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Dan Bernstein
On July 5, the Chicago Stars return to Evanston vs Utah Royals FC the Chicago Stars celebrating a summer of soccer on the north side and you don't want to miss it. With an easy to get to stadium and tickets starting at $19, pro women's soccer has never been more accessible. Come to a match for family friendly pre match entertainment, then cheer on US Olympians like Mallory Swanson and Alyssa Nayer playing right on the lakefront in Evanston. Summer soccer doesn't get much better than this. Get your Tickets now@chicagostars.com Tickets ever notice
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Dan Bernstein
Dan Bernstein Unfiltered Unfiltered on 312 Sports
Sports Analyst / Co-host
DBU on 312 is brought to you in partnership with my bookie and today also by the Chicago Stars, making this a soccer field summer in Evanston. Come to a match for family friendly pro sports on the lakefront. Get tickets@chicagostars.com tickets well, as the Bears turn and as this saga develops, yesterday was supposed to be a clarifying day. Yesterday was supposed to be a time when all the parties involved were renewed in their efforts to make something work. And then we found out because of the communication problems the Bears appear to be having that that is not the case that now that the the closest that we have here Cam Buckner floated this idea and now we're hearing that the and I expect that we'll hear something change in the Bears timeline at any point soon right here that if you remember that when we last left Kevin Warren, as he had marched the bears toward the fetid swamp. And he has everybody standing behind him. Follow me, lead me. And here we are. Here we are at the, at the, at the gateway to glory for the Bears franchise. And you're standing in front of a refinery and treated human waste and a smelly golf course where you're. You don't own and whatever space you have, you're not allowed to do many things to build until 2050. And you haven't done the environmental work and you haven't pulled the permits and all that. But don't. That's not important right now. That's where he's declared that the Bears are. And they said late spring, early summer. Well, happy summer. I think this constitutes early summer, right? June 26th, that's where we are. Early summer. Pretty good. And I think soon you're going to hear that the Bears timeline is going to change once again. Because it sounds like that they had a little window here to try to get some energy going, some momentum going to, to try to marry the House bill with a Senate bill and have the Bears be involved in the process, as they should be. And the lobbyists working with the Bears and representing the Bears. And they would, they'd say, all right, here we go. Let's count the votes. This is what you want. Are we done? Is this going to pass? Here is your. Here are your tax breaks, here's the infrastructure. But no, the Bears have said, we're not doing any of that. We're not involved. At least somebody from the Bears said that, because nobody knows who they're talking to when they're dealing with the Bears right now. Because even though they've hired a lot of comms people, their comms are a mess and a disaster. So they. Nobody really knows who's talking on the Bears behalf right now. No one in. Involved in trying to make this work, however they might want to make it work, knows really who they're supposed to be talking to. And it seems that when it was floated around the state fair. So Maddie, if you could just kind of look up exactly when is that Illinois State Fair. And I don't know if that's because there's activity in Springfield. I want to say it's, it's a, it's around August, right? That is, is now what we're hearing about the potential for when a special session could be called around that time.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
Thursday, August 13th through Sunday, August 23rd.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
All right, August 13th through the 23rd. So just.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
And today's the 25th, by the way.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
Just a day after your birthday. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. I should know that, shouldn't I? I have. I absolutely should know that. There's no question that it sounds like if that's going to be the next look, then we're talking about late summer. That's not early summer. That's late summer. And. Okay, all right. Because you know why they're doing that? Do you know why they aren't acting with urgency right now?
Co-host / Guest Analyst
Are you asking? Because I could tell you why.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
Yeah. Because they know that the Bears aren't going to Hammond.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
Correct. They're not going to Indiana.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
And the reason that Illinois can do this is because at any point, the Bears can announce they are done with Illinois, they're done with Arlington Heights, they're done with Chicago, they're done with any other site, they're done with the state of Illinois. They are moving, and they are moving, and there aren't a lot of people that live there. And it doesn't smell very good, but it doesn't matter that they are going to plant their flag in the swamp. But the Illinois legislature and anybody you want to name, whether it's Cunningham or Buckner or Pritzker, essentially keep saying go. You got this leverage. You're saying your sole focus is there and your silly board has convened to do something that you think sounds important. Okay, now what? What are you going to do? We're in no hurry here, is what Illinois is saying. We're just. We're not in a hurry. And if anytime you want to engage, anytime you want to be a part of this, you can. You can come here and include some partners and be involved in the process. And it'll take as long as it's going to take. But that sounds like around the next time, because it was supposed to be yesterday. That was really the first shot was the opportunity to say, hey, here's what we. This is what we're doing, and we want to. We want to do this. We can pick up the pieces because it always happens when they have the spectacular crash and burn at the deadline of the spring session. And then it didn't happen and the Bears weren't there and it was over. And. Oh, that's it. They're going to Indiana. Our whole focus is Indiana. Oh, my God. Okay, go.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
Yeah. That's the thing about a bluff. Like, a bluff has to be legitimate.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
And no one believes.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
And no one believes that.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
Nobody involved believes you.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
Right.
Dan Bernstein
So go ahead.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
That would be the advice to the bears. And that's what the bears are being told. And the bears have apparently told them, fix everything. Give us. Give us tax breaks and infrastructure. Okay, what tax breaks? Exactly. What infrastructure? What are we talking about here? But the bears, like, you figure it out. You just figure it out. And the answer is no. No, they're not. People, especially, I know in Arlington Heights, everybody was just sick and tired of wasting their time taking three steps forward in negotiations and three steps backward because things would get queered at the last minute when everything looked fine and somebody came in and made things weird. And we know who that person is. They've kept making everything weird because has a tendency to do things like that. So it's enough already. And that's the statement that's being made, that anytime you call us when you're ready to talk, and if you're not ready to talk, that's fine, go, go ahead. But they know that's not going to happen. They know that nobody within the bears actually wants that. And they wouldn't have any idea what to do with this giant parcel of land that they bought in Arlington Heights that they're paying taxes on. And they have to maintain to a certain level. And that they're. They're. They've done all the studies. They're. They're ready to go environmentally there because they actually did spend the money. They haven't spent the money to actually do the same studies in the place where they actually need to be done, and that's in the swamp. So until they even do that, there's no reason to believe a bluff. We're going Indiana. Okay, well, have you done any of the work?
Dan Bernstein
No.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
Then why should we think you're going? Because our board said we are. See this? It's just not working. It's just not working. So I've said before, my ideal outcome would be that, that they just go to Indiana, because when I turn on my tv, it doesn't matter. And if that's what they want, if they want to make their drive from Lake Forest and head from their offices and their practice fields and they want to make that drive to Hammond and spend all that money there, they don't really have much money there either. And you notice that the area in Hammond is souring on the plan. I think Pritzker pointed that out that the state is putting all of the tax burden on the municipalities, on the counties and the cities there. And the counties and the cities are finally waking up to say, whoa, hold on a second here. You mean you can't just snap your fingers and create money to build things out of thin air, that ultimately it is going to be the people who live near there who are going to be soaked for the month. They're just, they're starting to realize that all of these big promises and all the political grandstanding, that somebody's got to pick up the tab. And you can dance around all you want, but that tab is going to fall on the taxpayers who live near that stadium where the state can say whatever he wants. Oh, we got this and this and this and this and this. I don't know, just write up a new tax. And that's. But apparently that, that's okay for some, so enjoy. And it's fine with me because I'm not paying for it. And if you want to pay for it, cool. But nobody believes that that's where the Bears are going. And now we're going to see dates pushed on into the summer and maybe even further. And what bugs me about this is as we get closer to the season, when we're talking about the end of August right around there and this, the Illinois State Fair, when they might call us, might have the possibility of calling a special session and all that has to be done, that's a blink of an eye. As far as the time it's going to take, you're talking seven weeks. June, July, August. You're talking seven weeks to craft the legislation to whip the vote, count the vote, be certain of the vote, get all these factions involved, all these factions on your side, and then have that special session called because you know the outcome. They're not going to call it. This is. You've got to realize this. There will be no special legislative session unless it is a federal fate accompli that it's passing. Otherwise they're not going to bother bringing everybody back to the Capitol because it would be stupid and annoying and a waste of time. But do you know how you convince people to vote for it? By politicking, not by grandstanding. Not stupid billboards on the Kennedy that the Bears are. That all of these are their various shell groups that do stuff on their behalf. Say no to Indiana. This is, this is a losers game they're playing. What they need to do is get into the back rooms, get into the offices, meet some of these legislators in their districts, do the work anytime the Bears are interested in doing the work. Just being the Bears isn't enough. That was the bet. That bet blew up in their face once. And if you wanted to keep blowing up in your Face. If this is the Kevin Warren exploding cigar over and over and over again, go ahead and do it because it's. It's absolute comedy for anybody who isn't personally invested in it. And my only personal investment as a taxpayer is whether or not I'm paying for something. And if you're going to be taxing Cook county and you're going to be taxing, whatever it may be, the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago or whatever it is that have some of that, the. The money, or setting up an authority that has amusement taxes or hotel taxes, that it's fine, let Indiana do it. Go ahead. Go ahead and do it. So my only investment is whether or not any of my money is going to pay for the stadium. And I would prefer that none of it does. But I understand if, in fact the Bears are somehow going to find the money for them for. So they can say that they're going to put up a mere $2 billion, which is going to be nothing by the time they actually do get their happy shovels in the ground and cranes in the sky and all that bullshit that Kevin Warren has been talk.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
Well, that's the guy they're getting the money from. They're going to borrow from a mere $2 billion.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
A mere $2 billion.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
He's got.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
He's got the fund.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
Yes.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
However, you're going to borrow it. Okay.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
That's all the risk the family's taking.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
But what's their collateral, the team? Honestly, the only collateral the McCaskey family has is a controlling interest in the team.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
Yeah, I mean, they have some real estate, but I don't think it's anything significant.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
No, not just secure. Not if you're making a bond deal. If bond investors are looking at this, you've got to have some kind of collateral here. Essentially, they would have to mortgage controlling interest in the Bears or maybe they
Co-host / Guest Analyst
own stadium cars and they could just. They could borrow off the titles.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
The point would be. The point would be to, by this point, have owned other things, have. Have bought other things, have developed other things, have built other things against which one could borrow to build your stadium.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
Well, they're just going to reach out to the law firm of Milner, Mason and Murray.
Dan Bernstein
Perfect.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
They'll represent them. The law firm you can't trust.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
As long as they're not throwing baseballs,
Co-host / Guest Analyst
it's all gonna work out.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
That is absolutely fine with me. As long as that particular firm is done throwing baseballs, and then it's all good. We should also mention, though, by the way that apparently when we talked about finding your inner Juan Uribe for Dansby Swanson that, that he did. I also would suggest finding one's outer one Uribe because that's, that that can be better for you I think, I think you'll be really happy if you do that. But let's just keep an eye on what's going on with the bears. But the noises are around Springfield. The chatter that we're hearing is it's time to kick the can down the road again. Waiting and waiting and waiting for the bears to find a way to actually be involved in this process other than whatever this the Kevin Warren monorail show is.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
I can't wait for week one when that football gets kicked off and the season starts and nothing different has happened.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
Well, it isn't just that. I'll tell you what my worry is. My worry is as we, as there are more football related things, Warren is still going to keep doing the same bit and he's going to hijack every football thing to make some grand proclamation. He's good. Everything. It's like, well, we're, we're probably moving to Hammond. Oh, we're definitely probably moving to Hammond. Oh, now it's done. We are certainly, definitely probably moving to Hammond. And they keep doing this and no one's buying it except for the stupid.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
Well, he may not hijack football situations but he's still going to be involved in front and center. He'll be in the locker room after they win week one. Oh, you better be there for the excitement of the delivering of the game balls. And he'll be there as part of the football side of things while nothing has changed or progressed or grown on the operation side of obtaining and building a new stadium.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
But actually that's not true because what is changing is the value of the dollar.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
Well, yeah, for sure.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
Dropping like a stone dropping. With every day that goes by, the value of a, of a dollar right now is less and less and less and less and the expense of what they're doing is greater and greater and greater. So but like I say, you could do something about that by actually convincing important people that it's worth their time and their effort and their political capital to help you. And that's called lobbying. And there are paid professionals who you hired to do it. And as soon as Kevin Warren realizes that there are people around who are more prepared, more informed and more experienced in doing this than he is, maybe we'll, until that happens where I don't think we're going to see Anything different. Unless they just go to Hammond, because that's. They're.
Dan Bernstein
Wait.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
They've been waiting. Everybody over there is like, we're here.
Dan Bernstein
Come on.
Shopify / Business Testimonial Speaker
Okay.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
Anytime. Come on, come on. And the Bears are. Oh, yeah, here we go. Here we go. Watch us. Here we go. And Illinois says, okay. All right. This is, this is, this is fun. Whatever you're doing there, Bears, keep it up. Go ahead. Well, if you. When you're interested, come on. Come on back. We're. And at some point, Illinois could just say, we're done, but they won't.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
They could.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
Or they could say, all right, you know, renegotiate your deal with Soldier Field. Figure that out. They got a place to play there. There's no worry about not having a place to play their games. So here we are. This whole stupid saga continues. And I think the latest is just that they. They missed whatever the opportunity was. There was a lot of noise about yesterday, and it has come and it has gone. It is no longer Wednesday and nothing. All right. Did you know you can double your money if the golden arches show up tonight in the USA game? You know what I'm talking about. You can only bet this one on my bookie. That is what they're calling the next lock of the season. No lineups, no tactics. You don't have to know soccer. All you have to do is watch the broadcast. You can stream it at My Bookie. Will the golden arches, the McDonald's logo, appear at any point on the screen? Come on. It's a World cup broadcast. It's one of the most recognizable logos on earth. The promo code for you on this is dbu. Put that in there. DBU right now to grab your deposit bonus and get up to $500 in protection on your first bet at my bookie. Don't wait until you see it on the screen because by then it's already two. The lock of the season only at my bookie.
Dan Bernstein
On July 5th, the Chicago Stars return to Evanston versus Utah Royals FC. The Chicago Stars celebrating a summer of soccer on the north side and you don't want to miss it. With an easy to get to stadium and tickets starting at $19, pro women's soccer has never been more accessible. Come to a match for family friendly pre match entertainment, then cheer on us Olympians like Mallory Swanson and Alyssa Nayer playing right on the lakefront in Evanston. Summer soccer doesn't get much better than this. Get your tickets now@chicagostars.com tickets. I have a vivid memory of sitting down with my wife right after we bought our first house and talking about having another kid and what our lives were going to be like and realizing we needed a plan for life insurance for both of us. How could we make sure things were
Sports Analyst / Co-host
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Dan Bernstein
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Dan Bernstein
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Sports Analyst / Co-host
There's a lot of basketball stuff going on. If you aren't paying attention there. There was a major trade that's been pulled off just today, so I want to start with that. The Charlotte hornets are trading LaMelo Ball and Josh Green to the Timberwolves who've been very busy for Nas Reed. Ouch. And a series of draft picks. This is from ESPN. In addition to Reed, the Hornets get a 2033 unprotected first and second round picks in 29, 32 and 33. Also three first round pick swaps in 28, 29 and 30. LaMelo Ball is three years left on his current contract. He is eligible to sign a two year $119 million extension on July 6th. He averaged 20 points, 7 assists, 4.8 rebounds in 72 regular season games, his most played since he logged at 75 in his second season. From 22 to 25 he played in a total of 105 games because of injuries.
Shopify / Business Testimonial Speaker
Wow.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
I Lamelo Ball, there's no question is the most talented player in this deal. He does put up numbers, but in he's sometimes he looks like the best player on earth and other times he looks like he has no concept of what he's doing. He is a he's an absolutely mystifying and maddening NBA player because sometimes it appears he doesn't necessarily take his job that seriously. When and if he does, he could really be a difference making winning player if he wants to. Because Nas Reed is Nas Reed is nasty. Nas Reed is big, strong, and he can, he can play inside, he can play outside. You have to, you have to race out to close out on, on three pointers with him, but he can get around you and go to the basket. He's been hailed for his toughness and for his, his identity as a teammate. So it may just be that LaMelo Ball is the biggest star and most talented player in this trade. Nas Reed might be the best player in the trade. So I've, I've always been tantalized by Lamelo Ball, but I don't trust him. So we shall see what they think they can get out of him. Good luck on that. The Bulls didn't make a second round pick yesterday, and it's fine. I'm not really worried about any of that. It's, I know that there are some who get angry when they find out the bulls traded the 56th pick or sold it for cash. And it's, it's easy to have fun with that. Like they don't care. They're just selling off things to pad the pockets of their owner. It's. I, I, it's fun. I know it turns into a, a fun, silly bit like it did with Jordan Bell. Remember that whole thing when they sold that pick or they sold him for cash and it was like, well, this is how. What do you do? That is Jordan. He's bad and he was never any good. I don't even know where is he still playing? I have no idea what happened to him. He played a couple games for the Bulls. He was bad. And he is currently with the Noblesville Boom of the NBA G League. So all of that, remember that whole thing, he's, he's already 31 years old and he's playing for the Noblesville Boom. All right, congratulations. The, the selling of cash of the forecast of the 56 pick tells me this. Their board wasn't 56 deep. It happens sometimes when you get down there and you're like, all right, let's rank our board. And there's only 48 players you actually want or would want conditionally. Or maybe there's 50, maybe there's, maybe there's 40. Because most of the second round sucks. A lot of the times the whole back of the first round sucks. So don't get too up in arms over this. And then you sign. If there's guys out there that you want, you don't have to use a draft pick on them. You just sign them as free agents and there's no commitment there. So it's Better. That's why teams don't like late first round picks. They're just not that valuable this year. 15, where they got Dylan Swain. That is probably about the limit of, of difference makers.
Dan Bernstein
There will be people.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
Surprise. There'll be people in the top five who are bad. There will be people in, you know, from 16 to 30 who are good. But for most of the, the preponderance of the scouting will tell you where the talent is in a draft. So I just don't get crazy about stuff like, like what they did and who's the guy they traded for. Cam something. I, I haven't. Jones. Cam Jones. I, I haven't heard of. I know he was at Marquette and he was kind of Tyler Kolik's replacement at Marquette. He's got a good body. He didn't contribute much in the NBA
Co-host / Guest Analyst
for who's gonna shoot the ball next year?
Sports Analyst / Co-host
Oh, I, you, you don't have a lot of shooting out there. It's going to be modest. It's going to be giddy. Patrick Williams can still. That's the one thing he can do okay, is hit threes at a high clip at this point in his career. That's kind of what he is if he, if he wants to get the most out of his defense and be kind of a three and D guy. But again, next year isn't really all that important. So though they're going to put the base in place for some of the rudimentary system or whatever Thiago Splitter thinks he's going to run. But this is, this is the beginning of a developmental time. The whole point of what the Bulls are doing right now is to get the most out of Caleb Wilson. That's what you're focused on right now. Can. If you maximize Caleb Wilson, then you're talking about an era of Bulls basketball that he will define. He is a talented enough player to, to potentially be that kind of star. That's the goal of everything that they're doing right now. And you do not want to lose sight of that. There's an NBA story too, that Micah Norrie, who was the longtime, very popular and well regarded assistant coach in Minnesota, he was a college baseball player who got into coaching basketball and is apparently very good at it. And he was interviewed by the Bulls, interviewed by every team that had an opening. So if you haven't heard what's been going on in Portland, this new owner, Tom Dundon, is just cost cutting. He does. He thinks it costs too much to run an NBA team. He doesn't want to pay people market value and it's bad for labor, for, for to accept the kind of deals that he's been throwing around right now. He went through the front office and just started slashing jobs. I'm not quite, quite sure what his goals are, but I know that is, it is the, the mood there is terrible. The culture there is apparently awful from the top down and nobody feels safe, nobody wants to, to go work there. Thiago Splitter apparently was happy to be out of there and, and avoid that mess with the Bulls offering him a job and multi year deal, a standard NBA coaching deal. The contract Micah Nori signed only has one year guaranteed and it is a terrible, terrible deal. The NBA Coaches association is up in arms about this contract. J.B. bickerstaff called it a slap in the face to our value one guaranteed year team options on the second and third years with a below market base salary and includes incentives based on team success. Let me be clear here. A contract takes two signatures and the Coaches association is. I agree with them. I agree this is a bullshit contract that does devalue coaches, that does set a massive precedent and a terrible one for coaching value. And it's. You put your coach in an impossible situation. It isn't just about the money. It's about the structure. It's about what it does to a team. It. And it's about why like the worst aspects of business cannot necessarily be imposed on a sports team because it, the, the, the rules are different. The dynamic just the rules, the dynamics of a sports team are different. But two parties have to sign this deal. And if I'm the NBA Coaches Association, I want to make sure that in every head coaching cycle that you're proactive, that you're going out there talking to the agents that represent coaches. Look up Maddie, please, who Micah Norrie's agent is because you have a handful of agents that represent a lot of coaches. And it's easy for me to say, and I know this, and let me just preface all this by saying I know you. This is that it's, it's, it's cheap and easy for me to say this, but if I'm Mike Annorie, I am not signing that deal.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
It's interesting because his agent also represents JB Bickerstaff and it's Brett. Just.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
Oh, Brett just.
Dan Bernstein
Okay, sure.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
Yep. Brett with one T. Just.
Dan Bernstein
Yeah.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
Isn't he part of, of the Mark Bartlestein Group where he's at? I think so. I think it was Bartelstein and Just that, that put that group together here in island park, that is, it's, it's a bad deal. And that if everybody should be listening to what the, the Coaches Associate association is saying, but that's on them. The association should be going and saying, hey, there's a responsibility here for everybody involved because that hurts the agents. It hurts everybody when you start agreeing to bullshit contracts. The reason why it sucks is because if you are doing any kind of a rebuild to incentivize the team to win now, can go against building the best possible team. Like, what are you doing? A coach needs to have that kind of latitude. And if players can smell the fact that a coach is, is coaching scared or coaching desperate or is in a weak position, has no power base, it changes the way that it resonates with the rest of the team. He's going to be scratching and clawing for every possible win if he gets incentive pay for wins. If you're a star player and the coach wants to have you out there at the end of a game in the middle of January because he needs the win to get paid. And then starts like, hey, man, I. You told me I was resting tonight. You can't rest tonight. I got to have you out there. Yeah, but I told you my foot hurts and we got a back to back. You're playing. I gotta, I got kids going to college. I gotta have this job for another year. I need you out there to play. This is a terrible, terrible contract that Mike and Nori should never have accepted. If Dave McGinnis could walk out on his dream job at the Chicago Bears because things got, got. Got screwed up at the end and he didn't trust his employer. If Dave McGinnis, the late Dave McGinnis could do what he did on that day, Mike Annori could say no to this awful contract because he's going to get his shot. And I, again, I know it's. You never know. You walk out, you get hit by a bus or something happens and you never know and your one opportunity is gone. But he got taken advantage of. He got exploited. His desire to coach an NBA team got exploited by a predatory owner. And he was talking about the job during the season while Thiago Splitter was there as an interim. This Dundon's a bad dude. And it's. I don't. They don't blame anybody directly, the coaches association, but I don't see how this could possibly work out with the structure of this deal forcing a coach to act in a way that a coach shouldn't have to act if he's trying to build a team. Usually you don't even get to the final year of your deal without an extension for all these reasons. And now he's. He's starting his job in the final year of his deal. No way. No way. It is a. It is a terrible, terrible, terrible idea. And it's too bad because it does hurt all coaches. So I wish Mike and Nori the best. Everybody seems to love him, but I think he's already. He's taken a job where he has made it really, really difficult to succeed in large part because of the structure of this contract that he agreed to. So I can't. I can't blame the Blazers on this one entirely. Also, if I were. If I were Brett, just, you know, you got to do what your client wants. And his. He. Maybe Nori just said, hey, whatever they want, whatever they offer, I'm going to take it. Whatever it is, I want that job. I mean, I need it. I got to have it. The agent will say, okay, but that's on the client. It takes. There are two signatures on every contract, and if he decided, whatever, whatever you're going to give me, I'm going to grab it. And we're not even going to counter. Maybe he did counter. Maybe they said, no, we're not going to give you. So I don't know how the negotiation went. I'm not privy to that. I haven't asked, but good luck. And. And this. It does sting other coaches. This isn't some. And nobody wins in this. Nobody wins isn't some great victory. If you're rooting for NBA owners to save money, I don't know what motivates that. Yeah, screw those coaches, huh? And I'm sure there will be that, because there, There you can. You can find any opinion that you want. I. I don't understand it. I don't know what would motivate somebody to. To celebrate another billionaire shithead owner being able to save a couple of dollars as he's trying to scratch and claw. I know that Portland fans aren't happy with it. They might be happy they have a coach, but they put a coach in a very, very, very difficult position to succeed.
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Sports Analyst / Co-host
Did you have to fight a dragon?
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Sports Analyst / Co-host
You want something fun to do this summer? Maybe you haven't thought of this. Well, I'm here to make you think about it because you should. There is a soccer team that is playing in one of the most gorgeous spots in Chicagoland at a price that is affordable with a product that is fun and exciting for the entire family. And I am talking about the Chicago Stars who play at Martin Stadium in Evanston, Illinois. The Stars, professional women's soccer, including Olympic medalists. They've got Mallory Swanson, they've got Alyssa Nair. And tickets started just 19 bucks. So young kids, young soccer players who want to see their role models play up close, head out to Martin Stadium because you can get there easily. Car, bike, cta, Metro right on the shores of Lake Michigan. And you get family friendly pro sports right there on the lakefront. July 5, the Stars are going to be playing Utah Royals FC as part of their celebration of a summer of soccer on the north side. You don't want to miss it. Summer soccer doesn't get better than this. So get your tickets now@chicago stars.com/tickets. Well, they've gone and done it again to the baseballs. And I always promise you I'm going to do my best to keep track of all the information that we get. There are some people, there are some of our finest out there who do it. I know Dr. Meredith Wills, an astrophysicist. If people keep sending her baseballs, she keeps ripping them open and analyzing them. And there are other people who are looking at the data that is now available and publicly available that we're able to find and to see how the balls are behaving well, check this out. It started with Eno Sarris, who is one of the best out there at breaking down baseball data. He writes for Fan Graphs. He writes for the Athletic, MLB Rates and Barrels is his newsletter and podcast. He said if it seems like there's been more offense recently, there has been. Drag on the ball is currently lower than any year other than 2019 when baseball broke all kinds of homer records. Super weird considering MLB owns the ball maker and has humidors in every park. Drag hit its second lowest point in 2020 on June 18 and there are fluctuations there, but this is just something to keep an eye on. There's always fluctuations. So I'm just going to give you this from Sean Zarillo who does MLB projections for Action Network. He put a plot chart up and it said there's strong evidence that either MLB changed the baseballs or introduced a new batch while still cycling out the old baseballs in late May and early June. Almost every contact quality controlled statcast metric has seen an outlier uptake uptick in recent weeks. Barrel distance up 10.2ft from April to now. It is the biggest in season April to June jump of the statcast era. The average as the weather improves is 4.6ft. So if you're thinking it's the weather, it's coincidence. Well, that should be 4.6ft. It's been 10.2ft off a barrel. The additional 6ft this June aligns with the statistical drop in the drag data. So that is something to keep an eye on. It's also been noticeable in dome games. In roof closed games the carry jumped as much as it did outside. They've also did work filtering out all of the outlier stuff that's been going on in Vegas. It didn't materially fix how drastic the increase was in the sample. Even in just the six games there there is. There is some skew involved but not enough to really increase it. So let's just see, just keep an eye. Again, there are regular fluctuations in this so it is possible that there are some coincidences. But anytime you get a number you get stuff like around this kind of thing. It's always worth keeping an eye on where we're headed with it because the reason why teams don't know what does power cost? What do you have to pay? How special is power? How much does it matter that some one person has the ability to hit the ball out of a park? Or is the ball helping you? And if Luis Arias can flick his wrists at it and have it go over a fence. It just changes the valuation of power. So keep an eye on it. I thought you would find that interesting. And that's something that I like keeping an eye on because I do think it matters when teams are playing with a different baseball in different games and how that affects all the stuff that we're talking about right now.
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Sports Analyst / Co-host
Start your free trial@shopify.com we are heading into some massive World cup matches over the next few days. I know. Last night we were watching Mexico and Chechia and there were a couple of Mexico girls. Meanwhile, you see Mexico is in trouble again because fans are chanting the homophobic slur on the goal and the opposing goal kick. And apparently FIFA has said that the referees are supposed to shut the game down when they hear it, give a warning, and that potentially a game could be canceled, forfeited, emptied of fans and all these things because of this traditional homophobic cheer and that Mexican fans have not stopped doing it. And the referees completely abdicated responsibility last night. Like there. There are if specific FIFA rules in place. And everybody heard was easy to hear in the broadcast. Every single Chechia goal kick. You could hear it as they. As they build up and they yell a homophobic slur at the opposing goalie. Nothing. FIFA, hello? Maybe awake. I guess not. We already saw. Was it a red card for. For somebody covering his mouth that you're not supposed to cover your mouth when you're trash talking, because that was a way that people were. Were using homophobic slurs. And racist is primarily to stop racism, but they realized somebody was going to say something super racist and they would cover their mouth. So the moment you cover the mouth, you're supposed to be ejected. And I think they've been kind of fudging around that too. But I thought FIFA was on this. I thought they cared. I thought this was something they're supposed to do. But anyway, there's a lot of World cup stuff going on. And the big game tonight is USA and Turkey. Tomorrow it's Uruguay and Spain. And you can spend hours, breaking down tactics and lineups if you want. Or here's this simple question for tonight. Will the golden arches show up on the broadcast? That's your bet right now at my bookie. The McDonald's logo, will it be there? Don't worry about injury reports or goal expectations or pretending you watch qualifying matches from six different confederations. It doesn't matter. It's just one of the biggest sporting events in the world and you could be there with my bookie with this special bet. Use the promo code DBU and you'll claim your deposit bonus and you will get up to $500 in protection on your first bet at my bookie. So that's all it is. It's called lock of the season. That's where you'll find it. Will the golden arches show up on the broadcast? Once you see it on screen, it's over. The bet's gone, so you have to get in now. So register, make your deposit, use the code dbu. And that is only at my bookie. It does seem like we are going to have a major change in golf, and I absolutely love it because while we're talking about soccer, and I've long said everyone loves the concept of promotion and relegation, even the. The unintended consequences whenever they decide the.
Dan Bernstein
The.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
What it does for excitement, what it does in. In two different leagues in the Premiership and in champions, to say whether you're going up or you could be going down, and you are always able, you could be the tiniest club among the official affiliated clubs in England and always have that opportunity to build your team up into the Premiership. And they have the, the dream of these tiny teams, whether it was, you know, Wrexham, the one that the celebrities bought, or the. The fictional Richmond team and Ted Lasso, we saw what they had been going through. Well, now the PGA Tour is going to take a page from their book. They have approved recommendations from the future competition committee that is going to reshape the Tour's competitive structure starting in 2028. So we got a couple years, but this is awesome. They are going to bifurcate the PGA Tour into the Tour Championship Series and the Tour Challenger Series that are going to run concurrently during the season. So the way this is going to work is the Challenger Series is a feeder path to the Championship Series. Isn't this kind of NASCAR as well? Doesn't NASCAR have their main series and then their lower series, but they run at the same time? They sometimes run at the same tracks on the same weekends, and you can work your way up into the higher level. So golfers will compete to advance into the Championship Series. And what they're doing is they'll take some of the obviously the big tournaments that we know. The championship series is 24 events, 16 signature events. The players, the four majors, the season ending events and the President's cup or the Ryder Cup. And each of the 16 signature events, 72 whole stroke play average, field sizes of 120 golfers. The regular 36 hole cuts to the top 65 in ties a purse of at least 20 million. I don't know how they're going to sustain that. And then the top 90 players in the points list from the Championship Series will retain their membership. The following year, another 20 will be promoted from the Challenger Series. So you will have people relegated. You will have that bottom group of the Championship Series will drop and the top group of the Challenger Series will move up. That's fun. That makes every cut matter. It makes everything matter. There could be a putt for a guy well down the leaderboard. That is a career changing putt. And what the PGA is saying is that the structure is going to use a single consistent point structure to reward winning, to emphasize top finishes, reinforce the importance of making the cut, creating clear, more compelling storylines. The they have the current FedEx points system for signature events and non signature events and different tournaments and at more points than the majors. And now they're going to take this entire idea and make it an actual structure of how they're going to be doing their business. And the major championships still have elevated points. The cool thing is, doesn't really change anything. If you want to tune into these events and watch the best players, that's already what you're going to get. The PGA Tours already identified 10 of the 15 Championship Series regular season tournaments. You've got eight signature events. That's the Pebble Beach Pro Am, the Genesis, the Arnold Palmer, the RBC Heritage, the Cadillac Championship, Truest Championship. The Memorial and the Travelers are all going to be part of the Championship Series. And they say the tour is targeting larger markets such as Boston, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington to fill out the remaining five spots. Hey, come on. We're right here. Nothing. Nothing in Chicago. You sure? There's going to be a new season ending model that includes retention and relegation for the following season, recognition for the season long points leader, an introduction of match play into the postseason. Players will be allowed to compete in either the Championship or the Challenger Series, but not both. And they will not be required to compete in every championship series tournament. But the players is going to have its own criteria, could include golfers in both series because the players kind of stands on its own and, and the Challenger Series a minimum of 20 tournaments. And I think those will be your kind of low level rank and file type PG events, the Valeros and those kinds of, or the other Quad Cities. Those are probably going to be on that, on that lower tier at this point. They're still PGA pros. It's not Korn Ferry Tour. It isn't a minor tour. It is the minor section of, of the PGA Tour. So I just thought that was kind of, kind of cool and exactly the type of outside the box thinking that is needed right now. As LIV crumbles and as that goes away and some of these players are making their way back. One thing I'm thinking they're doing this because it's possible depending on how punitive the PGA wants to be. And I think they, they didn't talk about this. But what I see as a possibility is maybe what you can now do is say to the live guys who want to come back, instead of penalizing the money, you put them on the Challengers tour. That's what you can say, yeah, you can come back and play. But you, if you're, if you're that good, be in the top 30, get promoted and then, and then it's, and then clean slate. I think that's fair. If they outside the people have already negotiated their returns. I think Kapka negotiated his. I don't know if Ron Rom has talked to anybody yet, but instead of getting into court battles over who should be allowed to do what, I think that's really, really simple because that, that's going to help your challengers tour. You're going to give people reason to watch those tournaments. That, that's a huge deal. You're going to drive up viewership and say that that's a whole storyline, that's a whole story arc. Watch the live guys try to work their way back to the championship tour and you'll have big names at the smaller tournaments. So that would be my idea. Just you've happened to do this and it might just coincide with throwing the doors open and saying here's, here's where you're going to be, here's where you're going to start. And that's what we're negotiating. All right, cool. I'm good with that. I have several things to mention. We have all kinds of stuff going on here at 312Sports and I want to say first that if you. If you haven't gotten the 312Sports app, please do a quick story, by the way, from yesterday. So, Matty, I know we were talking about what we were going to do for the family birthday dinner, and it didn't happen. The storm started, and everybody kind of got tired, and we just bailed. So we didn't do Dairy Queen. Jason and I ended up very, very late, just walking out a block and having Puerto Rican at our favorite Puerto Rican place. So we just. We just covered the table with food and had their fantastic proprietary homemade hot sauce, which is the best stuff on earth. And we had mofongo con caldo del pollo and aroz con gandules carne frita marcias pastelios. What's the other one called? What is the. Oh, bacalaitos. Oh, my God, it was great. And Beth and Zoe stayed home. He and I went out. It didn't cost very much because this is one of the few restaurants in the world that doesn't soak you for an arm and a leg for everything, but. Nice night. But as I was going into Mariano's earlier in the day, I ran into a guy, introduced himself, and I vaguely remembered speaking with him, and he said, hey, do you remember meeting me? And it turns out I ran into him like the. It was the weekend right after I got fired, and it was at a local restaurant, a really good Italian restaurant up in Lincoln's Square. And I remember seeing him there, and I was out with. With some friends, and he. He just said, hey, I'm sorry this happened. I'm gonna miss you, and I know you'll land on your feet. And it was a weird time. I was. I was a mess. I was. I was, you know, doing okay. I was putting on a brave face, and I was able to be, you know, out in public and doing all that, But I was. I was. I was messed up and just beginning to work my way through it. And I remember when him saying that to me was. Was meaningful. And among the other pieces, there were a lot of people. A lot of people who I didn't know who said really, really nice and supportive things.
Dan Bernstein
And.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
And I. It was seeing him again, and he. He's smiling. He had his earbuds in, and he holds up his phone, and he was listening to Unfiltered on the app, and he's like, this is just so great. He said, I just. I can't tell you how happy I am that he said, I love the shows. I love Everything you're doing at 3, 1, 2, sports. I'm glad you came back. And it really gave me pause, and it let me have kind of one of these moments to, to juxtapose, you know, running into the same guy that close to, you know, rock bottom and then here. And it was just kind of everything. That time acceleration feeling as fast as this has felt, that was one of those moments where I was just really thankful and just really aware of how far we've come since we started this in August or how far we've come, Maddie, since the moment we started talking to the people at Gamut and the people at Hubbard here in those early, early meetings over a year ago. And it's, it's.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
It.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
It kind of made my head spin a little bit. And, you know, just another time to say thanks to you, to everybody, for getting this where it's gotten in, in such a relatively short period of time. When you talk about how, how long people in this city have been putting sports opinions out there for consumption and to be able to be back doing it and to be on this kind of solid ground at this point is really gratifying. But it was, it was something that, that, that hit home yesterday afternoon in a way that hadn't necessarily before in quite that way. It was very nice. If you haven't gotten that 312Sports app, you should, because we have prizes there that you can find in our rewards section. We like to give you stuff. We have a $100 gift certificate to Abba restaurant Mediterranean with a California influence in Fulton Market. We have a $100 gift certificate to RPM Italian. You know, RPM Italian, Six Flags Great America tickets, Family fun with endless thrills, the thrill capital of the Midwest. And tickets to see Joe Bonamassa in concert on August 12th at Ravinia. Tickets for the 2026 season on sale now@revenia.org so on the app, enter the promo code Cody, as in Cody Delmendo, C O, D Y on any reward for your chance to win. And then in a week or so, we will pull those winners and I will bring them to you, and we will reload the rewards with new prizes and things and a new code word. There's also what's going on tomorrow, and if you are a listener to off the Ivy, you know exactly what we're doing here. And, and unfortunately, you didn't get to listen to the. The raw feed of the Ivy that would make tomorrow's promotion a whole lot easier for you.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
Yes, the unedited version, the unedited very different.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
But here, in this case, not so much a game.
Dan Bernstein
No, that. That's really.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
That's really not a game.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
That's a game out of it.
Progressive Insurance Announcer 2
You know what that is?
Dan Bernstein
That's called a race.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
Then you take a game and you turn it into a race. But it is now. It's a game. And what it is is called find Cody and win.
Co-host / Guest Analyst
Just don't ask Cody because he might tell you.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
Right.
Carvana Commercial Voice
Oops.
Sports Analyst / Co-host
I told everybody where I was. The the next Cubs game could be on us. So tomorrow after 6pm Cody Delmendo is heading to a Wrigleyville bar to watch the Cubs take on the Brewers. So he's likely going to be miserable. He'll be easy to find because he'll be sobbing. He's bringing tickets with him. Cubs tickets to a, I have to say, a future Cubs home game. All week long, he's been dropping clues on the 312Sports app and social channel. So follow the hints, track him down, be the first person to find him when you find him. Tomorrow after 6pm show him your registered 312sp sports app account. Answer a Chicago Cubs trivia question correctly and you'll score a pair of tickets to a future Cubs home game and exclusive 312Sports swag. So get that free 312Sports app now in the App Store or in Google Play and make sure you're following at 312Sports and start watching for clues. Find Cody, Beat the crowd. Don't beat Cody. Don't. You're not allowed to do that. That's illegal. Find Cody, Beat the crowd and win Cubs tickets. Go to the pro shop too. That's the other thing at on the app or 312sports.com go to the pro shop. Buy your swag. We've got three one, two sports swag. We have some brand new DBU stuff. We already have had people send us pictures of themselves showing off, representing Jersey, popping their DBU stuff. So go ahead, represent. Find that. And if I see you in the wild, I'm I'm going to give you a hug. So be, be aware and be afraid and we'll leave you with that. Today, this has been Dan Bernstein Unfiltered. We have been brought to you by the Chicago Stars making this a soccer field summer in Evanston. Come to a match for family friendly pro sports on the lakefront. Get tickets@chicagostars.com tickets and in partnership with my bookie
Dan Bernstein
Dan Bernstein, unfiltered. Unfiltered on 312 Sports On July 5th the Chicago Stars return to Evanston vs Utah Royals FC. The Chicago Star is celebrating a summer of soccer on the north side and you don't want to miss it. With an easy to get to stadium and tickets starting at $19, pro women's soccer has never been more accessible. Come to a match for family friendly pre match entertainment, then cheer on US Olympians like Mallory Swanson and Alyssa Nayer playing right on the lakefront in Evanston. Summer soccer doesn't get much better than this. Get your tickets now@chicagostars.com tickets.
Host: Dan Bernstein
Co-host: Matt Abbatacola (and guest analysts)
This episode centers on the latest developments in the Chicago Bears stadium saga, with Dan Bernstein and Matt Abbatacola skewering the Bears’ threats to move to Indiana, analyzing the Illinois legislature’s cool response to team demands, and breaking down the political theater at play. The show also hits on major moves in the NBA, the new PGA Tour format, the latest in MLB baseball dynamics, and more, providing the characteristically sharp, unfiltered takes Bernstein is known for.
[01:41 - 19:20]
Bernstein and Abbatacola dissect the continued confusion around the Bears' stadium plans. Despite hiring more communications staff, the Bears' message is inconsistent and their plans unclear.
The anticipated "clarifying day" passed uneventfully, indicating stagnation rather than momentum.
[22:31 - 38:25]
[39:35 - 45:15]
[49:01 - 57:58]
[45:40 - 49:01]
[58:32 - 59:43]
In classic unfiltered fashion, Bernstein and Abbatacola pull no punches, mocking Bears leadership and team posturing while highlighting the acumen (or lack thereof) of politicians, sports executives, and even fellow league organizations. Expect sardonic wit, deep insider knowledge, and the uniquely Chicago blend of skepticism and sports passion.
If you haven’t listened, this summary gives you a roadmap of all the sports power plays, executive stumbles, and franchise plotting—backed by authentic banter, memorable riffs, and the kind of perspective only decades in Chicago sports can provide.