Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Paul Pabst joins us live from Radio Row & Bulls make a trade (Hour 4)

Episode Date: February 3, 2026

In the final hour, Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote examined NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's defense of the Rooney Rule. After that, Dan Patrick Show executive producer and Score contributor Paul Pabst joined the show live from Radio Row to discuss the latest Super Bowl storylines. Later, Rahimi, Harris and Grote reacted to the Bulls acquiring guard Jaden Ivey in a three-team trade with the Pistons and Timberwolves.

This is Rahimi Harris and Grotie on 670 the score. Ah, I did it. You guys were supposed to yell at me. 104 3, the score. See, we're not even used to that sounding incorrect, so you're not going to get us to correct you. It sounds normal to me. It doesn't insult my ears. Well, you knew it.

1043 of the score, yes, you can still hear us on 670. Always. And the Super Bowl week is actually here. So that means Super Bowl opening night. Whatever you want to call. It used to be Media Day. It used to be so much more simple. Yes.

Can I just say really quick? I like when Dustin calls it Big Game 60. As for all that, I got to give a shout out to all the weird reporters and weird questions. No, no, listen, through the years. And for years and years and years, and I get it. Like, I've been a serious reporter who needed to ask questions about who's healthy and who's not, and I needed my questions answered. So I get it when it comes to the beat writer.

But those guys have been eschewed and poo-poohed through the years saying, There's no place for these guys. Now, watching the presentation that they put on an NFL network last night, they're showing highlights of the fun questions. They've made it bigger than ever. And guess who started the people from around the world that come in and ask the silly questions? So shout out to them. And never mind the serious reporters, I guess.

Well, unfortunately, serious reporters did have a point at the Roger Goodell Press conference, because that is one where when the commissioner speaks, You want to know what he's saying. And the Rooney Rule was something that was instituted in the NFL with the idea that when you encourage diversity and hiring, you get better candidates in your actual hires. But that's not what we've seen. A lot of times it's been treated as a formality. A lot of times it's been treated as something where even the interpretation is starting to get messy, as we've seen, even regarding the Bears. When Ian Cunningham goes to Atlanta

and we don't understand why to Ian Cunningham it sure seems like a promotion or else he wouldn't have left, but to the league it's not. So the Bears don't get the compensatory pick, for example. No better example of that than also in the head coaching cycles. And when you consider the head coaches who were hired and how Eric B. enemy, who was with the Bears,

is the one minority who gets hired as an offensive coordinator even. There's a problem with the representation knowing that your league doesn't look this way. You know, that's the other part. As people talk about, they talk about the merit, they talk about, well, you know, they're just hiring the best candidates. Inherently, when your league is not represented that way,

you can't say that the coaches are completely different. That's not how it works, especially when the success is indicated, especially recently, that coaching staffs who are more reflective of how the league looks, whether it's players being head coaches, former players, they're more successful. as we've seen as a whole so far.

I think the disappointing thing for me in all of this is understanding it's been, what, 23 years now since the Rooney Rule was first instituted before we got to like this version of the Rooney Rule. And I was hoping that head coaching and front office executives what they look like would go the way of the black quarterback because I grew up, you know, Warren Moon, Randall Cunningham, Doug Williams. Like, there were guys who were stars, but there were a lot of teams out here, frankly, that just did not want to allow it, did not want to consider it. And I thought with exposure of these interviews that you're required to do, whether it's front office, whether it's coordinator, you've got to have two external minority candidates.

The Bears are doing that right now since Declan Doyle left. that simple exposure would be the way to take some of the unknown or if you want to be more harsh, fear of giving someone that maybe doesn't look like you an opportunity or even a chance. You get to know them. Like I always tell people, the biggest, when we talk about racism in this country,

the biggest thing is just lack of exposure. Just if you, like redlining is a thing that creates the situation that we are in to a large degree. Because if you just grow up around people who aren't like you, that childhood exposure does wonders. Any of my friends, close friends who are not black, it's because they grew up around black people.

It's really that simple. And for a lot of these, you know, billionaires who have the ultimate final call on a lot of this stuff, they just haven't had that type of exposure and they just feel more comfortable with a guy that reminds them of themselves. And you know what that looks like. Well, and the Dodgers,

for example, they interviewed more candidates than they thought they were going to interview. You know, I believe Gabe Kapler was the original far and away favorite for that job, and Dave Roberts blew them away. You know, for every time people think, oh, it's a rule and it's instituted and you

don't want to follow it. Just talking to people is free. You know, there's a reason we always say, interview as many people as you can to learn more. And I don't think that the bears hired who they hired because of that. I don't think they hired who they hired to get the incentives from the NFL.

But in exposing them to more candidates, they got a better result. And so to see how the Bears can't even get the benefits of doing that, for example, you know, the loophole regarding Ian Cunningham and how the Bears don't get a third round pick, or the fact that it was the Bears who hired Eric B. Enemy. And frankly, what a lot of people wouldn't, you know, we talked about his path back to the NFL ranks, he shouldn't be the only head coach candidate in this cycle. he shouldn't be the only one hired in the offensive coordinating cycle. And OCE seems to be the path now to head coaching.

So we know that there's a flaw in the process based on how the league is represented. Roger Goodell was asked about this and how there was only one minority hire in this wave of coaching hires where roughly a third of the league was available at head coach. And here's what he had to say. I think we need to continue to make progress.

And I believe that. I believe diversity is good for us. I think we have become. a more diverse league across every platform, including coaching. But we still have more work to do. There's got to be more steps. So we're reevaluating everything we're doing, including our accelerated program, including every aspect of our policies and our programs,

to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow rather than yesterday. So we need to be looking at that and sort of say, okay, why did we have the results this year? what is it that we can be doing in training or education or and that goes for not just the candidates but also the clubs and how we can try to continue to increase the opportunities and the outcomes ultimately. Well, here's the thing. A quality of opportunity doesn't necessarily mean a quality of outcome and I draw the line at that. Nobody's asking for a quality of outcome. They're asking for a quality of opportunity. And for him to even conflate the two in the answer, kind of lets you understand where the disconnect is.

Listen, I think he danced around that question. Like he danced around a lot of questions, to be honest, in that press conference. Like he does every single year. Every time we listen to this Roger Goodell, Super Bowl Week press conference, he's dancing around questions, and he's not giving straight up answers. And I think a lot of times it's because he doesn't have a good answer. And I understand that, but my whole thing is, you know this is going to happen. every year until there's progress.

So why not come up with better answers in the time you're not in front of the podium? Also when, I mean, it's very simple too. And I'm like looking at percentages right now. The percentages of black players in the league goes from what I'm looking at right now, 53% to 70% in some estimates. And I would say that too.

It's embarrassing when you have that many black players and employees around the NFL and then you have so, it's as simple as that for me. I mean, really, it's astounding. It's astounding that the representation is not as big as it should be, and that Roger Goodell can get up there and just kind of not, as you said, Marshall, not have an answer for what the majority of your league is. Well, it's that part for me.

Yeah, it's just like him not understanding. I know the lawyer who helped create the renewal, Cyrus Mary, and he's talked about why it was instituted. That equality of opportunity leads to better outcomes, not necessarily equality of outcome. And we've seen that. So if he knows that, and that's been discussed, and it's been reiterated by the Fritz-Pollard alliance,

and it's something that is still part of the discussion ongoing in the league, and Roger Goodell says he wants to improve it. Well, we're going to need an answer that's a little bit better than him, essentially he's saying diversity is an old wooden ship. So he was followed up on, and here's what he had to say. What actions can be taken for the future of this? I mean, you have been long trying to improve this, and the results are wildly inconsistent from year to year. You go back a couple years ago, and you're at a record high with nine.

Now, I think it's back down to four. What do you think the Lee can do from a rule standpoint, a mandate or initiatives to improve things? Well, one, I think we have to recognize that we had ten openings this year. So I would say that the turnover in coaching general managers and football positions is pretty extraordinary in our industry. And so we have to take that into account one. Two, I think we have to continue to evaluate everything we're doing. And every aspect of the hiring process, how do we professionalize it to the best ability? I think some of the changes we've made was giving more time for the interviews.

I think we exceeded my understanding, I believe in the data is that we exceeded the Rooney rule in every case in the hirings this year, which I think is very much a positive. But we're going to see that from year to year where you have different outcomes. And that's something we've got to look at. But we're going to see that from time to time. And that's something we've got to just evaluate, see what we can learn, and then continue to focus on what can we do better across 32 clubs. realistically speaking, he's incorrect if there's more turnover than you would have a more diverse outcome. Because with the sample size increasing, therefore so with the results being more reflective. So that's incorrect. The result being the same actually furthers the point that

there's an issue. You know what's crazy? Brian Flores had a lawsuit that's still going because he's saying the commissioner can't be the arbitrator in a diverse, in a discrimination case. And the NFL's like, yes, he can. That's how it's written out. And inherently implying conflict of interest, though. Yes. And we're waiting to hear if the Supreme Court is going to take this. Now, it's come under a different umbrella than straight

discrimination. It's just, can that guy be the arbitrator? And this way, a CEO of any company in America could be the arbitrator if that's the way the company wants to do it from your hiring process. And I think it's interesting that Flores is employed as we know. He could

still return to being a head coach This all goes back to when he was in Miami. I'm not going to make much more money than the $6 million he's making. He might double that. That's true. Considering what the head coach in this town is making. Do you know what, though, to be suing the league and to be respected the way he is? And it's to have a job. Some might get blackballed in this situation.

Are you kidding? And him and Kevin O'Connell got the boss fired. That's how much power he's got. Yeah. That's how you know how good the defense is too. Yeah, man. I mean, you stand on big. business. Caleb calls him out by name. I mean, you don't get that for every defensive

coordinator. But in order to get the fair stake, does he have to be the absolute best? And that's the point. In order for the rules to apply, does he have to be the best? But I'm sure he's under the belief of that, whether it's true or not, that he does have to be the best to be able to skirt some of the things that he's had to face on his way up to being a head coach and now a defensive coordinator in Minnesota. And I'm just really interested in this ruling by the Supreme Court because I think it will be one of those that affects everything going forward. I think the bottom line is we should always ask questions. And you know, Roger Goodell is not above recourse when it comes to this, especially when the results don't indicate the intent.

And Jed Hoyer, I believe in Theo Epstein, were asked about this back in 2020. Yes. And said that the issue is there's not enough opportunities at the base levels of front office and coaching for minorities. You know, it's just like what you talked about with the evolution and the representation of black quarterbacks and, frankly, black coaches on the offensive sides of the ball. And if the trend is going to reflect this, then therefore so should the indication when it comes to coaching.

If you create more opportunities for people, then you are creating a more fair process. I love that you brought up the Jet Hoyer thing because I was thinking about that too at the beginning of this segment because he kind of admitted. I mean, he said like they hired Carter. Hawkins. And he said, like, he was asked about that. Like, where's your minority candidates? And he said, like, he admitted that there, and I'm paraphrasing, and I should be very careful here with this, but, but he kind of indicated, yeah, you're right. But like, like, it has, he said it has to be better, that his circle or the people that he, you know, consider candidates, he admitted has to go up

maybe the next time there is a hire, but admitted that in that place, even if Carter Hawkins is really good and really qualified for the gig. Well, that's it, is that how many of these opportunities happen? Think about Olin wanting to become an intern reportedly in the discussion that's around to that and how it was a $15 an hour job. And I say that to say, but I say that to say there's an opportunity for somebody who's a minority and those don't come around very often. And, you know, that kind of discussion.

And we all respect Olin's coaching abilities. And that's part of the discussion here is how many of those opportunities are existing for people, especially if you weren't born to somebody who was already in the league. It's all about connections. And if you go back far enough, you understand that who's running and who owns these companies, there is a certain demographic in play. And there is a certain demographic that was excluded. So if that's the case, to get everything caught up, because, you know, we're not living in segregated times anymore, at least not from a traditional lawful segregation. To get people who were discriminated against caught up, you have to make some type of inroads.

Well, and it always cracks me up at the people who are really adamant about talking about how nobody cares about the skin color. And it's like, yeah, if you really felt that way, then you wouldn't work so hard to ignore it. Status quo is the status quo. People who have a problem with people changing the status quo, it's usually because they're the ones benefiting from the status quo. Yeah, the biggest, the biggest griff we've seen is to get people who's historically of one. for thousands of years to believe they were losing. That's another story for another day. We'll continue to do our jobs no matter what.

Coming up next, let's go live out to the Super Bowl and the Bay Area, because the commute is big for everybody trying to get from one place to another in Santa Clara. Paul Papps, the producer for the Dan Patrick Show, who hosts our Tailgate Show on Saturday Mornings. We'll join us live from 670 The Score and 1043 the score. I'll get it eventually, guys. Rahimi Harrison Groome. Midday's tidal two on Chicago Sports Radio 12-4-3 score.

Ten seconds to go. Rams at the 30 down by four. Shotgun snap to Stafford. Sets in the pocket. Plenty of time. Wines up, throws to the near sideline, caught 50-yard line and out of bounds. Nakua. The clock in one.

Oh, they keep the clock going. It's over. It's over. Seattle is won. The Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl. Now all I hear is Come on Marshall, courtesy of Westwood One, our friend Kevin Harlan, on the call. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 670, The Score. Let's go live out to that Super Bowl, the Bay Area.

And when we say area, we mean it. The commute is rough. Joining us on our Circa Resort and Casino Hotline, Circle Las Vegas.com. It is our friend Paul Pappst, host of the tailgate Saturday mornings, at 7 a.m. Right here on 104.3, The Score, and the producer for the Dan Patrick Show. I see you are traversing the entire Bay. How is that going for you, Paul? Lela, as Brent Musburger said,

you are looking live at San Francisco because that's where I am right now. We are just across McCove where Barry Bond's used at the home runs and the Giants Ballpark. I think it's called Oracle now, Pac-Bell, whatever was called back in the day. The Dan Patrick Show set is right there. So like you said, there's a lot going on here,

and it's really a Bay Area Super Bowl. The game is in Santa Clara, but an hour from here. The Super Bowl media night or opening night last night was in San Jose and the media center and most of the events are going on right here in San Francisco. So yeah, Paul joins us on Twitch. Twitch.T.E. slash The Score Chicago if you want to check out his scenic view. And yes, I believe it was Pack Bell when Barry Bonds was hitting home runs at the time. Yeah, and now it is Oracle Park. And I'm just glad you're not across from Levi's because that means you're next to a substation.

And then you might trip, break your ankle and then you never blame it on that. Well, you know what's weird out here? They have these driverless cars. They're like, they're not Uber. Yeah, Waymo. Marshall, I had no idea about Waymo. I went to cross the street the other day, and there was a car with no people. And I'm like, I had a staring contest.

I didn't know what to do. Are you going to try a Waymo? I have been in a Waymo. I was in one in Phoenix. And it's an interesting thing. It's pretty standard for people out there, though. They're used to it. I got to tell you, I'm old school.

I'm like a Chevy Nova 3 on the tree. I like old school cars and people, but I'll try to embrace this this week and get back to you. We'll flag down a cab for you after the show just for fun, just to feel some Pauly Paps. What's going on out there, man? What were the highlights for you last night? Did I see you? Were you wearing a suit by any chance last night? That's not on brand for me, Grody.

I own a suit and I'll be buried in it, but I don't. Okay. I thought I saw you. That's why I got it. I didn't. Mark, that's why we got into radio. at the wear suits. I know. Amen. By the way, I loved you announcing the

FM stuff over at Weiner's Circle on Rightwood the other day. That was fantastic. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Yes. I had had fun with the friends over at the Wiener Sir. You've been there before, probably many times. Oh, I live six blocks in the Wiener Circle, and that's most of the reason I bought in that neighborhood. But I'll say, media night

last night was subdued. There was not a huge press contingent. The players are so conditioned now to give you nothing. I think a lot of people were asking Drake May about its shoulder, and he said, fine, fine, a hundred times. But I think it's, I can't tell if it's an issue or not.

Over the past few weeks, Drake May has not thrown the ball a ton. Their offense hasn't been great. Their defense has carried them to the Super Bowl, which is fine. Can't imagine him not playing at 100% and winning this game. So they set a shot of him.

Social media by the Patriots today, and it was a shot of him throwing the ball. So I think they were trying to announce that he's fine or get people to believe that he's fine. Yeah, I think that's probably the biggest X and O angle here is just, quarterback health because it played into why the Patriots are in this position to begin with, Paul. What else did you glean or hear from what was said by the players when it came to opening night?

A little bit of the Seahawks. There's a lot of people who've never been here before. I mean, almost everybody on the Seahawks has never been here before. So someone says, describe the experience. He goes, I haven't had the experience yet. I'm just starting out. And I think Sam Darnold has been interesting. We had Sam Darnold last week on the Dan Patrick show. and he's a bit tired of talking about the Jets days and his struggles in the past.

The only thing we got out of him was that how would Sam Darnold five years ago have handled this moment? He goes, Sam Darnold five years ago wouldn't be in this moment. I was overthinking things. I was judging myself. I was not just playing football. And he says now at 28, which for him, he came into league at like 20 and a half. And he was like 21 years old his first start.

I think he's a guy who's way, way more mature. And it's like he's shell-shocked by the Jets days, but they're in his rear view window. And we look at this this Super Bowl, a matchup between two defensive quarter or two defensive coaches. It seems like, oh, we got something?

We have breaking news. Oh, I like this, Paul. I can't believe that. I love this. Paul, the Bulls have made a trade. Get ready, Papst. Get ready. Where as Papsed.

So this is from Sham Sharania, just in Chicago, Minnesota, and Detroit have agreed to a multi-team deal that sends Jaden, Ivy, and Mike Conley, Jr. to the Bulls? Love Mike Conley. My Connolly to the Bulls. He's a stud.

Kevin Herder and Dario Sarge go to the piston. Sources tell ESPN. Detroit also receives a 2026 as I have to dial it up. First round protected swap from Minnesota. Man, I like Dario Sarge for the Bulls,

but I get it. He's like 30, he's 35, 36. He's like 37. Oh, he's got a beard. He's got gray in his beard. Very popular man in the NBA, though. Like, good guy. He got a max contract.

at one point. Mike Conley's 38 years old. 38. Go ahead, Paulie. I know you guys are going to have people on to break this down, but my first reaction is it's step one of a second trade. I don't think that this would be the only thing you did. This might be a roster move to get the roster ready to do something else. Well, I see it as one thing. They're getting players in that timeline. What we've been told is the Boozellis Giddy timeline with the addition of J.

I think he's here for real. But it is good to see them unloading a couple of contracts that were expiring. Herder and Dario Sharge in this deal. I'm his Herder, too. I enjoyed Kevin Herder. Kevin Herder brought a little something. A little something. Yeah.

Grotty loves a little bit of an edge guy, and I feel like Kevin Hurder had a little bit of an edge. Yeah. Not just the red hair. More than that. I want to get back to Marshall's original question now that we got to the breaking news. Marshall, Paul Pafts, is who we're talking to our friend who has the tailgate on Saturday morning's Dan Patrick's producer right here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie. Do you get a sense, Paul, that this might change the math, if you will, the arithmetic with two defensive-minded head coaches going head-to-head after we've seen so much offense versus offense versus offense when you get to the pinnacle.

And this might change the way we look at whether a defensive head coach is the right move for so many of these teams, especially after what we saw this off-season with all the head coaching changes. Well, I think it's going to – I remember when the Patriots signed some defensive players in the offseason like Milton Williams. Not a household name. He is a killer for them. And they built a really strong pass rush up the middle. I think that maybe the difference in the NFL these days is Miles Garrett cost you $45 million. But you can get some defensive tackles that could rush up the middle and make things uncomfortable for half that.

And so I think maybe that's how the league may change. And if there was any team that could use a pass rush up the middle to Chicago Bears, I don't know what they're doing for the draft. They have to look at the free agent market and say, we addressed the offensive line last year, especially the inside of the offensive line. and the inside of the defensive line might be a priority this offseason. Paul, I know you're there on a national scale, but is there any Chicagoness that you've come across so far

and the people that you've talked to and the buzz that you might be hearing about that? Yeah, there is, Mark. I actually have been taping a few people for the tailgate show on Saturday. I just talked to Mike Therico, a little name dropping there. Mike Therico was just on set. And he called a Packers Bears game with a big touchdown play. and he even said that the energy at Soldier Field this year was off the charts from the past what he's called games every four.

Mike Trico's called games everywhere. He brought it up. I didn't ask him about the energy. And then the other one was Albert Breer of the Monday morning quarterback. He's a very smart football guy. He says that the football consensus of the Bears is they've got a really, really nice window for the next few years. Now, I know we can talk about a harder schedule next year, but this is his words.

It's Caleb Williams on a rookie deal. A June day on a rookie. deal. Kyle Munangai cost you almost nothing. And I know you're going to have to maybe let some guys go here and there, but you have a lot of talent on rookie deals. And again, Caleb Williams, in a year and a half from now, we'll get the big bag. But for right now, they're kept friendly and a really good team. So he was very positive about the Bears.

Well, and I think that that's something where when you see it get put together, you know that I guess, you know, the big name, we've talked about it. There is a path. There is a path for the bears to get one of these big. name pass rushers potentially. But it might cost you some real room down the line. Yeah. I think the other thing that I've noticed here,

and I got a little melancholy as a Bair's, lifelong Bears guy, is that when I went to Media Night last night, I was looking around and I was like, you know, the Bears could be here. They really could. And that's not, you know, rose-colored glasses. They could have very easily taken that game against the Rams. And I just don't think,

I think the Bears would have clearly been to other dogs against Seattle, but they're beatable. Sam Darnold had bad days before against the opportunistic defenses. And so I got a little bun. I'm like, boy, this was a really way too early window for the Bears to be in the Super Bowl, but it was pretty close. All right, Paul. What's the entertainment scene like? What have you eaten? What are you going to eat? Where are you drinking? Are they good? Because I know you love a pub, but that's usually, that's the Chicago thing. I don't know what you got cooking out there in San Fran right now. Well, I'm better at that than

breaking down defenses. I've already went to, I went to a Cajun restaurant in San Francisco, which was really weird, but it was great. They're known for Chiappino, the Italian dish. Lely, you may know this. It's like a seafood, pasta dish Chiappino. I guess it was originated here in San Francisco. So I've already had two helpings of that because I want to embrace myself in the culture. But on the Dan Patrick show, our call time is 4 a.m.

So the social scene at 5.15 p.m., you can get into any restaurant. No, I think that the Chupino is like, it is definitely one of the specialties. I just tend to get seafood when I'm near a coast. That's just how I kind of put it all together. They do good sour-dough in San Francisco as well. And garlic. Yes, all of those things. Garlic fries at Oracle is always like a delicacy thing.

Yeah, great-looking stadium. And we had the president of the Giants on, and we were discussing old stadiums. And he said, he actually compared it to Wrigley Field. He said, their stadium here for the San Francisco Giants, they're not moving. They're not going anywhere. They'll just make slow improvements around it,

inside it and keep it as long as they can. I think that's what, even if you're a Cubs fan and you have problems with little developments around regularly field, it's still in the city. It's still the place you love. And you have to embrace a little bit of the culture and the development or you have to move to the suburbs, which nobody wants. I always say if you have a bay or ocean, if you want to call it,

as your background, you're winning. You probably want to stay there. There's no more beautiful scene in Major League Baseball than that ballpark. It's gorgeous out here. The sun is up. It's not to Chicago weather. But the other thing we talked about, and I did ask Albert Brewer about this as well, I said, can you picture the Bears moving out of Chicago?

And he goes, I got to tell you, nationally, I don't go to that many games. He goes to one Bears game a year. But he goes, that lakefront you guys have, he goes, every time I go there, I'm like, this is unbelievable. And we take it for granted. We talked about this Mark and I on the tailgate before. I think sometimes Chicago people almost don't realize how beautiful the scene is. I'm here in San Francisco, and this is a great space.

But there's no high rises above me. There's no museums on other side of me. Lakefront in Chicago. And I know this can of worms of the bear stadium is such a big topic. But when I talk to people in national media, they're like horrified by the idea of them moving on Chicago. One more for you for me, Paul. Is it too early or can I ask, do you have a pick for Sunday's game? I'm going to pick with my heart with Sam Darnold.

I think he's a good dude who got a rough deal with the Jets. he's really hit his stride. They've got a full service team, special teams. Jackson Spets and Jigba is as good as it gets. I saw him last night. He's six foot 190. He is a normal looking human being. He is a freak show on the other.

I mean, he's, you know, we're in different shape, but he and I are the same height weight. It's distributed in different areas, but he is a freak show on the field. I got to pick the Seattle Seahawks. He's also very like subtle and soft-spoken. You know, he's not that his play is outrageous and like speaks for it. but yeah, his... Layla, you're 100% right, I saw the guy. He's very subtle.

You're 100% right, Layla. I saw him. I'm like, that's J.S.N? I mean, he looks like a guy who would, you know, maybe like play Division III football. He's a normal-sized person. And he's standing around all these huge guys, but he is an absolute freak on the field.

Sounds like you've got a stack tailgate show. By the way, we're, I don't know if you heard, but we are FM. We're 104-3, the score. I hope that you remember that for your tailgate show. Yeah, FM. Mitch told me to make my voice sound better to match the FM. So I'm working on it, a little whiskey, maybe some cigars with DP.

But I'll be ready to go for FM Day. That just made me cough up my tea because you know what I'm thinking? People hate my voice no matter what. Be you, Paulie. I like the idea of thinking of a PD. Guys, you really got to really enunciate. I need that base to really come out. You could go down like an octave.

Maybe a little whiskey. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. A little whiskey. Make a little smoky. Like to me more. Like a Demi more. Yes.

There you go. I just watched a few good men the other day. You watched a few good men, but you won't watch the other people. Oh, he's never seen the other guys. Can you judge him for that? He's never seen the other guys? Yeah, I could see seeing the preview of that movie and going, what is this about?

But it's fantastic. You got to see the other guys. I didn't not like it. I just started watching and I enjoyed it and I haven't gotten back to it. I don't know. I don't understand my own system of watching stuff. I really don't. Mark, you're a football guy.

You don't start watching shows and series until late February. Yeah, well, like I said, I am running out of excuses. So you're right. but late February, I'll start to begin to think about the potential of watching it. I'm in with you. I'm in. Awesome. Well, at least we have the consideration portion.

The potential for the consideration. I hate this so much. I'm not even going to pretend anymore. Like, I can't entertain the silliness. Paul, thanks, as always, for joining us. Keep us post on what's happening over there at the Super Bowl. And good luck traversing the Bay Area. Appreciate you, Paul.

Yeah. Anytime I listen every day. Keep up the good work. Thanks, Paul. Same here. is Paul Pabst, producing the Dan Patrick show. That's why he's out at the Super Bowl. And he's the host of the tailgate, Saturday mornings at 7 right here on 104-3, the score.

Pipsed. I know we have a Bulls trade that just happened. And we'll sink our teeth into that for sure. But at the same time, we end our show with fun stuff here. And in this new spirit of FM and whatnot. And whatnot. I say we play the hits. And one of the hits is the ether that was dropped on James Harden.

by Mavericks broadcaster Brian Demaris. So in the spirit of James Hardin wanting yet another train, you get it next. Lela Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, Rahimi Harrison Grody on 1043, The Score. James Hardin, taking some time off from the playoffs. Watch the game. A little ice cream, too.

Oh, that's savage in and of itself, Tyler Beaterball. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 670 to score. And before we play this James Hardin commentary, we want to let you know about this this Bulls trade that just occurred. We mentioned it with Paul Papps. Paul, of course, is on our show. He's live from the Super Bowl. That's where he was. Sham Sharani posted this just a few minutes ago.

Chicago, Minnesota, and Detroit have agreed to a multi-tune deal that sends Jaden Ivy and Mike Conley Jr. to the Bulls and Kevin Herder and Dario Sarge to the Pistons. Sources tell ESPN, Detroit receiving a 2026 first-round protected swap from Minnesota. This is momentous, I think. This is a step in the right direction for the Bulls. Yeah. And listen, Shams quote tweets that and says, The Bulls and Pistons have desires met here in a young and veteran guards to Chicago.

And a sharpshooter goes to Detroit. And of course, Minnesota creates significance tax savings and roster space as they pursue a Milwaukee star this week. That's the shop's sweet. Who do we think the Milwaukee star could be? Sunday is the big game. I love it when Dustin says big game

60 or whatever volume number we're up to. Super bowels and whatnot. I love a superb owl. Also, I would just like to take this time to tell you that if you message me or text me on any form of communication and it contains the word Super Bowl, like it's one word, like Super Bowl. I'm not replying to you.

What did they say superb owl? Yeah, two words is fine. We're not even allowed to respond to things that say. I will not. I do not reply to anybody who uses Super Bowl as one word. Because she thinks you're sports dumb. Oh, I see. I don't do it.

I thought you were worried about rules of some sort. No, no, no. I will not reply to you. She has boundaries, Grotie. I know she does. I understand. I respect them. I'm just sitting over here.

You know what I mean? Okay. Come see me. Before we get to the James Harden audio, which is always fun to play because James is requested yet another trade, what do you think about just, what's your first blush reaction to this one? My first reaction is this is a good deal for the Bulls and that they get rid of two expiring contracts and they get a player in return in Jaden Ivy who has shown flashes, who was

highly thought of when he was drafted. And the thing is, he's all. also on an expiring contract, but he'll be a restricted free agent at the end of the season. Oh, that part. Yes. The RFA. Restricted. The Bulls, last I checked, learned from their previous RFA experience with one Patrick Williams

and Josh Giddy, they didn't have to outbid anyone. And I think because they're not dealing with aprons in the same way that some of these other, you know, winning teams are. They might be able to get him in a nice deal. And then you've got another piece that you can move in the future. or just continue to develop. He's 23 years old. He has a broken leg. Fifth pick in 2022.

This is a not messing around talent, obviously a lottery pick. And I keep thinking about our guy, Robbie Triano. Because the tree, what does the tree think of this? Apparently, the tree is in our Twitch chat at the score Chicago.

No, he's not. He said, give us Jaden Ivy back. Shout out to the tree. So, Jaden Ivy, understand this. Last year, in limited time, 30 games.

played. He shot 40.9% from three. And then also this year, he was shooting 37.2% from three in very limited action. All right. And now without further ado, Brian Demaris going off on James Harden in 2023 on a network that doesn't exist anymore. Bally Sport Southwest. Ask the producer to pipe this into the Clippers locker room. If I can talk to you, James. I hope you're taking notes. I'm telling you at advance, you're welcome for the wisdom I'm about to you because listen I get on my knees every night and pray for someone to believe in me like Darrell Borre believe in you. You wanted a certain coach they brought in Mike Dan Tony. You want to play a certain style they played it. You wanted Dwight Howard. They brought him in and got rid of him when

you were tired of him. You wanted Chris Paul. They brought him in and got rid of him and you were tired of him. They brought in your old friend Russell Westbrook. You wanted to go to Vegas on off days? They looked away. You wanted the team to stay over so you could go out at night. They changed the schedule and it didn't work. And you know what? You said, I'm going to break up with my wooby. Not good enough. I see the bright lights in New York. I want to go there.

My old pal, Kevin Durant. It's going to work, the big three. And all after one year, you wanted out. You realized, oh, my gosh, I took this guy for granted, the guy that believed to me. I went back with Daryl Morey. They traded Ben Simmons for you. How did they pull that off? And you know what?

You went there, and you got a partner who got the MVP. He won the MVP. And what did you say afterwards? You said, they didn't hand me the reins. You're the point guard. You were holding. the rains and what did you do when you had the reins you scored nine points in game seven against boston you blew a three two series lead so they coat they fired their coach not good enough

you broke up with your guy believing you again you said the bright lights of l.A that's where i want to go let's see if that works listen james have you ever have those friends who had bad roommates over and over they complained about their bad roommates this guy's terrible the bad roommate here they never thought being self-aware enough that they're the bad roommate they're the problem Hey, James, you're the problem. If this doesn't work this year in this system with this team, then you're going to go and point fingers at everybody else and you're going to go back home and you're going to start swiping right for another team. There's not going to be anybody left because James, you're not the beard, you're not the system, you're the problem. It's you.

What's that Taylor Swift song? You're the problem or is it I'm the problem. I forget. It's me. It's me. I'm the problem. It's me. I think James Hardin would never sign up.

for a karaoke night. Taylor Swift is humble. He is not. Dude, it never stops being good. And I ought to be honest, I've never heard it without the ether beat. Somebody put the ether beat on it, and that's how I heard it. Yeah. So I'd never heard it without it until today.

Who was that again? Brian Demaris, he's one of the commentators for the Mavericks. So he worked for the Mavericks Radio Network. Yeah. I've known Brian for a long time. Or TV network. So, but the thing is, it was said in 2023 what we just played. it still holds up today.

Totally. I mean, that's why I said earlier. I know people are, ooh, I can't wait for his skills to diminish because of all of that. What do you think Cleveland's going to get him? Why do you think they can be the team where it finally works for James Harden? There it is. There it is. I think you know what I realized this morning to as I was going to work?

Like, for all the messing with my friends and I do with each other about the I can fix him, I'm like, do you know who always says that though? coaches and athletes in sports. No wonder I work in this business. Front office, Leila. I can fix him. They can fix him. It'll be different this time.

We can change him. So it's cheaper to rehab them, right? It's like, you know, you get them to find a little nugget and then you get to be proud of what you polished off. I took typical delusion and I just parked it in a different place. That's what I realized today. That was the existential crisis I realized. That's what it is. And now we're on FM.

Yeah, that's right. And now we're on FM. All these teams. three the score. But seriously, think about coaches and how they'll be like, I can fix him. I can change him. You're right. Because I was like, man, Sam Darnold is the exception. He's not the rule. You can't change everybody

like that and fix them and new scenery. It doesn't always work. Not just coaches front offices. My goodness. I never met a general manager who didn't believe they could be the reason why a player changed. The rules that I guess I did not realize all the things, the accommodations that they made for James Harden. It's like Dennis Rodman-esque.

except for Dennis Rodman's better at what he does. Don't even compare the two defenses. That's insulting to both of them. I don't think Hardin would actually be insulted if somebody said his defense was like Rodman's. And the funny part is I enjoyed talking to James, like candidly and like we'd ask him hard questions in Houston. And he would answer. Like he didn't get offended. He like knew where I was coming from.

Gave me the benefit of the doubt. Like would always stand up and answer questions. And it's just, it's a bummer to see how it's all gone down. too many yes men in a circle straight up you know the shame of it is with him it didn't and none of it had to be like that like he could have had oh no it had to be like this i guess i mean i guess i guess that's the answer that's just him right he's something narcissist i mean it's probably not that's probably too easy i don't necessarily i don't necessarily know i think it's just sometimes you think like there's a couple different things that i think are in play like number one the guy

who he was loyal to and thought was loyal to him like that fell apart and that was the Mori situation. I don't know. He's got resentments too. Hey, what is your part in all of this, James? What is your part? See, like, I own the fact that the

concept of changing people just I took it right over to sports where sometimes it happens. And we took ourselves right over to FM. It's going to be different over here. Now that we got the FM signal. Your optimism is forever, Laila.

Now we're going to take our tails right over to transition. You just keep grinding, Lales. Yeah, poor Spiegeland Holmes. They don't have to fix anybody next.