← Dan Bernstein Unfiltered
Dan Bernstein Unfiltered
Old friend Chris Rongey talks life, being a Chicago Bears fan in St. Louis and MORE
01:10:15
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- [00:02]
A
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B
visit quattrodog.com My name is MacKenzie and I started a GoFundMe for the adoptive mother of a nonverbal autistic child. The mother had lost her job because she wasn't able to find adequate care for this autistic child. So she really needed some help with living expenses, paying some back bills. So I launched a GoFundMe to help support them during this crisis. And we raised about $10,000 within just a couple of months. I think that the surprising thing was by telling a clear story and just like really being very clear about what we needed, we had some really generous donations from people who were really moved by the situation that this family was struggling with.
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A
GoFundMe is the world's number one fundraising platform, trusted by over 200 million people. Start your GoFundMe today at gofundme.com that's gofundme.com gofundme. This podcast is supported by GoFundMe.
- [01:30]
C
Dan Bernstein unfiltered, unfiltered on 312 sports. It's DBU on three 1, 2. And we are brought to you in partnership with my bookie and also by Chicago Window guys and our friends at Giordano's. You know, whenever stakes are high, my bookie is where you turn bets into bankroll and you always have a big matchup on the schedule. Everybody's watching, everybody's got to take. No matter the sport, those props can be just as much fun or more fun than the final score. And that's why my bookie is your place if you're a prop better because that board is deep and fun to play. You've got player performances, you've got game milestones and everything in between. It's kind of action that always makes sure that you are interested. If there ever was a time to get in hell, right before the sweet 16 just as the MLB is getting started. NBA's going strong. Do it right now. One account, one wallet at MyBookie AG the code DBU gets your first bet covered up to 500 bucks. So what does that mean covered? Well, covered means anything up to 500 bucks on that first bet. If it doesn't hit you then have a bet back bonus token that you can invoke to run it right back as if it never happened. So whatever you're doing at MyBookie AG that gives you that sort of certainty and security when you make that first bet, everything's in one place. Get registered and make your deposit and use the code dbu. And then you're set. You're not just watching the action, you're making it Pay. With MyBookie. With Matt Abaticola on vacation this week. As you know, we are adventuring into some more long form inter interview stuff. And joining us today to talk whatever we want is an old friend. It is Chris Rangi of KMOX in St. Louis on Dan Bernstein. Unfiltered hello, sir. How are you?
- [03:31]
A
Hello, Dan. There you are. I've been looking all over for you.
- [03:34]
C
Yeah, I know I'm easy to find. I, you know, I'm here. I haven't gone anywhere. He's got his World Baseball Classic hat on. That's pretty sharp.
- [03:41]
A
It looks, yeah, it was a, it was a gift. The lady friend went to the, what do you call it, the final and brought me a gift. Actually, it was for her and I said, no, I'm taking that.
- [03:51]
C
So just like sign of a healthy relationship.
- [03:55]
A
She said, she said, no, I got this other stuff. And I said, nope, thank you for those. I'm taking those too. But I'm also taking this hat.
- [04:01]
C
Yeah, but you still have a nice head of hair. You don't have to be, you don't have to be a hat guy yet.
- [04:06]
A
No, but, you know, I'm lazy.
- [04:08]
C
Yeah, but you know, I think doing
- [04:11]
A
the hair in the morning, fixing it all up, it takes like an extra three minutes. I. Yeah, no, it doesn't.
- [04:17]
C
You just go like this, like this and you leave the house.
- [04:20]
A
Yes, I love to lick my head, my own head. I can't. I'm a little late. I gotta lick my own head.
- [04:29]
C
Sorry. I need a few more minutes here. Stuff I gotta do. How, how are you? You happy and good and healthy?
- [04:38]
A
Yeah, everything's great, man. Really enjoying life, enjoying doing the show, even though it's, it's not always the most fun subject matter when you're talking world events. But we try, I think we try to avoid the worst of it whenever we can, but it is, it's a little different than talking sports all day every day. And sometimes I miss that. I miss the. Because when you go back and you get worked up over sports and you think about it and then in the moment. You're like, why is this such a big deal? This is, it's only sports. It doesn't matter. But you can't help but get worked up over it. It really, those things are not life and death. You know, people's livelihoods aren't being affected by whether or not the Bears win or lose. But it is still somehow way more fun to be irritated about a Bears game than it is about whether or not we're starting a new war in Iran. Right?
- [05:34]
C
Right. It's one, it's one thing to be worried about offensive line play. It's another worried about man's inhumanity to man.
- [05:40]
A
Man, wouldn't you, wouldn't you rather be spending your time talking about the TSA lines, the lines to get into the airport?
- [05:49]
C
You know, I've been. Apparently there are police dogs that are, that are biting people today. All, all. I was reading that. I, I, I don't even know what I'm following anymore. And I, I've decided that I've been. It is for my mental health that a lot of this has become a Marx Brothers movie.
- [06:08]
A
It's, it's, it's crazy, man.
- [06:10]
C
Yeah, but, but with it, it comes with a lot of privilege. And I understand that, that there are, there are, there's all kinds of horrors going on in the world right now. And I have. Sometimes I am privileged to, to be able to look at things and, and nervously and in a way that is almost nihilistic to laugh because I don't. I might, because otherwise I, I, My circuits get fried. It's a, it's a, it's a sardonic and painful response. But it's sometimes all I got left. And I, I don't, you know, I, I don't know how you do it every day when you are really drilling down in some very serious stuff and talking to people who disagree with you about things that can be fundamental and can, and you probably are saying, like, how could you possibly be on the other side of something like this? And yet you have to finish up work and reconcile that.
- [07:06]
A
I just, it's, I, There was one time I was doing a Sox post game, and I think I said to a caller, I said to a caller, sometimes I just don't understand how people can think the things they think. Like, I know we all have different opinions, but I just don't understand how you can hold a certain opinion. And, you know, I guess that's part of being human that I just can't, I can't see it from your eyes. Sometimes you have to try to. It's difficult to do it, but if you can have a little bit of empathy and understanding of where another person is coming from, it helps a bit, but it is really, really difficult. And you know what else? I saw this tweet maybe a week or two ago, and it was a random person. I have. I don't know who it was. And it was something to the effect of, you know, man is not equipped to be monitoring this many situations. And I'm like, you know what that is? That is. I don't know that that's ever been truer than it is right now. There's so much to pay attention to.
- [08:05]
C
But that's also part of the strategy, and that has been specifically articulated by. I mean, going. Going back to Roger Stone, going back to. I mean, the stuff Steve Bannon is. Flood the market, flood the zone with shit, is what they. And this. This is. We're seeing the result of that. So it's not an accident. No, it really isn't. When. When. When you have enough chaos, agents lined up to create chaos, it's easy to do. It's easy to tear things down. It's easy to destroy institutions and break things. It's really, really, really hard to build things back.
- [08:43]
A
But you know what, though? When I think about all of that, what I really wonder is who's going to play left tackle for the Bears? That's all I'm. That's what I want to know.
- [08:51]
C
You know, it's. I would. I was going to ask about this because being in St. Louis, it's not as if you're overwhelmed with football from some other markets. Football team. I presume there's still a lot of Bears fandom there.
- [09:06]
A
Okay, so here's what's odd. There are, I would say, the predominant fan base of those who still follow the NFL. And believe it or not, NFL TV ratings in this city are pretty good compared to a lot of other markets and especially markets that don't have an NFL team. There are a lot of Chiefs fans here.
- [09:27]
C
Sure.
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A
Because Kansas City is only about four hours away. I think people would rather root for somebody who's still in the state of Missouri, even though the Chiefs aren't going to be for but another few years,
- [09:38]
C
and then they're leaving residual Cardinals and Rams fans.
- [09:41]
A
Also very few Rams fans. In fact, when I see. Well, Cardinals fans, know, I think they're all dead. But the Rams fans, when I see them, it's almost like, what. Why. What are you. I mean, you realize what that team did on the way out of town and the way Stan Kroenke talked about the city and yeah, St. Louis has a ton of problems and it is ripe for mocking and it deserves it a lot. But they did everything they could to try to keep the Rams in town, and that's the reason they won that lawsuit. It was something like $780 million from the, the Rams had to pay the city of St. Louis for operating in bad faith when they were trying to leave. Stan Kroenke knew he was going to go to la, but he, he made the city go through the charade of, you know, come up with stadium plans and they were going to build a stadium on the riverfront. And, you know, they, he made them jump through all these hoops and in the end said, yeah, cool, I'm still going anyway. And the league voted for it. I think there were only two owners that voted against it, but so I, I think it was completely unfair the way the city was treated. And he basically said, oh, St. Louis can't support an NFL team. But they were dog for like 15 years and they were still drawing about 55, 000 people every game. I mean, who. The best years they had over about the last 13 seasons, I think was eight and eight and they had two, eight win seasons and the rest of them were under 500. And people still showed up even the final year, which. So it was, it was unfair in that way. And, and that's all to say that people here still do, even if they're mad at the NFL and refuse to root for the Rams. Most people, every now and then you see a Rams jersey and you wonder, you know, where he found that. But people do like it. They like the league. There are some Bears fans down here and I have, I have somehow managed to become friends with like this group of friends that I made in my neighborhood. They're all Bears fans. And we found a bar that we go to and we're trying to turn it into the Bears Bar in St. Louis. You know, the official Bears bar. So there we have a little community. There's a little community here. It feels fun. And you know, we get out every Sunday for games and it's a, It's a great time.
- [12:03]
C
Are you living in the suburbs or are you. I don't know, the state of downtown St. Louis or what. It's, you know, I, it's when I had been there with the bears that the St. Louis, the, the downtown just sort of shut down and nothing happened after 4 o' clock. And that was that because that's where I was staying and the action was out in other places. But like, where does, where does, where does a young man like yourself set up camp?
- [12:29]
A
So I live in a neighborhood called Soulard. And this neighborhood is. It's got a lot of French, like New Orleans influence in it. It's a, it's a really cool neighborhood. And the brewery, Anheuser Busch, you know, the main brewery is, I don't know, a couple blocks. Like, I walk right to it. It's. I like this place. I like this particular neighborhood. It's older. The neighborhood is. The people here are. It's pretty eclectic. All kinds of different people that are young. You've got kids in their mid-20s. And then my, my next door neighbor is this woman. I think she's. I gotta speak. I think she's like 70. I'm not exactly sure, but, you know, so like there's a whole mix of people. There's all, all kinds of, of folks that live here and it's very cool. Great little neighborhood bars, little spots to hang out. Everybody kind of seems to know each other. I love it. I, I love this neighborhood. It is a lot of fun. There isn't really. There aren't any neighborhoods like in Chicago. There, there really isn't like a Lincoln park here. You know, there isn't a Rogers park, there isn't a Wicker park or Bucktown. There's nothing like that here.
- [13:40]
C
Suburbs, right? I mean, you're, you're talking. People are usually. There are all kinds of awesome little suburbs. They're just not part of the city proper.
- [13:48]
A
Right. But, but this is. Soulard is a neighborhood in the city limits and it is, I think it's the coolest neighborhood in the city. There's another one called Central West End, which is west by about 10 minutes still in the city limits. There's a Forest Park. I don't know if you've heard of Forest Park. It's a really big urban park and it's right right up against that. And that's a cool neighborhood too, but it's not quite like this one. So I'm really happy with where I am. It's a good spot. It's not quite Chicago, but it's good.
- [14:19]
C
Well, the football thing I really find interesting because a couple days ago in this space we had Ray Ratto on, who's now writing for the Defector, and just one of my all time favorites. Who is, who is just still, you know, he's, he's in all his glory. Right now, with everything you. You love and hate about Ray Ratto is he. He hasn't changed a bit. And I always describe him kind of as like the. The Terry Boars of the Bay Area. And it's. It's easy to see why they became fast friends. And it, you know, it made me miss Terry a lot in talking to Ray. But something he said was he resents football. He resents the. The hegemony of the NFL that The NFL. And it's because they know they rule the roost. They know that they can impose whatever they want. They can take over an entire city for the draft. They're. They're so big and so powerful and almost just inexorable, inevitable, to quote Thanos, that there's nothing you can do about him. And he. It bothers him, which I found it to be. To be an interesting take. Like, don't tell me I have to love this because you get allergic to that. But to, to. For what you said about a city without an NFL team and a city that has been spurned openly by NFL teams, they're still doing big ratings. And I think that that's a data point to show the power of the game game and that they're even able to launch a UFL team there because of the hunger for it.
- [15:58]
A
So that's, that's the. It's not just launching the team here because if you look at where the other teams are, and I'll be honest, I don't even. I think D.C. has one. I think they be. And I think. I know that because I believe it's their first game of the season coming up here. But the Battle Hawks are the UFL team you're talking about. It's not just.
- [16:15]
C
Okay, I was going to say battlebots or Battle Cats.
- [16:18]
A
Battlebots have been awesome. Yeah, The. The thing about the team is if you look at the rest of the league and you do watch any of the games, it's not great football, but it's still football. And in a lot of these markets, there aren't a whole lot of people going.
- [16:34]
C
I didn't see a forward pass completed in any of the games that I've watched.
- [16:39]
A
We had Jordan Tamu for a minute. He was the. I think it was the Chiefs backup.
- [16:44]
C
It's the coach of St. Louis.
- [16:46]
A
Well, that was Ricky Pro, a former Bear. Yeah, Ricky Pro. He was cool. Yeah, He's a Rams legend.
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C
Yeah.
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A
So they. It was a guy named Anthony Becht before that. And, and, and you know how the league is. They say, well, we're just going to decide who your coaches are. So you get Ricky Pro now, and that's a big deal because people love Ricky here. He's a, He's a Rams legend. Everybody knows who he is. Anybody who was around for the Rams knows him. So it's a. That was a perfect spot to put him and the team, believe it or not. I mean, they'll get 30,000 people a game. And there was one, I think they cracked 40,000. But you know what?
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C
It is?
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A
Yes. For UFL, and it is far and away the best attended of all the teams in the league. And there's. I think there's a simple reason for it. Well, there are a couple. One, believe it or not, people down here like to drink. And those games are. It's like, it's like old Wrigley when they weren't good, but people were filling ballparks and everybody just getting hammered. It's kind of like that, except the stadium's not nearly as cool to be in.
- [17:53]
C
No, but they must have priced their beer if people can afford to get drunk at a game. It's probably not $15 beers that I don't think it's.
- [18:02]
A
I haven't been to a game in. I didn't. I don't think I went last season. So I can't remember how much the beer is. But what I do know is people are, they're having a good time. I mean, they're throwing streamers and, you know, they're chanting and they're. They're having. And I think it's, it's the fact they're starving for something to do and they want a big fu. To the NFL. They want to say, oh, you don't think we can support a team? This isn't even NFL. And look, look what we're doing here. Look how many people were getting to the stadium. And this isn't even the league. I think that's. That's what that's all about. And, And I, you know, I kind of get down with that, too, because I'd be pissed off if I was a season ticket holder. One of the. I had ps, My grandmother had the PSL and the season tickets and all that crap and went to every single game with her friends for years. And the team said, yeah, that's not good enough for us. We're taking off. And so I, I don't know. There are a lot of people like that who love tailgating and love going down to the stadium and being a part, because that's what Football is, you know, it's not just the game itself and X's and O's. It is. You make a lot of friendships if you're a tailgater or if you're going to bars. You know, like I said, I got this little community of people that go watch Bears games and there. There are fans of another team that. Here's the only thing about the Bears bar. Dan, while we're on this, let me
- [19:30]
C
just share that I'm picturing, like, you at this Bears bar. I'm picturing you. Remember in Return of the Jedi when The Ewoks think C3PO is a God?
- [19:45]
A
Yes.
- [19:48]
C
And like, he's trying to keep them from eating his friends and they do everything he says. Oh, that's how I imagine. Like, you walk into this Ewok bar and they're all looking at you as their leader in Bears fandom.
- [20:05]
A
Oh, my God. Well, I'm trying to get to that status down here, but, you know, if I. There's. I love the bar. People work there are great. It's a good TV setup. But there are people from other teams who go and watch every Sunday and there's this group of packers fans and they're. They're nice, but they're such dorks. And it just, it's in the. One guy wants to come up and talk to me because he knows I'm a Bears fan. I think he knows who I am from radio stuff, too, but he's just like, well, what did you. What do you think of that? Like, go away. I don't know. What do you mean, what did I think?
- [20:44]
C
Are. Dude, that's what your living room is for. Unless you're inviting Guy over. You're. You can't complain if you're. If you're going to a bar to watch Bears games, there's going to be annoying people there. I don't want to be.
- [20:56]
A
I want a Packers fan coming over to me and talking to me about something that just happened in a Bears game. I don't need your input.
- [21:04]
C
You're doing this to yourself.
- [21:06]
A
I know.
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C
You can't hang up on him in person.
- [21:09]
A
Go to the suggestion box and throw it in there. I'll go read it later. Leave me alone.
- [21:14]
C
Carry it in a bucket. And they'd hand him like a three by five card and say, write it down and put it in here. Yeah.
- [21:20]
A
If you got any thoughts here, just put them in here and I'll go read them later. Just leave me the hell alone to suck. Speaking of the Rams game, so the Rams playoff game, we go. It's my group, my Bears group. And one of the guys I love, one of my best friends, he's. He's. He's awesome. He's got, like, 100 cousins, and they all show up, and they're all Rams fans, and they're. They're in their 20s, too, so they have no idea what happened here. They don't know anything about any of that. They were too young to understand what was going on. And they're celebrating and they're chanting, and I thought, you know what? This is the worst day of my life. And then Caleb did that thing. I should have just left after Caleb did that.
- [22:03]
C
After he hits commit. Yeah.
- [22:04]
A
Yes. I should have just gone home and just assumed they won because it got pretty bad after that. But, man, I. I don't know. It's. It's fun to get to watch football down here, and I love that. At least people in the city embrace it. And everybody's got their own team. Like I said, Chiefs have a lot of. A lot of representation here. There are some packers fans here, some Cowboys fans, and there are a handful of Bears fans here, too. So.
- [22:29]
C
Do you watch. Do you have a soccer team? I. I don't know if I ever asked you that.
- [22:34]
A
Just. They just got MLS. Not just. It was four years ago. This is their fourth season, and City SC is what they go. St. Louis.
- [22:43]
C
That's what I thought. Because I'm. I'm curious. And. Is there one that you root for? Like, do you have a Premier League team that you like? Because I don't know that you've ever gotten into it.
- [22:50]
A
Right. Well, okay. So when I was a kid, my. My high school in Illinois, so I grew up just across the river in Illinois in Granite City, and my buddy was really into the Premier League. And some of the. That was back in the time when you couldn't watch every Premier League game. It was kind of this vague idea where it would be on TV sometimes. And so he made me watch it, and I kind of got into it with him. I. And I adopted Blackburn. There's a. There was a team called Blackburn who I think has been relegated. They had a. They had a player named Alan Shearer. So I had a. I remember when I was in college, I had an Alan Shearer poster, so they Went Away
- [23:32]
C
poster, but that was, you know, that just me.
- [23:36]
A
And now it's a Harry Styles. So I got. I went without a team for a long time, and I was feeling left out. So when I had moved here I think it was like 2017 or 2018. And I decided one day to crowdsource it. And so I did a Twitter thing like, hey, help me find a team to root for, because I'm not going to Flowchart.
- [23:56]
C
No, there actually is, like, an app that will take you through important data points of your sports fandom and your history and, like, where you come, where your parents came from that will tell you what team to root for. Like, all my friends tell me I should be an Arsenal fan, okay?
- [24:15]
A
They're like, yeah, that's a Stan Kroenke team. So you can't vote. You can't root for him down here
- [24:19]
C
because you're just sort of an elitist bitch. And that would be the team. And then when I. When I've taken all of these, these like, little, little journeys with, yeah, answer this and answer this and answer this, and it spits out your. Your team. I got Tottenham Hotspur, okay? But. So my son, out of nowhere, he came home from school like four days ago and was up early in the morning, like, what are you doing awake? He doesn't wake up until three in the afternoon and he's up to watch Newcastle play, whoever it is, Sunderland. He was up to watch Newcastle and Sunderland, and he's become this huge Newcastle fan.
- [25:04]
A
Interesting.
- [25:05]
C
And I said, well, why? Because you hate soccer. And he used to hate soccer because coming from hockey and being a hockey guy, he would turn on soccer and all he would say is, the goal is huge. Shoot it, shoot it, shoot it. The goal is enormous. It's an enormous goal. Put the ball in the goal, run over to the goal and kick it in the goal. And he would just stand and made him crazy. And apparently Newcastle kind of does that. They shoot it from anywhere. There aren't these, like, little involved dinky backwards stuff. Like, they've got a lot of guys, they want to bring it up the field and shoot it. So he's like, okay, I found my people, I found the, the. My, My, my thing. And I don't know. So he wants me to root for them. I. I don't. I guess I could. I could farm it out or figure it out, but I haven't. I have not yet.
- [26:00]
A
So I. So I didn't know there was a flowchart. I don't know if it existed eight years ago. So I didn't do that. I let the idiots decide for me. And so what they. They came back with a bunch of responses. And the four most common were Arsenal, Tottenham, Everton, and I cannot remember the fourth One. So I took those four, put them on a Twitter poll, and I said, all right, you decide for me, who am I rooting for now? And Tottenham won. So I became, I became a Tottenham fan and then the Bears played there. So it kind of worked out great, you know, in the end because that seems to be their home field in, in London. And I haven't followed as much as I should, but I am a. I like to tell people I've been a Tottenham fan my entire life, since 2018. So I think it's. I think it's a. It looks like a lot of fun. I want to go to a game because they just. It's a different crowd.
- [26:58]
C
Everything is different and crazy. Like, I, in my. My kid is like wandering around the house chanting these fabulously profane chants. I mean, they're hilarious. And whoever sits down and comes up with these. And then the. Everybody kind of knows what to sing. And some are wittier than others, and some of them just make really good use of the C word in a way that we can't in America.
- [27:28]
A
We just don't do it in America. Right?
- [27:29]
C
We don't do it the right way. And it's just understood there that it doesn't necessarily mean what you think it means here. And the cultural differences allow them to have a little more leeway when it comes to, to such things. But, yeah, I agree. I would love to go to a game there. I went to London for the first time in July and I, we, we did not see a game, but I would, I would love to.
- [27:52]
A
The energy that, that they can keep up. And I, I suppose it's because the half lasts 45 minutes and it's literally 45 and then it's over. It's not. I mean, they might add a little bit, few extra minutes at the end, but you know, when it's going to be over and it's not this, oh, there's not going to be a timeout and there's not going to be, you know, it's not going to be the end of an inning. And, you know, all this stuff, right? It just. This is how long the half is. We're starting the clock right now, and it doesn't matter what goes on in the middle unless somebody gets hurt. But you can keep that energy up for 45, 50 minutes, get a 15 minute break, come back and do it again. But there's not. To me, there's nothing like soccer around the world and how intense those games are. At least they look like on tv. Never been to one. I mean, I've been to the MLS game, but that's not the same. You know, it's just, it's not, the quality is not the same. I don't think the energy in the building is quite the same as what they do overseas.
- [28:52]
C
I know my building has been improved by Chicago window guys and Russ Armstrong because he and his people have come out and replaced almost every single window we've got here. And it's so much better than what the original builder put in. New windows make an enormous difference. And the good windows, they pay for themselves just because of how much money you save in heating and cooling because they're the low emissivity double paned windows. And all this high tech stuff that Russ can tell you about, it makes a difference. The moment that you set that temperature, whatever it is your room keeps in your house keeps its temperature better. So call Russ, have him come out, have him explain this stuff to you better than I can. And he's at 847-302-9171. His five star reviews are available at ChicagoNowGuys.com he'll match any price. So you hear a bunch of stuff about this. Buy one, get one free. And all this other stuff from the, from the big window, people don't fall for that. They're sales gimmicks. He's going to explain what is real and what's not and he's just going to give you the best windows at the best price. He makes everything at his factory here in Chicago. Everything is custom made for your home. He'll come out and measure. His people do the installation and they are his people. That's not subcontracted labor. It's not third party. It's all Russ's crew. So when you are getting quotes and you're asking other window people, ask who's installing my windows, they won't be able to answer because they don't know. See, Russ knows and you get some extra peace of mind that way. 847-302-9171 and check out Russ's five star reviews at ChicagoNowdownGuys.com Chris we've waited long enough to talk about the Cardinals and this is a, it's a rare, rare time for the Cardinals to be embracing a long needed rebuild. They have been competitive and successfully competitive for so long that I'm sure there are people there who felt entitled to that. They say, look, this is the, this is best fans in baseball and all that crap. But this is something different. And I just Wonder if you know what you're getting into and how there are. There are no promises here and there's a lot of trust that goes in to, in baseball what can be a multi year negative experience before you get the payoff. Is the average Cardinal fan ready for this?
- [31:23]
A
I think so. And I was sort of advocating for that. You know, when I moved back down here in 2017, was on the sports station then, they still had a couple of playoffs appearances that happen over the next few years. But you could tell there was a bit of a downward trend that was happening and you could tell that it felt like they were just making it into the playoffs. And you know, it, it didn't feel right. You know, it's, you know, the thing where you're getting the results. And I'm thinking of the, the season that Paul can erco, he was hitting close to.400 through like May, you remember that season. And, and he was, you know, he, he had this great, he was getting all these results and I remember him saying, it doesn't feel right. Like I'm, I'm getting the numbers. It just doesn't. It doesn't feel right. And then by the end of the year, he wasn't, it wasn't great for him.
- [32:14]
C
It kind of felt that's before we could measure everything. That's before.
- [32:18]
A
Right.
- [32:19]
C
Looking at batting average, that somebody looking at expected weighted on base average would say, yeah, he's hitting into a lot of good luck right now or he's not facing the other team's really good pitchers. Like that would. All that would be obvious to us now.
- [32:33]
A
Yeah. So that's what it felt like to me for the whole team. And I started to advocate for, you know, maybe there is this entitlement, this feeling of, hey, what are you talking about? We're St. Louis. We should be competitive every year. The Cardinals should, should always be championship contenders. And I just, I thought that they were on the downward trend and that that ended up being true ultimately. And I, what I would say at the time is, look, we have seen teams be successful in tearing it down and starting over. The Astros did it. The Cubs just did it. The Cardinals could do it too, if they wanted to. And people, a lot of people pushed back then. But my argument was, I think more and more people are on board with the idea. As long as they trust your plan, if they trust who the general manager or the president of baseball operations is, they're going to be willing to go along with you. So if you have somebody like Theo who has a proven track record. The fan base is going to say, yeah, cool, let's do, let's do that. We saw it work. Let's. Let's do what they're doing. And I don't know that, that the fan base trusts Heim Bloom yet. I, I think he's a really smart guy.
- [33:47]
C
He's definitely that. I mean, there's no question.
- [33:49]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. So I, I think that he. I, at this point, and maybe it's just early, you know, that we, we don't know all the warts yet, but it could be. He was criticized for what happened in Boston and trading Mookie Bets and, and all that, but it really was, that was a directive from the top. It wasn't like he decided, you know what, we don't need this player anymore and we're gonna trade him for whoever comes back our way. It doesn't matter that there really wasn't him. So I think he's unfairly criticized for that. And I do believe that the deals that he's made, acquiring a lot of young talents, pitching talent primarily this past off season since he took over, looks pretty good. You don't know for sure what it's going to be. But a lot of the, the people who measure this stuff, Baseball America and Prospectus and all of them think the Cardinals have done really mlb.com pipeline they all seem to think the Cardinals have done well at the minor league level so far, improving their farm system. So as long as people trust whatever the plan is, I think they would be on board with it. Of course, you've got those people who are just not never. They're never going to be on board like we, we've always got to go for it and always got to win. But I think there is more leeway given to a front office that's new and that seems to know what it's doing. And we don't. We. Again, we don't know for sure. And you won't for a couple of years, but I think there is a little patience for it. There may not be a lot of people showing up to the ballpark because they have pretty lousy attendance last year, and that started to decline, in fact. So if you looked at attendance numbers over the years, the only team, I think, in the National League on a nightly basis that beat them for years was the Dodgers, because they were. They were always like top one, two or three at the worst for years. But what started to happen is I, I would say around 2018 or 2019, tickets were being sold But a lot of those tickets were going unused because you could go to the ballpark and you'd look around and think, man, there aren't that many people here. Not. Not compared to what it used to be.
- [35:54]
C
You could probably get a secondary market ticket for a couple of bucks then.
- [35:59]
A
Well, this past season, that's what happened. I don't remember off the top of my head, but there were some tickets. Some nights it was like two or three dollars.
- [36:07]
C
Yeah.
- [36:08]
A
And that just. That never used to happen down here. So there might be a lot of that this year. I know that the actual attendance numbers have dropped to, like, Sox levels, and it. Which is unheard of here. It just doesn't. It doesn't happen like that here. So that's a new thing. I mean, it happened in the early 90s and in the 70s. It was kind of like that. But it hasn't been that way in the last 20. So it's a. That is a very new experience. So I. I think people have patience, though, for what's about to happen. But I don't know how long that patience will last. It might be. It might be the. Whatever you define as patience. It might be the. The very bare minimum. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know if they're gonna have. Oh, we'll wait five and 10 years, and then we'll be okay. I don't think they're gonna be like that. It might be a couple.
- [36:57]
C
So let's get to the important stuff. What are you. I want to know what you're watching, what you're listening to, what you're reading. What. What's the. The last really good book you read?
- [37:09]
A
The last really good book. Oh, okay. So right now I am reading a book on the Edmund Fitzgerald. I am a. Okay, I'm a little strange, Dan. I kind of like reading nonfiction.
- [37:26]
C
Oh, yeah?
- [37:26]
A
I don't really read a whole lot.
- [37:27]
C
I'm reading nonfiction right now. I try to alternate.
- [37:29]
A
Yeah, I'm. So I'm reading about the. The Edmund Fitzgerald. It's a fairly new book, and the. The wreck hasn't happened yet. You know, the accident hasn't happened yet. So I'm like, come on. Like, where. Where is this damn wreck? Like, talking a lot about taconite and the Great Lakes in Cleveland. I'm like, come on, man, get to the good stuff. Where's the shipwreck?
- [37:53]
C
If you like that stuff. Have you ever read a book called. I think it's called Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea? No, it's Incredible. It's about a shipwreck that was hundreds of millions of dollars worth of gold.
- [38:15]
A
Okay.
- [38:15]
C
And it was in the news as recently as a week ago. And I read it and I saw the headline. I had read the book years ago, and I saw the name of the headline. Like, holy shit, this guy. Because they. There. They. Somebody found the gold. And there was. It reads like Indiana Jones, where there's this race by the treasure hunters and then there's this whole maritime law issue of who has the claim to the gold, of who found it from first or who established a claim to the area. And one guy made off with a bunch of the gold and hid it and refused to say where it was. They said that he didn't have a claim to it. Somebody else had a claim to it. And it was by law, he had to say where the gold was. And he refused. And they threw him in jail.
- [39:07]
A
Oh, boy.
- [39:08]
C
For like five years. And he kept saying, I forgot. I forgot. Where's the gold? I can't recall. And they're like, this is obviously bullshit. He knows where the gold is. And they say, you gotta tell us. You gotta tell us. I don't know. I must have forgot. So they threw him in jail and he just got out. And apparently everybody's watching him because they're waiting for him to go get the gold. And it's a fortune. It's an incredible story.
- [39:38]
A
So this does sound like it's up my alley because. Yeah, because now that I think about it, the book that I read before, this Edmund Fitzgerald book is there's a book called Dead Wake about the Lusitania, about the sinking of that. Which is super fascinating. Eric Larson, he's a. I like him as a writer. He's. He's pretty interesting. So I. I read the book about the Lusitania. I don't know what is with me and shipwrecks and ship accidents.
- [40:05]
C
Yeah.
- [40:05]
A
I love maritime disasters.
- [40:07]
C
Yeah. Well, I found the book. It's called. It's called Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea. The History and Discovery of the World's richest shipwreck. The SS Central America sank off the Carolina coast. 400 people died, and it was 21 tons of gold.
- [40:26]
A
Oh, Lord.
- [40:27]
C
Yes. So I don't know if they've updated it with the news of this guy getting out of jail now, but, yeah, 21 tons of gold. So it's. It's. It's a really amazing story. I would.
- [40:41]
A
There was a.
- [40:42]
C
Recommended highly.
- [40:43]
A
You know those moments where you catch people in a conversation and you're like, what in the hell was that all about? You just kind of back away from it because you don't want to all the time. Yeah. So this is a good hawkaroo. This is. And I've told this story so many times that I can't even remember if I'm the one who heard it or if it was one of the media relations guys. I think it might have been. And the story was relayed to me. And it is so funny, because I hear it in his voice and open the. The broadcast booth door. It was in spring training. And hawk's got his phone out. You know, he's talking to Siri. To his phone, Siri.
- [41:23]
C
And he goes, how good is Diane Viciero?
- [41:27]
A
So. So if you can hear this in hawk's voice, it's. He goes, siri, how much is 20 ounces of gold worth? Like, what is he talking about?
- [41:38]
C
Is he, like, rolling drunks and pulling their fillings out, like in a ziploc bag somewhere?
- [41:46]
A
Just getting the fights with the. In the bars in Indiana. Just punching people and taking their gold teeth. I don't know. I don't know what's going on. But seriously, how much is 20 ounces of gold worth?
- [41:58]
C
How do I dissolve a dead body? What kind of acid is best used to dissolve a dead body? Thank you, Siri. Yes.
- [42:08]
A
Stretch.
- [42:09]
C
You gotta miss that, man. You gotta miss some of that. The characters you were around are just.
- [42:14]
A
Oh, my gosh.
- [42:14]
C
Between farmio and moose and hawk.
- [42:19]
A
Oh, my God.
- [42:20]
C
It's like being in a circus.
- [42:22]
A
After a while, I miss, you know, Hawk. I didn't get to hang out with that much because I just kind of left him alone in his booth. But. But being around farmio and. And, you know, moose and. Was I on with you? I don't remember who I was talking to, but after pope Leo got elected, we were talking about, you know, who would have loved this more than anybody in the entire world?
- [42:46]
C
Yes.
- [42:47]
A
Yes. He would have eaten that up. Just. It may have been the entire broadcast every night.
- [42:55]
C
I think I mentioned where he went to high school. Bob went to high school in Dalton. Did not go to St. Rita, but we had people at St. Rita who knew Bob.
- [43:07]
A
I missed that man so much.
- [43:08]
C
That was that day. It was the. The day that. That's when. Because after I got fired and I had all that time off, that was the first day I missed being on the radio.
- [43:20]
A
Oh.
- [43:21]
C
Day he was named pope. Well, I could. I'm like. I needed a microphone. Oh, my God. I gotta. Because I Was off social media completely. I had nowhere to go. I was, like, bothering people in the house, doing all these jokes. How you doing, guys? Okay. That's right. And having so much fun with it. And I did. And I just felt. I felt trapped in myself. I didn't have an outlet.
- [43:45]
A
That was one of those times where. And I miss Chicago a lot, and I'm up there as much as I can get there, and. And it's one of those times where I really wish I was living there in the moment, because it must have been. The vibe in the city must have been off the charts.
- [44:02]
C
And it's just Bob. It's a Bob. It's like, even in south side Bob. Southside Bob is the Pope. Right? You know?
- [44:14]
A
Oh, my God.
- [44:15]
C
I couldn't believe it. He's the actual pop. And. And then the video comes out of him not only at a Sox game, at a World Series game, socks game. That's the Pope.
- [44:34]
A
So good, man.
- [44:35]
C
Oh, my God. And.
- [44:36]
A
And Ed Farmer would have. God, would he have eaten that up? And I would have loved listening. It would have gotten to the point where you're like, okay, farmio, we got. We've heard enough. The Pope.
- [44:47]
C
You saw that Chuck Schwarzky made a pilgrimage there, right?
- [44:50]
A
No, he did.
- [44:52]
C
Oh, yeah. Chuck's got a little farmo in him in that regard. Like, yeah, Chuck went there and met with the Pope and gave him a bull's jersey, and, oh, he pulled some string. I don't know how. I don't know what his in was.
- [45:06]
A
Just the. I mean, the fact that the White Sox of all organizations have a president and a pope.
- [45:13]
C
Yeah, that's true. And it's the White Sox.
- [45:16]
A
It's the White Sox. It's pretty remarkable.
- [45:19]
C
So this came up. Maddie and I were talking last week. Oh, I know why. Somehow the Dallas Cowboys team doctor came up.
- [45:28]
A
Oh, and it's about the injury. The. Max Crosby. Right.
- [45:32]
C
Something. Yes. And they show the Dallas Cowboys team doctor, and he's wearing this huge cowboy hat. So, like, we started talking about. I know it's Texas, but see, for me, a doctor in a cowboy hat's a deal breaker for me.
- [45:49]
A
Yeah.
- [45:50]
C
I'm just. I'm not. And other people said. They said, if you go to the doctor and he walks in wearing a cowboy hat, you've accidentally gone to a veterinarian or. And so then the question came up, what would be. What would be more of a deal breaker for you? A doctor who comes in wearing a cowboy hat or a doctor who comes in wearing a white Sox hat.
- [46:14]
A
It's the cowboy hat.
- [46:15]
C
It's the cow.
- [46:16]
A
It's definitely. It's definitely the cow.
- [46:18]
C
Had Sox fan doctors before, so. And I'm still here, but absolutely, for me, it would be cowboy hat doctor.
- [46:26]
A
If the. If the. If a doctor walked in with a cowboy hat, I would do what my dog did when they. When my dad took it to put it to sleep years ago where it was not able to walk on its hind legs anymore. And she was 15 or 16. And they said, you know what? Just bring her in and we'll. This will be the end of that. And it's. It's like they got her to the vet and she knew what was happening, and she was. She suddenly started walking, like, nope, I'm good. I'm good. Let's go now. I feel like if I had a vet.
- [46:57]
C
Well, you'll be dead quite soon. Feel like bring out your dad. I feel like dancing.
- [47:04]
A
I feel. No, you don't. You'll be done in a moment. I feel like. I feel like if a doctor walked in with a cowboy, had to be like, no, I'm all right. My. My abdomen's fine. I'll see you. All good?
- [47:15]
C
Yeah. No, this isn't a knife sticking out of me. No, don't. Don't worry. I. I do this. It happens. It's fine. Really.
- [47:22]
A
Oh, my God.
- [47:23]
C
We're talking to Chris Ronji here in dbu, and let's be honest, this is when the games are starting to. To get really interesting out there. There is all kinds of basketball in the air.
- [47:33]
A
Your.
- [47:34]
C
Your St. Louis Billikens couldn't hold on. Our guy, Robbie Avila from here in the Chicago area with the man with too many nicknames, they. They weren't able to keep it rolling. Too bad. But you need. When you set everything up for your sweet 16, what you need is game day food that delivers. If you're watching these games at home with friends, go with Giordano's because you have the full lineup. It's Chicago deep dish. If you want something loaded up, there's tavern style pizza. You want to cut into squares everybody can kind of grab. And as long as you save me one of the little end corner pieces, thin crust, want to keep it classic. Add in wings, they've got regular Buffalo wings. They have barbecue style. There's awesome cookies. Game day deals can set you up for this real spread. No scrambling around at halftime, no bad last minute decisions. It's food that shows up the way it's supposed to. These games might be unpredictable, but Your setup doesn't have to be. Order Delivery now at Giordano's.com or visit a Giordano's location near you for pickup. Grab the perfect game day spread. There's all kinds of game day deals happening right now. It's Giordano's. Your bracket may bust your pizza shouldn't. All right, which of the. Of the Oscar movies have you seen, if any, and what has resonated most with.
- [48:52]
A
With you? All right, so what were they again? I. I saw one battle after another.
- [48:56]
C
I. Now I've seen that six times.
- [48:58]
A
I love that one. What else?
- [49:01]
C
Sinners. Have you seen Sinners?
- [49:02]
A
I have not seen Sinners. Oh, dude, I know, I know. I've been slacking on the movies lately, okay? I don't know what my problem is.
- [49:10]
C
I don't know what else you. You might have seen. Begonia or if I. What is it? If I had feet, I'd bite you or something like that. I don't know. It's the one with rose burn.
- [49:19]
A
If I'd feed, I'd kick you. I think that's what it's called.
- [49:21]
C
Something like that.
- [49:22]
A
Yeah.
- [49:22]
C
Yeah. But there's. There's all kinds of. Of movies out there. I'm like you like. I'm. I'm bad at seeing all of them. So as it used to be when as a SAG member, they used to send me DVDs, you know, they would send. Yeah, yeah, for all the SAG members. I could just pop them in all that. And now it's like you scan a code and you go to a thing and I don't know, it doesn't feel quite the same. I don't have this tactile thing of somebody sending me a movie. I'm sure I could do it, and I'm just too lazy and stupid.
- [49:53]
A
I. I don't even know how to do the code thing you. You're talking about. I'm. I'm in the union. I don't know how that works. Yeah, let's find out from you. Because I. I did get mailers for a while and I haven't gotten them in a few years, though.
- [50:05]
C
Well, you probably had your membership lapse.
- [50:08]
A
No, I have it. I have to. I. I have to. Wherever I. My. My shop is a. Oh, you're.
- [50:13]
C
So you're after SAG aftra.
- [50:16]
A
It's.
- [50:16]
C
It's Right. Same thing. I see. So. Because we don't. But for sag, I do. Like, if I were to do voice work or do another or something like that, I'D have to do that. And the. The other reason I do it is the other reason I pay my dues is as long as I do, nobody else can be Dan Bernstein because I got the name. I don't have to be Dan J. Or Daniel J or DJ like all these others. So it's worth it to me just to keep paying it, just to kind of name squat, you know?
- [50:46]
A
Well, I don't. I don't. I don't have to worry about their word. Chris Ronji. What a kind of stupid, that's what. Did I ever tell you I met Jack Buck once? And it's when I was. I was interning. I interned at kmox. And he was never there because he just went to the stadium. But one day I'm in the sports office waiting for the. The boss to come in, and Buck walks in and he's. You know, he comes in in his. His blazer and his whatever, and he sits down and I'm the only person in the office, and he sits down next to me and starts reading a newspaper. And he doesn't acknowledge me. And I'm thinking, oh, my God, that's Jack Buck. He's not talking to me. What do I do? And then he said, after a minute, he goes, I'm Jack Buck. How you doing? And so I. I said, hey, you know, I introduced myself, Chris Ronge. And he went back to his paper. And then a minute goes by and he goes, ranji. What the hell kind of name is that? Well, it's.
- [51:44]
C
It's actually an Indian name. No. R, A, N, J, I.
- [51:48]
A
Well, no, it's French Dan.
- [51:50]
C
Well, yours is French.
- [51:51]
A
Mine is French Ranger.
- [51:53]
C
Yes. Yeah, that. I know yours is, but that's where Ranger came from. I know, but you weren't the first rangy. I know. One of my very, very best friends is an Indian man whose last name is Ron.
- [52:04]
A
G, R, A, N, J, I. And I have a. I have a lot of people who think that's how it's spelled. That happens all the time.
- [52:11]
C
You know, a lot of people are stupid, too. That's something. Having hosted White Sox post game as long as you did. I thought you knew that.
- [52:21]
A
What? What? I'm sorry. What?
- [52:23]
C
Huh? All right. So. So no mood. What about television? What TV show?
- [52:27]
A
Okay.
- [52:27]
C
Watching.
- [52:28]
A
I was just talking about. I bet. Have you watched or been watching DTF St. Louis?
- [52:34]
C
No, but I've heard. I've heard good things. I don't. You know, I don't watch a lot of tv.
- [52:38]
A
Okay, so that's what I Don't go to movies a lot. I end up watching the. There are certain TV shows I will. So that I've been watching the. The Night of the Seven. Is it a Night of the Seven Kingdoms? It's one of the Game of Thrones spin offs that just ended a couple of weeks ago.
- [52:53]
C
It's really good.
- [52:54]
A
That's all. Yeah, it's. It's. It's really good. But this DTF St. Louis show, it's Jason Bateman, David Harbor, Linda Cardellini's in it. Peter Sarsgaard, who. Who actually is from Belleville, which is down by St. Louis. He was born in an Air Force base. Anyway, that show is. I think it's really good, but the problem is it's called DTF St. Louis. So you're. It wasn't filmed here. They filmed it mostly in Georgia because of the tax credits. And Missouri has since passed a bunch of tax credits because they're trying to get more stuff to be filmed here. Like Ted Lasso filmed in Kansas City several months ago because for the fourth season of Ted Lasso, part of it, I guess, takes place in KC So they.
- [53:44]
C
Isn't that Jason Sudeikis where he's from?
- [53:46]
A
Yes.
- [53:47]
C
Okay.
- [53:47]
A
Sudeikis is from Kansas City. Yeah.
- [53:50]
C
Big basketball player from there, I guess.
- [53:52]
A
Yeah, that's what I've heard. Yeah. And so this show, it. It is really good. And for 99.9% of people in the country, they're not going to care. But because I'm from this area you're always looking in, the show is named. It has the name St. Louis in it. So you're looking for little St. Louis nods, and there are a handful, but it just, it's not right. Like, they didn't film it here. Nothing looks like it's here. It's. You know, they refer to things in weird ways. The people here don't refer to them. They did give Kevin Klein a nod, if you know who that is. He's an actor from St. Louis. He was in the movie Dave.
- [54:30]
C
I didn't know he was from St. Louis. You're talking about an Academy Award winner.
- [54:34]
A
Yes. A Fish Called Wanda.
- [54:36]
C
Yes. He was Otto, the stupid brother. Don't call me.
- [54:41]
A
So there's a place in the show called the Kevin Klein Community Pool. So they did give him a little nod. Right. But like Ozark, they filmed the show Ozark that Bateman was in. They filmed the whole. That's the Ozarks in Missouri where it takes place. They filmed the whole thing in Georgia. So that that's the weird part is watching this show and you're trying to find like, oh, oh. It doesn't capture any spirit of this city. So we were just talking about that on the show today. But it isn't good from St. Louis.
- [55:13]
C
Isn't. Isn't he like a. Okay. Because is. So is Jon Hamm like the, like the Bill Murray where. I don't know. I'm trying to just.
- [55:23]
A
Yeah, like, like the, the guy you associate with the market. Yeah, like the one actor. It's probably.
- [55:29]
C
If it's a big game, he's there.
- [55:31]
A
Yes, that's exactly right. He does. He goes to, you know, if the. I think the, the All Star game. When the NHL All Star Game was here, he went to it. Probably a couple of Stanley cup games I think he was at in St. Louis. But yeah, I hear really good things.
- [55:49]
C
I mean, I hear he's a terrific guy.
- [55:51]
A
So never met him.
- [55:53]
C
Is there a lot of. Believe me, especially this. The number of Chicago douchebags that have been. That are always floating around, you know, in and around our sporting events.
- [56:02]
A
We, we interviewed several months ago, Jeremy Piven, who's doing stand up comedy and he's going on tour. I don't know. He was nice enough guy.
- [56:12]
C
How'd that go?
- [56:13]
A
If it was not. Do you know the worst interview we've done? And you remember Chris Catan from Saturday Night Live?
- [56:19]
C
Yeah, yeah.
- [56:21]
A
Absolutely horrid interview.
- [56:23]
C
Why?
- [56:24]
A
Just. I just could. Wouldn't say anything. Pulling teeth with him. He was really. Sounded like he had just woke. He was awful. He's the worst interview I can.
- [56:33]
C
Was it in person, over the phone or zoom.
- [56:36]
A
It was. It was worse than Ryan Buckvich by miles.
- [56:39]
C
Right handed.
- [56:40]
A
Right hand. At least we got a good sound bite out of that.
- [56:43]
C
Too bad. And actually it's unfortunate because I always had a really good memory at the super bowl of interviewing Rob Schneider. And then he became such a whack weirdo.
- [56:54]
A
Yeah.
- [56:54]
C
Oh, just a total whack job. That made me feel different about that. That was a strange day because I think he was just high as balls.
- [57:03]
A
No, he might have been.
- [57:05]
C
And he didn't leave. Like he did the interview with us with Terry and me.
- [57:10]
A
Yeah.
- [57:11]
C
And then he didn't leave.
- [57:14]
A
Oh, that happened with. Oh my gosh. Who did we have on? Who did that? Oh, I gotta think about this. And it was somebody who came to the studio and dude, I do not remember who it was. It came to the studio and then we have like a. Not a green room, but an open common Area where Odyssey. Oh, Bill Walton.
- [57:33]
C
It was. It happened with Bill Walton.
- [57:34]
A
Bill Walton.
- [57:35]
C
Yes, Bill Walton happened. I don't know if you were still at the score when Bill Walton sat in with us and we couldn't even take a break. It was 45 minutes, we're talking, and then he walked around the, like, everywhere, talking to every salesperson, every engineer introducing himself, asking about their families. He was there for hours.
- [57:55]
A
Here's who it is. Yakov Smirnoff. Yes, it was Yakov. He. Dan, listen, he came in.
- [58:02]
C
Yakov, come to you.
- [58:04]
A
He came in. He came in. He does a residency in Branson, Missouri. I've never heard of Branson. Okay.
- [58:11]
C
Branson is like. Like, yeah, low rent. Yeah.
- [58:14]
A
But yes, he's been doing a show that. For years he's been doing a show down there. So he came in, he did a show. You know, he did our show, and then he left. And like 40 minutes go by and somebody came in and said, you know, your guest is still laying out there on the couch. I go, what? Walk out and Yakov Smirnoff is laying down on the couch in the common room.
- [58:37]
C
America loves Smirnoff. I say, what a country.
- [58:42]
A
What is he doing here still?
- [58:44]
C
Maybe he needed a place to sleep. You know, maybe Branson's not paying what it used to to pay. You know, maybe he can walk by. That's. That's sort of like the. The old XRT Robert Plant story.
- [58:58]
A
What is that one?
- [58:58]
C
I've told that, you know, that story right back in the. In on Belmont when Robert Plant showed up for an interview and he, he was like, oh, my God, like, this is a rock God, right? This is not just some. Some rock and roller. This, you know, this is. This is not Don Felder or something.
- [59:19]
A
It's right.
- [59:20]
C
This Robert Plant. And he does the interview and everybody's like, taking pictures and, you know, he's signing things. And as he's walking out that little jock lounge that was across from the Rack Room where. And they're passing around the Chinese menu from that place that Terry loved, that little hole in the wall Chinese place that actually with awesome food.
- [59:45]
A
Belmont was before me. I never got to work there.
- [59:48]
C
So. And so Robert Flint and his people, like, he looks and goes, oh, we ordered Chinese. I'm feeling a bit peckish myself. And he's like, well, okay, let's do. Let's do a shrimp fried rice pot stickers and Mongolian beef. They're like, okay.
- [60:12]
A
So he hangs out a succulent Chinese meal.
- [60:17]
C
Like, mess that up and this. And the huge order shows up and he just sits down and they're. And they're sit there and he's like, he's got all the time in the world and he's just like, you know, can you pass the sweet and sour? They sitting there eating and then, and then eventually people are like, I have to go now, Robert Plant. I have to go back to work. And he's. He's just there, there sitting at this little Formica table, eating Chinese food. Yeah. And so it's like it, it started to get like a little kind of needy.
- [60:55]
A
Do you guys love me?
- [60:56]
C
Right? This is this guy's. This is larger than life. The figure he would pack the 70,000 seat arenas to watch him stand there shirtless. And he's just, you know, it's one of these, you know, people are people. And I always bring that up. I know because I remember. Do you remember when Bono showed up?
- [61:18]
A
That's what I was about to say. Yes, that's what I was about to say. Because a Batakola he had. Because I was, I think my shift that day. I'm pretty sure we had a game. I think it was a September. I want to say it was September. Pretty sure the Sox played and a Batakola had texted me and said, hey buddy, when are you coming in today? You probably want to get here early. Because I hear they're talking. There's talk that a huge band is coming through and I'm pretty sure it's you two. And I was like, I will see you in five minutes. So I got ready, I came in and sure enough, they did remember, they brought their. Because XRT was. Their studio door was right next to our control room.
- [61:59]
C
Yep.
- [62:00]
A
And so the whole band came in and they had their own security that was blocking all of us from getting anywhere near them, which I thought was a little strange because it's like we're not on the street, you know, we're professionals here. Yeah, we're all professionals. But yeah, I mean, everybody from the sales department came and looked and they. I just thought it was weird. They blocked us all off. And then Bono is in talking to Lynn and. And Norm. They're interviewing Lynn and Norm are, are talking to the whole band. Then they come out of the studio door and wave and I, I think it was taking a video of it and with my phone. And Bono reached over and started shaking hands and he brushed my hand and I went, oh, that's pretty damn cool. I just touched Bono's hand.
- [62:45]
C
What about the edge?
- [62:47]
A
I Didn't get a handshake from the edge. He just kept going. Or Adam Clayton, who was betting all those supermodels back then.
- [62:57]
C
So are you. You're Chris Damranji, man. Come on, now. I'm saying you guys could have some stories. Talking about a couple of Alzheimer's there. Wow. All right. Okay. While I'm asking, what's. What's the. What's the last great meal you had in St. Louis?
- [63:14]
A
Okay. So we did the lady friend and I. And this was. This was. She did this for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. We went to. There's a place called Sato, which is a. It's a sushi place. And they have an omakase, one of those experiences where you go back and they prepare each little piece for you. And that was. You know, it's. That's a real deal. It was very good. It was exceptionally good.
- [63:41]
C
And.
- [63:41]
A
And it's in. Have you ever heard of the neighborhood, the Hill? That's the Italian neighborhood here that's got all the great Italian food. This Japanese place. This awesome Japanese place is right in the middle of the. The Hill.
- [63:53]
C
What's the barbecue place? I like Sugar Fire.
- [63:56]
A
Sugar Fire.
- [63:56]
C
Sugar Fire. Yes.
- [63:58]
A
Sugar Fire is really good. There's a lot of really good barbecue. Sugar Fire. And they have a bunch of other restaurants. Like, there's a place called High Points, which is a burger place, and that is strong. So if you're ever down here, you might want to try that. Sugar Fire is great. Pappy's is the one everybody kind of knows. And there's only one Pappy's location. Sugar Fire.
- [64:20]
C
Exactly. Right
- [64:24]
A
at the ribs.
- [64:25]
C
She is here.
- [64:28]
A
We're out of Burnt Ends, Pappy's and Bogarts. In my neighborhood, there's a place called Bogarts, which I think is the same family as Pappy's. They're really good, too. So a lot of great barbecue in St. Louis. We do a couple of things well down here.
- [64:44]
C
Yeah. The other thing that I really like, we. We went several years ago for a hockey tournament and. Which is a perfect reason to go there. And we went to the City Museum.
- [64:55]
A
Yeah, you told me about it.
- [64:56]
C
Dude, that was, like, phantasmagoric. It's like an acid trip in there.
- [65:03]
A
Yeah, it's wild. What's funny is, I know I met an attorney, this woman who has been around here for years. Met her, I don't know, six, seven years ago or something. And we're just talking about St. Louis, and she. Somebody mentioned City Museum, and I remember you had told me that you'd gone there. And I was like, yeah, everybody I know goes to City museum. She's like, well, they don't like me very much there because I sue them all the time.
- [65:31]
C
And I win with those slides.
- [65:33]
A
People are getting. So. Yeah, there are people who are getting hurt. There's a. There's a slide which I've never been in there, so I don't know.
- [65:40]
C
You don't know where you're going on the slide?
- [65:42]
A
Yeah.
- [65:42]
C
You randomly get it. Next thing you know you're down like 17 floors in the basement and there's these weird purple lights and you don't know how to get out.
- [65:50]
A
Apparently there's a tube slide where you're completely enclosed. Right?
- [65:54]
C
Yep. Yep.
- [65:55]
A
Okay. So I guess people go down in their shoes. And she was saying that there are. There used to be bumps in them. And so people would go airborne as they're going down the slide. They go airborne. Their shoe would get caught in the roof of that and they would rip their ACLs. So she said there were so many leg injuries from people going down these slides. And there's some other attraction which. It's like a big vat of water that I guess it. It spills. She tried to describe it to me, but you're not supposed to get close to it. And this woman reached up and grabbed it and it was metal and it sliced half of her hand off.
- [66:32]
C
Well, that's so stupid.
- [66:34]
A
Yeah. So I don't know. There's just.
- [66:36]
C
Then like you come off one of the slides and you look up and there's nothing but vintage pinball machines for you to play. And there's a bar there with like 15 different tequilas.
- [66:46]
A
Yeah. It's a cool looking place from the outside. Yeah. I've never been. I still want to go to it and I'm going to.
- [66:53]
C
It's like. It's like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Like, you don't. There's no explanation for what is where and why. And it is. I'm just. If you. If I had it to do all over again, I'd probably take like a 10 milligram gummy.
- [67:12]
A
Just get your mind right for it and.
- [67:13]
C
Yeah. And wait an hour.
- [67:15]
A
Yeah.
- [67:15]
C
And then just get lost in there and maybe die or something. Based on. Based on everything you're saying now. Now it sounds really exciting and dangerous.
- [67:25]
A
Dan Bernstein died in St. Louis. Oh, was he shot? No. He's at a museum.
- [67:29]
C
Nope. Nope. Died at a museum. It happens. Also blew out both his ACLs. Then he died. Completely different incident. No. Figure out how it happened. Chris, this. I love catching up. And I'm happy to hear that you're happy.
- [67:44]
A
So, yeah, everything's good. Good.
- [67:47]
C
So when you're.
- [67:47]
A
Until they tell me to get lost. When they tell me to get lost. And I'll come back to you.
- [67:52]
C
Good. I come hang out whenever, you know, I'm here. And I really have nothing to do with my time other than do a bunch of podcasts and go fishing. So if the weather warms up and you want to. You feel like coming fishing with me, you're always welcome.
- [68:04]
A
Would love to, pal. You could show me what to do, because I have no idea. I want to. Can we go noodling?
- [68:10]
C
No.
- [68:11]
A
Why?
- [68:11]
C
I'm never doing that.
- [68:13]
A
Why?
- [68:13]
C
Because you. As you know, you stick your hand in the wrong hole and bad things happen to you. A wise man once said, be very, very careful. Just sticking your hand in a dark place and hoping it's good. Sometimes it real bad. Thank you.
- [68:33]
A
I'll take my chances.
- [68:34]
C
All right.
- [68:35]
A
See you, buddy.
- [68:35]
C
Love you. Bye.
- [68:36]
A
Love you, too.
- [68:39]
C
So March is here, and it's basketball time. And that means my bookie is here for all the action. You had that wild first two tournament games, and now it gets really exciting. All the big name coaches and all the good teams now, and it's not just picking winners. You got your prop board that you can play because it's deep, it's fun to play. And if you want to start taking advantage of the chaos that remains, jump in now. At MyBookie AG, one account, one wallet, all at MyBookie AG, and with the code DBU, your first bet is covered up to 500 bucks. If it doesn't hit, you've got a bet back, bonus token, and you can run it back. That's what that means. It's like it unhappened up to $500. It's MyBookie AG, and it's the code DBU. When you register and make sure you make your deposit with the that code, and then you're set. So as all this is going on, you know, right there in your hand at MyBookie AG, you're not just watching the madness build. You're part of it. And you're making it pay with my bookie. And that will do it for Dan Bernstein, unfiltered on this Wednesday. Here's a quick note, by the way. Tomorrow for the Cubs home opener, we 312 sports, we are going to be at the Cubby Bear. So we're going to be hanging out there at the Cubby Bear, the 97.1 FM. The drive is going to be there as well. And they're going to get things rolling in the morning and then into the later morning up until game time. I'm going to be there hanging out. And we've got giveaways that we're giving away all kinds of tickets. We've got Cubs tickets, we've got the Drive summer concert tickets, including John Mellencamp, Doobie Brothers, Black Crows, Sticks Santana show up. You can win tickets like every half an hour all day. When we're there with the drive in 312 sports, we're gonna give him stuff away. We also have a limited number of 312 sports T shirts. We've got the can cozies too. And yeah, we are working on more 312 sports merchants. So that's all going to be there. And if you haven't heard, I'm sure you probably have by now. But if you haven't heard, there's a new a brand new 312Sports Cubs podcast that you probably have heard today's episode already. And it's going to be every day. It's going to be called. It is called off the Ivy. I'm hosting along with Matt Abaticola and Cody Delmendo and it's an everyday Cubs podcast. Make sure you subscribe on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast. But that today has been dbu. We thank Chris Range, we thank our producer today, Cody Delmendo, and we thank our sponsors, Chicago Window Guys Giordano's. And we have been brought to you in partnership with my bookie, Dan Bernstein.
- [71:40]
A
Unfiltered Unfiltered on 312Sports
- [71:46]
C
the Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports right now. The NBA is heating up, March Madness is here and MLB is almost back. Every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app. For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I can follow the teams I care about, get real time scores, breaking news and highlights all in one place. Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment.