Pointless Exercise - A Desipio Podcast

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 ou...

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 a...

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 b...

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 l...

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 discu...

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...

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...

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 wit...

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 realist...

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 w...

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 Ma...

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...

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 milli...

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 Si...

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...

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 mov...

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...

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...

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...

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 abo...

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...

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 Grie...

Usually the guys breakdown the previous week's game and then look ahead to the Bears' next opponent, but this week they not only do that, but they talk about the Roquan Smith to the Ravens and the Bears subsequent trade for Chase Claypool. They talk about how Roquan serving as his own agent contributed to this as well as Ryan Poles realizing there wasn't a deal to be done to keep Roquan in town. D...

The Bears and Cowboys haven't played as many times as you would think over the years, but there have been some memorable games. The most vivid is the Bears' 44-0 domination in 1985, and the two playoff losses. Maybe less memorable are the lone wins for Gina Carano's dad and Tom Brady's old Michigan platoon-mate on Thanksgivings many years apart. But the guys break a bunch of them down, including s...

The guys are still buzzing about the pantsing the Bears put on the once proud Patriots on Monday night. The sheer amount of competence was startling. An offensive scheme that fit the players, another touchdownless second half by the defense and a successfully returned punt! They talk about the Bears taking advantage of an 11-game break after the mind-numbing loss to the Washington Commodes to make...