Jim On Things

Hi, and stuff.

If there's one person who can make me start drinking during the show, it's Ian Casselberry from Awful Announcing. Ian and I kavetch about baseball. Are we more optimistic than we were the last time we talked baseball? Oh, heavens no. Why do you think I'm going to start drinking heavier during the show?

I also become the first sports talk personality in the country to bring up a subject that no one has brought up yet. Listen to find out what it is.

Ian also has his own podcast called The Podcass, available wherever fine podcasts are distributed. Maybe one day, it'll be on Himalaya, whatever the hell that is.

This country is reeling. It's reeling from the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers and from the constant, nonsensical gas-lighting by President Trump. I'm in pain. My guest, Cal "Gameface" Lee, is also in pain.

It's time for a lot of people, including myself, to shut up and listen. That will be how this whole mess gets fixed.

Major League Baseball's players and owners don't trust each other when it comes to money. They'll keep bickering and throwing out stories to the press to make the other side look bad for as long as they want. Did you know that it affects people in South Bend?

Joe Hart is the President of the South Bend Cubs, the Single-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs (duh) and defending Midwest League champion. We talk about how the South Bend Cubs have helped various charities during Covid-19, what else they're going to do for the community while we hope for baseball, and what happens if the MLB people don't figure things out in time. Along with running a baseball team of young professionals, Joe is also a baseball fan who doesn't want to see another 1994.

If you want to help out the South Bend Cubs and their charities, go to SouthBendCubs.com. They have really been doing some great things for people during these tough times.

If you had told me that the NHL would be the first of the sports leagues to release a detailed plan on how they would resume their season, I would have laughed you out of the solar system. Fast forward to yesterday, when at 3:10 pm ET, the NHL announced that Gary Bettman would be announcing the league's Return To Play plan, before the NBA and MLB (although I think the NBA will be announcing soon).

I was able to get a hold of Tab Bamford, who covers the Chicago Blackhawks for CommittedIndians.com, and we talk for a bit about the plan itself, the incredibly sexy matchup the Blackhawks find themselves in with the Edmonton Oilers, and Tab even made sense of the NHL's draft lottery plan.

This podcast is now available on TuneIn! Neat-o!

I started this one off with a bit of a rant.

Well, not so much a rant. A rant would involve a bunch of shouting and morphing into Chris Russo. Nobody wants that. I don't even think Chris Russo wants that happening to him, really. To be honest, I'm not sure if they're even hot takes. I do talk about how I think sports will come back, though. What's the best way to summarize that in a sentence? Let's try this...

I talked into an open mic for a bit before I brought on my guest. 

That nails it pretty good, I think. My guest this week is Lester Wiltfong, Jr. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Windy City Gridiron, as well as the host of The T-Formation Podcast on the WCG Podcast Channel. We talk about the Bears, including the most important story surrounding them right now. That's right. We talk about Jay Cutler's divorce. Lester and I also talk about what the NFL season is going to look like, Mitchell Trubisky vs. Nick Foles, and what the Bears did in the draft. Lester and the guys at WCG do a fantastic job. If you're a Bears fan, they should be your go-to.

I was happy to give my guest this episode a brief respite from the madness of five kids in one house during a quarantine. Vince DeDario is a writer and podcaster for Irish Breakdown, the Notre Dame portal from Sports Illustrated. He is also one of the co-hosts of Gameday on 96.1 WSBT in South Bend during the college football season.

Vince and I give our thoughts on what the college football season might look like (SPOILER: Vince is a little more optimistic than me.). We also talk about the NCAA's new rules regarding name, image, and likeness of student-athletes, what the Board of Governors thinks about the proposed one-time transfer rule, and throw in some talk about the Notre Dame women's basketball program that is now run by Niele Ivey.

Ian Casselberry from Awful Announcing is my guest this episode. Awful Announcing is a website that reports on the comings and goings in sports media and do so incredibly well. Ian also has his own podcast called The Podcass that is deep into pop culture and things that go with it.

We talk about whether or not sports will or should be back anytime soon. What we think is probably going to surprise you, especially considering how sports would be a welcome distraction from the constant and unrelenting COVID-19 news conferences. We also talk about the rumored shakeup at ESPN Radio, Amazon's new deal for streaming Thursday Night Football, and The Last Dance.

I'm not sure if it ever came up before and I didn't remember or if I just didn't know, but I found out that Cal "Gameface" Lee is a Mets fan. Whodathunk? Before we get to hoops, Cal talks about how MLB has never known how to handle scandals in the past. Look at the Black Sox, Pete Rose, and steroids. Were any of those handled well? Now, look at the Astros' sign-stealing. That might have been handled even worse!

Turning to the NBA, we get a French lesson from Cal in regards to Rudy Gobert. That said, we're good with Rudy now. Donovan Mitchell might not be right now, but eventually. Give it time, people. Hopefully, scientists were able to get some helpful information about COVID-19 out of what happened in OKC that night.

How much time do NBA players need to get back into game shape? Cal has an estimate, but I don't think time's on their side. Plus, a question about James Dolan.

Check out Cal, along with his co-host Warren Shaw, on The Baseline NBA Podcast. They're still doing shows, including their Saving The Last Dance editions. Listen where find podcasts are sold.

Is this thing still on?

Yup. It's me. I was pretty busy over the last year. Got married, got a dog, got a house, got a new car. Now, I'm going crazy just like y'all during these COVID-19-filled days. I figured I would start podcasting again. Lucky you?

My guest this episode is Paul M. Banks. He has his own website at thesportsbank.net and also now writes for Sports Illustrated. Fancy! Paul tells me how he's been keeping busy, what he was supposed to be doing when everything got shut down, and how and when he thinks sports will come back. That's quite the onion to peel apart, really.

Paul also drops some movie trivia on me. We'll also hear from Paul's cat, Otis.