Dan Bernstein (2:34)

Well, there's three of them. There's three players on this roster.

Matt Abaticola (2:38)

Well, right now, as far as what AK said, he said giddy, modest, and then he mentioned Ice, which is the nickname. Ice is the nickname for Isaac Okoro. Bad time to be nicknamed Ice.

Dan Bernstein (2:51)

Okay. Well, okay, first of all, I didn't know who it was, and I'm like, all right, who is Ice? And then I was like, why would you even go there, bro? Like, that's. That's just like. Let's change that nickname right away. Yeah, Isaac, That's a bad nickname to have right now.

Matt Abaticola (3:04)

Is nicknamed Ice. Yes. That's like being. Yeah, I. I'm not even going to make comps to. What the. There's a bad time for that nickname. So he's part of it. I don't know if they're going to pay Anthony Simons, but he's probably the best player on the team right now. He's. He's really good. Yeah, he's really good, and that's why he makes.

Dan Bernstein (3:24)

He was really good. And I was. As.

Matt Abaticola (3:26)

We were.

Dan Bernstein (3:27)

As we were talking before, too. I just. I was not at all impressed with what I saw in Jaden Ivy. I was really disappointed in how poorly he was playing. He looked. He looked really bad out there. I just. I didn't expect to see that.

Matt Abaticola (3:41)

Yeah, he's. He. They were switching bigs onto him, and he couldn't get around them. They were switching centers onto him, and he. Off the dribble. That would have been. Oh, my God. That's a mismatch. Go take him. He couldn't get around guys just because he's still trying to get that first step back. And if he doesn't, I'm not even. I'm not going to make it off because I don't. I don't like this iteration of him at all Until. Until I know that his. His twitch is back. That's. That's. And let me tell you. Oh, my God. Mac McClung sucks.

Dan Bernstein (4:13)

Yeah. Yeah, he's not good. Oh, my God.

Matt Abaticola (4:15)

Is he bad? He's. He's tiny and bad. And his. He looks like he came out of Globo Gym. Here's Laser and Blazer and Mac, he's. That. They have two toy basketball players. Yuki is better than Mac McClung.

Dan Bernstein (4:37)

Yes, he is. And that's not even a question.

Matt Abaticola (4:40)

No, Yuki is better. He had one really sick pass last night, too. He's. There's. There's some fun there with Yuki. I don't know what. I don't know why you put McClung in a two way rather than find some big guy.

Dan Bernstein (4:53)

I think, like, his resume speaks for itself. There's no reason that dude should be here, period. No, I don't get it.

Matt Abaticola (5:00)

I don't get it either, but that's all right. Hey, you know what is here? The super bowl is here. Is here. It's Sunday. And you're saying, well, I've never done this before. I don't know how to do prop bets. I've been meaning to do this, or my kids and I want to go to a place where we can just screw around a little bit and have fun as a family. Well, you can do that. Or if you are a serious wagerer for something like the super bowl or anything, my bookie is where you've got to go. And if you want to get into the props, I've got some for you a little bit later on in the show. And our DBU picks. But the super bowl prop board is famous. It's deep. It's fun to play. They get talked about on Jimmy Kimmel Live every year around this time of year. So if you ever were going to get in, get in now. One account, one wallet. You can bet whatever you want. You like the spread, you can bet it. You like parlays, you can bet parlays. You can live bet. You can start in the second half and say, all right, well, now we saw a whole half a football, but that means you got a whole new menu and numbers. Numbers to look at during commercials. If you're not into the commercials, hit the casino. Everything is in one place. That place is MyBookie AG. Go there now. Use the promo code DBU. That's important. Make sure you put that in when you register and make your deposit, because then you get a bet back. Bonus token. That means your first bet is covered up to 500 bucks. And if it doesn't hit you, use that token and you can run it back. It's MyBookie AG. The code DBU. So you're not just watching the big game on Sunday. You're making it pay with my bookie.

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Matt Abaticola (8:05)

Little bit of Friday Feedback Friday here on this Friday Feedback Friday?

Dan Bernstein (8:08)

Yes, we are. I'm excited to hear what you harvested from this week's emails.

Matt Abaticola (8:14)

Yeah, there was, once again, a lot right here. And we're going to start it out with our guy Robert in Naperville, and he has sent along some pictures as part of this too. That might make you hungry, said fellas. I'm gonna skip the attempt to exercise my brain here by developing some kind of counter argument, but this super bowl matchup is buns. I am never gonna turn down seeing the Patriots get clapped, but by the Seahawks. Not a lot here for me. It's not why I called, though.

Dan Bernstein (8:47)

Oh, just FYI, buns means bad, he said.

Matt Abaticola (8:50)

Every year, my wife and I host a Super bowl party where we mash up the cuisines of the two competing markets into one centerpiece dish. Last year in Honor of Chiefs Eagles. We did Kansas City burnt ends, Philly cheesesteaks. And he includes a picture. He says they were great. A lot, but great. He said we even gold bellied our hoagies from Amoroso's baking company. And everything he said for Niners Chiefs. The year before, we sourced a massive country loaf of sourdough bread and served a Kansas City burnt ends dip inside of its hollowed out shell. Again, great. And again a lot. What the hell am I supposed to make for this game? There's no intuitive mashup of cuisines jumping out at me. I think of Seattle and New England and immediately we think, ah, seafood. Well, we have seafood allergy having bastards attending, so that's out. I'm not trying to catch a case here. Seattle does have a style of hot dog that seems interesting. Cream cheese spread, caramelized onions, sliced raw jalapeno. But what do I combine with out of the New England side? Cut up hot dogs on a New Haven pizza? Do I ladle Boston baked beans onto that finished glizzy? Do I squeeze in a Boston cream pie? I want to make sure this owl is as superb as possible. Guys, any ideas about a proper mashup for these two cities?

Dan Bernstein (10:25)

Yeah, I have two. Two things I can say. Number one, the people with seafood allergies just stay home or just don't eat the food, period. Because immediately I just thought you just do a seafood chowder and you take what's prevalent there in Seattle and you just marry that with like a New England clam chowder. But you do a seafood chowder. Another thing you can do is if he likes the idea of that Seattle hot dog, which sounds interesting, I would do a variety of dogs and then just use the split top, like lobster roll buns that you get for a lobster roll.

Matt Abaticola (10:54)

That's what I would. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dan Bernstein (10:55)

That's how you combine those two right there.

Matt Abaticola (10:58)

That's kind of a neat idea for sure. See, look at Maddie. There you go, Robert.

Dan Bernstein (11:04)

But I could answer.

Matt Abaticola (11:05)

I agree. I think with these towns involved, your. Your seafood is the way to go. And if they're allergic, that's their fault. Too bad for them.

Dan Bernstein (11:15)

And like, like, like get itchy, you know, uncomfortable. Just can't eat it. Their tummy hurts or die. Like, what's the. Like, where, where are we at?

Matt Abaticola (11:23)

Bring EpiPens.

Dan Bernstein (11:24)

Right. If it's just I'm gonna get itchy and uncomfortable or I can't enjoy it, then, hey, thanks for coming. Here's the tv. Here's the tostitos. And salsa. If you're going to die, then maybe just don't come.

Matt Abaticola (11:35)

I think that's yeah, as long as make them sign something so you're not on the hook if they do right.

Dan Bernstein (11:39)

Or have a paramedic stand on site.

Matt Abaticola (11:42)

Here's Brendan in Mount Greenwood who says on Tuesday's forward progress, you skirted awfully close, Dan, to saying what the NFL needs people like you to say. The reason that so many owners are blind and ignorant to the hiring of minority, particularly black, coaches is racism. I don't mean the owners are all Klansmen or they would go back to the days of Jim Crow. That's obvious racism. It's the kind that everybody, including most racist, condemns. This kind of racism is more insidious. It isn't based on a desire to discriminate against minoritized populations in places of power. It's based in a deliberate ignorance to the lived experience of anyone outside of themselves. The truth is, the owners of NFL teams and really in most leagues, it's particularly stark in the NFL, they don't want to know what they don't know. It's easier for them not to think about what people of color have dealt with in the NFL beyond breaking their bodies, for the league to think about how they've been repeatedly shut out of positions of power based on nothing else except they don't look like most owners. So, Dan, you're right. Ownership by people of color would help. But it's not just that white owners have to take a leadership stance and actively promote the diversity of the NFL it claims that the NFL claims it desires. That's why, as much as we rightfully rag on George McCaskey for being weird and awkward and hammy, we should appreciate the way he has completely turned around the Bears legacy on racial matters. Bears fans know that George Halas was part of the ownership cabal that kept black players out of the league for years after World War II. McCaskey, by contrast, has been very deliberate about placing non white people in positions of power, particularly at the top of his organization. Has he been perfect? No. But there was a moment a couple years ago after the firing of Matt Eberfluss where the president, gm, interim coach, all three coordinators and top position players, quarterback, running back, wide receiver were all black men. And that's a hell of a lot different from the racism that George Hallis displayed. I'm a Bears fan. I'm predisposed to thinking ill of the McCaskeys because the McCaskeys are cheap bastards but if we're being real about this particular subject, the McCaskeys are among the best in the league at giving actual opportunities to people of color, and they really deserve credit for that.

Dan Bernstein (14:23)

Yeah.

Matt Abaticola (14:23)

Well said. Glad you said that.

Dan Bernstein (14:25)

Yeah. Nicely done.

Matt Abaticola (14:26)

I'm glad you said that. This was a question from Darrell. I'm so glad that you listened. There was one forward progress this week that went completely batshit.

Dan Bernstein (14:36)

Oh, God. Yeah, that was.

Matt Abaticola (14:37)

That went totally off the rails. So clearly Daryl was listening. Darrell says, I'm pretty offended, Matty, that you sent the Tin man to the Turning Point USA halftime show without checking his American ness first. And then he asked, is Tin man one word or two? And is American ness a word?

Dan Bernstein (15:03)

That's right. We did have the Tin man there, didn't we?

Matt Abaticola (15:06)

You did. You were casting that entire event, and I don't know how he got there, but I think it is technically the. The Woodsman. The Tin Woodsman. Yes.

Dan Bernstein (15:16)

Yeah.

Matt Abaticola (15:16)

I don't know. How did I get him there?

Dan Bernstein (15:17)

Was he. Did he meet the lion there on Grindr? What was the. I think that's what it was.

Matt Abaticola (15:23)

Something like that. He met the lion on Grindr, and they went to the Turning Point USA halftime show together to see Kid Rock. Because Kid Rock is the avatar of morality that Bad Bunny is not, if I'm following correctly. Yes, I believe you did have him there, and Tin man is two words. And we will grant you Americanness is a word, but I. We haven't checked how. How American the Tin man is. I don't know.

Dan Bernstein (15:50)

I gotta. I gotta find something here real quick.

Matt Abaticola (15:52)

This.

Dan Bernstein (15:52)

Because this fits in line with. With Friday feedback. Friday. So I'm gonna. You want to play a little game? I have a little game for you.

Matt Abaticola (15:59)

Ready? Sure. Okay.

Dan Bernstein (16:01)

The game is. Is it Kid Rock or Bad Bull?

Matt Abaticola (16:09)

Kid Rock or Bad Bunny?

Dan Bernstein (16:11)

Yep. And this was sent into us from. From Russ.

Matt Abaticola (16:15)

All right. Okay.

Dan Bernstein (16:17)

Who sang the lyrics? Young ladies. Young ladies. I like them underage. See, some say that's statutory, but I say that's mandatory. Was it Kid Rock or was it Bad Bunny?

Matt Abaticola (16:30)

My. Oh, bad buddy would have done that. He would have been canceled forever. So it's got to be Kid Rock.

Dan Bernstein (16:37)

Ding, ding, ding. Correct. You are correct, sir. So 1.2.

Matt Abaticola (16:41)

Ew. All right.

Dan Bernstein (16:42)

Was it Kid Rock, Bad Bunny, or Brad Bunny? Brad Bunny who released a sex tape featuring one of those and Scott Stapp of Creed having sex with several strippers? Was it Kid Rock or Bad Bunny?

Matt Abaticola (17:02)

Yeah, it was Kid Rock.

Dan Bernstein (17:03)

It was Kid Rock. Correct. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Ding.

Matt Abaticola (17:06)

Okay. All right.

Dan Bernstein (17:07)

Who either Kid Rock or Bad Bunny, has been arrested four times for assault? Kid Rock or Bad Bunny?

Matt Abaticola (17:18)

Maybe there's. As far as I know, it's Kid Rock.

Dan Bernstein (17:22)

Kid Rock is correct. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

Matt Abaticola (17:24)

I see. Doing good.

Dan Bernstein (17:25)

Okay, last question. This is for a perfect score. Yes, Perfect score. And a trip to that far off exotic land of Puerto Rico.

Matt Abaticola (17:33)

Ooh.

Dan Bernstein (17:34)

Are you ready?

Matt Abaticola (17:35)

Yes.

Dan Bernstein (17:36)

Who Kid Rock or Brad? Bunny or Bad Bunny has won six Grammy Awards.

Matt Abaticola (17:44)

That would be Bad Bunny.

Dan Bernstein (17:45)

That is Bad Bunny. All right, last question for you. It's a bonus bonus round. And this comes with a brand new car. Who, Kid Rock or Bad Bunny has won zero Grammy Awards?

Matt Abaticola (17:57)

Kid Rock.

Dan Bernstein (17:58)

Very good. Nicely done. Dan, that was a trick one at the end, but you got it. Nicely done. Very, very good. All right, so you're five.

Matt Abaticola (18:04)

Zero. All right.

Dan Bernstein (18:05)

Congratulations and thanks for sending it in, Russ.

Matt Abaticola (18:07)

We appreciate it. Yeah. Okay. Well, that's. That's very interesting and thank you for that.

Dan Bernstein (18:11)

One more time. Young ladies. Young ladies. I like them underage. See, some say that statutory, but I say that's mandatory. Kid Rock.

Matt Abaticola (18:20)

Ew.

Dan Bernstein (18:21)

Yep.

Matt Abaticola (18:23)

That's sort of like what's. What was the lyric from Poison by Bel Biv Devoe backstage. Underage adolescent, how you doing? Fine, she replied. I sighed. And we still hear that song, right? Hey, buddy. Not great, boys. Not good. This note was sent in by Dan, who says, hey, Bernstein, can you drop that heart plug recipe? I need to add it to my collection of burnsy foods. My favorite is either your chili or your indoor beer brats. Yeah, both really good.

Dan Bernstein (18:57)

But you gave the like. It's not like you said what it was.

Matt Abaticola (19:01)

Yeah, I'll say it again, but again, it's not hard. It was a caller into the score who sent this in when we were doing a segment on it. And it's been great. And it's inexpensive, it's easy. I do it a little differently. I add a step to it, but you don't have to. But it is a basic frozen garlic bread. I literally got the Kroger brand garlic bread. And you put it in. I put it in a Pyrex glass baking pan. And you just. While it's frozen, you open it up, you split it, you lie it down, you preheat the oven to 350. You then have a. I take a pound of loose Italian sausage. I don't buy the hot because I like to control the heat myself. And there's gonna be heat from the giardiniera in this, so I don't like to make the sausage sauce too hot. You can either just brown the sausage and put that on there and use a jarred red sauce, a jarred marinara of some kind of. Or you can do what I do, and that is make my own red sauce, as I usually would, but with the sausage instead of beef, and let that simmer for a while. And then I. So I coat the garlic bread with the sausage sauce mixture. Then it is a thick layer of the shredded 6 Italian cheese mixed bag. I go through a whole bag for this recipe. So I put half the bag on there, then another layer of the sauce, then a layer of medium heat giardiniere of your choice. You can do hot, you can do mild if you want, however you want. But I use medium heat. That's perfect. Gives the acidity and then the heat. And then the second half of the shredded Italian cheese from the bag. And then you bake it to taste. You make sure everything is cooked through and maybe a little darkened on the top, browned and dripping around the edges. Then you slice it up and eat it.

Dan Bernstein (21:01)

Wait, so you. You do the. The bread? You don't do the bread? You don't bake the bread first?

Matt Abaticola (21:05)

No, don't need to.

Dan Bernstein (21:08)

Well, yeah. I mean, doesn't it. Doesn't the cheese get too cooked? No. Okay.

Matt Abaticola (21:14)

No, everything ends up fine.

Dan Bernstein (21:15)

All right, I'm gonna do that. I mean, I'll do my own little spin on it, but. And I'm gonna do. With the bread. I'm gonna bake the bread first. I might actually make my own bread.

Matt Abaticola (21:22)

I was gonna say. Yeah, you can do your own bread, but the bread is already. It's already, like, prepared. It just needs. Yeah, I know through. I know.

Dan Bernstein (21:29)

I like everything that I do with it. And I think I'm going to use. I don't know if you've ever tried this, but our guy, Jeff Morrow.

Matt Abaticola (21:35)

Yeah.

Dan Bernstein (21:37)

Sandwich king, he has, you know, his own line of gardener that's out and moral provisions is his line. He has seasonings and stuff. It's great. It's great, great stuff. You get it all over the Chicagoland area. He does a. It's a hot honey gardener. Like a honey gardener. Dude, all you. Oh, dude, it's. I thought I wouldn't like it. I eat it with a spoon out of the jar. It's you. I'm telling you, you would love it. It's not like. It's not real hot, where it's, like, overpowering. It's. It's a great level of Heat, and there's a little bit of the sweet to it and then the crunch of the vegetables, and they're dice. Really, really fine.

Matt Abaticola (22:11)

It's just.

Dan Bernstein (22:11)

I mean, it's a great. It's probably. It might be my favorite condiment that I've ever, ever had.

Matt Abaticola (22:17)

It's.

Dan Bernstein (22:18)

It's. Wow, dude. I put it on. On sandwiches. It's great. I put it sandwiches. I make Italian subs, and I'll put that on the Italian.

Matt Abaticola (22:26)

It's.

Dan Bernstein (22:26)

It is unbelievable. I would. I think I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna give your thing a spin on Sunday.

Matt Abaticola (22:32)

Okay.

Dan Bernstein (22:32)

But I'm gonna try my. My, my Honey Jardiner.

Matt Abaticola (22:34)

I have decided if I'm gonna cook or what I'm gonna cook. I have really haven't. I've got to see if. Because it's hard because, you know, Beth wouldn't eat the chili and. And I. You know, Jason's not around, so it isn't. It's not like I'm cooking for a whole house of people.

Dan Bernstein (22:48)

Yeah. That's the thing with this. Yeah. With the garlic bread. I'll probably be the only one that eats it because I just don't know if any. Anybody else will. So that's.

Matt Abaticola (22:56)

That's crazy.

Dan Bernstein (22:57)

I think we're gonna do like a big, giant sheet pan nachos, too. I think the. So because it's just me, Natalie, and then. And then Lucas and Griffin, her two boys. So Griff asked for nachos. I think we'll do a big, like, sheet pan nachos. And I'll make the. The garlic bread myself.

Matt Abaticola (23:13)

Actually.

Dan Bernstein (23:13)

I think that's all I'm gonna do, actually.

Matt Abaticola (23:15)

When I show Beth's dad makes one really good garlic bread. Really good.

Dan Bernstein (23:21)

Should have him do it.

Matt Abaticola (23:22)

He uses like. He takes the. Like he smashes like his own fresh garlic paste.

Dan Bernstein (23:27)

Yeah. That's what he does it.

Matt Abaticola (23:29)

Right. It is so garlicky.

Dan Bernstein (23:31)

Dude, you know he doesn't have time to do that for you Sunday. No, he's got him. Sure. He's got plans on Sunday.

Matt Abaticola (23:39)

Yeah. Knowing right now him.

Dan Bernstein (23:40)

He probably does. He doesn't have time for you to make garbage.

Matt Abaticola (23:46)

This was sent by Kevin and he says Kevin in New York in Jefferson park, he said. As the Bulls continue to raid the second round pantry and assemble a team exclusively below 6 foot 9. It got me thinking about weaponized nostalgia in Chicago sports. It's a big open secret. What a week for those that Chicago sports organizations have mastered deploying memories of old to obfuscate on field sins. Of the present the Cubs won't spend. Here's Anthony Rizzo. The Bears are weird. Oh, 1985, baby. The white Sox are awful. Here's a celebration of black history with every player except Frank Thomas. The point is, there's. There's a warm fuzzy to point to. Except now for the Bulls, now that the Bulls have retired Derrick Rose's number. Now what? The Bulls have flogged the 90s teams for all they're worth. Those squads are further in the rearview mirror than ever. The main attraction, the one a greatest player of all time, won't show up because the United center isn't a golf course next to his house. Even using the other members of those squads as cover doesn't inoculate against the ugliness like those CHUD fans at the Ring of Honor ceremony booing Jerry Kraus, widow. So after the Jordan Bulls, after D. Rose, what's to distract from whatever the Bulls are now? The Duncan races and Benny the Bulls popcorn. It's only going to go so far to distract us from a paltry encored product. You can't rely on a traveling act like Wemby. All year, the number retirement was a celebration, but it really did feel like the end of something. The past has given the Bulls all it had. The Cubs now make the playoffs and heavy, dazzling outfielder. The Bears have a new focus and a tantalizing quarterback. The White Sox have. They've had Japanese players before this year. Oh, boy.

Dan Bernstein (25:48)

Well, now they have a bidet.

Matt Abaticola (25:49)

Yes. But for the Bulls, though, it really is. What now? Well, it's. It's. It's. It's. Bulls basketball is what it is. It's. It's. Sorting out these last 30 games. I'm not a good guy to ask because I'm there no matter what. I'm a connoisseur of bad Bulls basketball, and I love it. Last night, at one point, when they showed that starting lineup, Jason texted me and he said, this is my favorite Bulls team of all time.

Dan Bernstein (26:15)

Of course he would.

Matt Abaticola (26:16)

I said, really goes? Yes. He goes, this. This roster tonight is my favorite Bulls team of all time. And I said, that's because there you have a pathology. And he said, I know. I'm not denying that, but I don't have an answer for you, Kev.

Dan Bernstein (26:29)

I can give you one. It's when someone dies.

Matt Abaticola (26:33)

Johnny.

Dan Bernstein (26:34)

It's like her and all the next big. Yeah. And they bury him alive. That's the next big. That's the next big thing. Because there really isn't anything left that's a great email. Yeah, there's nothing. I mean, outside of Jordan, who again won't show up unless you get Mike.

Matt Abaticola (26:47)

Trico there for once. Just once though.

Dan Bernstein (26:51)

Yeah. You saw that. Did you see the American team for the World Baseball Classic?

Matt Abaticola (26:59)

No, I don't like the American. I don't root for the American team ever. So I haven't looked at it.

Dan Bernstein (27:04)

Two Chicago Cubs, Pete Crow Armstrong and Matthew Boyd in the starting rotation.

Matt Abaticola (27:10)

Okay. I'm surprised that Matt Shaw wouldn't take it on himself to be a flag waving representation. They told him those things of America. Yeah, but the problem is the. My Puerto Rican team.

Dan Bernstein (27:26)

Oh, my bad. I missed. I missed Bregman at third. Sorry.

Matt Abaticola (27:29)

There you go. He's not playing for Team Israel this time. Trader Trader. And I guess Team Israel maybe didn't make it this time, but I thought the Puerto Rican team was having some issues with insurance getting MLB guys insured properly. So they didn't know if they're going to be able to field a team. But that's. They're always the most fun by a mile.

Dan Bernstein (27:50)

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Not even close.

Matt Abaticola (27:51)

So. And you know what else? They are American.

Dan Bernstein (27:55)

So do you, do, you know, do you watch the WBC sometimes?

Matt Abaticola (27:59)

Yeah.

Dan Bernstein (27:59)

Okay. Yeah.

Matt Abaticola (28:00)

When I, you know, get excited for baseball and you can. There's. Sometimes there's. You find guys there. You find a guy who like bombed out a double A and got good again or discovered a pitch and is getting people out. I love matchups like that. And actually one of those guys was on Jason's team. There was a. There was a guy, I forgot his name and he was on Team Italy. He's a Chicago kid. He was on Team Italy.

Dan Bernstein (28:23)

He played with your son.

Matt Abaticola (28:25)

They played on. In the Mexican League here in the Azteca League. He was actually on the Toreros or Troceros for a while. On the same team. They weren't on the team at the same time. But he was a pitcher on that team. I guess so. You know, that's the kind of league that it was. This is a question from Brian. Who asks. Wait a damn minute. Dan, did you say that you got a brain injury while playing a character with no brain? While singing if I Only Had a Brain. Is this irony? I'm going with a yes, you did say that. I did say that. And it is true that when I was playing, I was portraying the scarecrow and in the scene where I was singing if I Only had a Brain and I did a fall, a choreographed fall on a concrete floor and I hit my head and nearly knocked myself out. That is irony. I hadn't quite thought of it that way.

Dan Bernstein (29:27)

Yeah, very much so. Why did your scarecrow have breasts though?

Matt Abaticola (29:31)

Because I was given a lot of latitude.

Dan Bernstein (29:33)

Okay, make the character your own young Daniel.

Matt Abaticola (29:37)

I was given a lot of latitude. They said. They said make the carry. And he was. He wasn't sure. He was unsure about some things at that point and. And he was. He was trying to figure things out. It was a subtext that I added at that point. But thank you for the question, Brian. And I would say yes, yes, that's irony. This is Billy. Guys, in regard to the conversation you were having about the point that Joe Sheehan made about no such thing as a pitching prospect and the modern philosophy of major league pitch. I think it's the ruining the game cranks. But they may have a point here, so hear me out. There's no argument that the numbers say that you always go for the strikeout. You scout pitching with that in mind. You develop in mind. You manage your team with that in mind. There's not ever an in game situation where pitching to contact is a better choice than not. But in any single in game situation, it's inarguable. But I wonder if teams are employing short term profit at all costs mentality that exists in the modern business or finance world. So many of these great modern baseball minds emerged in the post Moneyball era from that world. Assessing value through statistical analysis makes sense to come at the job in more the same way. An economist or a tech bro might maximize everything right now, always. But Those hedge fund MFers have shown us what the actual cost of short term profit over long term value starts to look like when it's no longer short term, it ruins everything. I'm an admitted smooth brain when it comes to statistical analysis. I don't have much more to go off of here than like vibes man. But I wonder if anyone has done a deep dive into the risk value ratio. When you look at a picture the way you would a long term investment, you say yeah, for the game we're playing right now, go for the striker. Does the value of that decision not come with a cost for player and team? Shortened careers? Diminished ability to pitch more innings per game? Is there some kind of value lost even if you're looking at it purely from an investment standpoint? Regardless of the questions of morality that arise, we teach every kid who picks up a baseball they must always and only maximize velocity. You can look at players as a short term investment, but with the work and money that goes into finding the best pitching prospects. I know they don't exist and the time and effort to develop them, how can they also not be seen to some degree as a long term investment as well? I don't know how to fix it. I don't know how to convince any team to not do whatever they can do to win right damn now. But I know everything right damn now always doesn't give us the results that we truly desire. Not in life, not as a country, not as a baseball fan. I think it might, once again, as we did after Moneyball, be time to take another big step back so the picture comes into view in larger form. Or maybe I'm just dumber than hummus. Love the show. Love your suit, Billy. You're not. That's a great question to ask. And I do think that it's, it is, it always has an effect to make a point broadly. And that's largely, you know, what Sheehan does, the idea there's no such thing as a pitching prospect. And that's more so you're not talking about a guy you just drafted. I mean, somebody has to understand how to acclimate to professional baseball and how to throw the ball over the plate. It's more so the ones who eventually become true. What would be a true prospect? When you're talking double A, triple A, the higher levels, and you say, all right, it's, we don't want to waste the bullets down here, we want those in the major leagues. But I don't, I don't know the answer. And I think it depends on what you're willing to pay and when you're willing to pay it. Now you're already looking at the Tigers who lost their arbitration hearing against Tariq Skubal, who were looking at a $30 million guy before they wanted to pay him, thinking, well, now that's over. Now they're not going to pay him and somebody else is going to pay him. So if someone else is going to pay them, it's a different calculation than deciding what the asset is going to look like when you commit to pay for it. So I don't have an easy answer for you. I know that's disappointing. We love to have things clean and, and clear in this segment, but I think smarter baseball brains than I would be would give you more satisfactory answer. I don't know if you got a thought on it, Matty, but that's always the question of what do you pay pitching?

Dan Bernstein (33:45)

Yeah, no, it's the.

Matt Abaticola (33:49)

Yeah.

Dan Bernstein (33:53)

It'S a progressive Type topic as it's transitioning through what I always thought was a really good pitcher, you know, and, and some of, some of the guys that are historically great that I've watched in my life weren't these, these, you know, throw the ball 100 miles an hour, make guys miss the bat. They were guys that were excellent in location but also had really great defenses behind them that certainly helped the way they look. But yeah, I'm. I don't know, I'm kind of changing in my views and perspective of things. I never wanted to get too tied down in the whole statistical approach to baseball because, you know, I want to go out and play the game, but it's hard not to look at it and how the Cubs have kind of trailed in. My team has kind of trailed in what baseball is progressing towards from the pitching mound. And I loved the thought of the conversation that we had that there isn't a pitching prospect anymore. Now it's hard to make that blanketed statement because yes, there are guys that are maybe, maybe they're striking out but you're not going to put an 18 or 19 year old kid who maybe can throw the ball hard and strike guys out at a certain level up at the major league level. They still need to develop a little bit and even confidence too. But yeah, the idea, if you have a guy that's been in your system and he's striking people out. Yeah. Get him to the majors quicker. So you're not only based on the whole. And I think what really sealed it for me was the argument of there's only so many bullets in the gun to use that bad analogy. And if you're going to be wasting those at the minor league level when he could be striking guys out at the mid league level to help your team, whether it's for a season or a stretch of a season, even a short portion of that season, use those strikeouts at the major league level.

Matt Abaticola (35:38)

Yeah, one of those guys ended up starting the all star game last year.

Dan Bernstein (35:41)

Right.

Matt Abaticola (35:41)

Did they just sign up? Oh, what's this guy doing? Oh, okay, let's. Here he is. Hello.

Dan Bernstein (35:46)

Yeah, it's just, it's again, there's a hard process to it because you know, people look at baseball with such nostalgia and the history of it and it's really the only game that you can, it's an, it's an individualized team sport where you really can use the data to help your team and it's, it's. That's counterintuitive to the whole process of being Physical and playing a game and using the statistical information at your hands. And there's more available in baseball, so why not use it? And why not be progressive in that regard to get the best possible outcome at each at bat, regardless of how that looks with whatever player that might be.

Matt Abaticola (36:28)

And I just think the answer, largely the economic answer that you're asking comes down to how long would you want to pay that person to be a part of your organization?

Dan Bernstein (36:37)

Right.

Matt Abaticola (36:38)

How, how special, how much of an outlier? And what does your system look like to develop replacements? And then there's some systems that can say, we're going to find these arms and we're going to. You get hurt, you're gone. You pump it out as hard as you can, as long as you can, and then go. And then we'll get somebody else. And we never have to pay somebody for diminishing returns.

Dan Bernstein (37:00)

Right. And then some people will argue against that, like, and. But you're denying what is actually true about it, that each individual player is just an asset to an organization. Like, oh, we're just going to get the most out of them and then dump them off. Well, yeah, that's. That's how the sport works. It's a really bad business.

Matt Abaticola (37:15)

I have saved the best for last year.

Dan Bernstein (37:17)

Not as bad as football, but it's a bad business.

Matt Abaticola (37:19)

I've saved the best for last year.

Dan Bernstein (37:21)

Okay.

Matt Abaticola (37:21)

And I don't know if you saw this, and I hope you didn't when it came in. This was sent in by our friend Dominic and it's a poster. It is a poster of the Chicago Horror Conventions Flashback Weekend. Oh, and the Chicago Horror Convention is going to be here from July 31st through August 2nd. It is that weekend. And this is Chicago's longest running and premier horror convention.

Dan Bernstein (37:56)

H O R R O R H.

Matt Abaticola (37:58)

O R R O R and they have made an announcement as to one of the attendees at this year's convention.

Dan Bernstein (38:06)

Oh, I know where this is going.

Matt Abaticola (38:09)

If I'm right, one of the featured attendees.

Dan Bernstein (38:14)

Yes.

Matt Abaticola (38:14)

One of the celebrities.

Dan Bernstein (38:16)

Let's go.

Matt Abaticola (38:18)

Is the one and only Dick Warlock. Dick Warlock, longtime horror stuntman, portrayer of Michael Myers in Halloween. And he's going to be there. Okay. And what. I've saved this email because Dominic said I'm happy to make an introduction to the owners of the convention. He said, if you guys want to do a remote, there he goes. At the very least, I will go and ask him to do a promo for your show.

Dan Bernstein (38:50)

100%. It's got to be done.

Matt Abaticola (38:52)

All right.

Dan Bernstein (38:53)

That is amazing.

Matt Abaticola (38:54)

All right, so do you have a copy of this or should I forward this to you?

Dan Bernstein (38:57)

No, I have Dominic's email. I just didn't. I don't read all the ones that come through, so.

Matt Abaticola (39:01)

I know, I know. That's trying to save him for this. Yeah, yeah. There's so many cool pictures of him here.

Dan Bernstein (39:07)

I'm making a note of it. Dominic. I got it.

Matt Abaticola (39:09)

I had. He was the stunt double for Snake Plissken in Escape from New York. How cool is that? Escape from New York.

Dan Bernstein (39:19)

Dick Warlock was. Or Dominic.

Matt Abaticola (39:20)

Yes. Dick Warlock. The thing. Jaws. Big Trouble in Little China.

Dan Bernstein (39:28)

Yeah.

Matt Abaticola (39:28)

Remember?

Dan Bernstein (39:28)

Because. Well, he was. He was Kurt Russell's personal guy for, like, 25 years.

Matt Abaticola (39:31)

Yep. But I didn't know that when. Personal guy. He was like his. His body guy. He was like.

Dan Bernstein (39:37)

Yes.

Matt Abaticola (39:38)

What. What Brad Pitt's character was to. Leonardo DiCaprio's character in Once Upon a Time in Holly.

Dan Bernstein (39:46)

Correct. Yeah. So now we're gonna make this happen. We're gonna have a conversation with. With Dick Warlock because there's so many great things to talk about. Escape From New York. You should get a general little China. Oh, yeah.

Matt Abaticola (39:57)

He'd be unbelievable. And from the 50, wouldn't he? That's a great idea.

Dan Bernstein (40:02)

Yeah, we're going to make that happen. So July 31, August 2. The horror H O R R O R convention. Yep. At the Whores.

Matt Abaticola (40:11)

No, check that. So that's. I just thought that was so cool.

Dan Bernstein (40:14)

Yeah, that's very cool.

Matt Abaticola (40:15)

Yeah. Thank you, Dominic.

Dan Bernstein (40:17)

So, you know, it's funny, one of our listeners had a Super bowl square for his daughter's soccer team. I got in on. Okay. And I, you know, I got to pick the square. And then he. And then he sends the squares out with. Complete with numbers. And he puts. My. My name he put down was Dick Hammer.

Matt Abaticola (40:33)

Of course he did. Yes. Why wouldn't he? I don't know. If you need windows, now is the time to call because right now we want to keep all this warm air in and the cold air out. But like that, like a blink, it's going to go soon. We are looking at. What are we on the 6th? We are. We're about three weeks away from. From the Spring Coho run. So we're. That means spring is practically here right now. And that means soon you're going to want the cold air in and the hot air outside. Either way, you need new, good windows. And the person to get you those is right here in Chicago. He's Russ Armstrong. He is the owner of Chicago window guys. And Russ comes to your house to give you the estimate. Russ will explain everything to you and you say, well, hold on a second, Russ. I've heard all these price matches guarantees from other places. I've heard all of these places, they say this at lowest price, lowest price, buy one, get one free. Russell no, no, no, no. They do it the right way and they will tell you what things actually cost, what those other deals actually are. And then if you think someplace else will give you the price that you think is better, Russ will match that price. But he's going to explain to you what everything really is. And that's why I went with the Chicago window guys and that's why I personally recommend them to friends, to neighbors because all of our houses were built at the same time in our neighborhood. We all had the same crappy builder windows that were in there. And that's why every it's been 20 years everybody's had to replace their windows and Russ has done a bunch of them. So call 847-302-9171. He's got five star reviews you can check out at chicagowindowguys.com it's also important to remember that he doesn't use subcontracted labor. His people do. They come out for to do the measurements and when it comes time to installation, these aren't just people that he's picking up somewhere that are just working for him for that day. They're his people. They work for us. So call him 847-302-9171 and check out his 5 star reviews@chicagowindowguys.com this episode is.

Dan Bernstein (42:44)

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Matt Abaticola (43:04)

We have been doing throughout the season on this Show a top 10 list and this time in honor of the super bowl we have had. It was Matt Abaticola's decision on this one and I always enjoy it and I put some work in yesterday. People can ask, I didn't leave the Office until like 4:15 yesterday because one of the things I was doing was giving this the proper thought of the top 10 most memorable sports championship live experiences. And it doesn't mean you had to attend the game itself as long as there was a live experience involved that you remember and what's important to you about it? There's no right, there's no wrong. It's not ranking the quality of the game itself. So this was very interesting for me, as you know. You know that I've been really committing to these and trying to be, trying to hold myself to a very honest standard about some of them. And I, and I did that. So I want to know my guess on crossover. I'm going to say maybe two things are going to cross over here.

Dan Bernstein (44:16)

All right, we'll see. We'll see how it goes. So Again, the top 10 most memorable championship experiences, moments that we've had throughout our life and something that I, the approach I took to it were things that drew a lot of emotion and great memory for me. And they weren't always like on the best side, they weren't always on the winning side of things either.

Matt Abaticola (44:36)

So.

Dan Bernstein (44:37)

Okay, and here, here we go. So I actually have two honorable mentions. The first being the 1994 NBA Finals where the Houston Rockets beat the New York Knicks in a dramatic, exciting seven game series. The reason why that's so memorable for me, not being a Houston Rockets fan, but loving the fact, and I do this, and I hope my good friend John Ortiz doesn't hear this, the fact that the New York Knicks lost the finals made me happy, happier, almost as happy as any Bulls championship. So watching the Knicks lose the NBA Finals to the Rockets made, made my NBA year in 1994.

Matt Abaticola (45:17)

Now are these honorable mentions or is that number 10 honorable mentions?

Dan Bernstein (45:21)

Okay, I have two honorable mentions.

Matt Abaticola (45:22)

Okay.

Dan Bernstein (45:23)

The second honorable mention goes to the 1980 gold medal game where the USA beat Finland. It only gets an honorable mention because of course the dramatic event, it kind of, it kind of peaked for me in memory with my brothers and my dad in watching the, the semifinal game against the Soviet Union. So not, not that the gold medal game wasn't exciting, not that we didn't watch it, not that we didn't love it. We did. But the level of emotion, it peaked for me in that Russia game, that Friday night game. Watching with my brothers and my dad, I can still visualize it and picture it. I can picture the tv, I can picture we were all sitting in our condo that my dad lived in. So it gets an honorable mention, the gold medal game only because of that experience of the, of Team USA getting to the gold medal game.

Matt Abaticola (46:11)

It is also an honorable mention for me for very similar reasons.

Dan Bernstein (46:15)

Okay, very cool. So Those were my two honorable mentions. Number 10 for me. And you're going to. And you know this isn't a who you crap it or anything. This is legit. Number 10 is the 2005 White Sox World Series. Only because it had such great and powerful emotion for people close to me, for friends.

Matt Abaticola (46:37)

You were holding me.

Dan Bernstein (46:39)

I was holding you. I was holding you. And I think back to Brian in Team Lodge, getting up to the World Series, watching all the early round games with him and the excitement that he had as a White Sox fan. And then being there in Houston with the radio station, hanging out with you and just experiencing that through. Through my friends and co workers. It was just a really special moment in that regard. Even though I wasn't personally excited about it, I was more envious and jealous of that. That moment. But it was still a very, very cool memory that I have from radio, from being down there with you. Because that, dude, seriously, that, that Houston trip had some of our great road trip memories of all time.

Matt Abaticola (47:21)

That's why it is my number five.

Dan Bernstein (47:24)

Yeah, it should be higher for you as a Sox fan.

Matt Abaticola (47:27)

Yeah, it is my. It is the number five that the. The entire experience and the game more so the game before the game the previous evening.

Dan Bernstein (47:36)

Yes, that. That gave us one of the greatest nights out ever, ever, ever, ever, ever.

Matt Abaticola (47:43)

Yep.

Dan Bernstein (47:44)

19 Miller Lights.

Matt Abaticola (47:45)

That was.

Dan Bernstein (47:46)

And that is not an exaggeration, what you consumed.

Matt Abaticola (47:48)

Yep.

Dan Bernstein (47:49)

I was counting. Very proud of you. It was. It was tremendous, tremendous effort on your part.

Matt Abaticola (47:55)

Thank you.

Dan Bernstein (47:58)

Where it went. We'll leave it there. All right, Dan, time to go.

Matt Abaticola (48:04)

Let's.

Dan Bernstein (48:05)

Let's head back to the room now, pal. I think we're good.

Matt Abaticola (48:07)

Okay, we're out of here. Throw a bed sheet over me and carry me over your shoulders.

Dan Bernstein (48:17)

Took my belt off, strapped you up.

Matt Abaticola (48:20)

All right, let's go. Here we go. Here we go.

Dan Bernstein (48:23)

All right, guys, take care.

Matt Abaticola (48:23)

Come on now. All right. All right.

Dan Bernstein (48:25)

Number nine for me is. And only because this. It was really special as a Chicago fan at the time, but the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals, now, it didn't have a great outcome for the Blackhawks who were swept by the Pittsburgh Penguins, who I believe won back to back championships that year. I think 91. They beat the Minnesota North Stars, if I'm not making that up, in the 91 finals. So they won back to back championships. The Blackhawks were up 4 to 1 in Game 1. Ended up losing that game and then getting swept by the Penguins and Mario Lemukes. It's memorable though, only because it was the first time the Hawks made the championship, the Stanley cup since 73. So that was important. And special there. But of course, the Bulls going through a championship run of their own time with two Chicago teams in the final simultaneously was really, really awesome and cool at the time. So I was, I was 19 years old. I was working at the Herman Sporting Goods in the Orland Park Mall. And game four was on while I was at work and the store was empty. I remember, I remember just listening to. We had it on over the, over the speakers and is leaning against like clothing racks, you know, arm up, listening and just being so irritated and mad that they got swept and that they lost and they had to, you know, see the Penguins on tv, celebrate. But it was just a really cool moment in Chicago sports for two teams to be competing simultaneously in their respective championships. Number eight. Again, not a positive memory, but again, this is where my brothers, my dad come in. It's the 1984 NLCS. The Cubs losing to the Padres after a two nothing lead, losing three games to two. But I remember distinctly watching that with my dad, my brothers, my dad was in the lower level of the house, my brothers were upstairs and I would, I would swap TVs I would watch from based on who was batting.

Matt Abaticola (50:26)

I, I went to the second game.

Dan Bernstein (50:29)

Oh, did you really?

Matt Abaticola (50:30)

Yeah.

Dan Bernstein (50:31)

So wait, you would have been what, 15.

Matt Abaticola (50:35)

Is that the Jody Davis home run?

Dan Bernstein (50:37)

Yeah, that's so. Yeah. You were 15, right?

Matt Abaticola (50:40)

In 84.

Dan Bernstein (50:41)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's cool. That's very cool.

Matt Abaticola (50:45)

Yeah.

Dan Bernstein (50:45)

And of course knowing, knowing why the Cubs, you know, couldn't. Why the Cubs only had two of the five games because not having lights and so yeah, that was a problem. But even though it was a terrible outcome, it's just again, the family memory that's involved there is what gets it number eight for me, number seven is the 2010 Stanley cup championship for your Chicago Blackhawks. Of course, it was their first championship since 1961. But for me, on a personal level, I was hosting the Blackhawks post game shows on the Score with Jay Zawaski, which was a really awesome experience. I still have my notes from covering that, that, that, that series. And then from there I got to be involved in the championship parade where Mitch sent me out as like the on site reporter. Why I was chosen, I have no idea. There were certainly guys there that, that loved the Blackhawks more. But it was, it was the, it was the championship parade, the double decker buses. And I remember Dan, we, our starting point was the United center. And I'm there and I call into it was Spiegel and Mack.

Matt Abaticola (51:53)

Okay.

Dan Bernstein (51:55)

And so I'm Doing a live hit. You know how excited McNeil would have been, right?

Matt Abaticola (52:00)

Obviously.

Dan Bernstein (52:00)

So I call in and it's me, the sarcastic non hockey loving guy. Not the right guy for this, for this phone call.

Matt Abaticola (52:08)

That's a weird vibe.

Dan Bernstein (52:09)

And so it starts off and he, you know, he really wants me to be into it like he was. And I go, all right, well fellas, we're burying the lead here on this story. So what they did in the double decker bus is they had name placards for all the players. So if you're. They're in the bus. So people, as they're going by the parade, people would see, oh, there's so and so, there's so and so. They had some all time greats, players that were no longer with us, their name placards. So you remember what I. So I was like buried the lead that they're digging up some of these bodies of these old players and they're going to throw them on these buses for this parade. Click. I got hung up on it. I've talked to him about it since and he doesn't even remember and he tells me that there was other, other issues going on with the remote they were at. And he was just in a bad, like a bad mood and, and he didn't mean that like, you know, it wasn't at me, it was just the whole event. And so.

Matt Abaticola (53:04)

But yeah, what is Pierre Palat doing here?

Dan Bernstein (53:07)

Yeah, I'm like, this is amazing. They're digging up all these dead players and they're throwing their dead kids bodies on these buses for the fans to celebrate with. Click. Hello, guys. Oh, I was like, oh. So that was like, oh man, I don't want to go back to the station.

Matt Abaticola (53:23)

It happened to me once when, when Mac hung up on me when I was covering a Bulls playoff series and I was trying to talk about how they were defending pick and roll. He just wasn't interested in basketball and hung up on me. So, so I called back. I'm like, hey, we got cut off. He's like, no, he hung up on you.

Dan Bernstein (53:44)

Oh my God, that's amazing.

Matt Abaticola (53:46)

I said, why do you hang up on me? He goes, I don't know. So Fishman. And Fishman's like, I don't know. He's just in a bad mood. He just didn't want to talk to you.

Dan Bernstein (53:55)

What were you covering?

Matt Abaticola (53:56)

The Bulls in the playoffs?

Dan Bernstein (53:58)

Oh, so Bulls playoff game. Right. So he has the Bulls beat reporter on from the station right before the game. Right before the game.

Matt Abaticola (54:04)

We were talking about Pick and roll defense.

Dan Bernstein (54:07)

I was, but, but the, the, the topic wasn't a surprise to him, right? It was like, oh, we're having Bernstein on. I wonder why. No, that's amazing. And he just didn't. Wanted nothing to do with it.

Matt Abaticola (54:16)

Wasn't interested.

Dan Bernstein (54:16)

That's awesome. That's great. So we both got hung up on. I love it. That's great. So that's number seven for me. Number six. Oh, and also too, that was the, the Philly series. So Jay and I are in the conference room at NBC Tower watching the final game and didn't know that the goal was scored.

Matt Abaticola (54:32)

Only Patrick Kane and Michael Layton scored.

Dan Bernstein (54:35)

It took us like several minutes. And we like, looked at each other. We're like, oh my God, the Hawks just win. Like, we didn't even celebrate in the moment. We just like sprinted down to the.

Matt Abaticola (54:42)

Studio and is, is Patrick Kane being attacked by a swarm of bees, right? Why else would he be acting like going on. Why is he taking all his clothes off?

Dan Bernstein (54:52)

So that was number seven. Number six, the 1991 NBA Finals, watching Michael Jordan win his first championship. I'll never, ever, ever forget that. Number five that I have, by the.

Matt Abaticola (55:04)

Way, is number seven for me is the first Bulls title.

Dan Bernstein (55:07)

Okay, so then, so that six for me, seven for you. And so that's two crossovers so far. Number five.

Matt Abaticola (55:14)

Three including the 80 Olympics.

Dan Bernstein (55:15)

Oh, yeah. And the honorable mentions. Number five is the 96 NBA finals where the Bulls won 72 games in a regular season. They go on to win the, the fourth championship for the organization. It was, it was special because, you know, Jordan comes back, he gets knocked out. They got knocked out by the Magic the year before that was Shaq and Anthony Hardaway. And not only were they knocked out of the playoffs, but he, he just, he was embarrassed and they were toying with him and they were mocking him too.

Matt Abaticola (55:43)

Don't forget the Horace Grant fist pumping and all.

Dan Bernstein (55:46)

Oh, yeah, yeah, that's right. Grant was on the, on that, on that team. But when they, so for, for them to come back as an organization and so that's, you know, you have Dennis Rodman added to the team and for them to come back, win 72 games and for the organization and a team and players, you know, Pippin, Rodman, Jordan, to be so determined after what happened, you know, the year before, getting knocked out, so determined to win, it was just, it was, it was just an incredible, remarkable run. First team in the NBA history to ever win 70 plus games. So that, that's number five for me. To see the Bulls in the first of their second three peaks right there. The 96 finals.

Matt Abaticola (56:26)

I have the 96 finals as an honorable mention.

Dan Bernstein (56:29)

Okay, so that's four.

Matt Abaticola (56:30)

I covered it. And the only reason it's really an honorable mention is because the basketball in the finals was awful. The games themselves were just, it's. Guys couldn't, they couldn't make a shot. If you remember, like the, the games, the one that won it. The Bulls won 87 to 75.

Dan Bernstein (56:52)

Yeah, that was.

Matt Abaticola (56:53)

So Seattle won the previous game 89 to 78. And remember how the entire series was George Carl and Phil Jackson arguing through the media about who was being called for illegal defense and who wasn't?

Dan Bernstein (57:10)

Yeah.

Matt Abaticola (57:10)

And so.

Dan Bernstein (57:11)

But it was sold as a great defensive matchup.

Matt Abaticola (57:12)

But it was just the actual basketball. This, like, it was better back then. Go back and watch that series and tell me what, seriously, like all these people like, oh, the Jordan era was so awesome. No, it wasn't. The, the, even these moments, the actual basketball was like watching people pull teeth.

Dan Bernstein (57:32)

Did the, didn't the glove. Didn't he, didn't he, like, have one good game? Only he played terrible too, didn't he?

Matt Abaticola (57:38)

Yeah, I don't know. The stats in front of me, you know, he had a couple of really good moments.

Dan Bernstein (57:42)

Yeah, I thought Gary Payton had a really bad series, though.

Matt Abaticola (57:45)

Gary Payton, in six games, he averaged 18 points. He shot 44% from the floor, averaged 18 and seven. Okay.

Dan Bernstein (57:55)

I almost said Gary Coleman, by the way, too.

Matt Abaticola (57:58)

Matchup problem.

Dan Bernstein (57:59)

Yeah, that would have been bad. That's a, that's a good look for Jordan. Who's covering Jordan? Oh, we got Gary Coleman on him.

Matt Abaticola (58:04)

Yeah, that's gonna be a problem.

Dan Bernstein (58:07)

Number four for me is, and you don't need too much of an explanation, but the 1986 Super bowl, and I've mentioned this before on the podcast, I was 13, I had the flu. I was quarantined. I watched the game alone. I was sitting on the floor in front of the TV looking up. And I remember as a 13 year old kid getting tears in my eyes watching what, what the, what the Bears did.

Matt Abaticola (58:26)

It was number eight. Number eight for me, completely anticlimactic. I mean, it matters, but it was just, it was only a question of by how much they were going to win. Everybody knew that they were going to stomp them. And once they got over that, the Peyton fumble and the Tony Franklin field goal and Matsui scored that touchdown, then you're like, oh, okay, everything's going to be fine.

Dan Bernstein (58:47)

But it Was, it was awesome though. I like, I love the fact, looking back on it the way that started because it did for about three and a half minutes, draw some. Oh my God. Is this, is this really happening type situation? And then it went away very, very quickly.

Matt Abaticola (58:59)

Yeah, they're like, oh, okay. Everything's okay.

Dan Bernstein (59:01)

All right, so that's the number four. The 86 Super bowl for me. Number three, the 2019 Masters. Tiger woods, last major he had a one shot victory over, I think three or four guys tied. Dustin Johnson was in there. Xander Scheffle must have. I think he was in there too. Who else was in there? Yeah, I think he had a one shot lead over two or three or four guys maybe. But it was very special. Excuse me. Because I love Tiger and Jackson and, and, and Henry sat for the final round on the couch next to me and watched the entire round. I couldn't believe that they didn't like, they knew that I was excited to watch Tiger. They knew how much I love Tiger. And so it started. They sat with me and they didn't leave the entire. I couldn't, I couldn't believe they sat through an entire fourth round of the Masters just to watch with me. Yeah, so that was really, really cool. And so Henry would have been six and Jack would have been five. But I'll, I'll never ever forget that just because of my. I love watching Tiger play golf, but having those two guys watch the entire time, it was really cool. So that's number three for me. Number two is the 2016 Cubs World Series. We've talked about this too on the podcast you and I hosted earlier in the day together. My phone crapped out in the middle of our show, so I was without a phone watching the World Series. I was alone at my apartment. I didn't go out. I didn't want to be around anyone. And I sat alone on the floor again like a 13 year old kid watching the Bears Super Bowl. And I watched the game alone at home and didn't have a phone until the next day when I was able to go to the phone store and get that taken care of. And when it finally got reactivated, I had hundreds of phone calls and voice messages and text messages from people reaching out and trying to talk, friends, family, people from the score. And I just had zero communication with people. And I just sat there and enjoyed every second of it. And just, I was so present. Even though it was on TV and I'm watching it, I was so present in that because I didn't have my phone on me. And I, I still have, you know, a great lesson.

Matt Abaticola (61:12)

Right.

Dan Bernstein (61:13)

I kept score, you know, of, of all the games and I still have those notes. But yeah, because I didn't have my phone, it made it more memorable for me. And I was up till like three or four in the morning watching all the post game stuff, everything I could, and I was just there alone and enjoyed every second of it until. Until sometime after that, I talked to my, my brother, my oldest brother, Mark, who passed away a year later. It was a little bit less than a year, but he passed away in 2017. He was like, oh, I didn't know you watched it alone. I. We could have watched together. And now and then after he passed away, I was like, well, I would have loved to watch the game with him. Yeah, yeah, but. But the fact that, that I was just all by myself and without a phone to distract me at all, it just made it even more special. So you're probably wondering, as a Cubs fan, lifelong Cubs fan, how could the World Series be number two? What could possibly be number one? Because the super bowl is already there. Bulls championships are there. So for me, my number one sport experience championship moment took place last year at the Field of Dreams. And it was Jackson's 11U tournament at the Field of Dreams. And his team had kind of a down year for them, but in this tournament, they made the championship game. And the championship game was played on the actual Field of Dreams movie site. So I love the movie. And before the game, I was able to play catch with Hank and Jack on the outfield. All the dads are out there with their kids. If your kid was playing, you got to go out there. And so we were playing catch and then to watch Jackson stand on the mound and he closed out the game. He pitched the final three innings, and it was kind of a down year offensively for him, but he went 2 for 3. He had like three RBIs in the game and then closed out the final three innings to win the game on the Field of Dreams, actual movie site. Field as a dad was something I'll never, ever, ever forget my entire life.

Matt Abaticola (63:07)

You may never top that, you know.

Dan Bernstein (63:08)

No, I don't think I ever will. Which is why it's. It's number one for me. Just the whole experience of it. And then to see how Jack was able to step up and perform with a big smile on his face the entire time to come through at the plate and then on the mound to close it out. And then once the game ended, they were going to do the award ceremony on the field. The skies opened up in a storm that I've never seen before. And so there was a big event barn where the events were held. And so we're all indoors and we're doing the award ceremony in there. Remember trying to drive home. And I was like, this is just not safe to drive home. I got kids in the car. So it's like we stopped off. We stopped in Dubuque, leaving from where Field of Dreams is, and got a hotel room for the night because I just couldn't even bother. I couldn't. There's no way I could have driven home. Which then turned into an impromptu post game party with about half the team in the swimming pool.

Matt Abaticola (63:56)

And that's the best.

Dan Bernstein (63:58)

So it was great. That experience is number one for me and will never be topped.

Matt Abaticola (64:03)

That was great.

Dan Bernstein (64:04)

Thank you.

Matt Abaticola (64:06)

My honorable mentions on my list of the top 10 most memorable sports championship experiences. As I mentioned the 1980 Olympics, it all happened so far. I didn't have a lifetime to get excited for it. It was just. Everything was just this burst of excitement. And I became this fan for that, for that Fortnite. And it was much more of the win over the Soviets that was. That felt like the championship more than the win over Finland. But that's an honorable mention. I mentioned the Bulls over Seattle in 1996.

Dan Bernstein (64:34)

It was because it was bad.

Matt Abaticola (64:35)

It was just bad. No, honestly, like, there's some. It's great that they won, but it's like, stop playing already. I also have the Bulls over Portland and the Bulls over Phoenix. Both of those championships were great. I remember that my cousin Adam and I, after the Bulls beat Phoenix, we said, let's go downtown and see what people are doing.

Dan Bernstein (64:58)

And we did.

Matt Abaticola (64:59)

And people were going crazy. And we met a bunch of characters and just kind of ran around and we were stupid. I also put on here some. Some other super bowl experiences, just in general, like the ones we had with the shows, the ones we had in and around the various Super Bowls. The. The time we had in New Orleans where after spending seven days there for work, I took another four and flew Beth down before we were even engaged. And that was some of the first extended time the two of us had away together and. And really enjoyed that. I also circled as an honorable mention Super Bowl 50 in 2016, when that was Peyton Manning and the Broncos beating the. The Carolina Panthers. And it's only because that was my aunt's funeral. And my aunt Phyllis, who died at age 77, 76, and her funeral was awesome. We had the greatest family time at her funeral.

Dan Bernstein (65:59)

Wait, the game was on during her funeral? Is that what you're saying?

Matt Abaticola (66:03)

They threw a Super bowl part because it so happened that her funeral was the day before. No, it might have been that morning. It might have been that morning. And not only was, you know, she was just such. I mean, just an unbelievably full of life human being and just one of the great. And my sister was very, very close with her. My father was extremely close with his sister. And people came in from all over. We basically took over the Marriott in the Regency neighborhood in, In Omaha. And they, we, we all, we took over the lobby. Like what you did when you're talking about on that trip in Dubuque. Yeah, we. We did that like a full blown Marriott because there were so many people that were staying there from out of town that came in just for the funeral. Then her sons said, all right, super bowl party, we're doing it. Everybody's coming over. And we had this giant super bowl party at their house celebrating her. She was a huge football fan. And she's like all she would want us to do. She would, she would be. If you told her that people would miss a Super bowl for her funeral, she would be miserable forever. So they just leaned in and made it. Made a giant super bowl party out of it. So that was a. That's a great memory there. And remembering her as part of that will, I'll always have that. The other honorable mention was the Bulls over the Jazz in 97. That was the prelude to the last dance season. And that ended here at the United Center. That's the one where I had to scream the question over the crowd to ask Michael Jordan if he wanted Rodman back. And he was kind enough to let me get the question in afterward because he knows that I had been there all season and everybody was just. It was a wild scene. And just those Bulls locker rooms, all the cigar smoke that took forever to get out of my ha. And. But that I'll definitely remember that number 10, the 1997 World Series. Game 7 at Miami when the Marlins defeated Cleveland. Thanks to Edgar Renteria. The reason why it's memorable, I was down there covering Bears, Dolphins. Oh, cool. Bears. Dolphins are on Monday Night Football. Les Grobstein had a credential to game seven and couldn't go for some reason. So this is pre 9 11, remember? And Ron Gleason, Les can't use his credential. Why don't you use. Why don't you just Say you're Les Grobstein, and then you'll have a credential for game seven of the World Series. Sure. I'm already here, right? Got nothing else to do. Just make sure you do a scene setter. Oh, that's all they wanted me to do. I really didn't even have to work, so I did a scene setter and got to have it. Be a credentialed media member for game seven of the World Series.

Dan Bernstein (68:58)

That's cool.

Matt Abaticola (68:59)

But the story starts when I got back because I had the credit. It was on a yellow placard. It was kind of written in Sharpie. Les Grobstein, wscr. And what do I do with a credential when I'm leaving the event?

Dan Bernstein (69:13)

You left it.

Matt Abaticola (69:14)

I throw it away. Yeah. Because who gives a shit? Not Les grabs. So I got back, and Les goes, where's my credential? And I just. I immediately blanch, and I'm like, I don't have it with me. Like, you have. You have to have the credential. I like. Like, this is. This stuff is like a talisman, like a. It's sacred to him. I had no idea. And then I kind of remember, like, oh, geez. So I thought, oh, no. What am I gonna do? Well, let me find it. Might be my car. I'll find it. So I. I call the PR department of the Marlins, and I got some. Some functionary, and I finally talked to somebody like, hey, this is a really weird request. I said, do you have any blank. Extra credentials? You have a box like those yellow credentials. You have a blank one for the World Series. And she goes, let me check. Puts the phone down. She's like, oh, yeah, we got a bunch of them. Like, thank God. Here's a FedEx number. Will you get this to me as quickly as possible? Just a blank one? Yeah, just a. Just a blank one. It's like, sure. Okay. So it arrived the next day. I grab a Sharpie, I fill everything out. Les Grobstein, wscr. Fill out the whole thing. And like, oh, here you go. Last. I found it. Here you go. Oh, great. Thanks. Thanks.

Dan Bernstein (70:45)

Oh, my God.

Matt Abaticola (70:46)

Yep.

Dan Bernstein (70:47)

And he never knew.

Matt Abaticola (70:49)

No, I didn't want him to. He never knew.

Dan Bernstein (70:53)

That's pretty. That's pretty good.

Matt Abaticola (70:55)

True story. So that's number.

Dan Bernstein (70:56)

Yeah. You should have known better, though, bro.

Matt Abaticola (70:58)

I know. I should have. Number nine, Cubs win the World Series. Okay. It wasn't meaningful to me as a fan, but it was meaningful to me as they were a business partner at the time, and I just understood what it meant for the station at the time and what it really. And still to this day, Mitch Rose is still giving out scorecards from the game seven. That Pat Hughes, he's got a stack of them this big. That's still. He has. Pat signed them and they're. They're still getting mileage off of that. That championship and that game, that World Series. And you're being there and talking to people and just being involved. I'll never forget it because we were the Cubs station. And it was. Even though it wasn't something that was, that I didn't share the same kind of fan memories. I get it. I know how big it is. And that's number nine.

Dan Bernstein (71:50)

You know, it's funny that. That scorecard, you know, we all. We all had one framed and given to us, and I found it in.

Matt Abaticola (71:58)

I.

Dan Bernstein (71:59)

Surprisingly enough, I didn't have it up at all. I don't know why I didn't have it up, but I found it in storage. And so the first Christmas that Natalie and I celebrated together, I had it reframed. We had it really done really, really nice, like at Michael's, I think.

Matt Abaticola (72:11)

Oh, cool.

Dan Bernstein (72:12)

And then we gifted it to her dad, who is a huge Cubs fan. And so now we'd been dating for a little bit, and it was our first Christmas. And I'm with the family. Meeting a lot of extended family for the first time.

Matt Abaticola (72:23)

1.

Dan Bernstein (72:23)

And her dad opens it and he cries. And it's like the second time ever in her life that she ever saw her dad cry. And like, her. Her cousins were older, in their 20s. These three. Three dudes, really great guys. Or her uncle. And they were like, wow, Jesus. Way to. Way to set the bar. You know, you got Uncle Lita to. To cry, so.

Matt Abaticola (72:43)

Nice job.

Dan Bernstein (72:44)

Yeah, it was cool. It was cool. And then they're like, like, what's your plan for next year? And I'm like, I don't know. Maybe we'll bring Pat Hughes over for a drink or something.

Matt Abaticola (72:50)

Who knows? I'm wearing my gray trousers with my blue shirt. Number eight is the Bears win in 85. It was. We knew it was going to happen. It was just a matter of how. And everybody knew. There was just. It was two weeks to party and know the Bears were going to win the Super Bowl. They did win the Super Bowl. Super Bowl. And with the exception of Walter Payton not scoring a touchdown, everything was just about perfect. Number seven Bulls beat the Lakers to win the title in 1991. And even that felt like it was Coming because of what they did to Detroit. That was because it was they.

Dan Bernstein (73:33)

That was the championship.

Matt Abaticola (73:34)

Oh, they swept Detroit and absolutely repeatedly kicked them in the dark. Dick.

Dan Bernstein (73:41)

Yep.

Matt Abaticola (73:42)

That was the best part of that was everything that they went through with the bad boy Pistons. They clowned, embarrassed, made them walk off the floor early. They. They absolutely emasculated the Pistons.

Dan Bernstein (73:57)

Yeah.

Matt Abaticola (73:58)

And then beating the Lakers was great, but it wasn't as good as what they as just the grinding their bones into dust the way that they did it. Number six, 1990 Duke loses in record fashion in the national championship to UNLV. Like Real Bad and Team man, that.

Dan Bernstein (74:19)

That 90 running rebels man or something.

Matt Abaticola (74:22)

Yeah. And you. There wasn't much you could do with that team. But the reason why that was memorable was because our group at Cable 13, the Duke student television station was asked by the university to produce a hype video for the viewing party at Cameron Indoor Stadium. There was going to be. They're gonna open it up and every. All the students. We packed 9,314 people in Cameron Indoor Stadium to watch the game together. Cool. And we produced this long form. It was about a 3 minute hype video of. Of highlights that we had and highlights that we found, you know, TV highlights all to music. And this was hand editing. This was with the two little wheels and we. You talk about. I never pulled an all nighter for studying for class. But Stephen Goldberg and Tim Kelly, who did more than I did. I did some of it and then I just. I didn't have the patience for it. I forgot I was actually studying for something, I think. And really it was more Steve and Tim. Tim who is now a federal judge. And they put together and it was, it was so good. So excited. Got so people so ready for this game that people wanted copies of it, the whole thing. And then Duke just got annihilated. It was, it looked, it was so bad. It was so. You knew it, you knew it from the moment the after tip off. You're like, oh, oh wait. They look dude. The Duke team looked like little children against the grown the Monstros or whatever it was. And it was awful. And they lost 103 to 73, which I think was the most lopsided national championship of all time. And it was memorable. That was number six, number five. White Sox win the World Series because the White Sox won the World Series. I do think it's underappreciated that they were up three nothing. And so it was the 15 inning game after the Jeff Blum homer. The Night we were referencing. But it was great coming home the next morning, waking up the next morning and seeing Don Cooper still awake. He had not gone to sleep. Yeah. Seeing Frank Thomas there, going to the airport. We were on the first flight out, if you remember. And Mayor Daly was on the flight.

Dan Bernstein (76:41)

He sat next to me.

Matt Abaticola (76:42)

Mayor Daly. Big. Wearing a white Sox cap.

Dan Bernstein (76:45)

Yes.

Matt Abaticola (76:46)

With a huge grin on his face. So the happiest Sox fan you could find was Richard Daly.

Dan Bernstein (76:52)

Yeah. That was awesome. And.

Matt Abaticola (76:53)

And just being. And sharing that with everybody and coming back. So that was number five, number four on my list. The 1994 Midwest League Finals, when the Cedar Rapids Colonels beat the Rockford Royals 3 to 1. And that game ended in Cedar Rapids at the original Veterans Memorial Stadium. And I will never forget that, when Cedar Rapids won the game and began celebrating. And we're watching down on the field, and I'm doing the game for Rockford. Johnny Dosko is doing the game for Cedar Rapids. And Johnny Dosco, who. Who had been sort of the king of Sacramento forever and now is one of the broadcasters for the athletics. Players came up to the booth. They were celebrating on the field. Players ran up to the booth to pour champagne over his head.

Dan Bernstein (77:51)

Oh, wow.

Matt Abaticola (77:52)

And include him in the celebration.

Dan Bernstein (77:54)

That's cool.

Matt Abaticola (77:55)

And I was so envious. So envious. It wasn't about the ring. It was about that he was part of the team, man.

Dan Bernstein (78:05)

Yeah.

Matt Abaticola (78:06)

Like, they. They were on the field, and they, like, look up at the press box. They're like, Johnny D. And they ran up there and made sure that while he was talking, that the celebration came to him.

Dan Bernstein (78:17)

That's cool.

Matt Abaticola (78:18)

That's how much people loved that guy. And he's a great dude. And I just remember that. That's. That's indelible to me of just. I was a kid and just. Oh, God, I wanted that so bad. Number three was the last dance final. Bulls beat the Jazz in Utah in 1998. Jordan hits the shut. Jordan shoves Brian Russell to the ground.

Dan Bernstein (78:43)

Yeah, kind of.

Matt Abaticola (78:44)

Not really. Yeah, yeah. You kind of really shoved the guy.

Dan Bernstein (78:49)

You watch. You watch it in replay. His momentum was taking him that way.

Matt Abaticola (78:52)

Well. And everybody knew that that would be when his momentum's going that way. It's a perfect time to make sure he falls on his ass and. Yeah. And he hits the shot, and they win. And everybody races back. We finish filing our stories. We do all our stuff. We go to the hotel. But, oh, no, it's past midnight. And it was from, I think, a Saturday to a Sunday which meant you could not serve alcohol in Utah.

Dan Bernstein (79:17)

Except.

Matt Abaticola (79:18)

Except when NBA PR waved those rules. And the next thing I know, there were carts and carts and carts of brown liquor and tequila rolling into the media rooms. And the other thing that is memorable about that to me was I was exhausted. Not just from that game, but from that covering that season, covering the last dance season. I was exhausted. I was bone tired and done. Like, completely done. And I came home, and I remember saying to Beth, I'm taking a vacation. And she's like, where are we going? You never take vacations. And I said, honey, I love you dearly. I am taking a vacation. I need to go away. And I should have done more of that in my cause, but that was the only time I realized that I. And I made a reservation at a little lake resort in Wisconsin by myself, and I just drove away. I got a fishing pole, and I did a little bit of fishing, but it was more just doing nothing. And I just. I sat around the lake for a while, and I slept when I wanted, and I read and I did puzzles, and I did that for three days.

Dan Bernstein (80:42)

Well, yeah, you probably should have done.

Matt Abaticola (80:43)

More of that, right?

Dan Bernstein (80:44)

Yeah.

Matt Abaticola (80:45)

But I told her, I'm like, look, I love you, but I need to go away and sit in the lake. And I almost did, like, literally walk into the lake and sit there, but that's. I just remembered how bone weary I was. And so that's number three. Number two, Duke wins. The year after they lost, Duke played UNLV again in the Final Four in one of the greatest basketball games I've ever seen. I still. I can watch it a million times.

Dan Bernstein (81:16)

Yeah.

Matt Abaticola (81:17)

I still don't think they won. I still think they're going to lose. Every time I've seen that game, I still think they're going to lose. And they beat unlv. They go on to beat Kansas to win the national championship. I had to watch that game alone in my apartment off campus. So Duke wins the national championship.

Dan Bernstein (81:34)

The Kansas game. You couldn't watch with people?

Matt Abaticola (81:36)

No.

Dan Bernstein (81:37)

Okay.

Matt Abaticola (81:37)

Wow. So they win. I very calmly get into my car. I have a 12 pack of natural light cans on my lap while I'm driving the five minutes to campus. I drive, I park the car. I leave my keys locked in the car with the engine running. Okay. Didn't realize it until later.

Dan Bernstein (82:06)

Okay.

Matt Abaticola (82:07)

When I couldn't find my keys, I.

Dan Bernstein (82:09)

Was like, explain that strategy to me.

Matt Abaticola (82:11)

Don't know. Just didn't know. Go to the bonfire. There's a famous picture of me that You've seen at the bonfire with a sideways White Sox hat and a beer stained Duke sweatshirt that was in the parking lot of Cameron at the official bonfire. And then the next morning went back to my car that was still running. It had a public safety officer Slim Jim the thing. And I drove home.

Dan Bernstein (82:38)

Wow, that's in that car?

Matt Abaticola (82:41)

Well, yeah. You know, it was efficient. It was, it wasn't really the best for the environment.

Dan Bernstein (82:44)

So I didn't realize that. So the Duke basketball meant that much to you?

Matt Abaticola (82:49)

Oh yeah, when you're, when you're in the middle of it. And that was, that was back when you went to class with the players. That was back before they were like not really like that. That was still college basketball. They were still around campus and like living a normal student life.

Dan Bernstein (83:04)

Okay.

Matt Abaticola (83:04)

Yeah.

Dan Bernstein (83:04)

I just, I thought the time of like doing the paper and stuff and kind of covering the team that it didn't have the same impact or effect.

Matt Abaticola (83:12)

No, it was too big. It was, it was, it was so huge. And Duke had never won a national title. It was their first.

Dan Bernstein (83:18)

Oh yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Matt Abaticola (83:21)

Duke had never. It was the very first national title. And because of how brutal the loss was the year before it ended my run as a student of four final fours culminating in a senior year national title. Okay. And for that being the same year that the Bulls were. I mean it was wild times, but it's not. My number one, my number one sports championship experience was the Chicago South Meteors Hockey Club in 2022 in the Hays Conference. They, they, they didn't have a great good season, but not a great season and had injuries and some absences. Our best player was, was playing for like three different clubs and had some commitments to these expensive clubs. I think I'm pretty sure he's playing high level college hockey now. And so we had some ups and downs in the season. And the one thing that was our constant the entire season was our goaltender. Because we only had one. We didn't have a backup goaltender. And that was for practices for the 5 in the morning, practices for the 10:30 at night practices for everything that season was one goalie took every shot. And even to the point where our coach was, would give him breaks during practice to just sit down because at the end of the year so mentally and physically beaten up and got into the playoffs. Started the playoffs with a comeback win in Bowling Brook against Lincoln. Way down to nothing. Come back to win the game. 4, 3. Our coach got kicked out of the game and it was after the coach get kicked out of the game and assistant took over and all of a sudden I don't know what happened, but they end up winning that game. They end up in the finals against homewood Flossmoor and it is a best of three series. First game at Crestwood. Hard fought game in that dump of a rink. Chicago south loses 3 to 1 on an empty net goal. It was 212-12-1. Add the extra attacker. They put one in at the end and our defenseman was chasing this, this dribbling puck and ended up going into the goal with the puck for the empty netter. That was game. They lose game one, game two because of. There was a. And this is what really made it. Game two was at McFetridge right around the corner from our house where our youth hockey was all played. And we had a huge crowd. The multiple high schools that were represented by Chicago south turned everybody out. We had people from Walcott, D. LaSalle Jones. The crowd was incredible, absolutely unbelievable. And won that game 4 to 1. And Jason stopped three breakaways in that game. And I just remember the people banging on the glass. It was sensational. So the deciding game was in Willowbrook and they won it 4 to 2. And my favorite moment of that game was late in the game, it's 4:2. We had our best defenseman, could be a bit hot headed at times. And there was a questionable play in our defensive zone. And just as Dario looked like he was about to do something because he was mad and about to retaliate, he got shoved. He was mad and he was about to step into the fray. And out of nowhere, all of a sudden the goalie is on top of his own. Defenseman from behind, leaps on his back, Jason leaps on him, grabs him around the throat and pulls him down. He came right. It's the fastest I've ever seen him skate. Threw his stick down, came. Threw his glove down, came racing out of the net, grabbed his teammate and tackled his teammate to keep him from getting a penalty and started screaming at him. And they ended up winning that game, winning the championship, raising the banner and carrying the big Hayes Conference championship trophy around. And it was the culmination of an unbelievable year. And the by a mile, my favorite sports championship.

Dan Bernstein (87:40)

Very cool. That's great. That was 2022, you said?

Matt Abaticola (87:43)

Yep.

Dan Bernstein (87:44)

Nice.

Matt Abaticola (87:44)

That was. That was four years ago. All right.

Dan Bernstein (87:46)

Very cool. Love it.

Matt Abaticola (87:47)

Yeah, there you go. Well, it was fun stuff, as always. Now you want football stuff and you want your super bowl preview stuff. You're going to Go to forward progress. But we are going to get that started right now with our DBU picks that, as you know, come to us from our friends and partners at my bookie. Because with the super bowl, my bookie is where you turn your bets into bankroll. You know, the world is watching. Everybody has an opinion, but what matters is what you decide to do. When you look at that big prop board, what my bookie does, their super bowl prop board, it's deep, it's fun to play, go check out. There's all kinds of silly things. There's serious things, everything in between. Jimmy Kimmel Live talks about it every year. So get in, look at it. One account, one wallet. Bet the spread, hit the casino during commercials, bet parlays, bet money lines or make a whole parlay board of props. Go to my bookie ag. Use DBU as your promo code. Your first bet's covered up to 500 bucks. If it doesn't hit, you've got a bet back bonus token so you can run it back. MyBookie Ag code. DBU. Don't just watch the big game. Make it pay with my bookie. DBU picks presented by my bookie.

Dan Bernstein (88:58)

All right, so here's what I did on the old big prop board. I took a look at what we had available, and these are the four prop bets that I. That I made.

Matt Abaticola (89:08)

Dan.

Dan Bernstein (89:09)

Starting with opening kickoff is a touchback. Yes or no? And I said yes. Opening kickoff is a touchback. Okay, who will receive the opening kickoff? And I have Seattle. So Seattle being kicked too, but it'll be a touchback.

Matt Abaticola (89:24)

That's different than betting the coin toss.

Dan Bernstein (89:26)

Correct.

Matt Abaticola (89:27)

Because somebody could take it or defer it. You don't know. Correct.

Dan Bernstein (89:31)

All right, third prep that I have is the question was yes or no. Will there be a fourth down conversion in the game? And I 100% took yes.

Matt Abaticola (89:38)

What are the odds on. I mean, that's. I would think you probably get better odds for yes than no.

Dan Bernstein (89:44)

And then the last one is who will have the most first downs. And I took Seattle because I have them winning by at least 17 points. So most first down Seattle, will there be a fourth down conversion? Yes. Who receives the opening kickoff? Seattle. And the opening kickoff is a touchback. I said yes. Those are the four I'm playing. And one thing I wanted to mention, I had never heard this phrase before, but an octopus. Because that was a question. Will there be an octopus in the game?

Matt Abaticola (90:12)

Okay.

Dan Bernstein (90:13)

And I didn't know. I had never heard this. I don't know how I'D never heard this all my life watching football with the two point conversion and octopus is when a player scores the touchdown and then is also the same player to convert the two point conversion.

Matt Abaticola (90:26)

I think I knew that.

Dan Bernstein (90:29)

I'd never heard that before in my life.

Matt Abaticola (90:32)

I think I knew that.

Dan Bernstein (90:35)

So that would tally eight points. And you know, of course an octopus has eight tentacles. You see what they did there?

Matt Abaticola (90:42)

Yeah, I get it.

Dan Bernstein (90:43)

You get it.

Matt Abaticola (90:43)

It's called an octopus. I do. That's why I tried to intuit that. All right, so those are your four props. I'm gonna, I'm gonna add three to the one I already gave you last week and that was drake may under 38.5 rushing yards. I am also going to take the plus 351 odds on Seattle Seahawks by 8 to 14 points. So regardless of the spread, I believe that Seattle will win by between 8 and 14 points.

Dan Bernstein (91:15)

Okay.

Matt Abaticola (91:17)

I am also going to take AJ Barner, the tight end to score a touchdown. That's at 240 and I'm going to take AJ Barner over the receiving yards of 24.5.

Dan Bernstein (91:34)

All right.

Matt Abaticola (91:35)

Because I think with Christian Gonzalez out there patrolling out there on the corners and they've got, they got corners and you may have some opportunities especially as you, as you get closer to the goal line. I like AJ Barner over the 24.5 and a half and scoring a touchdown. So those are my DBU picks. Lock in your picks now with my bookie. Bet on anything, anywhere, anytime and have a great super bowl weekend. That's going to do it for Dan Bernstein. Unfiltered brought to you in partnership with my bookie, Dan Bernstein.

Dan Bernstein (92:08)

Unfiltered. Unfiltered on 312Sports.