Dan Bernstein Unfiltered (312 Sports)

Episode: Will the NFL hold Steve Tisch accountable?

Date: February 12, 2026

Episode Overview

In this intense and wide-ranging episode, Dan Bernstein and his co-host—a longtime executive producer and commentator—delve into the explosive reporting about Steve Tisch, co-owner of the New York Giants, and his connections to Jeffrey Epstein. The episode grapples with the revelations of email exchanges between Tisch and Epstein, as reported by The Athletic, and the utter lack of accountability from the NFL and broader societal leadership. The hosts pull no punches, expressing outrage and frustration over systemic failures, the hollow responses from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, and a culture that appears to protect perpetrators over victims. While the Epstein/Tisch scandal is the focal point, the episode later segues into lighter sports talk, including the state of the Chicago Bulls, Cubs memorabilia, and Olympic highlights, all while maintaining the show's characteristic candor.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Steve Tisch’s Epstein Connections & NFL’s Accountability Crisis

• New Revelations: The Athletic’s reporting reveals dozens of emails between Steve Tisch and Jeffrey Epstein—even after Epstein was a registered, high-risk sex offender.
  • “There’s no way you can let this guy keep representing the Giants or the NFL. That’s it.” (Co-host, 00:29)
  • Tisch used Epstein to be introduced to women, with correspondence detailing their ages and backgrounds.
• NFL Response: Commissioner Roger Goodell, at his Super Bowl State of the League press conference, acknowledges concern but offers only vague promises of “fact gathering” and a potential investigation, without concrete action.
  • “Roger Goodell’s job was to get to the end of the press conference by indicating concern, without necessarily committing to the actual process of holding the owner…accountable.” (Co-host, 00:45)
• Public Evidence & Standards:
  • The evidence—dozens of emails, openly accessible—meets or exceeds the NFL’s own personal conduct policy for initiating an immediate removal from team operations.
  • Giants' public statement downplays the association as “brief” and claims all women were adults, which the hosts find insulting and implausible.
  • “There isn’t a question of if he was involved with Jeffrey Epstein—it’s a matter of he was involved.” (Dan, 07:28)

2. A Systemic Failure of Justice—Media, Government, and Private Power

• Redacted Scandal, Exposed Victims:
  • Hosts criticize law enforcement and government failures, noting that not only are perpetrators shielded by redactions, but the names and faces of victims (and even undercover agents) are being exposed.
  • “We’re hiding the guys who perpetrated all these activities…and all of the sex trafficking and rape and crimes against underage girls.” (Dan, 04:40)
• Desensitization and Distraction:
  • Society at large now treats these ongoing revelations as passé, eager to move on with “nothing to see here.”
  • “People in charge just want to move past it and move on…It’s not a witch hunt if there’s this many witches.” (Co-host, 12:59 & 13:17)
• NFL as Last Line of Moral Defense:
  • The irony of looking to the NFL—“a private boys club of sports”—for leadership in the absence of accountability from elected officials:
    • “When you can say that the gold standard of accountability is the NFL, that’s where we are.” (Co-host, 26:55)
    • “It’s pretty pathetic…we’re asking the commissioner to set the tone over our elected officials in our government of what is wrong and what is right.” (Dan, 29:54)

3. Critique of NFL Double Standards & Insulting Excuses

• Contrast with Player Discipline:
  • Outrage that players are disciplined severely for personal conduct (often minor infractions), yet an owner faces only lip-service.
    • “Tell me about all the things that players have done…and have dishonored the shield…if you’re going to let this guy just slide.” (Dan, 23:19)
• Unbelievable Tisch Excuses:
  • Hosts mock Tisch’s claim he only turned to Epstein to meet women of legal age, emphasizing that a Hollywood mogul hardly needs Epstein for that.
    • “Really? That’s the only source you had to meet women of legal age was Jeffrey Epstein? Come on, you’re a Hollywood producer.” (Dan, 16:59 & 17:07)
    • “At one point in the emails, Tish even says, we probably shouldn’t be emailing about this. That’s how stupid they are.” (Co-host, 20:23)
    • “But why not do it in writing if you’re just meeting women of legal age?” (Dan, 20:57)

4. Frustration with Societal Collapse in Basic Accountability

• Victims Ignored, Systemic Cover-Up:
  • Heartfelt anger at how victims are treated as an “annoyance” and the societal machinery seems designed to impede justice.
    • “The victims are just a bother…Somebody pay attention. And it kills me.” (Co-host, 13:33)
    • “It’s really sad to see the crumbling…of the basic principles of accountability for doing wrong.” (Dan, 28:50)

5. Broader Media and Institutional Critique

• Decline of Investigative Journalism:
  • Dismantling of local and independent media by private equity makes it harder for the truth to emerge and for the powerful to be held to account.
    • “When your news media is dismantled…it takes away the power to investigate these things…allowing them to operate with impunity.” (Co-host, 26:10)

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Co-host (about the scale of the Epstein case):
  “We talk about needles in haystacks. This is…a haystack the likes of which we've never seen. And to know there are needles in there, it's full of needles…when you're trying to find patterns and trying to use all of this…half-assed redacted data…” (01:56)
• On NFL’s personal conduct policy:
  “At a minimum, this has to be past the threshold of a placement on the commissioner’s exempt list…for the NFL to say, ‘We are going to investigate. We are going to look everything over.’” (Co-host, 06:47)
• On Tisch’s relationship with Epstein:
  “When that meeting occurred, Epstein had already been sued repeatedly by sex abuse victims. He'd already served 13 months…registered as a level three sex offender…” (Co-host, 08:31)
• On societal indifference:
  “If there’s this many witches. It doesn’t matter where they come from, what their name is, what offices they held. Get them all. Identify all of them. Punish all of them.” (Co-host, 13:17)
• Dan on partisanship:
  “We don’t care who’s named in these files…There’s no political affiliation…If you’re named, and you committed crimes, you should be punished and held accountable. Period.” (Dan, 10:57)

Segment Timestamps

| Timestamp | Topic Summary | |-----------|---------------| | 00:29–11:49 | Deep dive into Tisch/Epstein connection and NFL's failed response | | 12:37–15:43 | Societal dysfunction, call for accountability, consternation at NFL as “moral leader” | | 16:14–21:21 | Ridiculing Tisch’s excuses, more details on emails, comparison to Robert Kraft case | | 21:26–29:54 | Broader government/media systemic failure, personal and cultural frustration, victim focus | | 29:54–31:08 | Transition to lighter sports discussion: Bulls, coping with bad basketball | | 31:08–37:30 | Bulls talk, Girl Scout cookies, betting on NBA, mybookie plug | | 37:30–44:11 | Cubs memorabilia story: Norman Rockwell's "The Dugout" and its baseball reverberations | | 44:11–47:32 | Paul Sullivan’s Art Institute critique, Alinea tangent, shared laughs | | 47:50–59:03 | Olympic updates: medal count, American results, and Olympic tangents | | 59:03–59:50 | Discussion of Olympic hockey, whether to "make it a thing" as fans | | 59:50–-END | Closing banter, light-hearted finish |

Tone & Style

• Unfiltered, bluntly honest, outrage-laden but never melodramatic.
• Strong emotional undercurrent, particularly on accountability, justice, and failed institutions.
• Interspersed with Chicago-local sports humor, camaraderie, and relatable asides.

For Listeners: Essential Takeaways

• The episode is a raw, acerbic examination of the Steve Tisch/Epstein scandal, the inertia and hypocrisy within NFL leadership, and broader cultural failures in justice for sex trafficking crimes.
• Bernstein and his co-host express deep disgust with institutional cover-ups, media decline, and a society numbed to scandal—punctuated with sharp, Chicago-style sports radio banter.
• Recommended especially for listeners who want real talk about sports and society, not PR-spin or sanitized analysis.

Notable Recommendation:
"If you are going to watch Bulls basketball, do not watch Bulls basketball without a proper amount of Girl Scout cookies, because that counterbalances it." — Co-host (35:53)

Further Reading & Context:

• The Athletic’s reporting on Tisch and Epstein for detailed documentary evidence.
• The ongoing media coverage of the Epstein files for broader context on the societal and institutional fallout discussed in the episode.