Why Do Injuries Follow Dennis Allen?

Summary

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Dan Bernstein Unfiltered – "Why Do Injuries Follow Dennis Allen?"

Podcast: Dan Bernstein Unfiltered
Host: Dan Bernstein with Matt Abbatacola ("Maddie")
Episode Date: August 6, 2026
Theme: Examining the pattern of soft tissue injuries on teams coached by Dennis Allen—with a focus on the Chicago Bears

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Overview

This episode tackles a growing concern among Chicago Bears fans: Is there a pattern of injuries that seems to follow Dennis Allen wherever he coaches, and might his methods be the cause? Drawing on detailed research provided by a listener, Dan and Maddie break down data from Allen’s tenures with both the Bears and the Saints, scrutinizing whether his presence correlates with an increase in (primarily soft tissue) injuries—especially to defensive backs. Beyond the Bears, the hosts also touch on Cubs and White Sox storylines, but the main investigative spotlight falls on the Allen/injury link and what it means for the Bears’ future.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Emerging Injury Concerns at Bears Camp

• [00:45] Dan reports multiple Bears players leaving practice with new injuries, including Montez Sweat, Braxton Jones, and Dallas Flowers.
• Maddie clarifies that Sweat and Jones walked off, signaling injuries might not be major, but Dan stresses the “pattern” is concerning.

2. The Listener-Driven Investigation

• [01:40] Dan reads research from a listener named Bryce, who emailed compelling data suggesting a “correlation between Dennis Allen running your defense and...soft tissue injuries.”

• Quote from listener Bryce’s initial email:

  "Is it time to start asking whether Dennis Allen and his practice methods bear some responsibility for the Bears' injury woes...it's starting to feel more like a pattern than bad luck."
  — [03:20]

• Mickey Loomis (Saints GM) when firing Allen:

  “Dennis Allen, I think, is a fantastic football coach, but...we’ve had an abnormal amount of injuries and we haven’t been able to overcome that. And so that puts pressure and stress on the organization. And ultimately it was cause for a change.”
  — [05:02]

3. Deep Dive: Data, Patterns, Potential Causes

• Pattern 1: Soft Tissue Injuries

  • Under Allen, soft tissue injuries (groin, hamstring, calf, quad) soared, especially among defensive backs.
  • “Through six weeks of ’24, the Saints had 20 soft tissue injuries—most in the NFL...”
    — [09:50]
    • Source: Nick Underhill, Saints beat writer:

      “It’s a fact that the New Orleans Saints are suffering soft tissue injuries at a higher rate than any other team...a significant contributing factor to the team’s recent losing skid.”
      — [10:37]

• Pattern 2: Causality, Not Just Correlation

  • The pattern “almost disappears” post-Allen; same staff, roster, facilities.
  • Underhill (2026):

    "Saints were among the top four teams in the NFL at preventing soft tissue injuries.”
    — [11:49]

• Pattern 3: Defensive Backs Most Affected

  • “Cornerbacks and safeties accumulate more high-speed running than anyone on the field...That’s the pattern with Dennis Allen, exactly.”
    — [12:33]

• Pattern 4: Injury Recurrence Among ‘Twitchy’ Athletes

  • Explosive, athletic DBs seem especially at risk.
  • Case studies:
    • Marshon Lattimore: Consistent starter pre-Allen, dramatically fewer games played under Allen due to recurring hamstring.
    • Kyler Gordon: Similar athletic profile and trajectory after Allen joins Bears.
  • “Prior to playing under Dennis Allen...Kyler Gordon had 14, 13, and 15 games. Under Allen—one season, he played in just three.”
    — [17:24]

4. Evidence Beyond Recent Years

• [13:20] Maddie recalls Allen’s stint as Saints secondary coach (2008-2010): Tracy Porter, Jabari Greer, and Randall Gay all missed significant time with soft tissue injuries during the 2009 championship run.
• Patterns seem to follow Allen both as head coach and, to a lesser extent, as a position coach.

5. Impact Since Allen’s Arrival in Chicago

• [13:57] “Upon arriving with the Bears in 2025, the SAME pattern emerges...an immediate ramp up in injuries across all position groups, but in particular among defensive backs.”
• Quantitative jump:
  • 2023 (Eberflus): 22 secondary injuries; 2024: 33;
    2025 (Allen): 47 secondary injuries.
  • “The Bears had the full starting secondary available for zero games last season.”
    — [14:41]
  • “Injuries on Defense went from 33 to 57 to 102 under Allen.”
    — [15:04]

6. Counterpoints and Possible Explanations

• The pattern didn’t appear when Allen was only a defensive coordinator—possibly due to less control over practice structure.
• Once in charge as head coach or “head coach of the defense,” the practice design seems to change.

7. The Bears’ Responsibility & What Comes Next

• Dan’s bottom line:

  "It is in the best interest of the Bears to answer for some of these emerging patterns and find out what they think...How aware were they of why he was fired?”
  — [22:32]

• "[I]f asked about it, perhaps Dennis Allen could produce his own interpretation of the data...All I'm saying is, go ahead—put this out there scientifically and have it peer-reviewed. I found this to be convincing enough that it deserves attention."
  — [24:18]

• Urges fans and media to ask Ben Johnson (head coach), Ryan Poles (GM), and even Bears President Kevin Warren directly about Allen’s methods and hiring process.

8. Open-Ended Investigation

• Dan is clear there’s no “smoking gun” or single definitive answer, but the converging evidence justifies further scrutiny and accountability—from both the Bears and the local media covering them.
• "We gotta ask these questions. So let's, let's start doing it."
  — [26:21]

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Memorable Quotes

• Dan Bernstein [04:22]:
  "Is there a correlation between Dennis Allen running your defense and... injuries, soft tissue injuries?... I think the answer to that is yes."

• Mickey Loomis [05:02]:
  "We've had an abnormal amount of injuries and we haven't been able to overcome that. And so that puts pressure and stress on the organization. And ultimately it was cause for a change."

• Bryce, listener/researcher [12:04]:
  "The more one digs, the more it seems like something in Dennis Allen's methods does cause susceptibility to soft tissue injury and to defensive backs in particular."

• Dan Bernstein [22:32]:
  "I don't want this viewed as whether it is our researcher or our editorial decision...I don't have any investment here other than wanting the Bears to be hurt less."

• Dan Bernstein [26:21]:
  "We gotta ask these questions. So let's, let's start doing it."

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Notable Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:45 — Bears defensive injuries at training camp prompt episode’s main question
• 01:40–06:13 — Introduction and reading of listener’s research, initial Saints/Allen context
• 09:50–12:34 — Detailing statistical spikes in injuries under Allen in New Orleans, post-Allen drop
• 13:20 — Maddie recounts Allen’s prior run as Saints DB coach and related injuries
• 13:57–15:04 — Injury trends under Allen with Bears (specific numbers per position/group)
• 16:20–18:30 — Comparative injury histories: Marshon Lattimore & Kyler Gordon
• 22:30–26:21 — The call to action: Bears’ need for accountability, what fans and media should do

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Tone and Style

As always, Dan’s tone is sharp, analytical, and unflinching, but never hysterical. He’s meticulous with data, generous in crediting his listener-source, and insistent on media and fan vigilance. Maddie brings supportive skepticism and useful context, keeping the conversation engaging and grounded.

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Additional Notes

• Context contribution: Maddie adds history on Saints’ staff, including the bounty scandal and suspensions.
• Bears specifics: The episode calls out an urgent need for the Bears to address, investigate, and, if necessary, change Allen’s practice methods if a causal relationship between those methods and injury rates is confirmed.
• Recent examples: Jalen Johnson is mentioned as a case to particularly watch for recurrence and severity of soft tissue injuries.

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Conclusion

This episode of Dan Bernstein Unfiltered may not provide the final verdict on Dennis Allen, but it delivers a clear call for transparency, evidence-based decision making, and responsibility from both the Bears’ front office and Chicago sports media. The signal may still be noisy, but ignoring the data, as Bernstein contends, would be “materially damning.”

For fans and media alike: keep asking—and pressing—for answers.

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Transcript

[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, Dan Bernstein. Unfiltered. Unfiltered on 312 Sports. It's DBU on three. One, two. And there is. We had a couple players leaving Bears practice already this morning with more injuries. Apparently Montez Sweat left with a trainer and Braxton Jones left with a trainer. We got another defensive back who had an issue in Dallas, Flowers. People were taking a knee around him. So injuries are an issue.

[Maddie]

But with. With Sweat, though, and Braxton Jones, they walked off. They were. I mean, let's just. Yeah. Make sure.

[Dan Bernstein]

I know, I know.

[Maddie]

Okay. Just want to make sure we say

[Dan Bernstein]

that they did walk off, but this is, this is worth talking about because we have had. If you joined us yesterday on forward progress, we were mentioning that we've got a researcher who has been doing some work for 3one2 Sports who has raised the question about Dennis Allen and injuries. Dennis Allen and injuries, particularly to defensive backs. And this is the question that should be asked. Is there a correlation between Dennis Allen running your defense and. Or your team and injuries, soft tissue injuries? We can be as specific as you want here. Even if we hold it to soft tissue injuries in the secondary, is there a correlation between Dennis Allen's presence and an increased frequency of those? I think the answer to that is yes. But the real question then is, is there something causal in that relationship? And even if the conclusion is maybe kind of probably, it's worth further investigation and attention. And I intend to do that with the help of some of this research that has been done on our behalf, because I do think it's important and it's. It's. At least my goal would be to spur the asking of more direct questions if this keeps up. If you don't want to do anything with this, you don't have to. But I do think I've got to put this out there because I found it to be at the least, really interesting and at the most, potentially materially damning. So I'm going to lay it out as cleanly as I can. And you can, you are free to draw your own conclusions because there's there, there's noise in the data. And if we can determine a signal here or if this inspires you to check things out more, that's one thing that, that I'll say that I have always enjoyed and I've enjoyed specifically about coming up in our first year here of 312 sports of DBU, that we got a lot of smart people out there who are not just part of our part of the feedback and part of everything part of the conversation just to say, hey, this sucks. I like this. I don't like this. There, there is some. There is, there's the opportunity out there because of what is at our fingertips all the time right now, to do some meaningful work and find some things out. We don't have to necessarily rely on who's in the locker room or able to ask these questions on a daily basis to do all this, because we can. And some of this was done here. So I'm going to dive right in to work that is done. And all I'm going to give is the first name here. So I want to thank Bryce for this work. And the initial email that came in that we saw was saying, hey guys, what might be happening here? And I mentioned this yesterday and he said, I'm going to go back and start here. The first email was, is it time to start asking whether Dennis Allen and his practice methods bear some responsibility for the Bears injury woes on duty defense it felt like every key injury last year was to the defense. 2. Now three more DBs have gone down already in this year's training camp. Terrell Smith, Kobe Bryant, we don't know exactly when or how Kyler Gordon got hurt again. And then just this morning, Dallas Flowers now down. So it's starting to feel more like a pattern than bad luck. And for what it's worth, the same thing happened to Dennis Allen in New Orleans. And this is a quote from Mickey Loomis, the general manager, when they fired Dennis Allen. Loomis said, dennis Allen, I think, is a fantastic football coach, but it just gets right back to what stares at you right in the face, that we've had an abnormal amount of injuries and we haven't been able to overcome that. And so that puts pressure and stress on the organization. And ultimately it was cause for a change.

[Maddie]

Hey, Can I add something real quick there about Loomis because we didn't mention it the other day.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

When we talked about him. Remember he was the general manager during the bounty scandal and he also got suspended, I think. Didn't he get like six or eight games as a result of that? I thought he was suspended.

[Dan Bernstein]

And that was obviously Greg Williams, who I don't think. Is Greg Williams still in football? I mean, it's really hard to not be in football.

[Maddie]

It really is. It really. Oh God. I didn't know John Fox was part of. Not that John Fox anything bad, but I didn't know he was part of the say or the, the Bills.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, John Fox it is. And we had Mark Tressman, John Fox, Matt Eberfluss. I mean you.

[Maddie]

Yes.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, it is. At least Fox has, has some resume there. Matt Eberfluous is still coaching.

[Maddie]

Why?

[Dan Bernstein]

Why is anybody employing him?

[Maddie]

I don't know, dude. Greg Williams, I don't believe he's in football anymore. But yeah, Mickey Loomis was suspended for

[Dan Bernstein]

that and Mickey has been there a long time. Mickey Loomis also produced Ryan Pace.

[Maddie]

Oh yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Because remember, Ryan Pace was his, his right hand there. So that was the initial email that we saw and we talked about it a bit and so there's some more research here.

[Maddie]

Greg Williams was the defense coordinator last year at Tennessee State.

[Dan Bernstein]

Doesn't say that he's anywhere right now at Tennessee State. Yeah. Interesting. So I'm going to.

[Maddie]

Loomis was suspended eight games.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay.

[Maddie]

For bounty gate. Yeah, go ahead.

[Dan Bernstein]

Sorry. Well, here was the next email that arrived after we discussed yesterday. He said, you've motivated me to dig further into Dennis Allen regarding injuries. It is not looking good. He said the headline is the more one digs, the more it seems like something in Dennis Allen's methods does cause susceptibility to soft tissue injury and to defensive backs in particular. That's the headline. That's the critical headline here. And just give me a little bit of latitude here. Stop me if it gets too wonky. I'm not going to graphically give you charts in PowerPoint. He said, first, we know that it's Allen who mandates the unconventional and well publicized up downs at the beginning of camp. And that makes you wonder, is there some seemingly innocuous, unconventional activity he drills that primes his players for injury. Is it as simple as overly fatiguing a body part? Calves, quads, hammies, more than guys are used to. And the next time they land wrong or push off too hard or need to brace to keep a groin or a hammy from stretching past a breaking point. Everything's just a little bit off and an injury occurs. I don't lean toward anything malicious or anything grossly irresponsible, but a pattern remains, and these are what he describes as his four biggest takeaways from the case that Dennis Allen may be priming players for injury. He was head coach of New Orleans in 22:23 and the first nine games of 24.1. The injury pattern under DA seems to be primarily of the soft tissue variety. Contact injuries are luck soft tissue injuries. These are groins, calves, quads, hamstrings tied directly to training load, practice design and Recovery Management. Through six weeks of 24, the Saints had listed 20 soft tissue injuries, the most in the NFL, averaging 3.4 players a week on pace for 59.5. This was October of 24. Nick Underhill, Saints Beat Writer A deep dive into the Saints injury shows the team is getting injured at an unprecedented rate. That was written about two weeks before Dennis Allen's firing. And that quote from Mickey Loomis where he said we fired Dennis Allen because of injuries. That's what, that's what the GM said. Here are some key quotes from that piece by Underhill Quote It's a fact that the New Orleans Saints are suffering soft tissue injuries at a higher rate than any other team this season 24 or last season 23 and it's a significant contributing factor to the team's recent losing skit. Quote the key to maintaining a high number is having new injuries, which may be the most staggering thing about what's happening with the Saints. Six weeks into the year, they had 14 different players show up on the injury report with soft tissue injuries. Number two. The soft tissue injuries disappeared as soon as Dennis Allen left. Same franchise, same facility, same training staff infrastructure, substantially overlapping roster. Even the same beat writer writing about it one season after he left. This was the same writer. This is Nick Underhill, 2026. The headline reads. Saints were among the top four teams in the NFL at preventing soft tissue injuries. This is after they got rid of Dennis Allen, number three. The damage concentrates in the position group that runs the most. Cornerbacks and safeties accumulate more high speed running than anyone on the field. High speed running volume is the single best documented driver of hamstring strain. If practice design is overloading players, DBs are the first to break. That's the pattern with Dennis Allen. Exactly. And he there. This is all charted here by secondary, linebacker, defensive line and by all defense from 22 to 24. The Saints secondary leads the way each year consistently. In 2023 a year, the Saints were the seventh healthiest team in the NFL. Their defensive backs group still posted 16.7 adjusted games lost, far and away their worst position group. The Saints full starting secondary was available for only 10 of 51 games in the three seasons Dennis Allen fully or partially head coached. Now you wonder what impact did DA have upon arriving with the Bears last year.

[Maddie]

Hey, can I add to that as well? Real quick?

[Dan Bernstein]

Go ahead.

[Maddie]

Because there was three seasons where he served as the secondary coach for The Saints in 2008, 2009, 2010. In 2009, Tracy Porter suffered a sprained left MCL misstime. Jabari Greer, a cornerback, dealt with a nagging groin injury that led into the 2009 championship run. Randall Gay, a cornerback, missed time in 2009 with a hamstring strain. So those are three seasons he spent 2009. Significant amount of time lost injury in the secondary.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay, now we continue. Yep. So what impact. Thank you for doing that, Maddie.

[Maddie]

Yep.

[Dan Bernstein]

What impact did DA have? Upon arriving with the bears in 2025? The same pattern emerges. There's an immediate ramp up in injuries across all position groups, but in particular among defensive backs. 2023 under Eber Fluce, they had the full starting secondary available for eight games. In 2024 under Eber Fluss, they had the full starting secondary available for five games. Under Dennis Allen, they had the full starting secondary available for how many games do you think?

[Maddie]

Three?

[Dan Bernstein]

Zero. Okay. Under Eberfluss, 2023, 22 injuries in the secondary, seven at linebacker, four at defensive line. The next year under Eberfluss, 33 at secondary, zero at linebacker, 24 at defensive line. In 2025 under Dennis Allen. In the secondary, 47 injuries, 20 at linebacker, 35 at the defensive line, the injuries on Defense went in 2023 on Eberfluss, from 33 to 57 under Eberfluss to 102 under Allen. Point 4 Injury recurrences, especially among the twitchiest athletes. And a researcher says this is where it gets the most interesting to me. Honing in specifically on a connection between Marshawn Lattimore and Kyler Gordon. Hamstring cost Marshawn Latimer most of camp in 2024 plays week one misses week two returns re injures the same hammy in week seven listed at full participation plays week eight ruled out week nine with a re aggravation. Worth noting. Dennis Allen was fired after this game. The Week 9 re aggravation may have been directly tied to his firing. Does that in out, hokey pokey remind you of anyone? Because that was Marshawn Lattimore Kyler Gordon last year. Hamstring costs him camp, misses weeks one through three returns week six plays week seven groin slash calf lands him an IR. Week eight returns to practice November 19 plays week 13, pulls his groin and warm ups week 14 back on IR regular season over phone call OVA okay, why is this comp interesting? First, Marshawn Lattimore and Kyler Gordon are similar and we can just look at it, you know, off the top and see how they are. Now, have you seen RAs relative athletic scores? Do you know what RAS is?

[Maddie]

Yeah, we talk about them a lot during the draft.

[Dan Bernstein]

Time and stuff.

[Maddie]

Yep.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right. Just because, I mean, I know that, you know. But relative athletic score Marshawn Lattimore and Kyler Gordon are similar. Lattimore is a 10, Gordon is a 96 9. They are both twitchy athletes, more susceptible to injury on explosive movements when overly fatigued or dinged up. Now, when you look at total games played pre or post DA this is the closest thing you get to a smoking gun. Prior to playing under Dennis Allen as head coach, Marshawn Lattimore played in 13, 16, 14, 14 and 16 games across five seasons under Dennis Allen. He played in 7, 10 and 7. Prior to playing under Dennis Allen, Kyler Gordon had seasons of 14, 13 and 15 games under Dennis Allen. One season he played in just three and is already trending toward missing time this year again. Other DBs under Dennis Allen in New Orleans 2022-2024 J.T. gray recurring hamstring issues in 2022 and 23 Paulson Adebo hamstring in 2023 groin in 2024 Marcus May, Will Harris, Kool Aid McKinstry, Lonnie Johnson Jr. All had hamstring injuries at various times. There's a counter argument that is this the Saints injury woes weren't there when Dennis Allen was defensive coordinator. They were ranked in the lower half, but he was a coordinator and not the head coach at those times. He didn't have full autonomy to run things his way. This injury pattern popped up immediately upon him becoming head coach, and whatever changes he made with the increase in responsibility and level of control have persisted with the Bears. Ben Johnson and Ryan Poll speak often about DA being more like a head coach of the defense than a coordinator, and it's clear to us that Ben has little to no involvement in how Allen runs things on the defensive side of the ball. So the blame here lies with him and this final thought that Jaylen Johnson will be an interesting case study to follow this year. Another twitchy athlete with little to no injury history prior to playing for Allen, injured in the off season, rushed back to play Week 2 against Detroit last year, immediately tore his groin off the bone and was out for three months. If he has recurring injuries again this year, I'd have to assume the Bears will bite into this pattern if they haven't already. And I find this absolutely fascinating. Now there's and there's more here because we had, we've had an email conversation. There's been some back and forth. I went through some of this, had some questions. I so I just want to make sure that we're we got all this right. We got all the injuries right here and what was added in the research. Three days before Dennis Allen was fired there was an article that was [e-mail] which is I I think Times Picune Matthew Paris is the beat writer and this is November 1, 2024 said the Saints ranked high in soft tissue injuries leaguewide and they were quote looking at hydration levels a little more pre practice stretch and activation period. Those are a couple things that we're going to look at. That's what's said. Eight players had suffered practice injuries that season, four of them hamstrings. The headline of the article was the Saints can't stop getting hurt in practice and so they're changing up their routine. All of this culminated in Dennis Allen being fired and it culminated in him being fired. For this reason the Saints drew this conclusion. The same pattern is already happening with the Bears. So it is worth further questions. My conclusion is this is worth investigation. This is worth asking Ben Johnson, it is worth asking Ryan polls and hell if you run into Kevin Warren somewhere and he's not looking for cranes in the sky or whatever it is that he does, getting his car washed or getting up at 4:30 in the morning without an alarm clock to do his Bible study. Ask him to because it certainly was was enough. And I don't look, I don't know Dennis Allen. I know anything about him and I don't want this viewed as whether it is our researcher or our editorial decision to feature this at this point on Unfiltered I don't have any investment here other than wanting the Bears to be hurt less. I think we share that. I think we agree you probably are are with me on that and my belief is it is in the best interest of the Bears to answer for some of these emerging patterns and find out what they think and, and when he was hired, how aware were they of why he was fired? Because this is, it's, it's, we're into this second season now and it's been through the off season, it's been in practices. It should be in their controlled environments, not in games. And it, and not in a, a broken leg or, or impact injuries, strains and sprains and soft tissue and pulls. And there is reason to believe now that the Bears have this within their control in a way maybe we didn't realize before. I'm going to leave this there because this is, this is the beginning of some of this work. There's no single conclusion. Nothing is perfect. I'm also keenly aware that, that if asked about it, perhaps Dennis Allen could produce his own interpretation of the data or his, if he, he wants to commission his own study of the data to say, this isn't my fault. Here's what these players were doing. Here are the, here's the randomness of it. Here is how this compares to a three year sample or a two year sample over a larger selection of data. All I'm saying is go ahead. You want to put this out there scientifically and have it peer reviewed. I'm exaggerating, but I found this to be convincing enough that it deserves attention. I don't think that's, that's really that much of a stretch. So let's keep an eye on it. And the last thing I would want would be for a Super bowl window, for a championship window, especially these years of Caleb Williams on his rookie deal, whatever last year could have been, whatever this year still can be, I just want to know the Bears are aware and if the response is, oh, we've looked, we know all that, we know all that, we've got more information than you have. We are not worried about it. We vetted it. That's been reputation. Stick to guys around this league and it's not fair.

[Maddie]

But I want to know, and I

[Dan Bernstein]

hope you also want to know, did they know about this? Do they know about it? And if it's okay, fine. If Ben Johnson says he's okay with it, it's his hire. And if, if Ben Johnson can stand up and say all these numbers are true, I don't, I'm not debating any of this stuff and we're good with it and we knew that when, when we made the move. Or is it possible Ben Johnson could say, yeah, it's not great. And as long as he's working for me, we're gonna, we're gonna change some of these methods here. Love his tactical ability, his motivational ability, the way he runs a practice.

[Maddie]

We love it.

[Dan Bernstein]

We just, we gotta, we gotta pull back. That'd be good too. But the, we gotta ask these questions. We have to ask these questions. So let's, let's start doing it. 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. If you've been thinking about trying it, now's a great time. Go to MyBookie AG, use the promo code DBU and get your 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 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 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 very. Want to welcome a new sponsor to Dan Bernstein Unfiltered. And it's Monarch. This is a really, really cool thing that Monarch is doing now. I'll say I was privileged growing up, and I was lucky growing up to have this osmosis of a financial education just because it was, you know, when, when your father is a, a banking lawyer, it's just kind of part of your life. So I'm not saying I'm, I'm great at money or I necessarily know more than you do. I just was aware of some things at an earlier age and I was lucky and it was, it was very helpful. So I've been trying to do with my kids and trying to get them to understand because I don't have the same kind of facility as a dad. And I understand that the way we go about managing our money now is very different. And the good news is that we've got tools at our disposal to help us do it. And, and Monarch does this helps you clear up your financial picture and lets you ask direct questions that maybe you just want to know the answers to. Things like how much did I spend on travel last summer? How much am I spending on rideshares? How much am I spending on my subscriptions to various content networks? Or can I afford this vacation without touching my savings? Things like that that Monarch helps you do. Monarch is going to help you handle everything. Tracking your accounts, your investments, your savings goals, and your spending spot. Things that you wouldn't necessarily look for give you heads up on, on what's happening. And it's little mundane things where you want to split a check at a restaurant and you can scan the receipt. Everybody knows what they have. And you don't need a separate app to try to settle up and just help you feel like you're in charge of your money because you are in better charge of your money. My particular favorite aspect is that at any point in your investing, you can compare your portfolio to the S&P 500, which I always say, there's your benchmark and say, had I invested this money in the S&P 500, instead of doing all these things I want to do, where would I be? And you can do that in real time at any time. So give it a shot, Check it out. I think you'll like it. 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 bucks. That's 50% off your first [e-mail]. make sure you use the code DB YOU. Hey, quick note here to Sam Antonacci. Knock it off. Knock it off. Did you see the elbow he threw at.

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At.

[Dan Bernstein]

At Wilson Contreras?

[Maddie]

Sure did.

[Dan Bernstein]

Running down the line like. Come on, man. Come on. No, no, no, no, no. Look, by all descriptions, and I heard this on in the broadcast last night. That excruciating broadcast. No, it's so bad, it's. I don't even.

[Maddie]

I'll take your word for it, dude.

[Dan Bernstein]

Look, I. I love Stoney and I love Connor, but it is. It's just. It's so basic. It's so. It's just the most basic stuff anyway. I don't want to get distracted. Sam Antonacci, they say he turns into a demon. He's this. This mild mannered kid and all of a sudden he puts a uniform on and he's crazy out there. I know you love that stuff, that the, the grit and. Oh, he gets. He gets hit by a pitch and he doesn't feel it. They literally said that he doesn't feel it. He doesn't care. Yes, he feels it. How old is he? 22. He's a kid. He'll feel it. Everybody feels getting hit by a 95 mile an hour fastball. Oh, he doesn't care. Okay, great. That. That's fun for a while, but after a while and you realize it hurts and it's bad, you stop doing that. And the gritty grindy. Tough. There's a fine line between tough and stupid. And last night he was stupid. And it started with that, with that idiotic. Why are you elbowing him? What are you doing? How do you gain from that? That's not gamesmanship. That's not a celebration. That isn't sort of just baseball fun. It's just being an idiot. And the baserunning thing where you end up getting tagged out by, you know, almost, you know, bending yourself in half, running into the catcher because he's been holding the ball for a half an hour waiting to tag you in the face. I bet they enjoyed that. But he's a good player. He didn't need this. And I heard him after the game and he sounded reasonable and intelligent. So I think there's. There is a way to balance being a reasonable, intelligent young man and playing hard, but not being an idiot. And this is stuff you figure out earlier in your career. And you have good nights and you have bad nights. And my hope is that Will Venable can have these kind of conversations with Him. We need you out there and we need that. He's. I was thinking about it. He's Andrew Shaw. That's who he is. He's Andrew Shaw. Sandpaper grit going corner wind puck battles, checking line. And I went back and looked at Andrew Shaw's numbers. He was a lot better than I thought. He wasn't just that he was a good player, really was. Very valuable player. But also, I don't think Sam Antonacci is kind of an idiot, and I do think Andrew Shaw is kind of an idiot. And this, the, you know, the homophobic slur and all that stuff, I'm not going to put that on Antonacci. But baseball is not hockey. It's hard. You can't really play it like hockey. So I love all of the stuff around the edges and whatever you want to call it, but you don't need randomly being a dick to a guy. And it also makes your team tougher to roof for. You don't want to be that team. Oh, yeah, White Sox tough. We elbow.

[Maddie]

You don't.

[Dan Bernstein]

You don't want to be that. You want to be good and you want to win and you want to hit home runs and you want to be fun. And the Sox have had a lot of fun. That's not fun. That's just dumb.

[Maddie]

Hey, since you're on baseball as well, too, a couple couple Cubs notes. Braxton Garrett was. Was recalled and Tyler Ferguson was optioned. Oh, no.

[Dan Bernstein]

Turk Ferguson's gone.

[Maddie]

Yeah. Roster moves there and then our lineup out today. PCA Back in the field, say a DH Bush Bregman, Ian Happ, Nico Horner, Babe Conforto in right field today, Danby Swanson and then Miguel Amaya bats ninth.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay, welcome to DBU Picks presented by my bookie. We're breaking down the week's biggest matchups and the bets we're watching. And my DBU pick is going to be for Ian Happ to break his homerless streak. It has been way too long since he has hit one out, and I can get plus 550 right now at my bookie for any kind of an Ian Hap home run. I'm going to take it. I know it's a gambler's fallacy, but I do think the wind might actually not be hurting for the first time in a while, and I think he's due to get into one Ian Hap to homer.

[Maddie]

I'm going to stay with the Cubs Dodgers game tonight as well. I'm taking one and a half runs, taking the Cubs plus One and a half. And I'm also going to pair that with the first run of the game being scored in the fourth inning or after. So I'm going to go for a scoreless first three innings and the first run in the fourth inning or after. And the Cubs plus one and a half.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's another edition of DBU picks presented by my bookie. Bet on anything, anywhere, anytime. I happy to see PCA back in the field. We went to the game yesterday. I had a fabulous time at the Cubs game yesterday and we left and it was seven to one and started walking home. And Jason's watching the game on his phone as we're walking, and he's like, dad, don't worry about it. They're fine, they're fine. Dad, it's seven. It's 76. They're fine. I said, by the time we actually get through our alley into our back door, everything will be fine. Yeah, we're going to get rained on. I said, here's a. I said, we're not going to get wet and the Cubs are going to win and everything will be fine. And we got damp, but not wet.

[Maddie]

I didn't tell you this on off the Ivy this morning, but at 7 to 1, I left my couch, came back downstairs and recorded another episode of

[Dan Bernstein]

from the 50 and I know with whom too.

[Maddie]

He was thinking the game was over.

[Dan Bernstein]

He was proud to have been on there.

[Maddie]

It was fun. We had a really fun conversation. Yeah, I'm excited to put that out next week.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, this is the latest that we're hearing from the Bears practice field. Full pads, more than two hours live contact. This is Chris Emma from the Score who says several injuries on the day. The initial belief is Braxton Jones dodged a serious issue. Oh, boy. Okay. Okay. It's really. We're. We were looking closely at the defense and I'm, I'm now the, the prism through which I see a lot of this stuff is changing a little bit now that we're getting a little bit of knowledge as to what they may have. Have sort of decided to do there, but not the point. The point is what I noticed in Wrigley yesterday is the moment that PCA is announced, the atmosphere changes in that building. Everything changes. There's a heightened sense. There is. There is that everybody's attention is, is drawn. And when, when the picture comes set, the. Everyone's leaning a little bit forward. Just look, look, look in the park next. Don't take my word for it. Next time you're in the park when PCA comes up, just, just kind of look and it's deserved. He's at 7.8 wins above replacement. This is one of the best single seasons in the history of the Chicago Cubs. And there is a chance that it could be the best single season in the history of the Chicago Cubs. Pete Crowe Armstrong is on pace for almost 11 fan graphs. War. And that's wild. That is rarefied air. Sammy Sosa in O2 was what, 10 something? Rogers Hornsby in 29 is what we're talking about here. Rogers Hornsby. So who pca, who's this guy? Just understand he's having, he's having a, an all time great season at the moment. He's played every game. He's got 47 games left. He's at 7.8. He's at this pace. There's another 3.18 wins to be added to his fan graphs. Wins above replacement. And you start talking about an individual player, an individual player that makes a difference of 11 wins. That's, that is all time. It is MVP. He should by far. And we saw that, that one on one MVP battle yesterday. But until Shohei Ohtani wants to get out there and start twirling shutouts or. PCA was joking about it yesterday. Well, maybe I should get in the lab and learn how to pitch. Basically saying what, what else you want me to do here? And he's very nice about it and seems like his head's on just right when it comes to it.

[Maddie]

Yeah, it's, it's interesting to hear you talk about how people react at the game and of course for other players and for, you know, it's dictated by game situation where fans get all, you know, excited, stand up. This goes back to 1998 for very different reasons, obviously with Sammy Sosa. I was, I was bartending at Arlington park at the time at the Paddock Pub and people would leave the grandstand to come into the bar just to see Sammy Sosa's at bats. That, that's what it was like. And this is what it's like for PCA right now. And it's not just because, oh, the possibility of hitting a home run because he's not setting records.

[Dan Bernstein]

I'd rather get a triple seeing what

[Maddie]

he does at the plate at the time with guys on base, it's not just about home runs. It's about watching this guy play the game. So it's very different, but similar in that regard to, it's, it's. Can't miss TV now. Like you find and you drop what you're doing to watch disguise at bats and that, that is rare.

[Dan Bernstein]

He's also the best individual defensive player in mlb. Not just the best center fielder. He is the best defender at any position in mlb.

[Maddie]

Yeah. And I pointed this out on off the Ivy this morning and looking at the fielding run value, he's at 24, which is number one in baseball. J.J. weatherhold is 19. Bobby Wood Jr. Is 14. Those are your top three and I think it's a good, it's a good marking point because we got to see Andy Pajes play the last three days in center field and he flashed some

[Dan Bernstein]

leather and that dude, he did it again yesterday.

[Maddie]

Yes, he's a really good center fielder. His fielding run value is 11, which is best for fifth in baseball. And PCA is 24. I mean just think about that. You saw how good this guy was. He made catches Andy pies that other center fielders aren't going to catch. And he's at 11 and PCA is at 24. Which goes to speak about the team, as you mentioned and off the Ivy, this Cubs right now, this Cubs team is on pace to become one of the best defensive teams ever in the history of the game.

[Dan Bernstein]

They are an all time great defensive team on pace to outperform the 2016 World Series champion Cubs that had set the standard.

[Maddie]

Insane.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's this, this is how good they are defensively.

[Maddie]

Yes. And clearly PCA brings that up to another level just being there individually. But I mean you can't discount what Ian Hap doesn't left. And then Swanson, Horner and Bregman and Michael Bush and even Carson Kelly is in a top third in baseball of catchers.

[Dan Bernstein]

Seiya Suzuki is having his best defensive year by a mile and he certainly

[Maddie]

has improved quite a bit. Yes, absolutely.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. There's no holes out there. Their regular lineup, there's, there's no issues and it matters. This is like when you saw last night and, and I am really glad by the way, that Ozzie Guillen said it after the White Sox game last night that Drew Romo is not a major league catch. He didn't say that. He didn't say Drew Romo's not a major league catcher. But he said that performance last night was really not up to big league standard.

[Maddie]

Well, he's, he's not though.

[Dan Bernstein]

And, and, and Ozzy's absolutely right about that. Yeah, absolutely right. That you, they, they need better defensive catching.

[Maddie]

Right. And that's, I mean having those defenders on the field and we've talked about this, with these acquisition of new pitchers, that's what makes a guy a five ERA guy to a high three ERA guy. That's what David Peterson looks different. That's why, you know, Gossman's going to look even better and Clay Holmes is going to look even better. And that's why Javier Assad goes out there against the Dodgers. Just five and two thirds.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's why there's no tolerance for the homers.

[Maddie]

Yes.

[Dan Bernstein]

Keep the ball in the park.

[Maddie]

Let them make plays. Let those balls bounce off the walls and say Suzuki throws in and gets Tucker out.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's the whole difference. If they keep, if they, if they keep the ball in the park, they can win the World Series.

[Maddie]

Yes,

[Dan Bernstein]

I, that, that's easy. That's not a big statement. If they keep the ball in the park, they can win the World Series.

[Maddie]

Yeah, I mean you're a top five offense, you're a number one defense. And if you. Yeah, again, yeah, it's great. I mean if you just keep the ball. Don't give up.

[Guest or Sponsor Voice]

That.

[Maddie]

That's why Jameson Tywin is no longer here.

[Dan Bernstein]

Killed him.

[Maddie]

And that they were done not taking innings anymore for the Cubs.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. We can't do this is what they're. What they say. And that's why Colin Ray is out of the rotation.

[Maddie]

Yes.

[Dan Bernstein]

And that's why they didn't want show to back.

[Maddie]

Correct.

[Dan Bernstein]

Because he couldn't do that. And I don't know if he's still. I, I don't. I'm not that confident that he can keep doing that. He got away with a lot of hard contact yesterday. There were a bunch of warning track fly balls yesterday.

[Maddie]

Yeah, I mean, you know, you look at it and I love again where he's trending and how he's pitched as of late. But I'd rather take Javier Assad start. I mean I give you 11 ground ball outs against the Dodgers the other day.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yep, yep.

[Maddie]

I want those. I don't want deep fly balls. You know, you can't have a four home run outing, a five home run outing. You can't do that.

[Dan Bernstein]

Keep the ball in the park and you can win the World Series. That's the recipe for this team because they turn batted balls into outs, man. And that it is, it's not sexy.

[Maddie]

We're not even talking about the guys coming off the bench and playing defense. I mean you've seen what Paige Ramirez has done. It's stupid.

[Dan Bernstein]

Tyrone Taylor yesterday, that catch in left

[Maddie]

center was, was ridiculous.

[Dan Bernstein]

So that, that allows Pete to get a couple Days off in here.

[Maddie]

Yeah. And I, I do, I do believe. Didn't Pete did have one full day off this year, I believe. Didn't he, didn't he get a day off after the sock series?

[Dan Bernstein]

He's at 1. He's played 115 games. Isn't that the number of games they've played?

[Maddie]

Yeah, he could be right here. Let's see, is he, is he at 115?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, he's played 115 games. And the Cubs, the Cubs are 66 and 49. That to me adds to 115.

[Maddie]

Yeah, you're right.

[Dan Bernstein]

So he's my math.

[Maddie]

Maybe had a day off.

[Dan Bernstein]

Maybe he had most of a day off and pinch ran or he's.

[Maddie]

He's come out of games when they have blowouts. Yes, I know that's. So he's getting time off. And of course yesterday, not, not playing center field. But I thought he

[Dan Bernstein]

looks like he's played. He's a 506 plate appearances. Alex Bregman too, answering the bell. 513 plate appearances. Still hanging in at 101 WRC plus. But can we talk about what everybody in baseball is buzzing about right now? And buzzing and. Or grumbling either. Celebrating, buzzing, grumbling. You can come up with any of these gerunds that you want. Jeffrey Yan. Do you know the name Jeffrey Yan? Anything? Anyone? J, E, F, R, Y, Y, A, N. Jeffrey Yan. He is a rookie pitcher with the Mets and every time he strikes somebody out, he jumps up in the air, spreads his legs, lands on the front of the mound, slaps the ground, goes to a knee and then he stands up and does a slide step on a strikeout. Now if you're an old fashioned baseball hardo, I got a little bit of that in me every once in a while. You know what the response is? Yeah, we don't do that in this league, son. You're going to get one of your teammates killed. You're going to get, you keep doing that. Literally, somebody's gonna, we're gonna put a fastball right in his ear. You do that. But Jan, through an interpreter said the following. If they want to yell at me, if they want to boo me, they can do whatever they want. I'm in my zone. And yeah, I'm going to enjoy my game any way that I want to. He said once I had him with two strikes, I said, you know what? I'm going to throw that slider and if I freeze him, which is exactly what I did. I celebrated accordingly. It's Already a signature celebration for Jan, who did the same after striking out a batter in a Mets spring training game early this year. I don't know exactly when he does. He's a 29 year old, so he isn't a prospect. But I will say it's a matter of time before this becomes more commonplace. And that's good. We love bat flips. And why shouldn't a pitcher be able to celebrate commensurately? Why not? Go ahead. We get used to it. And that's good because if you ever watch like the Caribbean World Series or the Dominican League Championship, this is standard. This is what everybody does. It's a, you know, the, it's L, I D, O, M. I think it's Liga International Dominican. It's. And this is what people do. I do think 20 years from now this will be much more standard because it's fun and it's in the game itself. And pitchers do it anyway. We've seen the Lance Lynn spin on his heel, stomp toward the back of the mound. I took you out, motherfucker. I'm screaming, my glove. Take that. It's all the time. So go ahead, Jeffrey Yan, you go. And I'm waiting to see who, who the, the John Smoltzes are because we're going to get a lot of that. They're going to, they're going to come out and boy, you know what? Also, how often do you watch like MLB Network later in the evening for some west coast ball when they pick up some of the local broadcasts? Do you ever watch that? Because, boy, there's some dudes out there on some of these broadcasts who just say stuff. I know we always talk about the locals, but I think it was Jay Buhner last night was talking about Cal Raleigh and they're just making absolutely no sense. And nobody was calling him out on it. And he was, he had all the pitches wrong. Like, oh, I got him. I knew it was going to be a change up. And then the other guy, the Australian guy is like, yeah, well, that was, it was a two seam fastball there on the outside corner. The guy's just silent because he was. I told you it was going to be a day. Wasn't a change up. And they didn't want to argue about it. But more of this. Actually, I was thinking, what if it were mandatory where every strikeout with the bases empty, at least your pitcher had to do that. You have to. So that guy Drew Summers on the Tigers or you know, a Lance Lynn type figure, whoever. Bartolo Cologne. Who, who Would you see, having manage. Let's see it. You got to do it. Jump up in the air. Do that. You know, the. What do they call. They used to call it a Russian jump, where it's like the straight splits and then you land and then you'd slap the ground and then you do the little like Willie Mays Hayes. I just made the team that. Yes, yes, yes, Go ahead.

[Maddie]

I'd like to see Randy Johnson.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay, well, the. No, Schultz can do it because Noah Schultz just looks just like Randy Johnson. He can strike somebody out and just. You got to do this big old jump. But like, I was actually, I'm bothered more by like the Mike Vassal stuff from a hardo perspective than I would be from an actual pitcher doing it. Like, if you're an injured pitcher and you're not in the game and you have your silly costume on and you're taunting the opponent, like, that's. I can understand a team being much more mad about that than somebody doing the equivalent of a bat flip. You're on the field, you're doing the thing, you're celebrating your own success.

[Maddie]

Right. You struck the guy out, you're happy.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. And who's the guy on the Brewers? Is it Abner Uribe?

[Maddie]

Yes. Who does the.

[Dan Bernstein]

The crotch chop?

[Maddie]

Yeah, I think PCA there was an intention to give him a day off April 23rd. Okay. And that was in that, that four game series against the Phillies. They swept. So April 23rd, Matt Shaw started in center, PCA came in to pinch hit and played the field. That was the 8 to 7 walk off win 10 by Danby Swanson. So he started 114 of the 115 games, played them all. So that was the one game I think maybe they intended to give him off. And as I was going through this and looking at the schedule and I obviously saw this early in the year and I've forgotten about it ever since. Do you know who the Cubs play their final three games of the season on the road?

[Dan Bernstein]

Brewers.

[Maddie]

They're at the Red Sox. I'd forgotten about that till just now.

[Dan Bernstein]

The Red Sox right now. And meanwhile, that Caleb Durbin, he looks like he's. He's like turning into a werewolf or something. Have you seen him?

[Maddie]

He's like.

[Dan Bernstein]

He's all huge. He's. It's like his. His head looks like it's chiseled out of concrete and he's got like big baseball face and he's a really, really good player. But that play at second base, when I thought. I thought they were Gonna get Colson Montgomery on blocking the base, putting his shoe right down like that. I'm. I did not know that you were allowed to do that. I was a little surprised. And that's. And I would like for all baserunners to wear bright yellow gloves. It's the opposite of what I want in football. In football, like, you watch the Vikings or the Seeds, somebody's always got something that makes me think there's a flag on the play.

[Maddie]

The Chiefs.

[Dan Bernstein]

The Chiefs. Every time.

[Maddie]

All the time. Every time. I was like, oh, there's a flag.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, no, not a flag. It's a glove. It's. It's a sock, whatever. But in baseball, that's great if it's the oven mitt or if you're. If you're wearing bright yellow gloves. Does he do it on purpose to say, well, I'm in there. I'm in there. My middle finger is touching the base and staying on because it cuts both ways. But it makes it terrific for some of the replay stuff. Really cool. The Durbin could play that. What happened to that team? Man? They're just nasty. But I'm. But thanks. Thanks to the White Sox broadcast last night, we learned that. Did you know that. That manual scoreboard that they have there. Maddie, there are people inside there.

[Maddie]

Where?

[Dan Bernstein]

Inside this. The manual scoreboard.

[Maddie]

Where. What scoreboard?

[Dan Bernstein]

Boston.

[Maddie]

No.

[Dan Bernstein]

Are they really?

[Maddie]

There's people inside.

[Dan Bernstein]

There's people in there, and they have to actually take something, and just like at Wrigley.

[Maddie]

Do they let them out? Are they.

[Dan Bernstein]

I don't know, because I do that for the season. The. The other thing they said last night, you know what? Sometimes it can be in there hot.

[Maddie]

Oh, I never thought of that either. I never thought of people being inside the manual scoreboard.

[Dan Bernstein]

I know. All my years watching baseball, all my years watching that park, but, you know, you can learn a lot. You turn on that broadcast and they. And the other thing I learned last night from the White Sox broadcast, and this is really important, there was a White Sox pitcher issued a walk. I forgot who it was. Whether it was. It was Newcomb or Burke or somebody, they issued a walk and they cut away to. Manager Will Venable said, you know how Will Venable feels about walks. And I. I don't.

[Maddie]

I guess he doesn't like them when they're pitching, but he likes them.

[Dan Bernstein]

We don't know that he didn't. I'm assuming that that's my. I'm not. I don't assume anything. I was just told, you know, how he feels about how does he feel?

[Maddie]

Do we know? Did they tell us?

[Dan Bernstein]

No. Oh, I mean, he didn't look happy, so my guess is he doesn't like walks.

[Maddie]

When you're pitching.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right. When his team is pitching. Yeah, this. I wrote this down because, But I had to judge based on, on Will Venable's facial expression because usually he's a very happy, smiley guy. But his team issued a walk. I had to interpret his facial expression. But, but I, but, but the fact that he personally doesn't like. Maybe Pedro Griffal did. I don't know. I, Maybe I, maybe.

[Guest or Sponsor Voice]

I don't know.

[Dan Bernstein]

This hasn't been established in the broadcast before, but I learned that last night.

[Maddie]

I learned maybe that's why they lost so many games. Maybe he encouraged walks that he's.

[Guest or Sponsor Voice]

He.

[Dan Bernstein]

That they. That man is a manager. He. That's the first. Maybe the first thing he said, but he took over the team. Hey, pitchers. I don't like walks, okay?

[Maddie]

You know what they say about lead off walks, Dan?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes, I, I do.

[Maddie]

What do they say? Because I don't know.

[Dan Bernstein]

That they're dreaded.

[Maddie]

Okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

They're bad. Like a pirate. Yar. The Dread Pirate Roberts. The dread. The dreaded lead off walk.

[Maddie]

You know what's awesome is that we get consecutive weekday 120 starts for the Cub. Yes. Yeah, I likey.

[Dan Bernstein]

I know you do, because then it

[Maddie]

frees up my evening.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right.

[Maddie]

But you didn't.

[Dan Bernstein]

So you didn't. I mean, socks and socks. Though games in Fenway are fun generally. It's just.

[Maddie]

I watched the first two games, so I was good. I shouldn't say watched. I checked in on them.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. Why do you. Why do you.

[Maddie]

I don't hate him. I just, I, I only have a certain amount of, of baseball watching capacity within me for each day.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, I watched a lot yesterday. I watched. I go to the Cub game, then I watched the Sox game and then I was watching the Mariners late and I don't know why I was still. I was up. I had a, I had a. I made my seafood pasta that was just spectacular.

[Maddie]

You're crazy, girl. That's too much to watch. I. Because, you know, again, afternoon Cubs game and then last night I had another episode of Great Food Truck Race and then Ted Lasso, first episode.

[Dan Bernstein]

We haven't watched that yet. No spoilers. No spoilers.

[Maddie]

Well, it's out. Just so you know.

[Dan Bernstein]

I know we, we probably going to watch it tonight, I think.

[Maddie]

Well, I got one spoiler for you. Jason Sedis is, is Tad Lesso, so.

[Dan Bernstein]

Damn it, Maddie.

[Maddie]

Yeah. I'm sorry.

[Dan Bernstein]

Cut me.

[Maddie]

I was very excited to watch that, though. Yeah, you got to watch. Watch tonight for me, please.

[Dan Bernstein]

Will do. Got that. And that is.

[Maddie]

Oh.

[Dan Bernstein]

Did you eat those chips? Not yet. They're unopened.

[Maddie]

You didn't even open them and try one?

[Dan Bernstein]

Not yet. I wanted to do it as.

[Maddie]

To eat the whole bag at one time.

[Dan Bernstein]

I wanted. I wanted to. I wanted to do it as a family.

[Maddie]

I want you to see them, how pretty they are.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's hard, I know, but it's hard to get all four. I wanted to do it as a family.

[Maddie]

Okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

And just actually get. I wanted to get the full input because everybody eats potato chips.

[Maddie]

I gave Dan a bag of the Jose Andres potato chips.

[Dan Bernstein]

Three ingredients?

[Maddie]

Yep.

[Dan Bernstein]

Potato, extra virgin olive oil, potato, and salt. Yes.

[Maddie]

It's a. It's the big bag, too.

[Dan Bernstein]

Can I tell you what the other issue was? It was the same night we ordered Red Hot Ranch.

[Maddie]

Okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

So we were having the best fries, and we order extra fries, and there's boxes. There are fries flying everywhere.

[Maddie]

Okay. So I. I get it, but. All right, that's fine. I'm just. I'm really excited.

[Dan Bernstein]

I didn't want them to compete with Red Hot Ranch fries.

[Maddie]

No, I don't. Yeah. I don't want to do that. Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's not fair. It's just not.

[Maddie]

I love that you're, like, strategically planning how you're going to open these bags of this bag of chips.

[Dan Bernstein]

You know, I overthink stuff, and it's part of. Of my pathology.

[Maddie]

You overthink things?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes. And. And. And it's also part of my. My OCD spectrum. Stuff is things at the right times in places, and then when things are out of order, I am irrationally unhappy, and I need to control that because it's within my power to decide that this just isn't important.

[Maddie]

Yes. No, that's. That's good. You have. You have a handle working towards those things, so I'm excited.

[Dan Bernstein]

Process.

[Maddie]

So.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay. And I am excited to try them. I don't want you to feel like it's not appreciated or we're not excited about it. It's. It's just not time yet.

[Maddie]

I know. No, I get it. I got to realize who I'm.

[Dan Bernstein]

I'm here with. Of course, this turns into you insulting

[Maddie]

me, because how did I insult you? I gotta.

[Dan Bernstein]

I gotta know.

[Maddie]

I'm.

[Dan Bernstein]

I'm dealing with a complete lunatic here, and I have done it.

[Guest or Sponsor Voice]

No, you.

[Maddie]

No, no, your interpretation is incorrect. You do that a lot with Me. Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Is it?

[Maddie]

Because that's not at all. Dude, you know me better now. And our relationship is a point where if I feel that way, I just say it to you.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's true. We're too old. You don't need me.

[Maddie]

Yeah. You don't need me. You don't need to interpret it.

[Dan Bernstein]

But I'm right. But I am right, though. I so. And you know it. And that's why you're laughing, because you know I'm right. So. But that's okay.

[Maddie]

Whatever, man.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's okay.

[Maddie]

Whatever, man.

[Dan Bernstein]

Whatever, man. That's Dan Bernstein, unfiltered here on 312Sports. Thanks for being a part of it. Also, the party. Don't forget the party. Please, please, please make plans to join us on August 25th. From 6 to 8, we're going to be in Evanston. We're just getting everybody together to hang out and I'm giving away stuff that Matt and Cody and I are gonna have. Tickets to Cubs games, to Snoop Dogg, to Weezer, Earth, Wind and fire, Lionel Richie. 312 sports swag. First hour. We're gonna have snacks, snacks for everyone. But just come by, hang out for a couple of hours or longer. I don't know how longer. I say maybe the party's gonna roll on and we're gonna finish elsewhere. Who knows? You, you know, I know we got to work the next day, but maybe. I'm not going to make any promises, but I think it's going to be a really fun night and I think you should join us at Double Clutch Brewing in Evanston. Thanks to our sponsors of the evening, Double Clutch and Chicago Window guys, Russ Armstrong, who are making this event happen, celebrating a year on the day, one year of this show, one year of 312 sports. And all I can say is that these are the beginning of what I think are going to be some very exciting times at this podcast network. So we got. We got all kinds of surprises and fun things to come. So do make your plans to join us that night. And even if you just want to stop by, say, hey, come in, wave, or just think happy thoughts, but let's all raise a glass together on that night and celebrate a year of whatever we're doing here. Thanks, Dan Bernstein. Unfiltered. Unfiltered on 312 sports. Thanks for listening to today's episode brought to you by my bookie, what's the

[Guest or Sponsor Voice]

secret recipe to making Money Topics interesting? I think you start off by relating money to your everyday life. Like more vacations, more living, less worry about your next paycheck. And that's how we built the Stack. Stacky Benjamin show, the personal finance show that's full of good times, great laughs, and big lessons. Whether you're paying off debt, building wealth, or just trying to stop hemorrhaging money

[Dan Bernstein]

at the grocery store, we got you.

[Guest or Sponsor Voice]

Find the Stacky Benjamin show wherever you get your podcasts.

[Dan Bernstein]

The greatest money show on earth, now part of the Gamut Podcast Network.