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- [00:00]
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Dan Bernstein
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Dan Bernstein
Fantastic.
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Co-host
Dan Bernstein unfiltered unfiltered on 312 sports
- [00:37]
Dan Bernstein
DBU on 312 brought to you in partnership with my bookie. And I'm getting the sense that some of what's going on with the Chicago Bulls and the Michael Reinsdorf press conferences is coming off a little bit and as ready, fire, aim. And I need to be careful with this criticism in some ways because they did something and I don't want to scare anybody off from doing something. And if somebody say, well, you know, you wanted us to fire everybody and we did, and now you got a problem with that? No, I, I don't. I'm just trying to figure out what the actual stance is right now of Michael Reinsdorf, of ownership and, and the people orbiting him, including John Paxson and I, presumably purportedly based on their masthead, that Doug Collins remains an advisor as well. We don't know who is, who is his primary sounding boards are for some of these things on the basketball side, which is part of a larger Bulls problem and is reminiscent of an old Bears problem of people who don't really know the game all that well and are relying on some of these, these in and around the game voices, REM remaining in their planetary system to deliver some of this wisdom. But in the responses that the Athletic received from Michael Reinsdorf about some of what he did, I'm not sure that they were quite prepared for his words a couple days ago to mean what they ended up meaning and whether the intent of his words has matched the impact of his words. Let me be clear. He promoted Billy Donovan. Michael Reinsdorf promoted Billy Donovan because immediately when we knew this was going down, oh my God, Acme is out. What does this mean? What's happening? Who's going to do what? And we asked all these questions and I said, is Billy Donovan going to pull a Brad Stevens and decide that that's it. I'm going to be the executive for this team. I'm going to Take on other responsibilities. And I'm going to, I'm going to hire a new coach that he wasn't interested in that. But even though he's not interested in it, he's kind of getting those responsibilities now. When he said, if someone's not interested in Billy Donovan being our coach, they're not the right candidate for us. Bam, done. Billy Donovan is now the most powerful person on the basketball side of the Bulls, full stop. That's what happened. He promoted Billy Donovan. He didn't change his job for the moment, but he made it as if anybody who comes here already has to acquiesce to where Billy stands in the organization. And here's the other critical point. When you are the owner and you tie yourself to somebody, that person becomes bulletproof. That nobody coming in, regardless of your job titles. When the owner decides, anybody coming in here gotta want Billy Donovan. You did it. You can't unring that bell. And it sounds to me in an email or a series of emails with the Athletic and the byline on this piece is Joel Lorenzi and John Greenberg, where he said in an email responding to follow up questions Reinsdorf wrote, donovan's status won't be taking, quote, precedence in the process. Well, what do you mean now? What do you. What does that mean? Because Reinzor says the point I was making is that he's a good coach is what he wrote. I don't think there's a candidate out there who would not want to interview with us because I'd like Billy to remain as our coach. Are you coming off of this now?
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Co-host
That's what it sounds like. It sounds like.
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Dan Bernstein
Are you coming off this because. Yeah, of course. How can you say that without knowing what the. Like that's the problem. Are you backing off of this statement? This is a major change. If so, a huge change. I don't think there's a candidate out there who would not want to interview with us because I'd like Billy to remain as our coach. You don't know that. There's no reason to limit yourself then. And this is what I brought up. And if you listened to OWC yesterday, we started to get into some of this stuff. And I know if you're hardcore Bulls, you're probably listening to owc. And if you're not, you're probably not. If right now, Sam Presti this. We did a little thought exercise and I'll bring it here to this space. If the general manager of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Sam Presti, said right now, and he's Sitting at home with his, with his wife. Like, you know, I hate living in Oklahoma City. It's. I've got nothing left to prove here. They gave me free rent. I could do whatever I wanted. These owners have been awesome. And I just. Or we want to move. We want it. We want a new challenge. We want to move. Boy, if we could be the people that, that had a parade in Chicago, my goodness, what that would mean to bring back the glory of the Bulls. And they say, yeah, but you know, I, I don't want Billy Donovan as my head coach. You would not hire Sam Presti. If he called Michael Reinsdorf today, say, hey man, I want that job. I'm going to leave. I'm going to go. Like a Craig Counsel type of move, Like a Joe Madden type of move. We're talking GM or Andrew Friedman kind of thing where he's just like, the Dodgers opening came and Andrew Friedman left the Rays and took the Dodger job because he could. These things theoretically can happen. It's not crazy. It had established awesome general manager said, I would do that. You gotta do that. You cannot tie yourself to a coach in this way. And that is not to say it couldn't work in a Greg Popovich type situation. If you, if you heard Adam Amin yesterday, I, we talked to Adam about it here on dbu. He was unbelievable. He was so awesome. If you haven't gone back and listened to his wisdom at to be 39 years old, a child in the television play by play business, and to be as comfortable and vulnerable and aware and as wise as that young man is. Adam Amin is an old soul beyond his years. And we talked about it a little this yesterday, but this is before I saw the fact that Michael Reinstar's hedging already. He's coming off at that point. You did it. You promoted him. You made this the Billy Donovan show, whether you wanted to or not. But if you are softening in that stance, that's a story. I'm going to read what Reinsdorf said. Again, the point I was making is that he's a good coach. I don't think there's a candidate out there who would not want to interview with us because I'd like Billy to remain as our coach. You got to know that before you say it, man. You can't come out there and tell the basketball world that this is the guy here and then say, well, you know, I can't imagine anybody out here would. There's a lot of people who might not want to. Billy Donovan's A good coach. I don't. I don't think everybody agrees he's good. That doesn't mean somebody running your team thinks he is the man for this moment to coach your next champion or build your next champion. Or maybe this person says, yeah, I think Billy's a good guy to get us through this. And then I've got somebody else waiting the Wings, who. Who I think will be ready to take over at that point. You know, the visionaries, the actual visionaries that you might want to hire here that actually check all the boxes that you laid out there about being ahead of trends, not chasing trends, knowing personnel, looking at what's coming next, being able to understand what. How the rules might change, and understanding the entire basketball globe. To presume that that person is necessarily tied to Billy Donovan is a presumption that leads me to think that you're in a bubble, that you're spending too much time around people that are too insular. You cannot presume that if you really are looking for the best person and all you're doing is. Is you are closing the aperture of the eye of that needle. You've got a thread to make it work when the reason you blow out your front office is to put everything on the table. And you did it, Mike. You did it. And now after you've done all that, you're then saying, I got to keep Billy. Why? Why? I like him. I wouldn't mind to have him as my coach, but it has to be part of a bigger plan. It can't just be that all of a sudden he has earned this status to be trusted as the primary basketball executive in building your next champion. And that's what you've done whether you wanted to or not. And I. And this now, in reading this, this email response, you can't us that way. You can't have a press conference and then in an email to somebody who just happened to ask. I love the fact you return an email. That's awesome. But you can't say, well, I can't imagine that. This is bear stuff. The point I was making, he's a good coach. I don't think there's a candidate out there wouldn't want to interview with us. Because I'd like Billy to remain as our guy. You don't know that. Don't say what you don't know or say the opposite. Say, even if there is a candidate out there, if that candidate doesn't want to interview with us because Billy's our coach, I don't want to talk to him, pick a lane. This is, this is too waffly. You're the owner. You've got to set the tone. If nothing, you, you've got to set the tone and do this either one way or the other. You can't now be vacillating. You can't now be wishy washy on
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Co-host
it and see, but here's the, here's the, here's the problem though, Dan, with doing that. Like I get what you're saying, but the problem is they don't know what Billy wants to do yet. You, you can't go hard one way or the other without knowing what Billy wants to do.
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Dan Bernstein
But they went halfway.
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Co-host
They could talk to Billy on Monday and he could say, you know what? I just don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to be here anymore, or I'm done coding or I want to look at other opportunities. They don't know.
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Dan Bernstein
Then you handle this differently. Then you can't tie your entire organization to his future. And the other thing, too, if I'm Billy Donovan's agent, I am, I am at the mo. Like there is a proposal that is, is being put together right now for this meeting, this end of season meeting. This is not a one way thing. This is not just Billy Donovan coming in, sitting at your desk and hearing what you have to say. Because as soon as that, that call concluded, as soon as Michael Reinstar finished that, turning over his team to Billy Donovan, you got to make me want to stay. Oh, I, I'm. Now, this is my show. Did anybody who's going to come in and, and run personnel's got to work with me. Okay, well, here's what that's going to cost you. Because me coaching your team and me being the de facto basketball leader of your team, that's got a different number on it. We can do it, but we got to talk. We got to talk about what I'm responsible for every day. And you know what, too? Here's another thing. If I'm Billy Donovan, I want back pay for being your frontman. If you're going to keep me around here because you've been paying me to be your spokesman. You've been paying me to answer for your front office for six years. You. And I was never compensated for it. I was never paid to, to be the mouthpiece because the top, the, the nominal top of the organization only spoke once a year or twice or half a time or did, you know, you run out the clock interviews and all the stuff that he did, he would do because I'm not making enough money around here to do all these jobs and, and to be the person that gets you through a press conference and you're. You're holding up my name, waving around my name, as you know, the trustworthy basketball hall of Famer, rock of the organization. He didn't want anything either. So they got a lot of work to do, is the point. The Bulls have a lot of hard work to do, and it's not just going around and interviewing people when you've already thrown in all of these different caveats and these, These different obstacles to your own hire because of how you've doubled down on your coach doing more than coaching.
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Co-host
Well, it's, it's too bad because Reinsdorf, he did. He did walk back his original comments and he. Well, and I know he means. That's why that's great that he means well, but he fumbled this. He fumbled the entire process because he, he did walk it back. He went up to the edge of the cliff and only one, you know, only. Only one halfway. He fires A.K. and. And Eversley. Great. Listen, Billy Donovan is a Hall of Fame basketball coach and more for his resume in college. I get that. He's a. He's a. He's a. He's a. He's a very good NBA coach. Tell me, though, that you're. You. You can't. If you do it right, you can win an NBA championship in Chicago without Billy Donovan as your head coach. He fumbled this from the beginning. He should have parted ways with everyone. Everyone. Everyone should have gone. I'm sorry. He's been here six years, and I know that the being around 500 and the playing games and tournaments and all that stuff is not solely or all on Billy Donovan. I get that. But he was part of it the last six years. Everyone should have gone. Michael Reinsdorf fumbled this from the start. It looked so promising because he got rid of the front office that needed to go a year or two ago. He should have gone all the way and wiped out the entire organization and started over.
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Dan Bernstein
There's more here. There's. There is more. Because Reinsdorf was asked how Donovan's decision might affect the team's approach to the summer. He said, I don't think it's going to take Billy a long time to come to a conclusion on what he wants to do. Look, I think Donovan staying. Okay, I do. Now. Now I'm saying I would have a lot of contract demands if I am staying. Because I got you right now. I got you now. And if you're going to. You did this before you consulted with me. You made me the top of your organ. Like, come on, man. You just promoted me.
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Co-host
See, I, I get what you're. I get what you're saying, Dan. I, I do. I understand it, but I don't think, I don't think Michael Reinzer sees it that way, though.
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Dan Bernstein
Well, well, he's got to know what he did because that, the way the league sees it is not the way he sees it. So.
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Co-host
Because he, he, he doesn't see it the same way that you're, you're verbalizing it. He doesn't.
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Dan Bernstein
Oh, well, he better. He better. Now, according to this, when Donovan was hired in 2020, he said he wanted input on player acquisitions. Though after the Jaden Ivy debacle, Donovan said he wasn't consulted on that move. And Reinsdorf said it won't change with the next hire. He said, I probably will push Billy to be more involved. Donovan hasn't expressed interest in moving into a front office role, but if he did, the Bulls would entertain the idea. Check this out. If he came to me and said, hey, I may want to do a Brad Stevens situation, I would sit down and listen to Billy. I don't think that's where his head's at. I don't think Billy cares about titles. He means job titles. Billy cares about being a head coach, and he cares about the players and he cares about the organization. Reinsdorf said the search firm will help organize the candidate pool, but he isn't sure how the process will go yet. He's not sure who else will be in the room with him for interviews. John Paxson will help him as a consultant. Pat Connolly and JJ Polk, Assistant GMs will help guide the search. Those are guys that Karnashova has hired. So the underlings to Arturis Karnishovas are going to help guide the search for the next person who's probably going to be their boss. Come on, man. Come on, man. We got to figure out what's going on here.
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Co-host
Yeah, he, he, he really fumbled this whole process.
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Dan Bernstein
We've got to figure out what's going on here.
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Co-host
You fire the front office and I, I don't know what the procedure, the proper or best procedure for Michael Reinsdorf to find the next guy in charge of basketball, what that should look like, but I don't know if he knows how to do it. But you bring in a new guy to run basketball, and Billy's under contract, I assume. So you keep Billy around if you don't want to fire him, but you give it to that next guy in charge. It's his call. Yeah. Hey, as the owner, I would love to have Billy stay here, but that's not my decision.
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Dan Bernstein
And it isn't just this, too. It's also the fact that we keep hearing Josh Giddy, modest Bouzelis, and now when he mentions Noah Senge, like, having a second top 10 pick because he didn't play at all last year, maybe the next guy thinks he sucks and can't play at all. Right?
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Co-host
Maybe.
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Dan Bernstein
Maybe the next. Maybe the next guy never would have drafted him and wants to get rid of him.
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Co-host
And he wants to get rid of all three of those guys.
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Dan Bernstein
Yes.
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Co-host
And for reinstate should have the ability to do it.
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Dan Bernstein
And I think. I think that there's some. That a decent, honest new executive is going to look at what assets they have and not throw all the babies out with all the bath water and say, yeah, Josh Giddey can play on a. On a real team. Modest Bou Zealous might be developing into a core piece, but they've got to be able to make those decisions themselves. You can't use the words clean slate. You can't call this a clean slate. And he used those words. You can't say it's a clean slate when you say, oh, well, you got to keep Noah Sange. Who gives a shit about Noah Senge? Listen, Dan, you maybe, maybe he ends up great. But you, you can't give me that. This reminds me of when. When George McCaskey at a press conference was talking about Darnell Mooney, like, stop, stop. You're too far in the weeds already. You're too far in the weeds. You back off. Back off. Rethink. You need a reset on this already, is what you need.
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Co-host
You could, you could say, listen, I'm going to hire a guy. He's going to be in charge, but he needs to keep Billy Donovan. He needs to keep modest, he needs to keep Giddy, and he needs to keep Noah Senge. Listen, listen, listen. He could say that. And they will find guys that will take that job.
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Dan Bernstein
Of course they will.
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Co-host
But you're limiting yourself in your candidate pool. And why would you do that to yourself?
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Dan Bernstein
That's why I'm using the Sam Presti example. That's why I'm saying to yourself, if. That if, in fact you have. If you've taken the theoretical possibility of Sam Presti off the table, you have to explain why. And maybe there's an explanation for it, but that's why if Michael were sitting here, I would like to know if you got a call out of the blue and Sam Presti says, I want to leave Oklahoma City. I want the Bulls job, but I gotta be able to move on from Gideon Bouzelis and Noah Freaking is Senge. And I gotta be able to fire Billy Donovan or come to an agreement that whatever you want to say that ends Billy Donovan's tenure here, you have to say yes to that, right? Might.
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Co-host
He might. He might not even fire all the. Or get rid of all those guys. He could keep them, but he needs
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Dan Bernstein
to have the ability to.
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Co-host
To make that decision.
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Dan Bernstein
Correct.
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Co-host
Like why limit. Listen, they're going to be able to hire somebody. They could limit it all they want. They're going to be able to find someone. They'll get a guy to take this job. But why limit the possibilities of who you can hire? Why?
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Dan Bernstein
Or go harder. Or go harder and say Billy Donovan is our coach, but he's our top decision maker. Because that can work. That's what's happening with the Bears right now. Ben Johnson's the most powerful person on, on the football side of the Bears. That's a fact. He doesn't have the title, but Ben Johnson has become. His voice matters more than that. Orion Polls in a lot of ways. And that's just happened naturally because. Because of how. Of what he's done, what he's doing, how he's carrying himself, the success that he's had, his. His burning competitive level. That's a fact. I don't think Ryan Polls could fire Ben Johnson today. No, I don't think so.
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Co-host
No.
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Dan Bernstein
Right.
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Co-host
Well, no, he wouldn't. But that's, that's. It's.
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Dan Bernstein
I wouldn't. Is different.
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Co-host
No, no. I'm saying he couldn't. But that's not even in the realm of possibility right now. So it's, it's.
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Dan Bernstein
But these are the things you. But these are the things you talk about when you are making the changes as an organization that the Bulls are making. And bottom line, and I'll end it here for the moment, I need clarity. I need clarity. You can't have a press conference that you had and say the things you said and then back off of it in a way that admits, well, I can't imagine anybody not wanting Billy Donovan. Really, I can't. And I'm not saying that I don't like Billy Donovan.
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Co-host
I know, I get it.
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Dan Bernstein
No, you're fine. But what I'm saying is, of course I can imagine an executive having Someone else they want as a coach. Maybe there's a guy coaching in Germany right now, maybe there's somebody coaching in Africa right now who he thinks is a better prospect is ready to step in right now and be the. Be the next guy, you know, and
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Co-host
the thing is, too, this. This isn't that hard to fix.
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Dan Bernstein
Basketball.
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Co-host
It's not that hard to fix. I mean, not. Not the team, not basketball, not their direction. I mean, this current situation, what he's done, because he's fumbled this. He can correct this really easy. Hey, it's a really highly emotional time right now, and. And to part ways with Acme was. Was very emotional. It was a hard, hard process. A hard decision to come to. And. Yeah, and I'm still trying to get through this myself. So, yeah, I want to find the next best person to run this organization, and I'm going to give them full autonomy over what they want to do with this organization. I hope. I hope that Billy Donovan wants to stay here, and I hope that the next guy that comes in charge wants Billy Donovan to be the head coach, but he'll be able to make that decision. Like, it's not really hard for Michael Reinzer to fix this.
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Dan Bernstein
Well, we'll see. He could. I'm not sure he will, but.
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Co-host
Oh, no, he's not going to. I. Right now.
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Dan Bernstein
Look, markets hate ambiguity and uncertainty, and that's. That's what I feel right now is we're. We're in. And he. He's put himself in an. In an unintentionally ambiguous situation other than his de facto promotion of Billy Donovan, who may not necessarily want to stick around or may want to stick around on his terms. Billy's got agency here. And if I were Billy and I were told that I was this important, well, then you pay me to be that important. Or. Or I'm. Or I don't have to be here because I should be fairly compensated for what I currently mean to the Chicago Bulls. And if I mean that much, show me right. So show me the money. Whenever the stakes are high, my bookie is where you turn bets into bankroll. There is always a big matchup on the schedule. You know that. Oooh, we had DBU picks tomorrow. Can't wait. We're all watching. We all have our takes. And no matter the sport, the props can be just as fun as the final score. My bookie's got the ridiculously full prop board. Everything. It's. It's player performances, it's game milestones, and things move around once the Game starts. It's like all the action that's going to keep everything interesting all game long. Get in. If you haven't, now's the time. You register, you deposit. You have one account, you have one wallet and everything. Lives@mybookie ag. And with the code DBU, your first bet is covered up to 500 bucks. And that means it doesn't hit. Then you can use a bet back bonus token up to $500. You make that bet, say, oh, I lost the bet. No, you didn't. Because the bet back bonus token that you got with the code DBU allows you to run it right back. Go to MyBookie AG, use that code. Then you're not just watching the action, you're making it pay. With my bookie question that I cannot answer, I like to play know it all, all the time. It's been, it's been very successful for me in large part. Well, but, you know, yeah, you know, you have your hiccups, you know, but I. This. I cannot really have a strong opinion. I'm not qualified. And I guess my question is, if you are in any way on the continuum of a. Someone who considers yourself a faithful, practicing Catholic, at what point does Pope novelty stuff stop being cute and start bothering you? Because I saw the White Sox are now giving away Pope themed hats. A limited number of hats shaped like the Pope's miter with the White Sox logo on it are going to be given away Aug. 11 against the Cincinnati Reds. They will be available to fans in certain sections the White Sox referred to as the pews. You have to purchase tickets from the team to receive the hats. And yeah, we can. I can read you all of the expository copy here explaining that Pope Leo is a Sox fan and from Chicago and he was at the World Series opener. They know his exact seat when the White Sox won and the Sox in May, they did a graphic installation near that seat of the artwork of Pope Leo and a picture from the broadcast. And then in June, they did an event honoring his election. And then in the pre games, Paul Canerko got a jersey signed by the Pope. The Pope has worn a White Sox hat. He has trash talked a Cubs fan. So he's playing along, but especially with the serious stuff that the Pope has been doing, challenging the, the. The bellicosity of this country at the moment and the, the joy of, of going to war and killing people in war. Apparently we're now learning that there was a US Military emissary who went to the Pope and told him basically get on board with the might of the American military, or you'll be left behind, or you're on the wrong side of history. And threatened the Pope. Like, I could not believe that happened. It did. That actually happened. I'm not making that up. You can go and look it up. That. That was actually done. You know, we've got the name of the guy who did it, and the Pope's involved in some much more serious things right now. The guy's name was Elbridge Colby, apparently, who works for the. The US he is the. The undersecretary of defense or under Secretary of war, who told the Vatican's ambassador to the U.S. he threatened him. So if I'm the Pope right now, I don't. I don't have a lot of time for some of this cute stuff or to be making money off my hat. And I. I just wonder when. When does somebody just say, hey, man, I'm.
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Co-host
I'm.
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Dan Bernstein
I'm a Sox fan, but now you're taking advantage of us. And now you are clearly try. This is just opportunistic money grubbing among faithful White Sox fan Catholics.
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Co-host
Yeah. So I think it's. It's a fair question to ask, Dan, and it's certainly not one that you and I are qualified to answer.
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Dan Bernstein
I can't answer it.
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Co-host
I. Not. Not a Catholic, but. So I, like, I wonder if you're, you know, if you're a Catholic, practicing Catholic, and you're a White Sox fan, does it bother you? Are you okay with it? Are we. Are we looking into it too much? Here's the deal.
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Dan Bernstein
You can say me. You don't have to say we.
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Co-host
Oh, no, no. I. I questioned it, too. I heard it yesterday, and then I googled it to confirm it was real. And then I saw the hat, and I actually showed a picture of it to my wife. And my first thought, Dan, as I saw it, as I was like, ah. I'm like, yeah, this is too much. Like, I. I think it's too much now.
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Dan Bernstein
It's getting cheesy a little.
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Co-host
Yeah. So I wonder. Yeah. If you're a Catholic and a White Sox fan, I'm curious to hear your opinion on it. But he became Pope in early May of last year. You had a full baseball season to ride this, the novelty out. It should be done and over by now. Like, I. I think the season. Because it was new and fresh. Fine. It's the start of a brand new season.
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Dan Bernstein
Like, yeah, we get it.
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Co-host
It should have ended. We get it last season. Yeah. Yeah.
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Dan Bernstein
And Especially because this particular Pope too, has been more than willing, perhaps even more so than his predecessors, to take because he's American to. And he knows that he's going to be heard differently in America at a, at a very highly pressured time, at the very least in this country, a stressful time in this country. He. He said. And I think it's time to listen to the serious stuff that he's saying and not be screwing around, slapping white sock logos on hats. But that's just me. And I'm not in a position. I'm not like I say, I like to play, know it all. I can give you my opinion, but I know that my opinion in this case is not worth as much after I ask this question as the opinion of somebody who is perhaps faithful, maybe deeply so, or it has a different understanding of the Pope's role as the human manifestation of God on Earth. He's not here to sell novelty hats, right?
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Co-host
Is he? If he's, I mean he. If he's the Pope for the next 20 years, are the White Sox going to continue to do Pope giveaways every season? Like last year was enough. It should have ended there. I thought it was too much. But again, my opinion on this, you know. Well, my opinion doesn't matter on anything. Really. Yeah. So I'm just curious to know what, you know, devout Catholics and White Sox fans, how you feel about it? Is it. Is it too much? Is it okay? Is it still cute? I'm just curious to know because my initial thought was it's just, it's too much. Now you had from May of last year all the way through the entire baseball season.
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Dan Bernstein
Yep.
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Co-host
A bad baseball season to kind of use this as a novelty item.
- [33:46]
Dan Bernstein
And with Tomorrow is Friday Feedback Friday, it might just be an opportunity to hear some of this stuff. I will also mention too that if you have not downloaded the 312 Sports app. Oh yeah, we have added to the things that you are missing. And thanks to everybody who's gotten the app. I know I'm not supposed to say Download, get the 312Sports app in the Apple App Store and Google Play. Not only can you listen to everything that we have going on here every day and that is this show dbu. It is off the IV your daily check in with the Cubs for forward progress on the bears in the NFL. We've been busy with OWC organizations win championships. There is from the 50 where Matt's been doing really good work talking to people about about life and and perspective. But this app now can bring you first of all to the 312 Sports Pro Shop. And you want, you want merch, you want things, you want T shirts and hats and mugs and tank tops and hoodies. All kind everything you want. Right now with 312 SP is available. You can go to 312Sports.com, you can check things out in the app, go buy your stuff and buy stuff for friends because it's all there. And yes, soon we're going to start having fun and get really creative with the stuff for individual shows and maybe even get a little silly. But for the moment, we just rolled it out so now it's all stuff that just says 31 2. I want to see it out there. I want to, I want to see it on the brown line. I want to see it walking around the city. I want to see it when I go into Walgreens, when I'm in the back. If you come up to me in the back at Mariano's, if I'm there sorting through day old baked goods and discount gray meat, that's the place to represent. That's where I want to see 312 sports stuff. There you go. And also register to win dinner for two at RPM Steak, dinner for two at Il Porchelino. Dinner for two at RJ Grunts. Tickets to see Wuang Clan presents the Final chamber with Bone Thugs and harmony in concert September 4th at Credit Union One Amphitheater. Just enter the promo code April on any reward for a chance to win. The promo code is April for RPM Steak, Il Porcellino, RJ Grunts and Wu Tang and Bone Thugs and Harmony Tickets. That is your place to go for all that?
- [36:06]
Co-host
Yeah, Dan, I'm looking on, on the pro shop and there's like, there's, there's bat. There's duffel bags with the 312 sports logo on it. There's a, there's a, there's a weekender bag. There's a tote bag, there's hats, there's stickers.
- [36:19]
Dan Bernstein
Is a jewel bag.
- [36:21]
Co-host
There's no jewel bag. It's like a carry on. But there's, there's kid sizes.
- [36:25]
Dan Bernstein
There's, I mean there's, there's like baby onesies on there.
- [36:30]
Co-host
Yeah, there's everything.
- [36:31]
Dan Bernstein
Yep, yep.
- [36:32]
Co-host
So get a hoodie for your kids, send them off to school and a 312 sports gear.
- [36:37]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah, yeah, there you go. That's taking care of your children. That makes you a good parent. I believe I laughed out loud when I saw this and this is inevitable here. But Ken Rosenthal is saying that some umpires talking to him on condition of anonymity because both the league and the umpires union wants them to refrain from public comment. These umpires are quietly stewing about abs.
- [37:05]
Co-host
Shocker.
- [37:06]
Dan Bernstein
Fans are judging them, they think, by a near impossible standard. They fear the game under ABs ultimately will suffer. The umpires expect pitchers and catchers will grow angry that more balls are getting called in the smaller ABS zone. The human zone was three dimensional. The robot version is 2D, hanging like a pane of glass across the middle of the plate. Many in the sport expect the redefined strike zone to increase the walk rate,
- [37:37]
Co-host
which has been up in baseball so far.
- [37:39]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah, and maybe it will. But this idea of them being judged by a near impossible standard. Yes, it is. It is. And you know why? No human being can call these pitches correctly. I'm going to say this until I'm blue in the face. It's not about you, the lifelong umpire. It's about the human body. It's about the human brain and human perception. Pitching and the strike zone has broken a human being's ability to do it well enough. Even if I grant you that these old fat guys and the young skinny guys, whoever it is, are still. Even if I say if I. If. I will stipulate to the fact that you are the best in the world at what you do, you are at the top of your profession. There is nobody better. It's still not good enough. That's the problem. When I say you're not good enough. You, the very best ball and strike umpire, you're still not good enough. And you can't be good enough no matter how hard you work, no matter how thick your glasses are. Catcher framing exists because that proves you're not good enough. The idea that framing runs can be calculated. Stolen strikes can be calculated, or could have been. It could be. Is proof that you're not good enough. It's okay. You're still a valuable person. And I don't know what kind of hug you need to tell you that. You can privately stew and grumble to Ken Rosenthal all you want, but understand what we're doing here. And what we're doing is trying to get calls. Right. And human umpires aren't good enough at it. Right.
- [39:44]
Co-host
And that's been proven so far. Where you see a call that is a tenth of an inch out of the strike zone.
- [39:50]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah.
- [39:50]
Co-host
Like let an umpire call the strike and then you challenge it and you see that it's a ball and that's okay. Is that. That's that's really hard to do at these speeds with that kind of movement and spin 4/10 of an inch.
- [40:01]
Dan Bernstein
What do I have to say? What do I have to tell you to make you feel okay that this is happening like this? And maybe I can't, maybe there isn't anything that's, that's going to assuage your feelings of being of this, you know, John Henry against the machine.
- [40:18]
Co-host
But here's the beauty of it, Dan. The team gets two challenges and if you get both those wrong, then you're done.
- [40:23]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah. It's not like framing matters again.
- [40:25]
Co-host
It's not like every pitch is challenged, but it should not.
- [40:28]
Dan Bernstein
But this is.
- [40:29]
Co-host
I know, I know, but it's like umpires still have the opportunity, but see
- [40:33]
Dan Bernstein
where this is going. Like, like understand where this is going and it's not going in the direction of back to more humanity.
- [40:43]
Co-host
You think they're, they're eventually will eliminate human umpires?
- [40:47]
Dan Bernstein
No, I think that we will eliminate human ball strike collars. You've got to have human umpires, I think until the technology changes. But for the moment, for the moment, I think that there's always going to be somebody standing behind the plate.
- [41:04]
Co-host
Why? I mean, you really don't need someone behind the plate. You don't need someone at the bases either.
- [41:08]
Dan Bernstein
You need somebody in charge of the game every.
- [41:12]
Co-host
Well then you have an on field in charge of the game guy. But every single call, every single foul ball, fair ball, safe, out, tagged, tagged, can be reviewed by video.
- [41:24]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah. And if, if you are asking the question, is it possible in the future to imagine that umpires are obviated completely? Yeah, I do. I could imagine that. And that's okay. It's all right. If that happens. We don't, we, there's, there's no one's pining for there to always be umpires. We don't, if in fact we don't need them, fine. Tennis, you don't need them.
- [41:52]
Co-host
I mean, with technology today, you, you do not need umpires for anything in the game.
- [41:56]
Dan Bernstein
Tennis still has the guy in the big wooden chair, right? There's a person. There's still a person in the big wooden chair. Yes, but what you don't have is John McEnroe stomping around and breaking his racket and taking his headband off and throwing a tantrum saying, you cannot be serious because that's stupid and we don't need it anymore. When there are computers and lasers and machines that can say in or out, yes or no, and it's just simpler that way. So stop whining behind the scenes and understand the way the wind's blowing here. And if you need to think about if you're one of the old guys and you need to think about something else in your life, or if you're an aspiring umpire and you're 22 years old and you said, I want to be a major league ball strike caller. I think there's still going to be jobs to be, to be major league officials. We may not call them the same things. The job's going to evolve. It's going to change because of technology. But what's important is that the call's correct, that that's the only reason umpires existed in the first place. It wasn't to inject their personality into games. It wasn't a force pitchers to know what the strike zone is today or have gamblers look around and say, oh, it's this guy, it's that guy. It's to get it right. And if in fact, the game evolves, it evolves. So I would, I would, I would just hope that because this isn't the last article that we're going to see with, hey, you know these machines, they don't call the strikes on the way. What do you call it? You're going to hear a lot of this and they're. It's all going to be anonymous because that. They have to keep it that way. But there's. Ken Rosenthal could write this same piece every week of this baseball season. He'll. He will be able to. He'll hear the same things. He's writing it now because it's new, but he, this is something that he could be able to write every week. So just be aware of it. And I don't really put a lot of stock in it because even if I say you're the best at it, no one's better than you at calling balls and strikes. It's still not good enough because a human brain cannot keep up with what these pitches are doing. We know that the best a human can do isn't good enough. It isn't good enough to get it right enough. You can get it right a lot, but you can't get it right every time. And if a new standard can get it right every time, I think that's better.
- [44:39]
Co-host
Looking at the ABS tracker Dan for right now, Dan Isonia, 17 challenges, 11 overturned. Dan Bellino, 15 challenges, 10 overturned. Adrian Johnson, 17 challenges, 12 overturned. Chris Siegel, 17 challenges, 14 overturned. Andy Fletcher, 17 challenges, 15 overturned.
- [45:03]
Dan Bernstein
And it doesn't mean we don't like you. It doesn't mean that Chad Wood don't like you, that you're. It just means that it's hard. It's too difficult to do this.
- [45:13]
Co-host
Chad Witson, 11 challenges, 10 overturned. And then there's some. Eric Backus is over five. So five challenges, zero overturned. Will Little, 10 challenges, one overturned.
- [45:28]
Dan Bernstein
So there's.
- [45:28]
Co-host
Yeah, there are some guys that are better at it.
- [45:31]
Dan Bernstein
Well, at a tiny sample that, that over time. Right? Over, over time. Over time most of these are going to be overturned because it's hard. Well, people know, people know it when they see it.
- [45:46]
Co-host
So we'll see. Well, we'll. We'll take a good look at it after the season's over, after all those games and all the data.
- [45:51]
Dan Bernstein
But yeah, I don't expect anybody to beat cameras and laser beams. I just don't. You're not, you're not going to win. And.
- [46:00]
Co-host
Well, I think there are some guys that'll be exceptional when it's. When it comes down to it as far as their, their ratio is concerned and other guys that we've already seen are not very good and it'll worse for them as the year goes on.
- [46:12]
Dan Bernstein
I hope by the time we get to the playoffs they are willing to expand the challenges. I think by the. That you're going to see that. I hope that when we hit October, there's like, look, it's there. There's enough evidence to suggest we got to do more of this.
- [46:29]
Co-host
So give each team more challenges. What you're saying? Yeah, okay.
- [46:33]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah, more, more opportunities to get things correct when, when things start to matter more. In the short series of the playoffs that determines the World Series winner where, you know, the 162 will determine who the best team is and the best teams are. And then they have their tournament to. To determine who wins the World Series
- [46:53]
Co-host
and to determine who wins the tournament.
- [46:54]
Dan Bernstein
Yes, yes. And as long as that matters more, give more challenges. At that point, whenever the stakes are high, my bookie is where you can turn bets into bankroll. You always have that big matchup on the schedule or even a little matchup like Bulls and Wizards tonight, for example. And I'll watch it so you don't have to. I'll be there again. You know what that is? That is some real shitty basketball. But I don't mind it. We were comparing Jason. I were less. He went to Jazz Pelicans while I was watching Bulls Wizards and I don't think it's possible to have that much bad Basketball. It'd be the subject of one single text conversation. It had to be some kind of all time record.
- [47:40]
Co-host
Well, that's the worst team in basketball right now.
- [47:42]
Dan Bernstein
Oh, there's. There's all. There's so much bad out there.
- [47:44]
Co-host
I don't know. Washington had the worst record in the game.
- [47:46]
Dan Bernstein
Oh, God, they're. They're so bad. They're hilariously. But the Bulls beat them by 40. I mean, like, they're. That's how you do it. But the cool thing is that these games, if you know what you're doing, if you're paying attention, you can find some market inefficiencies. At my bookie. Look at the prop board, look at the player performances, look at the scoring, the rebounding, the assists. John Konjar had a triple double in that Pelicans game. I think that's the worst triple double of all time. That could have made you a mint. It's one account. It's one wallet. Bet the spread live, bet during the action. My bookie, dot ag is where to do this. Use the code DBU at MyBookie AG. Get your first bet covered, up to 500 bucks. If it doesn't hit, use your bet back bonus token and run it back. It's DBU. Is the code for Dan Bernstein unfiltered at MyBookie AG. You're not just watching, then you're making it pay.
- [48:47]
Co-host
With my bookie, Washington is 13 games behind the Bulls.
- [48:55]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah, because they're tanky.
- [48:56]
Co-host
Oh, and you're going to watch that game?
- [48:59]
Dan Bernstein
Hell yes. Oh, I mean, how about this? I'll have it on. As I told Adam Amin yesterday, I just kind of. I like when he and Stacy start doing a podcast because they don't. They just stop describing the game after a while because nobody cares. And they, you know when they should. They start talking ball.
- [49:17]
Co-host
You know how you can, like, turn the brightness down or up on your tv? Yeah, it's totally like, black it all out. Black the screen out.
- [49:23]
Dan Bernstein
And just listen.
- [49:24]
Co-host
And just listen. Yeah. Don't do that to your eyes.
- [49:28]
Dan Bernstein
It's okay. It's on. I'll be doing other things, you know. Well, now the Passover is over, I can cook whatever I want. So, you know, I can. Last night I made a sausage, like during Passover, because when I don't eat pasta, and for what, you know, I don't eat, you know, pork or shellfish just because it would seem weird.
- [49:49]
Co-host
Okay.
- [49:50]
Dan Bernstein
Even though I don't keep kosher. So now that the week is up and I Decided. All right, what's going to be my first indulgence? I immediately went to Italian sausage. I did a meat sauce, but only used loose bulk Italian sausage is what I did.
- [50:06]
Co-host
And.
- [50:07]
Dan Bernstein
Oh, my God. And I did the thin spaghetti, huge bowl. It was phenomenal. It was so good. And I think I should do that more where it's not just be. I like doing it with the. With. With beef, but, man, that. And I made it spicy. I. I didn't buy the spicy sausage, but the mild sausage and added a glob of the Calabrian hot chili paste.
- [50:31]
Co-host
Yeah, I mean, you get that extra fat from the pork, it always make it a little bit better. I told you the other day, I made that. That pasta limone. So, yeah, it's basically like real fettuccine, but with lemon.
- [50:43]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah, it sounds simple. And it's a great summer pasta.
- [50:48]
Co-host
Yeah, it's really good. So you just. You're making your pasta. A little bit of the pasta water, and then, you know, parmesan cheese and lemon juice and lemon zest. And I put it in, like, a whole handful of. Of dill. Yeah, that's. That's. Your girls would like that at your house. You should try that.
- [51:04]
Dan Bernstein
Yes, they would. Can you, like, text me a couple of the notes? I don't need, you know, amounts. I don't need, like, recipe, like. Like ingredient amounts. But, yeah, I want to do that because I'll surprise them with it.
- [51:18]
Co-host
You should do that. You know, if you decide that you don't want to watch all the Bulls game, I have a recommendation for you.
- [51:24]
Dan Bernstein
Okay. What?
- [51:26]
Co-host
So I don't know if you watched on Netflix last year, they had a series come out, and I want to call it, like a. A mockumentary, a scripted documentary called Jury Duty. You familiar with Jury Duty?
- [51:37]
Dan Bernstein
No. I just got a summons, though.
- [51:40]
Co-host
Oh, did you really?
- [51:41]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah, for standby, But I just got a summons. I got to figure that out.
- [51:45]
Co-host
Who's Standby? He's.
- [51:47]
Dan Bernstein
He's always on the jury standby. He's there in case. Standby? Yeah, it's like Birch. Like B A Y H. Like Evan and Birch. By.
- [51:55]
Co-host
Yes, Standby. So Jury Duty was an entire, you know, courtroom scene with a trial, and everyone involved were actors, with the exception of one guy on the jury. So the. The judge, the lawyers, the people suing, the people being sued, all the other jurors, everyone involved in this whole production were actors except one guy. And he, you know, they're sequestered, so they're following, and, you know, it's like they're making a documentary and so this guy doesn't know.
- [52:30]
Dan Bernstein
How did the one guy sign away his rights to do this?
- [52:35]
Co-host
Well, don't, don't, don't think that way. Just follow along the premise. So he has no idea what's happening. He has no idea what's happening. And, and it gets really, really weird and awkward and strange and like at multiple points along the way he's like, got it. Feel. It feels like I'm in a TV show. This is so weird. It was really entertaining and the guy was a really sweet guy. It was just a very entertaining show. Okay, so they released a second season and it's called Jury Duty presents Company Retreat. So it's about a guy who works for a company.
- [53:08]
Dan Bernstein
Somebody told me about this dude.
- [53:10]
Co-host
So it's a guy gets a job. There's 10,000 applicants for this intern job at this hot sauce company called Rock and Grandma's Hot Sauce. He gets the job as an assistant in hr, right? And the very first day of his job, they have a week long company retreat. So he goes to this company retreat where he's like the second hand, the second man in charge for hr and he has to help the HR guy run everything.
- [53:34]
Dan Bernstein
Okay?
- [53:34]
Co-host
And it's dude. And so again, everyone involved at the retreat, people in this company are all actors in on it, except for this one guy. It is, it's glorious television. It's so entertaining, dude, I'm telling you, check it out. I mean, it's so entertaining and fun to watch.
- [53:52]
Dan Bernstein
I nervous. I think it would make me cringe. I don't know. I don't know if that's the right vibe for me. It would make me, I think it might make me uncomfortable.
- [54:03]
Co-host
No, you would know. You would, you would, you would enjoy it. It's really funny. It's like at one point someone on the company retreat sends in an anonymous, you know, files and anonymous thing with, with HR about something, about something happening, you know. And so they have the whole team together. It's like 12 people, this company. They're all meeting. And the owner's like, oh, someone filed an anonymous claim, you know, with hr. And the guy who filed the claim stands up, he's like, yeah. I said. And so like the guy who's the actor is like, well, it's not anonymous anymore. It's just little things like that. And it just, it builds up the entire week.
- [54:37]
Dan Bernstein
Too much anxiety.
- [54:38]
Co-host
He ends up, he ends up actually saving the company. It's, it's so.
- [54:42]
Dan Bernstein
Too much anxiety.
- [54:43]
Co-host
No, it's not. It's not. It's so entertaining.
- [54:45]
Dan Bernstein
Sounds anxious. I'm just telling you it sounds like it would make me anxious. I don't know.
- [54:50]
Co-host
I don't know if it would.
- [54:52]
Dan Bernstein
Okay.
- [54:52]
Co-host
No, it's. It's really good. You should check it out.
- [54:54]
Dan Bernstein
All right. The recommendation is noted.
- [54:56]
Co-host
Company retreat.
- [54:57]
Dan Bernstein
Company retreat.
- [54:59]
Co-host
Something else that I know you won't watch.
- [55:01]
Dan Bernstein
I'll add it to the list. I have an update to a story that's important to us.
- [55:05]
Co-host
Okay.
- [55:06]
Dan Bernstein
And this is a KitKat security update.
- [55:10]
Co-host
Okay. Did we find the KitKats?
- [55:13]
Dan Bernstein
No.
- [55:14]
Co-host
Okay.
- [55:14]
Dan Bernstein
No, that's. That is the. The actual kicker of this story. But the latest. This is now sort of reprinted in the New York Post. After a brazen chocolate caper saw hundreds of thousands of Kit Kat bars vanish in Europe, the candy giant is beefing up security. And not just a little. Think less sweet treat delivery and more. Secret Service stakeout says KitKat's Canadian arm rolled out what could only be described as presidential level protection, deploying security escorts in store guards and convoys of SUVs to make sure its iconic wafer bars make it safely from truck to checkout line. The company said while some may find this disruptive to their day, we think it's necessary security measures to ensure our wafer bars and make it to retail safely. The heightened security comes on the heels of a real life Willy Wonka who done it. Last month, thieves swiped an entire truck carrying more than 400,000 KitKat bars. That's roughly 12 tons of chocolate as it left a production site in Italy en route to Poland. The vehicle and the candy have yet to be recovered. So maybe I've seen Mad Max Thunder Road too many times. But when you talk about one giant truck and the SUVs, you gotta picture the War Rig in Mad Max Fury Road and the other car surrounding it with the War Boys. Witness me and Furiosa driving the War Rig. And instead of being full of guzzoline, it's Kit Kat bars. And they've got to. They've got to get there. They've got to get wherever they're going. Whether it's the Bullet Farm or back to the Citadel or Gas City. Wherever they're going in the post apocalyptic wasteland, that's what we have here. The giant truck of Kit Kats is the War Rig. So I hope you're surrounded by your half life War Boys and all of their catapults and cannons and the people, the polecats on the sway poles or whatever they call them. Go get them. Kitkat Whatever you need. And may your delivery be on time. And may you not be bedeviled by Immortan Joe and the People Eater and the Bullet Farmer and their respective army. So. And the Kit Kats you gave me, Maddie, by the way, I'm saving them. They're still sitting here, so we're good here? For now.
- [58:08]
Co-host
Okay.
- [58:09]
Dan Bernstein
All right. No, we don't. And that. That is today's dbu, brought to you in partnership with my bookie, Dan Bernstein.
- [58:20]
Co-host
Unfiltered.
- [58:20]
Dan Bernstein
Unfiltered. On three.
- [58:22]
Co-host
One, two. Sports.