NOT SELLING: George McCaskey hopes to keep Chicago Bears for another 100 years | CHGO Bears Podcast
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Now available at McDonald's. And participating McDonald's for a limited time. A Minecraft movie only in theaters. We are wrapping up the owners meetings. Day three. Nobody doing it as good as we are here at CHGO Bears. Greg Braggs is up at 630.

Thinking about his life and getting ready to cut clips, which he's been doing all morning long. What a performance by Greg Braggs. Adam Hogue down in Florida. Man on the street talking to George McCaskey, talking to Kevin Warren, Stephen Nicholas, doing everything that he does. And I'm here. Adam, you'll be excited to know that it's pouring and freezing here in Chicago. We look forward to you returning. It's not freezing. I'm not too excited to...

Well, I'm not too excited about that because I believe my plane is sitting in O'Hare right now and it needs to get down here. Otherwise, guys, I don't know. I might just have to stay down here for one more day, which would be horrible.

Yeah, we cannot put you through the torture of another 75-degree day in the sun at the Breakers or wherever you are right now. New look today, bro. We got a tree in the background. I feel like you might actually be at the – are you at a comfort inn right now? Where are you? I'm still at the Breakers. Still here. Yeah. Looks very comfort-inny to me. Instead of other media people around me, there's actual hotel guests today wondering –

who I am and why I'm going to be yelling about the Chicago Bears for the next 30 minutes. 46, buddy. You're in for three segments. Know that. All right. On that note, let's get into it here as pretty...

eventful day down there for George and Kevin. And, uh, we're, we're gonna, we'll get to the stadium talk here in a second, but, uh, George McCaskey coming out of the gates here. Um, you know, and that was Adam Johns with the question, correct to George about, uh,

And I thought Adam actually did a great job of delicately asking, like, hey, your mom's passed away. I don't know exactly how to ask this, but, you know, what's the plan, the future of the team? So why don't we play that? I thought George did a great job answering it, everything. It was a tender moment and also with a lot of information here. So here's the Bears chairman, George McCaskey, on what the future plans of the Chicago Bears are. Okay. We've said for many years that we intend to own the Bears for years.

As long as possible, another 100 years would be great. She set it up for us to accomplish that. She gave us the playbook. She coached us up. Now we've got to execute the plan, and we're prepared to do that. We've got to stick together. So, I mean, I think anybody who's lost a parent or...

even or any loss really can understand the emotion there from George. And I got, I'll, you know, just, just listening to that. I was actually thinking about, you know, my 99 year old dad who wants me and my brothers to take him to the cemetery so he can show us how to do it when he passed away, like giving you the plans. Cause that's what parents do. And then like for him to be sitting there and thinking about how his mother set this up. So him, so he and his family can own the bears. I'm I get,

all the emotion there. Um, and so I, you know, it was, it was cool to see that come to be with George, a very human moment there, Hogue. Yeah, a hundred percent. Um, and you know, it, yeah, it doesn't really matter to the age of your mother. Um, but when you lose your mom, it's, uh, it's, it's a tough thing. And so understandably still emotional about it. Um,

And then, and it is, you know, it was an awkward question, but one that obviously had to be asked today. I was thinking myself how I was going to ask it if it wasn't going to be asked, you know, in front of me. And I thought, I agree with you. I thought John's at a,

a good job with it because it is something that needs to be addressed not only publicly but you know literally within the ownership group of the Chicago Bears and the McCaskey family. Now the answer did not surprise me. I know there's been a lot of chatter and speculation which is understandable whenever

you know, the top member of a family that owns anything passes away, it's going to create questions about the future ownership of an operation of that company. And this is the first time George McCaskey has spoken publicly since Virginia passed away. So the answer didn't really surprise me because I didn't really think that the Bears would have any plans

to sell the team after all this. I think, and we're going to intertwine the stadium talk into this and go into that part of it soon. But the timing of all that's very awkward too, because it,

You know, you can argue the stadium would increase the value of the team and certainly it would, but it's not going to be done for a long, long time. So it's not like it's not like the Cassies are going anywhere anytime soon. And then based on that answer, you know, 100 years would be another 100 years would be great. It's it's it certainly doesn't give you the impression that anything's going to change long term either.

Yeah, and this is where it gets slightly awkward, too, because the fact of the matter is that this is the 40th anniversary since the Bears won the Super Bowl. And I think there's a lot of Bears fans who have been yelling for a long time, sell the team. They yelled it this year at the Lions game. And they're not selling the team. And that's not a surprise to anybody. But it's also like...

is there an understanding in the organization of what's gone wrong and what's the plan going forward? And then further where I got today, it's like, well, you know, George isn't a young guy either. So like, you know, how, how much longer does he want to be the chairman? What's the succession plan there? What does that look like? There's just, you know, there's a lot of questions that I, you know, they're not ready to answer right now, but I think that's, that's what's on the minds of bears fans. Well, I think for me as a fan and just in Chicago, we as fans just show us that you care.

You know, and, okay, you're going to make mistakes, and it hasn't been pretty, and we've certainly been vocal and critical of that. But we know with some of the – with a particular owner in this city where he's even said in media interviews how much he doesn't value, you know, just winning championships. He just wants to stay in it, right? And so, okay, they've made mistakes, but you'll be –

you'll win all the fans over. If you start trying to change what you've done from a process standpoint, you build a stadium, you build a winning organization, you put a winning product on the field and start winning championships. You look at the Kansas city chiefs,

Their fans, you know, did not like the hunts. And then all of a sudden it turned the corner. Obviously, Patrick Mahomes had a lot to do with that. But at the same time, it shows you, you know, how things can turn. And they certainly can turn here in Chicago for the Bears. Well, that's why we had this conversation a couple of weeks ago that could Ben Johnson be the Bears' Andy Reid? I'm not saying they're the same thing. Andy had a lot more success in the league and obviously just a ton more experience than when Ben got here. But look, they've invested –

$13 million a year and a head coach. They've never done that before. They are in the process of building a world-class stadium. We'll get to Kevin Warren and all the world-class this and the great sites and everything coming up in a little bit here there. To me, it's never really been about caring. It's about competence and, and,

Kevin is here because they wanted to up the level of confidence. Obviously, there's, you know, go ahead. Yeah, but that's what I was going to say. I mean, I think the idea or the frustration with ownership kind of ended when they made the very bold decision to go out and hire Kevin Warren, the commissioner of the Big Ten, which was a massive departure from

from what had up to that point really been either family members in charge or

In Ted Phillips' case, somebody that had been there for so long that he was basically a member of the family. And so I thought, like if you had told me when Ted Phillips retires, what would be the most likely outcome of the succession plan at team president, I would say they probably would have promoted from within because that's what the playbook said. And I think that if they had done that,

and just pushed up another member of the family or somebody who had been there forever, that would have been more of an indication of, okay, like this is just what really, what direction is this actually going in? How much do they actually care? And I would understand

some frustrations with ownership. But at this point, they go out, they get Kevin Warren. They've been serious about the stadium. They've been trying. They massively doubled and upgraded Hallis Hall. Like, George, the era of George McCaskey as chairman has not been, it's been,

filled with losses and it's been filled with bad hires. It, you know, especially at head coach, but it's also been filled with a lot of money being poured into important resources that to me tells me that they are trying. They took Greg's point. They've just made mistakes and that's different because we have other owners in this town right now, specifically the one that owns the white socks and the bowls where you do constantly wonder, okay, where is this thing actually headed?

And is it just stagnant? I don't think the Bears are stagnant at all right now. You don't pay $13 million to Ben Johnson, you know, instead of the retread veteran John Fox type coach. That's not stagnant. Right. Everything else you underline. I mean, listen, they could have their facilities could still suck. They don't. They've got great facilities. That's a lot of money to spend. They're trying to make it world class.

Kevin was, in their mind, a world-class hire. Now they've got to actually execute, and a lot of it will come down to...

Ultimately, the quarterback. But hey, just along those lines is, you know, it's thinking creatively and trying to bring more money in. This was an interesting question that Courtney Cronin asked about private equity, because how are they going to pay for everything? And if they want to keep upgrading, maybe they want to bring in some more dough. So George was asked about that, whether or not that's on the table.

The Press: I know when we talked to you in October in London about private equity, you said that that's not something that the Bears are looking at right now and that you anticipated, I think, in December that there might be a team that gets involved. Where do you stand on that today? Mr. Well, since then, a couple of teams have employed private equity.

It's something that we're continuing to look at. Kevin's going to give a report to the board at our May meeting, and it may be utilized as part of our stadium construction financing plan, but we haven't made a decision yet. So...

Hogue, I'm curious to read on this because I thought that maybe they would bring in private equity if they were actually hell-bent on staying in Chicago to make that work because there doesn't seem to be any help coming their way. Whereas if now they're going to Arlington Heights, which is what it seems like, and they're just asking for help with infrastructure and not on the stadium, I would think it's less likely they bring in private equity. Am I reading that right? No, you say no. No, because they have to spend way more of their own money in Arlington Heights.

where they wouldn't have owned the stadium in the city, so they would have gotten more help and public funding for the actual stadium. So in this case, you dip into the private equity,

And that's, you know, that's basically liquidating your, the value of the sitting value of your franchise, which I think we all realize the bears are worth a lot, a lot, a lot of money. And then they can take that and, and put it towards the stadium. And perhaps haven't paid off. I mean, I'm not, I'm not saying the whole thing. I don't know the exact numbers, but you know, you,

Kevin Warren did. I've talked about this on the show before, came up with a creative way to get a U S bank stadium. It's already paid off guys. Because, and they use pull tabs in the state of Minnesota, which if you walk into a bar in Minnesota, they always have pull tabs. There's usually a pull tab machine.

And the revenue generated from those got them to a point where they were able to pay that thing off really, really fast. So I think it's a no-brainer for the Bears if they are going to Arlington Heights and they are going to have to spend more of their own money. And it's just...

it's just going to continue to be a cash cow because the value of the team is going to continue to skyrocket. They're going to own their own stadium, and they're going to also own all of that land and that mixed-use development around the stadium too, which is going to be a cash cow.

I think this makes a lot of sense. It's an awkward thing, I think, for a team that's been family-owned for 105 years to dip into private equity. But I think right now, as the Bears continue to move into this century and this world of the NFL, it's another sign that they're playing a more modern game.

way of owning an NFL football team right now. It's more similar to the rest of the league. And I think that there is sort of a way that you can still keep the old values of what the Bears have been while also monetarily using what Kevin Warren has done throughout his career with finances and money to get the best of both worlds.

so what when we're talking about private equity like who are we talking about are we me and you are we talking about like a you know somebody with a lot of money that wouldn't be front-facing are we talking about mark cuban are we talking about jeff bezos it's like no no we're talking about like you don't there's not even um they're private equities firms like they're you know they're they're

this is getting really in the weeds and I'm admittedly don't know everything about it, but you can buy in to basically a private equity fund and it's gonna own a little bit of that, a bunch of different things and you don't necessarily know all of those details. So the easiest way to explain it is it's not like an actual human,

Coming into it, it's a private equity firm that's gonna come in, buy a certain share of the Bears. That's gonna be liquid cash that the Bears can then go use. And then that firm will later on be able to sell their shares or whatever for a lot more money. And anybody who's doing that with an NFL franchise, it's pretty much guaranteed to get a good ROI, return on investment.

I'd be very surprised if they brought in some huge name to buy up 10% of the Bears. That's not how I think this would go. No. I mean, maybe. It could be Brandon Spano. The wheels are already turning. You never know. Don't box that man in. He's always thinking up something. All right. Let's get to the stadium and Kevin Warren, some of that coming up here. There's actually a couple more clips we're going to play for George before the show is over today. But first...

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are just better at home. CHGO listeners can receive a $350 discount when using the promo code CHGO. Yes, you heard right. A $350 discount with code CHGO. Restrictions apply. Visit Empire Today slash CHGO for full details. All right. Alex Flores in our chat during the first segment of trying to understand private equity, he said Bragg's head is in a pretzel.

You're not alone. It's a little bit of a lot of learning. Yeah, well, that's what we're constantly doing. It's not my strength either, guys, but sometimes...

We got nailed by a bird. Did you guys see that? A bird was almost like killed me there. If Ho gets, if Ho gets a number two dropped on him in the middle of this show. You get attacked by a bird on this show. That could be good for ratings. That would be great for ratings. Yeah. You know, we are rooting for this. I will take one for the team for that. Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of, uh, we will,

If you're enjoying the whole performance down in Florida at the breakers, hit the like button. Appreciate that. If you're a first time watcher right now, hit the subscribe button as well. CHGO bears here Monday through Friday at noon pre and post game near the season breaking news.

any breaking Bears trades or whatever work we're breaking in. And of course, all the rest of the content that you get right here at CHGO. I watched the Bulls show on the way home last night for the night. So they were phenomenal. It's a really great job. So a shout out to Peck and Big Dave crushing it last night. And my guy Will Gottlieb. All right. Let us let us hear from Kevin Warren. Kevin Warren, the CEO, the president. Give us an update on the stadium, my friend.

I'll tell you the focus now is both downtown and Arlington Heights. And so, you know, one thing I've said it before, these are not linear

processes or projects. They take time. They take a lot of energy and effort. I am very, very pleased with where we are. I think we collectively as a group are where we thought we would be. I know specifically I'm where I thought we would be at this point in time. We just finished Q1 last night, started in Q2. Now the pace will definitely pick up.

and we're fortunate to have optionality and as I said, downtown from a museum campus standpoint, there's been some discussion about the Michael Ree site, but then also Arlington Heights is, I keep going back to it, it's an absolutely fantastic piece of land. I think George and his family had a hefty workout this morning, so I'm still trying to cool down. Aaron, can you cool down a little bit in here?

For having the foresight the McCaskey family led by George to have the foresight to purchase that land in Arlington Heights but to be able to find 326 acres that close to a Wonderful city is difficult to do. I don't know if exists anywhere in the country and so Where we are right now with both the museum campus downtown

and especially Arlington is that we're really getting serious about the feasibility studies and so we're doing traffic studies not only for Arlington Heights because we have to be sensitive to the surrounding communities but also to the surrounding communities

uh... and feasibility studies financial feasibility stuff studies you know as you all are aware are our financial markets are are settling in coming there uh... they're moving around and so every single day we're looking at the cost of of uh... raw materials to build a stadium with steel costs

how that's coming along, and then the financial markets because what you have to do is you get these deals structured, and then it comes down simultaneously is to make sure you put the capital stack together that it makes financial sense. And so we've been working on that. So a little bit of a long clip there, but a lot of ground to cover and a lot of moving parts there, financial markets, the whole thing. Yeah, yeah.

But the most noticeable thing here, Hogue, is that we've got two options. Before, you know, three months ago, last month, our focus is the museum campus, so a major shift. Right, and that's where you've got to kind of read between the lines here a little bit and understand that, you know, this is definitely a pivot. You know, we sat in a similar conference room last year in Orlando with Kevin Warren at the same exact time at the owner's meeting, and the message there was very different. I mean, it was museum campus, museum,

the city, that's our focus. And so, you know, kind of translating all that, you know, Arlington Heights is the priority now and trying to get all the infrastructure in place that they need to do. Maybe they go down the private equity roads to be able to get, you know, that's how they get their money to be able to do this. There's lots of different options here. The one thing I think is important in there in terms of the timing is

All that jargon, and it's a little overwhelming that you heard from Kevin. It matters, though, what's going on with the financial markets, these tariffs, all this stuff. It impacts construction costs. So one of the things he said a little bit later on was...

Because I guess one option you can do is wait, right? Like what kind of wait all this out? Maybe it'll be cheaper in a year. That's not what their plan is because they know that there's no guarantee of that. In fact, it sounds it's actually the exact opposite, both in terms of what they need to get done in Springfield politically. The session only runs till basically the end of May. If you're going to put shovels in the ground this year, then

This has to come together. I know he said three to six months, but I mean, they really got to have their stuff together here in the next two months. And honestly, if I had to guess, I think some of this stuff's already far enough, you know, farther down the road than he even let on today in speaking with us. So we're either going to get significant movement here on the stadium in Arlington Heights, I would say within maybe in the next month or, you know,

if they have to go back and do more leverage and there's a hail Mary from the city or something like that, that comes in and all this, then that's just going to continue to stretch this thing out probably in a 2026. And that's where these construction costs probably just keep going up and up and up every single year. Well, and taxes too. I mean, he mentioned it at some point during his, you

you know, 30 minutes talking to the media where he said, we just want assurances that the taxes that we're having to pay are that, and they're not going to keep going up. They want some kind of assurances of, okay, this is what the taxes are. It's a fair deal. We want to be, you know, a quality paying citizens or however he phrased it. And we, we just don't want you pushing the taxes up down the road. Yeah. And as a member of the public here, I too, Kevin Moore would like to assurances that my taxes are going to stay the same as

And I guarantee you that they absolutely will not. And the other thing he pointed out, too, was that both downtown and in Arlington Heights is within Cook County. So I found that to be interesting, too. Right, because he wants to give back and make this a win-win for the people of Illinois, for the people of Chicago. And I absolutely 100% believe Kevin when he says that. And if you really listen to...

Kevin talk at, at, at any press conference. The man is a phenomenal, phenomenal politician. He has a lot going on is in his head as to who he can say something positive about, uh, and not burn any bridges. And he's talking about, he was talking about the old mayor of our only tonight's going out time. Hey, he's talking about the new mayor coming in. He's talking about the, uh,

You know, he's talking about Governor Pritzker. He's going every which way here. I mean, he had it all flying through there, and he gets it all out. Hogan, I see you shaking your head here. It's impressive, right? There's a reason why Kevin has, you know, achieved this level of success in his life. No, there's no question he's good at it. Yeah, no question about that at all. Now, I do think another wrinkle in this that, you know, I would share is

If they do go to Arlington Heights, um,

My understanding is like they still need some vote. Remember, there's still infrastructure they need to figure out there in terms of highways, sewers. There is public funding that is needed. It just doesn't have to do with the actual stadium construction. And my understanding is like they're still going to need votes in Springfield. And some of those votes are coming from the city. People who represent districts in the city are going to have to ultimately vote

Vote and sign off on Arlington Heights too, if that's how it goes. So I'm wondering if there's going to have to be some concessions made, what those look like, whether it's helping to pay off Soldier Field.

i don't really know but there's there's when kevin warren says all these things and you you're talking about karen right there making sure everybody's happy and he's mentioning the right people there is a lot at play and this is really complicated as he said these deals are very complicated to pull off um and that's part of the reason why it's been taking so long let's play one

One more clip from Kevin here, and he explains why, as he really wanted the stadium in the city. So why exactly is Arlington Heights back in the picture? Yeah, I think, you know, and fortunately, I have to look back to go forward. I mean, we had this very similar situation

type of process in Minnesota. I mean, when you start this journey, one of the things that I promised George when I came on to the Bears was you can't go into these deals

with your mind made up. You need to have a direction and to be very focused and detailed, but you can't go and say, "This is where it's gonna be." And so one thing about Arlington Heights, as I said, I always try to look for the positive elements and to have that beautiful piece of land

that has the great topography. You can actually see downtown from there to have the Salt Creek that runs in between it. It's almost split equally from an acreage standpoint. And you think about the Metro stops. I mean, it has an Arlington Park location there. So I would just say it's still making sure that we're being diligent

Because this is a Chicago Bears have never had their own stadium. I mean you think in 105 year, you know history and so this is this is a critical decision these buildings last for 40 or plus years and so the the communication

like with Mayor Johnson and his colleagues is still very strong. But they're different locations. You think about the museum campus, there would be a small mixed-use development there, but the infrastructure is tight. I still will say it. There is no more beautiful piece of land in the world to have that as beautiful as Lake Michigan is to have that right near a stadium. But you have to look at all the pluses and minuses there. You look at Michael Reese.

You know, it's a great historical community from a Bronzeville standpoint, the Michael Reese Hospital, but the site is narrow. You know, it's a narrow site. It abuts train tracks, and we always have to look from a safety standpoint, which is critically important. Arlington Heights is unique. I don't think there's another piece of land like this in the world. Because the biggest thing for me is I represent the family's interests. You know, I not only look at this generation,

But I really say it, and I seriously mean it, like this is a decision that will impact this franchise for the next 100 years. And the biggest thing that my focus will become, continue to be on, is the fan experience. And you look at the impact of what, take the Super Bowl, for example. You look at the impact that it had two years ago in Las Vegas.

not only the economic, but the operation and business. And then you look at the impact in New Orleans, and you look at what's planning in San Francisco. So I think Arlington Heights, what makes that intriguing, there's a lot of work left to be done. I mean, obviously it's still not done because we still are working with the city of Chicago.

But it is to now that we can get into economic feasibility, transportation feasibility, ingress and egress. How do people get in and out of the site? What else will be there to be a mixed use development with hotels and restaurants, other sporting events, potentially housing. But we also need to be sensitive to the surrounding communities. So that was a lot.

of words and a long winding road and he's super fired up about the Metro stop now in Arlington Heights. This has got to be music to the ears of the new mayor in Arlington Heights. He was a longtime architect village trustee. His name is Jim Tinalia.

And Kevin called him last night to congratulate him as Tom Hayes is moving along after a long, long, almost 20-year run as the mayor. Tinaglia, it's not when you look at it, you would think it's Tinaglia, T-I-N-A-G-L-I-A. And I don't think that Kevin has quite gotten the pronunciation down yet on the new mayor's name, so he's got to get that done.

It's not Teniglia? No, it's... Phonetically, it's T-I-N-A-H-L...

Y-U-H, Tin-A-L-Y-A, right? That's not phonetically. You just spelled it. No, it's spelled T-I-N-A-G-L-I-A. It's pronounced Tin-A-L-Y-A. So I am right. That's phonetically. Spelling that phonetically for you, Hoag. Well, I mean, did you call Tin-A-L-Y-A yesterday and congratulate him?

I didn't, and that's a bad job by me. Isn't that more important? Yeah, isn't that more important? Listen, he made the phone call. That's true. I did not. Warren better than Carm. Fair enough. You should call him to end the show.

Okay. I'll give Jim a call and he's certainly welcome on the show. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And I think, you know, I think most bears fans are starting to lean towards Arlington Heights. I mean, we put a poll on Twitter that most, it says 73% of fans love,

would prefer it in Arlington night. So not only, I think we all feel this is inevitable, but I think most fans would prefer it at this point with all the amenities that we could have at our disposal as fans to not just go to super bowls, but to see Purdue in the final four to see, you know, the WrestleMania to see concerts and everything else in between. And that's why I thought the one question you asked Hogue, and we'll dial this up before we get to our next break, but asking about like, if, if,

If they are to put shovels in the ground, you know, do they already have a stadium plan in place so they can get this expedited a little faster once they finally do get the approval? Yeah. Let's... Hold on. He's going to play it. Oh, he's going to play it. Oh, yes, sir. I'm sorry. Yeah, no, it's fine. Is the actual stadium, like, where are those plants? Are they pretty much...

Yes. Almost finalized regardless of the location. One of the things that we tried to do, a couple things we did. One, we were provided the resources with George and his family to make sure that Arlington Heights, that we continued that process. So as you all know, the grandstands have been taken down. All remediation has been done. The site is pad ready. And so we were able to do that. And then in designing the stadium, working with David Manica, we did it in a manner –

That it was it was able to move in any different location now constantly. We're on it It's just like anything else you're tweaking it and making it even better But it's in a position. You know we're we're we're a schematic Design, you know where we are over 50% You know done, so we've made really good process you know and progress

It's beautiful. And the good thing about it, it fits in any location that we'll be in. So we spend a lot of time. I do wonder with, you know, Chim, our good friend from Detroit in the chat saying New Orleans, Miami, Tampa, and Arizona, those are the places that would continue to get a lot of Super Bowl rotation. I do wonder with Kevin Warren's experience in Minnesota, saying,

that if they try to create something in Arlington Heights where there's a sky bridge like in Indianapolis where hotels and restaurants and everything are connected inside so you don't have to be outside, which would open the door to being able to get more than just one Super Bowl.

Yeah, I think chances are it's going to be a one-and-done Super Bowl situation. It's way more likely that they will be guaranteed a Super Bowl by building the stadium. The NFL will grant that.

But to view it as a place that they're going to maybe, maybe, you know, they come back 15 years later, 20 years later, something like that. I mean, as far as I know, like it's a long shot that Minnesota will get another one, even though I actually thought it was a great Super Bowl that was held there. Both Minnesota and Indianapolis Super Bowls were great. Yeah. See, here's the problem, though. Like what one thing has changed significantly, even since Indy.

hosted the Super Bowl, there is an insane security perimeter put around the stadium now. And I've been told that one of the biggest problems with the Michael Reese site is a potential stadium site, even beyond how narrow it is. So a couple issues there. One is he just told me, you guys heard the clip, the stadium design is pretty much done. Like the outs, at least what they need done to start construction,

Well, that tells me Michael Reese is pretty much off the table, right? Because they're going to have to change that to be in such a narrow spot. But also when it comes to Super Bowls, I don't think the perimeter around there. I think I mentioned this on the show before. I think that's a problem in the NFL's eyes. So I think that that's why I know Michael Reese was brought up today, but I don't see that as a realistic option. There hasn't even been an actual proposal brought to the Bears yet on that one. And so I think that that would be a long shot.

Yeah. And look, Hogan, I both covered the Super Bowl in Minnesota and Hogue loved it. It sucked. It was freezing outside. I couldn't find the entrance where you had to get into the mall. I'm walking around. It's one degree out there. We I was working for fans at the time. We did a video of me sitting on the ice. Nobody wants to go to some cold weather city for the Super Bowl. They'll get it once. And I will say you want to go somewhere warm. Well, I want to be in New Orleans.

It's not going to work. And I will say that Indianapolis did get lucky because the week of the Super Bowl was unseasonably warm. And that weekend, the last two days leading up to the game, we were literally all outside in shorts and short sleeves in Indianapolis in 2019.

beginning of February, which a lot of times is unheard of. Yeah. So we did, I will concede that aspect. I mean, that being said though, real quick, I know we got a break, multiple big 10 championships. I would think final fours Laurel, I think would be on the table. Um, what I would, what I would want to know, and I don't think we'll know this until whatever they built is done.

But obviously one of the concerns is you are getting away from downtown Chicago and it is a great Metro. I, you know, it's ridden that Metro line and stopped at that stop when I used to go to Arlington park as a kid growing up in the city. But that, I wonder how much that will affect these big events coming back. Because I would imagine if you had the Superbowl in Chicago, you're still going to have like, we're going to be on a radio roll. We're probably going to be in downtown Chicago. We're not going to be out by the stadium.

doing that type of stuff and how that all works for big events like the Final Four will impact how much they actually come back and continually use the new stadium in Ireland tonight. Excellent underlining right there. When we come back in one second here, not that we're going anywhere, but George talked about the tush push and it was interesting why the Bears voted the way they did. So we'll do that next. But first...

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You know, George, George made a lot of sense today. And I thought he made the part that I like the most is when he talks about the tush push. Why don't we why don't we play it first and then get your reaction? I agree. This was serious. This was some good George, man. I thought his logic was strong. So the Bears voted against the tush push. Of course, it did not pass. There weren't enough. It's still in the NFL. But he was asked why. And George's explanation, I thought, made a whole lot of sense.

George, what was your stance on the tush-push? I know it was an even 16-16 split. Where did you fall on the vote? We supported the proposal to get rid of it. How come? Health and safety. I know they say that we don't have sufficient injury data on it, but to us it appears to be an inherently unsafe play.

I had the opportunity during committee meetings here earlier in the month to sit in the back of the room for the Health and Safety Committee meeting. And both Dr. Alan Sills and Dr. John York expressed concerns about the safety of everybody involved in that play. And, you know, for decades there was a rule on the books making it illegal to push the runner.

It went away in 2004, and I always wondered why that happened. And Rich McKay, the chairman of the competition committee, explained to us yesterday that the officials said that it was too difficult when there was like a moving scrum down the field to determine whether an offensive lineman was blocking or pushing the runner. So they took it out, which led to the push play.

From what I understand, yesterday, the discussion about the push play is going to lead to a broader examination of whether that general rule should be brought back. And again, we think it would be an enhancement to the game to make it safer for the players.

All right, Hoag, you get to go first here, and then we're going to talk about my days playing Killamaroo. So, which was terrifying. Yes, go first, please. I don't even know what that means. It doesn't seem, I think it's a logical thing. You want a pile of 22 dudes who weigh 300 pounds all put in a...

tight space seems dangerous to me. So here's the where this is gone that then I'm a little surprised by you heard it from George by the way, the Bears supporting a Packers proposal is worth mentioning here because the Packers feel very strongly against the touch push and the Bears are backing them.

George actually spoke on this. So the sessions they had this week, it's an open mic situation and George was actually one of the owners that got up there and made his case. So I thought that was interesting. And where I guess it was inevitable that the discussion was gonna shift to this,

but i'm not let me just ask you this do you guys have a problem with running back is 20 yards downfield the linemen come in and they help them the last seven yards get across the end zone because we see that all the time um and that apparently is where this discussion has gone if we're gonna band ban the tush push at the line scrimmage then we need to just go back to the rule in 2004 where you can't push teammates and

I don't know if that's necessary. I don't necessarily have a strong opinion either way, but I just am a little uneasy that it seems like these discussions down here in Florida this week kind of went off the rails. And so I'm not surprised that they got tabled to the next meetings, which are in a couple months in Minneapolis. The best cars for the money are Hondas. Save big with 0% financing.

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Now available at McDonald's. And participating McDonald's for a limited time. A Minecraft movie only in theaters. Well, I think it's a fairly simple, maybe simple is too strong a word here, but I think it is a fairly simple solution. If it's not at the line of scrimmage...

Then you can push, right? If you're, if you have forward progress and you're 15 yards downfield, then forward momentum, as long as everyone's keeping their feet moving, you can continue to play. But if you're at the line of scrimmage offensively or defensively or special teams, you cannot push someone in the back like that to me should be the solution of this.

I'm well and I don't necessarily disagree, but that doesn't sound like what the based on what George was saying there. This thing seems to be added to their they're not going to ban it or they're going to go back to the rule where you can't push wherever you are on the field. By the way, you know what the like I get why this is a discussion and it certainly does seem like somewhat of a scary play like it's just inevitable before one of these quarterbacks gets knocked out for the season on one of them. Do you know how many plays

that the tush push accounted for and all the plays in football last year, 0.29% of all plays run 0.29%. It seems to be a lot of discussion about a play that while it gets a lot of attention, it doesn't even really happen that much. Speaker 3 : That that's fair. I think it felt like it was happening in every other play in the playoffs. Speaker 4 : It did seem like that, but that, but fine. It's I think it's actually more interesting

I don't think a running back going down the field who is now fighting for the last couple of inches that he can get should get the benefit of a 350-pound dude just flying in there and smacking him forward. That's not the football that I want to watch. I mean, or maybe I'll enjoy watching because it's insanity, but I don't think that... That doesn't seem right to me. So...

I'm totally fine with not being able to push all the way down the field and at the goal line. You got to do it on your own, man. That's what this is. Blocking in front of you, run on in. You don't get six people behind you pushing you through. Great job by the Eagles figuring this out. They're a phenomenal ad, but at some point, to what you just said, Ho, some quarterback is going to tear their ACL in the middle of that thing, and it's going to be a nightmare. Or, you know, your center. Right. You know, an important offensive lineman. But...

you know, the teams that are running this, they're making the choice to do that and they know the risks. So, I mean, look, I'm not surprised. It was a 16 to 16 vote. So they tabled the whole discussion for a couple months. I see...

I came down here thinking that this was not going to pass and I wasn't even sure there was more support for banning it than I anticipated. And so now I am and you heard the case there from George, who was 1 of the owners up there talking on it. So I think I would have to say that I think that this probably eventually.

ends in it getting banned. It's just a matter of when that happens. Does it happen in two months in Minneapolis or do they let it ride for another season and then they come back here next year and ban it? But...

This was sort of a surprising development for me this week down here in the meetings that it has this much support to ban it. I'm not, I'm not surprised. It's not football. It's rugby. And, and, and I understand everybody says like, oh, well, you know, just stop it. I get that, but it's not football. It's rugby. By,

By definition, it's a rugby scrum in credit to the Eagles. They are dominant at it, but it is not football. And then when you get into a game or you're in the Super Bowl or you're in the NFC championship and it's getting written 15 times.

like I might as well be watching rugby. And so like, for me, I want to watch football. I want to see running backs with the ball. When you talk about putting a guy in danger, it's not just the center. I mean, how many times now are we seeing guys try to time the snap and they're launching themselves before the staff? And then we had like, it became a mockery. And was it in the super bowl?

like six straight penalties in a row where they were going to literally award the other team a touchdown if they kept doing it the nfc championship game the commanders were doing that it's a it's a mockery and and somebody with the way launching before pre-snaps gonna get somebody hurt or the quarterback ducking his head down and somebody coming in crashing down on the back of his neck so you can say it's soft or whatever but for me it's more than it's

It is about the health and safety fine, but to me it's more about it's not football, it's rugby. Yeah, and by the way, to those people out there playing rugby, my guy Daniel the Boat Ports dominating at the University of Iowa. His dad's a fine fellow, good old Tim Ports. The Boat? They call him the Boat Man. Daniel the Boat Ports. Guys, I don't know what... And Mike Gibson... Is he related to my wife?

Might be. That's her maiden name. Mike Gibson here in the chat saying rugby has strict rules about the scrum, and when the ref stops it, NFL doesn't have any of that. They should look to rugby if they're going to keep it and adopt their safety standards. So I thought that's interesting too. One last point on this, because I think I mostly agree with everything you're saying, Greg, on the actual play. One thing that has me a little uncomfortable coming out of this, though, I think –

And you heard George mentioned himself in there. They don't actually have the injury data to support this. They have a feeling and they have a fear that I think is valid. But even in the press conference yesterday, they admitted they're like, this is more about preventing something that hasn't happened yet.

versus something they're trying to stop that they know is an injury problem. That kind of opens up Pandora's box on a lot of things in football, though, because you could make that argument about a lot of things. And so that makes me a little uneasy that,

What's the next thing that we're just going to be worried about before we actually have injury data on that supports it that they start changing? Well, and that underlines the great point being made by Carm Sweet Bippy, who's just basically let him play. And me and Carm Sweet Bippy were a little bit off on this one, but in general, Sweet Bippy and I are right there together. Like, I want, hey, man, it's football. Sign a waiver immediately.

It's dangerous out there. You knew it. They knew it back in the forties. It was dangerous. And I'm talking about the 1940s and, and it's dangerous. Well, then defenders, then defensive players should be able to, at the line of scrimmage, push defensive linemen in their back and at, and special teams on, on field goals. We go back to pushing the guy trying to block the field goal in the middle of the defensive line. Let's then open it up for everything. Then not just one. I agree.

100% agree with you. And that is my actual take on this, that just make it consistent across the board. I just want people to know the most spirited debate on this entire topic the last few days actually happened in a conference room on the

on the mezzanine level of the breakers between Jeff Joniak and myself. We were waiting to talk to Ryan Pohl yesterday, and a fight almost broke out over this. And that was my point. And Joniak just wants people to stop messing with his game, as he puts it. I just want the rules to be consistent across the board. But he wanted a yes or no answer from everybody in the room.

on the band. And I refuse to give him that. I said, it was more nuanced on that. I went full Adam Hogan him. And that was my argument, Greg. And then he was mad at me. Speaker 0 : Okay. Well, if he wants to fight and I got your back and if you know, Tom Thayer, Joni versus Hogan brags, we'll find out. And then the winner gets the rule, however they want.

You can officiate. Sure. And listen, you know, Joni and I have a weird thing going on, so I'm a little, I feel awkward right now because I want to support Jeff. But I'm on Team Hoag here. Joni needs to quit bullying people around at the owner's meetings, and he needs to look in the mirror. Was this fight at a Starbucks?

No, no, no. No. That's too bad. You never know these days at these NFL events. Things can get crazy. That's right. All right. Ho, you can get out of here. You've worked long and hard enough. I don't know what time your flight is, and maybe you're just staying another night, as you mentioned earlier, but assuming that it is coming up, why don't you get over there safely and tell the fam that we say hello. Great job this week.

Yeah, great job to all you guys too, everybody back in Chicago, because it was a huge team effort to get all the content that we put out this week, both on this show and on social media and all over our YouTube channel. And there's plenty more coming too. And I'll kind of organize all my thoughts from the last few days, and I'll be there tomorrow, hopefully, if the weather cooperates. I'll be there tomorrow, and we'll have a lot more coverage tomorrow as well.

Yeah. Recap and Fran Duffy tomorrow as we'll get into the draft. And then Karma's got a phenomenal topic that's been pushed back now four days. It's probably going to make it. It just keeps getting bumped. Probably going to make it to next week at this point. But, you know, don't worry about it. That's fine. I understand. It's not about me. It's about the show, even though I'm going to be bringing a great topic to the show. And I'm talking to myself right now. So let's get back. Hogue, see you later, buddy.

Hi, guys. Yeah. All right. But hey, Hoag's leaving, but you're not. Stay right there. We got a couple more little topics we want to hit here. Yeah. And as we get to the top of the hour, hit the like button one more time for Hoag on the way out and his coverage this week. It was a great job by Adam down there. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

you know, I, obviously there's so much talk about the stadium and, and everything else like equity and whether McCaskey is going to sell, but they also talked a little bit about, you know, the team, the coach, you know, and the draft, right.

Well, shout out to shout. Are we doing off season champs right here? Are we doing the other way? Yeah. Let's start with the Ben Johnson one. Cause I thought this was interesting. Then what we can get to the champs. We are the champions of this show. This George has got a, he's, he's, he's on the, he's on, he's on it right now. He's, he's, he's paying attention to what's going on. So, all right here, this is George on the, on the, on the coach of the bears. Yep. All right, here we go. Um, I've seen him in the weight room and, uh,

I think frenetic would be the best description. He's intense. You can see the competitiveness. He looks like he enjoys life, which is important for an NFL head coach. His resume speaks for itself. So we're very excited about everything he brings to Chicago. All right. See, this is unsolicited advice for you, George, that you don't really need from yours truly at the carm.

But when you check out a dude in the weight room, your head coach, and you see him crushing it,

You could show a little bit more excitement than that. You could, I mean, you know, you almost, did you see Ben Johnson in the weight room? This dude is crushing it. He is putting up 350 pounds. He's getting ready for work. He's got that intense look. He said it so calmly. I think you need to look, I mean, if you're really going to go down the, you know, looking at your head coach in the weight room, lifting weights and doing everything that he does, I think you could be excited. Well, it's like the Joey Swole. You know, Joey Swole, the fitness guy that,

that shames people for filming in the gym. And have you ever seen these videos on like TikTok or Instagram? You got to do better. Yeah. Yeah. Mind your own business. You got to do better. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was just, it was so calm the way he said he was, he's very. And Joey Swole's a Bears fan and a Cubs fan, by the way. All right. Can we, I don't know.

But, hey, no, but I like it. Ben Johnson, the intensity. That's frenetic. He's very frenetic in the weight room, and we like that here at... I like it. ...Hallis Hall. Yeah. Yeah.

The next one's even better as he's apparently reading Brad Biggs and taking notes, paying attention. As we get to the top of the hour, though, a reminder, our draft party is coming up here when hopefully they'll draft a frenetic player. And Greg Braggs is going to be frenetic at the draft party. I will be. And yeah, come on out 24th and 25th. We're going back to back, baby. Not just the first round. We do round two and three also. Six to 10, 115 Bourbon Street. All you can eat, all you can drink. How do you get into that?

Well, you become a diehard baby and you get the discount. That's a sweet way to do it. You can do it either way, but I would recommend becoming a diehard. Thank you to everybody who's watching us on Samsung TV or any TV out there. Roku, as we get to the top of the hour here, become a diehard on the way out. It is a...

phenomenal way to get yourself a free t-shirt, all the discounts support the show. We greatly, greatly appreciate it. And also, you know, come on out to the draft party, baby. Please come to the draft party. It's going to be every year. It is one of the most fun events, if not the most fun event we do. And anybody can come die hard or not. But if you are a diehard, as Mark said, you get 20% off. And then also if you're a diehard, uh,

You get access to our bears 100, which is a draft guide of, you know, bears needs only.

Adam Hogan, Fran Duffy, and all sorts of people here. Patrick Norton that work here at CHGO and CHGO Bears. Been putting that database together along with Fran Duffy's draft database. You get access to that, his draft guide that he's been working on for months. And it's extensive. And that's exclusive to you as a diehard if you sign up at allchgo.com. Is Joey Swole a diehard?

I don't know. We'll have to find out. He's only got 5 million followers. I know. I've been wanting to get him on the show. We got to find a way. I bet you we'll see him at Wrigley this year. He's a big Cub fan. When I see him, I'm going to run his ass down. Apparently his real name, if you want to really get his attention, is Joseph Sergo.

Joseph Sergo. Joey Swole. Joseph Sergo. Quick internet search got me there. Do we have the big guy clip too? Do we have that? We have the big guy clip. I can get it in a second. It's a quick clip. I don't know. This is a good one too. But first up, let's hear from George as he –

Yeah. He's kind of getting tired of the shots here or, and even acknowledging it though, at the same time that I honestly think it's more. So I think he's getting tired of, you know, making promises in the off season that, that don't live up. I think everybody's kind of, cause like even me as a fan now that leans more positive leans more towards the Kool-Aid. You know, I always got my pom poms out as the honey bear, but even I have kind of found myself now, like,

We are just so scarred now and beaten to this point. Like, it's like putting your hand on the stove and just continuing to do it. So that's kind of the vibe I get from George here. Yeah, he's basically acknowledging we need to win more games. So here we go. George on being offseason champs. I assume that like most fans, you kind of go through the cycle of the year. This is kind of a.

always the hopeful part of the calendar. Does it feel different to you right now, though, in terms of that level of hope you might have for what this year could be both on the field and off the field with the stadium? Well, your colleague, Brad Biggs, who didn't bother to show up here... Tell me about it. ...said, not that I ever read him, that the Bears won the offseason again.

And the underlying message there is that means nothing unless you win in the season. So we've made the moves that we think are necessary and proper to put us in a position to win. We've got to deliver in September and beyond. So he reads Brad Biggs. He loves CHGO Bears. We should have been mentioned there. That was Hogue's question for the record. He was talking to the Hoger. And yeah, yeah.

Listen, he explained it to you. Being offseason champs is not good. No. And I liked the message. And then he called out Biggs for not coming down to the owner's meeting. Well, you know, Biggs is, I mean, I don't know. He got Biggs timed. Biggs time. You got Biggs timed once.

I've been big-stimed. Yeah, big-stimed. I've been big-stimed. But it is kind of surprising. Why wasn't big-stimed there? Have you talked to bigs? No, he said Brad didn't feel like making the trip down here. I just wanted to know why Brad didn't go. Brad's everywhere. Why didn't Brad go? Why are we out covering bigs?

How greater than Biggs? These are the facts. That's what I love about Brad Biggs. He's like, I don't, you know, all the sheep go down there and they're like running for all these questions. And Biggs is like, I already know all the answers to all these questions. You peasants. That's Biggs. He's already got all that info. He doesn't need to go down there. That's how good he is. Well, it seems like maybe something else is going on, but regardless, there was George on being the offseason champs and

Yeah. They want more, baby. They want to do better. I think... Yeah, well, nah, we're good. I think it's okay. You know what I want to say about finks? Okay, let's do finks. We do the fink. Okay, so...

This got, what was the question? Do you remember the question? It was just about what moves do you like the most from this offseason? Oh, yeah. Okay. So this is George. This is good. George, what moves he likes the most that the Bears have made this offseason? Well, I'm a disciple of Jim Finks. I like the big guys. So strengthening the offensive line and the defensive line, I think is great for any team.

Shout out Jim Finks, Super Bowl, 85 Bears. Shout out the big guys. George likes the big guys.

Yep. Yep. Hey, trench drunk. We're all getting trench drunk. I like how me and George are on the same wavelength. Like the big guys too. Yeah. I'm trench drunk right now. I like the big guys and no more hype. No more selling this whole thing in the off season. Let's do it in the regular season. I like that George and me are on the same wavelength. What about the little guys? You like the little guys? Big guys only.

Big guys only? Yeah. Like Paul Pabst said, nobody under 285 pounds. Everybody over it. That's it. What about Caleb? He's a little guy. We already got Caleb. So we got all the little guys. You want big guys? Yeah, that's it. Big guy. Big guys. Big guys. All right. My guy. Big guys. All right.

Fun show today. Good job, Ho. Good job, Greg. Good job, Steven. Good job, Katie. Good job, Katie. Step in here. Bullpen relief. The closer. The closer. I think she was here last night till 2 in the morning. Now here helping out with us as Steven is dealing with some issue somewhere. $10 super chat on the way out from Isaac Siegel. New mayor of Arlington has said he wants the Bears in town and carefully planning with the team on a potential project.

as well as supported by locals voting for him shows public support. Yes. Most people, I think in Arlington nights by my scientific car and Paul want the bears to come to Arlington nights. Nice job, Katie. Good job, Katie. Katie filling in. I can't see behind the scenes, but Steven left. That was some of the best producer work we've had. That mic doesn't work anymore. Yeah. Oh, this is a great show. This is it right here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh,

All right, Greg, good job today, buddy. We did it. Yeah, we did it. Shout out to Crystal, who's in the chat saying hi to Katie. And just, you know, I think Crystal just deserved a shout out every single day. You too, Matt Nagy. Great performance today. Brittany, great to see you back in here.

Your boy Boogie. Yep. My guy. Just start naming off everybody. Why not? Sweet Pippi was phenomenal today. Giggities. Giggities dominated. Everybody was in there. Brisker, you know, I guess quote tweeting our tweet about him being ready to go, confirming the reporting from CHGO Bears. So shout out to Jaquan Brisker. Welcome back. Oh, and actually one thing we got to do to wrap up the show. I was at the Bulls game last night.

Saw my guy Jarrell. Jarrell. And his family. And his son was there and he's about 11 years old and he doesn't really love the show. And I said, well, what can we do to make it better for you?

And I said, what sports are you into? What do you like at school? And he said, I like science. And I said, so I got you. We'll talk science on the show today. Weird science. Weird science was a great movie. Filmed across the street from me, by the way. They tore down the house, but it was...

um they were handing out buttons i was like 12 years old i'm like what is this what movie you filming weird science no kidding yeah that happened that's awesome yeah yeah weird science great you know see there's the science talk no i thought you would like don't aren't you a big bunsen burner guy no no no you're you're really what about um you know the science of of of uh

of bricklaying. Don't you have a science? Isn't there a science to that? Yeah, there's a science to it. I mean, did, were you good? Did you pay? I was, you know, like if we're going scientific, you know, with my scientific mind. Yeah. Um, have you ever seen pineapple express when they make the cross joint, you know, and he says it's very scientific. So I made, I used to make that like once a year and then you burn like the two sides in the front.

and it in the the smoke filtration yeah steven are you good at science i don't know what he's talking about i'm talking about we're gonna i'm talking about weed this is for an 11 year old i'm sorry don't don't 11 year old me shut up i don't want to hear it don't 11 year old me jorrell jorrell listen to me when you trifecta thank you you boy boogie uh

Should I tell a story from science class my freshman year or should I not tell a story from science class my freshman year? I'm concerned. Well, neither of them are very positive, but let's just say this. Shout out to Mr. Hieronymus, the great Hieronymus, who lived in Wrigley Field at the time. And that's when they were, this was, you know, right around 1988 when the Cubs were putting in lights and Hieronymus was fighting for the neighborhood and

And Hieronymus did not like me. He didn't like me at all. Pizzitola, what's the science to telling Carm to shut up? Hey, I said we were talking science today, Pizzitola. I'm not going to not deliver for my 11-year-old. And the Jarrell family. So we're talking science. But so Hieronymus was telling... We were doing anatomy in science class. All right? So we're moving through the anatomy. And we're mentioning all the female anatomy. Okay.

All right. Yes. And my friend behind me starts laughing hysterically as the anatomy talk was going on. So then I start laughing because he's laughing. And then Hieronymus went off on me. He just walked right out. He's like, yes, women, women.

They happen. And I was like, I'm like, I know I was fine, Hieronymus. It was the guy behind me and I was laughing at him. It's nothing. I got nothing. I wasn't. I was being professional until he started laughing. And that will conclude our science talk because Hieronymus taught me. Hieronymus. Hieronymus. Nice job. The great Hieron dog. And I'm going to give my shout out to Roosevelt. I'm going to give my shout out to Roosevelt.

I was at Texas roadhouse as we often frequent in a beautiful Northwest Indiana, AKA the region. And I was at Texas roadhouse enjoying their amazing and magical bread with the cinnamon butter and the, and the, you know, ribeye medium rare, some shrimp. It's just a beautiful thing. And it's just a magical place. And Roosevelt is,

Came by our table and introduced himself and said he's a big fan of the show. So shout out to Roosevelt. You want one more Hieronymus story? I mean, I have a meeting, but I would love to hear another Hieronymus story. Last Hieronymus story, we were heating up a test tube in science class, Jarrell. We're heating up the test tube. Hieronymus was doing this. He's got the Bunsen burner. He's heating up the test tube. Test tube explodes. Glass everywhere explodes.

shards and it got, I think one girl like maybe in the face or something, something happened. She was, and she was having, you know, she was scared as she should have been.

And there was a young man whose name I will leave off this. He starts yelling, sue the school, sue the school, sue the school. Hieronymus, back in the day when you could do these things, took him by the neck, put him up against the wall, and was like, sue the school, sue the school. And then that guy, that was the end of that conversation. Hieronymus. Nice job, Hieronymus. Who broke the test tube, still threw it out. Hieronymus. Stand up for what's right.

We used to be a proper country. Can I do a normal shout out here? Yeah, sure. Shout out to Palos Hills Mayor Jerry Bennett, who's a fan of the show. Yeah. My dad wants to go pay a bill. Bumped into him. Watches the show every day. All right. He just extended his run 44 years as Palos Hills Mayor.

Well, let's see if we can get the Bears to pay those hills. 44. Let's go. Shout out to whoever did that yesterday, by the way, the Naperville Bears and the April Fool's joke. That was a good job. Oh, yeah. Carm was getting 100 texts from it.

Well, or one, but I embellished in the moment. Three, actually. You told me a bunch. Yeah, three. Then I embellished your embellishment. Yeah, that was a bad job. All right. Enough of the meatball meltdown hour. Meatball meltdown hour. I haven't had one in a while. Felt good to do it. We got to get out of here. We got a meeting in 38 seconds. We had to get one in before Hogue came back tomorrow, if he comes back. Hogue back tomorrow, if he gets his flight. A ton to do tomorrow. Fran Duffy on the show and a little more. All the things that weren't talked about today.

from the owners meetings this week as well. Have a great rest of your day. Thanks for watching. We appreciate you. Tell somebody that you love the CHGO Bears podcast today. Do that. And yeah, that would be so sweet. Have a great rest of your day.

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