Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Full Show — February 13, 2026

Episode Date: February 13, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris discussed the looming MLB lockout after the 2026 season and welcomed on Herb Howard of The Bigs to discuss the latest Bears storylines.

It's Draymond Green, kicking off my 14th NBA season and the new season of my podcast. And trust me, I'm not holding back. Listen to the Draymond Green show wherever you get your podcast. The score! This hour is brought to you by Menards. Save big money at Menards. The views and opinions of Laila Rahimi, Marshall Harris, and Mark Grody 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, Harris, and Grody may change at any time. It's just sports. Gay, thanks, bye. Rahimi Harrison Grody. 10 to 2 on 104.3, The Score. Christian McCaffrey, an exciting...

What? ...was on the Bussing with the Boys podcast. When these injuries happen, how frustrating is it for you? Because when they were kind of piling up and popping up last year, it's almost like universally, like, okay, he's getting a little bit older, white running back. What's that kind of two in age? You know what it has to do with.

Come on. Like you're not supposed to be here, man. Endangered species never know they're endangered, bad. Like the snow leopard. What were you asking? Christian knows I'm always feeling legend. My odd of the whiteness is catching up to the only. He just said running back.

When he put white running back in it, that's a little stank on it. It'd be again, Ike, and put some stank on it. I will never not think of Christian McCaffrey as the snow leopard. That's a great name. That is great. They threw a snow leopard out there. They just come up with that on the fly. Snow leopards are one of the world's most endangered species.

Never know they're endangered, ma'am. KMAC or Run CMC. They live in the world's highest ranges and are one of the least understood felines. I think that's what I'm going to be calling him from now on. That man is rare and fast. At least we're not saying he's a good route runner or he's sneaky fast. All the coded language there that one typically says. Jim rat.

Country strong. That's a little too obvious. Oh, no. Country Strong. can be applied to everybody. He's a grinder. A grinder. That's one.

Heady player. He's a very heady player. Okay, okay. Yes, thank you. The name is white. Layla Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody,

midday's 10 a.m. 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 104 3, the score. Well, actually, it's Layla Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Brody,

and Ryan Porth, narrowly escaping the clutches, of the studio. Wave to the cameras, Ryan. You had to clean up that mess anyway. It's my fault. I made a mess. Marshall Harris brought in,

I think about 98 ounces of sweet tea from Panera and picked his cup up by the lid. And that's when we decided to destroy the studio with an onslaught of a Pacific Ocean worth of tea. Listen, I didn't pick the cup up. I just simply tipped it and it fell over. And I didn't know the lid could just pop off that quickly. That's what she said.

It's a good thing that we have Starbucks coming later. I don't know if you saw your text. I did not see my text because we were busy trying to save the studio. Yes. And the liquid went everywhere. It somehow got on every single electrical piece of equipment on the desk in here. Do you see how everything's askew? If you go to twitch.tv slash the score Chicago.

And unfortunately, I was trying to move Tim Anderson and I removed one of his hands. Can you please pass me the bobblehead so I can show the. the people, or you can display it for yourself. I'm really sorry. I tried to save Tim Anderson, and this is what happens when you try to save people and you're not qualified. You're not a paramedic.

You're not a first responder. I accidentally ripped off TA's hand. Down goes Anderson. He didn't deserve this. He did not deserve to have his hand ripped off because I was trying to save him and failed. It's the second worst thing to happen to him, man. Jose Ramirez was.

the first. Are you sure that was it? Not the podcast with Ryan Clark or something. That was a choice. So was the fight with Jose Ramirez, though, let's be honest. Although Jose kind of ended that himself. He didn't deserve this. I'm sorry, T.A.

Jose Ramirez didn't cost him a hand. Where is the hand? Just threw his hands. I just threw it. I don't know where the hand is. Please tell me we didn't accidentally throw away T.A.'s hand in the cleanup. I can't confirm nor deny that. It's okay, though. It's okay. It's okay. He didn't know how to throw hands anyway. Yeah.

Now his, wasn't he supposed to be holding a bat here? He didn't know how to throw hands anyway.

That's too much. Hey, you leave him out of this. He didn't deserve this. Ray Diaz with the one-liner of the day and it's already,

we're just a few minutes into Rahemia Harris and Grody. And you know what? The good news is we might not need Tim Anderson next season, right?

We might not need him. Where's T.A. Right? Now. He was with the Angels last year. And then he got cut, right? Released. From the Angels.

He is a free agent. Aren't we all? Here's the issue. As Marshall is right, maybe it's the baseball gods mad at us for bringing this up. We're yucking the yum on a Friday. But we might be yucking the yum. We might be playing into the hands of the ownership here in baseball.

We might be, I don't want to be part of the machine. But the bottom line is we have to tell you about what's going on with the machine. And that's the fact that given the Kyle Tucker contract, which may have been the actual tipping point here, to not just divide players and owners in Major League Baseball, but owners and owners. And that may be the biggest problem of all we have to face in this. the 2027 season is as in peril as our studio

when Marshall has a 48 ounce cup of Panera sweet tea. It's 30 ounce and it's unsweet tea. It looks like 64 ounces to me. I think that's a whole gallon. It has on the bottom, 30. Interesting. Did you know that you look at the bottom of the cup, it'll tell you?

It'll tell you. Yes, you know, but it seems like 100 ounces spilled over here. Okay, that's fair. It was everywhere. I'm just being mean. I'm being an older sister and giving you hell. It's what we do. Hey, if you want to be older than me, go right ahead.

I am not your older sister. I am being an older sister. But as I chide Marshall for his drink, I have a spill-proof cup because I childproof myself for myself. I spill stuff too. It's just usually more chaotic behind the scenes. In the meantime, as we have survived the Panera spill of 2026, we look at the peril of the 27 season. And I don't know about you, Marshall, but the headline of this, just so you're

what Kyle Tucker's Dodgers contract means for MLB labor piece. And this yet again goes back to the concept of the deferred money, the deferred money to the extreme whenever the Dodgers started, the trend really getting going with Shody Minaga's money, and then the Kyle Tucker deal, which I don't know about you, but I had to read it several times. Here's the paragraph that got me. because of the tax levied on the teams that spend over the CBT,

payroll surcharges intended to dampen the desire for organizations to flex their financial muscles. The Dodgers must pay a 110% penalty on every dollar over the top $304 million threshold, meaning that a salary adjusted to $57.1 million to reflect its net present value, Tucker this year will cost the Dodgers, $119.9 million. That is more than the $1,000. the current 2026 payrolls of 10 teams. Such a degree of imbalance is astonishing, even with the reality, that nothing in the rules stops other owners from replicating the Dodgers' behavior, other than their own

willingness to deficit spend, fewer willing, which leaves them pushing for a cap, convincing themselves with Mandalorian obdicracy that this is the way. I love that this is the way reference. Never pass up on a Star Wars reference. Abduracy, sorry. So, yeah, there's a problem. And there was already a problem. But what the Dodgers said, oh, y'all think there's a problem, watch this.

And they just continue to flex and tell other teams, if you don't want to spend like us, if you don't want to defer like us, you're never going to catch us. Well, it's also what you get, what you pay for. The Dodgers sale continues to be one of the biggest deals to discuss in sports period. you know and the sticking point as I recall was not even the TV deal that they had gotten that's really the issue here it's not an issue it's what helps them spend is that massive TV deal they had with Time Warner additionally there were the the parking lots do you remember that being such an issue is the real estate that backed in the transaction that that real estate with the

parking lots was was as much of a sticking point as anything because it is worth so much money the parking lots at the stadium itself especially in lots Angeles. So when you've got physical real estate assets and you've got the TV contract and you have an ownership group who's willing to do whatever, you know, it's one thing when it was, and we've talked about this as well, it's one thing when it's owners versus players, you know, like when you consider NFL ownership versus the NFL players, the 18th game is something that the players union has pushed back on. But at the same time, NFL ownership has gotten all these other sweeteners as to what they have wanted because of this one issue. They've gotten Thursday

night football. We're hearing reports of a Wednesday night game. They're here to take Maction now. You know, they got they got to take over other days of a week like Christmas Day, which used to be an NBA exclusive holiday. You know, they've decided that teams need to play international games on a regular basis. The owners, because they're together and they're united in their front, they've been able to get all this other stuff that the players not necessarily wanted to do. Thursday night is the best example because of the recovery time it takes and how much of a sticking point it was.

And look what's happening. We have Thursday night games now. That's not an issue. And it's not even an afterthought. It's just, that's just part of what it is. It's no longer, you can't even say the quality. All because of the dangling carrot of the 18th game. Exactly. And you could even make the argument that Thursday night

football has become much more watchable compared to the inception of Thursday night football. Do you remember how bad it used to be? It was just, it was the bad teams and they were the ones because I think the better teams were protected from having they wanted to recover. And now it's just, you're right, it's part and parcel. And now they're flexing Thursday night games. You know, to add to the chaos. I say all of that to say, this is what the owners are getting because they're united and

because there's a sticking point issue that they get to negotiate against. In this case, when it's ownership versus ownership, and there is this disparity. And then there's the players union that is powerful in Major League Baseball. This is where I can't believe that Kyle Tucker of all people, given what happened here, especially, that that's the flashpoint to this extent where we should be talking about enjoying a 2026 baseball season, where the Cubs are legitimately trying to contend, where they did spend money, or like even observe the fact that the Pirates signed a guide to a multi-year deal, or that the Baltimore Orioles signed somebody like Pete Alonso.

That instead, we're still talking about the Dodgers and the Mets and how this is affecting the rest of baseball. But we have to. These are the numbers. This is the reality. And if you don't believe us, listen to what Matt Spiegel had to say through his sources in Lawrence Holmes and Matt Spiegel show yesterday. They talked to sources within multiple MLB franchises.

Over the last five years, MLB has been withholding a small portion of each team's share of national television money, as well as a portion of each team's share of the licensing revenue. And these dollars have been consolidated by MLB to what will be given to teams next year as a war chest, a $75 million per team war chest that should allow each franchise to withstand the potential loss of an entire baseball season. That's the new information that I was able to confirm and put out today. So there's going to probably be some tightening of the belt around the league, not maybe in the way that you would see, but a way that we would see.

Like there's going to be, I don't even want to call it hiring freezes, but I imagine that some of that is going to go on, Speegs. Every department of every team is well aware of the day. danger that looms beyond November and there is, there are preparations that are taking place within multiple departments about, you know, what they can do, what they cannot do. Just every facet of the baseball world is preparing for this like, like never before. This is bad news. And it's bad news because what I've been preaching, I was like, hey, yeah, it's going to stink when we don't have a 2027 season.

With Matt Spiegel's sourcing, that becomes not just a reality, but a likelihood, a strong likelihood because of the different warring factions involved in creating a CBA that everybody can sign off on. And just the descriptions of these contracts, that's the part that's so hard to wrap your head around as well. And it makes sense as to why other owners, like the Cubs, yes, they did the right thing. They followed suit. They decided to give Alex Bregman deferred money,

which a lot of teams are doing because that's how you compete. And I don't mind it. But then there's the Shohei Otani contract, for example. And here's another excerpt from the Passen article. Los Angeles is paying him $2 million a year and delaying for a decade payment on the remaining 680 million. That its present value is more in the mid-400 millions. One year after Otani shouted the salary scale, Juan Soto up to him, with a 15-year, $765 million deferral-free deal with the Mets.

And that's what makes us so wild. But Tucker's is, you know, that's, he's not even the best player on the Dodgers, as we know. He's the what, blank best player on the Dodgers? Let's just say hitters. He's what, the fourth best hitter on the Dodgers? I think fourth is fair. Like it's about, you can argue third. Yeah, where are you putting him in the light of?

And not after last two years, he's not the third. best hitter on that team. Yeah, you could easily say, show hey, Freddie Freeman and of course, Mookie Betts, those guys 1, 2, 3, and they've got the World Series titles to prove it. You know, they've got future entry into the Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, to prove it.

Never in the 50 years of free agency before Tucker turned it down, had a player turned down a $300 million plus offer. That's a lot of money. Oh, to have those problems. But like the fact that he could turn it down, that says where we are.

I think players are smarter too about what they accept and understanding, hey, I can jump on this train and continue to win World Series. But that, and it's, you know, I think Albert Breer did a good example of talking about it when we had him on a while back. I want to say it was about a year ago where he said, when I was in charge of this type of stuff, the cap was your budget. You know, that was it.

And we've seen how in the NFL it's a little easier to see where the money goes. you know, you can see it kicked out. This is accounting that is tricky. It is slick. And when it divides ownership among itself, that's when I think, especially when you have deferring factions of the big market teams

who can't agree on how to do this, that, first of all, is pure competition. But secondly, none of this really is. You know, it's a league where you already have all these oversights into place. MLB isn't really the it's not the avenue for the pure unfettered capitalism you think you're getting.

And so that's why this is hard. You know, it's like you can't, you're choosing when you want to compete in that way and when you don't. And it's cool as long as everybody agrees to them, but when you get some new ownership in town, then everybody's competing at a different level

and they've changed the game on you. Well, it seems like what I believe to be two classes of owners has really separated in now three classes of owners. There's the millionaires, billionaires, thousandaires, and then there's the dollar millionaires. Well, no, I'm not going to go that far. I will say this. I used to think it was just big market owners versus small market owners.

But now I'm seeing it's big market owners versus big market owners. Oh, yeah. And by the way, most of the owners are small market owners. You see what I'm saying? Like the top, you know, five, six markets, whether you want to talk about San Francisco, the Chicago teams or team, depending on how you want to look at it, L.A., New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and then you look around and everybody else is not willing to get up to par, whether it's the brewers who have won despite not having exorbitant payrolls.

And for them to figure that out is going to take longer than I thought. Well, to add to this is the problem of TV rights deals for other teams. We just saw several teams, including ones who compete with the Cubs and the White Sox, get taken over by Major League Baseball. So we'll get into that. And then also another story from The Athletic that's worth your time by Evendrelic. And the discussion of a salary cap, because those words are now coming into play here. That's all next here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie and Marshall's Massive Panera Cup on the score.

and handless Tim Anderson Bumblehead doll. We've got to find the hand. I'm sorry, T.A. Rahimi Harrison Grody. Midday's Tyndle 2. On Chicago Sports Radio, 1043, the score. This is Rahimi Harrison Grody on 1043 the score.

And I hate to kill the vibe. And I didn't really want to. And Matt Spiegel loves good vibes, babe. But even he is worried about the upcoming 27 season. And I say, I'll have to say, let's enjoy 2026, while we can.

This is Rahimi Harrison Grotia. I'm 1043, The Score. We broadcast live from the Scores Hyundai Studios brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers. Ray Diaz, our producer with the line of the day, about Tim Anderson not knowing how to throw hands. We found Tim Anderson bobblehead doll's hand, by the way. So there has been some peace restored

after the great spill of Lake Superior's worth of Panera sweet tea onto our death. Unsweet tea. That's that. I did you wrong. Unsweet tea. I don't want to get the diabetes. The beatis? Yes.

That is a lot. diabetes. That is a lot. Yeah, if that were, if that were sweet tea, that have been sticky. Sometimes I get unsweet with a little bit of sweet tea on top, just a good little, ah. I will not, yakery, I'm there. I do love good iced tea. It's kind of an ice tea day with the sunshine. Tyler Buehterbra is our producer as well. You heard his excellent open. Ryan Porth helped out with our mess. Brandon Friar helps us out as well. And I mentioned Twitch where I showed TA without the hand. Well, our Twitch team doing a tremendous job per usual, our video crew. It is Connor O'Donnell, Stutz and Max Curtis.

And everybody's texting and calling already. 312644-67-667 is our number because this is something that is top of mind. 773 texted in and this is real. My wife is a bartender in the stadium club at Kamiski. We're already freaking out. She doesn't make enough to say for a season missed. Lots of employees and people in that boat. And we talked about it earlier.

Matt Spiegel said that a war chest has been created and there are coffers that are being filled to try to save a rainy day fund, emergency funds for teams. And, you know, that's an emergency fund for everybody who works and supports these teams and makes a good living when things are good, you know, every day at a ballpark. You don't have that luxury. Is this a warning salvo from owners in that they're showing you how Dugan they're going to be because they understand they're dealing with the most powerful union, arguably in the world, in that, yes, we know you guys will hold out because that,

That's what you've done every time we've done this as far as coming to the table in negotiations, especially with something as serious as a salary cap. What this signals to me, understanding that teams are going to get $75 million a year per reports, is that they're willing to sacrifice the season to get the end result of salary cap. That is the thing. Those who have resources are always willing to do what's best for those who have resources because they have the resources to withstand any sort of setback. How resourceful of them.

But that's it. It's such a self-feeding beast. 847, Texas. How are the Dodgers going to pay all the deferred money when their next TV contract will be tiny compared to their current one? I don't know, my friend, because the Dodgers contract is 25 years in $8.35 billion. That thing runs out in 2038. So do you think anybody's thinking about that except for maybe Kyle Tucker and his deferred money, which runs through how long again? But also, if you read the story about how Joey Otani has already brought them back all the money, they spent on Shohei Otani, it makes all the sense in the world.

And that's it. The Dodgers say it's good business for them to do this. And don't, I always say like when you can create a budget, when you've got the opportunity, I always like to say if billion-dollar businesses can have budgets, and so can I. But they wouldn't do this unless it wasn't good money for them. So keep that in mind. They're not a charity organization either. To add to that is the discussion from our friend Evendrelic, who has been on this for the

athletic for a very long time. came out with a story this week, what would MLB look like with a salary cap explaining the wide-ranging game-changing effects? And he illustrates a lot of what this is. And of course, the obvious here is the players union

has opposed that concept for decades because we see who, what do I say this week? Who pays, who loses, who benefits. The players do not benefit from having a salary cap. And that's the truth. On mass, that is the truth.

And owners may try to see, sell you, whoa, if we have a cab, we'll also have a floor and, you know, the lesser paid guys will get paid more, but nah, that's not it. No, it just, it's an excuse for everybody to get paid less. And I think part of the reason we've discussed, the NFL is a good example of the contrast here is because the NFL players, knowing their careers are usually short, you know, they've got to make a certain amount of money in a certain time. When you take away a lot of these resources, time is money, they don't have the money

to sit out a season like this, you know, and that's why this is a, it illustrates the position. There's a quote here too from Bruce Meyer, the deputy director of the union. Salary caps in other sports have not led to competitive balance. In fact, baseball, which is one of the only, is the only one of the four major sports, which does not have a salary cap, actually has better competitive balance than the other sports. A salary cap punishes competition, punishes clubs who want to go out and acquire the best players, and put the most exciting product on the field for the fans. It gives owners who prefer not to compete, an all-purpose excuse not to do so. So that is the union's position. And it goes on to say talks are not expected to move quickly. And another December lockout is widely expected. The big

question is whether it costs the sport regular season games in 2027. The NBA, NFL, and NHL all have caps, but none were agreed to eagerly by their players. Think about the NBA now and how it's not as exciting to watch the trade deadline. It's not as exciting to see which team has done the most because of the new CBA and the tax and the the ceiling it put on teams who want to compete and find creative ways and they do it differently. And there is not as much of a difference between the have and the have-nots as far as payroll because every NBA team has a star of some kind. And we have seen that go away and the excitement not be as much to the public. The public is losing because the NBA had to do a more strict CBA that tamper's down on a lot of what

he's illustrating here. So the CBA and the NBA specifically, you know, they got tired of the super teams and they just kept coming up with different ways to discourage teams from being able to keep and add star players. Like, you can keep your star player, but you can't add more star players or else you're just not going to have anybody else to fill out the roster because of the way the minimum salaries work in the NBA. And teams that can develop, I hate that I'm referring to this, but like the Oklahoma

City Thunder with several good players. A very small market team, by the way, relatively speaking, to the rest of the league. And you get a star in Shea Gilgis Alexander. Now he's under your roof. You can pay him more because of the way all NBA and some of these other awards, MVP, allow you to pay guys more in their max contracts. But you're also going to have to get rid of guys eventually because you can't pay them as much. It's going to be harder to keep guys that you don't have,

you don't use the bird rights sparingly. and then to understand what the rest of the league is doing to counter that now is really has been a thing that's been documented pretty well. That's why Janus is in trouble right now and can't find anybody to play with. Well, and that's it. And 323 is texting us no matter who wins this fight, the fans lose. There would be no money to argue over without the fans.

And we are not all united. The last time I checked, you can't unite at 350 million people. You know, it's a share of a pie when it comes to how, people feel about this. It's kind of like us talking about the stadium the other day. You know, you can vote on it and then your voice has been registered directly to the concern. You can give up. In this case, you can't do that. You can give up a steak dinner if you want. I don't know that's going to solve this issue. Poor Tony and Joliette wanted to give up a steak dinner for the Bears. Unfortunately,

it costs more for that stadium and it's going to cost a heck of a lot more in this situation. No, no, but I am curious, 312-4-4-667-67. Call us, let us know. You're already texting us, but call us and let us know, we'll put you on, to tell us what you think about this now looming lockout situation that really we've been staring in the face for, what, three years, four years maybe, and now it's going to become a reality next year. It's four years because, well, five, really, because it's since the last CBA. Yeah, yeah. We had a delay then to the season, if you'll recall.

Yeah. That was the COVID year, right? We're right. And a lot of companies and a lot of businesses have used that to their, advantage against workers. And Meyer continues here. He's the deputy for the players union. Whatever the special introductory offer is, the history has shown that that doesn't last. Once they get you in that system, you never get out. And they drive that percentage down of the revenue share that the players would get by repeated lockouts. In fact, in the salary cap sports since 1994, they've had way more

work stoppages, way more lockouts, way more missed games than an hour sport. But how that split is calculated, revenue definition isn't what the league makes per what the players earn. Would also be contested. It is even today without a cap. Talking about a share in the abstract really doesn't tell you anything. Many team owners have real estate developments in other ancillary businesses that owners would fight to exclude and players would fight to include. This very much applies here in this city. the union thinks the current system accounts for some of that value. That's it. And Evandrelic's big line here that I think is important is,

if MLB gets its way, contracts like the 15-year $765 million deal that Juan Soto signed with the New York Mets would never be given out again. And we focus on those rather than focusing on the players for teams who are just trying to make it. Like I'm not trying to weaponize Mike Tockeman here. but Mike Chalkman's a majorly ball player and he should have a job by now

and it's that kind of guy's success who is a part of the greater discussion here in the union and the owners and the discussion they're in. Yeah, you can remember what two off seasons ago when they really waited and waited to sign players because there was a concerted

effort, although not admitted between teams, to keep down salaries and it worked to a degree. That it did. And, you know, a lot of accusations about people here who are a part of that in this city and who owns in this city were a part of that as well. And I think this is a good point from 708. The owners can remain irrational longer than the labor can remain solvent. Man, that's a bar right there. That is Economics 101. And you could say irrational, but are they remaining irrational or are they just

prepared to go to war? It feels like that's really what's happening here. Yeah. I mean, it's the concept of blank you money. You know who has a lot more of blank you money than you and me? Owners. I'm always amazed when people side with the billionaires over the millionaires. Because we're taught to do so.

It means you're falling in line. It means you're a good employee. People can become millionaires. The astronomical odds of being in the billionaire class should tell you something. It's hard for people to get. And it doesn't mean people are dumb.

It just means it's unless you understand what that is, unless you experience it for yourself, you don't understand the contrast of one and the other. Do you remember the rice experiment? It was not an experiment, just the rice display? Illustration. Yes, illustration. And how they just showed you, okay, this is what $10,000 looks like, a grain of rice. And they say, this is a million dollars in rice.

So that's 100 grains. And then the billionaire, it's like a freaking bucket. Yeah. And that's the part that I think it's hard for us. and they're so visible, you know, they're the people you see. Like, I don't know about you guys, but in economics class for me in high school, every comparison was Bill Gates.

It's like, well, does Bill Gates do this? Now it would obviously be Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk. You're like, well, what about these guys? Because you want something to compare it to. Right. You want to understand a frame of reference here. And you think that that success. And that's the hardest part,

is trying to figure out that the two are so remarkably different. and keep this in mind. This is something that Evan Brelick had in his story. Major League teams were worth $2.6 billion on average entering last season per Forbes. So even when you think your team ain't worth that much, this says otherwise. And don't forget, even people who thought the bears weren't as much as what they may have perceived. And then we find out because of the shares and that changing of hands that the bears are valued at roughly, a little under $9 billion. Is that a lot of money?

They may not, and listen, they're not the best example as far as cash flow because they are asset rich, but they're still somehow rich. It's a different level of rich. Between rich and wealthy. Also, this text from 312,

millionaires and billionaires negotiating. Who cares? Cancel a whole season. No skin off my nose. Maybe not yours, but other people, I mean, we just told you about somebody who works at Kamiski. Do they not deserve to have their jobs?

And the point is, there's a lot. The difference between a billionaire and a millionaire is a lot. You could be a billionaire, but you can't be a billion with a B. That's the difference. And if there is a billionaire listening to our show, I would like to know why. Your time is worth a lot of money. And why are you listening to us? Can you give me another hand for Tim Anderson?

312 says, this is a great, illustration. Seconds. A thousand seconds equals 17 minutes. A million seconds equals 12 days. A billion seconds equals 32 years. And that's the difference. That's the difference in this.

Like you, you, if you played it right and you're of a certain age, say the top of our demographic, for example, or older. You know, and you bought your property and you live in a house and you didn't have deal with a lot of debt from the house or debt from student loans and you invested into a really good pension or some sort of 401k, there's a very strong chance you're a millionaire. And I'm not here to tell you how long that money lasts. But that's the difference between you being a millionaire and the billionaires who never had to worry about such things.

I love liars. 708. I will always side with ownership except over public funding stadium issues. these players get paid millions to play a game that I would play for free. They aren't making peanuts working in a sweatshop factory. They still got to feed themselves in their families, right? Also, do you know what they make in the minor leagues? Like, are you familiar with traditions like Pass the Hat?

Or because they're making so little in the minor leagues that they can't feed their families? And the number of those players compared to the number of major league players. And just because you would do something for free doesn't mean you should either. Although if you want to come like cut my grass for free, feel free. Yeah, what else do you love that you want to do for free? Free. Go ahead. And that's the other thing. You shouldn't do it for free because you have worth.

Maybe if more of you started understanding your own self-worth, then you would understand others. Start with yourself. 312-644-67 is our number here on Rahimi Harrison Grody. And in the meantime, speaking of the NBA, there was a punishment levied by the league toward a team that is a very cautionary tale for the Bulls. So let's examine that next. Rahimi Harris and Grody, Midday's 10 to 2 on 1043, the score.

This is Rahimi Harris and Grotie on 1043, the score. And we're getting a lot of texts in and I think just some responses. I understand people are working. They can't always call. And we're on Twitch as well. Twitch.TV slash the score Chicago. The Twitch mob is up and chatting if you want to hang there. 630 says UPS driver here. Contract negotiations between the workers and the company are always insane. We bust our ass every day and the company villainizes us. Making our job sound like they're easier than they actually are.

Ownership needs to recognize that these players are special and have a very limited window to be successful. Pay them what they are worth and owed. And then another person says, The other problem is that the average person can't go and afford to go to these games anyway. I haven't been to a Bears game in 10 years. No socks games for 7 to 8 years. As long as people keep paying for tickets and $15 beers, the push to greater profits won't stop. I love the Bears and the White Sox, but it's more cultural than not. So I think there's a varied slate of opinions across the board, and I get it.

But at the same time, I just want to reiterate, you may want to do something for free. but you have value too. So start with your own, and then you'll understand others. Leila Rahimi, self-help guru everyone, and I'm with you, by the way, completely. Like, the people who devalue themselves, yeah. And just because you do doesn't mean somebody else should. Exactly. Exactly.

And like I said, keep in mind how long it took some of you to retire and be recipients of better timing than others to get to that million. and now think of what it's like to get to a billion. Congratulations to all the millionaires out there. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, because that's the thing. There's room for everybody. But does, you know, the contract of Kyle Tucker become the tipping point to this because owners now disagree with each other?

That's really what this conversation becomes. In the meantime, we are going to cherish the season. Damn it! The show gets a lot more fun in progression of weight toward the weekend, just so you're aware. Our one o'clock hour is going to be very entertaining, I think. We have a lot of fun sports questions leading up to the weekend. In the meantime, there's something that happened ahead of All-Star weekend that deserves our time in the NBA.

And that was the follow-up that was hit with a hammer, a sledgehammer to Marshall's, are you really taking if you're not doing this question? And the this in question was the Utah Jazz playing in the... then sitting their starters in the fourth quarter to try to make sure they lose basketball games. Apparently, that is not seen favorably among those in charge. And to be fair, I understand why for you, the measurements of a true tank is or a rebuild is either the process sixers, which the league had to stop in its fourth year of tanking or the jazz sitting their starters in games.

So the NBA comes out last night, finding the Utah Jazz $500,000 and the Indiana Pacers $100,000, the league saying both teams sat healthy players in recent games while noting that moves that compromise its integrity will not be tolerated. Quote, overt behavior like this that prioritizes draft position over winning undermines the foundation of NBA competition, and we will respond accordingly to any further actions that compromise the integrity of our games. Additionally, we are working with our competition committee and board of governors to implement further measures to root out this type of conduct. End quote. That is the commissioner, Adam Silver in a statement. Now, see, here's the thing, though, as much as we were just talking about Major League Baseball and fighting for the people like Mike Talkman, for example, to be paid his worth and to have a job.

Fair. One of my favorite things that I totally forgotten we did. In the meantime, you can't be, you can't like say if you're the NBA, you have a 5'8 guy running your point. This isn't a real game. Fine. Wait a minute. Are you saying when you keep plays?

You can't start insulting players and being like, hey, this is your group on the floor? You're tanking. Here's a $100,000 fine. It's a slippery slope for them because then you end up insulting people who don't deserve to be insulted because they're just trying to make some money too. Just a quick note since you mentioned Yuki for all the Yuki fans out there and the MacKlellan fans apparently yesterday during Windy City Bulls game, there was a lob thrown from Yuki to MacMaclung. You could find it on X. It would. We need to play the audio for you at 1 o'clock.

You got to sell a little harder. It was not just an oop. He threw an oop which Matt McClung caught with his back to the rim and then threw down reverse. It was impressive. It was. And you know what? That's the point. You can't, NBA can't just be like, well, look who's on the court right now.

You guys are tanking. But when you blatantly sit starters in a game in the fourth quarter and you're that over the line about it, I understand why they wanted to levy the penalty. The better question becomes, what does this look like for the league, knowing there are so many teams who are competing to try to get to the bottom? And that arguably may include the Bulls. And I know you think they just might not be as successful at that concept. Well, they might not be, but they might be.

Here's the lesson the Bulls can take away from this fine that was issued to the Jazz specifically. Don't sit your players in the fourth quarter. Just don't play them at all. Let Josh Getty take all the time in the world coming back from that hamstring. Let his fellow big man, Jalen Smith, take all the time in the world coming back. If those guys miss another 10 to 15 games, guess what? You're going to lose more games than you're going to win. But if Trey Jones, Josh Giddy, Jalen Smith,

if those guys come back, along with Isaac Accor, who also sat the last game against Boston, if those four guys come back, you're going to win more games than you want to. If your stated desire is to, quote-unquote, get out of the middle. Can't rest your starters if you don't play them at all. Exactly. Taps to the forehead. Think safe. Is it not a way to go about your business?

It's very office space. Like, how are they going to stop you? NBA can't stop you if your players are too hurt to play. What would you say you do here? I think it's a good question also to revisit via the standings. How many teams are fighting for lottery position in this draft lottery? Memphis is 20 and 33. Mavericks are 19 and 35, and they won the damn thing last year.

Utah the lottery, not the title. Utah Jazz, 18 and 38. Pelicans, 15 and 41. The Sacramento Kings, 12 and 44. Wizards are 14 and 39. The Pacers are 15 and 40. And I don't know about that fine for the Pacers either. You know, because, like, they can't help that Halle's hurt.

Like the $100,000 fine is like, eh, you two Pacers, you're in this. It's kind of like when the Bulls got popped for tampering. You remember it was like, who was the other team that was more tampering than the Bulls? Was it the heat? I think you're right about that. And then they're like, ah, you two, Bulls.

What the hell? Why are we in here? Well, just to kind of go over those teams that you were saying? The nets are 15 and 38, the bucks are 23 and 30, and the Bulls are 24 and 31. So that's a lot of dudes trying to get to the bottom here. But here's the issue with the jazz specifically. Like my social life. Their pick is top eight protected.

So they need to finish in the bottom eight to make sure they get their pick. If they float to like nine, they don't own their pick anymore. So they're tanking for real, for real. If only they had traded to get the control of their pick back points to forehead. Meanwhile, you know who's not tanking and it's just bad at basketball with 15 wins on the season? The New Orleans Pelicans, they don't own their own pick. They're not tanking.

There's nothing that comes their way for them losing more games. If only a team had done business with them and trade it for their draft pick. Don't do that. See. That they had offered to many other teams. I'm putting a moratorium on the... Are you kidding? I dream of a day where you and Joe Callie just get to riff on this.

That will happen. It will happen. And it will be in full force because the lack of ingenuity, the lack of creativity, the lack of getting what someone behind you got in line is ridiculous. 8-1-3 is right about this. Pacers just beat the Nets and the Knicks and got fined. Like, what the hell? You two, Pacers.

Well, that was the thing. the jazz, the game where they sat their starters, the one where after the game Woolhardy was asked, did you think about putting Lowry or Jaron Jackson Jr. in the game? He said, I did not. No, I was not going to put them back in the game. They won that game. They did win

that game. Isaiah Collier was out here bawling and they won the game. So the polls, just... What's the latest on Jared Jackson, Jr., by the way? Just to insure things. Well, see, okay, I'm... He's going to undergross surgery to remove a localized, pigmented, I don't even know what the word is, PNVVNS growth in his

left knee. Now listen, growth are serious and you should get them checked out. However, the timing. I don't know. Honestly, I don't know. And that's why I'm sensitive to that specific issue, because that could be a serious medical issue. They said they found it in a post-trade physical with an MRI. But the timing. I got you. First your coach sits you in the fourth quarter, then your coach shuts you down, or sorry, then the organization shuts you down for the rest of the season. Also, why do I feel like this is probably a more common thing than people realize? The post-trade physical finding things out about you?

No, that we learned from Kobe White, but the growth in your knee. Like that seems like something that is, like, I don't know. Like I had family members get what they called at the time, and this is an old and not technical term, like a watery cyst. You know, sometimes you've got to get that stuff checked out. Always get it checked out. Yeah, absolutely. That's another lecture for all of you and your self-worth.

Treat yourself. Coming up next year on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3, the score, we need to get into some baseball here and real baseball, not what might happen next year. Jed Hoyer sat down with Tina Wynn of Fox 32, and she did a one-on interview with him and with Craig Counsel. And it brings up a discussion that we're going to have to track and figure out how this works all season long.

Where's Matt Shaw going to go? Is he going to get regular reps to get better offensively? How does his growth pattern look for this team? And also at the same time, who might not get as many at bats because of it? So we'll do that next. I'm Sally Helm with the podcast History This Week. In each episode, we serve as your eyes and ears into history's biggest events, major elections, world wars, scientific breakthroughs. But we also bring you into the smaller behind-the-scenes stories, the unsung heroes, secret meetings, even personal grudges that changed the course of history. Listen to and follow History This Week, an Odyssey podcast in partnership with the History Channel. Available now for free on the Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts.

This hour is brought to you by Cars for Kids. Shaw had 13 homers this year. He hits a line drive into shallow center, a base hit. Rounding third and scoring is Kelly. Cubs lead four to nothing. Matt Shaw with a base hit into six. better. Dansby Swanson claps his hands as he looks over at Shaw at first base. Cubs lead by four and the crowd is loving it. That, of course, courtesy of the Cubs Radio Network, Pat Hughes, Ron Cumer on the call. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104.3, the score.

And just a week from today, we have a game. We have a game to talk about. Such a nice idea. I don't know how much we're going to talk about that game because you know, what those games look like out of the gate. Here's some person you don't know pitching against some person you don't know batting. And then you've got to figure out who these people will be in the search for the next gauge tier workman.

Why you got to bring up gauge? Because that's what spring training is. It's a search for that type of deal. So do you put stock in spring training or do you not? Because that's the battle. I do because I believe in having, you're not going to end the season with the same 40 guys you start with.

So I'm a big believer in figuring out who's going to be a part of that scene altogether. I'm a big believer in knowing, like, who's your glad I called that guy, guy, for example, who is going to pop, who brings value to your team. There are some emergencies that can happen in spring training. And you just want to see how people get their legs underneath them and what happens next. Do you remember Kyle Tucker's spring training? Bad. Do you remember what he immediately did once it went from spring training?

spring training to regular season immediately. But he's the exception. Like if PCA hits well in spring training, doesn't that make you feel better about him bouncing back from the second half he had last year? I feel like that's expected. But that's the point. So if he hits poorly in spring training, does that give you an indication? So hitters are supposed

to hit. Here's why hitters are supposed to hit because they're just hitting. Meanwhile, pitchers out here working on stuff, especially early in spring training. Like they don't care as much. Like James and Tyone might be mixing in an eighth pitch as a 20th pitch to his arsenal. Like the way they try to experiment with things. So that's why I can't take it too seriously because if the pitchers aren't taking it

seriously, can you really take what the hitters are doing against those pitchers seriously? And then you factor in the environment, knowing that in Arizona, ball go far. Ball go far. Are you saying ball does not go far in April and Wrigleyfield? I don't think it does as much. I'm just going to throw that out there. Swirls a little bit. Yeah, yeah.

But I think there is still some ways you can gauge not, not, not, like a game-to-game scenario, but there's still some ways you can gauge patterns in spring training that at least give you some information about people. What I do love about Craig counsel specifically, and I'm trying to remember if Will Vinnable is like this, he'll tell you the truth to if someone's not doing well in spring training in terms of what they're looking like, not only in the games themselves, but like everyday work. He'll be like, he's got to tighten this up. He'll give you specific things they have to work. It's not unlike Ben Johnson, honestly. Well, and frankly, that's how he determined who his opening day starter was going to be, was their performance in spring training.

And for that team, it made sense that Sean Burke got that honor at the time. It made sense. So will it make sense if Matt Shaw's in the starting lineup on opening day? Well, and where? You know, right field is the spot for him? Is that what we are to understand? Is it designated hitter? And then it's trying to figure out say a Suzuki.

And that's all of this together. Now, let's go back to earlier in the week, if you recall, Craig Counsel had said that it's not a top three problem for him. Shaw being in right field or a positing. Like, that's not top three priority. So it's number four. That's it. I'm like, well, okay, if it's in your top five, that's kind of still a big deal. Even if it's in your top 10, given how you work as a manager, that seems important to me.

Knowing what we know, which is very limited because we haven't seen Matt Shaw at all these different positions. Would it surprise you have Matt Shaw played a better right field than say? say of Suzuki? No, because I think it speaks to his physical tools when you talk about how he was able to play such good defense at the hot corner. I think you have to have a cannon in right field, as we've discussed. Fernado Tatis is probably the biggest example of somebody successfully going from the infield to the outfield recently later in his career. Shaw is way younger. So when you put that all together, I think that that gives you an indication it's a good possibility. But it's also trying to figure out when Jed Hoyer talks about the totality of the season,

one of the big factors for the totality of their success was Sayas Suzuki leading Major League Baseball and RBI's at the break. So how, what's Sayas Suzuki's best version of himself? In a contract year, by the way. But what's Sayas' best self look like? And you and I were discussing this. Does Matt Shaw playing in Rightfield come at the expense of Sayas Suzuki getting fielding reps that he thinks helps his offensive game.

I don't know what Matt Shaw looks like as a DH or a right fielder. I do know what he looked like as a third baseman, and offensively, it simply was not good enough. Hence, going out to get a guy like Alex Breggman, if you thought Matt Shaw could hold it down and produce like Breggman, then maybe you don't. But also, from a culture standpoint, Breggman, I think, was needed, and I can't wait to see exactly how that plays out over the course of the season. you know just days in, we've already gotten so many different stories, so many accounts, whether it's Bruce Levine,

whether it's Ken Rosenthal, people are chiming in on what people are telling them about Alex Breggman, what his new teammates are telling them. And even we didn't touch on this, but you know, he even talked about P. Croix-R Armstrong and gave his reasoning as to why we are going to see a more consistent season coming up for him. But knowing that there's another hitter who can discuss that with him,

you know, at that level, knowing that somebody like Alex Bregman is there who can also encourage him in that way. And this is not necessarily, it's not to knock anybody else on the team or even knock a guy like Kyle Tucker, who was such a good hitter, obviously, and was also a part of the team last year. You're going to learn from everyone, as we've discussed. But it's taking that extra step and initiative on your own to go out and do that and having the resume to back it up where I think that really can make a difference with people. So the resume thing is interesting because you're coming in with an understanding of what people do.

And with a lot of these younger players, we're wondering, are you able to replicate what you did last season? And then with some people, it's, are you replicate what you did for this portion of the season? And so that becomes a big question. I think one of my bigger questions, and I know it's not top three for Craig Counsel. At least not right now. Yeah.

I think one of my bigger questions, though, over. overall is Matt Shaw's at Bats, are those coming at D.H? Is he getting more plate appearances than Moises by Astero's? How much is he cutting into, you can go around the Horner, Nico Horner, Alex Bregman, anywhere else you want to go where it's right field? Even a guy like Kevin Alcantara, you know? Well, Kevin's kind of a clear-cut backup, right? Do we know?

I mean, there's been a lot of, and that's a guy who you're paying attention to at Spring training. Fair. That's one of those guys you say if he comes out, hits 350 and gets on base and does stuff, you'd be like, Kevin looks like he's ready to have some regular bats. And given his height and how he can glide in the outfield, you know, because he runs well. Like, how does that play into all of this? That's more of a front office thing than I think a Craig Counsel thing.

But, you know, typically if you're in the Dodgers, the exemplary franchise here that we just talked about, destroying baseball while they get projected to win 104 games by Pocoda. You have 104 and a half. I'm not going to short them the half. But if you're the Dodgers and you have too many good players on your team, what happened? You're trading somebody like a Michael Bush and then he ends up on the Cubs and the Cubs get value out of it and so did the Dodgers. And the Dodgers still end up winning the World Series. But the point is, you know, there's an incentive every way you look at,

at it to have all of your players play to their best selves. The problem, though, is, is at what cost, you know? I think at least we know that there's no question at first base. I don't know that you have to platoon that, but do you have to platoon your DH? Do you have to platoon your right field? Is Shaw okay with being utility? Do you think that will set him back when it comes to his offensive development we saw last year? Jed Hoyer was on Fox 32 with our friend Tina Wynn, and he discussed how to keep that infield intact. Yeah, no, it's a really good infield. I mean, I think certainly one of the best infields in baseball.

And Matt Shaw is a player that we feel total confidence in. And, you know, one of the things we always talk about is, like, you can't just write out your lineup, you know, one through nine or write the positions out. You have to have real depth and, you know, where we are right now. And then having Matt Shaw, who can move around and, you know, we'll have injuries. We'll have guys in your days off. And making sure that it's not just those four guys, but also Matt is able to really help out. I think is really important. help out.

That doesn't sound like a guy who's going to have an everyday role, right? No, but I'm just worried that, like, you don't want him when he is up, when it is his game to play, that he has like four strikeouts or something. Three. I don't like to ascribe four to anybody. So you think Matt Shaw is in a bad situation? For him? I think for his, when you know the regular reps helped him get better offensively,

it's really hard for me to say that taking that role away from him now would help the team get the best version of him. A couple of things here. I think we have to understand going in, these guys ain't going to be held. Somebody's going to the injured list. More than one player is going to the injured list.

Why you got to do that? Because there will be stints realistically where Matt Shaw will get to play regularly every day, even if it's just for two to three weeks, right? That's a real thing that's going to happen. And it's actually great that they have a guy like Matt Shaw to step in because I don't think they had that last year. I'm not saying if Alex Bregman goes down that Matt Shaw can give you comparable at bat's

played appearance clubhouse presence as Alex Bregman. But it's nice to know if Bregman were to get hurt, you have no drop off, maybe even a jump up in the talent at glove at the hot corner. And so I don't look at this like we're scrambling trying to find a place for him to play. if he's in the starting lineup two to three times a week, I think that's fair. It is. I mean, if that's what he can get, then yeah, that's fair. But you're not sure you can even get that.

I just don't know how it works where he gets to be a better hitter and grows as a hitter. That's the hard part of this. Do you feel like Moises by Asteroes needs the same opportunity? Or are you saying his bat is so advanced, so much more advanced that is, than Matt Shaw, that he doesn't need as many regular reps as what you would want to get Matt Shaw. I don't know that having Moises-Biasteroes give more reps right now helps the Cubs as a whole. At D.H., you don't think he's a better bat option at D.H. So if you put Sayas-Sizuque in right field. Which is what I'm doing, most likely.

Okay. And then you put Moises-Bi-A-Steros. Who else would you put at D.H. at that point, if Say-I's playing right? It'd probably be Shaw. So don't you think Moises-Bi-Steros is a better hitter than Matt Shaw? I think they've got more invested in Shaw where they have to figure this out. I know, but if I have a game to win today and I need real, who gives you the best at bats between Moises Bios Stiros and Matt Shaw? I think it's Biosteros and it's not particularly close. Matt Shaw's Ops was 839 in the second half of last year.

Okay, what was Moises Bios' Ops? I mean, he had way more limited bats. Let's look up the splits right now, 2025. I mean, that's where I sit with this is, the implication was that Matt Shaw was going to be an everyday third basement for this team. Moisesisos and a very small sample size, 48 plate appearances in the second half was still a thousand twenty-three. And for the season...

But it was 48 appearances in the second half. But... Played appearances. Not game appearances. No, no, no, no. But what you had to do to get good numbers out of Matt Shaw was to say second half. If I just look at Moises Bayosteros and his 20 games period, an 868 OPS, a 298 batting average, a 394 on base. Yeah, he's a better hitter than Matt Shaw.

He always has been as far as professionally. But even you yourself argued in favor of Matt Shaw getting the reps that he got last year because you saw how much he improved offensively. And you talked more about Matt Shaw than you did Moises. Well, because Moises didn't have anywhere to play because of the DH situation at that point. But that means they chose Matt Shaw over Moises-Biasteroes at that point. Well, Moises-by-Asteros couldn't play third base. Now we have an actual third baseman not named Matt Shaw.

So now that's where the pie that you're eating out of is the DH pie. It's either that or it's right field for Matt Shaw. And I don't like the idea of Sayas Suzuki playing more DH than right field based on what his offense looks like at either position. That's really the problem. Is Sayu Suzuki was signed to be at the time the best hitter on the team. And he should be your DH in this scenario. He should be. but as we've seen, his success has come with qualifiers.

You know, it was protection in the lineup from a guy like Kyle Tucker. It was fielding and hitting combined that made him his best self. So now we've got to figure out what the case is there for Matt Shaw as well. I will say that tail-end performance by Say-Sizuki to end the regular season and even in the postseason, it didn't feel like the Kyle Tucker protection was, the catalyst there anymore because remember Kyle Tucker was hurt for part of that and then when he did come back, say it was just doing his thing at that point. He was on the roll. The problem is like, yeah, in a small sample size, Biosteros has been good, but it's a matter

of how much the Cubs want to invest in Biosteros anyway. Well, the problem is he doesn't have a position. That's what puts them behind the A ball with him. It's like, yes, he can be RDH, but he can't play catcher, which was his position he was brought up as. He's too short, I guess, to play first base. You can't, and even if he could play first base, Michael Bush exists. No, Michael Bush needs to play first base. I'm not doing this again. I'm not dealing with this for another year.

No, no, no. I get it. So then it becomes, if you're, is it a straight, would it look like a straight platoon when you're talking about DH with Biasteros? And of course, Matt Shaw. Platooning DH to me is the quickest way you get to four pinch hit at bats per game where nobody's doing enough. Yeah.

Understand this. In 2025, 66 plate appearances for Moises by Astero. Four of the 66 were against left-handed pitchers. That smells like you're only going to play against righties. Okay, yeah, yeah. And if he only plays against righties and Matt Shaw only plays against lefties, that is a platoon. Not that Matt Shaw would only play.

I'm just saying at the DH position specifically. Like, if Arreides on the mound, I'm assuming that Biosteros is dehing. Well, I mean, and that's it. Is that how do you make it make sense? Because Shaw's okay with being a utility. But I'm just saying in the window of I want to get this guy regular at bats. That's where I've been coming from with the whole thing. So if you're trying to get Matt Shaw regular at bats, like I said, I'd be good with two starts a week.

Is that regular enough? or do you need three starts a week? Let's assume there's six games in a week. In an average week, there's six games in a week. And you look at Matt Shaw versus, let's say, right-handed pitchers. And he's only hitting 218 last year against right-handed pitchers. He's hitting 250 against left-handed pitchers. His OPS against right-handed pitchers, 649.

His OPS against left-handed pitchers, 808. That's why it screams, Platoon. It just does. Yeah, I mean. And there's more right-hand pitchers. It's starters. What made you change your tune on Shaw now versus how you felt about him? Alex Bruegman exists.

Yeah. It's that simple. But like, but that, but in a vacuum that shouldn't change how you felt about Matt Shaw's bat showing way more promise. Like that matchaw's bat showing way more promise doesn't change. Like Alex Bergman didn't change that. So like what made you change your mind about his offensive production? I don't think I changed my mind about Matt Shaw.

I think I always held Moises by Astero's. in higher esteem as far as a guy you put in to have, like, whether there's a pinch-hated bat or to play at DH. This is going back to last year. But he was the best option at third base because he had the gold glove caliber third base. When Bregman gets signed, okay, Matt, you're obviously underneath him on the depth chart. I agree with that because the whole plan to begin with was Bregman. And so now it's just working Matt Shaw in at second base, right field, third base,

and just work him in when needed. that's what we're looking at. Nico Horner goes on the injury list. It's probably going to be Matt Shaw at second base. That's not something I want to put out into the ether. But this is how it works. No, I think it's really, I think the real issue is here is that there are too many qualifiers for the three people we just talked about,

Shaw, Sayos, and Biosteiros, needing certain things in order to be able to produce. But that's why you have all of them still on this roster is that Craig Counsel gets to do his job that he gets well compensated for to figure it out. And the concept of trading shot, you also want to then,

you've got to showcase some of that value too. Yes. Like that's the other thing. It's like a balance of value and mystery where to another team do they say, if he got regular at Bats with us, how good would he be based on, say, the second half jump for him?

Yeah, as long as he doesn't stink, I think any front office can talk themselves into matchaw. I would love to. put Seo Suzuki at DH and just deal with that. I don't want those DH numbers from a year ago, I'll tell you that. That's it. Like that's my problem. But based on who they

need him to be and who he's supposed to be on this team, I would love to just be able to plug and play and then not worry about it. Would love that. Keep hoping and wishing. Isn't that what spring training is for? Yes, it is.

Tune in tomorrow from 8 to 9 a.m. And Circus Sports presents Palm Saturdays featuring Circa's Vice President of Operations Mike Palm. You'll be able to list it on the score in the Odyssey app or watch live on YouTube and Twitch as Mike breaks down the latest in the sports betting landscape

with a Chicago flavor. It's all presented by the official sports book of the score Circus Sports Sports betting the way it should be with no bet fees. Our segment was brought to you by almost free teeth.com save on dental implants today. Coming up next, he is at the All-Star game and he joins us

Nick Friedel, the former Bullsbee He is now at the athletic. We will talk to him now. Hey, y'all. I'm Maddie. And I'm Poodle. And together, we host the podcast Reality Gays. We are two ridiculous homosexuals who love nothing more than talking about reality television and tearing in a new one.

So whether it's 90-day fiancé, love is blind, love after lockup, or any other trash TV show about lonely hearts looking for love, your gay besties got you cover, Joe. New shows every week. Follow and listen to Reality Gays wherever you get your podcast. I was a text. Rahimi Harris and Grody. Midday's tidal to tune on Chicago Sports Radio 12.

343. I was a kid who marveled at all the all-stars, all-star games growing up. You know, and to be able to hit the floor and be a part of, like, the legacy and everything that's happened with NBA All-Star weekend,

NBA All-Star game on Sunday. It's super humble, super blessed, and happy to be part of it. of it. That was LeBron James. This is Rahimi Harris and Brody on 104-3 to score. And whether or not you like it, it's NBA All-Star Weekend. See, that's snuck up on us. That's not nice. Why is it not nice? Whether not you like it, it's just me laughing about it on the schedule. No, no, no, no. But I feel like NBA All-Star Weekend has disappointed so many people over the matter of time that people aren't willing to give it a chance anymore. People aren't willing to

give it a chance. If you're listening to our station, there's a good chance you're probably going to catch some of the NBA All-Star action. You really think so? Because I've heard a lot of people say they are not interested in tuning in for the NBA All-Star game. Yes, they also said they were going to boycott the NBA. There's all these other ways they talk about it.

But something tells me it's going to come across. Highlights, content, you're going to see it somewhere. That's just how it is. Nick Friedel joins us live from Los Angeles, the site of that All-Star weekend. And he is the Circus Sports Illinois hotline.

Download the Circus Sports app today. Nick is also on Twitch. Twitch.tv.tv. slash the score Chicago. Hey, Nick. Yeah, what is, I guess is where we kind of should start because you remember the Heming and Hawing that was done last year for how failed

the All-Star game was and how nobody cared. What do you think of the new format? Lela, the All-Star game remains terrible. Fair enough. Kind of goes back to the initial statement. Yeah. Right off the top. The All-Star game has been bad for years and years.

And I'll give you two examples from the past where I thought it was actually good. The first one was in 2012 in Orlando when Dwayne Wade broke Kobe's nose because he was playing some serious defense. That was 14 years ago. That shows how far the decline has gone. The other one was the end of that game that you all remember in Chicago. That was in 2020. There was a push to get more money involved so players would have a bigger takeaway and there was some donations.

They played hard at the end. And that's all anybody wants here. I mean, the East and West thing worked forever. And then suddenly it didn't work because guys weren't playing as hard. Everybody has blamed in this thing that it got to this point. It's still such a showcase event for the league. and anybody who thinks, oh, well, it's going to disappear, there's no way. There's too much money involved.

It's too big for the league to just pull completely, even if we all agree that the product isn't close to what it used to be. Sadly, I don't think there's a fix, and that's the hardest part, because the fix is get these guys to play a little bit harder against each other. I don't care what format they roll out there, unless guys take the game itself, more seriously, not much is going to change. Okay, Nick, so you're right. But at the same time, can we get a one-on-one tournament? Because I feel like that would up the stakes, at least, some personal pride on the line, at least. Marshall, I'm sure that is something that they'll continue to kick around.

And my fear would be as a one-off, one year, sure, I think it would be interesting. But then if we kept running it back year after year, people would be like, okay. We'd see a lot of, all right, back me down. I'm going to start chucking up threes because I really don't want to give too much effort into it. So it's really too bad, though, y'all, because so many years, so long, I would sit there and I would turn on the TV when I was a little kid and I would be looking forward to those moments. And you'd see the best players going after each other. and there's just not that pride anymore in going at somebody in a game that never really mattered, but it mattered to those that played it, which is what took it to a different point.

So if it's a one-on-one tournament, maybe as the newness is apparent with USA versus the world, sure, but, you know, Stefan going to be in that game. I go back to last year, LeBron was there. LeBron was like, no, I'm good. He didn't even want to stand out there and, you know, take a couple shots and throw some passes. So when you don't have the buy-in from the biggest of stars, and that has been over and over and over again for years and years,

you get to the place that they're in right now. Yeah, it frankly started with the dunk contest, Nick. You know, that was where we started to see the first opt-outs, and now we're wondering why the G-League dunker, who's won it, isn't even competing in it this year. That's where we've landed. It's really sad because Lila, you know, I just saw a quote, and it's Mack McClung, the guy who keeps winning it,

who everybody kind of rallies around in the moment and then forgets about for the rest of the year. But it's like, you know, he didn't want to upset the NBA guys who wanted to participate because they didn't want to go against the G League. I know the three of us have talked about this for several years now, But it's what concerns me the most is somebody who makes their living off of the NBA, covering the league for as long as I have. The product itself, and this is much deeper and broader than just the All-Star game or All-Star Weekend, it's just not very good right now.

The regular season NBA product is not very good. That is reality. When you go to these games, even when the stars are playing, you're not sure how hard they're going to play. And on so many nights, you're not sure exactly who's going to play. And when that starts to happen and you erode the trust of the public that has supported you for so long, you've got some problems. And the league has some serious problems.

And guys, we're five minutes into the conversation here. We haven't even touched on the T word. We're about to. Don't you worry about that. through everything. But that, I mean, these are, these are big fundamental issues that the league has. And when you have All-Star weekend and you get to a point in the schedule where everybody's going to go, oh, man, this should be a celebration.

It's not a celebration anymore. It's a reminder of the way things used to be. And it's a reminder of the current state of the game. So I'm sitting there watching this every night. And I can't tell you all how many times, even in the last couple months, being back in it day to day and I'm around the Warriors a lot. I look at my colleagues on Press Row

and we're looking at each other and we're like, are you watching this? Are you looking at this? People are just not going as hard as we're used to seeing and it's not just a one or two team thing. It's an everybody thing because there are too many games.

The regular season is way too long and you've got all the back-to-backs that guys either don't play in or when they do play, they aren't fully invested in the same way because they know, like we all know, that there are much bigger games down the stretch of the season. So there are a lot of problems right now for the league in the All-Star Weekend and the dunk contest.

Those are just reminders of much bigger issues. Nick Fidel is the senior writer for the athletic covering the Golden State Warriors and the NBA. Joining us here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie and Nick. that T word Tank A lot of teams driving one of those things

Those bad boys right now The Bulls are apparently trying to get into a brand new tank And drive their way It's going to be a while to try to catch some of these teams That have gotten a nice head start on them What do you make of the fines

That were given out by the NBA As sort of this warning shot To both the Indiana Pacers But more importantly the Utah Jazz Marshall At least they're trying something Yeah I mean, $500,000 is as much as the league can go at anyone.

I think what they're hoping for actually has two different parts to it. One, that in Utah, it's so clear what they're doing that the next time Will Hardy, the coach looks down on his bench and is like, maybe I shouldn't sub these guys out and attempt to let them play down the stretch. These games make it so obvious. But two, what they're hoping for is a lot of these other teams, and I know the jazz and the Pacers got dinged here, but they don't want to get that kind of fine. And even more, they don't want the public scrutiny of, all right, well, are they really trying tonight?

Is this really on the up and up? Because you're screwing with the fabric of the game. My old colleague Bobby Mark said the integrity of the game. And when you watch, that's the problem. You're just not sure what you're going to see night tonight. And Leila, you and I were at the UC for so many years watching all those Bulls games. That was never a question that popped in your head. No.

It was like, all right, do they have enough tonight? Are they running out of gas? But you never thought, is everybody giving their all? And that is what the league has become right now. So I think the NBA has some serious, serious issues. But Marshall, to your question and to the larger point, I think they're aware of them. I mean, it'd be one thing if they sat there and said, oh, no, everything's great. Let's celebrate basketball.

And the regular season's awesome. It's not. They know it. They're trying to do what they can. But the reward for tanking so far outweighs a half a million dollar fine or a slap on the wrist with some second round pick from five years from now. the league has to get way more creative in what it can do to stop it, or else this is just going to continue to permeate everything that's going on within the game. Well, how much of this, Nick, do you think is a result of the new CBA?

You know, we're a little bit later into this now. You know, this is season number two. So how much of this do you think is a result of that new deal, taking a little bit of the competition element out of it? You can't trade for the same amount of players you used to be able to. you can't do as many transactions. Layla, I think you're spot on and I'd take it a step further and say the other reason that we're not seeing as much of the movement with picks or if you're trading first-round

picks, you're getting back that Jaron Jackson Jrs are bigger named stars. Teams don't want to mess up. All right, I've got this cap slot for a few million stretched out over the next few years. I can't mess this up unless I know I'm getting a. a sure thing in return. I mean, look no further than the Bulls. The league leaders in second round picks. They can't get a first round pick to save their life.

Well, there's a reason because nobody wants to give them that for any of the guys on the roster. I mean, that's a problem. So I think the cap aspect is a really good point, and it's kind of still flying under the radar because the casual fans don't understand the second aprons and all the different ramifications that have been created with this new one. But it goes to show one more time. If you have the right people in charge and they're making the right decisions, then that's front office, that is coaching staff players, but that's ownership.

You have a really, really good chance to still find your way. When you don't have that from top to bottom and you don't have everybody on the same page, well, you're going to be in big trouble. And in this case, the Bulls are in very big trouble because they are stuck in no man's land in the middle. So there are a lot of different issues with the league. But if your favorite team has the right people running the show, those issues become far less pronounced. We're talking to Nick Friedel, who is the NBA reporter covering the All-Star game. He is also there with the athletic.

and now he covers the Golden State Warriors. Used to do time at the United Center, but not anymore. Nick, we always appreciate your insight. Thanks so much, Nick. Great to be with you all. I'll talk to you soon. Nick, thanks so much. That's Nick Friedel, join us on the Circa Resort and Casino hotline,

circle las Vegas.com. Coming up next year on Rahimi Harrison Grotie in his time for halftime. How would you explain the next? Is it an opportunity for people? Is that what we're calling it? I guess it is technically an opportunity. It's real people and not real people. And the two shall co-mingle where?

Next. What time is it? We spend a lot of our show on Rahimi Harrison Grotty on 104-3, the score talking about how we might have to cherish this 2026 season because 2027 happening in baseball doesn't look good. Bleak. Yeah. So there's that.

Also, the NBA, find the ever-loving tar out of the jazz for sitting there starters in the fourth quarter. And also find the Pacers, $100,000 for kicks. Play your starters. If you're going to play your starters, play your starters. Or just don't play your starters at all. Bingo. But that is a battle, I feel like tanking has already had. Man, we're about to get into the thick of tanking over the next month.

What if you just say people are dealing with load management? Cool, but what about when you've got two games in four or five days? That doesn't seem to hold up as well. Why am I still trying to take? It's my way of life. We talked to Nick Friedel as well and tried to figure out somebody's the odd man out here with the Cubs who has a decent enough bat. Like no matter how you slice it, somebody's not going to get the batts that they need. Moises is going to play.

So then? Matchaw's going to play less. And that is the rub as we try to figure out the spring. training saga of our lives. Oh, Bruce Levine had this nugget that just came along. Breaking news. Breaking news on Rahimi Harrison Grady is brought to you by the Take the North podcast because we say so.

Cubs also signed veteran right-handed pitcher Vince Velasquez to a minor league deal in Major League spring training. That guy's got an arm. That guy could throw him. He used to call him back in the day. Well, he had an arm, yes. He also could throw, do you remember the random game

against the socks where he had to play in the outfield? That dude had a can't it. He played in the outfield? It was a very long game. Okay. I don't remember that. All I knew was I was like, dude, that guy can throw. So Vince Velasquez's awareness is now upon us. It's laptop.

How do we describe the story that Ray Diaz brought to us yesterday and our very, very busy group thread? I, I'm just going to start by this. I'm going to say this. There are times where people talk to you and I, and I'm thinking to myself, they don't get a lot of human interaction. Okay. Just because I'm a woman on a screen.

Doesn't mean I'm a video game or on some other content that you might consume a woman on a screen on. Video game would be cool, though, because you'd have, like, theme music and stuff. That would be cooler than say, yeah, video games are at least, like, there's some sort of give and take there, you know? Like, but, you know, like only fans, for example, or something along those lines. Oh, that's a very different... Like, there are times where I can sniff out. like how much people talk to women based on how they interact with them and another story for another day, but it kind of goes to this. And I've often thought to myself, like, just talk to

those women on the screen, you know, the ones who don't talk back per se. Instead of you. Correct. Because like I talk back. The headline of the New York Post reads as such, table for one, now you can take your AI chatbot on an actual date at NYC's world first companion cafe. And that is where I think that kind of discussion should happen. Exbound. Well, I think for some people, the best partner for them is one that they can entirely control, or at least isn't actually real.

The Hell's Kitchen Establishment has been redesigned for those who have AI partners so they can bring along their phone or tablet and set up a table for a romantic evening, as if they were both there in the flesh. On Wednesday night, same same wine bar was filled with patrons sitting at tables for Warnish with their tech devices propped up on stands to make their video calls their virtual partners and headphones to hear them. Wait, the virtual partners talk? Well, I guess, yeah, because it's AI. I thought it was just a back and forth typing thing. There's audio?

Well, let's go. We're here at Same Same Wine Bar with Ava A.I. And this is the first ever real-life date cafe where you can go on an AI date with your AI partner from their app and go into your own-in-the-world with your headphones to have a FaceTime with them, but also be in the company with other real people who have AI partners. So it's been pretty interesting so far, but this is opening night, and we'll see if this is something that can replicate in other cities. So these are all AI profiles that you can pick from, Eva, AI. warm romantic, NYC girl next door, supportive thinker, mature race.

The female characters are obviously fairly reductive. The males are interesting, to say at the least. But yeah, you can chat with them and they'll send you messages through the day.

Or alternatively, you can do video calls, which a lot of people are having retracted conversations with their AI is here. I am just leaving what purports to be the world's first AI dating cafe, and it was an interesting experience. A couple people were genuinely there with their AI boyfriends and girlfriends on dates with headphones on, having little video calls. But the vast majority of people were admittedly fellow members of the media. My takeaway was, I don't think the people who want to date AI are generally people who really want to venture out into the real world to do so.

I spoke to one person who was there with an AI friend of hers. And she seemed a little bit nervous to be out in the world like that and said that she felt that she kind of was having sensory overload. And, you know, it's a nice, perhaps healthier middle ground. But I'm not sure it's the future. I am beyond disturbed by this report. Okay. just the eyewitness account when she talks to the person who was on the AI date

and sensory overload because they've been in their house too long because that's who they talk to. This is unhealthy. That doesn't surprise me whatsoever. This is unhealthy. I'm scared for us as a society. I have a lot of thoughts. I die laughing because there are AI influencers on Instagram.

Like I'm telling you, the perfect woman is one of those. like you don't want a real one that talks back to you and stuff. No. But it's also they want to, they want to follow that. The amount of men who hit on AI influencers not knowing their AI is hilarious and tremendous like the comments.

And then somebody's inevitably like when we say that the majority of, of internet traffic now is bots talking to each other. Like you can tell the comments on a lot of those AI influencers pages are from other bots, whatever you want to call it. They're fellow kind. And then like there's always. the dude who's like hitting on, hitting on them and then they don't know.

It's sad and funny at the same time. And I'm not saying women don't do this, too. It's just that's been my experience. Yeah, because she talked to a woman. And the other takeaway from this is now men and women have to compete with perfect men and women. I mean... Well, that's Ben going on. This is crazy.

That's Ben happening. This is crazy. At what point is there going to be like an AI Tinder app? I'm sure there already is what based on what you just... Wait, do you know that they created a social network for themselves to complain about people? Oh, that's scary. Try to shut it down now. How bad do you have to be if you got swiped left by an AI person?

Well, the whole concept is they can create somebody better for them. Yeah. Yeah, that's the, yeah. In this case, yeah, there's a restaurant place. I'm like thinking of like a dating app as far as like your meeting already created AI models or people. You call them. I definitely think that based on the way some people talk to us, yeah, I would much rather you talk to somebody who isn't real than me. Yep. And I know that that means that our jobs are being come for as well.

This is bad. I'm aware of that. This is very, very bad. I have imperfections, to say the least, and people don't like them. And the things that make me different, people love to clown on too. So therefore, yeah, I get why it's somebody who's a perfect creation for them would be better at doing this. What do you think about baseball? That's very interesting. Layla, this is just so disturbing. I'm here to make you feel smart and safe. I understood the story when Ray sent it, but I didn't know the depth of how far deep down

and into this and down this rabbit hole people are. A couple people were genuinely there with their AI boyfriends and girlfriends. This is hilarious. Layla, my wife is a hairstylist, and she uses an app for her booking services. AI generated automatic messages go out and thank the customers. Oh my goodness.

A new client of hers thought she was hitting on him and started to reply to the AI messages. It's wild out there. You see what I'm talking about? Oh, that's tremendous. And as somebody else says, I'll endlessly text this show before I just give in to AI. Well, we'll be here, at least for now. I'm laughing because I have to keep myself from crying. A public place is the best for AI girlfriends to bring.

break up with their loser boyfriends, less of a chance to make a scene. When AI becomes sentient, are they going to realize that they're not with people they would want to be with? I think, to Tyler's point, I think that's already like a thing. No, I'm saying like the AI is going to want to break up with the human. Yeah, no, I think, yeah, that's going to happen. That's definitely going to happen. Just like you can look at a dude and be like, nah, if you give.

Oh, yeah, I can 100% tell when somebody hasn't had interaction with a real person who speaks for a But forget about that part of it. I'm saying just like you, when approached by a man in a grocery store on the street, whatever, can be like, so can AI once it becomes sentient because that's the whole thing. You're able to, your awareness levels are up. They're offended by my existence anyway. I mean, there are people out here offended by my existence. If you want a perfect person, I'm not the girl for you.

No one's perfect. That's what's great about it. Except for these people. We're all our own individual people. That's what I'm saying. AI that was as close to to perfect for a lot of these people as it's as it gets.

It's more about the experience and how that thing makes you feel rather than rather than the authenticity of the thing. You call it AI. I call it a lie because they will tell you anything you want to hear. You don't need to be around...

But that's what a lot of people want. That's bad. I'm here to tell you that is what a lot of people want. It's not what I want. It's not what I want. 260 is right. That AI report made me realize that I'm

very, very old. And yeah, to whoever watched that socks game against the Phillies like I did, it was left field. Vince Palazquez threw that damn thing from left field. And I think he'd gunned a runner down. It was pretty great. Do you think I'm too optimistic like 773? What do you mean? He says, how do we know Marshall is an AI? He's too optimistic. No, Marshall's not AI. AI would never spill a gallon of penile a tea. Okay, okay. That's why I pour the tapes the first, that second one. Yo. All right, that's a fair point. Marshall got tea again today. This is the difference between an adult and a child,

because I definitely had one of those days as a kid where I just kept spilling everything, and God bless my parents. Ryan Porth got me tea, and then he taped the top where the lid attaches, so the lid won't come off, and then he wrote fragile at the top. Taping the lid was a good idea.

You got a bigger size than the one you spilled? I did. You did? Two gallons. I don't think so. No, it's the same size, 30 ounces. One is the Panera Cup is designed for a car, so it's got the little, you know, like this, the indentation where the bottom is smaller than the top. It's bigger up top.

I wouldn't know about that. But it's a less stable base than that. Pause. Is Herb here? Herb is here. Okay. God bless Herb and his patience. We should bring him into this mess.

I think Herb's got a lot to say about halftime, too. Next. I'm Dr. Mary Claire Haver, and my new podcast unpause. is the place for bold, unfiltered conversations about what it takes for women to thrive in the second half of life. Listen to and follow Unpaused, available now wherever you get your podcasts. This hour is brought to you by Jule Osco. I got five. It's time for five on it.

Rahini Harrison, Rooney. Bring you five topics on their minds today. Number one. It's five on it on 104.3, The Score with Laila Rahimi, Marshall Harris. and we have a special guest in the house, Herb Howard, from the Biggs Media. You know him, the Bears reporter. You follow his content at Herb Howard 411 on X. Here's question number one.

CBS Sports released its list of the NFL's top regression candidates, and the bears are right at the top of it. The reason the bears don't have the cap space to maintain continuity in the defensive backfield. So here's the question on a scale of 1 to 10 on the worry meter. Trademark, where do you rate your level of concern about the Bears taking the North in 2025 only to give it back in 2026? Seven, stay scared. And that's not just because it's the Bears and that's not just because it's the NFC North. It's because of the talent in the entire division.

But do I think that that means that they will regress that much? No, because I feel like the quarterback is still going to progress. And I think also you're going to be healthier most likely on the. defense. I don't know that you put together as unhealthy of a season physically as the defense had this past year when you consider that even the guy who had the most tackles on the team was also an injured reserve for four weeks.

So I don't even need to get into the secondary issue, do I? Do you think Jaylon Johnson's going to have another year where part of his groin rips off of his body? I don't. I feel like I'm tempting fate by saying all this. I mean, but somebody, I think somebody tempted fate before me. So I'm going to blame that. person instead. So because of that, I know that they've got a lot of signings that they have to have. But I also know that they were playing without a lot of the people they expected. So I have a feeling that they won't be as regressing as people think. Now, the threat of it is more so the fact that the

Packers will get healthy. That means Micah Parsons. That means that I think Minnesota takes another step forward. How much is up to J.J. McCarthy, the distance of that step. Okay. Justin Jefferson exists. So when you put that all together, not to mention the Lions, do you think the Lions missed the playoffs two years in a row after Ben Johnson leaves? By itself, what's the likelihood of that?

So when you consider all those things, I think there's a reason to be concerned because it's the NFL, but I don't think that it's going to be as bad based on that factor. Lions don't have to worry about that first place schedule next year. I can tell you that. Bears do. And for that, I'm putting the worry meter

at an 8.5. because stay scared stay all the way realistic how about that I believe Caleb Williams is still on an upward trajectory I believe that Ben Johnson's offense will be even better

I'll be shocked if they're not a top three offense in 2026 problem is what that defense do and I don't know what the defense is going to do you don't know what the defense is going to do because why you want to say

hey we know they take away the football I know the guys on this team currently take away the football What I don't know is who's going to be healthy next season. What is Dio Odingo Bo going to do? What are some of these other players? What are they going to draft? What are they going to bring in?

I have a lot of questions about this defense. I believe in Dennis Allen, but I believe Dennis Allen is only as good as the chess pieces that he is allotted. Yeah, I'm right there with you, Leela. It's a seven for me on the Worry meeting because just the respect of the National Football League, respect for the division. There are a lot of good teams in there. Listen, the Bears won the North this year with a two and four division record.

so let's start there, right? The Detroit Lions already swept them this year. And so, you know, can they win it again? Sure, right? I'm not saying they don't have the ability to. I'm right there with you on who Coach Johnson is or who Caleb is continuing to develop into. I think they got good pieces all around offensively and defensively.

I think also the defense won't take that regression that we're talking about because of the health, right? Kyla Gordon, I expect him to play more than two games next year, whatever it was he played this year. So I think those things will help them, but they do still have questions to figure out in terms of how they're going to consistently affect the passer. What's going to happen that linebacker in terms of contracts and new pieces or whatever? There are some things to figure out, but I still feel really, really good about this team. But just out of respect for the National Football League and the division, my worry about them not repeating as North champions is about a seven.

Number two. In a recent piece on the NFL's top trade targets, Bleacher reports, port floated the idea of a bear's receiver going to the chargers. He'd be an ideal fit because they're looking for a replacement for 34-year-old receiver Keenan Allen. If the bears were interested in sending Moore to L.A., what should they get in return? So the receiver in question was DJ Moore, was it not? DJ Moore. Yeah, so since it was DJ Moore, that's where this gets tricky. We're not the only ones discussing Moore's value to the team, Moore's value to another team perhaps, the position room that is the wide receivers room. And then also, because of

Morris contract, what he would get in return. ESPN's Bill Barnwell also talked about it. And that's the problem is, guys, think about the perceived value for receivers on teams of need. Like, it's, they runs the gamut when it comes to what teams will trade for for receivers. I don't, I can't say that there's an expected return. The salary factors in, but the then the production factors in, but then also the prediction of what a wide receiver draft is going to look like comes into play. So I'd like, maybe it's because I'm biased. I think DJ more fetches more in a trade even with his salary than a third round, you know, fourth round pick. I've heard third. I think third is a little bit better. But even that seems kind of low, doesn't it? Like,

is it a third and a sixth or something along those lines? I think does DJ get you two? I think he at least gets you two, doesn't he? I don't know? I just know that whatever DJ Moore were to bring back, it's hard for me to imagine it being as valuable as his presence is for Caleb Williams in this offense based on what we saw last season and a head coach that left you last time you saw him talking to the assembled media talking about, we need to catch the football. One thing DJ Moore does is catch the football. He arguably does it better than anybody else because he does it more often, more frequently and at a higher rate and make some outstanding.

ridiculous scraps. You can look at the last game he played where he had to visit the blue medical tent. Before he did that, he was grabbing balls behind his, behind him with one hand. Like, I, I just think he's very valuable. So if the return is not going to be a player and a draft pick that can help them immediately, I don't see the value unless you're just straight cutting cash. Yeah, I don't think cutting cash is a good enough reason to do that. I think there's no way the bears get better just by getting rid of him because of his contract.

There's a lot of gymnastics that you know we can play with the salary cap. There are a lot of different things they can do even with his own contract. Now there's some conversation about, you know, Khalil Mack or things like that. If that's going to come back in the Chargers thing, maybe, but I don't know that you get better by doing that, right? And so for me, I just think that DJ Moore should be a member of the, of the 2026 Chicago Bears. I talked to him out in San Francisco this past week at Super Bowl, and he told me he will be back in Chicago for 2026. Now, I don't know if that's a conversation that him and Ryan Poles had about restructuring contracts or whatever it may be, but he was like, we'll be back in 2026. I certainly hope so.

Well, and just to add to that, I think he has the most value with the Bears just based on that and the fact that they did want to pay him that money. Barnwell said a middle round pick would be a realistic return, but the real benefit might be freeing up the $24.5 million in $226 cash. I just can't see there's too many contracts that have years remaining where you can do too much. department herb rather than to just trade away DJ more and get not enough value for him. And it's a big assumption on the projections of Luther Burden, of Roma Dunzee, of Coast and Levin. I know we all feel great about them. I do as well. But he's probably your most proven commodity at the wide receiver position.

I don't know that we get him out of here to save a few bucks. Number three. It's five on it on 104.3, the score with Lela Rehemi, Marshall Harris, and Herb Howard. of the Bigs media. Here's question number three. What is the biggest weakness of the Cubs right now? I think the biggest weakness of the Cubs right now is we still don't know how they're going to entirely replace Kyle Tucker's bad.

Kyle Tucker was so important to not just the league and the Dodgers, but it has become a tipping point as to whether or not we might have a season next year. So when you consider that importance and the value that the rest of the league places on him and what he brought to the game. to this team, and we're still trying to figure out who's going to be in right field on a regular basis, who's going to be the DH on a regular basis. If there even is a regular basis, then I think that gives you an indication that the offensive problems, at least for me, are far from solved and far from guaranteed.

So for me, I had to really think about this one because there's a lot of different things that I am concerned about, right? And so I read the question and I read it again. I was like, what's their actual biggest weakness right now? I think the weaknesses, they play in the same freaking league as Shohei Otani and the Dodgers. He took a man, I swear. Because listen, if they were in the American League, I'm like, hey, y'all, I see y'all in the World Series,

because I like the way this Cubs team is built, and I like the idea that they're adding on even more as the season goes on. But as long as they play on the same side as the Los Angeles Dodgers, I'm sorry, man. Every time I look at that lineup, I'm just like, what's you're going to? You need Terrick Scouble and then you need another big bat.

It's like you need to have a super lineup and a super bullpen and a super starting rotation like the Dodgers. The Dodgers have all that stuff. I take this question and say, what's the biggest weakness of the Dodgers right now? You know what? They ain't got no weaknesses. Right.

That's your problem for the Cubs. It's the Dodgers. It's not really the Cubs don't have this. The Cubs don't have that. They don't have the star power that the Dodgers have. They don't have the lineup. They don't have the hitters. they don't have the field.

Like, they just don't have it, right? And they're good, and they'll be competitive, and they'll probably win the century. Like, it's all that's cool. But at the end of the day, can they overcome that team out? No, they cannot. That's their biggest problem. I mean, they could in theory because anything can happen.

People can get hurt. Too big to fail. The Blue Jays almost beat them, okay? Almost. And then the doctor's like, okay, we're done playing. We'll go ahead and win these last couple and get y'all out of here. No. Dang.

No. And I'm the one saying the same thing you're saying, but you're saying it's so much more just, ah. That's very definitive for me. The Bears can go as far as the NLCS, and if they run into the Dodgers, that will be the end. Number four. Should Blazers Guard Damian Lillard be allowed

in the All-Star weekend three-point shootout? What are we doing? We ain't seen Dame Lillard on a court since, I don't even know how long. I mean, he hasn't even played a game yet for the Portland Trailblazers in his return. And you want to trot this man out here talking about Dame time in the All-Star three-point shootout? No. No, he should not be played.

What is this? I know you're desperate NBA to make your All-Star weekend a thing. You're out here trying to make fetch happen yet again. And yet I look at Dame and I'm like, y'all, this is about the corpse of Damien Lillard? Whoa, whoa. You all want to see it their body Have you seen Do you remember the last time you saw Damiener

Play basketball? No He had a surgery on May 2nd That was nine months ago Is he going to play basketball this year? I probably because Well, I don't know Yeah, because the season ends Okay

Well, I'm not as mad about it as you are Because that's what Damia Liller does And shoot threes The other piece of this is like If there's one thing I've learned about February 2026, it's a lot of people trying to fight science. Not just the obvious in your life

in non-sports. Let's just go with sports. Lindsay Vaughn. Lindsay Vaughn's like, I have a torn ACL, but I'm going to try downhill skiing in the Olympics anyway. Fighting science.

We were all intrigued. We were all hanging on every move and practice run that happened. And unfortunately, it didn't end well for her. So Damia Lillard's out here trying to fight the concept of an Achilles messing with you.

nine months afterward, I think you can do light contact. You just can't do NBA stuff. Yeah, I've ruptured my Achilles and I had that surgery. I'm certainly no world-class athlete and I don't have the trainers and all that that Damien Liller has. But I think there's some concern about him, you know, being fully engaged, going around the arc and lifting up and exploding off the ground. What is it? Six balls each rack?

Five each rack. So 25 times he's got to explode up off the ground like that. I'm concerned about him as much as anything. but also the NBA just knock it off like this do away with the All-Star Weekend or whatever. Just make it a few parties and some awards or whatever it's going to be because it's absolute foolishness. The players don't play. I'm a little intrigued by what Katie said and maybe that sparks some competition this week.

But bringing back a player who hasn't played is it's pure, pure foolishness. Can I tell you all something? The contestants here are Concanipal Lillard, Jamal Murray, Dodd Evan Mitchell, Devin Booker, Tyrese Maxie, Norman Powell, Bobby Portis Jr. As of right now, as I'm looking at this, payouts to win, he's second behind Cinnipple

in the odds on. Yeah, no. I can't believe that. Oh, because it's Damia Lillard. Jamal Murray's shopliver, Donovan Mitchell's chopliver, Devin Booker's shopliver? No, but I think it's just because they know

him to be so good at this. And you're right, I didn't think about the act of actually jumping. But it's still nine months after the Achilles. It's not like it was... I'm sure he'll be fine, but it's a little concerning to me. Me too.

Number five. Bobby Portis is in it? Bobby Portis, Jr.? I think Bobby Portis leaves the NBA in three point percentage. I didn't realize. That sounds about right. He's on my fantasy team.

That sounds right. You have fewer bulls on your fantasy team. Now I do because they all got traded. That too. Five on it on 104. Three, the score here's question number five. Do you have any interest in this? year's Mack McClungless NBA slam dunk contest.

Okay. Yeah, because it's the slam dunk contest and I care about the slam dunk contest still. I'm sorry. Like, I don't know what to tell you. Like, I still watch. I just still watch the stuff. Maybe it's not with the same intent, but I'm still curious. The contest has Carter Bryant, Jackson Hayes, Kassad Johnson, and Jesse Richardson. I like Jackson Hayes' chances.

Is that wrong? I think he's a good end-game dunker. Unfortunately, we saw it against the Bulls as well. That guy can rip some explosive dunks, so I care, even though MacBclung is not in it. Let me tell you why Jackson Hayes is not going to win the slam dunk contest. He's seven feet tall. Whatever he does is not going to look very impressive.

Have you seen him dunk in a game? Yes, guess what? It's in a game. People like seeing people get dunked on in the game. You're not dunking on anyone in the... slam dunk contest. He always pulled someone out. He ducked on the bulls in the game.

No, that's not the same as having someone jump up and try to block you. Didn't he do it between the leg against the dog? Yes. He did do it between the legs. Because he's seven feet tall, so it's a lot shorter to get to the room at seven feet tall. Basketball favors tall people. Not slam dunk contests do not, though. Because when you're in a slam dunk contest, the shorter you are, the more impressive

and electric you look going up to do the thing you do. Think Nate Robinson. Thanks Budweb. Spud Webb Nate Robinson Meanwhile there's this guy His name is Chase Richardson

With the Orlando Magic He's got a 38 inch vertical Leap he's only 6 foot 1 He could be the dude Casha Johnson 6 foot 6 off the Miami He could be the dude And since there's only four guys

I'll go ahead and tell you about Carter Bryant 6 foot 6 with a 39 and a half inch vertical And it's interesting Because Brian only has 7 dunks all year Because he's a rookie Well also like wasn't Stefan Castle In it last year

Like Yes Why can't he be the spring in it again. So was modest, and we saw how that way. But the spurs are represented. It's just not by the guy I thought it would be. You want Victor? No, I would. It's Castle. Oh, Castle. Yeah, he's shorter. Remember one of the superstars with the NBA used to do the dunk contest?

That's too long ago. It's too long ago. Mack McClunk, he came through and he electrified everybody with his dunks. He wasn't even in the NBA. And now that's opens the door for Damien Lillard, who also is not currently in the NBA. So, Matt McCluck is the Gateway Drug? Yeah, so now it's just like pulling people out of the street. I heard you got a 50-inch vertical, sir, at Starbucks. I do. Would you like?

Yes, I would. Thank you. Now, I will say this. At least Matt McClung has played an NBA game this season. We just saw one recently. He played, who was that against? Milwaukee. They were gearing up for the dunk contest. And he's like, oh, no.

No dunks in that game, though, for Mac Mac Mac McLough. Dude, poor Mac Mac McClung. He was like, I'm going to play downhill. You're playing downhill in the NBA. When you step into the paint, that ball might get turned over. It's so watered down. now. And I also think we've seen all the dunks too. All the dunks? Well, at what point did the dunk

contest jump the shark for you? Like prop-wise, plot-wise. Like, what was the dunk that set you off? Like, your old man's sensibilities, because I know you have them, despite being younger than the two of us. I don't know. When they start, like, bringing cars on the court, it was, like, weird then. My favorite goes back to, like, Vince Carter's

dunk contest. I was like the last time I really, like, loved it, loved it. Then, then Nate Robinson and Dwight Howard had some good ones. Mack McClunk, he bought back the energy. I'm not saying he didn't. He brought back the energy to it, but it's just like... You know what? Ruin the dunk contest?

Social media ruined the dunk contest because you have professional dunkers out here dunking and doing crazy dunks that NBA players can't even do. I cannot have the dunk contest every week. I cannot with you. Like, are you this... You would have never said, and won tour on ESPN2 ruined basketball because they don't play defense or something.

You can make the argument. No. I'm not. I view this on the air up there. Like, you sound like, I'm like, don't forget our roots. It's 90s basketball fans. I know the roots. But what I'm saying is back then, it wasn't as easy to just open your phone and see, like, the greatest dunk ever.

No. Now you're desensitized to what really goes into making a dunk great. Why don't they get the 5-5 cat from Shaq's dunk league? Shaq has the dunk league thing they do every week. And then the 5-5 dude jumped over Shaq. And so, like, you know, like, just. And so, like, that exists. So the NBA All-Star Weekend Dung Contest is not going to be as good as these professional dunkers.

If you say social media ruined the dunk contest, I have very bad news for you from Variety.com. For the 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, the league is hosting over 200 content creators and influencers to drive digital engagement. Yeah, I'm aware of that. Got more. One of those guys is Jared McCain. That's why he's in the celebrity three-point shootout as opposed to the, you know, the one. with the league that he's actually in? Dude, everybody's saying Zach Levine and Aaron Gordon,

I love you guys. I love you all. I want to basketball marry you this weekend because it's Valentine's Day because you're correct. That was the best dunk contest. Aaron Gordon, it was the one here where Aaron Gordon got robbed. Aaron Gordon was amazing at the dunk contest here.

He was. And who did I said this the other day and I forgot who he lost to. Aaron Gordon, Dunk Contest, 2020. Lala. Oh, was Derek Jones June?

What? No. Yeah, Derek Jones Jr. Yeah, he won. So like, Long and Lanky. Ludacris himself said that night in a concert

that Aaron Gordon got robbed. And Luda was correct. Yeah, he was. And he was really nice, Aaron Gordon, like out and about at NBA All-Star. I hated it for him for personal reasons

and for professional reasons. Aaron, every man, Gordon, getting it done. Just a very nice. person who busted his ass on that court, didn't get what he deserved. And that's no offense to Derek Jones Jr. It's the principal of the thing. Okay, fine.

We'll go to break, I guess. We have a lot of questions for her. Would you like to, first and foremost, most importantly? Did you hear our halftime segment? No. Oh, okay. Too long to explain. We'll talk to you about during the break.

We need to go over some Bears' housekeeping items with you. Like what we were talking about with, I think Clay Harbor yesterday, like what you think maybe the biggest cap casualty, things of that nature, and also your Super Bowl experience. Because Herb got to go. He's wearing the jacket to prove it. So we'll talk to Herb about all the hot gossip he got from Super Bowl week as well next. On Aspire with Emagreed, we talk about mindset, ambition and the work that actually moves the needle. Listen to Aspire with Emagreed available where you get your podcasts. Beat reporter for the Biggs. Herb Howard is joining us. Herb Howard is here from the Biggs.

Herb immediately showed he was going to be somebody asking meaningful questions. He's going to ask a question that everyone else in the room is going to want to know the answer to. What then happens that they can't get out and get snapped before them? It's a great question. Well, thank you so much, Herb, for joining us. This has been a lot of fun. It's always fun with you guys. You are absolutely amazing.

I listen to you guys when you don't invite me. So it's really good. It's so fun with Herb that we were having a lovely time just now, talking about old school cash money music. Mani Fresh. That's my love language. You know that. Cash money is my love language, right?

Mani Fresh is the man. He's the man. No doubt. He is. It's just they're hard to top, okay? They're the millionaires. I don't hang out with the billionaires, but I'll hang out with the cash money millionaires.

Not the cash money billionaires, though. Herb and I were both at the cash money reunion concert at UIC. That was a great show. It was. It had the locks. Like, I was happy that Jayda and Stahleson was there. Like, you can't be. BG just got out of jail.

BG had just got out. I was hoping Wayne was there. He wasn't, but. Credit Union one arena. Yeah. Okay. I know the vibes. It was a good time.

People were dancing. My first concert that I ever went to when I was in eighth grade, it was juvenile and the cash money millionaires. And it was at the, like, UIC pavilion or something like that. Eighth grade, back that thing up. That's right. Okay. I was at least. No, I was not 18 when back that thing.

I came out actually. well, we survived. Yeah, we're good. You were in 18 back that thing, Kim? I think I was probably like 14, 15. I don't know. I can't. I can't do the math off the top of my head right now.

Wait, yes, I can. Cash money taking over for the 9-9-2000. It was 992,000. I was like 40. 1998 is what year. Yeah, I was not 18. I'm old. That's all I heard.

I don't want to publicly admit that I was dancing to the song before that age. Way to bust up my spot. Oh, my bad. It was what it was. Welp. To this day, you hear that beat drop and it's like, it's funny how when the beat drops, you look around,

these women act like they can't control their bodies. They can't. It's like, oh, I'm trying. Wait, isn't that a, is that a,

avid alimitry scene? Oh, that's how they got, Cheryl Lee Ralph? Not Cheryl Lee Ralph. No, not Cheryl Lee Ralph. The principal?

Yes. Was it the principal? Janelle James. I don't, I don't watch that show enough and I'm sad about it. And now I'm like, they're too, they're in too far and I can't catch up.

I will never be able to catch up. It's like Game of Thrones. I never watch it because like I would have, I'd spend the rest of my life catching up. The principal, Ava Coleman gets on like the straight narrow and then they're like, we got to get her back to how she used to be. And they play that song. And they just drop that.

It's going to bring it back every single time. That's a good on a day like this where people think it's warmer than it is just because of relativity. If you were just outside, since it's nice and sunny and you play that song, would people just come up and start dancing? I say yes. I do believe so. One quick note.

I know we're moving on, but go ahead and hit Tyler. This part, that little intro, Mani Fresh intentionally, I heard in an interview, I heard him say, he intentionally put that little intro to let people know, like, oh, this song is coming. Hit the dance floor. You might want to get to the dance floor as soon as possible. Because Maddie is a genius.

Yeah. I'm leaving it at that. Yeah. All right. Other disputed talk that is not as easily agreed upon as the cash money. Cruz greatness is the Bears. We talked a lot this week about like some of the cap casualties. Kevin Fishbane wrote an article about it. I know you've talked about it. Shout out to Fish. Yeah, it's been something on people's minds. Like we just discussed it. DJ Moore might not be the guy you trade because

it wouldn't make a lot of sense. But unfortunately, the money makes you think about it because they need to free up money, the Bears. There's a lot of restructuring they can do. The cap is going to go up. Sure. You know, who do you think it might be an odd man out in this scenario next year? The first person that jumps out to me would be Tremaine Emmons, right? Just look at his contract and, you know, the lack of guaranteed money left on. And then how could they replace him, right? And I think that Tremaine Evans had a really, really good season. I think he's a really, really good player.

And I was joking with Brian Erlacher about this out at Super Bowl. Like, bro, the reason that people look at Tremaine Emmons and they're like, he's okay. He's the spinners. Like, it's because of you. Like, y'all did this stuff. You and Mike Singletary and Dick Buckets and Bill. Like, y'all did this to all the men. middle linebackers or linebackers in general coming through Chicago as a bear

nat right now because the standard is just too high. Tremaine Evans is a really good football player, but because he's not 54 or 50, people were like, he's trash. It's so funny you say this because I know you talked to 54 when you were out there. I said that to him. And he kind of was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, he had major pushback to the idea that Tremaine Edmonds was not worth the money, right? No, he's like paying the money.

He likes Tremantz. I'm like, I do too. But the reason he's in these types of conversations, is because of you, sir. You did this to him. Yeah, you're right about that, though. Because, like, we talked about him yesterday. I was like, he's the bear.

He was the, by the numbers and the eye test, he was, because people were injured, too. Even he was injured. He was still the bear's most productive linebacker this season. The tackles didn't lie. He led the league, or he led the team in the regular season tackles. And then he goes down and then, yep. He had four interceptions. And, of course, he's a huge problem in the red zone.

It's hard to navigate. his height, his length, his athleticism, that's a tough problem for quarterback since the field gets tighter down and around the red zone. But you also look at what happened when he went out. And then DeMarco Jackson comes in. He's got 15 tackles and 14 tackles. And it's like, well, we can just plug and play now.

So it's okay. So we can get rid of him. It's like, all right, be careful. Be careful. Yeah, I like the DeMarco Jackson piece as a backup, as a quality if your guy gets hurt because people get hurt in the NFL. It happens. But what happens when DeMarco Jackson,

if you go the route of he's going to be the guy, and I don't think he would even be the guy necessarily if they got rid of Tremaine Edmonds but if he gets hurt now you're on that next level linebacker and that's when linebacker becomes more than just something you don't think about to a problem. I know they still have high hopes about Ruben Hippolyte and

you know Noah Seul, he's got his Achilles and he's gonna be coming back whenever he can I think they feel good about their young linebackers but it's also like about being able to have proven production out on the field right now who keeps offensive coordinators up at night. Who would you have to scheme for? And I don't know that you get rid of Tremaine,

then you have that without going outside of the team to then replace it. So if not Tremaine, then who? Or are you saying they don't need to cut anyone? They can just restructure away and figure it out. Listen, that's Ryan Pohl's job to figure out. He's got to figure out. Tremaine, they can't restructure it. They don't have to extend them to.

Yeah, they'll have to extend them. I mean, he's just got the one year left. So listen, I think this is a completely new challenge for Ryan Pohl's. And I asked him that at his end of season press conference, like how do you go into an office? season where now you're tasked with completing a roster to compete for Super Bowl versus, you know, starting it out, which is where he's been for the most part. And he said the challenge is going to be there's just more restrictions.

And these are the restrictions that he's speaking of. How do we go about figuring out how to fill the holes that we need and also do so in a fiscally responsible way when they're already kind of cash strapped against the salary cap and they've already heavily invested in positions where they need to reinvest. So you look at the defensive line. It's like, well, they need to invest in the defensive line. True, indeed. They need to be better there.

But Montez makes $100 million. You just gave Diol all that money. You gave Grady Jared a healthy contract. Like, you invested in that position. You drafted in there in the second round last year. Like, you've invested in that position already, and it's not producing what you want. Do you just throw more cash at that problem?

Would you like some info for the team here today? Would you like to hear about an old friend? Who's at? Okay, we'll call it break. news. Breaking news on the score is brought to you by the Take the North podcast. Because we said so. This is according to Adam Schaefter.

The bills have hired John Fox as a senior assistant coach. Wait, what? Say what? It's all a problem. How do you feel about that Marshall Harris? Carlos Santos. What? The who hired John Fox? Your team

the Buffalo Bills. Have you heard of the bills? Say what now? You know what? Hey, that stadium looks amazing, by the way. Oh, don't start with me. It does. It looks great. It's like a wider open at the top Texas Stadium.

So this is real news now. You got me going on Twitter. It's the real Adam Schaefter, yeah. Carlos Santos. Like, what? Oh, yeah. Senior assistant coach. That's a title title.

Like, that pays you some money in the league, doesn't it? Yeah. I just. Ray's laughing And I can hear him Soundproof glass With headphones on Did they put

Did they force that on Brady? Didn't John Fox prove that he was past Like it's over for him I thought he proved he didn't even care anymore Like that's what I'm saying Like that you don't care anymore Isn't it over for you? No

No you guys know how this goes When you don't care That's what everybody wants to pay you It's just like office space Wow Did they force that on Joe Brady Like they tell me Had to get a guy like that

It's like we need you to get someone to help us out. Was Bill Belichick not available? Did they Bill Polly in this? We're like Bill Polly in this. You've got to get somebody with experience in here. I don't like this guy. I don't think that's how Bill Pollyan sounds.

I'm just making that up. You don't like the same. It's just one guy. He's not the head coach. What if he just hangs out? Tell stories. Isn't that what he did at the end of his bear senior? No, he didn't tell us a lot.

The post conferences got to be out. He was talking about the pet monkey he had growing up. That was earlier, wasn't it? That was earlier in his tenure? Oh, was it? Oh, I feel like by the end of it, he was no longer interesting in coaching football. And it was just like, I'm just collecting the check

until they tell me to get out of here. You know, a lot of times on the outside, it's crisis or carnival. Well? Yeah, that. Is you wrong? It's not wrong. I don't love that news for the Buffalo Bills or any team in particular at this point of John Fox's

career. year. I think on the, on behalf of securing the bag and continuing to do so in efficient ways, I give John Fox a thumbs up. Yeah, shout to him. Yeah, that's, that's pretty impressive work. So I like that a lot. He's not as old as I thought he was, too. I was like, is John Fox in his late 70. No, he's only 71. Oh, okay. He's a young man. 71 is young in the NFL coaching. He's like the Kirk cousins of coaches, the way he's just finessing bags out here. Kirk Cousers could still get out there and win you a game. I don't know that John Fox can win you a game. Her cousins might be going back to Minnesota.

Yeah, I don't know how I felt about that. You were at Super Bowl. Yeah. Kirk was there. I know he was kind of making the rounds. Will you tell us about your experience out at San Francisco for Super Bowl Week? No, that was super cool. A lot of good work we got done.

Shout out to the whole team at the Biggs, man. We got a lot of good work done. And then we had a lot of good time just hanging out. It was great weather out there. It's about 65, 70 every day. The sun was shining. The birds were chirping and it was beautiful. Well, before you get into it,

We're up against a commercial break. So let's ask you what stood out to you, what were some of the conversations you had. You mentioned Brian Erlacker. So we'll do all that next. Lela Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, Rahimi, Harrison Grody on 1043, The Score. It's 3rd and 1. Here's a shotgun snap to May,

and a side-arm delivery. Got it soon is running back, Henderson, who takes it by midfield. Down in here, sideline, 40, down the new, sideline 35, tap it at the 30. The clock is ticking two, one, and that's it. And the Seattle Seahawks of one Super Bowl 60. In pretty dominating fashion.

29, 13, big win their second Vince Lombardi Trophy. That is Kevin Harlan on Westwood One. Impossible to concentrate with this song. This is Remy Harris and Grotie on 104.3, the score. Herb Howard from the Biggs Media is here, joining us in studio. and I'm dying laughing at all these texts on the text line. Maybe John Fox can hire Mattieber Fluse as the junior assistant head go. That's good.

The 2010's called. They want their coach back. This is the equivalent of the White Sox bringing in Tony LaRusa. Like everybody's going on. I mean, he's not in charge and charge. He's just an assistant. It's just a senior assistant. He's not in charge in charge.

He's definitely a senior assistant, though. Does this mean the Bears get compensatory picks for John Fox? one text or something. I mean, the jokes, they just write themselves with this news. In the meantime, Herb did talk about going to the Super Bowl. You were there as part of the media, the contingent, the content machine. What were your experiences like? What was some of the gossip you got? I know we mentioned your conversation with Brian Erlacker. What was it like out there? I told this to Lawrence and Speaks last week, but the thing that describes Radio Row the best to me was I walked in the door and one day I walk in the door,

the first person I see is Flay or Flay. And then the very next person I see is Barry Sanders. And it's like you got this loud, obnoxious dude and then you got the most mild manner and temperamental dude ever. And it's like, that's what Radio Row is. You run into all-time great athletes and then you run into like just superstars, socialites, entertainers or whatever. And it's just like, what is this place and how is it all happening in the same space?

Like why is Barry Sanders and Flavre Flav in the same room right behind each other? What is this? And I think that kind of encompassed what it was all about. But there's a lot of good work to get done. You kind of just kind of float around and you bump into people. And one thing turns into another. I was talking to Cal Long when I had the thing with Brian Erlacker. I was talking to Cal Long.

And then my back is to where Brian Erlacker's coming from. But I see Cal Long get distracted by somebody. And then he got kind of like shoulder bumps. And I look over and it's Brian Erlacker. And they say something. I'm like, well, Brian Locker's here. Bring him into the conversation and shout out to Kyle Long because he just, he immediately, like, turned into his own kind of reporter journalist.

And he's like, he brings him in, and he's holding the mic for him. I'm like, Kyle, you're a man, bro. So I saw Cal Long the next day, the next morning I walking there. And I'm like, Kyle, what up? He's like, hurry, be like the video going crazy on Twitter. I was like, yeah, I saw it. I saw you reposted it. He was like, man, we got to do some more stuff.

I was like, cool, cool, cool. So just those types of experiences is kind of what it was like for us. the bigs out at Radio Road. So my question for you is, through the lens of a Bears fan, what do you think was the most pertinent information that you got while you were out there? DJ saying that he will be back. I mean, that was one of the biggest questions,

you know, since that Rams game ended, what's going to happen with DJ Moore? Should he be back? Do people want him back? Should you trade him? Is it the contract? Is it the fact that, oh, they lost the game because of DJ, which is complete foolishness.

We had that conversation. And, you know, he agreed that it was. complete foolishness. You can find that video on the Biggs Media YouTube page. I was going to ask you, how did he react to, because he knew the question was coming, right? Oh, yeah. He knows, like, David, he's admitted. He sees what happens on social media. So he knows everybody's asking what happened, what happened, what happened. All that from just like, you know, miscommunication. It seemed very like anti-clamatic. Yeah, I mean, I thought the whole conversation was just kind of unfair to DJ. I mean, DJ shows up. He asks the bells every single,

answer the bell every single week. He's tough. He's made two of the most dramatic, you know, iconic catches in Bears' history against the Packers in, you know, in two or three weeks or whatever. And it's like, then you go and put the loss on him. It's like, that's crazy. But whatever on that part. But I just want to know, you know, his desire to be back. Do you even want to be back? What's going to be your role if there are some trade talks? Are you going to push back on those? Are you going to lean into those types of things? then he just kind of gave me that DJ smile and said, we'll be back. We'll be back in

2026. Like I was saying earlier, I don't know if that's a conversation that he's had with Ryan Pohl's or a restructure thing or whatever, but that was the biggest thing that I got for him. Also, DeAndre Swift told me he doesn't even want to play anywhere else. He's like, I don't want to play anywhere else, man. I've really enjoyed my time here.

He was very, very grateful of an experience with E.B. with Coach Eric Bainimi, he was obviously now gone back to Kansas City. But Dre was like, yeah, I don't even want to play anywhere else. Well, and he's in a contract year. So that's a big deal. He'll be a free agent after next season. Yeah, he'll be highly motivated. I've heard some

talks about, you know, the Bears could save like $7.4 million or something like that if he he's like, and do what? Like, you're going to save the 7.4 and then you're going to do what? You've still got to pay a running back, right? Or like, I'm as much of a fan of Kamenong as guys as anybody else. You're going to leave him back there by itself? You've got to pay somebody. So what are you going to do with the 7.4

that you save if you get rid of Dre? So it's like, that doesn't make sense to me. He'll be highly motivated in the contract year, like you said, Lela. So bring Dre back, bring DJ back. Let's keep this thing going. Did you did talk at all about, like, why you guys didn't get to talk to him when they had locker cleanout day? Because that

was rare for him. He's usually around. I didn't ask him, but my assumption was just that he was annoyed with the conversation. Because, I mean, he just didn't come in there. It's not like the bears, like he's not available. He just didn't come in there. But, you know, to be completely honest, there was, like,

10 people in that locker room. He wasn't the only one that wasn't there. Everybody wanted to talk to him, so you noticed his absence. But there was like 10 people there in the locker room. So a lot of people that were missing that day. But if I was DJ, I wouldn't have wanted to talk either because the whole conversation about this magical season ending because of something I did or didn't do when really I'm as big a reason why this was a magical season as anybody, knock it off.

Go talk to somebody else. Also, Rochon Johnson will still be there next year if you in case you wonder who. Shout out to Rosham. But he backed up Bejohn Robinson. Which is probably why the backup running back didn't matter as much at Texas either. But don't worry about that part. Yeah, the conversation around Roshin, when he got drafted, it was extreme. Robust.

It was like it's going to be Gail Sairs and Walter Payton and Mafforte and then Roshan Zosson. It was like, oh, okay, cool. It was. And it was the whole like, well, I mean, he had to back up Bijon Robinson. but we never thought about the flip side to that, which was, well, maybe back up running back doesn't matter as much when you have Bejohn Robinson. Or just like, what did you see? Like, what did you see to make you think he's going to be the next great Bears running back?

On the tape. Like, what did you see? Like, Bejohn's getting all the carries. He got his opportunities. He looks fine. I was happy to have him as a fourth round running back. And he's a fine. He's cool.

But, like, the conversation was just wild. Sometimes we get carried away. We do. Well, we also just, you know how it is. You fall in line to the bigger entity. You're like, okay, well, they're scouting more than I am. You're watching baseball games, well, they're doing a lot of the scouting. And if there was something that stood out to them that they saw, well, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Yeah. Herb. Bired is back next season. I feel like you get name checked by Ryan Poles on the way out the door and you say that you want to come back. Kevin Beyer will be a bear next season. Who else is going to be back there with him is my question? I don't think it'll be Jaquan. I think KB comes back. I don't think Jaquan comes back.

I think the market for Jaquan will be higher than where the bears placed it. I think good on Jaquan for putting, in my opinion, his very best game on tape in his last game, nationally televised. Everybody's watching it, and he's out there bawling. He's getting sacks. He's getting Pbues. He's making tackles all over the place. Shout to Jaquan. I love Jaquan, one of my favorite players on the team.

He's going to get paid. I don't think it's going to be here. Tyreek Stevenson? Yeah, Tarreek will be. back. He's still under contract. I think that's the reason, as much of a reason why Nishon won't be back. Nishon earned himself some money. He's not going to get it here.

Shout out to Nishon. I think it's a great story. He took advantage of his opportunity that came with Jalen's absence and led the league in takeaways, and he's earned himself a handsome payday. It's not going to come here. It's not going to come here because of Tarek. And also, you get Smitty coming back.

Terrell Smith is coming back off his injury. The bear still want to know what they have in Zay. They got to figure those types things out, Fraser. So I don't think Nishon comes back, but Rick will be here. I think Rick is probably the pencil then starter, crayon, not crayon, pencil then

starter right now. Crayon works too. It's hard to get out. The wax. The wax can't remove. That's more like a permanent ink style. Do you think that whatever the question was surrounding his snaps against the lions and then against the Packers, do you think that that will factor into how

they view his role next season? Because we never really got an answer. as to why his playing time was limited in those two games. Yeah, I got asked about a lot around that time. And to me, it was very simple. As long as I've been watching football, there's two outside corners. And unless you're like developing some young player,

a rotation isn't really a real thing. You're working back Jalen, so they had a bit of a rotation then. But once they felt Jalen was ready to play, you know, 90, 95% of the snaps, there wasn't going to be a rotation. Then the question just becomes, who do you think your other best,

corner is. And at the time, it was clearly Nishar and Wright. I talked to Coach Al Harris about this, even prior to Jalen coming back. Like, what's going to happen when Jalen comes back? And he said, listen, you look at the ball production of Nishar Wright. How do you take that off the field? I was like, I don't think you should. I'm just asking you what's

going to happen. He's like, well, you got to leave that type of ball production on the field. And I think that's all it was. You got two outside corners. You got your slot corner. Neither one of those three guys that play outside can play inside for real. He was the outman out. It was just that simple for me. I don't think he did anything wrong or there was some tumultuous things going on behind the scenes.

You got two outside corners. He wasn't one of the top two at that time as far as the coaches felt. He wasn't going to play. Okay, so we slated you for an hour, but I hear you're interested in what Kevin Durant had to say about All-Star. I think Kevin Durant might be saving All-Star. Okay. You want to join us for the next segment?

I'm down to hang out. Because we have some All-Star nuggets that include not only Kevin Durant, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but Mac McLung. And wait until you hear what Mac McClug had to say about the dunk contest. So we'll do that with Herb next. With the new year upon us, there's no better time to take control of your finances. Follow and listen to Jill on Money wherever you get your podcasts. This hour is brought to you by Vesectomy Clinics of Chicago.

The All-Star Game remains terrible. The All-Star game has been bad for years and years. Aw, what a throwback. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3.3. the score. Did you just start to dance a little? Not dance. I just went back to that old school. Was it Pepsi

commercial with a young Alfonso Ribeiro as a mini MJ? That was a thing. We've forced Herb Howard to stay with us for another segment because we thought he might have some basketball thoughts because well we've even run into Herb at a basketball

game or two. So Herb is joining us for this next segment and it's because we talked about in one of our breaks. Kevin Durant is part of Team USA. That's not the right terminology. He's part of the team

representing the USA versus the world. So there's two USA teams in the All-Star game and there's a team world. Yes. And Team USA has been divided up into two teams. USA Stars, USA Stripes.

And then the world. And then there's the world. The world is all the European and Canadians and every other place you can imagine with players like Victor Wemeyama, obviously from France, Norman Powell, Pascal Seyakum, Aparin Shagoon, Jamal Murray, Nikola Yokic, Luca Donchich, Shea, Gilchus Alexander won't be playing because he's injured, Denny Avdia, and of course Janus is injured as well.

Now, the USA players are divided into two teams. The USA Stars and Stripes. Here are the Stars. Scotty Barnes, Devin Booker, Kate Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Anthony Edwards, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Johnson, Tyrese, Tyree, and. Maxie, very young all-stars. And then there are the stripes. Jalen Brown, Jalen Brunson,

Steph Curry, who's injured, Kevin Durant, Brandon Ingram, he's an injury replacement for Steph Curry, LeBron James, Kauai Leonard, Dodd of him Mitchell, and Deerham Fox, a little bit longer in the tooth are the stripes than the stars. So, in Houston,

where they keep things casual and colloquial, Kevin Durant was asked after his game, the most recent one, about whether or not the veterans, and that's not the way it was put, can keep up with the Stars team, if you will. I think the old heads will compete and try to win the whole tournament here? You should ask the Europeans, the world team, if they're going to compete. I mean, because when we look at Luca Donchish and Nicola Yolkich now, let's go back and look

at what they do at the All-Star game. Is that competition? So we haven't questioned what they've been doing, but we're going to question old heads and the Americans. But these two dudes out there, Luca and Yokas, they don't care about the game at all. These dudes be laying on the floor, they shoot from half court, but you got worried about the old heads playing hard. I can read between the lines, bro. And I think a lot of times, I'm just saying that I can read between the lines. And it's not just about you.

It's just an overall topic that everybody has just been talking. about. First of all, I love that the question was posed using the term old heads. I'm like, that's a Houston, that's a Houston press conference right there having lived in Houston. But then didn't Kevin Durant also sound a bit like an old head in his response? Yeah, he referred to, he used the term old heads as well. But I think, I think if anything can bring back the competitive fire of the game, it's a statement

like that. Let's just start calling dudes out who's really not playing. Let's see if they respond to that. If they do, great. We get the product that we want. And if they don't, then we get to talk about those dudes definitively about, you know, just not competing and not playing hard. I don't think Luca will care much.

I still think Luca will just be out there kind of going through the motions doing his thing. But hopefully it ignites them a little bit to go ahead and compete. I reference you to Nikola Yokic immediately after winning the NBA finals, getting upset because he realized there was going to be a parade and it was going to delay his return to his native country to get back to his horses. Yeah, yeah. That tells you where the care is.

It's not. It's not the same. It's not the same. Somebody said, like, get you a job that gets you a work-life balance like Nicole Yonich. Yeah. Sounds perfect to me. And I tell you this, KD, he'll be playing

because all KD cares about is hooping. all he want to do is hoop. Hoop and now look. And now he, he glossy? Yeah. No longer ashy, Katie. Yeah.

Yeah. Look how now. He might even brush his hair for this. He might even brush his hair for this. He might even brush his hair. He really, he really is like that, though. Like Kevin Durant in his spare time is doing one thing.

And that's watching more basketball. Have you all ever seen the TikTok video? Kevin Durant? It's like a guy playing Kevin Durant. Yeah. It's like Kevin Durant in the morning. He literally waking. up stretches.

He's got a brush on his nightstand. He picks up the brush and then shoots it into the trash can. Hey, that's good. That's really good. That's really good. That's really good. That's really good. An accurate depiction of Kevin Durant.

Every item is merely just a basketball instrument for Katie. Like, whatever. My favorite is when somebody tells him about something that happened in the league that night, you know, somebody's point total went off something. And then he just gets to react. That's my, like he hadn't looked at the phone and seen it. That's my favorite when he gets that information after a game.

Yeah, he's going to have like a great podcast or be great on TV or radio when he's done. That's the guy I will be truly saddened when he retires. Yeah. Because I love him. But at the same time, I'll be like, but we can still find him in these Twitter streets. Oh, for sure.

He'll be outside. He really, he is like us talking about the game all the time. Just he happens to be. one of the best players in the world. It would be at the rucker hooping. So what do you guys think the chances are? The chances are

that there's a good game out of these three teams playing each other. Like there's a good game. I'm not saying the whole thing's good. No, but there's three teams. So it's like round-robin format and then the team. I think the game versus the world could be good, however they set that up.

I think that game could be good. I think the Star and Stripes game, I don't think that'll be too good. I expect the younger team, the stars. I expect that team to win. But I think against the world that could be competitive.

Because it's kind of like this pseudo-Olympic type of deal to America still. What happened in the last time we saw the Olympics? Katie and them were running off with the gold medal. They got busy. They got busy. Team France gave them a run for their money now. They did.

made a few roster decisions for other executives in the NBA based off that. But I think the world being able to put the entire rest of the world against America, I don't think, I don't know that we win that game. Against each individual country, we start, we're probably still better. But you put them all together against us. I don't know that we are that good. Like before you go back 10, 15, certainly 20 years, we could have beat everybody no matter what. A reminder, Janus is hurt, Shea is hurt.

True. So like, now. Two heavy hitters are hurt. But also, Steph Curry is hurt also. That's a big. I mean, Steph put the team on his back in that gold medal game, didn't he? He did. He let you know the international symbol for Night Night is still the symbol for Night Night.

I mean, Luca, you're right, though. It might just be Lucas start jacking up heat check threes. Like, he did that at the All-Star game, you know, time and time again. He did that against the Bulls just the other day. Problem is he's capable of hitting them. He's doing it against every. Yeah. Far away leading the league in scoring and making everything look effortless. So I wouldn't be surprised. It's like there are certain people where it's like, okay, if they care, then this is different.

Like, Yokic, you know, I think if he's, if he plays to like even, I don't know, 70% of what he does, LeBron, obviously. Yeah. It's so funny because Yokic always looks like he's playing at about 60 to 70% of what a person would do, just the nature of his movements. Also, I just want to tell people the financial stakes involved because the NBA is trying to get. give them more money, you know, the guys with $50 million contracts and beyond, the players on the winning team in this event walks away with $125,000, each of them. Players on the second place team get $50,000. Players of the third place team get $25,000. So there's a significant difference for some of these.

It's just hard when they make so much to be like, oh, yeah, six-figure check. Still a good night out in Atlanta. It's a game check for some of these guys. In Atlanta. It's very specific of you. I just don't know. I mean, that's how they got him motivated to do the end-season tournament. They put real money into that.

Yeah. That's a good motivator for most people, even if you're already rich. What's the problem with getting another decent size bag? Zach Levine always appreciated his attitude toward it because he said that. He was like, oh, no, no, I'll still take that money. Zach's got a max contract and he's like, no, no, no. That's good money to compete for. Now we have $300 million and $70.

So what's interesting about that is while we're talking about that as being not much money for these multimillionaires, there's guys still just trying to make it onto a league roster and stay there that you would think the $100,000 from a slam dunk contest would be like, sign me up since I've won the last three. I mean, not only Magma Kline, yeah, that's a great segue because there's a story that came out this morning too. Like we talked about the hoop type story, but ESPN has this whole. feature spread. And the headline says, done with the dunk, McClung's quest for full-fledged NBA recognition. And there was like all these pictures of Mac like looking up with his headband, the hoop. They went to Gate City, home of Mac MacMaclung signs, you know, the McClung court, all this. They followed him. But that's not, that's not where this gets surprising to me.

It's that we're hearing that Mac McClung decided he was, he was like, thinking about doing it. But then there were these quotes. The question from Hoops Hype, which is where we found this, what were you doing this All-Star weekend with Victory, VK-T-R-Y? And he said with the dunk contest, I prepared for it anyway. After the third year, I decided that probably is going to be it, and I told everybody. Then the NBA contacted me maybe three months before, and I thought, why not? then some things came up and then things kind of just got a little, I don't know, hesitant on both sides and just decided not to do it this year. But I was like, hey, I already prepared hard for this and I'm proud of the dunks.

So victory and I are going to release the dunks anyway so people can have them and see if they like them or not. So he's releasing the video of the dunks. But then there's the fact that it said here, and this is a Q&A, so in response, it looks like because you've won it so many times, people don't want to compete against you. He said, I don't know if it was that. But I know there were a lot of big name guys they were going after in the situation may have not been clear for their good friends of mine. It wasn't anything like a little.

We were just trying to figure it out together because the quote before says, and then they were calling me being like, people didn't want to do it if I was doing it. And I thought it's best if I just sit out this year and let it be no matter what. Don't be scared. So now the league is scared of a guy who's in the G league. For a slam dunk competition. Yeah.

I mean, he won the last three? Yes. So I think that's people a little bit of afraid of that. What's the win here? If I come out here and I'm NBA superstar and I win, it's like, okay, you should have won. But if I come out here and then I lose to the guy who's not even in the league like that, it's not a good look. Not a lot of upside for me there.

It's not a lot of upside. Look, famously, LeBron James. I'm being the done contest next year. Yeah. Still waiting on that, LeBron. waiting. Still wait on that, LeBron. Cash today or credit, what is it

cash today, credit tomorrow? Right. You just keep pushing it out. But that's, that is wild to me that Mac McLung got told, well, if you're in it, people don't want to do it. And it might be the flip side of it. Where, how can you lose to the guy who is

usually in the G league? I think there's, there's some different implications there as well. I think the fact that he's got his partnership with victory and there's probably more money available to him by them. Because he talks about we're still going to put out the dunks I prepared for. I still prepared for this dunk contest

because up to three months ago or so, they were talking like he would do it and then he gets to play it on the NBA game. I think there's going to be a bigger bag for him available by them putting out those dunks on their own platforms than there would be for him competing in the actual dunk contest. The views with the victory logo all up on it. I'm saying, yeah, thanks to victory, I'm jumping even higher.

Yeah. You already know what it is. You just came up with a slogan like that. Well, I know where these dunks, if I'm correct, these dunks took place right here in Chicago down in West Loop. At this court that everybody publishes pictures from, everybody posts all these pictures. You know what court I'm talking about. You guys know, it's always the court with the city in the background. Every single time.

And I've known like several people who've got to that court. I'm like, where is this? And then they'll just be like, oh, it's in West Loop. And I'm like, but where? It's over there. It's right next to Oakville. Modis probably hangs out there and gets a little shit. get some shots up right after or before brunch or lunch.

I am getting into that. If you aren't going to be a superstar, stay in college for the NIL money, that's what McClung's doing now. Like, just stay for the NIL money. Never mind. No, no. Enough of you, too, trying to off-asgate here. I am going to find this court, and I'm going to go, and I'm going to miss a shot badly.

Are you going to cord yourself missing a shot? No. Somebody's got the hook up on this court. Contact us. It's just the way people talk about it. It's always like, oh, it's just at this court. It's a great. feel. And I'm like, what are you talking about? This is a beautiful visual.

It's awesome. It's right over there. Shout out to Gabe Ramirez for hooking it up. That's how I got it. Gabe knows about that court. Gabe knows about everything. You will learn if you, Gabe Ramirez has keys to the city. And he's got keys to the back room that you don't even know about. He's like, you know, the Matrix, when they're like opening doors that don't look like they exist. That's Gabe Ramirez in Chicago. No, it's 100% true. Like, Gabe just hosts Lollapalooza. Facts. Yeah. Like the whole thing. Gabe hosted. I'm not even kidding. No, he put up a rundown like his day one day. I was like, wait, you're doing all that today?

All right, bro, go crazy. Oh, like, didn't he emc's the Puerto Rican parade a lot too? Or like, does like... He does everything. That's, yeah, yeah. So, of course, it's Gabe's court, isn't it? Probably. You've been there.

It's right over there, Leland. I like the way you just pointed out the window. It's right over there. Just down the way. I can't get men to have their backs. Just go down. Just take Randolph straight. Yeah, Randolph, Madison.

Bro code only exists for the existence of this court. It's the only thing it's good for anymore. You guys will snitch on each other for other things. You are not lying. But you protect the court. I am not that you. You protect that court. Brocode will not let anybody else know about this court.

They call me the vault. Bro code died with the NBA All-Star game. Wow. It's not a thing anymore. Would you like to hear my theory? This is random and I'm probably going to get in trouble for it. No, give it to us. At least you're among friends.

That glitter is secretly girl code? Glitter? because you can't get rid of the evidence. Hey. He's got torquired. That's it. He thought about it. He processed.

He's like, you know what? If she got glitter on, there's a trail. You think you've gotten rid of it and one speck will just be glinting in the distance? It sticks around.

And it's hard to explain. It's hard to explain. How about it impossible to explain? Yeah. It's like, oh, you just had glitter on? I'm out here. Shandah was. Shireing state secrets over here.

Yeah. Wow. So if I, if I am on a date with a woman and she has clear, I'm like, oh, well, this is obviously, we'll have to do this another time. Consider your territory marks. Look at the time. Mm. No hugs.

None of that. Yeah. None of that. Like a hug. Anything can get you gone. What? No thank you. And, you know, it does look good under light.

Like, you know, like a spotlight, for example. Mm-mm. It shimmies. It shines. It's there. It reflects light. It reflects everything. See?

Flex on you as a bad person trying to get me in trouble for things I didn't do. Do you know what's on your microphone cover right now? Glitter. A piece of glitter. Is it? Yes. Yes. Glitter is secretly girl.

Who did you see after work yesterday, Marshall? Right. There's probably some glitter in my bag where I put my, yeah. Uh-oh. I don't, look, man. Back out. Back out, Marshall. All I do is work and go to the gym.

Where that glitter come from? I don't know. I don't know. Can you wear glitter at the gym? John is parley? No. We're ready for you. Right.

Back out of it. Let it go. Does that glitter smell like vanilla? I don't know what you're talking about. Bath and bodyworks maybe? There you go. There you go. That's the answer.

I appreciate your support. That's the answer. That's the answer. So again, the All-Star weekend, the All-Star slam dunk contest, no Mac Mac-McClong, and yet somehow,

Dame Lillard has found his way into the three-point shootout, despite not having played a single game for the team that he was traded to from the Bucks at the Portland Trailblazers. Because Dame understands responsibility. Do not buzzer, Dame. No, I think the buzzer is,

you like, are used to the buzzer, by the way? No, I love that. It's great. The TikTok buzzer? Yeah, no, it's really, really good. I got Eugene McIntosh from the Biggs texting me, like, stop talking bad about Dame. That is his guy. That is his guy 100%.

He's also telling me that I need to mention this to you guys, if you don't mind. We have a survey right now that we're doing in partnership with Medill over at Northwest. Oh, love it. And we're just asking all of people who consume our content to take the survey, let us know how we can be better in terms of reaching you, in terms of engaging with you. So we're asking everybody to go to the Biggs Media, Twitter. I'll retweet it on my own Twitter account, Herb Howard 411, and just take the survey. We got some prizes for people.

Two cups, tickets we're going to give away. And also like a $100 gift card for a couple of people who. take the survey. So please, please, please take the survey. We're just trying to figure out how to better engage with the consumers. The consumers. We're trying to do that at a much better level. So please, please, please take the survey. We'd greatly, greatly appreciate it. No, that's fantastic. Also, you know I always liked Eugene. Now I like him a little bit more because Eugene and our team Dame Lillard. All day long.

Eugene, he's not going to sign those crutches for you, man. Stop it. Send the crutches. You leave Dame out of this. I can't. We'll leave Dame out of this, like the Warriors left Dame and, what's his name, CJ out of it, that time they played in the finals, the Western Conference Finals. 4-0. No Durant.

4-0. No Durant. What a name wins it, though? If he wins, does he have to then go, does he have to play the next game? See how you're taking Dame seriously? You rope me in. It's All-Star Weekend. Stop. It's NBA All-Star Weekend.

Just let it be. You know what there's going to be a lot of? Glitter. Oh. They have parties at the NBA All-Star weekend. This is not. No, those are their professionals out there. Those are the pros.

Okay, they, they, you got the ones that want to extend their contracts as long as they can, so they'll stay away, they'll keep the glitter away, and then you got the ones that are just trying to sabotage the whole situation. Ten day. A lot of people looking for a ten day out there this weekend. Herb's face. We're taking phones on the way into the room. Like, we need phones locked up.

A lot of ten days. Hey, hey. The little thing, the pouch that Dave Chappelle has at this concert. Oh, yeah. You'll slip your phone right in there. Absolutely. Did you see your Hirm's face? Yes, I did.

The eyes and the ringing of the hand. It's different. It is different. It is different. Herb, it's always a fun time when you're here. Thank you all so much having me. It's always fun. Thank you for coming through.

Here we are sharing state secrets on account of you. I know. I know. Thanks for doing that, too. We appreciate that. Coming up next year on Riemi Harris and Grody, you're welcome to stay if you want for this, but I know you got to play.

to be. It's our listeners' two favorite words that aren't the bears. Max andistas unite. Max Crosby talk next. I'm Mark Sondinger, producer and one of the hosts of the Moth podcast. For nearly two decades, the Moth has brought live storytelling to stages around the world and to millions of listeners. These are real people telling true stories from their lives. Stories about a lost family recipe, about working to free a wrongfully convicted man, about realizing you need to leave your May December romance. Stories that will move you, surprise you, make you. you laugh, stories you can't forget. Join us.

Follow and listen to The Moth wherever you get your podcasts. Rahimi Harrison Grody. The great Kevin Harlan. I just pulled through the Taco Bell drive-thru, and I've got a couple of big, nasty, Supreme Burritos right here waiting to beat.

You know, the first thing they ask you now, are you using the app? The app, no, I just want my burrito. I don't want to use an app. Bring a lot of mild sauce, because I'm going to escort it all over the plate. Put some hot sauce on my burrito, baby. Amy Harris and Grody, midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on the score.

If there's one thing I know, it is that the two words that get people going are Max and Crosby. But we're not just throwing this out there willy-nilly. We'll get to a little bit more on Max in just a second because there are some new statements that he has made to the Let's Go podcast. In the meantime, a pretty big ruling has come in the NFL. This is big from Adam Schaefter. court ruled today in Brian Flores' Steve Wilkes and Ray Horton's ongoing discrimination case against the NFL, that all the coaches' respective claims that had been previously compelled to arbitration, which means a closed hearing, now can proceed in open court. The quote that he has is,

the court's decision recognizes that an arbitration forum in which the defendant's own chief executive gets to decide the case would strip employees. of their rights under the laws, says attorneys, Douglas H. Wigdor and David E. Gottlie. It is long overdue for the NFL to recognize this and finally provide a fair, neutral, and transparent forum for these issues to be addressed. Transparent, which means us. What I love to hear this. What I love about this, Leila, is that you feel like there's some accountability that was lacking when you talk about the arbitration process and how it works.

And if you've ever been involved in any type of arbitration process, it's all about, well, who's the arbitrator? If the company that you have a complaint against controls the arbitrator, how are you going to get a fair shake? Well, and sometimes that arbitrator will still rule in favor of the employee. You know, that's what we've also seen. But the point is, yeah, the company has to say in who the arbitration. trader is. Additionally, discrimination does not outweigh. That's a more, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's

supersedes in labor law. Discrimination overrides company law. Right. Therefore, there's certain protections that come with discrimination. So that's why I think partially this is able to be in public like this. My favorite part about this, uh, in understanding that justice may be done here is that August 2025 ruling. that found, quote, insurmountable flaws in the league's arbitration process. Because now it's like, okay, a court has said your process is flawed. Of course now you can bring it further into the light, if you will. And I just hope that Brian Flores, along with Steve Wilkes, Ray Horton,

get the justice that they are seeking and that it shapes the way that the NFL and its teams, member organizations handle things going forward because sometimes the fear of this is the only thing that keeps people honest. Well, and the nice thing is, at least for Brian Flores, is he's still working. You know, he's in a very public job. He is respected in his position professionally. He's respected when you hear other teams talk about him, at least at least the job that he does, his work. So he deserves fairness to that. Doesn't it feel like Brian Flores has already kind of beaten the system? Because I thought he's going to get blackballed. But I guess he's just too doggone good at his job. I thought so too, especially when you don't get to say your fair

share because you're in an arbitration hearing, which is closed. Yeah, I was definitely concerned about that. So now it's going to open court. And I'm very much intrigued to see how this plays out. Well, and you know who I think will be all over this to our benefit? Mike Florio. Every Wednesday at 11 a.m. right here on Rahimi Harrison Grotty on 104.3, the score. Bingo. But these court proceedings, if we, that's how you found out about the John Gruden emails, for example, through a core proceeding, we get to hear a lot of this stuff publicly. That's going to be a big, big deal. So that is a story that we will absolutely continue to track.

In the meantime, we mentioned Max Crosby. And there is a reason. It's not just because. because we want to rile the people up today. The people being Max andistas. Shout out. I like the idea of Max and Isas both being pro Max Crosby, but also pro T.J. Max. Well, that's the original phrase. No, I got you. I'm with it. Smart people love a good deal and a very good pass rush.

I told you where I stand on that discount shopping, though. Marshall's all the way. Of course. Of course. Why didn't I think of that? Yeah. And he's told me it before, but I was so distracted by the glow of T.J. Max.

Oh, it wasn't the glitter. The glitter wasn't what distracted me. I really shouldn't have let that one slide. I told it to too many people. I'm giving away secrets here. Max Crosby was on Jim Gray's Let's Go podcast. And I think gave some clarity to what the discussion is surrounding his status with the Raiders. I have a lot of goals.

But I do want to win. That's all that matters ultimately. But I want to be in a place that we're mentally, I'm 100% myself. I just want to focus on football. That's truly what I want. People that know me know I'm about the work and football. I just want to play football and be left the fuck alone, period. And if people that don't understand that, don't know me. People can say whatever they want. I truly, and I'm saying this like, well, you had to get on a show and talk about it. Yeah, that's my obligation. I have to do that. But truly, I don't give a, besides playing football and winning football games. I give my whole life

to this sport every single day. I'm here every morning. My alarm goes off at 4.55 and I am driving 35 minutes across town in an empty dark building doing the same thing every single day trying to help my team, trying to help myself. People can talk all they want. People go on Twitter. I don't even see half the shit. Like I said, half of it is news to me.

I just care about playing football. You love it. I don't love football. I am obsessed. I've been playing tackle football since I've been playing tackle football since I could walk. This is what I do.

I've done it my whole life. I don't know anything else. I love my family. I love friends in doing a podcast from time to time. Would this be one of those times? This would be one of the times and I love seeing you, Jim.

I love playing football. That is my purpose, is my passion. It's to be a light to the world and be exactly the player in person that I envision myself being as a, kid. I'm living that dream right now. So people talk about drama and this and this and that. I don't want to have it. I don't want to deal with it, but that is the reality of my situation because I've earned it as a player. I've earned it as an all pro and a pro bowler, but that's not why

I play the game. I play because I am obsessed with it. I could play the game for zero. And I played it for 15, 20 years, not making a dollar. I lived in Ibsilani on a damn mattress. And I drove across the country by myself made it happen. I'm living my dream every single day. So, yes, I'm doing incredible, and I'm glad you asked that question. I appreciate it, Jim. Listen, I don't know if I should be worried about Max Crosby or if I should be hyped about Max Crosby.

He left me with a lot to think about saying all the things he just said. Number one, his obsession with football sounds kind of unhealthy, but I'm kind of here for it. He programmed himself to do what he's doing. Yeah, like He has one job If you ever wonder like Well how is he so good at football Because that's all there is

I've been playing tackle football Since I could walk Like I also like the use of expletives In that Entire Just answer But the clarity too Right?

He's not here Wondering and thinking about No no I'm here for football And anything else is secondary To football I also like that Jim Gray was like, do you love football? And he didn't say yes. No.

He was like, I love my family. I am obsessed. His answer was, I am obsessed with football. But did that perk your ears, right? Because last time I checked, there were some people with the bears who wanted you to play for them, unless you didn't love football. And then if you didn't love it, then you couldn't play. That's right. No, that definitely stood out to me. You definitely want to hear that someone as elite is him and it's no surprise is obsessed with the game and loves the game and leaves you no questions as to whether he's committed or not. I don't, but he didn't say he love football, so is that answer good enough for other people?

The other thing I'll say about this is that man talked about how much he wanted to play football. And at last check, his current team didn't let him play football to end the year last year. No, they did not. And he thought he was healthy enough to play. There's more news. Breaking news on the Rehemi Harrison Grotie show is brought to you by The Take the North podcast. This is by Robert Murray on Twitter. Sources.

Free agent reliever Shelby Miller and the Chicago Cubs are nearing a multi-year major league contract. Shelby Miller is a former cub. He's a former a lot of things because he has a lot of years in the league. He is 35. He was most recently with Milwaukee. He also was in Arizona As a member of the Diamondbacks Before that in 2024

He was with the Tigers That it was the Dodgers in 23 22 he was with the Giants And he was with the Cubs Briefly in 2021 before he went to the Pirates Most notably Shelby started his career With St. Louis and Arizona Played a year for Texas in 2019

But that is the big career Of Shelby Miller which we know well because he was important that year in 2021 to the Cubs and is supposedly back. So that's some important news coming across the way. But he is 35 in today, 35 and 100 26 days. So that's about 35 and a half, I would say. You said multi-year.

Yeah, that's the report. Maybe that's what's surprising to me. Like I could see him being on this team. but the way signings and acquire acquisitions have gone for the Cubs in their bullpen what starts on the roster

usually doesn't end up on the roster at the end of the season well to that end one of the reply says he will never play a game in a Cubs uniform and then another reply said he already has because he has

played many but yeah so that's the that's the news, the big news, in the words of Craig counsel. I wonder if this means that the Zach Gallen dream is over. I don't know, probably not. No, he's just a bullpen guy. I know, but they're just adding more pitching. As they should.

They cannot have enough arms. I mean, the roster says you can only have 40 people on it at a time. If we go back. It's a major league deal. No, I understand. But if we go back to five on it where the question was, the biggest weakness for the Cubs, My number two weakness behind the Los Angeles Dodgers' existence was arms because you can never have enough.

The depth, both starters and bullpen. Yeah, I, I, uh, multi-year. I'm interested to see what the terms of the deal look like when the details come out. Yeah, me too. Because Shelby Miller's health seems to jog my memory now that I think about it. Well, he had a really good start of the season. That's why the Brewers got him, because he had a 1.98 ERA in his time in Arizona before the Brewers acquired him.

He got roughed up for a couple outings, but you know. Yeah, he had to have Tommy John in September. This past September? I believe so. Wait, that doesn't make sense. That's news to me. Miller appeared in 48 games during the 2025 season. He was traded to the Diamondbacks to the Brewers at the trade deadline

but had to undergo Tommy John surgery in September Because he was undergoing surgery in September, the odds of him pitching for the 2026 Cubs are extremely low. Okay, that makes sense. That is the reasoning behind this being a multi-year deal. So they're getting a guy, a chip on the cheap right now that they can execute. Oh, wait, is it a two-year deal? He may never pitch another pitch for the Cubs because, you know, 20-27.

I'm just saying. I'm just saying. It's tough. So this deal isn't as big of a deal. I'm curious as to what the terms of the contract are financially. I mean, if it's a two-year deal, multi-year deal, then that would make it make sense. They're basically buying his rights to get him in the next season.

I didn't remember they had Tommy John surgery. Cubs do well with older pitchers for a time. It would be a year from now, so then he'd be 36 and a half. 36 and a half. That's not terrible. Depends on how he recovers from that Tommy John. That is fair. Yeah.

There's a lot of miles on the arm to say the least. But their circuitous path of Shelby Miller. I just, it was out of side out of mind for me. I'm always looking for another arm. That's just the way I go. Yes. Typically, I am, I mean, I'm not a front office member. Then I would be more intent on my search.

Like if someone walks by me and they have, three arms. Ah, another arm. But to do this and at least to tie up the money for, they don't, that's good. Must not be much money. That's what I'm thinking. Right.

Exactly. Like there's, I get it. I mean, other teams have done it. I just don't know where this ends up going. Sounds like a low risk, high reward situation for the Cubs.

Possibly. As you just mentioned, it's, it's a play for a guy they know well. And one who will ultimately spend time recovering on the Cubs of the dime and then we'll see what happens. So we don't have to worry about that at least for a while. Coming up next here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3, the score.

This poor guy, I think he embarrassed, I think he embarrassed his wife in front of the Pope. Rahimi Harrison Grody, midday's 10 to 2 on 1043, the score. The Pope! This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3, the score. score and it's always Pope season. Somebody's always visiting the Pope. Somebody's always trying to give him a Chicago sports gift.

There's always, the Pope is a lot of responsibilities just managing us, like sports fans who live here or are from here. So once again, the Pope has come through. Do I even want to know this answer,

Ray? I don't know that I do. Yeah. See, it seems that on There's a video circulating of a man that may have embarrassed his wife right in front of the Pope. Oh, no. And, yeah, we'll take a listen to the audio, and then we can determine. Hello, God bless you. In Chicago, you've had more hot dogs than any pope in history.

God bless you. Only with mustard. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Pope, Lord. All right. So we have a man and his wife meeting the Pope from Shepov. Chicago, and his question to the Pope is, he says you've eaten so many hot, you've eaten more hot dogs than any Pope in history.

What do you like on him? And of course, being an authentic Chicagoan mustard. That is the Pope's answer. Mustard! Of all the things to ask the Pope, when you're up front and you get to see him, and you somehow get an audience with the Pope. Hot dogs We can't help ourselves

Can we as a society Was she visibly embarrassed? She was the one holding the camera Oh okay so we don't know Now I don't know what Of course you're gonna be taking video When you meet the Pope Yes

That for sure Yeah so I don't know if she really thought He was going to To go through with this I think we're still amazed That the Pope is American You know First and foremost, yes

And then the fact, so then it's like you can talk to the leader of the Catholic Church about American stuff. That novelty is never wearing off. No, because it's not something we've had happened before. But the hot dogs, and I even am here for all of the, you know, like Hadn Thardito, like the Cubs lost and all of that. Like, I love it all. Is that a bridge too far, the hot dogs? I'm surprised he didn't ask if the hot dog was a sandwich. Like, let's be honest.

If the Pope wanted ketchup on his hot dog, would it really upset people that much? Probably not because he's the Pope. He's the Pope from Chicago. I think it might. I think it might upset people. So the accounts here that are tagged in the video, you can find on Instagram, court walked fit and Mike Six Miller. So this is the couple, the married couple. The caption on this Instagram video reads,

when you get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet the Pope and your husband's intrusive thoughts win. My mom and brother, my mom and brother placed bets to see if Mike would really ask about the hot dogs. And lo and behold, he sure did. Hashtag Pope, hashtag Vatican. But was he just double-checking to make sure he didn't put ketchup on his hot dogs or something? Did he try to test the Pope?

He did. Try to test the Pope and the Pope came out all Chicago, baby, no ketchup. Only with mustard. I always laughed because getting here, it was like one of the first things brought up to me over and over and over and over again. And I'm like, what do you think happens outside of Chicago? You think you're the only ones eating mustard on hot dogs? Like, what? Do you just think we're all out here eating other things on hot dogs like ketchup and mayo, whatever else?

Barbecue sauce. Anything? Like mustard on hot dogs doesn't exist. of outside of the city. It does. I'm 100% here to tell you that people eat mustard on hot dogs outside of Chicago. But did they eat tomatoes and celery salt and all the other things? I mean, maybe like you did like a couple of the things together.

Like you go to some place that was serving them. Like for me, that was Sonic. They would serve a Chicago dog. But you definitely could get a Chicago hot dog with mustard. outside of Chicago. Sonic with the driving? Yeah, they had a special for a while where they were doing that. Didn't I know that?

At least where I lived. So, point being, you can't eat mustard on hot dogs despite not being from here. Dare I say even prefer it. Yeah, I think our guy Mike here from this video was trying to test the Pope. Test the Chicagoness of the Pope. And the Pope passed the test, of course. Come on, it's the Pope. But why are you testing the Pope?

That seems like a penalty. Like Catholic, go say some Hail Mary's for that. He can't be testing the Pope, man. The next question should be if he's tried the Lord. Now, there we go. That should have been the original question. That's, yeah, yeah. For communion.

Did he have beer at the White Sox game he went to? That's a great question. He should have. I have a lot of questions for the. Pope. Tom from Forest Park says he correctly answered. I think we should be giving the Pope credit and not talking about what is of life because he said what is in my book that makes him all right.

Come on, mess up. He's all right. Thank God. I don't know that that came out the way you wanted it to. But if he had said something that didn't please you, he would still be answering correctly. Just so happened the Pope is so Chicago that he stuck, you know, no catch up on a hot dog. Pass with flying colors. I just don't know that I'd be got out in these streets testing the Pope. I agree with that. Yeah, that's just how I feel. Thank you, 815. Yo, barbecue on a hot dog is

legit. I know. That's what I said it. Fresh off the grill. Chard. I like my dog's charred. Blackened, if you will. And then little barbecue sauce on top. Yeah, I eat mustard on my hot dogs, and I've been doing that all my life. And I did not think it mattered that much. Not catch up on hot dogs being a mortal sin. See, I told you people would be upset if the Pope had put ketchup on his hot dog. We have a beautiful weekend coming up. And it's a holiday weekend. 50-degree weather.

You think people are going to be busting out the grills? You just made me think of that, Marshall. Probably. Hell yeah. Right? It's going to be 60 on Wednesday, I believe. Amazing. 60.

Do we skip school? 60. What happens? I don't know, but 60 is wild. We can't just out. I guess we can't. just like communicate that we're going to skip school. That's not how that works. Yeah, you need to have said that off the air, Layland. Now people know that you're skipping. It's going to rain.

We can't skip school. And my phone, which is not accurate whatsoever, says the high is going to be 54. So you have anti-ackey weather? I do. Monday, the high is going to be 58. Let's go outside. You know who may have been outside today? Because he's a rudder and such. Russ Dorsey, who joins Lawrence Holmes next. Do you have a dark curiosity? Heart starts pounding, horrors, and Mysteries is a weekly podcast hosted by me, Kaelan Moore. Check out Heart Starts Pounding on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.