Like the 1985 Bears, the 2016 Cubs will never really go away.<\/p>\n
Former Cubs Anthony Rizzo and David Ross, meanwhile, have decided to get the party started early. Rizzo and Ross have teamed up again to produce a new podcast, \u201cThe Lovable Reunion,\u201d which begins April 1 on Colin Cowherd\u2019s The Volume network.<\/p>\n
![\"Chicago](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CTC-CUBS-0324.jpg\")
Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo and former Cubs catcher David Ross before the start of Game 4 of the National League Championship Series between the Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Wrigley Field on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. (Nuccio DiNuzzo\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
Rizzo said the podcast will focus on the 2016 season from the start \u201cthrough Game 7 and the speech.\u201d And if you don\u2019t know what \u201cthe speech\u201d<\/a> refers to, you\u2019re probably not a Cubs fan and can skip the rest.<\/p>\n While \u201cTLR\u201d is obviously a Cubs-themed podcast, it\u2019s not part of the Cubs marketing department or run by the organization. The two old friends insist they\u2019ll have complete control over the content, guiding us through the 2016 season, where fans wearing \u201cJust One Before I Die\u201d T-shirts got permission to die happy.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is us alone,\u201d Rizzo said. \u201cMe and Rossy were talking, and with the 10-year reunion we wanted to do this. Whenever we all get together we just sit down and everyone tells stories. I always wanted to do a podcast after I was playing, and (Ian) Happ tried to always get me to do one while I was playing, but it was too much of a commitment.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was like a perfect segue for us to see if we\u2019d like doing it together. We were like, if worst comes to worst, it would still be therapeutic to talk about the whole run in 2016. But we actually love it, so it\u2019s been a fun project.\u201d<\/p>\n The interviews with players are filmed, and the podcast will be available on YouTube. It\u2019s mostly a weekly show, though two episodes will drop each week at the outset. They\u2019ve already taped several episodes, appropriately starting with Jon Lester, their beer-loving running buddy<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe get down with these sitdowns, and the guys are ticked off they don\u2019t get to travel around with us and get to hang out with everybody and hear the stories,\u201d Ross said. \u201cAnd they can\u2019t believe when (it\u2019s over). We\u2019ll do a two-hour session, and the guys want to keep going. It\u2019s amazing how much fun everyone has had doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n Ten years is long enough for Cubs fans to become nostalgic over the \u201916 season, and short enough for players to still have semi-vivid memories of what exactly happened. The \u201916 Cubs weren\u2019t just a great collection of talent, but a near-perfect mix of personalities, from stoic Jason Heyward, who delivered the famous rain delay speech during Game 7 of the World Series, to melodramatic types like John Lackey and Willson Contreras.<\/p>\n Rizzo and Ross were the ringleaders in the clubhouse, while Joe Maddon was the free-wheeling manager who gave his players space to be themselves. The result was the end of the franchise\u2019s 108-year championship drought, the longest in North American pro sports history.<\/p>\n The dynasty was never realized, and many eventually left the organization on a sour note. Not everyone\u2019s story had a happy ending in Chicago, despite the 2016 season. Rizzo was dealt by Hoyer in the trade deadline selloff in \u201921<\/a> after failing to agree on a contract extension, and Ross was fired as manager following the \u201923 season, after Hoyer had lauded his performance<\/a>.<\/p>\n