
Loading summary
Dan Bernstein
There's always another game everybody thinks they have figured out. Maybe it's a pennant race, maybe it's a playoff series where everybody suddenly becomes an expert. Well, if you're gonna have an opinion, you might as well have some action behind it. That's where my bookie comes in. You've got spreads, totals, player props, live betting, and even the casino all in one account. Head to MyBookie AG, use the promo code DBU and get your first bet covered up to 500 bucks. If it doesn't hit, use that bet back bonus token and run it back. Don't just watch the action, make it pay with my bookie. The this episode is brought to you by my bookie.
Ryan Reynolds
Hi, Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. Are you looking for a beach read this summer? May I suggest your big wireless bill? It's got suspense, mystery, a slightly flat emotional arc, and a shocking twist where you realize you've been overpaying the entire time. Fortunately, though, Mint's story is better. Every plan $15 a month. Even unlimited. That's it. Happy ending, zero tears. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment
David Eckstein
of $45 for three months, $90 for
Dan Bernstein
six months, or $180 for a 12
David Eckstein
month plan required $15 per month equivalent
Ryan Reynolds
to taxes and fees.
David Eckstein
Extra initial plan term only greater than 50. Gig is busy.
Ryan Reynolds
See terms
Dan Bernstein
Dan Bernstein Unfiltered Unfiltered on 312 Sports
David Eckstein
DBU on 312 brought to you by Chicago Window Guys Russ Armstrong column 847-302-9171 and check out the five star reviews he's got at ChicagoNow Guys.com you know, I'm nothing if not flexible when it comes to my reactions to things. And when I first saw on Friday night when I was sitting at the White Sox game, having a lovely time at the Sox game until they allowed Houston to put a snowman up on the scorecard. So my fault for being at the White Sox game and allowing that to happen.
Dan Bernstein
Sorry.
David Eckstein
Thankfully, Munetaka Murakami bailed me out. They didn't get swept. Otherwise I'd probably be starting the show apologizing for having killed the White Sox. But I don't think I did. So I'm sitting there and I see the note that over at Wrigley, the Savannah Bananas, they've sold the thing out to the to the brim. There's people spilling out of that ballpark. Thousands of people outside of the ballpark. The Savannah Bananas for with a three night Gig here in Chicago. And this is, like, I. The kind of thing where, you know, those of us who live near the park, and we can't complain because we chose to live near the park, but we always like to know what's going on with the schedule and. And, like, keep it written down at home if there's a home game or not. When it comes to negotiating the traffic, this Savannah Bananas thing, man, that's. That's a big deal. And I saw that George McCaskey was the honorary umpire because, of course, it's not real baseball. It's. It's a. It's theater. And other than sort of the fake dinner theater that the, like, Bulls games had been for a long time and the Cubs games were for a long time, this is the new Harlem Globetrotters to the nth degree.
Dan Bernstein
This is.
David Eckstein
It's. It's a wonderful baseball show that they put on. I have not been. I've seen all the highlights that everybody else has, and they've got something here. They've got something really valuable and really popular. And there was the owner and chairman of the board of the Chicago Bears as part of things, as the umpire, and I think his job was to run over and determine if a fan caught a ball, because if a fan catches a ball, it counts as an out. And that's what they let their. Their honorary celebrity umpires do. And initially I thought, oh, that's kind of cute. That it's very typical for George McCaskey to show that kind of humility. And this is what he likes. It's his hobby. Weren't there pictures of him during the draft? He was umpiring a game, and that's. That's what he likes. And I thought, oh, okay, big deal. And. But it hasn't sit well with me. Sit sat. The more I've thought about it,
Dom
the
David Eckstein
more I feel like it was tone deaf. You're the chairman of the board of the Bears in the midst of a currently failed effort to get a stadium built. An embarrassingly failed effort to get a stadium built. That we're fresh off the Springfield meltdown. We are fresh off one of the most embarrassing days in franchise history where your chosen president, whose one job was to win hearts and minds and influence important people to help steer governmental and voter efforts and in townships and states and everyone involved and pull everyone together to help the Bears get a stadium. And it has been an absolute failure to this point. I wish I could take credit for what I'm about to bring you, but I can't. And I know that we usually save some of your, your input, your listener input for Friday Feedback Friday, but this was just too good. And I kept going back and I kept rereading this. And I can, I'll just say as an aside, I don't think any radio show, podcast, whatever it may be, has ever had listeners who can write as well as the people who write in their feedback to Dan Bernstein unfiltered. Because I just, I'm just envious of some of the writing ability of so many, so many of you. The stuff you send in, just so good. And I kept getting back to this and it was written by Dom in Michigan. And I think he crystallizes it here about why it felt wrong for George McCasky to be like, look at me, I'm the silly umpire here at Wrigley Field at the, the pretend baseball game, having fun. And first I'm like, okay, whatever. But maybe I was distracted. I had other things going on. Like I say, I was at the White Sox game. I had an adventure after the White Sox game and then, you know, stuff going on. But here's what Dom wrote. A sold out Wrigley Field for an event that has nothing to do with the team that plays there. The Ricketts family didn't feel the roster. They didn't have to win anything and still moved every seat, every tent on Gallagher Way and every stool on the block because they own the building and the streets around it. Technically they don't own the building, but they own everything on the outside. And they can point them at whatever draws. That is the entire argument for controlling your own venue delivered live in one night in front of 40,000 people. So I just think about that for the moment. Think about that. Because it wasn't just 40,000, it was significantly more than that. And yeah, they are technically owners of Wrigley Field now because they have a controlling stake in the stadium itself. And they fixed it up too. They didn't have the public money, didn't work. They actually put their own money in to fix it up. So they, they've got this whole area and they drew all these people to it. So Dom continues here. Working as an umpire down the right field line was George McCaskey. His main responsibility ruling on whether fans made a catch three plus years into a stadium hunt, still a tenant of the Chicago Park District, he's sitting on land he owns in Arlington Heights while they say they're drilling soil samples in Hammond and waiting on Springfield to do the things Springfield doesn't do in the case of the Bananas. Jesse Cole sold his own house to keep a last place independent league team alive. He turned that into a sold out Wrigley for three nights. George McCaskey inherited a charter NFL franchise and still can't settle on a state he spent Friday night. And this is, this is the, the key graph here. And the kicker. George McCaskey spent Friday night standing inside a working demonstration of the exact thing he has failed to build for a decade. His only job all night was to determine whether someone could catch something that landed right in front of him. He owns 326 acres in Arlington Heights. That is perfect. And it, that, that, that absolutely pinpoints what feels wrong. What felt wrong about watching George McCaskey be a more than willing participant in a show at Wrigley. That is where the Ricketts family just got to sit back and turn on a massive money vacuum. There it is. All the dogs run screaming and that money vacuum just sucked in 120,000 people on the inside over three days and untold uncounted thousands on the outside. And they made the money on it. And part of that massive multimillion dollar business opportunity for the Chicago Cubs and Marquee holdings. They used to be Hickory street partners where all that money's going. Technically the Cubs don't see a dime of that because goes to, to the holding company. There's the CEO of the Bears as an extra in the production. That's wild. He owns the Bears. Act like it.
Eddie Stanky
Yeah. Then on a, on a very smaller level, the weekend of the draft when he was umpiring a high school baseball game, it that, that didn't feel right to me. Again, I, I don't, and I've said this to you at the time, I don't need him in the draft room. I don't need him sharing his. I mean if he wants to, it's. You can do that. You're the owner. You're the chairman of the board. I don't need that as a fan. But for him to just kind of seem out of what's happening, it just, it didn't feel right. Again, I know there can be some owners that can be overly involved and too involved and not allow people to do their jobs. But when you on the business side of things at least have handed over the keys to your estate man. To someone who is built a reputation, one that you don't want to have on the business dealings of things.
David Eckstein
It's a, it's an embarrassment.
Eddie Stanky
It is, it is embarrassing.
David Eckstein
The current stadium situation for the Bears is a slow rolling embarrassing embarrassment.
Eddie Stanky
So on the football operation side of things, you want to avoid the draft and not be a part of it, not even be in the building, fine. Because your football operations, you're in, you're in pretty good hands. The business side of things, it is an embarrassment and it just, it just doesn't feel right to see that take place over the weekend in the middle of Wrigley Field. As you pointed out, with everything he wants to do or wants to see his organization do while not putting in any of the work to do it.
David Eckstein
And when it comes to not being in Springfield on the deciding day, that's awful. I. That is the enduring image that's going to stick with me is the description of the highest ranking Bears official that was sent to Springfield was Scott Hagel, who was described as standing around the bottom of a staircase like a potted plant. No meetings, no politicking, no arm twisting, no buttonholing, no vote trading, no horse trading. This is. Legislating is ugly. Legislating is sharp elbowed and loud and lots of closed doors and slamming doors and cutting deals and side deals. And the Bears don't want to do it. George McCaskey doesn't want to do any of that. He'd rather be doing this. I just want to read this one sentence again that Dom wrote in George McCaskey spent Friday night standing inside a working demonstration of the exact thing he has failed to build for. For a decade. I wish I had written that. I really do. I wish I'd written that. It's. It's too perfect and to not understand. Like this. You could have this, but you don't. The Bears can't have it. Why can't they have it? The biggest reason they don't have the money. They never made enough money. That's the biggest reason. You wouldn't need all this stuff and all the help and all of the fake leverage plays and all the silliness and you're renting these soil testing machines to make it look like you're doing all this stuff when you're not even pulling permits. You're not even handling all the voluminous legal work that needs to be done. But you're not because you're not really doing it because what's it been?
Eddie Stanky
It's been, it's been over 40 years, right? Since. Since Halas died.
David Eckstein
Well, since Halas and George Hallis in 75 wanted to move to Arlington Heights, right?
Eddie Stanky
But it's been over 40 years since the McCaskeys have really run the organization. Yep. The most popular team in the third largest market in the country. And they haven't benefited at all financially from.
David Eckstein
Never made new money. They didn't. And then they waited too long to actually get into the real estate business. And then once they did, they did that wrong. And they're just paying for land that at the moment isn't used for anything. That's not the real estate business.
Eddie Stanky
Well, it's a portion of it. That's not the good side of it.
David Eckstein
It's not idealized real estate business. It's just. But they're just not there.
Ryan Reynolds
It is.
Eddie Stanky
Well, hey, I'm in real estate. I just don't do it well.
David Eckstein
Yeah, I'm in real estate. I own land, and I pay taxes on it. And then what? I don't know.
Eddie Stanky
Nothing.
Dan Bernstein
I don't know.
David Eckstein
Whatever you want. Just a lot of weeds, I guess. He spent Friday night standing inside a working demonstration of the exact thing that he has failed to build for a decade. Unbelievable. And it was right there in front of us. All it takes is. Is a little understanding of how to. How to give the people what they want. And a lot of credit to Jesse Cole because the Savannah bananas have told people, this is what you want. And people said, yes, it is. And now there's. The imitators have already sprung up. We're getting, like, the. The secondary baseball clown shows and barnstorming clown shows, where it's. It's what the Harlem globetrotters were at one point, but bigger. Bigger selling out baseball stadiums.
Eddie Stanky
They have six teams. They have close to a thousand employees I saw over the weekend.
David Eckstein
So it's bigger now.
Dan Bernstein
The brand.
David Eckstein
The globetrotters did a great job branding. The globetrotters were international because basketball is an international sport. Can the Savannah bananas sell out the Tokyo dome? I don't know. Is there something uniquely American to the nature of their product? I don't know. Could they go sell out in Mexico City? Could they go to Puerto Rico and sell out Irambit Horn? There's probably is my guess. I certainly wouldn't put anything past them. But I was thinking about how they comp to the globetrotters and just the fact that the Harlem globetrotters were part of the scooby Doo universe. If we go back to the cartoons, like, that's. That was a huge deal. They were a Saturday morning cartoon staple, and they had their own variety show, but even before the cartoon, they had their actual live variety television show with Rodney, Ellen, Rippy and everything that they did, but it might take a while to get to that point. But that Bananas brand that is, that is a powerful business right there and they're turning away, you know, tryouts. The number of people that want to actually go play for them, the number of professional baseball players that look at that now as a viable job opportunity if they're not going to play in the major leagues. And maybe they also are really good dancers and or singers or jugglers or flamethrowers or sword swallowers or bearded ladies or whatever they might be. Man, have at it. So good for them.
Dan Bernstein
Don't let managing your money be scary. Don't let it be intimidating, because it's not. I think having intelligent control of your finances and your investments is really important, and I believe Monarch can help you in doing so. Monarch is an app that functions like a financial advisor in your pocket. And as you get older and more people are relying on you to do this right, Monarch helps you do it. Helps you hit savings goals or a net worth milestone.
David Eckstein
Helps you realize when a large percentage
Dan Bernstein
of your income is going somewhere unexpected. I love the fact that Monarch Monarch lets you compare your investments to the benchmark S P500. Most apps are going to tell you what you've already spent. Monarch helps you set goals and map out big purchases and see if you're actually on track before it's too late
David Eckstein
to adjust so you can write your
Dan Bernstein
own money story with Monarch. Use the code DBU@monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Core Half off at just $50. That's 50% off your first year year@monarch.com
David Eckstein
with the code DBU.
Dan Bernstein
If you're a baseball fan in Chicago, you know the season isn't one in April, May or even June. It's one in the grind. Every series matters. Every bullpen decision gets second guessed. Every at bat feels like it could swing the conversation the next morning. Whether you're riding with the Cubs through a pennant race or hoping the White Sox give you something to believe in, baseball gives you opportunities every single day. That's why my bookie is for you. Sure, you can bet the game, but
David Eckstein
the prop board is where things get interesting.
Dan Bernstein
Strikeouts, hits, home runs, total bases. There's plenty of ways to get involved without worrying about picking a final score. And because it's all under one account, you can jump from baseball to live betting or even the casino. While you're waiting for the late game to start, go to my bookie AG, use promo code DBU and get your first first bet covered up to 500 bucks. If it doesn't hit, use your bet back bonus token and run it back. Don't just watch another night at the ballpark. Make it pay with my bookie. I have a vivid memory of sitting down with my wife right after we bought our first house and talking about having another kid and what our lives were going to be like. And realizing we needed a plan for life insurance for both of us. How could we make sure things were taken care of for the kids if either one of us got hit by a bus or something? And how those numbers could still add up? Well, we found policies that fit. I'm glad we did it. And now Ethos can help you do the same. Ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy. It's 100% online, a quote in seconds. Apply in minutes and same day coverage. No medical exam.
David Eckstein
You just answer a few simple health
Dan Bernstein
questions and you can get up to $3 million in coverage. With some policy policies as low as $30 a month, you'll get the lowest rate from their network of trusted carriers. Take 10 minutes. Get covered today with life insurance through Ethos. Get your free quote@ethos.com dbu that's e t h o s.com dbu Application times may vary. Rates may vary.
David Eckstein
And there I. That was the owner, the chairman and CEO.
Eddie Stanky
That's.
David Eckstein
That is Virginia McCaskey's son. Like, hey, look at me. I'm an umpire. Congratulations.
Eddie Stanky
And.
David Eckstein
And if he. If he just said, I don't care. I like umpiring. I'm making fun of the fact that I like to umpire. I'm not ashamed of it. And I'm the owner of the Chicago Bears. Like, I can do whatever I want. Then you can. Of course you can. But then hire somebody else to handle the stadium business already if you're not going to do it.
Eddie Stanky
Or step aside if you don't want to be involved, because it's just fine, too.
David Eckstein
It's really going poorly. Yeah. Now, when we're talking actual football, the news of the weekend we got.
Ryan Reynolds
We.
David Eckstein
Maddie and I just spent, what, 10 minutes in between off the Ivy and DBU triaging all of the stuff we want to get to today because of forward progress and everything else. Oh, do we have stuff we have to get to in forward progress? But I think the Kyler Gordon news is. Is enormous and it sucks. It absolutely sucks that he's hurt again.
Dan Bernstein
However.
David Eckstein
Are you surprised? No.
Ryan Reynolds
No.
Eddie Stanky
Not at all.
David Eckstein
No.
Eddie Stanky
Yeah. So he was placed on the. On the pup list.
David Eckstein
Yep.
Eddie Stanky
To start training camp now, he'll be back at some point, they believe, but who knows?
David Eckstein
Physically unable to perform. This is the guy you paid $40 million who has been missing some off season workouts. All we know, just want to make sure that it's a soft tissue injury. He has had hamstring issues, he's had groin issues, he's had calf issues. I don't know which one this is or if this is a new one. And the PUP list does not mean he's out for the season. It means he can be medically cleared at any point. Once camp starts, he can be reinstated. But what it tells us is right now, he is, for some reason, with an entire off season, not ready to play football. They had OTAs, they had veteran minicamp. What they don't really have is a backup nickel. You know, that's. That's what's killing me is, is if you had somebody say, oh, yeah, this, don't worry about it, because someone's ready to jump in and take that job.
Dan Bernstein
There.
David Eckstein
There's. You can attach names to it and you can say, oh, this guy can probably do it. That anybody that can play boundary can probably play nickel. And we've heard that before. But that's not really true because the specialties of nickel involve physicality and tackling and being that. That little linebacker type. And especially in the case of Kyler Gordon blitzing. And he's been really good at it.
Eddie Stanky
Yeah. So he plays three. Three games last year. And I know some of the names already attached to it this year. You know, you brought in Cam Lewis, you drafted Malik Muhammad, couple names already attached to possibly playing that role. We saw some versatility. What, what Dennis Allen wants of his guys. He did it last year in training camp. Move guys around to all different positions to see where guys can fill in.
David Eckstein
Yeah, but you just never know.
Eddie Stanky
But, but this was a guy that was given a huge contract and was on the target of the offense or the defensive coordinator when he got here. Yeah, I mentioned my name. And he played three games last year.
David Eckstein
He was excited to work with him.
Eddie Stanky
And now after a whole off season, Dan, he's starting training camp on the PUP list.
David Eckstein
Yeah, I don't, I don't like with
Eddie Stanky
the timeline of we expect him to be back in camp. Okay, great.
David Eckstein
You can expect whatever you want. What I don't like is the only name that is behind his as the nickelback is Josh Blackwell. I don't want Josh Blackwell doing that full time. I want Josh Blackwell doing everything he does on all the primary special teams. And being Josh Blackwell, I don't want him as the. As the nickel. You're in real trouble if you're starting your season, putting him out there. Now, do you have other guys who are considered multiple? Could Tyreek Stevenson play that position and then that allows you to find a spot for Terrell Smith or Malik Muhammad? Yeah, and it's nice to have guys like a guy like Terrell Smith coming back. I don't know in what shape he's
Dan Bernstein
going to be in.
David Eckstein
They're excited about Malik Muhammad. He's a rookie. But that's a. That is a. An Achilles heel. It really is. That is. That's the exhaust port in the Death Star. When someone that significant has no one who can really replicate his kind of production behind him. And you paid him. You paid him a massive contract that he earned. And for him to not be able to continue to earn it is just a.
Eddie Stanky
It's. It.
David Eckstein
It's a terrible thing in a cap league when. When that much of your cap is being taken up by somebody who still, for now, as of today, can't play football.
Eddie Stanky
Yeah. And I think we would have seen a different outcome of CJ Gardner Johnson with the Bears had he been better in coverage. There was.
Dan Bernstein
Yeah.
David Eckstein
Well, if you were better in coverage, the Bears would never have had him.
Eddie Stanky
There was aspects of the job. I know that. That he did really well and he just couldn't cover, which. Which is why he's. What I'm Buffalo now and signed a one year, I think up to five or six million dollars deal. Yep. What he could get up to. Yeah, he just wasn't very good in coverage, but he was really productive in other aspects of what they asked him to do. And it just. It's unfortunate that Kyler Gordon is just starting a training camp again injured after only playing three games.
David Eckstein
It's also the kind of injuries that coaches don't have. Their. Their. Their higher tolerance is for injuries that they can see and know and understand. But how my leg hurts.
Eddie Stanky
Oh, Dan. He's lost patience. Ben's. Ben's already lost patience with it.
David Eckstein
Well, I have to. And at some point when you go through constant. Oh, I'm warming up. Ow, I'm hurt. There have been too many circumstances where you have to now know the, the conclusion. You can't trust him.
Eddie Stanky
Yeah. Because you can't have that happen again where he's warming up and then.
David Eckstein
No.
Eddie Stanky
And then you're. You're losing a guy for that game.
David Eckstein
No, no, I can't. I don't. Some Guys aren't as good, but I can trust you. You're just, you're there all like, I just know that I can get a replacement level performance from somebody. It's the certainty it's going into a game. Well, at least I got this. At least I have that. He's the kind of player where the difference between having him and not having him, the difference between what, what you can do defensively if he's out there and what you can't do and then have to, to retrofit to your game plans like, well, ideally we would have had him doing this and this went out. We can't. So now we got to try that. The only way we're going to get pressure is with this, this and that. It's you committed to him with a contract. That's a larger issue. Like, you trusted him when you paid that money, that he's going to be available and only he knows how. Whether or not these injuries are, are the kind that changes the overall trajectory of a career or of a, of the part of a season. He got the money and I'm not accusing him of anything. I want to be real clear about that. I don't know. I, I, I hate the fact that he feels that he's too hurt to play, that he can't. I, it's too bad. And sometimes that happens to people in the NFL, it happens to people in sports and their body betrays them. And this appears to be that kind of case. That is his, his body is betraying him. So the Bears, very soon, if this lingers, are going to have to make a difficult decision about what you can count on and what you can't and when. But I hope tomorrow we come in here, it's like, he's fine, just need a couple extra days. Had to work some things out, but he's good, good to go.
Dan Bernstein
Ready for camp.
David Eckstein
All set. Let's get it. I would love to be able to say that.
Eddie Stanky
Yeah, but we're not, though.
David Eckstein
We're not.
Eddie Stanky
I mean, he's starting camp on the PUP list.
Dan Bernstein
Why.
Eddie Stanky
And again, the timeline given was, the timeline given was we expect him back sometime during camp.
David Eckstein
And that's what's killing me, is what happened and when did it happen? I, I, it's hard to even have an opinion when we don't know the severity, we don't know the body part. Did he, did he hurt himself again? Is this a previous injury that isn't healing properly, that needs a longer look or exploratory surgery or new modalities of recovery like we, we don't know. Or is this just the latest thing?
Eddie Stanky
Oh, I don't know.
David Eckstein
I woke up, my foot hurt, can't practice, I can't start training camp, I'm on the pop list. Or is it, you know, I never really got better after injury number three last year. Not knowing makes it worse because it allows my mind to go crazy with the usual Bears injury anxiety. And it, the construction of the roster tells me that the Bears thought he was going to be okay. If they didn't, if they had a reasonable suspicion that he was going to be on the PUP list, they probably would have brought somebody in who is more of an idealized nickel profile than these boundary corners and, and Josh Blackwell. But they didn't. Ultimately, it's going to be on them if they have trouble replacing him because cj, gj, as flawed as he was, kind of fell into your lap last year.
Eddie Stanky
Yeah, I did. That was very, very fortunate.
David Eckstein
Real fortunate. And you, you didn't come into this season with a plan for what happens if Kyler Gordon's hurt again. Unless they feel really strongly about the recovery of Terrell Smith and his ability to play the nickel, or they feel really strongly that Malik Muhammad or Tyreek Stevenson could just kind of slide it. And we don't even know if Jalen Johnson's healthy. I, I don't, I don't like where I'm going with this, so I'm gonna.
Eddie Stanky
Yeah, but the, but the early reports, though, about Johnson participating in areas where he generally hadn't participated in the past. Everything pointed in the right direction. So that's a positive.
David Eckstein
Let's, let's, let's have a good positive. Okay. Okay, fine. I know it's positive to call Ross Armstrong for Windows because he's going to help you out and he's going to make your life better. Chicago Window guys is not going to make up a whole bunch of gimmicks to tell you how much money you're going to save and say that, oh, if you act now, you can get two for one. They don't act like an infomercial because they don't have to. Russ Armstrong owns a factory here in Chicago where he custom makes state of the art windows for your house. He's got all different kinds of windows that he can make. He's got all different kinds of designs that he can do. And one thing he can do is match any price. Because like I say, when you deal with Russ and you deal with Chicago Window guys, they've got Everything from start to finish, owning the factory here in Chicago and having their own installation crews, everybody involved and everybody in and around your house working directly for Russ and for Chicago Window guys. So give him a call. 847-302-9171. You can check out his five star reviews@chicagowindowguys.com I have done two separate tranches of windows in my home and probably going to do more with Russ because the and I didn't really know. I don't know windows that well. And that's why, you know, Russ can explain and show me like actually walk me around the house and show me. These are the builder's windows. See the rust here in the spacer. You see the how the seal doesn't work anymore. And then he, when he shows me a Chicago window guys window and you say, look, this is a special polymer instead of metal. This is not going to rust. See how much better this slides up and down and how much more securely it locks all of that stuff. For every reason that you don't want to be sorting through this deal, that deal, this deal. Know that when you go a Chicago window guys, you're in good hands and you're going to get the best arrangement. And I can. That's why I'm not just recommending him to you. I've already recommended him to great fanfare and happiness, to coworkers, to friends, to family and to other people in my neighborhood that have the exact same houses because we all built at the same time off of pretty much a similar model. Call Russ, 847-302-9171. Check out his five star reviews at ChicagoNow,DowGuys.com youm know, I think it's really
Dan Bernstein
important to be smart about managing your finances. And that's why I believe Monarch is the app that can help you in doing so. Monarch's like having a financial advisor in your pocket. It's a personal finance app and it tracks everything that can help you take care of your financial picture, accounts, investments, saving goals and spending. Most apps only tell you what you've already spent. Monarch helps set goals, map out big purchases, and see if you're actually on track before it's too late to adjust. There's an AI weekly recap. It flags spending spikes, net worth shifts and upcoming expenses. And you can ask the AI assistant anything about your finances. How much did I spend on travel last summer? Can I afford this vacation without touching my savings? Write your own money story with Monarch. Use the code dbu@monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Core Half off at just 50 bucks. That's 50% off your first year at monarch.com with the code DBU. Welcome to DBU Picks presented by my bookie. We're breaking down the week's biggest matchups
David Eckstein
and the bets win.
Dan Bernstein
I like the way he's seeing the ball lately.
David Eckstein
I'm going to go Nico Horner plus 1:52 for two or more hits. Not saying there'll be home runs, but I think Nico has may is maybe starting to emerge from his most of season doldrums.
Eddie Stanky
Well, I hope that's right. And I'm going to stay with the Cubs game as well. They're opening this four game series in St. Louis. Game one tonight I'm gonna take the Cubs minus one and a half runs and then on a separate play I'm gonna go Cubs first to score three runs. So first to three and then laying one and a half.
David Eckstein
All right, there you have it.
Dan Bernstein
That's another edition of DBU picks presented by my bookie. Bet on anything, anywhere, anytime.
David Eckstein
I had my first White Sox experience in a while on Friday night and what a delight. Other than the actual outcome of the game. It was like they flipped a switch, man. So socks are up. Five nothing. Just rolling over the Astros. It's five nothing. And then I don't know what happened. Next thing you knew there was a base hit, base hit, base hit, hit by pitch, base hit. And. And it's an eight spot that the Astros put up. Like yikes. And then I thought it was my fault. It was a typically lovely evening. The weather was absolutely perfect. I took the red line and I went home with brown line. Red line could not have been been easier and more painless. Sit down, spend some time with, with, with my unfunny cousins. And you know what? I realized that there is something that the White Sox do brilliantly in that ballpark and that is provide data. I never had to look at my phone and we're following the game pretty closely. A lot of times when you go to a game, it's purely social and oh, it's two nothing. It's four, two.
Dan Bernstein
I missed it, whatever.
David Eckstein
And that's fine because I think when you go to a baseball game, you should treat it however you want. But I was into it. We had, we had. We were like second row right on the Sox dugout entry. Incredible seats like right off the dugout. And I'm really paying attention because you could see the, the pitches come in and every bat and really get A sense of the strike zone. I didn't need to look at my phone because of how well they present data in that ballpark. You want launch angle, you want exit velo. You want a graphic representation of the vector of that hitter's previous at bat. It's there every pitch. Not only the speed of the pitch, horizontal movement and vertical drop. Everything is there. And if you don't want to use it, fine. No one's making you look at stuff. And it's not intrusive at all. The design of it. Once you get the sense, oh, my eye goes here, I want this, I want this. Okay, I go here, I can look here, and it ends. It's incredibly user friendly. I felt, sitting in rate field from my position as hungry for data during a game, rather than say, when, you know, Jordan Alvarez rips a single down the line. And I'm thinking, boy, at that exit velocity, we're lucky. It was at a low launch angle. And I can look up and see, oh, okay, it was a 7 degree launch angle at 107 miles an hour or whatever it was. It's. It's right there. I felt like the park was laid out like a tablet for me. It was almost like watching the game on, on a tablet I designed where I could hit what they did that with the park. And it's. You wouldn't even really notice it unless you're paying attention. Because like I say, if you don't care, you wouldn't know. It doesn't matter. It's not. You won't even notice it if you don't. If all you want to see is the next little promotion or did it, you know, with the ball under the hat, or did I win? And it was also a Bulls Nike. So they had all the Bulls things going on there to draw your attention. But even with all of that, whatever you want, whatever you want is there.
Eddie Stanky
That's really interesting given the fact. And maybe, maybe it's developed. But wasn't one of the criticisms about the organization was the lack of infrastructure on the baseball operation side of things and how it needed to grow and develop. So has that grown and developed to where it needs to be in 2026, or do they just demonstrate all of that within the ballpark for the fans?
David Eckstein
You beat me to it.
Ryan Reynolds
You beat me.
David Eckstein
You, you, you're. No, it's okay. You're ahead of me because it's stuff that the team itself has not really cared about all that much. But boy, if I hope the baseball side cares as much about it as the marketing side. I really do. I hope that, that it's an indication. I hope that giving that to me means they've got. That they're finally, finally, finally as an organization sidelining the old Jerry Reinsdorf. This is David Eckstein and Eddie Stankey. And remember that awful press conference he held? What is that now? Two or three years ago that, that he gave the. Oh, the game has passed me by press conference. Oh, that was ugly and unfortunate and really kind of the nadir of the late period of ownership beyond the hiring of Tony La Russo, which is, which is. That's probably it. And then when he held that press conference and the team that had Frank Thomas on it and he said his favorite player ever is David Eckstein. I, I don't forgive that. That's not okay. Your favorite player ever cannot be David Eckstein because David Eckstein really wasn't that good. And you had Frank Thomas on your team.
Dom
Yeah.
David Eckstein
You're one of the greatest baseball players of all time on your team. That should be your favorite player.
Eddie Stanky
Should be. I mean, even if you didn't want to pick Frank, you could pick a guy from that World Series team that.
David Eckstein
No, you pick Frank.
Eddie Stanky
Yeah. No, you know, you're right.
David Eckstein
You. You pick the best player ever in the history of your organization and one of the greatest right handed batters who's ever walked the face of the earth. That would be the guy who should be your favorite player because you're the owner of the White Sox. I don't know. Maybe I thought that maybe I'm being unreasonable. I don't think I am.
Eddie Stanky
No, you're not.
David Eckstein
But the. I will say that that is a sign. It is a sign that if in fact the. Their game presentation, game production folks care enough to give me all of that data, I hope that that is a reflection. I hope that's a function of the overall use of data by the organization. It would make me feel really good if that's the case.
Eddie Stanky
Well, maybe it was just a one night thing because they knew you were there.
David Eckstein
No, I don't think so. I, I'm.
Dan Bernstein
I am told.
David Eckstein
I, because I did. I, I sent a text message to just voice my, my same feelings directly to those who would care. And I just told him, I said, hey, that's good job. It's awesome.
Dan Bernstein
I love it.
David Eckstein
And I know they do work hard on it. And there are, there are some young, energetic people there who grew up seeing baseball the way some of us see it. I did not grow up that way. But I've learned that it has helped me appreciate, understand, and enjoy baseball in new and different ways because of so much information being available and so many things that. At which we don't have to guess that it's right there and we can say, hey, I'd love to know how. With the angle at which that ball was hit. Boom, there it is. I've got it. And they can track stuff defensively, they can show all sorts of things graphically. And they do so good job. Socks. And of course, it's, you know, it's right field, so every single food item was great. What do you think they're getting for a beer, by the way?
Eddie Stanky
Like, what a regular? Like a special promotional thing? 15 bucks.
David Eckstein
17.
Eddie Stanky
17 bucks. Wow.
Dan Bernstein
Yeah.
David Eckstein
That's a lot. And then
Eddie Stanky
on those deal days, what is it, Tuesday?
David Eckstein
Yeah, or there's. There's a big industry around maybe.
Eddie Stanky
Maybe don't drink 75 beers while you're there.
David Eckstein
There's a big industry around Rate field, though, of people selling like, airplane bottles. And I don't know if. If they're selling it to people who are. Who are smuggling them in because they're. They're. People set up coolers, they got neon signs, they got music playing, and they've got all the different airplane bottles lined up. Really? Yes. So whatever you want. It looks like South Carolina. Do they still do that in South Carolina where everything is in a little bottle?
Eddie Stanky
No idea.
David Eckstein
Because when I was last there, they did it for like, tax purposes. There are no big bottles of liquor in bars. Everything has to be because it's. Everything's taxed individually. It was like that.
Eddie Stanky
Interesting.
David Eckstein
I don't know if it still is or maybe there's a part of it, but. But I didn't know if that was sort of a workaround that people were. Were buying those things and taking them in. Because I know on the way out people are headed to the L and there's like big drunken dudes buying six or seven fireball shots and putting them in their pockets. And it's there. There's a lot of that going on.
Eddie Stanky
All right.
David Eckstein
But overall, a wonderful experience at the White Sox game. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Eddie Stanky
You mean first place White Sox.
David Eckstein
You first played by two and a half games.
Eddie Stanky
Two and a half games over the Guardians. Yet that fan graphs has. Yeah, their chance of making the playoffs is lower than the guardians. So they're not believing in the White Sox.
Dan Bernstein
Correct.
Eddie Stanky
Have you checked your third order record lately? I looked at it yesterday.
David Eckstein
There were some interesting things there I'll do it because. Well, let's do fan graphs first for the Sox.
Eddie Stanky
Yeah.
David Eckstein
As of right now, the White Sox are leading the division with a record of 55 and 49. The guardians are 54 and 50 53. So that is. That's a four game lead in the loss column for the Sox. And yet. And yet, even with a four game lead in the loss column, the guardians are at 48.6% to make the playoffs and the White SOX are at 44.1. I don't know if this is how this is factoring in the. The players that have. They've called up or the rookies that maybe they can't project. There. There's got to be some flaw in there, I think.
Eddie Stanky
Do they have a, a percentage given I can't remember on fan graphs of winning the division? I know Baseball Reference does that.
David Eckstein
If we go to the 2026 playoff odds, the White Sox have a 29.6% chance of winning the division.
Ryan Reynolds
Wow.
David Eckstein
The guardians have a 32% chance of. And they saw the tigers at 19.2 and the twins at 19.1.
Eddie Stanky
Yeah.
David Eckstein
And that could change in a week.
Eddie Stanky
Wow. So they're at 30% and they, I think, I think they've had, I think I heard over the weekend, best record in baseball since some date in April. I mean, the best record in baseball.
David Eckstein
Yeah. They're only at 30% to win the division.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah.
David Eckstein
Okay, so let's look at third order record.
Eddie Stanky
Yeah.
David Eckstein
The White Sox third order record is 52 and 52.
Eddie Stanky
Yep.
David Eckstein
The Tigers third order record puts them in first place.
Eddie Stanky
Yes.
David Eckstein
That if you go by third order record, it's the Tigers, the White Sox, the Guardians than the Twins and the Royals. And if you're curious where the Cubs are right now, they're. Their third order is 57.5 and 47.5. There are two teams ahead of them, the brewers and the Pirates.
Eddie Stanky
Yep.
David Eckstein
Wow. Look at, look at the difference in that Pirates record. Boy.
Eddie Stanky
Yeah. Is that crazy?
David Eckstein
Well, especially the losses. Yeah, they are. The pirates are at 60 and 46 when their actual record. Yeah. Yeah, that. So that, that, that's a six game win loss record there.
Eddie Stanky
Yeah,
David Eckstein
That's a big number. So for whatever that's worth to you and just. And again, if you're just joining us for the first time, like what are you talking about third order record? It is Clay Davenport's sort of ultra Pythagorean number where rather than just taking the runs scored and runs allowed that it factors in who you've played when you've played them and uses more contextual data to normalize the Pythagorean record and just continually add context in a given season, in a given run environment. And that's where we are.
Dan Bernstein
I have a vivid memory of sitting down with my wife right after we bought our first house and talking about having another kid and what our lives were were going to be like and realizing we needed a plan for life insurance for both of us.
David Eckstein
How could we make sure things were
Dan Bernstein
taken care of for the kids if either one of us got hit by a bus or something? And how those numbers could still add up? Well, we found policies that fit. I'm glad we did it. And now Ethos can help you do the same. Ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy. It's 100% online, a quote in seconds. Apply in minutes and same day coverage. No medical exam.
David Eckstein
You just answer a few simple health
Dan Bernstein
questions and you can get up to $3 million in coverage. With some policies as low as $30 a month, you'll get the lowest rate from their network of trusted carriers. Take 10 minutes. Get covered today with life insurance through Ethos. Get your free quote@ethos.com dbu that's e t h o s.com dbu application time times may vary. Rates may vary.
David Eckstein
I watched last night's baseball, Sunday night baseball game on NBC and boy, Jason Benetti trying to traffic cop those, some of those broadcasts. That's, that's not easy. They're trying to get to break. He's got a bunch of people in his ears to have. Not only that, to have Joey Votto and John Kruck with that, that whole crew. Joe Girardi. Joe Girardi. Talking about growing up a Cub fan.
Eddie Stanky
No.
David Eckstein
Did you hear what he said?
Eddie Stanky
I didn't.
David Eckstein
He said he loved Jose Cardinal because Jose Cardinal looked like his aunt. He did a whole bit on this.
Eddie Stanky
Really?
David Eckstein
Yes, he said. Well, he said my aunt had, you know, very, very thick and bushy black hair. She's dark complected because she's from southern Italy. And I. He said, I always thought that she, Jose Cardinal, looked like my aunt. That's funny.
Eddie Stanky
That poor woman.
David Eckstein
Then my question was, she's got to be dead, right? Because he wouldn't be saying it if she were alive.
Eddie Stanky
Probably not.
David Eckstein
Probably not.
Dan Bernstein
Come on.
David Eckstein
Is Jose Cardinal alive?
Eddie Stanky
Yeah, she's probably not alive, but I mean, even if she was, chances are pretty good that she's not watching or listening.
David Eckstein
It would get back to her. Yeah, you know, it would get back to her.
Eddie Stanky
She was a handsome woman. And.
David Eckstein
And yes, Jose Cardinal is alive. He's 82.
Eddie Stanky
Oh, thank God.
David Eckstein
One year younger than Mick Jagger. I saw that. I thought Mick Jagger just turned 83.
Eddie Stanky
Oh, did he really? Good for him. Yep.
David Eckstein
Congratulations to him on that tour. But what I love about that broadcast, man, I don't know much about John Kruck, like off the field or anything, but he is a delight in the booth. He's a delight.
Eddie Stanky
He.
David Eckstein
And then I, I was trying to figure out sonically what, what I'm getting in the whole John Crook mix here. And I mean this with adoration because I think he's adorable. I get equal parts Lou Pinella and Bob from Niles because it's someone to bring up a topic and he'll just be like, yeah, I don't know.
Eddie Stanky
That's. That's quite the combo right there.
David Eckstein
He's Lou Pinella because he sounds like Lou and got that kind of. Yeah, well, like that. Have a. Have yourself a margarita. He's got a little better that in him, but he also has a little bit of this lovable Bob from Niles thing where he'll. A couple of other people are talking and you'll hear him go, yeah, I don't know. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, okay. But he's. And he knows his stuff. He's got the whole self deprecating thing down, but he's just fun and he is knowledgeable and vato's. You never know where he's coming from on some stuff, which I love the unpredictability of Joey Voto because we know how smart and fun he is. But it's with that, that little Canadian kind of deadpan delivery. But he's a, he's a different kind of cat. He is interesting. So more of that booth. I don't, I don't care. I would like to hear that booth talk. I describe anything.
Eddie Stanky
I would, man. Bob from Niles.
David Eckstein
Yeah, that's.
Eddie Stanky
He would. I mean, I don't know. I would put Bob from Niles, like on the Mount Rushmore of the BNB byproduct. He's. He was one of the. I mean, he's a treasured piece.
David Eckstein
Oh, no, no, absolutely.
Eddie Stanky
Of that.
David Eckstein
All time.
Eddie Stanky
Of our time.
David Eckstein
I mean, all timer.
Eddie Stanky
Just one of the best.
David Eckstein
It started with Baldy McGrindy. It started with the fact that Brendan McCaffrey, when he produced, had a rule. There were some regulars or eccentrics that would call every day, you know that you had regulars that call every day. But you just would never put them on. Yeah, hello? Okay, yeah, I'll tell the guys. I'll pass it along. And you hang up. Brendan started it because his thing was Bob is always on. He'll always put him on the screener. He just had a rule. He just. Brendan McCaffrey started because he loved him. And he said, I will always put Bob from Niles on. It's just always gold. And part of it was the unpredictability. You just never knew and. Or the fact that he was on the phone when he wasn't allowed to be on the phone. There was the time when he came to see us that added the legend. When we were at Howard street, remember, and Brett Lyons had to take him home because he thought there was a bus. And the bus never came because the bus didn't go in that direction.
Eddie Stanky
And we.
David Eckstein
We had to make sure he got back to his facility. And when we. When we took him to his facility, the nurse at the front didn't know he had left. Robert, where have you been? Never forget that story. You know where he was? He was at the who Needs two Tavern tour, because that's where he was supposed to be.
Dan Bernstein
Damn it.
Eddie Stanky
Yeah, he wanted to take us out to chew on some pie.
David Eckstein
And then. And then I was thinking, too, that, like, the only other time I. That I have a connection to John Kruck was when we took a family vacation. Beth got some sort of deal at a hotel that was opening in Naples, and they offered some ridiculously low rate and invited her down there as part of a planner's thing or something. So she's like, hey, we're getting on a plane. We're going to Naples for a couple of nights. This is back when we could say, okay, great. Come on, kids, let's go. And we did. I'm like, all right, we got to go fishing, Jay. We got to find a captain.
Eddie Stanky
We got.
David Eckstein
We've got to get out in the Gulf and just go see what's biting. And I had a captain recommended to me because I, you know, asked around and I found this guy, and he
Eddie Stanky
wasn't Captain Scoozy, I hope.
David Eckstein
No, no, it was not. But we went to his website and, you know, there's pictures of his clients happy with the fish that they've caught. And I'm looking like, oh, wow, that's. That's a nice looking red snapper. Oh, look at that. That's king mackerel. Oh, they caught a shark. Oh, they got a Goliath grouper. Oh, look at that snook. And then the next picture, I'm like, oh, there's John Crook.
Eddie Stanky
Somebody caught John Crook.
David Eckstein
That's what I thought.
Eddie Stanky
I'm like, oh.
David Eckstein
But it was John Crook and I assume his son showing a couple of fish that they caught. I was like, all right, that's. That's pretty cool. I think he lives there. But I'm like, if you live there and this is the captain, that. Where you let him use a picture of you must be pretty good.
Eddie Stanky
Oh, you don't mean Naples, Italy? I thought you meant Naples, Italy. You meant Naples, Florida.
David Eckstein
Yes, I meant Naples.
Eddie Stanky
Okay, my bad. I just assumed Italy.
David Eckstein
Sorry, I. Sorry.
Eddie Stanky
Because when you said John Crocker lives there, I was like, wait, he can't live in Italy. I mean, he could, but. Yeah, he's allowed to.
Dom
I didn't think.
David Eckstein
He's been sent away.
Dan Bernstein
Yeah.
Eddie Stanky
All right. Florida. Okay, so Naples, Florida.
David Eckstein
Naples, Florida.
Eddie Stanky
You did. Well, you didn't. You didn't specify that.
Ryan Reynolds
I just.
David Eckstein
I just.
Eddie Stanky
My mind goes right to Italy More.
David Eckstein
John Crook is the. Is the conclusion that I have, because they. Everything kind of worked, and they were all over the place. I don't think they were listening to each other. It was. It was sort of a bit beautifully organized, chaotic. Booth. And as long as Benetti's there, I know I'm in good hands and everything's great.
Eddie Stanky
Yeah. We'll do a fishing excursion with Captain Scoozy once.
David Eckstein
With Captain Scoozy and John Crook.
Eddie Stanky
Oh, that'd be great.
David Eckstein
Yeah, bring him along. We'll have a great time. We should bring. Who's the other fisherman? Is it Jordan Alvarez? Isn't he the guy that loves fishing?
Eddie Stanky
Oh, does he?
Dan Bernstein
I think.
David Eckstein
I think he's talked about baseball, too. Oh, God. Watching him up close to. When he. The way he uncoils. You know, though, he gets like that. You talk about a. You know, a golfer. They talk about the lag that you build in the swing. And then when you watch him load and you just see all of this potential energy that is transmuted into kinetic energy. He's a thing. I accomplished something Friday night.
Eddie Stanky
Yeah, I want to hear about this.
David Eckstein
I did it. I've done it before, but this is the first time I really did it officially, so. I was hungry after the Sox game. I didn't eat at the Sox game. I just. I don't know. I wasn't hungry, and I just. I. I sometimes. I don't like being in that seat and trying to arrange everything and worry about spilling on my pants and all that, so. I said, yeah, I'm good. And I left before the ninth inning. I want to beat the rush. And I realized, God, I'm hungry. I haven't eaten all day. I'm starving. What's open? Because it's like whatever it was. 10, 15, not a lot's open. Then I realized I transferred at Fullerton. Red line, brown line. I'm going to get off at Addison and walk home. I thought, oh, no, no, no, no. I could get off at Addison and walk and then I could get, you know, whatever fast food near my house. Or I could stay on the Brown line. I could go to the Irving park stop and then walk a half a block to my right. And I'm at Diner Grill. And the timing should be just right for Diner Grill. Before people are leaving, the bars should be able to get a stool there.
Dan Bernstein
It's only.
David Eckstein
It's only those, what, nine stools or whatever it is. I don't know how many it is now, but that's it. Because the patio was closed. And I walk in and I sit down and I ordered the slinger and I ate the slinger and I pointed to the plate.
Eddie Stanky
Well, tell people what's on the slinger.
David Eckstein
Okay, well, the slinger is. It's two or three orders of hash browns. I think it's two full orders of hash browns. That's the base. And then on the hash browns, they put two cheeseburger patties, two sunny side up eggs and onions. And then the whole thing is covered with chili. Completely, Completely covered with chili. And it's served with toast. So I ate it. Like, no problem. Like it was. It was not really much of an effort. And then I kind of looked at the guy. I'm like, hey, you know, hey, I finished it. He goes, no, no, you got to finish all the toast. Oh, okay. Could I have some more jelly and butter? And I put. And I polished off the toast, and I even used the toast to make sure I sopped up everything on the plate. I cleaned every last bit of the plate. And I got the certificate, my name. I don't know if they put it on the wall yet, but I should have. I do need some confirmation. So if you do go by Diner Grill at Marshfield and Irving park, see if my certificate's on the wall that says I've polished off the Slinger. Now, then this was sent to me.
Eddie Stanky
Then. What'd you eat on the way home?
David Eckstein
It's a good question. It's a good question because I had to. As I had to walk home and I had to stop at CVS at Damon and Lincoln because I was out of melatonin. So it's a 24 hour CVS. So I bought a bunch of melatonin and then on my walk home I bought two king size Snickers.
Eddie Stanky
Okay, so you had your dessert.
David Eckstein
My dessert was two king size Snickers. Okay, so that's the answer. But nicely done. According to eater.com it says that the, it says the current certificate bears the lovely mug of Kenny a cook managers and working behind the David lynch esque counter for 12 years, many locals have braved the slinger, whether for the competitive glory or sheer personal enjoyment. For me it was both. Two men have eaten four slingers the fastest time and I don't, I would have needed to have seen this. Chicago's own Pat Deep Dish Bertoletti, the second ranked competitive eater in the world at the time. This was written in 2013. He said eight, four slingers in four minutes.
Eddie Stanky
No way. In four minutes.
David Eckstein
That's what it says. And they've changed the certificate. Their certificate doesn't have the picture on it anymore.
Eddie Stanky
Now that, that's 12. I mean your base, that's 12 orders of hash browns.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah. Yeah.
Eddie Stanky
Eight burgers.
David Eckstein
Yeah. In four minutes.
Eddie Stanky
Four large orders.
David Eckstein
I don't, I don't know how that's possible.
Eddie Stanky
Wow.
David Eckstein
I do not know how that's possible. I'd have to see that happen to believe it.
Eddie Stanky
Is there a time limit on it or is it just finish?
David Eckstein
There's no time limit, but you feel pressured because there's so many people waiting and people are loud and drunk and waiting for seats and you're, you know, and I, I had, I had to finish the toes. He's like, they made me sit and finish. But I know there were people ready to vulture my, my spot at the counter as soon as I left.
Eddie Stanky
All right, well, good job with that. Yeah.
David Eckstein
And just, But I, I need some, some sleuth here. Somebody. Next time you're there, just make sure that they, they put my certificate up there.
Eddie Stanky
They give you the credit you deserve.
David Eckstein
Yeah, I mean I, I, I had, I, I saw the, Jerry took a picture of the certificate and I've got it. I just, Somebody's got to put that thing on the wall. I wasn't going to stand around and wait for that thing to hit the wall.
Eddie Stanky
Yeah, it needs to go on the wall so someone can graffiti it and deface it.
Ryan Reynolds
Right.
David Eckstein
You kill any fish lately? You threaten anyone?
Dan Bernstein
Yeah.
David Eckstein
You're so proud of that. They should give you a certificate for threatening people's families over a fish.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah.
David Eckstein
Where's that certificate? I don't know. Go ahead, just send me one. I'll fill it out for you. You can put on the wall. That will do it. For today's Dan Bernstein, Unfiltered. It has been brought to you by Chicago Window Guys. Russ Armstrong is the owner and, and you should give him a call. 847-302-9171. Check out the five star reviews at ChicagoNow guys.com I'll also tell you this, you don't want to miss forward progress today. I feel like, it kind of feels like football season is like starting, starting soon. And we've got all kinds of things beyond the Kyler Gordon news that we have to get into. So you don't, you definitely don't want to miss. Well, you never want to miss it really ever. Don't miss any of this stuff. So I've just, I'm looking at the list of all the things that we still have to do before we are done today. But thanks for joining us in DBU here on three one two sports.
Dan Bernstein
Dan Bernstein, Unfiltered Unfiltered on three one two Sports. Thanks for listening to today's episode brought to you by my bookie.
Dom
This episode sponsored by Pins and Aces. Here's a golf industry secret. That $400 bag everyone's carrying. Ours is built with the same premium materials and craftsmanship. The big difference is the price tag. Pins and Aces is the people's golf brand. We'd rather you spend the savings on more golf bags, head covers, apparel, accessories, fresh drops all season long and free shipping on orders over $75. Smart golfers. Do the math. See for yourself at Pins and aces dot com.
Dan Bernstein returns with producer Matt Abbatacola to break down the weekend's most talked-about moments in Chicago sports. This episode’s main theme is a sharp critique of Chicago Bears chairman George McCaskey’s public appearance as an honorary umpire at the Savannah Bananas event at Wrigley—juxtaposed with the ongoing, embarrassing Bears stadium debacle. The show also covers Bears injury concerns, White Sox ballpark experience, Cubs and Sox odds, and classic Chicago sports banter.
Theme:
Examining leadership in Chicago sports, with a focus on George McCaskey prioritizing fun and public appearances while the Bears’ stadium plans continue to falter. The episode mixes sharp criticism, personal sports experiences, and offbeat stories, all in Bernstein’s candid, conversational style.
[01:11–11:41]
"There’s the CEO of the Bears as an extra in the production. That’s wild. He owns the Bears. Act like it."
— Dan Bernstein (11:28)
[11:41–16:25]
[15:27–19:04]
[17:20–19:04]
[23:01–33:43]
[39:51–46:43]
[48:10–51:43]
[52:44–59:44]
[61:18–66:57]
Candid, irreverent, analytical, and full of classic Chicago sports insider references. Bernstein mixes sharp, articulate criticism with humor, nostalgia, and genuine appreciation for sports quirks and characters.
This episode is a classic slice of “Dan Bernstein Unfiltered”—you get fired-up city sports analysis, nuanced critiques of ownership and leadership, evidence-based roster talk, and colorful Chicago anecdotes. If you want to understand the stubbornness, pride, and humor of Chicago sports culture, start here.