The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Big Suey: The Major Animal (feat. David Samson)

Episode Date: April 2, 2026

"You bet your...ass!" David Samson stops by, but before we can get to him, just seven quick things. David dives into Marlins attendance, TV deals across sports, and his movie review before we watch one of the funniest videos to ever surface from Nothing Personal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Big Suey, presented by Draft Kings. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan Levitard podcast. I'm sorry, I'm not going to apologize for that. In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging. I have been tempted in restaurants just walking past tables to grab somebody's fries if they're just there. That hasn't happened to you guys? I've done it.

And now, here's the marching man to nowhere, fat face, and the habitual liar. I mean, to the point of the Eastern Conference, we even saw a team that was in the NBA finals last year make a move that was kind of head scratching at the moment when the Pacers traded for Zubots. Like, there's a lot of teams that have done something. But if you have the goal of getting a Yannis, right, then you have to do things that serve that goal, no?

Yeah, so it's basically like a flow chart, right? You step over here and you say, do you want Yonis? If yes, you go this way. If no, you go this way. If your answer is yes, and you start following down that path. You cannot then midway through and say, ooh, I like kind of one of those options down there.

It's gone. It's done. For the Pacers, which, by the way, the other franchise in the NBA, that it's staunchly, on the record, anti-tanking. We do not tank in Indiana. That's what they say. They were forced into this hand. What happened to them this year? A great hand, by the way, because now they're going to get the

number one-pick, Agent DeBanza, and then Halliburton's going to come back. It was a great move. Your competition keeps making good moves. It worked out for them. They took lemons, and they made lemonade. If Halliburton doesn't get hurt. Hell, Hallibur could get hurt if Pascal Seacom and Nemhart and McConnell and Jackson and Neesmith all don't get hurt to start the year, they're doing the same thing the heat are doing right now because that's how they do. Now what ended up happening was those guys all

started hurt. They started awful. It set their course of their flowchart in a certain way. And then when a zoo botts becomes available for multiple firsts, for them, they're saying, look, we're a team that when we're healthy, we really like who we got. We are a center away. Which they were. But it is reasonable, I mean, to say that you can understand a team that made it to the NBA finals, made it deep in the NBA finals against a really good OKC team. It's understandable that they would stand Pat. It's almost like there was a team that went to the NBA finals.

Talk to me about five years ago. No, but five years ago, you were talking trash. You were like, oh, these guys aren't that good. Yes, you were. Oh, five years ago about their prospects not being good enough. After they went to the finals, the year after. the year after. Okay, so Indiana's in the same situation.

They're in the same situation. The only difference is their franchise player got irrevocably hurt in the finals, and then all of their starters got hurt to start the year. But in a season they were selling, they bought. I love that an argument started when I'm like, we don't have to argue about this team anymore. We don't. Because we can call the race.

By the way, I'm talking to Tony. You're the one that's talking to me right now, but I'm talking to Tony. But in that situation, you decided to insert yourself. Where you're tanking, but you're, a buyer at the deadline because nobody saw Zubots going to Indiana. Sure, sure. Sure. It was, it happened very quickly.

I talked to Jake Fisher because he reported on it. Happened very quickly because it was like, hey, what's up with Zubots? And they knew that Zubbos was being shot. The Raptors were actually the ones that were really hot on it. And the word from the Clippers is, if it's not multiple firsts, don't talk to us. So the Raptors said, that's a little too rich for my blood. Somewhere there's a podcast slash radio guy in Toronto. I can't believe they passed up on everyone else did stuff.

Everything that's happened here is disrespectful to David Samson. You guys continue to argue about this, and you were so much better on this subject when screaming at Tony through the break, just screaming at him, doing your own show, so much better than you were articulating what you just articulated. I wanted to hear the show you just did with Tony when you...

I've never seen in our show's history, ever. An argument go from on air to off air to you were screaming at Tony, the argument... It wasn't screaming. Tone? We were talking. Very loudly, but we were talking. Because there was a lot of noise and stuff.

We were excited. We were excited. There was an excited tone, not an angry tone. I think Atlanta has the best prospect going forward in Easter conference. If we want to talk to David about that, I don't know. Look, the Celtics are who the heap thought they were. And everyone else in that conference is not better. Incorrect statement.

Celtics had not one, but two perennial all-MBA guys. Top five picks. Two top five picks. Top three picks. The Celtics and. heat were even at the top of the conference and whatever the growth has been since then has been the Boston front office leaving the heats behind. There is no question. No, no, no, no, it's no, no, no, you're not going to put false kind of statements as fact. They started with two top three picks

who are all NBA players. Whatever the equality was, at the height of ban blocking Jason Tatum or whatever kind of poetry or prose you want to use, it was still, this team has talent, this team is scrappy guys who are just fighting to get there. And so you can't say, oh, the front office have made all, they started on third base and made it to home. You're starting at home and trying to make it to the second. Not only that, you have the top three picks that end up panning out into all NBA players. But then you have the development that is happening here in Miami.

You had that same development over there in Boston with guys like Derek White, who couldn't shoot is now a three-point assassin, with guys like Peyton Pritchard, who was not going to be in the league. It's unplayable. And now he leads the league in points per game in ISO. And they trade four Drew Holiday and Porzingis and then get rid of them. And all of the pieces now fit around their two pieces. Like that they've made it so that they're at the top of the conference and can dominate it for a while because those they've got those two guys under contract.

That's the starting point. The awareness of the franchise to know that they weren't good enough. And they made moves. They had to. And Miami got swept up in making the finals while immediately after the finals, we also argued this seemed totally maxed out. They're not good enough. They have to do something. They stood Pat, year after year. And now, like, hopefully, we're just doing the same thing again, where we're wishing that, you know, the old Pat Riley shows up and he gets the whale. What I'm arguing is, and they've shown this in the past, they've realized that they weren't good enough. They remained competitive. They did this with the Germaine O'Neill team, where they increased their flexibility to be able to chase those whales. And all I'm asking is, if we weren't going to add a star, why not add assets? And I think that's a question that should be when you're holding this franchise accountable. Two parts here.

The one that response... Oh, my God. Samson is going to lose his mind. The one thing that is a point in Mike's favor and becomes a part of it is like, are you adding assets? I think the heat's view here would be the flexibility that they maintain this summer may have been more valuable than trading those pieces for second round picks and salary filler. We'll see what happens because they're trying to acquire that talent we're talking about. That's part one.

But when it comes to the second part, I spoke with Eric Spolster yesterday about this exact thing, where the Celtics and the Heat stand. And when it comes to that rivalry, like, you guys might have a first round series if the Heat are one of the seven or eight seeds and end up as the seven. And he was like, look, they look at us right now like exactly what we are. And they should because we are not to the caliber of team that they have been. And that talent disparity is obvious. And it was on display yesterday in that first quarter.

Guys, the Celtics have clinched a playoff spot now for 12 consecutive seasons. They've reached the playoffs 18 of the last 19 years and 22 of the last. 25. In the last quarter century, no team has played or one more playoff games than Boston. And since the Derek White tip all of that stuff, the

Celtics have run circles around the heat and what you saw last night is evidence of why the heat thing has now collapsed. David Samson has been waiting patiently, and I just want to get to two more things, and I'd like them to be with David Samson. First, can you

play a mean earlier in the show doing sensual Pat Riley for some reason. David, just please analyze for me here what it is that is happening here when Amin goes full sensuality. Here how this? Like, get that out of my face. I'm not doing any deals. I'm Bat Riley. I like what I have. Bat Riley. What? That's a guy who has a very good Obama, a really good one, I mean. And you're trying to sort of do what you can't do. And it comes off is just wrong. Stick to Obama. You got a couple great ones, actually.

I mean, that was just... Explain to me. The sensuality, are you showing your nipples to all? I'm Bat Riley. Like, show me this again. No, I want to know what Amin is doing here. Do you think you're giving off swagger and sensuality here? I wasn't going for sensuality.

I was going more for like, look at me. I'm here. I've arrived. Asked before me. Another look at me. Tell me what happened here when Mike told you to look at me, Amin, and I was made very uncomfortable by everything that happened

here. Amin, look at me. Wait, oh, I thought there was a video. Amin, look at me. Yeah. No, I was, look, I'm always respectful. So I wasn't being respectful when I wasn't making eye contact with him. Amin, look at me. He closes his eyes and shakes his head and does

this little look here. I remain with eye contact, but in that moment, I wasn't. And so he was right to call me out. See that? We're 10 minutes late, Dan. And so just curiosity, is this a me thing if it is just fine, but if you had a guest that you scheduled and then you just did this, I guess maybe that's why the booking people have issues. I don't know. I've been here 15 minutes.

Yeah, I'm sorry, and that's genuine. I do mean that sincerely. I do because the show has gotten away from me, obviously. We rarely have an argument that's that authentic, where the two people are on different sides. And I can see where Amin is calling for fairness, and I can see where Mike is like enough. I'm done being reasonable. Everyone's past them. Like that's not up for dispute on where the heat are.

But before you came on with us, we were excited about the Marlins. And what I wanted to ask you is, first off, did you have any thoughts on their announced attendance of 6,000, whatever it was earlier this week? Because you were notorious about why you would fudge the numbers on attendance in this city. This is why. Because it's the national conversation that there were 6,500 people at the ball, All you have to do is buy $4,00 tickets.

$4,000. We wrote the check every game. You buy $4,000, you announce 10,169, and no one says a word. It is shocking to me that this view of like, oh, let's be transparent. Really? You want to be transparent?

When you got 6,500 people announced? No. There's a time to be transparent and a time to be murky. This is the time. time for the Marlins to be murky, because what we should be talking about is the fact that they got off to a five and one start against teams. They should have gotten off to a five and one start again, that it puts them in a position to potentially have a season worth watching. Let's talk about

Sandy Alcantra. Let's talk about Owen Cassier, Griffin, Conines, bomb. Maybe it was when the game was out of reach, but so much to talk about. Instead, you're talking about $6,500. They did it to themselves. I don't think anyone's talking about the 6500. It's everywhere, Mike. Oh, no, it's what do you mean? It's the same trope. Part of the national conversation should be five and one fish. Sandy, complete game shutout.

Look at this lineup. Like, they're like, I don't think, okay, I guess you're running more national circles than I am. I think that's just taking low-hanging fruit. Locally, I don't think anybody's talking about that. So maybe that's when I'm applying. Yeah, so I'm definitely talking about nationally because nationally people watch your show. and nationally that is how these type of shows are engaged, and that's our audience, and that's just, by the way,

baseball fans, sports fans. How about that I got contacts by people who weren't even baseball fans, hadn't watched the game, and then commented to me about the attendance and wanted my thought, like, do you have a comment about 6,500 people? And my response was, I've got a comment about having one of the top five pitchers

ever to wear a Marlon's uniform going nine and doing a Maddox. Would you like that comment? And the answer was, nah, we're more curious what your thought is on attendance. Hey, Roy, buddy. You know that energy shift when the game gets good and everybody altogether in unison

knows to stand up on their feet? Oh, absolutely, Mike. Yeah, you've been at many big time sporting events. You know that moment quite well. That's what it's like when you take your first sip of Cuervo. Oh, delicious. It's the signal that says, we're not checking the time anymore, pal.

It's when small talk turns into, stories. Quervo, man. It's at high-five, a random stranger effect. That's right. The game is popping. You're hugging people you never met before. That's the kind of energy that Quervo brings. It's so smooth, so delicious. That's the Quervo effect. Keep it, Quervo. Hey, it's Mike Ryan, and I want to talk to you about the random midweek hang that you have with your friends. Maybe it's an NBA game. You get a text, hey, come over. You want to watch the game, and maybe you're like, I don't know, I kind of just wanted to stay home.

And then you think about it. After your buddy hits you up, and you know just the thing that'll make that regular hang, that regular midweek hang around the basketball game into a special time, into a Miller time. That's right, this happened to me just last week.

I grabbed a six-pack of Miller Light, said I was on my way, and next thing you know, we're arguing about rotations, like we're on the coaching staff, yelling about a miss call, and the game's coming down to the final possession. It was one of those nights that you look around, you take a sip and you think, yeah, this was the right call.

And my friendship's stronger for it. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Lite. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to Miller Lite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.

Going for two when you're up by five. Switching the zone when man isn't working. Oh, and building your new stadium in the state your team actually plays in. In sports, some things just make sense. You know what else makes sense? Drinking Yeagermeister shots. Ice cold. Drinking it any other way would be like punting on first down.

Or letting your worst hitter bat first or like going for two when you're down three with a second to go. It wouldn't make any sense. So don't let the team down when it comes to Yeagermeister. Drink it cold or don't drink it at all! Yeagermeister, damn that's cold. Freak responsibly, Yeagermeister liqueur, 35% alcohol by volume, imported by master Yeagermeister U.S., White Plains, New York. Don Lebatard.

Tatas. Taitas. This is the Dan Lebatar show with the Stugats. Amin, can you walk me through what you make of what David is saying? Because he is taking a very easy approach as for $4,000 a game. I buy myself out of an indebtzance. embarrassment. It's a price worth, it's a price worth murky numbers. But he's doing an accounting move just to not have the conversation about the Marlins be again for the 30th straight

year. How do they support baseball down there with no crowds? But that, but he's right. It goes back to kind of some of the argument that's having a mic where he says, well, they have their PR people run a Barry Jackson and say this. I'm like, yeah, what are they supposed to do? The job of the PR department is to protect the franchise at all costs. and we're not here to be, like David said, there's a time for transparency. This ain't one of the times. So we do whatever it takes

to not attract the wrong kind of attention to our franchise. The team is 5 and 1. Jeremy tells me they've got a better record since some date last year. June 13. In the last 100 games, right, than the Dodgers do. Samson, don't laugh at that. A hundred's a good sample.

Right, like, so the whole point. No, I'm laughing that, I mean, is trying to, talk baseball. I love this. Yeah, well, I think I'm a succeeding also, right? So the idea is that there are plenty of positive storylines to be put ahead and for it to be overshadowed by an attendance figure that can be easily fixed like David said for four grand. Hell, call it five grand. Let's go crazy. Let's say to 11,000 people there. Let's give away the seats. Whatever it is. It's so easy to obfuscate that one embarrassing part that really isn't important. important to the story of the team. David, I want to bring you in on something we were discussing

yesterday and wanted to properly articulate your vantage point on this. We were talking about how the customer going to the games is less important to owners than it has been. And I was parroting some opinions I've heard you and Skipper espoused, but Mike and Amin were arguing with the idea that the in-game experience now, very luxurious catering to high-end people, still is important. How long before it's not important anymore? That no fans at the game or very few people in seats, that it won't matter because the TV money is so large that all of these places can neglect customer service because it matters less that people go to the ballparks. Well, you're not neglecting customer service. You're just figuring out where there are more

customers. And you can't be the same and do the same for every type of customer, which is why different types of experiences within a stadium, whether you're in the outfield or whether you're in a luxury suite behind the plate, I think what you're referring to is that there's way more money in national revenue and in streaming revenue as a percentage of your total pie than there ever has been. And those numbers are increasing at a percentage, at a compounding rate, way more than ticket prices plus food, merch, parking. All of those combined do not show the inflate inflationary aspects as do broadcast revenue. And so that's why you're seeing a change. Look at what Skipper did with Unrivaled. He made that a television studio, let in a couple thousand

people and just make it a TV product to get a TV deal to get the league on its feet. The NBA right now, if you ask them, the NFL, I hate to tell you, it's the same thing. If you look at their TV deals, it's just not even close what they care about more. All right. So clean this up for me because the NBA got their money, the NFL, got their money and the NFL is trying to renegotiate. I see all sorts of news items on all these other leagues getting frustrated because the NFL is hogging all the money. There's only so much budget that people have for this. I see RSN's collapsing. It used to be a huge part of the baseball model. Now that has to evolve. I do think baseball is in pretty solid position to be able to

adapt with the times. They had the infrastructure. Basketball, it's going to be an issue. Certainly for hockey, it's going to be an issue. But I don't see TV money from this point. moving with that sustainable growth. I actually see the money coming down, especially when you factor RSNs into it. So wouldn't that put more importance on getting people through the turnstiles? No, you may be talking about the allocation of local versus national, Mike, when it comes to baseball. But the NFL, when you say they're trying to renegotiate, what they're doing is they have an opt-out in their media rights deal four years from now. In 2009, I guess it's three years now, we're in 26.

and they have TV deals that were signed through 33, but with an opt-out in 29. And they're going around to their partners and saying, hi, we're the NFL. Do me a favor. We want more money right now. And if you give us more money, here's what we'll do for you. We won't opt out in 2009. No, it's not just that, though, David, because Paramount is changing ownerships now.

The NFL can renegotiate with them right now. Like, they can open up that contract right now because of that trigger. of the Paramount sales clause. Yeah, so, but it's all part of the same. They're not going to renegotiate one company at a time, Dan. They're doing it all in. They're not just talking to Netflix about taking four extra games right now or a four game package.

They're trying to do everybody. It's coming out as they're negotiating with one company at a time, but no business does that. There's no exclusive period where there's going to be some sort of breakage fee. Hey, if we don't get it done with Paramount, then we'll move on to Comcast. They're doing it all at once to put the entire package together. And it's what the NBA did and they just finished doing it, which is why you saw them on 10 channels.

And it's what MLB is trying to do after 2028, which is to combine everything and make it much more national mic, which takes away the local side of the importance of that revenue, which you're right. It used to be so important and it's just disappeared. David, the problem is yesterday, Dan's version of the article, of the argument was kind of adulterated to be like, it doesn't matter at all.

And I said, they're never going to give up on the in-game experience because that is revenue. Just because the streaming rights and the media deal money is growing at a larger rate to be a bigger percentage of the revenue pie does not mean that they're going to ever forego this.

So what Skipper did with unrivaled which did forego that. Yes, but the scales are completely different in terms of of this, a startup league in a niche version. It's not even five-on-five basketball, right?

Versus these legacy things that are often being performed in buildings that the people who own the team own the building as well, or at least operate it. There's no part of this, David, where we're going to see 10 years from now, 15 years from now. They're like, ah, that's all on TV. That's never going to happen, right? No, but no, but what you are going to see

is where it takes on less importance. What used to be a big focus, when we built Marlins Park, angles, where the camera's gonna be? What seats are impacted by camera placement? And we would have Cablevision or Fox and MLB come, the broadcasting department. And when you're designing all of that, you're thinking about obstructed seats.

You don't think about that anymore. You want and need the best camera angles for ABS. You need it for replay. You need it for the TV broadcast. That has taken on a far bigger importance in terms of how a game is presented. But no, you're not going to turn down revenue. But nobody's doing stadium deals anymore. They're all doing real estate deals.

They're all doing deals to get revenue outside of the stadium because what happens inside the stadium, no matter how many Guns and Roses concerts you have, is just not enough. David, do you wish you had done a bigger deal for Loan Depot? that included the surrounding area and had like an entertainment complex? Yeah, we tried. We wanted control of the garage retail. We wanted control of the ballpark retail

and the city wouldn't give it up because they thought that they had a better chance of running it and they wanted the money. And it ended up, of course, not having any of the urban sprawl that we hoped to see in Little Havana. It's been 15 years already and you just haven't seen anything.

And that's obviously a great disappointment. It's the opposite of urban. been sprawled. Just to be more respectful, though, to David Sampson, because we did waste his time at the beginning of this here. He is going to infiltrate and infect pitch clock with Jeremy Tashay. His baseball knowledge is really good, and we don't use it enough around here because we're always talking about the business stuff. So I don't know what he and Jeremy are going to cook up here later in the show, but he will get his time back with Jeremy Tashay. And I offer you my sincere apologies for wasting so much of your time on the front end of this. Take me through the

business of Netflix getting into baseball and the ratings numbers were said to be three million people. The numbers, I don't know what numbers to believe. The numbers on Diamondbacks, Dodgers on NBC was 3.2 million people. I don't know what those numbers mean. I would think Netflix, buying into baseball at $50 million. If they can get three million people to their baseball product, I guess that's a success, but I don't know the accounting here. Do you? Yeah, no. So, I I'm not paying attention to that announcement of $3 million or $1 million. I have no way to understand how they're arriving at that numbers. The way that you want to look at it is what are their subs?

Are they gaining more subs who joined because of baseball, who are going to keep renewing, even though there's not a game now until the home run derby? Because that's how Netflix is looking at it. Their return on their baseball investment is not from the number of people who watch the game. It's the number of people who engage with their platform and then do it on a monthly basis. Because you know this, Dan,

there is nothing better than recurring revenue. It is the dream of any business to have that. That and that is what streaming services are. It's why this goes all the way back to fun that we've had on this show about Columbia Records,

where you forget to cancel and you keep getting records sets of you. Do you guys not marvel, though, as you watch the business of sports explode? Do you guys not marvel at the idea of all this found money in streaming, they're doing the same product. And they're selling it for so much more

because there are more competitors. And so this thing continues to grow at an accelerant that has no stopping it. Well, I do think that they're stopping it because we were talking about RSN's the same way. There's going to be something that changes this. Hell, it might even be a recession. But teams are already complaining.

Franchises and leagues are already complaining that there isn't enough money for them when it comes to rights because the NFL is in the room. So I think, much like RS ends at a certain point, we're going to reach a point where the money's never going to go up anymore. And the market will then dictate what these new deals are. Right now it's a gold rush for these leagues. But I think you're already starting to see, David, the start of the end times for that. I do not. I think we're not even in the middle of the end times. I think we may be in the

middle of the early part of what streaming is going to look like and what consolidation will look like and leagues are smartly taking advantage of it by negotiating deals right now. If baseball had its struthers, they would not be waiting until 2029. They'd like to get a collective bargaining agreement done yesterday and they'd like to be out in the market. It doesn't matter. The concept of the NFL taking all the money inside the league offices, they're not really looking at it that way because if you look at the competition for hours, it's hours of content,

the NFL and majorly baseball are not competing in terms of eyeballs and streams at the same time for the most part. September, yes, you could argue on Sundays in October. There may be a conflict, but guess what? There's enough money to go around for all these sports. So it's not like they're panicked about the NFL. Okay, so we can dismiss what they're putting in the public space is posturing, I guess. Everything's a negotiation. But ESPN is not really keeping this a secret.

they already regret the WWE deal. Apple very clearly had to do a lot of changes to their MLS deal. They regret that. There are really regrettable deals being signed and have been for the last several years. At a certain point, the people buying these licenses are going to realize it's not worth the squeeze because they're providing seed money right now, right? They're not even hoping to recoup. They're just trying to get subs and credit cards that they hope just keep charging well beyond the term of these leagues.

I do think, and there's plenty of soccer examples too, where there was regrettable money spent, how many bad deals do there have to be before the marketplace wizens up? Take that with players. Think about what you just said on the number of teams who regret signing certain players, and then you've got to trade him but pay part of his money, and then they get traded again, and you end up with three teams paying the salary of one player, even though when he signed, there was a jersey ceremony, there was excitement, you walk out of the field, you know, with a flag around your back, like all sorts of cool things happening.

So that sort of regret will always happen. But as long as there's competition, that sort of regret gets forgotten about quickly and you get back in the saddle. So when you say that Apple has a regret over MLS, okay, over that particular deal at that particular moment, but they're right back in the game allocating their resources and their capital to doing deals just like it with leagues as they figure out. how to get more eyeballs on live events. I just don't think live events will ever have a recession. Amazon presents Jeff versus Taco Truck Salsa, whether it's Verde, Roja, or the orange one.

For Jeff, trying any salsa is like playing Russian roulette with a flamethrower. Luckily, Jeff saved with Amazon and stocked up on antacids, ginger tea, and milk. Habaniero, More like Habinier Yes. Save the Everyday with Amazon. Don Lebatard.

Go peepat. Stugats. Go peepy. This is the Dan Lebatar show with the Stugats. Nothing personal is the podcast, and it is very good, very strong, in as few words of possible as possible. Tell me the Netflix baseball experience.

Very criticized. Success or not? 86. So they get. at a B? No. That says, you know, you're right near a B plus. Okay.

You told 86 is a weird number because 86 also means cancel it. I was like, oh, wow. Yeah, it's not. Oh, sorry. It's not, you couldn't do success or no success. You couldn't give me a word. You gave me a number and you just played your own game. Your own bullshit game.

Really confusing. Like, yeah, like he gave me an 86. He gave us a grade for some reason. I'll try it again. Netflix was widely criticized, presenting baseball to America and its first. try. The public relations were, we could say, objectively, bad. They spent $50 million on a three-year contract, again, found money for baseball to just televise three things, three big events. This is one

of them. Worth it, yes or no, success, yes or no. 85. That's not a B-plus. Solid B. That's a good score. That's a good grade. That is a good grade. It's not a B-plus. It doesn't matter but a B plus. When I bring the report card home, my mom sees B. God, I was so mad at 85. Are we still doing 85?

Love it 85. Are we still doing it this way? Is this, they're still using this as the grading system or is ours outdated? 80 to 89, it's a B. Doesn't matter if it's 89? Doesn't matter if it's 80. I bring my mom to the B. But is that still the grading system.

The math is no longer the same in schools. Nobody knows how to count anymore. They don't have to the calculators and the libraries will do it for them on their phone. Social studies has changed. Who wrote the books for the better? Is 85 eternally still a B? Is that the one thing that's still allowed to be in the American school system? Really?

So confident in that. Really? David, I saw nothing personal was on mute, so I know you've already covered this ground, but I saw Send Help as well, and I was curious your thoughts on the movie. I wasn't scared. It was a poor man's triangle of sadness, but I really did enjoy, because I love Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien was fine. There's really no other characters.

I just, it's beyond credibility for me. If you ever get on a deserted island, isn't the first thing you do is to make sure that it's a deserted island? I got to believe, like, that was one of my issues with Lost, which I loved. How do you not go find

anything else that could be on the island and send help? Spoiler alert. You know, you may want to look around the island. This is a giant, spoiler. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. I don't think you can do all of what you just gave it away beforehand. Just saying, look at the island. I'm not spoiling anything.

If you're going to be, it's like when you're on Survivor, you walk around the island looking for stuff you can eat until the producer says, dude, don't eat that. And you're like, okay, how about this? You're trying to find stuff to eat. If I'm Tom Hanks and Castaway and I get a bunch of FedEx packages, you can bet your ass that I'm going to walk to the other side. Just to see, hey, any other possible packages that I make.

want to open but that's why one of them is incapacitated because he can't get up for himself to look around the island he's an invalid he eventually can mike there's a plot device as to why he doesn't he took her and that's the other thing if you're ever on a deserted island with one other person don't take their word for it do like a double check is it i like this i like this working theory if you're ever on a deserted island maybe check out the rest of the Island, that's one. And my one that I dropped yesterday, David, was, hey, if it's ever the apocalypse and you get

lucky, pull out. Good point. Don't have a time. That was a big deal. You had a drop yesterday? You dropped one yesterday. You dropped an ameen? Yeah. On where? On America? There was an amine drop yesterday. Where did you drop this? On the show? On the post game show. Okay, so you dropped it in here. Do you do this on purpose, David, or to make yourself purposely unlikable? When you

go with the phrase, it's like when you're on Survivor. Like, do you do that purposely? I'm asking genuinely, do you, when you mentioned so casually having been on Survivor, are you conscious and purposeful about it? Well, I just, people know that I've been on Survivor. I think they know me for, you know,

nothing personal to the Levitart show and Survivor more than anything else I've done in my career. And so, no, I'm trying to give the example of, hey, I've been on an island that's not totally deserted, but do you feel that way? And so I've seen movies castaway as one of my, you know, favorite movies. So I'm thinking about these things because I'm planning for with all the flying we all do. Like what happens if I'm in a plane crash? What do I do? How do I survive it?

What's my plan once I'm on the island? I do spend time thinking about these things. And at noon today, as a matter of fact, I will be working through some of these things as I have another appointment with a therapist as I try to make sure that I'm right in terms of how I'm thinking about what I would do on a desert island. We're going to go to one. David, we are going to have more David Samson during pitch clock. Him and Jeremy will break down baseball

in a way. I'm telling you, and it'll be an hour or two. Samson is very good on the subject of baseball. But we talk to him, tend to talk to him about a variety of things here. Do you guys get to why the game is so fast now? We need to slow the game down a little bit, Dave. I don't like how fast it is. I get to my seat. I look around. It's the third inning. I take a sip of

a beer. It's a sixth inning. I'm doing the seventh inning stretch. I'm going home. It takes me an hour and a half. I'm done with the game. crazy. Tony, it's like a dream. No, I need it to be about four. I need to be like three and a half, three 45. I can get a couple beers and I can make a couple walks around the concourse. I stand up and go to the bathroom.

Four innings go by. Good. If that could be, if we could get every fan to say that the average crap lasts three innings and it wasn't because of a long line, now we're getting somewhere. No, it needs to be slower. I went to the opening day. I got into the seats. I was holding my daughter.

sudden I look up, you know, eight things have happened and we're six, six innings in. It's terrible. I don't like what. Sandy, baby. I don't like what Tony's doing. He was working fast, which I didn't like. I'm on to Tony. Oh, and me what?

I want to love the game. I want to hold the national pastime. I want it to be something that I can enjoy with my family without being there. I park offsite. I got to walk over there. By the time I walk over there, three pitches I've already got. They're already done. I got it.

The argument is I'm here to avoid my family. No, my family was with me. Parking off site. Where do you want to park? I parked somebody no blocky blocky I gave her 20 bucks Keep with the day He's really Cuban He's still doing it the old fashion

As you should Helping the local economy Thank you What does Chris Cody know about this? I know about No Blocki Kid me? No, what he's doing? You've judged him for

You know about it But now you park elsewhere And you judged him Don't say you weren't judging him You pay the 60 bucks I pay the 20 No Blockie You said you park off sight I've got to stop everything

We're doing here David Because I am told And Coke has never done this before and an emergency sending of video, Coka is telling us that we have video here of you getting scared of a large animal during your, give us the context here of what happened during your show.

Were you attacked by a large animal? The context is that I do a live show every morning at 7 a.m. and there's never any bugs in the studio. There's never any anything in the studio. And there was a live thing flying around while I was talking. And I have no relief. I had to kill it.

and I Miyagied it and it scared me because I don't want a bug flying around. It gets in my way. So I was able to kill it, but I killed it. Not only did I get it by doing that. It's a move. I grabbed it in my palm and then I put it down on the desk and then I hit the desk, which moved the camera all this while we're live and there's nothing I can do because we don't edit. So do you think, but do you think this was good video?

Have you seen it? Because Kokes? I have not. Okay. So what we're about to see that Koke's sent. us in an emergency. But what do you think, because it was live, you have not revisited this?

Do you think this is going to be flattering or embarrassing video? Are you going to be an amazing athlete? If you're using it, it's embarrassing, obviously. Why would you do anything flattering? So I assume I look terrible. He's on to a strong assumption. But the way you describe, I don't, they're telling me they've sent me something.

You just described it as you showing up as Miyagi. The karate kids mentor being able to catch a fly with chopsticks, and I'm guessing you were scared of a small bug? Is that what they've said? I just didn't want to fly to my mouth. I don't want to fly to my eye. I know we're live. And what I tried to do was grab it while still talking.

And then I lost track of what I was talking about. It was NBA Europe, but I nailed it. Nothing personal, live every day. Let's hear this. It's that it's really not. It's really not. There is a major animal in this apartment. Animal.

They all. I don't know what I'm going to do here. Hold on. I can't do a show like this, Coca. There is something that is going to hit. Got it. Holy cow. Hey, we're live.

I don't like, can you imagine doing a show like on a safari? Oh. Sorry. Got him. Right there. A major animal. Oh, my God. I couldn't even see it on the piece of paper.

That was live. Animal. That was awesome. For me, it was just his staring at it, the first, like, 10 seconds of that. He said, I lost track of what I was talking about. I thought he just kind of started talking and kind of fillers and, you know, you literally just stopped talking. You just stared.

Koka. Thanks, Dan. Somebody give Koka a raise. Koka just made an emergency decision. Look how little the bug is. The bug is the smallest thing I've ever seen. an animal. I described it as...

That bug had to be like, did you just call me an animal? A major animal. A major... picturing the bug like, what? He just called me? He inflated his ego before he killed him. A major animal?

Like a harpy eagle inside his apartment. Hold on. I want to play this again. There's a bird of prey. Clearly, I want... Rick Bettino is flown into his house and is hovering over his computer. Look at how distracted that David is on this lonely island doing his show, trying to tackle difficult subject. manner and distracted by literally the smallest things.

Is that it's really not. It's really not. There is a major animal in this apartment. I don't know what I'm going to do here. Hold on. I can't do a show like this, Coca. There is something that is going to hit. I think I got him.

Holy cow. Hey, we're live. I don't like, can you imagine doing a show like on a safari? Oh. Sorry Got him Right there Hey it's Mike Ryan

And I want to talk to you about The random midweek hang That you have with your friends Maybe it's an NBA game You get a text Hey come over you want to watch the game And maybe you're like I don't know

I kind of just wanted to stay home And then you think about it After your buddy hits you up And you know just the thing That'll make that regular hang That regular midweek hang around the basketball game Into a special time into a Miller time.

That's right, this happened to me just last week. I grabbed a six-pack of Miller Light, said I was on my way, and next thing you know, we're arguing about rotations like we're on the coaching staff, yelling about a miss call, and the game's coming down on the final possession.

It was one of those nights that you look around, you take a sip, and you think, yeah, this was the right call. And my friendship's stronger for it. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Light. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to Millerlight.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you.

Or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time, celebrate responsibly, Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories, and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.