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C
Dan Bernstein unfiltered unfiltered on 312 sports
D
it's DBU on 312 and we are brought to you in partnership with my bookie and today by our friends at Giordano's as well. It was a very strange afternoon and evening hearing about the Jaden Ivy stuff, so I think we need a full reset on what has gone on here because there are a lot of different points to be made about what happened in general with the entire Jaden Ivy acquisition and the aftermath because of what it says about the Bulls. And let's just start with the trade. On February 3, the Bulls sent Kevin Herder, Dario Sarich and the protected 2026 first from the Timberwolves. There was a three team deal. The Bulls get Jaden Ivy and Mike Conley Jr. So the T Wolves were involved here. The Bulls didn't part with much. You know, Kevin Herder a functional player. That's fine. We know the Pistons wanted to get out from under Ivy. We now know why that it wasn't just the injury. We're finding this out all after the fact here. So that's what happened on February 3rd. They had no interest really in having Mike Conley Jr. Because he was just contract fodder. The Primary acquisition in the deal by the Bulls was Jaden Ivy, number five overall pick. Betting on the fact that here's a perfect opportunity for a guy who had fallen out of favor with a really good team, couldn't get on the floor, was coming back from a broken fibula and a knee injury or knee complications from the broken leg. It's clear he can't play. First of all that he was on one leg. He has no quickness, cannot get by anybody, not getting any elevation on his shot, can't be the player that he was.
C
So that's problem number one. Let's just get play.
D
Let's set. Exactly. Exactly. Because that raises an interesting question of if he could, what would be happening if he could play, right? But he can't. And what the Bulls learned, and what we learned watching the Bulls that we didn't necessarily know was going on in Detroit, that ever since he got married and in 2024 when he was re baptized at in the pool at his house with his new wife, since then he has changed and he's apparently changed the way he conducts himself off the court as well, to the point where the Pistons are now after the fact. Said to be tired of his. The constant religious screeds that were being issued at all times, regardless of the topic of conversation, regardless of situation in the locker room, outside the locker room, no matter what was asked of him, as he was apparently trying to rehabilitate this injury, that he had become a, and I'm trying to find the right way to phrase this, he had become religiously obsessed and in a particularly apocalyptic construct that it wasn't just do unto others or be kind to your fellow man and live and let live. This was a very specific and apocalyptic good versus evil, Jesus versus Satan aspect of religiosity that was apparently now we're learning in Detroit that was rubbing people the wrong way and had been for a while and they were very happy to be rid of him. That that is the. The other part of what's going on. I don't know if you have seen the live streams just from yesterday, but I guess there have been many more. We know about the anti LGBT stuff that we heard yesterday. Talking about Pride night and unrighteousness and calling out the NBA, calling out the Bulls and a whole lot more that was going on in, in these rants, for lack of a better term. I don't know what else to call them sermons. They're disconnected, desultory, jumping from point to point, repeating some of these apocalyptic religious sounding talking points. He also was taking on, he said Catholicism is a false religion, which is strange considering his own mother is the women's basketball coach at Notre Dame. So I don't know how that's reconciled with the claims of Catholicism being a false religion, etc. It doesn't, we really shouldn't even get into some of the specifics of what he was talking about because a lot of it is, is really out there and incredibly troubling. Let me say first, I, I'm going to preface all of these comments. I am not a doctor, I am not a therapist, but I will, I just my observations. I would say if he were my friend, if he were my family member, the first thing I would want to do was do an immediate professional intervention to allow him access to, to the help that he may need. There's something there, there could be. I'm not, Again, I am not. All I want to do is look at what the possibilities could be and especially looking at his behavior on the airplane last night when he got on the Delta flight. As he's leaving, he's on a commercial flight being sent home or wherever he's supposed to go when the Bulls made the move that they did to get him away from the team as quickly as possible. I do not know the NBA's involvement in this because a lot of what he said was beyond one individual team talking about the NBA. And I think he's going to make it very hard for another team to employ him even if he does return from this and rehabilitate from these, these injuries.
C
Well, Dan, from a basketball standpoint, no other team should want him, period.
D
No, I wouldn't.
C
That's, that's pure basketball level. This just adds on top of it that why would you want to bring this into your organization?
D
You don't. You don't.
C
It's a significant distraction off the basketball court.
D
Yeah, it's more than a, I, I, I think calling it a distraction is, is underselling that you can't have this in a workplace, right? You, you, you can't, you can't have bigotry in a workplace. So regardless of whether or not they're basketball players or they're actuaries or they're engineers, you cannot have someone who looks at every opportunity to, to spout judgment of others and having no real rhyme or reason for the targets of such judgments, and there's all kinds of points that have been made that his, his selective decision for who he believes is righteous and who he is, who is unrighteous, he can have These beliefs. But you can't have this in the workplace. And the Bulls have made that decision. I'm not sure if the NBA itself has made that decision. But first and foremost, if this were somebody close to me, the first thing I would do would be immediately, under whatever state law is applicable, removing any firearms and invoking whatever red flag laws exist wherever he is, and making sure that whatever paperwork is filed, whatever has to be called in that this would be a situation when you start to hear some of this apocalyptic stuff. And there are clearly. There's clearly an absence of judgment and an inconsistency in behavior that could easily be described as erratic. That I would like to know if in fact there are. He has legal ownership of firearms that could be somehow mitigated or curtailed pending a psychiatric evaluation. My goal right now, the first thing is to make sure he doesn't hurt himself or anyone else, because clearly this has gotten to a point where you might be at the beginning of a negative spiral that would need to be arrested or intervened. I use the word arrested, small A in this regard, not in a criminal sense, but that if this would appear to be an accelerating cycle of erratic behavior. There are fail safes. There are some immediate things that should be done to protect himself, to protect his family. Family and to protect others. He is absolutely allowed to think and say what he wants. And I want that to be as clear as absolutely possible. Because inevitably, whether it's the automatic bots or the automatic stupid or whatever it might be to say, hey, what happened to inability to have free speech and say what you want? He has free speech. He has exercised his free speech. Don't start giving me first amendment because we're not teaching remedial constitutional law today in the idea that that constitutional amendment protects you from governmental censorship or governmental punishment for speech. He is invoking his right to free speech. He is free to say the things that he says. He is free to the bigoted and homophobic things that he's saying.
C
Correct.
D
But in a private. In business, that is the NBA and the Chicago Bulls, they have every right to say, we do not want this around our business. What he is saying is more appropriate to be in the. To be ranted on a street corner. And that's what. Before social media, such things were ranted on street corners.
C
That still happens today.
D
And I, And I can tell you
C
right now, I see it downtown, the
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time that I spend in downtown Chicago, you have that little, you know, $120 crate amplifier and you plug it in with a microphone, and you can say whatever you want about who's going to hell and who's saved and who's not saved and who's righteous and who's wicked and who's with Jesus and who's with Satan. And that. That is within your rights as long as you are not disturbing the peace. To be loud and weird and wrong. That is, there are some people who make a terrific living. A lot of people make a terrific living doing that. And you could argue I'm doing it right now, being loud and weird and wrong. Feel free to argue that. That's your opinion. I found the. The Jaden Ivy rant on the airplane to be extremely troubling. You heard him and saw him, and I. And I watched this. I was out yesterday and heard about the move the Bulls made and then went back after the fact when I got home and realized there was more actual live streaming going on, I was watching that. You know, Jason and I were watching that together because we knew that it might come up tomorrow when we do. Organizations win championships. It was immensely troubling to see somebody walking onto an airplane as they are being essentially exiled from their job and sent away to be on that Delta flight. Kudos to the Delta crew for how diplomatically and how carefully they handled his ongoing ranting on a public commercial flight. When they were getting ready to take off, they were trying to get him out of the aisle and seated. Once he was seated, they tried to get him to stop the sermon that was being recorded, and they even gave him the grace to say, why don't you just finish up? We're going to let you finish your sermonette, and then we have to turn your phone off because these are the federal rules about flying. I would have removed him from the flight for suspicion of a psychiatric issue. And had I been on that flight, I might have expressed a desire to get off the flight and take a different one, because that. That. That would be scary to me. Somebody in that situation talking about good and evil and judgment, getting on a commercial flight, and especially somebody with. With that kind of physical strength, once you get up to 30,000ft, that would have been uncomfortable for me. I think the Bulls absolutely did the right thing. I'm glad they acted so swiftly. I am also glad that Billy Donovan said the things that he said, that Josh Giddey said the things that he said in the aftermath. I think it was handled exactly the right way. Here's what Billy Donovan said. He said, just inside the Bulls, we have people from all different kinds of backgrounds and Whether it's coaches from the top, it's always been we're all going to work well together, we're going to accept each other, we're going to be hard working, we're going to be respectful and we're going to be professional. There are certain standards I think we want to have as an organization and live up to those each and every day. That was well said. I think that for Josh Giddy to mention that he hopes Jaden Ivy gets whatever help he needs, I'm glad he that a teammate was sensitive to that and the fact that it was also said after the fact that he didn't, he wasn't spending a lot of time around his teammates and or did not specifically get along well with his teammates. We thought there was something a little odd when we first heard after his DNP CD when he said the old JI is dead and the new one has been reborn. But there were some things that, that raised some red flags about his, his behavior and raised some questions as to whether or not he's okay. It's also really important to note this. Regardless of any diagnosis, whether it is depression, whether it is a personality disorder or whether it's something worse that borders on a, a disconnection, a schizoid event, however you want to define, does not excuse bigotry. If, if there is something going on that is schizophrenic, that is truly a break with reality, there can, there can be some mitigation. But anxiety, depression, emotional issues do not make one bigoted, do not make one homophobic. So I think we're still in a position where we need to gather more information about what's going on. And he is entitled to his HIPAA rights of privacy. We're not entitled to have any kind of, we can't demand some sort of satisfactory clinical answer or explanation. That's Jaden Ivy and his therapists who we hope he has at his disposal. I do think that there should be some responsibility taken by the NBA and the Bulls and perhaps the Pistons as well. Anybody who knows or suspects that there could be an issue of mental illness or something emotionally clinical, I believe has a responsibility as far as resources access, at the very least access to resources. I want him to know that despite not being under contract in the NBA that the NBA, the Bulls and the Pistons will make sure that he has access to the care that may help him right now. Now, outside of that and outside of the concerns for his well being and the well being of his, his family and those around him, how do you trade for this. How, how have you not done your due diligence if you're the Chicago Bulls? How. If and Joe Cowley pointed this out in the Sun Times yesterday. You've got to know. You've got to know there's something up. At the very least I know you're in the, in the midst of the deadline and you're, you're, everything's flying around as you're trying to, to overhaul a roster and get what you can get and things happen really, really quickly in the trade market. But this is something you got to know because it's one thing for your doctors to say, yeah, give him, give him a year and we can rehabilitate it. The muscles in his leg aren't strong enough. We think we can get this guy back to something resembling the, the form that made him a top five pick and made him a really exciting NBA prospect. And for your. But you also have to have an ear to the street. And if people were saying, yeah, ever since something happened in 24 with his marriage and this re baptism and his conversion and he hasn't been the same since. Here's, you've got to talk to people. You've got to know this stuff. And maybe they did, maybe they did. And these are questions for everybody on the Bulls as to when did you know that this might have been something that would have to be handled and maybe they thought no big deal, that it'll be compartmentalized. This is just how he rolls. We'll get him back. No one's going to care if he's putting the ball in the hoop. There have been other guys who've been very, very religious. I don't know if necessarily trafficking in, in some of this sort of comic book good versus evil stuff, but I would, I would like to think that the Bulls somehow made it, that they did make an informed decision about this. I doubt it. I doubt they had all the information just because I don't give this front office the benefit of the doubt when it comes to some of this stuff. But either way it sucks. Sucks for the, for the Bulls to have parted with assets for some, for, for somebody you had to w. Completely wave. And now it sucks that you've inherited some of the responsibility for his well being. But you do have that. And there, there has to be care taken right now by the NBA and the Bulls and the Pistons and everybody else to get this guy home and try to see him through whatever is going on because this is not okay. And what he said was he's again, he exercised his right to free speech. He's got very strong opinions about people and things and there are consequences to exercising one's speech. He is going to live with these consequences now, and we'll then see if he can get himself back on track professionally, personally and otherwise. I hope he's okay. I wish him the best.
C
You know, Dan, it's very possible that there's nothing wrong with him mentally. I understand everything that you just expressed and the concern there and that he could need some therapy or some mental help, but it's very, very possible that there's absolutely nothing wrong with his brain and these are just his ultra religious beliefs.
D
Well, then he's going to have to find a place to live that life that is more tolerant or that is of, of that and more tolerant of bigotry. And he's good. There are places where he could live. There are fringe places where he could live that life. It just, he's, the NBA will be done with him.
C
Well, I mean, he could live that life anywhere he wants. He's just, he's not going to be employed in the NBA. There are, there are no sports teams that are going to bring that type of behavior to their organization. I mean, he can live his life however and wherever he wants. He's just, he's not gonna play basketball professionally to do it. It's just not gonna happen.
D
I, I, I don't know that a well person is going to be doing what he was doing on that airplane last night. That just didn't seem to me like the, the, yeah, yeah.
C
I mean, I, I would agree with you, Nat, in that the, the videos like the one I saw, he was driving in a car. And then eventually, I mean, I had to fast forward, forward a little bit through it. I was able to find transcripts of these things to read through them a little quicker than sitting through the videos. But yeah, that, that's odd behavior. The airplane obviously is very odd behavior. That might be an indication that something's not right as far as understanding reality. So you could have a point there in making it. But just because he has these thoughts, these beliefs doesn't necessarily mean that something is wrong with him. He, he could just be some very religious guy who's taking the bi. And I don't, I don't want to get into Sunday school class here and talk about how incorrect he is and what things that he's saying. But I mean, he, he could very well just be a very religious person. I don't know what type of church he attends what type of, you know, religious learnings he's under to, to voice this out this way, but he very possibly could have something wrong and he very possibly could be very mentally healthy. And this is just who he is as a person. But either way, there's no NBA team, no professional sports team that would want that as part of their organization, period.
D
Right. I can't imagine there's any workplace of any kind. Right. Is capable of functioning when somebody is going to spend most of their time ranting that the church he goes to
C
wants to hire him. I mean, that's about it. They have a basketball team maybe.
D
Okay. Illinois just took down Iowa. Michigan knocked off Tennessee in a beat down, and UConn sent Duke home at the buzzer. So your bracket might be cooked. Mine is. But your bankroll does not have to be. Final four live bets. Live, live. Live bets, bets, bets. Catch the swing before the odds adjust. There's a deep cut right there. If you pick that one up, you don't need a perfect bracket. You just need the right read at the right time. Just like in sports, you look at that opportunity, you see what's developing, and you find your opportunistic move. And if you're going to be in it, be in it to win it. At MyBookie AG right now, with the promo code DBU, your first bet is covered up to 500 bucks. And if it misses, you can activate your bet back bonus token and run it back up to $500. Tournaments heating up. So don't just watch it. You go big and you win from it. My bookie.ag, you're going to register, you're going to make your deposit and you're going to use that three letter code, DBU, and then your first bets covered up to 500 bucks only at MyBookie. So watching the Bulls game until Peacock last night, I'm trying to get used to where everything is and I'm, I'm. It was a bad night for flipping. I'm trying to watch the Cubs game and the Cubs games on regular tv and then I have to go back and I, and I keep forgetting which button to push and then I got to go to the, the like boop, boop, boop, boop boop noises. And then it gets me back to Peacock and then that screen comes up again. So I had a difficult time flipping and there was a lot of beeping going on. But I thought the Peacock broadcast was pretty good. I loved hearing Mike Fratello again. You know, this is the time of Year where between Steve Lapis, who sounds exactly like Mike Fratello, and Jim Spinarkle, who has that same Jersey accent. I will say that I love it when it comes to basketball. I have a thing for a New Jersey accent. I spent my college years around, you know, all my friends were my. One of my dearest friends and my college roommate of three years from Livingston, New Jersey, whenever we used to have Brian Geltzer on talking basketball. He's also from Livingston, New Jersey, same accent there. Raftery Fratello, Lapis Sparkle. It sounds like basketball to me. It just sounds. That's. That's what. That's how I want. If I could set. And I probably can. Could I set my. My GPS voice to, like, Mike Fratello's voice?
C
I don't think that's an option on Apple right now, but maybe that'll come with the AI Broadcast that the NBA is going to eventually have. You can get probably Jersey broadcast accent.
D
Sure. But I would just need, like, I would love to have Mike Fratello's voice being like, in two and a half miles, you're going to turn left. No, turn left here. I would love that because it's. It just. It sounds, you know, authoritative and like you've been through it a little bit. Like you grew up around it. You went to the Garfinkel basketball camp or you went to five star, or we were just around the Hubie Brown. You know that it. What you do is you get in the middle lane. When you're in the middle lane, then you're going to look left, you're going to go right. Don't get bothered by the fact that it looks like you have to go left. You don't. It'd be perfect for me.
C
You could have that. Yes.
D
Okay.
C
All you. All you.
D
It's all me. And it's. And it also. It's probably because my. My wife's New Jersey accent also comes out when she's tired or angry with me and.
C
Oh, so you heard a lot.
D
She'll get mad and I'll hear the Jersey accent and I kind of like it. So I don't know if I get masochistic and I get like, oh, yeah, keep yelling at me. I'm not. Doesn't. Doesn't really bother me. The. The voice, though, on Peacock that turns me into an asshole. Sorry.
C
Something, dude.
D
Yeah, this is. I let the record show. Maddie did not know about Evan Turner. Evan Turner does studio for Peacock. They sent it back to the studio. Oh, by the way, Terry Gannon. Nice Job with Play by Play too, who's really aged. Well, you heard him during the Olympics doing a lot of the, the skate, sledding, sports.
C
Okay.
D
I think Terry Gannon was doing like luge and bobsled and some of that stuff. I could tell the story sometimes. Terry Gannon was the guy always held over my head when I was with the Raleigh Bullfrogs because one of his best friends, they played basketball together at NC State. And one of his best friends was my boss. And every time he would be mad at me, he's like, I can get Terry Gannon in here. One phone call, I can get Gannon here. Do your job. Okay.
C
Okay. Right.
D
I don't think he would want this job.
C
He would say, no, you're paying me
D
a thousand dollars a month. A month. I don't think Terry Gannon's taking that job. Yeah, but Terry Gannon's become, become. He's. He just really aged into his job very well. And, and, but they go back to the studio and there is Evan Turner next to my guy John Karate, who I used to impersonate when we used to play against them because I dribbled with my left hand. I was part of scout team impersonating John Karate. The. Evan Turner's voice is so unique, I cannot concentrate on what he's saying. And I know it's a me problem. It's not, it's not Evan Turner's fault. It is completely me. Blame me for being insensitive and small minded. Say right now, Bernstein, you're insensitive and small minded. But if you can listen to Evan Turner and not be like, oh, my God, what is that? He. The closest thing I can say is if you know the show Aqua Teen Hunger Force from Adult Swim or from, you know, if you looked it up, you would know it's Fry Lock. And I don't know all their names. He sounds like Meat Wade from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Almost identical to Meat Wad. And I don't know what they do to create that voice. They run it through something. It, it's. It sounds something other than human. The best I can do something like this, but it's, it's, it's stranger than that. And he knows it. It's always been joked about. It's been memed. But kudos to him for pursuing a television job, career, whatever this is. I don't know. He's always on in the Peacock Studio. I'm not sure if they have a rotating group of people that are coming through there. I think there's you know, we know there are more broadcasts doing that. Baseball is starting to use local people for local things and I. But good. If you can do that and you can get through some of the analysis without getting hung up on trying to figure out how a human being of that sound can come out of a human being, more power to you. I totally understand. My fault. My bad. But it is so Matt had not heard his.
C
Yeah, I didn't. I was listening to the videos before we started the show. Yeah, it's. That would be distracting for me. I'll just, I'll leave it at that.
D
I'm not looking to drag you into this. I am not looking for. You.
C
Could.
D
You could tell me. No, it's not distracting to you?
C
No, it would be distracting.
D
Yeah. It. That's kind of where I am because. And there, you know, I'm sure there were some interesting thoughts in there. I missed them. Oh, man, I. I missed him. I'm not. I mean, what I hate is like if the guy has some secret to the universe, right. If all of a sudden he has, he knows like cold fusion or he can map the genome in a way that cures cancer or if you were
C
in some life threatening situation and he had the how to get out of it, you wouldn't be able to get out of it.
D
Cut the green wire. Yeah.
C
And you're not doing it because I didn't do it.
D
I don't know what he said. I think he said cut the green wire.
C
That's definitely.
D
I don't know. I don't know what he's talking about. I just don't know where that voice came from.
C
Yeah, right. So when the bomb explodes in your face, that would be my fault.
D
I will, I will have.
C
Yes.
D
Because I'm small minded and that's my problem. And if I blow anybody else up while trying to diffuse the bomb, I apologize in advance. Let's be honest, the games are getting really interesting right now and that's what makes this time of year so good. What should not be a question is your game day food. If you are watching these games and you know the games I'm talking about At Home with Friends, whatever it is, you need something that actually delivers. So go with Giordano's. That's what I do. Giordano's gives you the full lineup. Chicago deep dish if you want something loaded. A tavern style pizza, you know, cut into squares. If everybody is just, you know, grabbing and noshing. Thin crust. If you want to keep it classic. Add in wings, add in cookies. They've got game day deals, packaging things together now you've got a real spread for the games. You're not scrambling around at halftime. You're not taking a vote from everybody in the room. You're just going to Giordano says everything everybody wants, the food will show up the way it's supposed to. You're not making bad last minute decisions like Duke, for example. You're not having not having John Shire coach your food ordering where you kind of stand here like this and say oh shit, we lost. I probably should have coached. The games might be unpredictable. Your setup doesn't have to be. So order Delivery now@giordano.com or visit a Giordano location near you for pickup. Grab the perfect game day spread. Game day deals are happening now at Giordano's. Your bracket may bust your pizza shouldn't One of the themes of this season so far in MLB has been how bad the home plate umpires are. And we knew this was coming. We had a pretty good idea that things were going to get, people were going to be named that we already have heard CB Buckner and apparently like, like Richie Garcia, the old ump came out and he's mad about the robots because it's going to make a bad name for the umpires. There are already places beginning to track which umpires are having the most calls overturned. So here we go. You know, get used to this. I'm waiting to see if in fact there's any official listing of umpires buy calls over turn. So far what I've seen has been unofficial. We are going to have the actual numbers for hitters, catchers, teams, but I want there to be accountability on a scoreboard for the umpires themselves, keep records for everybody behind the plate. And the reason I think this will happen publicly and transparently is because of gambling. And if that is a byproduct of all of the desire to have every advantage when wagering on a game, then that's a good byproduct. If this is out there. It is, it is transparent. No, but there's no secret information being traded. You know, the CB Buckner got eight calls over here returned. And this is going to make this picture more likely to do this and this more likely to that. The good news is it probably will allow for everything to, to be mitigated or obviated completely, but not without a full number of challenges that you should be able to challenge anything at some point. But because arbitrarily now they've negotiated this, you get two. Or you can keep it if you get them right, that you don't have unlimited challenges or an unlim ability just to make wrong things right. Here's what I've been able to find by umpire's name that's just kind of out there and sourced by some of the, the websites that allow anybody to post here. I don't like Bleacher Report, and I think this one came from fan sided. Chad Whitson has had seven calls challenged and seven overturned. CB Buckner has had eight calls challenged, six overturned. Chris Siegel, 10 calls challenged, seven overturned. Trip Gibson, six calls challenged, four overturned. Carlos Torres, seven challenge, four overturned. Ryan Addison, six called, two overturned. And that's just a short list that I'm just trying to be able to find here.
C
I'm sorry, did you mention Carlos Torres? You did.
D
I did, I mentioned Carlos Torres? Yeah.
C
So actually I just found1 on ESPN actually has a tracker by umpires, by teams, and then by catchers, pitchers and batters.
D
Okay, good.
C
Yeah, so it has a list. So we can be able to track this all year long. Good.
D
And there have been websites like @Umpire Scorecards has been one, which is one of the. I don't know if it's just a Twitter account, but @Umpire Scorecards has been a place to go and there are some people doing forensic retroactive work to say, all right, Joe West, Angel Hernandez, how would they have ranked? You know, and of course my mind goes to Eric Gregg in the Lavon Hernandez playoff game that so many of these bad days that umpires have had to just say, well, here's my strike zone today and everybody's got to deal with it. That that has, has changed. The things that have happened in baseball and the fact that I can even recall that game tells you what's wrong with that kind of control over a baseball game. I don't want to hear boo from the umpires union on this. Do your job. And if in fact the takeaway is it's impossible to call balls and strikes well enough that at least we'll know and then you won't do it anymore because it's understandable and it's okay. And to say he's throwing 104 miles an hour and the guys are going back into the pitch lab and experimenting with grips and releases and induced vertical break and seam shifted wake and all of these other terms that we're using to describe the control of the physics of a baseball. And if an umpire cannot do it, let's find out. Let's just know And I'm not going to compare you to umpires who were, you know, 20 years ago where the average fastball is 93, 90, you know, 92, 93. And now it's 97, 98. And it's not just the velocity. It's all. It's the stuff.
C
I will mention a few of the umpires, too, Dan, who have been challenged, who have never had. Who haven't had a call overturned yet.
D
Too good. Yeah, let's be fair. Let's do that.
C
So Will Little has had four calls challenged and none of them overturned. Bruce Dreckman, four challenged, zero overturned. David Rackley and Eric Bacchus, both with three, and none of those calls overturned. Wow.
D
I'm shocked that Eric. Eric Backus was. He's the young guy. I think he's still in his 30s. Yeah, he was not liked when he started.
C
Yeah, it's interesting. And he's at. So 332 pitches called for back as three challenge, none overturned.
D
Okay, good for him. Maybe he's apparently gotten better. And maybe it's. Maybe it means younger umpires, maybe, you know, people who need these reading glasses like I need, or older eyes that can't quite track the ball. The same way that you're going to have to balance the. The veteran wisdom of umpire's ability to. To know the rules, have experience, handle managers and handle the whole game. They can still be there behind the plate and in charge of officiating the game. But if. If balls and strikes need to be handled by. By a machine, well, then strikes, machine. Let them do that.
C
Yeah, I think it's great. I love that they added it to the game. It doesn't take a very long time to get a call correct, and I think it's valuable to have. I first experienced it a couple years ago at a Louisville Bats game. They were using it in the minor leagues. We saw it, and Natalie and I loved it. It was super quick and guys challenged and you get the call right away. I think it's great. It doesn't disrupt the flow of the game. And if you're going to have guys consistently missing calls, this is great. Either help them get better or move them out of that position if they can't do it consistently and do it well enough.
D
Yeah, this and the fact that we're only four games in and we already have this kind of. Of. Of understanding of who's good and who's bad. I don't think it's going to take all that long.
C
No, it's not. It's Not. And you're going to see it on a, on a player basis as well, too. I mean, I saw in that National Series some of the calls that the catcher challenged. I mean, they were 2 inches, 2 inches out. Like, what do you, what are you, what are you calling, man, that wasn't even close. That wasn't even close. I think Carson Kelly is 2 for 3 as a Cubs catcher right now, and a couple of the ones that we saw over the weekend, I mean, they were, it's an eighth of an inch in the strike zone, just like how you call. That was really, really good. So I love it. I'm glad that they added it to it. And I think, I think it's going to help really filter through the umpires who can do it, who can't do it. How can they improve if they can't, that they shouldn't be there.
D
So March Madness is already delivering the upsets, the blowouts, the buzzer beaters. And if your brackets busted, it doesn't mean that you're out. Your bankroll doesn't have to be because the final Four live betting might be your opportunity here where a certain team goes up 8 with 12 minutes left. And you're. Let me check the money line on that one and see if I can get this in quickly enough to take advantage and as they say, buy the dip. You don' need a perfect bracket. You just need your right read at the right time. And if you're going to be in it, be in it to win it. Head to MyBookie AG use the promo code I'm going to give you right now, and it's only three letters. Even you can remember it. It's DBU for Dan Bernstein, unfiltered. When you use that promo code, when you register and deposit, then your first bet is covered up to 500 bucks. Well, what does covered mean? Covered means if that bet misses, you can activate your bet back bonus token and you can run it back. It's like that scene in the, the, the, the space movie with Tim Allen that I love.
C
Jetson.
D
Galaxy Quest.
C
Oh, Galaxy Quest.
D
Remember at the end of Galaxy Star wars when they. Not Star wars, remember, then they. And then they use the machine to run it back and then they're able to take advantage of it because they have a time machine. It's like having a time machine when you can make that bet unhappen. The tournament's heating up. Don't just watch it. Go to MyBookie AG. Use the code DBU. Get that bet back. Bonus Token. And you can go big and you can win from it knowing that my bookie has got your back. It's only at MyBookie.
C
Hey, so if you go to ESPN and you go to their. Their baseball tab, okay, and one of their. One of their headlines here is the ABS Challenge Tracker. So it's pretty easy to find. Yeah.
D
Okay. Glad they got.
C
Except, though. Except they. They have it headlined as ABC Challenge Tracker.
D
That's not correct.
C
It's not correct. And someone needs to correct that. On espn, it's the ABC Challenge character. If you click into it, it's the Count from Sesame Street.
D
Well, no, the Count is Math. He's on ABCs.
C
Does he know he doesn't do letters at all?
D
No, he's the Count. He doesn't.
C
He doesn't. He doesn't do letters. No. Okay.
D
Oh, he's like. He's the defensive coordinator. He's in the other. He's got different rooms. He's doing numbers. He's literally the Count.
C
I set you up. I felt bad about making fun of your bad movie reference just now in the read.
D
I'm sorry.
C
My face.
D
Hold on a second. Are you. Are you saying Galaxy Quest is a bad movie?
C
No, I just thought that your use of it in the read wasn't good. My facial expression showed that, and I felt a little bad.
D
Galaxy Quest is a really good movie.
C
Okay.
D
A massively underappreciated movie.
C
I've never seen it.
D
Especially the performance of Enrico Colantoni as Mathazar.
C
I've never seen the Galaxy Quest.
D
Really? Yeah. And. Oh, you'd ever seen Sigourney Weaver with the huge fake chest? No, I've never seen it. Oh, it's worth it, too. And the documentary about it is awesome, too. Okay? They got everybody involved in documentary. Nobody really liked Tim Allen, and Tim Allen's a terrible actor. And then Alan Rickman was always making fun of him because he can't.
C
Oh, seriously?
D
Oh, yeah. You never heard these stories about.
C
No, no.
D
Oh, yeah. So. So here's Alan Rickman and he's got the. You know, he's wearing a plastic head. And at one point, there's the. A difficult scene that Tim. Tim Allen is. You, played by Enrico Colantoni, is dying, and there's nothing he can do when he has to explain to his friend he's been living a lie. And he's doing the scene, and he goes to the director after one of the takes, and he said, you know, because he said, I don't. I don't really know what's going on here, But I'm. I'm emotionally having a difficult time with this, and I need. I need a break before we come back and do another take. And. And the director says, like, yeah, you know, whatever time you need, I understand. And apparently, Alan Rickman turns to the. The assistant director, and he goes, I believe he's just discovered acting.
C
Yeah, he.
D
I guess that. That was. That was a guy that didn't make a whole lot of friends on set.
C
So the documentary just as good or better than the actual movie itself?
D
Well, the actual movie. It's. It's. The documentary is really good. If you've seen the movie the six times that I've seen it. Okay. It's the same plot as, you know, any of these, like, Three Amigos, Tropic Thunder, where there are people who believe that these people from television or the movies are really what they. What they portray.
C
Got it.
D
And then it turns out, well, you know, we're.
C
Those are two great movies. You're gonna put it in that. In that. In that group, too?
D
Oh, yeah.
C
Two great movies.
D
Well, I don't. I don't think Three Amigos, a great movie. I want to. Great movie. No, it's not. It's kind of a bad. It's one of my. It's fantastic. Come on, come on, come on. It's one of my favorite movies of all time. But I know it's not a great movie. Oh, it's. When I first saw it, I didn't like it. And it took years. Yeah, but it took. It took me years to. Because my sister was always. She planted her flag on that movie. And I said, how?
C
You know.
D
I said, you really saw Three Amigos? She goes, I think it's the best movie I've ever seen in my life. It's my favorite movie ever. And I said, stop it. It's not your favorite movie ever. And she goes, no, it is. And she's never wavered from that. Okay, so she has held to this day.
C
It's still her favorite movie.
D
Yes.
C
All right, well, that's a bit extreme.
D
Yes. And she's been, like, an actual professional film critic. She worked for Premiere magazine.
C
She would agree with you that it's a great movie.
D
See? She would agree with you. She believes that it has somehow risen above some aspects of criticism, and I think I can understand that. But.
C
All right, maybe sometime I'll check out Galaxy Quest.
D
You. You'll love Galaxy.
C
Even though there's a ton of movies you've never seen that you should. I'LL maybe do.
D
Look at the cast of Galaxy Quest. Okay. Just. Just. And everybody. For.
C
For.
D
I don't know how they captured everybody at the. Just the right place at the right time, but you'll love it. You'll love it. I guarantee you. Now, this is not why you called, but you know that when. If I see the words art heist, we can add him to the team, by the way.
C
Yes, He's. Yeah, he was part of my crew.
D
Yeah, I want to make sure. Oh, I thought I wrote. I wrote down another one, too, that I heard the other day. Clutch Gene. We have to have. We have to have Clutch Gene on the team. Also, along with Art Heist.
C
Jot it down, Clutch.
D
Paintings by Pierre Auguste Renoir, Paul Cezanne, and Henri Matisse have been stolen from a museum in northern Italy in a brazen heist that took just three minutes. According to authorities, Renoir's 1917 oil painting, Le Poisson, that would be the fish.
C
Was it carried out by Art Heist?
D
No, no, that would be too aptronymic. Okay. Paul Cezanne's 1890 watercolor, Tass et Plat des, that is cup and Plate of cherries.
C
That's a good one. Yep.
D
And Henri Matisse's 1922 Odalesque Sur la terrace, which I believe would be Woman Lying on her side. Underneath the terrace were taken from the Magnani Roca foundation, located near the city of Parma. A spokesperson for the carbonieri of Parma and the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of Bologna. Good, good, good. Prosciutto chabub. Where did. De. Parma. Yeah. And Parmesan, right? Isn't Parmesan. No, that's Reggio. Yeah. No, that's Parma, Right? Prosciutto di Parma, Right?
C
Yep.
D
The four hooded thieves forced their way through a first floor door in the museum's villa of masterpiece overnight between March 22nd and 23rd. But the museum chose to keep the audacious heist a secret in hope of catching the thieves if they returned. Returned? I don't. Interesting.
C
Okay.
D
Hey, let's see how our heist went.
C
They're gonna pretend that it didn't happen, so hopefully they come back and steal more.
D
Right. They're the guy who's like, hey, you know, you're missing a couple paintings around here. Hey, thanks, man. Police said the surveillance footage shows the thieves making off with the paintings across the lush gardens of the villa with the museum's alarm system sounding in the background. Okay.
C
Sounds like an inside job to me.
D
They just took him off the wall and ran away. Yeah. No arrests have been made. The museum continues to remain open during its usual business hours. The Magnani Rocca foundation has loaned artworks from all over the world, including collections from the David Zwerner Gallery in New York, the Getty Museum in la. A lawyer for the foundation told CNN the theft was structured and organized. That thieves may have been inspired by the relative ease with which burglars broke into the Louvre in Paris in October. Now that we covered as well, and that was pretty simple. That was where your, your neon yellow construction vests have a ladder, have walkie talkies, hard hat clipboards, and nobody stops you. And we found out that the Louvre security password was apparently just password. That was the bigger problem. And the person in charge of the Louvre got fired. A clearly planned heist was not completely successful due to the foundation's internal protective system, including the use of automatically locking doors and alarms. Italy's elite, Carbonieri Art Squad. Wow, I didn't know that there was just an Art Squad.
C
Well, another guy. Art Squad.
D
Art Squad. Carbonieri Art Squad. Carbonieri Art Squad collects around 100,000 stolen artifacts from all over the world each year.
C
Yeah, Art Squad is arch nemesis to, to Art heist. Art heist.
D
Yeah.
C
Actually we're going to come to find out that they're brothers, separated at birth right there.
D
And of course there's the scene where Art Squad is sitting next to Art heist and they just say, you know, you and I are not so different.
C
That's right.
D
We are more alike than you think, Mr. Bond. Right. They're playing baccarat, right. They're sit at a baccarat table. That's what it is. That's it. Yeah. They're. They're in Monte Carlo at a baccarat table and they have that conversation. Art heist and Art Squad.
C
Art squads in a tux and Art heist is in like a. A jumper, like a zip up jumper. And it says Art on his chest.
D
Just big bold letters Art. According to their spokesperson, they have a highly sophisticated network of their own that tracks stolen art. Luigi Magnani, who died in 1984 age of 78, was an art critic. Different guy. Musicologist and writer who opened his estate and private collections, including works by Titian. Albrecht Durer, who I believe was known for his etchings and wood carved prints. If I remember my, my art history.
C
Sketch it Edge. What is it?
D
Etch A Sketch.
C
Etch A Sketch. Is that what he did?
D
No, Albrecht Durer. You can look him up, but I think Durer was etchings Play for the bulls and block Prince. Oh, Peter Paul Rubens and Mary, like the large ladies.
C
What? Nothing.
D
You know the term Rubenesque, right?
C
Yes.
D
An ample, bosomed, ample bodied hunker, downer of a three technique.
C
Yeah, I'm sure Art heist took a
D
few of her statues, Francisco Goya, Antonio Canova, Claude Monet and Giorgio Morandi to the public in 1990. The grounds outside Parma boast neoclassical and empire era furnishings. Tucked in curated gardens that include exotic plants, monumental trees. Do they mean ornamental trees? No, they're just really big, monumental with the trees as monuments. Okay. And colorful. And white peacocks that roam free. That's no fun. They're annoying. You don't want peacocks roaming free.
C
Okay.
D
The foundation hosts a permanent collection of art and artifacts that spans the Renaissance period to contemporary art. Well, now not so much because somebody walked in and took the paintings and left. So it's your turn. Art squad. Here you go.
C
You gotta find them. Yep. Right. Here you go.
D
That's on you. If you're the elite Carbonieri Art Squad. Get on it.
C
If I were art squad, the first guy to go talk to is art critic. I talk to him first because I'm sure he's got his ear to the ground. He knows what's happening in the art world.
D
Yeah, art appraiser, probably just to find out the value of everything. All these guys, you know, they're all hanging out at the. At the club somewhere downstairs. So we're going to keep you updated on this as events warrant. You can be certain because that's the kind of stuff so you get from us here on Dan Bernstein Unfiltered on 31 2, sports.
C
Dan Bernstein Unfiltered.
A
Unfiltered on 31 2, sports. This week with digital coupons at Safeway and Albertsons, get beef rib roast for $7.97 per pound. Member price with minimum purchase of $50 or more in a single transaction. Exclusions apply. See store for details and broccoli, cauliflower or russet potatoes are 97 cents per pound. Member price limit 6 pounds plus selected sizes and varieties of lucerne butter cheese or Philadelphia color cream cheese are 197 each member price. Visit safewayoralbertsons.com for more deals and ways to save.
Podcast: Dan Bernstein Unfiltered
Host: Dan Bernstein (with Matt Abbatacola)
Date: March 31, 2026
Episode Focus: The fallout from the Chicago Bulls waiving Jaden Ivey after a tumultuous brief tenure, with a deep dive into organizational missteps, player conduct, and broader sports trends.
This episode focuses on the sudden waiver of Jaden Ivey by the Chicago Bulls after a chaotic and unsettling stint that drew national attention. Dan and Matt dissect the timeline of events—from the trade that brought Ivey to Chicago, to revelations about his off-court behavior, to organizational lapses by the Bulls’ front office. The discussion covers basketball decisions, the intersection of personal beliefs and professional environments, mental health, and the responsibilities of sports organizations. Later, the show pivots into lighter discussions about MLB umpire accountability and an art heist in Italy, all with the trademark unfiltered tone.
Dan on Ivey’s outbursts:
“I found the Jaden Ivey rant on the airplane to be extremely troubling… That would be scary to me, somebody in that situation talking about good and evil and judgment, getting on a commercial flight.” (13:14)
Matt on the future for Ivey:
“He could live that life anywhere he wants. He’s just not going to be employed in the NBA.” (24:23)
Dan on due diligence:
“Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t… I doubt they had all the information just because I don’t give this front office the benefit of the doubt.” (21:54)
Dan on the evolving world of umpire review:
“If balls and strikes need to be handled by a machine…well then strikes, machine. Let them do that.” (43:11)
Humor Highlight:
"If you can listen to Evan Turner and not be like, oh my God, what is that…It sounds something other than human. The best I can do is like this, but it’s stranger than that…If he has some secret to the universe…I’d just miss it." (33:36)
The episode rides Dan Bernstein’s signature—blunt, dryly humorous, occasionally acerbic—Blending sharp sports analysis with cultural detours. The discussion on Ivey is both compassionate and critical, reflecting concern for both individual and organizational responsibility, while later sections ease tension with lighter topics and jokes.
Dan Bernstein Unfiltered’s March 31, 2026 episode is essential listening for insight into how a promising NBA career derailed in real time, exposing cracks in front-office procedure and the limits of tolerance in professional sports. The hosts skillfully blend in meta-commentary on workplace culture, due diligence, and the evolving intersection of sports, personal beliefs, and mental health—before sending listeners into lighter, witty culinary, baseball, and art-caper territory.
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