard enough in the right spot you're going to find something that could become a powder keg for the NFL feels like scratch and sniff and I don't think we're going to like the smell when we actually scratch it up. If we're even allowed to know. Whatever happened to scratch and sniff. Scratch and sniff was horrible. Maybe that's what happened.

I blame forever chemicals, Mike. Something tells me those were chock full of PFAs. Fair. Fair. Not to have a buzzkill, but you know, that's kind of how we do. Mike, thanks as always for your perspective and your legal understanding. We appreciate it. Enjoy your lunch, Mike.

Thanks. Great week. Yes. Enjoy your Thursday lunch now that you can have it. That is Mike Florio, creator, editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk, joining us every week. here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3, the score. Football fans join Mark Grody and Dan Weider for a special Take the North live this Monday night.

T-TN. T-TN live. It'll be from 6.8 p.m. at Gurney Hyundai, featuring appearances from, yes, Tyson, Bajent, and D. Andre Swift. And a complete breakdown of the biggest training camp storylines ahead of the season. It is all sponsored by the Rorman Automotive Group. Get full synthetic oil changes for only 50. visit gorman.com.

coming up next year on Rahimi Harrison Grotie, let's stay with football because Dennis Allen was asked about Jalen Johnson and really kind of let you into what a test for the defense this Bengals team can be in joint practices. So we'll examine next. We are happy to have on Vinnie Rotino.

Vinnie, how are you? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on. Guys, I tell you, I feel like I made it to the big leagues when I get on the store and get on your show. You guys have to me. Middays 10 to 2 on 104-3, the score. I'm just trying to prove to myself, but I mean, everybody that was going to have someone to say when I was healthy and playing, it wasn't, it was still daffles. So, I mean, it's not like Dallas not going to creep in at any, at any given point.

But I think for myself, it's just going out there and being who I proved myself to be in this league. I mean, I've been all pro. I've been pro bowl. So, I mean, for me, it's just getting back to that level in Calgary of play. I mean, even going up from there, I know I haven't had a season where I've had more than four in a separate. So I think for me it's just keep showing people why I am who I am.

And I think more interceptions will do that. I think some more occulies and winning and being a top 10 defense will definitely prove to people that I am who I say I am. That is Jalen Johnson when he was on first things first. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043, the score. And Jalen Johnson, one of the guys we can't expect to see the Cincinnati Bengals offense in joint practices that are taking place today. and also tomorrow in Cincinnati.

And in the meantime, Marshall, I think Jalen Johnson also is a good indicator of the success of the bear's secondary because he has to be. They're going to have to depend on him more than I think any of us thought initially, given Kyler Gordon's injury and Kobe Bryant's now as well. So you mentioned those two guys who aren't available. It was Jalen Johnson who started last season unavailable. And even when he did play, he was far from 100%. So I think he sees this, first of all, as a chance to remind people of who, who he can be. And I'm really curious as to whether or not he ends up traveling when the regular season starts

and maybe guarding the best receiver on a team. But it wouldn't matter against a team like the Bengals because it's like T. Higgins. Jamar Chase. What are you doing? Pick your poison. Either way, you're probably going to die by poison. Look, I love that Jalen Johnson is in the mode of understanding what he needs to be for this team this season.

And unfortunately, I wish he wasn't put in. that specific position, but also I believe he can handle that load. Yeah, you're going to have to lean on the knowns, right? We're going to find out who Dylan Thineman is. That was the plan. So that is a little bit of a different mindset when it comes to evaluation. But when it comes to the guys who, as he mentioned, you know, he was, he's been named all pro.

You know, he's been a pro bowler. This is a responsibility that he carries greatly. So how does that play out in scenarios like this? Well, Dennis Allen spoke yesterday. this was at Hallis Hall before the Bears headed to Cincinnati. But he did talk about what he wanted to see out of Jalen Johnson and then really kind of got into the Bengals as a whole in these joint practices. Same thing that we've talked about with really all these guys.

I mean, this is a hell of a challenge for all of our defensive backs to have to go up against, you know, this set of receivers and these skill players. And so, look, I want to see him go out there and compete. And, you know, can we play, coverage against these guys, you know, can we run with these guys? I mean, I'm talking about everybody. I'm not just talking about Jalen specifically. I've seen improvement out of Jalen. I've seen some flashes that say, man, he's looking, you know, a little bit more like what you expected in to look, you know, and yet there's still a lot of growth. You know, the system that we're in

is a lot different than what, you know, he was in before. And so I think, we're still growing, we're still learning. But I've seen him take to what we're trying to get done, and I've seen him improve. That sounds like a Dennis Allen who understands it is very much still a work in progress. But everything he said there was encouraging about what he's seen versus a year ago. Well, and I think he's right. This is the best time to really evaluate your secondary if you're him. there's no better opportunity than against that team where the final score was in the 40s last year

and in overtime than trying to figure it out against some of the best really one of the best receiving rooms in the NFL. That receiving room a little bit better than the one they're going to face next week in Nashville. Is that what you're saying? What is? Okay. While we're here, not that I'm looking ahead to everything. What is the goal against the Titans?

You know, are you just running your own stuff trying to figure out what you want to do? And maybe the plays intersect and you tackle some people on the other side. Like, that's a really good question. I think the goal is to be dominant and to put your embarrassment wishes to fruition. But yeah, okay, if you want to dominate the opponent,

but it's preseason, it's the last game of it. Wondale Robinson was pretty good last year for the Giants, right? And then Calvin Ridley is... Wondale Robinson had an excellent game against the Bears last year. That's what I'm saying. So like if you take that into account, I think there are lessons to be learned taken away from. So you think it's going to be the revenge against Wondale Robinson game?

My point in asking the question later was simply this. You're going to learn more against the Bengals than you could ever hope to learn against most teams in the NFL. Well, I think that's why the Bears wanted to do this. You know, I made the jokes about two offensive junkies getting together. I saw more of a family reunion. Yeah, that too. You're going to find out a lot about your team. and I think in all of this that's incredibly valid.

But this should be, as much as we talk about the offense, this should be a defensive evaluation as much as anything because of the quality opponent on the other side, the quality of offense. And in Jalen Johnson, I don't know if it's he goes, they go type of idea. I don't know that I can say that about a guy who plays that far away from the line of scrimmage, but I understand why Dennis Allen sees it that way.

It may not be he goes, they go, but I can certainly tell you this, If he can't go, they can't go. How about that? Yeah. He's a barometer of how successful this is supposed to be. And it's unfortunate because you wish you had more barometers in your, you know, non-front-four. But this is the reality of life without the Kobe Bryant and without the Kyler Gordon.

And, you know, life without Spider-Man is tough. Just ask anybody who follows Marvel Comics. We also have some reports of practice wrapping up in Cincinnati. this from Kevin Fishbane. Tough finish for the Bears' offense. They went four and out on a two-minute drill. That is not good because I know that's something that is definitely of emphasis in practice. And on their next possession, Miles Murphy's sack put them behind the sticks.

And then Caleb Williams threw an interception. His past to Colston Loveland sailed and landed in Jalen Davis's arms. The tweet I read from Adam Johns said that Caleb Williams was sacked twice by Miles Murphy. and the second one was for a safety. Oh, no, no, not the safety. Oh, there's more. Oh, yeah, there is. Murphy beat Theo Benedet on both plays.

Theo Benedict, though, in the two-minute drill, huh? That, okay, how about that? How about them apples? I don't know that Theo Benedict will be in the next two-minute drill. But he's at left tackle? Yes, I think Braxton Jones is going to go ahead and say it one more time. Until Ozzie Chappello is ready to go, and I don't know when. or if he'll be ready to go this season based on what we've heard from Ben Johnson?

This season, no, I think this season he will be. That's the hope, but I'm not putting any eggs in a basket until I see him out there, full pads, doing all the things, is what I'm saying. You know, we just talked about setbacks previously. I just know Braxton Jones is back at practice and allegedly. But if you're running with the O'Badnodendette in the two-minute drill, what does that tell you? It tells me he got an opportunity and he did not make the most of it. But that's kind of my point is they still try.

chose to have him in that two-minute drill. So that's notable in all of this. It's notable. It's not good. Well, and I know Joe Tooney, there was an article that came out. I believe it was Jason Leisure, who wrote about Joe Tooney. And there was a soundbite yesterday from Ben Johnson asking about, you know, who's at left tackled? Because Joe Tuny has to play next to him.

And Ben did say, you know, I think something along the lines of like, I think Joe would like to build a rapport with whoever he's supposed to be next to on the line. So Ben understands the inconvenience that it puts the rest of the line in and doing this. All you have to do is go back to last season those first, what, four games where the offensive line wasn't quite together. Oh, let's listen to it. I think Joe would like some clarity on who he can build a rapport with. It's been a little bit of a revolving door. So he's a pro's pro and he's willing to do everything. but you want five guys playing as one. So, you know, we'll go as long as we need to to figure out who those five are.

But at the same time, the sooner we can make that decision, the sooner they can gel as a unit as well. You saw it last year. It took us through the by week before we really started clicking a little bit as an offensive line and the running game coming alive the way we wanted it to. So, yeah, I think he's doing a great job right now. The communication is a huge piece of it with Garrett at Center. I don't have a whole lot of concern from the communication piece, and yet the sooner we can be on the same page without even saying anything,

the better off we're going to be. That's Joe's input at all, like try to get insight from him on who he is working best with? No, no, no. We judge it off the tape. The tape tells us everything we need to know. Tape does tell you everything you need to know. The more they talk about this, the more I just keep putting my left hand in front of my face

and understand that he talks about them working together, like the most important thing on your hand is your thumb guess who's at the far right on that left hand that would be darn no right and it's like I can do stuff without my left pinky like if it was messed up but I can't do it as well as I could compare to if I have one of these other fingers or your thumb messed up so that's the way I'm looking at the bear's

offensive line as I look at my left hand Kevin Gosman knows all about it you know that you know that left tackle still gets paid the most right not on this team no but that's because they don't have one of repute. But you know that left tackle in the league still gets on the offensive line and still I can name some other teams where the left tackle hasn't gotten paid the most too. Look, I'm just telling you.

But traditionally, when you're a good left tackle, say it's a good left tackle compared to a good right tackle, the left tackle is getting paid more. I don't see a world where the next left tackle for the bears that starts, let's say, two seasons in a row gets paid more than the right tackle. Got that? Yeah, that just makes me not confident in the line then. No, I'm fine. No, if Ben Johnson is that resolute that Darnell Wright is going to be their right tackle from here and forth on, he's going to be all pro and he's going to do all the things.

I don't know that it's realistic to say the left tackle is going to be a higher paid and more a better player than Darnell right. No, but you were talking about importance. And I'm saying for the bears specifically, not NFL wide. I'm just saying the bears. The bears, I know I've seen what they can do with a messed up left pinky. they're pretty good. They can still use their hand pretty well. And just like your left hand, you can use it pretty well with a jacked-up left-picky.

You start messing with those other fingers. You might not be able to grip quite as well and do the things you need to be able to do. I still need to see Garrett Bradbury and Kayla Williams in a game scenario. Like I wish and need to see how that's going to work together. Do you honestly think you are going to see that before the regular season, though? No. And that's a problem for me. Like I need to see those two work and how the cadence goes.

how everybody's calling everything. Like, I get that you only had two penalties in the game last week, but that was with Tyson, Bajia, and Logan Jones. So I think we need to see how Bradbury and Caleb work together in this. Look, one of my top three questions for Chris Emma coming up at 1 o'clock is going to be, hey, how do we look in the pre-snap and the order of operation with Caleb Williams and Garrett Bradbury? Because, again, they look at the joint practice in the same vein that they look at a preseason game in 2026,

not the same way they would have done maybe five or six years ago. Well, and then there were other issues too. Like Ben Baby, like we said, is reporting for the Bengals pretty consistently right now on Twitter. And they had issues getting the ball with 330. Couldn't get two first downs. Joe Burrow had Mike Asicki open on third down, but they couldn't connect to keep the drive live. So it sounds like they're also working on stuff. But they're more wide receiver heavy than tight end heavy in their offensive scheme, I feel like.

That is true. I look at all the things that they've been able to do going back to the back half and then obviously the playoffs of last season and wonder what's going to be the hardest to not just replicate but to improve upon them because that's the goal here is to improve right and I think while I want to say it all comes down to Caleb Williams I think you're spot on when you talk about the offensive line specifically and like hey if you can't coordinate in the way you did after that rough start to last season

are you going to be able to run the ball the same way? Are you going to be able to make it look the same and all the different things that you do? So I think the Bradbury stuff that you're talking about and the left tackle are probably way bigger concerns for me right now than like the play of Caleb Williams. Like I believe Caleb Williams will be better than he was last year. But I think as evidenced by Theo Benedict getting beat twice by, you know,

Cincinnati defenders not named Trey Hendrickson. They're one pass rusher that they had. Probably insulting to Cincinnati, but he is Trey Hendrickson. Coming up next on Rahimi Harris and Grady, it's time for halftime. Ray and I are going to detail a little bit further our experience at the Cubs and Sox game yesterday. Crossdown Part 6 had some interesting ambiance to say the least. We'll talk about it next. It is halftime here on Rahimi Harris and Gris and Gris.

Rodi, we spent our first couple segments talking about the last regular season installation of Cross Town. I said regular season. I'm not making proclamations. This is just the truth. So Ray and I went to the game. We'll get into that in a little bit in just a minute, but it was just an absolutely great game for the White Sox. They took advantage of defensive miscues by the Cubs. They took advantage of the Cubs not hitting well. Jose Orkini was a revelation. Bray and Montgomery had a 95 mile an hour throw to catch Taylor sleeping when he tried to go to third base off of a Peaker Armstrong fly. I can't say enough about just the job the White Sox did when they needed a performance like that from their pitching staff the most. Then we also talked about Bears' joint practices.

We heard from Ben Johnson on Caleb Williams starting faster. Mike Floreo was on talking about that and more in the NFL. And Dennis Allen led us in on what the secondary in the defense can expect from the Bengals. It's halftime. So as we mentioned, Ray and I got to go to the game. We got last minute tickets, thanks to our supervisor. And we were pretty excited about this. We want to check it out.

Enjoy the day, the beautiful day outside. We haven't had many of those this summer. I think you and I were looking forward to this. Yeah. And as we discussed, the offense wasn't off fencing. It was a pitcher's duel. I think that was part of the letdown. I think part of the thing that set the tone for the whole day was like it started

right at the beginning. wait a minute, no PCA lead off home run in this game? What? And everything just kind of snowballed for the Cubs from there. Yeah, I really did. And we were also sitting, as we mentioned, in a pocket of White Sox fans who were having a great time. I feel like they, you know, they provided the vibe too. I was trying to be respectful of the home team or just not do anything, you know, because I care about both the teams. So I just sat there at times. But Ray and I were observing. But the problem with a game like that is even when it's going well for one team, and that team is basically playing a home game, it still gets really quiet because you're waiting on every single pitch.

You're hanging on every single moment to try to figure out what's happening in the game. It got so quiet, Ray, that I think you described the ambience as well as anyone. Yeah, so there was when Arkiti was doing this thing, just dominating Cubs hitters, there was a point in the game where I realized just how quiet it was because I could hear in the background really loud. And I was like, wait a minute, that's, I could hear the bucket boys. And we were on the second deck. From outside.

I did hear the bucket boys outside of Wrigley. On the outside of Riggly, I could hear the bucket boys. That's how quiet it was. Erkiti shut down the Cubs offense and silenced every Cubs fan, including myself. But hold up. At Riggly. There are White Sox fans there. You tell me they weren't making noise

No, because the pitchers duels, a pitcher duel doesn't lend itself to rowdiness. As we saw in the previous two games, especially the first game, when there was the melee in, you know, out there in right field. You never calling it a melee, a skirmish. It was kind of a melee, yeah.

But no, you're right, Ray. Pitchers calm the game down. They sure do. Because we don't know what is happening entirely. We don't hear the crack of the bat. We're just waiting and watching. and seeing and waiting and seeing. Okay, walk me through this.

And it's not like the Sox had a ton of base runners either. No, no, but walk me through this. There are a whole bunch of fielders' choices in this game. What was the level of excitement or noise or however you want to measure it when Braden Montgomery got the two run double? Oh, there was a lot of noise. There were times when Sox fans had things to cheer for. But there was, there were long stretches.

Are you saying you had nothing to cheer for it? I did not have anything to cheer. We don't even know. We got the double. That was great until he screwed up and got thrown out. We were like, uh-oh, a double. What's going to happen now? This is crazy.

Because it was 1-0, nothing, right? So, like, it feels like that would be like ultimate tension because in a 1-0 game. That literally is in every Cubs broadcast on the radio here on the score in the Cubs radio network where Pat Hughes says, this seems like a turning point in the game. Like, that's what was going through my head at that very moment. It was Pat Hughes. Well, also, what's funny is if Ray and I thought it was just us, no, we didn't. Because it's time for the 7th and a stretch.

And what felt like an hour after the game had started because people were getting mowed down so effectively. I loved it. And Fergie Jenkins was seeing it. And even he didn't think the Cubs were going to get much done, down one to nothing. Today's guest conductor for Take Me Out in a Ball game. Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame pitch. here, Fergie Jenkins. But it looks like we got our work cut out for us.

We got to score a run. We need some cheering to go. Let's go, fans, let's go. One of the best offices in the league. And Fergie Jenkins, the incredible pitcher, says we've got our work cut out for us because we've got to score one run. He didn't say runs. He just said, all right, like, we would like this to go to Xers.

and maybe the White Sox will run out of pitching. Ray and I like looked at ourselves and we're like, oh my God, not even Fergie Belize. It's a pitcher knowing that a pitcher is doing his thing out there and it just happens to be that he's kicking the Cubs' ass. I will be honest. Sean Newcomb provided your best chance to get anything done because he at least walked to guys. Well, and I said that I was like, but at the same time I'm like, they shouldn't have even used Sean Newcomb. They should have just got there and let her katie just throw. There was a time in the game where I thought back to one of my favorite rappers, M.F. Doom.

RIP. He was known for doing this thing where if he didn't feel like doing the show because M.F. Doom wore a mask. He would send someone else and just say, hey, wear my mask and they would just play the music and the person behind the mask with lip sync. Infamously in Chicago when he did that, the Chicago audience figured it out and booed the guy off the stage. But that's a story for another day. Chicago knew what was up. I was looking at Erkiti like, did they just put another guy in this uniform? Like, who is this guy? This is not the Arcidi. I've been to grown, come to know.

Okay, so we have more confirmation from those in attendance at the game. John, the organist, chimes in on her text line. Hey, John. Always nice to hear from you. My wife and six-month-old daughter were in attendance. It was so quiet. My daughter was able to take a 45-minute nap. You see?

Oh, I like this one right here. 815. I was in the bleachers. It was hard to concentrate. It was hot. Nothing was happening. I mean, we were all in the edges of our seats. And even the socks fans who were around us communicating,

they would have like a couple words amongst themselves. Then everybody would just turn back toward the game because we were so intent on trying to figure out what was going to happen. It's like it calmed down to everyone. Y'all were lucky I wasn't at the game yesterday because let me tell you something. I would have been every time we got. No, you would have fit right in. No, listen, listen to what I'm saying.

Maybe the first inning, aka the third inning that Erkitty pitched. I'd be like, oh, okay, this is novel and interesting. he struck out the side, pitched around a walk. But let me tell you something. Once he had struck out two more batters in the fourth and then he starts striking out people in the fifth inning every time it got to two strikes, I'd be hype. I'd be like he about to do it again.

Because guess what? He did it again and struck out the side again in the fifth. It reminded me of when I was the field reporter for Padres games before they moved the fences in in San Diego. Every game was a two to one game and you would just be sitting there waiting, waiting for something to happen, waiting. I do want to know if you guys... Intently.

Do you agree with 3-1-2 here? I'm guessing there wasn't too much day drinking going on yesterday or at the very least a lot less pre-gaming beforehand. Too many sober fans is what he's putting it on. Okay, so this is Ray and I talked about this because at one point Ray and I thought about getting a social sparkler and cut water had come across our minds. Social sparkler. Yes. And that's a mark reference

owed to the Padres games. So Ray and I were like, should we get a drink? But then it's like, if you got a drink, did you miss the one thing in the game that was going to happen? Oh, that's fair. And personally, I was waiting to have a drink to celebrate something. I was like, the Cubs are going to do something here. Just not, right. Instead of just celebrating us being outside.

But then we couldn't celebrate that because we're like, well, we don't want to miss the one thing that's going to turn this game. They did do several things. They ran when they shouldn't have. Hi, Tyrone Taylor. They continue to strike out. What up Cubs batters? Who knew that Sam Antanachi's catch in left field and Braden Montgomery's 95 mile in our throw? We're going to be two of the most pivotal and exciting moments in this game outside of what was happening on the mound.

And then I just felt bad for Clay Holmes. Like we just kept saying, I'm like, why can't these guys turn double plays today? And then it just kept getting progressively worse while we all sat there in silence because everybody could hear each other's conversations in the crowd for an entire section. I like that. That builds community. Everyone can have a chat. It's like we were all equally tense on a beautiful day. Ray, am I describing this properly?

Absolutely. I mean, the highlights that we talked about other than what the socks did was when you were pointing out the nice breeze coming in. Like, that's what we had going on. It was a nice cool breeze coming in off the lake. It really was enjoyable. It made it very pleasant out there. I was sitting in long sleeves and jeans and did not sweat. But also to that point of the lack of offense, that was a day where the wind was blowing in.

right I love it say we've got our work cut out for us down one and nothing was one of the funniest things I've ever heard but it looks like we got our work cut out for us he saw how many strikeouts

or kitty had thrown like Arcidi was out of dealing again the Cubs have the second highest scoring offense in baseball that's why this is so pleasantly amusing you know what we never did we never counted out the total runs

against the nationals that just random thought I know also no we look like geniuses Do you know how many people kept texting in and they were like, wow, you guys really went out on a limb and at work there. And I call it luck, but no. We looked like we were smart. Okay. So credit to

Jose Kriety and Clay Holmes for calming a city. Yeah, there were no right field bleacher fights that day. Making us all hang on to every single pitch because we didn't know what was going to happen to the point

where we didn't even want to get up to use the restroom or get a drink of any kind. of any kind water nothing 49 runs in that series against the Nats by the way I think we were all in the 50s if I said 50 even Yeah well you're one off

That's very accurate But I'd lose the showcase No no no I said when we did it I said this is not price of the right rules I said that the day we made the prediction I feel like I lost the showcase It's okay Yeah you need one of those games every now and then

To attend just to keep you on edge You know just to keep yourself alert Respect the pitchers I did not attend the game but I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the Cubs' white Sox game. But would you have enjoyed it if the Cubs won the pitchers do? If Clay Holmes is striking out eight people, sure, because that means that Clay Holmes is certified ace ready.

He only struck out one. Good times. So, yeah, let's get to five on it, which was next. The score! This hour is brought to you by Menards. Save big money at Menards. I got five. It's time for five on it.

Rahini Harrison Rooney. Bring you five topics on their minds today. On 104-3, the score. I got five on it. Number one. Who impressed you more in the White Sox three-nothing win over the Cubs? Jose or Kiti or Brady Montgomery? Brady Montgomery is really impressive.

I feel like I forget that it is his rookie campaign. He does things every day that makes me just impressed with how he plays baseball. You know, like he has veteran moves, whether it's a challenge call, whether it's, whether it's just like gutting somebody down like he did yesterday at third base with that fastball that we've talked about so much at 95 miles an hour. The guy just has a real combination of baseball IQ and ability that you cannot deny. But I'm sorry. It goes to Jose got his groove back, Erkiti. That was just a really impressive performance all the way around. And he talked about it, you know, still coming back from that surgery.

He had in 2024, Tommy John, which he had previously in 2017. And it made me wonder, how long does it take for somebody to truly get healthy after Tommy John number two? And he just mowed batters down yesterday. There was no other way to put it. Six innings, eight strikeouts, a mere two hits. He had 68 pitches. It was just an incredible performance. And one where I think the White Sox come away saying,

thank God we got that guy. Thank goodness we traded for that guy. And Marshall, you said it. I don't know how he didn't make his case for a spot in the rotation after that. I mean, that was absolutely great. So he saved an option potentially from happening, calling somebody up.

He helped get the socks right on the pitching staff side. Jose Orkitti, man, just an incredible performance. So Jose Orkitti was absolutely fabulous. Anybody who can go up against the second high-scoring offensive baseball and throw six innings in which you face just one over the minimum, that is to be more than noted. It's to be celebrated. You're absolutely right, Leila. They need to give him another chance. I think he's earned another bulk spot, if not an actual start the next trip through the rotation as they have played nine of 16 straight days with games.

And they are five and four in large part because of him. at the same time, I will say I was more impressed with Braden Montgomery because in a 1-0 game, he made sure that there was separation. One, he made sure that there was not the chance for a tie game because in the sixth inning, when you see Tyrone Taylor get the double, one of just two hits, both Tyrone Taylor hits, off Cubs pitching in the game. And to erase him from the base pass, now part of that is on Taylor because he definitely leaned the wrong way on a line out from PCA to right field.

But for him to have that type of accuracy and that big of a moment, it could have easily been a one-one game with the heart of the Cubs order coming behind him and said it was two out, nobody on, which is ideal for a guy like Erkiti. He had his back as well as Sam Antanachi. But then for Braid Montgomery to get two hits match the Cubs total on the day, including a two-run double. Taylor's total, actually. Yeah, two hits.

and yeah, Taylor's total, Cubs, however you want to put it. I just think that Montgomery needs to be noted and while Orkidie may be a flash in the band, hoping he's not, by the way. If he is, he's a hot flash. I think Braden Montgomery from his debut, you remember his debut, right?

Walk off, home run to win the game. To this point has been so instrumental in the White Sox being able to have the lead that they have in the ALE Central and appear to be headed towards the playoffs and perhaps even a division title. I got to give it to Montgomery on this one. I just, I like what he means for the White Sox going forward,

not just in this series, but in the season, and for many years beyond. Number two. How badly is the Cubs' infield defense missing shortstop Dansby Swanson? Yeah, this is in respect to what we saw yesterday. Ray and I just observing how many fielders choices there were, force outs instead of double plays. And what I found compelling was that there were more failed double plays in this game than there were Cubs hits.

That's not supposed to happen. First of all, you're supposed to have a few of each. More than two and more than, I want to say right, were there four? There were at least four failed double plays. That count sounds right to me. Yeah, I mean, I want to say five, but I feel like that's probably exaggerating, given there's only nine innings in a baseball game. but it was probably four failed double plays,

and that's just outrageous. And, you know, especially with a ground ball pitcher on the mound like Clay Holmes, you just want better defensive positioning as well. You can't shift, but you can certainly understand where a ball is likely to be when a guy hits his spots. And I think there were pace issues.

I know Nico, you know, has some adjusting to do at shortstop. This isn't really an issue with Nico Horner as much as it is. I think Martinez is a speed, too, at times, just understanding what speed it takes to turn. around and throw the ball over to first. So I'm hoping that that gets ironed out a little bit more effectively, especially when you have a guy like Holmes on the mound.

Here's the reality. The Cubs don't know when they're getting Danes v. Swanson back for certain, whether that will be in the regular season or postseason if they last that long to allow him to return. Nico Horner, I think he's an above average shortstop. I think it's more about the chemistry between him and Pedro O'Mears and getting that done. And that's probably going to take some getting used to. It's going to take some time.

And I don't know how much time the Cubs have. That's what the issue becomes. I think the rest of this week is going to be a tell because the Cubs head out west. They'll face Seattle, followed by Arizona. Two teams very much, even though the Mariners are seven games under 500. They're only two and a half games out of a playoff spot. And we know the bottom of the AAL wild card standings is volatile, to say the least.

So those are. Or it's just there. It's all there and it's just no matter of who kind of gets out of it. But my point is all those teams are playing harder than they normally would be if they were out of it, per se. And I think they need to get it together and quickly because when you have the Braves playing the Brewers over the weekend, you're not going to have many better spots besides the seven head-to-head matchups you have left to maybe gain some ground if the Braves play at the level that they've been playing all season. So I think it's just a matter of can they get the chemistry? chemistry down between Pedro Ramirez and between, obviously, you look at Nico Horner,

but also Matt Shaw's coming back. They've made a change in adding heirs to the roster now. There's other guys involved, and it's not going to be as clockworked as it has been all season long with Horner and with Swanson. Number three. This is five on it at a 104. The score with Layla Rahimi and Marshall Harris. Here's question number three.

What's your biggest takeaway from? the reports that came out of the Bears joint practice with the Bengals? I think my biggest takeaway might be who was in at left tackle during the two-minute drill. And reportedly, it sounds like that was Theo Benedet. So if that's the case, is that who we can expect to say in at left tackle, perhaps, to start on Saturday? And the left tackle position is not going to be one where guys get time off to rest. That's obviously a position of evaluation. So is it Theo to start?

Is it possibly Braxton Jones, even though I know we're still trying to figure out his health? How's Jedrick Wills doing? How's Karan Amagaji doing? So again, I point back to left tackle and understanding like Caleb Williams, okay, throw an interception. The whole point was to not be as afraid of throwing interceptions last season. I think that carries over to this one. That doesn't bother me. But you better know who your left tackle is in these scenarios, at least to start.

I'm looking at some video right now. Yes. It's going to concern one Laila Verhemi because the Caleb Williams interception, it was batted at the line of scrimmage by Dexter Lawrence. This was a problem last year. I know that's one of the main things you harped on. Like, you can't be having balls batted because tips and overthrows, got to have those.

And this qualifies in the tips category. We did see a lot of batted balls at the line of scrimmage. You remember one named Max Crosby? he seems like he might have a future in this league. Remember him doing that as well? And just how many times on the left side guys would come in and try to bat a ball down or two or three? Number four. Yesterday, ESPN's Adam Schaefter reported that two-time Pro Bowl defense tackle Vita Vea

and the Buccaneers have agreed to terms on a one-year extension for $30 million. The Bears were reportedly among the teams that had interest and called the bucks about Vaya. So the question is, on a scale of 1 to 10 on the disappointment meter, trademark, where would you rate your level of disappointment that a trade sending Vita Vaya to the Bears never materialized? Look, you may want Vita Vaya. You have wanted so many other guys that you've heard.

I think... Why not, though? People who follow the Bears. Why not? Well, because money. That's why not? because cap, that's why not. I don't mean cap isn't someone's lying or not telling the truth.

No, this is actually the opposite. Salary cap. The truth is out there in terms of how much you're allowed to spend on a yearly basis. And I understand you can restructure. You can rework deals. But clearly the bears have picked a lane. And that lane is offense. Offense, offense, and more offense.

As in resources tied to the offense. As in you already made your investment in the defense. Now make those investments pay off. Remember, every investment you make, this is monetarily speaking now, in the stock market. Every breath you take. Yes, we're going to go with the previous version, not the updated version of that particular song. That is not even updated anymore. That's just the slightly newer version.

Well, I'm just saying I make sure people are clear on who I'm not aligned with as we take those lyrics. Look, for the Bears and for the Bears fans and for media following and critiquing the Bears, there comes a point when you have to understand the disappointment meter is really about being a realistic meter. And it was never realistic that the Bears are going to add someone who just signed a one-year, $30 million deal. How are you going to make that money work? Let me give you a hint.

You weren't. Make that money. And so that's why on the disappointment meter. No way you can fake that money. For the first time ever, I'm going to go with the negative. It's a negative one. Wow. It's a negative one on the disappointment meter.

At no point did I think the bears were getting Vita Vaya. At no point. I didn't either because of the $30 million, which the bears have like $5 of open cap space right now. But here's the thing. The disappointment meter for me is higher. It's at like a six because of the sack total and his numbers last season. So Vita Vaya. had 34 total tackles in four and a half sacks

starting all 17 games for the Buccaneers last season. Now, by no means is that a career year for Vita Vaya, but here's the issue. That would tie him for third on sacks in 2025 on the Bears because Austin Booker was third with four and a half behind Montes who went with 10 and Javon Dexter was six. So as you can imagine selfishly for me, I'm like, ah, things look a lot better

when you consider the team total sack number was 35. Four and a half is statistically significant in that scenario. Meaning, Vita Veyer's numbers would greatly have improved the bear's sack total. So, yeah, I'm slightly disappointed, and I understand why they were interested. But they couldn't afford 30 million. What's the number then? I said like six. Six.

Okay, so here's the thing. It ain't even about the sacks to me. It's about last time I checked, the bears weren't stopping the run all that well, right? that dude can do a lot of stuff in the middle of here. You're right about that. He would immediately be the best interior defender on the team. So that just, yeah. And you're still not disappointed though?

No, because I understand reality. Again, the realistic meter, it's, that's what I want to replace this with because it's negative on the, I can't be disappointed in something that I never thought was a possibility. That's just, that's how I operate from a brain standpoint, the way I think, analytically speaking. It was never a problem. because it was never going to happen.

I mean, I kind of, I don't know, man. Because this is just the last and a long line of players that we thought, oh, that guy would look good on the bears. When the bears are as paltry as they have been on their defensive line, that's edge or interior. Yeah. Everybody seems like, that's a guy you should get, that's a guy you should get, that's the problem.

The reason we're interested in everybody is because everybody would probably be an upgrade. Yep, yep, that's... Do I need to say that? quiet part out loud, I guess I do. And I don't know, if you don't, if you disagree, show me. Show me that it's, it's not an upgrade. Show me your wins above replacement.

Number five. Because you didn't last year. Today is National Radio Day. Happy National Radio Day to everyone who celebrates. So I ask you guys, what is one of your most memorable moments in your radio careers? I think for me, it was probably. I got started in the business, just calling into the Dallas Cowboys postgame show as a teenager. And then my mom found out that there was a scholarship that the Dallas Mavericks were giving in the name of the late Mark Holtz, who was a broadcaster for them.

And I did not know that this was common practice. It just seemed like a good idea because I was also a musician at the time I was playing in my school's orchestra, which fed into the University of North Texas, which was one of the best music schools in a country. So they always had this practice of you, put your best work on a cassette at the time, and then you submit it for your chair seating. And I'm like, well, maybe I should just do the same and, like, submit my best calls because I recorded them all, thinking it was a good idea. Not knowing that this was the practice. There was no way for me to know at the time.

Your first resume rule is you calling into a Dallas station. I submitted a cassette tape of like four or five of my best calls, new to do that somehow. somehow. I'm not even kidding. And I think I based it off of like the idea of what I did for orchestra and then mailed it with an essay. And I did not realize that I was doing at the time what was common practice. Cassette tape. And that's what got me the scholarship, which ultimately got me an internship before I even officially started college. Congratulations on all that. I love this answer because I just learned something new I did not know about Layla Raimi and her radio journey.

My story is similar. first time I was ever paid to do anything on the radio. Freshman year in college, Mississippi State University, there was a school in town that needed a play-by-play announcer. And I'd gone through the student newspaper, the student radio station, had gone everywhere. Hey, can I help out? Can I volunteer?

Like, whatever. I just trying to get my foot in the door. And the guy at the student radio station called me back two days later. I thought he was calling me because someone had not shown up or whatever. He was like, no, actually there's a commercial radio station in town that needs someone to do play-by-play for their high school football games. Have you done play-by-play? I said, no, but I would love to do it.

And this is why I always tell people, play-by-play was my first love. And so this school, Starkville Academy, this was two days before their first game. I had just enough time to call the coach, try to find out. Remember, the internet did not exist. That's how old I am. The internet did not exist.

Mine did, but it was like in your heart on geo-cities and dial-up and stuff. Yeah, like, oh, I guess technically it existed, but it didn't exist in like a Google world. Like, this is still very much dial-up internet. Ask Jeeves didn't happen until like 2003 or 4, I think. Yeah, for reference, this was 1996, just so people know what year it was. And so I go to this school, not knowing anything about the school, because I'm from Alabama, and it turns out that this was a academy of the academy systems, which are separate from the public schools,

because there's this thing called White Flight in Mississippi. And so I end up. going to the school with my little calm unit that I had never used before and it was nothing but white people in the ground. I see white people. And not only did I see white people, guess what? They had eyes, so they saw me

and they were like, what is this dude doing here? And they were like, why is he going up to the press box? And why is he setting up shop? And it was kind of a terrifying moment, to be honest, but the headmaster of the school, because you know headmaster, not principal. I mean, the fact that it's a headmaster, right? Look, not headmaster, but principal.

I just thought there was a term in movies. He comes up to me. He was one of them public schools. He introduces himself. I tell him who I am and why I'm there. And he's like, okay. And he, if you need anything, let me know. And he was like, the kindest, most gracious guy.

Some of the people in the stands were not. And I was terrible, to be fair. But I got better as the season goes on. I did it for three straight years. And they got used to me being there, I guess. and I even got a couple of compliments by the end of year two and that's how I got my start in the radio business

but I was absolutely terrified and sometimes you just got to be uncomfortable somebody told me in football you have to get comfortable being uncomfortable and years before I heard it from an NFL head coach I lived it. But the sad part is you had to still suffer so other people could learn to just be comfortable

with you existing doing your job. You know what? The greater good was served but it was still at a price. you had to pay. Look, I paid kind of a social terrifying price, but at the same time, I also got paid 50 bucks a game. Who's laughing now? To do something I would have done for free?

That part. Also, do you know how much 50 bucks was back in 1996? Do you know we could buy with $50 back in 1996? Two tanks of gas for one, maybe three. That is absolutely true. Yeah. Three. Honda Cord. Hell yeah. Oh, we didn't have time for you guys. I think we should we should talk about you guys at 145. Did we have a 145 plan?

Oh, we have a great thing at 145 scheduled, which is a bull's player has not learned his lesson. A current bull's player? A current bull's player has not learned his lesson. He had a big lesson that he should have learned last season, and he clearly didn't learn it. All right. Well, if we have time, let's get to you guys as two during our show, because I feel like that's fair and just. As we all are in, this is a team. Happy National Radio Day, everyone.

Vinnie Doober, who's now the Cubs writer for the Sun-Times, is next. Raimi Harris and Grody. Write this down, guys, as a segment idea. It's going to be called, Don't Be an Idiot with Marshall Harris. I'm not an idiot. Midday's 10 to 2. Don't be an idiot. On 104-3, the score.

And the O2 pitch. Strike three, called, and the ball game is. is over. The White Sox beat the Cubs. Three to nothing in the series finale. So Taylor gets to save. The Cubs won the first two, but the socks prevailed today, Ron, and they split the season six game package. Each team with three win. Each team with three.

That is the great pet. Hughes and Ron Coomer on the call in the Northwestern Medicine Cubs Radio Network. We go to our hotline now, and that is where we find. a man who represents Cross Town as much as anybody else. Vinnie Dober. He is at Vinnie Duber on X. He is now the Cubs beat writer for the Chicago Sun-Times. He's also covered the White Sox as a writer for the Sun-Times for CHDO. I worked at NBC Sport Chicago. Vinny, this is, you're it. You're like the writer who represents Cross Town. Wow, I like that. I didn't even think of it that way, but that's good. I'll take that, I think.

Okay, so that said, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you this before because that would have been better timing. by me. We're happy to have you on, by the way. And congrats on the job. Like, while I'm here, I'm just going to get everything out of the way. Thank you. I appreciate it. It's going great. It's great to, you know, still be doing this in my hometown. I'm loving it.

Vinnie, tell us, because this is how I feel about it. I thought this year's Cross Town was not only epic, but the best I can remember just because of the way it impacted both teams who are clearly still playing for something this late in the season. How do you feel about

all time, all time, excuse me, pantheons of crosstown and how this one compares. Yeah, I mean, I think if you take the whole,

you know, the whole season series, it's got to be right up there. I mean, the finishes have just been tremendous. I think you go back and there are just so many great finishes and great games

that you can count. You know, you can probably make a whole, a whole day's worth a talk radio trying to figure out which, what are the best cross-down games ever. And,

you know, it's funny, I was talking with Collie yesterday and saying, you know, the guys in the room don't really get super hyped for this, the players, because they're not from Chicago, right?

The vast majority of them didn't grow up here. But those of us who did, like, this is the series every summer that you circle on the regular season calendar, and it has had those games that, like, a rivalry is defined by, right?

Although certainly the on-field dramatic, you know, fights with Michael Barrett and AJ Prisinski, you had Ozzie kicking Giovanni Soto's mask, all of that stuff to go along with walk-off home runs a plenty and dueling no hit bids and all of that stuff. So, I mean, while it doesn't seem like a rivalry because they're not even in the same league when you think about it that way, it totally does to the fans because of all that's happened. And this year with the Caro walk-off earlier in the year, with PCA doing what he did,

and Bregman's walk-offs this week, yeah, I think you've got to count this whole series, the whole six games as probably the best ever. Yeah, Vinnie, I mean, we can't ask for much more, especially with both. teams squarely in playoff convention or contention with the Cubs and White Sox. But the other thing, too, is I feel like every question you had about each team was exposed in some way over the six-game set, even in this last three-game series. For example, we knew the Sox pitching needs were dire, you know, and how they had to manage their bullpen, how they had to manage their openers. Jose Orquite comes out and is a revelation.

The Cubs on the other side, we know their offense hasn't always produced at times with timely hitting. That was a good example yesterday. We see Pete or Armstrong making an MVP case in two games. It was really a microcosm of everything that you know to be true about these two teams. Yeah, you're not wrong. Absolutely. I mean, I think you look at where they stand and what's ahead of them. And, you know, you've got the Cubs who are one of the best teams in baseball, you know, kind of just based on their win-loss record.

They look like one of the top contenders, depending on how far you want to go down that list for the World Series. And yet they're still stuck in second place in their own. division, right? Well, you got the White Sox in first place where everything, you know, for lack of a better term, is kind of gravy right now with how the expectations weren't so high for them at the beginning of the season. And now you've got, you know, a team that's in great playoff position and that if the standings, you know, kind of shake out the way they might, they can have a first round by, you know, come, come October with how weak the American League is. So you're absolutely

right. If you look on the Cubs side of things, though, you've got PCA being that MVP presence. and how about Alex Bregman stepping up kind of and kind of awakening here in the late summer. You know, he was a guy who everybody was focused on early because he wasn't producing at that, you know, huge superstar level that his contract that he got in the winter maybe says that he should be doing. But now since the All-Star break, he has been doing that. And he's had some huge moments. He obviously had that game-tying home run down to their last strike, you know, a couple weeks back. He had the three-homer game.

Now he's got the walk off to beat the White Sox. You know, he's kind of been that guy lately, and even yesterday, in the game where nothing was happening for the Cubs offensively, the defense was still there, and he was at the center of it. He was making one great play after another. So I think he's a guy that you look at and maybe go along with PCA. Wow, these could be two October stars, right, two guys who are going to really step up in the playoffs and could make the difference not just, you know, specifically for the Cubs, but in baseball as a whole defense, depending on how long they go. Exciting to think about, of course, we remember how good Sayy Suzuki was last year at the end of the season going into the postseason as well. Vinnie Duber. The Cubs be right for the Chicago Sun Times.

Joining us on Rahimi Harris and Grotie and Vinny, I'm so intrigued by Clay Holmes because as much as Craig Counsel talks about outgitters, this guy seems like he's not just a quote-unquote out-gitter. He's a guy who can make a difference at the top of the rotation. Is there any doubt in your mind that Craig Counsel envisions him as that after he goes five in the third? giving up just one run against the White Sox, even though the strikeouts haven't been there as a cub. If the defense is there, he should be pretty effective. Yeah, I mean, you saw yesterday what kind of what he's capable of doing. Obviously, he was even better over the weekend against St. Louis, but from a statistical standpoint, but what he did yesterday was kind of exactly what they wanted to do.

Put the ball on the ground, let your three gold glovers on the infield pick it up. Obviously, Dancy Swanson's on the aisle right now. he'll be out a few weeks, but when he comes back, you've got Horner at second, Swanson at short, Bregman at third, those guys can kind of pick it with the best of them. Michael Bushman pretty good over at first base, too, so just put the ball on the ground. And Clay Holmes was talking yesterday about how this defense allows him to be just, have the utmost confidence in just generating a ground ball, right? He's like, oh, sometimes, you know, if you're a ground ball guy like I am, you get a guy on,

you get one or two guys, you know, in scoring position, and you're like, well, I don't want to give up a ground ball, because what could happen? sneak through. It could be a hit. It could be a run. It could be the game. Well, when you got these guys playing defense behind him, the chances of just it being an out go way, way up. And I think that Clay Holmes is that kind of guy. You've got another one in David Peterson, who they got, and also in the trade with the Metsu is that kind of guy. They've got some options in terms of pitching, in terms of top of the rotation pitching. They've been thrilled with what Shoda Aminaaga has done, even though he's given up almost as many home runs as

anybody in baseball. And then you've got Matt Boyd, who has kind of quietly returned to that all-star form that he was last year. So I think they're going to have several top of the rotation options. But yeah, Clay Holmes looked really good yesterday. And remember, this is a guy who just two years ago pitched in every game of the World Series as the Yankees, you know, all-star closer. Now he's a starter, and he's been doing it for two years now, mostly with the Mets, now a little bit with the Cubs, and he's been doing it really well. We're talking to Vinnie Dober. He is the Chicago Cubs beat writer for The Sun Times, joining us on our hotline on Rahimi Harrison Grotie. And Vinny, what were your takeaways from

what we saw out of Kevin Gossman having to leave early, you know, the other big pitching trade acquisition the Cubs had and just, I know Craig Counsel hasn't really put a timeline on it yet. It's something that they will watch. But having that hand cramp, I could see that popping up again if it did already once, knowing the few starts that he's had with the Cubs already this season. Yeah, I mean, it doesn't look good because of what came before it, too, with that kind of clunker start against the nationals who, you know, by the way, are the best, the best offensive team in baseball.

But still, you don't want your big trade deadline acquisition given up six runs to anybody, but it means that two in a row now he's not even able to make it out of the fifth inning. I think it being a cramp makes it not so much to worry about. Obviously, I'm no doctor or anything like that, but it doesn't seem like that kind of thing that is a long-term issue. Obviously, though, like you said, maybe it does pop up again, and he said it has happened to him before, but usually only when he's really deep into games

when he goes up over 100 pitches. By that point in a game, you would hope if you're the Cubs, he's already made a pretty huge impact on what you're trying to do that day. So I think the main thing, though, to keep an eye on, is you don't want the kind of non-cramping results to keep popping up like they have in the last, two outings. I mean, he was excellent against the Royals in his Cub's debut, but then in that game in DC, he's

unable to make it out of that inning. He gives up a lot of two out hits and two out runs. That was the case again with those you'll remember the other night, the three straight singles that produced, I believe it was the first White Sox run of that game. Those were all with two out. So it's that kind of thing that's shutting down an inning, but that's the kind of thing that you don't want popping up again. Kevin Gousman, at least the Cubs described him as a guy who's kind of been through it all. You know, he's a long

time veteran in this league. He pitched in the World Series last year. They don't think that you can really throw anything at him that's going to fluster him, but he needs to deliver. There's no doubt about it. He was the kind of headlining piece of the trade deadline hall for the Cubs for Jed Hoyer's front office.

They envisioned him as being a guy who could. We'll see how it shakes out. Like I said, there's a lot of, you know, good options to choose from, but a guy who could start game one of a playoff series. So that's what they need him to be. They've seen him that already once, they need to see them do it a little bit more consistently going forward. Vinnie, before we like you, I'm really curious as to your thoughts on these arms that are

slowly ramping up. We know Daniel Palencia will be back with the team tomorrow as they begin that West Coast trip in Seattle. But other names such as Shelby Miller, Justin Steele, Ben Brown, like, what are your expectations for any of these other guys that were kind of waiting to see what happens actually gets back with the team for this stretch run? I think Ben Brown is kind of the one to keep an eye on just because of what he was able to do and how effective he was at the beginning of the year as a starter. He's most likely, in fact, I don't think it's even going to happen to be a starter again this season. He would be a bullpen option for them, but what a bullpen option that could be, given how good he was earlier in the year.

But Palencia has missed so much time. He's only pitched, what, 16 in some innings this year? I don't know how right out of the gate he's going to be able to be that guy who we saw glimpses of last year when he was throwing, you know, a million miles an hour and striking everybody out. The same might go for Shelby Miller, who has been really effective out of the bullpen in his more recent career. But, you know, he's missed so much time. What is that going to look like? Is he going to be able to go out there regularly, right, down the stretcher? Is he going to need a little bit more time between outings to kind of, you know, let his recover?

breathe a little bit more. So we're going to see what happens with those guys, but I do think Ben Brown is maybe the guy, you know, at least keep an eye on as, hey, come playoff time. This could be kind of an unexpected bullpen weapon for a team that's been without him for so long this year. And then just looking ahead, Vinny, to the Seattle series coming up. Notable is obviously the Brewers taking them down by the tune of 22 to nothing. Seattle comes back with a win yesterday, but this is one of those where there are winnable games to help the Cubs try to make up some ground or at least solidify playoff seating. Yeah, it's so, it's so strange.

I mean, they've got plenty of time left, but it just seems like the Brewers just never take their foot off the gas. They never lose almost, it seems like. And, you know, the Cubs, they had a stretch there a little bit. I think the Brewers got swept on the West Coast fairly recently, and the Cubs made up a little bit of ground. They were as close as they'd been since May. then, you know, they haven't kind of kept it going in that direction. So you're right, winnable games. They've got to do it.

But, I mean, really, when you look at this Cubs team, almost every game out there should be a winnable game, not in that you expect them in a baseball season to win every day, but they are one of the best teams in baseball. They're a team that not too long ago swept the Dodgers. With the exception of those brewers who they, you know, can't seem to catch right now, they would stack up nicely against pretty much any team out there. And so that's what they want to do.

They want to be consistent. They want to play their kind of baseball over the course of this next month and a half. They don't want that streakiness to kind of define them in the beginning of the season. They have the ability to do it. Now it's just on them to go do it. Well, Vinnie, thank you so much for taking the time. Again, big congratulations on the gig with the Sun-Times. And we have a texter who's texting us saying they know your parents,

and they're very happy for you as well. Well, I'm glad to hear it. I'm glad that I'm glad that the Chicagoland area is. is enjoying things. And thanks a lot, Leila. I appreciate the congrats. Thanks, Vinnie. Thank you, Vinnie. That is Vinnie Duber. You can check him out with the Chicago Sun-Times, writing, covering the Cubs, as he did for Crosstown. He will cover Seattle coming up shortly.

Next, right here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie, we need to get back to some of the audio that we've heard from Bears' joint practice in Cincinnati. Caleb Williams in the accuracy discussion came up. Ben Johnson was asked about it. It's worth a listen. We'll discuss next. Rahimi Harris and Grotie. I love being here.

Middays 10 to 2 on 104 3, the score. You know, my limit may be 75, 80, you know, passes, but I end up getting to 100 or 90 or whatever because it's not where I wanted the ball to be. And so, you know, next rep, next rep, next rep. And being able to mentally put myself in that position, being able to mentally put myself in those positions, like games on the line, let's go make this play.

Let's go, you know, put the ball as accurate needs to beat. That's Caleb Williams talking about the finer points of improving his completion percentage, which we know is a big goal of the Bears this season. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043 to score. And we heard a lot about joint practices with Cincinnati. We will get an update at the top of the hour from Chris Emma. He is there. And in the meantime, we heard from Ben Johnson.

He spoke this morning and was asked about Caleb Williams' accuracy as it compares to the expectation. Well, it's trending upward, and that's really what we want to see is it continued to get better. I just told them this morning. I thought the last two days, even though it was abbreviated practice yesterday, they were really good. And so Red Zone was a big emphasis for us. Last year, we got a few good reps of that yesterday. I think he's shown significant strides there. He's taking a lot of pride in where he's putting the ball throughout practice.

You see it early on in our warm-up period. to routes on air, and it's translating over to the team periods as well. And yet he still hasn't lost that stinger of being aggressive and trying to push the limits a little bit. And so I think that's healthy, particularly in practice, just seeing how tight of windows we can fit these things into. And there's a good, delicate balance, and we're doing our normal day off, player day off meetings, and able to assess what we previously put on tape. And, you know, that's where a day like yesterday was so good because there's a few things that we talked about the last player day off that showed up yesterday that gets you excited as a coach. And so he's making significant strides each and every day.

Okay. So that reminds me, Marshall, of the warm up that we saw, you know, the video before the preseason game at Soldier Field. You remember seeing Caleb Williams out there, Roman Dunez. I think that's, that kind of speaks to this that Ben Johnson was talking about. There was a lot going on before the game in addition to the actual game. itself that didn't have the quarterback. I love that we want the aggression. And I say we, like you and me and Ben Johnson. And Caleb Williams obviously does. And remember, there was a point where we're like, hey, man, it's okay if you throw

an interception if you're being aggressive and trying to throw it, I don't know, down the field. I love listening to that sound from yesterday and understanding that this happened today. Jeremy Roush of Fox 19 in Cincinnati says, unbelievable play by Caleb Williams in the Red Zone 11 versus 11. Dexter Lawrence beat the double team. He had a hand in his face. Williams threw a laser that whizzed over Jordan battles head to Colston Love in the end zone, an impossible completion.

And he made it. First of all, if it was an impossible completion, he couldn't have made it. It was a tough completion, not impossible because clearly Caleb Williams made it possible. I'm not going to, yes, but I'm not going to harp on humans. using descriptive words when machines are trying to take over. I'll let him cook. That's fair, actually. That is probably the most salient point I've heard today from anyone in this area.

It's the most salient point I'm going to make in years. So we'll just go with that for now. It's a scary point. Take that machines. Yes. I have seen the Terminator. I would encourage you all to see the Terminator and all the movies that came after. I got fresh water right here.

It's Lake Michigan. Pack a lunch. You can't. You can't eat. Also, the Matrix is a good watch as well. I worry people got ideas. from these movies and not the other way around. I just think they were prescient.

That's all. That's all. But when you're not creative, you have to find other creativity from other people and steal it. Okay, okay, I'm done. I'm not done because Caleb Williams needs to keep doing what he's doing. And Ben Johnson needs to keep coaching him to do what he wants him to do to get this offense to be the quote-unquote best highest scoring, record-breaking offense in the league. That is the goal, not to mention the goal is to win. But if you do that, you'll have a much better chance of winning.

Also, I really think this is a case where we need to keep in mind progress and perfection are two different things. Yes. You can strive for 70. You can point to the people who do it in the national football. One of them comes from your quarterback class and almost got MVP. Also made the Super Bowl. But at the same time, I think we have to understand what progress looks like, both when we're watching it, just play to play on the field, but then also how it's going to reflect in the scoreboard.

When we hear Ben Johnson talk about starting quicker and Caleb Williams talking about starting faster, well, that involves making some of these completions that we didn't see previously. If you're up to 64, which would be a big jump. From 58 to 64? Yeah, there would be six points. So if you're up to that, if you're up to 63, we'll say five.

Okay, how's that? Yeah. If you're up to 63, still seven away from 70. but think about the difference that will make day to day for the bears breathing easier in games and then also successful drives the lead to touchdowns earlier in games. So once you consider that, 70 might be the indicator of an MVP type of season for him. But in the meantime, progress has to be the goal here because perfection, I think, is the end game. You can envision it.

But we would be very happy. I think watching games, the teams would breathe me easier if we're seeing him complete to even that rate. And that's just a couple of made passes here and there. Is it a couple of screen passes? I know the screen game is still something they're really working on. That keys in for me. But this is doable in a way that I think really would make a big difference in games. And I don't know that we're really understanding it fully as to how that would play out until we actually see it happen.

eight teams last year scored more than 27 points per game. The Bears were the ninth ranked scoring offense last year at 25.9. And I know there's plenty of times we've looked at it and understood, hey, if that completion percentage goes up, whether it's four, five, six percentage points, that's points that are going to be on the board as well. And if you want to be the best team that you can be next year, especially knowing that your defense is certainly in flux from just a who's available. standpoint. The offense has to be that much more consistent because those are the

knowns. You do know pretty much everything on this offense outside of a couple of things. One being the center position and what kind of chemistry there will be or lack of chemistry to start the season. We expect it to get better always. And then left tackle who's going to be available, how healthy they'll be, and how effective they'll be. But I like their chances of being better on offense than I do on defense because of everything we've heard Ben Johnson. and say Caleb Williams, say, and the fact that they're on the same page. The thing that concerns me about left tackle is I don't want half the field

being taken away again every other play. It wasn't every other play last year, it just felt like it. But I don't want half the field being taken away again on so many plays. Or I feel like he immediately is flushed out of the pocket, has to roll right, make something happen. And yeah, he can throw downfield

and across his body. There's no doubt about that in my mind. But schematically, I would like all of the field to be available for him. so that way he's able to make the ideal plays there. Yeah, I'm both run plays and not just throwing it back across to the left side for a screen pass or something like that. You want to be able to use the entire field.

Well, and also, we've heard from Antoine Randall L, for example, from J.T. Barrett about not tiring out your players too. You know, everybody's young right now. You can still do this in the fourth quarter. You get to be Joe Flacco's age and things look a little different. Yeah, that's also a... A mobility issue for Caleb Williams. if he's as effective mobility-wise then as he is now,

he'll have had a pretty good run in Chicago. Right. But I think at some point, you know, you have to marry your physical skill with your schematic skill. And that has to happen, I think, earlier rather than later, to help add years to your career. Caleb's just like the rest of us. He's got the physical tools now in his prime,

and he's trying to make that last while the mental catches up. Just like all of us. Like we all get to a point where like, dang, I wish I knew what I know now back then when I was in my physical prime at my peak. Right. I mean... Now I'm washed. You withstood injury.

What are you talking about? Yes. Yes. I survived. You're healthier now than you were a couple years ago. Again, guys, not thriving over here. We are surviving. But the point is like even now compared to two years ago, you're in a much healthier

spot physically. Yes, that is absolutely true. So that, that defeats your theory right there. It doesn't defeat the theory, though. I still wish I had to have. the same that I had my late 20s, early 30s. Youth is wasted on the young. It is.

Cherish it, Caleb Williams. And in the meantime, I think two or three more passes in a first half, things change remarkably. On a first drive, things change remarkably. I'm not even asking for the drive. I'm just asking for a half. How's that? I'll take the quarter. Baby steps, friends, baby steps. Let's get a report from Chris Emma. He is in Cincinnati. He watched the joint practices. He'll be next with us on the score.

The score. Some people like Chris Rubba. Do a ho-s-leash. Nobody's field is getting messed up by Romstein. This is the music that I think of anytime anybody's raging throughout an office. It goes back to Entourage. We've been raging all day. What do you mean?

No, but you know, if you're on a rampage or, like, walking around the office with a purpose and you want to make a point to your supervisor and you, like, go up all these floors. This is the scene from Entourage, where Werner's mad, and then he's going up all the floors asking for Dana Gordon. And it's to Entourage. This is also the music that I think was playing with Chris Sale was storming through the socks offices before he cut the sleeves of his jersey.

Did you guys know that? Every single time I think it's like, I picture Chris Sale walking to do host by Romstein. You just got me thinking about Ari Gold with the paint gun. No, that's the point. Yeah, you got it. You got me. You got me. Does our guest understand any of these references?

Of course he does. I don't know. Let's ask him. Chris Emma. He is at Chris Emma 1 on Twitter. He is the Bears Beat reporter for The Score and the ScoreChicago.com. Chris, how are you? What did you think of this commentary?

Can you provide any thoughts? That's one of my favorite scenes from Entourage and one of my favorite scenes, absolutely. It gets the juices going for me. Grotty knows this well. That's my workout song now. So that gets the blood pumping a little bit as we get into the gym

and I kind of turn to like Ari Gold ready to go. So do Haas. It's a great song. Dana! Can't you see Chris Sale running through the socks offices with the jersey that he doesn't want to wear to that means?

It's a reference, but I love that reference. I can 1,000% envision that. Every time I hear about it, that's the song that plays in my head immediately. Meanwhile, Chris, we know where you are. And to be clear, some people like Chris Emma. I love Chris Emma. And I love the fact that you are covering the Bengals and the Bears joint practice. This is important.

Some would say even more important than the preseason game itself. So I offer you the floor, Chris Emma, to tell us, what did you think of the joint practice? Well, we'll get to that first part last because Ben Johnson covered it. I'll just get right to it. I do not see the starters playing it all Saturday night for either side because this was great work. This is two hours on the practice field right off to the side of Peacour Stadium here in Cincinnati.

And one field, field two is Bears' offense first Bengals defense. The other field field three, Bears defense versus Bengals' offense. I would consider a draw, which I know is not a sexy answer here. But there's moments for both sides. Quite frankly, in my eyes were mostly on the Bears' offensive side. there were some struggles today. Dexter Lawrence was a game record for the Bengals. And we remember that 47-42 game on November one last year with the Bengals defense really looked rough and just did not stand the field with the Bears.

This is much different better Bengals defense. And they were causing problems. Bears' offense line had a rough day today. Caleb Williams had a lot of really good and some bad moments as well. But this was a great experience for this group being out there and going against a different opponent and a tough opponent as well. So that's my thought. I'm going to give it to the floor to Caleb Williams.

and T.J. Edwards, because we asked them both how they felt today when. Here's Caleb Williams first. Yeah, I'd say we just got to clean up, you know, the penalties. I think that was, you know, on the first, I'd say 90% of, you know, practice just we cleaned up those. We had some pretty big explosive plays and it looks and feels different, I would say. You know, I haven't been able to watch it yet, so I don't know for, you know, for sure, but that's how it felt, at least out there. And then, And the situation has just got to be better, you know, whether it's myself and protecting the football or, you know, up front or wire receivers or we know all of us. It's a combination of all of us being able to go out there and execute. And it's going to be a focus point for us for sure.

Obviously, the really good offense. Saw them last year too. So we definitely had familiarity of just how they attacked us a little bit last year and kind of, right, what they do best. And obviously, they got some guys on the outside, a great quarterback. really good run game, good running back. So we knew it was going to be a really good challenge for us to see kind of where we were at. And I think our main thing we wanted to do today

was just compete, like every single rep. We wanted to get takeaways. We wanted to get pressure, energy, all those things. And without looking at the tape, you know, there's always going to be stuff we want to clean up. But I thought we did that today. It was a lot of fun. Again, you know, going out with this team for the first year,

a lot of good guys, a lot of new guys on it too. So it was a lot of fun. So hearing that, Chris, and understanding what this means to Ben Johnson and his coaching staff, I'm curious as to if they were pleased, displeat, like, is this, could you call it a draw? Is that a good thing, a bad thing, or we still got work to do thing? How would you look at it through your lens? I expected to see a little bit better from the Bears today, and in particular on the offensive side of the football. Maybe it's the recency bias of that game last year where the Bears put up 47.

on the board and really dictated that game offensively. I think one of my takeaways was Dexter Lawrence is an absolute game record for the Bengals and some of you upgrades that entire defense for Cincinnati. But a lot of the pre-snap stuff was something Ben Johnson, who spoke before practice, was saying that he was really pleased with the way that operation has been. And that was what he was focused on. I'm going to guess he was not happy after practice. And I'm curious to hear when he speaks next, kind of his evaluation of that.

But I expected to see a cleaner operation, the tackle competition. They mixed in Theo Bennett a little bit more with Braxton Jones. Neither of them looked great out there today. Neither of them had a stellar day race. You plant your flag in the ground and say that's our guy. And I think they were hoping to see that today as they mixed that up a little bit. The Bengals created some problems. And this is the beauty of these joint practices.

You're able to get live looks against an opponent you're not really familiar with and really test each other out. And I don't think the Bears pass the test by any means. I think there's a lot they really want to clean up. It's not Caleb Williams' fault. I thought he had a mostly good day. He didn't get picked off by Dexter Lawrence on a ball. He tried to elevate over the middle and big old 97 pulled it in.

The first play from practice was a bot snap, a little bit of a snap from Garrett-Bradbury. Second play was a beautiful strike from Caleb Williams to Rome with Eunze. So there were ups and downs. That's kind of the showcase of practice today. Yeah, I think that was something that I was noticing to was we're still looking at combinations of personnel, Chris. And that was one of the points that was made just an observation was,

who's your left tackle in a two-minute drill situation? We saw reports about Theo Benedet. What were your observations about who they went to in crunch time at left tackle? I mean, I was thinking by this point, it's August 20th today that you really have this thing kind of wrapped up in some form. And it's gotten a little bit more messy here. The Bragston's shown injury certainly played a role in that. Having him sidelined for a week just did not help, especially coming off this injury.

I think it's his job to lose. And he did have some good moments today as well. He looks like a different player now that he's healthy. He was just not healthy at all last year. But the way this is working out right now, Chedric Will's being kind of shoved out of the mix. Karan Amagagashi, I don't see on the 53 right now even. Theo Bennett was being kind of cross-trained at the right tackle spot.

Now they're putting him in a left tackle to give him another look at this spot. And nobody's really running away with this. I still think it's Braxton Jones' job. And I think he's going to play well as he continues to get his feet under him back out here in action. but this has not been an overwhelming success by any means. And think about the context of last year where nobody really won that battle, and there they are in the early week five by shifting it once again. I think their hope is they don't have to do that.

They can get this thing resolved here in the preseason, and probably in the next week, week and a half, they will say Braxton Jones is our starter left tackle, but it's not there right now. Chris, I want to take it back to what you said about the pre-snap penalties because that's something Lail and I have been harping on. When we talk about the relationship between, a guy in Garrett Bradbury who has obviously not had the chance to build up the rapport that Drew

Dalman, it even took him and Caleb Williams some time to do last season. How much of that pre-snap stuff do you feel like was because there is a new center there and they're still getting used to everything on the offensive line? I think today was more a buying product of the Bengals. I think the Bengals are probably doing some stuff pre-snap to mess with the Bears a little bit and probably not messing with Garrett-Bradbury as much as the offensive line as a whole. It's been a lot cleaner and fluid throughout the course of training camp, and the offensive line has looked pretty strong so far.

Garrett Bradberries looked really good, and I understand why they coveted him in that spot. They want a guy, especially with Caleb Williams, still this 24 years old year two and Ben Johnson system, year three in the league. They want a caddy at center, and somebody can really work well with the pre-snap stuff and helping align Caleb Williams,

just as much as Caleb Williams is going to get everybody else aligned. I think that's a terrific dynamic they have, and they got the right guy in place. ideally at some point this is Logan Jones job for a long time is your long-term center here. But right now I think they feel plenty comfortable with Gary Bramberry. Today was just not a great day for that offensive line. And that's okay. I'm telling you, one of my top takeaways today was Dexter Lawrence looked outstanding out there.

So it was good for both sides of the football against some tests. Lawrence up against that bears offense and offensive line. On the other side of the football, when you got Jamar Chase and T. Higgins, Joe Burrow, going up against that defense with a secondary being tested. You got some really good battles out there today. Chris, we're talking to Chris Emma. He's joining us live from Cincinnati. He is our reporter at 1043, the score covering the bears.

He is also at the score, Chicago.com. And Chris, how many run plays did you see? Because I know Ben Johnson touched on it after the game on Saturday. He talked about how the run game he wanted to see more out of. I think this is independent of D'Andre Swift at this point. We know Swift had a wonderful camp. What were your observations about the run game? I think today was a really interesting day for that third running back, Knicks,

if that's something you're interested in, because Kyle Bonang guy did not travel with the team, nor did Tyson Bayesian, by the way, if you're looking ahead to Saturday. So they're getting a look at some of these other guys. Braden Brown had one of my favorite plays. I think I've ever seen, honestly, in training camp today where, you know, they got those guardian caps on top of their regular helmet. And there comes Britt and Brown along the edge with the end zone in sight. He took on contact to the point where his guardian head was popping off,

and then he finished his run in the end zone. It was just a bulldozer type play. He's had this moment. Savon Ahmed is a guy who we saw Flash last week in the preseason opener and a really interesting player. Somebody got hurt last year with a really catastrophic injury during camp and trying to get back to that form, but somebody that Ben Johnson clearly trusts. So, Yondri Swift has looked fantastic throughout this training camp.

We saw him really flash, especially that live scrimmage last week, that first play he popped along the sidelines. I didn't feel really good about this running back, Nick, certainly with Menungi factored in, and they hope that is not. a serious injury where he's missing more than a few weeks at this point. But they got a good evaluation than that today. Britton Brown and Savon-Ockman really stood out. So we know that it's a matchup of exciting quarterbacks that played out in real-time

because we saw a backup step into the role like he was Joe Burrow and Joe Flacco last year. But now we've got Burrow back to full health. And I understand he had some things to say about the guy that plays quarterback in Chicago, right? It's cool to have that dynamic too in Chicago because I remember a few years ago when the Bengals came to Hallis Hall for a joint practice and thinking this is pre-Kaleb Williams now that Joe Burrow is the best quarterback that's ever practiced at Hallis Hall before. And now the Bears got a guy in Caleb Williams who's considered one of the best in the league. And in that elite class, he seems to be heading that way. That's the hope at least that he becomes one of those top 10 quarterbacks in the league in a true bona fide franchise arm. And if you ask Joe Burrow, Caleb Williams is becoming that.

Here's Gil Burrough on Caleb Williams. Yeah, he made some incredible plays, and they always seem to come up in huge spots. And that was exciting to see. Obviously, I've known him for a long time, and he takes it very seriously, and he's a very talented guy, and fun to watch. And, you know, so to have him make those plays in those big spots, it's good for the league, it's good for Chicago, and it's good for everybody. So when you have players like that, it just makes everybody.

that much better. It's the respect, right? The respect factor is in order here? I think it's incredibly cool that the Bears have one of those guys who a player like Joe Burrough has that kind of respect or that admiration for it. There's going to be more of that. Caleb Williams, especially what you do as he did in the playoffs, everybody in the football world watching that.

There's so much respect for Caleb Williams as a budding franchise quarterback. And they came out where he was a couple of years ago when C.P. Stroud kind of had that awkward moment with Caleb Post game and he had that eye roll. And now the top guys around the league are looking at Caleb Williams saying he is one of us. He is becoming a top quarterback. And it's really cool. You're going to hear more of that as you go throughout the course of this season. But this is a guy that everybody in the league is looking to saying that's Caleb Williams team and the

Bears are going to go wherever Caleb takes them. And it's been all arrows pointing up here in training camp. I've come away really impressed by Caleb Williams, the process that he's had, the determination that's in play for a guy who's continued to ascend in this league and what I've seen on the field, the emphasis on ball plays and put in the ball right on that spot where you can get that received reception,

that yards after catch and really enhance Ben Johnson's offense to the next level. I see a guy and Caleb Williams who's really dialed in on doing what the coaches want and getting the best out of himself because he knows after last season that Ben Johnson has his best interest in mind and they're going to go really far together if they embrace that.

Yeah, Joe sounded like he was cheering on the greater good there, which also involved Caleb. Chris, what can you tell us about what Ben Johnson had to say about the practices? Well, I'm just curious about this because the bears have now multiple joint practices. Next week, week from today, they will be in Nashville working with the Titans. They did multiple last year. They've done a handful of these even before Ben Johnson came to the helm. And it's more of a new school thought, the ability to do these practices away from the preseason now and structure it accordingly, where rather than playing with the randomness of a preseason game and anything, the variables in play there.

You've got two practices basically going. Bears O versus Bengals D. Bears D versus Bengals O. And it's just rapid fire. It's great action. This has become more of a priority around the league where there's a bunch of these going on today. So I asked Ben Johnson about why this is more important work in his mind than the preseason. Here's Ben Johnson.

Yeah. Well, I mean, they're controlled reps here. You know, the emphasis is going to be on our starters. And, you know, talking with Zach, he feels the same way. It's, they'll get the bulk of the workload here. and we'll assess where we're at after the practice just in terms of that workload. But, yeah, it's exciting because we know, you know, there's ground rules. Stay away from the quarterback.

You know, we're thudden up and things of that nature. And so we can just make sure it's safe, it's controlled. And yet the competition goes up. The intensity goes up. You can't help, but when you have a new face across from you, you want to go out there and make sure your identity and who you're about, everything you're about shows up on tape. And so that's what we're looking for today. We talked about it this morning.

We want to see our style of play transfer and translate, even though we're on the road here. Knowing that there are joint practices each of the next two weeks now before these last two preseason games, does that mean we're really not going to see the starters in the preseason, specifically Caleb Williams? I think that's going to be the case. I would be very surprised if you see the bear starters on Saturday night here at Picard Stadium next week looking ahead. Ben Johnson's serious when he says they need to determine after. these practices. And I was trying to imagine what kind of catastrophic and sloppiness would take for the Bears to run their starters out and change course and do that on Saturday night.

I don't think you're going to see any of those starters out there for that preseason finale down in Nashville. I think they're going to really prioritize the work you get on the fields here, Cincinnati and then Tennessee and getting the best out of those joint practices. And they feel really good about it. And Ben Johnson's said it beautifully last week. He's like, do I need to see Kim La Williams in the preseason? No, I see him every day in practice. So last year, it was different because that was year one of the offense. They really needed every rep in a race against the clock to be totally prepared. And they really even win that race last September.

It took while to get that offense up to speed. The offense is more than up to speed right now. Caleb Williams is the guy taking the lead. Not only what Ben Johnson wants, but everybody else on the field. So they feel like they're in a really good spot for that side of the football. I think they feel plenty confident about the work. Zach Taylor, the Bengals seem to suggest, the same as what the Bears want to do, that they're going to hold out their starters as well for Saturday night.

As I mentioned, Tyson Bayesian's not here. So that means Case Keenham, Miller Moss, those are going to be your quarterbacks most likely on Saturday night. That's incredible. We've been trying to figure that out, Chris. And after seeing Case Canem sling it in that third quarter last week, I assumed he would be getting the start if that were the case. I know it's not ideal for the bears. But for those of us who just love yards, just a lot of passing yards? Completion percentage.

All of it, I feel like I'm in a good place with this. I just want to take a moment to you like Case Keenum, the level of appreciation for that guy. He's 38 years old. He's in year 15 of the league. He truly embraces being the backup quarterback for this guy, being a sounding board between Caleb Williams and the rest of this team and the coaching staff and being a true veteran presence. That's a guy who just loves football.

He keeps coming back and doing this work because he loves ball. He loves being part of the team. So it's going to be fun to watch him out there. And from the other side last week with the Browns, like Case Keenum should be the starter for the Browns. I mean, trade a draft take. you need to do to get that guy. That was a mess that they had between Deshawn Watson and two-door

Sanders. Case Keenum is worlds above those Cleveland quarterbacks that they had out there. So it speaks volumes to the way that he prepares and the work he's still putting in now at age 38, you're 15 to be successful. All right, I just, I really got to hit this because you haven't mentioned a couple of names.

Jalen Johnson, Montes, sweat, Dio, Dingbo. Did any of these guys on defense flash against what we assume is going to be a world-class offense quarterback by Joe Burrow with that receiving core. You know who flashed today, even better, they'll go with the young buck.

That's number 31, Dylan Theeman. From my perspective, I was watching the offensive side, and there was kind of multiple plays going at the same time, and I hear a roar on the other field. I kind of look up, but there's 31, and what I found out was the ball was deflected off the hands of T. Higgins. Dylan Theanman pulls it in, and is just gone down the sidelines. And the bear's defense, and really the bears as a whole,

they were loud at it. They made their voices heard. That was the loudest that field three got, as Dylan Thineman was flying down the field as well. So it was great to see him back out there. Dio Dainbo, and we have to talk with T.J. Edwards today. He kind of leaned into the ongoing bits and he looked motivated out there. So 55's healthy out there.

I'll give you another report, too, because there's been a lot of focus on Kyler Gordon. He was out there today on the sidelines, not in uniform, of course, but watching practice closely. Look, we've heard a lot from the Bears about Kyler Gordon's side. My understanding as well is that he's frustrated. He's been down on his luck with the injuries. and I think a lot of that, frankly, it's probably something he's not doing right. When you have this level of soft tissue injuries and these injuries, one after the other for him, I'm sure he's incredibly frustrated that he's not playing.

Look, I think there's something that he and the Bears have to get on the same page with in terms of the preparation to be out there. But at the very least, I not seen Tyler Gordon really at all, aside from in the locker room postgame Saturday. So he along with Luther Berger there watching on the sidelines, cheering on their teammates, and part of this trip. So that's good to see. I think you just buried the lead. T.J. Edwards is aware of motivated Dio? He got a laugh out of that one, too. He's heard. I think everybody in that locker room has heard of the motivated Dio bit.

So look, they're thrilled that he's out there. And I know it's become like a social media meme and everything out there. But for Dio Dainbo to come back, the injury was here in Cincinnati on that field, that for him to come back, go through this process, embrace it, and come back stronger. than this. Obviously, it's a different leg. He's dealing with a different injury than he had years ago. But that process of rehabming from that allowed him to come back with a clean process, a clean rehab, and be stronger than before. So this is a key guy for the Bears. We know Montes Sweat carried a little over for that pass rush.

They are counting on 55 to be part of this as well, along with the guys like Austin, Booker, and the complimentary pieces that you have in this rush. So do you're able to get Dino and Daimbo back to form? This defense is going to be in a really good place. All right. Well, that is huge. Chris, you've done a great job reporting from Cincinnati. We look forward to your reports tomorrow as well. Take care. Thanks, Chris. Emma, our Bears reporter. You can check his work out at the score Chicago.com. Of course, he is at Chris Emma 1 on Twitter.

Who knew? He'd be typing, he'd be talking, he'd be asking questions, and he'd be recording. That's Chris Emma. Amazing. Trading cam coverage on the score is sponsored by IDOT. At some point in the day, everyone is a pedestrian. Slow down and give them space. Share the road. It's not a game. Coming up next, our friend Jesse Rogers is doing the work for the people out here. He decided to ask players who they think has the edge in the National League MVP race. Pete Roy Armstrong or Shohei Otani.

And he built quite a consensus. I think there were some very good thoughts in this. So we'll examine next. Rahimi Harris and Grody. I mean, I'm just going to make it happen. I'm a dog. Middays 10 to 2 on 1043, the score. You got to see a few pitches first.

It's a high fly ball deep right. Going back Montgomery, he looks up. Cops walking off. Pete Crowell Armstrong ends the game the way he started it with a home run to right. He got a breaking ball that stayed up and out over the plate. I guess it took him three pitches to figure it out. He's out in front of us a little bit, but he stays through it and just hits it under the video board close to where the first one.

whip, second homer in a game, Cubs win. That courtesy of the Cubs Radio Network, Zach and Ron on the call. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104.3, the score. And Peekro Armstrong, another 30-30 season to his name, 31 home runs with his stolen base count. He again continues to just make waves. The OPS is 928. That is good for 14th. In baseball, he is batting 279.

He's got 79 RBI. to his name. The man keeps doing things. He's off today because the Cubs play the Mariners on Friday for a weekend set, but even though PCA's bat was quieted yesterday, Marshall, the statements have been made. So PCA is right neck and neck with Shoay Otani and a lot of things offensively. Here's the biggest difference between the two players. Shohei Otani has pitched this season. He is not currently pitching and we're not sure if he will pitch again. PCA does something that Show Hey, Otani does not do. And that's play defense.

And not just regular defense, but otherworldly top of the scale defense in the center field. Center field defense being a big part of this is that we're starting to see positional value. That's part of the reason the Cubs wanted to sign him to an extension when they did was even though they knew the bat was not a finished product. The fielding value to them was. So Jesse Rogers came out with this article yesterday.

Crow Armstrong versus O'Tani, who has the edge in the NL MVP race. And you hear from us, you know what we're going to say. We tend to be biased toward PCA here in this house. But we also want to know what else people are saying? You know, we've talked to Bob Nightingale. You asked the question of Bob Nightingale weeks ago about this before the trade deadline. Jesse did one better. I think he did what a lot of reporters should do.

You know, we talk about your favorite players' favorite player. and he interviewed a various amount of players, 20 players across nine different teams to get their opinion on the MVP race. The Dodgers and the Cubs were not part of the polling, which had Crowe Armstrong as the choice among our player panel. So PCA got 15 votes. Otani got four and split MVP was two. So that right there tells you,

there's a good chance your favorite player's favorite player right now. now is Pete Crow Armstrong. What's up, everybody? Yeah, what's up, PCA? But we know that the BBWAA helps decide this, and it's why we ask guys like Bob Nightingale what they think. Now, we might have gotten one back because Tim Kirchon was on foul territory today

and was asked this very question. It's a toss-up, Katie, but at the moment, I'm going to take Pete Crow Armstrong just based on what he has done lately. Now, we're going to revisit this every day for the rest of this season. And if Shohei returns to the mound and pitches like crazy in September, that's going to change the dynamic completely. But PCA has been amazing. You know, he's the first Cub ever to have a 30-30 season, 30 homers, 30 steals in back-to-back

years. The 31 homers just proves, again, how good a hitter he has become. But Greg counsel, the manager of the Cubs, has told me that PCA is, by far the best player, defensive player at any position, quote, on the planet. And he said, I think he's the fastest player in the league. And he said he is the type of fast that I've never seen from a major league player. I mean, his quickness, start and stop, everything else. So here you have a guy who can beat you with his glove in center field, beat you with his legs.

He just did that the other day, stealing third and scoring on the throw to the outfield. and of course he's a really good hitter. So I would give him the slight edge at this point, but this is going to be one of the closest MVP races that I repeat. We still have to see what Otani does down the stretch. And this is, Katie, this is when the MVP races should be decided. The last five weeks of the six weeks of the season to see who takes their team into the playoffs and what they look like when they get there.

So it's a dead heat. I'll take PCA by inches. I love Tim Kirchen and his explanation, and I love that he explains, like, this is when the ward should be decided. Stretch right. Now, we do expect both of these teams to be in the playoffs, but it can be a situation where you ask yourself several questions. One of those questions being, if you took this player off the team, how much would that affect said team? That's one of the, just one of the many arguments. That's the old school, the most valuable player discussion.

Yes. And the other questions you can also ask, though, are, hey, I know this player is a better player career-wise, but can you just focus on this season? Because a lot of people I've heard talk to me in my comments, whatever. Well, Shohei Otani went 50-50, so it shouldn't matter. How many stolen bases to show Hey Otani have this year? Also, it's about this year. But here's the thing. We see it happen in baseball. We've seen a guy like Alex Rodriguez when.

AL MVP the year after he should have. Like, they have done it. You know who also is guilty of having done this? Someone who was surveyed for this story by Jesse Rogers. Oh, he plays for the White Sox. His name is Drew Romo. Let me quote him. Drew Romo.

The case for... Hold on. Who does this? Not the MVP part. When you say, who does this? This is what exactly? Who does what I'm about to tell you he did? Like what he says.

The case for Otani, here's the quote from White Sox catcher Romo. Otani. He's the most valuable. He's maybe the

greatest player of all time. And I know the MVP is a quote unquote this year award. But I just think Otani is the

greatest. The first half on the mound was enough for me. It sounds like he understands the assignment but

says F the assignment and says I'm going to refer to him being really, really good overall, not excluded to this year.

I was like, I'm pretty sure Drew Romo did not win the MVP the year later. That's what I was like, wait a second. Well, is Drew Romo, though, playing the game here? Is he playing the cross-town game here? Is he playing the cross-town game? Like, I couldn't possibly put it out in writing that I'm co-signing that PCA is MVP.

There's that and then there's also the fact that catchers work with who? Pitchers. Okay. Even though he's not currently pitching. The other case for pitching here is Sean Burke, White Sox pitcher. A half season of Cy Young level pitching and what he does offensively. No one has done that on both sides of the ball. He gets my vote.

So I'm like, hmm, did pitcher catcher align here? And also Sox versus Cubs. I get it. Well, you say that, but let me refute those two witnesses, if you will, for the jury. Oh, really? With this from two other White Sox pitchers who helped make the case for, Pete Crowe Armstrong. Here's Trevor Richards. He hasn't slowed down. And on top of that, he's arguably the best field at all of baseball. He's a complete player. That's for sure. PCA has a chance to go 40-40. That's one White Sox pitcher, Trevor Richards. Here's White Sox pitcher Anthony Kay. Quote, the pitching side of things from Otani is amazing, but I think I would go with PCA. If you look at war, that's Wednesday.

above replacement. And stuff like that, both have been incredible, but I'd go with Pete. Okay, so I think that the most measured quote was here from Emilio Pagan. Okay, give it to me. Who actually put some formula to this. He's the pitcher with the Reds. I had a debate like this with Rocco Baldelli when I was with Minnesota. That surprises me zero, by the way.

Like that whole sentence right there. It was Otani and Judge at the time. Judge was like the best defensive right fielder in the game. Rockos said you have to take the defensive war that judge provides and compare that to the pitching war that Otani provides. And then if the offense is even, that's how you can do it. So I'd go PCA. If Otani starts pitching again and goes five to seven innings,

a start down the stretch, the conversation looks different. If he doesn't pitch again in a real starter's role, then I'd vote for PCA still. But here's a thing. I think, at least according to Fangraves, I think Shohei Otani's pitching war is still higher than PCA's defense. defensive war. It is.

But this is a good. This was good. Rocco Baldelli provided us with information that made sense. It is. But PCA has a chance to add more to his defensive war because as we far as far as we know, Otani's not getting back on the mound before the postseason because if you're the Dodgers going for three straight World Series titles, why would you put him back on the mound before you had to?

Yeah. But that's at least, at least he was able to provide a formula and a solution. Like credit to Rocco Baldelli. I'm like, oh, that's like. that or why you became a manager so young. So F war to update you, 8.3 F. War to lead the majors for Pete Crowe Armstrong. And then Shohei Otani has an F. War of seven, which is second highest. Just to show you the gap, by the way.

It's 8.3 for PCA. It's seven for Shohei. And then Bobby Witt, Jr. is third, six. So everybody's probably seen by now the Greg Amsinger. Not a Cardinals fan, by the way, Greg Amsinger, video of him refuting war as far as MVP measurement in favor of Shohei Otani and against PCA.

And when I was watching the first two games across town, do you know what I thought? Like state of the union? And it's like, and now with the Democrat response, and in this case, because there's a Republican president in power, it'd be the other way around, vice versa. And now with the, and now with the

non-PCA response, here's Greg Amsinger. Like somebody has to be the one to like appear on screen and say, why, this is not the case. The anybody but PCA party? I just do want to point out in B-War, that's baseball references, wins above replacement. PCA is a 7.8 already compared to Otani, who is at 6.8.

And in defensive war, 1.8 is what Pete Carr Armstrong is at as far as defensive war goes. We got another vote from a White Sox for PCA on our text line, 630. I'm a diehard socks fan and I strongly dislike parentheses hate LOL parentheses the Cubs but it's PCA for MVP and it's not really close IMO

like that's the thing maybe the socks are the best team to survey in this because they see highlights and stuff like they're just closer to it all and they just experienced what they just experienced the last three games

and then it's two and two and two socks say Otani and two socks say PCA classic classic see I disagree with 309 on the text line. And thank you for texting us, by the way. If PCA keeps this up and doesn't win MVP, it's basically a signal that the MVP is for pitchers only, kind of like how it is in the NFL

with QBs. I think it's very different because I think if there was a quarterback who was doing elite level stuff and then turn around and playing, I don't know, middle linebacker or free safety and getting you interceptions, we'd be giving that guy MVP every year. Shohay's one of one. That's the issue. You have the Say Young for the AL and the NL. you have the MVP for the AL and the NL, what he's doing is one of one. And that alone might make you say that he's far and away the MVP.

It can be that simple too. But you have to understand what Pekro Armstrong is doing in a Shohei Otami dominated national league and understand that to even be in the conversation like this requires a phenomenal season.

You know what my favorite part about the conversation is? It ain't over. And it's going to continue. And we're going to continue to have fun talking about it. Everyone can weigh in and have an opinion and be affected by what both of these superstar players in their prime are able to do and make baseball great and big and grow the game until we get to 2027 and everything comes to a screeching haul.

Do you keep talking about it like it's a done deal? Do you want to put money on it? I would love to put money on whether or not there's going to be a work stoppage next year. It's got to be like the amount of time. And work stoppage is a loaded term. It would be a lockout. Like the owners would theoretically lock out the players. That's fine.

Like, because you're acting like they would stop working the players. They would stop working because the owners would not allow them to work. Correct. Yes. There's, so not to get all nitty. I just,

I keep saying lockout, lockout. I was just trying to mix it up a little bit. Workstop, which can definitely be, you know. 312 asks a reasonable question. I love PCA and as a socks fan,

but what are we doing with Shohay? Oh, but are we doing with show hey? What we hated with everyone would do when they would not vote for anyone, but Jordan for MVP. I don't think it's the same because I think the skill set of... So, like, he's saying like, or they're saying, like, when they would, everybody would vote for somebody who isn't Michael Jordan for MVP, are we doing the same with Shohei?

No. And I think that's a valid question. I don't think we're doing the same with Shohei because Shohei ain't pitching right now. I think that's a big part of the equation. He's got just somewhere between a third and 40% of the games pitched in a season. And if it stays here, fine. Now, if he comes back and pitches, the conversation is, itself will change. I think the Rocco Baldelli formula might be the way, but again, you've got to

count somebody playing every day and how that factors in. These are big problems for our times, guys. And a story we will continue to track, as Tim Kirkshan aptly described. Okay, we've got to save, I think, the trash talking story for, I guess we have tomorrow that we're expecting that we're very excited about that you will want to listen to with them. I think we need to listen to whatever this motivated dio acknowledgement was from T.J. Edwards, because I did not see that coming. Have we even talked to T.J. Edwards? Since he broke his leg, have we talked to T.J. Edwards? Is this the first time?

Anybody? Not sure. We'll have to look into that. I don't believe you spoken. I don't think so. I'd missed hearing from T.J. Edwards. So I need this. We'll do it next. Rahimi, Harrison Grody. I'm saying, I love Chicago there.

That's exactly what I said. Word for word, I was saying. I love Chicago. Middays 10 to 2 on 104 3, the score. the dangbo. Okay, so we're aware the Twitter streets have made us aware that Di-O-Dangbo

is also aware of the concept of motivated Dio where, coming off of an Achilles injury, a tear, that he's going to be motivated and play to the contract. It was, I think, somebody in our Twitch chat said they figured out that it is two different Achilles,

but I need to see it for myself. I need to know. I'm going to barge into Hallis Hall and be like, excuse me, they're going to be like, you don't have a credential. I'm like, I don't care. Which Achilles was it? Counterpoint, you could just request a credential and they'll let you in. And I would be like, here is my one question as to why I am here with said credential.

Be prepared. You got to wait till locker room is open for that because you don't want to waste that limited podium time on that question. No, that's, no. Other writers will look at you. Minusia does not belong at the podium. That's for Rahimi Harris and Grim. already 10 to 2 every day. But in the meantime, we know

T.J. Edwards, friend of the station. Parents used to listen to 104 3, the score back when it was 670. You think his parents stopped listening? I don't know. I just... I hope you're still listening, Mr. and Mrs. Edwards. Yeah, he said he grew up listening to Bores and Bernstein when he was little.

So I guess it shouldn't surprise me that T.J. Edwards is aware. Also, TJ spoke in April. So he has, this will be the second time he spoke since he had broken his leg. The point is I need to hear from T.J. Edwards more. But I did not expect this. How do you rally around a team,

everybody online, doing a motivated, Diio and Daimbo stuff? How do you rally around them and be like, man, don't worry about it. When you get back, we know what you're going to be able to bring. The highest team every day, I'm just like, he looked motivated today. So I feed right into it. Yeah, I feed right into it. But no, I think, you know, especially for me,

like I was, you know, I was going through rehab just when they were going through rehab too. So I got to see that progression with Dio and no, you know, got to see that firsthand. And again, know the players that they are, know what they are when they're feeling like themselves. And you just try to stay together. I mean, it's a sport where you need everyone in here. So knowing that they got to be at their best when they get back, I think it's kind of what we were just preaching.

And it's really good to see them back on the field. Okay, I love this. I love it. TJ Edwards was in on the bit. He looked motivated today. And the giggle. I also need to hear TJ Edwards happy. That makes me happy too.

Yeah, he sounded as happy as I think I've heard that man sounding quite some time. Because T.J is the responsible one who has to answer like a businessman because we ask him out of crazy, out-of-pocket questions. It's more than that, though. He also is from here, so he fully gets it. Like, he fully understands the Bears fans mindset, right? Like, he lived it growing up here. Look, this is a plea from us here at the Rahimi Harrison Grotie show to Vince and Kathy Edwards.

Hey, if you ever want to call in and talk to us about things, feel free. We're here for you. And I understand that Vince played his father, played a big role coaching him growing up. And I think I would like to talk to Vince Edwards about what he thinks about what has happened with his son, his success as a professional, both in Philadelphia and here, obviously in Chicago. And the pressure that he as a dad who already had all these conversations, who already listened to sports talk radio, now having another layer of actually having his son play for the team. I cannot imagine what that is like.

But I think it also means you kind of understand. Like sometimes players, it's not personal. It just becomes symbolic. Motivated Dio has become the symbol of the struggle of the defensive line and the lack of pass rush that we had expected to see. And if he takes it out on his opponents, didn't we all win and make some friends along the way? Shout out to Vince and Kathy.

And T.J., man, it's good to hear from him. It's great that he's been able to come back so quickly, too. Really is. So all of that is uplifting to me. I also want to point out that it is National Radio Day. And we didn't get to our coworker stories. But in the spirit of team, you guys both came up in very hustle-based ways, Tyler and Ray.

And I think you should share your stories because I don't like that it was just us, too, on the air saying it. So to pick up where we left off and vibe on it, you know, How did you come to be in the business? And what's your best, like, radio stories to how you got to your career? So I kind of started in the business by getting a little weekend gig over when it was called BetQL and just kind of working over there. And then made my way over here as a part-timer and then now joining you guys here on the midday show. But as far as recent memorable times working in radio, I will have to say it was probably being able to dump PCA for cussing on our show.

because I mean not many people can do to say they did that and so that was that was fantastic and he brought his great content for a rejoin. He said sorry to Ray made him spill his coffee everywhere so for right now

because I'm still pretty new to this industry I would say that was probably one of the most memorable moments for me. It's great to be able to say you stopped PCA. Yeah not many people can do that and I'm honored to have been shocked by PCA

to the point that I spilled my coffee all over the place but yet did not damage any equipment That's the real MVP. That's a win. Now, wait a second. Before we get into Ray's story, Tyler, you have a score connection that I don't think people know about with Dustin Rhodes. That's true.

He was actually my instructor. I started over at Illinois Media School, and he kind of groomed me into coming into here. And so then we actually worked side by side as instructors over at Illinois Media School in O'Hare. And so I've known Dustin since way back. He gave me my first commercial read, and I had to read and produced it. And so now I'm over here working on the show right after his and the mulling them boys. Outstanding. Well, there it is.

I'm on the Dustin Rhodes tree, too, because he's the one that got me, helped me get the foot in the door in the industry, my first internship at the Man Cow Show. So those who remember that show and that guy can only imagine how entertaining that was. But thanks to Dustin. Ray is biting his tongue here in a way that I haven't hurt. Well, you know, just being, just going to leave it clean. Nice and clean on the air.

I'll have to do the behind the scenes chat someday or something. We'll have to tell a story. Dustin and I'll have to tell stories sometime. Love it. In the meantime, I've noticed Mitch Rosen, Ryan Porth, and various other score luminaries going to the back of the office. And then I realized what's happening. Carmen Vitale is here and she brought cookies, didn't she?

And that's why everybody's freaking out. Cookies. I am the everyone. I am freaking out. Yeah. I'm like, oh, there's a boss I haven't seen in a while. There's another boss I haven't seen in a while. Oh, what are all these people doing?

And then I was like, it's Carmen's cookies. Okay, so Carmen is here. Lawrence Holmes is here. We get to talk to them next.