That screams "massive demotion." So who was dissatisfied with his performance?

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Yeah there’s a lot of not so subtle between the lines I’m not happy with this move from Grote.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

"I hope I can do this job I didn't ask for and am unsuited for." Poor Grote.

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That was tough to read.

Grote got fucked over.

Way to go MITCH!

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

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

“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.

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

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

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

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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...

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

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YES! Take that Beardown.

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.

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This is horseshit.

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.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

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

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

From Twitterverse, Actual reason, or something made up = same. I look forward to your reports.

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.

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Yep.

First Trump. Now Zaidman.

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Playoff collapse? You mean reaching the NLCS for the third straight season? Yeah, that was really tough on us fans.

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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.

did they go digital? they had a good grip on the magazine ads.

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'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

there is the potential positive of Grote now interacting with Bernstein for Bears news. Id love to hear Grote not take any of dans bullshit and slam him with some well tuned snark. ZZ just rolled over like a ginger retriever and whined out another apologetic take for the bears to appease Bernstein's anger.

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'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

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.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

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.

Or is Zaidman tough to work with? You get him out of Chicago for.what, 140 days this way.

He is probably very easy to work with and very professional. He is just annoying as shit to listen to.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

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.

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.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

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.