Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - MLBPA executive director Tony Clark will resign (Hour 4)

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

In the final hour, Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote were joined by Score baseball insider Bruce Levine to discuss MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark’s resignation amid an investigation. After that, Grote shared what he learned in attending a Bears stadium rally in Arlington Heights recently.

Some shocking news today. I think are all the players in shock, too? Yeah, I mean, we got the text this morning. And to be honest, I think across the board, we're talking about the players' reps are going to meet today with the union. And that's really all we got for media. That is White Sox player rep, Davis Martin, who is the player rep for the Sox, talking to Bruce Levine. That was this morning with the news that was somewhat surprising to hear, especially ahead of what is considered the most important negotiation yet for Major League Baseball as we careen toward the end of the current CBA at the end of the 2026 season.

This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3 the score. And that news is that Tony Clark is resigning as the Major League Baseball Players Association executive director. Now, Clark is somebody who had come under a lot of criticism and a lot of fire when it came to how he was representing the players, whether or not they had a strong enough say, even in their last collective bargaining agreement that took place, the one that is currently governing baseball's players union and ownership agreement. But that is the word, that is a report that came out this morning. As you can imagine, Jeff Passon of ESPN, Don Vanada, are a part of that report, and that's the latest news we've gotten so far. It's already tenuous, Mark, ahead of a situation that continues to be

tenuous. Like everybody's saying cherish the season while you can. I think we're already starting to see sides gearing up for what could be a very difficult fight. It really is. And it's, it sucks and it's a headache. And the idea of, my God, I mean, you know, lockout in December is what it would be if it came down to that. I guess the formal negotiations between the owners and players expected to begin early in the regular season this year. But could you imagine a sport that has obviously never had free agency all of a sudden trying to figure out a plan? You mean salary cap?

Yes, free agency. Salary cap. I got what she is. Salary cap, yes. Could you imagine? I mean, there's so many complications that would go into trying to hammer that out. and who truly wins and who truly loses because it's not as simple to say that, oh, yeah, all those teams, the Pittsburgh Pirates of the world, all of a sudden they're going to be on an even scale.

Unfortunately, it's a little bit more complicated than that. So even with all the fear that exists on the surface, I can't imagine what the negotiations and to put in something that has never existed in baseball just gives me a headache thinking about it. Now, we were awaiting discussion with Evan Drellick on this. Evan is the senior writer for the athletic covering Major League Baseball and really the labor negotiations and discussions that have gone on. Now it's a busy news day. So Evan might be chasing down news right now.

The report from Passens said that player leaders plan to meet at 4.30 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday. That's today. So that's in about two and a half hours to discuss the fallout of Clark's resignation. Because now they've got to figure out who needs to represent them ahead of what is what is going to be a very, very, very big battle coming up. At least there is some lead time where you have the season to reacquate yourself with what is supposed to happen next. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, it's bearing right down. And it's like the, it's almost like the stadium stuff. We're all, we're all mentioning in it and kind of alluding to it. And now all of a sudden, like the stadium, the, with the bears, the deal and the negotiations, the collective bargaining agreement all of a sudden is right there in front of us. It's getting like 2027 is getting way too close all of a sudden, even though we just flipped to 2026. It's right there now.

No, it's so true. What's the phrase get a jump on the day before the day jumps you? That's kind of how I feel like this is going. And the article goes on to say the process for naming Clark's replacement is unclear. And the union's constitution does not outline a succession plan. Bruce Meyer is the union's deputy executive director. He's been quoted in a lot of these stories. He's also one of Evdrellick's quotes in some of his stories. He's been named by several player leaders as to the most obvious candidate to take over that according to many sources. Brent Suter, a veteran relief pitcher and subcommittee member, told reporters that the union is going to have an interim executive director and keep everything as stable as they can this year. that doesn't always sound like that doesn't immediately indicate to me a position of strength

but I know Meyer has been pretty public in a lot of his statements and conveying the union's message ahead of this fight. Yeah and they obviously needed a new voice in all of that and that's exactly what they're going to get. So this is interesting timing for this. Actually the timing is probably right because of what I just said that things are going to get real. And once it gets real, do you have the right people on your side? whether you're on the owner's side or the player side. Well, I can confidently say that when it comes to the reporting side, we've got some guys. What? Yeah, in fact, Bruce Levine is now joining us.

I know we were trying to chase down Evandrolic, but there's a lot of news going on. Bruce, kind enough to join us via the Circus Sports Illinois hotline. Download the circus sports app today. Bruce, you talk to Davis Martin, the player rep for the White Sox. Thanks for joining us from Arizona. Yeah, absolutely. And everybody's pretty much in shock. all the players and the union reps, they had no idea that this was going to take place.

And obviously, the biggest thing going on here is the investigation into misappropriation of funds by union leaders. And that's where we find, you know, Tony quitting today as the head of the union. So two different issues here. one, you know, what's going on with the union and how these funds are being spent? And two, how does this impact December 1st and the, you know, the CBA being done? And who is going to be the voice of the union moving forward? How does this affect December 1st? But like, what are the possibilities here, Bruce, in terms of changing for the better or for the worse?

Yeah, I don't think that's either one. because, you know, they know the cadence of prior negotiations with Tony Clark. So that's a good thing when you know how someone negotiates and you have a rapport. Bring in somebody else from the outside or if it's Bruce Meyer, as Leila mentioned, you know, who's the associate director, the Players Association, that, you know, that may or may not be for a while. We're talking about interim. Intram might be a week, two weeks, two months. We don't know that.

Whatever voice is going to be there December 1st when this contract ends, it's got to be a strong voice with the affirmation of all the players believing in this guy. Meyer, you know, a lot of people like him. A lot of people don't in the players' association. So with that in mind, it's not necessarily the guy. even though he might be the guy intern. We're talking to Bruce Levine. He is joining us from Mesa,

but he was also over in Glendale talking to White Sox player rep, Davis Martin, about Tony Clark's resignation. And something that we haven't talked about yet regarding his resignation, Bruce, is it comes in the wake of the Eastern District of New York's ongoing investigation into the finances and other dealings of the Players Association

for Major League Baseball. And this is a quote from Jeff Passon's article on ESPN, including questions about the use of one team partners, a multi-billion dollar group licensing company, partly owned by the union and Players Way, which is a youth baseball initiative, and spent millions of dollars, but only offered a handful of events.

And there was a whistleblower complaint, according to this article. The National Labor Relations Board got involved because that's who governs players unions, not just player unions, but work unions. And so this is a federal matter that, I don't know how much players expect this to come into the negotiation when they've got to work with the owners at the end of the year. That could also take a very long time to figure out.

Yeah, like you stated, it's two very different issues. But the impact on the Players Association is if you're an owner sitting there right now watching this, you're going, well, yeah, maybe good for us that Tony's not there anymore. The other hand, you don't know who the new guy is going to be or the new philosophy. The fact that you haven't had any negotiations with whoever the director is and the players' thoughts about who that is, it's going to be really interesting to watch because, you know, Tony obviously is facing some big issues on his own. The idea that, you know, is he going to be able to avoid a long trial or go to court to defend himself that the funds weren't misappropriated?

Whatever it is, he felt at this time that distraction was too much. He had to step aside. He wasn't going to be able to represent the players or himself in the way that he wanted to, regardless of whether he's innocent or guilty of all this. but for the players, it's a much different dynamic because it's a little unsettling, not the other guy that's been there for 12 years running the union for you and the consistency of the message and the guy. I mean, a lot of the players love Tony Clark and love the way that he goes about

watching the union and watching everything, defending them. So it's just going to be a fascinating thing. And the timing of it, you know, I don't think you could say it could be worse for the players because we don't know that. We don't know who the next real voice of the Players Association is going to be. So we have to wait to report what this means to the players and to the negotiations moving forward. Right now all we know is that Tony Clark is all jammed up. and he needs to start defending himself.

Well, Bruce, it was a valuable conversation to have with Davis Martin. What were your takeaways from him? And I know the Cubs rep, rather, is Nico Horner now. It used to be Ian Hap. Have you talked to either of those guys? What have been your takeaways from just player conversation regarding this? Yeah, I talked to, I was in Sacks camp earlier here in Cubs Camp now, but it was Davis Martin, you know, said, you know, we don't know much about this.

And talk to two or three out and talked to Ben. intendee and, you know, talk to a couple of the other veterans that are in there with the White Sox. They said, you know, we're not going to talk about something we don't know anything about. We don't know anything right now. And we don't know which way this is going. We're going to have a player's call later on today and we'll be in, we'll get enlightened as to where it's at.

And maybe we'll have more news for you tomorrow. But, you know, right now it's in flux and, you know, nobody really knows. player-wise, what's going on? All right. You say you're in Cubs camp right now? Bruce, what's going on? Yeah, watching Edward Cabrera and now Conray throw a little bit here over, you know, when they do their main sides before the game start, they move over to Sloan, the ballpark itself, so we're over here and away from the back fields and guys like Bregman and Horner hitting against them, but, you know, as Ron Kumer told me, they're not really hitting like they normally do.

They're mostly standing there to give, you know, a little bit of a view for the pitcher as to the pitcher hitter dynamic when they're going through their motions. So it's not about trying to hit home runs off your top pitchers, nothing like that. Who's going to get those first two innings on Fridays, and that's their first game? I don't know, but I will tell you this, that Jonathan Cannon and the White Sox told me that he's going to pitch for the White Sox over here. He's going to start. Okay.

That's interesting. We got that one down. I'll try to pin down the other one a little later today. Okay. No, I think that's fair. We were laughing about this because I said, oh, before Davis Martin had gotten hurt, I would have thought he would have been the Sox opening day starter last year.

They're kind of in the same position again this year, Bruce, where we don't necessarily know who the guy's going to be on day one for the regular season. No, I mean, with the White Sox, you can make a case for five guys, right as to who the opener is, you know, is it Smith, is it Burke, is it Cannon? Well, all we know is Cannon is going to pitch for the White Sox, at least according to Jonathan Cannon. All right, we've got to take his word for it, right? Yeah.

I mean, Jonathan Cannon's been there a couple of years. I feel like that's a decent and off-source. Yeah. You know, while I'm on the socks here, Bruce, just really quick, do they have a chance to have like a really good and valuable bullpen if they start? Because I'm just like with Dominguez and Grant Taylor and Jordan Hicks and Jordan Leisure and Mike Vassel. My goodness. Like, could this be a really good bullpen for the White Sox this year?

Yeah, I think it could be. It depends how they want to use. You know, Taylor is the big arm. He's a guy in the organization with the best arm. He's going to be in the bullpen. But, you know, Will Venable said that he's going to use them in the middle initially and do, you know, a couple of endings at a time, not using it. They brought in, you know, new closers, so that's taken care of. But, you know, Mark, I think he made good points that, you know, this team lost more one-run games than anybody.

They had the fewest starting innings of any team in baseball. So solidifying that as well as getting more innings out of these starting pitching, that's going to be the key to our predictions of whether they're going to win 65, 70, 75 games moving forward. none of it sounds too exciting except for where you remember where they were at two years ago. And even, hey, three, even the socks are not good. Then you have the value of these, everybody wants bullpen arms. Right. So you can, a little bit of flipping going on potentially.

Absolutely. Come July, you know, hopefully it continues to be a White Sacks advantage. But, you know, for white sacks fans right now, it's all about show me, show me that you're better. And then we'll be out there this year. And then, Bruce, I know you, I think you've already. talked about this. I know you're on this morning, but just your takeaways from Tom Ricketts, we joke that he said the good part out loud. You know, sometimes it's saying the quiet part out loud, but not in this case. He said World Series were of need. What did you make of his comments?

Well, it's different than what we've heard from Tom over the last three or four years because what he was saying then was, you know, we want to be in the playoffs every year. Now, you know, when I asked him, what can you tell the fans? What do you want to? What do you want to? him to concentrate on. He said, well, we want to win more World Series. So when you spend $175 million on a third baseman and your farm system and your young players are pretty much intact like the Cubs are right now, I think you should say that after winning 92 games last year. You know, you should be talking about winning a World Series. So I don't think it's too shocking, but he said it. And at least fans can hang on that a little bit. Well, and I think he also, we've talked about this a little bit.

We were planning on talking about it with Evandrelic, Bruce, the idea of how Marquis and the Cubs having that network should help them. You know, at times like these where other teams don't necessarily know how their TV revenue is going to shake out. Yeah, well, their TV revenue is pretty high, but it's not what it was three years ago. No team other than the Dodgers who gets 350. So here's how it shakes down.

The Dodgers get $315 million just from their TV deal, okay? If you can fathom that, right? That's over a third of the billion dollars that they take in a year now. Okay? There are a billion dollars every year. And a third of it comes from their TV money. All the other teams in baseball are nowhere near that. They're more like 20%, some of them 15, some of them hardly any anymore because of the fact that

you know, the cord cutting and people not doing cable, not all doing other things. It's been lost in the transition of what's going on here. There's no real way to understand the monetizing of RSNs any longer. So with that in mind, the Cubs are still in good shape, but they're all looking toward Major League Baseball two or three years from now. and maybe trying to do all the games locally for all the teams. We'll see how that works out. Yeah, private ownership makes it much harder for MLB to seize control.

It's good to be the Dodgers, though. You know, it's really good to be the Dodgers. It is good. You're taking a billion dollars a year, and that's mind-boggling when I heard that from a source yesterday. So that's a lot of money, and, you know, they do a lot of things the right way there besides having this enormous TV deal. No, you're right about that, Bruce, and thanks for the info.

That's really good stuff. Just some late-breaking reporting out of Bruce Levine to help us put the pieces together. Bruce, thank you so much. You're the best ever, Bruce. Have a great day, guys. Thanks, Bruce. That's Bruce Levine, joining us live from Mesa with the latest on him talking to Davis-Martin of the White Sox, the player rep, and trying to figure out what's going on with Tony Clark

resigning earlier today. That was why we were supposed to talk to Evan Drum. We booked that interview before it happened. I'm guessing that something came up, Ray. I'm guessing that some news might have to cause Evan to have to change course. Yeah, something came up. Something came up. Something happened.

Yeah. So I will look for Evan's report on that in the meantime. Speaking of score reporters coming up with some really good news nuggets that are like very valid to conversations, let's get back to what you just reported to us when it came to the Bear Stadium. latest, the reports you got regarding whether or not Indiana is really valid for the Bears. And your takeaways

from what sounds like just a very informative meeting that happened in Arlington Heights. So Bruce helped us out with some key information and I think Mark's needing to go to his and a little bit more and we'll react to it to next. Laila Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody,

Rahimi, Harrison Grody on 1043, the score. Okay, so let's Let's recap. Oh, this is Brody's Cage the Elephant. There's been a lot of news on this show today. And I don't necessarily know that we planned on all this news to happen, but it's happened.

Cage the Elephant is part of Innings Fest. And if you have, if you're going this weekend to Tempe for Edings Fest, congratulations. You made an excellent decision. Grady and I are jealous because the lineup looks amazing. Including Cage the Elephant. Yes, which is why this is playing. And Ryan Dempster added to that.

And then we found out that Ryan Dempster sings, it's all coming back to me now, which was the song that I said made me feel something. When I heard Tom Ricketts say, we need to win more World Series. Yes, you do. It's all coming back to me now. Then we just heard from Bruce Levine, who gave us some really important information as to, like, for example, how the Dodgers business model works. And then he also talked to Davis Martin and he's at Cubs Camp right now

regarding the news surrounding Tony Clark, the Players Association, president having to resign. And then, on top of all of that, Mark Grotty's like, oh, let me tell you about going to this rally in Arlington Heights. And then you drop some real news bombs here. So let's reset and reevaluate and explain the bear's likelihood of being in Indiana, what you heard, what the attitude is toward the Arlington Heights and surrounding areas leaders who would be affected by the bear stadium.

And then also the important nugget of everybody seems to be acknowledging the obvious, which is they're behind schedule. Yeah. You know, in order of importance, how would you like people to go about this info? Well, yeah, I went to the rally last Wednesday, I explained a little bit earlier in Arlington Heights at the Double Tree Hotel, and then I'd spent some time afterwards there, and then I spent some time on the phone the next couple of days talking to all the different parties and was given information, some on the record, some off the record.

So I guess I'm not exactly where, I guess I'll start with the Indiana portion of this. And that is the theme, again, at the meeting was if there were two things that they kind of admitted. It was not a cocky rally. This was not people like chanting things and cheering and giving standing ovations every two minutes. It was very well done, very streamlined with multiple representatives from multiple towns in the northwest suburbs, admitting that they are way behind for all the reasons that they're way behind right now. and that is because the state basically early on said no to the bears. So they are acknowledging that they are way behind. They are acknowledging that this is Indiana versus Illinois.

They are acknowledging that Indiana is absolutely serious about it. What people should get out of their minds is the portage part of it. It's Hammond or bust when we talk about the bears if they were to potentially move to Indiana. It would be Hammond in northwest Indiana instead of farther downstate in Portage. According to your sources. According to my sources, yes, yes. That is probably a good idea to get your mind out of that. One of the other important part to this is, or just conceptually, is speaking to one of the officials from one of those towns in the Northwest suburbs, off the record, in a conversation, this person surmised that the Bears would, there's no way George McCasky could stomach the idea.

the idea of moving to Indiana, could not, as it was put to me, could not handle that press conference. That they must win that we know the Bears have lost some press conferences in their time. Ownership has lost some press conferences. This person said there is no way they could handle losing this press conference. But I also have come to understand that there's no way the Bears would have ever, ever, ever, ever considered Indiana if they weren't serious about Indiana. So even if George was going through some personal emotions about, I can't move the bears to

Indiana, he got over them. And the Indiana thing is real. People in Arlington Heights know it. And everybody else knows it too. Well, that's it for me is on one side of that report. You have the concept of, well, are the bears wasting everybody's time then, if that's the case? you know, did Portage Park put together all of, or Portage put together all of this, you know, this media and this press conference and, and find somebody to finance a stadium.

Like they, they didn't do that work for nothing. For example, Austin Bonta, the mayor was on. You know, about Portage. Yeah. Portage. Like, they were on the phone with us last week. And additionally, Hammond, like, you don't put together site surveys and higher renderings and all of that. That costs time and money. I can't see George McCasky doing all of that for no reason. For allowing them to do all that for no reason you're saying? That's a good point knowing George a little bit in terms of his ethics, which I believe are probably very strong. Yes. Now, it's just my conjecture. I understand what you're saying.

No, I do. I do. Because, yeah, why would you, if you were just, if you knew it's going to be Hammond, then why would you allow another town to go through with their whole proposal? And maybe that's the nasty side. of it. If other places, other towns want to jump in and make a proposal to us, hey, that's your problem, right? I mean, that's the heartless part of what collectively the bears might be saying. Now, I said this last week. I will refrain that typically that is done first to then woo a team like the Bears to get the, like, they'll say, oh, we have all this land. And there's

been a lot of speculation from our listeners saying like, oh, well, this is the only place they could find land. Arlington Heights was the only place. no that's the point is all these other municipalities come forward and they say we have this to offer you and then there's a discussion about the taxes and that's also been of course the sticking point here the state of illinois understands that it has to come in and backstop whatever could happen with the local entities that's how they see it working cam buchner told us that as well i'm just saying that that process is common it exists but what we haven't typically seen seen is if you know that already and you've already bought land somewhere, like I just,

I wonder about making groups do that when you know that they're not a real. Right. It's a little fishy. Contender. Yes. Thank you. You're not a real contender and all. So I'm going to keep in mind, too, with Indiana, and this was pointed out publicly at

the meeting, and it has to be taken seriously. And that is the fact that, you know, some people know and maybe do not know that their Indiana state Senate passed a bill to create the Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority. The bill is pending before the House. That could happen any day. Like maybe today that will happen. And then it goes to the mayor of Indiana. He would sign it. But they adjourn Indiana has urgency. The governor. Yeah, not the mayor. I've dealt with a bunch of mayors in Ireland, tonight. You said something very important there. Notice that you said the Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority. So that separate from the entity that's financing Lucas Oil Stadium, for example.

So that's important to note here as well. Yeah. And so at the end of this month, their legislative season is done at the end of this month. So they have an urgency to get this done. So that's another thing that was publicly pointed out that they're just behind and everything has moved so slowly and maybe understandably from the state's point of view because they don't want to raise your taxes, and that's what Illinois is looking out for. And it should be pointed out again that the legislators return for spring session today in Illinois. And from

what I understand, there's going to be an 8 a.m. hearing before the House Revenue and Finance Committee this Thursday, state of the state tomorrow with J.D. Pritzker. So there's a lot happening this week for Indiana and Illinois. And again, they were not cocky in Arlington Heights. They are conceding and understanding that they're not that they can't get it done, not that Illinois and Arlington Heights can't get it done. They have just conceded and I just think I laid out all the reasons why and how they're just well behind right now. Well, and it's not necessarily them as a municipality. It's the whole process is behind. It very much takes two to tango in the lag here. Dan and I are considering changing the podcast names to shovels in the ground because, you

know, the north has been taken. Shovels in the ground have not occurred yet, so that could be the name of the new podcast. Well, you know, when I was on my little enjoying everybody enjoying outside walk yesterday, you know what I saw? What? A crane in the sky. Well, well, did it make you think of the bears? It did, actually.

Yeah? And then I giggled, and people wanted to know I was laughing to myself. If only that crane could break ground right now at Arlington Heights. Well, well, somebody already broke ground, hence why you need the crane, because it builds, you know on top of the... Oh, so there was groundbreaking somewhere. Oh, are you reporting that the Bears broke ground at a stadium somewhere, I'm guessing in, I don't know, where?

No, I don't think the crane over the high rise I saw in Lake Shore East is the Bears Stadium in Arlington Heights. I'm pretty sure, but I'm with you. I think there's a... One of things I always look at coming home to the city is I always look for cranes in the air. Yeah, man. So we did see a crane in the air. And it wasn't Crane, Kenny.

although he has been known to go in the air. So we've got that going for us. I also want to point out this. I thought this was important. This was from the Chicago Tribune's report of the rally you went to. Yes. Rolling Meadows Mayor Laura Sanoika, and forgive me if I'm not saying that right. She was kind of a badass at that thing, but go on.

Yeah, she said here she goes, the proposed Indiana law would be a bad deal for workers. She said Indiana sales pitch is that you can build a world-class stadium by shortchanging the worker to build it. Illinois doesn't work that way. we know our families deserve better than a race to the bottom. The key sticking point is they report in Illinois has been over how the state would legislatively or financially aid the bears in their desire to build a stadium. In particular, topics have evolved around assistance for infrastructure around Arlington Heights, property tax certainty for the team, which you don't have. You don't have property tax certainty. Bears want it though, don't they?

You have one property tax, one bill and another the next. And this year is a perfect example of that in Cook County. and payment of debt for the Soldier Field renovations done more than 20 years ago at the team's behest. So that is on the table in this, is that that was new to us initially. The mayor brought it up, Brandon Johnson, but that, yes, the $500 million or so that is still owed on those 2003 renovations is very much part of this discussion. No doubt about it. It might be third on the list, but it is very much on the list. I think the good news is if you're just wanting peace and all of this and you're just, you're like, one of those people who just come out and just want the stadium.

that the infrastructure part does seem to have been loosely agreed upon in terms of, okay, everybody is agreeing that that could be something. It's what you just said. It's the negotiating with the local municipalities over the property taxes, which is a real thing. And that's the part where you could tell I have a little bit. I would rather see it just personally. I'd rather see the Bears stay in Illinois. But I do still want to know about all the things that you, me and Marshall,

have been talking about, and that is how it will affect people that live in the city that you and I live in and the state that you and I live in, in terms of your pocketbooks and your money and your accounts. Yeah, and to me, there's two ways to go about this. Number one, make people vote. Then your opinion as a listener and as somebody who lives in Cook County or in the state of Illinois actually gets recorded. And then the other one is, I don't like to socialize cost and privatize profit.

That is where I stand on this. It has been proven to bid a bad deal. That doesn't mean you don't support with infrastructure. I understand. Yes. Yes. But as far as giving everything away, there's a difference between $1 billion for infrastructure and $7 billion for an entire stadium project.

Absolutely. And the bears are paying for the actual stadium, too. That always needs to be pointed out that they are putting two bildo of their own cash into this. That ain't all of it. That ain't close to all of it, but it is $2 billion. Yeah. And as long as you and I, don't get property tax certainty.

We don't. I don't feel confident in that for others either after they've bought their land. But Bears. Bears. Bears. All very important to know as far as the latest on this. So that is Mark Roddy's Bears Stadium hit. Thanks for indulging me.

Yeah. I haven't had a Bears hit or a stadium hit or any kind of hit lately. Maybe after the show, though, man. All right. Hell yeah, great. I mean, with the twist in terms that this show has taken, that I did not expect serious news after, say, our halftime segment. But, you know.

A couple of them. We got range. Yeah, that's what we do. Oh, you think that this show is going to go off the tracks? I don't think so. Well, it will, but then it'll get back on other tracks. Okay, good. Speaking of all of that, everybody's like,

Leila, you're not from here. You don't know anything about Chicago. I've only lived here for 10 years. Don't even worry about it. We had a party for you for a decade of Chicago sportsness. Well, you know what I could have used? What? The Cubs primer to Alex Bregman.

They did everything. you should do with somebody new to town. So we'll listen to it next. Rahimi Harrison Grody. The great Kevin Harlan. I just pulled through the Taco Bell Drive-through 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 squirt it all over the plate. Put some hot sauce on my burrito, baby. Rahimi Harris and Grody.

Midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on this score. I'm a winning baseball player and focused on winning. Yeah, we know you are Alex Bregman, but what am I? Not a winning baseball player. I'm also not new to Chicago anymore. Oh, you're not from here. That's how I feel about it. It just turns into country gibberish, like reverend.

Reverend. I told you, one, 10 years and you're in. You're locked in now. You're locked in. I mean, you gave me 8.5 bears. Did. Your grandmothered in? Grandfathered in?

Can women be grandfathered? Although it's really awkward for the half bear. How are you slicing that? Half bear. Oh, yeah. I don't want to really cut any bears in a half. No. Does that mean Lela gets nine bears?

Officially nine bears? No, that's too much. Yeah, it's either eight or nine. I think I get eight. I'm a roundup. I'm a roundup kind of guy. I like that. How many bears would you give one Alex Bergman?

Or should I say Alex Bergman? Well, wow. How about we wait and see? I'm not ready to assign bears to Alex Bregman yet. Oh, yeah. Well, the Cubs are trying to win you over because they decided to do a little initiation for Alex Bregman when it comes to important things Chicago people should know. What is Dave Matthews' gate? A gate into the ballpark.

Oh, my God. That's nasty. Okay, let's do it again. Yes, start over. Finish these lyrics. Hey, Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are going to win today, every day. What happens on Fridays at 120?

Chubs games. Is Naperville in Chicago? It's a suburb. Do people from Naperville think they're from Chicago? Yes. What does it mean to take the L? Taking the train, we fly the W at W. At Riggily.

Sears or Willis? Sears. What is the jewels? I don't know. Is it a supermarket? Yeah. Okay. What is the lowest acceptable degree to wear shorts?

Mine, personal? Yeah. 32. What is LSD? No idea. It is Lakeshore Drive. Oh. Thought it was a drug.

Lower or upper wacker? Upper. Is that right? It's an opinion, but usually yes. Okay. How many Mondews are you bringing to the river on St. Patrick's Day? Three. You might need a little more.

If you see this billboard, where are you in the city? I have not seen those, but I know Brian Raleckers from New Mexico. Does ketchup belong on a hot dog? No, mustard, relish. All right now, what about now? How many bears are you giving, Alex Breggman? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I might be able to set a base of just because of that.

Now, it's got a long way to go here. I'm going to say, I'm going to say six and a half. Wait a minute, can I do half? I have to be able to do half. Six and a half bears for Alex Bregman right now because he wasn't perfect. I thought the Dave Matthews gave. It's pretty funny. The video is hilarious.

Is it an entrance into the stadium? No, Dave Matthews' band decided that they would dump their waste products into the Chicago River years and years. And probably over a couple of decades ago now is when that happened. And they've never really gotten over it. No, they shouldn't. No, they shouldn't. That's a horrifying visual. It really is.

From what I hear of reports, experience. It's rude. It's rude. Dave Matthews band, holding your guitar up real high and dancing around. Silly, Dave Matthews. Do you have a Dave Matthews impression? No, Mully does. Mully does. I will not do it just out of respect for Mike Mulligan, who does the Dave Matthews.

I think he does, if I'm not mistaken. How about the jewels? How about that? I love that. I love that. What is the jewels? I don't know. is in a supermarket.

So did he recover quickly? Was that edited? Because he's like, I don't know. No, it was not edited. Okay. That's why, you mean, okay. I like the LSD too. I thought it was a drug.

It is. He's right. Yeah, I also didn't know that one until the famous tweet by Tony Andracky. When he said Jose Kintana took LSD to the clubhouse but didn't know where to go. And I was like, what? I'll tell you where to go with that. I'm like, oh, Lake Shore Drive, because he got traded from the socks to the cups. Oh, oh.

You look at the customers, bro. Somebody help Jose Quintana. He's high right now. I got to get to the ballpark. I got to admit, as a some, I guess I'm a fake lifelong Chicago because I, too, grew up in the suburbs. Like, not neighborville, but as one of the questions, yes, everybody in the suburbs claims are from Chicago. I'm guilty of it. I did it.

To be fair to outsiders. Yeah. We don't care. If you're from the suburbs of Chicago, that's understood. It's just easier. You deserve to be proud of being from the city. Can I say something as a call screener here at 104.3, the score, right? I go through these phone calls, and you know exactly who you are if you do this.

If you live in the suburbs and you say you're from Chicago, and we like to give, you know, we like to drop, like tell us where you're from. So you get specific. Because we'll be here all day saying Chicago. Hey, so-and-so from Chicago. So tell us your neighborhood. And then when I ask this question, it'll be Naperville. It'll be Skoky. Like that is not Chicago.

Don't do that. Just be proud of where you're from and tell us where you're from. Okay. So that's, that is, I feel like, uniquely Chicago. Very. Like, because I've got family in Southern California, too. And nobody just says, the suburbs. We say the town you're from.

Because it has a name. Like Robert Paulson. He has a name. So then you just say where you're from, you know? And then that makes it a lot easier. on everybody. Now if you're from the city, then you deserve all the rights and respect given to you being from the city. Right, which is why I just quickly backed off of saying I was because, yeah, you deserve to say that the one thing I didn't, that I was confused about in this Chicago

test was, I had never heard the, how many Mountain Dews do you bring to, was that? That I never heard. I was not aware of that either. This is Mountain Dew stuff. I guess the Cubs. To the river for St. Patrick's. No, I get it. Like, I guess because it's green, because Mountain Dew's green. Oh, they were referencing beers? Were they, oh, there's a code word for, like, they can't say beers? Oh, I don't know. That's strange. 3-1-2-644-67, if you know what the hell the Mountain Dew thing is.

There's no way to know, is there? Let me tell you about the Jules. I decided that I was going to make one of those TikTok famous hoagy salads, you know, the Italian grinder salad. Yeah. And I bought myself the Italian trio from the Jules to make the salad. And I'm very excited. Oh, wow.

Had salami and had provolone. It had pepperoni. Can't eat it tomorrow because it's actually. Wednesday, but I'm going to make it today. Oh, nice. Well, okay, for doing that. Thanks, Jules. My walk to Jules recently was I did a little taco night for myself.

So I bought some ground beef from Jules and some taco powder to put into the beef. Taco powder. Taco powder. It's LSD. Taco seasoning. Had myself a little taco party at the house. Dave and I had a taco. A little taco party.

I love that. Yeah. Poor Dave. Dave is the only one who really didn't get a lot of play on this show. today. Well, I got him. He's on a fancy feast diet now, so we have to load up on those every time we go to the jewels as well. Does Dave, do you just bring Dave with you? Like people who bring their pets to Petco? I wish I could. Like I said, he's afraid of most people that are not me for some reason. By the way, Alex Bregman got the Chicago dog, right? So he and the Pope, Pope Leo the 14th, but no, what's up with the Chicago dog.

Guys, can we not test the Pope? If Pope Leo wants to put, I don't know, any, any condiment on his hot dog. Can we not test him? The point is he got it right, Leila. It is correct. We had to test him. The Pope gets it. I'm not okay with it.

He gets it. The Pope is Chicago tough. He's fine with the test. That's right. The Pope. I feel guilty. Don't worry. Hey, look, the Pope

blessed you with a sense of humor, right? So you're allowed to talk about the Pope and have fun with the Pope. My Pope and my God and my baby Jesus are not mad at jokes and sense of humor. Okay? Not even baby Jesus? Not even baby Jesus.

None of them. Joseph, all of them. The apostles. Joseph and Mary. None of them. They're all listening and laughing at our show. What about Saints, Lawrence, and Matthew? They are saints.

Are they around? They're next. Okay.