Blocking Jurko, Smoking Cubans, and Belichick’s Mermaid Muse
"I thought it looked like a little kid playing airplane on her grandfather’s feet."
John Howell and Rick Telander return to their favorite cigar-scented studio to talk about everything except politics. The conversation swirls from charity softball heroics and Beatles trivia to a truly baffling public image makeover by one of football’s most famously stone-faced coaches.
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John kicks things off with a classic story: a charity softball game where he blocked former Packers nose tackle John "Jurko" Jurkovic at the plate, tagging him out with all the righteous fury of a minor league catcher protecting home. “He tried to Pete Rose me,” John says proudly, pointing to a framed photo commemorating the moment. “He did not score. Take a look.” It’s the kind of tale that should lead every obituary—and definitely every podcast.
That’s when the conversation turns to Bill Belichick. Not his coaching résumé—his Instagram era. At 73, Belichick is now coaching college football at UNC and dating 24-year-old Jordan Hudson, a former cheerleader and cosmetology school grad. She’s also, apparently, his “muse.”
Rick describes the surreal images the couple has posted online, including one where Belichick “catches” Hudson on a fishing line, and another where she balances on his feet like they’re reenacting the Titanic… or a trust exercise gone terribly weird. The pair even made an awkward joint appearance on CBS Sunday Morning, which Belichick handled with all the grace of a man still learning what Instagram is.
“She's not into him,” John says flatly. “She’s into the estate plan.”
The episode spirals into a broader—and hilariously honest—discussion about May-December romances, the art of yodeling (with a detour into Yoko Ono’s... unique... vocal stylings), and whether tortured artists are more creative than content ones. “Can you be happy and still be very creative?” Rick wonders aloud, as they circle back to John Lennon, childhood trauma, and avant-garde ladder-climbing art installations.
They close things out with a tribute to Rick’s band, Del Crustaceans, their sensei guitarist (who also happens to be a karate master and licensed pilot), and some cautionary tales about golf cart disasters. Because, in the world of The Chicago Smokehouse, wisdom always comes wrapped in a cigar, a laugh, and maybe a minor concussion.
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