The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: I'm the Dan Who Stepped Up
Episode Date: March 27, 2024Today's Cast: Amin, Chris, Jeremy, JuJu, Lucy, and Tony. Dan is out, but don't worry, our Step-Dan is here: Amin Elhassan. Jeremy is back to discuss why the Miami Heat are struggling while JuJu and th...e rest of the crew try to discuss the rest of the NBA. Then, what is life like for Jake from State Farm and Flo from Progressive? Plus, David Samson is here to discuss his tour, the hot goss around sports business, the Marlins all-you-can-eat section, and the shed light on the dark. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Hey, pals. Hey, guys, how you doing? Great.
All right, so I want to let everybody know I'm not Dan.
I'll never be Dan.
I'm just filling in in his stead.
In many ways, I'm the Dan who stepped up.
I'm your step Dan.
But I think we're going to have a lot of fun today.
And if in the midst of that fun,
you guys wanna call me Dan, it's all right.
I'm not ready to call you Dan yet.
I think I'll get there.
It's all right, Christopher.
We're here to have fun and learn something as well.
Speaking of the N-word, the NBA was on fire last night.
What?
Now, now, let's let Juju express himself.
Man, the Milwaukee Bucks crapped the bed
right on schedule, right after we was talking about
the Celtics so much and how we couldn't believe in them.
The Milwaukee Bucks, man, were the ones to let go
last night without LeBron James.
Austin Reed had the game of his career last night.
Anthony Davis, wow, great game.
Damien Lillard, oof. Seeing Giannis miss those free throws
at the end of the game in that clutch moment
must have been rough for him.
With LeBron counting on the sidelines,
you see on the sideline doing the thing.
He's just getting trolled nonstop with that.
It's funny because we've had a lot of conversations
about lines and everything like that
over the last week or so.
And Giannis, if I'm not mistaken, the over-under on him was 29 for the night,
and he had 25 going into at the end of regulation.
Or 25 going into, I want to say, late into the game.
Right.
And then missed the two free throws.
Like, it's one of those things like really?
What's going on?
John Tate was like, yes.
Yeah, see, it ain't just me.
It ain't just me.
He had 29 on the dot last night,
but those two free throws, of course,
would have put him over.
He was one of six from the free throw line.
The one thing I'm gonna say though, Juju,
is we don't expect anything of the Bucs though, right?
Like we're past the point of thinking
that this is a team, correct?
Absolutely, a little bit.
I think a lot of people still think the Bucs
can win the championship this year.
I feel like we're saying that out of respect.
Like, out of respect to Giannis,
out of respect to Damian Lillard,
but no one actually believes it.
I mean, just how flimsy the Celtics look
in pressurized situations.
Without them, who else in the East really contends?
I can think of somebody.
Please don't.
You know what?
We'll get to those jokers in a second.
But I'm serious here.
This is like the, you know, Zach Harper and I
always talk about the MVP conversation, people complaining.
Oh, so and so should be in the MVP conversation.
And we're like, so you're going to vote for them MVP?
Well, nah, I wouldn't vote for them.
Sister didn't stop talking about it.
So the buck should be in the conversation
for a championship, but other than someone
who's employed by the Bucs, who thinks the Bucs
are gonna win the championship?
To me, it felt like when they hired Doc Rivers,
I was like, ooh, all right, we're done.
This is over.
Milwaukee's done.
I mean, he's fixed it somewhat.
They're better than what they were under Adrian Griff.
Sure, but the track record
Suggests that once they get into the playoffs the wheels are gonna fall off. I
Feel like the wheels already fell off there already put him back on but they're gonna fall off again
He put on like cardboard wheels
Little tires, you know when you got the back
They're like little tiny ones. They don't drive over 45 miles an hour. You got it like
Does that did that really make this big of a difference though we're looking
back on Adrian Griffin did doc make this big of a difference where it was
necessary to get a get rid of Adrian yes okay
juju I like and it kills me because AG is a good guy and everything but like if
the guys don't believe in you it's's a wrap, dude. You could go get Brainwash, come back,
I'm the smartest basketball mind that ever lived.
It's done.
You missed your opportunity to prove it to them.
Because-
I feel like if he got Brainwash
and became the smartest basketball mind that existed,
they would start to believe in you.
No, they wouldn't.
I feel like if you don't believe in,
why would you not believe in that guy
who just got Brainwash
and now he's the smartest basketball mind? Because it's too late. You painted a scenario where it's like they still wouldn't. I feel like if you don't believe in, why would you not believe in that guy who just got brainwashed
and now he's the smartest basketball mind?
Because it's too late.
You painted a scenario where it's like
they still wouldn't buy it.
No, you gotta be a leader of men.
In the scenario that you painted,
they would finally believe in it.
No they wouldn't.
It's not a Disney movie, Chris.
Like he'd walk in and say,
oh the Pythagorean theorem,
da da da and all that stuff
and they'd be like.
Nerd.
Yeah, get out of here.
Get out of here, nerd.
There'd be nothing, there would be nowhere.
Speaking of nothing and nowhere, the Miami Heat.
Now Jeremy, this is the part that I don't get.
Yes?
They have the easiest,
or the second easiest strength of schedule remaining
in the league, right?
The easiest, if you don't count Detroit,
because Detroit. Yeah, you don't count Detroit, because Detroit.
Yeah, you don't count Detroit.
I don't have any confidence in them to get out of seven.
And dare I say it, I think they're vulnerable,
depending on what happens with Philadelphia.
They're extremely vulnerable in a playing situation.
Last night, they go out there,
they play the Warriors pretty close in the first half.
I was at the game, Jeremy was at the game, Bonifides.
And then the same thing that's happened a lot recently
in Heat games in the second half,
where the other team realizes,
oh yeah, we can score, we have offense.
And the Heat are like,
oh, I was hoping you wouldn't notice.
Damn, we don't. Yeah, I mean, look And the Heat are like, ah, I was hoping you wouldn't notice. Damn, we don't.
Yeah, I mean, look, the Heat's second half offense
has been pretty horrendous lately,
and it's in large part because their effort,
enthusiasm, whatever, with that team, culture,
blah, blah, blah, it can will you into
a competitive first half.
But ultimately, they just haven't had the bodies
to have offense in the second half.
And the bodies specifically being Duncan Robinson out now,
Kevin Love, Tyler Hero,
those are your three best three-point shooters.
They went one of 16.
And Jimmy this year.
Well, yeah, and Jimmy.
Jimmy's one of their best three-point shooters.
Yeah, and Bam Adebayo, obviously.
But when you don't have any threat from deep,
not just execution, when you're going one of 16 from three
in the second half, I believe it was,
other teams are able to pack the paint.
You've seen teams play zone defense against Miami
in the second half in multiple games
over the last few weeks, and in large part,
it's because they look at,
you know, Terry Rozier trying to get his in the mid-range,
taking long twos.
Patty Mills is your greatest threat
from a three-point range right now.
And that's, right, exactly.
And so, and that's not to say,
Patty Mills has played better, honestly,
than I think anticipated,
just because he's played a ton of minutes
that nobody expected when he signed here.
Their injuries are piling up,
but their offense has been a problem all season long.
That's my thing, and my thing is, so,
a season ago their offense struggled,
but we all said, yeah, but this is a good
three-point shooting team that hasn't been making
its threes, at some point it's gonna turn on,
and then it turned on in the playoffs,
and the rest was history.
This year, the three point shooting has been decent.
The offense is still struggling.
So now I'm wondering where that big fix
is gonna come from.
So to me, I would argue you haven't seen this team
complete at any point this season.
You add Terry Rozier, who was supposed to be offensive help. He is yet
to play more than what, three or four games with his full backcourt of Tyler Hero and
Duncan Robinson. I don't know how Tyler Hero and Terry Rozier will play off each other,
but the reality is that Tyler Hero is the best playmaker for others on this team, outside
of maybe Bam Adebayo. He's the best player at setting up other players
on this team and Terry Rozier is more of a score first guard
where what you've seen from Tyler this year was he did,
even though he is a scorer, he became someone
at the start of this season who was able to set up
other players and have them succeed offensively.
Without him, this team has really floundered.
Yeah, that's one of the interesting things for me
is because when Terry Rozier came here,
it was like, hey, what he was doing in Charlotte
on a bad team with not a lot of people around him,
guys don't expect that here because he's gotta fit in.
But then with the injuries, it's like,
I thought you'd give us what happened in Charlotte.
And he's, forget about setting other people up.
He struggled in and of himself
shooting the ball for the most part.
I think the other thing too,
when you talk about they haven't had their full team,
is also there's no guarantee of health.
This is the NBA.
This could be just a season where the Heat
have nobody the entire year.
And that's just the way it is, right?
Yeah, it's been one of those years where,
and look, last year, you could argue was kind of similar.
Right? I mean, they missed a bunch of guys. Bam missed time, Jimmy missed time, Tyler missed time,
but the difference was during those stretches, two of the other players were often available and
your role players were all healthy. They were just struggling.
So I remember sitting here in December, January, February, and saying if Gabe Vincent and Max Drew start hitting their threes that they should,
as they're generating open shots, this team will be good.
And then you got to the playoffs,
and that's exactly what happened.
Those guys got hot, they were generating great shots.
Right now, you're looking at an offense
that's totally jumbled up.
I mean, but what do you two expect
when you have lineups out there last night?
And this is not a criticism
of any of the individual players, but when you're lookingups out there last night, and this is not a criticism of any of the individual players,
but when you're looking at a lineup
that is Dillon Wright, Caleb Martin,
Haywood Highsmith, Jaime Jaquez, and Thomas Bryant,
how do you expect to generate consistent offense?
Jeremy, you sound broken.
No.
I hear a little doubt in your voice.
You've been the guy, no matter what is said around here,
he ain't in five.
I still feel that way if they're healthy.
That's the reality.
A little if there.
A little if you're throwing in there.
Well yeah, of course.
Because they're never healthy.
Tyler's been out for a really significant amount of time.
He needs to be able to come back in the next few games
for this rotation to really get comfortable together.
Jimmy's been the interesting one
in terms of missing games for me.
Because Tyler seems to have a clear injury.
Duncan has a back injury.
Jimmy was probable yesterday
and then was out with a sickness.
The real macro thing here is that the Heat
have seemed to change their,
they didn't let LeBron do whatever he wanted to do here.
And now they're letting Jimmy Butler, a lesser player.
So have they like changed their stance with players?
It just seems like they give Jimmy
way more than they even gave LeBron.
I mean, this is just a change in the way the NBA works.
No, I mean. Yeah, I mean, this is just a change in the way the NBA works. No, I mean.
Yeah, I mean, it's like, everything is shifting, right?
And so if you look at, in respect to all the other teams,
the Heat are still where they've always been.
If you're trying to compare to where the Heat were,
of course they've moved.
In the same way that if you look at the Warriors,
we think of them as a fast team, right?
And they've been a fast team in the NBA
for the last decade.
If you look at where they were in 2017 or whatever,
it would be incredibly slow right now.
So it's just, it's one of those things
where you just have to kind of adjust to the times.
Off topic though, do you guys get excited
when there's someone famous at the game?
Does that change your excitement level for a game?
If I was a player it would. If I was playing and I saw that girl who I love song is sitting in the front row
I'm dropping 50
Ooh, is that Denzel?
I put up about 25 for Denzel.
Oh man, really?
Good night though, good night.
So last night they had they had Neymar in the building, they had they had name on the building they
had Alcaraz in the building they had busquets but he's a hundred years old so
nobody cares anymore although he plays for you have guys in the NBA knowing who
those who those guys are yes Alcaraz you have somebody dribbling down the
court and be like oh that's all is. Well, and this team has to, because Jimmy's friends with those guys. Yeah, I don't think Lucy knows who Alcaraz is.
What?
Hey, Lucy.
Lucille, do you know who Carlos Alcaraz is?
Who?
OK.
Oh, you're talking about the tennis player.
The tennis player.
OK, I know who he is.
Oh, I know who that is.
Yeah, but if you see him, if you put a line up of a spade.
You said tennis, and then I knew.
Yeah, I know what it looks like.
He's from Spain, right?
He's Suarthy. Suararthy with an excellent hairline.
Hey, it's Mike.
And first off, let me thank you.
A lot of people have hit me up privately, curious about my fishtail palms, and I just
got some landscaping done.
And let me tell you, they've never looked better.
I've got light shining on them.
And now every night I go outside, sit on my patio, look at my fishtail palms, and drink some Miller Lite.
Yeah, a lot has changed over the years. One thing that hasn't is the great taste of Miller Lite. It was the original Lite beer, and to this day, it's still the best one.
Miller Lite has more of the taste that you want, and less of the stuff that you don't. Oh, sitting outside with my family, letting
the music play, and sipping Miller Lite. That is the good stuff, folks. That is what life's
about. Times change, but you can always enjoy the great taste of Miller Lite. Tastes like
Miller time. To get Miller Lite delivered right to your door, visit MillerLite.com slash
Dan, or you can pretty much find it anywhere that sells beer. Celebrate responsibly Miller
Brewing Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories per 12 ounces.
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Does that increase your excitement level?
Like, who's been at... I just saw this the other day, someone was at the Iowa game. Does that increase your excitement level?
I just saw this the other day, someone was at an Iowa game.
Travis Scott.
Travis Scott.
And Jake from State Farm.
And he's everywhere.
And George Kittle.
And George Kittle.
And Jason Sudeikis.
And Sue Byrd.
Saying Jake from State Farm was there is like saying, like, Jax was at the Heat and Air
last night. No, he's the most recognizable face in America.
But he's working.
He's working life.
He's always working.
He doesn't go recreationally.
Yeah, but they just set, what, very realistically, what does he do that is work there?
They send him to sit in the front row and be there as an advertisement.
That's work.
It's awesome.
That's basically my job.
Okay, you think it's great?
Try walking every two steps and having someone say, was safe on him, Jake was safe on him
We were cool when we saw him
We were super cool when we saw him
We didn't bring attention to him
We were like, what's up bro?
What's up man?
Do you think that his level of celebrity allows people to feel like they can approach him?
So like that's the problem is that he's too approachable and so in turn he is getting
stopped where all of the other high level celebrities aren't getting stopped by people?
Tony, where did we see Jake from State Farm
and what was the situation?
So it was freezing outside and we saw him.
So up north, this doesn't happen in Miami,
up north there's like a room before you get into the bar
that's like I guess to take off your coat or.
A vestibule.
A vestibule, whatever.
A blood room.
So me and Amin are waiting for an Uber
and we're sitting in that room or whatever and Jake from State Farm
Walks in kind of like hides in the corner me and Amina. They're like how do we see yeah?
He's huddled huddled. He's freezing and where they're like what's up, and he's like what's up boys?
I'm like chillin chillin just no just a normal guy, but then as people are entering this bar
Going through the vestibule he had to leave leave. Every single person, Jeremy, that walked through,
Jake from State Farm, Jake from State Farm.
And it was late already too, so you know
the drinks have been flowing.
It's one of those things, I'm gonna tell you what,
if people, if you're famous for something serious,
people are much more likely to approach with caution.
So if you saw, you know, Lawrence Olivier Olivier, who I don't think is alive.
Perfect example.
Right.
That's the most serious person I could think of.
Or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Like, you're like, oh, nice to meet you, Mr. Abdul-Jabbar.
You approach with reverence.
Yeah, reverence.
If you do some clownish shit.
I mean, this is Jakes from State Farm really clownish?
That's not clownish.
Dude.
No, but it's approachable because he's a commercial actor.
It's not serious, right?
It's not like, yo, man, this guy, like he's, he has a lot going on.
Like chill, hey, chill, chill, chill.
I think he has a lot going on.
I think Jake from State Farm, that's a, it's like being Batman, bro.
It's so much responsibility.
Juju, I'm not arguing that it ain't easy,
that he's got a hard job with her.
I'm saying for the fan who's walking,
they're not looking in and like,
oh man, this guy's real busy, let me leave him alone.
They're like, oh man, that's that dude,
all you gotta do is like a good name, da da da.
And they just run up on you.
Like hey, like me, people think,
oh, because the mean joke's around
and he shoots weird and all that stuff,
oh, you can just run up on them
Lawrence Olivier died in 89
What kind of reference is that by you? That's why people are very cautious
If you weren't into Lawrence Olivier who died when I was two right I was a Joe Nick cuz he is a zombie
I was trying to get Anthony Hopkins and I could think is sir Anthony
I think also recipes of that Lars Olivia know respect to his family must love
The Jerry almost killed sir Anthony Hopkins. I did I almost did I stop myself? Okay? You're like almost
I was like, uh, that should be like a $25 fine, right?
Like 50 is for killing someone who's already who's still alive
25 should be of almost almost killing it attempted murder
already is still alive. 25 should be of almost killing. It was attempted murder.
It was attempted murder.
It was attempted murder.
It was attempted murder.
But no, but so does anyone actually get excited
when you see like, oh, the game I'm watching,
someone famous is watching this game.
At UFC events, there's always a ton of people.
Juju's been in the crowd like deep into where
the famous people sit and they'll pan over the crowd
and you see action bronzer, you see other fighters,
you see a bunch of people and you're
Like damn the fight kind of feels interesting. You didn't name it guy fieti's there. I'm excited. He's been there
I'm at the Super Bowl. We took a picture together
Was he nice he was so nice and he was so friendly well honestly the key is if you want to talk to a celebrity you
Just got to make pals with their security and how's the hair look? How's the hair looking person?
God it was it was glorious.
It was the best day of my life.
Bro, I had a fight, I sat right next to 6'9' and his crew.
So I was rooting against every nigga,
everybody he was rooting for.
I was like, oh hell nah, he gotta lose.
Welcome to our Max audience.
Following this, Oz Oz right here on max
Look I I've always been enamored by people who get excited when someone famous is I'm like who cares
We're not we're not hanging out. Oh, you're such a you're around celebrities
No, it's not that oh even before I knew a celebrity in my life, Chris,
like when I was in college, you go to the club,
it's like, all right, we're waiting in line,
and then all of a sudden it's like $50, like $50,
like Allen Iverson is here.
I'm like, I don't care.
I'm not partying with Allen Iverson.
I'm gonna do the same ridiculous ratchet stuff
I was gonna do anyway.
$100, Laurence Olivier is here.
Oh my God, that one maybe, maybe maybe just to catch a glimpse one last
Look at him. I
Agree with you like when I lived in LA seeing celebrities
I did not think was that cool and I always thought it was really weird when people would like go up and bother them
But like as like an Iowa women's basketball fan if there's any celebrity in Iowa, that's a very big deal
We should always be very excited about that. They do not stop in Iowa. Travis Scott went to an Iowa game.
Isn't that crazy?
He was leading the band in chants and stuff.
He was really getting after it.
It was a great time.
Now, is the band contractually obligated at that point
to learn how to play at least one Travis Scott song?
I mean, it's Iowa, though.
Bro, every time Lucy go to any game,
I am locked in on that game, bro.
No matter if it's Nebraska versus whoever the hell,
I'm locked in.
So yes, with Lucy is there, I'm focused.
But that's different, because that's like a seal
of credibility to the event when Lucy goes.
Thank you.
She was a celebrity, bro, my sister is popular.
She was a celebrity, but I'ma say it just like
Jake from State Farm, you're working.
You're working, you're not going for fun.
Am I working, though?
Have you ever seen the videos I put out?
I've seen the videos, I've never seen you do anything untoward or unprofessional.
What do you think the original Jake from State Farm,
like how do you think he feels about all of this?
The one who was just like, khakis?
Read an interview with him.
So his name is actually Jake.
He actually works for State Farm.
He's not an actor.
No way.
That's why they cast a new Jake from State Farm
because they were like,
yo, the stuff that we're gonna start
wanting Jake from State Farm to do is outside of your purview
of just saying khakis or whatever.
They had him in the Super Bowl ad a couple of years ago
where he came back and he just did the same line.
They couldn't develop my boy though.
That's what I'm saying.
They couldn't develop my boy, get him out of accounting
and get him in there doing his thing.
I think my man just wants to sell insurance to his clients
and like help service their account.
Oh, he doesn't want to be the face of a massive brand
that's all over the place, going to sporting events,
hanging out with everybody.
Tony, I'm gonna tell you right now, man.
I learned this, I had this conversation
with someone the other day.
You reach a point where it's like, do you like your job?
I like my job.
Do you like who you work with?
We're cool.
Do you make enough money?
It's like, oh, obviously we always want more money,
no matter how much money you make,
but it's like, if I'm being honest,
I make a decent, comfortable amount
for me to live the lifestyle I live.
It's like, then why am I gonna mess it up
trying to do something else, right?
Like, imagine what that guy could've gotten into
if he had gone that route, man.
Drugs and hookers and the gambling debts.
No, man, he's just Jake from State Farm
and he got his clients that rely on him
like a good neighbor.
You say that, but according to People Magazine,
Jake Stone was sourced from an internal casting call,
originally an employee at State Farm,
but then after the role in the commercial
eventually left his job, he now works as a bartender
at a pub in Illinois.
The fame got to him.
That's a good conversation starter though. The fame got to him. That's a good conversation starter though.
I used to be Jake from State Farm.
Didn't that happen to one of the Geico cavemen?
He was really famous and then he just left
and was like, you know what,
I'm gonna be a professor at a college.
Because they gave him, I swear this happened.
But as the caveman.
Yeah, they gave him a TV show.
The TV show on ABC, yeah.
And then it just didn't pan out
and now he works at a university or something.
But he's still the caveman.
I kind of feel like if it doesn't pan out for me,
I'd rather have Jake's life.
I'd rather be a bartender than be a professor at university.
Can you imagine trying to, all right class,
today's lecture is on the Mesothoic era,
and yeah, Jake, whatever, like caveman,
ha ha, it's so easy.
Like a good neighbor.
No, it's so easy, all this class is so easy, even cavemen can do it.
Ha ha, am I right, am I right?
Like, all right, Mr. Jenkins.
Speaking of great neighbors, Luca and Kyrie seem to be putting it together at
the right time of the year, right now.
The Mavericks, I feel like if they get into that playing spot, look out, bro.
His name is McManus Woodend, the original caveman,
and he is now an English instructor
at the University of Southern Indiana.
My dad works at Progressive, and let me tell you,
Flo and the Don't Be Like Your Parents guy,
they seem to be living the absolute best life.
Flo is one of the top five highest paid pitch men,
or pitch people, I should say, in the business.
Wow, she makes six million a year.
She's killing it.
Way more than my dad.
Bro, she's killing it.
Bro, speaking of flow, the Oklahoma City Thunder
are flowing right now at the right moment.
Jalen Williams, the J-Dub, not J-Dub.
He's amazing.
Not J-Dub, what's the other one name?
They got two J-Wheels, yeah.
J-Wheels is a light skinned one, J-Dub is a dark skinned one.
Bro, J-Dub going crazy right now.
He's proving himself to be a great number two should have been an all-star
Hot tapes I mean not that hot I mean with Oklahoma City being so good so early right do it
It feels like they're kind of ahead of schedule
They are is there is there a moment where you look and everybody Dan talks about all the time real Dan not not you
Sorry, um my real Dan
Thanks, Lucy.
So real Dan talks about it all the time where he's like,
look, they're gonna have to suffer something.
Like that's always been the plight of the young team.
Suffer or loss in the playoffs,
suffer or loss in the finals
like Oklahoma City did way back when.
Do you feel like this is a team
that's kind of breaking those norms?
No, because the suffering doesn't happen
in the regular season.
So no matter how great they are
There's they're going to reach a point where they're going to discover. Oh
This shit. Oh, you'll get just big. Yeah, like yeah, exactly
I can't guard literally that's good. I can't hold and by the way we talk about like having the suffering Sometimes that suffering happens late sometimes it happens in the conference finals
Sometimes like the thunder last time it happens in the conference finals. Sometimes like the Thunder last time,
it happens in the NBA finals, right?
I think they went from getting knocked out
in the first round in 2010 to like the finals in 2012.
Right, in two years they went from a first round knockout
as a young team as an eight seed or whatever
to all the way to the finals.
So it doesn't always happen early or shockingly, but it happens. Like no one goes all the way to the finals. So it doesn't always happen early or shockingly,
but it happens.
Like no one goes all the way their first time.
And so, yeah, I think they're gonna get their rude awakening,
but it's part of the process, man, you know?
Yeah, we do know.
I don't have an exit point.
Don LeBretard.
David Sampson. Weirdo.
Because he was not, he was not the fun substitute teacher who'd wheel out a TV and play a VHS tape or Armageddon in science class.
He was the weird one who would eat an egg salad sandwich while clipping his toenails
into the trash can and ranting about Ronald Reagan.
Stugats.
The guy kept talking about how his ass was smooth.
Smoother than a newborn's cheek.
He wouldn't stop bragging about his bare buttocks to me.
This is the Don LeVar Tar Show with the Stugats.
Chris rather reassuring me this bit of my ear, the mic is hot. And I said, I know, because
I turned it on.
You turned it on like before we were back. I was just making sure you knew.
I just like to be ready, you know? I like to be in a state of readiness like David Sampson,
who joins us now. David Sampson, Nothing Personal is the podcast. You can follow him, listen, subscribe, like, share, et cetera, et cetera.
Also, you can check him out live and in tour.
That starts in Philadelphia.
In tour or on tour?
On tour.
I thought you said in tour.
I did say in tour, but he's on tour.
He's on tour and it starts Tuesday in Philadelphia.
David, where can people find tickets for the events?
Right on davidsamsonpodcast.com
or you can follow Juju because I'm seeing Juju in Atlanta.
Juju, I am so excited.
Can you imagine what fun we will have on stage in Atlanta?
Absolutely, I got your back, brother.
We gonna live it up, man.
We gonna have a good time, man.
Nothing personal, salute to Matthew Coker.
I see you, brother.
How did the genesis of that idea come about?
A live tour, not a live show, but a live tour.
So nothing personal has been going on for four years
and I do the show in front of just a camera.
And obviously there's people listening,
there's people downloading and watching.
We debuted on DraftKings Network this week
and I just wanted to see what it would be like
to do a live hour and a half show
And if i'm gonna do it i'm gonna swing big and no matter what we're gonna have fun for all the people who come
I can't wait to meet them and meet the audience and just talk to them and have them talk to me during the show
Do segments with them maybe have some special guests along the way
either way, they're gonna have fun watching how Coke and I get a episode up and rolling.
The process is quite something when you go behind the scenes.
And I love that as part of Nothing Personal,
because frankly, that's what we are.
We try to give light to the dark
when people don't understand what's happening
in the world of sports.
We try to explain to them,
given that I've done it
for so many years.
So we're taking it and we're gonna have fun with it.
But of course, there'll still be nothing personal
as at 8 a.m. everyday live on YouTube.
I'll still do your show, I mean, all the time on Wednesdays.
So don't worry, I'm not abandoning anybody.
There you go, he handles all of his responsibilities
as he sheds light on the dark.
But David, that brings me to something that I had in my notes for the show,
and I didn't really necessarily think
about talking to you about it,
but now since you bring it up, why not?
Do fans today know too much about the business,
not of just sports, but of music, of everything,
that it takes away from the enjoyment
of the actual thing that they're fans of.
Have you been speaking to Coca?
Ha ha ha ha ha ha.
It's such a great question to me
because are people just here to be entertained
and they wanna put their head in the sand?
Don't care about all the back of the house
arguing that happens.
My argument is no.
People love to see how the sausage is made.
They want insight.
They wanna believe they know as much.
It used to be they just thought
they could do all of our jobs.
Now they wanna know all of the foibles,
all of the potholes, so then they can say,
well, not only can we do your job,
but we can do it better.
So I like taking people behind the scenes
and letting them see everything.
And Koka, the esteemed great producer who I work with,
sometimes he'll be in my ear during a show
and he'll say, too much, too much.
So it is a fine line.
I don't, I'm not, let me be clear.
I'm not saying do they, you know,
they don't wanna know this stuff.
I think of course everyone wants the hot gossip,
so to speak, but I feel like their infatuation
with the back of the house stuff is reaching a point
where it obscures the front of the house stuff,
which is what you were a fan of to begin with right and Tony
We're talking about this earlier and the music thing. There's a whole
Kendrick Lamar calls out Drake in a song and Jay Cole kind of somewhat and
That's a side swipe on both. Yeah, well it wasn't a side swipe on Drake
He was a full-on head-on collision with Drake, but
Both in the car together when the crash happened. Drake definitely got hit.
You know, Cole got some whiplash.
But the point is, David, is that rather than,
you know, this isn't new.
Rappers dissing each other.
Rap beef is not new.
But it used to be who's got the better lyrics?
Who got the better of the other guy in the arena
of what we're talking about, which is I rap, you rap.
The verbal sparring of it.
Yeah. And now, Juju, correct me if I'm wrong, I'm seeing lots of people making arguments for
tour sellouts and the size of venues this guy does and how many streams and all that. And it's like,
wait, are you guys fans of the business of, or are you actually fans of the actual thing
that we came for, which is to hear these guys rap?
Right.
David?
Oh, I'm sorry, he said Juju.
I thought if you're gonna be Danamin,
and what Dan does is he says a name,
and then that name is the one who talks.
We absolutely want your opinion on J. Cole,
Drake, and Kendrick Lamar, David.
Come on, brother.
Cause you're every woman in the world to me.
Was that Drake or J. Cole?
That's what that was.
New Kendrick?
That's a drop.
I will never apologize for air supply.
Let me try to give you a better answer than that.
It's not going to be hard.
The hurdle is like on the floor.
What are we competing over at the end of the day?
We're competing over people's pockets.
Everybody is figuring out how do we monetize it.
Used to be with album sales in the music industry
or the sale of singles.
Then all of a sudden everyone realized
that they're getting their music
and the artists are not getting paid for their music,
which is why it's now about tours.
Artists are making the most money from tours.
So the competition about venue size,
about streams, clicks,
the monetization of your social media,
that is actually how you can define it.
Used to be, I've had five number ones.
Can anyone name right now the number one song
on the billboard chart?
I'm looking at the room, there's a lot of vacant stairs.
It's like that. Water
by that one girl. Water by that one girl. That was a couple I think that was a couple weeks ago.
End of beginning. It's like that. It's like that. I just saw that it's like seven million streams.
It was the most streamed song of the year uh the other day so yeah I'm gonna go with that. But yes
David to your point nobody knows. Nobody knows. It's totally changed. We used to you know without
Greg Cody in this show,
cause we had that early in the week,
when Casey Kasem's giving you your list of top 40s,
you're excited.
People don't care anymore.
I used to go.
So for me, I'm going to where the money is.
And that's why the tours matter.
And also what gets money is attention.
But do you care? And so you called it rap beef,
I think is the word you said.
Yeah.
I don't think you need the word rap in there.
I think what you're looking for
is what Dan talks about often.
Give me something that can get aggregated
while I'm in a Wonka costume.
But first of all, Dan's dream of getting aggregated
is always that he's saying something profound
or intelligent while in a Wonka costume. Not just, I'm in a Wonka costume, First of all, Dan's dream of getting aggregated is always that he's saying something profound
or intelligent while in a Wonka costume.
Not just, I'm in a Wonka costume, let me get aggregated over that.
In the same way that like Jake Paul could come out with a record and because of who
he is and the notoriety he brings, that record could do really, really, really well, but
I think that hits home to my point
where it's like I thought the whole point
of being a fan of something is that you actually
are a fan of the thing being done,
not the business infrastructure around it.
And to bring it back to sports, why are people,
is it ruining the experience, right?
When people go to, I went to Heat Warriors last night
and instead of talking about, oh wow,
what a great game from Klay Thompson,
it's about, well, the Warriors have a real decision
to make at the end of the year, how much to play.
And it's like, whoa, are we not just enjoying the game
itself rather than talking about all the business
ramifications?
I think really, sports is just a microcosm of the country
and of the culture and of the world.
Right now, the focus is always on what is hot,
what is it that we can discuss that could be viral,
and what is the tea?
And so it used to be the gossip was lifestyles
of the rich and famous.
Now it's how do I become that?
I don't wanna watch it, I wanna be it.
When you're at a game, you're looking around,
you're looking at your bets, you're looking at your prop bets,
you're looking at whether or not your team is doing
what you want it to do from a fantasy standpoint.
The entire fan experience has changed to the point where
when you're marketing a game now,
you are rarely marketing the fact that you're the best team
in the league, playing the best team in the league,
playing the best team in the league.
You're marketing what your giveaway is,
you're marketing what your special half-time show is,
or you're marketing where you're able to wager on games.
Speaking of marketing, locally the Marlins have
all-you-can-eat seats with instruments.
This is what you texted me and I said, I was gonna ask
you in the text, I said, no, no, I'm gonna hold on to the show. What are the instruments?
Does that mean it comes with a trombone or?
So when I, I have got, I try to be economical in my words, I mean, when I'm texting you
possible topics, there's two things going on at Marlins Park this year or at Lone Depot Park, excuse me.
Sorry.
One, there's sections and the 200 level.
When we built the 200 level, that's the club level.
So that's where the suites are or one level of the suites.
And down the line is 201, 202, 203, and 204.
And I know this because I actually, sorry,
flex, look at me, David.
I numbered them myself.
Maybe one of the coolest things ever is coming up
with the numbers of sections.
I will take it.
I take that one.
But here's the thing about all you can eat seats.
And now we're gonna talk business.
The money is not coming out of the concessionaire's pocket.
It's coming out of the Marlins pocket.
Right.
The Marlins pay a fee to the concessionaire.
And they go to the concessionaire, and we tried this.
Hey, will you discount your food
in the all you can eat section?
And they say, no thank you.
Your attendance isn't good enough.
We are not going to even make less money
than the less money we projected to make when we
did the original deal with you.
So the Marlins say, all right, we'll give up our concession cut for all of this food
and then we will offer it to fans for free.
So we will not collect really any ticket revenue.
We won't collect any concession revenue.
And all of the concessions that are eaten in the All You Can Eat, we will give that
money to Levy.
Is it possible they keep a little pittance?
Yes.
But this is a cry for attendance, and it's a cry that I made many times.
But the math of All You can eat does not work and I predict that
this will not last long because you need extra security you need extra training
behind the concession stand so they're not just giving away food to people who
come over from section 210 and so all of those things add up to it being a
nightmare which is why teams don't do it. Every time I hear All You Can Eat, I think of the Fat Boys.
Oh, you can eat.
Nobody remembers that song.
I'm having a very...
Did they also die in 1989?
It's been a very old day today.
We're going to be back with Samson in a bit,
when he's going to give us also his movie pick of the week.
Stay tuned.
Hey, it's Mike.
And first off, let me thank you.
A lot of people have hit me up privately, curious about my fishtail palms. Stay tuned. palms and drink some Miller Lite. Yeah a lot has changed over the years. One thing that hasn't is
the great taste of Miller Lite. It was the original light beer and to this day it's still the best one.
Miller Lite has more of the taste that you want and less of the stuff that you don't. Oh sitting
outside with my family letting the music play and sipping Miller Lite. That is the good stuff folks.
That is what life's about. Times change but you can always enjoy the great taste of Miller Lite. That is the good stuff folks. That is what life's about.
Times change. Well you can always enjoy the great taste of Miller Lite.
Tastes like Miller time. To get Miller Lite delivered right to your door visit
MillerLite.com slash Dan or you can pretty much find it anywhere that sells
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