Mac FM wrote:
I don't have to sell you a car to tell you what I really think of Bernstein. Let me save you the trip.
I believe his charitable efforts with pediatric oncology are both genuine and admirable. Raising money is no easy endeavor and I know for a fact Dan rolls up his sleeves and busts grapes for the cause.
His producers have been clear (not Shep -- yet) he wasn't generous to them. When Spiegs and I were rehearsing before takeoff in June of '09, Matty borrowed $300 from me to get his car fixed. You can fill in the blanks.
He can be charming. His bedside manner is top shelf when it needs to be.
His treatment of those who aren't his intellectual equal is deplorable.
I'd go musky fishing with him. He's not a pussy, physically, and I know he'd research the craft and understand you have to throw big baits with big tackle 'til you're sore and sometimes never see a fish, yet keep throwing. He enjoys the outdoors. I'm happiest when I'm on the water with a 9' St.Croix Big Nasty in my hands. It'd be fun throwing with him... to get him on "my turf." Some of my best friends (and fishermen) don't have the stomach for musky hunting. I bet he would.
It's my perception he doesn't have many friends. I don't think many trust him. The veneer, not the guy I know, comes off as arrogant, aloof and selfish.
There were several road trips where I enjoyed his company. A strip club in Phoenix in '96 (his first). San Diego in '98. On that trip, he and I were both stuck between choices on the menu. One of 'em was the same. We ordered three entrees and split the one we both wanted. I think it was Pacific swordfish, but don't hold me to it. Matt Fishman, my EP then, told us it was bad form to order an extra entree. Bernsie and I got blasted together in Salt Lake City with the Bulls in '97. We crashed Grobber's overnight show and assumed control.
Dan can suck the joy out of the dumbest shit. Even the strip club was like a sociology class assignment, a participant observer type of thing (Participant Observe was the name of my column sophomore year at Ball State, for the award-winning and nationally-respected Daily News.) I'd probably flick ash on him if we fished muskies and he started doing metrics on cast-to-follow ratio or fishing WAR. His passion for metrics is a turnoff to a lot of people who just wanna be a part of the party and use radio and sports for escapism, not to go to fucking school.
Other musings:
It bothers me his smartest-guy-in-the-room style has permeated the air staff there (with few exceptions). I don't fault him for that. If the others feel they have to pass the Bernstein dick-quotient litmus test, shame on them, not Dan. Have the balls to be yourself and not try to impress another host because you also are smarter and better than your audience. There isn't enough fraternity house feel at the Score for my tastes. But Bernsie is just one guy. The others who play follow the leader... well... that's on them.
It is a fact Bernstein was the only Score host who reached out to Danny Parkins and welcomed him to the air staff. I was not surprised when I learned this.
In Miami in '99, my wife, Jill, and Dan Jiggetts had to restrain me and keep me from going Doug Buffone on him when he was laughing about bad pub the station got in the Sun-Times. Dan was still a reporter or evening host with designs on moving up and several wondered if he planted the fucking story with Robert Feder. There never was evidence he did, but he was a suspect.
He's sympathetic to people with mental health issues. He understands it is a physical, neurological disease. He also has been willing to have conversations with me about autism and even share some stuff on the topic with me. I believed it to be sincere. He's a father, too.
I wonder if something happened to Dan in his childhood he hasn't come to grips with. Or maybe he wants to talk about it on the air but doesn't want to hurt somebody. Maybe he hates himself for something he did. His hostility and often contemptuous disposition isn't an accident. There is some deep-rooted hurt there. He loves Silence of the Lambs. Somebody should ask him "What is your worst memory of childhood... and don't lie, or I'll know."
Anything else?
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