Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
BONUS | Honoring an Original: A Terry Boers Celebration of Life
28 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the significance of Terry Boers' legacy?
This is a somber day in the score. It's a difficult one. Dark times at the score. We lost a legend. We lost a score original. A titan in Chicago's sports talk radio. Terry Bores passed away yesterday at 75. His comedic and sports sensibilities defined this station's voice in a way that still resonates and makes it what it is today.
People, very nice, you know, condolences, sorry for your loss. It's all of our losses. It's listeners, current people we work with, former people.
He was the last original score member who was on the air here. In the afternoon, Dan McNeil with Brian Hanley and Terry Moore. Chicago's most...
Fitting because he was the best. The most popular man in the history of this radio station, Terry Bores. I don't know if I'm the most popular guy in here.
I met the most popular guy in my own house.
I was Terry's assignment editor at the Sun-Times.
I always wanted to be Terry Bores. You and I, being former sportswriters, Terry was in Chicago one of the first to pave the path there.
You know, you stand on the shoulders of giants.
When it comes to Boers and Bernstein, I said this before, I'll say it again, they were my inspiration's inspiration.
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Chapter 2: How did Terry Boers impact his colleagues and listeners?
And it's really been okay knowing you all these years.
For all of us in the hallways where if you saw any of us having a bad day or struggling through something or dealing with the day in and day out problems that go on at a radio station, you're always the guy that'll stop us, grab us. Hey, how you doing? Put your arm around us. Walk us down the hall. Sit there. Talk to us. That's what I'll remember about what you've done at this radio station.
The most pleasing thing that I can leave behind is that people, they listen to this station. I mean, there is a connectivity to this that I never would have dreamed possible. And it is real. It is lasting.
It's gone on a long time, kids. And it'll go on for a lot damn longer now.
I'm going to say goodbye to my friend. Terry Boers was the best sports talk show host ever.
Honoring an original, a Terry Boers celebration of life, an all-day remembrance of our friend, and a day one score legend. Here's your host, Matt Spiegel. All right. Well, after that opening montage from Chris Tannehill. Good night, everybody. Thanks so much for listening. Thanks so much for being a part of it. God, that got me good. Hello, everyone. There's a small box of tissues.
Right here on the studio console, there's another one in front of the guest spots because we'll have some people in studio. I'm sure folks who are joining us on Zoom, and there will be many today, and they'll be on Twitch, on the Scores Twitch stream and the YouTube stream. We'll have tissues as well. Maybe you will too. But if you don't, don't worry about it.
Because grieving is weird, you know? Sometimes you cry. Sometimes you laugh. Sometimes you don't feel the feelings you're expecting to feel. And then they hit you like a ton of bricks when you least expect it.
So however you are grieving the loss of your friend, our friend, our colleague, a true giant of the Chicago broadcasting lineage, Terry Bores, however you are grieving, we invite you to grieve with us over the next seven hours. I am honored. and proud and grateful and all of those things to be asked to be in this spot. I was an intern for Terry Bores and Dan McNeil in 1994.
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Chapter 3: What personal stories highlight Terry Boers' character?
He was honest. He hurt people's feelings. When you're honest, you hurt people's feelings. People get pissy, all of that. But the truth is the truth. The truth is maddening. Truth just sounds different, by the way, Cameron Crowe. But the truth oftentimes is funny as hell. And that's what you heard from Terry, whether you knew it or accepted it or it resonated or not. You heard the truth.
When I met Terry in 1994 as an intern, a 300-pound-plus, long-haired, rock-and-rolling intern for McNeil & Boers, he was the most magnetic person in a building full of crazy talent. He had an awe-inspiring presence and talent about him. There was an otherworldliness, frankly, to his brain and its facility.
And as I learned about his humble beginnings, it didn't add up to the worldliness about him. You know, and maybe you know some of the beginnings, and I'm sure you'll hear some along the way. But, like, think of how much of that guy's worldliness was his own will making it happen, learning everything he learned, ravenously reading. and becoming knowledgeable, and then just being that funny.
The huge, powerful presence. It makes sense that he became a star when you consider the personality, because his personality was there first. He didn't create a personality to make a buck or make an impression. He was just that guy. And in a business that's now defined by the personality that people create, he was just a personality that found his way to the business.
Man, it was just awe-inspiring to be around his presence, whether it was on the air or off the air. And that's how he ended up on the air, which you'll hear today, is because he was that guy off the air in press boxes and hallways all throughout Chicago's sporting media facilities. So when it came time to give somebody a chance, they're like, how about that guy? And he was encouraging.
You heard Lawrence Holmes talk about it beautifully in that montage. And Lawrence will be on later towards the end of this show. He's on vacation, but he'll be on like people who are not working here are on people on vacation are going to be on. Everybody's going to be on. Trust me, just about everybody's going to be on. But Terry was encouraging and it meant something when he did.
You know, there were two things that I think about when I remember me being that giant long haired weirdo intern who became a producer. I produced McNeil and Boers. One time I was wearing black jeans and I'm wearing black jeans today because I realized they were black jeans then. And there was a big rip in the pants on the inner thigh. But I thought they were cool. I just thought they were cool.
You ever have pants like that? You're like, man, there's a small hole, but man, these pants are cool. I look good in these pants. I'm making these work. So I kept wearing them. I'm wearing them today. My version of those.
Thank you.
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Chapter 4: What lessons did Terry Boers teach about accountability?
You know who the hell is. You know who the hell the patriarch was, right? But he showed me how not to run from things. He showed me, you know, I'm mostly non-confrontational. And Terry instilled a lot of things in me that he never knew that he did just by watching how he got down.
You know, watching him question people who he took to task and then have them sit right there in the tent in Bourbonnet, stare you down or in a media room or in a press room. He was unafraid to be accountable and just give it right to you. And when he was wrong, he'd let you know in his own Terry way. And anybody who ever listened understood that as well. Terry wasn't just some sports talker.
Terry is and was a phenomenal dude. And I know a lot of people who, when I was on that show, caught a lot of grief.
I mean, you're the only brother on this show. It's a lot of things that get said that's off the wall sometimes. I take my guys to task, and they understood where I was coming from, and I understood where they were coming from.
Chapter 5: How did Terry Boers influence the dynamics of sports radio?
They heard you, though.
They listened to you. It's a bunch of experiences clashing and smashing into each other for four or five hours a day. You need that. And it's the best time that I've ever had doing radio, listening to radio, being a part of radio. The segments were effortless. You know, they'd see me and Maddie come in and know when we were locked in. And they'd also see if we spent a night out in Lyle.
And we'd pull it up 35, 45 minutes before the show. And they'd look at us and be like, we're going to make fun of those two all day. Now, hold on. Here's what I've heard. Oh, they didn't do meetings. Spores and Bernstein didn't do meetings. They just let it fly.
Chapter 6: What impact did Terry have on those who worked with him?
How much of that is because you guys were showing up late? No, no, no. Come on. No, it wasn't that. It wasn't that. No, it was shout out. Shout out to B. Shout out to Brian. No, it wasn't that at all. You know, it's the thing that I run into now. The issues that I run into now in this business is... By the way, Jason Goff does a tremendous podcast on The Ringer, the full go on Spotify.
Shout out to that.
With The Athletic. No, no, Spotify. Spotify and The Ringer for the pod and The Athletic show on Amazon Fire TV on Saturdays. Thank you. No, you're good. It wasn't that. It was the... The responsibility that all four of us carry to, no matter what, have something.
You know, I've talked to people who've been in those Space Jam runs with Michael back in the day, like the Juwan Howards of the world, the Grand Hills of the world. The one in L.A. before they made the movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they just all show up and they knew what it was, right?
Yeah.
You showed up every single Monday through Friday. You knew what it was. We didn't have to have this grand hour and a half meeting where people do the show before the show. I didn't have to say talk about this next. I look dudes in the eye and know if you don't have anything, you better be funny as hell for the next four and a half hours.
And if my opens weren't on it, I would take it to heart, and next day I would come up that much colder. If Matty didn't want to hear these dudes talk, guess what? Seven guests are about to be booked. If Matt wanted to hear these dudes talk or if Matt wanted to hold it. These are too many trade secrets here, Jay. No, but you know what?
People need to understand what good can be and what you get sold as like, all right, this is the ā A lot of stuff sounds the same because we all following the same formulas. It's like, all right, you get here two hours before the show and you look your host in the eye and you say, hey, did you see the game last night?
And then y'all talk and do the show back there and then nobody does what they're supposed to do on these airways. I had the opportunity because of Terry. Because of Terry. Because Dan's a meticulous dude, but he was on that vibe as well. Because of Terry, we were like, hey, no, no, no.
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Chapter 7: What reflections does the host share about Terry Boers' impact?
Never mind. I better get the phone number right. I'm thinking of the wrong station. I'm thinking about the one I work at now, 312. How about that? Yep, 644-6767. All right, we'll look forward. I'll be listening on the way home, and I'll be angry at the postgame show, as you are wont to get, and you know it. You know, can I tell you something real quick before we say goodbye?
Yes, sir.
And I'll probably bring this up again, different audience, later. But I don't know what it is when I hear Terry's voice in my head, other than the clips that are on YouTube and the stuff that we've heard today. I just that maybe Maddie remembers this, but I just hear Terry and I don't know who he was talking to. I just know it wasn't me.
But I remember hearing him say to somebody, spit it out, you sputtering bitch.
Chapter 8: How does the discussion highlight Terry Boers' unique qualities?
I don't know who it was, but it was definitely on the other radio. And I think it was one of our update anchors. It's Matt Rodewald. 100%. Thank you, Chris Ranji. You're the best. He'll be on at 7 o'clock tonight. We are now going to get a chance to talk to the score's own. In a moment, we will. One of the score's very, very own.
Coming up in just a few minutes, Dan Bernstein will be here in studio with me. And that's going to be kind of surreal. And during that hour, by the way... Danny Parkins is going to join us and talk about the effect of Terry Boers on his young ears and on the radio business writ large. That's for sure. And here now joining us on The Score is The Score's own Julie Swyka. Hello, Julie. How are you?
Hi, Spigs. How are you, honey? I am good. Thank you. What do you think of, Julie, when you think of Terry Boers?
So the one thing I was thinking as I was listening to people's stories, when I was first hired, Ron Gleason held a meeting with the people who are already on staff. And Greeny, Mike Greenberg, was one of the people in there. And he's like, what's your name? Zytec? And so Greeny was mangling my name. And then Terry started saying, Zytec. And... You know, it was endearing.
It was, hey, you know, these guys don't know how to pronounce my name, but I'm part of the club here. And I had people reaching out to me the last few days saying when they think about me and my interactions with Terry, they all think of how he pronounced my name. And And anytime I would come on the air, he would do it. And then Dan McNeil started doing it.
And to me, that was just like, that comes to mind right away that, you know, beyond everything else, beyond the fact that Terry was a great mentor and listening board, a sounding board, and just somebody I could talk to when, when I was, you know, feeling overwhelmed at, you know, finding my way at the score, Terry was always there with a hug and some advice. And yeah,
And I'm absolutely heartbroken, but I'm loving everyone's stories today. What I've been able to listen to has been amazing. And I can't wait to go back and listen to it all later tonight.
Thank you, Julie. Nice to have you a part of this. Thanks so much for being a part of it and making the time.
Can I show you one quick picture on Twitch? Sure. All right. So I put this on my Twitter account. I still call it Twitter. It's not X, it's Twitter. But I put this on there. People can go check it out on there. But this, here, see if I can get you a better shot of it. This is me and Terry and Doug Buffone and Jimmy Pearsall at the SCORE 10th anniversary bash.
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