Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Transition: Brad Underwood has evolved as a coach

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote welcomed on Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes for the daily transition segment.

A plastic surgeon added a new layer to the Petus. 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. Thank God. Thank God we had somebody else saying that word. I couldn't stop laughing the whole time.

Our tribute to Terry Bores was just a little late. Well, you know the rest. by something else. I mean, speaks, did anybody ever on this station say the word better than Terry Boers? One of one, the goat of saying penis.

Good for him. Good start to the day, hey, man. Hey, I was told there would be fart jokes and that we all get to make it. You started it, Layla, for the record. No, I did not. You started it.

Those Olympic ski jumpers did. You can't handle the fact that you started it. The Olympic ski jumpers did. I'm just reporting the news. P penis bread. I don't know what that is. Well, some people like it with Cracker Jack, and that's fine. Only one person likes it with Cracker Jack.

As far as we know. He's the offensive coordinator of the Giants. I've never tried it with Cracker Jack. Some respect on that man's name. Oh, yeah. Peanuts and Cracker Jacks. Good luck to John Harbaugh, everybody. Buy me some penis and Cracker Jack.

The best. Dude, I was at the office at NBC Sports Chicago where that happened. I just started screaming. He was so popular then that nobody cared that he said that word. Oh, yeah, we did. Yeah, we did. We still do. I'm so glad that at least here we caught on.

What in a ton we could do with that? Where do you buy that? Where's that concession stand? The penis and cracker, it is down the block. It is down the block. That is correct. It's a little extra. You've got to put a deposit down.

Thanks. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. Thanks to Ray Diaz. Thanks to Tyler Buter Bauer for a tremendous open. I'm already terrified of the one that is going to happen tomorrow. Poor Marshall. We'll have to hear that for himself. Thanks to Brandon Friar.

Thanks to Connor O'Donnell. Jacob Stutz. Max Curtis, Cody Westerlin. Thanks to Bruce Levine for hopping on and also dropping some really important information with us. And thanks to Ryan Dempster for having some fun too and making us jealous of innings fest. Guys, we mess this up.

We should be going this week. Yeah, I'm going to be out there. I don't know if I can get to Innings Fest. I want to desperately, like the rock and roll lineup is excellent. And Dempster's lineup and everything that he's doing is just amazing with his buddy Jake Peavy playing music with all those people. It's going to be unbelievable. McGee Montero, Mark Grace, like Jason Kipnis is a part of it, apparently.

Jason hangs out around town. Ray, did you say public enemy is going to be there? Public enemy is in the line. By the time they get to Arizona? Yep. Wow. 89. Look at that lineup.

Look at the lineup of Axe. It's excellent. That's amazing. It's one after another. Like I said, between Riot Fest and Lollapalooza, like combined the bands that I saw for that are better than both of those. Although they may just be trying to appeal to a certain demo, which you and I may fall into. That's right. And as they should, like make your money.

That's where musicians these days make their money. They make it on stage, not in the recording. recording studio. Yep. That's why I literally asked this question of somebody yesterday who is a fan of poison. And I said, are they still touring because everybody tours? Because that's how you make money in this day. And I don't think they are. I think Brett Michaels in some form of, I don't think solo somewhere the other night. I have a friend who decided to go out and see him the other night. Really? Really? Where? I want to say it's the Arcata Theater. Oh, yeah. In Elgin, right? I believe so. I could. I could be wrong.

Dude, if there's one thing I used to love watching, it was Rock of Love and Rock of Love bus. Who was the woman with the cowboy head? I liked her on Rock of Love. That could be literally any one of that. No, you're right. It was a Lita Ford. But I feel like her nickname was a, no, that's Joan Jett, my dad. Given to her, it was like.

Was her nickname like Cowboy? Yeah, like that's what it was. I was like, I kind of like her. You have a cowboy head on. I'm going to name you cowboy. Lita Ford and Joan Jett both in the runaways, way back when. That's your combo player.

Bring that together. Do you remember that? Joan Jett went to like Orioles picture day and then she just hung out the booth and like she like took a picture with him and had her Orioles jacket on. I was like as if you weren't cool enough. Badass. Legendary badass. John Jett.

Of course. She's amazing. She loves rock and roll more than anybody. That's the fact. She sings all about it. Yes, she does. Her nickname was Rodeo. All I know is there.

were like 95 heathers on that show. Heather 1, I love you, but not as much as Heather 4. Oh, Heather's. I loved Heather's. Bulimia is so 87. Every rose. Has this, though. And he wore the bandanas with the eyeliner.

That's right. And there's Cece Deville, too. But he wasn't really a part of it. It was more just about all the women who wanted the affections of Brett Michaels. See, what, every time I think about a hair metal, though, I think of the eventual turn that Seattle and Grun-Dry exacted upon them.

Like with one thing led, it's kind of like, frankly, how the West Coast offense, Lawrence led to Lawrence Taylor, you know? Or the other way around, I should say. To me, still to this day, like, smells like Teen Spirit is a call to arms. It is the end

of the glam rock stuff of the 80s and early 90s. It's like literally shut the doors. Like, yeah, that whole thing's over now. Can we get back to Vibeau? and angry guitar-based, strip it down, rock and roll. Thank you very much. Take the makeup off.

Yeah. Hey, hey. That's what it got down to. You're right. There's nothing wrong with the makeup, though. I mean, glam had its day as well. And everything comes back around. It's all just a cycle.

It was just the right time for the pushback. You know, I remember, like, I grew up on Grunge, obviously, and I remember those, like, VH1 shows that are like, whatever happened to the power ballad. And at the time, I didn't really get it. And I'm like, you know what? There's a place for everybody here. Yes, of course.

I love a good power ballad. You are. right. I was like when grunge hit, I was in a grunge elitist. I was like, ha-ha to all those bad 80s bands. And for the most part, I kind of still believe that. But I have a new appreciation now, like where I would go. I have been to the Arcade, Arcata Theater, however it's pronounced, to see Winger.

I have seen Winger. So I have come back around to at least appreciate those bands again. And I was a deaf leopard, Bon Jovi guy in high school. Grunge was what I always needed. It's a cycle is what it is. Like, if grunge is a rose, like every rose has its thorn, you can say. Okay. Thank you very much.

Drive safe. Do you guys remember all of the conversation around the November rain video? Like, do you remember, like, man, that was epic. Like, that was cinematic? Yeah. What are they trying to say? Yes. Stephanie Seymour.

What are they trying to say in this video? I've never seen a music video. that. That was one of the greatest videos of all time. That's what I'm saying. It was like Thriller in November rain. Are we still waiting on Chinese democracy? Like it's totally going to change the game, but dude. Just like the detox album. And waiting on that

detox album from Dre from about 20, 25 years still waiting on it. We're just ignoring the spaghetti incident, I guess, is what we're saying. Question mark. What about the string cheese incident? That video was awesome. But see like, Gus and Roses had its time and then it kind of had

lull, and then it came back with a vengeance. Yeah. Two-A theater near you. I remember when Welcome to the Jungle came out in that video, I don't know if you guys remember, but Axel Rose, he was all, he had the blonde hair, he had makeup on, like it was kind of like, they were like, kind of, they're not playing the same music as Motley Crew and Poison, but they looked like them still. They were a pushback of sorts in L.A., like them and L.A. guns were kind of pushing back.

They all hung out at Cantley Cair. the Jewish deli there at like the late-night Jewish deli. And there's a bar there that they used to play at called the Kibbitt's Room. Well, I mean, is that adorable. Lee guitarist's his name's Saul, so that makes sense. Exactly. But Sweet Child of Mine comes out, and then all of a sudden the long red hair, and he just looks like a rock star without all the excess, and then boom, Guns and Roses.

One of the greatest rock bands ever. I had the... absolute privilege of when they were in town in 2021, I happened to be outside of Wrigley when Slash did an air check. Because he's a pro and he still does an air check. It's important. He does a sound check and that's exactly what happened. So it was a slash sound check and I just got to hear him wail.

That's the best. It was a really strange, like it was funny because last night I had been on House of Elle and we know each other from going to high school together working at the high school radio station, 88.5, Flossmore. I know with everybody. And so we were based off of the loop. And it was, you know, this is 90, 91 when we, when we start working there. And so it, we had transitioned into playing like grunge music, like grunge music for high school kids back in the day was a thing.

Oh, yeah. You know, so DJing in that environment. That's right. I actually did DJ. I had multiple DJ shifts at WHFHFH back in the day. DJ LWH. Yeah. And it was so fun because then you learn about music

and then I figure out like I'm loving stuff by going backwards in it. And it's like, oh, I like Led Zeppelin because I like the Beastie Boys. And that whole first album is just Led Zeppelin loops. And you're like, oh, oh. And part of the reason I like Led Zeppelin going backwards is because I like blues.

music and they just stole it all. That's the best part of doing that. When I was doing, I did XRT overnights on Fridays, did Friday overnight's on XRT for a while, and I would just like listen to it random stuff before and after, like going through the catalog, man. It's how you learn.

It's the best. Here's hosier. Do it. Do XRTJ. Here's Illumaneers. Yeah, you do it, Spiegel. You were on that show, too. You did that one show, right? Yeah, the sound opinions show. Love that show. It wasn't his show, but he was on that. I was near that show.

I was near that show. Yeah, but that was like we had crazy guests in there. Tom Petty came in. I hung out with Tom Petty for two hours. What? On that show. Yeah. That's incredible.

Like the crazy history of, you know, the score is XRT's little brother and all the things that we saw being at Belmont. You know, like, just the people who happened to be walking in the hallway. You're like, wait, what? Or who's at the back door? Is that Bob Plant? Blondie. I'll tell you on that sound opinions show, which we did Tuesday nights live from 10 to 12.

We had John Hughes, the filmmaker, in to talk about his soundtracks with all the music on it. Sick. Breakfast club and whatnot. Oh, yeah. Like all of those things. You know, just crazy, crazy fun and exciting. We'd woke in there the week after 9-11. They played Ashes of American Flags live right there.

The week after 9-11, I got chills thinking about it. Crazy. Spiegel, have I ever told you that I went to high school? with the drummer of Wilco 100 times. But you really haven't told people enough about is you playing clarinet. Yes, I played clarinet. Wait, what?

But I did. I played clarinet for 17 years of my life. Yes. Bring it in. Do you have one? Do you have one? I do. Oh, man. Bring it in, come on. I'll bring in the trumpet. You bring in the clarinet.

I'll bring the viola. Let's go. No harmony. Well, no melody among any of us. I've got to be honest with you. Unfortunately, I allowed my mom about five, six years ago to donate it to somebody else. Oh, there's a great musician out there that was born because you donated.

I love that. That's true. Correct. If I bring you one, could you play it? I could still play it. I could still read the music. Let's go. I still know, like I could think in my head.

I could do the full chromatic scale, which is the real test. Can you do the chromatic scale up and down in one breath? That was what we were required to do. Can you do the chromatic? I could definitely still do that. But yeah. And, you know, like Glenn and I, we hung out a little bit. So I'm just saying.

When's the last time you picked up a viola? Probably mine? I just to see just how out of tune it is every now and then. The bow needs to be rehired and I need new strings. Rehaired. So you pick it up frequently enough to know that. Yeah. It's not sitting in a storage unit is what I'm saying.

No, it's at my apartment. A viola is a not violin. It's what I call a viola. It's not a violin. And everybody's always like, oh, I didn't picture you as a viola. player. I don't have to be lead on everything I do. You're not a flute player? I thought all girls were flute players. What are you doing? You can't accuse me of halftime and say that. Don't profile. Don't profile like that. Hey, it's okay that your bow needs to be rehired. A lot of men

out there need to be re-haired. Grody reads commercials for them. That's true. That's true. I didn't realize how inappropriate it sounded until I said it out loud because I don't know the last time I talked about it. That's UE, bro. But we're here. And I'll embrace it. Hey, so you guys know, I've sworn off Bulls basketball. I refuse to watch Bulls basketball. Well, you're in good shape because there's no Bulls basketball. Telling people that. I think it's okay.

I think it's okay. I will follow Bulls' news, but it's like this opportunity that they're offering us to watch this batch that they've collected here post-trade deadline is not interesting to me. Instead, I'm watching some out-of-town NBA. I'm watching a lot of college basketball. I'm doing some lottery scouting. Great game last night. Dude, that's where I'm. going, Lawrence, watching Houston

and Iowa State. That kid, Kingston Fleming's, holy hell can he create shots, but he got shut down. Houston's Kingston Fleming's got shut down towards the end. And then the other kid on Iowa State, Nate Heise, how about that family's day yesterday?

His older sister scores a goal in the Olympics in hockey, and then he hits the game winning three at night to beat Houston. Pretty sick. That's incredible. Come on. I've said that like four times that word, but it really is. It really is. It's unbelievable. I'm sure that the family text thread was hopping, you know? It's like my family text thread does not hop with, with experiences

like that. That's just amazing. But yes, Lawrence, that was a great game last night. Did you guys see this stat? This is, I think it was a few weeks ago that the align I had the most efficient offense or the highest net rating, something along those lines, some superlative in the Ken Palm era. Yeah, so it's interesting, in one of these days I want to talk to Brad Underwood about this, because when he first got here, one of the things that he talked about was he wanted a shot put up in the first seven seconds. So like ultimate like efficiency of and pace, right? Loyola Merrimount. Right. And what I've noticed is that he's evolved as a coach. And usually at this point in their career, coaches don't evolve like that. And I'm, fascinated by it, like watching his team, and they're not a running gun squad, they can score, they can get up and down the floor, but watching their half court sets, I've been like, look at this.

Like this isn't just run and let's try to tire out the other team or let's win the pace battle. It's been really well-coached. It's a fascinating job. It's a fascinating job these days, college coaching, because you're reinventing every year at the highest level and you have to adapt to what you have. What he's built with that Eastern European connection that just keeps going and going and going is really, really impressive.

With him and Bilema, they got something going on coaching-wise at the U of I these days. They also just know who they are. Like you don't hear either one of them complaining about transfer portals. You don't hear either one of them talking about the state of college athletics. They're just like, these are our guys and this is who we're going with this year and here's why they're good. They're both the jobs that they want to be in, too. it feels like. I brought this up

last week. I think that we are in the golden era of Aligni Athletics. I heard you say that to Cam Buckner. What did he say? He agreed. Really? Yeah, he agreed because if you look at it like women's basketball is doing well, men's basketball is top 10 and the football team continues

to go to bowl games. And there was a thought that with the expansion of the Big Ten, that Aligni football will get kind of lost in the shuffle. And so Brett Bilema was always talking about staying above the cut line. That was his big phrase and they've done

that and they've gone beyond that. And to see it now, like what Josh Whitman has done, like the hires that he's made, it's impressive stuff. And then Cam Buckner perfectly broke down the offensive approach of Frank Thomas. And that's why he'll be co-hosting hit and run this coming

summer. But first he's got to host score values. Going to break him in. He's got to do score values. He'll be natural for that though. Why you got to cancel Tyler Buterbaugh? He's right here. Tyler. Tyler is the host of score of values.

You don't mind if state legislator Cam Buckner hops in for one. Do you? No, I've had him on before. Why don't you have him on? You can talk to him, you know. Tyler with the Uno Reverse on your ass right there. Thanks for listening, Speaks. What do we got?

Big fan, Tyler. You know that. Big fan of the show. What do we got this week? Talking to somebody about prostates, the importance of getting checked. What are we doing this week? Uno reverse and a draw four. A draw four.

You just got God. I'll still come back and get him. I'll four hours. I'll come back and get him. He'll be long gone by the time you figure it out. It's really nice that we've got a guy. Like, we've got a state legislator for that. I really did.

Speez is right. Like, hearing him wax poetic about Frank was really beautiful. And when you realize, like, Camp Buckner's background of the work that he did working for the Cubs. Yeah. And growing up a kid and more. Oregon Park and it's there are a lot of times when politicians like to play the game of I'm a sports fan I can talk sports a ball with you guys there's the difference between that and what

Cam Buckner is out here doing like one he played two he takes it fairly seriously I'm thinking of Rahm Emanuel on the TV broadcast trying to talk about Ron Santos making a great play and he was asked he's like are there was a time that he jumped in the air and he's he kind of caught a ball. I don't remember exactly, but he jumped. It was really great. That was his favorite Santo play. Was it a Governor Ryan? What did Governor Ryan's call?

Dick Butka. I was like, he was kidding, right? But no, he did do a Dick Butka. Was it Mike Butka? No, there was a guy. It was Dick Bucka. I was sure. Dick Bucka. I'm not sure that any governor of Texas would make that mistake. You know what I'm saying? Seriously. It's the truth.

Dick Butka. Pat Quinn was like legitimately a White Sox fan. Like a crazy white Sox man. Thick is Chicago accent, I think too, for our, for doing Chicago accent ratings. We are. The highest one as a governor. I need to hear the sound. Yeah.

Yeah. It just come on a lot. I'm excited. Yeah. Here's what we have planned for today's show. We are bringing back Ben's vision today. We are going to start talking about position groups for the bears and then, you know, the knee. Oh, the golf clap, golf clap.

And that's important for us. We will get into that. So Hadav Sharma will join us at 325. We're going to talk clubs with him. And it's quite the newsday in baseball. Antoine Walker is going to join us. Why? Because we just want to have a little basketball joy.

And Russ and I, exactly, Lela, Russ and I stumbled upon something that we want to run by Antoine about, like, the love of basketball. itself. I think that's one of the issues that the NBA has. There's a lack of the love of the actual game of basketball and its history.

So we're going to talk with him about that. I asked him, I said, can you tell us a couple of Jordan stories? He's like, all right. So that'll be at 5 o'clock. But when we come back, major salute that, ma'am, news in MLB Players Association stuff.

There's a lot. There's a lot. And we are going to try and look at this thing. Just enjoy the season, everybody. That's what we were told. Thanks, Tom. I don't think the players liked hearing that either. So we are going to spend some time talking about that a whole hour, as a matter of fact, because we got some sound from the two camps, which we will go through. That will be after Taney's open, which is always a must listen.

It's next here on the score. And this segment is sponsored by Chicagoland Roofing Council. Hey, Chicago, we all need a check-up once in a while, including the roofing system on your business. If it's time to check on your roof, call the Chicagoland Roofing Council. Chicago's Roofing Professionals, serving Chicagoland, Northern Illinois, and Southern Wisconsin. Learn more at chicagoroofing.org.