Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Ryan Dempster talks Tom Ricketts' high expectations for Cubs (Hour 2)

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

In the second hour, Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote welcomed on Marquee Sports Network analyst Ryan Dempster to discuss Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts' high expectations for his club in 2026. After that, Rahimi and Grote discussed the Bears' left tackle conundrum. Later, they held the Halftime segment.

Hey there, I'm Kendra Adachi and my show The Lazy Genius Podcast helps you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't and you get to decide what matters. I'm not here to tell you what to do. I'm here to give you a new way to see. Episodes of the Lazy Genius podcast are full of compassionate time management tips and permission slips to do what makes sense for you. New episodes drop every Monday. Follow and listen to the Lazy Genius podcast on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. The score! Ryan Dempster. Two and two.

Going to go the fastball away. Not the location he wanted, but it worked out as fielder. Swung and missed. Seven Ks for Dempster. Efficient, much more like the Ryan Dempster that we've seen all season long. Swinging to miss, strike three. Struck him out, four punchouts here in the fifth inning. I mean, get rid of an old aging pitcher for a guy who can finally help your team.

It seems like it makes sense. Yes, me, I don't know how much of a genius that SD cat is. It's 8 for 14 in the series, Paul. That's as hot as you can get. You mentioned it. Go ahead. If your coffee is lukewarm in the clubhouse, put it on Pete Crow's lap, and it will be scalding hot. With Rahimi Harrison Grody on 1043 The Score.

I reckon I left a good footprint on how to drink. I know that. This is Rahimi Harrison Grody on 1043, the score. And that is a fantastic introduction to our. our guest, Ryan Dempster, the former Cubs from 2004 to 2012, two-time All-Star World Series champion, purveyor of humor and music and the like. And he joins us on our Circus Sports Illinois hotline. Download the circus sports app today.

And Cage the Elephant in the introduction for you there, Ryan, just to get ready for this weekend Datings Fest. How are you? I'm doing great. And that was one heck of, I can't, I forgot I said half that stuff. Doesn't that suck? That's our daily basis. You blacked out. I thought he got way too much credit anyway, so it's great.

Right. That euphemism, though, for the coffee and Peter Crow Armstrong, that was tremendous. You know, we were talking about PCA. There was an article Sot of Sharma did in The Athletic talking about his swing adjustments. I said that that's probably one of the biggest storylines for me is how he's going to adjust to the league adjusting to him last year. You know, what would you say now, just given what you're looking for with him, for example? Yeah, I think last year for Pete was probably as valuable of a second half as he could have had. And people are going to be listening right now going, well, he struggled in the second half.

Awesome. And you know what he did in September? He figured it out. And he got back. He got to his 30, 30. Like, people always do that. We see in the first half, like a guy will get 14. wins. And we're like, here we go. Denny McLean, 30 wins is coming. Guy hits 35, 40 home runs.

Like, he's going to hit seven. It is so hard to do that month after month after month and the league adjusts and everybody's telling you how great you are and things can slip just a little bit. So I thought what he went through last year and then figured out a way to write the ship in September, I just think it's so huge. And I think that he learned from that from talking with him. I think he understands how hard this game can be at times, even though all the success he had. And I think we're going to see an even more polished feet Cromstong this year. And I think, you know, does that mean he's 40-40? No. It just means that I don't think you're going to see these ups and downs like you maybe saw last year. And I think the overall consistency

is going to be better. And that's, that's for me, the mark of a guy who's finding himself and I think has finally found himself in the major leagues. And this guy's going to be a star for years to come. Well, you said not 40-40, and that's a fair thing to say. That's hard to put on anybody's plate in this day and age. But what do you think he is? And maybe you just said it. Like you still think that PCA is going to be a star in Major League Baseball?

He's more of what we saw in the first half of the season than the second half of the season. Yeah, I do. I think that there's a common ground in the middle, and I think that it leans towards more what we saw in the first half. I mean, this has always been the talk of him. He's been doing this since he was 12 with Team USA. You know, I just think, A, defensively,

he's as good as it gets. He's gold glover. No doubt. That's one of the best, if not the best center fielder in the game. What he can do on the base pass, you know, maybe there's not 40 home runs every year, but I think 40 stolen bases a year is something very realistic. I think what you learn,

and from talking to guys and being around guys, is sometimes when they get into that home run zone where they're just hitting a ton of home runs and they're not pure home run hitters like Aaron Judge or Pete Alonzo or these guys is that all of a sudden you start to swing for the home run because you've just hit a bunch like, oh man, I hit 12 this month, cool, here I go.

And it becomes something that all of a sudden you get out of your swing and then you lose your swing and then you're trying to find it and you're being, you know, let me take a pitch. Oh, that pitch is right down the middle. Oh, let me go ahead and be aggressive. So there's a first. It's like you just get caught and caught in that hamster wheel, and I think he got caught there for a little bit in August,

you know, July and August, and I think he got out of it. And this is a guy who's determined to be great. I think chasing greatness is a really important thing that more guys should aspire to. And I think that he learned a lot last year. I think he's full on ready to go again this year. And he's just a special kid. He's a special player.

And I think, you know, the possibility of what he's able to do, I think will just continue to grow as he matures. He's still a young ball player, especially when you look at bats and miles and all that kind of stuff on his career so far. I think he's potentially a guy every year that could be 30-30. Does he have a 40-40 in him? Sure. But to put expectations on a guy, I think, is unfair. And I think we're just going to continue to see a great version of peak armstrong.

We're talking to Ryan Demster, the host of Intentional talk on MLB Network, former Cub for many years. And Ryan, I think you're on to something. And Mark has talked about this, too. We've talked about it on the air. Where there are times when because PCA is such a good bad ball hitter. You know, where there are times where the swing at the plate looked a little bit more like a golf swing than a batting swing because he was trying to hit something low and give it some launch angle. I think those are the ones where I want them back and to say, you know, it's okay.

It's okay to not go for the bad ball when your plate discipline is requiring you to do different things. Yeah, I'm with you on that. And I think what happens is when we struggle, you know, I can speak from a pitcher standpoint because I can't speak from a hitter because I struggled my whole life as a hitter. So if you look at the numbers, they don't lie. 099 at a Wayne Gretke's batting average. You found your niche. It was pitching.

Yeah, safe to say. When I struggled, you know, as I found that when I tried to force the issue, throw the nastiest slider I got. A guy just spat on it and said, I'm not swinging at that. And so for a hitter, I noticed with Pete a lot of the time was he tried to go get the ball, and I'm going to go get it, and I'm going to swing before it's even there. And when he's going good, and when hitters are going good, that's what makes it hard for us as pitchers, is we go, man, this dude is like, you know, locked in.

He's spinning on my nasty, but he's waiting for me to come to him. And I think, to me, that's what we're going to kind of see more and more out of Pete is just that comfort in himself and say, okay. And I think that's where he got to towards the end of the season. And, you know, and in September, and, you know, like, listen, you're not going to hit 50. Just because you have 30 at the break doesn't mean you're hitting 50. And it's about good quality at bass. And Pete learned all this stuff. And talking with him, I know he's determined to just be the best version of himself.

and when we see that, he is a bad ball hitter, and that's fine. When you're locked in, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., bad ball hitter. Like, I threw a slider in the dirt that bounced in the other batters box, and he pulled up for a base hit in the hole in the Olympic Stadium. So, like, you can be a bad ball hitter and be successful, but when you're struggling, that's where you have to get back. And I just think, you know, this is a kid who puts so much work in, and he's going to be perfectly fine this year,

and I expect them be back in center field at the All-Star game and having that kind of quality season again. Oh, Olympic Stadium. Always good to hear about that cavernous stadium where you could... What did you say? What did you call it? The Stadeo Olympic, that's what they would always say when you take that train out there to a boisterous crowd of 800 people

with Hubezalas and Yupi trying to distract us while we're playing. That's hilarious. Scott is Stadium in French. Ah, okay. I just remember, you remember the umpire Dutch Renner by any chance, Ryan Dempster? Do you remember? I know the name, yeah. Yeah.

I just remember hearing his voice would just cannon through that stadium. You would hear, strike one from Dutch Rennered and it would just resonate. And the ball calls were hilarious, too. Ball one! It was a beautiful place. We all have nostalgia. I remember, by the way, that stadium backed my, early years with the Marlins, I went in there, and I was running laps after a start, and I'm

running the outfield. Every time I get to center field, I'd hear this like, like a club, like boom, boom, like music going, like house music. And I'm like, huh. And then at first I thought it was the player's parking lot, like maybe a guy in the car really like techno. I don't know. And so I'm like, I go, now I finish my run and I go out to center field and there's nobody out there. And I'm like, and I keep walking. And I go further and further into the innards of, Olympic Stadium and all of a sudden it's getting louder and louder and I open a door and there is a full on rave that is still going from the night before. What? Really?

Amazing. And we went back to the clubhouse with a couple guys that go, boys, shorts, t-shirts, let's go. And we went out at about 1230 and we had a full-on dance rave at Olympic Stadium. That's awesome. Oh, that's awesome, man. I love that. We were found party.

You know, metric shakes and Gatorade. They were having some other substances, I'll just say. They were having a lot of fun. Close sticks. We're at an all-time high. Oh, man. Uh-huh. Yeah.

It's like walk at the free party you never knew what happened. I love that kind of stuff. I miss those days. Oh, that is beautiful. That reminds me the time that I was at Purdue University, where my cousin went, and there were four of us. We walked into a fraternity house that we were supposed to go to. There was nobody there, except for a few of the house moms and kegs.

So five of us got to drink out of a keg that was a party that we did. didn't expect to have. So it was, yeah. The youth we shared. Oh, it's so good. Oh, my God. That's the voice. That's the voice of Ryan Dempster. This is Rahimi Harris and Grotie on the score. Of course, Dempster, the co-host of Intentional Talk on MLB Network, Marquis Sports Network analysts. And of course, he was a member of the Cubs from 2004 to 2012. Got to talk pitching with you a little bit here, Ryan. And here is my question with all these arms, Kate Horton, Matthew Boyd, Edward Cabrera, Justin Steele, Tyone, Shoda, Imanaga.

Who do you think, by the end of this year, we will have called the Cubs ace in this starting rotation? I'm going to say Kate Horton. This kid's special, man. I watched it. I mean, a work ethic, determination, studying college. We would have been talking about maybe another round of the playoffs if Kate had been able to not have the injury bug bite them there a little bit.

this kid's got swing and miss stuff, electric stuff, different slider than we see in the game. I think he's one of the bright arms around baseball, not just with the Cubs. So, yeah, I think, you know, and his ability to sit down on the bench with a guy like Matthew Boyd and have James and Tayae on talk to him about pitching. These are veteran guys who, you know, have been in his shoes before, and they're now veteran guys and just, you know, putting their knowledge on them. I just think he's got the ability to be next level good. And we saw so many flashes of that last year, consistent stretches of that.

And I think it just continues to build off that. We're talking to Ryan Dempster, as we mentioned. And I guess I have to, I mentioned that I would say this. So I've got to do it. Your fellow Canadian, Celine Dion, you know the song? It's coming back to me now. Are you familiar? So when Tom Ricketts...

I only karaoke that once a week, Ler. You do not. You're kidding, right? Please tell me you're kidding. Because if not, we would all support you. I'm teaching them once a week, but I have karaokeed it. See, I knew you would know. So when Tom Rickett said, we need to win more world series.

And he said that so declaratively, I thought, I heard the song, I heard it's all coming back to me now. And then it all came together. But I say that to say, see, now we've got it if Ryan wants to karaoke. Now we're playing it. I love it. But that's how I felt when I heard Tom Rickett say that. You know, when you hear him say, we have to win more World Series. That feeling of wanting the playoffs again. Like, how did that hit you when you know the owner is saying that out loud?

He's putting the standard out there. It came back to me. Well, yeah. And I think, you know, I think that was the standard that Tom set. You know, early on there was the rebuild. okay, now we are where we are, and there's a World Series win, and there's, you know, playoffs every year in 2017, back to the NLCS and all this kind of stuff, and then COVID hit, you know. And it changed a lot of things for a lot of teams.

A lot of stuff changed, right? Finance has changed. People left. Other players got traded away, all kinds of stuff. And then you start to miss the playoffs as a player, as a front office, as a front office, as an organization, as an ownership. And then you get it again, and you're like, wait, wait, wait, I really love this.

This is fun. I want to do this all the time. I want us to win a World Series again. And that should be the standard. And I'm glad that Tom talked about that because I know how much he wants to win and he wants to do it year and year out. Like, listen, not everybody's going to be the Dodgers

and good for them. Like, they spend the money and they're setting the standard of getting players and developing a winning culture. You know? People are like, got the big bad Dodgers, the big bad Dodgers. 2012 Major League Baseball was paying their payroll in April.

Wasn't that long ago. Yeah, it wasn't that long ago. And so they, it's not like this has been going on for 25 years. And like we see kind of ebbs and flows of different teams doing this, where they're kind of the powerhouse for a little bit. And I think it's time that the Cubs got back to being in that conversation. And I think Tom said that, means it. And we see it going out there and getting a guy like Alex Breggen.

going out there and making a trade for a Cabrera, going out there and signing guys, stacking a bullpen so we have a ton of arms. Like, that's what you need. You need good players, you need depth, you need pitching. And I think the Cubs have all of those things. And as long as you're putting yourself in a top five, top seven payroll every year, you're at least making the commitment to your fans

and to your players that were out here to win. And now you open the door, like say all of a sudden you're in first place at the trading deadline, and you've got an opportunity to acquire somebody that might call, cost you some money. There's not a doubt in my mind that Tom and Rickett's family and front office are going to be like, yeah, let's go get them because we want to win. And it's really awesome to hear. And I hope that it's something that just is the gold standard in Chicago, that every year it's about making the playoffs and trying to compete for a World Series. And it's just,

it's just really great to hear him speaking that way. Ryan, thank you for saying that. And then also, before we let you go, we have to talk about this ridiculously good lineup for. innings fest that's going on in Tempe. Friday, it's Mumford and Sons, Gugu dolls, Mild Smith, group love, peach pit, okay go, Marcy Playground, Saturday, 21 pilots, Cage the Elephant, Lord, you're on the fray, dashboard, confessional, Silver Sun pickups, blink 182s on Sunday with sublime and public enemy, big boy, bowling for soup, Eve 6. Like, this is a hell of a lineup, even for Innings Fest. This might be your best one yet.

This is really great. Tim Sweetwood, the gentleman who's started this festival, and I was able to come and start being a part of right away with my off-the-mound show, really hit it out of the park with this lineup and who's coming and great artists, great people, and we're super fired up. It's crazy. Saturday, Sunday, sold out. You know, if you want to take it, you got to go to a secondary market. Friday, we're close to that as well. And then the activation or the baseball activation for baseball fans, you know, you can go to a Cubs game. You can go to the home opener on Friday and then go over to Tempe Beach Park and come to the festival. There's baseball players there doing hitting lessons and appearances where

there's sign of autographs taking pictures. We have our stage with our show. We'll interview different personalities of the game, players of the game, comedians, rock stars, all of it. And it's just so much fun. It is a beautiful venue right there on the water where you can walk back and forth. Everybody's there to have a good time. It's really killer. We're super pumped. I'm super excited for what we put together for the shows and can't wait to see how the weekend plays out.

You know, at the opening day across spring training in the Cactus League, and then we have this beautiful festival where people get to go check in some music and enjoy each other's company. You're right. It's as good a lineup as there's been, for sure. Oh, yeah, we as a team are trying to figure out how to get there.

Ryan, it sounds like you've got a bit of business to take care of. I heard a little kiddo's voice there. So we'll let you get to it. This has been a lot of fun. Thanks for catching up. Yeah, absolutely. I just, when you guys are lifting, you know, when I'm feeling down, you lift me up, you know, it's really great. It is all coming back to me.

See? Thanks for playing along, right? I can't wait to hear the karaoke of this. I am so excited. Hey, have fun at Innings Fest. Ryan Dempster, his show Off the Mound will be a part of it. Thank you for joining us. You got it.

Absolutely. It's great to be with you guys this morning. See, Ryan. That's Ryan Demster. family. Do you know what song they used to... We gotta go to this Inex Fest. Oh my God. What the hell? How did I miss this? It's like a dream lineup. I was like

thirsting for that sort of lineup this summer. I never quite got it. 21 pilots, KG Elephant and Lord Huron together. Oh my goodness. And I like Silver Sun Pickups. Oh, I love Silver Sun Pickups. Oh, I love Silver Sun Pickups. Herndical Horizon is a part of this. Cage of Elephants starting to be one of those bands that like,

I don't know, they're not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I don't think, but they're one of those bands that have been around forever and they just keep putting good stuff out, like where you really start to have to appreciate that band and come a little closer. That song, I realized recently is a blast it song. You know, some songs just sound like when you hear them full. Play that song. I heard it for the first time all over again by blasting, come a little closer by Cage the Elephant. That's really good, loud. That's how I feel about Panic Switch by Silver Sun Pickups. Also, vertical horizon. Let's take you way back here. Okay. What was

one of my favorite home run calls by Dan Patrick. Out of the island and into the hideaway. Oh. Into the highway. Is that what it was from the vertical horizon? Yeah. It was slightly overplayed, but then again, everybody's slightly overplayed. I believe it was out of the island and into the hideaway.

Okay. Do you know what? It was out of the island and into the highway. You've got to double check because lyrics on this show can be suspect. That's me. No, no. You could just say it. Mark Grody's lyrics are suspect.

You could say it. That was the old school sports center. After Pedro Martinez was on pitching out of the island into the highway, it was like a very commonly used home run call. Oh, by the way, somebody say it ain't so groats, not the weekend because I said I know. I respect the weekend. I really do. Like I understand lots of people get joy from the weekend.

I don't. Okay. We might touch on that later. And 3-1-2 wants to know that lineup. It was for Innings Fest. That is going on in Tempe. It starts on Friday, Tempe Beach Park and Arts Park. And it is really cool.

Ryan Dempster's show. he's going to have a big part in it. Jake Peavy is hosting an all-star baseball jam. Miguel Montaro is going to be a part of it. Get McGee to say we are good. Grand Slam, McGee. Just calling Granny. What?

Yeah. All right, we're going to figure out how to get tickets to this. I'm in. And apparently, like, we got to all pile up into Matt Spiegel's booth on Friday. Let's do it. We'll figure it out. The pressure is on. Mitch Rosen.

In the meantime. In between time. A little bit of draft. or at least positional need talk for the bears coming up because, interestingly, Ryan pulls Mike at a third bite in an apple that not many GMs get to have. So we'll discuss that next. I'm Susie Welch, the host of Becoming You, a podcast where I help you stop living by default and start living by design.

Listen to Becoming You wherever you get your podcast. Rahini Harris and Grody, Midday's 10 to 2 on 1043, The Score. Ryan with Ozzie. What is the timetable? on his return and how is that going to impact what you may or may not have to do to get a veteran option? That's a part of our job. Really unfortunate because I thought he was coming along.

I was looking forward to him getting this offseason. I don't have a specific timetable. I'm sure it'd be somewhere deep into next year for the injury. So I had a good conversation with him. He knows this is part of his journey. He's going to have to overcome. I got a lot of faith in him and our staff to get him back, ready to go, whatever that is. but specific time tables I don't have it ever again.

Yeah, Ryan Poles told the truth there, didn't he? This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3, the score. And that is a big issue for the Bears, because when we're talking about off-season needs, suddenly two positions where I feel like we've talked about them, and maybe they thought that they had dressed them, and their expensive positions are still ones that we very much are discussing. Number one is the constant disgust in the need of a pass rush.

You know, we've talked about Max Crosby ad nauseum. We will until anything happens. Bradley Chob now being available. And then the other one is left tackle. And whether or not we like it, Ryan Poles is going to have to likely get a third bite at the apple when it comes to trying to draft a left tackle. First, it was Braxton Jones,

who may be available via a one-year-proof-it deal or something along those lines, but the position is very high in demand, which is part of what we know. Two is Ozzie Tripillo who really showed progress before he was injured with an injury that can be very difficult to time. Ryan Poles did not lie to you.

A torn Patelor tendon, especially when you're 6'8 and you play a left tackle offensive lineman. Ozzie, of course, was on the right side before he moved to left mark. We know that that's something that can take a long time. Some people don't come back from it.

At least Ozzy is young. And we're looking at, at the Bears likely having to spend draft capital on another left tackle potential yet again. Yeah, it really, this injury sucks. Because while Ozzie Tripillo was imperfect in his time playing left tackle, it looked like he was on his way. And the Bears' offensive line with Dan Rochard and Ben Johnson and all of his staff, did really good job of compensating for the newness of these guys,

including Theo Benedette. Theo Benedet needed help over there. Ozzie Tripillo needed help over there, but the trajectory was really good. Now you have to either, you're right, draft one, sign one, get creative, things like, and I don't think that this is something we're going to see, but until we really see darn all right, just locked in, nobody's going to move him to left tackle, then you have to think about that possibility, too. How important is left tackle in this offense, and is darn all right somebody you start mess with. And how much do they like

somebody like Jordan McFadden who was, you know, had to play probably too much last year? And you're looking at me right now like, I'm crazy to even bring up his name. But that's where they are in terms of creativity and knowing their own personnel right now. Well, no, a lot of people are saying

Karana Maggi is the fourth bite. But I don't... I didn't even, I wasn't even thinking about Karana Magoggi. I wasn't either because I don't know that they ever set out to have him be a starting left tackle. Now I know he had to start. that's a different discussion. But when it comes to,

I think sometimes you know, I know he was a third round pick. But I feel like even then, you're probably drafting that guy, especially knowing that he was injured at the time and he played at Yale. Ivy League's a little bit different competition from, say, your Big Ten or your SEC.

So I was still thinking that that was more of a developmental than it was a, you need him on the album cover, as Poles likes to say. But yeah, we can count him. Okay. so that's four. Yeah. But I considered him more of a depth guy rather than perhaps a starter.

I mean, I'm still trying to figure out is, can he play at all? Because we still don't really know about Corona, by God, because we saw him get in, even though he might have been put in in some unfair spots. What was it against Minnesota? Yeah, at Minnesota. Yeah. At Minnesota. So he hasn't necessarily been put in positions to win, but considering he's a third round pick.

And maybe he just gets bunched with, Ryan Poles' mistakes of the past, as we were talking about in the meeting. Like, offensive line, ironically, you could say, has been one of the bigger problems for Ryan Poles until last year and this past season. And they went to the store. Yeah. They did the hard thing because that's the beauty of having a quarterback on a rookie contract is you can spend a lot of actual money to get, per se, the best free agent center on the market. you know, in Drew Dalman. You can spend the money to get a guy like Joe Duny

and then extend him knowing that that's the intent. And good on them. They spent the money on Jonah Jackson and look how that season turned out. We haven't even talked about that, given all question marks that he had had coming from the Rams. He comes in has a great season, especially when you consider how successful

the right side of the line was when it came to the running game. That we don't complain about. But you can't go to the left tackle store. And when you do, it's expensive. Trent Williams is here to tell you about it. So in the meantime, they've got to figure out yet another plan. Yeah, I mean, that's one of the most important things that they need to have hammered out by the time they step on the turf for training camp at Hallis Hall. And it'll be very interesting to see how they go about this and what kind of resources they put into it.

Nobody's trying to call me a polls apologist. But am I doing so and not counting Quran amagagagia in that discussion? No, I think it's kind of sad. I mean, I think it's like just pointing out Karan Amagaji, there were probably listeners who were like the same thing I reacted like, oh yeah, Karan Amagaji who is, like he's a third round pick. He's a third rounder. That's like, that's like it was a fifth and six. I'm being around the bush. Charles Liner was seven.

Yeah. Like it's like kind of dancing around bust for somebody like him. Now, it all feels better because of the purchases that they made as you just went through. and the success of darned all right. Like the darn all right thing is just, thank God he really came into his own this year and that you have literally a pro bowl guy as your right tackle. That's so incredibly important, but they've got to figure this out at left tackle. Well, and that's it.

And I feel like we're stuck in the same situation. Would I be asking this question if Ozzie Tripillo had not hurt his pitellor tendon? No. This wouldn't be an issue. But unfortunately, we're facing. with a very sobering thought, especially when you consider how much money that position commands.

Right, you had the guy. There he was. There he was. We think Ozzie Tripillo, and now he's not there. But that's where. It's a pillow. Yeah, well,

I was wondering when he was going to chime in about that. Jeez, Chris, Emma, we can't take you anywhere's. Poor Zezapiloh. Poor Emma. That's also, to me, why it's not a done deal that Braxton Jones is going to be like,

yeah, I'll give you guys a year. we just told you how hard it is to find quality experienced left tackles. Man, I can't. And he may not be the all pro. Nobody's saying that. You know, I've had my fair share of discussion about Braxton. I was always worried about his pad level and just how the width of the base at which he was blocking. But when it comes to positional availability, I mean, look how quickly it took for a guy like Kevin Jenkins, for example, to sign.

I expect Braxton Jones will get a lot of attention in a free agent market for that. very reason. Good offensive lineman, even passable offensive lineman. Jared. A hard to find. Lilleno, when he left the Bears, the previous seventh round pick, he landed right away. And wasn't he somewhat of a cap casualty at the time? Yeah, I think he was. And he was also, honestly, he just brought up Tevin Jenkins.

He was also a Tevin Jenkins casualty because that's when everybody thought, oh, okay, you've drafted your guy, you highly drafted player in Tevin Jenkins. There you have your left tackle. And we know that that all imploded. And Tevin Jenkins ended up being a guard. And Braxton Jones, the seventh rounder, ended up being that pick or that guy. Fifth rounder. Fifth rounder.

Yeah. Liddo was the seventh. Jones was the fifth. And then the qualifier of always the discussion of, well, dot, dot, dot for fifth rounder. Now, Luke Newman, I feel like is still a guard in all of this. You know, he was drafted last year. I don't think that his life changes too much because of this. I could be wrong.

I don't know that any of us saw. Theo Benedet's life changing as much as it did after a preseason. Yeah, and that's the other part here because it is, it does seem like a seriously complicated issue unless we look at it as and say, okay, somehow, some way this coaching staff got that Theo Benedet, undrafted guy just sat around in his first year to be effective at left tackle. Ozzie Tripillo, who missed the offseason program and looked like he was going to be at the very least for the year a project and maybe a guy that plays but probably a guy that's not going to play can't do we have enough faith in this coaching to have to say yeah you could patchwork

it for another year you could get away with Braxton Jones and I don't think they will with Braxton Jones just because they sort of said it from the beginning we don't really care that much about Braxton Jones yeah he's our starter we're going with Braxton Jones he did win the left tackle competition. But after that, once he was replaced, he was replaced. Well, he's a good example of look what happens when a guy of that height and that size has a debilitating injury. You know, he had that broken ankle. And remember how he was still coming back from it? And he didn't even look like himself for a long time. And then ultimately, yes, ended up losing the job. I think experience won out just because it was a new offense, too,

and everybody was learning together. But that's why there's no guarantees here. Thank goodness. Tripillow is young, but we just don't know what we're going to get once he is able to play. 847 bears at 25th pick should draft the best available at either left tackle, edge, or defensive tackle. I mean, right now at number 25, if I had my pick out of those, I'm still, I'm still defense, though, by a hair. Well, it's supposedly a very good class for Russia, edge of, It is. But, you know, I believe Clay too. Clay said this last week, Clay Harbor, when he was on with us,

let's also consider getting more interior rush. Doesn't always have to be perimeter. Oh, I'd be okay with them drafting a defensive tackle. I mean, like, is. Or maybe perhaps that's a cheaper position in free agency than edge rusher, for say. Yeah. Yeah. And like, is, you know, what's Grady Jared got left? Is Jervon Dexter?

Are we just about out of time on Jervon Dexter? You got two years left on Grady's deal, right? Wasn't it three? Yeah, yeah, you do. And it's Shemar Turner, too, who you have three years left on his rookie deal. Has to be crucial in this. Big time. Second round pick has to be.

We talk about it on Take the North about how the bears are sort of the higher from within bears. Like when you look at like realistically how their defense is going to get better, it's the guys that exist either playing Shemar Turner or Grady Jarrett get better than you were last year. We're going to have more on this discussion because like not to get real, bleak, but let's not forget that four safeties are all up right now and free agents as well. Kevin Fishbane will join us to talk about cap

casualties at 1225. Coming up next to her on Rahimi Harrison Roe-oh, I'm leaving. It's half-time. When I first got onto this story, I'm leaving. I did not think it was appropriate. She is filthy. I held off

because I just didn't think it was right for a broadcast discussion. But sometimes when when everybody else is talking about it to a fever pitch, you have to as well. I'll just read the headline and I can't read everything because I'm not stupid. Plastic Surgeon pumps more drama into gate at Olympics with injection claim. If you haven't heard, get to know it next. Hey, this is Richard Deich, the host of the sports media podcast.

If you're interested in what's happening with all the places where you consume sports, the sports media podcast has you covered. turning down interviews all week. Hoda Koppi reached out, Oprah, George Stephanopoulos. So I said, no, I was booked on the Deich podcast before the Taylor Swift phenomenon. I must live up to my responsibility. Listen, wherever you get your podcasts. This is halftime here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie. It is Mark and Layla in today. And we spent the first hour talking about how Tom Ricketts said the good part. part out loud. He said, we need to win more World Series. Not the division, not intelligence

spending, not outperforming. He said the WS words, world and series. And then that's when I was like, oh, it's like Celine Dion. It's all coming back to me now. We talked about why Markina Sports Network is a good thing in this scenario. And then we also went into it with Ryan Dempster, who turns out karaoke's, it's all coming back to me now. Amazing. Are you surprised? No, I'm not surprise. The man is a showman. And he's also got a sick concert that he gets to go to. Yeah, Grotie and I are really jealous of this whole innings fest

scenario that's happening this weekend in Arizona if you get the chance to go. I has jealous. And we also talked about the concern surrounding the Bears left tackle position. Again, it's laptop for infinity times... Ever, ever, ever?

Ever, ever? Okay, I saw this story weeks ago. And you remember but do that again. Remember what happened in our meeting, Ray, Tyler? I don't know if you were here that day, Grotes, because I think you would have been so distracted that that would have been all you talked about. It was like, well, I've got two stories for halftime, guys.

And one of them was a story where we already did, and then the other one was the scenario that has unfolded at the Olympic Games. And do you remember Ryan's face when we first talked about it? Our boss, Ryan Porth. Yes. Seemed hesitant, is the word I'll use for us to do this story. And maybe that's because the,

deadline from the New York Post the latest on this developing story. I can't do this without laughing. It's impossible. Is plastic surgeon pumps more drama into Gate at Olympics with injection claim. I'm not going to say it. That would require me to have that word on tape. So we're just going to let Chris Ronji do the trick. Layla, come on. You're a smart journalist. Do you know it's in context? It's okay when it's in context.

Then they teach you anything in North Texas? Yeah, they tell me that sneakie. sneaky sneaks like you will take the tape and then use it against me. Oh, man. Yeah. So I'm going to read this story featuring Chris Ranji. Okay. A plastic surgeon added a new layer to the.

Penis. Gay controversy at the 2026 Winter Olympics. And if you didn't know, there actually is one. Alessandro Latara, a surgeon who performs enlarging operations, told USA Today that he provided the surgery with hylerotic acid to a ski job. last month. Now the concept is the more you have there,

somehow the more aerodynamic you are in these ski jumping events. I don't know. A hell of a story. That's not my area. You can't relate. I don't have those parts. So we can really ask the question

in this situation, does size matter? Yeah, that's true. Because I, yeah. We can get you fitted too, Leila. So the quote says, regarding the news in question, I did in fact treat an athlete from that sport whose name and nationality I will obviously not disclose nor whether he is participating in these Olympics.

However, I can say that I treated him last month and used a generous dose of hyaluronic acid. Did you not know about this story, Cody? I did, maybe not in this detail. Can I get that at the dispensary? I wouldn't know Ray I do know the

hyleronic acid filler for the face exists people use that That's not even inappropriate Now you're just saying words inappropriately because you're already acting guilty Remember what I told you about acting guilty

Oh that's right See that's acting guilty German publication build Appropriately named reported earlier this month That Olympic ski jumpers were using hyaluronic acid injections to artificially enlarge their penis, which would allow them to wear bigger ski jumping suits.

Bigger suits would help generate more lift on jumps and make it more aerodynamic, potentially adding a few extra meters in the air. The big suit you got there. Who doesn't want to add a couple meters? I thought it was about how you use the suit. That's what they say. Not the size of the suit. It's the motion in the suit.

Motion of the ocean, ocean of the motion. Bears. Grody! Latar told USA today that the ski jumper said, the ski jumper he operated on, said that he wanted to avoid embarrassment in the dressing room. What is going on here? Did the Olympics need to end?

Have we reached the end? That's it. Olympics are canceled. Everybody's going home. You guys can't handle this. You started to take it places it didn't need to go. And the annual running out of condoms has occurred as well. Yeah, that happened like three days in. But here's the better question.

Who figured this out? And how and why? The how? I need the origin story on this. And maybe I don't because maybe it's gross. Matt Nagy's Y and peanuts. Buy me some peanuts and crack your jack. How did you have that on the ready?

Penis. So, so let's hear you know why. You know why? Because he's a butte. That's why. He is a butte. The quotes continue. I cannot say whether he told me the whole truth,

said Latara, who has performed over 3,000 enlargement surgeries. But in any case, we did a good job. And implanted a more than generous dose of hylerotic acid. Congratulations. Congratulations. The result is immediate. So the athlete could wear the new suit after just a few minutes. Wow.

That works quick. Yeah. Look at this. Look at that. WADA has chimed in and has said there will be an investigation. Wada is the world anti-doping agency. That was New York Water. Water.

Water. That's Philadelphia. And the International Ski and Snowboard Federation's Communications Director Bruno Sossi told USA Today that there was no evidence that it was happening at these Olympics. Well, Olatara just told you it was. Okay, Bruno saucy. I really just thought you were going to say Bruno sausage and I was going to die. Sausage, anyone? So he called the allegations, quote, pure hearsay and quote, a wild rumor.

Doesn't sound so wild now, does it? I think pure hearsay and a wild rumor didn't say it was wrong. So we had been avoiding this story, as you can understand. You were waiting for me to be here before we did this story? No, you know what happened? It had just been talking about so much. At some point you have a devotion to your own brand. It's a good point.

You know what I mean? Yeah, it's been out there. We've giggled about it in the hallways. Why not bring it to the air? Had to. Yeah. Had to. But there wasn't a solution.

Problems and solutions. We didn't. I thought of like hylerotic acid solution. No. We just didn't have a verbal solution for how to not. incriminate myself. When in doubt use Chris. Penis. That's the Terry that I keep doing.

Oh, I know. I'm sure there has been a few phrases said in reference to Terry and buy certain things. There's only certain people that can get away with it. I'm not one of them. I am not. I don't believe I am either. I think Terry Boers and Chris Rangia, the only ones you can get away was saying, penis in? Penis now. The text are as. as good as you would imagine. Is that an XL ski jumping suit,

or are you just happy to see me? Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. What? What is that? It's a whole family thing. What? I thought you were doing, like, the Woody Woodpecker thing. I thought it was a theme.

That's like the theme song. I don't know for the same song. I thought it was the interload. interlude from one of those Contra games, or Konami games, like Contra or Kung Fu or something. I don't have time to go to the whole origin. As a child, as a suburban youth,

we used to drive every year to a farm in Waynesville, Ohio, friends of ours that grew up in the Northwest suburbs, but then moved to a farm. So every year we would go to this farm. A bunch of people on the block, we would all caravan to Waynesville, Ohio, and we're young kids hanging out,

city kids, hanging out on a farm, which is a blast. And I love animals. So it's like this just beautiful. unbelievable thing. But for some reason, the parents all hung out, they partied, they drank, and occasionally would sing that song when something fun would happen. They would just all go, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And now you know more about the Grotty family. You guys had family sing-alongs. It's precious.

I probably could have condensed that whole story into, yeah, we had family sing-alongs. No, I need the whole backstory. That's just, that's very, very nice, nice. You're really catching on, Leila. Are you kidding? I had to teach you about the office. You did. Guys, Grody did not know about the five families episode of the office. But I did know about the dinner party and I do know about the deposition.

Do you know the deposition episode where they're all said? That is the reading it back to Michael what he said. Who is this, Ryan? Yeah. That's what she said. No, that's what she said. It's so funny. That takes some good actors to pull that off.

It really does. It really does. That's what she said. That's what she said. Okay, we got to go. Five on it is next. There's. Pino's.

Hey, y'all. I'm Maddie. And I'm Poodle. And together, we host the podcast Reality Gays. We are two ridiculous homosexuals who love nothing more than talking about reality television and tearing in a new one. So whether it's 90-day fiancé, love is blind, love after lockup, or any other trash TV show about lonely hearts looking for love, your gay besties got you cover, y'all. New shows every week. Follow and listen to Reality Gays, wherever you get your podcast.

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