The Cubs have been a professional baseball for (most of) their 148 years of existence and you'd think that over that time they would have a long history of excellence in center field. You'd be wrong. The guys are back to Remember This Crap about Cubs centerfielders over the years, with a special focus on the guys who've tried to play there the last 50 years. Some are better than you remember (Rick Monday, Brian McRae), some are even worse than you feared (Corey Patterson, Felix Pie) and some you...
Jun 30, 2023•2 hr 40 min
The A's are off to Vegas and all Andy and David want to know is what does that do to the blackouts. The new stadium is going to be built on the strip, but did MLB get Moe Green's permission? The Cardinals are bad and getting worse and somebody's going to pay for it, but who? Just how bad has Willson Contreras been since he moved back to catcher? Hint: Baaaad. Andy breaks out his Suzyn Waldman impression and a few John Sterling stories. The Reds are young and fun, but are they really any good? Th...
Jun 16, 2023•1 hr 8 min
The Cubs are oozing back to the bottom, and some people are shocked by this. Let's look back at how the free agent signings have worked out, what we can expect to get out of Matt Mervis and Christopher Morel, and why having three catchers is a complete waste of time. We'll discuss why there's no reason to call the tiny little infielder back up from Iowa, why Mike Tauchman should be rooting for Cody Bellinger to return ASAP, and why the Cubs should create a fake ainjury for Tucker Barnhart like t...
Jun 08, 2023•56 min
The Athletic's Jon Greenberg is back again and there's plenty to discuss. Did new Bears president Kevin Warren really botch the Big Ten's TV contracts or is it just impossible to try to work for 14 university presidents at the wrong time? And what does it mean when a guy would voluntarily decide he wants to work for the McCaskeys? Are the Bears as good as the NFL is counting on them to be given the TV schedule they gave them? Why did George vote against allowing Amazon to flex Thursday Night Foo...
May 25, 2023•1 hr 5 min
After all of the weirdness, Willson Contreras' exile from the squat lasted one week. David Brown is here to talk about that and all kinds of stuff like why baseball team's can't figure out how to use the injured list, Shohei's flirtation with another ridiculously cool achievement, good old Yankees sticky fingers, big hats and sore arms in Texas, Dr. Strangeglove and how we stopped worrying and learned to love stealing signs, and how much do managers really manage these days and how people paying...
May 18, 2023•59 min
It's only been a month but Andy and David are ready to start crossing teams off from playoff contention, and it includes an erstwhile rival of the Cubs---though maybe not the one you want it to be. But first, they talk about how two thirds of the San Francisco Giants reportedly got diarrhea during their two day trip to Mexico City over the weekend. Andy gives you a life hack given to him by an executive at Harley-Davidson about how to avoid food poisoning. Then the guys get to the work of making...
May 04, 2023•1 hr 7 min
Three weeks into the season is enough time to project playoff series and make all kinds of lasting judgements about teams and players, right? Even if it's not David Brown joins Andy to help do it. They talk about the team with the biggest run differential in the NL (the Cubs), the worst in both leagues (the A's) and others who are off to good and bad starts. They talk about Cardinals fans already turning on Willson Contreras, David Ross giving out charity replay challenges, misapplication of the...
Apr 20, 2023•1 hr 6 min
Baseball season is here and who better to preview it with than David Brown, who has spent his spring galavanting through the Cacti and Grapefruit Leagues. They talk about the Cubs chances in 2023, a fun conversation Dave had with Billy Williams, Nico Hoerner's "extension", why the Cubs need three catchers and a Nick Madrigal, Freddie Freeman's love for Dansby Swanson and more, including how Ian Happ can just draft behind Shohei during free agency next winter and sucker some owner who missed out ...
Mar 30, 2023•1 hr 7 min
Over the past couple of years we have recounted every Cubs season from 1980 through 2011 on Remember This Crap, and here is the culmination of those efforts. We saved the 1984 season for last. Were our efforts to remember 32 painful season of Cubs baseball pathetic and futile? Probably. But we did save a great one for last. The 1984 Cubs shaped an entire generation of Cubs fandom. They crawled out of the abyss and berthed a superstar second baseman and a Cy Young pitcher and mostly were a lot of...
Mar 29, 2023•2 hr 58 min
Andy completes the home and home with Tom Loxas who had him on his podcast a few weeks ago and Tom stops by to talk about the Cubs, including who is going to fill the big Seiya sized hole in right field to start the season, what are the Cubs going to do with David Bote, what's the smartest way to set up the opening day roster, and do the Cubs need a second lefty in the bullpen if the options are all bad? What does a nine-game spring training winning streak really mean, and do we really have to g...
Mar 10, 2023•1 hr 29 min
Bally Sports Senior MLB Writer David Brown is on location in Arizona checking out the Cacti League, and provides an up close look at spring training, including an up close look at Shohei Ohtani, the pitch clock and why we don't need to see it on TV, the bigger bases, the Mariners' clubhouse dog Tucker, guys playing long toss and spotty hotel WiFi. They also discuss Seiya's oblique and if players being in the best shape of their lives is good or bad. All that and more.
Mar 03, 2023•32 min
Andrew Lawrence, columnist at The Guardian, is back on the podcast. He writes about important issues like culture, politics, the NFL, NBA and F1, but he's up for the regular nonsense of the Pointless Exercise Podcast. They discuss how the Bears could botch the number one pick, whether they'd actually trade Justin Fields, what makes Fields so exciting and how top draft prospect Jalen Carter's sad legal problems might impact his draft status. Then they discuss the Bulls' struggles and how much the...
Mar 03, 2023•1 hr 38 min
The baseball podcast is back with David Brown from Bally Sports and they start by talking Super Bowl prop bets? Well, it makes sense because David's a Kansas City resident. Then the baseball talk starts with a look at the World Baseball Classic rosters and the pools, and what Cubs and former Cubs are sure to help their native lands the most. Like Eric Sogard on Team Czechoslovakia. Huh? They discuss Trey Mancini's new/old name, and how baseball's new rules are going to impact the game. All that ...
Feb 10, 2023•1 hr 34 min
An old favorite Cubs has retired and Marquee Sports Network has snapped him up. No, it's still not Miguel Montero, but Dexter Fowler should be good at this, let's hope they actually use him. The Cubs have signed even more white guys since we last checked in. Spring Training starts in two weeks but guys are already out there hitting practice bombs. Luke Getsy is wearing the big headset this weekend at the Senior Bowl. Thoughts on why Tony Romo sucks now, and some of it is Jim Nantz's fault. And, ...
Feb 02, 2023•1 hr
Kelly Dwyer returns to the podcast to discuss just how excited he is or isn't about the Cardinals hiring Chip Caray to be their new TV play by play guy. You can probably guess which way he feels about this. They even wax nostalgic about the guys who filled in for Chip at random intervals when he was doing Fox studio stuff during the early part of his Cubs career. The guys also discuss fun times at Substack staff meetings, former Cubs greats Luis Salazar, Marvell Wynne, Dave Martinez and Rafael P...
Jan 27, 2023•1 hr 53 min
The Cubs had a convention (you may have heard something about it) and the Bears have a new president and the number one pick and Jon Greenberg of the The Athletic drops by to talk about that and more. They talk about Marquee's coverage of the convention, Ryan Dempster's awful fake talk show, Ian Happ putting people to sleep with his "live" podcast, and Tom Ricketts consistently making it weird with regards to Sammy Sosa. What's new with the Utility Tunnel of Fame? Was it a bad sign that Kevin Wa...
Jan 20, 2023•42 min
The guys wrap up another fine Bears' season by breaking down the season ending Ryan Poles-Matt Eberflus press conference, arguing over whether Poles would actually draft a quarterback first overall and making fun of Aaron Rodgers weird, awkward, romantic stroll off the field with Randall Cobb. They talk about the Bears only "blue chipper", who they can trade the number one pick to, what is realistic to expect in free agency, where the Texans shocker in Indy ranks on Lovie's all-time Bears wins l...
Jan 11, 2023•1 hr 26 min
The calendar year is ending and we're just about six weeks from the start of spring training, so it's time to look at the Cubs' roster and see how it stacks up and...oof. Half the infield is set and the other half is just bad, the outfield is fully stocked with questions, the rotation looks deep but lacks a top of the rotation stud, the bench is non-existent and the bullpen has a lot of guys who wear their gloves on their left hands. So with work left to be done, what are the Cubs options to imp...
Dec 28, 2022•1 hr 6 min
For the first time ever, all of your favorite Pointless Exercise Podcast hosts are in one place at the same time as David Brown, Mike Pusateri, Mike Donohue and Andy Dolan sit down to discuss the year in sports and veer off into all kinds of related and unrelated topics. They discuss timely things like Abe Gibron slow roasting a pig, how Lonzo Ball killed the entire year in Chicago sports, Nick Madrigal's exciting future, the Cubs awkward flirtation with the luxury tax, and guys kicking the ball...
Dec 21, 2022•1 hr 29 min
The Bears finally have a new opponent, so Remember This Crap returns from hiatus to look back at all of the great games in the history of Bears-Eagles. And, after some digging they actually found a few. They have a storied playoff history and the Bears actually won one of them...but nobody could see it. Great QB matchups abound like Mike Tomczak v. Bubby Brister, Jonathan Quinn's greatest NFL game, and Randall Cunningham throwing a ridiculous amount of passes in two matchups against the mighty V...
Dec 15, 2022•2 hr 10 min
The 2022 Winter Meetings were eventful, so David Brown of Bally Sports helps break things down. Why does it make sense for the Cubs to sign Cody Bellinger? Can Jameson Taillon set the all-time Tommy John Disease record? Why wouldn't the Cubs just pay Carlos Correa whatever it takes? There's a hilarious Brandon Nimmo pun. They try to figure out if there's anybody else the Padres can give $300 million to, what are the Giants going to do with their pile of unspent cash? Did the White Sox know the W...
Dec 09, 2022•1 hr 13 min
The Bears have lost eight straight games to the Packers and Sunday's was certainly one of them. The guys return to the podcast studio to discuss whether or not Justin Fields should have played (hint: yes) and whether the Bears limited his rushing attempts to protect his bad shoulder. They also try to decide whether or not the Bears can set the franchise record for losses, if a QB room of Trevor Siemian, Nathan Peterman and Tim Boyle would that much worse than most of the ones we've already lived...
Dec 06, 2022•55 min
The winter meetings are coming and who better to talk to about them than somebody who will fly to San Diego to stand in a lobby, The Athletic's Cubs writer Patrick Mooney. Patrick tells all about the Cubs vaunted pitch lab (or at least a sign that points to it), whether or not the Cubs really tried to sign Jose Abreu, which of the big shortstops the Cubs will sign and why Kodai Senga's first name might or might not have a 'u' in it. The guys discuss where Nico will go if they get a new shortstop...
Nov 30, 2022•1 hr 6 min
On this episode of the pod we have our favorite guest of all-time. You'll want to check it out as he is less than thrilled by possible Ian Happ contract extension talks, gives you an update on the Cubs quest for a new shortstop, how will they live without the stars they've non-tendered and how the possibility of adding Cody Bellinger feels like a short-term duplication of their worst long-term move in a generation. He also makes fun of Bruce Levine's Jose Abreu to the Cubs talk and the Cubs Conv...
Nov 22, 2022•1 hr 13 min
The guys took extra time to grade film and crunch the numbers to figure out how the Bears lost to the Lions and if they did it on purpose. It's not like Cairo Santos is going to ever miss an extra point unless he tries to. And Justin Fields played an amazing game, so how could he possibly have thrown a pick six unless it was his plan all along. They discuss why the NFL is suddenly so run heavy and if for once the Bears are actually equipped to be ahead of the curve in something good. Why isn't e...
Nov 17, 2022•1 hr 5 min
On a very special edition of the podcast, Mike Pusateri, David Brown and Andy interview actor and author Michael Kostroff. Even if you don't know you know him, you do. He played the lawyer Maury Levy on "The Wire" and has appeared in "Billions," "The West Wing," "Damages," "Show Me A Hero," "The Deuce," "The Plot Against America," Molly's Game" and a lot more. He talks about sharing scenes in "The Wizard of Lies" with Robert DeNiro, talking about impostor syndrome with Meryl Streep, filming one ...
Nov 16, 2022•1 hr 9 min
The Bears are moving up the dial, the Cubs are poised to attempt some "intelligent spending," the Cubs annual ode to sweatpants is returning and Jon Greenberg of The Athletic drops by to talk about all of it and more. They talk about if the suddenly entertaining (but still bad) Bears will earn a promotion out of any of their noon Sunday kickoffs or at least better announcer pairings, why the Bears thought they'd probably never work out a deal with Roquan Smith, is Luke Getsy back in play as a he...
Nov 11, 2022•1 hr 34 min
David Brown is back to talk about the World Series (it's a lot easier to preview things after they happen), Dusty Baker's awkward celebrity friendship, and to look ahead at baseball's hot stove. The guys talk about Scott Boras' annual pun fest at the GM meetings, the concept of being "baseball funny", and what does "intelligent spending actually mean?" They break down the top free agents, talk about which ones speak four languages and have been knighted, why cool names matter, and they try to fi...
Nov 10, 2022•1 hr 24 min
It was a perfect day for the rebuilding Bears against the Dolphins. Justin Fields continues to look like a star, they scored a ton of points, they lost and we got to boo the refs. The guys break it down, try to decide which Fields play was more awesome than the last, tout Cole Kmet's Hall of Fame candidacy and try to figure out what the hell are the rules these days, anyway? Oh, and they enjoy the continuing demise of the Packers and try to figure out how many of their remaining games the Bears ...
Nov 08, 2022•59 min
The history between the Bears and Dolphins isn't all that long and isn't all that storied, in fact, you probably only remember one game with any kind of clarity. But the guys dive in and dig up all kinds of info on the Bears connections of the Dolphins first-ever head coach, who won their last playoff game, and if any of the '72 Dolphins are still alive (sadly, some are). They make fun of Bob Griese's facemask, get jealous over the number of interim coaches Miami has had and play a very funny ga...
Nov 04, 2022•1 hr 42 min
