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That was tough to read.

Grote got fucked over.

Way to go MITCH!

“It probably will be difficult, but to be honest with you, I thought it would be difficult with the Cubs too,” Grote said. “I’m going to try my hardest to be myself. I know I can’t always make a joke out of everything, but I can’t help but be myself. I hope that (humor) will come through in a non-forced way. … If I lose that, I lose myself, so I hope there’s room.”

The fact that he said "I know I can’t always make a joke out of everything, but I can’t help but be myself." makes me wonder if management felt he tried to be funny or screwed around too much or they got listener feedback saying as much. They might have thought Zaidman would make the broadcast sound more professional and less like an Abbattacola/Grote update during B&G. I don't think there's as much time during a football broadcast to do that as compared to a baseball broadcast.

Tad Queasy wrote:

Well they certainly chose the right guy if they don't want humor on the Cubs broadcasts.

Or the Cubs went to WSCR and said, "hey, we may not be that good this year...can you give us your best apologist?"

Terry's Peeps wrote:

That was tough to read.

Grote got fucked over.

Way to go MITCH!

So who literally ordered the Code Red? Mitch? Hughes? McDonough?

badrogue17 wrote:

Terry's Peeps wrote:

That was tough to read.

Grote got fucked over.

Way to go MITCH!

So who literally ordered the Code Red? Mitch? Hughes? McDonough?

Based on the timing of it, I would guess Zach wanted a change and Mitch helped him along.

Seacrest wrote:

badrogue17 wrote:

Terry's Peeps wrote:

That was tough to read.

Grote got fucked over.

Way to go MITCH!

So who literally ordered the Code Red? Mitch? Hughes? McDonough?

Based on the timing of it, I would guess Zach wanted a change and Mitch helped him along.

YES! Take that Beardown.

beni hanna wrote:

Seacrest wrote:

badrogue17 wrote:

Terry's Peeps wrote:

That was tough to read.

Grote got fucked over.

Way to go MITCH!

So who literally ordered the Code Red? Mitch? Hughes? McDonough?

Based on the timing of it, I would guess Zach wanted a change and Mitch helped him along.

YES! Take that Beardown.

Since QCP has gone to ground, I’ve been beating the mean streets of the Twitterverse trying to get to the actual reason or failing that, report something back that I made up that sounds juicy.

Karmic revenge for Cub fans acting like assholes after the 2016 WS. Sorry, guys.

Jaw Breaker wrote:

Or the Cubs went to WSCR and said, "hey, we may not be that good this year...can you give us your best apologist?"

Panic has set in on the North side after the playoff collapse last year. Joe Madden's furry adventures are turning off the veterans now. They needed to get Chicago Sports Radio's version of Comical Ali...

Hatchetman wrote:

phil rosenthal today column makes it clear that Grote did not want to do this.

Mark Grote had asked for a meeting with his boss, Mitch Rosen, WSCR-AM 670’s operations director, to talk over the coming baseball season, which was to be his fourth as the Cubs’ pregame and postgame host.

Grote had a checklist of things he wanted to go over when they sat down the day after Christmas. Rosen had a thought. So much for the list.

“He proposed the idea of me going to the Bears and possibly putting Zach (Zaidman) on the Cubs, and I have to say I was surprised,” Grote said Thursday, a day after the job swap was announced, pausing ever so slightly between “was” and “surprised.”

“I had no idea. There was no thought in my mind whatsoever that there would be any kind of proposal for change, but I took the time to think about it, and at this point I’m at peace with it.”

Zaidman, who logged 14 seasons as The Score’s Bears reporter and sideline reporter on game broadcasts for Entercom sister stations WBBM-AM 780 and WCFS-FM 105.9, indicated he would prefer to be interviewed closer to Cubs spring training. He said Wednesday via Twitter that he is “excited to join the Cubs broadcast team” and “extremely grateful for my time covering the Bears,” which he called “quite the journey.”

As for the impetus to upend The Score’s two biggest reporting beats — a change affecting game-day broadcasts for both the Cubs’ and Bears’ flagship stations — Rosen has said only that he felt it was time for a change.
A

The switch was announced less than 24 hours after the Bears introduced Matt Nagy as their new coach and almost four months after the Bears renewed their rights deal with WBBM, their radio home since 2000.

“The best part of this is both Zach and Mark are terrific people,” Rosen said. “For Zach, it gives him an opportunity to work in baseball and travel full time with the Cubs. For Mark, he will cover what could be an exciting year with a new coach and do sideline reports on WBBM during games. I look at it as a win-win for everyone.”

Zaidman will continue to report on the coaching comings and goings as Nagy assembles his staff, and he’ll keep doing “Bears All-Access” through the end of this month.

But after calling Friday night’s DePaul-Providence basketball game, Zaidman also is scheduled to work a three-hour shift beginning at noon Saturday from the Cubs Convention. Eventually he’ll make his way to spring training in Arizona.

The Cubs open their 2018 season in about 11 weeks in Miami.

“My offseason just got extended,” Grote said. “I was getting ready to go to work, and now I’ve got even more free time than I thought, and for the first time in three or four years I’ll have a summer.”

Grote enjoyed terrific rapport with Cubs announcers Pat Hughes and Ron Coomer, but baseball broadcasts are less regimented than pro football.

Whether he’ll have the opportunity to be as loose with Bears voices Jeff Joniak and Tom Thayer while weathering rain and snow, or even as he reports on the team during the week from Halas Hall, is an open question.

“It probably will be difficult, but to be honest with you, I thought it would be difficult with the Cubs too,” Grote said. “I’m going to try my hardest to be myself. I know I can’t always make a joke out of everything, but I can’t help but be myself. I hope that (humor) will come through in a non-forced way. … If I lose that, I lose myself, so I hope there’s room.”

During what turned out to be Grote’s swan song with the Cubs, Hughes made a point to thank him during the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series against the Dodgers for his contributions.

As it was clear that would be the end of the line for the 2017 Cubs, Hughes and Coomer tried to acknowledge everyone from Cubs and WSCR management to sponsors and listeners. Finally, Hughes got to Grote, who he noted was busy preparing the postgame program.

“Mark does wonderful work on the pregame show and during the games all year long and the postgame shows,” Hughes said. “He gets here early and stays late.”

Hughes might have said even more, but that’s precisely when Willson Contreras lined out to Charlie Culberson for the third out. So much for the list.

I clicked on this thread thinking it was another circle jerk thread. :oops:

What a terrible move. Fuck mitch. First he puts 1 ton of fun on the air with a weekly show and now he screws Grote out of a gig he was good at and loved. Why the hell would anyone give Zaidman what he wanted. He sounds like a coked up google home regurgitating the talking points in the god damn bears media guide every time he is on. I don't want to hear that shit before and after cubs games.

Pat's replacement is not coming from that 3rd wheel crap they do. His replacement is the AA radio PBP guy Gillespie who does some of the spring training games with Len and Bob.

Author:	Chet Coppock's Fur Coat [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 10:50 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
That screams "massive demotion." So who was dissatisfied with his performance?

Author:	badrogue17 [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 10:50 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
Yeah there’s a lot of not so subtle between the lines I’m not happy with this move from Grote.

Author:	Curious Hair [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 10:59 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
"I hope I can do this job I didn't ask for and am unsuited for." Poor Grote.

Author:	Terry's Peeps [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 11:23 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
That was tough to read. Grote got fucked over. Way to go MITCH!

Author:	badrogue17 [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 11:34 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
Terry's Peeps wrote: That was tough to read. Grote got fucked over. Way to go MITCH! So who literally ordered the Code Red? Mitch? Hughes? McDonough?

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Beat Trade http://chicagofanatics.com/viewtopic.php?f=156&t=110312	Page 4 of 5

Author:	Tad Queasy [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 11:39 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
“It probably will be difficult, but to be honest with you, I thought it would be difficult with the Cubs too,” Grote said. “I’m going to try my hardest to be myself. I know I can’t always make a joke out of everything, but I can’t help but be myself. I hope that (humor) will come through in a non-forced way. … If I lose that, I lose myself, so I hope there’s room.” The fact that he said "I know I can’t always make a joke out of everything, but I can’t help but be myself." makes me wonder if management felt he tried to be funny or screwed around too much or they got listener feedback saying as much. They might have thought Zaidman would make the broadcast sound more professional and less like an Abbattacola/Grote update during B&G. I don't think there's as much time during a football broadcast to do that as compared to a baseball broadcast.

Author:	beni hanna [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 11:49 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
Tad Queasy wrote: “It probably will be difficult, but to be honest with you, I thought it would be difficult with the Cubs too,” Grote said. “I’m going to try my hardest to be myself. I know I can’t always make a joke out of everything, but I can’t help but be myself. I hope that (humor) will come through in a non-forced way. … If I lose that, I lose myself, so I hope there’s room.” The fact that he said "I know I can’t always make a joke out of everything, but I can’t help but be myself." makes me wonder if management felt he tried to be funny or screwed around too much or they got listener feedback saying as much. They might have thought Zaidman would make the broadcast sound more professional and less like an Abbattacola/Grote update during B&G. I don't think there's as much time during a football broadcast to do that as compared to a baseball broadcast. I see your point, and have read the Grote quote, and just don't get it. I cannot remember a moment where I would have suggested that Grote crossed a line with his inputs into the pre/post or broadcasts. Pat and Ron were pretty good about keeping things loose. Lots of downtime in a game to spin a yarn or crack a dumb joke. Grote appeared to fit in nicely. I must have missed something, OR the real change took place WBEAR. People may have grown weary of the Ginger. I would say some of his work on Bears All Access et. al left this listening wanting a change. Mitch may have been forced to make this change or lose the protected class...the Ginger.

Author:	badrogue17 [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 12:05 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
Tad Queasy wrote: “It probably will be difficult, but to be honest with you, I thought it would be difficult with the Cubs too,” Grote said. “I’m going to try my hardest to be myself. I know I can’t always make a joke out of everything, but I can’t help but be myself. I hope that (humor) will come through in a non-forced way. … If I lose that, I lose myself, so I hope there’s room.” The fact that he said "I know I can’t always make a joke out of everything, but I can’t help but be myself." makes me wonder if management felt he tried to be funny or screwed around too much or they got listener feedback saying as much. They might have thought Zaidman would make the broadcast sound more professional and less like an Abbattacola/Grote update during B&G. I don't think there's as much time during a football broadcast to do that as compared to a baseball broadcast. Well they certainly chose the right guy if they don't want humor on the Cubs broadcasts.

Author:	Jaw Breaker [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 12:23 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
badrogue17 wrote: Tad Queasy wrote: “It probably will be difficult, but to be honest with you, I thought it would be difficult with the Cubs too,” Grote said. “I’m going to try my hardest to be myself. I know I can’t always make a joke out of everything, but I can’t help but be myself. I hope that (humor) will come through in a non-forced way. … If I lose that, I lose myself, so I hope there’s room.” The fact that he said "I know I can’t always make a joke out of everything, but I can’t help but be myself." makes me wonder if management felt he tried to be funny or screwed around too much or they got listener feedback saying as much. They might have thought Zaidman would make the broadcast sound more professional and less like an Abbattacola/Grote update during B&G. I don't think there's as much time during a football broadcast to do that as compared to a baseball broadcast. Well they certainly chose the right guy if they don't want humor on the Cubs broadcasts. Or the Cubs went to WSCR and said, "hey, we may not be that good this year...can you give us your best apologist?"

Author:	sjboyd0137 [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 12:26 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
Jaw Breaker wrote: Or the Cubs went to WSCR and said, "hey, we may not be that good this year...can you give us your best apologist?" Panic has set in on the North side after the playoff collapse last year. Joe Madden's furry adventures are turning off the veterans now. They needed to get Chicago Sports Radio's version of Comical Ali...

Author:	Seacrest [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:11 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
badrogue17 wrote: Terry's Peeps wrote: That was tough to read. Grote got fucked over. Way to go MITCH! So who literally ordered the Code Red? Mitch? Hughes? McDonough? Based on the timing of it, I would guess Zach wanted a change and Mitch helped him along.

Author:	beni hanna [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:34 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
Seacrest wrote: badrogue17 wrote: Terry's Peeps wrote: That was tough to read. Grote got fucked over. Way to go MITCH! So who literally ordered the Code Red? Mitch? Hughes? McDonough? Based on the timing of it, I would guess Zach wanted a change and Mitch helped him along. YES! Take that Beardown.

Author:	spmack [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:39 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
But why take Grote off of Pre/Post? The article stated that Zaidman wanted to do more stuff with the Cubs, so why not just make him the full-time beat guy and move Levine over to mainly Sox with some Cubs sprinkled here and there? Grote, if you're reading this, you got played my man. Sorry.

Author:	Peoria Matt [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:42 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
This is horseshit.

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Author:	badrogue17 [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:43 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
beni hanna wrote: Seacrest wrote: badrogue17 wrote: Terry's Peeps wrote: That was tough to read. Grote got fucked over. Way to go MITCH! So who literally ordered the Code Red? Mitch? Hughes? McDonough? Based on the timing of it, I would guess Zach wanted a change and Mitch helped him along. YES! Take that Beardown. Since QCP has gone to ground, I’ve been beating the mean streets of the Twitterverse trying to get to the actual reason or failing that, report something back that I made up that sounds juicy.

Author:	FavreFan [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:47 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
Karmic revenge for Cub fans acting like assholes after the 2016 WS. Sorry, guys.

Author:	beni hanna [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:50 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
badrogue17 wrote: beni hanna wrote: Seacrest wrote: badrogue17 wrote: Terry's Peeps wrote: That was tough to read. Grote got fucked over. Way to go MITCH! So who literally ordered the Code Red? Mitch? Hughes? McDonough? Based on the timing of it, I would guess Zach wanted a change and Mitch helped him along. YES! Take that Beardown. Since QCP has gone to ground, I’ve been beating the mean streets of the Twitterverse trying to get to the actual reason or failing that, report something back that I made up that sounds juicy. From Twitterverse, Actual reason, or something made up = same. I look forward to your reports.

Author:	Curious Hair [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:57 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
Tad Queasy wrote: “It probably will be difficult, but to be honest with you, I thought it would be difficult with the Cubs too,” Grote said. “I’m going to try my hardest to be myself. I know I can’t always make a joke out of everything, but I can’t help but be myself. I hope that (humor) will come through in a non-forced way. … If I lose that, I lose myself, so I hope there’s room.” The fact that he said "I know I can’t always make a joke out of everything, but I can’t help but be myself." makes me wonder if management felt he tried to be funny or screwed around too much or they got listener feedback saying as much. They might have thought Zaidman would make the broadcast sound more professional and less like an Abbattacola/Grote update during B&G. I don't think there's as much time during a football broadcast to do that as compared to a baseball broadcast. I never felt there was any unprofessionalism to what Grote did. I would add, too, that the selling point of Cubs radio from 2000-2010 was unprofessionalism.

Author:	Terry's Peeps [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 2:43 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
FavreFan wrote: Karmic revenge for Cub fans acting like assholes after the 2016 WS. Sorry, guys. Yep. First Trump. Now Zaidman.

Author:	Hank Scorpio [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 11:58 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
sjboyd0137 wrote: Jaw Breaker wrote: Or the Cubs went to WSCR and said, "hey, we may not be that good this year...can you give us your best apologist?" Panic has set in on the North side after the playoff collapse last year. Joe Madden's furry adventures are turning off the veterans now. They needed to get Chicago Sports Radio's version of Comical Ali... Playoff collapse? You mean reaching the NLCS for the third straight season? Yeah, that was really tough on us fans.

Author:	Beardown [ Sat Jan 13, 2018 12:15 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
badrogue17 wrote: Hatchetman wrote: phil rosenthal today column makes it clear that Grote did not want to do this. Mark Grote had asked for a meeting with his boss, Mitch Rosen, WSCR-AM 670’s operations director, to talk over the coming baseball season, which was to be his fourth as the Cubs’ pregame and postgame host. Grote had a checklist of things he wanted to go over when they sat down the day after Christmas. Rosen had a thought. So much for the list. “He proposed the idea of me going to the Bears and possibly putting Zach (Zaidman) on the Cubs, and I have to say I was surprised,” Grote said Thursday, a day after the job swap was announced, pausing ever so slightly between “was” and “surprised.” “I had no idea. There was no thought in my mind whatsoever that there would be any kind of proposal for change, but I took the time to think about it, and at this point I’m at peace with it.” Zaidman, who logged 14 seasons as The Score’s Bears reporter and sideline reporter on game broadcasts for Entercom sister stations WBBM-AM 780 and WCFS-FM 105.9, indicated he would prefer to be interviewed closer to Cubs spring training. He said Wednesday via Twitter that he is “excited to join the Cubs broadcast team” and “extremely grateful for my time covering the Bears,” which he called “quite the journey.” As for the impetus to upend The Score’s two biggest reporting beats — a change affecting game-day broadcasts for both the Cubs’ and Bears’ flagship stations — Rosen has said only that he felt it was time for a change. A The switch was announced less than 24 hours after the Bears introduced Matt Nagy as their new coach and almost four months after the Bears renewed their rights deal with WBBM, their radio home since 2000. “The best part of this is both Zach and Mark are terrific people,” Rosen said. “For Zach, it gives him an opportunity to work in baseball and travel full time with the Cubs. For Mark, he will cover what could be an exciting year with a new coach and do sideline reports on WBBM during games. I look at it as a win-win for everyone.” Zaidman will continue to report on the coaching comings and goings as Nagy assembles his staff, and he’ll keep doing “Bears All-Access” through the end of this month. But after calling Friday night’s DePaul-Providence basketball game, Zaidman also is scheduled to work a three-hour shift beginning at noon Saturday from the Cubs Convention. Eventually he’ll make his way to spring training in Arizona. The Cubs open their 2018 season in about 11 weeks in Miami. “My offseason just got extended,” Grote said. “I was getting ready to go to work, and now I’ve got even more free time than I thought, and for the first time in three or four years I’ll have a summer.” Grote enjoyed terrific rapport with Cubs announcers Pat Hughes and Ron Coomer, but baseball broadcasts are less regimented than pro football. Whether he’ll have the opportunity to be as loose with Bears voices Jeff Joniak and Tom Thayer while weathering rain and snow, or even as he reports on the team during the week from Halas Hall, is an open question. “It probably will be difficult, but to be honest with you, I thought it would be difficult with the Cubs too,” Grote said. “I’m going to try my hardest to be myself. I know I can’t always make a joke out of everything, but I can’t help but be myself. I hope that (humor) will come through in a non-forced way. … If I lose that, I lose myself, so I hope there’s room.” During what turned out to be Grote’s swan song with the Cubs, Hughes made a point to thank him during the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series against the Dodgers for his contributions. As it was clear that would be the end of the line for the 2017 Cubs, Hughes and Coomer tried to acknowledge everyone from Cubs and WSCR management to sponsors and listeners. Finally, Hughes got to Grote, who he noted was busy preparing the postgame program. “Mark does wonderful work on the pregame show and during the games all year long and the postgame shows,” Hughes said. “He gets here early and stays late.” Hughes might have said even more, but that’s precisely when Willson Contreras lined out to Charlie Culberson for the third out. So much for the list. Bullshit. Rosen said "It was time for a change". What? After only 3 years of Grote. No, like I said, Pat Hughes wanted Grote out. Pat Hughes went to Mitch Rosen. Rosen made the change. Grote was shocked. As he should have been. There is no way that dumb ass Mitch, on his own, would think that a change was needed. Cubs fans liked Grote and everybody hates Zack. So why take him away from your number one property - the Chicago Cubs? Unless Pat Hughes ordered the code red. Which he did. I win. This article only makes me more convinced. And I broke the story before this article came out. I did it before this bullshit was revealed to everybody.

Author:	SuperNintendoHjalmarsson [ Sat Jan 13, 2018 12:16 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
Juiced wrote: I clicked on this thread thinking it was another circle jerk thread. did they go digital? they had a good grip on the magazine ads.

Author:	Urlacher's missing neck [ Sat Jan 13, 2018 12:28 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
What a terrible move. Fuck mitch. First he puts 1 ton of fun on the air with a weekly show and now he screws Grote out of a gig he was good at and loved. Why the hell would anyone give Zaidman what he wanted. He sounds like a coked up google home regurgitating the talking points in the god damn bears media guide every time he is on. I don't want to hear that shit before and after cubs games.

Author:	Beardown [ Sat Jan 13, 2018 12:30 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
Grote is not an idiot. Make no mistake about it. Grote knows who forced him out. He knows it wasn't Mitch on his own just deciding "Time for a change". While Grote will never admit it, he knows it was Pat Hughes all along.

Author:	C_Howitt_Fealz [ Sat Jan 13, 2018 12:35 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
Or is Zaidman tough to work with? You get him out of Chicago for.what, 140 days this way.

Author:	Beardown [ Sat Jan 13, 2018 12:37 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
Urlacher's missing neck wrote: What a terrible move. Fuck mitch. First he puts 1 ton of fun on the air with a weekly show and now he screws Grote out of a gig he was good at and loved. Why the hell would anyone give Zaidman what he wanted. He sounds like a coked up google home regurgitating the talking points in the god damn bears media guide every time he is on. I don't want to hear that shit before and after cubs games. No. It wasn't about giving Zaidman what he wanted. You can't make a power play when you have no power. Pat Hughes has the power. Hughes made the play. And Mitch just decided that the replacement should be somebody that Pat would be comfortable with. So the bland, dull, no personality, Zack Zaidman got it. Pat didn't like Grote because he has a personality that outshines Pat. Pat hated that. Hated that the younger guy got popular with Cubs fans on the broadcast. Zack will be no threat to Pat in that regard. Which is why he got it.

Author:	Beardown [ Sat Jan 13, 2018 12:47 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Beat Trade
Urlacher's missing neck wrote: Pat's replacement is not coming from that 3rd wheel crap they do. His replacement is the AA radio PBP guy Gillespie who does some of the spring training games with Len and Bob. Agreed. It wouldn't have. But don't tell that to pat. He's nervous about this shit. That's why the athletes do the "play by play" when he takes an inning off. Not the pro broadcaster. Pat is a paranoid mother fucker. And even if he didn't think Grote would take his spot, he still doesn't like somebody outshining him during a broadcast. Which Grote would do at times while just giving scores around MLB. Pat just wants the scores. Grote felt the need to do comedy at times. Zaidman will just give the scores and send it back to Pat.