Latest / 2nd City Gridiron / Bears Banter Ep. 243: Linda Cohn discusses her amazing career!

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Bears Banter Ep. 243: Linda Cohn discusses her amazing career! · 2nd City Gridiron

0:03
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.
0:12
[SPEAKER_00]: It's right, bare-down, bare-down, bare-down to the side, but I don't want to show off.
0:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, the Chicago Bears podcast, Bears Banner, Power by Second City Grand Iron Bill Zimmerman with you.
0:24
[SPEAKER_00]: We are back for another Bears Banner.
0:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Gonna be a little bit of a different Bears Banner this week.
0:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Hope you guys are gonna enjoy this one.
0:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Gonna do a couple different things on this podcast because,
0:36
[SPEAKER_00]: There's not a lot to talk about with the Chicago Bears right now, and that is a okay.
0:42
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to do our mega training camp preview coming up here.
0:46
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got some other things in the hopper that we're going to do for you.
0:49
[SPEAKER_00]: But before we get to that, have an opportunity to sit down today with legendary,
0:56
[SPEAKER_00]: ESPN personality, Linda Cone, she is going to be by here in just a little bit, and we're going to talk to her about her career, talk to her about some Chicago sports, talk about sports center, when it got huge in the 90s.
1:10
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to get into all of that with Linda, so going to do it a little different, not doing a bears interview per se.
1:16
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you're a sports fan,
1:18
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, whether you're younger and don't really know a lot about the hey day of sports center in the 90s or if you're more my age and you remember that hey day and you just want to have a little nostalgia and and here about in a little bit.
1:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Linda's going to be by here in just a little bit to talk about it, but before we get to Linda as always you get a little of me and like I said, there's not a lot to talk about.
1:43
[SPEAKER_00]: with the Chicago Bears right now.
1:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So instead of doing some specific stuff about the Bears that I guess that we're going to do a lot of that with our training camp preview, where we will break down every position group like we do every year and not just talk about Luther Burton.
2:00
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to be talking about Xavier on Thomas.
2:02
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to be talking about all depths of the position, position group.
2:06
[SPEAKER_00]: So
2:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Make sure you tune into that when that one comes out.
2:09
[SPEAKER_00]: That's always a two partner.
2:11
[SPEAKER_00]: We do offense is part one defense is part two.
2:14
[SPEAKER_00]: So we'll have that later in July before training camp kicks off.
2:18
[SPEAKER_00]: But this one I want to talk about actually an article I did at Windy City, Gridiron.
2:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Where I had some fun last year and decided to rank.
2:30
[SPEAKER_00]: The 100 greatest quarterbacks of all time.
2:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, it didn't start like that.
2:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I wanted to do 10, and like everyone does 10.
2:38
[SPEAKER_00]: So I decided, like, can I, you know, set a 10, can I do 20, 25, and I got up to 25, and by the time I decided who the 25 were, probably at 40 or 45, and I'm like, why I could do 50?
2:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And once you get to 50, I'm like, whoever does like the top 100.
2:53
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
2:55
[SPEAKER_00]: decided to do that again this year and did the top 100 running backs of all time.
3:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And I wanted to talk to you a little bit about that list.
3:06
[SPEAKER_00]: If you just search, you know, you don't even have to, if you search, I think greatest running backs of all time.
3:11
[SPEAKER_00]: It literally is like the first or second article.
3:13
[SPEAKER_00]: It's been getting a lot of traffic on Google, so thank you for those who search it and found it.
3:18
[SPEAKER_00]: But
3:19
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to talk about how I came to this list, how I ranked everyone and because I've gotten a lot of comments, there's a lot of comments in the article, I've gotten a ton of push on social media, some people loving it, some people furious with my decisions, especially Detroit Lions fans, which I found endlessly entertaining and we'll get into that here in a minute.
3:44
[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to talk about my process.
3:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I will talk about the bears quarterbacks.
3:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Bears, I'm sorry, bears running back that are featured on the list.
3:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And there are several.
3:53
[SPEAKER_00]: So it turns out pretty good position group for the Chicago Bears on that one.
3:58
[SPEAKER_00]: So what I wanted to do because like, how do you compare?
4:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Bronco Nagersky is a bad example because he's way too far back.
4:07
[SPEAKER_00]: But how do you compare, let's say, Frank Gifford to Reggie Bush.
4:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Frank Gifford, you know, if you didn't obviously, you don't Frank Gifford to broadcast, but Frank Gifford was like an all purpose back caught a lot of balls out of the back field, you know, very Reggie Bush style.
4:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Gifford was an all pro he had a much more
4:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Decorated career than Reggie Bush.
4:28
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm just bringing them both up as a current more current player in an older player in, you know, that did similar things on the football field.
4:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So what I decided to do was use accolades a bit as a way to measure things to measure these players because I get it when you sit there and say,
4:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, if, you know, if Franco Harris played today, would he be as good or if, you know, John Henry Johnson played today, you don't know who he is or early, never as a red grain, if you drop them in 2025, how would they be today?
5:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's not the point because Eres need to be compared against Eres.
5:10
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, if you drop Brian Erlocker in 1955, we'd be the greatest football player of all time.
5:16
[SPEAKER_00]: He'd weigh as much as all the offensive linemen, and he'd be as fast as all the running backs.
5:20
[SPEAKER_00]: He'd be absolutely insane.
5:23
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's not how we do things, because Brian Erlocker is playing against people that grew up at the same time as him, that had the same access to
5:32
[SPEAKER_00]: youth football, to training techniques, to weightlifting, and everything.
5:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So to sit there and say that dick butt kiss wouldn't be as good today because of whatever dick butt kiss used to push giant automobiles around his neighborhood because there was no weightlifting and he wanted to get stronger.
5:51
[SPEAKER_00]: So he literally just pushed cars around his neighborhood.
5:55
[SPEAKER_00]: you want to tell me that that kind of mindset, if he was playing in 2025, wouldn't be just a jacked off a linebacker who was just dominating offences.
6:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm very confident he would be.
6:07
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're not going to compare Dick Fuckus directly against Ray Lewis if we're doing linebackers because they played 40 years apart.
6:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So when I looked at these running backs, I was like, what are the key accolades
6:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So I wanted that, say, all right, well, first of all, I don't want to diminish receiving yards.
6:30
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to combine rushing and receiving yards.
6:33
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're going to do all purpose yards from scrumage, whatever you want to talk about.
6:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And what I did is I took that and I divided it by a thousand.
6:41
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you had 16,000 career rushing and receiving yards, you got 16 points.
6:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Then I looked at some of the big athletes.
6:49
[SPEAKER_00]: You make an all decade team, that's worth a lot.
6:52
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought that was worth five points.
6:54
[SPEAKER_00]: You made an all decade second team, I thought that was worth four points.
6:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, this is my system.
7:00
[SPEAKER_00]: You want to sit there and be like, I don't have the point system, right?
7:02
[SPEAKER_00]: That's fine.
7:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure plenty of people disagreed with what I did.
7:05
[SPEAKER_00]: But I wanted to have a consistent way to measure all these players.
7:09
[SPEAKER_00]: MVP's five points offensive player the year four points first team all pro three points second team all pro two points and if you made a pro bull one point.
7:21
[SPEAKER_00]: So I added up for all these players and you know I made my initial rankings the kind of where I thought they were just kind of based on my memory and
7:32
[SPEAKER_00]: I had a lot of guys slated pretty well, but there were some guys where I had way too low or way too high, and I had to read just.
7:40
[SPEAKER_00]: But here's the thing, a lot of people got angry about the points, like why make a point system and don't follow it perfectly.
7:48
[SPEAKER_00]: because of there's injuries, there's longevity, there's a lot of things that go into it.
7:53
[SPEAKER_00]: For example, Bo Jackson, I have ranked as the 25 greatest running back of all time.
8:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Bo Jackson on this list has four points.
8:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Now,
8:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Jerome Bettis is 23rd, he has 29 points.
8:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Lenny Moore, if you've ever heard of him from the Baltimore Colts, he has 46 points.
8:16
[SPEAKER_00]: So Bo Jackson wouldn't be in the top 300, probably, with four points.
8:22
[SPEAKER_00]: But Bo Jackson, also, by the way, has the highest yards per carry average of any running back in the history of the league.
8:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Bo Jackson was an explosive player, had a terrible hip injury, his football career ended.
8:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to put that in the consideration.
8:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, when I get to the top of the list here, to me, there were always three guys in my head that stood out of everyone else.
8:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Walter, Barry Sanders, and Jim Brown.
8:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And when I put this point system into play,
8:53
[SPEAKER_00]: found out that Peyton at 70 points, Brown had 70 points, and Barry Sanders had 72 points.
9:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's where Lions fans erupted in the comments, and on my social media pages going, how are you going to make this point system?
9:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Barry Sanders has more points than any other running back ever accumulated, and that's true.
9:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Why isn't Barry Sanders first?
9:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Barry Sanders should be your number one running back, yaddi, yaddi, yaddi, yaddi.
9:20
[SPEAKER_00]: because I don't think Barry Zanders is the best running back of all time.
9:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I said, it was a framework to figure things out and kind of where people are, but it was not a Bible.
9:30
[SPEAKER_00]: It was not something that I had to have
9:36
[SPEAKER_00]: a very specific thing where I was just coming up with a point system and then ranking them based on their points.
9:41
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I was using it as a framework to figure out where these running backs were.
9:45
[SPEAKER_00]: So for me, on my list, I put Walter Pate number one.
9:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Now Jim Brown was a more dominant running back than Walter Pate was.
9:54
[SPEAKER_00]: But when you look at the Walter Peyton Highlight Real, when you look at the fact that Walter Peyton one of the best blocking running backs of all time, an all-time great receiving running back.
10:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Also had a hell of an arm, one of the best throwing running backs of all time.
10:12
[SPEAKER_00]: He was the best third string quarterback for many years before they drafted Mike Tomzack.
10:17
[SPEAKER_00]: So Walter Peyton to me, the long jevity,
10:22
[SPEAKER_00]: all purpose that he was able to do to me, he encapsulates like, if you said, what do you want in your running back?
10:30
[SPEAKER_00]: It's Walter Peyton, because he has it all.
10:33
[SPEAKER_00]: He has a longevity, the speed, the power, can do it all.
10:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Walter Peyton is the perfect running back.
10:41
[SPEAKER_00]: So to me, Walter Peyton, number one.
10:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Number two, I'll put Jim Brown because of the dominance.
10:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, if Jim Brown did not walk away from the sport to go to Hollywood, if Jim Brown played another two, three, four seasons at the level he was at, I think he would have been so dominant for so many years that you couldn't even argue Walter Payton over Jim Brown.
11:05
[SPEAKER_00]: But because Brown chose to walk away,
11:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna take Peyton's career over Jim Brown.
11:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Jim Brown, at what, seven out of eight years rushing titles, MVP's, he is more decorated than Walter Peyton.
11:19
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, they're tied.
11:20
[SPEAKER_00]: They each have 70 points, but Jim Brown did it in less seasons.
11:24
[SPEAKER_00]: So in that case, I could understand people who wanna put Jim Brown number one.
11:30
[SPEAKER_00]: And I wouldn't argue people.
11:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, oh, you don't know what you're talking about.
11:33
[SPEAKER_00]: My list, I put Peyton one, I put Brown two.
11:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And I put Barry Sanders three.
11:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And Barry Sanders has 72 points.
11:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Now to me, it's these three guys.
11:42
[SPEAKER_00]: They are so much better than every other running back that has ever existed.
11:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's not to knock Emmett Smith or any of the top guys.
11:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'll go through my top tenor so here.
11:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we'll get into some of the bear's players.
11:55
[SPEAKER_00]: But
11:56
[SPEAKER_00]: To me, these three guys are so special.
11:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Barry Sanders is the best runner of the football I have ever seen.
12:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, running the football, his eluciveness, his speed, is agility.
12:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything he could do, breaking tackles, absolutely incredible.
12:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Barry, run the goal line, wasn't his good.
12:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Barry wasn't his good of a blocker.
12:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Barry, decent past catcher, not as elite as someone like Peyton.
12:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Barry Sanders was more one dimensional and that's not to knock him.
12:30
[SPEAKER_00]: He's phenomenal.
12:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I said, best runner of the football I've ever seen, but when we're talking about the greatest of all time, I'll take the Jim Brown pure dominance.
12:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll take the Walter Peyton abilities and longevity over Barry Sanders.
12:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So Peyton won Brown to Barry Sanders 3 to tell
12:57
[SPEAKER_00]: My top 10 Emmett Smith for when I say I'm not a huge Emmett Smith fan, great running back.
13:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I just wouldn't.
13:04
[SPEAKER_00]: He used to get talked about when he was chasing Walter Payton's record kind of neck and neck with Payton.
13:08
[SPEAKER_00]: I was just like, he's not nearly the player of Payton, but.
13:12
[SPEAKER_00]: NFL's all-time leading rusher.
13:14
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got to be way up there.
13:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Emmett Smith, I have it for Marshall Fock.
13:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I have it five.
13:19
[SPEAKER_00]: The best runner pass catcher.
13:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I've ever seen just those two things.
13:24
[SPEAKER_00]: He was so critical to those Rams offences.
13:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, Jay Simpson six.
13:29
[SPEAKER_00]: 2000 yards rushing in a 14 game season is just absurd.
13:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Gayle Sears.
13:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I have seven.
13:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I have people complaining because he's only got 34 points.
13:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Barry, or I'm sorry, Gale Sears 34 points in seven.
13:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, that's not bad for a short of a career that Gale Sears had.
13:48
[SPEAKER_00]: He was an absolutely incredible back.
13:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, injuries derailed him.
13:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Adrian Peterson eight,
13:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Eric Dickerson 10.
13:59
[SPEAKER_00]: That is my top 10.
14:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of my other favorite backs.
14:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I love Earl Campbell.
14:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Earl Campbell highlights on YouTube are so good.
14:06
[SPEAKER_00]: If you haven't said go find Earl Campbell highlights.
14:09
[SPEAKER_00]: They're just ripping his jersey to shreds.
14:11
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't bring the man down.
14:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Had a really short peak, but this is Earl Campbell in a nutshell.
14:18
[SPEAKER_00]: four years he was great.
14:20
[SPEAKER_00]: That's it.
14:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Like dominant four years offensive player the year three out of those four years.
14:25
[SPEAKER_00]: That's how good he was.
14:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I absolutely love love Earl Campbell.
14:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Derek Henry in terms of active players he's the highest active guy I have him 14th.
14:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I have a, I have Bronco Nagerski 18.
14:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Bronco Nagerski had 28 points.
14:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And I did cheat a little where if you were all pro first or second team, there was no probal, I gave them a probal birth because I was like, all right, if you're all pro, you almost always make the probal.
14:53
[SPEAKER_00]: So I, I had in the points a little bit in that regard.
14:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Negerski with that has 28 points, but there's no MVP award.
15:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Negerski had probably would have won one or two maybe more MVP.
15:04
[SPEAKER_00]: He was the most dominant player in the league for multiple years, but there was no MVP then.
15:11
[SPEAKER_00]: And suddenly, you know, suddenly, Negerski gets a couple of MVPs, and if there's often a player in the years, you can pretty quickly see Negerski getting into the 45 to 50 point total.
15:26
[SPEAKER_00]: uh... Christian McCaffrey and other active guy i have twenty if all time or one of the shocking things i found out while doing this list is a john riggins only had one probal appearance i still don't understand how that happened i need to talk to an elder statesman in washington who can explain how that uh... never happened
15:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Red Grange at 24.
15:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Red Grange, he's sitting right next to Bo Jackson at 25.
15:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Bo Jackson 4 points, Red Grange only 11 points.
15:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, if you're talking about pure NFL running backs, Red Grange should not be on this list.
16:00
[SPEAKER_00]: He shouldn't be.
16:01
[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't play long enough, but Red Grange is arguably
16:09
[SPEAKER_00]: one of the most important figures in NFL history, BD NFL was failing.
16:14
[SPEAKER_00]: It's first 10 years in the league.
16:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody cared.
16:17
[SPEAKER_00]: People loved college football.
16:19
[SPEAKER_00]: They had a professional football was just some, you know, wow, who does professional football?
16:23
[SPEAKER_00]: You play football in college.
16:24
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no professional football.
16:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Notre Dame, you know, that, that, that, that was football.
16:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Red Grange comes to the NFL and George Halis signs him and George Halis does a barn storm storming tour with Red Grange across the country build up excitement for this league and this failing league that nobody was interested but people were interested in Red Grange.
16:48
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's the same era he was like a babe Ruth type character this like larger than life this football player played both ways nobody could stop this man dominating and Illinois and changing college football and now he's playing professional football.
17:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So there was this barn storming tour these were exhibitions.
17:06
[SPEAKER_00]: This was not an official at least we're not official NFL games.
17:10
[SPEAKER_00]: he brought interest to the NFL.
17:13
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like Caitlin Clark in the WNBA, like that kind of level of elevating an entire league.
17:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Red Grange, one of the most important figures in NFL history because without him, who knows what could have happened to the NFL?
17:30
[SPEAKER_00]: It may have failed before it started.
17:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, what of another league of popped up?
17:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, I'm sure it would have, but you understand what I'm saying.
17:41
[SPEAKER_00]: really can't be understated.
17:43
[SPEAKER_00]: So those are my top four running backs of all times.
17:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So four Chicago Bear running backs make the top 25.
17:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you have a bit of a drop off.
17:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Now before I get to, you know, a couple, uh, some more bears, Frank Gore I had 38.
17:59
[SPEAKER_00]: And some people got mad at me about Frank Gore, you know, he's sitting there.
18:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I think third all time in in rushing yards,
18:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Frank Gore just, he just ran for a thousand yards every year, every year.
18:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Congratulations, that is one hell of an accomplishment, but he just was never a dominant player, and I really want dominance.
18:26
[SPEAKER_00]: for my running backs.
18:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's critically important that at some point you are one of the best running backs in the league for at least a couple of seasons.
18:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Even if it's just one magical season where you just, you know, like Demarco Murray, right?
18:41
[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't have a huge career, but he always had one amazing year for the Dallas Cowboys.
18:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So to me, I really want to see a running back that dominates.
18:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And a Frank Gore had even just like a two or three year dominant stretch and was just good the rest of the time.
18:58
[SPEAKER_00]: I have him a lot higher.
18:59
[SPEAKER_00]: But Frank Gore at 38 for me, say, Juan Barclay, my next active guy at 39,
19:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And that kind of rounds out the top 50.
19:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Todd Gurley was another interesting one for me.
19:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I had him much lower.
19:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I brought him up because again, he had that dominant stretch just two, three years over.
19:18
[SPEAKER_00]: He was the best running back in the league or arguably the best running back in the league.
19:23
[SPEAKER_00]: But such a short career.
19:25
[SPEAKER_00]: He was a tough one for me to rank.
19:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the next bear's running back I have is Matt Fortay.
19:32
[SPEAKER_00]: I have Fortay at 61, Fortay, by the way, in my point system.
19:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Only 16 total points did not get a lot of accolades.
19:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Was always in that very good tier.
19:43
[SPEAKER_00]: rarely was he considered elite, but he did have the great ability to catch balls out of the back field, was a great Chicago Bears running back.
19:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I just think that when you look at his peers, he wasn't
19:57
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, ever considered, oh, Matt Forte, you got to have like Matt Forte, you know, even if you don't fantasy football, was he the guy you were drafted first or second overall?
20:06
[SPEAKER_00]: No, he wasn't.
20:07
[SPEAKER_00]: So was he a first round picture, but he wasn't that elite learning back level to give you an idea.
20:15
[SPEAKER_00]: of who I have a round mat for today.
20:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Alvin Kamerah, Ziegiel Elliott, 58.
20:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Alvin Kamerah, 59.
20:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Cory Dylan, 60.
20:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Fortay, 61.
20:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Herschel Walker, 62.
20:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Maurice Jones, Drew, 63.
20:31
[SPEAKER_00]: So those are the players I have a round mat for today.
20:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's more than fair.
20:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And the sixth Chicago Bears running back actually comes in at 64.
20:41
[SPEAKER_00]: That's Rick Cassaris.
20:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Great running back for the bears in the 1950s power back dominant.
20:49
[SPEAKER_00]: didn't have a long career of dominance, but was a very good running back.
20:55
[SPEAKER_00]: He actually comes in at 17 ports, actually one more point than Matt Ford say, and again, that's where this comes in where I'm making my own determinations and not just say, well, Rick Cassaris is better than Matt Ford take as he is 17 points instead of 16 points.
21:09
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not how this worked.
21:10
[SPEAKER_00]: This was just a kind of, like I said, as a framework.
21:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So Rick Cassaris,
21:15
[SPEAKER_00]: is the sixth Chicago Bears running back on the list.
21:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And as we scroll down a little further, Bajan Robinson, by the way, I have at 72.
21:26
[SPEAKER_00]: He's my 72nd best running back of all time.
21:29
[SPEAKER_00]: And obviously, Bajan is going to, he's got 13 points on my list.
21:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And he is going to keep jumping up, saying with like, say, Juan Barclay, Derek, Henry could maybe still crack the top 10.
21:41
[SPEAKER_00]: where you have the act of players, it's just, it's basically where they are if they retired today, where would they rank all time?
21:48
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's where I had Bajan Robinson.
21:50
[SPEAKER_00]: But we do have another Chicago Bears running back, which again pists some people off at 77.
21:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is Thomas Jones.
21:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, Thomas Jones to me goes in that category.
22:01
[SPEAKER_00]: He was very good for several years.
22:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Was never a dominant back.
22:05
[SPEAKER_00]: He was very good.
22:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not gonna.
22:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, Thomas Jones got the ball more, perhaps the Bears would have won that Super Bowl.
22:11
[SPEAKER_00]: but I still don't think you can put Thomas Jones in some of these elite tears.
22:16
[SPEAKER_00]: So Thomas Jones, 77th overall, my seventh ranked Chicago Bears, running back.
22:24
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not all because Neil Anderson comes in at 81 Neil Anderson.
22:30
[SPEAKER_00]: My 81st running back of all time and the eighth Chicago bear to make the top 100 list.
22:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Neil Anderson another run catch could do it all took over for Walter Payton.
22:45
[SPEAKER_00]: a lot of bear's fans didn't like that they drafted Neil Anderson in 1986.
22:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
22:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Walter Peyton is still on the steam.
22:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Neil Anderson did a pretty good job taking that torch and had a pretty darn good career.
22:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, when I originally made this top 100, I did have two other bears and my original top 100, where I just was just blasting names down, just writing them down.
23:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I had Betty Feathers,
23:12
[SPEAKER_00]: who had a great year in the 1930s for the Bears when you just look at his, he has no business being in the top one or maybe probably being the top 150, but you really can argue in the top 100.
23:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And one, and this is not to knock him, I had David Montgomery right around 100 when I made the original list.
23:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, oh, he probably deserves it.
23:32
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I looked at Montgomery compared to, he's nowhere near nowhere near the top 100.
23:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I like David Montgomery, but
23:40
[SPEAKER_00]: That was my original thought was maybe he could be in the top 100.
23:43
[SPEAKER_00]: He cannot.
23:44
[SPEAKER_00]: So that is my list.
23:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I encourage all of you because it took me a long time to do.
23:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I encourage all of you to check out that article.
23:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I said, it's an easy Google.
23:54
[SPEAKER_00]: You'll look for greatest running backs of all time.
23:56
[SPEAKER_00]: It'll pop right up for Wendy's City Gridiron.
23:59
[SPEAKER_00]: And
24:01
[SPEAKER_00]: You can also search through my social media feed.
24:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I did blast it out on my Twitter account as well at Bill T. Zimmerman.
24:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And honestly, I'd love your feedback.
24:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Whether you think I'm stupid, whether you love the list, whatever it might be, would love the feedback of where you think this, my list works and where it doesn't work.
24:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I love the interaction.
24:20
[SPEAKER_00]: So thought that was going to be fun to share.
24:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope you enjoyed that.
24:25
[SPEAKER_00]: But more importantly,
24:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Linda Cone joins me next.
24:30
[SPEAKER_00]: This is Bill Zimmerman, Bears Banner.
24:32
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll be right back.
24:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back into the podcast.
24:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm excited to do this.
24:37
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, what are the wall to wall Chicago Bears on this podcast?
24:40
[SPEAKER_00]: But when you get to June and July, you have a little flexibility.
24:44
[SPEAKER_00]: You have the chance to do some other things.
24:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And very excited to do this.
24:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I've known this person the last, I don't know, maybe eight to ten years.
24:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone knows her.
24:53
[SPEAKER_00]: She's the legendary Linda Cone long career at ESPN just wrapped up about a week and a half two weeks ago.
25:00
[SPEAKER_00]: She's got new content coming out.
25:01
[SPEAKER_00]: You can catch it on YouTube just search at Linda Cone sports and you can still get all her takes and content there and Linda's nice enough to join me now.
25:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Linda builds Zimmerman.
25:10
[SPEAKER_00]: How you doing?
25:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, thanks for having me.
25:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm so excited for you and what you've created for yourself.
25:16
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's my pleasure to be on your podcast.
25:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I appreciate you coming on.
25:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just, I thought this was going to be a unique opportunity to talk about, not just your career, but kind of how ESPN evolved.
25:28
[SPEAKER_00]: What it really became in the 90s, because it's the one thing I think, you know, with podcast listeners, a lot of them, you know, tend to, you know, drift into the younger millennial, maybe Gen Z.
25:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know I have some older listeners, too,
25:41
[SPEAKER_00]: life before the internet.
25:43
[SPEAKER_00]: But I want to kind of get into that aspect of everything as well because you know, trying to track down scores was a different world about 30 years ago that it is now.
25:53
[SPEAKER_00]: But let's start with your career because I think, you know, when we turn on ESPN now or any
26:01
[SPEAKER_00]: you know sports network, Fox, whatever it might be, we see a lot of women involved in sports broadcasting.
26:08
[SPEAKER_00]: And that wasn't the case.
26:09
[SPEAKER_00]: And you were really a trailblazer of pioneer in that world.
26:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, I know I've talked to you even about your athletic career being involved in hockey and having to play in boys leagues when you were growing up because there were no girls leagues.
26:22
[SPEAKER_00]: So this is something that was very familiar to you since even just being a child about being the first woman to do things that weren't really available to them, you know, at that time.
26:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, Bill, I appreciate you bringing up the hockey because if it wasn't for me starting out as a goalie, playing with boys from the street to the ice, to my high school team, I think that was the best preparation for what it turned out, what I did for a living, which was, yeah, breaking into the boys' club as I said in my autobiography many years ago, conehead.
27:03
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, the whispers, the noise, the the opinions, good and bad or mediocre of like what's she doing here?
27:13
[SPEAKER_01]: She doesn't belong here and you guys got to remember back in the day.
27:17
[SPEAKER_01]: It was back in the day.
27:18
[SPEAKER_01]: There weren't a lot of women doing sports.
27:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, um,
27:24
[SPEAKER_01]: It, you know, and I did so much even before I got to ESPN because I had to do so much before I got to ESPN.
27:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I was working radio seven days a week.
27:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll always love radio.
27:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that really honed my skills and helped in my longevity at ESPN.
27:41
[SPEAKER_01]: just because you know as you know Bill you have to be able to add live and react to whatever it is there's nothing choreographed there's nothing pre-taped especially when you're doing sports and sports highlights and especially doing the nighttime shows where things happen and you have to react to it and so in radio you know you're just winging it and being you so then and then I you know got that break and Seattle doing sports at a commercial affiliate CBS affiliate in Seattle and that's where ESPN
28:10
[SPEAKER_01]: So, yeah, there weren't a lot of women before me, and I had said this to all the amazing people that have reached out to me, as well as during the ESPN show, the Send-Off shows, is that that's my professional legacy, that's one of the big things that I'm really most proud of that I helped pave the way for all these incredibly talented women that are in sports broadcasting now, and they have reached out to me and have thanked me and have said, you know, watching them
28:40
[SPEAKER_01]: muching me growing up waiting for the school bus in kindergarten for a great second grade third grade realizing and believing that a woman could do what they really wanted to do.
28:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, when you are getting in the sports broadcasting and look, I still see it on social media today, if a woman chimes in on some sort of sports topic, there's of course going to be some some trolls that's at there and just dismiss the opinion because it's coming from a woman and not a man.
29:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And like you talked about when you were trying to break into the boys club here in the whispers and stuff, did you have
29:12
[SPEAKER_00]: people telling you, well, this isn't really something women do, where they just flat out telling you that, or was it kind of just nudges and, like you said, whispers?
29:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, this was, you know, if you just look at, when you got to ESPN, so, and, you know, I got a little bit of that in Seattle, but not as much, because there were, believe it, not a few women before me that worked in TV sports and covered games in different situations.
29:36
[SPEAKER_01]: When I got to ESPN, a national,
29:39
[SPEAKER_01]: stage.
29:40
[SPEAKER_01]: And we know this amazing country is made up of all sorts of people different cultures.
29:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I did hear that.
29:47
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, there was no social media back on the day.
29:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And so people would actually somehow be, we're able to call the ESP and headquarters of Bristol, Connecticut, and the the operator would put you right through to the phone.
30:02
[SPEAKER_01]: That is attached to me.
30:04
[SPEAKER_01]: So I would get voice
30:06
[SPEAKER_01]: That were, you know, very, some very disturbing and not all by men.
30:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, there was a, I always tell the story, but it was a crazy story bill about a mom of two boys in the high school.
30:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And she was very angry, left me a voicemail.
30:22
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, this is what I was greeted with after I finished the show, like at 11 o'clock or whatever it was at night or midnight or whatever.
30:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And she was very angry because she thought the way I was standing,
30:33
[SPEAKER_01]: delivering the sports intro to a high light, it was suggestive, and like, I'm standing, and I'm like, my feet, I guess had to be a certain amount of part.
30:48
[SPEAKER_01]: or not so much apart.
30:50
[SPEAKER_01]: It was too much apart for her as I was standing.
30:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, what?
30:55
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and this was a voicemail I got.
30:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And I remember like driving home and really honestly I'd have many a phone call or two or three or four with my mom.
31:07
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, she may as she rest in peace, but boy, she was always there for me.
31:11
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, Mom, I don't understand this.
31:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was really kind of upset when this is bizarre, bizarre world bill.
31:20
[SPEAKER_01]: So, but obviously, most of the feedback was very good, but you do have, you know, some real weirdos out there.
31:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And I did at that time, you know, we're talking in the 90s, you know, and something in the early 2000s as well.
31:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Gotcha.
31:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
31:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, when you arrived, so you arrived at ESPN in 1992, and obviously, at that point, ESPN was established.
31:46
[SPEAKER_00]: They, they were nowhere near what they are today bidding on, you know, rights for everything, but like I think at the time they had
31:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if they had Sunday night football exclusively or if they were still splitting it with TNT, I remember like TNT got half the season, they got half the season, a lot of college basketball.
32:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I think based Sunday night baseball might have been going on then, but what was the landscape like at ESPN then, you know, kind of, while it was kind of that
32:15
[SPEAKER_00]: in the process of being that rocket ship to becoming the massive, truly the worldwide leader is saying they like to throw out there, but what was it like when you first arrived?
32:26
[SPEAKER_00]: What was the vibe at ESPN?
32:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, we were the only game in town.
32:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I really didn't pay much attention to what contracts they had for which sports.
32:37
[SPEAKER_01]: We knew they had the NFL.
32:39
[SPEAKER_01]: They were part of that at that time.
32:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Same with Major League Baseball.
32:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if TNT was a factor, if I recall in those early 90s.
32:47
[SPEAKER_01]: But I was more preoccupied as well as my colleagues.
32:51
[SPEAKER_01]: We were making sports center great.
32:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Sure, we knew that was the place people went to to get their highlights and scores and all of the above, but they wanted to be entertained as well.
33:04
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what ESPN is all about, right?
33:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Info and entertainment.
33:08
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's what everyone was really focused on.
33:10
[SPEAKER_01]: We were focused on doing our job and doing it well and setting us apart and keeping us way above everybody else when those up-and-comers would attempt to knock us down.
33:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that's what the focus was on.
33:25
[SPEAKER_01]: And the big game changer, I feel, I think in the early 90s when I got there, I was, I didn't think sports center.
33:32
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the,
33:34
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the go-to, but it wasn't yet the Kleenex or the Coca-Cola, if you know what I mean or the Heinz ketchup.
33:40
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I think when the boss is hired, why didn't Kennedy this huge advertising firm to do this campaign called this is Sports Center and have us be in these fun commercials with athletes who took their compensation, they got compensation, but they gave it to charities, which was interesting, and they all wanted to do these commercials with us.
34:03
[SPEAKER_01]: That's when it changed.
34:04
[SPEAKER_01]: That's when I felt everything about sports and I elevated and it became so popular or people were asking about what's this guy like or what's your, you know, what, what, what, you know, what do you like to do mostly or whatever I would always get, boy, those sports intercomersials are so great.
34:23
[SPEAKER_01]: What's your favorite.
34:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll tell you my favorite.
34:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And that just took life on its own.
34:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's when you saw this jump.
34:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we had a transformation from, well, sports center was highlight driven.
34:36
[SPEAKER_01]: What the biggest change I felt was when it became half highlight driven and half analyst driven.
34:44
[SPEAKER_01]: where we as fortune or anchors would always have an analyst on.
34:47
[SPEAKER_01]: We noticed that it used to be all highlights, the whole show, which I felt, you know, I liked.
34:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I loved that.
34:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I think because that was our bread and butter and speaking personally, that's what I love doing.
34:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I loved, love putting my all into a highlight.
35:01
[SPEAKER_01]: But then the show as part of the transition as you kind of refer to Bill, have things changed, we had more analysts on and more, you know,
35:12
[SPEAKER_01]: talking about each game or making certain games larger than life or trying to make a game that perhaps ESPN is covering, is broadcasting, making that larger in life.
35:28
[SPEAKER_01]: So there was more talking less highlights as the years went along.
35:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Gotcha.
35:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think
35:35
[SPEAKER_00]: sports center when it really really started to take off and I agree that this is sports center ads were incredible, but when you know when Dan Patrick and Keith all ruin, I think they started about the same time as a duo that that you arrived at ESPN, you'd correct me if I'm wrong.
35:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that kind of all started to come together.
35:53
[SPEAKER_00]: We're sports center.
35:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you said, started to take on a life of its own.
35:58
[SPEAKER_00]: It was, you know, to steal it from like NBC.
36:01
[SPEAKER_00]: It was must see television like and for sports fans.
36:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think,
36:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, we are so just, you know, engulfed in sports highlights, you get on Twitter, you know, X, whatever, and you just see, you know, not just reels of highlights or TikTok wherever it is, and you can just get highlights whenever you want to see them.
36:22
[SPEAKER_00]: that that wasn't the case that especially at a national level.
36:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I remember being a kid and you had to like, you know, if you were out for the day, you know, and I was growing up in Chicago and you needed to cubscore the white sockscore the bullscore.
36:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you needed to make sure you tuned into the local news by 1015-1020 so you could get the sports anchor to tell you what happened in Chicago sports that night.
36:45
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I know, and I know you were involved with like sports phone where you could call for a fee and get and get scores because, you know, without the internet, so you just couldn't get these scores.
36:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So then you elevate it to this level of sports center, whereas a sports fan, it's not just the local teams you're getting, but the national landscape.
37:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, sports center did a phenomenal job going through every key game, but the amount of volume that you guys were able to get within one hour was incredible.
37:15
[SPEAKER_00]: just not just having the information, but like you said, entertaining and finding a way to just make the highlights, just have a life of their own.
37:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Not the game, the highlight packages.
37:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Like it was something to be a part of that, if you're not,
37:31
[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't have a memory of the pre-internet world, it's like it's a foreign concept, you can't understand what it was like and just how important sports center was to sports fans to get all the information they needed, have fun along the way, and you brought the listeners with you for that full hour.
37:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, Bill, isn't it funny?
37:51
[SPEAKER_01]: We're sounding like our parents, right?
37:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you say we sound old, but back at the 1900s.
37:58
[SPEAKER_00]: I know.
37:59
[SPEAKER_01]: You kids may not understand this, but let me try to explain how easy you have it now.
38:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, that's a thing.
38:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, I mean, that's one of the reasons you don't know.
38:11
[SPEAKER_01]: That ESPN and all these networks are not the same.
38:14
[SPEAKER_01]: It's very competitive.
38:15
[SPEAKER_01]: How can they compete?
38:16
[SPEAKER_01]: How can these national networks?
38:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Whether it's Fox, FS1, ESPN, all of them.
38:20
[SPEAKER_01]: How do they compete with, you know, people of streaming and getting the scores on your phone on YouTube.
38:27
[SPEAKER_01]: There's so many people that don't watch TV anymore, Bill, as you know, they watch YouTube.
38:32
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's cool.
38:33
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's great.
38:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And I found myself on doing that.
38:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Now that I have a YouTube channel at Linda Cone Sports.
38:41
[SPEAKER_01]: a lot of different kind of podcasts in this and that and then you I'll turn on YouTube first before I turn on you know YouTube TV sure to see what's going on like the old days you know so I love it though I love these changes I really do
38:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's great.
38:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, to ESPN's credit, they were so great, staying ahead of it, and trying to stay ahead of it, all these technological advances, so they could remain relevant.
39:10
[SPEAKER_01]: But sports center isn't the same.
39:12
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not like I blame the people that are on it or the people that are running it.
39:16
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just impossible.
39:18
[SPEAKER_01]: there's just it's flooded with competition.
39:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And just like I said, me, a long time sports in our anchor, whole of favor, I'm turning on, not sports in our first, I am turning on YouTube to see what's going on for the people that I want to hear from first.
39:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, absolutely.
39:39
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's the thing.
39:41
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just like I went to Syracuse.
39:43
[SPEAKER_00]: I was in college in the in the late 90s like that that I think it was 2 AM Eastern was the last live sports center and then it would just loop in the morning and I remember just waking up in the morning you just turn on a spirit and you just let rich eyes and in stored Scott just repeat for three or four hours in the morning because then and that's just that's just how it was it was it was just.
40:04
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like you're at the bar and it's always on.
40:07
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like that's what Sports Center was.
40:09
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't just like, you just watched it from 10 to 11.
40:12
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a part of sports fans' lives in a way that sports shows no longer, like you said, there's different, whether it's YouTube or even audio podcasts, whatever it might be.
40:23
[SPEAKER_00]: plenty of ways to consume, but it was far more linear back then.
40:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And sports center took on, like basically all those different avenues of where you can get sports and out whether it's social media, whether it's YouTube, even, you know, still broadcast television.
40:40
[SPEAKER_00]: All of that was combined into what sports center gave you in those years.
40:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And I love that nostalgia and people still love the nostalgia.
40:49
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why people come up to me where comment to me and say, oh, it's not the same window, you know, when you guys are on.
40:55
[SPEAKER_01]: The first sports and I ever did was the two AME students on a Saturday night with Chris Myers.
41:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I was all about the re-ears because I was a part of it when they were doing it.
41:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, those shows were repeated eight times.
41:08
[SPEAKER_01]: eight times and it was great and you know people would sit there probably like you bill growing up you know just like hypnotized thinking oh wonder if this next career is going to be like the other one wonder if there's some changes because you know not a secret but a kind of a secret when we did the show live and we did do the show live at 2 a.m.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.
41:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, when Stuart Scott, Linda Cohen, Rich Eisen, we're not perfect.
41:39
[SPEAKER_01]: We made mistakes, so we would call it a fix.
41:42
[SPEAKER_01]: We have to go back.
41:43
[SPEAKER_01]: We didn't walk off the stage there, the set.
41:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
41:47
[SPEAKER_01]: But the show is over after an hour.
41:49
[SPEAKER_01]: We'd have to sit there.
41:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And in the old days we'd have to sit there a long time depending on who the director was to do the fixes, you know, whether it was on us, whether it was a video problem that wasn't on us, the anchors would just sit there until we'd get a ride.
42:05
[SPEAKER_01]: We would have to repeat highlights.
42:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And this wasn't just back in the day.
42:08
[SPEAKER_01]: When I went to LA and did the show with Neil Everett and Stan Perrette.
42:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, we were the show record.
42:16
[SPEAKER_01]: We were the last live show doing the L.A. show.
42:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And we'd have to sit there, you know, until everyone got it right, meaning the technical stuff.
42:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And plus, you know, news would happen.
42:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And we'd have to end up doing things over, even if we did it right, a perfect highlight.
42:32
[SPEAKER_01]: We'd have to read it again perfectly, because, oh, we can't fit this new, it doesn't time right.
42:37
[SPEAKER_01]: The producer in our ear was like, oh, I'm so sorry.
42:40
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not on you, but we gotta do this over.
42:43
[SPEAKER_01]: because this just happened and now we've got to insert this and take this out.
42:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, your head was ready to explode and then, you know, a late time, you know, we're walking off the set.
42:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, past everybody's bedtime, you know, be like 1 a.m. Pacific Coast time.
42:58
[SPEAKER_01]: And they're like, oh, okay, I love my job.
43:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I love my job.
43:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I love my job.
43:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So while we're talking nineties and being that this is a, you know, a lot of Chicago listeners on this podcast.
43:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
43:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd love to ask you, you know, being at ESPN when you were and kind of the rocket ship that was Michael Jordan at the time.
43:18
[SPEAKER_00]: You want to say Chicago bulls find, but it was, it was Michael Jordan.
43:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think not getting into the Jordan versus LeBron that we don't need to do any of this, but it's your order.
43:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
43:28
[SPEAKER_00]: of course it's, and I'm sure my listeners agree, but just like the life of its own that Michael Jordan, the persona took on in the 90s, this larger than life person needs.
43:42
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like like as someone who's covered a lot of sports and met a lot of athletes, I think the only one left that's mystical to me is Michael Jordan.
43:50
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just
43:51
[SPEAKER_00]: who he was and what he became in the night through the 80s, but largely into the 90s, what was it like for you covering Michael Jordan, whether it's just highlights or covering a game, whatever it might have been, being a part of that sports landscape.
44:09
[SPEAKER_01]: You said the magic words, Michael Jordan.
44:12
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, to me, when I got to meet him for the very first time, I was blown away, you know.
44:17
[SPEAKER_01]: And especially when he said Linda, he knew who I was.
44:20
[SPEAKER_01]: He watched me, you know, he watches me on sports center.
44:24
[SPEAKER_01]: To me, that was the ultimate bill.
44:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I made for me, because I've always been an MJ fan, always rooted for him.
44:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Even though I'm a Nick fan, and he did break my heart many times, we all know it.
44:35
[SPEAKER_01]: your listeners definitely know it.
44:37
[SPEAKER_01]: But I still love greatness.
44:40
[SPEAKER_01]: And I saw it then, I loved it then.
44:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, that was when people asked me, how do you not become like a this fan girl?
44:48
[SPEAKER_01]: And I go, there's only a few that you have to hold back the fan girl nonsense.
44:52
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was tough to do that with Michael Jordan.
44:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I was just blown away.
44:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I just wanted to hear everything you had to say.
44:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Everything we talked about,
45:01
[SPEAKER_01]: You're so brilliant and articulate and knowledgeable and a sports fan at heart, and that's where we connected a lot.
45:09
[SPEAKER_01]: So, yeah, see, I mean, I'm already distracted because I forgot your main point of your question.
45:14
[SPEAKER_01]: You just mentioned Michael and I'm just talking.
45:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Just talk Jordan.
45:17
[SPEAKER_00]: That was the question.
45:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
45:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And then it was very cool like in the last dance, you know, that amazing series that the ESPN had.
45:26
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, had old clips of me on sports center in the 90s, reading on camera lead-ins about Michael and the bulls, and it was so cool because during that time, I guess that came out around 2020 or in COVID, whatever, you know, my kids, even though they saw a few clips of me in the past.
45:47
[SPEAKER_01]: their friends were now saying, oh my god, I think I saw your mom, you know, like mom of all, you know, that kind of thing.
45:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And they really got a kick out of that series, the last dance.
45:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's when it really super resonated.
45:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, they're grown now and they were grown then.
46:01
[SPEAKER_01]: But um,
46:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Michael always has a special place in my heart.
46:04
[SPEAKER_01]: So he is that he is, there are several athletes I've met and of course I've done highlights and over for a million of them.
46:10
[SPEAKER_01]: But he's the one that just sort of like, whoa, this is where you, you know, you pinch yourself and you go, you know, thank you God for this opportunity that I can actually have this conversation with him off the record or you know, because to me when I build, when I met athletes and talk with him, I didn't want to,
46:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't want to have a microphone or a camera, then I would never have real conversation with them.
46:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
46:37
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's what I cherish the most.
46:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I was never a type that I would like, oh, I want to make athletes cry, roll the tape, roll the camp, that wasn't me.
46:47
[SPEAKER_01]: It was about relationships, meaning the people that you meet and having some kind of connection.
46:54
[SPEAKER_01]: And if I use my platform for that, great.
46:58
[SPEAKER_01]: But I wasn't out to like, oh, you know, we got a film this, or oh, let me see if I can bug him and do an interview now on camera.
47:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Never did it, never wanted to.
47:08
[SPEAKER_01]: None of the thing like that.
47:09
[SPEAKER_01]: To me, it's how that person feels about you and contrast you that always mattered most as opposed to, you know, winning some kind of silly award.
47:20
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so I want to ask you a little bit about Chicago sports and I want to I have a few questions from my listeners that I want to get to but before we get to that I want to ask you put you on the spot a little bit and ask you your Mount Rushmore four guys women whoever of ESPN personalities.
47:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And I would have said, you can't put yourself on it.
47:43
[SPEAKER_00]: So now, if I was doing mine, I would put you on my sports center.
47:48
[SPEAKER_00]: My ESPN Mount Rushmore Beyond Sports Center, because of how much you meant to that network for so many years.
47:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd put Chris Merman on there.
47:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd put Dan Patrick on there.
47:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And I would put Dick Vitel on there because I think what Dick Vitel did for college athletics and just, you know, the way he would just, you know, just energize an entire room, just blasting his takes into into bars or whatever it might have been I think those are forgotten I know like Steven a Smith at this point, you know, probably and there's I think it's almost impossible to narrow it down to four, but I'm curious who your four would be.
48:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And you're right.
48:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I would put me on the Mount Rushmore and so many others would too, and they've told me that, but are you talking sports?
48:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And I mean, I mean, No, not sports.
48:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, ESPN.
48:33
[SPEAKER_00]: So I said I put my tell on there.
48:36
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, you're a little easier, but no, all of this.
48:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, maybe.
48:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's a tough one.
48:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I haven't even thought about that big picture, but I grew with you with Chris Burman.
48:46
[SPEAKER_01]: No question about that.
48:47
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a no brain.
48:47
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the first guy that comes to mind.
48:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And I love Dickie V. So I will agree with you there because yeah, he changed everything just his whole style.
48:58
[SPEAKER_01]: You didn't really see anyone, especially in college basketball have a style of broadcasting doing analysis like Dickie V has done and did right.
49:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm trying to think like, I'm not, you probably, I, I'm a girl from New York.
49:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I was all about pro sports, I didn't grow up loving college football, but there's got to be.
49:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Who would you put there for, because he has been a so huge in college football?
49:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Who's your guy?
49:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Who's your, you know, for college football?
49:25
[SPEAKER_01]: And at this point, is it herb street?
49:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it herb street?
49:29
[SPEAKER_00]: It might be herpes reading.
49:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it is, if you want it, you know, because I think it's more like, I think it may be not a matter of much more, but more like if you took each sport.
49:40
[SPEAKER_01]: And I would say it's herby for college football.
49:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, Burman representing sports center, right?
49:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Because that was the thing.
49:49
[SPEAKER_01]: If you look at it like that, and then Dicky V for college basketball.
49:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, you know, I mean,
49:57
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, hockey, I would do Barry Milleros, you know, you know, just because the analyst and he was just synonymous with when he has been a hockey back in the day and, you know, it was Barry and and you know, baseball, wow.
50:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me think that there's definitely a lot of baseball stuff.
50:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, Tim Kirkton.
50:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that would be my guy.
50:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and then there forever, yeah.
50:24
[SPEAKER_01]: He's been there forever, you know?
50:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Before that Peter get a late Peter Graham.
50:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter Gamin's big part of it, absolutely.
50:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I could listen, John Miller and Joe Morgan doing Sunday and I baseball that was.
50:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's, oh my goodness, I like that.
50:37
[SPEAKER_01]: No offense to the two I just mentioned.
50:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I love Joe, I love Joe.
50:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I love Joe Morgan, man.
50:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I love him.
50:45
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, I got it.
50:46
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a good one, Bill.
50:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
50:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, you can have fun with it.
50:51
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a great thing.
50:51
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, maybe I'll use that on my show.
50:54
[SPEAKER_00]: It's it's it's a near impossible task to try and figure out because there's just so many to pick from but But let's move over.
51:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's get your sports acumen on on here a little bit.
51:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd love to hear what you think about the current Chicago Bears because I think
51:08
[SPEAKER_00]: In terms of positivity, you could argue that this is the most positive the fan base has been since the 1980s.
51:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know the Erlachar and Hester years, there was a lot of excitement there, but you still had the reservations because whether it was Rex Grossman or Kyle Orton or Weber might have been, there were still the like, we don't have the quarterback.
51:26
[SPEAKER_00]: And they made the Super Bowl and Rex Grossman throws a crippling interception when the parents were coming.
51:31
[SPEAKER_00]: come back so like that was just it was in the way.
51:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And this year, or this past year with Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams, I think bears fans really truly believe that they've got the coach and quarterback figured out, you know, basically since Dick and McMahon and I'm curious, you know, watching it from a national perspective where you are in this current Chicago Bears team.
51:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely.
51:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I am so well.
51:54
[SPEAKER_01]: And last year, obviously, the bears took a huge step.
51:57
[SPEAKER_01]: It was so exciting.
51:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I, I actually so believed I thought they were going even further.
52:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I love Caleb Williams.
52:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I love, I love how he's handling all these changes in the bears organization.
52:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And yes, they finally found a real head coach in Ben Johnson.
52:11
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's got some learning to do, too.
52:12
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a process.
52:13
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, again, remember, easy young guy as well.
52:16
[SPEAKER_01]: We saw the early great results that bears fans haven't seen
52:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I know I know I'm a New Yorker.
52:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I wanted yesterday, whatever it is, but I love the direction it's going.
52:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you know, I just saw a great idea through you with Tom Brady and he was talking about, I think it was on the new Heitz podcast.
52:39
[SPEAKER_01]: He was asked about the whole debate who's more responsible for all the success.
52:44
[SPEAKER_01]: It was at Utahm or was at Bill Belichick and he had a great answer because
52:48
[SPEAKER_01]: He said, you know, it's up to the coach.
52:51
[SPEAKER_01]: He goes, I get the credits of the coach Monday through Saturday.
52:55
[SPEAKER_01]: But on Sunday, I give the credits of the quarterback because yeah, he touches the ball the most, but the fact is that he can determine an outcome.
53:05
[SPEAKER_01]: The coach gets a team prepared.
53:07
[SPEAKER_01]: to take the field on the biggest stage and get it right and execute.
53:12
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's the quarterback that has a chance on everything.
53:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And everybody has to do his job.
53:16
[SPEAKER_01]: But if the quarterback doesn't do his job on that Sunday,
53:22
[SPEAKER_01]: then most times the team loses to your Rex Grossman point.
53:26
[SPEAKER_01]: The timing was wrong for Rex Grossman to be our quarterback in the Super Bowl against Peyton Manning who really didn't do much if you recall.
53:35
[SPEAKER_01]: No.
53:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you know, and they could have won that game.
53:38
[SPEAKER_01]: But they didn't have the quarterback and the quarterback play fails you on Sunday or whenever the game is played nowadays.
53:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, how often is the highlight everyone remembers from a Super Bowl, the losing team, because that is Devon Hester's opening kickoff for attention on.
53:53
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what everyone remembers.
53:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
53:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And that you brought up a good point about, you know, since the 80s in Jim McMahon and Mike Dittga, who I love, you know, um,
54:04
[SPEAKER_01]: you you didn't you only had a few things to celebrate and they were individuals right they were individual individual great players exciting players but it wasn't the whole concept it wasn't the whole team and we all missed not cliche it's fact we need the whole team to win a super bowl they even get to a super bowl i mean look at the bills look at Josh Allen for goodness sakes you know they put him on a pedestal i hate i like the guy he is extremely talented but if you don't execute when you're supposed to execute
54:35
[SPEAKER_01]: you failed and we saw that last last season and the postseason very disappointing.
54:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, 100% all right.
54:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I promised I'd get to some questions from the listeners.
54:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you ready?
54:45
[SPEAKER_00]: I've got a handful here.
54:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Always ready, Bill.
54:48
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
54:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's start with one here from J. J.
54:50
[SPEAKER_00]: White, who wants to know is Kyle Davidson good at his job.
54:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, who cares what I think?
55:01
[SPEAKER_00]: You're the hockey expert.
55:02
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you think of this Black Hawk's rebuild?
55:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, here's the thing.
55:06
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not on him.
55:07
[SPEAKER_01]: It really isn't.
55:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I know that's his job to rebuild it and do it quickly.
55:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd deal with this with the Rangers and Chris Jury.
55:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Most Ranger fans wanted Chris Jury gone a long time ago as the GM, but he's got something more important.
55:19
[SPEAKER_01]: He's got to figure out how do I continue to keep Connor Bedard happy.
55:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, you know, there's a lot going on in the NHL right now.
55:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe people are as locked in, but these offer sheets and things going on for restricted free agent superstars, generational players that's happening with the ducks and Leo Carlson.
55:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, and kind of a dart is just sitting there.
55:39
[SPEAKER_01]: And this man's got to get paid.
55:40
[SPEAKER_01]: So they're behind in the battle, but the NHL, these players finally, and I agree with this, they've been used in abuse for too long now, and now they want to get paid.
55:52
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think that's first and foremost, the main objective to keep Connor Bedard happy and then work from there.
56:01
[SPEAKER_01]: and keep building and it's going to take time.
56:04
[SPEAKER_01]: But I saw shines of glimmers of hope as I continue to see, not as quick as Black Hawk fans want it though.
56:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I get that definitely definitely not as quickly.
56:15
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got one here from Ed Halinsky who says, so Linda, when might you start teaching a sports broadcast class at class at your alma mater as we go state university in New York, remote teaching is fine just so you know, winters are still brutal here.
56:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you know, it was so cool.
56:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Let two days ago, I went and did the commencement speech for the communications program and the arts program and so great to be back.
56:40
[SPEAKER_01]: But again, it was in May.
56:42
[SPEAKER_01]: So the weather was beautiful.
56:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I know, listen, when they want me to do it, we can figure something out.
56:48
[SPEAKER_01]: But as we go state, very important years in my life, good question.
56:53
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, football not 1957 wants to know what will you miss most about working at ESPN?
57:00
[SPEAKER_01]: the first thing it comes to mind is the people.
57:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I already missed a lot of those people.
57:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Going back to Bristol, Connecticut and seeing some guys and gals, I hadn't seen for like eight years since I had moved to Los Angeles and do the show out there.
57:13
[SPEAKER_01]: That reminded me of what the people mean to me.
57:16
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's what I miss the most.
57:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I also would, I also miss that adrenaline that adrenaline rush of coming on the show right after a incredible game or
57:29
[SPEAKER_01]: by an athlete or you know some great win by a team or some great sports moment and coming on you know and doing sports center following that.
57:38
[SPEAKER_01]: That's just a absolute thrill and you don't get that in a lot of places.
57:42
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the only thing I would equal or come close to
57:46
[SPEAKER_01]: you know how athletes in the biggest of stages must feel when they know every all eyes are on them and I was lucky enough to be at ESPN back in the early days as we talked about where I knew all eyes especially sports fans and the athlete were all on us watching sports center and that was exciting.
58:06
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got another one here from Lou, is there a particular story or stories that stand out as some of your favorite to cover or have been on Sports Center the night they developed?
58:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think I have a particular story, and if I do, I just totally like for God because they all blend into, and I know this is not the answer you want, and there's just so many, I mean, there's just so many incredible things, and moments I was a part of, I had mentioned the other day because this is the week that LeBron made the decision.
58:41
[SPEAKER_01]: to take his talents to South Beach.
58:43
[SPEAKER_01]: It was 16 years ago this week.
58:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And I did the sports center right before he went on live with that decision.
58:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And these are the kind of things that you remember that, oh yeah, or something triggered that like an anniversary or it's been 10 years since this happened or 12 years since this happened.
59:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, you know what?
59:04
[SPEAKER_01]: I was on sports center that night, you know, doing that highlight.
59:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Those are the kind of things.
59:11
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, and last one here, I've got one from Jeff who says, do you have a particular favorite?
59:16
[SPEAKER_00]: This is Sports Center ad that included you, and one that did not include you.
59:21
[SPEAKER_01]: The one that I really, I love so many of them, especially the ones I did with Ranger Goli's Mike Richter and Henrik Lohnquist separately, decades later in between, but I did love the one.
59:32
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a daycare one, there was two I love, and it must have been late 90s.
59:37
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a make-belief daycare at ESPN, event or whole field, holy and messed up.
59:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember that.
59:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And the little girl bouncing on the bouncy ball was, was my daughter Sammy at the time.
59:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, okay.
59:51
[SPEAKER_01]: So she was in that commercial.
59:52
[SPEAKER_01]: So of course, I love that one.
59:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Another one that I was not in Kenny Maine to this narration.
59:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I love Kenny.
59:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Just makes me laugh.
59:59
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a little girl.
1:00:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Another daycare situation and this little girl was screaming.
1:00:05
[SPEAKER_01]: She wasn't happy.
1:00:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And she goes, she goes.
1:00:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Where's Linda Cone?
1:00:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to see Linda Cone.
1:00:13
[SPEAKER_01]: It just is woke or a lack of singing in this thank-care situation and I'm really glad that question was asked because I had forgotten about that and that was just so great.
1:00:23
[SPEAKER_01]: That was the best sports in a commercial and I wasn't even in it.
1:00:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's, I think my favorite sports center and was the Y2K, when they're just like, we're gonna be right, we're gonna be Y2K compliant, we're gonna be ready and here's our test to one.
1:00:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And everything goes off, sports center by candlelight, Mark McWire's looting and bashing everything with a bat, like it was, it's just pure cast.
1:00:46
[SPEAKER_00]: I know that one's on YouTube, you can find that one, but like,
1:00:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I love that one, Bill.
1:00:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Especially because Rich Eisen and I did the Sports Center, the night before, like the end of 1999, into 2000, it was re-eared about eight times.
1:01:01
[SPEAKER_01]: We did the show, and we closed that show with like these amazing, magical sport moments.
1:01:08
[SPEAKER_01]: of the previous century with a arosmith dream on playing in the background.
1:01:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
1:01:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I had goosebumps.
1:01:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I still remember it.
1:01:16
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a, to answer one of those previous questions.
1:01:19
[SPEAKER_01]: That is a sports center.
1:01:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I will never forget as we turn the page from 1999 to 2000.
1:01:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And we did it on sports center with those electrifying visuals of these amazing sports moments with, you know, dream on playing on the background.
1:01:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, that's that you know what that is a great place to finish and I could talk to you for another forty five minutes.
1:01:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll I'll let you go with that again to get all of Linda's content just search Linda cone sports on YouTube.
1:01:51
[SPEAKER_00]: She's going to she's already put in great content out there and she'll be continuing to do that.
1:01:56
[SPEAKER_00]: So make sure you check that out so you don't miss anything.
1:01:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Linda, thanks for so much time.
1:02:00
[SPEAKER_00]: I really enjoyed this conversation and best of luck to you moving
1:02:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, thanks for having me, Bill.
1:02:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the Linda cone show July 20th on that YouTube channel.
1:02:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks so much, Bill.
1:02:12
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, there she is, Linda cone.
1:02:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And that, that was a lot of fun for me.
1:02:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope that was a lot of fun for you.
1:02:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And look, that was, I mean, she has been a staple of the sports media landscape for what 35 years.
1:02:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyone whose who's my age or older knows that how much she was a part of those 90s and early 2000s, you know, sports centers, you know, if you're younger fan of this this podcast, you know, she hasn't been as prominent on ESPN the last 10 or 15 years still a big part of it.
1:02:56
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, rich eyes and stewards Scott like those this core group of sport center angry Kenny Maine was there these sports center anchors that just, you know, they drove the sports media landscape because that was it like you you didn't get folks you didn't get scores on your phones you didn't have the ticker on, you know, on ESPN to even yet or
1:03:18
[SPEAKER_00]: ESPN news where you constantly were able to find stuff even before the internet, like at early hour of sports center, an hour of just sports highlights was just heaven.
1:03:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that was just something that wasn't available.
1:03:31
[SPEAKER_00]: You just didn't get to see that stuff when, you know, pre pre internet basically.
1:03:36
[SPEAKER_00]: So yes, I'm dating myself quite a bit there, but that was a lot of fun for me.
1:03:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope it was a lot of fun for you guys.
1:03:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I said, it's July.
1:03:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Training camp still a few weeks away.
1:03:49
[SPEAKER_00]: So it gives us a chance to do some different things and going to have some more July podcast coming out.
1:03:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So make sure you keep it tuned to the second city grid iron podcast channel for my podcast and of course all are other great hosts and shows did have one other mailback.
1:04:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I was pushing for Linda cone questions, which you guys did a great job on.
1:04:10
[SPEAKER_00]: but did have one bears related one.
1:04:14
[SPEAKER_00]: So I will finish up with a question from Cav Manning who says any rubblings at all for making a move for a monster on the D line or do you think they're just going to roll the dice with what they have.
1:04:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Cav.
1:04:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I have never been more confident about anything other than Justin Fields was not going to be the bear's quarterback in 2024.
1:04:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I have not think I've been more confident about anything that the bears are doing or not doing than this right now.
1:04:43
[SPEAKER_00]: They are not doing anything at defensive line.
1:04:46
[SPEAKER_00]: They have made it very clear and whether, however the reason you want to talk about it, whether it's just their role in the dice with what they have like you said, whether it's they've already invested a ton in the defensive line and they don't want to invest more at this point or whether it's
1:05:03
[SPEAKER_00]: simply an effect that George McCaskey does not want to pay more cash upfront.
1:05:09
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't need to get in the whole thing, but basically George McCaskey could open up salary cap space for the bears to go out and try and get a monster on the D line, as you say, or even a contributor on the D line.
1:05:21
[SPEAKER_00]: if he converted money to salaries and then he'd have to pay more money out.
1:05:27
[SPEAKER_00]: So he does not want to do that potentially or whatever the reasons may be.
1:05:32
[SPEAKER_00]: The Chicago Bears are none of them.
1:05:34
[SPEAKER_00]: They got nine million under the cap right now.
1:05:36
[SPEAKER_00]: That is it.
1:05:38
[SPEAKER_00]: That is more than enough for operating expenses for the for the year, but they did they did the absolute bare minimum they could.
1:05:46
[SPEAKER_00]: in terms of keeping all their options available so to speak in the future without putting any potential dead money on future salary caps.
1:05:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Now again, it's not all I would have operated, especially without the salary cap is accelerating.
1:06:02
[SPEAKER_00]: but the bears are choosing to do that, whether they're being prudent, whether they're being cheap.
1:06:07
[SPEAKER_00]: That's up for you guys.
1:06:08
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to do it.
1:06:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I got into the whole thing in March and April, wherever it was about the bears' financial situation and how they're spending in free agency.
1:06:17
[SPEAKER_00]: You can go back and find that if you want to scroll way back into the second city gridiron podcast feed.
1:06:22
[SPEAKER_00]: You can find that podcast if you want to hear about it.
1:06:25
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to talk about it now, but
1:06:27
[SPEAKER_00]: But, Cav, I do not see any way the bears could have, at this point, get a monster on the defensive line.
1:06:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I just don't see it happening.
1:06:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, again, they are in a situation where I would look at this and go, they could have invested more money on the defensive line.
1:06:48
[SPEAKER_00]: because we basically know already that Odango and Jarrett barring incredible seasons from them are not going to be on the team in 2027.
1:06:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Both those contracts, the barriers can easily get out of after this here, which is to few million dead for both those spots.
1:07:06
[SPEAKER_00]: So the barriers are going to be able to get out of those contracts, which is going to open up a lot of spending potentially on the defensive line.
1:07:13
[SPEAKER_00]: I would look at it and say,
1:07:15
[SPEAKER_00]: If you know that's the case, would you be wildly overspending?
1:07:19
[SPEAKER_00]: If you paid sweat, you've paid Odenmo, you've paid Jared, and now you bring in a free agent or a trade with an extension and you pay another guy.
1:07:26
[SPEAKER_00]: And you're like, you've got four huge salaries across the defensive line.
1:07:31
[SPEAKER_00]: You could sit there and say, that is a terrible allocation of resources, and I would agree.
1:07:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And if that's how they were spending moving forward for me, that would be a problem because that's not going to leave enough money for other position groups.
1:07:44
[SPEAKER_00]: But for one season, when you already know that Jared and Odango are going to be off the books in 2027, over spending for one season, where then you only have two major contracts on the books for defensive line in 2027, something Montez sweats six around.
1:08:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's no reason.
1:08:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I know Barris fans sometimes get on Montez sweats.
1:08:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, he's not Mike of Parsons, he's not Miles Garrett, but he is very good.
1:08:11
[SPEAKER_00]: He is not great.
1:08:12
[SPEAKER_00]: He is not elite, but he is very good.
1:08:15
[SPEAKER_00]: He is one of the top probably 25 edges in the league where I don't think he can be your best past Russia on a championship caliber team.
1:08:25
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think if he is your number two defensive lineman on a championship caliber team, he absolutely could be that.
1:08:33
[SPEAKER_00]: But I don't have a problem with sweat, I don't have a problem with sweat's contract.
1:08:37
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, had some inconsistencies, but what players haven't.
1:08:40
[SPEAKER_00]: But to me, that's how I would have approached it.
1:08:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I would have brought in a big addition to the defense of line.
1:08:46
[SPEAKER_00]: For whatever reason, the bears have chosen not to do that.
1:08:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're going to roll with this unit.
1:08:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And we'll see how it goes.
1:08:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, and I've said this on multiple podcasts, I think that defensive line is going to be the reason the bears are not Super Bowl contenders this year.
1:09:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Playoff contenders absolutely, a very good team, absolutely.
1:09:06
[SPEAKER_00]: But a true Super Bowl contender.
1:09:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I just think you need to be able to rush Matthew Stafford, Josh Allen, whatever elite quarterback you wanna talk about, Patrick Mahomes,
1:09:19
[SPEAKER_00]: You need to be able to rush them with four.
1:09:21
[SPEAKER_00]: You just have to.
1:09:22
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to be able to get pressure with four because if you're constantly blitzing and you're constantly doing things to try and create pressure, great quarterbacks are gonna find the holes in the defense.
1:09:33
[SPEAKER_00]: That's it.
1:09:33
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the bottom line.
1:09:34
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that's going to be the problem for the bears calf, but I think we're going to see how this goes.
1:09:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And I hope, as I always say, when I'm negative about something on the bears, I hope I'm wrong.
1:09:45
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope you can all take victory circles around me and tell me that I'm a doofus.
1:09:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I just don't think I am.
1:09:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's going to be what holds the bears back.
1:09:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Because every other position group I'm comfortable with,
1:09:58
[SPEAKER_00]: solid running back room offensive line sure a couple questions but you got to feel good about that tight ends and receivers are great line backers are fine secondary there's some holes but overall pretty okay there but that defensive line that is the issue all right that's going to do it for bears banter i hope you enjoyed this one we will be back again soon with another so stay tuned bear down everybody we'll talk you soon audio's
1:10:39
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