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This is the Dan Levatore show with the Stuka That's podcast.

Today's episode is sponsored by DraftKings. Stay tuned because you'll hear more about DraftKings and all it has to offer throughout the show. Draftkings, the Crown is yours.

Hey, Hey, pals. Hey, guys. How are you doing?

Great.

All right. I want to let everybody know I'm not Dan. I'll never be Dan. I'm just filling in an instead. 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. If in the midst of that fun, you guys want to 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, let's let Juju express himself.

Man, the Milwaukee Bucks crapped the bed right on schedule, right after we were talking about the Celtics so much and how we couldn't believe in them. The Milwaukee Bucks, man, what a one to let go last night without LeBron James. Austin Reid had a game of his career last night. Anthony Davis, wow. Great game. Damian Lillard. 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 at the end of regulation. He had 25 going into, I want to say, late into the game. And then missed the two free throws. It's one of those things like, Really? What's going on?

Jante 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 going to say, though, Juju, is we don't expect anything of the Bucks, though, right? 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 Bucks can win the Championship this year.

I feel like we're saying that out of respect. Out of respect to Yannis, 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 contains?

I can think of somebody.

Please don't. You know what? We'll get to those jokers in a second. But But I'm serious here. This is like the... Zack 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 him MVP? Well, no, I wouldn't vote for him. Just to then stop talking about it. So the Buc should be in the conversation for a championship. But other than someone who's employed by the Bucks, who thinks the Bucks are going to win the championship?

To me, it felt like when they hired Doc Rivers, I was like, Oh, 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 Griffin.

Sure. But the track record suggests that once they get into the playoffs, the wheels are going to fall off.

I feel like the wheels already fell off.

But then he put them back on, but they're going to fall off again.

He put on like, cardboard wheels. Like, these aren't real wheels.

Those little tires, when you got them back. They're like little tiny ones. They don't drive over 45 miles an hour. You got to like... No.

Did Doc really make this big of a difference, though? When looking back on Adrian Griffin, did Doc make this big of a difference where it was necessary to get rid of Adrian?

Yes. Okay. And it kills me because AG is a good guy and everything. But if the guys don't believe in you, it's a wrap, dude. You could go get brainwashed, come back, I'm the smartest basketball mind that ever lived. It's done. You missed your opportunity to prove it to them.

I feel like if he got brainwashed and became the smartest basketball mind that existed, they would start to believe in him.

No, they 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.

You got to be a leader of men.

In the scenario that you painted, they would finally believe in him.

No, they wouldn't. It's not a Disney movie, Chris. He'd walk in and say, Oh, the Pythagrine theorem, all that stuff, and they'd be like, Nerd. Yeah.

Get out of here. Get out of your nerd.

There would be nothing. There would be nowhere. Speaking of nothing and nowhere, the Miami Now, Jeremy, this is the part that I don't get.

Yes?

They have 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 to three. I don't have any confidence in them to get out of seven. And dare I say it, I think they're vulnerable, depending 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, Bonafide. 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, I was hoping you wouldn't notice. Damn, we don't.

Yeah, look, the heat second half offense has been 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. Sure. They went one of 16.

And Jimmy this year. Well, yeah. Jimmy is one of their best three questions.

Yeah, and Bam out of bio, 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, it's Other teams are able to pack the pain. 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 Terry Rozier trying to get his in the mid-range, taking Taking long twos. Patty Mills is your greatest threat for the three-point range right now. Right, exactly. 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. My thing is, 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 going to turn on, and 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. Now, I'm wondering where that big fix is going to come from.

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 has 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 out of bio. He's the best player at setting up other players on this team. 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 them, guys don't expect that here because he's got to fit in. But then with the injuries, it's like, Well, I thought you'd give us what happened in Charlotte. 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 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 We're sitting here in December, January, February, and saying, If Gabe Vincent and Max Struz start hitting their threes that they should as they're generating open shots, this team will be good. 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. But what are you to expect when you have lineups out there last night? This is not a criticism of any of the individual players, but when you're looking at a lineup that is DeLon Wright, Caleb Martin, Haywood Highsmith, Hyme Haukees, 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 eating 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 has 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 has 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 changed their stance with players? It just seems like they give Jimmy way more than they even gave LeBron.

Like the latitudes?

This is just a change in the way the NBA works, no?

Yeah, 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 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 one of those things where you just have to 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 sitting in the front row, I'm dropping 50.

Oh, is that Denzel?

I put up about 25 for Denzel.

Oh, man, really?

Good night, though. Good night.

Last night, they had Neymar in the building. They had Alcaraz in the building. They had Busquets, but he's 100 years old, so nobody cares anymore, although he plays for his mind.

Do you have guys in the NBA knowing who those guys are? Yes. Alcaraz, you have somebody dribbling down the court and be like, Oh, that's Alcaraz. Absolutely.

Well, this team has to because Jimmy's friends are those guys.

I don't think Lucy knows who Alcaraz is. What?

Hey, Lucy. Lucile, do you know who Carlos Alcaraz is?

Who?

Okay.

Oh, you're talking about the tennis player. The tennis player.

Oh, I know who that is.

Yeah, but if you see it, if you put a lineup of- You said tennis, and then I knew.

Yeah, I know what he looks like.

He's from Spain, right? He's Swarty.

Excellent hairline.

Swarty with an excellent hairline.

For Bridget Christ, the road to love was not so straightforward. Bridget, I forbid you for marrying that spendthrift, you Miles car.

What the devil is that?

I'm setting up an M50 video account on my mobile cellular telephone, thus procuring a discount on the M50 highway tow path.

Very prudent, Mr. Carr. It seems I've misjudged you. Eflow presents accounts and accountability. Pay your tolls automatically and get a discount with a free M50 video tolling account at eFlow. Ie.

Don Levatard. Teammates can't shoot from three. Now they're going to see a different Jimmy. Now he's just, just playing. Nickel back in the locker room and-Stugats. They'll play D and show threes as they chase the nets for the sixth seed. These five words in his head, stream are we winning games yet?

This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugats.

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.

He's everywhere. George Kittle. That guy has a best life.

And Jason Sudeckis. And Sue Bird.

Saying Jake from State Farm was there is saying Jacks was at the heat.

No, he's the most recognizable face in America.

But he's working.

What a life. He's always working.

He doesn't go recreationally.

Yeah, but they just said, very realistically, what does he do that has worked there? They send him to sit in the front row and be there as an advertisement. That's work. It's awesome.

That's what I'm saying. That's basically my job. Okay, you think it's great? Try walking every two steps and having someone say, Jake, what's going to say about Jack?

We were cool when we saw him. We were super cool.

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. 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?

It was freezing outside, and we saw him. Up north, this doesn't happen in Miami, up north, there's a room before you get into the bar that's, I guess, to take off your coat or-A vestibule. A vestibule, whatever. A mud room. Me and Amine are waiting for an Uber, and we're sitting in that room or whatever, and Jake from State Farm walks in, hides in the corner. Me and Amine are there.

Huddled. Yeah, he's huddled.

He's freezing. And where they're like, What's up? He's like, What's up, boys? And we're like, Chilling?

Chilling.

Just a normal guy.

But then as people are entering this bar, going to the vestibule-He had to leave. Every single person, Jeremy, that walked through, Jake from State Farm, Jake from...

And it was late already, too. So the drinks have been flowing.

It's one of those things I'm going to tell you what, if you're famous for something serious, people are much more likely to approach with caution. If you saw Lawrence Olivier, who I don't think is a lot. Perfect example. That's the most serious person I could think of. Or Kareem Abdul Jafar. You're like, Oh, nice to meet you, Mr. Abdul Jafar. You approach with reverence. If you do some clownish shit, I mean, Man, is Jake 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. It's not like, Yo, man, this guy, he has a lot going on.

Like chill, chill, chill. I think he has a lot going on. I think Jake from State Farm, it's like being Batman, bro. It's so much responsibility.

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 got to do is like a good name. And they just run up on you. Hey, like me. People think, Oh, because the mean jokes around and he shoots weird and all that stuff. Oh, you could just run up on him.

Look at me, Louis.

Lawrence Olivier, who died in '89. What reference was that by you?

That's why people are very cautious.

If you weren't into Lawrence Olivier, who died when I was two.

Right. Protect your neck because he is a zombie.

I was trying to think of Anthony Hopkins, and I couldn't think of his name.

Sir Anthony, I think also.

Rest in peace, Lawrence Olivier, though, with respect to his family. Much love.

Did Jeremy almost kill Sir Anthony Hopkins?

I did. I almost did. I stopped myself. Okay.

You were like, almost. I was like,.

That should be a $25 fine. $50 is for killing someone who's still alive. 25 should be of almost killing.

For almost killing an attempt to murder.

It was a attempt to murder.

But does anyone actually get excited when you see, Oh, the game I'm watching, Someone famous is watching this game.

At UFC events, there's always a ton of people. Juju has been in the crowd deep into where the famous people sit, and they'll pan over the crowd, and you see Action Bronson, you see other fighters, you see a bunch of people, and you're like, damn, the fight feels a little bit bigger.

Interesting names you didn't name there.

It's Guy Fiatti's there. I'm excited. Guy Fietti's been there.

I met him at the Super Bowl. We took a picture together. Very exciting stuff.

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.

That's what I did. How's the hair look? How's the hair look in person?

Oh, God. It was glorious. It was the best day of my life.

Bro, at a fight, I sat right next to 6ix9ine and his crew. So I was rooting against everybody. He was rooting for it. I was like, Oh, hell, no. He got to lose.

Welcome to our Max audience. Following this, 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 hanging out with them.

You're around celebrity so much.

No, it's not that. Even before I knew a celebrity in my life, Chris, 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. $50? Allen Iverson is your money. I don't care. I'm not partying with Allen Iverson. I'm going to do the same ridiculous ratchet stuff I was going to do anyway.

$100. Laurence Olivier is here. Oh, my God.

That one, maybe. Just to catch a glimpse. One last look at him.

I agree with you. When I lived in LA, seeing celebrities I did not think was that cool. I always thought it was really weird when people would go up and bother them. But as 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 and 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.

Every time Lucy goes to any game, I am locked in on that game, bro. It doesn't 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's a celebrity, but I'm going to 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 I've never seen the videos.

I've never seen you do anything untoward or unprofessional.

What do you think the original Jake from State Farm? How do you think he feels about all of this? The one who was just like, Cackies?

Read an interview with him. 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, The stuff that we're going to start wanting Jake from State Farm to do is outside of your purview of just saying Cackies or whatever. They had him in a Super Bowl ad a couple of years ago where he came back and he just did the same money.

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 help service their accounts.

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 going to 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 was 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. Then why am I going to mess it up trying to do something else? Imagine what that guy could have gotten into if he had gone that route, man? Drugs and hookers and the gambling debts. No, man, he 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.

I used to be Jake from State Farm.

Didn't that happen to one of the Geiko cavemen? He was really famous, and then he just left and was like, You know what? I'm going to be a professor at a college. Because they gave him, I swear this happened. They gave him a TV- 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 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. Yeah, Jake, whatever, caveman. It's so easy. Like a good neighbor. No, it's so easy. This class is so easy. Even Cave Man could do it. I'm all right. All right, Mr. Jenkins.

Speaking of great neighbors, Luca 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 Cave Man, and he is now an English instructor at the University of Southern Indiana.

My dad works at Progressive, and let me tell you, Flow and the Don't be like your parents guy, they seem to be living the absolute best life.

Flow is one of the top five highest paid pitchmen or pitch people, I should say, in the of 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's name? They got two J-Wills.

J-wills is a light skin one. J-dub is a dark skin 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 take.

Not that hot. I mean, with Oklahoma City being so good so early, right? Do It feels like they're ahead of schedule. They are. Is there a moment where you look and Dan talks about all the time? Real Dan, not you. Sorry.

You're my real Dan.

Thanks, Lucy.

So real Dan talks about it all the time where he's like, Look, they're going to have to suffer something. That's always been the plight of the young team. Suffer a loss in the playoff, suffer a loss in the finals like Oklahoma City did way back when. Do you feel like this is a team that's breaking those norms?

No, because the suffering doesn't happen in the regular season. So no matter how great they are, they're going to reach a point where they're going to discover, Oh, this shit just got real. Oh, Jokuj is big. Yeah, exactly.

I can't guard. Literally, that's good. Chad Holger can't hold.

And by the way, we talk about 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 NBA finals. I think they went from getting knocked out in the first round in 2010 to to the finals in 2012. In two years, they went from a first round knockout as a young team as an eight-seater or whatever all the way to the final. So it doesn't always happen early or shockingly, but it happens. No one goes all the way their first time. Yeah, I think they're going to get their rude awakening, but it's part of the process, man. Yeah, we do know. I don't have an exit point. Don Levatard. David Samson, weirdo, because he was not the fun substitute teacher who'd wheel out a TV and play a VHS tape of 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. Stugatz. 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 Dan Levatard show with the Stugatz.

Chris rather reassuringly, whisper in my ear, the mic is hot. I said, I know because I turned it on.

You turned it on before we were back. I was making sure you knew.

I just like to be ready. I like to be in a state of readiness. Like David Samson, who joins us now. David Samson, nothing personal as a podcast. You can follow him, listen, subscribe, like, share, etc. 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. 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'm so excited. Can you imagine what fun we will have on stage in Atlanta?

Absolutely. I got your back, brother. We're going to live it up, man. We're going to 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 début on DraftKings Network this week, and I just wanted to see to see what it would be like to do a live hour and a half show. And if I'm going to do it, I'm going to swing big. And no matter what, we're going to 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 going to 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 going to have fun with it. But of course, there'll still be nothing personal as at 8 AM, 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 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? It's such a great question to me because Because are people just here to be entertained, and they want to put their head in the sand? They 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 want to believe they know as much. It used to be they just thought they could do all of our jobs. Now, they want to know all of the foibles, all of the potholes, so then they can say, Not only can we do your job, but we can do it better. I like taking people behind the scenes and letting them see everything. And coca, 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.

Let me be clear. I'm not saying they don't want to know this stuff. I think, of course, everyone wants the hot goss, so to speak. But I 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. Tony, we were talking about this earlier in the music thing. There's a whole, Kendrick Lamar calls out Drake in a song, and J. Cole somewhat.

That's a side swip on both.

Yeah, it wasn't a side swip on Drake. He was a full-on head-on collision with Drake.

They were both in the car together when the crash happened.

Drake definitely got hit. Cole got some whiplash. But the point is, David, is that rather than... This isn't new. Rapper is 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.

Now, 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. It's like, Wait, are you guys fans of the business of this, or are you actually fans of the actual thing that we came for, which is to hear these guys rap?

David?

Oh, I'm sorry. He said Juju. I thought if you're going to be Dan, I mean, 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 Kendra Lamar, David. Come on, brother.

Because you're every woman in the world to me.

Was that Drake or J. Cole? That's what that was. New Kendric?

That's a drop.

I will never apologize for air supply. Let me try to give you a better answer than that. It's It's not going to be hard. The hurdle 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. 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, and there's a lot of vacant stairs. It's like that.

Water by that One Girl.

Water by That One Girl.

I think that was a couple of weeks ago.

End of beginning. It's like that.

It has to be. It's like that. I just saw that. It's like seven million streams. It was the most streamed song of the year the other day. So, yeah, I'm going to go with that. But yes, David, to your point, nobody knows.

Nobody knows anymore. It has totally changed. We used to, without Greg Coty in this show, because we had that early in the week, when Casey Kacem is giving you your list of top 40s. You're excited. People don't care anymore. I used to care. 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? You called it wrap beef, I think is the word you said. I don't think you need the word wrap 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 Wanka costume.

But first of all, Dan's dream of getting aggregated is always that he's saying something profound or intelligent while in a Wanka costume, not just, I'm in a Wanka costume. Let me get aggregated over that. In the same way that 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 it 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. To bring it back to sports, why are people... I mean, is it ruining the experience? When people go I went to Heat Warriors last night, and instead of talking about, Oh, wow, what a great game from Clay Thompson, it's about, Well, the Warriors have a real decision to make at the end of the year, how much to play. It's like, Oh, are we not just enjoying the game itself rather than I'm 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 T? 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 want to watch it. I want to be it. When you're in 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 wanted 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. You're marketing what your giveaway is, you're marketing what your special halftime 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 going to ask you in the text, and I said, No, I'm going to hold on to the show. What are the instruments? Does that mean it comes with a trombone?

So I try to be economical in my words, Amin, 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 going to talk business. The money is not coming out of the concessionaire's pocket. It's coming out of the Marlin's pocket. The Marlin's 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 a concession stand. So they're not just giving away food to people who come over from Section 2010. 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? I'm having a very old day today.

We'll come back with Samson in a bit where he's going to give us also his movie Pick of the Week. Stay tuned.

For Bridget Christ, the road to love was not so straightforward. Bridgie, I forbid you for marrying that spendthrift-youth, Miles car.

What the devil is that?

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