Micah Parsons trade has the fellas worried but not mad and the Chicago Cubs CHOKED.

Summary

Dan Bernstein Unfiltered – Episode Summary

Podcast: Dan Bernstein Unfiltered
Host: 312 Sports
Episode: Micah Parsons trade has the fellas worried but not mad and the Chicago Cubs CHOKED
Date: August 29, 2025

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Episode Overview

Dan Bernstein and Matt Abbatacola return to break down the week's most consequential Chicago sports stories. This instalment deals with two headline-grabbing frustrations: the Green Bay Packers' blockbuster trade for All-Pro defender Micah Parsons (and what it does to the Bears' chances) and the Cubs' painful, high-stakes flop against a subpar opponent. The hosts go deep on roster construction, coaching philosophy, the realities of rebuilding, and how small differences define sports seasons. Alongside sharp analysis, the duo injects the usual blend of Chicago skepticism, gallows humor, and a little nostalgia.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Labor Day Vibes, Work Ethic, and In-Person Work (01:53-03:10)

• The show opens with light banter about Labor Day, empty streets, and the rarity of people coming into work.
• Dan reflects on the novelty (and mixed feelings) of actually commuting to work for four consecutive days:
  Dan: "First time I've done that since March of 2020. Is that insane? ... It sucks. No, it's great." (02:54)

2. Micah Parsons Trade—Worry, Not Anger (03:27-16:26)

• Micah Parsons Traded to Green Bay: Matt was “worried, but not mad.” Big-picture context: the Bears are simply not ready for a "Micah Parsons away from a Super Bowl" move.
• Compares Packers' move to when the Bears traded for Khalil Mack.
  Matt: "This was the Packers' version of the Khalil Mack trade. Mack was 27, Parsons was 26." (04:26)
• Big concern: How will the Bears’ unresolved left tackle situation (Braxton Jones and failed draft picks) handle a division with Parsons, Hutchinson, and Van Ginkel?
  Matt: "This is a daunting gauntlet... a gantlet, I believe. Gantlet of opposing pass rushers." (07:11)
• Critique of Bears' slow development and the lack of clarity at left tackle.
  Matt: "We want someone to emerge quickly... Did you draft a bench player with a second round pick?" (07:12–08:36)
• Explainer on football personnel packages (12, 13, 11) and why relying on extra tight ends to help block is a bad sign for your offense.
  Dan: "If you're in 12 personnel and the whole idea is you have a tight end there... you've already lost." (10:41)
• The most important point: the ultimate variable for both franchises remains quarterback play, not even superstar defenders.
  Matt: "The Micah Parsons edition doesn't matter if Jordan Love sucks." (13:06)
  Dan: "Correct."
  Matt: "The Bears ability to block Micah Parsons doesn't matter if Caleb Williams doesn’t realize his potential." (13:14)
• On whether the Bears can improve but still finish last:
  Dan: "The Bears could have a better year... and still finish third or fourth in this division. Both things could be very true." (15:36)

3. The Cubs Choke Job (17:16–26:08)

• Dan’s Harsh Assessment: Cubs' sweep by a sub-.500 team qualifies as a genuine “choke.”
  Dan: "That qualifies...to use a word that is ... loaded... I think it is in this case. That's a choke." (17:16)
• Discussion of lineup slumps (Happ, Suzuki) and pitching injuries.
• Matt wants to see prospect Owen Caissie called up ASAP to capitalize before pitchers adjust:
  Matt: "You don't want to miss the pre-adjustment rookie period...let him swing away before they got tape on him." (18:42)
• The Cubs’ first sweep this late demonstrates their quality, but to be a playoff team they have to "pummel the Rockies" and capitalize on favorable schedules. (20:24–21:00)
• Riff on “baseball’s gonna baseball,” but the Cubs shouldn’t tolerate letting bad teams hang around.
  Matt: "Stop letting some of that happen and play the way you should against bad teams." (21:05)
• Notes about injuries and the temptation to fall into "what if" mode with missing pitchers.
• On offensive philosophy: The Cubs work counts and control the strike zone—with both upside and downside if they start arguing every borderline call:
  Matt: "You can't start bitching about borderline stuff all the time because then that starts to get in your head." (23:14)
• Key insight: hitting is about not missing your pitch. Kyle Tucker is cited as a model.
  Matt: "When he gets his pitch he doesn't miss...that's explained all of Kyle Tucker’s success." (24:15)
• Dan: "That's what separates the great players from the good players...makes baseball so beautiful and frustrating." (25:34)

4. Kyle Schwarber Appreciation & Statistical Dives (30:00–38:51)

• Celebrating Kyle Schwarber’s historic four-homer, nine-RBI night—first 6,4,4,9 box line in MLB history.
• Examining his OPS+, career arc, and why "Schwarber for MVP" is misplaced:
  Matt: "Is he going to be MVP? He cannot be MVP. Please stop that." (33:26)
• Deep statistical comping: Schwarber’s closest career comps are home run-or-bust sluggers Rob Deer, Gorman Thomas, and Dave Kingman:
  Matt: "His number one comp is Rob Deer... you got Gorman Thomas and Rob Deer who are kind of the same dude." (36:18)
  Matt: "Kyle Schwarber is settling in nicely to have a career track that parallels that of... Dave Kingman." (38:51)
• Kingman remembered as both an epic home run hitter and a legendary “raging asshole” (with stories!). (39:02–39:49)

5. Buster Skrine—the Bears’ Most Notorious Criminal? (44:25–50:18)

• Matt nominates former Bear Buster Skrine as the “top criminal Bear,” usurping Sam Hurd.
• Details of Skrine’s fraud, multi-state fugitive status, and check scams.
• Extended comedic riff on legal terms: what precisely is “theft by taking”?
  Matt: "Isn't that just theft?"
  Dan: "Can you get arrested for theft by giving?" (46:37)
  Matt: "Theft by taking. Okay, interesting." (46:43)
• Some legal confusion, but the upshot is: Skrine targeted women online, stole hundreds of thousands, and absconded from law enforcement.

6. Weekend Preview & DBU Picks (52:22–59:01)

• Preview of the weekend’s Cubs series vs Rockies (must-sweep), critical MLB wild card races, and Big Ten college football openers.
• Matt’s Tulane update (son is sports editor there); picks Tulane -4 vs. Northwestern.
  Matt: "I think Tulane is going to be a very interesting football team this year... I think the minus 4 for Tulane looks a little light." (56:03)
• Dan’s pick: Illinois -45.5 over Western Illinois.
  Dan: "I'm giving up 45 and a half. They're going to roll. Illinois is going to roll." (57:46)

7. Listener Acknowledgments & Show Reflections (59:01–End)

• Heartfelt thanks to listeners, behind-the-scenes staff, and everyone supporting the podcast's launch.
• Teases expanded segments, guest appearances, and new features coming as the show evolves.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Packers’ Parsons Trade:
  "I am worried, but I'm not mad... There's a knee jerk reaction to say, why didn't the Bears get him?... It's not their time." (Matt, 03:27)

• On the Bears' Roster Situation:
  "Did you draft a bench player with a second round pick? That's another question in all of this." (Matt, 08:36)

• On Offensive Schemes:
  "If you're in 12 personnel and the whole idea is you have a tight end there... you've already lost." (Dan, 10:41)

• On the Meaning of the Parsons Deal:
  "The Micah Parsons edition doesn't matter if Jordan Love sucks." (Matt, 13:06)

• On Cubs’ Flop:
  "That's a choke by the Cubs... Start hitting the ball out of the park and miss more bats here." (Dan, 17:16)

• On "Baseball's Gonna Baseball":
  "Baseball is going to baseball on you at some point. Stop letting some of that happen and play the way you should against bad teams." (Matt, 21:05)

• On Kyle Schwarber:
  "Kyle Schwarber is settling in nicely to have a career track that parallels that of... Dave Kingman." (Matt, 38:51)

• On Buster Skrine:
  "Former Bears cornerback Buster Screen, according to Sun Times, a fugitive already wanted... by the Canadian government" (Matt, 44:31)

• On Podcast Growth:
  "This is the start of the start of the start... There’s going to be interaction... all kinds of things. This is just the start." (Matt, 59:29)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:27: Start of Micah Parsons trade discussion
• 07:11: The crisis at left tackle for the Bears
• 10:41: Analysis of football offensive personnel and implications
• 13:06: Quarterback perspective—why Parsons isn’t the be-all/end-all
• 17:16: Cubs sweep = "choke" and Cubs offensive struggles
• 18:42: Call for Owen Caissie promotion and rookie adjustment window
• 23:14: Cubs and their relationship to the strike zone (and umpiring)
• 30:00: Kyle Schwarber's 4-HR night and Cubs nostalgia
• 36:18–38:51: Deep dive into Schwarber’s career statistical comps
• 44:25: Introduction of Buster Skrine criminal story
• 52:22: Weekend sports preview & DBU picks
• 59:01: Listener appreciation & podcast reflection

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Final Notes

This episode captures the essence of Chicago sports agony and hope—how optimism can always be undermined by the realities of roster gaps or one catastrophic week. Dan and Matt’s blend of sharp football logic, nuanced baseball analysis, and plain-worded candor make the show accessible, honest, and unmistakably Chicago.

Transcript

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, hey.

[Mattie Cola]

Hey.

[Jamie]

Thanks for meeting me here on such short notice. This place isn't bugged, is it?

[Mattie Cola]

Bugged? Wait, Jamie, what's going on?

[Jamie]

It's just you're my only lawyer friend and I need your professional opinion. Do you see that brand new Hyundai Tucson out there? Yeah, that's all I paid for.

[Mattie Cola]

Ah, I think I need to get.

[Dan Bernstein]

Back to you on that.

[Mattie Cola]

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[Dan Bernstein]

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[Mattie Cola]

Listen, I don't want to get in your business, but if that's all she.

[Jamie]

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[Dan Bernstein]

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[Dan Bernstein]

312Sports.

[Mattie Cola]

Dan Bernstein Unfiltered on 31 2Sports A Gamut Podcast Happy Friday. Happy Labor Day Friday. And to those of you who actually took your ass to work today, and I believe it is take your ass to work today day. So congratulations because the streets were empty. Everybody seems to have said, well, it's Labor Day weekend, therefore it's a four day weekend and things must be okay enough in the world and in our first world or whatever it is for everybody just to declare Friday a day.

[Dan Bernstein]

Off so there was like 30 people on the train today.

[Mattie Cola]

Yeah. And Liz is buying lunch here.

[Dan Bernstein]

Nice.

[Mattie Cola]

At Hubbard Chicago. So thanks. All good. Our friends at Giordano's are going to be coming over bringing a little bit of pizza.

[Dan Bernstein]

Let's go.

[Mattie Cola]

Yes.

[Dan Bernstein]

This was. I was telling you earlier, this is the. So the fourth consecutive day leaving. Leaving the house and coming into work.

[Mattie Cola]

Well, good. You should be working like a real red blooded American.

[Dan Bernstein]

First time I've done that since March of 2020.

[Mattie Cola]

Wow.

[Dan Bernstein]

Is that insane?

[Mattie Cola]

How's it feel?

[Dan Bernstein]

It sucks. No, it's great.

[Mattie Cola]

This sucks.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, no, it's good. It's good. It's. I like. I like being town. I. I enjoy being in the city. I got to see a. A Bernadoodle today walking on Michigan Avenue that looked just like Frank. A little smaller.

[Mattie Cola]

Did it act like Frank?

[Dan Bernstein]

No, it didn't. George.

[Mattie Cola]

Where are we going now? George?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, we don't think he's the smartest. Smartest guy.

[Mattie Cola]

Rabbits. George.

[Dan Bernstein]

But he sure is cute, though.

[Mattie Cola]

Yeah, but is he also mauling rabbits back there?

[Dan Bernstein]

No, that's Izzy. She's. She's the rabbit hunter.

[Mattie Cola]

Well, I. So I get my phone buzzes yesterday, and by the way, I should mention today's show, Dan Bernstein, unfiltered, brought to you in partnership with my bookie. And I see all I saw was Parsons 2GB. And I thought, oh, boy, that's not good. And I start looking over the details. Let me put it this way. I am worried, but I'm not mad. I think there is a knee jerk reaction to say, oh, why didn't the Bears get him if he were available? The Bears need a. It's not their time. He's not the guy for this. Time for the Bears. Let's. Let's take that piece out for now. I just think, to be fair, the Bears are not a. Micah Parsons away from winning the super bowl this year. They're just not as excited as we are. They're not. This was the packers version of the Khalil Mack trade.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yep.

[Mattie Cola]

Mack was 27, Parsons was 26. And you don't know where the decline is going to come. You know that he's had massively productive, insanely productive, hall of Fame level production to this point. But this is when you make that move, if you believe in your quarterback, and they do. I'm not saying you have to. I'm not saying that you have to think. Well, here it is. Here's the vote of confidence. And Jordan Love. Jury's out. For me, I'm not sure that he's gonna be trusted to lead this team, but if they think that you make this move, yes, go ahead. But, yes, I'm worried. And I'm not the only one worried, because I guarantee you right now, I had already said this, and I forgot where I said this. I apologize for that. Because obviously, the last five months, plus.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, the last week has been a blur.

[Mattie Cola]

Everything has been a bit of a whirlwind for me, and I'm still adjusting to it, frankly, and figuring out, like you say, going into the office and remembering who's in my family and home and where they are and all that. I'm glad I have find my friends on my phone so I can remember. Everybody is. But I did say something to the effect of, it's clear in Ben Johnson that we've got someone who, if anything, keeps him up at night. It's a big, angry man on the other side of the line with his ears pinned back and scraping his foot like a charging Toro, and smoke coming out of his nostrils. And this division is full of those guys right now. Ben, you picked a great time to come in here and try to run what you're running. And, man, you picked a great time to have uncertainty. And left tackle.

[Dan Bernstein]

Is that a problem with Micah Parsons being in Green Bay?

[Mattie Cola]

It was a problem already. It was a problem already. Let's just add this name to the list right now, because that night one, there's Jonathan Granard, there's Andrew Van Ginkel, who is the most. This is a team we can put together. No one has looked more like a Viking and sounded more like a Viking than Andrew Van Ginkel of the Vikings.

[Dan Bernstein]

I think he sounds like a painter.

[Mattie Cola]

Well, roll with me here.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, sorry. Give me a little bit of yes, yes, yes. Definitely sounds like a Viking.

[Mattie Cola]

Like if there was a giant who played for the Giants, if Joseph Cardinal Bernadine were on the Cardinals, there's an aptronymic fit for Andrew Van Giggle. So if you got Van Giggle, you got Grinard, and then you have a fully recovered Aiden Hutchinson, who, you know, Ben Johnson knows well, and they've got to me. I'm not mad at Ryan polls. I think that is misplaced emotion to somehow think, well, this should have been the Bears or the Bears should have done this. No, it's all right. But it. It doesn't mean. It doesn't kind of suck.

[Dan Bernstein]

No.

[Mattie Cola]

That he's standing over there right now and you haven't decided on the left tackle. I'm also trying to determine if in fact, we are getting the proverbial goalpost moving when it comes to that because, correct me if I'm wrong, when training camp opened, Ben Johnson said something to the effect of, we want someone to emerge quickly in these positional battles. We want somebody to show us who that guy is. Here's the quote. We'd like to see someone make it clear to us that he is that guy. And this is when we were still thinking about Ozzie Tropillo. This is a second round draft. Did. Did you draft a bench player with a second round pick? That's another question in all of this. And these are really one in the same. Now as we look at the opposing pass rushers. This is a daunting gauntlet of gantlet, I believe. Gantlet of opposing pass rushers. I think it's chomping, facing champing, chomping. Gauntlet. Gauntlet. The gauntlet is the glove. The gantlet is the line.

[Dan Bernstein]

The gauntlet is what Thanos wore, correct? Yes.

[Mattie Cola]

If you have these guys lined up against you as your divisional opponents and you used a second round pick on this, this big, talented enough, big, strong, disciplined guy who you tried to left tackle and that was over fast.

[Dan Bernstein]

Real fast.

[Mattie Cola]

How many practices before they're like, yeah, no, they tried darn right over there. No Ozzy Trapillo. No. Amagaje. Meh. Like, we're still watching as, oh, there's a competition going on. As we mentioned early on, bad competition. We said this on forward progress. I'm saying it now on Dan Bernstein unfiltered. This is not good. And now Ben Johnson is saying, well, we haven't named anybody in any position yet. It's not what you said when this started. They said you wanted some clarity. We'd like to see someone make it clear to us that he is that guy. He said, until somebody makes it clear, we have to play this thing out. And he said it's not going to be a revolving door. And then he said also something to the effect of, well, we can make changes within the season. You know what that is? Revolving door.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes.

[Mattie Cola]

Which is it, Ben? Which is it? You want to lock somebody in? You want somebody to prove that they're the guy? It clearly hasn't happened. Even though we all know it's Braxton Jones. It just. There's no reason to think it's anybody other than Braxton Jones. I don't think a reasonable person would think it's anybody other than Braxton Jones. And that's not great because when asked about the Role of the left tackle. Johnson said, block that guy. Block that guy. The five technique. Who is going to be out there coming after your quarterback? And what I'm worried about is Micah Parsons in that wide nine. Because if you want to send your tight ends out and if you want to play 12 personnel and have that be one of your bases. I know your depth chart says 11 personnel and let me whiteboard that if you're just joining us. When I say 12 personnel, when you hear 11 personnel, running back, it's alphabetical. It's running back first, tight end second. That's those two numbers mean. And then subtract from five for your number of wide receivers because you already have five linemen and a quarterback, that's six. You got five others on the field. So when I say 13 personnel, that would be one running back, three tight ends, one wide receiver, 12 personnel, one running back, two tight ends, two wide receivers. That number adds up to five.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, but here's the problem. If you're in 12 personnel and the whole idea is you have a tight end there on the left side to help chip and help block, then you've already lost. Yes, you're mean. You're taking away the opportunities to create offensive plays.

[Mattie Cola]

You're making your wide receivers less open.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes, 100%.

[Mattie Cola]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

And you've already lost. And that goes to the deficiency. You have a left tackle, period.

[Mattie Cola]

It needs to be fixed. And maybe they didn't look at it as a this year fix. Then why do you take Ozzy Trappillo with your second round pick?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, listen, I, we talked a bit yesterday on the show about, about Ryan polls, how that's the only thing that's really caused me some, some angst and anger is the fact that he's still involved in making the decisions for, for this year after what last year. I thought last year was a complete disaster with, with what they did with.

[Mattie Cola]

The exception of it allowing you to.

[Dan Bernstein]

Get Ben Johnson correct and keeping Mattie. Yes, you're exactly right. So I guess in a roundabout way, he did a really good job of being bad because it led to something really, really good, which is unfortunate. I love Roma Dunes. I think he's gonna be a great wide receiver and I have really high.

[Mattie Cola]

Expectations, but give him the best chance to succeed with the idea of this offense.

[Dan Bernstein]

But Dan, I also had, I also had issues with him being taken at nine because there were, there were greater needs in my world for the Bears roster at nine. And then, and then you take a second round and then your second round Pick is used on a guy who's a bench player this year. That's, that's a, that's even bigger issue. But those are both really big issues for me.

[Mattie Cola]

We used to say in this league, we used to say first round picks have to play and have to matter. And then it started to creep on us when we saw teams manage the salary cap effectively. Especially second round picks started starting, especially.

[Dan Bernstein]

Third round picks started starting and impacting fourth.

[Mattie Cola]

When your quarterback is on his rookie deal, it makes everything more urgent.

[Dan Bernstein]

Correct.

[Mattie Cola]

This is the time when you can strike. And the Bears still aren't armed yet. They're still not quite there yet. Now the packers think they are. And that's the other thing you've got to remember here is in this league right now, no matter what, no matter your pass rusher, no matter your left tackle, your limiting factor and your, your every chance, anything is going to push your ceiling. Quarterbacking, quarterbacking, quarterbacking, quarterbacking. The Micah Parsons edition doesn't matter if Jordan Love sucks.

[Dan Bernstein]

Correct.

[Mattie Cola]

And the Bears ability to block Micah Parsons doesn't matter if Caleb Williams doesn't realize his potential.

[Dan Bernstein]

Correct.

[Mattie Cola]

So we can't lose sight of it. And now we're also getting in this division more of a. The, the one on one, whoever it is that week, disrupting Caleb Williams, wrecking a game or wrecking a season. When you see Micah Parsons out wide nine, who's, who's going to be able to race out there to get him? If your tight ends are in past patterns?

[Dan Bernstein]

Nobody right now.

[Mattie Cola]

Who's going to get Michael Parsons?

[Dan Bernstein]

No one.

[Mattie Cola]

Have you seen him when he actually gets from second to third gear in two steps or one step now flattens out, bends that edge comes around, your season's over.

[Dan Bernstein]

If you watched NFL over the last.

[Mattie Cola]

Several years, if he gets a free run of Caleb Williams.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right.

[Mattie Cola]

He'll kill him.

[Dan Bernstein]

So Micah Parsons, everyone knows Micah Parsons. Four years he's played 63 games, 52 and a half sacks. He averages 14 sacks a season, 30 QB hits a season. Now in the playoffs though, four games, one sack, one QB hit. And I know that that speaks to the Dallas Cowboys in large part. He is a tremendous, tremendous young player. Four years in the league has been unbelievable. Green Bay, last year they were sixth in yards allowed, 13th and passing yards allowed, eighth and sacks. Dallas was 28th in yards allowed, 17th and passing yards allowed, third in sacks. So he's going to help improve Green Bay. That's, I mean that's a, that's a given. Does that mean that the Bear season is, is. Is destroyed. I love how you're talking about. You can't be angry about this because, oh, the Bears should have gotten him. No, there's the financial implications to it, but for me, it's more the draft picks. The Bears are not in a position right now to give up the next two first round picks. They are not. That's more detrimental to me than not getting Mike Parsons. They need those first round draft picks for this team because they're not winning a Super bowl this year. This really has to be. And unfortunate as it is in his second year, this has to be about the development and understanding who Caleb Williams is with an actual NFL head coach, an actual NFL offensive coordinator.

[Mattie Cola]

I'm worried, but I'm not mad.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, that's fine. That's fine. And that deal, by the way, a five year extension for Micah Parsons. He'll get around 40 million a year and I think it's 100. Oh, I'm sorry. 47 million a year. Four year extension with the Packers. 136 million guaranteed.

[Mattie Cola]

God bless him up until age 31.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, God bless him for it. He was in the fourth year of his rookie contract going into his fifth year. Now, there's two things that could be very true here about this upcoming season. The Bears could have a better year than last year. Caleb Williams could have a much better year than last year, and the Bears could still finish third or fourth in this division. Both things could be very true. You look at the division. Is Green Bay the favorite now? Well, that's the question.

[Mattie Cola]

The question then becomes, can the Bears have a good year and finish last in the division?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes, they absolutely could. Well, you look at where they were last year.

[Mattie Cola]

I can't. I have a difficult time squaring that. I really do. I have a difficult time squaring that right now. I think that's a low bar, a low standard.

[Dan Bernstein]

I'm not saying it's the bar or what I want, but I think. But both can be very true, though. You can have a better year than last year and still finish third or fourth.

[Mattie Cola]

Is that good enough, though?

[Dan Bernstein]

It's not good enough. But do you expect them to win the division this year?

[Mattie Cola]

No. Okay, then I don't.

[Dan Bernstein]

So then if you don't, then it's not really that low of a bar.

[Mattie Cola]

He's Matt about a cola. I'm Dan Bernstein. This is Dan Bernstein. Unfiltered. And this portion of which is brought to you by Chicago Window. Guys. They're local. Made here in Chicago. Russ Armstrong uses no subcontracted labor. He's got a price match guarantee. Call 847-302-9171 and check out his [e-mail] and if you are waiting for Sunday to start betting, you're missing half the fun. You're missing half the money. Come on. And college football I was watching last night, it's already going. There are blowouts, there's wild covers, there are upsets. And my bookie lets you hit it all with game lines, with player props, with everything you need before the pros even kick off. So when Sunday rolls around, hey, you're sitting pretty already up. My bookie's got it all under one roof. You can win big. They've NFL super contests, survivor pools and this is what's great for you right now. If you are new to my bookie, you can use the code DBU for Dan Bernstein unfiltered Any bet you choose up to $500. You make the play. If it doesn't hit, you get it right back. Make sure you opt in using your bet back bonus token. My bookies where betters win together because bragging is good but cashing in is better. The Cubs however have been worse and getting swept in a three game series by a team under.500 and playing terrible baseball in the second half of the season, that qualifies for me to use a word that is a loaded word that I don't usually use unless it's absolutely warranted and merited and I think it is in this case. That's a choke. Yep, 100% that is a choke by the Cubs and we can go through every individual moment and every bit of high leverage and I'm not parceling out a lot of individual blame but on balance as a team that's a choke. Start hitting the ball out of the park and miss more bats here.

[Dan Bernstein]

You know on that note, I'm going to tell you two things. Nico Horner has more home runs and more RBI is the last seven days than say a Suzuki and Ian Hap combined.

[Mattie Cola]

Yeah, this is we're getting to the point now where it's time to give Owen Casey a longer look. I don't know that you can keep his bat out of the lineup. And the reason why is you don't want to miss the pre adjustment rookie period. Like right now you have the benefit. This is who cares if he ends up being good. This is your free shot. This is your honeymoon period. Get him in the box and let him swing away before they got Tape on him. Yeah. Like right now is the time to use him. And sure they'll adjust. And who knows whether you roster him for some playoff games or not or how that's all going to work. But maybe surprises you. You call him up here, you call up, you call him, put him out there, put them out there. Let him swing it. And haps a wonderful defensive player and say when he's on is great but you've got to figure this out somehow. And if benching Kyle Tucker seemed to work, maybe somebody else needs a cooling off period. Somebody else needs to sit down because let, let, let Casey start flailing away up there a little bit.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Mattie Cola]

His bat is quick. I love the tilt on his swing. He contact point. I like everything about it.

[Dan Bernstein]

Cubs with eight home runs the last seven games. Three by Kyle Tucker.

[Mattie Cola]

It's not enough.

[Dan Bernstein]

No, they're. They're slugging 415 as a team over that period.

[Mattie Cola]

It's not good enough. And to get. And teams get swept. I understand. You know. You know.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, it's baseball.

[Mattie Cola]

I don't ride the roller coaster. 162 and it's pretty amazing that we've gotten to August 29th without them getting swept in a three game series. Yeah, that's.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's a great season.

[Mattie Cola]

It means you're good.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right?

[Mattie Cola]

That means you're a good team.

[Dan Bernstein]

But that's. That shouldn't happen. That, that middle game that just got away. They have a three run lead. They end up giving 12 up and then you know, you lose Jameson Tyone for a little bit of time with that groin injury, you know. Yeah, it is, it is. It is great that you go till the end of August before that happens. It's a great season. It's a really good baseball team. But you just, you can't have that happen to that, to that team.

[Mattie Cola]

If you are a good team. This is when you make it up against the Rockies and you go. You have to, you have to sweep. Absolutely.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's not even a question.

[Mattie Cola]

Just kick their ass up, down and sideways just to get right.

[Dan Bernstein]

To get right. To get that feeling again. To be confident at the plate. They need this series.

[Mattie Cola]

I've always. This is. It's been sort of a hallmark of a lot of my work that I've been foolish about schedules for a long time. I remember doing this with, going 21 years ago. I was doing this with the 04 Cubs be like oh, they should beat this team. They should beat this team. Look at this pitching matchup. I'm not worried about this. But baseball is going to baseball on you at some point. Stop letting some of that happen and play the way you should against bad teams.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yep. You have 28 games left. There's 28 games left in the season.

[Mattie Cola]

What did you put it Yesterday? You said 20 and 9.

[Dan Bernstein]

20, 29 was, was very realistic. Looking at the schedule, you know, it was very realistic. You know, at worst it had to be 18, 18 wins. At worst, you know, so if you're looking at the next 28, 18 and 10, that's very, it's very realistic for the way this team plays baseball.

[Mattie Cola]

And Ty on is down. Assad Isad starts Saturday.

[Dan Bernstein]

He starts tomorrow. Yep.

[Mattie Cola]

And it's. This is when you look at the body of work of the pitching staff over the season and you start thinking about if you had a healthy Justin Steele and I don't want to.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. Because no, it's hard. I mean, I've done that several times and you can't.

[Mattie Cola]

Because the Dodgers every year lose all their starting pitchers.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right.

[Mattie Cola]

And they end up in the playoffs with a bullpen game and they're still the Dodgers.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right. Yeah. But I've done it a few times this year and you know, followed it up with, you know, what if, what if, what if Shota hadn't gotten hurt and missed, you know, a couple months of the season?

[Mattie Cola]

Yeah, but I spun that as and he's been fine.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. No. Yeah.

[Mattie Cola]

This guy's going what, seven innings, three years. He's given you nothing but quality enough that a couple of well struck balls should get over the fence every once in a while.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, that.

[Mattie Cola]

There is a. There's. I can't explain what happened to Suzuki and I know what I don't like is falling back on some of this over lawyering of the strike zone and Council getting kicked out yesterday. You know, so and so play over that.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right.

[Mattie Cola]

You know, that's going to, it's going to happen to the Cubs more than other teams because they take more pitches.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes.

[Mattie Cola]

And that's okay. The Cubs are working harder to control the strike zone. The Cub. And it's a total positive. You get into pitch counts. There's nothing wrong with being that team that sees a lot of pitches. But you can't start bitching about borderline stuff all the time because then that starts to get in your head. All of a sudden the world's against you. I trust that Council is going to let that happen. But the example he said yesterday and then he's probably going to incur a fine. My guess is when he in his postgame comments was talking about yeah, I think he was having trouble seeing the strike zone early even he's right or not. I don't know how MLB is going to come down on a criticism of umpire after the game of the strike zone. But play over that.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, you have to play over because again the more that you feed into it, it then starts to take away from the philosophy of what you do at the plate. And if you start taking away from the philosophy you're getting away from the team that you actually are.

[Mattie Cola]

And it gets back to more of what has bedeviled the Cubs. And this is probably a question for their all of their hitting infrastructure. If you're going to see a lot of pitches and manage plate appearances in that way, don't miss your pitch. And that's what I see with Suzuki is he when he puts himself in an advantageous position to attack an area of the zone, be it a slider up, be it a fastball up, because they like to work him up often. Don't miss it, don't foul it off. That has been the hallmark of Kyle Tucker. That has explained all of Kyle Tucker success in that he's not a bat speed guy. He is a barrel guy. He's a pure contact guy. He, when he gets his pitch he doesn't miss, might be a line drive right at the second baseman. It might be a long fly out, whatever it is. But too and Hap does it too too often when guys on this team go badly it's because they're just not attacking their pitch. It's either not timed or something's a little bit off. And I don't know what the alchemy is in there. I'm not sure what any secret sauce it may be variance, you know.

[Dan Bernstein]

And that's what's great about baseball though is the. The difference is so slight between barreling the ball and just missing it and being able to do that consistently, to be able to consistently hit, hit your pitch when it comes through because we see it up and down the lineup. You mentioned Hap, you mentioned Suzuki, Crow, Armstrong does it a lot. They're just missing pitches. But Kyle Tucker misses a lot less. That's what separates the great players from the good players. And it's, it's. But it's makes it baseball so beautiful and frustrating at the same time because it's right there. It's so close. But he has that ability to do it consistently.

[Mattie Cola]

If you are in the market for Windows, there is one place you should go and that is Chicago Window Guys. That's where I went when I needed windows in my house. Because Russ Armstrong, the owner, he's Chicago window guys. He comes to your home, he gives you an estimate and he dropped off a bunch of brochures to me and he had me look and he said, what kind of windows do you want? I had absolutely no idea. I said, russ, I trust you to do it. He says, don't worry about it. I'm going to go, I'm going to make the windows. Because that's what he does. He will custom make the windows locally here in Chicago and then his crew comes out and installs them. No subcontracted labor. So when you are asking around and getting quotes, ask those other people who's installing my windows and they won't be able to answer. Russ will, because he knows his crew. He guarantees that you will get the best price because some of these other places give you these phony baloney. Buy one, get one. Free gimmicks or 50% off. He's going to give you the best product at the best price, guaranteed. His number, 847302, 9171. You can look at all his five star reviews at Chicago Window Guys. It's 847-302-9171 and chicagowindowguys.com youm know what.

[Dan Bernstein]

I did today for the first time in years?

[Mattie Cola]

I. Well, you said you came into the office for four days in a row.

[Dan Bernstein]

But today I went and bought a newspaper.

[Mattie Cola]

They still make those?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes, they do. I have an actual hard copy of a newspaper right here.

[Mattie Cola]

Of course, my parents, I think bought up all the copies. The one with my. On the back page, I have a few of met.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. At the, at the home studio. Yeah. Oh, do you? Yeah, I do.

[Mattie Cola]

I'm getting mine set up. I'm all excited. We got to do a test.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, let's do one later today.

[Mattie Cola]

Okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, if we have time to do it.

[Mattie Cola]

Okay. I'm. I'm making a tortilla espanola today and I got.

[Dan Bernstein]

You know what? That'll actually sit in your fridge till Sunday. So you're.

[Mattie Cola]

No, it is for bre. It is for breakfast Sunday morning. But it will not sit in my fridge. It will sit in my cousin's fridge because they. I'm bringing it over as a, as a gift. They're having us there.

[Dan Bernstein]

So I went and bought a paper because I don't know why I did. I had to go to the gas station. So I thought, you know what? I'm Going to grab a paper.

[Mattie Cola]

Did you get a polar pop?

[Dan Bernstein]

I got a pudding pop.

[Mattie Cola]

A pudding pop.

[Dan Bernstein]

It was weird. So when I, when I drive into. When I go to the train station, I come down Lake street in Libertyville and right before the train station is the entrance to Butler park where football takes place.

[Mattie Cola]

And I caught a big bass.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, did you? Did you really big one? Yeah. Kids always fish over there. A lot of kids always fish.

[Mattie Cola]

There's some big bass in there.

[Dan Bernstein]

I was driving down lake and. And so the football field comes up first. And yesterday morning I turned into Butler and I was about halfway down the long driveway and I was like, I'm going to the train shoot. So I had to turn around and then go back. And then you automatically just started because that's where baseball and football take place. So this morning I was at the gas station in Milwaukee and I'm coming back up the other way and I'm going. I turn left on the lake this time. And so the train station's first, Butler second. I went right past the train station parking lot, went up to Butler, pulled in right again, got about halfway down the long driveway, was like, God damn it, you've turned.

[Mattie Cola]

Not going to football. You turned into Dave Wanstead. You're officially a football coach. Do you remember those stories?

[Dan Bernstein]

The only guy I remember who was the more on in San Francisco.

[Mattie Cola]

That should. Jim Tomsula.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes. And he had like the GPS himself because he had no idea where he was.

[Mattie Cola]

Drive around looking for lights. Right. Jim Tomsula. Like I would walk. Everybody walked into a door right before he came out to a press conference and bleeding from the head. Like, which coach is most likely to walk into a door? Yes, Jim. Yeah. Dave, when he was. He had first started with the Bears and he would get lost in Lake Forest coming home from old Hallis Hall.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, wow.

[Mattie Cola]

It was pre gps. So we'd have to call Jan. Be like, oh, Jan, I don't know where I am. What's where. I'm at the corner.

[Dan Bernstein]

So you're telling me I've made it.

[Mattie Cola]

You've made it. You're officially a football coach now.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. So I did it two days in a row. Went to the football field, trying to go to the train station.

[Mattie Cola]

As we discuss hitting the ball over the fence. I want this to serve as a Kyle Schwaber appreciation. Because if you're just joining us, Kyle Schwaber joined an exclusive MLB club. I believe he's the 21st player to have four home runs in a game.

[Dan Bernstein]

That is correct.

[Mattie Cola]

I Believe his box score is by. His line in the box score was 6, 4, 4, 9.

[Dan Bernstein]

Is that good?

[Mattie Cola]

Woof. That is 6 at bats, 4 runs, 4 hits and 9 driven in. It is the first 6, 4, 4, 9 line in a box score ever. Ever.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, wow.

[Mattie Cola]

So congratulations to him. A little bit of box score. A gummy.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, it's. It's remarkable though, that. So he's the 21st time to do that in all of baseball history. You think of all the games that have played, all the players, all the, you know, over 100 years of baseball, and it's the third time it's happened this year.

[Mattie Cola]

It's pretty incredible.

[Dan Bernstein]

It is. And the last time it happened was 2017.

[Mattie Cola]

And now, of course, we're going to go to Dr. Meredith Wills and ask if they're messing with the ball again. You're wondering, just in time for the postseason, just in time for the divisional races and the playoff pushes, did they. Did they start feeding another ball into the bloodstream for every team but the Cubs? And if they start complaining about that, then we know it's in their heads. Kyle, what do you think Kyle Schwaber's Career Ops plus is? It's like WRC plus normalizes at 100. Essentially the same as WRC plus with a. With a couple of changes here. What do you think it is for his career?

[Dan Bernstein]

I don't want to guess too high. It normalizes at 100. 130.

[Mattie Cola]

Good guess. 127.

[Dan Bernstein]

127.

[Mattie Cola]

127 for his career. This is the guy. Remember the Cubs let go for nothing.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes.

[Mattie Cola]

Non tendered. Let him go.

[Dan Bernstein]

I want to just go back to 2016 after they won the World Series. I was calling for the Cubs to trade Kyle Schwarber at that point.

[Mattie Cola]

Okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

And get something for him. I thought when I looked at that roster and knowing how hard it is to actually repeat, get back to that point again. Who's the guy that could trade and get something back in return to fill the void that would come up in the 2017 season? He was the guy I wanted them to trade, but then, no, they let him go for absolutely nothing.

[Mattie Cola]

And they've done a pretty good job with the Bryant trade. Seems prescient.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Mattie Cola]

The Javier Baez trade netted them pca.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes.

[Mattie Cola]

So we knew that some of these guys would have to move, and they did. But Schwaber is just so much fun to root for.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes.

[Mattie Cola]

For his career. He only has 19.7 wins above replacement. He's got a career OPS plus a 127. But this year is at 156, 49 home runs this year. And for his career tree, Turdy tree. So you start thinking, wait a sec, could he be a 500 home run guy? The answer's a definite maybe.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes.

[Mattie Cola]

That he might hang on one of the. Have one of these sort of long careers, like a, like an Edwin Encarnacion kind of thing and just start banging baseballs around. So as I do, I started looking at a couple things because first of all, we're starting to hear some, I think incredibly misplaced Kyle Schwarmer for MVP talk. Is he going to be mvp? He cannot be mvp.

[Dan Bernstein]

Correct.

[Mattie Cola]

Please stop that. No, he's not a good enough player to be mvp. And thankfully Joe Sheehan reference. Joe Sheehan did say also that, yeah, he was a big story at the All Star Game. He is a valuable dh. He's a one trick pony. It's a great trick.

[Dan Bernstein]

He's the most valuable da. The most valuable DH this year.

[Mattie Cola]

Yeah. He says he's not the. He's not the best at his one trick in the league to. Shohei Otani's better at it. He's not the most valuable player on his own team because Trey Turner and a few pitchers are ahead of him. And he said, we don't have to reduce MVP race to WAR, but WAR helps Divine define the field. Third on his own team in WAR in fan graphs, fourth in baseball reference. WAR at the league level, 12th in F4, 18th in B WAR. So no, not an MVP candidate, but a great player. That wasn't really the question. That was interesting to me as much though as where he stands in his career and the arc and shape of his career. It's been long already.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, since 2015.

[Mattie Cola]

It's been a long career.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes.

[Mattie Cola]

He's 32. He's had an 11 year career. These things go really fast. And remember how much fun we had when he came up in 2015 and we were calling him Bam Bam? And he looked like this big thick kid who just had a stick in his hand.

[Dan Bernstein]

Bam, Bam, Bam Bam.

[Mattie Cola]

And he just wanted to hit everything hard with a stick and he was kind of adorable. And now he's a grizzled graybeard vet and it happened in a blink. I can't be the only one that feels this way. So I know that you're listening to this. Some are going, bernstein, do the comps, do the comps. What do they say? And these are fantastic. They're so good. When I give you his top Two career similar batters. It's not as good as the list of similar batters through his age.

[Dan Bernstein]

The age one is the best. Oh, my God. Yes, the age one is the best.

[Mattie Cola]

But I do know you were going through some of the early data about where the 312 sports listener base is and where the Dan Bertsey unfiltered listenership base is to start. Didn't you say Milwaukee was a big market?

[Dan Bernstein]

The second, second most popular city.

[Mattie Cola]

Chicago and then Milwaukee.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes.

[Mattie Cola]

I mean, obviously it's not a surprise, but it was kind of.

[Dan Bernstein]

Milwaukee is a suburb of Chicago, which is why our minor league team is doing really well this year there. Very happy for them.

[Mattie Cola]

Yeah, send, send your mail to him or your ats. You can at him the two most similar players career numbers if his career ended right now. Kyle Schwarber's number two comp is Gorman Thomas.

[Dan Bernstein]

Number one's great.

[Mattie Cola]

Is number one.

[Dan Bernstein]

The age one's even better. But this is great.

[Mattie Cola]

I know. His number one comp is Rob.

[Dan Bernstein]

Rob Deer.

[Mattie Cola]

Deer, yes. You got Gorman Thomas and Rob Deer who are kind of the same dude.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay. But the most similar by ages. Okay, let me. 29, 30, 31.

[Mattie Cola]

Just let me. I know it's 29, 30, 31, but.

[Dan Bernstein]

Just when I looked, I looked, I was like, yes, it's perfect.

[Mattie Cola]

It's perfect. It's also perfect when we talk about what is 500 home run runs. Me?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes. Because, well, that guy never got to 500.

[Mattie Cola]

Do you remember what he was. Okay, let's. Let's save it because it's going to get a little confusing. I don't want it to because it's just absolutely a joy to look at this. This is in our Kyle Schwaber appreciation here. Similar batters through this age. Number 10, Nick Swisher. Bro hire.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. What's up, Ohio?

[Mattie Cola]

Dirty cat Spa and lounge, baby. And then he goes in a slump and you can't find him. Remember that? Remember Nicky the Swish. Wonder where he is.

[Dan Bernstein]

Is losing fun to you?

[Mattie Cola]

Number nine, Jay Buhner. Wow. Number eight, Cecil Fielder. Number seven, Bob Allison. Number six, Roger Maris. Number five. Age based comp to this, Kyle Schwaber. Greg Vaughn. Number four. A guy a little bit before his time as a three True outcome. All or nothing home run strikeout guy. Mark Reynolds. Number three. Again, what does this, what does the home run mark mean? Mark McGuire. Number two, Chris Davis with a C. Not Chris Davis with a K. Who's his number four? Career comp.

[Dan Bernstein]

D, A, V, I, S, K. No.

[Mattie Cola]

Kris with a K. And the number one similar batter through age 31 who is also the number one most similar batter through age 29. Age 30 and three consecutive years. Now we're starting to see a pattern develop on. As these graphs start to come together. My guess is that Kyle Schwaber is settling in nicely to have a career track that parallels that of former Cubs slugger. You might have called him Kong.

[Dan Bernstein]

Dave Baseball though. Kingman.

[Mattie Cola]

Dave Kingman.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, Dave Kingman. Finished his career with 442 home runs.

[Mattie Cola]

And what a raging asshole.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, was he really?

[Mattie Cola]

Oh my God. All timer really just an absolute complete raging asshole. And tried to mitigate that when he thought he might have an outside hall of Fame chance. And I think he called. He wanted. I think we had him on. On Boris and Bernstein.

[Dan Bernstein]

I don't recall that.

[Mattie Cola]

I think we did. As he was trying to burnish his credentials and trying to say he was on his. I'm not that much of an asshole tour.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, because he was a raging asshole.

[Mattie Cola]

Oh my God. Yeah. Do you remember when he sent the spicy food dinner? He sent the dead rat to the woman. There was a woman who was on the beat. He might have been a met at the time.

[Dan Bernstein]

Did she snitch?

[Mattie Cola]

He sent a shoebox with a dead rat in it that he found in.

[Dan Bernstein]

The clubhouse and a nice pair of heels.

[Mattie Cola]

Real sweetheart of a guy. Yeah, he took the heels out for himself and then he put the dead rat at his. Sent them to her. Kept the heels because they were a nice pair of Louboutins. But Dave Kingman. And interestingly to see where Mark McGuire is on there too. You start wondering what the value is of being pretty much an all or nothing home run guy and what that means. And McGuire though583, but probably had he stayed just normal like Kingman would have finished around that 500 mark. Similarly. But it's a hell of a thing if you had said when the Cubs. And remember the story about the drafting of Schwaber that he almost slipped through the cracks. That's when the Cubs had set up their. The big computer system. Ivy. When Theo had come here and said, we need this thing that's just like what we had at Fenway. And it was the computer that spat out, hey, you're under scouting Kyle Schwaber. Go look at Kyle Schwaber. And eventually they put eyes on him and decided that the computer was right. And then they let him go for nothing. And he might end up on the cusp of 500 homers. But yeah, he and Kingman both three.

[Dan Bernstein]

Time All Stars, very similar as far as the MVP voting is concerned. Schwaber a little bit higher as far as the votes are concerned. But you know, 16, 19, 15 as far as MVP votes. One Silver Slugger for, for Kyle. But yeah, I mean, that's great. I mean I saw that name, I was like, that's beautiful. And then, yeah, for the last three, three years consecutively, by age 31, 30, 29.

[Mattie Cola]

And to put a bow on it, the last time a Philly had four home runs in a game, it was Mike Schmidt.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh yeah.

[Mattie Cola]

In 76 against the Cubs. If you are waiting for Sunday to start betting, you're missing half the fun and you're missing half the money. College football is already cooking. Week zero is in the books. We've had some exciting games already. Upsets, blowouts, wild covers. That Stanford Hawaii game was insane. My bookie lets you hit it all, whether you love player props or game lines. Everything you need before the pros even kick off. So when Sunday rolls around, if you're doing it right, you're already up. So my bookie's got it all under one roof. You can win big on the NFL super contest Survivor pools. If you are new to my bookie, know this code. It's three letters, dbu. They stand for Dan Bernstein Unfiltered. Any bet you choose up to 500 bucks is fully covered. So just make a play. If it doesn't hit, you get it right back. You're going to opt in using your bet back bonus token. It is the code DBU at MyBookie. My Bookies where bettors win together. Bragging's good, cashing in is better. You know that one guy in your group chat who hits a five leg parlay week one and then you hear about it the rest of the season? And every time. Hey, remember that week when I hit that parlay and you just keep rolling your eyes? You may roll your eyes, but you know that you would prefer if that were you doing it, making other people roll their eyes. Well, it can be you. Because my bookie makes it ridiculously easy to get in on the action. Whether it is college ball or survivor pool or the NFL super contest. It's all there. All the spreads, all the player props in game lines. It's all under one roof. And if you're new to my bookie, this is the best deal out there right now. Tell me it's not, because it is. Use the code DBU for Dan Bernstein. Unfiltered. Any bet you choose up to $500 is fully covered. You make your bet. If it doesn't hit, you get it right back. You just opt in using your bet back bonus token with our code, these three letters. Dbu. Dan Bernstein, unfiltered. No better time to jump in. No better place to play. Football's back. Let's make some money with my bookie. I have a football player that I would like to nominate for a very special award. Because former Bear Buster Screen may arguably have taken the title from former Bear Sam Heard as the top criminal Bear. Right. Because this is. I don't think the Bears have had somebody commit capital murder. I don't think they've had anybody go on, you know, a multi state crime spree of some kind or doing Bonnie and Clyde stuff.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, I don't. I don't think so. I think. Yeah, I think he's taken the title.

[Mattie Cola]

You think Sam Heard is number one?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes.

[Mattie Cola]

Okay. Because former Bears cornerback Buster Screen, according to Sun Times, a fugitive already wanted. Your fugitive's name is Dr. Buster Screen? It is. I mean, Richard Kimball.

[Dan Bernstein]

I don't care.

[Mattie Cola]

I don't care. Find anybody. A fugitive already wanted by the Canadian government for more than a year. The Canadian government is after the Mounties.

[Dan Bernstein]

If they're after you, you're really. You're really a bad guy.

[Mattie Cola]

That's my mounting noise.

[Dan Bernstein]

That was very good.

[Mattie Cola]

Thank you.

[Dan Bernstein]

I'm glad that it was also caught on video.

[Mattie Cola]

I do not approve of our methods. Well, you're not from Chicago. Well, you're not from Ireland. You're playing an Irishman. You sound more Scottish than one of the guys in how to train your dragon.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, and I'm actually offended by that. Like us, it's like we wouldn't bring a knife to a gunfight. We're smarter than that. You can say that. Italians bring a knife to a gunfight. We do better than that.

[Mattie Cola]

He didn't say Italians. Didn't he? No, those were two different scenes.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, was it?

[Mattie Cola]

The first scene is Stone. George Stone. What was it before you changed it?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Mattie Cola]

Giuseppe Pedre. He's like, oh, I knew it.

[Dan Bernstein]

So how is it a different scene?

[Mattie Cola]

The other one is when he's talking to Eliot Ness.

[Dan Bernstein]

Elliot Ness. Yeah.

[Mattie Cola]

When they're in the church. There are different scenes. He doesn't say something like, I knew it. An Italian always brings.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, well. But he said it to the guy who killed him.

[Mattie Cola]

What didn't he.

[Dan Bernstein]

Didn't he say that to who was the guy in the white suit looked really good. That ended up killing him.

[Mattie Cola]

Nitty?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. Frank Nitty.

[Mattie Cola]

Frank Nitty.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Mattie Cola]

He didn't say it to him.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, he didn't? Who do you say it to?

[Mattie Cola]

He says it to Costner. He says it to Elliot Ness.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, in the church?

[Mattie Cola]

Yeah. Okay. No, you need to go see this again, I think.

[Dan Bernstein]

Untouchables, right?

[Mattie Cola]

Correct. All right, so Buster Screen was arrested in Roswell, Georgia, charged with 18 counts related to financial fraud and criminal attempt to commit theft, deposit account fraud, identity fraud, financial transaction, card fraud and theft by taking. Isn't that just theft?

[Dan Bernstein]

Theft, right. Can you get arrested for theft by giving?

[Mattie Cola]

Theft by taking. Okay, interesting. According to a release for the Roswell Police Department, investigators learned Screen was targeting women on online dating platforms. He allegedly told victims he was having financial troubles.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's what he was taking.

[Mattie Cola]

Asked them for money and promised to pay them back with proceeds from his NFL annuity. Then he used the money on travel and gift cards and to finance rental properties. Three victims from New York, North Carolina and Wisconsin reportedly lost about $300,000. Others are expected to come forward.

[Dan Bernstein]

Were they single moms? Is that what he was taken?

[Mattie Cola]

I don't know.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay?

[Mattie Cola]

I don't know. He's 36. He was wanted by the Durham Regional Police Service in Ontario after being charged with $100,000 in check fraud in August of 2023. Put on bail, given an ankle monitor, but he didn't go to his next court appearance. Took the monitoring device off and left the country. Hmm. I don't think you can do that. You can't just take it off, can you?

[Dan Bernstein]

No, you shouldn't.

[Mattie Cola]

But you can't.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, you can. I mean, there's ways to do it, but it's probably not a good idea.

[Mattie Cola]

But how? I mean, you, like, go.

[Dan Bernstein]

I'm not talking from personal experience.

[Mattie Cola]

I was just gonna say I'm mad about a cola.

[Dan Bernstein]

You wanna take off your ankle bracelet? Check out my YouTube video.

[Mattie Cola]

Come on down to Crazy Matt's Crowbar service.

[Dan Bernstein]

No, I wouldn't use a crowbar. You'd hurt your leg.

[Mattie Cola]

Oh, okay. Yeah, that's probably right. Well, your monitor's off.

[Dan Bernstein]

Snap your ankle.

[Mattie Cola]

There you go. Run for it. Run for it.

[Dan Bernstein]

Theft by taking occurs when a person unlawfully takes or appropriates property belonging to another with the intent to deprive the owner of that property. So is that all theft?

[Mattie Cola]

Yeah. Which this is. This all, to me, sounds like theft.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Mattie Cola]

As far as I. Okay, how is theft by Tate. Right. Theft by thinking about taking. That's my borrowing.

[Dan Bernstein]

How is theft different from theft by Taking?

[Mattie Cola]

I don't know.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, you're supposed to know that. You're the show lawyer.

[Mattie Cola]

I didn't have that. My legal diploma set up.

[Dan Bernstein]

To show commit theft, a person must take someone else's property. Thank you. Without the owner's consent and with the intent of permanently depriving the owner of its use or possession. Shoplifting or stealing a bike are examples of theft.

[Mattie Cola]

So what's.

[Dan Bernstein]

How's that different, though? It's not. I don't understand.

[Mattie Cola]

I don't know.

[Dan Bernstein]

Theft refers when you take something. Yeah.

[Mattie Cola]

I don't think you're gonna get anywhere here.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, well, while these two crowns, while they sound similar and both involve unlawfully taking someone else's property, the offender's means of obtaining the property in the first place are very different. Oh, okay. So theft by taking. I take something that you don't know I'm taking. Theft or. No, that's this theft.

[Mattie Cola]

So otherwise you'd be robbery.

[Dan Bernstein]

So theft by taking is, you know, I'm taking it from you. So you're manipulating your relationship with this person to take that away and then with the intent of never having them have.

[Mattie Cola]

It's not by burglarizing or theft by robbing.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes.

[Mattie Cola]

Okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. So it's more manipulative and maybe it's.

[Mattie Cola]

There we go.

[Dan Bernstein]

You did it more of a personalized crime.

[Mattie Cola]

Then we got. We got a death.

[Dan Bernstein]

So you find a single mom, you take away the booty, whatever.

[Mattie Cola]

Why does it have to be a single mom?

[Dan Bernstein]

I don't know. It just sounded like a fit.

[Mattie Cola]

Okay. For Buster, you know that.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, no, I don't know him at all.

[Mattie Cola]

Oh, I say for the scam.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Mattie Cola]

You know, scams that.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, yeah. You're gonna go after a. Like a. Yeah, got it. But that's just what I'm saying. I don't know. That's what. I don't know. I thought of Jerry Maguire for some reason, and taking stuff from single moms.

[Mattie Cola]

I hear you.

[Dan Bernstein]

Stuff by taking.

[Mattie Cola]

We are heading into the Labor Day weekend, which means there's gonna be three days of stuff that's going on right now. And I think on Friday is one thing that we can do. And again, if this is your first foray into 312Sports and into Dan Bernstein unfiltered. One thing that we promised you is we're not going to over micro program things at this point. We're not going to say, hey, this is when we do this segment, and this is when we do this, because let's get in a rhythm First. Yeah, we're figuring things out, everybody. We all need to kind of get in a rhythm. And you're going to get in your. Your hat. Maybe you're walking the dog. Maybe you are on the metra on the way home. Maybe you're taking a long lunch at work, whatever your time is, and you start getting in your routine. I don't want to start throwing a bunch of things at you and saying, hey, it's our special taco Tuesday day where we do this.

[Dan Bernstein]

I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to tacos on Tuesday.

[Mattie Cola]

No, no. If you want to bring us tacos, that's cool.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, yeah. Maybe you're laying in bed at night, the spouse is sleeping, and you want to listen to DBU and, you know, in the comfort of your bed, in your pajamas, who knows? Who knows where it leads? One thing leads to another.

[Mattie Cola]

A lot of people like to listen on their daily walk. Yeah, People have, like, a constitutional and exercise every day.

[Dan Bernstein]

My daughter's been listening to the podcasts while she's walking the dogs.

[Mattie Cola]

Okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, that's just become her habit this week.

[Mattie Cola]

Cool.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, I love it.

[Mattie Cola]

I think my daughter listened to a podcast or listened to me for the first time ever.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, and then was good.

[Mattie Cola]

No, she just said she really appreciated the first segment of that first episode because she is, as a psych major and somebody who wants to be in the mental health field. I think she was able to hear that professionally. Good. And the fact that I got approval on it was a big deal.

[Dan Bernstein]

And God bless her for that work, too. That's great.

[Mattie Cola]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Mattie Cola]

I think, you know, there's. There's a lot of. She's working right now in that field and wants to get her counseling degree and really wants to help people, so it's really good. So we've got a weekend to watch stuff now.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Mattie Cola]

And like I say, Cubs got to sweep the Rockies. I'm going to be paying very close attention, so I think we should go into sort of an idea of what we've got our eye on.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, no, I agree. Start with the. With the Cubs at Colorado. Has to be a sweep, just like you said. Other things I'm monitoring this week, and we're at that point, 28 games left. We talked about that in Major League Baseball for the season, the wild card race. What other teams are involved in the wild card race? As we've said, it's a must that the Cubs stay at that. That number four seed, the number one slot for the wild card. That's where they have to stay. You have San Diego this weekend. Going into Minnesota doesn't look very good for the Twins. The Mets are taking on Miami. So again, that's two very winnable series for both those teams. Cincinnati plays St. Louis. They host St. Louis. St. Louis at the bottom of this wild card race. So that's important for the division as well. San Francisco plays, they host Baltimore for the weekend. And then final one, Arizona is at the Dodgers. So that's really the only one that looks very favorable for the Cubs. Arizona, kind of out of the reach of the Cubs at this point, but still in that race with 28 games to go.

[Mattie Cola]

What else is on my list? That would be whatever big college football games are on. As we're popping around and we're checking scores, obviously the big game of the weekend is going to be Texas and Ohio State.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, absolutely. For me, I have a couple different college football games I'm looking at tonight. Number 12, Illinois host Western Illinois. I watch and I consume Illinois football. My boys love it. They are Illinois fans. So it's an opportunity to sit down and watch college football with my guys. And then the other one I'm looking at this weekend, tomorrow, Charleston Southern at Vanderbilt. You think, oh, because you're a big Jay Cutler guy? No, it's because the starting quarterback for Vanderbilt, I've got a massive crush on the kid. Why? Because I watched that any given Saturday, the SEC documentary.

[Mattie Cola]

Sure.

[Dan Bernstein]

And as revolting and disgusting as it is at times with the coaches, particularly from lsu, Diego Pavia, who's the starting quarterback for Vanderbilt, came from New Mexico State, played was the quarterback last year at Vanderbilt, beat Alabama while they were ranked number one. I love this kid. He like you look at his body, you look at him physically and he shouldn't be a starting quarterback for Division 1.

[Mattie Cola]

He shouldn't be okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

He should be like a Division 3 star. He just doesn't look like he has it. But I love everything about the kid, the way he plays, competes, his confidence about himself and then had a really good year last year for Vanderbilt. So I that's my new team to watch because of Diego Pavia.

[Mattie Cola]

So as we think about the upcoming games, it is time to give you now DBU picks presented by my bookie. I'm going to give you one here that is on my list and I'm going to be watching plenty of two lane football this year because my son is not only at Tulane as a junior, but he is the sports editor of the student paper. He is gonna be doing sports podcasts down There. And he has been telling me all about what's going on with his football team. If you remember, in the off season, they got a. Technically not a transfer. They got a walk on. They got a new quarterback named Jake Retzlaff. And you say, well, wait, I know that name. Jake Retzlaff was at BYU and they called him by Jew because he was the first Jewish quarterback at the Mormon University. And he even was endorsing Manischewitz at some point. And there was an incident there where he apparently violated the student code because he had sex with a woman. And you're not supposed to have sex with anybody at byu. It's not allowed. And this was all vetted by Tulane. He has been. He was invited to come in and quote, unquote, compete for the starting quarterback job. But I have been told based on what's been going on at Tulane practices, that it's obvious to everybody who's there that Jake Red Slapp is going to be the starting quarterback. And I think the fact that they are giving four points to Northwestern, I'm. I would say that's not enough. And I think Tulane is going to be a very interesting football team this year. While they still have John Sumrall as their head coach. I think he's going to use this as a stepping stone to somewhere else, whether it's after this year or after next year, because he's really good. And now he's finally got a quarterback who's better. I think the Darian Mensah who transferred to Duke because they gave him a huge chunk of money. So I think that the minus 4 for Tulane looks a little light. And if I'm wrong, you can get mad at me for doing this with heart overhead, but it's not going to be the first time that I make mistakes like this. Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

So that's your. That's your pick for the weekend. -4 two lane. -4 at Northwestern.

[Mattie Cola]

I know. They're.

[Dan Bernstein]

They're at home.

[Mattie Cola]

They're home.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay. Oh, even. Even bigger.

[Mattie Cola]

All right.

[Dan Bernstein]

Minus four. So you heard it. Minus four. Tulane hosting Northwestern this weekend, right?

[Mattie Cola]

You got one?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, I do. I do have one. I do.

[Mattie Cola]

Are you, what is the Illinois spread? Are you going to give the 47?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, I'm going to 43. I'm sorry. I got it right here.

[Mattie Cola]

I'll get it for you. I know. Here it is.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, pull it off.

[Mattie Cola]

According to my Bookie, Illinois is minus 45 and a half.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, Western. I'm giving up 45 and a half. You are yes. They're going to roll. Illinois is going to roll. Number 45. Number 12. Illinois is going to roll.

[Mattie Cola]

See, don't I sound gambly?

[Dan Bernstein]

You do.

[Mattie Cola]

Laying and the hook.

[Dan Bernstein]

You are very gambling. You know, it's funny, you walked in this morning and earlier this week, I thought, wow, he's very unfiltered.

[Mattie Cola]

Extremely unfiltered.

[Dan Bernstein]

Very unfiltered. And then you got to a certain. There's a certain light here in the studio. And I saw the. I saw. I saw the side of your face with the light and I was like, wow, he looks very gambly.

[Mattie Cola]

Yeah, right?

[Dan Bernstein]

Gambly and unfiltered. Yep. It's like I've never seen you before. So I'm totally laying The Ford. The 45 and a half for Illinois.

[Mattie Cola]

There it is. There it is. You got it. So lock in your picks now with my bookie bet on anything, anywhere, anytime. And that's also the great thing about a podcast is you can listen to it anywhere and anytime as well. And 312Sports podcast of Dan Bernstein Unfiltered. And our football podcast, Forward Progress, it's all about the bears. It's everything bears that you need. With a lot of bear stuff going on here. Forward Progress, everything is available for you if you go to 312Sports.com. All the links are there, but it's wherever you get your podcasts and obviously on YouTube as well.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. I want to say our first. First week complete in doing the shows. Really want to thank everyone not only for listening and taking the time to go out and, you know, find the. The podcast and listen to them, take the time out of your week to do that. But for all the support, all the. All the nice commentary, people reaching out with phone calls and texts, looking at the comments on. On social media, really do appreciate all the support and the excitement of the shows and what it will become.

[Mattie Cola]

Because again, this is the start of the start of the start of the start. I can't tell you that this is. We're gonna look back years from now on this start and kind of laugh about, hey, remember that first week, there is going to be interaction. There is going to guests, guests. There's gonna be all kinds of things. This is just the start of the start. And thank you for being here.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. And as we talk about it too, Dan. Cause there's been a lot of people with suggestions that have come through over this week and we do appre. Appreciate all those we're seeing and hearing all the same things that you are seeing. And hearing and we have a list and again we're we started something from from zero from scratch. There is a list that is probably 3,000 items long that that John go forth. We really appreciate Keith Lawless here at Hubbard and there are across the hall has done so much to help us out our buddies at Score North, Phil Mackey up in Minneapolis who they do a fantastic podcast on the Minnesota Vikings called the Purple Daily. All the help and input but all the work behind the scenes and if there's a list of 3,000 we've gotten through about 50. You know, there's so much to do. So we wanted to get it up.

[Mattie Cola]

And get it rolling and be ready for Bears season and here we are. And thank you. Thanks for being a part of this and you too will be able to say that you were here when it began. Today's show has been brought to you in partnership with my bookie. Have a very safe Labor Day weekend and we'll talk to you next week.

[Dan Bernstein]

Week Dan Bernstein, unfiltered unfiltered on 312 sports.