The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Big Suey: Would You Attend Their Funeral? (feat. David Samson)

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

The Washington Wizards offend Amin, and even though David Samson is here, Dan insists on starting with Amin's complaints before going to our bad team expert in David. Then, where were you when Mark Hendrickson started on Opening Day for 65-inch David Samson's Marlins? Plus, stand-ins for team photos, Chris Cote's limited fake Dave Van Horn, and another game of "Would You Attend Their Funeral?" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan LeBattard 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. This episode of the Dan LeBattard show is to gots is presented by Venmo Gonna bring in David Sampson here, but I feel bad for Amin because He just endured something that I would not wish upon others And I I do think sometimes that we lose like perspective on certain things For example, Maxie, Tyrese Maxie is taller than A.J. Brown. He's taller than A.J. Brown.

He goes in, dabs him up yesterday, and I'm like, oh, I didn't know that he was taller. But of course, you're always getting fooled by the height of these people and how different some of these things are than you think they are. Amin went and saw the Wizards last week, and it is jarring.

You don't get used to how good basketball is until you see it played that poorly. Like to realize that your perspective has changed, you might complain about what basketball is today, but the teams are so good that the Wizards exist and they're not a professional basketball team. Yeah, like it is, first of all, I've described the way the Wizards, and particularly Jordan Poole,

the way they play is offensive. It offends me as a basketball person to watch them. But watching them last week against the Lakers, I realized a lot of stuff. I realized that the Wizards aren't bad because they don't have talent. And I think a lot of times, was that me? Yeah, that's a fine.

That's a fine Venmo. Yes, that's a Venmo fine. And Enya's not a band. Hold on now, let's not mix. I gotta get to David Sampson, so make your point please. Well, I didn't know I was gonna make the point quickly, but basically the idea is that they don't lose games because they're not talented. A lot of times when we see a bad team, we're like, oh, cause they don't lose games because they're not talented.

A lot of times when we see a bad team, we're like, oh, because they don't have any talent, oh, they stink or whatever. But a lot of times, it's not the talent gap that's responsible for the misfortune. What's responsible is making sloppy, silly mistakes that they just not paying attention. So it's a bad pass, it's a dumb shot, it's falling asleep on defense.

It's all these things that aren't, oh my God, LeBron and Anthony Davis are just better than that. They're terrible at basketball. Yes, but almost like as a choice, because I don't think they're bad basketball players. I just think there is a collective don't give an F about the way we do this. And what also happens with bad teams is it is contagious. Meaning why should I give an F? He doesn't give an F. And so no one feels a responsibility. That's why we talk about culture and culture centers and all that. They're so important is because those are the guys that make it happen and keep everybody accountable,

keep everybody knowing that we're pulling in the same direction. Dan wanted to start with this topic, Dave. I wanna talk about a different man, which is what I texted you about, but Dan was like, let me ask you about this. So I'm like, all right, I guess I gotta do my thesis. It's my fault, pretty much, that you just did that.

That David Sampson was kept waiting that long. Now we're the wizards. I guess I gotta do my thesis. It's my fault. Pretty much. That you just did that. That David Sampson was kept waiting that long. Now we're the wizards. So you could tell us that bad teams are bad. Okay. No, it's your fault. That was the topic you picked to start. You didn't say, hey David, what you got for us?

You said, hey, I mean, let's talk about bad teams. I'm like, okay, I mean, David's waiting, but who am I? I'm just a good soldier. I follow the captain's orders. You think that was good soldier. You think this is good soldier. What kind of army do I have?

The worst ever. Oh my God, right? He, look at him. Like, it's the soldier who gets me killed in battle. It's like, aren't I a good soldier? I'm so good at soldiering. You're the one who gets killed, like, right as it starts. Like, right as the scene starts.

It's my fault that I threw the ball to him, and he's like, I didn't know you were going to ask me to dribble for this long. No, no. It's my fault that I threw the ball to him, and he's like, I didn't know you were gonna ask me to dribble for this long. No, no, it's your fault that you called the play, like, we're gonna post up a mean, but David's in the game. No, no, no, it's a mean post up. So a mean posts up and he backs up

and he goes his up and under and he gets fouled and he goes to the free throw line and David's like, I haven't touched the ball for 13 seconds. Well, David, I'm sorry, the play was called for me. You don't like it? I'm just upset, I mean, that not only did you not get to the free throw line, but basically you backed up and then you traveled and then threw up a brick.

And then you said the coach called a bad play. That was a bad play by the coach. It wasn't a brick. And I turned into you also rattled him, Samson, because he could see your face and the disgust and you actually tapped on your watch, which is an incredible, the watch, an incredible move to tap on your watch is like, man, Amin's really hogging all my time here. Oh, I just thought he was hogging the audience this time.

I wasn't as concerned about me. I was just very concerned about the wizard situation. He tells me right before the microphones come on, I went to a wizard's game last night, or last week. That's still your responsibility. And you get shot right before the microphones come on I went to a Wizards game last night or last week That's still you That's your still your responsibility and say all right, that's cool. I'm gonna go in a different I mean this is what happens on bad teams right here where it's like he shoots himself in the face and then he blames me I don't I didn't shoot myself in the face. My point was really good that bad teams are bad.

No, not why they're bad. Why are they bad? Oh, because our quarterback sucks. No, because every little part of it, nobody cares. Nobody pulls together. And now the head coach is blaming the players. See? That's doubling down.

Sampson, your thoughts though on bad teams, like what makes them bad, because what I'm saying about the Wizards, there are any number of bad teams in the NBA. We brought in our expert on bad teams. Get off. Thank you, Chris. For real expertise on what it is to run a bad team,

David Samson of Nothing Personal gives us, it's the perfect place to start. What was it like to be the Wizards those years that it felt like you were the Wizards? I can tell you that when you put together a bad team, you know you're putting them together as you're doing it. And you get to spring training and you pretend that, hey, screw them,

screw all the people who know what they're saying, we can do it together. And the players that are looking each other in the front office is all looking each other and saying, we're going to lose a hundo. We just don't have enough. And a bad team is when you

don't have enough good players. It's not about the players, not, I mean, I mean, what you were saying is funny to me because you should know this. You can have good players that have bad results. You can have good players that have bad results. You can have bad players that have good results.

What makes a bad team is when you have a combination of bad players who don't in any way get a greater sum than just the parts. And that's what I've specialized in, is putting players together whose sum was less than the parts. I would say that more often than not, when you, at least in basketball, I can't speak for baseball, but when I watch a basketball game between a good team and a bad team, I don't see, not that it doesn't happen.

There are some nights you did everything right. Guess what? They're just better. But so many possessions, so many games, it's that's not what's happening. What's happening is you did something dumb and they got a free easy layup over here. You did something dumb and they got another possession. You did something dumb and you fell asleep and they got a layup over there. And that's it, that's all it is.

And the part where, oh, LeBron and Anthony Davis are way better than Kyle Kuzma and Jordan Poole never even gets a chance to prove itself because you're doing everything wrong that's making the game so incredibly easy for them. No, I think the existence of when you've got Poole and Kyle as your one and two, you know going into every game that your one and two is worse than every other team's one

and two and that's what causes you to try too hard or to take the extra base when it's not there or to try to throw ahead of the runner instead of to where you're supposed to throw it to, and stop a runner from getting a scoring position. You do these things because you're pressing because you know you have a talent gap. Is that how you felt when you had Tom Kohler as your number two?

Tom Kohler was really a bulldog. If you look back at him actually, I don't wanna give- Innings eater. He'll give you a five ERA. You'll keep throwing him out there. He won't get hurt and he'll give you, just give up five runs in six innings and that's, and you'll lose all those games.

Tom Kohler was eight years away from making $18 million a year for what he provided. So you can yuck on Tom Kohler's yum all you want, but we loved having him in the rotation. And we loved when we gave him the ball because he was gonna give us a chance to win because he was gonna rest our bullpen, want, but we loved having him in the rotation and we loved when we gave him the ball because he was going to give us a chance to win because he was going to rest our bullpen, which was going to be helpful for games going forward.

And the offense knew that if they put up runs, which we would have a hard time doing that Kohler would be able to do a shutdown inning, which is important. So don't hate on Tom Kohler. The Braves also enjoyed him being in your rotation. Five and 10 with a 4-4-1 ERA in 2013 when the Marlins won 62 total games. Well, we lost 100 that year, Jeremy. That's right.

Everybody had- He was the number two starter. Him, Jacob Turner, Ricky Nolasco, Nathan Evaldi. He's got a hang- I'm far more embarrassed that Mark Hendrickson was an opening day pitcher. There we go, that's a good one. That's the biggest embarrassment in my career.

Yeah, you're playing it better, not surprisingly, than Chris Cody, but you did understand that Chris Cody was just trying to, and succeeded, say a funny name. Like he was just looking through all of those rosters and trying to find one, and then he conjured a shape when he said that funny name. And all of us thought to ourselves here,

who knew who he was talking about, oh yeah, that square that David Sampson, like physical square, would throw out there for six innings because David Sampson needed an employee to go out there and throw six innings so they could get to losing their hundred games. Somebody go out there every fifth day, cash this check and earn it

because I need someone to spend five innings out there. That's the math you were doing with your business then, was it not? Like you admire this man because he was a good employee. That's a noble pursuit what you're describing. It's not as easy as you may think to find nine innings times 162 games to find anyone to pitch.

No, but Tom Kohler wasn't that. He was a huge winner in the minor leagues when we called him up. He just found a way to win games. I don't wanna do this. I don't wanna do this. I don't wanna do this. I understand it now. This is why you wanna start with that topic

so that David has some expertise. Hendrickson was the worst. What's the second worst when you do those lists of things that you guys did when you're like, oh my God, we're gonna be bad? Well, it was not great having Chen as our opening day starter because we were trying to salvage him

and he was overpaid. But no, I think that the problem we had when Hendrickson started for us, you remember he was in the NBA. I mean, do you remember him in the NBA? Wrong sport. He was like six, nine. Yeah. He was a very, he was, he may have been our top. I think he was the tallest player I ever had. He was definitely, maybe I'm wrong. I thought it wasn't. Volstead. I thought it wasn't Hendrickson Wasn't Volstad. I thought wasn't Hendrickson like 610. Do I have this Romerly guy?

I thought he was a basketball player. Six, nine, two, forty. Yeah, I had him as high. Volstad was six. Sean West was tall. Andrew Miller was tall. He was a he was maybe a six foot seven lefty. So we had a bunch of tall guys,

but no, there's no correlation. And the thing is when Hendrickson's out there, he's so tall, you think it's gonna be good. And then he comes out throwing 88 and you realize, wow, this is not gonna work. I remember that opening day. And when we were scheduling, you know your opening day starter,

the first week of spring training, but you don't tell anyone so you can make this big PR announcement. And we knew that Hendrickson was going to start opening day. So we didn't want to announce it. We were hoping for an injury of some sort, or some sort of some God's work that would make the announcement land better. So I remember we worked with our PR guys saying, all right, when do we want to slip this in? Like Jerry Jones introducing Schottenheimer,

how can we get it out there that we are absolutely going to lose a hundred games and didn't work? John Roush was six 11. Oh, good call. When we talk tall people, I want to show you guys a picture here when I'm talking about the proportion of these things, because I don't think most people think, listening to this, that Steve Kerr is big, he's tall.

Steve Kerr is 6'4". If you think of him as a player, you might not think of him as that tall. But this picture right here, I very infrequently feel small around people. That's Mike Miller, a shooter, and Eudonnis Haslam, an undersized power forward. When you say these people are tall, David, you're perpetually feeling like that, are you not? Well, I'm used to that. So yes, I'm only 65 inches.

So I definitely, there are pictures of me all over when I'm talking to players or talking to a Stanton, and it makes you feel even smaller. So I would do a lot of my meetings with players where I would stand on the top step of the dugout when a player was in the dugout, trying to change the power dynamic because I always felt that if they're looking down at me too much in a negotiation or in when we're talking about what their role is going to be, that they'll get distracted by that power play. So I would try and to this day, I do that.

I try to do as much sitting down as possible, because everyone, when you're sitting down, generally, if you lift your chair up, I do this with Skipper Dan. When we record with Skipper, I put my chair way up. So it looks like my head is on the same level as Skipper. And sometimes he notices it when we're recording a show and he gets pissed off and he'll say, put your chair down or he'll try to raise his chair to get that dynamic back.

I will not be below you. Exactly. My flat screen's bigger than you. How many months old are you? I don't even understand what that means. Well, you just said how many inches you were. And so the, well, when you're five five, you generally say 65 inches.

Does anyone say they're five five? Yeah, I do. And I think I'm taller than you. I'm five five. I don't, I don't mean to shame you here. It's funny that you would take that into consideration when like it also seems kind of torturous, a thing to have to take into consideration,

to how do I figure out how to stand, how to have this conversation with Stanton near the dugout steps so that I could be on the top one. It's just, it's the same thing. You have to worry about hitting your head on a ledge when you're walking through on a small door. I don't have to think about those things. I don't hit my head on rafters.

So we each have our cross to bear. I have David racing to the top stuff like Costanza when he wanted to sit on one side of the couch. Is that trying to get there real fast? No, when you're the president of a team, you don't have to do that as a person member of Metal Arc. I do have to do that. There's a lot more racing today than there was in my previous

life, but no, I didn't have to race. But there were some photos where it was just patently obvious how small I actually am. But these players, many of them are just big. And in the NBA, it's a totally different story. You talk about Steve Kerr at six four, you go to an airport and have Steve Kerr just walk. I was in an airport with Mark Jackson, and he was just walking and he was a head taller than anybody else in the airport and he is known as not a big guy in the NBA. So it's a different world in the NBA. Did you ever have to hit the red button

on a team photo taken that showed the height disparity? I sat down in the front row of our team photos. So I was I was sitting down, whereas players are standing behind me. The coaches and the front office sits down on chairs in the front. So that was never an issue. Did you make sure a short player stood behind you? No, it didn't matter. Actually, players were assigned spots in the team photo,

and we would do things where if a player didn't show up for a team photo, we'd have a stand-in, and we would just then plant the face on the body of the stand-in to make it as though the player was there for the team photo. And that's actually a funny story. If you take the team photo too late in September, you got a bunch of scrubs on the team that you've called up who make your team photo and then are forever in the history of who your team is.

So we would try to plan the team photo when we had like our best team around to be in the photo so we could lock in that great team. What's so silly to look back on Stanton missed it yet? You have to get a Stanton Stanton. No, he never missed. He never missed. He was at every team photo. And he was, Stanton was great to have as a player. He was Mike and then Giancarlo.

And he was always around. Was there anybody who is consistently using their size to feel like they were bullying you, where you're feeling off of them that they're trying to do something here and I don't like it. The best example where someone talked about size in a way that I didn't love, but we were close was Logan Morrison. And Logan would only have, I don't know if you know that name, but he was a Marlin once

upon a time. He's like the first athlete to be good at Twitter. Yes, you unretired the late Carl Barger's number to give it to him in a great offense. That wasn't me. I got it. That was not me. I have never seen David that upset at an accusation ever.

It wasn't him, that's my fault, but that happened around, it happened. It happened when I was team president, and that was one of those things that our owner did that I couldn't believe because Logan wanted that number. That was his number. And Logan had just lost a parent, I believe his dad. And we had flown to the funeral

and we were trying to be nice. And Logan said, by the way, I wouldn't mind being five as we were entering the new ballpark. And so the decision was made by the owner. All right, we're gonna put Barger in a plaque and put five up because he wasn't a player. And that's just wrong. And I said it and I got overruled. I asked Logan to change his mind and he wouldn't. Logan was the guy who only liked to talk to me standing up on a level on a level ground. And so he always had that sort of height over me racing

to the ledge. And he's a big guy. And, you know, we showed him. But what was he trying to bully you with though? Like, when were you when was it so tense that you would feel some of what it is you're talking about? If we're talking about his salary, if we're talking about negotiating sort of where we see him on the team, where we don't see him as he's approaching making money.

If there's something going on with team rules that he wasn't happy with. When I was talking to him about Twitter back in the day, and I was very public on your show, Dan, I would talk about our current player who is using Twitter, and we told him, stop using it because no one cares if you tweet from the minor leagues. And he told me that I'm wrong. Twitter is going to be the thing, the vessel for players to get their point of view out because you don't do it as a front office.

And I just, I was dead wrong. And it turns out that Logan was totally right, but he did it in a very physically daunting, scary way. Take us through some of that here, because you're at the precipice real really of where it is uh... some of this is broken down i want to talk about and i a l with you and i mean in a second but the player having his own agency or her own agency and being able to tell their own story

uh... logan morrison was one of the first athletes to be popular on Twitter. Your feeling as an executive was to create the Showtime series about the franchise, about your team, because you wanted a kind of an attention, but you wanted an attention that was specific to your controlling it. Logan was saying, no, I get to control it, and you started that tense fight.

Yeah, so that is a great, the player empowerment that we talk about in the NBA, I can say a lot of it started with Logan Morrison, where he basically said that he doesn't want me speaking for him. He doesn't need to be PR'd or to be media trained because he was communicating with people who he thought would increase his brand and give him an opportunity to make more money

through sponsorship, through relationships, whatever the case may be. And I explained that no one cares about you actually. They only care that you are a professional baseball player. So please try to focus on playing better. And he told me, you're missing the point. There's an entire industry here that is not really related to talent or to performance.

Did he use those words? Which words? There's an entire industry that's not related to talent. Oh, that was the concept of what we talked about. That's amazing. He really understood where this was going way before I did. It reminded me of me not believing that people would ever read a newspaper on the internet, on their computer.

I assumed no one would ever do that. They'd want to hold the paper. I've just never been able to truly see into the future in that way in terms of technology or personally. But the fact is that I've spoken to Logan since and we're still in touch. And we still talk about the fact that he was the start of this amazing thing where players you describe that is taking agency he would describe it as I want to control all the

news around me and how I look and how I sound and I'm gonna monetize that. It's kind of like Kevin Love with all his Instagram posts right now right? Hey howdy listener why don't you sit down here next to me. Let's have a fireside conversation in the winter. This is all theater of the mind anyways. If the weather outside is a little chilly, let's warm up. Let's cozy up. Not just to each other, but also to that beautiful white can of Miller Lite. That's right, make these moments even better with Miller Lite, the great tasting light beer for people who love beer. A new year is a perfect time for friends, family, and great tasting light beer. Taste like love beer. A new year is a perfect time for friends, family, and great tasting light beer. Tastes like Miller Time. You know as the football games get

bigger, everybody's talking about hosting parties, it's always difficult, everyone's got an opinion. Why don't you just bring out a nice cooler of Miller Lights and make everybody happy. You could be on opposite sides of the big game, but you still know that you are brought together by Miller Time. Miller Lite is a great unifier. Miller Lite is brewed for taste. It hits different than other light beers. The original light beer since 1975 and still the very best one. Miller Lite. Great taste. 96 calories. Go to MillerLite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tastes like Miller time! Celebrate responsibly, Miller Brewing Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin 96 calories and 3.2 carbs

per 12 ounces. Dan Lebatard There is no question, Dan Lebatard show included, anybody else, that this guy is the best player on the planet. Whether he wins the Stanley Cup or the cons might this year There is no question about it. Stugats. Overrated wait, yeah overrated. What's going on? Dan Lebatard. How you doing? Altered world or what? Oh my goodness. This is the Dan Lebatard show with the Stugats

You know what i'm gonna have to stop everybody right here because he mentioned Lomo's dad's funeral and that opens the door to America's fastest growing game. Would you attend their funeral? That's your segue. I'll just say this about Logan's dad's funeral. Were he not a player currently on the team who we needed to perform better? I would not have gone to that. I didn't have to say that part. Would you attend the funeral of Tommy Hutton?

No. Oh, no. Oh, no. I like Tommy just fine. He wanted too much money, which is why he lost his job with Fox at the time. But no, I like him fine. Had plenty of contact with him, but not funeral worthy. Oh no, he's back on the broadcast.

How many years was he a broadcaster for you? Oh, many, practically my whole time. Oh no, Dave Van Horn. If I'm in Florida doing your show and it's after 1 p.m. and I can get a ride so I don't have to drive, I would go. I'm up, up and away. Really? Fake Dave Van Horn from heaven.

Is that right? doing his own call really that didn't have you doing that so that was Dave Van Horn well he was just descending to heaven and that was his voice fading away as he left for the press box in the sky I'm up up and away it's not your best one, Chris. Joe Girardi. Absolutely not. Josh Beckett. Yes, I probably would. Josh Beckett's a funny one.

He's loving retirement. He's fishing. He's got a bunch of kids now. He's living his life. And we talk every October 25th. So we talk once a year on the anniversary of his game six performance. And you can't call that someone that person a friend, but obviously we have a connection and we haven't talked about his funeral, though we both suspect that it's coming soon for both of us. But I think I would have to.

What's that? What's that yearly text look like? Like, hey, still love you. Big game, Josh. Like, what? It's it's a it's a check in text. And then sometimes it segues into a phone call where we'll catch up. But it's just sort of acknowledgement that we shared something and we mark it on that anniversary. And to him, it was no matter what he did with the Red Sox, October 25th of 03

was the number one moment of a career for both of us. And so it's fun to talk to him about it. We're not just gonna steamroll past this. Did you just say you and Josh Beckett acknowledge that you're both not gonna live that much longer? We do talk about that quite a bit actually.

What's happening? What's happening? What's happening? When are you dying? It's based on age. It's based on stress. It's based on just because you're rich and retired at a young age doesn't mean you don't have stress and anxiety.

And it doesn't matter if you go fishing all the time. It still can impact you. And both of us have this weird sort of view that it could be the eighth inning. And we're going to take the ball for the ninth But I I've always lived my life that way. I've always assumed that you know week from Tuesday will be it for me I can't tell you guys how much I love talking about death to this music Put it on the pole here Guillermo, please

Was Logan Morrison responsible for all player empowerment in the NBA? Would you attend the funeral? And I know what he's doing there because this one's super interesting to me. When he thinks about it on Josh Beckett, it's not even his relationship with Josh Beckett. It's, man, it would be really fun to catch up with those people at that funeral to remember that the best time of our lives. Like, I could go through that roster and probably get ten guys that he'll go to those funerals. At Josh's funeral he'll be there, but he's not going to be very chatty.

Well, but the others, the teammates who will be there. Thank you, Billy. I do appreciate that Josh Beckett would not be speaking chattily from the coffin. Because he's up, up, and away. Lenny Harris. No. Wow, firm. I'm sorry, Lenny.

Ken Rosenthal. I'm probably gonna be dead before Ken, so I don't have to make that decision. But if I did, I probably would say no. Jason Stark, yes. Ken Rosenthal, no. I was just gonna ask you about Jason Stark and you took it from me.

Bud Selig. That one we've talked about, yes. I will be going to the commissioner's funeral. It's a setup though. Rob Manfred. Yes. You go to any of these just to make sure they're not coming back?

No, I go to them because I want to honor. So I'm a big fan of honoring people more when they're alive and what you do for people when they're alive versus what you do. I think going to a funeral is less important than going to a birthday party or being in touch with people when they're alive. But there's some people that I just want to show my respect for. And also there's a part of this that, oh, I'm sort of important that I can go

or I would go to these funerals, so I do get ego out of it. I can't believe I'm admitting this on the air, but I do think about that, like, oh, I can go to that funeral and I won't be an outcast at that funeral because I have a relationship with these people. That's a horrible thing.

Can we not, can you edit that out actually? Okay, get right, yes please. And the live portion of our show, just edit that out. We've gone too far. David, before you get out of here, it's a great game. We need to play it. Yes, it is a great game. We need to play it more often.

But before we get him out of here, I do want to ask him about A Different Man, which is the Sebastian Stan movie. What did you think of it? Sebastian Stan was nominated for The Apprentice and he was really good in The Apprentice, but he was way better in A Different Man, which is sort of the updated version of an old movie with Eric Stoltz and Cher called Mask. And it's about a real, a deformed person and it's played by a real deformed actor. He's really has that issue.

And it is unbelievable the way we react to people with physical deformities. And it's horribly sad and incredibly hurtful. And we all do it and we pretend we don't, but we do. And Sebastian Stan goes from deformed to not deformed and realizes that life may be better deformed. And that is an amazing sort of concept. Is that the correct word?

Because this movie, it did capture my eye because it did look like the mask, the Cher movie that you're talking about, right? Where the head and face of someone is something that anybody would look at and it doesn't look right. Is deformed the proper way to say that You're putting me on the spot. So I assume you have the answer to no, I don't know

I don't know the answer the reason I'm asking the question though is because when I was watching that movie I thought that movie took some real great chances there and it was an I thought that movie was Interesting and in what it is that they were trying to tackle I thought it was fascinating because Stan's character starts the movie with NF1, which is the name of the condition, and then gets cured of it. And then, like David said, at some point, I don't even know if he realizes life is better, is that he sees someone else with NF1 living the type of life that he could have never imagined for himself when he had that condition. And so it drives him into this kind of insanity.

So is that the word? Is it condition? Is that what we're going with? I don't know. I didn't mean to get stuck there. I just wanted to explain the audience because when you said deformity, you didn't make it clear that it was the head, that it was the face. Yeah, excuse me. Well, when I said mask, I assume people knew or at least would Google what that meant. But yes, it is from the neck up. It is a physical deformity is how I would describe it. But it doesn't change the way the person is.

It's like screaming at a blind person thinking that they don't hear properly. It is weird how people interact with people with physical disabilities. I see it with people in wheelchairs and I do a lot of work with people with physical disabilities. I see it with people in wheelchairs and I do a lot of work with people, with athletes who have paralysis or loss of limbs. And it is just weird how people interact as though they have some sort of mental issue when in fact they don't at all, it's just a physical issue.

And Sebastian Stan played it so well that frankly, I mean, I was so happy He was nominated period for two great performances this year, but I would have preferred it for different men David thank you for being on with us. We appreciate it. The name of the movie is nothing. I'm sorry the podcast is nothing personal David what are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing? What was that? What? What? Just stumbling over a photo that's put up without anyone giving you warning that you're going to see Sebastian Stan and the actor who played the person with the condition who really

has that condition. And you're fumbling trying to out. While this video photos. So yes, that is what happened. It was the proper thing to laugh at in Louis's meager defense. He did say that the photo was jarring, and so he was trying to make an executive decision and he made a poor one because he startled me and I wasn't able to get you out of here. So thank you, David. I appreciate it. I appreciate the time. Nothing personal is the name of the podcast, the sporting class, I'm telling you that he does with John Skipper, and they fight for who's got

the higher chair. It is unlike anything, not my, nevermind business, not just business, sports business, any kind of business. There's not this kind of expertise talking this way about those things. Thank you, David. Hey there, wellness warriors. If you're like me, you've given a lot of thought to how to improve your health and wellness routine this year. I've started stretching more, do a little mindfulness and meditation every day, try to clear my mind, make my body feel right. Take your health routine to the next level with the magic of contrast therapy.

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Get an expert now on TurboTax.com only available with TurboTax live full service real time updates only on iOS mobile app. See guaranteed details at TurboTax.com slash guarantees. Don LeBataard. But I'm just trying to get everyone... I just want to get a... I just want to get a... I just want to get a... Stugatz.

Every Cup game... And at what? This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugatz. So I wanted to ask the group because Amin clearly has a feeling about this movie and I watched it the other night with Valerie and I love obviously you love any art that makes I love any art that makes me think a little bit about something that I had not considered and so when Lewis said the photo is jarring it is jarring, it is jarring. The entire movie is wildly transportive. Like it takes you to a place that you might not have

considered at all before with someone living a, trying to live a normal life with something that if all of us were looking at it, we'd be saying, if that happened to me, how is it that I would go through life, could I be happy? Could I be myself? Could I be somebody that was normal instead of sullen because I can change my life's energies

just by having a different attitude, no matter how I look. Did you know what the movie was about before you started watching it? I did not. Me neither. That, I think, made it even better. It's just not knowing where's this going. I thought it was, is this like The Elephant Man?

That's what I thought the movie was. And then he gets, I don't wanna get too many spoilers, but as that transformation happens from like, oh, he really can cure it, I guess? And then realizing, oh, this is not about what he looks like. It's all about the person that was inside all along. I don't believe that the room has any interest. I've been thinking, I think Ty Tyreek might regret having left Kansas City. I want to ask you guys

something else about a negotiation that's coming up. I think this one will interest people. Get me the sound please for when people don't want me to talk about sports media stuff because I think this particular one is something that people might be uh... finding interesting in what is uh... about to be the golden age of the streaming services are just gonna fire hose money at certain personalities because of netflix having one of its greatest periods ever now that they've just get

the toe in sports. Do you get annoyed every time Dan Levitard pontificates about the sports media industry? Well, too bad, mother- He knows he don't give a damn about what he's gonna say. It's time for sports media talk today. I think Amin's gonna find this one interesting, okay, because if Tom Brady is worth $375 million to do a job part-time over here, and if Stephen A. Smith and Pat McAfee and everybody tries to change, and the Kelseys try to change the economy of how many millions per

year can you make doing this. I don't think in my entire lifetime covering sports I have seen someone have more power from a broadcasting perspective than what Charles Barkley heads into here getting to decide whether he wants to work for ESPN because he got traded and Charles Barkley has all the power over everybody because Amazon and everybody everybody's gonna be bidding on Charles Barkley not the entirety of the show so he he's in the position where he holds all the cards in a negotiation to work as much or as little as he wants. When it's the golden age of we're going to pay tens of millions of dollars for this.

Because if Barkley's at 20 million a year now, and I understand the stratosphere is ridiculous, but he's going to have all of these giant entities saying, we want just you. You're your own network. It's not even just your show, we want just you. Because having you brings us, whatever Tom Brady's bringing you, because you've attached this particular name to what you do, and I just can't believe that's so

with a man in his 60s, I really can't. In fairness, his CNN show got canceled in like five minutes. So it's not like he's going places and everything he does is a giant success. Understood, but when you have everyone bidding for you and sports money is spilling all over the place at 20 million a year, there is nobody worth more, wanted by more people than this person.

You can say that, but everyone's gonna be in the game trying to say they're the ones who have Charles Barkley. Yeah, but people make bad media deals like all the time and Charles also pretends he's gonna retire every year. So I ask you guys, do you think that this is a situation where you can find me a negotiation that someone headed into where he had more power? More in sports. Leverage? I would say that whatever Stephen A. Smith's next deal is,

that he's gonna have the maximum leverage. Bigger than Barkley. Bigger than Barkley, because the network has demonstrated, right? Like with Barkley, at the end of the day, it's a show. Billy's right. Like, yeah, they gave him a CNN show, they gave him, like, at the end of the day, we're talking about one show,

and Chuck has made it clear. He said, quote, I won't be working like no damn dog. So Chuck is like, we're going to do on my time doing what I want to do. So you're kind of like, OK, cool, but understanding it's not going to spill over in anything else. Whereas Stephen A, you can ask Stephen A,

Wimbledon's coming up. We don't have anybody, like I'll do it. He'll say yes to everything and he'll go and he'll fly over to England and he'll pretend like he knows every single player and have strong opinions and bring attention to it and that has real currency for any media company but especially, especially that place where they have zero creativity or idea of like, you know what? I'm going to give a chance to this person here. Hey, howdy listener.

Why don't you sit down here next to me. Let's have a fireside conversation in the winter. This is all theater of the mind anyways. Weather outside is a little chilly. Let's warm up. Let's cozy up. Not just to each other, but also to that beautiful white can of Miller Lite. That's right, make these

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