Rain Delay Theater

This week, we move a little closer to baseball with the release of the new 2023 Topps baseball cards! Series 1 from Topps is out and Jack and Jeremy each rip a hobby box of their own and share their hits. What will the card collecting vet pull from his box? What will the fledgling pack ripper score in his? Will there be jubilation? Anger? Both? Tune in to find out as the Rain Delay boys sling some baseball cards in this week’s ep!

Take a trip back this year to the Worst of Fame as Jack and Jeremy nominate a new class of candidates for 2023. 10 new candidates are discussed plus two ballot holdovers from last year, Chris Capuano and Bill Ripken. Tune in and find out who, if anyone, gets elected to the prestigious Worst of Fame for this year! And stay tuned as Jeremy tells a story of conducting a business transaction with a current Cubs player!

Jack and Jeremy return to the Wintrust Arena to see some Big East basketball as No. 8 ranked Xavier takes on DePaul. Jack was going to see a thriving Big East team trounce all over the lowly Blue Demons and Jeremy wanted to see an upset...and one of them left happy. The guys talk about the Wintrust Arena, the thrill of a close basketball game, and the bonehead Xavier fans sitting around them.

In a special bonus episode, Jeremy checks in solo to recap THE REST of the Cubs Convention weekend, telling us about his interactions with all the players Saturday and Sunday. For those of you who wanted MORE Cubs Convention tales, here you go!

Here it is, the super-sized recap of the 2023 Cubs Convention! The day starts off with Jack getting super lost and Jeremy jumping right into autograph hunting. The guys meet the polarizing and mostly skeezy Sweatpants Guy, end up in mystery lines and can't find out what they lead to, and Jack finally experiences the walking malapropism that is Cole Wright. Jeremy hunts autos outside in the cold while Jack retreats indoors. Jeremy runs into a long lost autograph opportunity from his past, Jon Lieber has a beer, Jack gets squeezed out of a Ray Burris autograph, and so much much more! Break it up into multiple sittings, but make sure to tune into all the highlights from Day 1 of the Cubs Convention as well as Jeremy's highlights from the rest of the weekend.

Jack and Jeremy come at you this week with a quick minsode to preview their trip to the 2023 Cubs Convention. The guys discuss the guestlist, who they want to see the most, and a prediction on total autographs. Be sure to tune in next episode for a full recap of all the goings-on!

Jack and Jeremy close out 2022 by talking about some guys who had a good year, some guys who had a bad year, and what 2023 may hold for some others. Enjoy this week's look back at 2022 and thank you for listening and supporting this year!

We hope you're hungry because this week Jack, Jeremy, and special returning guest Marc Bubblebath visit northside burger restaurant Big League Burgers on Irving Park Road in Chicago. The guys sample some of the delicious offerings of this baseball-themed fast food joint and share their experience. The guys also discuss IPPs (Irving Park People), Marc discusses his dislike for Cubs announcer Pat Hughes, and the term "Chicago Lunch" is coined by Jeremy. Tune in for some laughs, some chuckles, and some controversial statements by Marc Bubblebath!

This week, Jack and Jeremy hit up Baseball Reference and play a little "Guess The Guy Based on Similarity Score" game - and you can play at home! Before that, the guys discuss the recent Contemporary Baseball Era Committee vote as well.

Jack and Jeremy head to Rosemont, IL for the Chicago Sports Spectacular trading card convention. Along the way, the guys encounter oddball vendors, Jack inadvertently steals some merchandise, and Jeremy meets Joe Maddon. There are quite frankly too many weirdos to talk about from the convention but the guys try to hit as many as they can. Also, in honor of episode #182, the guys dedicate the episode to one special Blink-182 fan! Tune in to find out who!

The 2022 season is over and Jack and Jeremy bring you the results of their over/under picks for the year. The guys also recap the World Series and rag on Dusty Baker some more and Jeremy tell a story about getting rear ended by a southsider!

With the 2022 World Series upon us, Jack and Jeremy take a look at the rosters for the Phillies and Astros and discuss the players, coaches, and front office members who have a connection to the Cubs and Brewers, in order to find some kind of rooting interest in this year's match up.

Jack and Jeremy run down an eventful year autograph hunting at Wrigley Field in their first annual Bus Awards! If you missed any of the recaps from the guys' various bus hangs, this is a great place to catch the highlights and unforgettable moments from this past season. We revisit some incomprehensible freaks, some cringeworthy moments, and some autograph victories along the way. The guys also talk about the LDS series and the beyond lame Padres rap. And Jeremy recaps a wild scene at locker clean out day at Wrigley Field the day after the season ended. There was a fight between two bozos and Jeremy was miraculously able to remedy an autograph tragedy that was plaguing him in recent weeks. It's a long one but a good one!

...And we're back for part 2, our last in-person game of the 2022 season to see the Cubs take on the Reds in Wrigleyville. Jeremy meets and alienates a member of the 2016 World Series Champs, Jack is cornered by a weird guy who wants to see him dance, and the guys find themselves sitting behind lookalike of Making A Murderer's Steven Avery. The last bus hang accomplishes a mission of a Reds coach autograph, the return of a special autograph-seeking animal, and Jack and Jeremy become surrogate fathers to a neglected youngster. It's a roller coaster of weirdness, but what episode isn't these days, what with all the bus weirdos and auto freaks (present company INcluded). Enjoy this last live game recap of the year!

In part one of a two part episode to close out the regular season, Jack and Jeremy bring you a recap of the Cubs/Phillies game. The guys talk further about the legend of Cocky Hayden Wesneski, idiots standing and looking at their phone, and a near fight between Jeremy and a drunk Cubs fan for sarcastically yelling a pro-Milwaukee jeer at the Phillies. At the bus, the guys have a scoop about an angry Bryce Harper, some ladies c-block Jack and Jeremy when Nick Castellanos comes out, and Rhys Hoskins brings someone to tears. But stay tuned til the end when we meet Jonathan Villar Bike Guy! That's all we can say for now! And then keep an eye on this feed because part two with a recap of the final live game of the season, Cubs/Reds, will be coming in just a few days!

Dong...dong...dong...(cue Undertaker's theme music)...for whom the bell tolls...well, in this case, it's the Chicago White Sox. Jack and Jeremy head to G-Rate Field to see perhaps the last gasp of the 2022 Southside squad as they take on the first place Cleveland Guardians. The guys are accompanied by Marc Bubblebath tonight and witness, among other things, a disrespectful dude who drops the game ball, a jersey of White Sox great Lou Gehrig (?), and an incessantly loud, clamoring buffone we dubbed "Captain Angeroo". Tune in to our final White Sox game of 2022 and the last competitive game for the White Sox in 2022 (it wasn't all that competitive...)

The guys attend back-to-back Cubs/Rockies games complete with full bus hangs and graphing mayhem! The guys encounter a few Wrigley Field knuckleheads, but the talk of the town is autos, autos, autos! The guys experience one of the more successful bus hang/auto hunts to date, including a beloved former Cub-turned-Rockie, can you guess who?!? The guys are snubbed hardcore by a dazed Dave Magadan, Jeremy gets some laughs at Bud Black's expense, and Jack has to eat crow when it comes to Brendan Rodgers. And in what possibly may be an all-time graphing moment, Nico Hoerner is accosted by a crazy German lady and her dog Millie - you have to hear in to believe it. This is a marathon episode but it's worth it! Get your Sharpies ready and tune into this ep of Rain Delay Theater!

Another team off the list as Jack and Jeremy travel to Wrigley Field for a Friday afternoon Cubs/Giants game. The guys sit in the LF corner on their own island...until a middle-aged guy who's predicting homers and shooting his shot with the ladies appears. After the floodgates open, the guys are subjected to a group of 4 dad-vibe dorks and two people who hate fast fashion and don't know about the Yankees or the rooftops. Outside, it's a wild scene as the guys try the Giants bus, the Cubs lot, and a secret spot. The guys get a Hall of Famer's signature, Jeremy gets a white whale, and then an auto mishap ends the evening. It's a busy episode, tune it!

The guys are back on the Southside to see the lowly (and La Russa-less) White Sox take on the even lowlier KC Royals. We meet a food-sharing group of Gio Gonzalezes, the guys encounter two unhappy men on the CTA platform, and we hear about the new food just introduced by the White Sox...in August. Plus, another big moment for the podcast - Jeremy takes a nasty spill but gets his first foul ball!!! Hear all about that ridiculous story on this week's ep!

It’s a big Cubs/Cardinals matchup this week for the podcast, featuring Albert Pujols’ last series in Wrigley Field. Pujols hits HR no. 693 and Jordan Montgomery throws a Maddux, but those aren’t the only highlights. The guys sit behind a group of four unlucky luchadores, suffer through an obnoxious content creator’s first pitch, and get saddled next to a coughing Aussie. The bus also brings a raucous crowd and one chain smoking, loudmouthed Cardinals asshole. Will this guy harassing players and their families completely c-block the guys from any autographs? Tune in to find out!