Pointless Exercise - A Desipio Podcast

It is probably the most infuriating season in Cubs history (and that's saying something with this bunch). The Cubs patched almost all of their holes from the year before when they gagged away a pennant, and the fans were manic from the first game on. Greggie came home, the Cubs stole Derrek Lee, added Todd Walker for some reason and traded for the dumbest catcher they could find. Mark Prior and Ke...

Was the Bears win over the Niners a sign that they're better than people thought, or just that they're good mudders? What were the good signs to take away from game one and the bad ones that invariably get washed away in the glow of victory? Did the Bears really have the advantage in the rain, or is it a good sign that a 49ers team built to dominate games on the ground couldn't score more than one...

The Bears had put the NFL on notice with a big win over the (then) Redskins a couple of weeks prior, but they had a big score to settle when they went to San Francisco in week six in a rematch of the 1984 NFC Championship game. The Bears punched the Niners in the face early and often, Jim McMahon made some great throws (and one absolutely horrible one) and when it was time to finish things off, th...

The Bears podcast is back and so is Mike Pusateri for his third season. They take a look at the roster and try to figure out who the hell these guys are. What are reasonable expectations for the Bears with a first year head coach, a second year quarterback and the greatest kicker in football history? If the Bears improved their secondary so much why is Kindle Vildor still in it? Is it a bad sign t...

The Cubs had two Hall of Famers on their pitching staff, they literally got to write in any salary they wanted to pay another Hall of Famer to join their outfield, and they won 75 games. The year was 1987, Wrigley Field's last without lights, Harry Caray had suffered a stroke and a raft of "celebrities" filled in for the first couple of months on the TV broadcasts. Gene Michael was the manager for...

David Brown is back from vacation (and he wasn't robbed) and the guys take the bold stance that darnit, the Cubs SHOULD find a way to trade for Shohei Ohtani. They really went out there on a limb for that one. The talk about how much a team will have to give up to get Shohei and how much they'll have to pay him. They also discuss how long it would take Cubs players to realize that Willie Harris wa...

The Dusty Baker era ended with a big wet thud as a promising start ended abruptly when Rafael Furcal careened into Derrek Lee and broke his wrist. Mark Prior pitched his final games for the Cubs. Kerry Wood's career as a starting pitcher ended. Phil Nevin traded himself. Greg Maddux got Scott Boras to trade him. Michael Barrett punched AJ Pierzynski in the face. Key relievers on the division champ...

Longtime baseball beat writer Mark Gonzales stops by the podcast to talk about the Cubs (and a little White Sox--mostly so Andy can make fun of Eloy trying to catch a flyball). They discuss the Franmil Reyes era, what the Cubs should do with shortstop next season, why they didn't trade Willson Contreras or Ian Happ and if they'll trade Happ this offseason. Why did Frank Schwindel get to hang aroun...

The 1993 Cubs did something rare at the time, they had a winning record. Even more rare for the Cubs they had a winning record and didn't make the playoffs. Oh, and they rewarded their manager by firing him. Probably because they were tired of trying to remember how to spell Lefebvre. They let Greag Maddux go and acted like it was a genius move to use his money to sign four guys...only one of whom...

The Cubs are headed to the Field of Dreams Game and Frank Schwindel will not be going with. Unless he can hurry up and drive some nails into his car tires again. Frank's been replaced on the roster by the very large Franmil Reyes, and David Brown has high hopes for Franmil. The guys discuss a lot of interesting things like what Cubs player is strangely referenced on Hulu's "The Bear," what Sayid f...

Before the Cubs and Reds can ruin your memory of the film, we give Field of Dreams the full Movie Deep Dive treatment. We settle the really important questions like, "How much money would plowing under farmland to build a baseball field cost a farmer in 1988?" or "Is it have a catch or play catch?" How did they convince Kevin Costner to make a second baseball movie in two years? Who had a better 1...

The Cubs followed up a division title in 1989 by hosting the worst Home Run Derby of all time, and a rain delayed, mostly boring All-Star Game. Ryne Sandberg and Andre Dawson had good years, Mark Grace was pretty good and that was about it. They didn't sign any free agents, the only veteran they added was Dave Clark and amazingly just running back the same team from a year before didn't quite work...

As David Brown and I wrapped up our discussion of this year's trade deadline and the winners and losers (mostly the Cubs), we found out that Vin Scully died. So the podcast actually starts with a few minutes of us remembering Vin, including his great open to game one of the the 1989 NLCS. Then we get to the deadline talk and try to figure out just what the hell the Cubs were doing, how it makes an...

The Cubs had a new manager, a new (very old) closer, a new GM who used to be an old manager, six All-Stars and they could play home games after sunset for once! It's time to Remember This Crap about the 1988 Cubs. Greg Maddux was great for a half, Mark Grace debuted in an unfamiliar number and should have been the Rookie of the Year, Andre Dawson followed up his MVP season with a less than MVP sea...

All-Star "week" (it's only three days) was chock-full o' stuff with the draft, the Home Run Derby and the weird uniforms in the actual game. David Brown is here to talk about all of that, potential trades, another new idea for the Derby which somehow results in Tom Cruise delivering the balls to an aircraft carrier and much more. They give their thoughts on Fox's new Joe, when does mic'ing players...

There is no wheel spinning in this edition of Remember This Crap because the guys decide to bring in a guest with a love of '80s baseball and, inexplicably, the podcast. NBA writer Kelly Dwyer joins the fray as they discuss the 1985 Cubs who were riding high in early June only to ruin the season and the basketball camp experiences of Andy and Mike during a 13 game losing streak. There are a lot of...

Bally Sports National MLB writer David Brown is back on the show and the guys talk about the Cubs recent resurgence and why Yan Gomes is ever allowed to designated hit. Seiya's back and Andy has big plans for him but he's going to need his pal Rob Manfred to use his powers to make it happen. Pete Crow-Armstrong is in the Futures Game which everybody thinks is great, and so is Darren Baker which pr...

It was a season so bad that the manager made up an excuse to go to Florida to take care of his mother to get out of it early. The last vestiges of the 2008 Cubs were either leaving after or during the season. Opening Day was a bad omen for the rest of the season and a Barves rookie had a big day and has been stealing money from the Cubs ever since. Starlin Castro had a huge first game and a really...

You asked and we answered. The baseball podcast this week is Cubs intensive, as Andy and Mike Praznowski take this awful team out to the woodshed. You'll hear scintillating answers to questions like: Why is Jason Heyward still on the team? Do they not realize they have nobody to replace Willson Contreras when they trade him? Would Willson even want to stay if they miraculously offered him a new de...

Sandwiched in between the 88 win near-miss 2001 Cubs and the 88 win heartbreaking 2003 Cubs were the gawdawful 2002 Cubs. They got a manager fired, which got Ron Santo's number unofficially unretired before it could be retired. Moises Alou showed up and immediately got hurt. Fred McGriff was still around putting up completely hollow stats. They traded a Rookie of the Year for two pitchers, one of...

The Movie Deep Dive Podcast with actor/comedian Mike Pusateri returns with the long promised, much anticipated Young Frankenstein episode. It's one of the funniest movies ever made and toes the line between smart and stupid better than almost any other film ever has. Gene Wilder said it was his favorite movie and Mel Brooks said it's his best. So kick back, and enjoy this loving look back the movi...

The other 15 percent take center stage as the wheel of crap lands on 1983. Lee Elia stood up for his team said a lot of really profane but accurate things and ended up getting fired a few months later, Leon Durham was the only All-Star on the club, Chuck Rainey almost threw a no-hitter, Fergie forgot how to throw the ball to first base, the Cubs played a five game series in Pissburgh and lost them...

Bally Sports' David Brown is back from field trips to St. Louis and Washington and he has important food-related things to report. The guys talk about a fantasy football league that doesn't seem like that fun to be in and  and they take a look at every team and with well more than 100 games left to go just how many still have realistic playoff chances. Not so fast, White Sox. How has the extr...

The Athletic's Jon Greenberg swings by to talk about Marquee's fiasco with The Reporters and the guys talk about all of the other things Marquee needs to do to fix things, including giving Cole Wright hazard pay for doing an hour pre and postgame for all of these awful Cubs games. How's Jed Hoyer's don't-call-it-a-rebuild going? When is Jason Benetti going to go national full-time and then what ha...

The Cubs are ready to unveil the Fergie Jenkins statue, and the guys get so distracted by the fact the new "statue row" has two empty podiums that they spend the hour trying to figure out which players the Cubs are going to immortalize next. They're pretty sure the next one is guaranteed to be Ryne Sandberg, but then who gets the other spot? Many players are considered from several eras and a lot...