Tale of the Tape: Chief vs. Carl
So if you’ve been following Barstool Chicago since even before we went full time, you’d know that Carl and I go at it. A lot. It’s highly stressful. Sometimes it’s my fault, sometimes it’s his fault. When you get two stubborn assholes in the same room as often as Carl and I are that’ll happen. Explosions will occur.
Yesterday we recorded a full episode of Red Line Radio around 2pm. Once we were packed up and ready to go home we found out the audio file was corrupted. We tried to fix it and nope, didn’t work. Had to re-record. Now this is where things usually get hairy in our group as everything has to go 100% accordingly to schedule or an explosion is bound to occur. Without fail, there will be a fight. We love each other, but at the same time we can be like a dysfunctional rock band at times behind the scenes.
Now fast forward to about the 1 hour, 6 minute mark of our most recent podcast. Do us a solid and get us a download while also subscribing and rating us 5 stars.
Did you feel uncomfortable at all? If you didn’t, just know there was ZERO theatrics in this interaction, so you should have. Carl really wanted to kill Chief. Eddie and I are used to this kinda shit so the awkwardness wasn’t too palpable for us, but if a rando were in the room they’d have shit their pants at the exchange.
These two blogs were written this morning on the subject. The most passive aggressive thing a blogger can do is publicly call out another blogger out via weblog. That’s what we have here:
These two are PISSED at each other. Typically these exchanges happen between Carl and I, so I loved every minute of it because I had no involvement…. yet. So I’m going to insert myself into it right here with a little tale of the tape.
Carl:
Height: a slightly misshapen 6′ nothing
Weight: 200 something
By way of: Oak Lawn, St. Germaine Parish and Brother Rice HS
His argument: Theo Epstein should NOT be questioned as the “alpha” in the Cubs organization by anyone. That he’s the best to ever lace em up as a front office executive. That there’s not a single person on this planet that can do what he has done and will do in terms of putting the Cubs in the best possible position to win a World Series, in spite of fucking a few things up in recent years. That he’s amending all of those mistakes as we speak. That the Cubs do NOT need to hire another alpha to keep him on his toes. That it is bat shit crazy for Chief, or anyone else for that matter, to question Theo fucking Epstein.
Carl is a lunatic. Emotional outbursts, as you can see. But his baseball acumen is second to none, especially at Barstool, and that’s not an indictment of anyone else who covers the game for us. I can’t have a single conversation about baseball with him where I don’t learn something new about the game. Does Chief or anyone else have any ground to stand on when Carl is A1 when it comes to breaking down anything and everything baseball? That’s a great question. Typically no.
Chief:
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 260
By way of: St. Charles, Berkshire Prep School
His argument: that Carl was bouncing back and forth between whether or not people have the right to question or criticize Theo Epstein. That Theo should perhaps take a step back from being the Cubs’ “alpha” because he’s clearly behind other organizations like the Astros and Rays in terms of modern baseball infrastructure and has clearly fucked up multiple times in recent seasons. That most of the Cubs’ issues stem from moves Theo has or has not made. That in one breath Carl recognizes Theo’s failures but in the next feels as if he’s infallible.
Chief is usually level headed. He let’s the truth speak for itself. Type A personality for sure, but also even keeled. Typically avoids confrontation, but will defend himself to the death if he feels he’s being wronged for poor reason. That said, he’s a hockey guy. Likes baseball, but more from a casual fan perspective. Doesn’t follow the innards like he does with hockey. He’s not gonna be breaking down anything but the most blatant occurrences in baseball. Not a bad thing, but that’s important for this argument.
DING DING DING!!!
What we have here is David vs. Goliath, with Chief being David and Carl being Goliath.
These two traded BLOW FOR BLOW for 5 straight minutes. Ed and I sat in the corner nudging each other’s sides under the desk every time either one of them would raise their voice. It was hellacious and I loved every goddamn second of it because Carl’s ire wasn’t directed at me for once.
But I gotta say. I’m giving this one to Chief. Chalk one up for David. Not because of anything personal between Carl and I, but because I’m an independent arbiter and I don’t think it’s unfair to question Theo Epstein right now. That, and Carl was pretty contradictory in his arguments as Chief detailed. You mean to tell me Jeff Lunhow or Andrew Friedman wouldn’t have built the Cubs into perennial contenders? Or Brian Cashman? Or Erik Neander of the Rays who has about a 100 bucks to work with every year?
I personally think they could. I cannot prove that, but I believe it’s a somewhat safe assumption with the successes each of them have had in recent years. Carl said it himself that the Cubs are behind a handful of teams in different realms, analytics being one. The GMs I listed are all crazy analytically inclined. They get the most bang for their buck. To Carl’s point, Theo and the Cubs have not been on their levels of late. In my opinion, and Chief’s as well, that’s on nobody but Theo. Carl agrees…. while also saying there’s nobody in baseball as good as he is. This right after he’s admitted that Theo has been out executed by other FO execs in terms of analytics, free agent signings, trades, etc.
Confusing? It should be. Because it doesn’t really add up.
Now Theo is undoubtedly a Hall of Famer. He did break the curse and he’ll always be revered for it, but at the same time he is directly responsible for a lot of the Cubs’ failures since the World Series. Carl said so himself:
– The bullpen
– Jason Heyward’s regression
– Being behind in analytics
This was the kill shot. Carl rattled off all these fuck ups as fair criticisms of Theo Epstein, and Chief just said “Theo’s job, Theo’s job, Theo’s job“. Carl didn’t really have a response; he just asked “so I’m going to hang Theo Epstein out to dry over this stuff?” and Chief retorted, “Yeah Mike!”
Now with that said, I have no doubt that Theo can turn it around for the Cubs. I hope he doesn’t because I hate them, but he’s smart, pragmatic and insanely competitive. I totally agree with Carl there, but that wasn’t really the argument. Whether or not he does turn it around we’ll find out. That’s the only way we’ll find out who wins or loses this debate.