Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Transition: Remembering Chicago's failed bid for the 2016 Olympics

Episode Date: February 24, 2026

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

What do we call it passionate about Tyson, Bage, and Ben Johnson? I call it The Conjuring. You can call whatever you want. It does sound like. He's got an exorcist's vibe. Right. He's going to go crawling down the steps on his back like a scorpion. Also, I am crab walking.

Get out of the house. It's like Amnibald horror. Get out of the house. No. Thanks to everybody who helped with our show. Sean Sears, thanks to helping us with all of the audio, from the Combine. Thanks to Ray Diaz.

Tyler Beaterbaugh and Brandon Friar. Thanks to Connor O'Donnell, Jacob Stutz, Max Curtis, Chris Emma for joining us from the Combine, Marshall Harris and Mark Roddy. And now we bring in Lawrence Holmes and Matt Spiegel. Does Ben Johnson love Tyson pageant more than Caleb Williams next? Who'd you guys have on from Indy?

Your guy, Chris Emma. You mean State House? Statehouse. Statehouse, Emma. That's our new nickname for Chris. Talk to me. Well, because Mitch had it in the email. Usually, if you just get the email heading as your name, it means you're fired, you know?

Or it means like something wonderful is happening. Chris Emma. That's a very big experience. Chris Emma. And it was, Chris Emma will be in Indianapolis or, you know, for the Combine and to cover the State House. And I was immediately, that's a nickname right there. Chris Statehouse Emma. And so we are all about it as a show.

You don't have to do it if you don't want it, but it's going to be. He will be expected to perform. out there. You know, when we had Emma on, I was talking about it. They do this cool women covering the Combine, women in Media event every single year, led by Courtney Cronin from ESPN. And at this event, for the last two years that I have attended,

obviously not this year. I'm not in indie right now. Kevin Warren and George McCasky are always there just to say hi to everybody, just to show a support for the event. I wonder if they will be there and if there will be anything that will be reported tonight. So keep your...

Interesting. Yeah, yes. Kevin's been in a lot of events like that. Hasn't he held events like that? He has. He also has not been certain places, and it's been welcome that he hasn't been certain places. Yep.

And the feeling about some of those events are very interesting from people who have been to him. Oh, Kevin. Yo. And he was at the Olympics to see his... Well, that's just cool. That's a really good thing. Yeah, that's incredible.

To have a great niece to make it to the Olympics, make it to the Olympic team as a speed skater. Unbelievable. Yeah, that's awesome. Anytime you get the excuse to go to Italy, why not? My God. Talk about the envy. I mean, well, you have been to one. You've covered one? Two.

Marshall's been to one as well. Which one were you at? London, 2012. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, I've never been to Olympics. My folks used to go, they went to Lake Placid. They went to L.A. in 84. They used to make it like a group thing.

but I got to go to one. Well, they're in L.A. in two years, so. That's kind of being weird. Didn't we have the Olympics here in Chicago back in 2020? We were so close. We were out so fast. It didn't seem like y'all were so close from what I remember. Man, Marshall, the craziest part about it.

Infrastructure. Yeah, they're going to fix the red line, Lawrence. The craziest part about it was as it was happening, we were like, wait, is it? It was like the end of, uh, of Infinity War. Did we just lose? It was like that. Because it happened so quick. It happened so quick where they were like

Chicago. We're like, so we're out? We don't know anything else, but Chicago is out. That's what we want to do. It's a great day, everybody. It was amazing because we were all like on the air going, well, wait, what just happened here? I wasn't on the air. I was at Daily Plaza with Tributosaurus. We had been hired

to play the event. No. We were on stage, 10-piece band. We had three different 20-minute sets, programmed and ready-to-go, carefully chosen celebratory music, and we played our first set, and then we were out. And the giant crowd in attendance went from raucous to complete deathly silence. And we never played another note. We played 20 minutes of music instead of three sets. Oh, my God. The party just ended. It was so brutal. Well, Mitch had the voices already. Congratulations, Chicago. You've got the...

Hey, squash fans. And I swear, like, that show, like, came on the air, and it was, like, Chicago. And we were like, no. We're out? They were out of breath. They were out of breath. They couldn't get to the podium fast enough.

And, by the way, Chicago, no chance for you guys. On to the next. I never saw Rowdy Gaines so sad in my life. He was there, the former Olympic swimmer, big part of the push. Lawrence should have went for the head. Should have gone for the head. It's not that I wasn't more paying attention to national sports at the time when that happened, because, like, we heard about it, you know, and it was like, oh, Chicago has a bid.

So we were, like, aware, but it wasn't. We thought we were a lock. It consumes this. We were so arrogant. Being here 10 years and hearing all of the stories about, A, who was involved, which is an incredible group of people who sincerely. I look up to in many aspects of their professions. And then to hear like all of what happened.

I'm still hearing stories and I'm like, how did they not get this? So Laylo, it's crazy too because where they were thinking about doing the Olympic Village, a lot of people did speculative buying over there. Yeah. Where was it? Well, it was supposed to be like Washington Park slash like Hyde Park. So a lot of people bought over there, which is good. But when that happened, it was like, oh, now what am I going to do?

Because the Olympics was supposed to pay for this whole endeavor. Are you saying the 20 acres that I just bought in Portage, Indiana was not a good idea? Is that what you're saying? Because when that Bear Stadium comes, man, boom! Bang! Portage had, what, like 24 hours that they were on top of the world? Oh, no, no. There still are, you know, Ryan McGuffey, who was on the show yesterday,

Philadelphia for Lawrence has friends like in, he grew up in Portage, so he knows those people. Like, they're going to get something. This is what he said was they're going to get something. From private equity? No, no, no, because they have a lot of money and they do have a lot of private equity that's trying to get something. And I said, well, how about the White Sox? And he said, that's their next phone call. 100%.

That is their next phone call. And that Jerry Reinsdorf will be told, we'll build you a stadium. And you can have the land. And Jerry, will Jerry consider that? I don't know, but they're going to try and get something. Well, the profit, you know, the profit share is that's, I think, the rub, you know, is that money doesn't necessarily go to the team. It's going to go to the guy who put up the money.

The other part about it is I heard you guys talk to a pair of shots yesterday. I wish the equation was as simple as, well, it only takes a couple of events at Soldier Field to make up for the missed revenue of the bears. But the problem is everybody else goes. Like, see the Cotton Bowl or Texas Stadium for the California. Cowboys and in Dallas, everything ended up, including Texas, Oklahoma, which was the Cotton Bowl's key event. You know, it goes to AT&T Stadium. It's a really good point. So if the new Soldier Field is saying, hey, Beyonce, come here. The new Bears Stadium is going to be saying,

hey, Beyonce, come here. Should. Should. And because it's larger, it would be more enticing to a Beyonce or to a Taylor'sville because it can sell more tickets. But wouldn't, it's a great point, Wouldn't some of them want the beauty and majesty of being on the lakefront? Wouldn't the bears also want the beauty of majesty of being on the lakefront? The point is like the new building is going to be better for those types of events. Especially if you're in a concert, Matt, and you know this. You can fit more people in the building. For sure.

Like you know that part of the plus side to being at a concert at Soldier Field is you're going to have a better chance of being closer because it seats fewer people. So that's not going to be the case that if it's like Jerry World, for example, you know, in Arlington, AT&T Stadium, that's a thing. But so it's not just as simple as we'll just ask for these couple other events because you're going to lose some once that stadium is built. Logistically, too. Let's say it's in Arlington Heights. It also becomes easier to get stuff in a new place there than it would be.

Like if you think about trucks, for example, easier to get the trucks in there than it might be to get them to Soldier Field easier for people to fly in because the airport's right there compared to what it is. For all the logistical reasons that we know it's the right idea to leave Soldier Field. And soldiers are a logistical disaster.

Yeah. And look, I'm with you, Speeks. I do think that there will be people that look at it romantically and go, you know what? I do want the skyline behind me. I do want it to be Chicago. Like there's a reason that Lollapalooza is where it

is, you know, like, but even though, like, but for a concert, like, let's say, I don't know, pick a, pick a heritage artist, I don't even know if he's going to play again, but if it's Billy Joel, right? Somebody, somebody will be like, all it takes is their whim to drive the entire freaking bus on that. Yeah. So there's still a chance that sometimes that'll happen. It'll be, it'll be interesting to see. That's for sure. My hope, Layla, is, is with all the talk about Northwest Indiana, and I may mention of it when we talked with the governor last week, and I'll, I'll keep making mention of it. I don't like the idea that at the end of this,

the people of Northwest Indiana could be left holding the bag. And if that means the bears end up in Arlington Heights, all of this talk about all of the things that are supposed to be brought financially to Northwest Indiana, I want that to still be a priority for people, because that's an area that deserves development. And I don't like that. everything is kind of just connected to, well, can we get the Bears or can we get a sports team

when there are people in Northwest Indiana that need there to be an actual focus on building stuff that's going to make Northwest Indiana a good place. And I've spent a lot of time there. My dad taught over on the east side of the city, which is right there where, like, Wolf Lake is right where Washington High School is over on the southeast side. And I just want to make sure that those people who are like, yeah, like bring it on, bring it on, I want there to be the same fervor for there to be an investment in them beyond it being connected to teams. Well, the thing is, like, Lawrence, like the south side Chicago neighborhoods, like the far urban industrial neighborhoods, like the east side and Deering and Hegwish, it's like basically across the street. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

Oh, like from Hammond. State Line Road. North Hammond and Whiting. It's like that is, like I asked Guff yesterday, like Portage, are they, are they Chicago sports fans? He's like, oh, yeah, of course we are. Yeah, everybody. Now you're getting real close to the end of that. But he said it's still there.

Yes. And everything, everything. So it is, and there is an opportunity and like high speed water travel to get across. Like, let's go. Where's the hydrofoil when you need one? Are we just now? Are we just now taking all the 78 stuff, and we're just going to say, no, everyone get on a boat to go to a game at Hammond. Oh, you know that'd be cool, though.

At night, nice weather bears game, you ride the hydropoil for downtown? I don't know if you want to do that. Sports boats. Ladies and gentlemen, sports boots. Surprising and new. I'll just take the score yacht. I'll take the official score yacht. Marshall, you've never been on the score yachts?

They haven't shown you this. Oh, man. You haven't seen Grody and Spears. you go out in the playpen? Oh, yeah. He's never seen it. I don't want to envision Grody and Spiego in the play pin. Mark,

tell Marshall about the yacht. Tell them all about the yacht. Go ahead. Oh, yeah. Let me tell you all about the yacht. I will tell you this as I was walking around downtown Chicago yesterday in the cold. What was it yesterday? 22 degrees or so.

I did see one boat in the water. All their shirts were off in one of those little whirlpool. No, it's one of the whirlpool boats or whatever. The hot tub. The hot tub. That makes more sense. That was it. That was the scoreboat.

That's what it was. We had a hot tub boat, basically. Yeah. Yeah. I remember being a Smith and Walensky eating dinner and seeing people and being like, that seems awful. The hot tub boat?

Yeah. It's just because I, and this is no diss to any company that's doing it, but I just feel like, I'm not sure you're cleaning it well enough for me to want to be a part of it. Don't you remember the late night video that got linked? Oh, yeah. I remember that.

Yeah. This is what I'm saying. Because you're sitting there and you're like, oh, I see what you're trying to do. And I don't know if I want to get into that soup. Here you go. Welcome to the hot tub boat. Here are your chlorox wipes.

You don't like bodily food soup. Is that what you're saying? Oh, man. You got it, Marshall. This is why. You didn't say it as elegantly as I did. No. Yeah.

Just what you thought that Marshall said defecate was not the most offensive thing. It'd be a hell of, Grotty. Grudy, this is why we can't let Marshall on the boat. Oh, yeah, that's right. Can't let him on the screen. It makes too much sense.

That's why. One of our local TV channels could do the old white light investigation with the water. What's that right there floating out of the top? Something you don't need to know about. I would tell you you don't even need that light. We don't need the light. Where's Dave Savini to check out the score yacht? It's slightly tinted in yellow.

I'm Pam Zekman. There is much to discuss regarding. Pam Zegman showed up at your place. You're out of the door. It's over, right? You were caught. You've been caught. If you can't see her through the people,

but you hear someone knocking? Don't open the door. Don't open the door. You ruined it for me, Lawrence, because I thought, I was like thinking, man, that does look kind of nice, actually. To be in the hot water with the cold, have your favorite beverage or smoky treat, whatever it is that you prefer.

Yeah, and saying people out there test an EPA for. the Bears, it can be testing that hot tub, and then you'll be like, ah, it's too hot the hot tub is what it is. We haven't done any soil tests or hot tub tests just yet. Well, see, that's the other part about the Wolf Lake thing that needs. And Speaks, you know how I feel about stuff like this. About soil testing.

A lot of industrial industry. Industrial industry going on. Let's talk about it. The Michael Reese, the former Michael Reese Hospital site, you are convinced that what exactly is under there? There's a lot. Well, what I'm I'm not convinced that there's anything under there.

You're concerned. I am concerned. What do you think might be under that? I think there could be uranium under there. Right. So like, so nuclear waste. Yeah,

because that was, so everyone's seen Oppenheimer, right? Spoiler alert. Don't do that. It's a Bronx. It's a half-life. I've read a history book. Yeah.

So the University of Chicago was big in Oppenheimer. It's a central figure. And the route that they took to bring the uranium. It was right where the... And then you have all of the medical waste and you throw all of that into a stew and I go, let's make sure that we test everything. Same thing with Hammond.

It's like, there are oil refineries. They're there and there. There are a bunch of wetlands here. If you go near state line road, and anyone who lives over there knows exactly what I'm talking about. There's oil refineries, and then there is just miles of power lines. that's going straight through

like the edge of the city to Wolf Lake and everywhere in between I gotta say every time you talked about the uranium the nuclear waste that might be under there I wonder well what else could be there and I thought maybe a Native American burial ground like you don't want to build on that

like poltergeist yeah exactly do you know about Lake Lanier of course yes I don't think they know about Lake Lianna yeah he knows I knew Lawrence but I don't know that you know Tell, do tell. Yeah, please.

How do we put this? Like, essentially people were washed out of their land, regardless of whether or not they were physically there, and there were burial grounds. Oh, no. Yeah, and it was basically to build Lake Lanier. And every once in a while, people go out on Lake Lanier, and they never hurt some again.

Oh, really? There's a really great episode of Atlanta about that. What a show. The anthology season of Atlanta is must-see television, and I wish more people saw it. Like, even the Trinney to the Bone episode was hilarious. And then, of course, the episode with not Kevin Gates. Sal Capaccio. Who's the guy that?

Like, Vic, we got a lot of cameos in that show. The episode where you had to prove your blackness. Oh, that one was really, really good, too. So, but the Lake Lanier episode is phenomenal, and I would highly, I would say that everyone should watch Atlanta regardless. The whole thing. But the last season of it, the anthology season of Atlanta, is some of the best television that's been made in the last 20 years. I've been meaning to watch. It's inspiring me to check it out.

And Zazy Beat, so. Christine is watching this show, I think it's on Netflix, alone where they drop like 10 people at the Arctic Circle and say, good luck. See you later. That seems dangerous. And each person, like, they have, what are those little cameras called? There's no cameramen on this show. They have go-pros. They have multiple go-pros that are, like, sending the footage, and then they're editing it.

But these people are literally alone trying to survive for as many months as it takes to win this show. And it is absolutely horrifying and hysterical and freakish at the same time. It has suckered me in. I am now watching Alone with The Wife. So you're not alone. I like that. She's not alone. sound like it ends well.

I don't think it can. I don't think it's possible. One guy brought some arrows. He, like, made some arrows, and he accidentally stepped on it, and the arrow went four inches into his leg. He's done. No, he fought it out for, for, like,

four hours. He's like, I think I'm going to be okay. I don't think I'm going to be okay. I think I'm going to be okay. I got some bad news for you. What are you doing? And he eventually he called, like, they give you a little radio, and he said, yeah, I'm out. I think I'm in trouble.

It took him four hours to bail. He made arrows and then didn't even know how to... He stepped on one. Man. He's very clumsy of him. He's dead? No, I think you survived. So are they at the gates of the Arctic or something?

So that's like a quote, national park, end quote. Maybe. You have to prepare for your own extraction, as I understand. Oh, really? There's a place like that in Indiana, too, like not far from where the bears want to build. Gates of the Arctic? I just bought 20 acres there. That's got a good investment there, do they?

There's a place, there's a hill in the dunes where you are told if you go down the hill, you're on your own. You are on your own. And if you have to be rescued by helicopter, it's going to cost you, I think, like, $5,000 or $6,000. I do want to check out the dunes, but not that one. There's a dune that's so deep and that the sand is so, like, quick sandy that it's hard. Like, you better be in great shape to get back up.

So if you go down, you're on your own. Yeah. Yeah, the dunes are worth a check. out, though. They are. It's beautiful. Just don't go down the hill. Okay. I like that. There's a lot of stuff. Anyway, here's what we've got going on on today's show. State House. State House.

State House. Is going to join us. That's right. He's going to join us at 5 o'clock. Chris Emma is Statehouse, for those you who are new to the conversation. We are going to talk about Tyson Baygett today. That's right. We're going to talk about him. I love Tyson. I know. It's funny how... He was talking about the chicken tender, so I'm pretty sure. Those are pretty good, too.

Tyson Chandler, like I accidentally said, because you and I were talking about Tyler. I love Tyson Chandler and I was also participating. And Wilson Chandler. Shout out to Wilson Chandler saw him this weekend. I was at DePaul's Game in Providence. He's in the Hall of Fame. He came out to mid-court like a bunch of other DePaul Hall of Famers. Student section was lit.

Too bad DePaul didn't. If you think I care about another school's student section. How did Spike Lee refer to Wilson Chandler when he was drafted? I hear the brother from DePaul. That's Wilson Chandler. And me, apparently, because it was one of the part of the open of my show. So we are going to do a little bit of that. Ben's Vision has a sponsor, and it's going to be at 3 o'clock today.

We're very excited about that. We are going to start, though, talking about something that we discussed a couple weeks ago because now we have more context and more information. It has to do with comp picks for the bears. All of that is coming up after Taney's open, which you know is must listen. It's next here on the score. And this segment is sponsored by a grand appliance. Don't miss out on President's Day deals at Grand Appliances, like a large capacity,

32 cubic foot French door refrigerator from Samsung for just $15.99. Don't delay. The sale ends Wednesday. There's a grantappliance.com or your local showroom for details.