Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Transition: Canada looked so sad getting its silver medals

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote welcomed on Matt Spiegel and Ryan McGuffey for the daily transition segment.

Why airports? I have to know. They're kind of one and the same. Because when you think about speaker phones and you think about people that just, there's no rules in airports. So I just flew back from the Legacy Bowl like you mentioned. It was 10 a.m. in the morning in New Orleans Airport. There were three young ladies sitting there eating a big plate of nachos. Like, how you even have the taste for that at 10 in the morning?

He wasn't wrong. Every hunt has a lot of good thoughts. So he said that these are inventions that shouldn't have happened. Speakerphone, airports, and mock drafts. And now I'm sorry I did not realize that despite seeing Ryan McGuffey and thinking to myself, that looks like Ryan McGuffey, that I thought you were going to be on our show. Happy to see Ryan McGuffie.

Happy to see Max Peegle back from Arizona. Where's Lawrence? Hey, Griff. Hey, Griff. I just shared my coach story. You did. Griff? Ryan McGuffie said Dave Wonstead calls him Griff.

What's this ball of booze on your desk? Wait, coach, you're talking to me? Yeah, he is. So instead of guff, it's Griff? Is that the... I need the why. I need the why here. I think he just thought it was Griffey.

Oh, he just... McGrifty. McGreffy. Yeah, he might be trying to say... Are you related to Fred? He did you like baseball. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, you might have gone that way.

That's about where it stops. Me and Griffey... I see you where you're back. But, yes, Lawrence, to answer your question, Tyler Budabaw, Well, it's a good question. Lawrence is off for the day. I am here back from Arizona, was on a plane this morning at 6.05, as a matter of fact, out of Phoenix. And here we are. Now, I feel good, man. I am nothing but enthused from that whole experience. You know how that goes. And now I get to be back here. And Ryan McGuffie of the recap podcast. You might know him formerly of White Sox Talk, but now it's what? It's the White Sox Recap podcast. Thank you very much. See what you did there. You and Brian Anderson. Brian Anderson.

Hey, Brian Anderson, yeah. But Guff and I have worked together many a time here, has hosted inside the clubhouse, many, many a time. Was our regular co-host last year. But Guff is a great sports mind and a Chicago media stalwart, and I'm looking forward to the next four hours. Is that all it is? Is it four hours? That's Brian Anderson, the former White Sox outfielder. Not the Brewers, broadcaster, T&T.

No. Right. Yes, Brian Anderson. Do you need more than four hours of a runway to get your thoughts off? I get it. It's a Monday. There's a lot that happened over the weekend. There's a lot going on.

No, no, I was saying that's all. There was a lot of sarcasm in there. That's awful. I was making sure. I heard of White Sox talk podcast in the middle of a very bleak off season go an hour before with you and Chuck. Yep. That's one hour. He's a little daunted by the floor.

I got you, kid. Stick with me. I got some stuff too. I know you did. I know you always do. He wore a long sleeve. He's got stuff up his sleeve. No, I got some short sleeves on, too.

Oh, double sleeves. I got a little bit of both. Yeah. We're going to lose mustard here soon. We taste tested some pistachios before the show, so we'll do that in a segment if need be. What flavor? Sweet cinnamon, pistachios. And?

Chili roasted. Marshall, what would be, like, if you were just picking a flavor of those two right now, you'd go what? It's from the fine folks at wonderful pistachios who have figured out something. They must have a machine that shells the pistachios on moss. I want to watch that process. I'm going to go sweet cinnamon, just because, you know, the acid reflux, if it's a little too much, I got to be able to talk the next day. I was, it was by far sweet cinnamon of the two.

Yeah. You got to, like, you can overdo it. Dots, pretzels and sweet cinnamon. Or the cinnamon sugar? Mm-mm. Too much? I was going to say sweet cinnamon sounds like something one would not be able to, okay, maybe I'll speak from it.

I don't think I'd be able to stop eating something. That's the problem. We could have kept, yeah. Wait, what was you there? We were knuckle deep in that bag. Chili roasted. Oh, yeah, chili for me. Yeah.

I think they're both good. They are. Also, sweet cinnamon, I saw her dancing the other night. Thank you. In Scottsdale. You know what? Was it S-I-N-N? Scottsdale is that kind of place.

It is that kind of place. I'll tell you this. The same thing you guys are describing with the pistachios is like the same problem I have with popcorn, grapes. As long as they exist, they are going to be eaten in one setting, and that's the problem. I cannot divide. They're just gone. Sunflower seed.

Yeah, because all is there available to me, I would just continue to eat. You blow right through serving size. Yeah, I once had a weight therapist who tried to help me and prescribed the three-byte rule, the three-byte concept, that the first bite is filled with the anticipation and the excitement of what the experience is going to be. The second bite is, I am in the middle of having this. I am enjoying this. And the third bite is saying goodbye to it.

So you're like closing the narrative. And everything else, when you think about it, all the other bites that you're adding in the middle of that, you're just repeating the same feelings and sensations. I guess I'm that guy, like, when I go visit relatives in Alabama, and I think I'm leaving, and, you know, continue to have the conversation as you leave, as you put your coat on, as you get the front door, as you open your car, as you get in the car, you're in the window, still talking out the side of your window. You've got lingeritis.

A lot of us with food do. What's wrong with repeating the sensation, though? Yeah. She doesn't say anything about your point. during that. Yeah, can we make it last? I have a bowl of ice cream still. Also, like, I'm a bit, I, it sounds good in theory.

In theory. But who does that? Nobody does that. It's the theory of you only taste the first bite, but for most of us, nope, I taste the second, the third, the 14th, the 15th, and the 16th. Taste it all. What I appreciated about is it made me think about, like, the little journey I'm going on and how I don't necessarily need to add all those things.

It did not change my life and make me lose weight. forever. I was going to ask if she's on retainer. Yeah. So let me ask questions. So yesterday in Arizona, me and Christine go on a hike, it was awesome. We went to this place called Pinnacle Peak. And I had to climb for a while, and I did it. I was doing well, very excited. We made it to the top of Pinnacle Peak. And as people are coming down next to me, a couple people said, hey, good job. Good job. So the question is, do you internalize that as good job, fat person?

or do you internalize that as encouragement? Like, hey, I'm sure you're working hard. You're doing a very national. I chose to internalize it as praise. I took it as praise and encouragement, because I felt that for other people. When you see other people out there, you're all out there together trying to make it up a difficult hike.

It's like everybody, the spirit is good, the vibe is good. So I chose to take it that way. Speak, same energy when I was on the lakefront, running my four miles on Saturday. And I see people, and I always try to like acknowledge who I'm passing that's running past me as I run past them. And then if it's like a person that obviously is not going as fast because maybe they're just starting their running. Come on. They've had a bit of a setback.

I always make sure give them a little head and I like, yeah. Keep keep it going. Come on. Keep it going. Yeah, we can interpret things. This is a little bit of switch of that and how one interprets things. but I was at the House of Blues last night. I was seeing a couple of bands with a friend,

and we were probably on the older side of the demographic at this show last night. Probably. Probably. And somebody was coming through, and she looks at me. I'm all the way at the back of the House of Blues. And she just looks at me and she goes,

and she was pretty, she had had a few. And she goes, she goes, Lou? I go, uh, no, she kept going, Lou, Lou. Lou. She wanted to know where the bathroom was. She's like, do you know where the Lou is? And I was like, why are you asking me? And I realize it's because I'm the older guy with this big coat on standing in the back,

looking like maybe I'm a security guy or just don't belong there or I was the person that should be asked. Without a drink. You're right, Spiegel. You're right, Spiegel. Yeah, yeah. Yes. You're the big guy with the jacket and no drinks. Oh, he works here.

At first I thought, oh, I'm just a friendly looking guy. So she wanted to know, because you're the old guy who might know where the bathroom is. Oh, that's amazing. I had a guy one time, like, tried to talk to me while we were all waiting in line at the airport to board the plane. Emory Hunt's right about the airports, you know. And then as I'm putting my suitcase in the overhead bin, he's like, wow, good job. And I just stared. I stopped the entire boarding process for a good.

second and just looked at it. Why? He's just congratulating you on putting your bag of the top. Doing the thing that literally everybody else had just done? Fair. Back to what Mark just said about his concert experience. Yeah. Yeah. Kendrick Lamar, Siza, I think I told

you this Laila, Lila. My best friend and I were at this concert. Now, we're a little older than the average people at the Kendrick Lamar Sizz a concert. This is in Philly. And you're like, sir, I really like your hat. Sir. That's tough. I look at my boy, he looks at me.

I was like, we gotta get out of it. So that's why you quit concerts. Sir? That's what it was. Excuse me, sir. Oh, yeah. I really enjoyed Jack O'Callaghan with you guys. Oh, yeah.

It was really cool to hear him. And his life has continued on to do amazing things. Somehow some ways, Pete. Somehow some ways since 1980. But I especially loved when he talked about what this is, because the story of this moment, I've seen and heard things where like people are kind of comparing and contrasting with 1980. And to me,

that feels so sort of tangential from what this is because it's rare that we get a chance to see and live long enough, frankly, to see the life cycle of something where 1980, as O'Callaghan said to you guys, was built on 1960. And this moment, yes, was built on 80, but also really built on Ryan Miller and those Olympic teams. And Jeremy Roanick, who we're hoping to speak to today, and that 2002 team with Keith Kachuk. And here are his boys on this team.

It's like yesterday, which was so amazing, we're going to spend a lot of time on the show talking about it. Yesterday was so amazing. It doesn't happen without 1980. There's no need to compare and contrast. They just one thing led to another. and that's a beautiful life cycle. We don't often get to see it in sports,

and that was part of yesterday's awesomeness. Well, and Guff, like how many times at NBC Sport Chicago when we were covering the Blackhawks, we heard about how youth hockey participation in the city was so much higher over the years because of the 2010. Yes, yes. It's like seeing the Tiger Woods effect with golfers of color, you know. It's like this is, or golfers of,

what we're seeing when we see stuff like this is the natural ebb and flow. power of seeing quality representation and dreaming of the possibilities. Some people say representation doesn't matter, but I'm like, there's so much evidence to the contrary. Come on. God, of course. Says the person who's always had representation and it matter, right? That's always how it is.

I mean, the comparison thing, I don't get at all. I just don't, like, if you want to compare the 73-win warriors and the 72-win bulls, have at it. It's the, like, this can, this is one bridge. to it that built another bridge that built another bridge. And it's just been waiting to be completed for nearly 50 years. And it finally got done. That was the subtext of the whole day, which was lovely.

And the fact that it was 46 years to the day is insane. I love that. That's the sports plan. It's just so cool. But you sent the, I'm not on social media much anymore, so I hadn't seen it, but I'm glad you sent it. Mike Ruggione being carried on one of the players' shoulders in celebration last night. Yeah.

This is not a 72. dolphins thing, right? Like, this is not like the 80 guys, every time that the gold medal failed. It's like, all right, it's just us. And no, no, no. Like, that's not it at all. Like, they're fought.

They're in Italy. At the games, like blood, sweat and tears. Yeah, Dave Christians in the stands. They're feeling the losses. They're tears of joy, or they're tears and beers because Arizioni's being, you know, carried, paraded through the bars of Milan, which was awesome. What a crazy, beautiful.

thing to get to see. If anybody hasn't watched the Netflix documentary, the Boys of 80? Boys of 80, yeah. It's, and because it's all those guys just kind of hanging around and like, and they're in a rink. They're in the rink at Lake Placid, which is tiny,

and it just feels insane. And they're watching footage of their tryouts, and they're watching footage of their games and just like talking about it. It's amazing. So I'm glad you guys had him. I thought he was great. On the other side of it, have you ever seen a more sad bunch of athletes getting silver medals put around their necks.

And I'm not saying that I took any sort of excitement in that. I did. I was like, man. I did. I did too. Part of me felt like as a human, I felt bad. Like, that's all they care about is hockey. And they lost.

So I can't imagine what they're talking about today. But they look so sad. Their country's frozen three quarters of the year. Yes. They were happier getting their little stuffed animals, whatever those were. Stout. I could imagine what they're talking about. They're whining about the format and everything else that was Assonite.

Oh, the best teams on the ice is us. Well, enjoy your silver. I don't understand it because you wouldn't have been saying those same things had. Well, one guy said it, right? Or did multiple. I don't know. I got observers, but McKinnon was the ring. McKinnon said we're the best team on the ice.

McKinner. Three on three is a gimmick. You wouldn't have been saying that if you won the gold medal. You asked it. U.S. didn't say that when they lost in a three on three in 2020. It's a one and done medal round. That's what it is. The Canadians reminded me of 2004

Team USA Olympic basketball. The bronze medalists. Except for those guys weren't petty. They just threw their freaking medals into the river or whatever and never to be seen again. But these guys just came off as petty and angry. I understand why they were anger, but they could have been, in my opinion,

a little bit classier in the way they handled it. We're playing by the rules. You know the rules. Adjust to the rules and keep it moving. But also, they played a damn good team. Like Hellebuk had an amazing performance. You have to say it was 18 for 18 on penalty kill the entire tournament.

You know what it reminded me of? Like, nobody talks about. Five on three for 93 seconds. What it reminded me of was something very recent. Like Canadian tears are kind of as tasty as Packers' tears. Really? Wow. I don't feel that way.

Yesterday it did. Yesterday it did. Canadians aren't listening to our station right now waiting for us to talk. Meanwhile, Packers fans are like, what are you saying? We're free in your heads. Tell me, are you ramp free? This is a real rivalry. And like the Americans have had a freaking chip on their shoulder forever.

And they finally got it done yesterday. And the Canadians had any bit of whining about that? We were like, where's sad Wayne Larravee? Is there like a Canadian Wayne Larravee on the call? The dagger! Well, no, the sad one. Like, oh my God, can you believe it? The Bears win.

The Bears win the game. Tanny's looking. We might have something for you even within the hour. But it's like, to me, this thing is a rivalry, and those guys have been better forever, and they got beat. That it was amazing. Canadians are so polite, though. Not Nathan McKinnon. Not Nathan McKinnon.

Not John Cooper. That's why, if they would have given the head nod to Hollabick and be like, hey, we were the best team on the ice had not been for that nut job in net, like, then I would have been cool with that. Yeah. But to not acknowledge the play in net at all, and just to say with a four match, it's a gimmick. The reason NHL players are back playing in the Olympics is because of that gimmick. They don't want four or five, six overtimes. So deal with it. I just have a real problem if you're only given one side.

If you're taking the gold medals and just saying, oh, yeah, they gave us a great fight. Hey, man. It felt like Kishon Nixon, like, you got beat by Jod Day Walker in the back of the end zone, pal. Like, hey, Maclin Celebrini, you had what, five shots from 15 feet away and you couldn't get it There's plenty of soccer players who hate PKs in the way that tournament's in, but guess what? Those are the rules, and they deal with it. And you had, what, 35 to 18 in the last two periods and shots on goal? Oh, my God.

Finish the game. Don't go to the gimmick. Finish the game. That's hockey, baby. We've got a lot of hockey today on the show because we're both kind of set on fire by the electricity of that game yesterday morning. Jeremy Ronick is going to be on this show in the 3 o'clock hour. Two-time Olympian who won silver in Salt Lake City while.

playing with Keith Kachuk. So we'll talk with him about Keith's boys and about what happened yesterday. J. Zawaski's going to be on the show later just to help us bask in some hockey goodness. Parish Shuts from Fox across the street is going to help us break down everything that's going on with the Bears Stadium stuff and Soldier Field. And yes, we got a ton of baseball. I was at Cubs camp for embedded for three days. I got lots of stuff.

And was at Cubs Sox on Friday? And Guff has big time White Sox thoughts. to break down with us as well. We'll sneak those in before a break. We're going to have a blast, everybody. So hang out. Thank you, Leila. Thank you, Marshall.

Thank you, Groats. And Ray and Tyler, and everybody, guess what? It's Spiegel and Oams with Speegs and Ryan McGuffie. Alex Coon is here. Tanny's open. Kicks us off next on the score.