Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Meghan Montemurro talks Cubs' mission to make a deeper postseason run (Hour 2)

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

In the second hour, Marshall Harris and Russ Dorsey discussed NBA All-Star weekend and what they thought of the new format with a mini-tournament held Sunday. After that, Tribune reporter Meghan Montemurro joined the show to discuss the latest Cubs storylines from spring training. Later, Harris and Dorsey conducted the Halftime segment.

This hour is brought to you by Joel Osco. Barnes will have the rebound with five seconds left. And Barnes will provide the exclamation point on a dominant effort from the USA Stars team. They will win the 75th NBA All-Star Game and Anthony Edwards leading the way for the young guns from the Americans. Call courtesy of Noah Eagle and NBC. The All-Star game looking a little different as that. was team stars over team stripes, an all-American affair, if you will, in the championship 12-minute quarter of the tournament,

a 30, excuse me, 47 to 21 win over Team Stripes in that championship game. And you know what? I felt like I was back in high school driving my 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, called her the Great Ghost. She was gray, in case you were wondering. Because when I was watching the championship game live, I didn't get to watch the other games live. I got to watch that Stars v. Stripe Championship game. And they were showing highlights of what Kauai did to get there.

And I was like, okay, okay, we got the youth versus the old heads. I like this. And then you remember why youth is young. Yeah. And when I used to drive that car, there were many times where my little needle on the gas tank was below the E, but I was still riding. And then you tempt fate one too many times, and I'm going to end up on the side of the road in need of gas. And I walked to the gas station, filled up my little canister of gas, and embarrassingly walked back to my car and put the gas in the car. Look, the old heads ran out of gas in a very, very ugly way.

And the championship game for a lot of people who look at that final score, people will say, see, this is why All-Star Weekend stinks. They don't try hard. trying hard. But let me tell you, the three games leading up to that with Team World versus Team Stripes and Team Stars versus Team World, they were won possession games down to the final seconds. And as we talk about All Star Weekend here, it made me understand with clarity that All Star Weekend isn't as big a problem from an intensity standpoint as we've been led to believe by our own memories and what we remember watching growing up. Russell Dorsey is here from Yahoo Sports.

I am Marshall Harris. This is Rahimi Harrison Grody on 104-3, the score. And Russell, I don't know how much of All-Star weekend as a total you took in, but I watched Friday night, The Rising Stars Challenge, modest Boozella, shout out to him, getting on a championship team. I watched All-Star Saturday, albeit on tape delay, but it allowed me to fast forward through some of the things. to rewatch something.

Yeah. And then I watched, like I said, live and then rewatch some of the stuff from earlier from Sunday. And I was like, yeah, this is about what All Star Weekend is. What were your impressions of All Star Weekend? Okay. So All Star Weekend as a whole, Friday is Friday. Saturday fell flat. And I think part of it falling flat was not just the fact that the dunk contest has turned into the laughing stock of all the all.

Star Weeks Week sports in the four major sports but it was the fact that it started so early whereby 6 p.m. Central time everything was over like I'm on my phone like

wait Dame already won the three point contest and wait who won the dunk contest who in like yeah it was I was bewildered Marshall You're bewildered by the whole Saturday. But Sunday, I will say I enjoyed the actual All-Star game.

Also, finished early, but I like the fact that there was actually competition in the games. I know the last game, the old heads ran out of gas. But I could see the younger guys. saying, yeah, I'm not just going to let Wimby punk me out here. And Anthony Edwards, one of the young superstars in the game, said, all right, I got y'all. I'll do it. And he, I thought I loved the one-on-one between him and Kevin Durant, right? Where he's like, yeah, this is my, well, it was my favorite player growing up, and I'm going to take him to the cup.

And even after he finished and won the All-Star Game MVP, he thanked Victor Wimbabye for saying, hey, Wimby came out here and wanted to be competitive. Let's listen to what Anthony Edwards had to say after taking home All-Star game MVP honors. You all go to overtime in the first game, and you wanted the ball, that first possession. All right, what did you see? I mean, you know, I ain't going to lie. Wimby set the tone.

So it's hard not to match that. So, that's what happened. And what are you? Sorry for my language. That's what happened. You keep going to the jump ball. You're confident, but what's the- Yeah, I'm trying to beat him in the jump ball.

Yeah, I'm trying to beat him. Yeah. But I ain't a lot. The ref. The ref kind of like putting the. ball all way towards him. He already eight feet tall. He got to put it on my side and throw it towards me, so I got to advantage.

You make excuses? No, I'm just saying I need a little advantage versus him. You know what I'm saying? He's eight feet. I'm six feet. He eight feet. Talk that talk. All right.

Lot to play. You win, you stay off. Yeah, let's do it. Six foot, seven foot, eight foot. Yeah, that's what he was sounding like, courtesy of NBC that post-game interview with Anthony Edwards. Oh, shout out to my girl, Zora Stevenson. Yeah, she was doing sidelines.

her along with Ashley Shammati, right? Yeah, Ashley Shamedy. Yeah. Good people, both of them. So NBC is out here. And let's address, first of all, the fact that you were looking for All-Star Saturday night, and it was All-Star Saturday afternoon. Hey, man.

NBC a while ago flipped it where they were like, we're going to do the Olympics. So let's get all this stuff together this year because they've moved some things around. And they were like, we want to have everything in one year. The Olympics and the Super Bowl. That's how that happened. And, of course, then they got the rights to the NBA for this season. And baseball coming. Look, Sunday nights on NBC are going to be a thing, no matter what the season.

Because they've got the baseball, the football, and the basketball. Correct. And so that's why, because of primetime Olympic programming, which you could argue, it's on tape delay, so does it need to be that time? But also, it kind of shows the effects of where All-Star Weekend is as far as a prime-time draw. The Olympics are drawing more people than NBA All-Star Weekend, but let me offer you this as we talk about NBA All-Star Weekend. The problem is not the weekend itself in terms of the intensity. And here's what I'm saying.

I think because we were once kids who used to look forward to All-Star Weekend with such excitement, because it was the one time of year where you actually saw the NBA stars come together. and we had kind of a modicum of this when the Dream Team formed so you got to see it for like a chunk of time but it was the one time a season where your stars whether you were a magic Larry Bird Michael Jordan obviously Ray Allen you can name the stars there's so many stars but you didn't see them all you might see them

in one-offs in a game or in a playoff series once the playoffs come but that's not guaranteed but All-Star weekend Alan Iverson's going to be there and players are going to interact in a way you you don't see. And I think part of the thing is that doesn't matter anymore. That exclusive nostalgic field doesn't matter anymore because guess what? I can open up my phone right now and see all these guys interacting thanks to social media. So I think part of the downfall of what made NBA All-Star Weekend so special is the interaction between current players, stars, legends, it is a

celebration of basketball. And I'm telling you what you think you remember about players, Players playing hard didn't happen the way you remember it. Yes, players did tend to play harder once the fourth quarter started because guess what? There's an all-star game MVP up for grabs and I'm going to get mine. That's not the sense I got watching these games yesterday. The sense was, we got 12 minutes to survive in advance. And they played defense from rip. And that's something that I can't say I've ever seen in an NBA All-Star game until recently.

until this trash talk, until talk about the Europeans not playing hard. And if you don't believe me, because you're like, Marshall, you're crazy. You just like the NBA. Why don't you listen to someone who professes to be a real NBA head because he's a future Hall of Famer? And also, he's a bit of a historian.

Listen to what Kevin Durant has to say. Last couple of weeks, no live watched probably the intro in at least the first quarter at every All-Star game from like the 70s up until like, late 90s. And I wanted to see what the big deal was and if it was really that much intensity, like Game 7, like y'all said, it was back then. And it wasn't. And you know what I'm saying? So like, you know, but that's usually what I tend to watch the 60s, that stuff, you know, now they got it all on YouTube, you know, so I can go back and take a peek at the historians of the game

and the people that laid the foundation down for us. But I've been watching all. All-Star games and the intensity of the older generation have been talking about. I don't know if I've seen it. Kevin Durant talking about the All-Star history. And he said he went back to the 60s, Russ. He went back to the 60s. And here's the point. Back when I was growing up, if you didn't have a VCR, you couldn't re-watch anything.

That stuff's on YouTube now. Anybody can watch anything now. Yeah. And so the exclusivity of it, the special of that moment. And don't get me wrong. Sports are still the only thing you can watch live, and there's a camaraderie that, hey, I don't want to miss sports live. That still exists. That's why sports rights are facing a potential bubble here in the coming years.

But to hear Kevin Durant describe it, I think that was so accurate. Like, he's saying, hey, I wouldn't check the receipts. The receipts don't show the purchases, y'all said don't made. Yeah, I appreciate, because I think there's one thing. I know people feel different ways about Kevin Duran, him on social, etc. The one thing I'll never argue is that he does love the game of basketball, like in its purest form and fashion. More than a brush.

So I believe him 100% where he said, you know what? I went back and watched something. I believe he did that. And I imagine that he probably saw things where he's like, man, they weren't playing. Like, they were just here. and I think because his generation of players has gotten the most blowback on the intensity, competitiveness, etc. Also thanks to social media, by the way.

I think he feels responsible for coming back and saying, hey, man, this is not our fault. Yeah, I think that's the bigger point. And I think we're asking the NBA to make something happen that probably can't happen. I want to remind people the four major pro sports leagues of North America, the NBA, the NFL, MLB, and the NHL. They all have an all-star experience. And every single one of those leagues, all-star experience, since the turn of the century, has been reimagined, reinvented, gone back and forth.

Baseball is a perfect example. NHL, we've seen USA versus the world. We're just trying to figure out how to get things going. Oh, why don't we draft teams and make it more of a, a sandlot type experience. Meanwhile, the NFL doesn't even have a Pro Bowl anymore. It doesn't even exist. And they should probably just stop completely.

And so I am appreciative that what we got yesterday was an NBA All-Star experience. You can argue it wasn't as good as this year or that year or you want to see a different format. All that is fair and well. You are entitled to your opinion. But to say that they didn't try yesterday, I think that is just a lie. I think what you saw yesterday was a better, pure version of the All-Star game than we had seen in a couple of years for sure, since maybe the Elam ending year. I like the Elam ending personally because I thought that, okay, if you have a target, that is going to make people play differently.

Also, I think the collapse 12 minutes, that also makes people play differently. You don't have time to, oh, we'll just play, yeah, relax, because you're down 10 points. You ain't making up 10 points. And so I think that's a good point that you made, Russell. And look at the text line 630. The NBA is being run by an awful commissioner, just like the NHL. Oh, don't you worry. At 125, we will address some of Adam Silver's thoughts and ideas, including why the game is where it is right now.

And listen, I think the NBA is doing a decent job with what it can. I mean, hey, you know the phone number. you can call us, you can text us, 312, 644, 677, let us know what should the NBA do to make it better? What should any of these pro sports leagues do to make it better? I will say I enjoy the Major League Baseball game, but I think one of the reasons the Major League Baseball game is still doing well is because it still does have that feel of this is the one time

where all these stars get together and because it's such a regional sport baseball is. If you're a Cubs fan, you're following maybe the Central and the top teams because you're worried about your team versus the top teams in the league. You don't know about maybe an All-Star who's on, I want to say the Guardians because that's still in the Central, A.L. Central, not Al Central. Corby and Carroll. Corby and Carroll out West. Or maybe the Big Dumber, that was the first introduction to him, Cal Raleigh, out on the West Coast. Whereas in basketball, I'm sorry.

If you are a sports fan, you know who KD is, you know who Anthony Edwards is. It's a star-driven league. It's a star-driven league. It's a very different proposition when you're talking about basketball versus baseball. And so I think that's one of the reasons why those two experiences differ. And you don't get the whole real, the male version, I guess, of real housewives of fill in the blank in MLB, the way you do in the NBA. Yeah, the reality show aspect of the sport isn't necessarily a thing in baseball where the sport still has to, be the thing that carries you

as opposed to the extracurriculars outside of the product itself. One of the reasons, as we talk about the NBA All-Star game and NBA All-Star weekend on Rahimi Harrison Grotty with Marshall Harris and Russ Dorsey, one of the reasons why baseball is where it is

and the way it's looked at versus the NBA is, don't forget, when social media became a thing, NBA was like, highlights, have rights, to all our highlights. We're not going to crack down. MLB, especially when social media first started with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, you put up some MLB highlights. We're pulling it down immediately, which I think was a bad strategy by Major League Baseball. But in this one respect, it's brought them

out ahead because people don't know as much about MLB as they do the NBA. There is not this overabundance of Major League Baseball content as there is NBA content. NBA content. NBA content. NBA content's just out here for anybody to have, for anybody to thread up, respond to quote tweet, whatever. Yeah, and I'm with you. I think overall, if I had to give

the All-Star weekend agreed. We're doing that in five on it. Don't do that yet. Oh, my bet. I swapped them. See, we were flowing so well. That's a tease, folks. That is definitely a tease. That's in five on it at the top of the hour. But look, but look, but look, Russ, Russ.

if you could fix one thing about All-Star weekend. I'll give you mine first. Actually, you know, you're the guest in the house. Go ahead. If I were to fix one thing, see, I got them flip-flout. I knew it was something along those lines. If I were to fix one thing in the All-Star game, I would do my best to get superstar power back in the dunk contest,

and you have to put a financial incentive on it because money talks. And if you said, hey, winner gets. It's a million dollars, whatever, I think. And you get a, you already got a sponsor attached. Tell the sponsor, hey man, put some money up. We'll put the other half up. And you'll get, you'll probably get stars to do it again. But I think having no disrespect to Mackleong

because that dude is, to me, one of the best dunkers in the history of basketball. He has been doing it since he was 14 years old. He put out his own video with four dunks that were better than any of the dunks. Just dunks that you just never. So I appreciate Mack McClung for three years saying, I got you all. But the fact that you just, there's just lost interest, I think that is a misstep on the NBA's part. So you got to try to figure that out.

I don't know how you do it because I would rather you say, hey, million dollars for the winner, as opposed to saying we're going to get rid of it completely. Now, if you don't get any success with the million dollars or whatever financial incentive that you have, maybe you do say it's gone forever. Just to let you know how much money is made in the dunk contest, specifically $105,000 to the winner, $55,000 to the second place, and then $20,000 to each of the other two participants.

Yeah, that's not going to get it. 100 grand, not going to get it done. It's not. It's really not. Not to these millionaires. There's something about a million that perks your ear up of, like, hmm. I understand.

You being a millionaire at all. No, no, no, no. From your lips to God's ears. Anybody out there. I'm five, eight and a half. I can't dunk. But if somebody said, hey, million dollars for you to try, my job for the next how many every month would be trying to dunk.

Here's my suggestion to the NBA. We need a one-on-one tournament, but it can't be too regular. We have a dunk contest that is too regular. Put it on an Olympic-style rotation, where every other year you have the one-on-one tournament and you rotate that with a slam dunk contest. contest. And I'm tempted to say this out loud. And I'll go ahead and say it. Invite the professional dunkers. Just invite the professional dunkers. Let the, let any, like the NBA can be in it,

but also the professional dunkers can do it. See, I feel that's why some players wouldn't do it. Because it's like, oh, if we let and no disrespect to them in their minds, average Joe's do it and we get beat. People are going to look at us. Well, that's why the stars won't do it. LeBron famously said next year I'm doing the dunk contest. We're still waiting, LeBron, for you to do the dunk contest. Notorious. I'm guessing it's not. happening in his 40s.

Tellers of mistruths. But yeah, bring a one-on-one tournament. Unrival had a beautiful one-on-one tournament last weekend. Like, that's what you need. And them girls are out here hoping. Also, gambling. That helps things, too. People were gambling on that one-on-one contest.

Not me, not me, but other people were. No gamble of what we got coming up next. It is a sure thing. Megan Montemirah from the Chicago Tribute joins us to talk. Cubs from Mesa. That's coming up next. Russell Dorsey Marshall Harris It is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043 the score

Rahimi Harris and Grotie Midday's 10 to 2 on 1043 the score I think he'd be the first to tell you that he's been very fortunate to be on a lot of good teams Right the teams that he was on in Houston Were really good last year in Boston They obviously got some things figured out We're able to make the playoffs as well

But he is also a winner He's won everywhere he's been Where it was college and pro ball The whole thing Just his personality and his ability to get a lot out of other people definitely leads to those kinds of results. And he's proven that year and a year out.

And we're glad that we have somebody like him on our roster. One highly paid free agent signing talking about another guy who signed a pretty big contract, Dansby Swanson, talking about Alex Bregman here on Rahimi Harris and Grody, Russell Dorsey in on this president's day. You know, two of us not enough to talk about baseball. Why don't we bring in a third person? Let's go out to the Circa Sports Illinois hotline, download the Circa Sports app today.

That is where Megan Montemurro chimes in. She's on the phone, the Cubs Beat Rider at the Chicago Tribune. Megan, good morning. How are you doing? I'm good. How are you guys? You know what? We're making it.

It's a holiday. The streets are empty behind us, but we're making it out here. I know things have been busy. They have been popping. They're in Mesa. Tell me what's going on. What's the biggest storyline you've seen through a couple of days?

Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing when you, you know, talk to guys in the clubhouse is just the vibe is a little different to this camp. You know, last year, you know, they're coming in looking at getting back to the playoffs, that that was the hope. It obviously had been quite a few years since that had happened. And it's a very focused group coming in this spring, you know, that most of the group returns from the postseason. You know, they got a collective taste of that experience, and now it's okay, you know,

not only are we getting back to October baseball, but we're making a deeper run this year. So, you know, the vibe is it's a focus group. There's a clear mission here, and it'll be interesting to see how these next few weeks transpire before the regular season starts. Megan, earlier in the show, I told Marshall that Pete Crow Armstrong was one of my big storylines for the Cubs going into 2026. I know you guys got a chance to talk to Pete a couple of days ago. What was the conversation that you guys had with him in terms of, you know, we saw how good

the first half was last year and then then drop off in the second half into the postseason? And what stood out to you from that conversation? Yeah, I mean, I think one of the biggest things is he's clearly not satisfied with his offensive performance last year. And, I mean, he did say that, you know, Nico Horner kind of helped him put that season in perspective a little bit and kind of pointed out, you know, if the numbers you put up in the first half, you had put up in the second half and, you know, those those halves were flipped, you know, you'd probably be looking at your season offensively a little bit differently.

And so for him, you know, he's trying to pull on the good things that he did last year. I mean, he obviously showed he is capable of great plate coverage. He can hit balls up and down the zone. And so now for him is, you know, how does he find more consistency? you know, where you're putting up those numbers over a full season or better, but you're not having a two-month stretch like he did to end the year. And so for him, I mean, he talked about how, you know, he really delved into, you know, looking at what could be behind some of that, you know, once you're removed from the competition aspect of it all.

And, you know, working with assistant hindi coach John Maley, you know, one thing that they saw was that he just wasn't setting up consistently in the batters box when he was in those periods of struggle. And so he really focused in this offseason of finding a comfortable setup, maintaining that every time he gets into the box. And for him, he's really hopeful that that consistency, you know, before the bat, before every pitch is going to lead to more consistent results. And ultimately he said, too, you know, like my number one job is I'm playing elite defense in center field. Like he's saying I expect to play gold glove defense there every year. And he knows that's why he brings the most value to the line.

up. So it'll be interesting. I mean, I think, you know, kind of the ceiling for this team, I think, in a large part is, you know, what version of Pete Carr Armstrong did they get? Megan, tell me if I'm overstating things here, but it feels like you talked about a different vibe this year compared to last year. They had another player with a lot of success that was added to that roster and Kyle Tucker, but this to me feels different. I don't know if it's because it's a one-year deal for Kyle Tucker versus a free agent signing for multiple years for Alex Breggman, but it just feels like Alex Breggman is already a better fit

for the Cubs. Yeah, I mean, I think it's a little hard to compare kind of like what you pointed out. Like, you know, Alex Bergman has made a five-year commitment to this organization, so it makes sense that, you know, he's really trying to learn the ends and out and the language.

You know, the player development staff uses with minor league players and, you know, wanting to make sure he's on the same page with all that. It's a little bit of a different thing if you're a guy like Kyle Tucker, coming in on an expiring contract and, you know, probably being able to read the Teele's a little bit of like, you know, you're not going to be back here next season. So I do think personality-wise, obviously, there's a little bit of a difference. And, you know, when you hear guys talk about Alex Bergman and kind of their initial impression is, you know,

he brings an intensity, he brings an edge, he brings a very focused level of what do I need to do to help the team win today. And so I think there are some differences. I don't think we should diminish. how important Kyle Tucker was to that offense. I mean, you look at what they did in the first couple of months when he was healthy and clicking. I mean, they're the best offense in baseball. And so, but I do think, you know, having Bregman here under contract for multiple years, you still have D.N's be under contract for a couple years. I think having those kind of guys here is really important when you do look around and see,

you know, Nica Horner's entering the last year of his extension. Same with Ian Hap. Say, Suzuki is set to be a free agent after the C. So in a lot of ways, this group is kind of viewing this as a potential last hurrah with the core that they've had the last few years because there's so many unknowns of what this roster could look like after the season. Megan, we saw the additions that the Cubs made this offseason. We saw the rest of the NL Central not really make additions. And for the Milwaukee Brewers, actually made some subtractions. But you've been a ball writer for a long time as a fellow ball writer.

You know we're very realistic about things. And we know baseball has really long seasons. If you had to look at this Cubs roster and say where are the question marks, what are the remaining question marks that the Cubs have in your mind going into 26? I think the biggest one, which is hard to predict, is health. I mean, they were incredibly healthy on the position player side last year outside of not having Kyle Tucker those couple weeks and Miguel Amaya. I mean, they really were able to post up with their stars on a daily base.

And so I think that's a big question of, you know, they're anticipating some potential regression in that area because they were so healthy. And so in that case, you know, I'm curious how much they're going to be relying more on the bench. You know, they obviously made an investment there with Tyler Austin. You have Matt Shaw who's going to be in this super utility role. You still have kind of like the catching tandem between Carson Kelly and Miguel Amaya. But still, like, you don't know where that potential drop off could come. And so I think, one question is how much have they raised the floor of the group, especially on the position player side, since they really didn't need to rely on that much last year. And then I think the other question, I think for every team that they face is, you know, will the starting pitching in particular hold up? You know, they really tried to address the depth of that. You know, Justin Steele is expected back somewhat early this season, maybe potentially mid-May. And so it's a really intriguing group. There's a lot of potential upside within that. You know, you get a full season of Kate Horton.

But, you know, I think the health component is obviously a big question mark and the ripple effect that that could have. Megan Montemarro of the Chicago Tribune, she covers the Cubs. She is in Arizona, and she joins us via the Circus Sports Illinois hotline. Megan, I know Moises-Biosteros at last check was not in camp yet. It seemed like he was having some visa issues. How concerning is that for the Cubs? Because I know Moises-Biosteus expected to have a pretty sizable role in this office.

fence. Yeah, both him and Christian Bethincourt are still not here yet due to visa issues. Craig Counsel was telling us yesterday that, you know, his kind of expectation at the moment is maybe they're here by the weekend at the earliest, but that there just really is not a lot of clarity at the moment in terms of when they'll be able to arrive. And, yeah, it's really tough for for Ballaseros, who is very much in the mix to get regular at bats as their designated hitter. And, you know, part of that, too, is, you know, they still want him developing as a catcher. And so for him, I mean, he's already, this is day six since pitchers and catchers first reported last week. And so that's a lot of hands-on experience and guidance that, you know, he really needs to continue his catching development.

And so I think there's definitely a little bit of concern, you know, within the organization that both these guys aren't here yet and that there's not exactly known clarity of when that will happen. But the hope is potentially by this weekend. And we listen to you talk about Matt Shaw, who's going to have this kind of super utility role. What do you think that ideally looks like if you're the Cubs organization in terms of how many played appearances he's getting, how many games he's getting out in the field? and is he a candidate to get a lot of a bat to DH? Yeah, I mean, I think it's really a situation where you can, if they feel like he can handle the corner outfield spots, you can put them out there and you can give, say, a day at DH.

You can give Ian a day at DH. You can really try and protect against infield injuries and wear and tear by moving him around second, third, even short if needed. And, yeah, and obviously you could factor him into the DH role, too. So, I mean, I think there's definitely a pathway to, you know, 400 late appearances, if not more. I mean, again, I think it's going to come down to player health. And, you know, I think that made it appealing to keep him and Nico because you just don't know what's going to happen over the course of the season. And, you know, for them, they just need him to continue to develop offensively.

I mean, he shows some promising signs in the last, you know, two months of the season and in the playoffs. You know, he certainly got some exposure to top pitching. So for them, I think it's just going to be a rotation where you can give guys a day off their feet and obviously mix them in at D.H is needed. All right. Thank you so much, Megan. One more question before we let you go. Weather report?

What's the weather looking like there? You know, it almost got to 60 degrees here in Chicago yesterday? I mean, it might have been a little bit warm. almost yesterday in Chicago than here. Right now it's about 65 and partly cloudy. So it's a little brisk for Arizona. Yeah, man. Listen, that's a veteran baseball writer right there

because they'll always tell you you got to pack warmer than you think you need. Mm-hmm. Wow. Yeah, the 65 hits different when you're thinking that it's going to be more like 80. I'll tell you what, we would all take a brisk, quote-unquote, 65 here in Chicago. out there. Hey, I'm not saying I'm cold. I'm just giving, you know, an objective weather report. We appreciate your objectivity, as always. Megan Montemarro, the Cubs beatwriter for the Chicago Tribune.

Thanks so much for stopping by, Megan. Thanks for having me. All right, so that was Megan Montemarro. Up next, we've got halftime. And let me tell you something. Barack Obama was making a lot of waves over the weekend at All-Star weekend. And then also he was on a podcast. He was. And on this podcast, he was sharing. He was out here revealing state secrets about extraterrestrial life. Is that... Question mark?

Is that what's going on? Maybe not. Maybe, yes. We'll find out on the other side. That's when Rahimi Harris and Grody returns Russell Dorsey in, along with me, Marshall Harris. What time is it? It's halftime.

Ah, it is halftime here on this President's Day. Russell Dorsey, Marshall Harris, in with you on Rahimi Harris and Grody. Well, we started. this show talking about Bradley Chubb as the Dolphins are going to get rid of him and also Tyreek Hill I saw that. Being waived.

That was not as surprising. Yeah, that's not as surprising at all. Gorn out his welcome, I would say, in Miami and also he probably wants a quarterback who can get him the ball consistently. What does Tyreek Hill still bring you now after the torn ACL and dislocations?

He's got to get his speedback. I mean, the man's nickname is Cheetah, right? Still? I don't know. Can it be cheated after what we saw? Like that, that was a gruesome injury. It was not good. It was not good.

You know what is good? The storylines provided to us by one Russell Dorsey. Oh, my man. Three storylines for the Cups. Three storylines for the White Sox. Then we talked to NBA All-Star Weekend. And the problem, I think, is us, not the actual All-Star Weekend. If you got suggestions, feel free, Texas.

How to make it better. I mean, from what I can see, all people want is just to cancel it. I was like, that's not really an option. That's not how that works. And then Megan Montemarro joined us, the Cubs' beat writer for the Tribune, to talk about baseball and those Chicago Cubs. But let's talk about, you know, the next thing.

It's halftime. And the next thing is Barack Obama, the president, Barack Obama, the former president on Brian Tyler Cohen's YouTube page because he had a conversation with Brian Tyler Cohen, the podcaster, And in that conversation, there was a lightning round. And in that lightning round, Obama was presented a question that I argue shouldn't have even been in the lightning round.

It should have been in the first question asked. Are aliens real? They're real, but I haven't seen them. And they're not being kept in, what is it? Area 51. There's no underground facility, unless there's this enormous conspiracy. and they hit it from the president of the United States. What was the first question you wanted answered when you became president?

Where are the aliens? So that's Barack Obama. Have you ever seen that one movie? I was about to say there was a whole movie about a conspiracy where they hit aliens from the president. It's called Independence Day with Will Smith. And in that movie. Also, poor job by Big Dog doing the interview. because when you have a former president tell you whether it was in jest, you think it was in jest or not,

you don't follow up with a question completely unrelated. Now it was lightning round, so it makes me think that he had his questions pre, but I'm with you. That's why I said it shouldn't have been a part of the lightning round. It should have been, we need to talk about aliens. What do you know? My mayor said, what are you allowed to tell? What I wanted to find out when I became president was aware of the aliens. And so this, of course, went viral

because it's a former president talking about aliens. And this is what Obama said as he posted that clip that we just played you on his Instagram page. The caption goes like this. I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it's gotten attention, let me clarify. Statistically, the universe is so vast

that the odds are good. There's life out there. but the distance between solar systems are so great. The chances we've been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really? And I said, really?

Like that because it had an exclamation point at the end. You're buying what Obama's selling you. Worthy. I figure that he would say, ah, it was in jest. But, man. I'm not rolling I'm not rolling that he

it was just all a joke Russ Dorsey hiding in plain type do you believe aliens I believe that there are things that we don't have in our

on the earth that are in outer space sure organic life forms have you know how big the the galaxy is the universe spacious massive

we're just one galaxy There are other galaxies. So I don't know what's out there. You saw men in black. I get it. I mean, I just, I've watched enough Neil deGrasse Tyson to know how big the universe is. Okay. And how we're just one of many galaxies.

So who knows what's out there? Tyler, Ray, do you believe in aliens? I'm open-minded. Yes. I'm open-minded that there are extraterrestrial beings out there. And I'm very, you know, interested. in this whole idea that, like, Obama now had to come out and clarify the statement, like, hey, guys, come.

I was trying to just have fun. I'm wondering, like, did you say too much, Mr. President? Did you believe his stance on Area 51? I thought it was real quick how he went to, hey, they're not down there. That's a little too quick. Also, we're just not a country where I'm just going to believe 100%. of the things people tell us. That too.

Yeah. That's where I'm at. You know, we're not shooting 100% on the truth here. Tyler, what are your thoughts? No, I'm in the same boat as you guys. There's no way there's not extra life outside of us, humans, out there in this whole galaxy. Do you think there's aliens on this planet right now? Oh.

We can get in a real rabbit hole here. I think our concept of alien is probably warped by movies. Like, sometimes I don't always think alien is what we have in our mind. But also, like Ray, I'm open-minded to many things. But I just don't, I'm not just thinking to some green man with. Like the lizard people? Like arms. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Like, that goes into the Aaron Rogers. I'm also reading a book about this very thing called Project Hail Mary. They're actually making a movie about Ryan Gosling. Yeah. That's kind of similar. I didn't know that was based on a book. Yeah.

I'm chapter 10. It's really. compelling so far. I'll probably go see it. It's out March 20th, I believe. Yeah. I'm going to try to finish the book before the movie comes out. How many, how many pages is it? Do you know? I know it's 30 chapters and I'm 10 in. Okay. Look at you. Yeah, man. Trying to be better in 26. 847. We don't have enough, excuse me, we don't have high enough security clearance for him to tell us that. And he's probably signed some kind of confidentiality agreement, L.O. 7.73. If you don't believe in aliens, explain the platypus to me.

Also, there's, have you seen some of the stuff that's in the ocean? 414, to your point, we still don't know what's all in the ocean and the Amazon, let alone the universe. I saw a video on Instagram where I forget the dude's name, but he has like 10 million followers on there, and he's an explorer of the Amazon. He says there's still parts of the Amazon, that people have never explored, and he says half of the, over half of the life in the Amazon lived in the canopy that's up in the trees.

He also said the Amazon is bigger than the lower 48 states, which is insanity. That sounds about right, actually. That's crazy. If you've ever seen a map, see, I don't like the globe because the globe kind of distorts

the size of us. The lower 48 is smaller than the Amazon rainforests, crazy. And that's another distortion because you would think looking at a globe that the lower 48s as big as a lot of South America or bigger in fact. But that's just the rainforest. That's done from a very specific angle lens. Yeah. I would say. So yeah, there's so much stuff in the water that we don't even seen. Like it's a very small percentage of things we actually know. So yeah, because of that, I think there are a lot of things that we have not discovered. I think

people who say there's no way that there are aliens that exist are just, that tells me a lot about your intellect. There are sea creatures that glow. You know what I mean? We have not finished exploring the ocean, just to be clear. We haven't scratched the surface, to be honest. It's a lot of depth there. A lot of, yeah. Yeah. So yes, I can't wait for you to tell me about Project Hail Mary. Yeah, it's a good book so far. Okay, because now I'm into that. Get it on wherever you, by books. Borders. Is that still a thing? No. Well, to the question of are there aliens on this earth right now, extraterrestrial beings on this earth right now, a former president of the United States definitively said yes, and I'm taking that at face value, even with the retraction

or the clarification that he put out on Instagram that you read, Marshall, I'm 100% believing yes. They're there in area 51. I don't want to meet them. Is that okay? I'm also, very, I'm with you. Like, I'm cool never meeting an alien. I don't have to... If there are aliens that are intelligent enough to cross what I would assume would be a galaxy to get to us and they find us, they're probably going to destroy us or colonize us or however, it's not going to be good for us.

It's not going to go well. And all this time, we've never heard any, any, they have not given us any information about, you know, even if they're, they're, let's be. Let's take those initial comments from Obama that we heard at face value. If they're at Area 51, there are some extraterrestrial beings there at Area 51. How come we have never gotten an ET report? You think they're going to tell us, right? I mean, something.

I would like some information, any information. There's a lot of stuff out here. Surface level information. You can beat the news. They ain't been trying to tell us. Well, that's for sure. It's going to be heavily redacted. Here's the truth, guys.

630. stating facts. There was an alien playing in the NBA All-Star game, bro. They're real. Hello, Victor Wimbunyama. Did you see him sign the jersey of Nikola Yoko?

Did a perfect alien, too. Perfect alien. I was like, how long is he been doing the alien? That's pretty cool. If people are going to call you that, you should know how to draw the alien. He did a good job with that. So, good news there. Aliens exist.

If you don't think they exist, go read some more books. Listen to Russ's guy, Neil. Yeah, yo, shout out to Neil DeGrasse. Tyson. That man's very smart. He's like the coolest smart person that's ever lived. I'm more of a Bill Nye guy, but hey,

I like simple things. Bill Nye the science guy. You already know what it is. Bill, Bill, Bill. Hey, can we pull up real quick before we go to break? The Bill Nile of Science. I don't think we have time. We got to get to break.

Ray said it's time to go to break. At some point before the show ends. We can't take away from five on it because that's next on Rahimi Harris and Grotie with Russell Dorsey, on 104-3 the score. Victor one bignana, eating some rim here in Chicago.