Matt Abaticola (2:48)

Maybe they can do that. Maybe they can get Scotty Pippen. They can hire Pippen.

Dan Bernstein (2:54)

Yep.

Matt Abaticola (2:55)

And decides to excellence.

Dan Bernstein (2:57)

Just have him, you know, sipping a drink and muttering about things and how miserable he is. Yeah, I think people tune in for that. Oh, how's Scotty doing? Yeah, not great. I watched the John Candy doc. I liked it. It is really well made, fascinating and star studded.

Matt Abaticola (3:15)

Yes.

Dan Bernstein (3:16)

My goodness. Is it full of people I like and very candid. Personal. It's a deeply personal documentary.

Matt Abaticola (3:29)

Yeah. We'll talk about it. Glad you watched it.

Dan Bernstein (3:33)

Too long. Didn't read. I recommend it and it's not what you. It takes a turn at the end, a really hard turn. But we will discuss regarding the Bears. For so long we have defaulted to a feeling of having to go up the ladder of influence and power in the organization to be satisfied with the answers. And this is starting sort of near the end of Matt Negy and into the whole aftermath of what's been since then. There has been this, this, this idea of waiting and waiting and waiting for somebody to tell you, yes, we're watching the same games y about how this is going and who's in charge. And we've heard way too much ownership at the ends of seasons, way Too much George McCaskey talking about Darnell Mooney and everything else that has gotten discussed over time here. And we can't wait to hear what, what does the general manager have to say? Okay, now they've, they've hired a general manager along with this new coach and everything's going to be fine now because somebody's sort of in charge. That's not the way successful modern NFL teams work. On the really good teams. There is no question who the most powerful, significant person in your organization is and that is your head coach. Period. The head coach is your football program. If there, if that sounds a little collegiate, fine. Because in a well run organization, that is the person who wields the most power, who earns it. It isn't just because of a contract. It isn't just because of a title. It's because of the gravity and quality of the person you've hired. I am pleased to say, very pleased to say that as much as we get into the weeds and as much as we quibble about this decision and that decision and do you win the. What do you do if you win the toss and do you kick a field goal or not later in the. That here after eight games, let's, let's draw back the focus a little bit. Are we agreed and that we have a full understanding that Ben Johnson is the most important person in this organization right now? No questions. That when we hear the name Ryan Polls, we don't think the same thing. It's like, oh, we have to, we have to hang on every word because we don't trust the idiot coach. We have to listen to everything this guy says to hope and presume that there's an adult in the room who's got control of this in a way that we think it can be better. It's already better. It is. Clearly. Say what you want about their fortunes this year, where they're headed, where the draft picks are, who's hurt, who's not hurt. Caleb Williams. Take everything out. They're better. They're in a better place. There's some kind of foundation. There is an understanding. Look at all the numbers across the board. They're one of the best offenses in football, right?

Matt Abaticola (7:04)

Yes.

Dan Bernstein (7:05)

Right. They're one of the best offenses in football. After eight games under Ben Johnson with this team, it's not his roster.

Matt Abaticola (7:10)

With a team that is not clicking on all cylinders. Correct.

Dan Bernstein (7:14)

And yeah, they've played some horseshit teams. I don't care. It's the NFL. There's.

Matt Abaticola (7:18)

Yeah. You can't. You can't. They don't. The Bears don't make the schedule.

Dan Bernstein (7:21)

There's a lot of bad out there.

Matt Abaticola (7:22)

Right. And the Bears don't create injuries for other teams. It is what it is. That's the team you play on Saturday or Sunday or on Thursday or on Monday.

Dan Bernstein (7:29)

They're down to fifth string guys in the secondary.

Matt Abaticola (7:33)

You have to win the games that you play. That's it.

Dan Bernstein (7:34)

Period. They have.

Matt Abaticola (7:35)

They've won more than they lost.

Dan Bernstein (7:36)

Yep. And they. They're one of the best offenses in the league. I think it's really meaningful that after a trade deadline, when usually with the general manager's gonna come out and huddle with the beat people or whatever that access is gonna be, that's usually like a state of the team address. And we hang on every word. Post deadline. We hang on every word. What does he think? Where is this going? Who's solid in their jobs? Who's not? We're not doing that right now. We're not. And that. That negative space, the lack of that is noticeable and good. I think that's a real positive. No matter where this season ends up, the fact that you got here, you got to the midpoint of your new head coach's first season, and it is clear he's the most powerful person in the Bears organization. And his side of the football is. Is doing the things that he said, explosive plays that passes over 20 yards and runs over 10, and I think by percentage, they're leading the NFL. They're scoring points at a rate that this franchise has never seen. And then when he talks about the roster and when the general manager talks about the roster, he's talking about the Head coach. And I'm looking at these quotes. This is polls. A lot of times you get into these moments, you get tunnel vision about right now, what do I need to do? Ben Johnson's ability, I'm parenthetically said, his ability to see short term and long term for us to be able to have those conversations is, as a front office person, really awesome. To have not only him, but also Dennis Allen too, who's been in that chair to see the big picture and how we want to build this football team. They have a really good understanding of it, which is good.

Matt Abaticola (9:36)

Well, Dan, it's the. It's the first time that Ryan Poles has a head coach that knows how to run a football team and a football organization. That's what Ben Johnson doing. He's running the Chicago Bears organization.

Dan Bernstein (9:49)

Yes.

Matt Abaticola (9:49)

It's just that simple.

Dan Bernstein (9:51)

Well, I don't know if it's that simple.

Matt Abaticola (9:52)

No, it is. It is that simple. It really is that simple. The McCaskeys are not involved. You know, they can stand in the tunnel and they can hoot and holler and high five and, you know, saunter away.

Dan Bernstein (10:04)

It's a good job for them.

Matt Abaticola (10:05)

It is a very good job. And hollering that, that should be the extent of what they do. Ryan Poles has given the keys to Ben Johnson, and Ben Johnson is going to have more influence on draft picks. He clearly had an influence on the trade deadline. We heard him. And these are the things that Ryan. Polls echoed what Ben Johnson said prior to the trades happening, about keeping assets, about big picture, about the immediate impact.

Dan Bernstein (10:31)

About not straying from that. Regardless of how tantalizing it can be to be ahead of schedule now, he.

Matt Abaticola (10:39)

Has a vision and a plan for this team. It may not work out in the end, but they are on that path. They're following the vision that the leader has laid out before them. And the general manager is finally a part of that vision and not like a separate entity. Because the head coaches previously, Dan, have not been of the quality of Ben Johnson.

Dan Bernstein (11:02)

Right. You hired. So my early returns. Are you hired the right guy?

Matt Abaticola (11:08)

Yes. Yeah. And we thought that. And it's nice to see the fruits of that actually bearing some valuable assets. Eight games into his first season. I mean, Matt Eberfluice, Matt Nag. I think Matt Nagy probably will get another chance as a head coach and he may do better. I think he was in a bit over his head.

Dan Bernstein (11:30)

Yeah. I'm not rooting against him. Should that happen?

Matt Abaticola (11:32)

Absolutely not.

Mike King (11:32)

No.

Matt Abaticola (11:33)

Don't forget, he was. He was AP coach of the year in 2018, which is insane to remember. John Fox kind of brought a football semblance back to Hallis hall, even though he had checked out by the time he got here and was, you know, cash and paychecks. Mark Tressman. Lovey Smith was the last guy you had that was really in charge and actually ran a football program and put together with Jerry Angelo, who wasn't about shining the light on Jerry Angelo.

Dan Bernstein (11:59)

Jerry never had a big ego.

Matt Abaticola (12:00)

No, he never did. And he was more than happy.

Dan Bernstein (12:02)

That was your dude.

Matt Abaticola (12:03)

Oh, he was my guy.

Dan Bernstein (12:04)

Yeah. You and Jerry got along really well.

Matt Abaticola (12:05)

Really well. And he, he was more than happy to. Here, here's, here's Lovey Smith. Here's Lovey Smith. More than happy to do that.

Dan Bernstein (12:13)

Oh, you know, here's Lovey Smith.

Matt Abaticola (12:15)

Yeah, he was, he was great. Jerry was great. And they, they put together one hell of a defensive unit in those years that, that Lovey was here because they were aligned in the end, being fired after 10 and six season, I'll say that, that he got absolutely screwed.

Dan Bernstein (12:31)

So this is a good time. It's a good time to recognize here as a, it's an arbitrary marking point because we don't have the mid season or late season buy that. This is the halfway point. We don't have one.

Matt Abaticola (12:46)

Right.

Dan Bernstein (12:46)

This is as close as we have to a halfway point.

Matt Abaticola (12:48)

Well, we're eight and a half weeks, right?

Dan Bernstein (12:50)

Eight and a half weeks midway through our week. Now, really, this would be the time.

Matt Abaticola (12:55)

Nine and a half months.

Dan Bernstein (12:56)

This would be the time where we do something like this. And I think it's okay to recognize the, you know, the. I always think about this, you know, when you're in, in customer service hell. When you're in like Kafka esque customer service hell, whatever it may be, whatever giant company you're dealing with as a customer, you've got something you can't solve at home. You've unplugged everything, You've plugged it back in. You've done a hard reset, you have gone into your settings and then the nuclear option, you have the kids come over and say. And you have them come into the room and you hand them all the remotes and you say, can you fix whatever this is? And they're like, yeah, no, no, try this thing. And it's like, is this illegal? This might be illegal. Don't do that. Okay, fine. And you get on the phone and you call the 1, 800 number and you go through the litany of what you've been dealing with, and they're very nice. And all you want is for somebody to understand the scope of what you're dealing with. And the person will say, yeah, my system can't access this. To solve this problem, I need to hand you up to my supervisor. Okay, great. How long am I gonna be on hold? And they transfer you and they cut you off. So you call back and you go through the litany again, and then you say, look, I was being transferred to a supervisor. Like, oh, yeah, well, you got a different call center, whatever it may be. You eventually reach the supervisor, and they say, oh, okay, well, yeah, we're gonna have to have somebody come to your house. Or it might be engineering. And you have this incredible lack of satisfaction of being understood. Somebody saying, look, I've tried that. I know it's not this. I know we've ruled this out. We've ruled that trying to remain as nice as you can be while having to repeat everything 100 times and punch in your zip code and all of your information, your account number 100 times. But that's how. That's how you felt as a. As a Bears fan. That's how it's been for too long, waiting for the next person to give you some sort of sense that they know what you've been dealing with. And after the season, it's been. It's been the team president or it's been ownership and say, all right, well, when. When can the regular function of this team be handled like a really good team, where the actual coach is in charge of things and you trust the coach? I think we're there. I think. I think at the very least, we're there now. And that's good. That for the foreseeable future, we only have to go up to head coach to know that that person is empowered. That. That person that whatever internal system of decisions and pulling levers and moving everything around that he's got control of, that the play's being called that we don't see, we can trust. And I'm willing to say that if nothing else, there's. That. There's that. And that's no small thing.

Matt Abaticola (16:26)

No, it isn't a small thing. But it's also pretty sad that in this organization's history that it's taken this long.

Dan Bernstein (16:34)

Yeah, but that's where we've been.

Matt Abaticola (16:35)

Yeah, that's where we've been. And you have to look, too, at their hiring practices of a head coach they've never hired outside of John Fox. And then after. After George Hallis had a couple, three different stints coaching the Bears. They just don't hire. And I think there was one other too. They just don't hire guys with head coaching experience. It's always trying to find that next guy.

Dan Bernstein (16:56)

And Ben Johnson was not.

Matt Abaticola (16:57)

Ben Johnson was not. And there haven't been many that have been that successful. Matt Nagy went to the playoffs in 2018 and he actually left with a winning record. It just, it didn't feel like it. Looking back on it, you wouldn't go, yeah, he had a winning record, but he did.

Dan Bernstein (17:12)

But then they had to strip play calling duties from him. Yeah, he was completely emasculated by the time he was done. This was an offensive quote, unquote, visionary. He had play cards in his off. That was his thing. And the moment that Bill Laser had to take over play calling, it was over. You see in his eyes, it was. That was done.

Matt Abaticola (17:34)

Yeah, but it's just traditionally the coordinators that get the head coaching job for the first time. And it just seems like right now, and again, it may not pay off in the end. We just don't know where it's going to go.

Dan Bernstein (17:45)

But this early returns, this got every chance. Early returns.

Matt Abaticola (17:49)

That's what this is.

Dan Bernstein (17:50)

Very good this half a season. Half of his first season is a very early return. But I do think that eight games is a reasonable sample. And not just the games. The time since he's taken over, since we've had a draft and Rookie mini camp, OTAs and a full training camp. And now eight games into a season, it's November 6th. I think the Bears got a good one. Yeah.

Matt Abaticola (18:17)

And what's super encouraging is that he realizes it's nowhere near where it's. Where it's where it can be.

Dan Bernstein (18:23)

Yep.

Matt Abaticola (18:24)

And that should be encouraging the Bears fans that we've seen so many good things in these first eight games. And there have been some, some bad things, obviously, but it's, it's no, it's nowhere near where he wants it to be. Envisions it to be.

Dan Bernstein (18:36)

And we trust and is planning on.

Matt Abaticola (18:38)

Taking the team to that destination.

Dan Bernstein (18:39)

And there's a sense of belief. Yeah, that's all. There's a sense of belief that hasn't been here in a while.

Matt Abaticola (18:44)

Good stuff.

Dan Bernstein (18:45)

And I think it matters to note that, to actually say it, that that's here halfway through a season. It's okay to recognize that and think, oh, that's pretty cool because we haven't had that in a while here with the Chicago fucking Bears. Who started Grambling So, Matt, Jack Rod, you put in 1 of paper and get 4 of coin. Who was the first big time revolt? Grambler.

Guest or caller (19:12)

Who? Probably some hunk who said wombat.

Dan Bernstein (19:17)

I knew when I sent that to.

Matt Abaticola (19:18)

You that you were gonna love it.

Dan Bernstein (19:21)

The fact that we're bringing back Dr. Steve Brule, just who started grambling, just because it's fun. Chicago connection, too. And he won't talk about it even if we got John C. Reilly. He will not talk about Dr. Steve Bruhl because it's too weird and he doesn't want to ruin it.

Matt Abaticola (19:37)

He's an American treasure.

Dan Bernstein (19:38)

Absolutely. An American treasure. And once you watch enough of those, it's hard to watch him in other roles especially.

Matt Abaticola (19:47)

Oh, it's already difficult.

Dan Bernstein (19:48)

Especially in Kong Skull Island. Yeah. When he's got the broat. I was laughing, though, and I know I was supposed to be laughing, but I was. I just kept thinking, he's on a broat. I have five broats. If you are waiting for Sunday to start betting, you're missing half the fun and half the money. College football's already cooking with upsets, blowouts, wild covers, and I mean, the whole year has been crazy. The year's been been ridiculous because of all the variants in college football. At some point, we're going to start getting into where we're going with the playoff and who could end up where and how they're going to seed this whole thing.

Matt Abaticola (20:30)

Yeah, the first bracket came out Tuesday, and it's bullshit.

Dan Bernstein (20:33)

Oh, about whom are you angry?

Matt Abaticola (20:36)

Nothing.

Dan Bernstein (20:37)

All right, go on. I can't wait to get to this. My bookie lets you hit everything. Game lines, player props and more. Everything you need before the pros even kick off. When Sunday rolls around, you're already up. Because my bookie has everything under one roof. You can win big on the NFL super contest and survivor pools. And if you are new to my bookie, we have the code for you. Dbu, Dan Bernstein, unfiltered, and then Annie bet. You choose up to $500, you say, what do you mean it's fully covered? Well, make your play and then if it doesn't hit, you get it right back. When you opt in with the bet back bonus token. DBU is the code. Don't forget it. Those three letters, all you need. It's my bookie. Where bettors win together. Bragging's good, but cashing in is better. I gave you two winners last time with DBU picks that are brought to you by my bookie. And we'll see what we have in store for you tomorrow. And as well and speaking of gambling, I'm even gonna use it as an unironic segue because we've already been very open and clear about that. Who started grambling that we're gonna lean into the irony. Tell me if you think that this. And I guess I'm kind of open sourcing this question to you. Two weeks ago, multiple law enforcement agencies held a national breaking news press conference. Standing up in full costume in their FBI windbreakers and their. We had audio their dark suits and we like live. We were working.

Matt Abaticola (22:17)

We played audio from Captain Cash.

Dan Bernstein (22:18)

It was live. And there he was. That twitchy McSniffles was was there to tell you about this groundbreaking investigation. Multiple arrests made a sting, a sweep, an operation picking up a sitting working NBA head coach engaged in illegal poker games with four of the five New York crime families.

Matt Abaticola (22:45)

Huge, right?

Dan Bernstein (22:46)

Huge. An active rostered NBA player then immediately suspended because of accusations of point shaving for prop bets. Other people named questions about how far does it reach? Where does it go. Adam Silver on opening night, the commissioner of the NBA talking about new transparency and how they're gonna take away the power of these dark forces by making sure that there are no injury secrets to be had about who's playing and load management and all of that. Oh my goodness. Massive banner headlines. That was two weeks ago. Two weeks ago. Nothing.

Matt Abaticola (23:30)

Yeah, it's. And then quiet.

Dan Bernstein (23:31)

And then we had five different NBA players score 50 points in a game in like the first week. We have the Chicago Bulls off to their rip roaring start at 6 and 1. If the season ended today, Josh Giddey would get MVP votes. I'm not kidding. I'm not exaggerating on that. Like all sorts of things have been going on. Meanwhile what sort of caught my eye was in the just the news and notes from around sports. Members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce met with NBA officials in the wake of the federal indictments of Trailblazers coach Chauncey Billups, heat guard Terry Rozier and former player Damon Jones. According to espn, the meeting was considered an informational sit down for conversations about the league's partnerships with sportsbooks and measures to prevent illegal use of non public information. Okay, like that happened and we're just assimilating it into everything. Is this a statement about multiple choice? Is this the general flood of news of so much happening and so many more important things than sports happening? Is this a presumption that this was inevitable? It was gonna surface one way or another. It was gonna happen Root it out, figure out why it happened, make sure it doesn't happen the next time. Stay out in front of it until the next time. That once all of this was above board and legal, we knew that organized crime wasn't gonna give up the territory easily, that there were gonna be places and people who were gonna find other areas. And it's. And it's not the first. We had the college baseball gambling scandal with a really stupid one when they were acting on information about a starting pitcher in a college game was immediately flagged. Is this. Is this everything working correctly? Is this the fail safes and the trip wires for security purposes actually working? And now this is the nature of how all of this gets improved. Of finding out what slipped through the cracks and we just presumed.

Mike King (26:02)

Or.

Dan Bernstein (26:06)

Do enough people legit just not care?

Matt Abaticola (26:09)

I was gonna say option C3. Another thought is it's just. It's the NBA or. And people are just, all right, it's too big. It was a great story when it broke and happened and, you know, they made a big show out of it. And now it's kind of like, all right, at the end of the day, it's.

Dan Bernstein (26:27)

It's the NBA or is it all of the above? Is it. Rather than getting angry with, oh, people today have short attention spans and they can't care. Is. Is it that everybody does care, but has the presumption, even with the. Some of the mistrust in our institutions right now say, all right, well, this happened. I'm sure it's not that big a deal. I'm going right into my app and I'm gonna make my bets as ever. And that's just part of it. I do think that maybe there's also an element of. Because it was twitchy McSniffles who nobody trusts to be competent at his job and. And knowing that we have entire previously to some extent trustworthy, that not everybody trusts government the same way. And maybe you're like, oh, well, this is just grandstanding and this is just something to hit back at. At a perceived enemy in some way.

Matt Abaticola (27:24)

Didn't help that after that that story broke that he took a government plane and flew somewhere to see his girlfriend. And then flew his girlfriend. Yeah. Flew her home back to Nashville.

Dan Bernstein (27:34)

Yep.

Matt Abaticola (27:35)

While, you know, government workers are furloughed and not being paid.

Dan Bernstein (27:38)

That probably didn't help his credibility, his authority.

Matt Abaticola (27:43)

Just the story itself. Yeah. With him being the front man for it and.

Dan Bernstein (27:47)

Yeah.

Matt Abaticola (27:47)

Yeah.

Dan Bernstein (27:48)

Well, that's what, that's what you get.

Matt Abaticola (27:49)

One of the. One of the best things that come out of this story though was there was a hearing on Tuesday, Dan, where bail was denied for legendary mafioso son Anthony Ruggiero Jr. His father, Anthony Ruggiero Sr. Who went by the name Quack Quack, by the way.

Dan Bernstein (28:09)

Quack quack.

Matt Abaticola (28:10)

Yep. Junior was pushing for a 5 million dollar. 5 million dollar bond insured by his family and friends. It was heard in federal court on Tuesday in Brooklyn. And Joseph Maritolo, the judge denied that to. To Junior saying that, no, if you get out, you're not, you're not being held. That there was a fear that he would go back to witness tampering. So here's what the federal prosecutors did while he was in his cell. They actually put the individual that is cooperating with the law in the cell with him to make him angry. And what he did is he took his hand and he shaped it into the form of a gun and said, you know, we do it rats. We deal with it up close and personal. To which the judge was like, does.

Dan Bernstein (29:02)

He think he's in a movie?

Matt Abaticola (29:03)

So that. Yes. So the judge is like, well, if you get out and you're not being held, you're gonna tamper with witnesses like.

Dan Bernstein (29:09)

You'Ve done previously, like we saw you do.

Matt Abaticola (29:12)

So we're. No. And even before this case, he's a history of this. So they said, we're gonna deny Quack Quack the, The bond and he's gonna have to stay in jail. So that his, his lawyer, James Focaro, he says, what did you expect him to do, putting the witness in the cell with. With his, his client? Did they expect him to give him a hug and a kiss? He didn't lay a hand on him. No. He just threatened him.

Dan Bernstein (29:38)

No, he just threatened him with, with what was presumed to be a gun.

Matt Abaticola (29:43)

So apparently he was part of this. These, these high poke. These high. High card. The high stakes gambling card games, using NBA players as front men to bring other. There's also an NFL player that they use, a former NFL player to be a frontman to these games, to get these suckers into these rigged gambling poker events. Yeah. So his $5 million bond was denied and he's going to be held.

Dan Bernstein (30:12)

What a world we live in.

Matt Abaticola (30:13)

Anthony Ruggiero Jr. Also known as Quack Quack, adopted his father's name because he likes to talk a lot.

Dan Bernstein (30:21)

Ah, well, that's usually a bad thing for a Mafioso.

Matt Abaticola (30:24)

Generally speaking, yes.

Dan Bernstein (30:25)

A bad reputation to have as a mot who started Grambling. Well, it's it's ancient. I mean, we have to, we go back to Circus Maximus probably. There was, you know, paramutual wagering and everything going on there. I don't know.

Matt Abaticola (30:40)

But reading the story, I, I think, I think Junior's getting a raw deal, so he should be let out. I don't think he should be held.

Dan Bernstein (30:47)

Well, what about the other guy in the cell? Keep him, keep the rat.

Matt Abaticola (30:51)

Well, he's cooperating. You gotta keep that rat. Keep him in protection. Yeah.

Dan Bernstein (30:54)

Do we have a big inflatable scabby to rat?

Matt Abaticola (30:57)

Oh, there's one down the street.

Dan Bernstein (30:58)

There was, there was one right in front of where my daughter works and she's like, oh, there's a giant rat here again today. Who started Grambling Jack Frot. I always get hungry when you talk about protein bar. And I was walking back in the sales department yesterday and I was looking like, oh, I know that particular protein bar bowl. I know that one. I know where you went for lunch because of how immensely popular protein bar and kitchen is. And why shouldn't it be? Because that menu is designed for all day power protein packed breakfast items and delicious lunch and dinner options, familiar flavors, mindful ingredients and the nutrition and the amount of protein in everything that they have for whatever your active lifestyle and healthy lifestyle is going to be. They don't sacrifice any bit of deliciousness. And it was so nice when we went out there and we got to taste everything and find Alsa. And I said, oh, what is in this? And even some of the desserts that was like, this is one of the best ice cream sundaes I've ever had. And then he explained to me like, well, here's how healthy what you're eating actually is. And I thought, oh man. And that was the Sunday Funday smoothie bowl.

Matt Abaticola (32:18)

It was good stuff.

Dan Bernstein (32:19)

Oh man. Organic peanut butter and cocoa malt and the chocolate whey protein. And it's made with oat milk and cocoa nibs and date syrup and the house made granola over the top. There's 15 locations for protein bar and kitchen, mostly Chicagoland area, including Northbrook and Oakbrook. So whatever your need is, even if it's just middle of the day with a pickup, even if, you know, instead of your morning frappuccino, why don't you go in and get yourself the perk shake with cocoa malt and espresso, whey protein and chocolate whey protein, almond milk, 24 grams of protein. When you do that and you get your little kick from it as well, my mouth is watering. Right now, with the code DBU50. DBU50, you're gonna get 50% off at protein Bar and Kitchen when you use the app. You gotta use the app and it's simple to do. You open it up, you hit more, hit the promo code, hit submit, apply the offer when you check out and you can get 50% off your first order at Protein Bar and Kitchen. Outstanding stuff. And you can sub out ingredients, say, put more of this and put a little less of this, or put extra meat on the salad. Whatever you want. They are there to make everything easy and delicious for you. They're good peeps.

Matt Abaticola (33:42)

I just keep thinking about the Mexicali burrito. Now that's what I want.

Dan Bernstein (33:46)

Well, go get one.

Matt Abaticola (33:47)

I'm gonna have to.

Dan Bernstein (33:47)

They're right here.

Matt Abaticola (33:48)

I'm gonna stop. Why don't you go get the way to the train?

Dan Bernstein (33:50)

Go get a Mexicali burrito. But your code, the fall menu is in full effect as well. They got all kinds of awesome stuff for fall. The Miso salmon bowl, the Smashing Pumpkin shake. So use the code DBU50 in the protein Bar and Kitchen app and enjoy.

Matt Abaticola (34:08)

So, Dr. Steven Brill, what do you call it? Protein.

Dan Bernstein (34:11)

No, he doesn't take ours out.

Matt Abaticola (34:12)

Oh, he doesn't take ours out.

Dan Bernstein (34:13)

Okay. Nope.

Matt Abaticola (34:15)

So maybe it's always been Potein and then he got a hold of it. Protein.

Dan Bernstein (34:19)

Ahroy. We were asking yesterday, and just coincidentally we were asking yesterday about as the coaching carousel spins in college football, but where in the orbit are the pariahs? Not the piranhas, but the pariahs? Where, where is. Where are those who have been shunned because of bad behavior and because of what they allowed on their watch? Art Briles allowed violence and rape. And Patrick Fitzgerald, we know at Northwestern just had to be completely oblivious to the years and years of organized hazing and sexual assault. How could possibly, as it went on for years and years and years, the most powerful person in all of Northwestern and all, not just sports, but the most powerful person at the university had no clue what was possibly happening. His case against the university, I mean.

Matt Abaticola (35:19)

Put football at Northwestern on the map.

Dan Bernstein (35:23)

So his case for the unlawful firing lawsuit was settled. It was settled. So there was no decision made. There was a settlement reached. But now he's claiming vindication. So this is how it begins. He is claiming vindication. He had his first time speaking publicly and this was on ESPN's college game day podcast. He said, I feel very fortunate. I feel fully vindicated. Now I can't tell him how to feel right. You can feel any way you want. You can be sitting on death row and feel vindicated and innocent and maybe you are, so whatever.

Matt Abaticola (36:08)

But I mean, he could feel pretty. He could feel all sorts of things. He could feel pretty, right?

Dan Bernstein (36:13)

But he's not vindicated. It was a settlement. And Northwestern indeed released a statement that said inappropriate conduct in the football program did occur. The evidence uncovered during extensive discovery did not establish that any player reported hazing to Coach Fitzgerald or that Coach Fitzgerald condoned or directed any hazing. Do you know what that's called? There's a two word term for what this settlement hinged upon. Anyone with me say it together. Plausible deniability. And you know who is good at building in layers and levels of plausible deniability? People in charge of the abuse. It does not say that he didn't know what was going on. It said the evidence didn't establish it. That means he did a great job of building plausible deniability in to insulate himself from this in a way that didn't prevent his firing, but simply allowed for him to get some money out of this.

Matt Abaticola (37:29)

Right. In fact, a settlement doesn't prove anything.

Dan Bernstein (37:32)

Correct.

Matt Abaticola (37:33)

It just shows that he had a contract, a financial contract with an employer that through legal means he was able to get some of that money.

Dan Bernstein (37:43)

Great job.

Matt Abaticola (37:44)

From that contract. Look, if you want, that's great lawyering.

Dan Bernstein (37:47)

And if you want to hire a coach who is great at building in insulation for plausible deniability of such things, then by all means hire Pat Fitzgerald. I went back to by all means. But this abuse happened. And everyone agrees that this happened, right? And everyone agrees that there's no excuse for not knowing. Obviously he knew, right? Obviously. This is the legal outcome of what could be proven and what couldn't be proven based on who was willing to testify, who's not willing to testify, who saw what and all of that. But you'd have to be a chump, you would have to be a SAP to believe that he wasn't, if not directing every bit of this, fully aware of and fully aware of his distance and insulation from it, right? So spare me.

Matt Abaticola (38:48)

Let's just say that he never said, go do this. No one ever came to him who was victim of this and reported it to him. He never said, hey, I want you to do this. He never witnessed it with his own eyes. But to think that he didn't know it was happening is absolutely insane.

Dan Bernstein (39:06)

And to think that he didn't know that with a nod or a wink or an understanding of who would be trusted to. What do they call it? They said, you know, running a player, what they call the clap that would be done.

Matt Abaticola (39:19)

Clap over an athlete that was in the middle of a warmup and clap over them and be like, that's the signal. There was a board. Yeah. That was called Shrek's List.

Dan Bernstein (39:27)

Yeah. There are too many. There are too many coincidences that add up to obvious control of the situation that clearly were well designed to keep him protected from some of this stuff. And anybody hiring him. Anybody hiring him has gotta know it.

Matt Abaticola (39:50)

Yep.

Dan Bernstein (39:51)

And will be if and when it happens. Even when a school's like, oh, we're choosing to believe this, and we're choosing to believe this, that as long as there's enough. And we know in a lot of these towns the local media is fully compromised and fully on board and understands. Yeah.

Matt Abaticola (40:09)

And these college football towns where they're.

Dan Bernstein (40:11)

Bread is buttered and you don't, you don't cross Capone. But there is a, there are some hard questions that are going to be asked about anybody hiring him. And even if people have to parachute in to ask those questions, I would not hire him and I would not want my kid playing for him.

Matt Abaticola (40:32)

And he cannot in those questions answer with, well, if you look at the settlement, no, I was. That doesn't mean shit. Nope. It just means that you got some money because you had a contract, period. I went back to Michael Shield, Northwestern president at the time that Fitzgerald was.

Dan Bernstein (40:48)

Fired, who handled this horribly.

Matt Abaticola (40:51)

But there's the things that he said, though. So remember, Fitzgerald was suspended first and he wasn't fired immediately. And I just want to read this. He says, since Friday, I have kept going back to what we should reasonably expect from our head coaches, our faculty and our campus leaders. And this is what led me to this decision, which was to fire him. The head coach is ultimately responsible for the culture of his team. The hazing we investigated was widespread and clearly not a secret within the program, providing coach Fitzgerald with the opportunity to learn what was happening either way. The culture in Northwestern football, while incredible in some ways, was broken in others. There is no shot that the head coach of a Division 1 college football program didn't know this was happening.

Dan Bernstein (41:40)

You know the one guy in your group chat that hits a five leg parlay week one and then doesn't shut up about it the rest of the season? Yeah, it probably happened, but maybe it should be you instead of somebody else. And then you can have that feeling of annoying everybody else and reminding them about your big victory because My bookie makes it too easy to get in on the action. College ball, NFL super contest, and survivor pools. Just go in there, start your account, make your deposit, and then you've got a full menu of everything that you like. All the spreads, the in game lines, and the player props. I found myself really enjoying the player props because you can kind of. And you've. You've liked some of my logic on the way.

Matt Abaticola (42:24)

No, it's good. It's good stuff. I mean, you dig deep into it. I'm. I'm just about. Let's look at the overs, let's look at the points. Who's going to win?

Dan Bernstein (42:31)

Let's do this.

Matt Abaticola (42:31)

No, I like it.

Dan Bernstein (42:32)

I like betting on individuals or.

Matt Abaticola (42:33)

So it's a good combo.

Dan Bernstein (42:35)

All the spreads, the player props, everything you want, it's all right there. And if you're new to my bookie, use our code. Any bet you choose with DBU, Dan Bernstein Unfiltered, that's the code. DBU. Any bet up to $500, fully covered. Make your play. If it doesn't hit, you get it right back. Just opt in using the bet back bonus token. There's no better time to jump in. No better place to play football is back. Let's make some money with my bookie. You found some sound you wanted me to hear?

Matt Abaticola (43:04)

Yeah. No, I want you to hear this. This was. It was Kiki Hernandez and a few other LA Dodgers on Jimmy Fallon. And he's telling the story of the Pahes catch the game.

Dan Bernstein (43:16)

Have you seen, by the way, do you follow art but make it sports? No, you have to. On multiple platforms. He's a. An art history professor or student, and when he sees a still shot of something happening on the field or somewhere in sports, he immediately knows a work of art of which it reminds him.

Matt Abaticola (43:41)

Oh, wow.

Dan Bernstein (43:42)

And he places them side by side. It's not AI. It isn't some computer algorithm. It's just a guy who has an encyclopedic and like, eidetic memory of works of art. Interesting.

Matt Abaticola (43:56)

Yeah. So this is Hernandez talking about that play.

Guest or caller (43:58)

And if you look at the video, I'm slowing down because I've got it. And out of nowhere, I felt like an NBA player because my teammate posterized me. And I go down and in my head everything is quiet, which should have told me that he caught it. But I'm like, my brain is protecting me from heartbreak. We just lost this World Series because my teammate dunked on me. And I'm just laying on the ground sad because we had just lost the World Series, and I feel like a tap on the back. He's like, are you okay? And I was like, f. Me being okay. Did you catch it? He goes, yeah, I caught it. I was like, oh, yeah, let's go.

Matt Abaticola (44:41)

I just. I did not expect. I guess I've never heard him speak okay at great length. And I just. I did not expect that at all. Yeah, but it's just good. It's really good. It's funny hearing him tell the story and, you know, I could. As he's going through it, I'm. I'm remembering it in my head. I'm, you know, I can visualize it. And he was slowing down, that he was going to catch that ball. I know that was going to be an amazing catch.

Dan Bernstein (45:02)

I know.

Matt Abaticola (45:03)

Because that. That dude is all over the field. I mean, he had the game ending, double play. He was going to make that catch. And then Pies just comes in. He dunks on him. I love it. It's so good.

Dan Bernstein (45:14)

But I would use a different comp than NBA.

Matt Abaticola (45:18)

Well, because of the gambling thing.

Dan Bernstein (45:19)

No, that was. That was NFL. It was.

Matt Abaticola (45:22)

Oh, he destroyed him.

Dan Bernstein (45:23)

That was NFL. That was friendly fire. That. That is. And you see it once a game. Somebody gets. Gets either a traumatic brain injury or a broken rib or something from a teammate.

Matt Abaticola (45:33)

Well, that was. Ford had the best hit of the season so far for the Bears. But I loved. I love the analogy. I thought it was great. I get what you're saying there, but I thought it was. That was really funny. Good stuff, though, from him.

Dan Bernstein (45:43)

He's lying that we just lost the World Series. No, I caught it, man. Yeah. What?

Matt Abaticola (45:49)

Hey, hell yeah, man.

Dan Bernstein (45:52)

Let's go. Cool stuff. I took your advice. And I can't get to everything all the time. I know I have to watch Will and Harper.

Matt Abaticola (46:02)

Yes.

Dan Bernstein (46:03)

But I did. Last night was usually what I call a talk to your wife night when there's no real. And I tried to watch some NBA and had it on for a little bit. I just. The ESPN product can be a really tough watch.

Matt Abaticola (46:18)

Did she watch this with you?

Dan Bernstein (46:19)

No. No. And she's not as big a fan because my, My John Candy stuff, you can like the John Hughes movies and, you know, Home Alone and Uncle Buck and all that. SCTV was really important to me. The early, early sctv. And I had friendships at camp that. With people I previously didn't like at camp that were. Our friendships were created and formed because of a shared. A shared love for sctv. Yeah. When a lot of people didn't know what it was. Everybody knew what Saturday Night Live was. But when NBC started showing late at night these weird things. And I remember this one dude who was just at camp who was just an asshole. I mean a couple of these guys who were just dicks when we were 10, 11 and 12. And I just in my cabin or not in my cabin and just. But once. First part of it was getting older and the other aspect was this shared appreciation. Like hey, do you ever watch this? Like yeah. And we thought we were the only people in the world. And these long eight week summers in the woods with no connection. Anything else. All of a sudden you found a like minded person that knew every sketch and knew everything. Like we were crazy about it. We didn't have a lot of us. VCR is to go back. All you had was the, the one viewing and your memory of it.

Matt Abaticola (47:46)

Yeah.

Dan Bernstein (47:47)

So we could bounce off each other like. Oh that's right. Exactly what he said. Because you couldn't binge. You, you only had your, your friends to rely on to fill in some of the gaps. Like did I really see a sketch where somebody did this? Yeah. Yeah. So now they're my lifelong, my best friends in the world.

Mike King (48:03)

Yep.

Dan Bernstein (48:03)

And have been for 50 years. But a lot of it started over a lot of stuff that John Candy, not just John Candy, but in this documentary to see Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Andrea Martin, Martin Short, Catherine O' Hara and to Ms. Harold Ramis, to Ms. Joe Flaherty. To see all these people talking about these things and watch them performing in Godspell before Second City Toronto even started. Yep. Was, was great. It was great. And I had, I had heard a lot of these things about John Candy's genuine good nature and some of his neediness and some of the emptiness that he tried to fill with, with so many different things including the alcohol and drugs and food, smoking and food and, and everything. His, his, his voracious appetite for, for life came from some very dark places and some things from his childhood. But Colin Hanks directed and because of Tom Hanks and his experience at a formative time with John Candy making the movie splash, his interviews, seeing Mel Brooks.

Matt Abaticola (49:17)

Oh my God. It was amazing, wasn't it?

Dan Bernstein (49:18)

And the wonderful things he had to say and how it's edited. To me it's the John Candy story arc of his too short life is. It's wonderful to see some of these never before seen outtakes and behind the scenes family movies.

Matt Abaticola (49:37)

Well, to hear from his daughter and his son. Yeah.

Dan Bernstein (49:39)

And his childhood friends and his wife. But it's really rare, really rare to hear Martin Short not on. Not doing a bit. He's always on.

Matt Abaticola (49:55)

Yeah. Don't forget, you heard from Steve Martin and Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd. It was just. Just amazing.

Dan Bernstein (50:01)

Endless list. But particularly like Martin Short in his own home, speaking earnestly. Even when he's on talk shows, he's playing Martin Short on talk show. And he's always on. And actually a little overexposed at the moment, I believe, but to hear him really be him is a treat.

Matt Abaticola (50:24)

Yeah, I love the fact that.

Dan Bernstein (50:28)

Hearing.

Matt Abaticola (50:28)

Tom Hanks talk so in such a personal way. Steve Martin, Bill Murray who.

Mike King (50:34)

It's.

Dan Bernstein (50:34)

It's. He.

Matt Abaticola (50:35)

I always think like, he. He's. He's always on also. Yeah, Dan Aykroyd and hearing. And Ryan Reynolds also involved in it too. I think he was the. The main force behind it. Colin Hanks, obviously the. The director for. Did a majority of the interviews.

Dan Bernstein (50:47)

But how about the emotion from Dave Thomas, too?

Matt Abaticola (50:49)

Oh, it was amazing. Ryan Reynolds did the Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray interviews. And to hear him talk about trying to get those interviews scheduled and booked, and it was really difficult.

Dan Bernstein (50:59)

I haven't heard about who did what interview or any of this. That this is great.

Matt Abaticola (51:02)

So he just did those two. But he says he finally got a hold of Dan Aykroyd. And Dan Aykroyd's like, yep, yeah, kid, I'll do it. You come up here, we'll have dinner, you stay the night, then we'll do the interview in the morning, and then you get the fuck out of my house. And he's like, okay, sure, whatever. Whatever you want. But. But to hear them talk on such personal levels. And I think I like the way you worded it, but short. Because I feel the way about Murray always on and to see them not be on and to hear. And I just. I love, like, I just. I adore Tom Hanks and I adore Steve Martin and to hear them talk. And I love.

Dan Bernstein (51:34)

And you should. Because they're.

Matt Abaticola (51:35)

Oh, my God. Adore them. And I mean, as a kid, Steve Martin's album, his comedy album, the King Tut. I mean, I remember. I remember listening that over and over and over again.

Dan Bernstein (51:44)

Well, that's.

Matt Abaticola (51:45)

Hear him talk.

Dan Bernstein (51:46)

That's for another. Yeah, that's another story. When we talk about the let's Get Small album. Because I remember that when I was sick, my dad brought that home. He stopped at. Oh, and you got stopped at Lori's Records in Deerfield after he Got off the train.

Matt Abaticola (51:59)

That's when you first heard it.

Dan Bernstein (52:00)

Brought it home. I was. And he's like, here, let's put this. I don't really know much about this. It's supposed to be great.

Matt Abaticola (52:05)

Oh, dude.

Dan Bernstein (52:05)

And we sat and listened together.

Matt Abaticola (52:07)

Amazing.

Dan Bernstein (52:07)

And I didn't understand a lot of the. Some of the drug humor and something, but it doesn't all hold up. But, yeah, that's a formative for me.

Matt Abaticola (52:16)

I mean, that's one of the benefits I had of being the youngest of five boys. And my brothers. And one brother passed away as an infant, but. But my brothers are nine, eight, and six years older. So I grew up like a decade before I probably should have with influence of things. And so that was part of it. You know why the Beatles are a big part of my life today? Because of my brother Dave. And, you know, Steve Martin, my brother Mark had that album. I remember listening to it, you know, and to hear Steve Martin and Tom Hanks, who I just absolutely adore to be so human, talking about another human, it made me. And I love Plane Trains Automobiles, and I love the John Candy, John Hughes movies. And to hear that relationship and to.

Dan Bernstein (52:55)

Hear from John Hughes, who also does Too Young. How about Conan?

Matt Abaticola (52:59)

Oh, the Conan was amazing, right? Like, he just reached out to him and he shows up at Harvard.

Dan Bernstein (53:04)

Yes.

Matt Abaticola (53:04)

How about college kids?

Dan Bernstein (53:06)

How about the fact that it happened to be. When John Candy arrived at Harvard to get whatever the Hasty Pudding Award or to be honored at Harvard, the student with the lampoon that happened to be assigned to pick him up at the airport was Conan o'.

Matt Abaticola (53:23)

Brien. O'. Brien. O', Brien, Right. Because he had worshiped him from sctv.

Dan Bernstein (53:28)

And he literally drove to Logan Airport to get him. To get him. And he drove him around. He was his valet for hearing his Harvard trip.

Matt Abaticola (53:38)

Talk about the film clips they put together for John Candy to watch there. And hearing Conan talk about John Candy watching himself and being really into it and being into it with these. And he's not getting anything out of this.

Dan Bernstein (53:49)

And he was also. Conan was the guy at the end. Oh, also who steals every interview. He does. Macaulay Culkin.

Matt Abaticola (53:57)

Oh, yeah, that was great.

Dan Bernstein (53:59)

Tragic, but so tragic to hear him about his own father and how horrible. His own. And how about that? On the set of Home Alone, he said John Candy was the first person who recognized something was really wrong with Macaulay Culkin's home life.

Matt Abaticola (54:19)

And we just would check on him, we'd say, are you okay?

Dan Bernstein (54:21)

Like, hey, Macaulay, are you okay? Is There anything I should know like that. That was the first guy, he said, who legitimately, first of all, respected him as an actor and also understood something was terribly wrong for him at home.

Matt Abaticola (54:39)

But say that though an adult actor respecting a child actor, that's what's amazing about it.

Dan Bernstein (54:44)

And then what did Macaulay Culkin say late in the show? He said, hollywood will ruin you. He said, one way or another, if you're here long enough, you either become crazy, you become an asshole, or you drop dead.

Matt Abaticola (54:57)

Yeah, but to hear, like, Hanks and Martin and all those guys and Catherine o', Hara, who I adore, to hear them talk in such a human level about another guy, it broke my heart because I felt terrible for John Candy, what he was dealing with. The death of his father on his fifth birthday, that he carried that with him, him, his entire life.

Dan Bernstein (55:17)

And also the way he talked at the end about the stigma against recognizing anxiety and depression, particularly debilitating anxiety, pull.

Matt Abaticola (55:27)

Over the side of the road cause he couldn't function.

Dan Bernstein (55:31)

And the Canadian aspect, when Dave Thomas said, it's Toronto, he said, maybe you can talk about your therapist on the Upper east side of Manhattan back then in a Woody Allen movie. You can talk about your psychotherapist. He said, but in. In Toronto, you know that you don't. You don't talk about these things. You don't talk about those needs, and you don't talk about the fact that that's a medical problem. And that just made my heart hurt.

Matt Abaticola (55:52)

Yeah, I was broken inside for John Candy watching it. And then, like, you're like, I'm on the verge of tears the entire time watching it. And then they end it with Cynthia Erivo. And her version of every time you go away was like, oh, my God. It's just. It's like, all right, if you don't have tears in your eyes, then you're dead inside.

Dan Bernstein (56:17)

And how about the whole funeral?

Matt Abaticola (56:19)

Oh, my God.

Dan Bernstein (56:20)

Everything that they do, but just the particular people involved and the positions that those people have held in my esteem from childhood for their comedy, for their art, and just how so many of them achieved so many things on their own and for different reasons and because of their talent. All of them rose so high just because of hard work and talent and from the number of paths that crossed early on in their careers and how it just incubated the sense and the roads that lead back to Chicago. Talking about how Ramis came to Toronto as the head writer for SCTV because Ramis was here with Del Close and Bernie Sollins and everybody else who created. Yes. And who created what is still happening in Chicago improv today.

Matt Abaticola (57:17)

Yeah. And it's absolutely amazing to hear all of those superstars that you see in this documentary talk about John Candy as being the actual star of the SCTV crew. And sometimes he was the main star. He was the guy.

Dan Bernstein (57:32)

Despite his insecurities, despite the fact that he wasn't credited or paid as a writer when everybody else was getting writing credit, he didn't want to audition for sctv. He was dragged into the audition.

Matt Abaticola (57:45)

Amazing.

Dan Bernstein (57:46)

I mean, just because he was friends with those people.

Matt Abaticola (57:48)

I'm so glad you watched it.

Dan Bernstein (57:49)

Yeah, I really. It was. It was very emotional for me in ways that I didn't expect.

Matt Abaticola (57:54)

And then.

Mike King (57:54)

Yeah.

Matt Abaticola (57:55)

That kicker, though, is the song at the end. It's the. I mean, Cynthia Erivo is an absolute gem, a star, angelic voice. And to hear her with that version of that song at the end. That's it. It's done.

Dan Bernstein (58:08)

Thank you. Thank you for recommending that.

Matt Abaticola (58:10)

Yeah.

Dan Bernstein (58:10)

Thank you for making me watch it. It's absolutely worth your time. And that's gonna do it.

Matt Abaticola (58:15)

Yeah.

Dan Bernstein (58:15)

For Dan Bernstein, Unfiltered today, brought to you in partnership with my bookie, Dan Bernstein.

Matt Abaticola (58:22)

Unfiltered Unfiltered on 312Sports.