Could the Cubs trade Cody Bellinger even after he declined his option to become a free agent? Well, sure, they could. The question is what his trade value actually is. Luckily, Tom Loxas is on hand to discuss that, why the Cubs aren't well positioned for Roki Sasaki, and who could they actually trade for to give their offense a boost? They also discuss Ian Happ getting yet another Gold Glove and how he really doesn't belong in the category of Cubs 3x winners. And, then it's on to the Cubs to dis...
Nov 15, 2024•1 hr 12 min
The Bears are changing offensive coordinators again, and The Athletic's Jon Greenberg is here to talk about it, the future of The Flus, who's going to be the next head coach (Andy knows), and just how bad things are. They discuss the lunacy of the idea that Caleb Williams could be benched, and they do a quick Grey Cup preview. They also discuss the Cubs offensive plans, make fun of CHSN's distribution "efforts," discuss a historic college football moment remiscent of July 4, 1826 and much, much ...
Nov 12, 2024•1 hr
This podcast includes tales of handing out beers on Halloween, the most indelible moments of the World Series including ESPN's national baseball nitwit helping make celebrities out of the creepy right field Yankees fans. What the Cubs have to trade, why The Athletic is trying to gaslight us on a key part of the Cubs roster and why we should think twice about ESPN promoting Boog. The most head scratching parts of the Bears' frustrating loss to Lionel Richie and the Washington Commodores, why spen...
Nov 01, 2024•1 hr 21 min
The World Series started off with a bang, but now the Yankees are holding on for dear life. At least they have seen evidence that a team can erase a 3-0 deficit. David Brown is here to talk about the series, the weird apparatus that Shohei is wearing, why some writers are referring to Kiké Hernandez by his given name, Aaron Judge's struggles, and what happens to Juan Soto after all of this. We also make fun of the historic ineptness of the White Sox and Phillies, and discuss why Phil Nevin would...
Oct 29, 2024•1 hr 7 min
Nico Hoerner decided to kill all of his trade rumors by having surgery to make himself untradeable. Tom Loxas joins the pod to talk about that savvy move, the Cubs maybe hiring a bullpen coach, unsourced rumors that Cody Bellinger is opting out, Fernando Valenzuela, the World Series, the legacy of Sweaty Joe Borowski, Bears-Commanders and much more.
Oct 25, 2024•1 hr 21 min
Did you know that the Yankees and Dodgers have not only played in the World Series before but that they used to be from the same city? People should talk about this more. David Brown joins to the podcast to ponder the controversial idea that it might be good for baseball to have two iconic franchises and four of the best players in the game facing each other in its biggest event. They also discuss Andy's hatred for a former Dodgers' centerfielder and listen to him forget Chris Coghlan's name for...
Oct 23, 2024•1 hr 5 min
The LCS' are underway, but it's never too late to preview them, right? David Brown is on hand to talk about the plucky Mets, the Dodgers winning without starting pitchers, seeing the Yankees up close and the Guardians surviving the AL Central Playoff Invitational. They also try to figure out what's going on with Bob Costas, and why TBS thinks they keep having to hire former Barves. Andy goes YouTube spelunking and wonders why Vance Law doesn't get more shit for what happened on Jerry Dybzinski's...
Oct 15, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Tom Loxas joins the podcast to talk about how Jed Hoyer's display of a lack of ambition during his season post mortem might get challenged by the fact that the Cubs are having a hard time selling season tickets and ads on Marquee and really, much of anything these days. They discuss how a boring product can't sustain the current payroll and that the answer, whether Jed or Tom want to believe it might need to be sucking it up, acting like big boys and adding a big time player or two. They talk ab...
Oct 11, 2024•1 hr 20 min
Since Jed Hoyer has organizationally positioned himself into a corner if the Cubs are going to make any kind of impactful move somebody good has to get traded and much to Praz's chagrin, Andy and Oleg agree that the most likely guy to get sent packing is Nico Hoerner. The guys discuss Jed's vague pronouncements after the season, make fun of Isaac Paredes' Wrigley slugging, look at the arbitration decisions, ponder the future of Miguel Amaya, make fun of the White Sox and much more. Then they tal...
Oct 09, 2024•1 hr 42 min
Two playoff previews in a week? Well, nothing is too good for our listeners. David Brown is back to talk about the Brewers gagging away a rare chance to advance, the Orioles have resumed squandering, and the three best teams in baseball are all in the NLCS. They talk about tipping pitches, wonder if a thumb is worth two fingers, feel bad for Bob Uecker, try to figure out how baseball can let local announcers work the playoffs and talk about the return of Tito, the Cardinals weird succession plan...
Oct 04, 2024•1 hr 30 min
The Wild Card playoffs start on Tuesday and the Cubs are golfing, so David Brown helps take a look at the good teams (and the Tigers) and what they're up to. Andy continues to get Francisco Lindor's name wrong, but he knows he's really good and they look back at a crazy final (extra) day of the season. They discuss Craig Counsell firing some coaches and wonder if there's a better way to build an 83 win team if you don't have the stones to try to build a better one. They also discuss Pete Rose an...
Oct 01, 2024•1 hr 9 min
Tom Loxas joins the podcast for his new regular spot and the guys discuss Andy's new theory on whether Cody Bellinger is going to stay, what the Cubs need to do to fix their mess versus what they're likely to actually try to to, and how the power in the organization is Craig Counsell's for now, and he really needs to use it. They discuss the Cubs appetite for meaningful change, what they should do with Ian Happ and why one of the team's needs is still a top of the rotation starter. They also tal...
Sep 27, 2024•1 hr 16 min
The playoffs are looming and the Cubs are busy packing up to go home, but David Brown is here to talk about the tight wild card races in both leagues, and other important stuff like how the Cubs could pacify their fanbase simply by fixing three of their four uniforms. The home pinstripes are great, but the rest of them kind of suck. We have ideas. As for the wild card race, the tiebreakers are stupid and unnecessary, and you'll be amazed by how much the White Sox ineptitude has impacted not just...
Sep 24, 2024•1 hr 7 min
It's two pods in one as Praz and Oleg join Andy to talk about the Cubs and the Bears. In the first half of the podcast they discuss the Cubs dreams of winning the NL Central come crashing down with a loss to the A's (I mean, it's only been over since May), and they look ahead to who might get traded in the offseason to bring in some fresh meat? And who will be making those trades? We all assume it will be Jed, but what if the Cubs go bold and just promote somebody (not you, Carter). Then in the ...
Sep 19, 2024•1 hr 50 min
A weird week at Pointless Exercise leads to a guest free podcast that touches on the Cubs pretending to still be playing for something, the team botching a celebration of two of their most beloved players, dissension in the front office but Jed's coming back and TV broadcasts best viewed with the sound down. The Bears reenacted just about every win in the Love Smith era, the defense looks awesome, and they have at least one too many kickers. You'll get a tease about what's coming to the site and...
Sep 13, 2024•1 hr
Bears Hard Knocks is over and it was mostly fun. The finale had it all, guys getting cut (and most of them coming back to the practice squad), gumbo talk, bees, Ian Wheeler's book club, two very large nerds talking about whose country invented football, a guy who could barely get out of his SUV, genuine emotion, bare feet, profundities encased in lucite, the long awaited return of Rambo Biles-Owens, DJ Moore's daughter's interesting suggestion for where to put the pool, a not-at-all-shoehorned-i...
Sep 05, 2024•1 hr 6 min
It's all hands on deck for the 2024 Super Mega Football Preview with Andy and all three Mikes, plus Oleg and David Brown. The guys are just full of football hot takery. They'll give you season over unders to bet or run away from, some bold predictions on the Bears, all 14 playoff teams and the Super Bowl winners and in a segment sure to enthrall, engage and educate you, they go over some batshit crazy DraftKings props about the Bears and give you the historical perspective on just how pathetic t...
Sep 04, 2024•1 hr 7 min
The gang is back together to take a look back at the surprisingly emotional fourth episode of the Bears Hard Knocks. We learn why Rome Odounze was so far out of bounds against the Bengals, spend a lot of time with running back Ian Wheeler and running backs coaches Chad Morton and Jennifer King, get a glimpse of the only fight in training camp, see Rome go candy shopping at Woodman's, learn about a disturbing Theo Benedet mistake and see Wheeler make it rain. The backup quarterbacks go on a death...
Aug 29, 2024•1 hr 5 min
Week three of Hard Knocks gave us some stuff we had expected all along. Mike Praznowski joins me as we talk about a Flus nickname montage, Kevin Warren finally getting to talk about his beloved ill-fated lakefront stadium and punting! The Flus is coming off pretty well this season, which was clearly the point, and we also got a cool behind the scenes look at the Bears trying to trade for Matthew Judon and a flashback to their draft day trade for Austin Booker. Khalil Herbert gets a bad nickname ...
Aug 23, 2024•1 hr 20 min
Unsure which week it was, whether it was supposed to be the baseball podcast with David Brown or the Cubs podcast with Oleg and Praz the guys just all got together and had a four-way. A four-way podcast. Get your mind out of the gutter. Although they do spend a fair amount of time talking about how Yankees pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich once traded families, pets and homes, so I guess you can get your sick kicks from that. But, real baseball was also discussed like the Cubs waiving Hect...
Aug 21, 2024•1 hr 20 min
Week two of the Bears on Hard Knocks gives us a a very small girl using a word that will make George McCaskey blush, Velus Jones regaling people with tales of his deceased ferret, Rome Odunze being awesome, Jonathan Owens getting his ass kicked by his wife in a rope climbing contest, dudes being dudes and talking about Love Island, the knowledge that there is an Ice Cream Museum (great) and something called Hot Dog Ice Cream (no bueno.) Plus, Caleb Williams actually played his first kinda real f...
Aug 15, 2024•1 hr 12 min
The Bears are finally on Hard Knocks and who better to come help us break it down than two of our Bears guys, including one who is an actual TV star. Praz and Mike Pusateri are here to watch The Flus get a haircut, be charmed by the ladies in his life, adore Rambo Owens-Biles, look in horror at Jaylon Johnson's new "car", hear Ray Clay finally get a gig again, and hear some sage words from Nick Saban. Caleb can't sing, Theo Benedet and Austin Reed can't catch a break but Kiran Amegadjie can play...
Aug 08, 2024•1 hr 20 min
The guys are back and all over the place. They discuss whether the Cubs are playing for anything, how to binge watch TV shows, what's up with Isaac Paredes, and how Pete Crow-Armstrong fixed his swing by imitating who? They also wonder if the Cubs are playing with fire by letting Hector Neris get close to guaranteeing his option, and then the unthinkable...are we sure we want Cody Bellinger to come back? It's complicated and mostly because of the rest of the roster, not Cody himself. Andy compar...
Aug 07, 2024•1 hr 2 min
The movie deep dives are back and Mike Pusateri joins to the podcast as the guys break down Albert Brooks' 1991 classic "Defending Your Life." You'll hear stories about how Meryl Streep ended up in the movie, the Rip Torn renaissance, the incredible story about Albert's dad's death, growing up with Rob Reiner as his best friend and much more. You'll even hear Albert do a (probably) unintentional impression of his brother Super Dave Osborne, in the movie.
Aug 02, 2024•1 hr 20 min
The guys take a look at what the Cubs actually got at the trade deadline. They ponder whether Christopher Morel or Isaac Paredes will have the better career, ponder Nico Hoerner's future, compare Nate Pearson to Calvin Schiraldi, and laud Jed for his incredible ability to trade guys to teams where they homer in their debuts. They also look at the other trades around the league, make fun of the White Sox, and then Andy has some sort of stroke and confuses Daniel Descalso and Doug Dascenzo. Never ...
Jul 31, 2024•1 hr 9 min
The trade deadline is looming and somebody's going to do something really stupid, so David Brown joined us to try to help make sense of it all. Why are teams so afraid of trading top prospects when the last time a number one overall was dealt it worked out great for the team who traded him? Why would the Tigers consider trading Tarik Skubal? Will the Cubs find a taker for Jameson Taillon and why the hell are they dangling Justin Steele? What's Jazz Chisholm's real name? Will the O's hold their M...
Jul 26, 2024•1 hr 11 min
The gang is all here to talk about Shōta enjoying the All-Star Game, Jed's first big trade of the season, great catchers on the waiver wire and strip clubs where Praz can the lead the guys to at the bachelor party he's attending. Like all of our podcasts it somehow derails from announcer rankings to terrible crimes committed by athletes back to Chip Caray and Jim Edmonds. The guys discuss the Cubs surge before the All-Star Break and if it means anything, propose a couple of win-win trades that b...
Jul 18, 2024•1 hr 26 min
The All-Star rosters are set and the game is next week, so David Brown joins Andy to discuss why discussions of snubs are pointless, changes to the Home Run Derby again, and a brilliant idea for a fan participation event for pitchers that could be held right before the Derby each year. They talk about the kinds of trades that should please buyers and sellers alike and which of the Cubs is most likely to be shipped off. They run down a big list of "will this guy get traded" and finish up with a c...
Jul 10, 2024•1 hr 10 min
What are the Cubs more of, boring or bad? That's the big issue that Andy and Praz confront, while Oleg is out running around in his birthday suit. Should the Cubs buy, sell, neither or both? Who would want any of them? Would Jed even trade any of them if he could? Why are these all questions? Why not write some of the description in declarative sentences like, wow, the Cubs really suck. Anyway, the guys take a clearheaded look at the roster, at the folly of building a team around defense and the...
Jul 03, 2024•1 hr 20 min
Andy has some things about the Cubs to get off his chest and so he sprints to the spacious Pointless Exercise podcast studio to discuss the possibility of the Cubs trading Seiya or Happ, why the trade deadline is still really important, why they should bring back an old friend to GM for the next month, and how David Ross is still screwing up a Cubs' season even without a job. He also drops a few movie, TV and book recommendations for you.
Jun 28, 2024•59 min
