← Dan Bernstein Unfiltered
Dan Bernstein Unfiltered
Chicago Bears - more wins mean higher prices | Is Kris Bryant done playing baseball?
01:12:55
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A
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.
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B
Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with a name your price tool.
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A
From Progressive you can find options that.
- [00:10]
B
Fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try it@progressive.com, progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Pricing coverage match limited by state law not available in all states.
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A
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B
312 Sports.
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A
Dan Bernstein Unfiltered on 312 Sports is brought to you in partnership with my bookie. The Bears raised their season ticket prices by a whopping 13 and a half percent. And if you can't do it now by that particular amount, when can you? Because they do it every year. Because everything gets more expensive every year. But obviously the rate at which Bears season tickets get more expensive outstrips even the inflation rate of the groceries that we see every day at the moment. Obviously we know that the Federal Reserve likes right around 2% and we've been well over that much closer to 3%, especially when we look at core when we strip out volatile food and fuel costs. But not when you're the Bears, man. Those rules, those, the, the, the physics of economics and pricing don't necessarily ever apply to the Bears. So I looked at the rate at which they went up and they are up for next year, 13.5%. And you think, all right, well, they had a winning season. This is they, they had a brilliant season, one of their best seasons. And as far as entertainment purposes, excitement, et cetera, one fun seasons we've had in a long time. And just like it says when you get your investment prospectus, that past performance is not an indication of future performance. And that certainly goes with ticket pricing. But it's up 13.5% for your season ticket. So I always wonder, like what, what is a season ticket cost? Like what are the, what are the averages? What is, what is the get in price? And it appears right now that the cheapest season ticket and this is for somebody and nobody buys one and sometimes there's, there's PSL costs that are that are part of this too.
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B
I'm sure there's an individual person that buys a season ticket.
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A
I'm sure there are. I don't think I think most people who are certainly who are buying things too for for business purpose on the outside each purchase, you know people may end up having through whatever secondary and tertiary systems there are to distribute the tickets which is a completely different story from who owns the tickets who own own the Chiefs who own the the current price on Vivid seats current price is around 31310 for an individual seat. There's an average price for your 10 game package of 2,822 Bears tickets last year already were up 10% and before that the last year of these are the last two years of Mad Eber Fluffs. We're up 8%. So you had a two year jump of 18% and then another 13.5%. And what it does is it reminds us that a Bears ticket, a Bear season ticket I should say is a luxury luxury item and it flies in the face of the way the Bears are sold. The idea of look at this crowd. This is the idea of the masses. The populist myth of Bears football at least. And I was as we were talking about this in this beautiful day from up here and the 27th floor prudential, looking out from our lobby and seeing Soldier Field and seeing everything laid out. I always take a moment when I come into work. I love it. And it's one thing I never had in 30 years at the various other places we worked, whether it was NBC Tower or the other building here at Prudential. I've never ever, ever had a glorious view like this. Like we have from. From Pru 1 out over Randolph and overlooking Maggie Daley park and the Ribbon and the Art Institute and all the way down as far as the eye can see over Lake Michigan. It's really stunning and striking. I never ever ever want to feel like that's not special. I don't want that to feel old hat and like just the way it looks from my office. I want to appreciate it every day. And I see Soldier Field and I realized that there that that television studio, however long the Bears play there, that's a luxury item. That's. That is should be advertised to the same people to whom Turkish Air and Air Emirates and when it's like when you're watching sailing or you're watching a golf event, that's a big number. It's a huge number. The truth is that there are still populist Bears days, Bears family fest exhibition games and bad weather games. And I was shocked that. Did you know that last year's attendance for the Bears was actually lower than the year before? Did you know that?
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B
I did not know that.
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A
Yeah. It's strange and it may have to do with the weather because it was in 2024, the attendance was slightly higher than it was of the 58,127 that it was from for this year. I don't know. The Tribune article said Bears fans endured plenty of cold, wet afternoons, including one of the coldest games ever played at Soldier Field against the Cleveland Browns. The temperature kickoff was 8 degrees. So maybe it's just that. Maybe it was simply weather and it's obviously something that is taken out of the equation for their next stadium, as it should be, that it shouldn't necessarily be a reason. But they, and it doesn't really matter what the words are in the press release that are attached to this when, when you, when you drop down a 13.5% increase. But this was Kevin Warren. The team's quote, detailed analysis and market research informed its decision to raise prices again this year. If you can get it, get it. Private business trying to make money. It's the only business this family has. That's it. They can't, they can't take a loss. They can't take a hit on. They can't be one of those owners. It's like, well, that's all right. I make all my money in real estate or I make all my money selling something else that I'm selling, whatever that is. And this is just fun on the side. So. Oh, what the hell. We'll. We'll make beers five bucks and hot dogs two bucks. And don't worry about it. They can't do that because this is the only way that entire family makes money.
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B
Well, what, what was the attendance drop from 24 to 25?
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A
Do you know the number from, from 25? I don't know the exact number because.
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B
In 24 they played. Now, that game in, in, in England, is that a, is that considered a home game towards home attendance? How does that work? Because they had, they, they would. They only had eight home games last year and then nine road games. So they would have had nine home games the year before. So is that what impacted a drop?
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A
I don't know.
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B
12% drop in attendance.
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A
That isn't just. I would hope that the numbers, to be fair, I would hope that the numbers don't bake all of that in that there's some way of sussing out a reasonable even year over year comp. I don't know.
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B
Yeah, I mean it says The Bears played nine home games in 2024 including one in England. The league switch to the 17 game schedule in 21.
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A
So I don't know. Maybe they do the reason be but and for some teams, I mean the stadiums in England are way bigger, aren't they? I mean couldn't they. I would think so for the most part. Wouldn't they be more likely to have those numbers help them?
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B
Yeah. What's.
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What's Soldier field hold they average 58,127.
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B
Yeah. I would think those stadiums they play over overseas have more than 60.
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A
I don't know. Attendance topped 60 for both playoff games in January and this year they the Bears will host nine regular season games and one preseason game.
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B
So here's a report from Gaming today. So the Bears ticket price, so this is for an individual ticket per game was $370 per game.
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A
Okay.
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B
And that is the Cowboys were the highest. They led around 400. So there isn't that much of a discrepancy from the highest to the lower, lower teams.
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A
Now is that a face value ticket or is that because it's not what they're going for on the secondary market? Some of these bad weather days, if you wait until right around kickoff you can grab something really inexpensive. You know that that should be what levels the playing field is. It's simply the. What is much more of a supply and demand reflector and that is secondary market than it is whatever they're charging.
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B
There's no. Because I'm just not. I know around us near what Staten Lake, there's a huge huge construction project going on for the L. Yep. Is there is there any stuff in the south portion of the city that would make it more difficult for people to get to games? I don't know. I'm just trying to think of reasons some of the.
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A
Some of the South Lakeshore Drive construction over the Obama Presidential center has been disruptive over the last few years. But I don't know that any of that sort of deal breaking.
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B
Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. It's just weird to think by the and I I mean Bears fans, they deal with the cold weather and that like that opens opportunities for people that normally would go that don't go. Then those opportunities for those people that don't have a chance to go. They'll. They'll suck up the cold weather to go to a game. If they get the opportunity at a reasonable cost.
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A
You, you would think, right?
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B
Yeah, because I mean, cold weather, I mean, I just don't go to games. We've talked about this. But cold weather would certainly keep me from going if I were a regular, a tender of Bears games. But I'm not going out when it's 8 below zero. There's no shot I'm going when it's super cold.
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A
And yet somebody, if you could say, look, but these four tickets fell in my lap and I can take my two kids to a Bears game and we can bundle up and there if we want to leave, we will leave kind of thing. At least we can walk in and you know, watch a little bit of the game if we want, depending on how cold we are. And you know, I don't want to be that guy. We used to go when we had season tickets. We didn't care how cold it was.
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B
Yeah, yeah, I had a buddy of mine took his three kids to the packers game with the D.J. moore game winning touchdown in overtime. And yeah, those, you know, he got those tickets late because of the opportunity to go and the cold weather. And yeah, the wife didn't want to go, just bundled the kids up and you know, made them suffer through it. But at the end of it, they all loved that they were there.
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A
So I think part of it obviously are the ancillary knock on costs of committing to family goes to Bears game even if somebody gives you the tickets.
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B
Yeah, it's expensive, I mean to get to get down to park and then, you know, you're certainly buying things while you're there. It's kind of unavoidable, which is why, and I don't want to derail the conversation, but I love the opportunity of going to a baseball. That's one of the things I love about baseball season and 162 game season, 81 home games you have. And then we have, you know, we have two stadiums here in Chicago, plus Milwaukee, which is a third one for us. So there's opportunities to find cheap, cheap tickets to find a baseball game. You really want to go to it.
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A
Well, I know it would be fashionable to be mad at the Bears for price gouging now, but I'm just not. This is what you. They raise prices considerably even when they're bad. And if you're not going to do it when you're good because it's never worried them, they've never had a problem with oh no, we're going to get killed in the press or killed publicly because we're, we're daring to raise prices after yet another disappointing season. But it doesn't matter because so many large corporations that are purchasing their, their boxes and their tickets and the people who have had them just keep them and just keep ponying up for it. If in fact, and some people do the math and think that there's a, there's an offload enough to defray the cost and it keeps getting passed down and passed down and passed down to the next people buying.
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B
Yeah. And you know, also, we don't have the luxury here, Dan, of taking like live phone calls from Chicago fans. I mean, luxury, yes. We don't have that luxury to be able to hear from people in real time about their disappointment over the tickets being raised. I don't think you'd hear that today, though.
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A
No. Because we haven't for a while.
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B
11 and 6 season and you win a playoff game, I don't think Bears fans are going to be like, I can't believe they're raising prices. This is outrageous. Now, a 5 and 12 season, yes, I would understand that if there's a more significant hike, but I don't think you'd even hear that. So I think if we had the luxury, the gift of bringing in live callers right now, I don't think we'd hear them complain about the race in the ticket prices.
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A
And it is so funny that when I mentioned another one of the luxury goods as we're speaking here, one of the pop up ads in this Sun Times article about the Bears season tickets, Sex dungeon. No, not a, they're not, they're not trying to turn yesterday's news into an ad blitz for sex dungeon.
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B
I don't know. You said luxury item. You know what? Sex dungeon is a luxury item.
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A
I would, I would respect them if they did. I would respect them if big sex dungeon just decided, hey, we're getting all this pub. We're top of mind. We had, we had 9,000 or 10,000 people that were clients of Jessica Nesbitt. Let's, let's plow a little over the marketing budget into it. Let's get after it. Definitely respect that if Chicago was going to be your mecca for sex dungeons. But no, it came up was, was start your trip to Dubai with the luxury of Emirates Air. All right, I'll write that down.
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B
I think, I think your computer there was eavesdropping on our conversation last night at dinner. My wife and I were talking about travel and I said, I just want to go somewhere and fly. I don't Care where it is. I just want to fly Emirates Air one time.
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A
Well, I can tell you. Commercials.
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B
Look, have you ever flown?
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A
No, but I having had the privilege to fly Turkish Air.
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B
Okay, dude.
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A
Yeah, that'd be another one business class on Turkish Air. When we went to Paris, we flew through Istanbul. Was Istanbul. Was that the Italy trip? I think it might have been that. No, that was the Italy trip and we flew through Istanbul to get to Rome via Turkish Air. Oh my God.
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B
Really? Oh, yeah, that's another one. I would love to.
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A
You don't want to leave the plane? Yeah. You know, and then, and then, and I think I've mentioned this before, it's changed now, but I guess at the time the business first class lounge at the Istanbul airport for Turkish Air, it's like a dream.
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B
Hmm.
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A
It's like you float in and there's. You don't pay for anything. Everything in there is yours for the. There, there are self serve luxury bars everywhere. There are bars with bartenders. There are little stations where chefs are cooking things up on various grills and griddles. There's a rolling cart of just seven different kinds of olives. There's a, there are, there are four golf simulators. There are multiple like PlayStation and Xbox caves with headphones and gaming chairs and all of that.
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B
Yeah. So we had one it for through Air Italia and their, you know, their lounge. It was, I thought that was awesome. But that, I mean, that's another level.
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A
And then, and then the back rub. People come in. All of these white clad masseurs and masseuses come in and you raise your hand and they come over and start rubbing your shoulders.
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B
Oh. So you have to, you have to call them so it's not like, like unsolicited or.
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A
No. If you just don't come over, you just nod. You just nod and they come over and they start, they start massaging you.
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B
Yeah. We were talking about maybe planning a trip. We were looking like a next big trip and we thought maybe within the next like five years or so, 10 years, we'd like to do a trip to Japan. So that's how we got on the idea of like luxury travel. And that's when I said I want to go. I don't care where it is. I just want to fly Emirates. Even if it's just a plane ride.
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A
And just stay on the plane. I'm.
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B
Turn around and come back again.
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A
I'd be down with that Turkish. Here they have this proprietary lemonade that they make and it's got. And they put these flowers in it every time they walk it out. And just as a refresher, that they'll bring you your warm towel and then this ice cold homemade floral lemonade of some kind. And it's. And that's just whenever and anything is. They're buzzing around you. They're constantly refreshing your drinks and things and bringing you stuff and asking you what you would like. And they give you these wine lists and you say, well, I'd like. I can't decide. Well, how about you try everything then? Yes, sure.
- [19:05]
B
Yeah. Our trip on Air Italia was. Was fantastic. And I just, I know that, like Turkish and Emirates, it's just. It's a. It's a different level stuff.
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A
Right. As long as we're talking luxury items, the fact that Bears football has become that. And if you can and look, if it brings you that level of joy, go after it, go get it, and we shall see. My. My hope is that the Bears are so good that this 13.5% just becomes an absolute afterthought. And nobody cares because not only are the tickets so valuable, but the pleasure that the Bears bring has, you know, that no number is too high for that kind of ability to be there in that moment. As we get to more, I do think it's a good thing that experiences matter more. I was listening to a report the other day about travel in general.
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B
Yeah.
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A
It was actually our guy, Rob Hart, who was interviewing a travel expert, just saying that one thing we've understood now is that where you spend your money for travel is more about what you experience and not necessarily the thread count of the sheets of where you stay when you experience what you experience. Mm. I think that's good. I do. I think that, that if. And some of that may be due to Instagram culture and it may be to getting the shot and people who are just living their lives so they can post whatever presentation of their life that they want represented on social media. But if there are good reasons for it, if it really is understanding that, it's that especially for your kids, for your family, for your time together, it's better to spend money on that than it is worrying about how fluffy your pillow is.
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B
No, I agree with that. And I think if the Bears have another successful season and, lordy, they win the Super Bowl, I'm just going to guess right now the ticket increase price.
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A
For next year 25%.
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B
Well, I jotted down between 18 and 20.
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A
Okay. I was wondering, because if you were going to go. Go big on that one. Yeah.
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B
Because you go 8 at 8 8% jump, 10% jump. 13.5 this year. Next year, another. Another winning season, a playoff winner to, God forbid, a Super Bowl.
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A
Yeah.
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B
18 to 20. Sounds about reasonable.
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A
I think so. I think so. And again, the McCaskey family is in a situation where this is the only way they make money.
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B
Unlike many ownership groups, there's an opportunity that I see for them to get into the sex dungeon business, so.
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A
But not family branded. I did not know that Chicago had such a robust sex dungeon business.
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B
I guess you couldn't.
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A
Right?
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B
I mean, you know. Well, I mean, like, down here in Vernon Hills, there's a Bears fit. There's a, you know, a fitness center that's bears branded, and there's bears stuff in it you can go buy.
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A
Oh, right on 60 there.
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B
Yeah, right on.
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A
Right. Right across from Hawthorne. Yes, I know what you're talking about.
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B
Yeah. So, I mean, they could, you know, a bear sex dungeon.
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A
There's actually a pretty good fishing lake tucked back in there. Yeah, you would. It's like.
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B
I wouldn't. Honestly, I wouldn't know.
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A
Okay. I don't know because there's Big Bear Lake. Oh, yeah.
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B
I've walked Big Bear Lake.
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A
There's Big Bear Lake, and then there's the. There's an area just kind of south of there. I don't know. It's part of the Big Bear Lake complex. And.
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B
Yeah, it's a great walk, too.
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A
Yeah, it is. It is. But if you know what you're doing, there's some. There's some decent fishing around there. If. If you're. If, you know, timing. No, there's no sharks in Big Bear Lake and there's no bears.
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B
And there's bears in the water.
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A
Yeah.
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B
You catch something, you reel it in. And also the grizzly comes out.
- [23:03]
A
Whenever these stakes are high, my bookie is where you go to turn your bets into bankroll. There's always a big matchup on your schedule. Everybody's watching, everybody's got to take. And no matter the sport, as, you know, for. I like props, and props can be just as fun as whatever the final score is. Sometimes more fun when you're rooting for an individual guy and in the strategy of the game. And you can say, well, wait a second, this is a good opportunity for this guy. And then you find out the coach benches him because he was late to a meeting or something. But I try to figure that stuff out. And that's why my bookie is really fun. My bookie's prop board is deep. It's fun to play You've got player performances, you got game milestones, everything in between. It's the kind of action that keeps things interesting for the entire game, no matter what the score is. And if you want to jump in, do it now because of the advantage you get from using our code. The code DBU for Dan Bernstein, unfiltered. And you go to MyBookie AG. When you register and deposit, use that code. Then your first bet is covered up to 500 bucks. And what that means is if it doesn't hit, you get your bet back. Bonus token out, you slap it down, you run it back, because it's like it never happened. One account, one wallet, whatever you like to bet. The spread live, bet during the action. At halftime, you can go into the casino. It's all in one place. All at MyBookie AG. The code DBU. Don't just watch the action. Make it pay with MyBookie. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.
- [24:39]
B
Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with a name, your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states. Hey, I wanted to ask you a question. Did you, growing up, did you have, like, different names for your grandparents? Like, they weren't grand.
- [25:03]
A
Oh, that's a thing now? Nobody. No, my grandparents were my. I didn't really know my father's mother because she died when I was three. Okay. But they were Nana and Papa. And my mother's parents were Grandma and Grandpa. Okay? And that is exactly how we worked it. My parents asked when we had Zoe. They. My dad specifically said, look, we're calling it we're Nana and Papa, okay? And then we. And then it was Beth's parents were Grandma and Grandpa. And then some Jewish families have a Bubby and a Zadie and then everybody else, the new thing, it's like if. If your kid has a weird name for their grandparents that sticks for their life.
- [25:49]
B
Yeah. So my daughter, on her. On her mom's side, she had a relationship with, so her grandma, her great grandma and her great great grandma. So she was fortunate enough to know her great, great. Yeah. So she had a. She had a Gigi. And then she had. In her great grandparents. She had a Mucka and a Papa Maka. Yeah.
- [26:14]
A
Okay.
- [26:15]
B
So when. When she came home last fall and let us know that she was. She was pregnant, she had like a little gift box for us with like grandparents names on it. So we could pick our own grandparents names.
- [26:29]
A
Okay.
- [26:29]
B
That's what we'd be called. So I don't know if that's how families do it now. So I. Of my four grandparents, I only knew one because three were, were gone before I was even born. So I, I only knew one grandma and she was just, she was just Grandma Fran. That's what, that's what she was. So we didn't have names.
- [26:45]
A
Her name was even Fran, right?
- [26:47]
B
Yeah, it was, it was France. Okay. Yeah. And we called her Grandma Friend, or we actually used to call her Lipstick Monster. She wasn't really delicate with the lipstick.
- [26:56]
A
Got it.
- [26:57]
B
So me and, me and Dan would call her Lipstick Monster.
- [26:59]
A
You have to like scrape it off your face.
- [27:02]
B
Yeah, like one of those paint. Like a professional. Yeah, yeah, I know, it's terrible. And I can't believe I just said that on the, on the show Lipstick Monster. It was bright red too. And she, you know, it was. She had like really ivory colored skin and really bright red lipstick.
- [27:19]
A
So.
- [27:19]
B
But she was the best though. And she would used to refer to jeans as dungarees. And one time the washing machine wasn't working and she had to pray. Pray Satan out of it. So she was a religious woman. Anywho, did it work? Yeah, actually Satan jumped out of it. Right out of the barrel. It was just jumped.
- [27:34]
A
Right.
- [27:34]
B
The blue popped open. He popped out.
- [27:36]
A
Yep, sorry, sorry. I go to a different washing machine.
- [27:39]
B
And she was like, go back to hell with you. And he's like, yep, you're right.
- [27:42]
A
I cast you out.
- [27:44]
B
So yeah, he just dug a hole and he was gone.
- [27:46]
A
The power of Christ compels you to leave my washing machine.
- [27:52]
B
Clothes got cleaner though, oddly enough. Anywho, so we got to pick names and so when we had the baby shower Sunday, I didn't tell you this, that, that we made it official what our grandparents names will be.
- [28:04]
A
Floofy and Bozo. No.
- [28:06]
B
So Natalie picked Gigi. So she's going to be Gigi.
- [28:10]
A
Okay.
- [28:11]
B
And I went so on Natalie's. On her mom's side, her grandpa was called Papo.
- [28:18]
A
Papo, yeah.
- [28:20]
B
And Papo, apparently. And I never met Papo because he was gone before Natalie and I met. And everyone loved Papo and Papo was quite the guy, so. And my sister in law actually has a Papo tattoo after him because he was, I mean. Yeah, he was, he was the best.
- [28:34]
A
As long as you're not Pazo, you.
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B
Know, not Pozzo or Potsy. Because I'm gonna be Papo. And. And my mother in law got all tear. She all teared up because. Because I. I'm gonna keep that name alive. So I'm gonna be Papo.
- [28:46]
A
I didn't.
- [28:46]
B
I was gonna tell you. I forgot to tell you Monday.
- [28:48]
A
Hey, Papo.
- [28:49]
B
Papo. Papo and Gigi.
- [28:51]
A
Papo and G. Because, you know, I wasn't. Wasn't Terry Bores. Wasn't he Pops?
- [28:57]
B
He was Pops.
- [28:58]
A
Yeah.
- [29:00]
B
He was Pops. Yes. Not props. No, he was.
- [29:04]
A
He was Pops.
- [29:05]
B
Yep.
- [29:06]
A
And yeah, I guess we're, we're fairly, we've just been fairly traditional because, you know, my dad got in there real quick. He's like, listen, we're not right away. Yeah. It's like we're. I'm Papa, she's Nona. That's it.
- [29:17]
B
I love it. Like putting his foot down.
- [29:21]
A
Yeah.
- [29:21]
B
Age, Bruce. I'm the man.
- [29:23]
A
Well, he just, he, he had very strong thoughts about it. And what am I going to do? OB you got to pick your battles on some of that stuff.
- [29:31]
B
Yeah. So Nana and Papa.
- [29:35]
A
Yeah. Pretty, pretty basic.
- [29:37]
B
Yeah. Yeah. I didn't, I didn't know if you had, if you had because what were what's like traditional Jewish families?
- [29:44]
A
Bubby and Zadie means. That's Yiddish for grandmother.
- [29:49]
B
Okay.
- [29:49]
A
So that's.
- [29:51]
B
I've heard a lot.
- [29:51]
A
Yeah. And I had, I didn't know my Zadie was my great grandfather. That was, that was Zadie. And his father was, was named Max. So he was Zadie Max who I.
- [30:04]
B
Went to the Max.
- [30:05]
A
We'll see. I would see pictures of him. I would see. Exactly. See, I would see pictures of like old pictures of the old country of Zadie Max when I was a kid. And he, he looked exactly like you think he would look.
- [30:18]
B
That's great.
- [30:18]
A
Like long white beard. And I thought it was like a, A, A, an honorific that it wasn't just his name wasn't Max. I thought his name was like Shmuley. And where they called him Zadie Max.
- [30:31]
B
Right.
- [30:31]
A
Because he was like hardcore.
- [30:34]
B
And then the original Zadie.
- [30:35]
A
Right.
- [30:35]
B
Now there's Zadie Max.
- [30:37]
A
Right, Exactly. Or it's like marketed to this to just to the skateboarders or something because it's the new edgier version, Jewish grandpa version of Krantz.
- [30:47]
B
Yeah.
- [30:47]
A
It's like Zadie Blast, Zadie Frost, Zadie Max and like six X's on it.
- [30:55]
B
That's funny.
- [30:56]
A
Yeah.
- [30:57]
B
You say his name was Shmuley? I don't know.
- [31:00]
A
Yeah.
- [31:00]
B
Is Shmuley a name?
- [31:01]
A
Yeah, that's Yiddish for Samuel.
- [31:04]
B
Is it really?
- [31:05]
A
Yeah. Shmuel.
- [31:06]
B
I like Shmuley.
- [31:07]
A
Shmuley? Yeah. Sammy. It's Yiddish for Sammy Schmooley. Oh.
- [31:12]
B
If I ever have a dog that looks like a Shmuley, that's his name.
- [31:15]
A
Okay. Because. Yeah, it's just Sammy. I used to. I used to. I had some friends who referred to Sammy Sosa forever as Shmuley.
- [31:22]
B
Oh, really?
- [31:23]
A
Yeah.
- [31:23]
B
Funny.
- [31:24]
A
I see they lost you Shmuley in another homer.
- [31:27]
B
I never knew that, Sammy.
- [31:29]
A
Yeah.
- [31:30]
B
Anyway, I mean, that's. I wanted to. I forgot to tell you on Monday.
- [31:34]
A
Okay, well, I'm glad we got to it.
- [31:36]
B
16 basketball games and a baby shower.
- [31:38]
A
So I have this question, though, now that. Now that we've got the details on why in the history of guys getting fired from sports jobs, Tony Clark may be an all timer. Because you've got, like corruption on two different levels. If I'm following this correctly, there was a youth sports aspect where they might have been kind of double dipping into it because there was a federal investigation into a slush fund. And then there was a second financial scandal that was being discussed. You're like, oh, boy, they were really dirty. And then you keep reading and you keep following, and the news comes out that Tony Clark had what was described as an inappropriate relationship with his sister in law who had a no show job, a sinecure job with the Union hired in 2023. Like, all right, if you're. If you're gonna be corrupt and you're having sex with your sister in law, that's. If you're. That's a good reason to get fired. That's. And speaking for people who've gotten fired, that's. That's a way to go out right there. That's better than going psycho on somebody who thinks you didn't release your fish on the rankings. And I was thinking too, like, the debate now that's out there is, okay, he's doing his sister in law. Is it his brother's wife or his sister's husband? That's been the question.
- [33:29]
B
Wait, what do you mean, sister's husband?
- [33:33]
A
As far your sister's wife is what? I mean, it could be his sister's wife. It could be his brother's wife.
- [33:41]
B
No, not his sister's wife.
- [33:42]
A
His wife's sister or his sister's wife. His.
- [33:47]
B
Oh, okay. Yeah, it could have. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. It could be his sister's wife.
- [33:51]
A
His brother's wife or his wife's sister.
- [33:55]
B
Yeah.
- [33:56]
A
This is what I've been trying to figure out and.
- [34:00]
B
Well, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna just. Without knowing the background of the family, I'm gonna say it's probably not the sister's wife.
- [34:06]
A
Don't know. Could be.
- [34:08]
B
Probably not.
- [34:09]
A
But it could be less likely. Less likely. But either way, less likely. We got to take all the less names out of it, though. That's too easy. I, I do, I do think, I do think we'd have a. Otherwise we're there all day.
- [34:24]
B
But we have to keep the mic names, though, because we're, we use mics.
- [34:27]
A
We're in the business.
- [34:28]
B
Right.
- [34:29]
A
Okay.
- [34:29]
B
Yeah, like, yeah, you're right.
- [34:30]
A
No, no.
- [34:30]
B
Less names.
- [34:31]
A
I think the last names we have to keep. But, but Adam to the list is going to be in charge of some of that stuff. We know.
- [34:36]
B
So we'll do less names.
- [34:38]
A
Fewer names.
- [34:40]
B
Right, but can we include less names?
- [34:43]
A
We can include fewer names. We can't include less names, if that makes any sense to you. I don't know how this ouster of Tony Clark is going to affect negotiations, but I know it's not something you want. I ultimately, I have no idea if it makes a work stoppage more likely or less likely and if in fact the owners will look at this and go, they're in chaos. We already know that the rank and file isn't going to make it through a work stoppage. We're not going to tiptoe up to this. Like, the suggestions have been, hey, we're going to propose a cap, but it's not going to be the cap that you think. It's ultimately going to make people more money. They may just barge through and say, you're all locked out and this is it and red line and either you take this or you don't, and we'll go as long as you want without baseball.
- [35:32]
B
I think, and I have no idea why I would think this. I have no, no reasoning to back this up. I just, I do not believe there will be a work stoppage of any kind. I really don't. And I think if they were to do that now after kind of bringing back more casual fans over the last year or so, and there's some good stories and good faces that represent league and good stuff to follow. Despite the Dodgers winning back to back World Series. And you know, some games are still a little bit long, but most games are pretty quick. I think they've done some nice things with the pitch clock and I thought the Giant bases were weird, but that didn't do anything impactful to the game itself or make it seem odd to watch. But I think they'd be completely foolish to have any kind of work stoppage right now.
- [36:17]
A
Well, we discussed it yesterday in the context of Tom Ricketts's discussions about the marquee network and their, their whole TV deal and how he said it was the smartest thing they've ever done. And I think he's just trying to raise the price on that. Because if, in fact, Rob Manfred is able to secure MLB TV rights in a way that he could sell them, I think that's the only thing the owners wouldn't want to mess with is the possibility of getting an NFL like, or an NBA like television deal that would make everybody happy. But that, but that's a moonshot. If they can do it in time. I don't think they have time. And it might be that they, they come to an agreement that draws out a, a path to that kind of new sustainability somehow. But I'm dubious. I, if, if I were betting, and I'm not, and I'm sure you can bet it on, on Kalshi or Poly Market, right?
- [37:14]
B
I don't even call up Giannis.
- [37:17]
A
Right? Call Yanis, you know, check it out. Actually, go, go look and see if you can. What the work stoppage market is right now.
- [37:24]
B
I'm sure there is one.
- [37:24]
A
Yeah, I'm sure there is. But, but I would think that there would be a work stoppage of some duration because the players can't, they can't live through it. They always tell them, save money, have a rainy day fund, have a strike fund, have a lockout fund, whatever it is, and they don't do it. They live up to their means. The owners can ride it out. The owners are fine. The players are not. And that's why sports unions usually get broken. Even though it's the owners against the owners, they are able to wait out, kind of smoke out the players financially. And I don't, unless I have reason to believe that this one's going to be any different, you know, and there will be times when we'll get into some of the nitty gritty of what they're negotiating and why the baseball players are in such a, such a difficult position. And the big reason is, the largest reason is they have failed. The players have failed to understand the aging curve. And they're still going by the old concept of what people believed the baseball aging curve was where it was believed to be. You arrive in the major leagues, you kind of learn how to play. You peak at the ages like between 26 and 29 and you have this, this peak period that now is simply proven not true at all.
- [38:55]
B
At all.
- [38:56]
A
If anything, the best you're going to be is your first couple years and then it's a steep decline down with age. And teams have been incentivized to never spend free agent money on older players because it's generally bad money with the exception of maybe some stars that as, as they're in their decline are still better than what you might have coming up and it's worth paying that much more or it's, it's an all time great where you get so much more income just by having this person on your team for marketing, ticket sales purposes that, that is factored in. But for the most part, MLB teams would much rather have a younger player closer to the peak of his powers under team control. And the players have, have failed the players. It's service time and seniority and all that does is play into the owner's hands. Let's say, oh, service time are you're gone. Seniority. Oh, we're going with somebody younger and cheaper.
- [39:58]
B
Because why, I mean it's, it's a gamble. It's a risk organizations take in signing players to longer deals sooner.
- [40:05]
A
Yep.
- [40:06]
B
But it's, it's a risk worth taking if they, if they do actually become the superstar you project them to be.
- [40:12]
A
And, and most teams try to hedge that somehow. And that's what's happening with opt outs. That's what's happening with, with coming to hungry players earlier.
- [40:24]
B
Right.
- [40:25]
A
And just saying, hey, you know, let's, let's, let's do that. But if you're wrong, you're screwed. Right. Then you're screwed. You end up with Tim Anderson and Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez.
- [40:34]
B
You know a follow up from yesterday, that story about David Besabe, the 11 year old kid.
- [40:39]
A
Yes, we, we got a lot of response to that and it's apparently really common. And this just happened to bubble up because there's no news.
- [40:48]
B
Right. And so what it is is the Phillies then they earmark 1.8 million from their 2031 international fund is really what it is. So there's no money being given to this kid. It's just when he turns 16 in 2031, there's 1.8 million and this contract waiting for him as an international drafted player. That's, that's all it is. So as weird as it sounds to so what, what I don't like about it is being around young athletes and having young Athletes here in this house is what, what that would do to that 11 year old's mindset, that's all. Well, you know, and, and, and to feel like, to feel like, to live up to something because a major league baseball team has targeted you at 11 and five years from now there's 1.8 million waiting for you. I just don't know what that would do to his mental development, which is far more important than anything physical.
- [41:40]
A
I'm glad you mentioned it. And there were a couple of paragraphs here that I want to bring you that were sent to me by somebody I will simply describe as a respected baseball expert. Okay. 11 is young, but those pre arrangements for kids at 12 is not uncommon in Venezuela or the Dominican Republic.
- [42:04]
B
Yeah, that's what I learned yesterday.
- [42:05]
A
That Basabi hobby thing isn't really news. We've also seen more and more guys getting out of those pre agreements when their stock rises near their age 16 signing period and signing with new teams for more money. So that's good to know because their signature is not valid in the United States. You know that. And the other paragraph just says the international free agent market is so gross. But this is by no means any new escalation of it. In fact, the trend is toward less exploitation in that market the last few years. I wouldn't be surprised if by the time this kid is 16, there's a real international draft. So this deal has maybe a 40% chance of being executed in its current form.
- [42:51]
B
Yeah. No, and I, you know, learning more about this process yesterday after we were done recording and understanding it better, seeing where it's coming from. Again, my, my biggest concern is just that, that mental mindset development of this kid, it's too much if not necessary, it's too much. I mean parents, parents do enough on their own. And I'm not saying that this kid's parents are. But I've seen too much of it. But to have that kind of pressure and to, I don't know, be what could be an obstacle in emotional and mental development in the sport is just not worth it.
- [43:23]
A
If you need Windows, you know who to call. Call Ross Armstrong because Russ is the owner of Chicago Window Guys. He's Chicago Window Guys. You're going to deal with Russ when you call 847-302-9171 or go to chicagowindowguys.com where you can check out his five star reviews. Russ will make sure that you don't fall for a bad deal because there's a lot of bad deals out There. And you're going to hear about him. You're going to see him where it's going to be. Buy one, get one free. Buy one, get one, 50% off. Buy two, get one. All that. And he, he will explain when he comes to your house and shows you all of the windows that he can install for you.
- [44:02]
B
It's not just bad deals either. He helped me from falling for the banana in my tailpipe trip.
- [44:07]
A
See, Russ will make you smarter. Yes, he will, because he'll explain these things to you. And it's Russ's people that do all the installation. So it's not subcontracted labor. He knows who is in and around your house. And that gives you a lot of peace of mind as somebody who has used rust twice to eventually, in stages, sort of redo all of my windows. And I would suggest that, by the way, you don't have to do everything and bite it all off at once. You can do the rooms where you spend most of your time and then over time you can, you can eventually get everything done. And it's depending on how many windows you have, sometimes that's a little easier. And Russ does a lot of that stuff and it's why I recommend him. And I've, I've always had to who? Everyone to whom I've recommended Russ. They've said, hey, thanks, this was great. I'm glad I did this because it saved me from overspending. So call Russ Armstrong. He'll match any price. But if you call him first, you're probably not going to need that. So call 847-302-9171 and do check out his 5 star reviews@chicagowindowguys.com I was sad when I read this story today and this was published in the Denver Post. All right, Bernstein, what are you going to see in the Denver Post that's going to seem sort of a downer? I had no idea how badly Chris Bryant was hurting physically. Yep. And I saw that he had been placed on the 60 day injured list and I thought, oh, man, that's another setback. That's too bad. What I didn't know is at the moment, according to this, there are no plans for him to play this season. And when you read this, it sounds like it's highly unlikely he will ever play baseball again. And it describes Bryant as suited up in Rocky's purple, but he's a bystander. He cannot run, let alone compete on the field. He says, anytime my feet hit the ground, the creek don't rise he said, I feel like I could probably fall over. It's unfortunate. It's obviously not how I want this to go. I'm here to figure things out and find out if there is a way to get better. Their manager, Warren Shaffer, said there's really not much to say about it other than the guy's back really hurts. He's having a tough time progressing. We have to prepare like he's not going to play. It's the way we have to go about it. Hoping he has a recovery and a breakthrough. As of right now, his back really, really hurts. It's a real thing. He just can't play baseball. There's a degenerative disc disease in the lumbar disc, so the condition involves the wear and tear of the spine and the lower back. He's had multiple treatments. He's had an ablation procedure. He's tried Pilates, hours of physical therapy. Nothing has worked. He said it's not easy waking up in pain every day. I'm just trying to determine the next step with the training staff and the doctors. And when he was asked about retirement, he said, I don't want to misspeak. My focus is just to find stuff that will help me wake up in a little less pain than the day before. Yeah, it's awful, it's awful, he said. I'm going to deal with this the rest of my life. I've talked to a lot of people about it. I know a ton of people not just playing baseball, but people have terrible backs, too. I could never have expected this. I wouldn't wish this on my own worst enemy. It's miserable. Chris Bryant says some days it's hard to grab the toothpaste in front of me. It's not like that every day. But those days it's like you just wish you had some type of answer. There's a lot of different sensations I'm feeling. It just feels like I'm being electrocuted in my whole body. It's not ideal. It's pretty miserable. Maybe this is part of old age, even though I'm not even old.
- [48:24]
B
It's not part of old age, bro.
- [48:27]
A
Man, this guy. It's almost like a at this point, like a Greek tragedy where no one had the meteoric rise ever that Chris Bryan had. No one. This guy was, I believe, valedictorian of his high school class. He was college player of the year, who then became the what? Prospect of the year? Minor league player of the year, Rookie of the year, mvp? Like no one's Ever done that before. Nobody has risen to the end, won a World Series. And then it's all. It's almost like that he. The payback for that. And it's not. And I don't believe in that stuff. But it's, It's. Yeah, he was.
- [49:34]
B
He was the pipeline. He was the hitting prospect of the year. Was minor league player of the year. Yeah. Rookie of the year, World Series winner.
- [49:46]
A
Mvp.
- [49:47]
B
Mvp.
- [49:50]
A
And just a really nice guy. We had him on as Boris and Bernstein. He was a regular. He came on every week. And after first. I'll admit, I started out like this. This guy can't be real like this. He's doing a bit and he never has been.
- [50:10]
B
Yeah. You were skeptical. It's weird.
- [50:12]
A
I was, I wasn't like, you know, I don't know. And you know, the skepticism bordering on cynicism. But over time, you really do learn about people. And you know, we talked to his dad and his. His dad Mike, who's the hitting coach. And for so long. And I, I, I don't know. I just feel. I feel terrible for him.
- [50:36]
B
He's only 34. Wasn't a result of an injury. Right. And it wasn't result of anything he did.
- [50:41]
A
No. No. If you a degenerative condition.
- [50:46]
B
Yeah. You just, man, you man mess with your spine and you're g. It's brutal.
- [50:51]
A
Yeah.
- [50:51]
B
Like to hear. They hear from his own words what it, what it's like. It's just. It sounds awful when he says he.
- [50:56]
A
Wouldn'T wish this on his worst. I just. And you know, and then he married his high school sweetheart and had a couple of kids. And you can say what you want about, like, look, all the money he's made. He's a $200 million contract.
- [51:11]
B
None of that matters. He would give all that up. Of course he would give all that up.
- [51:15]
A
If you could write a check. If right now he could write a check to get rid of the horrible pain he wakes up with every day. You don't think he would.
- [51:26]
B
Yeah, just that whole idea of sometimes. Some days it's hard to grab the toothpaste and I mean, we do that multiple times a day. At least I hope we all do. And such a simple action that we just take for granted every day. And the ability to not put toothpaste on your toothbrush.
- [51:42]
A
Come on. Yeah. That's just.
- [51:43]
B
It's horrific.
- [51:44]
A
I, I really hope. I really hope that he finds something that just allows him to have a little bit of release from that, a little bit of peace.
- [51:56]
B
Yeah. I Hope there's something that can be done. Dude, I hear these commercials from, like, Northwestern Medicine, and they're like, oh, Bob had both of his lungs taken out, then put new lungs in. Or how about the one guy. They took his head off.
- [52:06]
A
They took his head off?
- [52:07]
B
Yes, we removed his head, and then his head was off his spine. And then we. And then he's walking two days later and went home. Like, fuck, man. Really?
- [52:17]
A
And then they talked to the guy. Guy's like, yep, they put my ass on my head and my head on my ass, and I'm fine. Loud. And it's like, wait a second. Huh?
- [52:26]
B
They interviewed him too soon, though. Cause he was holding his head. I thought that was weird.
- [52:29]
A
But they show the. There's like, some really cool graphic where there's two people in lab coats, and they point, and then this part of his brain turns purple, and then his head comes off. And then they screw it around and they put it back. It's like, hey, here I am, and I'm out playing softball. Right.
- [52:44]
B
I walked home two days later, right?
- [52:47]
A
What?
- [52:48]
B
Yeah, let's.
- [52:48]
A
Let's.
- [52:49]
B
Let's get Chris Bryant over there and see what they can do.
- [52:51]
A
Yeah. I feel terrible for him. I'm hopeful that he's. And especially the joy that that dude brought Cub fans.
- [53:00]
B
Oh, yeah.
- [53:01]
A
And just how fast everything happened, and it just. It was like, burning through. Through. Through kindling. And then everybody's just all excited, and then it was just over. Then they were gone. And now he's hurt. At least, you know, Javi Baez is still Javi Baez. He's still doing all of those things, and he's still swinging and missing. Have you seen. Have you seen his. His chart? His heat map or the plot chart of the pitches he swings at?
- [53:29]
B
All of his swings? Yes. Yes.
- [53:31]
A
It's awesome. That's a slow clap when you just look at that chart, and it's like, the best part is there's no real rhyme or reason to contact versus no contact. In zone, out of zone. It's just this huge color plot where he's swinging stuff above his head, below his feet. It's like, that's possible. I know.
- [53:58]
B
Yeah. Inside his body.
- [53:59]
A
Yeah.
- [54:00]
B
Three feet outside the plate.
- [54:01]
A
It doesn't matter. He's got a shot at it.
- [54:04]
B
That's got to be the largest color blob of anybody in professional baseball.
- [54:07]
A
I want to see that next to Vlad Senior.
- [54:11]
B
Oh, yeah. It's a good call.
- [54:13]
A
I want to see that next to Vlad Senior.
- [54:15]
B
Overlay on it.
- [54:16]
A
That. Yeah. You could? Yeah, I'm sure someone's done it. Did you see.
- [54:21]
B
I don't know if I sent it to you or if I just reposted it. I saw it on, on X. It was Paul Skeens and four different pitches and they did an overlay of his release of four different pitches and you cannot see more than one body. But then about a foot from his hand, you see the balls start.
- [54:40]
A
No chance separate. It's exploding ball syndrome. Yep.
- [54:43]
B
It's insane.
- [54:44]
A
Dude. It used to be like that. You know who had a chart like that or a video like that was Darvish.
- [54:50]
B
Oh, really?
- [54:51]
A
Yeah. When he had his eight different pitches that he would use regularly. Yeah. That was ridiculous.
- [54:58]
B
Yeah. This Paul skiing things though, it's, it's. Man, it's terrifying.
- [55:02]
A
All you need are two.
- [55:03]
B
Yeah, the dude's got four.
- [55:04]
A
All you need are two.
- [55:05]
B
But all four look the exact same for about. How about traveling halfway to the batter and then all of a sudden one goes far left, one goes up high, one goes down low, one goes inside. You're like, man, how are you supposed to do that? And arm body looks the exact same.
- [55:20]
A
That's major league pitching. That's really stuff. Yep, that's. That. That's the goal. And good luck to you up there.
- [55:27]
B
Yeah, good luck.
- [55:28]
A
Usually they say, here's the tablet. Make sure you're. What? Make sure you go back and use the, you know, the batting cage where you can plug in the actual pitcher. I would think a major league hitter would get out of that batting cage, just be like, yeah, no, no, I.
- [55:43]
B
Just go up and guess. I'm going to guess right here. This pitch.
- [55:47]
A
Some people do. Yeah. Some aging players may be better at that than others or knowing the tells or at least having enough of a tip that it isn't a tip 100% of what a pitch could be, but a tip of a likelihood. Yeah, you know, there's some of those things where you're trying to gain an edge. You have a coach helping you do that. But yeah, it is now, as you know. Time for a 312 sports winter Olympic update. Here's our correspondent Matt Abaticola.
- [56:19]
B
All right, Dan. Exciting times yesterday for the US Team as there were multiple medals earned. Men's two man bobsled. We'll start there though. First the two man bobsled. Not the monobox, not monobob. This is the two man bobsled Germany. I mentioned this only because they won. They swept gold, silver and bronze. Very cool for a country. Yeah, you don't you don't see that very often in an event. But, yeah, looking back at that earlier today, seeing that German flag there in gold, silver, bronze. Very cool for them. Not for us, though. I'll leave the jokes aside. All right, Mac foreland, have you ever. Mac forehand beforehand? Mac forehand.
- [56:59]
A
Yes. I watched it.
- [57:01]
B
You watched?
- [57:01]
A
Okay, I watched. It was actually really exciting.
- [57:05]
B
It's a really cool event, isn't is?
- [57:07]
A
And the. The guy doing the broadcast, the guy doing the color, I have no idea what he's talking about, but I love him.
- [57:18]
B
As far as what's being.
- [57:19]
A
He's just. He's. He is specific. He's super enthusiastic. He is critical when he needs to be. I don't know who he is. I don't know what he's saying, but I love him.
- [57:30]
B
So Mac forehand, he won the silver in the men's big air freestyle skiing. You know what else I love, too, with the broadcasters is the figure skating. And it's. It's Tara Lipinski and Johnny. Johnny Weir and whoever the third person.
- [57:43]
A
Is, but that's Terry Gannon.
- [57:45]
B
Terry Gannon, yes.
- [57:46]
A
Who sounds a little bit like Ed Begley Jr.
- [57:49]
B
Correct. And when the person, like a skater does a jump and they spin and they're like, oh, that last rotation was a quarter of the way off, and their blade should have landed here instead of here. And then you see the score come up and it's like, oh, yeah, they got. They got a quarter point off for, you know, but, like, I don't know how they're seeing that. It's. It's amazing to me. I really enjoy that. Men's team pursuit speed skating. I know it's one of your favorite.
- [58:12]
A
I watched that, too. I did. That is a. That's a. That's an odd sport. But I was. I was. I was starting to understand a little bit about the. The aerodynamics and why they're touching each other and everything.
- [58:23]
B
So this is Casey Dawson, Ethan Separan, and Emory Lehman.
- [58:28]
A
They got motorboating.
- [58:30]
B
Well, they won the silver, though.
- [58:31]
A
They got motorboated. That Italian team reeled them in and blew by them. They beat him by four and a half seconds.
- [58:42]
B
I love that we're using that term now. Michaela Schiffrin, she won gold for women.
- [58:48]
A
About time. Okay.
- [58:50]
B
Yeah. Finally, the women can claim a gold. Men's speed sprint. Cross country. The cross country skiing. But they do it fast, and it's like a team. Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher, two of our favorites, they won silver. Like speed cross country skiing.
- [59:10]
A
That sounds like Learning to get away.
- [59:12]
B
From wolves seems like a lot of work.
- [59:14]
A
Yeah, like, oh boy, we're being chased.
- [59:16]
B
And then men's slope style snowboarding. Jake Cantor, he won the bronze for the US Men's hockey today. They're in the knockout round. They play at 230 against Sweden. The men have undefeated Sweden 2 and 1. So knockout round game today and then the gold game for the women's hockey tournament tomorrow. Features of course, USA and Canada.
- [59:39]
A
Okay. I mean I enjoyed watching some of the broadcasts. You know, it's, it's really kind of nice that Beth and I will sit on the couch together and she'll kind of be looking at her phone and I have the, I have a game that I always play called Cueless, which is my favorite way to. Instead of being on my phone. It's, it's the letter Q hyphen, L, E, S, S. And it's a, it's a solitaire crossword dice game that I play like idly and just sort of have part of my brain playing that.
- [60:11]
B
While you're watching the Olympics?
- [60:12]
A
While I'm watching the Olympics. And it's fun and it's nice and it helps sort of sublimate my nervous energy and dissipate my nervous energy while not being on my phone or not fidgeting. It's, it's, it's a fidget is what it is, but it's a memory.
- [60:27]
B
Yeah, we watch the Olympics every night. She, she's more into it than I am. I'll sometimes float through my phone, look up stories or check other games. But yeah, I will say, watching this.
- [60:35]
A
Stuff, let me say this, it's exceptionally produced.
- [60:38]
B
Oh, the Olympics.
- [60:39]
A
Exceptional. Yeah.
- [60:40]
B
It's unbelievable.
- [60:41]
A
The NBC production, Mike Tirico is a robot. Like, he doesn't bauble, he doesn't misspeak.
- [60:51]
B
He might be a robot. He could be a robot.
- [60:54]
A
It is amazing.
- [60:55]
B
I think we need to have, I don't know, some senate hearing committee take a look into really like to Rico.
- [61:00]
A
Really? No, he's human, doesn't bobble.
- [61:02]
B
Yeah, he's great.
- [61:05]
A
And the set is gorgeous too. It's well lit, it's perfect. A lot of the graphics they're using.
- [61:11]
B
Or have you seen Snoop and Martha Stewart together?
- [61:15]
A
This has been a 312 Sports Olympic update. Yes, I have. And I, and I. And, and I love watching Stanley Tucci.
- [61:24]
B
I do too. He was at some little family owned hotel and he ate beetroot ravioli.
- [61:33]
A
That's not for me, but they looked unbelievable. I'm sure, they're great. That's. That's not for me. I'm not big on, like, the pumpkin ravioli or squash ravioli.
- [61:42]
B
Oh, really? Both. I love it.
- [61:43]
A
Oh, Beth and Zoe would love it. Like the brown butter, sage, all the autumnal stuff. Yeah, she would love that. That's great.
- [61:50]
B
Autumn, too.
- [61:51]
A
I was really impressed with. When he was up at some. He was eating some bread at a northern Italian place up in the Alps, and I wasn't sure exactly where he was. I didn't hear that part. I was busy with the other part of my brain, but I would have thought he was in Austria. They're bringing out butter, and they're eating, like, bread and butter and small, big plate of smoked meat. Like, this is Italy.
- [62:17]
B
Well, they border each other, right?
- [62:19]
A
Yeah, they do. But. But it gets. It gets the. The cuisine gets really sort of Tyrolean, Germanic. Really?
- [62:27]
B
Yeah. I think when you get that far north, they serve every dish with a cigarette, too. You get a heater on the side.
- [62:33]
A
Well, it wouldn't surprise me because how different it is. I've not spent a ton of time in northern Italy.
- [62:38]
B
I would like to.
- [62:40]
A
Yeah. Because I speck is one of the great foods that's ever been made, which is.
- [62:44]
B
Yeah.
- [62:44]
A
I just want to move to Italy.
- [62:45]
B
I think I just want to move there.
- [62:47]
A
Yeah, you should have been a cola. You don't like it here. I think you should move out. Okay. Go somewhere else where people like you, because nobody likes you here.
- [62:57]
B
All right. I have my notes. I want to.
- [62:58]
A
What's this.
- [62:59]
B
What's your story about the NFL kicker?
- [63:01]
A
It's not an NFL kicker. It's a kicker story. It's a final story for a show. It's not about an NFL kicker.
- [63:11]
B
I got.
- [63:11]
A
I said I have a kicker that I wanted to.
- [63:14]
B
I thought it was an NFL kicker.
- [63:15]
A
No, you didn't.
- [63:16]
B
I did, but it's.
- [63:16]
A
No, no. You're lying about thinking it's an NFL kicker. Yeah, you are. I know you're lying. You. You knew it wasn't. And you're. You were doing a bit. Trying to make me unhappy. You're trying to rankle me. I know when I'm. When someone is attempting a rankle.
- [63:34]
B
So you think I'm rankling you?
- [63:35]
A
I think you were. You were actively attempting to rankle me.
- [63:39]
B
All right, so it's not about an NFL kicker.
- [63:41]
A
All right, this comes to us from W L U K L U P. This is from Winnekani, Wisconsin.
- [63:52]
B
Oh, sure.
- [63:53]
A
And. And this is. You're going to see it is a fishing story, but that's not why it caught my eye. It is a sign of spring when we are at Lake sturgeon spearing season.
- [64:07]
B
Okay.
- [64:08]
A
And this is the story. It says. For Brandon Aarons, growing up on Lake Winnebago, sturgeon spearing became a longtime family tradition. Now he's passing it on to his sons, Raiden R a d y n 12 and Ryker, r y k e r 14 is.
- [64:38]
B
Wasn't raiding the name of one of the arcade games?
- [64:42]
A
No. Raiden Street Fighter R a I D E N is from Mortal Kombat.
- [64:47]
B
Mortal Kombat. And then Riker is after the island.
- [64:50]
A
I don't R y K E r Raiden and Riker both with. With using the A Y in there.
- [64:58]
B
And what was his name, the dad?
- [65:00]
A
Brandon.
- [65:01]
B
Brandon. So not.
- [65:02]
A
Brandon's sons are Raiden and Riker. And this was Brandon Begot.
- [65:08]
B
Raiden and Riker.
- [65:09]
A
Brandon said, we had. We had six of them before 8:00 clock this morning. Right away, 701, we heard screaming. My sister got one 7:15. It was like, bang, bang. And then Raiden and Riker ended up hopping in the shack together. We were celebrating in another shack and he started screaming and we ran over there and ripped the door open. This is Riker's third year sturgeon spearing. He brought one in weighing 38 pounds, he said. Riker said, I was just waiting and it came in right below my feet and waited until it was below me and I speared it. And his brother Raiden is getting to experience the sport for the first time. Raiden brought in one at £111.
- [65:48]
B
Get out of here.
- [65:49]
A
And Raiden said Riker was yelling at me because I wasn't paying attention to the hole. I was daydreaming off. And right after he said that, he went, big sturgeon, big sturgeon. I just threw the spear and I got him. He's got a bigger fish than I ever got. Said Brandon. I've been doing this for, I don't know. I started doing it with my dad when I was like 5. And Braden and Raiden and Riker and the other sturgeon spearers in northeast Wisconsin had been successful because the water clarity was good. And they can continue. If you have a tag for the upriver lakes, you can continue to spear, it says. Or when was this?
- [66:24]
B
You said Lake Winnebago, right?
- [66:27]
A
Yeah. The season's over now, by the way. But this was on Lake Winnebago. Yeah.
- [66:30]
B
So that's Lake Winnebago goes from Fond du Lac all the way north to Appleton.
- [66:35]
A
Yeah.
- [66:35]
B
And it's east borders Oshkosh.
- [66:38]
A
Well, Fond du Lac is probably.
- [66:40]
B
What is that like an hour, hour 15 from me? Probably.
- [66:43]
A
Yeah. Fond du Lac is called Fond du Lac because of its position. Fond du Lac, bottom of the lake.
- [66:50]
B
Oh, I thought, I thought a lot.
- [66:51]
A
Of bad things happened there at Fondle. They put the fondle in Fond du Lac.
- [66:56]
B
Yeah, that's what I thought.
- [66:57]
A
There was a kid at camp from Fond du Lac. We always said that about him.
- [67:01]
B
That was always the joke. But that was nice for him.
- [67:04]
A
I bet you put the fondle in Fond du Lac, don't you? Yeah, he got a lot of that. But yes, a fond bottom of the lake and that's where it is at the southern little tip.
- [67:14]
B
Oh, so then Appleton, because it's at the top of the lake that.
- [67:17]
A
I don't understand what you're talking about. Okay. I don't get it. But Raiden and Riker the only. And what's tough, that's.
- [67:24]
B
Well, especially Riker.
- [67:26]
A
And how are they not Canadian junior hockey players? Because usually These are the 14 year olds that are getting drafted into the OHL. When I see R A D Y N and R Y K E R. But wait, did we just gloss over.
- [67:40]
B
The idea that he speared a 111 pound fish?
- [67:43]
A
They're big, they're, they're. That fish can be 50 years old but it's tightly controlled. Sometimes these seasons can last an hour. Sometimes they, they last a day. They've got a very, very, very strict limit.
- [67:58]
B
The season could last an hour.
- [68:00]
A
Yep.
- [68:01]
B
Yep.
- [68:01]
A
The lakes, depending on how many and depending on certain species and subspecies that there are seasons that if, if, if. So if two fish of certain size or three fish of certain size are harvested, it's it, it's over. They sound a siren and everybody goes home.
- [68:19]
B
I think the NBA should look into that. That would be a ideal length of.
- [68:23]
A
Time for their league one game season. An hour that's over.
- [68:27]
B
It's your game in guys. Because the season ends in an hour.
- [68:30]
A
Yep.
- [68:30]
B
You know, 111. So there's a. We have a. Our football program has a special 8th grade thing happening next month. I got Hank sign up for it And I. He's 52 and he's 111 pounds.
- [68:43]
A
Yeah. So this, this guy speared a fish that was as big as.
- [68:48]
B
That's insane. And this is a 14 year old kid doing this.
- [68:52]
A
Yeah, it's not that big a deal. It's just right under your feet. You Just go doink.
- [68:57]
B
Well, it's a dumb fish then. Stay away from the feet, fish.
- [69:00]
A
Well, they don't. They don't know. They're not. They haven't selected to dodge spears.
- [69:08]
B
They should. They should consider it. They should get together and talk about it. You know, maybe get no group and be like, hey, you guys remember when Bill got stabbed in the eye last year? We should probably avoid those things.
- [69:18]
A
Yeah. Raiden and Riker running around those. Those guys sound scary as hell.
- [69:22]
B
Yeah, they do. Riker certainly does.
- [69:24]
A
They both do. Rad y. Raiden and Riker. Okay.
- [69:30]
B
Like there's a TV show in the making right there.
- [69:33]
A
I don't know. It's just, it's. How do you come up with those? Those are. They don't mess with.
- [69:37]
B
Well, it could be like, oh, so the movie you didn't see four Christmases where Vince Vaughn, his two brothers are named after the cities they were conceived in. So there's like Orlando, Dallas and Denver. Maybe that's where they were conceived. I don't know.
- [69:52]
A
Rikers island, maybe. But that's r I k e r.
- [69:56]
B
Well, you got to put a little flare in it, Shmuley.
- [70:00]
A
I do not expect any of those kids in these places to be named Shmuley anytime soon. That might surprise me. Yeah. Hi.
- [70:12]
B
I'm going to show you how to sturgeon fish today. This is my son, Shmuley. Hello. He's a 75 year old man.
- [70:23]
A
You maybe see gets a jar of filter fish.
- [70:27]
B
Breakfast first, right?
- [70:28]
A
I'll be out there. Season's over already, Shmuly.
- [70:31]
B
Oh, well, you've missed it again.
- [70:32]
A
Well, I tend to miss it. That's. That happens. You know, March is around the corner. College basketball is heating up. It really is, actually. And that means it's time to get in on the action with my bookie. I want to mend to you, by the way, Maddie, I was getting a little studying done about some college basketball.
- [70:52]
B
Okay.
- [70:53]
A
Your scouting report on the Houston Cougars was actually really good.
- [71:00]
B
Thank you. And if I put a little effort into basketball, I can, I can. I know what I'm talking about. Well, I know, but.
- [71:06]
A
And I was. I was reading somebody who follows them very closely and said, this is not a typical Houston Cougar team. They're better at offense than defense, which is incredibly rare. They just are not a typical defensive team that we're used to seeing in this program. And here's where they're vulnerable. I'm like, you know what? Maddie did a pretty good job in his Scott, when you Asked me to.
- [71:28]
B
Do it for you. So I said, I'm going to do it. I'm going to invest into it and see I got some basketball chops if I try.
- [71:34]
A
I was going to say you were. You were dead on. So when we started, and this might be a little bit of a tease here, but when we start getting into the possibility of doing brackets and, I don't know, maybe inviting some people to participate, you might be more formidable than I thought. But the conference races are tightening bubble. Teams are fighting for their lives. Every game matters. Every possession feels bigger. Things are getting fun. So it isn't just about picking winners. The prop board is there. Team totals, player points, futures specific tournament odds. Right now, there's all kinds of value if you're paying close attention. And now is when you want to jump in, because now you, you. You can have. You can lock some things in before some of these numbers start changing. So do it. Use the code DBU when you register and when you make your deposit at MyBookie AG, because that covers your first bet up to 500 bucks. And if it doesn't hit, you have a bet back bonus token. You can run it all back. One account, one wallet, whatever you like to bet is there. MyBookie Ag. The code is DBU. So do this in anticipation of March and beyond and hell, then we're going to be already into baseball and then football already. So don't just watch the madness build. Make it pay with my bookie.
- [72:55]
B
And tonight we have Illinois and USC, if you want to watch that.
- [72:59]
A
Okay.
- [73:00]
B
Number 10, Illinois at USC.
- [73:02]
A
And USC's record is. Eric Musselman's there, right?
- [73:06]
B
He is, yep.
- [73:07]
A
My guy.
- [73:08]
B
The record is.
- [73:09]
A
Love, Eric. Good coach.
- [73:11]
B
They really good coach. What are they?
- [73:14]
A
He's one of those guys where usually his team will get. Get around further. It's sort of like the Michigan State rule on that, that. I like the way he puts things.
- [73:24]
B
Yeah, you've always liked him.
- [73:25]
A
Good dude.
- [73:27]
B
USC, here they are. They are 7 and 13 in conference.
- [73:31]
A
Okay. Down year for them. And then he'll find some couple of monster players and they'll be good.
- [73:38]
B
Yes, 17, 18 overall, but yeah, 7 and 13 in conference. 17 and 18 overall.
- [73:42]
A
All right, well, that concludes Dan Bernstein, unfiltered on this Wednesday. Thank you for joining us. We have been brought to you by the Chicago Window. Guys, our dear friend Russ, 847-302-9171. If you need new windows. And we're brought to you in partnership with my bookie, Dan Bernstein.
- [74:02]
B
Unfiltered Unfiltered on 312Sports.
- [74:08]
A
Record sales have not exactly been stellar.
- [74:11]
B
Look, I need this tour.
- [74:12]
A
It's the only place I feel like I can breathe again. Based on the incredible true story I'm Tim.
- [74:17]
B
I'm Mark's Warm up. It's my first tour this Friday. I just want to write something that helps people.
- [74:23]
A
You will never understand what I'm going through. Imagine what God can do again.
- [74:28]
B
Whatever you're going through, you're never alone. God is in fire and it is beautiful. I can only imagine.
- [74:35]
A
Two Only in theaters Friday. Rated pg.