Pointless Exercise - A Desipio Podcast

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...

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 8...

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 th...

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 stu...

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 a...

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 awes...

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-...

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 b...

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 abo...

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 J...

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...

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 someth...

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 word...

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...

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 d...

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...

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 w...

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 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 lik...

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...

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 f...

On this edition of the baseball podcast David Brown is on hand to discuss a sticky situation with Edwin Diaz and his interesting offer (not taken up) as to what the umpires should smell. They also talk about the game at Rickwood Field, more interesting Willie Mays stats, fun stuff from the Ryne Sandberg statue unveiling, how the Cubs and Cardinals did with their long stretch of games against crap...

The Cubs are wallowing in last place, but thanks to the woeful National League they're not that far behind anybody (but the Dodgers and Phillies), so Oleg and Praz join the podcast to talk about what's wrong with the Cubs and what, if anything, can be done about it. They also discuss the death of one of baseball's all-time greats, and the death of Willie Mays. Andy tells the guys about...

The trade deadline is approaching but with everybody (not the White Sox) still in the race, how active will it be? How does the Phillies losing a catcher screw the Cubs? David Brown drops by to show off the Wifi in his car and discuss all of this, plus whether the Angels will finally trade Mike Trout, what's Luis Robert worth and does it even make sense for the Sox to trade him, will the Jays...

The gang is back together to discuss why the Cubs aren't more fun (though spotting the Sox five run leads turned out to be pretty amusing), the end of our long national nightmare and the return of all-time Cubs great David Bote. They discuss the weird name of Bote's kid and why it's named that. Andy gives you second hand kinesiology advice of how to run to first base. They discuss how...