Why Do Chicago Cubs Broadcasters Want PCA to Rest?

Summary

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Dan Bernstein Unfiltered – July 30, 2026

Episode: Why Do Chicago Cubs Broadcasters Want PCA to Rest?

Host: Dan Bernstein
Guests/Co-hosts: Jason Goff, Brian Sandalow
Main Theme:
A wide-ranging Chicago sports discussion, headlined by a deep dive into why Cubs broadcasters—on multiple occasions—have publicly suggested young center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (PCA) needs more rest, and what it reveals about modern baseball, athlete management, and sports broadcasting.

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1. Overview of the Episode

This episode opens with the backdrop of a dramatic Cubs extra-innings game and quickly pivots to dissect recent comments from Cubs television analysts about rest for Pete Crow-Armstrong. Bernstein, Sandalow, and Goff break down not just the logic and subtext behind these on-air calls for rest—but the changing dynamics of player management, generational shifts in athlete care, and the often invisible communication channels between clubhouses, broadcasters, and the media.

The episode also covers major controversy surrounding new Michigan State football coach Pat Fitzgerald, the realities and legalities of claiming roadkill in Illinois, and more trademark riffing on Chicago sports, culinary habits, and life in the city.

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2. Key Discussion Points & Insights

A. Why So Much Talk About Rest for PCA?

• The Broadcast Moment:
  Cubs broadcasters—first Rick Sutcliffe, then JD (Jim Deshaies)—have both raised, on-air, the question of whether PCA should get some time off.

  • Sutcliffe gave a lengthy “plea” for a day off for PCA, citing constant media demands and his superstar workload ([04:56]).
  • JD, during the eighth inning, mused aloud: “I wonder if he’ll give PCA a turn,” questioning if manager Craig Counsell would rest him ([03:02], [04:54]).

• Context of the Cubs’ Schedule:
  The Cubs are in a “17 games in 17 days” stretch, with brutal heat and pressure. Recent days off for veterans (Dansby Swanson, Nico Hoerner) have been given, but not PCA ([03:02]).

• Why Are Broadcasters Advocating for This?
  Bernstein wonders if these are just idle musings or “something in the ecosystem coming from somewhere about PCA needing some downtime.” He theorizes it could be:

  • Internally generated concern (perhaps even filtered through the media or team staff)
  • An indirect way to signal public or private messages to management

  “My belief is there is something in the ecosystem coming from somewhere about PCA needing some downtime. And I get it…I don't think there's an absolute right or wrong here, but it’s clear to me now they’re thinking about it. This is a topic internally.”
  — Dan Bernstein ([04:56])

• Old School vs. New School Mentality:
  Goff and Sandalow note that both Sutcliffe and JD are “old school” former pitchers, reflecting on how athlete care, rest, and nutrition expectations have changed ([10:14]-[11:30]).

  "Athletes today are 24/7, 365, where it wasn’t that case in the 80s…the training, the nutrition, it’s different now."
  — Jason Goff ([10:40])

• Is PCA Actually Tired?

  • He’s 24, focused entirely on his game, doesn’t party, and seems to thrive on being an everyday player ([08:08]).
  • There’s some reference to his second-half fatigue in the prior season, which could be influencing broadcaster opinion ([10:14]).
  • Sandalow, reflecting a nuanced position: “I generally believe young, healthy professional athletes should play…But I’m also keenly aware of players wearing down…” ([09:35])

• Is Anyone Actually Asking for Rest?

  • There’s speculation behind the scenes—players will sometimes quietly lobby broadcasters to “put it out there” that they could use a day off ([18:11]).
  • But PCA is cast as the competitive, “never says no” guy—so if anyone is worried, it’s likely coming from somewhere else in the organization.

  “Players will lobby you—‘Hey, man, put it out there that I need rest. Will you speculate I need a day off?’…That happens. Not saying it’s happening here, but it does.”
  — Brian Sandalow ([18:11])

B. Wider Reflections: Athlete Management in Modern Baseball

• Value of Rest vs. Everyday Impact:

  • Bernstein outlines how PCA’s value (“a 7 WAR player”) comes from being on the field every day ([04:54]).
  • But, “where does rest come in?”—especially with potential burnout or breakdown, referencing past Cubs injuries (e.g., Dansby Swanson’s delayed surgery, Mike Trout’s career arc) ([04:54], [14:47]).

• Modern Medical & Mental Health Considerations:

  • A good manager's job is sometimes to force a break on a player who won’t ask ([18:11]).
  • Mental and physical health, proper communication, and player longevity are recurring concerns.

C. Sidebar: Sports Broadcasting Tactics

• How Topics Make Air:
  • There’s discussion on how live broadcasters get talking points and whether certain “speculations” are seeded by producers or players ([17:07]-[18:11]).

D. Other Sports and City Talk

• Pat Fitzgerald & Michigan State Hire:

  • Extended takedown of Fitzgerald’s re-emergence post-scandal, with Bernstein excoriating his “rebirth” narrative and lack of contrition ([25:07]-[39:06]).
  • Memorable quote:

    “Pat Fitzgerald led a program rife with physical sexual abuse. That was his program…If you’re telling me he didn’t know, you’re living in a fantasy world. Bullshit. Nobody with a brain believes that.”
    — Dan Bernstein ([28:16])

• Chicago Bulls Color Analyst Opening:

  • With Stacey King gone, speculation on what the Bulls should do with the broadcast booth, advocating for an ensemble/rotating approach before a permanent replacement ([44:25]-[49:50]).
  • Suggestion: Bring in various voices—including “Pax” (John Paxson) for a few games.

• Illinois Roadkill Law and Venison Rants:

  • Deep-dive on the sociological oddity and legal specifics of claiming roadkill for food or trophies in Illinois, with spirited back-and-forth on culinary resourcefulness vs. gross-out ([50:47]-[62:57]).
  • Lighthearted quote:

    “Did you bow hunt it? Nope—Honda Civic. That's my weapon of choice. Drive around at night, shine those lights, take them out…”
    — Brian Sandalow ([52:53])

• Cooking Show Anxiety and Discount Shopping:

  • Riffing on risotto disasters on “Chopped,” smart grocery shopping, and the culture of bargain cuisine ([65:18]-[68:21]).

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3. Notable Moments & Quotes

• On Sutcliffe’s On-Air Plea for PCA Rest:

  “He took the time to wait for a moment in the broadcast where he had the territory to make a long case for PCA needing rest. And then…JD kind of just rolled it out there: ‘I wonder if Craig will give PCA a turn next.'"
  — Dan Bernstein ([04:54])

• On Player’s Reluctance to Ask Out:

  “Pete would never say this. He doesn’t want to be the guy that goes to counts and says, ‘I need a day. I’m dragging, man.’ That’s the manager’s job.”
  — Brian Sandalow ([18:11])

• On the Generational Change in Athlete Life:

  “Athletes today are 24/7, 365…They spend more money on taking care of their bodies than most of these guys made back then.”
  — Jason Goff ([10:40])

• On the Fiction of ‘Didn’t Know’ in Football Scandals:

  “If you’re telling me he didn’t know, you’re living in a fantasy world. Bullshit. Nobody with a brain believes that.”
  — Dan Bernstein ([28:16])

• On Roadkill Laws and Ethics:

  “If you need the food, if you need the sustenance….But don’t be mounting a trophy because you hit it with a car—please don’t do that.”
  — Brian Sandalow ([52:53])

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4. Timestamped Important Segments

• PCA Rest Debate Begins: [02:59]
• Schedule/Stretch Impact: [03:02]-[04:54]
• Sutcliffe’s and JD’s On-Air Rest Suggestions: [04:54]
• Old School vs. New School Training Mentality: [10:14]
• Speculation How Player Rest Topics Get to Air: [17:07]-[18:11]
• Manager-Player Dynamics on Rest: [18:11]
• Pat Fitzgerald/Michigan State Rant: [25:07]-[39:06]
• Chicago Bulls Broadcast Booth Plans: [44:25]-[49:50]
• Illinois Roadkill Program & Food Rants: [50:47]-[62:57]

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5. Conclusion

The episode is a classic blend of Bernstein’s sharp, sometimes acerbic, “tell-it-straight” style and longstanding Chicago sports expertise. At its heart: a smart, nuanced discussion of what on-air discussions of PCA’s need for rest really say about the state of the Cubs, baseball culture, and the unseen power dynamics of sports teams and their TV partners. Around it, listeners get the sort of offbeat, city-specific flavor that longtime fans expect—from the realities of college football’s second-chance culture to the culinary landscapes of Midwestern supermarkets.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

Expect:

• A breakdown of Cubs clubhouse dynamics and the hidden conversations between players, coaches, and broadcasters.
• Fiercely honest (sometimes explicit) takes on both local and national sports stories.
• The kind of deadpan comedy and real-life riffing that makes Bernstein a unique Chicago media voice.

Skip the ads—jump right to [02:59] for the main event.

Transcript

[Dan Bernstein]

This episode is brought to you by my bookie. 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.

[Brian Sandalow]

Well, if you're going to have an

[Dan Bernstein]

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[Jason Goff]

1, 2. Sports

[Brian Sandalow]

DBU on 3. 1, 2. And man, it was a wild baseball night last night. If especially you're sitting here in Chicago as I'm trying to observe both teams watching everything that is going on into the extra innings and seeing a couple of games flip and in different directions, like that wild whip song baseball action. And we heard something in the Cub game that I think was for me at this point in the season, more interesting than just the drama that was happening. And what is going on with PCA right now because on, on one hand you're getting a guy who is loving all of this attention and loving being a star. We brought it up a little bit on off the Ivy today. But when, when he does that, when he hits a home run into the bullpen, knows it's gone. Knows the Cubs are taking a 2 nothing lead in the, in the top extras and. And does the Ow. The bat is so hot I can't even have it in my hands. This bat is Ow. Too hot. It has to be dropped. That's and. And understanding that the. All of the, the young shirtless boys up there have been. They've given him shit all game and all year. And it's okay because I think the spirit of it is in good fun. A bad player doesn't get that kind of attention. An irrelevant player doesn't get that kind of attention. Nobody takes time to express their displeasure over something that isn't significant enough to merit their displeasure. So that is. Those are all trophies for him to wear around every time somebody tells him he sucks. And he knows it and he's able to appreciate it and gave it back a little bit before the explosion of the bullpen and what's left of the bullpen. But J.D. in the eighth inning, I don't know if you heard this and this, this comes on the heels of something we talked about like a week ago and that is when does PCA get a break? They are in a. Because of a rain out and a makeup. I want to say they're in a stretch of what, 17 games in 17 days. Does that sound right?

[Jason Goff]

Yep, that's correct.

[Brian Sandalow]

And the temperatures, the pressure cooker, the getting, getting slowly, bamboo steamed in Bush Stadium. As hot as it's been there, and we know how difficult it's been, the players have talked about it before, what it takes out of you and the number of jerseys that you through and how actively they're trying to make sure everybody stays hydrated. Dansby Swanson got a day off and he was replaced by Nico Horner at short. Then Nico Horner got a day off and he was replaced by. It was. That was Pedro they, they put over yesterday. Playing really good baseball, by the way, maybe just good enough to get traded. And then JD in the eighth inning said to nobody in particular, just kind of said, I wonder if he'll give PCA a turn, meaning counsel. And he just left it there. Now, normally I would think that's a TV analyst doing his job and just idly musing about what could be happening. But in context, this comes on the heels of a Rick Sutcliffe. I don't want to call it a diatribe or a rant because you can't rant anything when you sound like Sut, man. Nothing, nothing, nothing sounds like a rant from him. But it was a passionate plea, shall we say, for PCA to be given rest. And this went on. It's why I pointed it out when it happened, because Rick Sutcliffe talked about for minutes. He said, you give the guy a break, man. You talking to media every game. Let somebody else talk to me every

[Jason Goff]

once in a while.

[Brian Sandalow]

He had that whole thing, he's gotta have a rest. So for this to bubble up again, my belief is there is something in the ecosystem coming from somewhere about PCA needing some downtime. And I get it. I also, I haven't. This is not going to be just, you know, for me. I'm not going to tell you that there's an absolute right or a wrong thing to do here. I don't think that's true. I don't have the information that Craig Counsel has. And all he has is what the patient is telling him as he's trying to make a diagnosis here. Hey, Pete, you okay? And from what we heard about Dansby Swanson as an Example, we know that he went a whole year hurt, year and a half with a core muscle injury, inguinal hernia that he had to have repaired. And that was a little weird and a little disappointing that it wasn't taken care of sooner. And I don't know what kind of questions could be asked. I don't know what you do with a veteran of that standing who you sign as a free agent. I, I, I'm not sure I would like going back. I would like for that to have been handled a little bit differently as far as his amount of rest and his, the conversations. Are you okay? Are you yourself? What, what do we need to do? What can we do? What do the doctors say? And there's no reason to overreact. But I hope these conversations are occurring with, with the Cubs. Seven win player. Guy's a seven win player. He is inextricably linked his performance to your team success. That is an everyday player. It's not just one of these starting pitchers that pops up every five days and you hope you get six innings out of them every single. It's part of how you accrue seven WAR is by being valuable, by walking on the field and adding value just because you're standing there. Because that's how good you are. That's how important you are. So where does rest come in? I don't know. I just, it's clear to me now they're thinking about it that this is a topic internally. Sutcliffe spent. He took the time to wait for a moment in the broadcast where he had the territory to make a long case for PCA needing rest. And then in his own style, JD kind of just rolled it out there. I wonder if Craig will give PCA a turn next.

[Jason Goff]

Well, it's interesting, Dan, and it could just be a coincidence that JD brought it up. You have two old school pitchers talking about rest during a time of the game that's very different today than it was back then. Pete is also 24 years old. He's not a guy that goes out and is out all night when he has opportunities. He's not falling asleep on pool tables in Wrigleyville. He seemed to be all about playing baseball. That, that's, that seems to be his focus. He talked about in a podcast the other day the good times, the fun that he has is with his teammates after games, traveling, whether back to Wrigley or to other cities. They have a few beers on the plane. They laugh, they joke. Those are the good times that he looks forward to. He doesn't go out and spend all his time doing things. He just doesn't. That's not who he is. If, if they're going to give him a rest. It's not going to happen today. I don't think in this game against St. Louis. It's not going to happen in the next home stand when you have the Yankees and the Dodgers coming to town.

[Brian Sandalow]

Oh yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

One glance at the schedule says if

[Brian Sandalow]

you're going to do this, you should probably do it right.

[Jason Goff]

Well, I just don't think they're going to do it today. They're not going to do it at home in the next six games. You have that seventh game at home against Toronto, that makeup game where if you keep your pattern without any new pitchers, David Peterson starts that game and then you have three in Kansas City before you have your actual first day off on August 10th.

[Brian Sandalow]

I'm of two minds in that I generally believe that young, healthy professional athletes

[Dan Bernstein]

should play

[Brian Sandalow]

and because I know they want to and usually it is up to the coach or manager to pull them back. I'm also keenly aware of players wearing down over the course of a six month season and not being at their physical best for games in the fall. And then we get into everything being anecdotal and it could just be that

[Jason Goff]

too, that he had a bad second half last year. And so maybe these two older veteran guys, you know, who pitched in a different era, maybe they're looking at it and saying, well, you know, this kid needs some rest because he, he got tired last year. He was.

[Brian Sandalow]

That's the way, that's the second time you said, you know, old pitchers who pitched in a different era. Why, why are you sort of attacking their credentials before?

[Jason Goff]

It's not an attack, it's just, it's an observation of fact that athletes were different back then. Training was different back then. Nutrition was different back then. It was viewed differently as well too. I mean these, I mean athletes today are 24 7, 365, where it wasn't that, that case in the 80s. It wasn't like that in the 70s and 80s.

[Brian Sandalow]

Yeah, you showed up to training camp to get in shape.

[Jason Goff]

Get in shape. Right. I mean, and that happened in football too. I mean we heard Doug Laphone talk about having part time jobs during the off season and you go to training camp to get in shape. These guys are in shape year round now. They, I mean they spend more money on taking care of their bodies than most of these guys made back then. So that's why it's not attack of their credentials. It's just, it's, it's a. It's a different. It's a different world they're living in as an athlete now.

[Brian Sandalow]

Yeah, that.

[Dan Bernstein]

Which is.

[Brian Sandalow]

And I think they're aware. I know JD Tries to balance for that. And he'll say stuff. He said it the other night when he was talking about McGreevey appearing in the dugout.

[Jason Goff]

You see, that's, that's, that's the thing. That's an old school guy being angry about it. Like, why, why the. Is he out there enjoying the rest of this dugout and time of this game? He should be in the showers and hanging his head because he got his ass kicked in.

[Brian Sandalow]

Well, waiting for the media. And then he even said something. It's like, well, you go in, you ice your arm. And he paused and he said, I guess guys don't even really do that anymore. They don't. They don't ice the arm anymore. And it reminded me of years ago when Hawk Harrelson was lamenting the lack of use of ethyl chloride.

[Jason Goff]

The, the.

[Brian Sandalow]

The freezing spray. Remember?

[Jason Goff]

Oh, yes.

[Brian Sandalow]

Well, I used to bring out. They bring out the old ethyl chloride. They don't. They don't use any of that anymore. And no, they, they don't. Soccer used it for a little while, but It's. I think J.D. knows that. I, I just think it's. It is possible it's coincidence. You're 100 right to bring that up. But for, for it to come up twice on the marquee broadcast from different broadcasters within a week or a little over a week, my best guess would be. And you can, I mean, you've got some good Cub sources too. I would just wonder if it's worth finding out, is it coming at all from Pete? Because some of the stuff that Sut was saying had to do with off field responsibilities. And I think what we need to appreciate about Pete is he's a superstar. He's a superstar.

[Jason Goff]

Yeah.

[Brian Sandalow]

Like. Like I was thinking this the other day, like, the way he carries himself and the stuff that he, the stuff that he does. The, the celebratory stuff. And like last night, there's a little Sammy Sosa in that. Like, he's, he's embracing all of this

[Jason Goff]

stuff, you know, and it's just, it's too bad that they didn't get that win last night because it would have been an ideal time to sit down.

[Brian Sandalow]

Yeah.

[Jason Goff]

After winning that series, especially in this series. Dan, he's. He's 1 for 12 with that one home run, three RBIs. He has two walks and five strikeouts. Has not been a great three game series.

[Brian Sandalow]

Yeah, but he's still what we take

[Dan Bernstein]

for granted defensively though.

[Jason Goff]

Oh, I don't know. We absolutely take the defense for granted offensively. And you could say, hey, this might be an ideal time for him to get a rest. You know, had the game winning home run last night. We've, we've won this series three games to maybe one if we lose today. Good opportunity for rest before we head back home against you know, six games against the Yankees and the Dodgers that are going to have huge national spotlight on them and unfortunately they couldn't hold on for that win. And you know, I, I, I think he plays today. He definitely plays at home stand and maybe look at that Toronto game to give him a day off.

[Brian Sandalow]

You know, I know he doesn't want

[Jason Goff]

to and it's, of course he doesn't.

[Brian Sandalow]

I do think it's a little odd because usually about, well the old school mentality would be. Usually the old school mentality is play,

[Dan Bernstein]

play, play, play, play, play, play.

[Brian Sandalow]

What's this with load management or taking breaks or you can't like they, it's, it's funny that we, we're kind of inverting it for this discussion. As I remember in, in basketball for years, my, my guy, Gene Sullivan get, when he'd see coaches running in waves of five in starters and then bringing in a second team of five different starters, then going 12 deep and he'd say all you need are six players because you really need five people. He just, college basketball games are short, they don't take that long. These are young men in good shape. If you don't have foul trouble, you barely should need six guys, let alone seven. That was his thing about he goes, he goes. The seasons are short, the games are short, guys, people should play basketball. You have a timeout, you can get your breath. If your team is in shape, you don't need to go eight deep. And we did talk, we talked about, you know, you've recruited a lot of kids, you made a lot of promises, you've asked a lot of people to do a lot of things for you. And it is, it's, it's tough for a coach to say, well you're just not playing. These are my five unless you're honest about your G recruits. So here we're talking about older players who are saying, yeah, well he should rest, he should rest, he should rest. There's, it's coming from Somewhere. This is not made up out of whole cloth. So all I want is for the smart decision to be made and for an understanding that it isn't just he's under contract. Like it isn't just this year, you know, you, it could be a Mike Trout kind of thing. You don't want to get to a point where, boy, this guy had such a heavy workload on him that eventually he just burned out and he, the flame burned really, really brightly and then he just ran out of gas. Now it's baseball. He's not a running back. And you could see that with, with the, with the trajectory of a running back career. You know, run him into the ground and he's just, you know, getting beaten to death. It's baseball.

[Jason Goff]

Right. I don't know how this works though. Either. Maybe, maybe you, you do, maybe you don't. But on a broadcast, for a live play by play. I don't know what type of things

[Brian Sandalow]

producers do a lot.

[Jason Goff]

If they, I mean before, before the actual, the game starts. Do they, Are they providing topical ideas? Are they providing.

[Brian Sandalow]

Yes.

[Jason Goff]

Talking points? Are they doing all that for a live play by play?

[Brian Sandalow]

Sure, every relationship is different, but depending on what's happening in the game, is it a tight game? Do you need, and I mean before

[Jason Goff]

the game even starts, are there, are there things like, hey, if there are opportunities to fill in, it could be a, you know, a 12 run loss or a 12, 1 victory and you need to fill in more than just the game.

[Brian Sandalow]

Oh, sure, they plan all that.

[Jason Goff]

So, you know, PCA does it, does he need rest for the second half of this?

[Brian Sandalow]

Yeah, but that, yeah, but that wasn't the game to do it. You know, you're in a tight one at extras.

[Jason Goff]

Yeah, that's a good point.

[Brian Sandalow]

At that point, you're not dealing with a, with blowout stuff. Yeah, every game you're planning blowout stuff.

[Jason Goff]

But that was, that was what, the seventh or eighth inning? He brought it up. Eighth, eighth inning.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay.

[Brian Sandalow]

And the truth is it's a two way street that a really good analyst has a list of things and a really good analyst is in the dugout and in the clubhouse and sitting at dinner and learning things. And then you say, hey, you know, I might, I might, I might bring that up tomorrow, I might mention that tomorrow. Or you're in a situation. I've been in a situation before where players will lobby you. Hey, man, put it out there that I need rest. Will you just, will you just kind of, you speculate, do me a favor and just speculate that I need a day off. That happens. I don't, I'm not saying it's happening in this case, but it does. And at the higher the level, the more complicated those things can be, the more fraught with unintended consequences those things can be. And that's why. But my, my gut initial feeling was even when it was just Sutcliffe saying it, that he's hearing that he's hearing it from somebody. He's hearing it either from teammates. Like, well, Pete would never say this. You know, Pete doesn't want to be the guy that goes to counts and says, I need a day. I'm dragging, man, I'm hurting. I just, I just give me a day to not put spikes on. And he's not going to be the guy who says that. And there are very few 24 year olds who would. But that's the manager's job. That's the manager say, hey, hey, kid, take a day, take a day. And sometimes you let him know the night before because sometimes that guy needs to go out and have a couple of beers and you need to let him have that. That's why veterans like from a manager to know what the plan is, they don't want to come in, in the morning and have to look at the whiteboard. And either it's there or it's not. Because in, in the majors, you give some latitude and some leeway for people who have wives and kids and lives and, and responsibilities outside of work because it's work. And say, you know, take a day. Take a mental health day. You get physical health is mental health days. And if you have a good boss at your job, same thing, take it. Take, take, take tomorrow. And nobody wants to. No dedicated worker, nobody who cares about their work ever wants to. And some are really passionate about it and it makes it really hard to take time off. No, no, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. And I do think with somebody as important as Pete Crowe, Armstrong, I just hope people are looking out for him. And if in fact that there is somewhere, somewhere in the Cubs world a thread of, of concern about burning him too hot, of revving that engine too hot, that there is some attention paid to it. That's all. It's possible he's absolutely fine. But this is twice now. This is twice that that a different analyst. And the way Jim said it, if you speak JD and you know, he's very clever, very careful and he's, he understands points in a broadcast, the rhythm of the broadcast of where to say certain things and the way there was kind of a dot, dot, dot at the end because he set it up. He said, well, he gave Dansby a night off and now he's giving Nico a night off. Pause. I wonder if PCA will be next. There was. And I said, okay, well that's, that's twice, so we'll see. I'll say is keep an eye on it.

[Dan Bernstein]

One of the things I enjoy most about sports is that every week presents a different puzzle. Everyone has an opinion, everyone thinks they found an edge. Sometimes they're right. More often, sports remind us they're unpredictable. And that's part of the fun. Whether it's a marquee football game, a heated divisional rivalry, baseball stretch run, or a big fight card, my bookie gives you plenty of ways to get involved beyond just picking a winner. The prop board's loaded with player performances, game milestones, all kinds of in game opportunities that keep things interesting from the opening whistle to the final out. And it's all in one place. One account, one wallet. Bet the spread, jump into the live markets while the game's unfolding, or head over to the casino between games or at halftime.

[Brian Sandalow]

If you've been thinking about trying it, now's a great time.

[Dan Bernstein]

Go to my bookie AG, use the promo code DBU and get your first bet covered, up to 500 bucks.

[Brian Sandalow]

If it doesn't hit, use your bet

[Dan Bernstein]

back bonus token and run it back. Don't just watch the action, 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 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. You just answer a few simple health 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 [e-mail] dbu that's e t h o s.com dbu Application times may vary. Rates may vary. You know, I think it's really important to be smart about managing your finances. And, 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 [e-mail] 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.

[Brian Sandalow]

What pissed me off yesterday and I'm just kind of, I'm still seething about this. Did you hear the Pat Fitzgerald press conference?

[Jason Goff]

Didn't hear it, but read. Read about it.

[Brian Sandalow]

Yep. Did you? Like, come on, man. Like, what are we pretending didn't happen? What is there, Is there an ounce of contrition? And don't tell me that that is somehow legally prevented here because of the, and I. The settlement may have all kinds of non disparagement agreements. I'm sure it does. I'm sure there's. There are full and strict non disparagement clauses in his separation agreement and the settlement of his wrongful termination suit. Now, I will tell you from my understanding of the settlement that there, should I say this, there wasn't a whole lot of disagreement on the major facts of the case. A lot of the negotiation, as I've been debriefed, had to do with arcane details regarding timelines and information off of computers. And everything was arranged in a way to. The entire goal of the process was to allow Pat Fitzgerald a way to reasonably present himself as not knowing what was going on with the players at Northwestern over the years he was there. The culture of abuse, the culture of sexual abuse going on with his team. And you've read it all, you've seen, everything's in the report. We know what, what did happen. And the sworn affidavits by players as to what? Had the car wash and all that stuff and the Shrek clap and all that creepy, weird stuff that was going on. Run. Him and a player got run. It was all this, you know, all the nude butt humping and everything that they're doing under Fitzgerald. And then it was. There were. There were a lot of very specific technicalities regarding. Well, he didn't see this part, and this person didn't inform him of this at this time. If you're telling me he didn't know, you're living in a fantasy world. For that, though. The number of teams, the number of players, the number of seasons, all of that time for one of these control freak coaches to then conveniently be like, I had no idea. Bullshit. Nobody with a brain believes that. Nobody. I know there are plenty of trustees at Michigan State that now can just point to whatever documents and say, oh, he didn't. He.

[Dan Bernstein]

He didn't know.

[Brian Sandalow]

He didn't know.

[Dan Bernstein]

He's.

[Jason Goff]

He.

[Brian Sandalow]

We can hire him. Fine. Fine. But I am never going to stop calling bullshit on this, because that's what it is. Pat Fitzgerald led a program rife with physical sexual abuse. That was his program. And you can claim whatever technicalities you want about who knew what and who knew what and when and who, more importantly, should have known. Even if that's granted, even if you say, well, gee, we're.

[Dan Bernstein]

We're gonna.

[Brian Sandalow]

We're going to suspend all disbelief, every level of reasonable disbelief of every control freak coach and think somehow, with all the evidence and everything every player said, they must all be lying.

[Jason Goff]

All.

[Brian Sandalow]

Every single one is making up the same story that somehow, in some way, this was completely oblivious, absolutely oblivious to all these things that were going on in his program. The amount of suspended, actively suspended disbelief it takes to believe that is a lot. And that's what Michigan State has done. And that's the decision that every potential, you know, every parent of every potential Michigan State player and the players themselves are going to have to make like, they're going to cut me a check. Is it worth playing for somebody whose teams had a history of hazing and violent sexual abuse? They'll have to make those decisions, and they will. But when he stood there and some of the things that came out of his mouth yesterday, a rebirth, a rebirth for himself, a rebirth for the program. And couching himself in these. In language like that, there's the religiosity of it, the intended faux religiosity of that. The imagery of rebirth. Come on, man. If you're a football coach trying to win One game that matters to anybody up there. After everything that's gone on at Michigan State, everything has happened there, all the Larry Nassar stuff. I mean, you had your two coaches ago, you had a guy who was sexually harassing the person in the organization in charge of policing sexual harassment. That happened there. And I, I, it's, it is, it's stomach turning to hear somebody then standing up in front of you and, and, and saying that. We refer to this as a, as a rebirth. And I, I learned a lot at Loyola. I never left the game. I learned a lot. I became a better teacher. When you're teaching a young guy how to run a curl route and he's like, what is a curl? Like, what about the freshman or sophomore coaches here? What are you guys doing? I'm a volunteer dad here to help. So he's apparently calling out the coaching at Loyola. What are you guys doing? What about the freshman or sophomore coaches here? It's funny. When issues arise and people run to you, you find out who your friends are. True. I'm just really thankful for a great group of people. It's hardened my resolve. I'm excited to have a home field advantage. I've never lived that shots in there for nu. I don't know if that's outside the non disparagement agreement. I wouldn't say I have a chip on my shoulder. I would say our program has a chip on our shoulder. I'd say we have a bag of chips on our shoulder. And I'll leave it at that. You know, it'd be nice. It'll be really nice for any of this. And I believe in second chances. I'm in the middle of one right now. But you gotta start by admitting fault. No one's gonna give you a second chance until you can say in front of everybody publicly, I screwed up. Have we ever heard that from him in this ever? And say, man, if I had it to do all over again, I, I would have known what was going on in my program. I would have had better control of my program. I would have done a better job being aware of what's happening in my program. And that's taking him at his word. Because I don't believe him for a second that he didn't know. Not for one second. Not based on, on any of the testimony for the players, not based on the report, and certainly not based on what I understand about how the settlement all went down.

[Dan Bernstein]

I don't believe him.

[Jason Goff]

Hey, I understand your sentiment there, and it's enlightened on Your part, but it's not real for that industry and even for this particular industry as well too. I mean, we've known guys that have gotten second and third chances that they didn't deserve and didn't own up to anything. They didn't in the past. And he certainly is in an industry where if you, if you believe that this guy can help you win games.

[Brian Sandalow]

Right.

[Jason Goff]

You don't have to own up anything. You can, you can keep denying and fighting it to the very, very end to get a second opportunity. Which he clearly has.

[Brian Sandalow]

Correct. And I'm going to keep pointing it out. Yeah, I will absolutely keep pointing it out. That, and, and I'm, I usually say when somebody loses a job that there is no transgression great enough to keep a good coach from coaching again. And yet I do think that Art Briles might be proving me wrong, even though he did. He went to coach in Italy. Is that right?

[Jason Goff]

Yes.

[Brian Sandalow]

I don't think Tim Beckman has coached again since the, the abuse claims. They tried to bring him back as a volunteer assistant at North Carolina until that became public and pointed out what is Tim Beckman doing here? And they're like, oh, okay, sorry. I guess, I guess we can't bring the abusive coach here. Yeah. So that, that ended quickly. And it's too bad that somebody with a history of running a program where abuse was endemic can have a top job again.

[Jason Goff]

Yeah. And that's, that's a, that's a job upgrade for him. Correct? I mean, isn't that a. Oh, hell yeah. And he's better job?

[Brian Sandalow]

Yeah. Well, no, because there's expectations there. Northwestern is the best job to have.

[Jason Goff]

Oh, because of the.

[Brian Sandalow]

Yeah, you win seven or eight games there, you're king.

[Jason Goff]

Yeah.

[Brian Sandalow]

Northwestern's the best job to have. Michigan State, if you don't win, they'll get rid of you. Like you, you don't, it's not a sinecure. You don't, you don't get to just kind of be there and say, well, I'm educating people. And they're, they're student athletes and off they go. At Michigan State, if you don't beat Michigan, you're going to get fired. And if, and there, there are people with actual football expectations. So no, I think, I think he lost the best job. One of the best jobs in sports is head coach in Northwestern football where you get tremendous resources, you're on an absolutely gorgeous campus working for a world class university, or at least it was before, you know, bent the knee to the king and you have you don't have to, you don't have to win a national championship. You don't have to go to the playoffs, be ranked, be fun, be. Have a few players here there make the NFL. So he, he's leaving the, the best job and one of the best jobs in sports, for one, where there are, there are definitely expectations. So enjoy because that cuts both ways. You're going to have, like you say, a home field advantage and you're going to, you're going to have every bit of money that you need. So I'm, you know, I just, I just know that you, that, that that particular program has had its share of issues in their organization. I mean, the, the whole Mel Tucker thing was just H. Oracle and Jonathan Smith out of Oregon lasted a couple of years, right? Even 9 and 15 or something like that. So here you go. This is the Pat Fitzgerald era embarks. And there is a. I'm. Every time I see that and every time I see that. The rebirth and chip on your shoulder. Why do you. A chip in your shoulder from what you have a chip on your shoulder because your players were abusing each other on your watch that you're allowed to say, I'm reborn. I'm coming back. Well, reborn from what? There's a missing piece here. A chip on your shoulder from what? There was no admission of fault or anything in the settlement. But again, if we actually talk about the major facts of what we know, it doesn't change anything about, about what happened there. I just think it's, it's another situation where football can be gross in this regard. And I just think people make their decisions based on what's true rather than what everybody wants to sweep under the rug or somehow pretend it didn't happen. I do think even if we, if we take everything at everyone's legal letter of everything, the question still remains why. If you say you weren't aware of it going on, why weren't you and why should we trust if we're parents sending our kid years or why should we trust that now you are going to be aware of it? If there's abuse going on or abuse that you are ordering, but you say that you're not really ordering, that you're in charge of these roving bands of upperclassmen abuse squads that you're sending after people allegedly.

[Dan Bernstein]

Please.

[Brian Sandalow]

If you want to believe it, that's fine. But if you, if you believe these stories about what do you know if that. If you really, really want to put yourself and find a place where all those things the number of things that would have to be true. The number of things that would have to be not true. If you want to live in that fantasy land, I'm not going to stop you. So enjoy. That's that one. That one's on you. Quick reminder that we've got a couple more days left here in the month of July. You think why I know that. Well, who cares? What does that mean? Well, what it means is you only have a couple more days to register to win our rewards for the month of July. So what you're going to do with the promo code Summer S U M M E r on the 312Sports app which you get from Apple App Store and Google Play. If you don't have it, you're missing out on all the good stuff. So go to the app store, register your account and then use the promo code Summer. We've got dinner for two at Little Baba Riba, which is the little sister cafe Baba Riba, the wonderful tapas. You can get your patatas bravas and your baked goat cheese and your bacon wrapped dates and all the awesome stuff. Dinner for two at Wildfire. That's the. You want steaks, you want a good piece of roasted salmon. There's all sorts of wonderful things there. A Wildfire. We also have a four pack of tickets to the Bristol Renaissance Fair and what I think is just the best here AC DC September 4th at Notre Dame Stadium. You want to be there. Well, Brian Johnson and Angus are still in in good enough form. You want to be there to see ACDC under Touchdown Jesus as they play highway to Hell. So enter the promo code Summer on any reward for a chance to win and we will be pulling those in just a couple days. Then we reload everything with all the August stuff. Our guy Killer Karwowski always has things for you on the 312Sports app on the rewards page for you to get.

[Dan Bernstein]

Welcome to DBU Picks presented by my bookie. We're breaking down the week's biggest matchups

[Brian Sandalow]

and the bets we're watching.

[Dan Bernstein]

I like the way he's seeing the ball lately.

[Brian Sandalow]

I'm gonna go Nico Horner plus 152 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.

[Jason Goff]

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 going to take the Cubs minus one and a half runs. And then on a separate play, I'm going to go Cubs first to score three runs. So Cubs first to three and then laying one and a half.

[Brian Sandalow]

All right, there you have it.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's another edition of DBU Picks presented by my bookie. Bet on anything, anywhere, anytime 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 is 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. You just answer a few simple health 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 Ethan Ethos get your free [e-mail] dbu that's e t h o s.com dbu Application times may vary. Rates may vary. 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 apple 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. Helps you realize when a large percentage of your income is going somewhere unexpected. I love the fact that Monarch lets you compare your investments to the Benchmark S&P 500. 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 to adjust. So you can write your own money story with Monarch. Use the code [e-mail] to get your first year of Monarch Core Half off at just $50. That's 50 off your first year at monarch.com with the code DBU.

[Brian Sandalow]

Got some info on your your Chicago Bulls plans here because this we discussed it briefly if you haven't downloaded the new episode of Organizations Win Championships, we talk about the Benedict Matheran rumors and what that would mean. And there's a proposed trade because the Bulls would need to free up cap space if they want to grab Matheran as an rfa. The other thing, too is how will Stacy King be replaced? How will those enormous shoes be filled? And over time, Jason and I were discussing what the options are. Do you name somebody right now and slide them in and just say, look, here it is, and get the sign off the buy in from Adam Amin and then you just go forward. What I've always felt would be the smarter plan of attack would be not to replace Stacey King with one person yet. Because this entire year, that is not fair. It's not fair to the person taking the job because of the jarring gear shift that that would be. And I think there's a lot of people, when they turn on their TV are still going to have to remember, oh, yeah, oh, Stacey's not here. That all. Everything that is going to be described about Caleb Wilson and some of the spectacular things he's about to do, that somebody else is going to be associated with those descriptions right now. Somebody else is going to have the opportunity to enjoy a potential star player here in Chicago that we haven't had since Derrick Rose. And Stacy is always going to be associated with Derrick Rose and his descriptions of what Derrick Rose did. But it's not fair to whoever is eventually going to get that job to say, here, come in right now, every game replaced AC King. Be yourself, but replace Daisy King. It is asking a lot of Adam Amin to deal with multiple partners. But I will tell you, from what I understand right now, I trust that the Bulls are as of, as of the moment, going to do this the right way, and that is have any number of people through that. It's in. And I don't think it's going to be strictly auditioning. These aren't going to be tryouts. They're just going to put some people in there and see how it sounds, see how it looks. And what I love about it is this also gives some authority and some autonomy to the most important other person involved. And that's Adam, who deserves that. And I, as a Bulls fan, I want that. It's really important to me that he has a lot of say in this, with whom he wants to work, that he's going to. He's worked with all kinds of people in the various booths that he's been in doing the various sports that he does at an extremely high level. There's nothing that he couldn't do. And I think he knows the kind of personality and the kind of broadcasting style with whom he's going to work. Well, I think Mark Brady has to be. Has to actually hear and see and work with the people who are doing it. And I think they'll know. I think after a season, they'll get a pretty good sense for who that is. And this will give them a chance to maybe think outside the box a little bit and maybe bring in some other voices who you haven't heard in the past. And I always want somebody coachy. I want to learn more about the game. I want to learn more about how coaches think about the game. I want to. I want everybody inbounds play, and if. If a screen is switched or if they go underneath or if there are reasons why on a given play somebody's positioned differently than they were in the same set of previous play. I want that pointed out. That's what I want. Not everybody does, and I'm cool with that. Some people want it to be a little bit lighter, and they want some of the screwing around and joking and silliness and. And nicknames and catchphrases and that side of things, too. And that's a personal preference thing. But bring some people around. Bring some people through hell. I do a game, but if you want to hear what does Tom Thibodeau think during a game, you want to have Jamal Crawford stop by, as well as the name, all the names we discussed, all the names that Jeff Agrest has reported in the Sun Times. There's one name that I want to add to the list that I want to hear do a couple games, and that's Pax. Why not? He's awesome. Do you remember him on 1000 doing color? He was fantastic. Absolutely tremendous. And he gave you the upbeat nature. He's a bull for life, but he's a really, really good broadcast analyst who tells you why things happen. And it can say what I might do here. Well, I don't know. We need. Want to get a free throw shooter in here, and this guy's got four fouls.

[Jason Goff]

I'm going to take him out.

[Brian Sandalow]

I'm going to use him after the TV timeout, like, stuff like that. I would love to hear Pax into a few games. I would. I would hope that it's something that he'd be up for at this stage that now he doesn't.

[Jason Goff]

He's.

[Brian Sandalow]

I think his, you know, the. The burnout of that job might be receding a little bit, and I just think it'd be cool. But I do get. I guess the. To boil it down, I. As I understand it, that's the plan as of right now that the bulls will go with various voices and not put any. Any undue pressure on any one person this year to be the replacement for Stacey King. Lastly, I. I've got a bit of an experiment I was doing. What do I want to call this? I've been asking questions, and the question is this. Do you know anyone who has harvested and consumed roadkill?

[Jason Goff]

I do not. And if I. If I did, I would cut them out of my life.

[Brian Sandalow]

I don't think I would necessarily. Oh, yeah, because you know how I have this thing about wasting food, and I don't like wasting food at home. I ate a leftover sandwich that was. That was half green yesterday just because I didn't want to throw it out.

[Jason Goff]

All right, well, that's disgusting, and you did change that behavior. But roadkill is not food. I'm sorry. It's not food.

[Brian Sandalow]

This is why I bring it up. Okay, so I bring it up. This is from the Daily Herald, reprinted in the Tribune. Drivers who have hit a deer with their car will probably acknowledge their first thought wasn't about what they should do with the deer. But apparently there are enough people out there who gave it their second or third thought that the state of Illinois created a program allowing residents to claim roadkill deer to process the meat for food, have it taxidermed, or maybe just use various parts for a questionable arts and crafts project. So Illinois conservation police Captain Josh Mooy. M o o I moi, moi, moi. Most of the day of vehicle accident claims, we get. Somebody's going to take it and process the animal themselves or somewhere that does wildlife meat and use it for personal consumption. He said if it's a trophy buck with big antlers, someone's going to get that guy mounted when you hit it with your car. This is a thing. See, when I read this, that's what made me angry. You're. You're mounting a trophy because you hit it with a car. Is that an achievement that. That should be outlawed that you should not be able to do? I know. You can't control it. You can't enforce it, because that sounds like somebody. You go down to the man cave and the guy's got a big ahead of a buck on the wall here. Look at this. I got a ten pointer.

[Dan Bernstein]

Really?

[Brian Sandalow]

Did you bow hunt it? Nope. Honda Civic. That's my weapon. Of choice. Drive around at night, shine those lights, take them out, put it on the wall here. Look what I got here. I'm Teddy fucking Roosevelt. Really like that? No, do not. Please don't do that. That's like a fisherman accidentally churning something up with their propeller and mounting it like they caught it with a rod and reel. Please don't be doing that now. If you need the food, if you need the sustenance, or if you're. I just think about what it would take to do that. Are you field dressing a deer right there before you repair you. What's the order of things? I want to call State farm. I gotta call this, and I gotta call state farm. I ran. Ooh. But back straps. I'm. Get my knife out there and gut this thing and field dress it well. Now I can't strap it on my fender and drive it home because my car's all messed up.

[Dan Bernstein]

So to do any of that, permission

[Brian Sandalow]

from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources is required. The agency operates a surprisingly popular program. How many, Maddie? According to the latest figures from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Cook county and the collar counties around Chicago. I'm not talking about the hinterlands. Pat down, down. Way down in the office. I'm not talking about there. Cook county and the collar counties. How many claims annually harvesting roadkill deer?

[Jason Goff]

It's high. Higher than I. I wanted to be a couple hundred.

[Brian Sandalow]

Very good. 180. Okay. The statewide, though, 2500.

[Jason Goff]

Well, yeah. I mean, you get south of I80. I mean, they. They drive out looking for deers to hit just for dinner. What.

[Brian Sandalow]

I mean, like, you are driving through the forest and. Yes.

[Jason Goff]

Going through corn fields.

[Brian Sandalow]

Want to go hunting? Yeah, I. I just cleaned my.36 Winchester. I've got everything set here, my dear rifle. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I want your Ford F150.

[Jason Goff]

Yeah, I just gassed up the truck. We're good to go. We're. We're in it.

[Dan Bernstein]

We got that.

[Brian Sandalow]

We got those big kleeg lights on the top of the Ford F150. We're going deer hunting. I got six of them. Load them up.

[Jason Goff]

Yeah, I mean, you. You've seen. You've seen damage that hitting a deer can do to a car.

[Brian Sandalow]

Yeah. People die in those crashes.

[Jason Goff]

If that's your, like, if. If one of your primary thoughts is what do I do with the deer? There's. There's something going on with your brain.

[Brian Sandalow]

Well, maybe not. Hey, I. I allow for the possibility that. I'm not gonna get angry at Harvesting, if it is indeed harvesting. The idea of doing, you know, a weird science project with it that the author said is. Is not exactly what I'm talking about here, but so there's more. So we got 2,220 roadkill deer downstate every year outside of Chicago and the collar counties. They talked to John Schultz, a butcher who specializes in processing wild game and operates John's Elgin Market in South Elgin. I was just there. I was in Elgin yesterday. We were out playing the Highlands. What a beautiful course that is. We had a lovely time. I definitely want to fish there, even though they get mad at me because there's some big bass out there. He says if you get them right away, it's a shame to let the meat go to waste. We mostly do steak cuts, but we also can make sausage and sometimes jerky. Schultz estimates he processes about 20 roadkill deer a year. But if they don't have the required IDNR tag and documentation, he won't let them through the door. Say the reason for the documentation is twofold. It helps our biologists track populations and trends to determine if a species is thriving or becoming a nuisance. Secondly, these aren't the state's deer. They're your deer. And just like hunting, there are additional laws that dictate the possession of those animals. And the online form requires basic identifying information. Once complete, residents are emailed the tag number that allows them to claim the deer. In some instances, deer are injured in collisions. And the state's website provides residents contact information for the conservation officers by county who are responsible for euthanizing the animal. Would you want a deer that's been euthanized? I don't know. It depends on the chemicals they use to euthanize it. Only Illinois residents can claim a roadkill deer, and they probably don't use chemicals.

[Dan Bernstein]

Really.

[Brian Sandalow]

They shoot it and hate it. According to state law, the resident claiming the deer cannot be delinquent on child support payments. What? What? Okay, if that's. If that's a way to help collect child support or did they find this couldn't have come up out of nowhere. At some point, they found a correlation, and somebody walked down the hallway with a sheaf of papers and said, hey, guess what? Almost all of these people submitting claims for roadkill deer are behind on their child support payments.

[Jason Goff]

Yeah, there's definitely correlation there.

[Brian Sandalow]

There has to be. There has to be. What other correlations are in there, I wonder? But that is that. That detail to me. And so I was thinking, do I know anyone? Do I Know anyone? Not heard. Not somebody's friend of a cousin? Do I actually know somebody who has harvested and eaten roadkill? I don't know the answer. And I've eaten a lot of venison, so maybe I have unwittingly. Maybe I've maybe, you know, down the line a little bit somewhere down, down the. The chain. Because I've made bolognese sauce with venison before. That's wonderful. It doesn't have enough fat, so you have to add a little bit of pork fat or a lot. So I generally, anytime I use venison in a recipe, I just know that it's. It's usually too lean. So if you start the sauce by rendering some prosciutto fat, it works really, really well. Or pancetta or just actual regular pork fat. You know, your butcher will give you some of that too, so it helps. But yeah, I love venison, whether it's, you know, back straps and the steaks of various kinds. Steaks and chops and sausages. Oh, yeah. When we used to drive with the kids to Wisconsin or go to. As soon as we cross the Wisconsin state line, we would make a thing of going to the very first cheese shop we'd find and buying big things of cheese and sausage and eating them in the car.

[Jason Goff]

Well, you gotta go to Mars.

[Brian Sandalow]

We've been to Mars.

[Jason Goff]

Oh, yeah, that's.

[Brian Sandalow]

Yeah, we've been to Mars Cheese Castle multiple times. And sometimes, sometimes if we're in a different area of Wisconsin, we go in a little bit different direction. But I just, I, I don't. I did not know that Illinois state law was that specific about it. And more power to you. And I'm just. I imagine the angry emails from downstate are going to come. This is half of the food we eat. We didn't have roadkill. We wouldn't be able to have dinner for our kids.

[Jason Goff]

Who.

[Brian Sandalow]

Remember the guy who was. Was it Terry? It was Terry. Remember talking about the, the people that wanted to shoot all the animals on their own land. And there was the, the debate over some of the hunting laws. And one guy's like, oh, this is how I eat my food. Terry said, what if you want a salad, you go outside and shoot lettuce. I gotta have all my guns so I can eat all the stuff that I hunt on my own land. Okay, great. More. More power to you. Enjoy it. But I'm. I, I guess I'm gonna keep my. Keep looking to see if there is anybody that I know that's gonna stop a Car and be like, hey, get the phone out. We're gonna. We gotta send this one in and get a special code. Like, that's if.

[Dan Bernstein]

If you.

[Brian Sandalow]

If you didn't hit it, you just saw it there you go over here. What do you do? Poke at it and see if it's alive and then see if the vultures have been on it.

[Jason Goff]

I think if. If you'd introduce this as, like, something to do with. With deer. Like, my. My brain can understand. Like a deer.

[Brian Sandalow]

Oh, you're worried about the people eating the raccoons.

[Jason Goff]

When you say roadkill. I just. I mean, I'm picturing all the small critters that are always in the middle of the street or on the side of the road. Yeah. That are just completely obliterated. Like, what are you doing with that? So if this is like a. Like a hit deer thing. Yeah.

[Brian Sandalow]

Fine.

[Jason Goff]

I can. Okay. I can understand that better than calling it a roadkill.

[Brian Sandalow]

Well, it is roadkill.

[Jason Goff]

Yeah, I know, but still, it's just like a deer is different than you're

[Brian Sandalow]

picturing a flat squirrel.

[Jason Goff]

Yeah. Or a raccoon that's, you know, sawed off in half because you drove over him.

[Brian Sandalow]

Or it's all edible. People eat raccoon? Yeah, a lot of them. A lot of them die of sponge form brain prions, but they eat them.

[Jason Goff]

Yeah, I mean, I just. I'd rather be vegan.

[Brian Sandalow]

I mean, like, snapping turtle. We took a call from a guy years ago.

[Dan Bernstein]

Maddie.

[Brian Sandalow]

We took a call from a guy who did a whole thing about finding a snapping turtle.

[Jason Goff]

Yeah, yeah, we did.

[Brian Sandalow]

It ended up a debate about how to cook it, Remember?

[Jason Goff]

Yes, yes, that's correct. Yeah, I remember that because then. Yeah. Yeah, I do.

[Brian Sandalow]

You're done with this.

[Jason Goff]

No, I'm not.

[Brian Sandalow]

You want to go back to Pat Fitzgerald?

[Jason Goff]

I'm happy, believe me. You take some roadkill and his bag of chips, you got yourself a.

[Brian Sandalow]

That's right. That's right. He doesn't have a chip on his shoulder. He's got a whole bag of chips on his shoulder. He didn't do anything wrong. He's just been been wronged. That's right. Pat has just been.

[Jason Goff]

Been.

[Brian Sandalow]

Been whipped about by the winds of ill fortune.

[Jason Goff]

I just. I just have a. I have a hard time. I mean, I have a hard time getting angry over that. Not that it's not justified or you're not justified in your anger towards it, but there are so many, many more, worse people in such higher, more important positions in this country.

[Dan Bernstein]

I know. There always are. Yeah.

[Jason Goff]

I know, I know, but it's just.

[Brian Sandalow]

It's just like, man, I also know how much that. That if people really want to get me on this one, it. It is. If you really want it. Want some ammo here. Who bitches about food prices more than I do? If I'm the one who's shopping, if I'm the one that is in the Mariano's discount meat section, you might as

[Dan Bernstein]

well put my name on the damn

[Brian Sandalow]

thing, retire my number, and hang it over there. Oh, I walked. I. I had a couple of, you know, the. You know, the. The vacuum packed seafood.

[Jason Goff]

Yes.

[Brian Sandalow]

That they have now, the Kroger brand vacuum packed stuff. Dude, when they mark that down, it's already vacuum packed. You grab it, you take it right home, you throw it in the freezer. There was a pound. A pound of the Argentine red shrimp. Okay, $4.

[Jason Goff]

Oh, that's a good price.

[Brian Sandalow]

Yeah, it is a good price.

[Jason Goff]

Yeah.

[Brian Sandalow]

You marinate that in lime juice and tequila and olive oil with a little bit of, like, adobo seasoning on that. Char that up on a hot grill. Oh, come on.

[Jason Goff]

Yeah. I haven't got discount shopping in a while because the last several meals I've cooked have been very specific. So I'm going right for the specific items I want. And I haven't gone through the discount. I know.

[Brian Sandalow]

Looking for the tags, you got to do it oppositely. What you do is you Iron Chef it, or you pretend you're unchopped and you walk in and then you challenge yourself and you say, all right. It's like discount chopped.

[Jason Goff]

Well, okay.

[Brian Sandalow]

You just say, like, here are the things on discount. What can I make out of these?

[Jason Goff]

Okay, so I have a. I have a significant or a specific pattern that I use when I go to my Mariano's. I always start in produce.

[Brian Sandalow]

I do, too. You're supposed to.

[Jason Goff]

Well, I mean, that's just. Well, I don't think. You don't think there's any rules to it?

[Brian Sandalow]

I think that's just correct where I start. I do too. So I think it's correct if I

[Jason Goff]

do do like a, you know, Iron Chef thing or. What's in the basket? Not the box. What's in the basket?

[Brian Sandalow]

Yeah, no, it's in your basket. You will find.

[Jason Goff]

I start with the discount produce, and then I build from there. And I was like, all right. I found, you know, these. A couple things of mushrooms are A$25 each. All right, I'll take three of those.

[Brian Sandalow]

But if it's chopped, you can't make A risotto, because that always gets. You chopped everybody up risotto all the time. And I'm always screaming at my television, you're gonna lose because. Because you're gonna undercook your goddamn risotto like you've never seen the show before. Your rice takes a minimum period of time before it's soft enough and before it releases the. The starches that make your risotto creamy enough.

[Jason Goff]

No, you're not wrong. But if I ever get on a cooking show, I'm definitely going to make either rice or risotto dish, because everyone always fucks up rice, and they always don't use it.

[Brian Sandalow]

And don't use the ice cream maker either.

[Jason Goff]

Oh, no. Because you always ruin that, too. Because I forget. They just. I'm going to throw it in and leave it.

[Brian Sandalow]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jason Goff]

Like shit. Well, yeah, you forgot about.

[Brian Sandalow]

And then Amanda Freytag is mad at you, and you don't want Amanda Frey tag mad at you. No, no.

[Jason Goff]

But it's. It's. It's my goal to get on the show and actually make risotto correctly. I want to prove that it can be done.

[Brian Sandalow]

Now, I. I will say, too now that because, you know, my sister was a judge on Iron Chef. Like, she's multiple. She's done these shows.

[Jason Goff]

Yeah.

[Brian Sandalow]

They take, like, 15 hours. It's your whole day.

[Jason Goff]

Oh. It's not the actual, like, hour. Like, the hour you watch. It's not just an hour.

[Brian Sandalow]

I didn't know that you spent a lot of time sitting around and a lot of time, you know, eating things that might. Might look great, but might not taste great. Yeah. So. But good luck. If you make risotto, you will get chopped.

[Jason Goff]

Yeah. It doesn't matter what show it is too, as it could be even top. Even the Top Chef, you always fuck up.

[Brian Sandalow]

You're gonna bring your own. Right. Just like, for your quick fire challenge, what we to do is to break down this side of beef.

[Dan Bernstein]

Nope.

[Brian Sandalow]

I'm making risotto.

[Jason Goff]

Yep. What happened to have it ready to go? Hey, hey.

[Brian Sandalow]

I bring it with me.

[Jason Goff]

That's what.

[Brian Sandalow]

That's what I'm doing. I don't care what. Your quick fire challenge is mine. Is this so.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes.

[Brian Sandalow]

You start produce and then what? Then you double back to the. To, like, the deli?

[Jason Goff]

Well, I. I don't. If. If I see now if I'm going to the deli, I. I go left and I go. I bypass the produce, and I go there first, because that. That left side of the store where the deli is, I Generally, I generally don't go to. Because I'm not always buying.

[Brian Sandalow]

Are you banned?

[Jason Goff]

No, I just. I just don't always buy deli stuff. Oh, it's very, very rare that I buy deli stuff.

[Brian Sandalow]

Oh, okay. Yeah, but you gotta swing by. You gotta swing by to see what's discounted there.

[Jason Goff]

I don't know.

[Brian Sandalow]

Maybe there's that. Maybe there's a big container of. Of macaroni salad there that's discounted. You know, when.

[Jason Goff]

I bet, whenever Mariano is, I skip. I skip the bakery, I skip the. The hot food section, and I skip the sushi, and I skip the deli because I always go through produce. Then produce goes into meat, and then there I go, right. And I start going down my aisles.

[Brian Sandalow]

All right, well, I don't skip anything

[Jason Goff]

unless I have a very specific need from one of those sections. I'll go there because I. I get my hot food from Sunset.

[Brian Sandalow]

Oh, okay.

[Jason Goff]

Like, I. I go. I go to Sunset for the hot bar.

[Brian Sandalow]

It's a lot of money.

[Jason Goff]

Well, I know, but it's.

[Brian Sandalow]

I know, but.

[Jason Goff]

But.

[Brian Sandalow]

Yeah, but people take. They're giving you a manicure and a pedicure while you're shopping.

[Jason Goff]

Well, I mean, I went there one time, and I was looking.

[Brian Sandalow]

Walk you to your car with an umbrella.

[Jason Goff]

I was looking over the chicken on the hot bar, and the guy came out from behind the deli counter. He goes, hey, just give me, like, five more minutes. We got fresh chicken coming out.

[Brian Sandalow]

I'm like, oh, my man, that's. That's a different experience.

[Jason Goff]

I go, wait. Well, Mariano's used to be that way. There used to be a piano player.

[Brian Sandalow]

Oh, no.

[Jason Goff]

Yeah. Now it's. It's changed.

[Brian Sandalow]

The one down here. The one down here is jazz on Thursday nights still. They have that jazz combo right here, the one at Lakeshore East.

[Jason Goff]

Oh, that's tonight. That's as. Oh, is there a date night in the Bernstein household?

[Brian Sandalow]

Hey, I was gonna say you and me. Oh, yeah.

[Jason Goff]

I can't get downtown tonight.

[Brian Sandalow]

Oh, can everybody have fun tonight?

[Jason Goff]

No, we've got. Got the national. National card show is in Rosemont, so I'm doing that today.

[Brian Sandalow]

You're signing?

[Jason Goff]

Yeah. Oh, God, yeah, I'm signing. Taking the boys.

[Brian Sandalow]

Who do they want to see? Are they gonna stay in line for.

[Jason Goff]

Well, no one tonight. Tonight is just the cards. But Saturday, my stepsons are going, and I think they have a thing with Sammy Sosa. An autograph? Yes. So no. No autographs today unless I see Dan Hampton. I'm going to talk to to Hamp because he's there. But no, today is just a card thing. And then, you know, a few hours of my life I'll Never get back.

[Brian Sandalow]

That is Dan Bernstein, unfiltered on this Thursday here on 312 Sports.

[Dan Bernstein]

Dan Bernstein, unfiltered, unfiltered on 312 Sports. Thanks for listening to today's episode, brought to you by my bookie.