Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - How much do you trust the Bears’ draft process when it comes to defense? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: March 23, 2026

In the second hour, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote discussed the state of the Bears' defense and shared their confidence level in general manager Ryan Poles' ability to build a strong unit on that side of the ball through the NFL Draft. After that, Richard Deitsch of the Sports Business Journal joined the show to discuss a variety of sports media storylines. Later, Harris and Grote held the Halftime segment.

Philosophically, I feel the same. It's going to be the best player available. I know that may not be the most popular thing. Because people see, like out my board, have yellow tags where we need to fill in. But at the same time, I do believe, especially in early rounds, like one, you really got to stick to best player available. We saw that last year. I know there's a lot of questions. You got Cole.

Why would you take Colston? I think we found out that it helped us along the way. So we'll continue to lean in that philosophy. Welcome back into Rahimi Harris and Grotie Ryan Poles, the general manager of the Chicago Bears at the Combine. He'd got it right last year. He did. Best player available. I don't blame him for pointing to his 2025 resume and say, see, we did it. We took the best player available, and he's right. It was a little bit of a surprise that they went with Colston Lovell and really the big surprise was that they didn't go with Tyler Warren in that spot. But I think that we can all agree that we're pretty happy with that. Luther Bird in a second rounder, which probably took some people off guard as well,

and then Ozzie Tripillo as well, one of those second rounders. So, yes, it was... It's a pillow. That's right, Chris. I do appreciate it. This segment on Rahimi Harrison Grody is being brought to you by Almost Free Teeth.com, save on dental implants today. Marshall, I think that we probably both agree that this is in the Ryan Pohl's era, one of the more important drafts when it comes to the defensive side of the ball.

Because for whatever reason, they haven't done a whole lot when it comes to beefing up specifically the defensive line. And all parts of it, whether the interior, the defensive end, there has not been a splash made. And unless you are one of those that thinks that Dio Dengbo, that we ain't seen nothing yet, watch the film. Let's see what he can do coming off of Torn ACL. Let's see what he can do.

if Shamar Turner, a second rounder, if he is the truth with the energy that that guy has, but you would agree that this is probably like he's got to hit on something on that defensive line this year in this draft, where the Bears do have a couple of second rounders. Nobody hits all the time, but I will just want to really stress this. They hit last year offensively on the draft, and if they get something like that for defense this year, all is good in the world of Ryan Poles. The problem is I don't see the evidence that that's what's going to happen based on what we've seen through his picks.

You talked about the interior, the defensive line, whether that's detackle, whether that's edge rush. It just has not happened through the draft. Now, Austin Booker is someone to keep an eye on. I will say that, in fairness. He's someone to keep an eye on. He may take another leap in year three. And that's what they're expecting because they have to draft and develop. but if you just lay out the needs of the bears right now

after that first wave of free agency and understanding what they need both in the secondary at safety and up front specifically and maybe even at linebacker depending on what they decide to do who falls to what where and understanding they have three picks in the first two rounds

I would imagine two at least of those picks would be defensive players and so they need to hit and I'm just really concerned that offensively, Ben Johnson has been the North Star. Defensively, who is the North Star for the Bears within that organization with these specific needs that they have? Well, I guess Dennis Allen, if we're going to do the coaching analogy, that Ben Johnson is the offense, as Dennis Allen is to the defense, if he has that much say in what they're doing. Let me just go through here.

You mentioned the drafting for Ryan Poles through the years on defense. last year I already mentioned Shamar Turner. Jury's still out. I'm not going to sit here and predict that he's going to have 10 sacks and be a revelation, but he has a second round talent. I think that's fair, and clearly that's someone that Dennis Allen okayed because of his versatility, because we've already seen him play on the inside and the outside on the defensive line. Right.

So actually I'm looking very forward to seeing what Shemar Turner is. If he stays healthy and he's full boat and he's in the full rotation, that's a guy that I can't wait to see with the ceiling. actually is. I'm just going through the defensive players that he's drafted. Ruben Hippolyte as a fourth rounder. The jury still way, he's fast. He's really fast. That's about it. He's been unimpressive. I mean, when I say unimpressive, he was a fourth rounder that at the time of the draft, everybody was saying, oh, they overdrafted him. There's been nothing to let us know that that's

not the case so far. Now, it was one year. It was limited duty, but when he got it, remember all the people that were hurt, linebacker-wise, he, he, He never was able to step up and make an impact in that position. Right, you're right. And that's a great point because you had A. Man, Ogbong, Bamega, who stepped up. DeMarco Jackson got himself a new deal with the Bears, you know, probably earned a, maybe earned a starting spot this year. Jack Sanborn's back, right? Jack Sanborn is back.

So when you add all that up, and I get it, he was only a rookie, and he was a fourth rounder, not a second or third rounder. But I would have expected more of an impact, and I'm very curious to see where the developed part of draft and development. develop comes up. The other defensive player that they drafted last year was Zay Fraser, the cornerback, the very tall, physical quarterback who obviously had dealt with some personal issues last year. He was there. He was in the locker room. I saw him all the

time, but let's see if he can make an impact. So that's none of that, nothing hits last year as far as the defense is concerned. 2024, you already mentioned it. Austin Booker was a fifth round pick for the Bears in that draft. He's your only hope

from 2024. 24. You had, all right, man, like jury is out on Jervon Dexter. Two guys, Jervon Dexter and Tyreek Stevenson, were both second round picks of the Bears in the year 2020. What I'll tell you is the jury has been sequestered, and now they are being forced to make a decision, and they're not going to get to go home to their families until the decisions made. That's what 2026 is for Jervon Dexter.

You would agree with that assessment? I would agree with that assessment. man. This is not a bad player. Trayvon Dexter by any means. He did, was he second in the Bears in Sacks last year? He's not a bad player. That's not a big number, by the way. I know. He has not made the impact he was expected to do,

considering he was a second round pick and the size that this man has, which maybe has hurt him too with the leverage. But there's Jervon Dexter. Tyreek Stevenson, same deal. Wow, as he had an up and down career. Tyree. He was my pick to be like their comeback player of the year after what, wrong in 2024.

It didn't happen in 2025, but he still has time to show something, anything. Now, the guy that was drafted directly behind him, we know how that turned out, right? Behind, you're talking about Zach Pickens? Yeah, yeah, Zach Pickens, yes, Layla's favorite. Yeah, Zach Pickens didn't quite work

out. I remember watching, because I was obviously glued to Jervon Dexter and Zach Pickens. It's pretty exciting when like multiple defensive linemen are taken, right? So I was glued to those guys. Zach Pickens for a while looked like the better product out of the two of those guys. And then Zach Pickens just went downhill.

I don't know what the where are they now. Is he even in football anymore? He's got to be. Probably still is. But yeah, so that was the year 2023. Dexter, Tyreeks Stevenson, Zach Pickens. So they went heavy, heavy on the defensive line that year. In terms of the cost and the breadth of those picks,

So, again, this is, all GMs are allowed to improve. And then his first year, Poles' first year, he certainly hit on the defense, at least in the secondary. Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Briscoe were very good draft picks, second rounders. The only defensive linemen they took that year was Dominique Robinson, who was a fifth rounder, who was no longer with the Bears, who got every opportunity. Terrific athlete, good locker room guy. But that did not work out. see if things go better for him on a Houston Texan defense that's known to be stout.

So maybe he fits in better with a bunch of guys who really are good at what they do already. Yeah, no doubt. And so you can conclude from this that Ryan Poles has struggled with, in terms of the draft, the defensive line. And one could argue as well that he has struggled in the guys that he has signed. I don't have that list in front of me, but we could play that game at some point in time as well. Let's better educate ourselves on the overall philosophy of the Bears when it comes to the draft, not just the offense, but the defense as well. And the man to do it.

The reason I need to point that out is because it is an offensive voice that we are going to hear from right here. Dan Rochard is the Bears' offensive line coach, and he's going to provide insight on the overall process for the Bears. Roshar with Foster Swift Sports Talk discussed on their NFL draft process last year. In our short meeting, it's all about football. And the one thing that we want to get out of it is what's the knowledge of the player coming in? Does you really have a good foundation to learn? And every university is a little bit different, or a college setting is a little bit different, in the sense that some guys are coached at a really high level,

some guys maybe not as high level, maybe we've had multiple transfers from college to college to college and things are maybe just a little bit off. What's in there? So in that 15 minutes you're trying to really hone in on in a short interview, hey, what's this guy's football IQ like? That's really what you're driving. at. And speaking on last year, because, you know, we were in the market, we thought we were in

the market to go early, we had the 10th pick, and although that went to Colston, which was a heck of a pick, we're all doing that as positions, coaches. That's really what we're driving at for our head football coach, our GM and those in the room to be able to go, man, this guy's got good football makeup or there's some real concerns and the more concerns there are the less clean they are the more work you then have to do after the process that's bringing them to campus for what we call 30 visits you get 30 prospects to come to campus and you can spend an entire day meal setting whatever those things are to do more leg work and then a process like this where you're on Zoom, hey, how much more can we gather? And I always like to, you know, in the process, I always

like to go back to if I know, if I know somebody that I really know at a college that's worked with the player, and they can give me an insider information about what this like, like, how's this guy handle injury? Is he going to be able to fight through it, or are we going to be dealing with a guy that's, you know, in the clubhouse? Because the availability is so important in this game. That is the Bears offensive line coach Dan Rochard with Foster Swift Sports Talk. I assume that that's a podcast that he was on. But anyway, it sounds to me, Marshall, that he's talking.

I mean, that's all very smart stuff that go beyond the surface. I don't know that that's necessarily unique because the thing that we've learned in the draft is that they want to know everything about these guys. smart they are, who they hang out with, who their girlfriend is. Or maybe I'm just talking about that movie. Wait, what movie are you referring to? Is that the Kevin Costner special? Draft Day? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know all that stuff. But I get where he's coming from. You want to go deeper than just what the player does. What stood out to you there from Mr. Rochart? Whereas I'm listening to it, and it makes sense because I'm never turning down data.

I'm never turning down more information on a player. And if you're a player on prospective coaching staff, a team and organization, I mean, go back to Caleb Williams' dad, right? He's trying to figure out all the nitty-gritty about the bears and how they ended up, you know, being a graveyard for a lot of quarterbacks over the course of a long period of time. And the same certainly applies when you're talking about the millions of dollars and the hopes of your own livelihood depend on how good this player is at the next level. And so all of the stuff he talks about there, it's all well and good. But the bottom line is, do I trust your ability to evaluate defensively what's been going on? And that's a question talking about Ben Johnson, Ryan Poles, and ultimately Dennis Allen, because they're the players that he wants.

And I point back to like the Dio O'Dingbo as an acquisition because he fit what Dennis Allen likes as far as traits, despite not having necessarily the actual performance on paper documented of where it says, hey, he's really good at getting pressures, not so much sex, but we think we can turn the pressures into sex. That's a lot of hoping and wishing based on the actual contract that you gave him. He also likes versatility, obviously. I mean, we've seen that with safety. It's already talked about it with Kobe Bryant, that he can play all sorts of different

levels of safety. Heck, the guy used to play, used to be a cornerback. Even if you look at somebody like Shamar Turner, they can't decide where they want to use him. The beauty of, if I may use that for Dio Dangbo, especially when he was with the Colts, he would bounce around the line. And you want that versatility with your players. It's just a matter of turning in into something real.

Textor brings up something interesting. And you're always welcome to text us here on Rahimi Harris and Grotie, 312, 16. 64-64-67-67. We even pick up phone calls every once in a while. 3-1-2, 64-64-67-67. From the 3-1-2, Tyreek is a safety, Tyreek Stevenson, that is. You'll see an Edmund's type of production increase when he has changed positions. That's interesting to me because the other guy, who I actually should have mentioned

as part of the Tyreek Stevenson draft two years ago, I guess that would have been in the year 23. Terrell Smith was another guy. Don't forget about Smitty. Smitty's still there. Smitty the cornerback who Dave Wonstead once said. I'll never forget this because I was intrigued by his thought process. Dave Wonstead said that you could turn Terrell Smith, Smitty, into a safety as well. Do you think they got some funny stuff up their sleeves maybe this year? Or would that be wise or do you think it's just stupid and they should draft the safety? Well, yes. They should draft the safety. or just stupid and they should

Well, I think they should always be drafting for the future even if that safety is not going to play this year. They don't draft for need, Marshall. They draft best player available. Best player available. Even though everybody's mocking safeties to the Bears. If Dave Wonstadt is saying it, and as long as it's a bruiser of a safety,

I'm good with them taking a safety early, right? Like if it happens to be a first round safety, that do better be a playmaker though. That's my point with that first pick. If you're going to keep it and you're going to draft someone, it can't be someone you're debating about is he going to have an impact this season right away he's got to be a dude no doubt about it yeah like he we don't and you you said probably the no no this is the most important draft that ryan polls has had point blank and period because

when he was drafting all the other times he was trying to build towards a winning he has a winner right now on paper they they won the division last year you got to supplant that. A lot of teams get to the mountaintop for a moment and then fall back down. His job now is to sustain it and the players he takes defensively in this draft will determine whether or not they can keep this going. We're going to have more Bears talk today at 1 o'clock. Mark it right now on your phone because we're going to be talking about Caleb Williams and which quarterback tier he belongs in this year. He was towards the bottom last year in the preseason, at least according to Mike Sando, who is the quarterback tiers.

He is on record with that that he's been doing for decades, or maybe not decades, but at least a decade. So we'll do that at 1 o'clock. Coming up next, we are going to talk with Richard Deich, who writes about the media. He does a podcast here on Odyssey called Sports Media with Richard Deich. The main reason that we wanted to have him on is because he just wrote this cool feature story on our friend, Kevin Harlan.

will ask him what he learned about our guy who is a regular on this show. And there's just so much bouncing around in the broadcast area, whether baseball or the NCAA tournament or Charles Barkley or Bruce Pearl, there are myriad things to discuss with him. Do you know where to find your games? Like every night when you're trying to find your games? It's a game I like that. This guy knows where all the games are.

Richard Deich is next on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score. Midday's Tyndall 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 1043, the score. Wouldn't have a lot of time. Now Bill Self and his staff making sure they know, no fouls. This is going to be Darling. He's got to go. Darling puts it up. Back to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999.

Ah, our guy, the voice of Kevin Harlan, calling St. John's last second win over Kentucky 67, 65, as seen on CBS. Dylan Darling, with that last second layup, Patino against Self, and the man narrating it, Kevin Harlan doesn't get any better than that. As a matter of fact, Kevin will be one of the topics of our next discussion, which we are happy to report, is with, here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie, with the one and only Richard Ditch. of the Odyssey podcast Sports Media with Richard Deich, also Sports Business Journal contributor. He is on Zoom right now. You could follow him on X at Richard Deich as we welcome onto the Rahimi Harris and Grody Show on the score. What's going on, Richard? How are you?

Fellas, as always great to be here. You know, whenever I'm on your station, and I love Chicago because it is very, very similar to my city, Toronto. I always like to, you know, see I punk it up, where you say something like, you know, where else would you rather be on a Monday afternoon than in the great city of Chicago, Illinois? I love the cell, Richard. That has got me excited, and it's my show. We appreciate you stopping by.

This Kevin Harlan story was so interesting to me because people don't understand how much this man has to travel. I think the travel piece of this is the most iconic of the things he's doing. Obviously, he's a great broadcaster. We have him on the station all the time. Can you walk me through and maybe the people out there just how difficult it is to get from one place to another on any given assignment because he's got different bosses and different priorities, but he still is able to not miss work.

And we all miss work because of flight cancellations and everything else. Yeah, especially now. So it was great to profile Kevin Harlan, which I did for Sports Business Journal. He gave me a lot of time. So I was able to, I feel like got to get a sense of his life. So Harlan is very old school, and he doesn't have an assistant. He doesn't have like a travel advisor. So what he does on any given week is he will figure out the best route for him depending on his employer. So right now he's working for CBS for the NFL and obviously March Madness a little bit.

Works for Prime Video when it comes to the NBA. And then works for Westwood One. So during the football season, you know, he's always in two different markets on a Sunday and a Monday. And what he'll do very early in his week is he'll price out all the different flights that can take him from A to B. He prices out the backups and sometimes the backups to the backups. So he always has a plan in the event that like there's some kind of travel issues or flights delayed or something like that. And he keeps all of this on these handwritten calendar journals. It is not a phone guy or anything like that. He really literally does it old school.

you know, in handwritten lettering on these, on these calendar journals that he's kept for 30, 40 years at this point. He travels more than 150,000 miles a year. He does everything, like you said, separately. So what CBS wants is not necessarily what Prime Video wants, and he has to try to keep that very, very separate. And the interesting thing, this is a trick, and obviously your listeners can use this as well.

You know, he's based in Kansas. And one of the things he always will use is he uses Midwestern airports like Chicago as a hub where in the event it gets a little tricky with travel. He always believes that he can get to where he needs to get to if he's in a Chicago or Detroit as opposed to a smaller airport somewhere where there may be, let's say, you know, like one flight a day. So that's one of the tricks that he uses is that he's willing to, he'll sleep overnight in a Chicago. and then like at 6 a.m. or 5 a.m., he figures that if he's getting into a little bit of dicey travel trouble, he'll be able to get the flight to where he needs to make it. And then lastly, sometimes, like, things just happen. And the guy has to rent a car, like a couple of months ago, rented a car from, he had to be in Ann Arbor.

And I believe he rented a car from Green Bay and drove seven and a half hours from Green Bay to Ann Arbor so he could make a noon tip off in Ann Arbor. Hey, there is security. in that man. No funny stuff usually when you're driving as opposed to the airlines. And as we said coming in, it is tough out here right now. We could talk about Kevin Harland for an hour probably. It's one of our favorite guests, but we have finite amount of time with you, Richard. So I want to get into the college basketball, the tournament coverage so far. And I'm tempted to just ask you the general question of what do you like and what you don't like. And you could take that and run with it, too.

But I do want to ask one specific question, a what did you think? moment of the game, the first round game where you had Brian Anderson, who had no voice, he had laryngitis for the game, but you had Charles Barkley and Dick Vital doing a sports talk radio show is the way it felt. What did you think of that game? And if you'd like to take it in different directions too on things that you liked and didn't like so far about the NCAA tournament and the coverage on the many networks. Yeah, so listen, I'm happy for both Barkley and Vital. They've wanted to work together for a long time. And in television, prior to, like, let's say the last five years or so, less three years or so, networks did not want their talent on another network. They

always thought it was like a significant competitive imbalance. They wanted to keep their talent very specific to their mediums. And they've gotten better at this. I think they now realize that all publicity is good publicity. And if you allow your talent to go on another network, it's just going to end up being good publicity for you. It also helps with your own talent relations. It makes your talent happy. So I'm glad that Vital and Barclay got to do a game together. Like honestly, would I want those guys to do a full season together?

No. To be very blunt. Like at a certain point with Vital and this was even Vital and his prime, like it's very good for me in doses. But I wouldn't want an entire season of, you know, the sort of over-the-top histrionics and the love affair from Mike Shashevsky. Like at a certain point, it's a little painful for me. I do love Barclay, though. I like seeing him on different outlets, so I thought that was cool.

You know, in terms of the tournament itself, I think CBS and Turner now, and I wouldn't say they're on autopilot, but I really think they do a very good job on the production. Like, the tournament just, like, is really, really fun to watch. They don't miss calls. It's, you know, they have a great feel of sort of when to show the crowd, when to show the game. And also, I think they have the, their best group of broadcasters in terms of the teams that I've ever seen. There's really not.

I mean, if you go through the first five broadcast groups or even six, like, they're all good. And they could probably all do the finals if they wish. Like, I think, no offense to Jim Nath, but Ion Eagles, a better basketball broadcaster than Jim. He's terrific. And that's like, that's an improvement there. I think the raftery Grand Hill, I and Eagle team has actually worked. I'm a big fan of Andrew Catalan and Steve Lapis. I think that's a great team.

they call a really good game. So to me, like, the tournament has been well done. You're always going to have people who don't love studio talent. Like, I've seen online, like, there's been some criticism, Nate Burleson. He doesn't really bother me that much. I get the fact that they're a hardcore college basketball fans who don't want the NBA guys there and they think it sort of cheapens the sport. But you have to remember, this is ultimately in the day.

This is a television show. You know, and like, these guys pay a lot of money. And if you pay a lot of money, you're going to have Kenny Smith. Charles Barkley and your, you know, Turner talent, or not Turner anymore, but WBD talent, on a very, very big property like that. So I think you just, you have to sort of accept that's the case. I'm trying to, you know, like the one thing I would say, like, I actually just happen to hear the Odyssey Sports Minute.

I'm not sure who did it, but I couldn't disagree more with that 40-second take there. Because to me, the tournament remains great when an underdog. can make a play into the second week. Like, I get it. You don't, you know, you don't want high point to play necessarily for the title, but I think you do want them to get to the second weekend. That, to me, is, like, what makes the sport great. So I'm hoping that the NIL era does not eliminate us from any kind of second round in Sweet 16,

where we get, like, one or two FDUs or George Mason or something like that, because I think that still gives the tournament, like, kind of its secret sauce. That's what makes it. That's to me what makes it compelling. Yeah, Richard Dichich, joining us to host of the Odyssey Podcast, Sports Media, with Richard Dich. He's also a sports business journal contributor. And I think it gives the charm that it has, Richard, overall, the idea that somebody

double-digit C can go on and do big things. Texas is not included because I don't really, I mean, I know they got an 11 next to their name, but I don't call them a double-digit seat. I'm really curious to your thoughts on this Warner Brothers cell to Paramount and what that means for us the sports consumer going forward because I don't think it's good, but also I can't do anything to stop it. Yeah, listen, man, I grew up in New York. So, like, I'm a de facto not a fan of billionaires. If billionaires want something, I generally go the opposite of that as just as a, as a general life guidance rule. No, I don't think, I mean, the consolidation for, if you're

a sports fan, it's sort of TBD. The reality is, like, the combination of CBS's properties and Warner Brothers Discovery properties would give them the second best set of sports kind of, you know, sports properties behind DSPN. But the reality is they're not going to be able to keep all of them because they have to ultimately re-up with the NFL. And, you know, Paramount, David Ellison, NFL officials, they've already sort of indicated to you that they're going to, you know, they're going to opt out early and they're going to resign and extend that contract early. So if I had to guess, I think there will be some Warner Brothers discovery properties that go to the open market like you know could that be like the French Open could that be the

NHL you know we'll end up seeing but I don't see the combined companies um retaining all of those properties but but generally speaking from my perspective when you see mergers and major mergers two things happen one people get laid off and I was part of a massive merger way back in the day when I first started my career AOL and time Warner merged it was like essentially the worst business merger in the history of America and a ton of people lost their jobs. So that's what will happen, generally speaking. You will see people at Warner Brothers Discovery or CBS lose jobs.

We may not know they may not be front-facing, so they may not be famous people per se, but there will be people who lose jobs. And then inevitably, the consumer usually pays somehow at the end of this because the sports rights go up and they're going to pass that on to the consumer. So if you have something like Paramount Plus, I would expect the price of that, you know,

two or three years from now. to go up. Generally speaking, when it comes to media mergers, the consumers end up paying and people lose their jobs. That is just a history of what happens, and that's what I'd bet on. Richard, a couple of baseball things. First, TV, and then we've got a radio question for you as well. So I think I have it straight now with baseball this year, that NBC slash Peacock will have the Sunday night game. Fox will have their Saturday games with our guy, Adam Amin. Of course, Jason Benetti on the NBC call. ESPN will have weekday games. TBS will have. of Tuesday games.

Have they sort of this out properly? Who's the real rights holder? And who's your favorite broadcast team out of this bunch? Yeah, the winner of all this is Rob Manfred, who just used the gift basically of the guy like throwing money into the air and like, you know,

catching it, because that's what MLB has always done. They don't really have a consumer-friendly national policy. You have to have multiple different outlets to watch all this stuff. Now, away from the traditional greed of all sports organizations. I think some of the names you mentioned are great. I love Adam and me like you guys do. I'm a big, as we say in wrestling, I'm a big Jason Benetti

Mark. I think that was a great hire by NBC. You guys obviously know him in your market. It's great. Yeah. With the White Sox. That's a great hire and that gives that, that feels already to me like a big broadcast. And I expect NBC to put on a good show for that. I'm glad to see ESPN remain in baseball because I think it's important for the sport to have a relationship with ESPN because even though sports center is not the same as it used to be and ESPN's not the same, you still want to have like them be interested in your sport because they're just too powerful an entity where you don't want to be buried and MLB's got a really good story to tell. So I think, you know, of all the sort of the teams you mentioned, I think they'll all be fine.

I guess the one thing I'll just be paying attention to is this is more of like a nerdy kind sports media thing is Benetti's not working with a singular partner. Every one of those games, he's going to basically be working with local analysts. Okay. And it'll be interesting just to see how that sounds for the viewer. Because I know, you know, over the years writing this stuff, I can't tell you how many people are like, why can't I get my local play-by-play person, you know, right? Why can I get my local analyst?

Well, this will be an experiment. Well, where at least, at least in the analyst position, you'll have somebody who knows the team much more than your traditional network guys who just, parachute in. So it'll be interesting to see if that sounds, but I think Benetti's just so good as a play-by-play person. I think you can honestly put them with anybody, and it'd be a good broadcast. Real quick here, with all the difficulties that have been written about and talked about here, with the RSNs being in trouble on television, would it be fair to say that radio play-by-play is as sturdy as it's ever been, or no? I think it depends on the market. You guys are in a great

market that appreciates radio still, right? That appreciates history. So I think in a market like Chicago, I think, you'll always be in a pretty good position, I think, when it comes to radio broadcasting. Smaller markets, the one thing I can tell you is they're spending much less money when it comes to traveling on the road. You know, a lot of times they won't set their their broadcast team on the road for radio. They're calling games back in whatever the whole market is, which is brutal, brutal for the broadcasters. And you've got some talented broadcasters have to call it off a monitor, which is not easy to do. So that's where like the money, I think in big markets, at least in the near term, you'll

still have a pretty good presence. The New York's, the Boston's, the Chicago's, places like that. But smaller markets, man, I hate to say it, most of these places are trying to do stuff on the cheap. And so you'll see them cutting back. And one of the things they're really cutting back on is travel, where they just, they won't send, they won't send people on the road anymore. which is a shame. I think it's not forward thinking. I mean, radio has a great connection

with the audience. I would argue a better connection with the audience in terms of intimacy than television. And so I would want my people there on the road because I think there's value to doing that. But listen, I can barely manage myself and I'm not managing any company, so no one's listening to me. Richard, we listen to you, man. Great stuff is always. Thanks for coming on the score as usual, man. Thanks, Richard. I appreciate it. Thank you to the great city. Chicago. You're the best, man. I love that. You're the best. All that stuff he gave us right there. That's so good. Richard Dight, the host, he's on our team,

the host of the Odyssey podcast, Sports Media, with Richard Dight. And yes, baseball is back. Opening night is live on Netflix this Wednesday night. Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees clash with Raphael Devers and the San Francisco Giants. MLB opening night, Yankees, Giants, live on Netflix Wednesday at 7 p.m. Half time is next tier on Rahimi Harrison. Grody on the score.

Brahimi Harrison Grody on the score. We began the show today by discussing the fact that Sayas Suzuki will not be available to the Cubs for day one. As a matter of fact, it's a pretty good chance that he's going to end up on a short-term injured list by the middle of this week. Subsequently, we talked about the hopeful rise of Matt Shaw, about whom Marshall and I are both very optimistic. We talked about the Bears ability or inability to draft defense, and specifically defensive line.

We went through all of Ryan Poles' drafts, if you'd like to go back and check that out. The NCAA tournament for a couple of casuals, as we call ourselves here, Marshall and I, at least, will speak for ourselves, casual college basketball fans. Somehow, some way the both of us were glued to a lot of those games. So we discussed that. We talked, of course, about the big Illinois win. No funny stuff with a nice 76-55 win over VCU as they advanced to the Sweet 16 to take on Houston. And we just had a great conversation about the media with our Odyssey teammate Richard Deich.

It's a laptop. Yeah, you know, I don't know if you notice, but the weather got a little bit better on Saturday. And people were outside, Mark. I am people, by the way. I was outside. And you're a people who doesn't typically like to leave the... Except for when you're exercising the abode of your fine place. And I don't know if you know, but in the news lately,

there's been a lot of unsettling news. There's stuff going on with the Middle East. There's a war happening. A war happening, whether people want to admit it or not. Gas prices are surging. There's a lot of negative news, but you have to take in the news. to know what's going on, but sometimes you just need to get away.

And I have a dual story here, one of a place where they're letting you get away, and my own kind of spin on that, which I took advantage of this past weekend. So let me first tell you about what's going on in Charlotte, North, or excuse me, Raleigh, North Carolina. J.C. Ralston, Arborodum in Raleigh provides what they call a shield. they're offering bathing in nature to unplug and get away. And I found this fascinating because we're all too plugged in. Can we agree on that?

Yeah. Every day we have to look at our phones, look at our screens. We're addicted to screens, whether it's for good, bad, worse, whatever. Yes. You can get positive things and negative things as well. The negative hurts. Every Sunday morning, they have a certified forest therapy guide, Sean Ramsey, jingling a tiny brass bell calling her a dozen or so charges to gather for meditation,

breathing exercises, and to commune with nature. Mark, what was the last time you commune with nature? I don't know. And I think that is the answer for way too many people. And I get it. We live in the city. It's city life. But there are beautiful spaces in which you can go. There are parks, Millennium, Grant. You just start naming them. Yeah. We've got all this access to all this stuff, but we are so heads down into our phones and stuff, we don't get a chance to unplug. So they've been doing this. It's based on the Japanese wellness practice of Shenron Yoku.

Oh, sure. Which has been known to reduce stress, improve mood, lower blood pressure, and boost the immune system. Are you interested in any of those things? I'm very interested in all of that. And although this arboretum is in a busy section of a growing city, sound familiar, Ramsey said she benefits the tune of fit, excuse me, said the benefits of tuning out and getting in touch with nature are the same.

So every week they do this and the people are loving it. And I think this is what I did this past weekend when I decided to take part in the Shamrock Shuffle. Yes. My internet went out on my phone. I raw dogged it. What? I ran five miles, no music. Oh my God.

See, now you have that power even before. before this. And now I think you're just showing off. No, no, no. But there were people line up on the streets. It's only an 8K, right? So that's just under five miles. And I really appreciated the city kind of just shutting down early in the morning.

Yeah. And just taking in the sights, the sounds, the people interacting. People would be like, give me a high five. And I was like, I miss this. I feel like pre-pandemic, I did this kind of stuff all the time. But I want us all to unplug, whether it's by, force, because I had no internet, or just to choose to be more community oriented. Can we do that? Is there a way we can do this? No, that will never ever happen. That's the past.

We're not going back to that, aren't we? Except for intermittently. But I will say, you're right, the vibe post run, because it's interesting you mentioned that. That's cool that you ran in the shamrock shuffle. I was invited to. I didn't think I was ready for it. But I was driving back from the city in our neighbor. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. From the suburbs, post run, luckily, or else I would have probably been one of those frustrated drivers. And just at that point, it was done, it was over, and I saw dozens of people as I was driving down State Street wearing the, and there's a Shamrock Shuffle hat right there. Hold it up for the Twitch audience right there. There's a Shamrock Shuffle hat.

All people walking hand in hand in groups, did they give, is there a medal for this or is that just? Oh, I have a medal. You got your metal. Metals at hell. It's morale is high after those runs. People feel good about themselves after that. So you're right, whether it's to, and I know you're talking about a separate incident of unplugging. Not everybody did that.

But just talking about the shant and the runs that go on in the city, there is that feeling. I know a lot of people drives people crazy because of the traffic and just everybody running around. But it really is a nice thing about this city. And the marathon will be happening again. Anthony Rizzo and Jake Arieta will be running in this year's marathon. Oh, is that confirmed? Yeah, I think it is. Okay, okay.

I didn't say something on a turn there, did I? Okay. No, that's correct. Okay. Man, I've been spoilted stuff. And Jake Arrieta, too. Oh, yeah, yeah, so, no, and if things go well and I've still not hurt, because, you know, the last couple of years have been rough on my body.

Yeah. I will also be out there. What? Wait, wait, you're going to run the marathon? I'm going to, there's a 13.1-half, and June, as long as that goes, goes, well, I'll just continue running. Running is nothing for me if I'm healthy. Okay.

Like, I like to run. Good for you, man. It's freeing. That is fantastic. Very good. Yes, I would think I would like to, like, I wanted to go with you on the unplugging thing, but it just, it will never, it will never happen. I just want to encourage everybody out there to take time to unplug.

No matter how you do it, just try to get a half hour, hour. And it's crazy that I say half hour, like, because some people can't go a half hour without looking at their phone. You're right. That's why I said, realistically, the answer is no, especially for people of a certain age. For people that are listening right now that are maybe, I would say, 60 and old, they're like, yeah, no problem, man. Like, it always baffles me when I talk to my parents and she, like, my mom will not know where her phone is. I don't know where I left.

What do you mean you don't know where your phone is? I have to have it, like, within eye distance, as it is right now as we speak, if you're watching on Twitch. I have to see it like as if it's like something, it's like it's a child. I have to know where my phone is 24-7, and it can't be within 10 feet away from me. Your phone or Dave, what are you keeping a closer eye on? Oh, man, Dave does his own thing, man. He keeps an eye on me more than I keep an eye on him. Coming up next on Rehimi, Harris, and Grody, five on it, five hot topics that we will discuss

and maybe even debate here on Chicago Sports Radio 670 the score.