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A
Dan Bernstein, Unfiltered Unfiltered on 312 Sports. Welcome to Dan Bernstein Unfiltered on 312 Sports. Today's episode is brought to you in partnership with my bookie, I'm Dan Bernstein. That is our executive producer, Matt Abaticola. And we're doing something special today. We figured that Wednesdays are going to be our guest day, and we figured we'd start this off with a familiar face and a familiar voice who you know and love. Got most of the band back together as we welcome one of the greats of all time, Terry Boers. Hey, buddy.
B
Hey, buddy. How are you, man? How you guys doing? How you guys doing?
A
Okay, actually, all things considered. Really, really well. How are you?
B
Well, I'm, I'm hanging in there. I'm old. I'm tired.
C
You're, you're older. You've been old since I've known you, buddy.
B
You're telling me. It just seems to get worse.
C
Yeah, I hear you on that. It's, it's great to see you, pal.
B
It's great to see you guys. I'm, I'm looking at you here and I'm thinking, that is mad about a cola and Dan. I think I know.
A
Yeah, I think, you know, it just. And the fact that Maddie was away for so long, people forgot about him. And I knew, I knew that this was going to happen. Like, oh, yeah, oh, that Bernstein, whatever. But, but, but a Bata Cola. That guy.
C
Yeah. Terry never forgot me, though. That's, that's the key. Terry never.
B
I love him. I love that guy. He did, he did the yeoman's duty for me. So I, I, I, I love both of you, but that guy is just tremendous. He's, he's, he's the man. He is the man.
A
So what's making you happy these days? How are you spending your time?
B
You know, I spend a lot of time doing absolutely nothing. I work things. I do puzzle. I just kill time and read and do other things. I'm not really into anything, per se. I don't watch, I don't watch any sports, believe it or not. After how many years? 50? Something like that. Don't watch much sports. Last time I watched the game was probably a month ago, and that was more by accident than anything else. And I can't, I couldn't find anything if I wanted to find it anyway.
A
That makes it easy.
C
You don't still have your, your giant remote from, from, from, from the little guys?
B
I, I do, I do. I do everything for the little guys. Yeah, absolutely.
C
12 pound remote control you had for your TV. I woke up with it on my chest one morning.
B
But things are still comfortable, things are still good, you know, I. Fighting everything, every possible disease known to mankind. So I would suggest that you guys, where you're at your age, just stop, don't, don't go any older because it doesn't get any better.
A
Well, yeah, well, stopping isn't exactly a great idea either, when you put it that way. I think I'm going to stick with the growing old part. But you say you're reading. What are you reading?
B
Oh, just about everything. Everything I still read. I still, I read the sports stuff isn't funny. I don't watch it, but I read it just to see how people are writing because that's where I started writing it. And I still like me better. I still like me better. I'm not, I'm not drunk, but I still like me better than any of them. So I keep busy with that and just nothing. I work out, go to the gym and then the rest of the time is spent with doctors.
C
Yeah. You know, and I know people, people want to know. People will ask too, like, give us a brief recap of where you're at health wise. It's, I mean, I'm glad to hear you're working out. That's great. I know. I knew you were doing that. Glad to hear that you're still doing that. But where is your health at right now?
B
It's not terrific. I have a couple different things going on and including one that I added right when we were coming home this year and it's really a problem. I went from 300, let's see, I weighed 230 pounds to 265 pounds in about a day. Oh, when I, when I got back, I went to the, to the doctor because I felt like I gained a person. And so that was a shock. And it turns out it's the liver disease. And you know, all the stuff we know about help you with this and help you with that. It doesn't help you with that. Fighting a liver is tough. Fighting a liver that's acting up and is goofy. And the day as we're speaking, it's still the same, it's better. But I've taken every pill, every treatment, everything done to mankind and I'm still struggling with it. It still is part of me that won't, I can't seem to lose it. You know, you start getting, feeling a little bit better and then all of a sudden it comes up and bites you. So I. That. That. That part of it is okay. I mean, I get it. I completely understand it. It's a. It's. It's time consuming. It's awful. And I got to watch what I do when I leave the house. You know, you got to make sure everything's in place so you don't. All of a sudden, you're in some strange place, and you go, oh, my God, wait a minute. I got. I got to run to the bathroom. So that has not been good. And there's a couple other little things that have troubled me, but, you know, I'm hanging in. I'm. I'm fighting everything. I got to fight it with. I don't have. I don't know how much left I have to fight it with, but I'm fighting.
A
Are you on the. You're. You're not a candidate for a transplant yet, are you?
B
No.
A
Okay.
B
No. No. I've been to so many doctors, but. No, but I. It's a little frightening when you. When you. When you go to bed 220 and you wake up 265.
C
Yeah, for sure.
B
That's a little. That's a little frightening, you know, And I. I was getting at a point because you were coming back home, and this is. Oh, this is in the start of. Let's see, May, maybe early May. And all of a sudden, I didn't feel good. I was just death. And I came here, and I've been going to the doctors ever since. Ever since we got back, and just keeping it checked out, trying to keep it kind of cheap, you know? I've taken 8 million different pills and different ideas and different everything else, but come to find out, the liver kind of bounces back by itself.
A
Okay, good. Here's hoping it does.
B
Yeah, that's what. See? There you go. And so I'm waiting for it to bounce. Give me a little bit of bounce. Good. Just a slight bounce. It'd be enough for me.
A
Now, I noticed something you didn't mention. Talking about what you're doing, you're saying. Doing nothing. I did not hear anything about what's left of harness racing. Is the Meadowland still running? Is there still something you can plop down in front of a TV and yell at?
B
No, you know. No, I don't. I think the Meadowland still is, but I don't. You know, it's so weird when you get old and tired and bad as I am, you don't feel like betting anymore. It took this time my life that occurred to me, I don't feel like doing anymore. We went to Vegas a couple years ago. She surprised me, bought tickets to Vegas.
A
Vegas.
B
So we went and I, I don't really, you know, there's nothing for me to. Just the normal stuff I normally do in Vegas. Nothing, nothing appeals to me. Gambling doesn't appear to me. Horses doesn't appeal to me. So I don't do any of it. I mean, and, and now is the time when I should be surrounded by 70 year old men, right?
C
Yep.
A
Well, I remember, I remember what you told me years ago, that you said, maybe this was 25 years ago. You said when you got to this point, the one thing you really wanted to do was take up smoking again.
B
I didn't do that.
A
But you said it. I'm not necessarily gonna hold you to it, but you said, you know, the first thing I'm gonna do when, when, when it doesn't matter anymore is I'm gonna, I'm gonna start smoking again. Because I.
B
Well, when I think about probably what smoking helped me do. No, I don't. I have no desire. That's so funny that you would remember that. I, I don't remember. I kind of remember me saying that now.
C
I'll always, always have visions of you out on the Belmont Studio, the, the old Bunker, walking out the back door with a big, a big cigar in your mouth.
B
Oh, yeah.
C
Getting out back during breaks and puffing on the cigar. And I think it was a, it might have been a Corvette at the time. Is that, does that sound right or. No?
B
Kind of, yeah.
C
Did you have a Corvette? Right? You did. I thought, I thought you did.
B
I did have a Corvette, yeah.
A
Yeah.
C
I always remember, like. Where's Terry? We're coming back. All right, well, let's run down the hallway, get him, because he's out back getting on his, on his cigar, so. Well, Terry, thanks for sharing this stuff about, about your health. You know, there's, you know, everyone is in your corner and supporting you and, and wants you to, to, to live a longer, healthier life. Buddy, you provided so much joy to so many people in Chicago through your writing, through radio, through TV appearances, you know, through all the remotes that you guys did. It was just great. An incredible run at the score. When you look back at it, what are some things that stand out for you? Your time at the score?
B
Almost all of it. Because it was so unsuspected that that's the direction I would take. I had not thought about doing that or giving it that. Certainly not a second Thought because I didn't have a first thought for it. But, you know, working with Dan for as long as I did, I know you figured must have made me crazier. I, you know, I thought that we meshed pretty damn well together, which is very difficult to do. And we did, and he's terrific. So I didn't, you know, I thought about it and I thought this is a hell of a lot easier than traipsing. I remember some of those road trips with the bulls and all the other stuff and the, and the writing, the columns and all the other things where you're traipsing all over the country and you're just beat, you know, your mind and everything about you is just beat. It's a lot easier sitting in a studio and giving people the what for than it is to ask actually to it the tough way. But, yeah, you know, all of that stuff I don't miss now, isn't that weird? I mean, all the stuff that didn't help me a bit, you know, all the stuff that was stupid to do. And I, and I say that to people as a warning sign because, you know, I. My first battle was with the jaw cancer, right? That goes back to 2016, when my final days with a score were coming in when I was about done. And because I was at. I was downtown 30 days, let's see, we used to stay down there a month at a time because I had a radiation shot every day. I'm so full of radiation, I think I glow. But I mean, these, this goes way, way back. So I, I've, you know, I, I fought as. As hard as I can fight, and I'm going to keep fighting as hard as I can. But no, I miss it all. I miss it all. I miss the people. I miss the whole thing. And then some days I think about, you know, I don't miss anybody. So it's very difficult. It's very nice just to kind of sit around here and. Because I don't. I don't think people around the neighborhood where we live now know much about me at all. I don't, I don't. You know, I talk to them, I see them, I wave at them and all that normal stuff you would do in a neighborhood. But I think they have no idea about me unless they've asked, which is fine. Nobody's come up to me once since we moved here and said, hey, man, you. So you hosted a radio show? What? First of all, co hosted. We didn't host anything, but not one person. So I'M thinking, well, that was certainly not very permanent, was it? Whatever Mark, Dan and I left on.
C
People.
A
There'S something I really wanted to ask you as I was thinking about this, because when we started this podcast with the idea of the rules being different, there's no FCC overseeing this, we can really say whatever we want. And I get back to how FCC restrictions forced creativity specifically upon you, because I've always said that you were one of the great swearers that I'd ever heard. And I said, all anybody has to do is drive while Terry is driving, just sit in the passenger seat for, I don't know, you run to get a gallon of milk with Terry and you will hear every polysyllabic combination of swear words under the sun. And then the moment the light went on, the moment the light went on, there was this creativity of you still coming up with things to call people that would conform to FCC regulations and the forced creativity. And I'll never forget when you discovered that the international financial giant Deutsche bank could be applied as a substitute for douchebag with exactly the same, same emphasis. And I thought here, you know, so it's weird for me to be in a position where you can say anything you want. And like right now you could. It's like driving a car. This cock spag, bastard, ass fucker. And I just always wondered, though it was probably a blessing to force us to come up with this, particularly you to come up with all kinds of new things and ways to say things.
B
Oh, yeah, I enjoy sitting around thinking about things to say to people.
A
Oh, I know.
B
You did. I did. I did. I absolutely did. You know, after a while, you think I'm going to run out of things to say to people. What am I going to. What am I going to tell them when they call up and tell me I'm an idiot or whatever, because we had all kinds of phone calls, basically we're calling Dan to tell him he was an idiot.
A
But, well, but, I mean, what was it? I think you, what did you refer to Dan McGrath as a walking rectum or something like that. I'm just trying to. I can put a list together of all these, These things of everything that you said and where. My favorite line when I was describing and trying to explain to some of my new bosses about the Boars and Bernstein show, and I said, listen, by modern standards, any individual show between 1999 and 2017, certainly between 99 and 2010, anything, there's a scandal. Any individual show, we're all fired. Everybody in touch with It. Everybody's fired, so understand that. And I gave an example. And I said, so we were having so much fun with Pope Bob, right? So here's Bob from the south side. Bob from days of Pope. Hey, hey, hey, Bob. God. Hey, God, Bob. And then I said, well, wait a second. We go back to Pope John Paul ii, who, as. As he was withering. Do you remember what you called it? Because the Pope would come out in his. And they'd bring him out in the chair, and he'd be all sort of leaned over and, like, curling into a question mark. And you kept calling him Uncle Tilty because it always looks like. It always looked like his head was gonna hit the microphone. And then at the peak of everything we were dealing with, with the Church and the sexual molestation scandal, and the day that the Pope actually finally. Because, remember, first they said, you get one. First they're like, you know, you can't get too mad. Well, you get one and then we'll get mad at you. And then finally he said, no, that's bad, too, because the reaction to that was bad. Like, you can't. You know, you don't get one molestation. You should get no molestations. And you said. And we had it on in the studio, and out of nowhere, we had it on the TV, and they're showing St. Peter's and I don't. We were talking about the bears or something, and you went, up, up, up. Wait, wait, here he comes. Here comes Uncle Tilty to tell everyone. And he is about to tell everyone. Nolo Cornholo.
B
You mean, he didn't.
A
No, he did. He gave what is now known as Uncle Tilty's Great Nolo Cornhol. And I can't. Like, when I say that, like, he said that on the radio live. I like. Yes. And it was. That was the kind of thing we'd expect them to say.
C
Yeah, yeah. Terry, like, how did you. You know, you just said that you. You would think about things to say to people with, like, would you really sit down and think, like, what are things to say? Because I always thought it was just such a natural thing for you, that.
A
It was just a gift.
B
Yeah, yeah. It's just much. Think about it. I.
C
It was such a great gift, the things you'd say. Like, we're at the airport and there's Professor Flakey, and it's like, what is. Like, where does that come from?
A
That man made a rash decision.
C
I mean, it's brilliant. And then it just. It goes back to really show how great Of a writer. You were. Writer. You are in the fact that that stuff was just there for you. That's just how your brain worked.
B
It is. I wasn't doing anything. That's just me. Which really is. For better or worse. I mean, that should be added all the time, because other people who don't know me wonder what's wrong with me. Yeah.
C
What's wrong with that, Master?
B
Yeah. I said, how much time do you have? But, you know, I was. I was very, very fortunate in the score that Dan and I were hooked up together. Because he's terrific. You know that.
C
Yeah.
B
And then when you got there, oh, my God, it was just great. I mean, I, I.
A
And Jason Goff, I just. I think.
B
Yes.
A
Between whatever the mix was with Tannehill with all his magic and with Jason Goff there when we were just clobbering each other and nothing was off limits.
C
No. And it was. And, you know, and it's interesting because there are. You know, there are times that the stars do align and things happen for a purpose, despite what Dan might think. And I. And I know that I had a sales executive when I worked at adp. He used to say, you have to give luck a place to land, and you guys gave luck a place to land. So, you know, you had great people you worked with. I was very lucky to work with Jason for as long as I did and then to work with Tannehill. We started off with Scott Sher running the board for. For the show. But so that was the. That was just the five of us. You know, the five of us having that show together. But it all. It all really. It all came from you guys allowing us to do what our personalities allowed us to do. You know, there are other hosts, and I've said this for years about you guys, that there are hosts that wouldn't allow producers to be personalities on the show. And from day one.
A
No, no, no. If you're. If you're good, I'll give you air. There's a lot of them.
C
It's not just. It's not just that guy.
B
I'll give you.
C
Not just that guy. And, you know, he had his own mental illnesses to deal with, but it's just like there's. There's the first day, you guys said, hey, there's a microphone in front of you for a reason. Use it. That was day one as your ep. And same thing for Jason, the same thing for Tannehill. And, you know, Scott share didn't. He didn't use the microphone. He spoke through his sound, his audio.
B
And, you know, Tannehill.
C
Tannehill started that way as well, too. But then he, you know, he, he, he, he, he found his voice and started using his voice. Jason obviously used his voice from day one, but it was because of you guys. You know, you guys gave Luck a place to land and allowed your producers around you and even interns to influence the show with sound. And that, that is a credit to both of you.
B
Well, I thought the show belonged to all of us. I mean, you guys worked as hard as we did on it, so, I mean, I had no, I wouldn't say.
C
We worked hard, but we were there.
B
You guys put together shows and I mean, you know, when, when I remember you calling me said, what do we do now with guests? And I said, I, I don't know. I mean, we've had everybody under the sun on, and it doesn't, you know, but I, I know how difficult your job was, and I, and I tried to make it easier. I didn't, but I tried. And I, And I know that as a team because, because what we did was a team that had nothing to do with one guy or the other guy or two guys. It was all of us who put that together and made it work. And it wasn't because, I mean, nobody's ego got in the way of that. Nobody's ego that I knew got in the way of any of that. So I was always very proud of the fact that, you know, we worked so long together and stuck together that I. Because, you know, producers and all that other stuff and alleged stars or whatever the hell you call us, but not really, but just that kind of thing. I, I don't know if it's a common thing, but with this show, it was common. It was very, very common that the guys that worked behind were just, were just as important to me as the guys who worked in front. And I, and I love you to this very day because of how hard that you worked. And I know how hard you worked, so I don't. You know, those were the greatest days of my life, us doing that show together. And it completely unexpected that I was doing any show. We had to speak English, so I.
A
Were gonna speak Swedish.
C
Gibberish.
A
This is Dan Bernstein unfiltered on 312Sports. Terry Bohr is our guest and it's brought to you in by my bookie. You know that one guy in the group chat who hits a five leg parlay week one and doesn't shut up about it the rest of the season? Yeah, it could be you, you could be that guy with my bookie. Because they make it crazy easy to get in on the action. College ball, NFL super contest, survivor pools, all the spreads, the player props, the in game lines. You could want all under one roof. And if you're new to my bookie, here's the code DBU for Dan Bernstein, unfiltered. And then any bet up to $500 for fully covered. Whatever you choose, make your play. If it doesn't hit, you get it right back. Opt in using the bet back bonus token. The code dbu. No better time to jump in. No better place to play. Football's back. Make some money with my bookie. So, Terry, I have an idea for you that may just keep you young, may solve all your problems. You are 75 years old, going to be 74, which makes you exactly the same age as another person who got a 24 year old girlfriend. And I think, look, if Bill Belichick can do it, and you could also put a football team together that goes out to absolutely get their dicks kicked.
B
In.
A
You could certainly do that too. So that's next. You need a beauty pageant contestant, 24 year old girlfriend.
B
I'll tell my wife. Yeah, she's.
A
Have Peach come down and see if she'll approve it.
B
You gotta, you got her replacement already scanned?
A
Well, it's doing a lot for Big Bill.
B
Wow. But no, I, I felt like, you know, I, I just, the fact that I had to quit before I wanted to made me just. Yeah. And, and I still feel that way. And it wasn't because of anything that, that he and I did. It's because stuff all of us did. Not, not one guy, that wasn't a one guy or two guy production. That was everybody pitching in and holding, you know, holding things together when we, we were struck, whatever. But I mean that, that's what made me the proudest. It had nothing to do with my stupidity or his stupidity because that was legendary. So I, I, I didn't, I don't, I don't mind that at all. But just the fact that we bonded so well was important to me. And I know it's not that common, it's just not that common in radio anymore. I found that out over the years that most of them behind the scenes just hate one another. So I thought, well, I'm pretty good there because I certainly love the people I work with and was blessed to work with the people I worked with.
A
Well, I think you'd be gratified to know, Terry, that from the number of people. I'm just scrolling through my phone right now. You mentioned Scott Scher. Scott Scher reached out. And among all these names, of course, Jason Goff and Chris Tannehill. And everybody mentions you as well and always is saying, hope you're doing well, and refers to those fond memories. Man, there were some here. I saw this cross. Do you remember Patanders? Do you ever hear guy Pat Anders. Pattenders got a great note from Pat Anders, who was in promotions at the Score and was always on our remotes with us. And it turns out Patanders married my son's third grade teacher. Like, these things just come out of nowhere. I'm like, are you kidding me? It was unbelievable. And I'm just looking through all of these names and I can't get to them all. But the outpouring of people just saying, hey, this is great. Cool new podcast. When are you having Terry on? How is Terry doing? Everybody just kind of wants to know about Terry. Yeah, and a lot of it too is you made a foray into social media. You were on Twitter for a bit. And I will tell you, that was the best damn decision you ever made to get your ass right off. Because, you know, you really. No, that was. That was in your wisdom. In your wisdom. I should have followed you. I should have known. Cause it was a huge mistake for me to be on there as long as I was. And it was. It was bad for my brain. I talked about it on the first episode that I really learned it. Twitter was horrible for me. I'm not wired for it. It was wired to get the worst out of me. And somehow you realized that and you just said it. I don't. I don't need this in my life.
B
That's exactly right. It's exactly right. That's the way I felt about it too. I. You know, we were. We were out there every day. If you wanted to criticize us, we didn't. I didn't back down from it. We. We were.
A
There it is in real life every Friday for how. For over a decade. We were somewhere near you. Yep, that's true. That's true.
B
I had some of the great times at those places too. I mean, who needs two tavern tours?
A
I know you did. Miska. My thing. My thing doesn't work. Miska. Fix. Fix my thing.
B
My.
A
My ent. My emt.
B
Well, that's why when people say to me that, you know, you did a great job, I said no. I said everybody did. Because you think. If you think one person can do this. You're out of your mind. You're out of your mind. You need. First of all, you don't want to work by yourself. I never had that desire for a second. And second of all, I wanted to work with these guys around me. I wanted to work with Matt. And I mean, those are the things that stick out with me that I, I got my kind of way about, you know, that I had people around me that I know I could trust and which can't always be said for this business. You can't always say, oh, yeah, I completely trust him. I learned sort of all the years, maybe you shouldn't. But that's, to me, is what made it so good, is that just that I really like the people around me on a daily basis. And, and, and I don't know how you function if you're going to do what we did every day of the week, except weekends when I was sleeping, but. Well, maybe Thursday occasionally too, but during.
C
Who you crapping?
A
Who you crapping? Be a great time. Take a quick nap.
C
I wish, now, looking back, Terry, I wish I would have kept track of the number of segments that you just checked out on because you were just done with them. And like, the, who you crapping at the end or the number of times that I would, I could just, I could just recall the number of times that you, you would, like, look at Dan and me and you'd look at us and just go, yeah, you're both idiots. You're just idiots. And then you just, you were done. You're like, what the hell am I doing here?
B
I, I don't think I'm wrong, but.
A
You'Re not wrong at all.
B
Not at all.
C
You know. Hey, Terry.
B
So, you know, it was my pleasure. My, it's nice to, it's great to see you guys. I, I, it's my pleasure. It has been since we met, and it remains my pleasure. So, you know, I, I don't, this isn't. Part of me said, oh, yeah, you were great. No, no, we were. It's got nothing to do with me. We as a team, as somebody who cared and everybody there who did care, because I remember Maddie going into, when we talked to you today and I said, I don't know.
A
But Dan Bernstein Unfiltered on three. One, two. Sports is brought to you by Chicago Window.
B
Guys.
A
Russ Armstrong, the owner, comes to your home to give you the estimate windows made locally here in Chicago. He uses no subcontracted labor. That means his crew is installing your windows. They all work for us. He knows everybody who's in and around your house. The same people who installed my windows could install yours or will install yours. He matches any price too. So don't fall for these. Buy one, get one free sales gimmicks. Russ is going to give you the best product, best price guaranteed. Call him 847-302-9171. Check out the 5 star reviews at ChicagoNowGuys.com we are talking with Terry Boers and I know there was a time where you said you're watching no sports and you swore off the Bears, but look, we're here again. We're here again. I know you've been reading and following enough. This is the latest iteration of what the Bears do is they found the new offensive Wonder and this 37 year old is being trusted to come in and make Bears games not look like Bears games. I always try to say that that's all we ask for, is make Bears games look like regular football. What is the extent of your belief that this time it'll finally happen?
B
Well, you could have, I think just about anybody who ever lived rather than this last clown they had that, that was that guy. I mean, he's down here and there. There. He's got, he's got another guy on the field down there. When they, when they threw that hail Marion beat him, he's got another guy on the field. What are you doing? Are you the coach? What are you doing? And this guy, you know, he knows what he's doing offensively. That seems to be a given around the NFL. How he handles the Bears, I don't know. Caleb, William, how he handles them, I don't know. But I know that the rest of it certainly gets a better answer than what I saw for a couple years ahead of that. Oh, my God. I've never seen anything like that guy.
A
I tried to tell people from the first press conference I said the moment he opened his mouth and started yammering about the hits principle. I'm getting Tim Beckman vibes and like that. He was, he was unqualified to be an NFL head coach.
B
Absolutely. No question. He was unqualified to coach the job, you know, a little league team. I wouldn't, I wouldn't want him there. So, I mean, I've never seen any like that guy. And you are supposedly smarter than that. And you're not. I mean, you mean to tell me in the whole wide world that's the clown you found, the coach, your team, that's it. That's the best you could use that guy.
C
Yeah. But Terry, what's even worse is they kept him one extra year. I mean, when they should have been fired, he still gets another chance. Now, again, Dan reconciles that to the fact that it allowed them to get to Ben Johnson, which is, which is great, we think, but still. We think. But, but, but still, he, he wasn't even fired when he should have been.
B
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I look the day that, that, that safety running down there to yell at some Washington player and that play. You're fired.
C
Yeah.
B
You are. You are not running anything. You don't know what's going on. I don't know if you have any idea what you're doing at all. So I. The Bears. About the only thing, just because of the timing of it, is that what I. This is how much I like to torture myself more so them than anybody left.
A
That's the one you swore off. That is. I know that is the one team that you couldn't wait to get away.
B
From after all the days we spent sitting around them.
C
But it's the, it's the easiest to consume, though, Terry. I mean, it's, it's the easiest sport to consume. I mean, you don't have to do it year round. You can do it for 17 weeks and it's, it's just the easiest one to take in. It's one day a week you don't have to worry about. Now, it's, it's very special for us to have you as the first guest on, on Dan Bernstein Unfiltered. My pleasure, Dan. Dan mentions Twitter and, you know, here we are now, it's September. You know, a lot happens to get us to this point. When you, when you heard that, that this show was happening, what were your thoughts? What was going through your brain? And you thought about Dan. Then you, you and I chatted. Like, what was going on in your head when you heard about, about all this happening with the podcast?
B
To be honest with you, I was just very pleased. I mean, I know Dan can do it and I know you can do it. And I thought together, terrific. I mean, I always kind of felt like, you know, you kind of keep forgetting somebody that's here that is really good at what they do. And I don't know why you keep doing that, but now there you are, There you two are. So, I mean, that's perfect for me. Now you're not fighting, are you? No.
A
Yet.
B
No. You're still in the show.
C
We're not fighting. And I think, Terry, you know, we look at. I can look Back at a lot of the, the tension that was there. And a lot of it, you know, was, was for the, for the fun and for the, for the stick of the show. And it was all good. You know, there are times I wanted to punch him in the face. Yeah, absolutely. I think Dan, Dan would admit that he deserved. At times he'd be probably punched in the face. But. So that happens. But, you know, but there's also, you know, I played a part in this and we've talk about it. I, you know, my, my ego and my attitude played a part in how our, our show tension played out as well. But you know, I, I've always had the utmost respect for Dan. I've always thought he was the best talk show host in the, in the city. And to have this opportunity to come together and, and do it after eight years out of the business, I, I couldn't be happier to be here today. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, are we going to disagree and fight? We, we will. But no, this is, this is great. I mean I've. This, this feels like home. It feels like, you know, where I'm supposed to be.
B
You know, I, I still miss it. I, I mean there's days that, you know, are miserable for you, but the overall satisfaction of it being able to say what you think and whether we're crashed in some, you know, trailer and we're still, we're still doing the show, I guess. And so I, I, you know, I, I cherished about every, every bit of it, it from the beginning to the end. And I still do. And you, you guys are never to be forgotten and you know, you won't be neither one of you. So I mean, and others who has things to do that show, same thing. Tannehill is terrific. So I, I mean, you know, I, to me, I just kind of felt like luckier than anything else. It wasn't. Oh my God. Yeah, you're the great. No, no. It was a fact that we found something that's very difficult to find in radio and that's just somebody who isn't. Whose ego doesn't just swamp around you every day that you're there. And I never had that problem. If I did, I ignored it. So I didn't, you know, it didn't bother me. But I felt we were very lucky. And as much as I liked writing, there's nothing like doing a radio show where you contact the people that you, that you write for or talk to, whatever, they're there. They're not make believe anymore. So they're There and then you can talk to them. And to me, a lot of that was great. I mean we heard from voices, Dan and I, guys that, you know, had been calling since probably the first week of the show. It took forever to get to and absolutely get to know him a little bit and get to see him when we were at places. And that meant a lot. I mean I, I felt like, you know, I guess they do kind of like us. Well, me anyway. But I, I, they do kind of, they kind of like us. So to me that was important and it was important to see them because they created the show. If they didn't, they didn't like the show, we'd have been long gone. So I, I felt like, okay, I, I did okay. You know, I think the newspaper business was kind of at an end. I, I felt like I wanted to do a little something else or try something else. And so I did the sports reporters and my whole bug Ben Bentley and I, I, I, I don't forget, don't.
A
Forget, Sports Fire remains on hiatus. Yes, it was not canceled. Technically, technically, Sports Fire it is ready to go at a moment's notice.
B
We're gonna put that on hold.
A
Say hello Randy Johnson. Say hello to Bill Kuharich. Put your hands on the radio.
B
No, I've been, I, look, I, you know, you guys, I was the fortunate one. I, I, I don't look at this and I say yeah, all those guys know I was the fortunate one because I mean you, the more you're on that business and you, you look at other people and we were all over the country, Dan and I when we were primary super bowl to anything else there was, that was interesting. You, you, you find out that how lucky we were and I, and I, I still feel that way today and I, I still don't know if I can host a radio thing I did. We, we did it for a long time. But that was a turning point and a point that I really enjoyed. I, I enjoy, I like to talk to the people that I wrote for, for all these years. You know, they're just faceless and mind. Where were you at? I, I know you're out there. I know it was red. And just to have my chance to talk to them meant a lot to me.
A
Terry Boers is our guest on Dan Bernstein Unfiltered. That is brought to you by the Chicago Window guys. Windows made locally here in Chicago. Call 847-3029171. Check out his five star reviews at ChicagoNowGuys.com Terry, I also want to ask you about, you know, you mentioned you read obviously, you know, reading news headlines every day as well as sports headlines. How do you feel about this world we're living in right now? I mean, with everything you've experienced, you know, going back to your youth, going back to the days in which you were an anti war protester during Vietnam and everything, you know, the life that you've lived now, being a grandfather many times over, when you read the headlines of the things that matter a lot more than sports, how do you feel?
B
That's a tough question. I, you know, I, some days. Good. Some days I look at and say, what do you, what have you been waiting for? I mean, that's, you're taking it now, now. I, I, I wonder about some of it, but, but generally pretty good. I mean, I, I don't, I don't question anybody's business or what they do or how they, you know, they, they, they stuck with it. Because the newspaper business is not easy these days. Easy? I wouldn't think so. I, you know, it's, I admit a lot background to me to have that, to have that job because I, because I don't think without that job that this job would have ever been available. So it meant a lot. And I still read them, I still take a look.
A
And I mean in general, not just about the newspaper business, but what is just the state of the world. I mean, especially thinking about your grandkids and thinking about the kind of world in which they are going to grow up. I know a lot of us as we age, it's natural to, to fear change and to say, well, you know, what's this entire planet gonna be like in 20, 30, 40 years when none of us are here but our children and our grandchildren are. I find myself thinking about that more as I've gotten older. And I don't know, sometimes I get scared and sometimes I worry and other times I figure that my parents, my grandparents were in the same position and I'm still here.
B
You are? Yeah. You know, I, I don't really worry about that too much. I, I think there's a, there's always going to be a certain part of people that are, that I've met over the years that you never want to see again and, and hopefully you'll never have to. But, but there's another part of it that couldn't be nicer to you. They couldn't be better. So I kind of, look, I kind of cut the thing down the middle and I say, you know what? I Don't care what the other side thinks. I don't care anymore. If, if you thought I'm a thing, I'm an idiot. I want you to absolutely think I'm an idiot. That's fine. If you don't think I'm an idiot, then, then, then we're good too. So it doesn't. But I don't, you know, I never looked at it and said, well, I don't know if I'm coming across right on that I wrote. I always wrote what I felt and I never faked a column. Now, a few. That I had some questions. There was a few questions going around about what are you talking about? But I do worry about that, though, because I just don't. I guess it's the whole state of the world as we speak that scares me a little bit. And those who you try to get along with, and I don't know how hard you really try when you, when Donald Trump is trying to get you. But how, how much can I trust that my grandkids and their kid, whatever, are going to be okay in 10 years or 15 years or 20 years from now? I can't. I don't know. I think so. I think it's okay. I think there's enough people left in the world that are smart enough to figure this out, that there's no friendly wars anywhere. And to fight, I mean, to fight somebody that's in your backyard makes no sense to me. And practically living with you makes no sense to me. But we still do it, don't we? Not us, but. But others. I, I think about that once in a while, but then I, then I, I have this other thought and could. I don't want to turn. They're, you know, growing into adults and parents and everything else into something weird, you know, I don't want. I don't want them to feel like we have no hope. We have. This thing is a mess. Yeah. Yeah, this thing is a mess, but I've never seen the mess yet. There was the right people. You can clear up, at least start to.
A
I'm happy to hear you say that. Appealing to the better angels of our nature is still something we can do.
B
Yeah, I think our nature is still decent. I really do. I don't think, you know, because you get that habit of saying, well, everybody or that entire country or this, that believe that to be true.
A
That makes me feel good to hear you say that. It really does. I think it's easy to slip into cynicism. It's easy to slip into World weariness and fatalism. But to hear you remain that, that idealistic is, is powerful and it's, it's empowering to me to hear.
B
Well, I appreciate that, but that's the way I feel. I don't, I don't, you know, a lot of it bothers me. I can't quite figure out people. And after a while, you know, like 10 years ago, I gave up trying because you're never going to figure them out. You could sit here from now Till, you know, 20 years from now, and you're never going to figure them out. So I just kind of look at it that way and cross those off if I can and get with the good people that are still left. And there are plenty of good people still left everywhere. There's plenty that'll stop, that'll keep us and keep everybody going. I think, I don't think there's anybody who wants to destroy one another. I hope not. I mean, I know there are and they will again. But as far as we're concerned, and my grandkids and everybody else, I think we're okay. I think we're okay for a while yet. People have this sort of understanding now that they didn't have years ago. They think this, oh, yeah, we could just have a little fight. And it will. Not anymore you can't. Because the minute you start up a fight, everybody starts talking about, we're going to nuke you, we're going to do something else to you, we're going to fix you for good. We'll make sure you never say another word. That kind of thinking scares me more than anything else. When I, when I think of people that, you know, when you got a lot of family out there, and I have a lot of family out there that kind of, you know, just kind of getting, making their way through it. I, I don't want them to have to make their way through some pile of crap to get to it, to a decent life. And they haven't. They haven't. But I, I think it's available to you. You may have to, you may have to do more than you thought you'd have to do. But I, I, I, I still think that you can do it. I, I, I, I believe that we, we have not reached that point yet within our own chores anyway, at least. And I know we hate one another. That, that seems to be the case, that that goes without saying. We hate one. I, I can't, I can't speak for those, those who are, you know, half a continent away. I, I I, I, I try to stay out of it. I wish they stay out of our stuff, but I, I still have faith that, that, you know, everybody that we have that supports that they'll be okay. They, they will still be okay in the years ahead. I, I, Good.
C
Yeah. And I think one thing that we can do, Terry, everybody, is to take that criticism that we put outward and, and turn that inward and start working on ourselves. And I think that's, that's a, that's a really good first step in making this world, this country, you know, where we live, a better place, is work on yourself, Figure out what your deficiencies are and work on yourself and that, that journey and that path. And Terry, on that note, when, when you look back on things you've learned, whether it's through experience or through just getting older, because I think, I think we all can reflect on things we've, and how things were different when we, we, our perspectives were different as we were younger. What's one thing that you've learned now that you wish you'd learned sooner in life? A lot younger in life?
B
Oh, boy. I probably not to spend so much money on cars, but.
A
I did not think it was going to be that.
C
Okay, well, he wasn't going that route.
B
But yeah, yeah, everybody, everybody goes that route. You know, you look, you go, you know, I kind of like that one. I kind of like that one. And then a year later you got, I kind of like that one. So I sort of lived it. I did it and I lived it and I lived like an idiot. And I think that we still have plenty of those left. I, I mean, if I, if I want to, if I want to drag race, I know, I'm pretty sure not, not a dry queen race. I, I think, I think you can.
A
Nothing wrong with that either. Yeah, fine, I'm there.
B
Anyway. But yeah, I, that's the way I look at it. I, I don't think that, you know, I don't think everybody's inherently bad, nor do I think everybody's inherently good. I, I think it's a lesson of life that somehow you have to convince yourself and others around you just by perhaps just your actions. Not, not, not so much your words, but, but just to show them that, you know, hopeless is a, is a state that you go, well, okay, who's going to get bombed today? Or who's gonna, where they're going to drop a bomb today or, and they're not gonna drop a bomb there, are you? That's the kind of thing that, that makes you crazy and it makes you paranoid. And that's the kind of thing I wish we would stop as a country, as a world, not just country, because we've managed to control a little bit of that. But I think that once you get past that, you'd be better off and you'd be better off than threatening people or knowing that threat was always there. But I think, as opposed to when I was growing up, I think people are still a lot the same. I really do. I do. And I mean, everybody I knew, well, first of all, they had to be goofy. So they pretty much were goofy. So I look at it, I say, well, you know, that couldn't be a coincidence that I attract a goofy guy. That's probably not just a mistake. So I, I, I, I look at it and I say, yeah, you know what? I'm not going to listen to that guy. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not going to spend five minutes listening to what his problems are now that he runs a country, that he's a, that he's a piece of crap and a liar. You know, I, I'm not, I'm not, I don't worry about that. There are others who worry about that now. And we, you know, given the fact of how many people just seem to hate one another, that we've done okay, that we, we haven't started a war. We haven't, I don't, I don't know how many. I, I, I'd have to sit down and think about other said that we wanted to start, that we didn't. But I mean, I think lately we've been pretty calm and that's, that's what the people in this country, I, I would hope want is not, not to fight with everyone, not to, you know, walk around saying, I'm America, I'm, I'm superior. Don't, don't, you know, don't do that, or if you're from anywhere else, because you're not superior. So, and I don't know that Americans, in many ways, yeah, sure, I agree they're pretty good. But in some other ways, not, not, not very good when you think about it. So most of those in office, though, but unfortunately. But I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it. I just know that I've been around a while now. I managed to live through Vietnam while I was in school, and you guys mentioned it before and that it scared the crap out of me that I was going to have to give up. I knew we were going to have a kid that I was going to have to give up to school and go and fight. And if you remember the, you don't remember the protest and what it was like back then that, you know, you know, you were not a, with some of the citizenry, you were okay with other part of the citizenry, you were a coward. You were this, you were that. To me, I was just being logical. I'm going to go fight in Vietnam. Really? You think that's what we needed to do was go fight in Vietnam? I, I didn't, I didn't feel like it. And that's the one war that I, I, you know, I, I spoke out against and not always particularly, you know, particularly favorably with a lot of people. But now you're a coward, yet it's, that's why you just want to stay home and do nothing. No, it's got nothing to do with staying home and doing nothing. It's called building a life. Where I'm from, it's not a matter of, oh, oh, well. So you really don't, you're really not for bomb in Vietnam? I said, well, it depends. If I could get them all in one place, I probably would. But I, I, I, I, I don't, I, I sort of put that behind me. I don't, I don't. Unless it's something that, you know, you walk in and wherever you're at that and they want to start talking about it, or you see people talking about it, you might jump in and say something. But other than that, I, I keep, keep my big mouth shut about that kind of stuff because I don't pretend to be a war expert or a government expert or anything like that. But I, I think I know enough to know what's best for this country. And what's best for this country isn't to keep nosing in enough to get yourself in another way.
A
War.
B
That's all I would say.
A
Our guest is Terry Boers and Dan Bernstein. Unfiltered is brought to you in part by my bookie and presented by my bookie. If you are waiting for Sunday to start betting, you're missing half the fun and half the money. College football is cooking. Upsets, blowouts, wild covers, the Heisman race. My bookie lets you hit it all. Game lines, player props and more. Everything you need before the pros even kick off. When Sunday rolls around, you are already up. My bookie's got it all under one roof. Win big on the NFL super contest and Survivor pools. And if you're new to my bookie. Use our code DBU. That's it. Those three letters, DBU. Any bet you choose up to $500 is fully covered. Make your play. If it doesn't hit you get it right back when you opt in using the bet back bonus token. My bookies where betters win together because bragging is good, but cashing in is better. And Terry, there's something I, I think it's really important that you know, I mean, we've talked a lot in this hour about legacy, about what things have meant. And I know you've heard this over and over and over again, Hal, between the roast that was done between our 1500th show, between your retirement, you've done sort of the Huckleberry Finn attend your own funeral many times already. You know, you've been lucky to hear a lot of people say all of these glorious things about you and what your legacy is. And it's interesting when you say that you can walk around your neighborhood and people are like, hey, you're that guy that hosted that radio show for 17 years. What I think, and especially early in this program, what I've learned to understand and what has been really eye opening to me and the people that have reached out personally are the number of people who are still connected to you, to Bors and Bernstein, to Matt, to the legacy of that show. There's something there. And in large part, it's not only the silliness. It is the silliness. It's the stupidity, it's the silliness. It's all of that. But it's also the way that we handled the serious stuff. It's the way that we did have a moral compass. It's the way that we did understand that whether it was what the Catholic Church was doing, what happened at Penn State, or anything else that had to be taken seriously. Everybody knew, even as we joked and even as we lampooned and satirized that people knew where our hearts and minds were and on what side of any good fight we were. And I get that more now than I ever have. And it has been a watchword of the foundation of this program, of Dan Bernstein, unfiltered to carry that through line and not necessarily aping what we used to do, but just understanding the essence of it has to be there. That authenticity, that kind of trust, that kind of self awareness, which I find is I'm working on, is increasing with every day that goes by, believe me. No, it is hard work.
B
It is hard work.
A
But this I want you to know that your legacy is alive and well here, that you, your name might not be on it, but your DNA is inextricably linked. I want you to think just as you look, we always talk about your sons all having boar's face and your grandkids all being part of that. I want you to, I want to say to you explicitly how significant your influence is every time these lights go on in this studio. And as long as this show exists, it should give you. And as long as I'm doing this professionally, in this market and elsewhere, that should give you and in everybody who has been able to enjoy and appreciate everything you've done, the stands that you've taken, even the dumbest thoughts out of your mouth that have meant something to people have. That your legacy is alive. It gives you some kind of. However we define immortality, there is some of it that is here. I want you to know that.
B
Well, I appreciate that. I don't know that you see it every day, but, but I hope you know here and there that somebody was listening a little bit. Not always, because most of the time I was out in left field somewhere anyway, anyway, chasing a flyball I was never going to catch. But I understand well enough to know that there are far more important things than doing a sports radio show. And we ran into them over the years, whether it was 9, 11, and the 1 day that I couldn't work, that day I just could not work, I, I, I, I begged off and left you in more than capable hands. You didn't need my dumb ass anyway. But I, you know, I, I found myself being more human and more of everything than I ever thought I was because of this radio. So I, it isn't like, oh, boy, they, you know, the radio did. I, the radio did as much for me as the little bit I did for the radio and much, much more. But, but I learned a lot of lessons, a lot, a lot about myself and certainly about. More about people. Some of your favorite people, Dan. Oh, yes. You love to hear from them. Yeah.
C
But Terry, I will say, though, that the common thread that went through everything that was good during those years at the Score and during the years of Boys and Bernstein, the common thread was you. And that, that was, you know, when the, when the lights went on for the show to start. The good times, the culture that was built, that was good in the hallways, the camaraderie between different departments, you, you were the common thread of all of that. You really were. So I, you know, I, I know you can say that you're just an idiot. And you don't know, you know what, what, what? You know, what little part, pretty much what little part you contributed to the radio, the station. But, Terry, you were it. I mean, you were the heart and soul of everything that we did that was good at the score.
B
Should have told Mitch that. He paid me more.
C
What do you mean? Mitch who?
A
Mitch Stravinsky.
B
I know. You know, I really never thought it that way. I appreciate the kind words. Thank you.
C
Well, of course you wouldn't think that way because that's who you are. Of course you're not going to think that way. I mean, you, you didn't have an ego. You, you've never had an ego, Terry. You, you looked at a first day executive producer as an equal to you on a show when you were the name on the show. So, yeah, of course you wouldn't think that way, but that's exactly who, who you are. And that's, that's why it happened that way, because of your character and your, and your core beliefs as a person.
B
Well, I, you know, there were, there were certain things I did over the years that will always be mad at myself over. Probably if I sat down and wrote them down. And there are certain things that I'd be very happy about. And what you just said makes me very happy. That absolutely makes me very, very happy. So I, I, you know, I, I don't know what effect I had, if any, you know, I, I know. I, I know I like to sit down and talk to people I worked with and, and Dan and I got to be friends when people said, Because I remember when, when Dan took over, everybody's going, oh, you're going to have a tough time with him. And I said, why am I going to have a tough time with him? Oh, you know Dan, don't you? I said, well, yeah, kind of why we were friends. I said, I don't think there'll be a tough. And I don't think we did have a tough time. I don't think we did at all. So you did.
C
And what was great about it is that you couldn't find two guys that were more different and very different upbringings and very different perspectives in life yet. What the common bonds were the core values.
A
Well, I think we found the same things funny.
C
Yeah.
A
The two most important things. We found the same kinds of things funny. And I think we hated a lot of the same people.
B
I do, too. I do too. Yeah, that's the interesting thing.
C
Sums it up perfectly. Yeah, for sure.
B
Yeah. That somehow you know on both ends of that that we did. And you would think that would be impossible. You would not dislike the very same guys. You would not like different guys. None of this is, is true that, that we made up our own minds about stuff and we did the show a long time. But I, I never, you know, and people, because even when it was off there, people say sticks about Dan. I said, first of all, you don't know Dan. You, you don't, you don't know him. You don't understand him. That's fine. I said, but he's one of the smartest guys I've ever met. And whatever he says and when he's right, he's right that a period paragraph. He's not, he's not giving some stupid opinion just because he can say it. He's giving you, he's an opinion on something because he knows it. And Matt, I mean without you, you are, you are really a special guy. So I, I, you know, I, I, I don't look at it as my luck. I, I, or as my, my, my good fortune is to know you guys. That, that's where I feel. It isn't like, oh my God, what if this happened? What if that happened? What? No, my fortune in life is to work with as many good people as I did at a job that I wasn't familiar with. And it took me a while to get used to and get to know myself a little bit better. But I mean with guys like you around, it always made it easier, it always made it easier for me to do and whatever you probably time and I know Dan and I used to argue about some stuff, but I, which is fine. Oh yeah, of course, absolutely. But I, I don't, and Dan and, and Maddie was just mad. It's just a piece of work. But I, I think there's a, you know, a certain line you draw and you know when to do it. And you guys made it easy for me to draw that line. And I never, you know, I, I look back at the days at the score with nothing but pride and kind of, kind of proud of what we did. I mean, kind of proud of what we did because nobody had done that in Chicago before that I can think of that, that on a daily basis. And I was flattered that even called me that he even said, well, they even thought of me so let alone put me on the show. But it was important to me that I got to know everybody and I did get to know everybody and you know, I had the time of my life. It's not. There's no two ways about it. You know, writing is wonderful. You get to go places. You're across the country, you're here, you're there, you're writing, you're doing it. But we did the same thing as the radio show. If it was worth doing, we were at it. You know, Dan and I, we. We were everywhere in every Super Bowl. You know how much I love seeing you two guys. And Matty, you're the. Oh, there. All those years of you two fighting to see you together does me a lot of good.
A
Well, I would. I just want to say thank you for doing this, really. And thanks for taking the time. I know you say that you're doing nothing, but I know you're not doing absolutely nothing. So thank you for doing this. And I mean what I say when. Every day that we're doing this show, every day the lights go on in here. There's a lot of you in it and always will be in anything that I'm doing professionally. And I'm proud to say that I really am. It's been your. Your influence has been foundational for me coming at a time when it did, you know, starting around your first, and I was 25 years old and I'm 56 now, and that is. That is a long, long, long, long time. I'm older than you were when you started because I believe when you started, you. You were only 49. Like I'm almost 10 years older now than you were when we started together. All I can say is I wish you nothing but the best of health and good luck with everything that you're doing. To you and to Peach, Our love at a big smooch. To Peach.
C
Yeah, I love Peach. Remember, I didn't want you to get a 24 year old girlfriend. That was Dan.
A
They're not mutually exclusive. I can love Peach and still. I know you can, but he and Bill Belichick and, you know, go put on their hoodies and hang out together and coach bad football.
C
Don't confuse that. That's him.
A
That's all him. And anytime you get an open invite, if you, if you. If you wake up with a sports thought or you wake up with.
C
It'll be a first time.
B
If there's.
A
If there's somebody dies and you just want to piss all over their grave, this is the place for you to come.
B
Any. Anytime you guys. Anytime you want me. It's great. It's. It's wonderful to see both of you guys. You know I love you and you mean the world to me. So thank you very much for having me, and hopefully we'll do it again soon.
C
Love you, too. Love you, pal.
B
Love you guys.
A
That's Terry Boers, and this has been Dan Bernstein, unfiltered, on 31 2, sports. Brought to you in partnership with my bookie.
C
Dan Bernstein.
B
Unfiltered.
A
Unfiltered on 31 2, sports.
Podcast: Dan Bernstein Unfiltered
Date: September 3, 2025
Host: Dan Bernstein (A), with Executive Producer Matt Abbatacola (C)
Guest: Terry Boers (B), legendary Chicago radio host and writer
This special guest episode reunites the iconic voices behind Chicago’s legendary sports radio, as Dan Bernstein and Matt Abbatacola welcome their longtime partner, Terry Boers. The conversation blends nostalgia with candor, touching on Terry’s health struggles, retirement life, the glory days at WSCR ("The Score"), the evolution of sports radio, personal reflections, and the state of the world at large. Through wit, humor, and honesty, the episode serves as both a heartfelt tribute to a broadcasting institution and a meditation on change, legacy, and what endures.
“Fighting a liver that’s acting up and is goofy...is time consuming, it's awful. And I got to watch what I do when I leave the house.” — Terry Boers (04:13)
“Where you’re at your age, just stop, don’t go any older because it doesn’t get any better.” — Terry Boers (02:55)
“Gambling doesn’t appeal to me. Horses doesn’t appeal to me. So I don’t do any of it.” — Terry Boers (08:07)
“It was so unsuspected that that's the direction I would take...I had not thought about doing that.” — Terry Boers (10:15)
“If you’re good, I’ll give you air...I thought the show belonged to all of us.” — Dan Bernstein/Terry Boers (20:26–21:12) “Nobody’s ego got in the way… the guys that worked behind were just as important to me.” — Terry Boers (22:19)
“You were one of the great swearers...the forced creativity... was probably a blessing...” — Dan Bernstein (13:11) “I enjoy sitting around thinking about things to say to people.” — Terry Boers (15:01)
“Your legacy is alive and well here...as long as this show exists, it should give you...however we define immortality, there is some of it that is here.” — Dan Bernstein (60:38)
“You can walk around your neighborhood and people are like, ‘hey, you’re that guy that hosted that radio show.’ What I think...is the number of people who are still connected to you...” — Dan Bernstein (57:23)
“He was unqualified to coach the job… I’ve never seen anything like that guy.” — Terry Boers (33:48) “Bears games look like Bears games...make Bears games look like regular football.” — Dan Bernstein (32:32)
“That was in your wisdom. In your wisdom. I should have followed you.” — Dan Bernstein (27:10) “If you wanted to criticize us, we didn’t—I didn’t—back down from it...” — Terry Boers (28:04)
“What is just the state of the world...especially thinking about your grandkids?” — Dan Bernstein (43:26)
“I think our nature is still decent. I really do." — Terry Boers (47:10) "There are plenty of good people still left everywhere." — Terry Boers (47:44)
"Probably not to spend so much money on cars…" — Terry Boers (51:11)
True to the title, the exchange is unfiltered, sharp, affectionate, and frequently irreverent—marked by Chicago wit and brutally honest reflection. The camaraderie and mutual respect is palpable, with open acknowledgement of both triumphs and foibles. For long-time listeners, this episode feels like welcoming back old friends; for newcomers, it’s a master class in sports radio’s golden age and its lasting impact.
Whether you have followed The Score for decades or are new to Dan Bernstein Unfiltered, this episode offers not just memories but lessons on resilience, teamwork, humility, and hope—delivered with the humor and candor that made Boers, Bernstein, and their partners essential voices in Chicago sports and beyond.